Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this is going to begin part way through the operation that is the subject of the chapter. I like doing chapters that way sometimes instead of showing the whole operation from beginning to end.
Let's get to it.
Guest: While the Alliance will soon learn about the second Death Star, the intriguing information that Lawrence discovered is not about the second Death Star. You'll find out what it is in the next chapter.
Guest: The Alliance does have a small number of CR90s, but doesn't really use them for warfare.
8Ball3: I have a plan for such a chapter very soon.
Chapter 58- Duel Against Darkness
(January 13, 2017)
Vader stands still as an explosion from a shell from a Terran 120 mm howitzer tears through a formation of stormtroopers just yards away. He then sees another shell from another howitzer flying at him, and reaches out with the Force to throw it away. The shell explodes off to the side, killing a stormtrooper from the shrapnel thrown out.
After recent Terran operations, including one in early January that resulted in the capture of the planet Felucia, the Empire decided they needed to strike another blow against the Terran Alliance to try and regain some ground. Therefore, they decided to attack the planet Teth. The Alliance had occupied it early during the war with ease, given the Empire didn't really have a presence on the planet. They had turned it into a major communications and supply base that was highly important for keeping their operations going. It also served as a temporary repair facility for damaged ships. The Empire felt attacking the planet would be a easier objective than some of the past operations they tried.
The Empire had sent the reorganized Death Squadron to attack the planet. The squadron was comprised of the Executor, 7 Imperial class Star Destroyers, and 4 cruisers. This was considered more than enough, given that an Imperial reconnaissance run had determined that there were only two Star Destroyers and two light cruisers protecting the planet. They also estimated that there weren't too many troops holding the planet.
However, troop estimates turned out to be lower than reality. Not only that, but Teth turned out to have a large garrison of starfighter and bomber squadrons in addition to those based on the protecting warships.
The ships of Death Squadron were currently still engaging the protecting Terran warships. Or rather, warship. Only the Star Destroyer Shanghai was still intact, and she was fighting with everything she had, but was taking heavy damage. While reinforcements were surely on their way, Vader was confident that he would at least be able to destroy the Terran facilities.
Vader had personally led one of the landings on Teth. His forces had landed outside the main supply facility on Teth. The facility was massive, being the size of an average Air Force base on Earth. It was protected by an energy shield, which was why Vader decided to attack it from the ground. The facility was defended by a garrison of Japanese troops. Unfortunately, they had no accurate estimates, and estimates for the Japanese numbers ranged between 1,000 and 8,000
Vader watches as a volley of laser bolts from an AT-AT blasts apart the howitzers targeting his forces. Further fire from more AT-ATs blasts a rift in the Terran lines, leaving the path open for them to enter the facility.
Vader feels someone step up beside him. Looking to the side, he sees it is the Fourth Brother. The Inquisitorius had continued to exist after the presumed destruction of remaining jedi in the Andromeda Galaxy. Had that been the only threat, the Inquisitors would probably no longer exist. However, because of the threat of the Terran Jedi, the Emperor kept them around. However, it had not done much good. They rarely even encountered Terran forces, and when they did, it was not with success. Of the 5 Inquisitors still alive at the start of the war, three had fallen in battle. One was killed by Miriam Walker, another by David Ronen, and the third by Calvin Adams.
The Fourth Brother was the most experienced Inquisitor still alive. Vader decided to have him accompany him on this mission.
"Now, let us teach these Terrans a lesson," the Fourth Brother says.
"Yes," Vader says. He then orders over his commlink, "Enter the facility. Kill all in your path. Destroy everything."
Stormtroopers surge towards the facility, blasting down the entrances and surging in. A handful of Japanese troops try to resist, but are slowly beaten back.
Vader and the Fourth Brother advance into the facility with the stormtroopers. As the Imperial forces begin to disperse through the facility, Vader and the Fourth Brother lead a company in the direction of the main hangar, believed to be one of the most defended parts of the facility.
It only takes them a minute to reach the hangar. Reaching it, a stormtrooper blows down the massive main doors into it with a rocket launcher.
Igniting their lightsabers, Vader and the Fourth Brother lead the stormtroopers into the hangar. Inside the massive hangar they find about 100 Japanese troops. The Japanese react quickly, firing their weapons towards the Imperials. However, very quickly Vader and the Fourth Brother deflect any incoming blaster bolts or bullets. Both of them use the Force to send objects flying at the Japanese while deflecting the few blaster bolts sent at them back at the Japanese while stormtroopers open fire with their own weapons. Although brave and fierce fighters, the Japanese quickly begin to fall. As it becomes clear that the stormtroopers are about to overwhelm them, a Japanese lieutenant orders his men to fall back. Most of the remaining troops retreat out of the hangar through various other entrances, but about 20 remain in the hangar, refusing to back down.
Vader advances towards the Japanese as his stormtroopers continue firing while at the same time being cut down by furious Japanese fire. Several Japanese troops fire at him, but Vader easily blocks the bolts while advancing on them all the while. Reaching them, Vader cuts them all down with a few quick strokes of his saber. At the same time, the Fourth Brother cuts down several more Japanese troops, as stormtroopers kill the last few with blaster fire.
Vader looks around the hangar, deactivating his saber. "Twenty of you, begin setting explosives and gathering any valuable tech. The rest of you, follow me," he says.
Twenty stormtroopers spread out through the hangar as the rest follow Vader and the Fourth Brother as the two head for the other set of main doors out of the hangar. While the hangar has multiple smaller entrances, it has two massive sets of doors out of the hangar for moving large cargo out of it.
As Vader and the Fourth Brother approach the massive doors, the doors suddenly slide open. In the middle of the opening doors, a single figure is standing, dressed in dark green camouflage, hands held at his side. As Vader and the Fourth Brother stop not far from the man, he lifts his head, revealing it to be Calvin. He stares coldly at Vader, anger in his eyes and an iron look on his face.
"We'll handle this. Take other exits," Vader says.
The stormtroopers scatter, heading for other exits as Vader and the Fourth Brother face down Calvin. Calvin smoothly unbuttons his outer camouflage jacket and removes it calmly, leaving just his dark green T-shirt emblazoned with the ASAT logo over his heart.
Calvin takes a single step forward, then pulls his two lightsabers off his belt, spinning them in his hands as he settles into his fighting stance before igniting them. Vader and the Fourth Brother draw their lightsabers and ignite them as well.
Calvin spins his lightsabers around a few more times before charging towards Vader and the Fourth Brother. The Fourth Brother leaps over Calvin's head, trying to strike at his head, but Calvin easily blocks the blow. Calvin responds by turning and striking against the Fourth Brother with both of his sabers before the Brother can even hit the ground. He successfully inflicts a cut on the Brother's leg before the Brother is able to block Calvin's other saber.
Calvin brings one of his sabers swinging downwards, trying to bring it down on the Brother's head. The brother blocks it with his own saber. Then, without even looking behind him, Calvin brings up his saber to block a strike by Vader.
Turning his head slowly to look at Vader, Calvin lowers his saber he used to strike at the Brother, ducks under a strike by the Brother, and slashes at Vader's waist. Vader manages to step back just in time to avoid getting cut by Calvin's saber.
Calvin ducks under a slash from the Fourth Brother, then slashes both his sabers at Vader. Vader manages to block his sabers, but Calvin then draws back one his sabers and slashes at Vader's exposed arm. Vader just manages to pull his arm back in time to avoid having his arm cut off.
The Fourth Brother tries to slash at Calvin's leg, but Calvin leaps over the blade. He then deactivates his sabers and returns them to his belt before doing two consecutive backhand springs, landing in a crouched position. He then pulls his sabers back out and ignites them again, charging towards the Fourth Brother.
The Fourth Brother spins his saber as Calvin charges at him. Calvin feints a strike towards his head, then slashes with both sabers at the Brother's legs just below his waist. The Brother just manages to bring his saber down in time to block Calvin's strike.
Calvin jumps back a bit, swinging one of his sabers while slashing his other at Vader's waist. Both of them block his strikes. Calvin follows up with a strike with one saber towards Vader's head, and a feint with the other towards his waist before slashing at Vader's left leg. He just manages to cut through the front of Vader's leg.
Vader drops to one knee from the cut on his leg. Calvin then takes several steps back, drawing the Fourth Brother towards him and away from Vader. The Brother spins the blades of his saber very quickly before trying to strike Calvin's waist, but Calvin easily blocks it with one of his sabers before slashing at the Brother's shoulder, just managing to cut him. The Brother hisses in pain and stumbles back.
Calvin presses his attack, slashing separately with his two sabers. The Brother just manages to block them both. Calvin then follows up with a strike towards the Brother's left shoulder. The Brother blocks it, but Calvin follows it up with a strike towards the Brother's hand. The blade cuts through the edge of the Brother's saber, causing it to start to fail.
Calvin follows up with another strike that cuts the Brother's saber cleanly in two. Then, before the Brother can react, Calvin leaps forward and drives one of his sabers through the Brother's heart.
Calvin smirks as he stares into the Brother's face. "Have a nice trip to hell," Calvin says before pulling his saber out of the Brother's chest.
Immediately, Calvin turns back to Vader, who has regained his feet. Calvin leaps towards Vader, slashing both his sabers at Vader's side. Vader manages to block them, but Calvin then pulls back one of his sabers and stabs it towards Vader's chest. Vader manages to step back just in time to avoid getting a saber in the chest.
Vader tries to bring his saber down on Calvin's head, but Calvin blocks it easy. He then cuts off Vader's free hand with his other saber before jumping up and kicking Vader in the chest, knocking Vader stumbling back a few steps.
Right then, the other doors into the hangar begin to open, and stormtroopers hurry through them, firing desperately at the Japanese troops pushing them back. The bulk of the Japanese garrison had finally come forward to drive the stormtroopers back out of the facility.
At the same time, Vader hears Piett's voice over his comms, "Lord Vader, Terran reinforcements have arrived and are engaging our fleet. We can hold them, but not for too long. If you're going to destroy that facility, you must hurry."
Vader looks at his forces. "All troopers, follow me," he orders. He knows at this point that this is not a fight he can quickly enough.
He then lets out a massive wave through the Force, sending Calvin and many of the Japanese troops flying. He then moves back towards the doorway he first came through, leading the stormtroopers back out of the hangar. Once out of the hangar, Vader leads his men back towards the entrance of the facility they first came through.
Inside the hangar, Calvin recovers his senses after hitting his head against a crate. Looking towards the doors the Imperials are just finishing fleeing through, Calvin yells out for all of the Japanese troops to hear, "Pursue them! Destroy them all!" The Japanese bellow war cries and charge after the Imperials, Calvin following them close behind.
Once Vader and his men exit the facility, they find the cruiser that brought them to the ground waiting for them not far from the facility, having moved closer to be able pick them up. Vader's men hurry aboard the cruiser, as a shuttle picks up Vader himself to take him back to the Executor.
As Vader's shuttle climbs into orbit, Vader enters the cockpit. Immediately he sees his flagship, and to his surprise, he sees it is currently engaged in a duel with the Bismarck and the Scharnhorst. Rage fills Vader at the sight of the Bismarck, but recognizes now is not the time to pursue the battleship's destruction. Death Squadron has already lost two ships, and the Executor has already taken damage from her duel with the two Terran ships.
The shuttle soon reaches the Super Star Destroyer. As soon as Vader exits the shuttle, he contacts the bridge through his comms and orders, "Admiral Piett, take the fleet into hyperspace as soon as all both cruisers planetside have rejoined the fleet."
"Yes, Lord Vader," Piett responds on the bridge as he grabs hold of a control console as several explosions from Terran turbolaser fire shakes the bridge.
Piett monitors a display showing the positions of the ships of the flight. As soon as the two cruisers retrieving ground forces from Teth have returned to the fleet, Piett orders, "All ships, make the jump to hyperspace."
The ships of Death Squadron each begin executing a turn, and within a few minutes, all of the remaining ships jump to hyperspace.
By this point, Calvin is in orbit in his SF-23 starfighter, and watches as Death Squadron makes its jump to hyperspace. Gritting his teeth, Calvin mutters to himself, "You won't escape us forever, Vader. Justice will come eventually."
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this chapter.
I mainly meant this chapter to show the next showdown between Vader and Calvin. I hope you liked their duel, as well as my reason for the Inquisitors still existing. I mainly wanted to include an Inquisitor to give Calvin an extra challenge, and also to better replicate Maul's arrival scene from Phantom Menace, which I hope you recognized. I'm still of the opinion that that has to be on the list of Top 5 Most Epic Moments in Star Wars (Vader's hallway scene in Rogue One being the top of the list, of course).
Next chapter will be an important chapter that will finally get us started on the real lead up to the events of Return of the Jedi, and also help set up a side story. It should be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!