Chapter 14: Surprise
Davin Felth smiled as he watched the Imperial walkers approaching the Rebel base in standard formation. Being escorted by the Juggernaut tanks and protected by the TIEs of Sword and Black Squadron, they were doing exactly what he would have done in their place.
Which is precisely what Davin wanted to happen.
"Execute Operation Surprise!" Davin announced into his comlink.
Suddenly, junk fell away from hidden weapon emplacements. Turbolasers and ion cannons leaped up from concealed spots, and suddenly the Imperial advance was immersed in heavy weapons fire. Two salvaged Canderous Assault Tanks with heavy rail repeaters rumbled up a ridge, and opened fire upon the two TIE squadrons, their modified droid brains easily identifying enemy from friend.
Then Davin slammed his hand down on another heavy switch, and swung his own vehicle into battle.
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General Veers couldn't believe it! The sheer wall of firepower that now engulfed his forces was almost impossible to imagine. He saw salvaged weaponry from nearly every race, some of them worse than others. One of his Juggernauts rumbled to a stop because the entire cockpit section had been hulled by a huge rocket fired from a Nagai rocket pod. He saw an AT-AT get hit by several bore rounds from Arkania, the strange shells drilling into the AT-AT's heavy armor before detonating.
Then his eyes opened wide in surprise when he saw another AT-AT, an old one from the Clone Wars, stand up to face them, and then open up with its two huge storm-bolter cannons. The AT-AT next to Veers's own took the brunt of the impact; explosions riddled the walker as the heavy bolts smashed into the walkers head and neck section. Whoever was driving that walker knew exactly where to hit them.
"All weaponry on that walker!" Veer's ordered quickly. "Take him out!"
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"Activate shield generators." Davin said to his tech crew. Suddenly there was a flare of light near the back of the AT-AT, and a salvaged Gungan energy shield enveloped the old warbeast in a protective field of energy, just as it was hit by several blasts from AT-AT's, Juggernauts and attack tanks.
Everything was going exactly as Davin had said it would.
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Leia corkscrewed her fighter through the blasts of the TIE that was pursuing her. Jek Porkins' Y-wing flew right over her head, barely a meter above Red(who squealed in alarm) and vaporized her attacker. "Good flying Jek!" she said, flipping her X-wing down towards another TIE, her boyfriend Wedge already racking up the kills in her flight path. "Jek, Keyan, your with me." She announced over the comm.
Jek Porkins and Keyan Farlander both acknowledged her signal with twin clicks over the comm, and fell into place next to her X-wing. Keyan smiled an anticipatory smile. "We going for surprise number two?"
Leia grinned like a maniac. "You guessed it. Dive down towards those TIEs with me, then go for your true targets."
Jek whooped a war cry as the infamous Belly Runner once again found his calling. "Goin for the deck!" he yelled, his X-wing screaming through the air next to the other fighters.
Leia opened up at extreme range for the TIEs in front of her, while Keyan and Jek peppered the area around her target zone with multiple small shots. The TIEs scrambled out of her range up and down, instead of into the firing zone of Jek and Keyan… then Leia triggered her torpedoes.
Six proton torpedoes flew straight and true directly down into the midst of the Imperial ground forces.
"Juggernaut dead!" Jek yelled. "AT-AT damaged." Leia said, a little disappointed, while Keyan turned his fighter towards the TIEs. "Heads up! We got more incoming!"
Wedge Antilles acknowledged that news. "I got two more squadrons of TIES heading our way."
Rogue Squadron went to war.
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Darth Vader picked himself up from the wreckage of the Juggernaut. His anger was so palpable at Ozzel that if the Admiral was still alive, Vader would have cloned him just to kill him a second time. The Rebels had been more than prepared for their arrival. Igniting his lightsaber, he leaped towards the Rebel base, intercepting shots with his blade with ease, reflecting them back to their source. Several Rebel weapon emplacements exploded spectacularly.
Behind him the remnants of his 501st rallied together. "FOR VADER! FOR THE EMPIRE!" One of them yelled, and the stormtroopers charged after their leader.
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Above in orbit, Jareth Stryder and Blaine Taka'na flew like avenging angels, beyond any mortal power to resist or stop. Faced with the red-trimmed Y-wing or the black-trimmed B-wing, all any TIE pilot could do was consign himself to death.
The last six fighters of Dark Squadron, and the last eight of Shadow were nearing the end. They were being slowly overwhelmed by sheer numbers. No matter how good a pilot you were, numbers counted for something. Jareth smiled as he clicked his comm. "Ya know buddy, when you're in that upper-right-hand corner, pushing that envelope, and the 'CANCEL' stamp comes our way, I'll meet you on the other side."
Blaine smiled as he destroyed yet another TIE. "I'll be there."
Suddenly, almost half of the Imperial Fleet started to turn away from Raxus Prime. "What the hell is going on?" Jareth asked. Several squadrons of TIEs that had been in the battle turned away from them and headed back to their mother ships. "No way it's that easy." Blaine said softly.
Jareth turned his fighter towards another group of TIEs. "Something big is happening."
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Chi stared daggers at the holographic image of Grand Admiral Zaarin. "What in the nine shades of darkness are you doing, Zaarin? Why are you pulling your forces out!? We nearly have them!"
Grand Admiral Zaarin looked calm and collected at the little girls fury. "I have received reports of an attack on my scientific installation. You know that Emperor Palpatine will be furious if that station was to be lost. I have decided to take my forces to Nomlis III to save Obsidian Base."
Admiral Piett looked at little Chi in concern. "My lady, if those ships leave our blockade, the Rebels will easily be able to slip through our forces. Not even the Executor could make up for it."
Chi trembled with anger, but knew that Palpatine would be upset at the loss of all those credits and experimental fighters. She knew now that the Rebel forces would easily be able to escape. It seems that the Battle of Raxus Prime would not be the end of the Rebellion like she hoped. "Very well, Grand Admiral." She said through gritted teeth. She turned to Piett after a moment, and spoke slowly. "Have the Executor send down more ground forces. Lord Vader needs backup."
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As roughly half of the Imperial Fleet jumped to lightspeed, the Rebels couldn't believe it. General Reikaan smiled in disbelief. "Shadow and Dark Squadron did better than I had ever possibly dreamed!" he said to Bail Organa. "This is incredible!"
Bail shook his head slowly. "I don't believe they would have left just because of two squadrons of fighters. I believe that something else has happened. Something that is more important that destroying us."
Reikaan looked at the Viceroy of Alderaan, and looked scared for a moment. "What could be more important than destroying us to the Empire?"
Bail listened as reports of Imperial troops approaching the base was announced. "Another threat more dangerous than us. We better get to our ships."
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Darth Vader sliced his way through the bulkhead of Indomitable Base. Being followed by fifty seven of the 501st, all that remained of his personal forces on the ground, he was easily able to enter the base. General Veers and his ground forces were still locked in battle with the Rebel fortifications and that old Clone Wars relic. He started to stalk the halls of the base, looking for his Jedi prey.