Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 74- Battle of Kuat
(April 5, 2018)
"After Paparo and his ships hit the heavier defenses, then the fighters will begin their attack runs. The rest of the fleet will hang back a bit, ready to provide fire support as necessary," Fleet Admiral Jones says to his officers.
Jones looks back the recon photos from a Blackbird run. The photos are of the fleet's target: Kuat Drive Yards.
The New Republic Senate had decided it was necessary to attack the Drive Yards about two months earlier. Taking the Drive Yards would cut off the Empire's main source of warship production, and in turn give that manufacturing power over to the New Republic.
The New Republic and the Terran Alliance had dispatched a joint fleet to attack the Drive Yards. Almost 150 New Republic warships were sent, as well as 72 Terran ones. Jones was leading the fleet from the bridge of the Hood.
The battle was going to be a two fold mission. They had to capture the Drive Yards over Kuat first, and then land forces on the planet itself and capture it.
"Sir, we're closing in on Kuat," one of the officers calls out.
"Good," Jones responds, continuing to go over the intelligence.
A minute later, the joint Republic/Terran fleet drops out of hyperspace. They quickly see the massive Kuat Drive Yards up ahead, with almost Star Destroyers protecting it.
From the bridge of the Hood, Jones takes in the sight and analyzes the situation. After a few moments, he says, "Signal Paparo. Switch it up. Launch an attack on the right flank of the Imperial fleet."
"Yes, Admiral," a communications officer responds.
The officer transmits the order in a matter of moments. After receiving the order, Vice Admiral Paparo, commander of Task Force 41, one of several Terran task forces that is part of this fleet, orders his ships forward. Task Force 41, comprised of 12 London class Star Destroyers and 3 Jutland class heavy cruisers, moves towards the right flank of the Imperial fleet.
As Task Force 41 moves towards the Imperial fleet, Jones looks through a pair of binocks and sees TIE fighters beginning to launch from the Imperial ships. "We got TIE fighters launching. Let's get all our fighters launched!" he shouts.
In a matter of minutes, thousands of starfighters from both Republic and Terran ships are moving to engage the swarming TIE fighters. A series of large dogfights erupt between both fleets as Task Force 41 moves forward and begins to engage the Imperial fleet. However, Vice Admiral Paparo quickly realizes how difficult this will be, as mounted turbolaser batteries mounted on the rings join in the defense, hammering away at the Terran Star Destroyers. Paparo pulls his ships back a bit, just out of range of the weapons mounts on the rings, putting him at the edge of weapons range from the Imperial ships.
Jones continues to monitor the battle, a little concerned. It's clear that the Imperial commander has the defense well organized. This is going to be a long battle.
(April 17, 2018, Naboo)
"What is the latest status report from Kuat?" Thrawn asks.
"Progress is slow. It was a stalemate for days, but we've made slow progress over the past 6 days. However, the battle has taken a heavy toll on our forces, and our progress has slowed," one of his aides responds.
Thrawn thinks for a moment. Then, he says, "Tell Admiral Korolyov I want him to take temporary command of Task Force 38 and reinforce our forces at Kuat. And send the Hammer Squadron with them."
"Yes, Grand Admiral," the officer responds. He then stands up and walks out of Thrawn's office. Thrawn looks back down at his latest intelligence reports on Imperial movements, and especially on Zsinj's fragmenting Imperial fragment.
(April 18, 2018, Kuat)
Admiral Jones grits his teeth as an explosion rocks the bridge of the Hood as a TIE bomber manages to drop a proton bomb before being blown apart by one of the Hood's CIWS batteries.
The battle for Kuat and the Kuat Drive Yards has now entered its 13th day. The battle, after it had started to stall again, is starting to turn in favor of the New Republic and the Terrans once again, and they are once again making progress in whittling down the Imperial defenses. However, they have also taken heavy losses themselves. They've lost a number of warships, mainly New Republic cruisers, and heavy starfighter losses.
"Have we managed to find a path through their defenses?" Jones asks to one of his intelligence officers. For the last day or so, they had been trying to find a way through the Imperial defenses in order to start landing troops on Kuat's surface. So far, they haven't had any luck.
"Not yet, sir. Even with the Imperial fleet weakening, there are still too many defenses on the rings. We need to be able to whittle down those weapons batteries before we can try and get any troops down to the surface," the officer responds.
"Admiral! Several contacts emerging from hyperspace!" a radar officer calls out.
"ID?" Jones asks.
The officer continues working with the radar and checking the ID codes from the ships. Then, he looks up at Jones and says, "Confirmed friendly, sir."
Jones looks out of the viewport, just in time to see the Freedom and four London class Star Destroyers drop out of hyperspace.
"Contact them," Jones says.
Moments later, a hologram of Fleet Admiral Korolyov appears before Jones. "Philip. Good to see you," Korolyov says with a grin.
"Glad to have you with us, Vladimir. I'd greatly appreciate it if your ships could help us take out their ships and send your fighters to whittle down the defenses on the rings," Jones says.
"Coming right up," Korolyov says before the transmission cuts off.
The Freedom and her escorts quickly move closer to the Imperial fleet as they begin launching their fighters. As soon as the five ships are in range, they open fire on the Imperial warships.
As the reinforcements open fire, swarms of fighters launched from the Freedom streak towards the rings. Leading the way are the 18 Space Eagles of the Hammer Squadron.
In the cockpit of his SF-15, Jonathan's mind is running like mad to formulate the best attack plan. Their orders are to destroy the weapons batteries mounted on the rings. However, Jonathan is thinking that there may be a better way to disable them than just by attacking the batteries individually.
"Alright, Abigail. Let's go!" Jonathan says over the radio to his wingman. Both of them shove the throttles into afterburners and streak towards the rings.
TIE fighters and interceptors swarm towards the Terran fighters. Su-36s and SF-23s move to keep them off the strikers as SF-15s, Mirage 5000s, and SF-50s move closer to the rings.
Jonathan dives towards the rings. Seeing a laser turret aiming towards him, he quickly locks a Maverick onto it and fires. The missile tracks smoothly to the target and obliterates the turret.
Jonathan and Abigail streak low over the rings, firing their laser cannons at any less armored target they can see. As they fly over a ridge, they see several AT-AT walkers on the surface of the rings.
"Hit those walkers, Abigail!" he calls over the radio. Jonathan quickly targets one of the walkers and fires a proton torpedo. The torpedo hits the walker on the head, destroying its head. A moment later, a torpedo fired by Abigail destroys another walker.
Laser fire goes flying past Jonathan's canopy. Looking behind him, he sees a TIE fighter coming up behind him. Jonathan immediately noses up and snaps into a hard right turn. The TIE turns after Jonathan, leaving Abigail free.
Jonathan pulls the stick in tighter and tighter, trying to outturn the TIE and get on its tail. However, the TIE pilot is so occupied with Jonathan that he doesn't realize that Abigail has now pulled in on his tail. After a second, Abigail fires a Sidewinder, blowing the TIE fighter to pieces.
Jonathan levels off and forms back up with Abigail. Scanning the rings, Jonathan calls out, "We need to find one of the command posts. If we can hit it, it might shut down their weapons batteries in this part of the rings."
"Good plan," Abigail responds.
Jonathan pulls into another right turn. The turn quickly takes him back over the rings, where Jonathan levels off, flying at low level over the rings, avoiding incoming laser fire.
It doesn't take long before Jonathan spots something. A slightly raised section of the ring, about half the size of a football field, with multiple viewports and antennas, and multiple defensive turbolasers mounted around it.
"There! There's one of the command posts! Hit it hard!" Jonathan calls over the radio. He noses down towards it, Abigail following. Both of them quickly target the command post and each launches a pair of proton torpedoes before pulling up. The four torpedoes impact directly on target, tearing apart the command post. In a matter of seconds, all of the weapons batteries in a certain radius lose their guidance systems and the ability to fire back. Imperial personnel race to try and get the weapons systems back online, but know it could take some time to get the backup guidance systems online.
Several squadrons of Terran fighters see that a large number of weapons emplacements are down and take the opportunity, diving towards the ring to take out more turbolasers. At the same time, the Star Destroyer TAS Rome moves in and begins firing its turbolasers at the rings, aiming for weapons emplacements and any walkers the gunners can see.
As this is going on, the Freedom continues firing on the Imperial warships still within range. As it keeps up its fire, on the bridge, Admiral Korolyov is still watching the battle going on. Then, one of the radar officers calls out, "Admiral, we think we've identified the flagship of the Imperial fleet, and completely in our line of fire."
"Focus all available batteries on that ship!" Korolyov orders.
Most of the Freedom's forward batteries turn in the direction of the indicated Star Destroyer and concentrate on it. A number of batteries specifically focus on the bridge, knowing that is an Imperial class ship's biggest weak point. Thousands of turbolaser bolts and ion cannon blasts streak around the Star Destroyer, many of them making impact and wearing away at the ship's shields.
In just a matter of minutes, the already weakened shields of the Star Destroyer fail, and the turbolaser bolts begin blasting holes in the hull of the ship. It's only a few more minutes before the Star Destroyer breaks apart under the hammering fire.
Korolyov grins to himself as he watches the ship break apart. He then orders, "Signal Jones. Tell him I think it's about time for us to start landing our troops."
The communications officer relay Korolyov's message to the Hood. Jones, already thinking along the same lines, orders troop transports, already loaded with troops and ready for takeoff, begin to lift off and start heading towards Kuat.
As the minutes pass, on board the Freedom, Korolyov watches as the Imperial fleet, now down to just a handful of ships, tries desperately to fight back, but it is clear that it's a losing fight.
Suddenly, one of the communications officers calls out, "Admiral, we're getting transmission from the Imperial commander."
"Put it through," Korolyov orders.
A moment later, a hologram of an Imperial officer appears before him. The man is wearing a Moff's insignia.
"This is Fleet Admiral Vladimir Korolyov of the Terran Starfleet. To whom an I speaking?" Korolyov asks.
"I am Moff Pollus Maksim, head of the Kuat Drive Yards and governor of this sector. I am contacting you, Admiral, to declare my intention to surrender," he responds.
"Good. Order all your forces to stand down, and prepare for our forces to occupy Kuat," Korolyov says.
"Very well," Maksim responds before cutting the transmission.
Korolyov turns to his communications officers and says, "Contact Admiral Jones and Admiral Ackbar."
Moments later, holograms of Jones and Ackbar appear before him. Korolyov smiles a bit and says, "Gentlemen, I just received word from the governor of Kuat, Moff Maksim. And he has declared his intention to surrender."
"Excellent. I'll inform my troops and order them to begin occupation duties," Jones says.
More troop transports are quickly launched, heading both for the rings and for the planet itself. Within a matter of hours, 4 Terran divisions have been landed, and the Imperial forces have surrendered to the Terrans and Republic. At last, Kuat is in the hands of the New Republic and Terran Alliance.
And, I'll end there. I know, it's rather short, but this is a battle that lasted weeks in canon, and even here, lasted almost two weeks. I couldn't cover it all, so I decided to just cover the basics.
So, people have wondered about the Battle of Jakku, and some people thought it would be this chapter. Obviously, that wasn't the case. But, next chapter is going to cover the leadup to the Battle of Jakku. I'll then take two or three chapters to cover the battle.
Next chapter should be up soon. Until then, leave a review, and stay tuned!