Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, to answer the many questions I have been receiving, the site has been having problems since the 31st, with any chapter uploads glitching and not being visible. The admins have finally fixed it, so we're back in business.
Also, I've had some people bring this up in reviews. The Battle of Jakku will actually not be the final battle of the Galactic Civil War. There are still a few small scale battles to come, and one last large scale battle.
Let's get to it.
Peter Hong Kong: The Alliance doesn't have the power to appoint leaders in the New Republic, but they will certainly through their backing behind politician who favor a strong relationship with the Alliance.
the mysterious Mr.E: I have mentioned this before, but I'll confirm it again. Obama, given his position as Executive of the Terran Alliance General Assembly, was confirmed to a third term by emergency order of the General Assembly, as they didn't want to have a change of leadership during the war. The General Assembly has the power to do this during wartime.
Shan01: Well the real person I based Jonathan off of (who is actually one of my readers) is an Eagle Scout. Plus, I'm an Eagle Scout myself, so I'm kind of biased to include stuff like that.
Guest DCDGojira: They won't have a kid for a number of years.
Pervy sage: They're kind of a third party like Luke's Jedi, but still with some ties to the government. Individual Jedi can be commissioned into the military in time of war if they are needed.
Chapter 76- Battle of Jakku Begins
(October 12, 2018, Naboo)
In the headquarters of the Terran Alliance in Theed, Thrawn and Rommel are making one final check of the intelligence. The Alliance has been sending one or two SR-71Ds to perform a reconnaissance run at Jakku every day for the last month, in part because there have still been Imperial forces trickling in to backup Rax' forces, and also to keep their intelligence the most recent possible.
"They've dug themselves in well. But this is where we break them," Rommel says.
"Indeed," Thrawn says.
A moment later, there is a knock on the door. "Enter," Thrawn calls out.
A moment later, Vice Admiral Paparo enters the room. He looks at them for a moment and says, "Gentlemen. It's time."
Thrawn and Rommel both look at each other and nod once. This is what they've been waiting for for months.
"Very well," Thrawn says. He and Rommel then follow Vice Admiral Paparo out of the room.
The three officers make their way out of the office and head out to the landing pad, where a Pathfinder shuttle is waiting for them. The three of them board the shuttle, which quickly takes off and begins climbing up out of Naboo's atmosphere.
As the shuttle climbs into orbit, both Thrawn and Rommel enter the cockpit and look out of the viewport at the sight before them: the largest Terran flight assembled since the Battle of Earth. The Admiralty had dispatched over half of the Starfleet to assist in the battle, with a total of 180 warships sent, organized into six different task forces, all under the name of the First Fleet. The fleet included all of the Dreadnought class battleships (except for the Missouri, which was undergoing repairs), 10 of the 14 Repulse class battlecruisers, every Argus class starfighter carrier, over a hundred Londons and Baltimores, a dozen Imperators, dozens of heavy and light cruisers, and the Freedom, as well as dozens of transports and several interdiction cruisers to prevent any Imperial ships from escaping.
This fleet is the largest assemblage of the Terran Starfleet since the Battle of Earth, and is made of the best the Starfleet has. The six task forces are led by some of the most skilled admirals in the fleet. Task Force 36, which includes the Freedom, is commanded by Fleet Admiral Jones. Task Force 38 is commanded by Admiral Montgomery. Task Force 39 is commanded by Vice Admiral Paparo. Task Force 40 is commanded by Fleet Admiral Korolyov. Task Force 42 is commanded by Fleet Admiral Takei. Task Force 43 is commanded by Admiral Tyson. Of course, Thrawn had overall command of the entire fleet, and all of the task force commanders had been selected by Thrawn himself.
Ships had been gathering at Naboo for the last few days. At the same time, the New Republic fleet had been gathering at Chandrilla. The two fleets were to rendezvous at Fondor, and then proceed to Jakku.
The shuttle heads right for the Freedom, proceeding straight to the hangar, where it lands right in the center of the hangar. The pilot lowers the boarding ramp, allowing Thrawn and Rommel to disembark before taking back off to take Paparo to the Scharnhorst, his flagship.
Thrawn and Rommel make their way up to the bridge, their bodyguards escorting them. Even aboard the Freedom, they're not taking a chance at such a crucial moment.
It takes them almost 20 minutes to reach the bridge. As they come onto the bridge, the entire bridge comes to attention.
"As you were," Thrawn calls, and the bridge crew returns to their duties.
Thrawn and Rommel both approach the viewport. After several minutes, Thrawn calls out, "Prepare for the jump to hyperspace."
The order is relayed across the fleet, and one by one, the ships turn to assume the proper course for the hyperspace jump. Finally, the fleet is in position.
"Jumping to hyperspace in three, two, one," the chief navigation officer calls out. And with his words, the Freedom jumps to hyperspace, with the rest of the ships following. At least, the fleet is on its way.
(October 17, 2018)
Aboard the Freedom, Thrawn watches the progress of the joint Republic-Terran Fleet, known as the Combined Fleet, on a screen. The Combined Fleet is only a few minutes away from emerging from hyperspace over Jakku.
Thrawn has spent the last few days since leaving Naboo going every bit of intelligence on Rax' forces. He has long memorized the most comprehensive report on present Imperial forces.
This battle is going to be one of the biggest of the war. Thrawn will be leading the Combined Fleet during the space battle from the bridge, while Rommel will be leading all of the ground forces from another command center elsewhere in the ship. The Freedom had been designed to also be a mobile command center for multiple fronts and theaters, and had a number of command centers inside it to enable commanding officers to command forces in multiple battles at once.
"Are all forces prepared?" Thrawn asks.
"Yes, sir. All ships are at maximum readiness and the troops are ready to go," Admiral Jones, commander of Task Force 36, responds.
"Good," Thrawn responds. He looks at a screen near him, showing their position in hyperspace relative to Jakku. The progress report shows they are approaching the end of the run.
"Signal the fleet. I want all weapons ready to fire the moment we come out of hyperspace," Thrawn orders.
Thrawn watches as the symbols representing the fleet get closer and closer to Jakku. As the countdown to the end of the run goes below one minute, Thrawn moves over to the viewport.
Finally, one of the navigation officers calls out, "Sir, we're coming out of hyperspace in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now!"
Right on cue, the Freedom drops out of hyperspace along with the rest of the Combined Fleet.
Thrawn looks out of the viewport as Jakku comes into view. Sure enough, the Imperial fleet over the planet is just as big as reports suggested. Over a thousand Star Destroyers, a few hundred cruisers and frigates, several battlecruisers and dreadnoughts, and at the heart of the fleet, the Ravager. A few hundred ships are grouped around the Ravager as a sort of protective shield, while the rest of the fleet is arranged in battle formation around the planet. Thrawn does a quick analysis and sees that although the fleet is spread across a large section of space, he can see various ways past the fleet to reach the planet's surface.
"It's time. Order the New Republic fleet to move forward and begin the attack, and order Paparo forward to attack the left flank of the Imperial fleet," Thrawn orders.
The bridge crew quickly transmits Thrawn's orders over to Admiral Ackbar. The New Republic fleet moves forward to begin a head on attack, launching their starfighters as they go, as Paparo's Task Force 42 separates from the rest of the Terran fleet and moves to attack the left flank of the Imperial fleet.
Between the two fleets, thousands of starfighters from both sides streak towards each other. Right at the head of the Terran starfighter forces are the Hammer Squadron and the Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney.
In his cockpit, Jonathan goes over his systems one more time. He then calls back to Alex in the backseat, "Alright, Alex, let's give these bastards a hammering!"
"Yeah!" Alex cheers in agreement.
Jonathan shoves the throttles forward and streaks towards the incoming TIE fighters. Alex calls out, "I've got a lock!" Jonathan squeezes the trigger, sending a SIM-120 into the mass of TIE fighters, blowing one apart.
Jonathan streaks into the mass of TIE fighters, firing his laser cannons into the swarming TIE fighters and destroying two. He banks hard right to avoid laser fire from a TIE interceptor. Looking around, he sees all of the other Terran and Republic fighters beginning to engage the Imperial fighters in a series of hundreds of massive dogfights. He quickly refocuses on the fight around him.
As the series of massive dogfights are breaking out between the fleets, Task Force 42 moves towards the left flank of the Imperial fleet. Aboard the Scharnhorst, Vice Admiral Paparo orders, "Order the Dreadnought and the Baltimores forward, and scramble all bombers."
In a matter of moments, the Dreadnought and the five Baltimore class Star Destroyers of Task Force 42 advance to the front of the line as every ship of the task force launches its bombers. As they get closer, the Dreadnought fires its bombardment cannons at a pair of Imperial II class Star Destroyers. The blasts tear through their shields and shred the forward parts of the ships as bombers streak in towards their targets.
As Task Force 42 begins its attack, aboard the Freedom, Thrawn is watching as the battle is unfolding before his eyes. As he watches the New Republic's fleet attacking the Ravager's escorts, he sees a lull in the Empire's defenses that is just enough for them to slip transports through. At the same time, he sees a gap forming in the Imperial line not far from the Ravager that is just big enough for them to slip an entire ship through.
"Signal both sections of the fleet. Begin landing operations. Send individual landing craft through the gaps in their defenses around the Ravager, and get as many Halsey class ships as possible through that gap before the Empire closes it," Thrawn orders.
The orders are quickly transmitted across the Combined Fleet. U-Wings from the New Republic vessels and Pathfinder and Starlifter II shuttles begin taking off and heading for the planet's surface, escorted by a few squadrons of X-Wings and Su-36s. At the same time, three William F. Halsey class assault ships head for the gap in the Imperial lines as four London class Star Destroyers also move forward to help keep the gap open for the assault ships.
The four Londons separate into pairs and open fire with every weapon they have, and several fighter and bomber squadrons move to support them. Behind them, the three assault ships, the Takeo Kurita, Ulysses S Grant and Raymond Spruance, move through the gap and descend towards Jakku's surface.
As the two ships descend into the atmosphere, the shuttles are already landing, depositing New Republic commando forces, as well as elements of the 101st Airborne and the most of the Saudi Army's 4th Armoured Brigade. The plan is for these units to fight their way to the Imperial facility called the Observatory.
As the forces deposited by the shuttles begin to organize and prepare for their advances, and some of them begin to engage Imperial scouting forces, the three assault ships reach the surface. The three ships are carrying ground forces and aircraft, as well as building materials to build a temporary military airfield. The ships quickly begin releasing their ground forces, which include the Iraqi 6th Armored Division, the Pakistani 1st Armored Division, and the Egyptian 19th Infantry Division.
As the ground forces prepare to begin their advances, on board the Freedom, Thrawn is still monitoring the space battle. Suddenly, his earpiece activates, and he hears Rommel's voice saying, "Thrawn, our ground forces have landed and are preparing to advance on Imperial positions."
"Good," Thrawn responds.
(October 18, 2018)
Jonathan grits his teeth as he streaks low over the hull of a Tector class Star Destroyer, trying to avoid laser fire from a pair of TIE interceptors on his tail. A laser bolt flies just a few feet past his canopy, causing him to swear as he banks to avoid another blast.
It's been about 24 hours since the Battle of Jakku began. The initial momentum of the Terran/Republic attack has petered out a bit. The New Republic fleet, as well as Task Force 39, have been trying to whittle away the defensive line around the Ravager, but have not had much success. The Imperial strategy has enabled them to both utilize the Ravager's incredible firepower and protect the massive ship from damage. The Republic/Terran attack had managed to push back the defensive line around the Ravager, but had so far not managed to breach the line.
At the same time, four of five remaining Terran task forces were engaging other sections of the Imperial fleet. These were Task Forces 38, 40, 42, and 43. Most of Task Force 36, which was the central task force and the one centered around the Freedom, was being held in reserve.
The battle is a bit of a stalemate for the moment. Thrawn has been hoping that the presence of the Freedom would lure the Ravager out of its defensive screen. However, the Imperial commanders had proved to be more cautious with the Ravager than expected.
Jonathan curses again as more laser fire flies past his canopy. Getting on the radio, he yells out, "This is Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Page! I've got two TIE interceptors on my six! I need help!"
"I'm always here to get you out of trouble." Jonathan smiles as he hears this familiar voice come over the radio. Looking behind him, he sees Abigail streaking in, firing her laser cannons, blasting one interceptor apart, and then the other.
"That's about the fourteenth time you owe me for saving your ass," Abigail says as she forms up off his right wing.
"Good to know you're keeping count, Abigail. How about we settle my life debt if we survive this battle?" Jonathan says, smirking under his oxygen mask, before snapping into a tight right turn, Abigail following him.
Jonathan quickly sees a TIE up ahead. Jonathan quickly locks up the TIE and fires a SIM-9, blowing it apart. It's his 33rd kill in the last day.
Jonathan scans the space around him. He can see several London class Star Destroyers hammering away the defensive line around the Ravager along with an MC80 Star Cruiser from the New Republic fleet. However, the Imperials are utilizing the Ravager's firepower excellently, and the attack is not having much effect on the defensive line.
Deciding that enough is enough, Jonathan gets on the radio back to the controllers on the Freedom and says, "This is Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Page. Our progress is stalling out here! We're not going to be able to hit the Ravager, let alone destroy her, if we don't do something big. I think it's time to pull out the big guns."
"Understood. We will relay the message onto Grand Admiral Thrawn," the controller responds.
On the bridge, Thrawn is watching as the battle is continuing to rage all around him. Most of the battle has stalled, although Task Force 40, under Fleet Admiral Korolyov, has hit the right flank of the Imperial fleet hard, and is on the verge of sundering the Imperial lines between the Ravager and the command ship for the right flank of the fleet, a Bellator class dreadnought. However, to his dismay, the efforts to break the line around the Ravager have still failed. He is somewhat surprised at the cautiousness being displayed by the Empire, as they have never been so cautious with one of their Super Star Destroyers. However, he feels confident he can still succeed.
"Grand Admiral!"
Thrawn turns to one of his communications officers who called to him. "Yes, Commander?" he asks.
"We received a message from one of the Hammer Squadron. He said he doesn't think we can break the defensive line around the Ravager anytime soon with our current strategy. In his own words, we need to 'pull out the big guns'," the Malaysian commander says.
Thrawn is quiet for a moment before grinning the slightest grin. He had just been thinking the same thing. He had been hesitant to take this step because of orders from the Joint Command and the Council of Five, but recognizes it's necessary at this point. Now, he turns to several other officers and says, "Gentlemen, I believe it's time. Call down to the hangar. Order our bombers to be armed with Krayts. I want them all to focus on the defensive line around the Ravager."
"Yes, sir," one of the officers says with a grin as he moves to send the orders down to the hangar bay.
In a matter of minutes, weapons crews down in the hangar bays are racing about, hurrying to follow Thrawn's orders, wheeling carts towards waiting bombers, each cart bearing an AS-32 Krayt. The Krayt is a Russian designed nuclear missile designed for anti-starship use. In space, it moves so fast that the human eye can't properly keep up. It is also capable of penetrating most ship's shields thanks to special technology in the nose of the missile, and carries a 500 kiloton warhead capable of destroying almost any ship in the Imperial fleet in one hit.
The ordnance crews race to get the missiles to the waiting bombers. It takes them a little over half an hour to arm and fuel the craft.
Finally, all of the bombers and Space Eagles are ready to go. The Freedom's air boss, an American captain, gives the order to launch. One by one, the bombers take to the air. There are only a handful of bombers available as a number of the Freedom's bombers have already been scrambled throughout the battle. However, in total, 32 SB-1B and B-3 bombers take off, each one carrying three Krayts. It's not enough to destroy all of the Star Destroyers protecting the Ravager, not even half of them, but it will be enough to break the line. In addition, 36 more bombers from the carrier Kitty Hawk, the only starfighter carrier in Task Force 36, also armed with Krayts, will be joining the attack. With the number of Star Destroyers they will be able to destroy, it should be enough to break the defensive line around the Ravager.
As the bombers streak towards their targets, Jonathan sees them coming in his direction. As he sees TIE fighters starting to head in their direction to intercept them, he calls out over the radio, "Hammer Squadron, we've got friendly bombers inbound, and they've got TIE fighters heading right for them! Let's keep those TIES away from them."
"Let's do it boys!" Captain Sharvit calls out over the radio. The Hammer Squadron all turn to engage the TIE fighters, along with several Republic X-Wings that are nearby.
The TIEs get to their targets first. Opening fire, they quickly shoot down two SB-1Bs. Before they can shoot down any more, Sharvit gets a lock on one and shoots it down with a SIM-9.
The rest of the Hammer Squadron and the Republic X-Wings streak in, firing their laser cannons and trying desperately to keep the TIEs off of the bombers. Jonathan weaves his way through laser fire while firing his own laser cannons in return. In a few seconds, he blows two interceptors to dust.
As the SF-15s and X-Wings do all they can to keep the TIE fighters occupied, the bombers press on towards their targets. Several more bombers are destroyed by laser fire, but the survivors, numbering 60, press on. The bombers separate into pairs, with some swinging around to the other side of the Ravager to hit the Star Destroyers on the other side of the Super Star Destroyer.
As they begin their final approach, the pilot commanding the bombers calls out, "Launch on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark!" On that signal, each of the remaining bombers launch a Krayt at a targeted Star Destroyer.
More TIE fighters streak in, managing to destroy two more bombers before a trio of SF-23s streak in to keep the TIEs away from the bombers. Undeterred by that and turbolaser fire streaking towards them, the remaining bombers lock and fire their next volley. Rushing slightly, they lock their last missiles and fire. The bombers then immediately break away and head back towards the Freedom and Kitty Hawk.
As the bombers retreat, 176 Krayts streak towards their targets. Crewmen on the Imperial ships are able to just register streaks of light moving too fast to keep track of. Then, the first missile finds its mark, the Star Destroyer Eradicator, and destroys it in a massive fireball.
Instantly, fear begins to fill the hearts of Imperial crews. They recognize that the Terrans are conducting a mass nuclear attack. This wouldn't be the first time. All of them remember a story from just a few months earlier of how the Terran Alliance sent a massive fighter and bomber force to launch a nuclear attack against an Imperial fleet stationed above Anaxes. Reports from the few survivors said that the nuclear missiles launched by the Terrans had destroyed almost 500 Imperial warships.
The memory of that report is running through the minds of thousands of Imperial crewmen as another Star Destroyer is destroyed by a Krayt. Some crewmen begin running for the escape pods, but only a very few manage to make it to the escape pods before their ships are destroyed. Missile after missile streaks in and hits home. In all, 176 Imperial class Star Destroyers surrounding the Ravager are destroyed. In a matter of moments, only about a third of the Star Destroyers protecting the Ravager are still intact.
On board the Ravager, Grand Moff Rand is now extremely nervous. Especially knowing the amount of firepower the Terran Alliance and Republic together possess, the Imperial strategy had depended heavily on being able to keep the Ravager protected. Now, most of its screen is gone.
On board the Freedom, Thrawn smiles slightly. Now, the opportunity is open. He's now ready to destroy the Ravager. While the Freedom could destroy the ship single-handedly, as it demonstrated several months ago when it destroyed the Super Star Destroyer Reaper in a one on one duel at Bilbringi, Thrawn doesn't see anything wrong with backup.
"Advance. I want the task force to engage the remaining escorts, and all available heavy ships to engage the Ravager," Thrawn orders.
Task Force 36 moves forward, heading straight for the Ravager and its escorts as the New Republic fleet intensifies its attack against the remaining escorts. At the same time, several battlecruisers from other task forces change course to reinforce the Freedom.
Aboard the Ravager, Grand Moff Rand watches as the Star Destroyers and cruisers of Task Force 36 begin engaging his escorts. At the same time, he nervously watches as the Freedom, Repulse, Lutzow, Hood, Challenger, and Bismarck assemble just out of weapons range of the Ravager.
Thrawn waits for the reinforcing heavy ships to form up on the Freedom. Once all of them have assembled, Thrawn orders them forwards.
Rand watches as the 6 capital ships advance towards the Ravager. As soon as the lead ship, the Challenger, gets within range, Rand orders, "All batteries fire!"
Every weapons battery available immediately opens fire on the Challenger. The battlecruiser alters course slightly, returning fire with every weapon it has. Within just a few minutes, the remaining Terran warships open fire with all available batteries as Terran fighters swarm over the Ravager, firing missiles and proton torpedoes and dropping bombs.
Explosions tear into the Ravager as the Freedom comes up alongside the ship. Some crew begin to panic, recognizing that they are hopelessly outgunned facing six of the Terran Alliance's most powerful warships. On the bridge, Rand shouts, "Fire back with everything we have!"
Even as Rand says this, the Ravager's gunners recognize that even against just the Freedom, they're outgunned. And with 4 Repulse class battlecruisers and a Dreadnought class battleship attacking as well, they all know it's just a matter of time.
About twenty minutes into this duel, the last of the Ravager's shields falter. Aboard the Freedom, Thrawn orders, "Target the bridge with all available railguns."
The order is quickly relayed to the gunners. A minute later, five railguns along the Freedom's port side fire at the Ravager's bridge. All five projectiles hit their target, tearing through the bridge and killing Grand Moff Randd.
Right at that moment, the Hood, which has pushed right through the remaining defensive screen around the Ravager and come around behind the massive ship, opens fire on the Ravager's engines with every weapons battery she has at the same time as a number of SF-15s and SFA-18s make attack runs on the engines. It doesn't take more than a few minutes before all of the Ravager's engines have been destroyed or disabled.
With her engines disabled, and her bridge destroyed, the Ravager quickly begins to lose power. In a matter of minutes, the crews on the Terran ships see the massive ship slowly descending towards Jakku, and it becomes clear that the ship can no longer resist the pull of gravity, and is on its way down. Slowly, but surely, the Ravager falls into Jakku's atmosphere, on course for a crash landing in the sands of Jakku.
On board the Freedom, Thrawn grins triumphantly. "They are weakening. They cannot stand much longer. We will crush them all," he says firmly.
And, I will end the chapter there. I decided this was as good a place as any to end the chapter.
So, I mentioned a new class of ship in this. The William F Halsey class. They're assault ships based on the Acclamator class. In fact, they're almost identical in outward appearance, but are almost 50 percent larger.
So, next chapter will focus more on the ground battle, and will wrap up the Battle of Jakku. I could've gone for three chapters with this battle, but I didn't want this to last too long, and this battle is just so big I can't include too much of it, or it would last forever. So, I'm gonna keep it to two chapters.
Given the time I've had because of the glitch, I've already written the next chapter, so I'm going to post it in a few hours. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!