Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Starpottergeek: If you don't remember, Hall actually killed Trench back in the last story.
Clearwing Yuta: I am planning for Piett to die at least a similar death to the movie.
Guest: Not sure yet which planets will try to join the Alliance after the war.
Chapter 64- The Next Move
(June 25, 2017)
In the void of space near Sullust, there is a hive of activity. The entire fleet of the Rebel Alliance has been assembling here for some time now. Now, starfighters streak through space all around the fleet as the ships mill about. Among the many Rebel ships, there are several Terran ships sent as reinforcements, including an Anzio class light cruiser and two London class Star Destroyers.
On board the flagship of the Rebel fleet, the Home One, the leadership of the Rebellion has gathered, and a number of Terran leaders, including Rear Admiral Timothy Kott, the commander of the Terran ships, Ahsoka Tano, and Lieutenant Colonel Todd Brown, the man commanding of a detachment of the US Army Rangers detached to aid the Rebellion in the coming battle.
As Rebel commanders are milling about, Han walks over to Lando, smiling at the sight of his friend in his new uniform. "Well, look at you, a General," Han says.
"Someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Tanaab," Lando says with a knowing smile.
"Hey, don't look at me, pal. I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn't know that they were looking for someone to lead this crazy attack," Han says.
"I'm surprised they didn't ask you to do it," Lando replies.
"Well, who says they didn't, but I ain't crazy. You're the respectable one, remember?" Han replies as he sits down. Lando grins in return.
A small chime sounds, and everyone goes quiet as Mon Mothma walks into the room. She looks around at everybody and begins her briefing, "The Emperor has made a critical mistake and the time for our attack has come. The information brought to us by the Bothan spies has helped us pinpoint the exact location of the Emperor's new battlestation. We also know that the weapons systems on this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us and to defend against Terran attacks, it is relatively unprotected. But most important of all…we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star. Many Bothans died to bring us this information." Mothma pauses, then says, "Admiral Ackbar, please," signaling for the Admiral to take over.
Gesturing to the hologram being projected in the middle of the room, Ackbar says, "You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Although the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield which is generated from the nearby forest moon of Endor." Ackbar gestures to the hologram, which now projects the shield around the Death Star.
"The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted. Once the shield is down, our cruisers and Terran warships will create a perimeter while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor," Ackbar says. Ackbar then deactivates the hologram before pointing to Lando and saying, "General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack."
"Good luck," Han says loud enough for the room to hear. Lando looks over at him, and Han just says, "You're gonna need it."
"Rear Admiral Kott," Ackbar says, and the American admiral steps forward.
"The Terran Alliance has sent me and my three ships to aid in the attack, while the rest of the Terran Starfleet will be helping to prevent any Imperial reinforcements. A few hours from now, a very large portion of the Terran Starfleet will launch a massive attack on a major planet within the Empire to distract the Imperial fleet. This attack should prevent any major Imperial reinforcements from arriving. At the same time, the Terran Alliance has a small task force engaging Imperial forces in the Mustafar system, who should be able to provide this fleet with reinforcements should it be needed," Kott says.
Kott pauses, then steps aside as he says, "General Nadeen."
General Nadeen steps forward. "We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle. Disguised as a cargo ship and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team of our own troops and US Army Rangers will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator."
There is some murmuring among the assembled crowd, and 3PO says, "Sounds dangerous."
"Wonder who they found to pull that off," Leia says to Han, leaning a bit towards him.
Nadeen looks over at Han. "General Solo. Is your strike team assembled?"
Both Leia and Kelly look at Han in surprise. Han, however, just looks back at Nadeen and replies, "Uh, my team is ready. I don't have a command crew for the shuttle."
Chewie growls and howls a few times. Han turns to Chewie and says, "It's gonna be rough, pal. I didn't want to speak for you." Chewie just growls a few times in response.
Han turns back to Nadeen with a grin as he says, "That's one."
"General. Count me in," Leia says with a smile.
"Count me in too," Kelly says with a grin.
"I'm with you too!" Everyone turns to the sound of the voice, and sees Luke walking into the room. Kelly leaps up from her seat and walks over to embrace her husband.
After a second, Kelly pulls back and looks into Luke's face. Seeing the expression on his face, she asks, "What is it?"
"Ask me again sometime," Luke says. He then turns to the others as they approach, "Hey, Han. Leia. Chewie."
"Hey, kid. Glad you're on board," Han says.
The meeting soon ends, and everyone disperses to prepare for the coming operation. Han leads his new crew down to the Home One's hangar, where both the Millenium Falcon and the stolen Imperial shuttle are waiting.
Once they reach the hangar, Han stops to talk to Lando for a minute, while Luke leads the others over to the shuttle. As they go, Calvin stops Kelly for a moment. He smiles at his sister and says, "Good luck, sis. I'll see you at the end of this."
"See you later, Calvin," Kelly says. The siblings share a hug, then Calvin heads off towards the spot where his SF-23 is parked as Kelly rejoins the team as they head for the shuttle.
Boarding the shuttle, they find that the team, which is made of ten elite Rebel troops, including Rex, and ten Rangers, is already on board. They introduce themselves to all of the soldiers they don't yet know before making their way to the cockpit.
The team starts powering up the shuttle and inspecting the various systems. It doesn't take long before Han joins them on the shuttle.
"Got her warmed?" Han asks.
"Yeah, she's coming up," Luke responds as he's turning a dial.
Han takes his spot in the pilot's seat. After Chewie growls a few times, Han says, "Yeah, I don't think the Empire had Wookiees in mind when they designed her, Chewie." He checks a few systems, then looks out of the window at the Falcon.
After a few moments, Leia leans in and asks, "Hey, you awake?"
"Yeah, I just got a funny feeling, like I'm not gonna see her again," Han says.
Leia is quiet for a moment before grinning and saying, "Come on, General. Let's go."
"Right. Chewie, let's see what this piece of junk can do," Han says.
Han and Chewie finish powering up the shuttle, and just a minute later, lift the shuttle off the floor of the hangar. Han guides the shuttle out of the hangar before unfolding its wings and starting a turn to assume proper position for its hyperspace jump.
"Alright. Hang on," Han says. He pulls the hyperspace throttles, and the shuttle makes its jump to hyperspace.
(TAS Tirpitz, Mid Rim)
On the bridge of the new battleship TAS Tirpitz, Fleet Admiral Vladimir Korolyov examines a series of reconnaissance photographs taken by a pair of SR-71Ds of his fleet's target. Mandalore.
When Thrawn received word of the impending Rebel attack on the new Death Star, he decided, especially after the recommendation of the Joint Command, to advance the plans for the Alliance's planned invasion of Mandalore in order to provide a distraction for the Rebel fleet. Thrawn had initially intended to lead the fleet himself, but eventually decided against it. Instead, he had appointed Korolyov to lead the fleet, now designated the Second Fleet given it was now under Korolyov's command.
The fleet sent to attack Mandalore was massive, comprising three Dreadnought class battleships (Tirpitz, Warspite, and Bismarck), five Repulse class battlecruisers (Repulse, Hood, Renown, Admiral Graf Spee, and Invincible), four Argus class starfighter carriers (Argus, Langley, Kaga, and Kitty Hawk), 8 Baltimore class Star Destroyers, 80 London class Star Destroyers, 5 defected Imperial I class Star Destroyers, 12 Jutland class heavy cruisers, and 18 Anzio class light cruisers. An advance force had been sent ahead of the main fleet, led by the battlecruiser Lutzow, and accompanied by two more Baltimore class Star Destroyers and 5 Impediment class interdiction cruisers. Between the two groups, there were 143 warships. In addition, accompanying the warships of the Second Fleet were dozens of transports carrying 420,000 troops of the American, Russian, Indian, French, German, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Algerian and Thai armies. This was to be the largest planetary invasion of the war so far.
The Alliance had also pulled in a wild card. They had contacted Bo-Katan Kryze, who commanded what remained of the Mandalorians who opposed the Empire, who had their numbers decimated in an Imperial purge years earlier. Admiral Adams had been the one to contact them. Adams still held great respect among the Mandalorians for his defeat of Darth Maul in the Siege of Mandalore, and when he called for their help, the Mandalorians answered. The Mandalorians under Kryze had been providing the Alliance with intelligence, and would be assisting in the attack however they could.
"Admiral. Navigation officers say that we are five minutes from the end of hyperspace run," a Lotirian Commander says.
"Very well. Charge the bombardment cannons and order Warspite and Bismarck to do the same. Order all ships to prepare their fighters and bombers for immediate launch once we come out of hyperspace," Korolyov orders. The Lotirian nods and walks off to transmit the order to the fleet.
Korolyov walks up to the viewport, watching as the blue of hyperspace streaks past. Several minutes later, one of the bridge officers calls out, "Admiral, approaching the system. The interdiction fields will bring us out of hyperspace in 15 seconds."
Korolyov nods simply, counting down those 15 seconds. Then, right on time, the Tirpitz drops out of hyperspace, along with the rest of the Second Fleet. Up ahead, Mandalore comes into view, along with the Imperial fleet defending it. Korolyov scans the Imperial fleet, and quickly determines there are about 70 to 80 warships in the fleet, led by an Executor class Super Star Destroyer.
"Target the Super Star Destroyer, and order the Warspite and Bismarck to do the same. Scramble all fighters and bombers. Order all ships to attack," Korolyov orders.
Fighters and bombers begin to scramble as the warships of the Second Fleet advance towards Mandalore and the Imperial fleet. As they advance, the three battleships fire their bombardment cannons at the Super Star Destroyer. Of the twelve blasts, ten find their target, with one of the remaining two hitting a normal Star Destroyer that is in the way. The blasts from the battleships' cannons cause heavy damage to the forward half of the Super Star Destroyer, destroying many of their weapons batteries on the forward half of the ship.
Korolyov smiles as the fleet moves to engage the Imperial ships, and the Tirpitz, along with the other two battleships and the Hood, advance to engage the Super Star Destroyer at close range. This is probably going to be the most important operation of his career. And he's going to show the Empire again what it means to face the might of the Terran Starfleet.
And, I'll end the chapter there. Hope you liked this one.
So, the next Terran target is Mandalore, and that was the reason for capturing Botajef: to clear the way for the attack on Mandalore.
Next chapter will begin the Battle of Endor. I'll probably take two or three chapters to cover it. I'll also cut away from Endor once or twice to show the events of the attack on Mandalore.
Next chapter should be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!