Chapter 1
Betrayal! The Empire rises in power quietly after Order 66 had been executed by the sinister Darth Sidious, the self-proclaimed Galactic Emperor. With the Jedi gone and the old Republic dissolved, only a few remote Separatist holdouts stand in the way of imperial domination.
The 707th Legion has been assigned to track down and destroy a renegade Separatist fleet under the command of a rogue tactical droid located on the edge of The Unknown Regions. Accompanying them is one of the Empire's elite starfighter units, Ghost Squadron. The two units have seen a lot during the Clone Wars, fighting under the Republic's flag with pride and ferocity.
With the Jedi eliminated, the 707th Legion and Ghost Squadron were two of the several military units that answer to Emperor Palpatine. They crush any resistance that stands in the way of the Empire, and follow orders without question. It was their sole purpose, the only thing they specialize in, and that was to annihilate all those who opposed Palpatine's rise of power. That was until that very battle that altered their lives for eternity…
Location: Imperial Venator Star Destroyer "The Huntress" The Unknown Regions
"All fighters, begin the assault!" exclaimed Admiral Caddel, the officer in command of the imperial fleet. ARC-170's painted pitch black sped past the ship like a fleet of shooting stars as they began their assault on the surrounding vulture droid dispensers, those very starfighters were belonged to Ghost Squadron. In response, unmanned vulture droids came out from the Separatist fleet to counter-attack the approaching imperial starfighters. An all-out war begins, or in other words, just another day in the Empire.
It had taken a few days of cross-referencing maps of the sector and then the system they narrowed down to, but the Imperials had finally found the base that the droid forces were using as a staging point to attack various Imperial shipping lanes on the edge of the Unknown Regions. To Caddel's displeasure, a new general was given command of the task force since intelligence suggested most of the fighting would be on the planet below given how only two frigates and multiple droid landers had been spotted in the area.
General Marlow was inexperienced, ambitious, and seemed to care more about his political status in the new order than being an effective commander. Caddel suspected Marlow had only gotten his position due to his political connections and the need to fill in the now-vacant positions of most Jedi generals from the Clone Wars.
Sometimes Caddel wished General Raeth was still here, the Jedi general that once fought alongside the 707th during the Clone Wars. He was a Jedi who cared deeply for his troopers and a close friend to Caddel. Order 66 to the admiral was very troubling, but orders were orders and ultimately he thought it was best to move on and finally stamp out the last remains of the CIS so that the galaxy could finally experience peace for once.
Surprisingly the droids were not as numerous as expected. Preliminary scans revealed the sizable base on an unnamed planet in the unknown regions had only a fair amount of anti-air defenses, a communications outpost, a large sensor dish, shield generator, an underground munitions factory, several droid landers, and various other buildings with an estimated battle droid complement of twenty thousand. If it weren't for the shield generator, Caddel would've simply glassed the droids from orbit now that he finally had some Victory Star Destroyers in the fleet, looks like he has to use the old traditional tactic of plain brute force.
Thankfully Marlow often kept his nose out of Caddel's fleet commanding and strategizing unless it involved ground forces, meaning Caddel was free to order the fleet around unhindered. As Caddel looked over the in time holographic display being projected over the holotable, the enemy defenses became clear. The enemy had set up their defenses in front of the main hyperspace route in and out of the system.
They consisted of six vulture droid dispensers, six anti-starfighter satellite turrets, four concussion missile satellite turrets, three asteroids with light turbolaser turrets built onto them, and two frigates. There were three of the anti starfighter satellite turrets, one of the missile satellite turrets, and two of the asteroid gun emplacements were positioned to the right of the hyperspace lane, while the rest of the static defenses were positioned by the left, the dispensers in the front, and finally the frigates in the middle.
"Lieutenant, tell our compatriots in the starfighter command bridge to have the four V-Wing squadrons we launched from our two Acclamators and two Victory Star Destroyers to form a fighter screen for the fleet. Tell our starfighters they may engage targets of opportunity, but to prioritize the defense of our ships" Caddell says to a bridge communications officer. The man replied with a "Yes Sir" as he issued out the order through one of the computers in the crew pit.
Caddell continued to give out orders: "Now order the Insolent and Piercer to fire upon the enemy frigates at long range with us. For the defenses on the left, I want the Hammer, Corsair, Marduk, Ural, and StarFury to engage. For the right, send the Vestal, Tenacity, Unstoppable, Alto, and Valiant. The Mercy, Hope, Reliever, Unity, Paladin, and Dispatcher are to hang back and only engage enemy fighters that fly near them with their point defense systems."
As the Admiral's orders were carried out, a Dreadnaught-Class Heavy Cruiser, Acclamator, Carrack, Arquintens, and a Consular Corvette moved to engage the defenses on the left while another Dreadnaught, Carrack, two Arquintens, and Consular moved to the right with the Dreadnaught taking point. To the admiral, it was like watching space chess.
As the attacking ships engage, the two Victory Star Destroyers and Venator unleashed hell upon the two frigates while three Pelta-Class Medical Frigates, two Consular Corvettes, and an Acclamator hung back to watch the show.
Location: Ghost Squadron, Combat Airspace
"Watch your six Ghost Three!" exclaimed a Ghost Squadron pilot as he shook the vulture droids off his teammates rear, firing away with the ARC-170's two medium laser cannons which led him to score a kill. Laser bolts of green and red exchange as imperial and separatist fighters alike chase down each other for the fight of space superiority.
The Separatist turrets fired at the incoming fighter craft as they try to pick them off to help their vulture droids soften the opposing pressure. "I can't get these clankers off my tail!" exclaimed Ghost Seven, as his fighter is getting pummeled by three vulture droids firing away with their laser cannons. "My shields are failing, this might be the e~" In a flash of light, the three vulture droids get shot down, Ghost Seven looked up to see the fighter that saved his life. It was a modified Z-95 headhunter, the faster and more agile version of the 170. It was Ghost Leader, the leader of the fighter squadron.
"Ghost Leader, you're a bit late to the party." Ghost Seven says in relief. Ghost Leader responded, "That's three you owe me now, Ghost Seven. I want you and your gunner to spend four extra hours in the simulator after this." Ghost Leader was adept at perceiving flaws within his crew members, though not in an arrogant or demeaning manner, he was more of a constructive critic that tried to improve his peers the best he could in the hopes that it would increase their chances of survival and success against any struggles they experienced. For the past month, however, he was only able to issue critiques that involved orders, or those related to the battlefield, something kept itching in his mind. It was as if something... horrible had happened…
Any thoughts of it were quickly diminished as new orders were given to target the asteroid gun emplacements after the vulture droids were eradicated and the line of support ships had breached a hole in the planet's surrounding defensive satellite turrets to the right.
One Y-Wing Squadron launched from The Huntress was also now set to assist the ARC-170s and single Z-95 of Ghost Squadron once the vultures were mostly wiped out. Ghost Leader spotted a vulture droid below, he turns his starfighter into a dive, and scores an easy kill. A 170 sped by to the right with two vultures on its tail. As Ghost Leader moved to assist, one of the vultures exploded as the gunner on the 170 scored a kill. The other vulture broke off, only to be torn apart by a volley of blue laser fire from Ghost Leader.
Checking his sensors, Ghost Leader counted only 10 small red blips left. It went down to eight after two vultures strayed too close to a Carrack and were shot down by its point defense system. With the enemy fighters mostly taken care of, Ghost Squadron and the Y-wings began their attack on the droid defenses.
Ghost Leader heads towards the line of support ships, that is when a vulture droid charged him head-on releasing a torrent of laser fire, only for it to miss. Corkscrewing to the right and turning onto the droid's six, he lets loose his own barrage of laser fire that found its target. Ghost Leader swiveled his head to watch the destruction of two anti starfighter satellites as the line of support ships broke through.
A missile turret satellite and the other anti starfighter satellite quickly joined the previous two, but a Dreadnaught was already starting to take fire from the gun emplacements. Ghost Squadron quickly lessened the heat as the ARC 170s and accompanying Y-Wings all let loose a few of their proton torpedoes now that the two asteroids on the left portion had no defenses against the starfighters.
The Munificent Frigates had been destroyed shortly before the gun emplacements. With only two heavy turbo laser cannons and two long-range ion cannons, they simply couldn't compete with the sheer firepower of the Imperial fleet in front of them. The orbital defenses were easily mopped up, only a few vulture droids that were attached to the frigates remained.
The droid starfighters attempted to at least score a few kills before their inevitable destruction, but Ghost Squadron wouldn't even grant them that satisfaction. In the end, the imperials had only lost four V-wings and suffered some minor damage to one of the Dreadnaughts.
While the starfighters began to clean things up and destroy any remaining vultures. Aboard the other destroyer known as the Insolen, General Marlow gathered his two officers to discuss what's the next step to this invasion. "I say an all-out ground assault, flatten those clankers. And show who they're messing with!" suggested an imperial clone officer. "No, we should proceed carefully. Send in recon to make sure those droids are truly weakened before making our full on-ground assault." suggested another one.
However, General Marlow dismissed them both and went with the first officer's suggestion. "An all-out ground invasion would swiftly bring those worthless droids to their doom. Fighting losing battles was all they ever knew during the Clone Wars."
Acclamator Class Assault Ship: "Dispatcher"
"Captain Saber, there's a transmission from General Marlow." a clone officer reported from his comlink. The bridge doors open, a clone trooper by the name of Saber walks into the command center where a huge hologram table was placed, the clone officers on deck cease their actions and saluted the trooper.
Yet he wasn't just any clone; he was an ARC Trooper. ARC Troopers served as the Grand Army of the Republic's elite warriors until the war's conclusion. He wore a double-sided pauldron in the colors of black and navy blue, with a magazine pouch fastened to the right side of the collarbone piece that covered the right pec of the chestplate, and his phase two helmet, which was painted navy blue with tiger fangs to represent power and fury.
Also, the armor was painted with blue stripes that stood for the 707th, the clone legion he served with for the most of his military career. General Marlow's holographic image was mirrored in Ghost's visor as he turned on the hologram table. "Greetings Captain, your next task is to command the legion into an all-out ground invasion and swiftly destroy these droids. Prove to me that you clones haven't become helpless and ineffective." Marlow demands.
The doors behind Saber opened to show two clone troopers at the gateway as the broadcast started to fade. One is a trooper known as Ram who is an asset to the captain and still dons phase one armor, the heavier forerunner to phase two. The armor is covered with battle scars all over, has a self-painted crack down the left side of the helmet, ammo pouches that are firmly strapped around the waist, and night vision goggles that are attached to the helmet.
The second soldier, Jyn, is sporting a helmet designed for biker commandos and a more streamlined variant of phase two armor that improved flexibility and agility. When required, the trooper's two elbows each have a vibroblade attached for close quarters. Like their leader, they both donned the navy blue and white uniform of their unit. The two soldiers were Saber's most trusted.
"Ey! Ram exclaimed, "General Marlow being an asshat again?," confounding not only Jyn but every officer on the bridge. Saber was startled by the statement and turned around to see his old friend instead of someone else. "Who the hell- Oh Ram. I didn't predict your presence. Hadn't you just finished training? Ram instantly approached his friend and extended his arm, which Saber gratefully accepted.
"That's correct, but I had just gotten instructions from Marlow to join you and Mr. Insanity over here in the ground invasion." Saber peered over Ram's shoulder to where Jyn was standing. When the two of them drew near, they formed a "X" with their gauntlets and nodded to one another in silence. Saber informs them of what they had missed. "General Marlow has ordered us to launch an all-out ground attack against the clankers. We will quickly defeat them like General Marlow instructed us to do by taking the entire legion. We're leaving at 00:40, so get the troopers and equipment ready." The two troopers nodded and made haste, relaying their captain's instructions through their comlinks.
As the 707th began to gear up, the Acclamators and Peltas began to make their descent to the uninhabited planet classified as QR85. Saber was ready for the fight, it's been a while since he and the others had last seen any action and they were itching for a chance to get back into the frey. Not to be confused with the 501st legion, the 707th were still one of the legions that saw a lot during the Clone War, fighting in countless battles, with tons of droid kill counts added to their record that they even lost track of how many they shot down.
Now, they are going to put an end to this droid resistance, these clankers will be destroyed once and for all by the sheer power of the New Empire. The three troopers walked into the hangar, they observed their brethren hurrying around. Some checked their blasters if they had their gas cartridges replaced for maximum fire power and efficiency, if not there were already several troopers replacing them if needed. Some prepared the gunships that are going to be used for the invasion. The LAAT Gunship, a state of the art gunship designed by Rothana Heavy Engineering, was made to be the most reliable source of low altitude troop transport. It has two twin missile launchers attached to the top, followed by two laser cannon turrets mounted at the front. It also came with the optional turrets that can be manned on the sides which can cut down enemy vulture droids who dare to attack from behind.
In the next hangar on the opposite side to where Ghost, Jyn and Ram, stood several AT-TE's (All Terrain Tactical Enforcer), better known as walkers. They were massive, sporting six legs, six laser cannon turrets and a huge heavy projectile cannon on the top. Considered as the armor division of the clone army, AT-TE's were widely used in ground battles to pressure hostile infantry, destroy bunkers and clear out choke points.
The three troops arrive to LAAT 4584, the assigned gunship. A fellow soldier who was making final modifications to the team's weapons handed Ghost a carbine. Then he turned to face his two brothers and said, "Here, the same old handy blasters we always had," handing each of them a blaster. Ram then commented "Do I look like a rookie to you?" with distaste. As carbines aren't really Ram's style, the soldiers laughed at the dismay in his tone. The gunship's engines were being started as the clones rapidly completed examining their equipment. Other troopers have begun assisting in loading an AT-RT assault walker from the ship's back ramp as the doors opened.
Location: Airspace above Planet QR85
Cadelle watched from the bridge as the ground forces began to descend onto the planet, but he couldn't help but feel as if something was out of place. The tactical droid was suspected to be located on the planet below given how the space forces were miniscule, but they wouldn't be able to confirm until they could analyze how coordinated the droids were or by a visual confirmation.
The admiral's thoughts were cut short as one of the alarms in the crew pit went off. Cadelle recognised that specific alarm all too well. Before one of the operators could even tell him that enemy ships were jumping into the system, he had already ordered the fleet to be brought about. Turning his head to view the vector they were exiting from, he watches a large separatist fleet exited out of hyperspace. Cadelle counted six frigates, four Destroyers, a Lucrehulk, and one Providence-Class Destroyer.
The opposing fleet was too big for him to confront with his soldiers, and they were also caught off guard. The capacity to do accurate hyperspace leaps was still out of their reach, but they were just a few minutes away at most. Cadelle commanded his comrades to flee for their life, "Recall all our starfighters and forces immediately and prepare for the jump to hyperspace!" But what happened next disturbed him.
"Belay that! I will not retreat from these pathetic machines!"Cadelle was aware of Marlow's inexperience and degree of incompetence, but now he was on the verge of suicidal ideation. "General you can't seriously be suggesting-" "DO NOT question my orders Admiral! I am in charge of this operation and you will follow my orders!" Cadelle was furious at this point, but he knew disobeying the General's orders would mean a court marshal and the loss of his position.
Deciding to work with what he had, Cadelle ordered the fleet into position and for all available fighters to be launched. The fleet had barely lined up alongside each other before turbolaser fire started to pelt the fleet from long range. Cadelle hoped that maybe after they lost a few ships, Marlow would change his mind. If not, he could always knock him out and order a retreat anyways.
Ghost Leader and his squadmates sprinted back into their fighters they had just landed less than an hour ago, knowing full well that one of the most important aspects of an early fleet battle was to get as many fighters launched as fast as possible. As the forward hangar bay doors opened up, Ghost Squadron exited at full speed, followed by several V-wing squadrons. The massive doors unfortunately had to be closed due to the Separatists coming into lethal range, meaning only the side and ventral hangar bays would have to be used.
It put a hamper on how fast the fighters could be deployed, but it was better than having the enemy exploit one of the Venator's structural weaknesses. Command had prioritized the launching of interceptors and fighters, while ordering every starfighter on the defensive. Vulture Droids, Tri-Fighters, and Hyena Bombers began to close in on the Imperials, while Ghost Squadron and the other clone-war era fighters moved to meet them. As the fighter squadrons moved to repel the incoming Separatist forces however, Droch class boarding ships were seen along with the incoming droid fighters.
"Ghost Leader, this doesn't look good." says Ghost Five while the starfighters primed their laser cannons. "Ghost Squadron, protect the fleet at all costs!" exclaimed Ghost Leader. The vulture droids begin opening fire on the imperial starfighters. The imperial squadron fired back at the incoming droids, forming a perimeter and catching off any bombers or boarding ships that dared to go after their cruisers. Despite their efforts however, Ghost Squadron and the other Imperials were simply too outnumbered.
They shot down as many starfighters as they could, but more Separatist reinforcements were beginning to join the battle. "Help! I can't get these clankers off my tail, I'm going down..AHHHHHHHHHH" a Y-Wing pilot screamed as he was destroyed by three vulture droids firing at his ship's rear with no mercy. With so many enemy fighters, the Imperials had to focus on their own survival rather than breaking off to engage the enemy bombers or boarding ships.
The signs were there, the Imperial line of defense was beginning to break. It was confirmed when a flight of Hyena Bombers made it past the Imperial fighters and unleashed a hail of torpedoes at one of the Carraks. The Marduk's frontal bridge section exploded as its shields were overwhelmed and unable to stop the torpedoes from destroying the front third of the ship.
The battle between the capital ships wasn't going well either, with one of the Dreadnaughts already being slightly damaged it was clear the tactical droid was commanding the fleet as the enemy ships prioritized the Vestal as their main target. The ship held out for a few minutes, but ultimately couldn't withstand the concentrated fire upon it. One of the Consular Corvettes, The Paladin, followed the Dreadnaught as it was blown to bits from about a dozen heavy turbolaser rounds slamming into it.
Fortunately, Cadelle had a few tricks up his sleeve. Ordering the Victory Star Destroyers to open up their missile flaps, the two ships fired all their missile batteries at once. With so many incoming projectiles at very high speeds, the droids would be unable to shoot down enough of the missiles to significantly lessen the damage of the salvo. Streaking past the front of the enemy fleet, they appeared to miss at first. Until the missiles turned and hit the back central engines on two of the Recusant Destroyers, snapping the back third of the ships off. Cadelle was prioritizing the destruction of the Recusants as they were the most fragile of the enemy fleet and eliminating their heavy guns would give the Imperials some breathing room. The fleet had managed to take out a Munificent as well, but despite Cadelle's efforts the enemy simply outgunned and outnumbered them.
Unfortunately for the Imperials, the boarding ships made it through the battle with a couple of vulture droids escorting them as Ghost Squadron was too busy trying to fend off the majority of the invading droid starfighters, Ghost Leader could only watch helplessly as the boarding ships prepared to invade the defenseless cruisers. Fortunately for Cadelle the Acclamators had made it back to the fleet, giving the admiral an idea.
"Lieutenant, have the Dispatcher move above and in front of us to our starboard side with their nose pointed perpendicular to us. Tell them to get ready to move forward and to have their troops ready for battle." The lieutenant had a confused look on his face "Sir, what are you-." Cadelle turned to the lieutenant "Just trust me lieutenant. Keep me updated on the boarding ships distance to us and on my mark have them to divert all power to their engines."
With a look of recognition the lieutenant looked back onto his screen and began listing off the boarding ships' distance to the Huntress once the Acclamator was in position. "5 klicks...4...3...2…" "NOW!" Cadelle shouted. The Dispatcher's engines roared to life as the massive troop carrier moved in front of the Venator, causing all but two of the eight boarding ships to hit it instead of the Huntress.
Location: The Dispatcher (Main Hanger)
Saber and his brothers watched as the starfighters bravely took on the Separatist reinforcements from an astromech droid projecting the battle. "We sure are lucky to have Ghost Squadron on our side, that's for sure." says Jyn while he makes some adjustments to his personal combat shield. "They look like flying glow sticks if you ask me." Ram remarked as he too watched the ARC-170's in the hologram face off against their Separatist counterparts. "Glow sticks don't shoot mini glow sticks out now don't they?" Jyn replies as he watches a mini holographic Y-Wing chase down a vulture droid, firing a volley of "mini glow sticks''. Ram swiftly retorted "I love the smell of bullshit this early in the day", the other surrounding troopers laughed at Ram's comeback as they too also watched flurries of "mini glow sticks'' flying back and forth in the holographic battlefield.
The humor quickly ended as all the troopers received new orders in their comlinks, "This is Admiral Caddell, enemy boarding ships have made it past the starfighters. Prepare to repel the incoming droids, they are bringing a good amount of ZZTRKRZZZT '' the comlinks went static as the troopers felt the floor shake violently for a brief moment. The clones knew all too well of what that shake meant, the boarding ships have pierced the Dispatcher's armored hull and have already deployed their battle droids to take over the ship.
Saber readied his carbine as his brothers did the same, running to the nearby bay doors to access the turbo lift. "Captain! Super battle droids have breached deck three, we need assistance! There's a lot of them!" a trooper is heard in his comlink. Saber, Jyn, Ram and several other troopers entered the lift and pressed the button for deck three.
As the turbo lift reached deck 3, the sound of clanking B2 super battle droids could be heard behind the metal doors. The clones however were not fazed by it at all due to the fact that for years they have fought against these mindless killing machines, to them it was like another day on the job. They raised their carbines and readied themselves as the metal doors opened, the sound of the battle droids marching drawing nearer and nearer. The sound of the other troopers firing their blasters to keep them at bay, Ghost and his squad ran out of the elevator and into the direction to where the action was heard.
They ran from hallway to hallway, turning left and right to until they reached an intersection where four troopers were making their stand against the incoming droids coming from one direction. "Thank goodness you are here, Captain. They brought some serious firepower on board." says a trooper as he kept firing his carbine. The clones got to work reinforcing their brothers. Saber fired his carbine at a nearby super battle droid, sending three bolts of laser directly towards the center of the droid's mechanical body. The B2 went down easily as it's mechanical insides were shown from the bolts fired by the arc trooper.
As the clone troopers took down the remaining armored B2's, more red laser bolts began coming at his squad's direction. Multiple commando droids have arrived to reinforce the diminishing B2's. They were elite droids of the Separatist, designed for assassination missions and infiltration, much slimmer and sleeker than their armored B2 counterparts. But compared to the clones, they were inferior to their more intelligent republic counterparts.
A clone trooper at the front of the group was firing at a pair of commando droids until a laser bolt came slamming into his chestplate, knocking him to the ground unconscious. Ram was cutting down a B2 with his blaster until he realized a brother needed his help, "Jyn! On me!" he exclaimed to his brother firing at the droids behind his combat shield. Jyn nodded as he stood up from his position with Ram behind him with a hand on his shoulder.
The two then began to walk forward, letting the shield protect the two troopers as they fired back. They cut down several commandos droids as the two troopers made their way to the unconscious clone's position, Ram carried his brother on his shoulders back to the main group with Jyn covering him. A rain of laser bolts bash Jyn's shield as he resists the pushback from the abuse it was receiving. Saber helps his brothers by throwing a grenade over them, destroying multiple B2s and a few commando droids to relieve the pressure.
The ARC fearlessly sprints from his position to Jyn as Ram carried the unconscious clone to cover. The clones now went on the offensive, Jyn kicks things off by ramming a nearby commando droid into the wall, crushing it's circuits right on impact as if it were being scrapped in a junkyard, two other commandos moved in to challenge Jyn but were swiftly cut down by his blaster fire. Ghost picks up the carbine dropped from the clone earlier and dual welded the blasters, taking down two B2s with a barrage of blaster fire.
The second carbine he was holding was shot out of his hand, one lucky commando droid managed to aim for once. Saber reacted fast and fired rapidly at the droid with his other carbine, aiming for it's joints to quickly immobilize the target. He slammed his foot into the its head, destroying it completely. A stray laser bolt then struck him in the chestplate, but he only felt a little kick in his chest. His additional armor plating provided better durability and protection compared to the normal standard issue armor.
Irritated, Saber aims his carbine and shoots the droid's head off, rapidly firing into its lifeless body as it fell to the floor. The ARC then raises his left gauntlet up and presses a button which ignites a miniature flame thrower attached to his gauntlet, burning several droids in the process. His brothers stopped firing as they watched their leader unleash terror on the droids. After Ghost finished burning the droids to molten metal, he looked at the remaining commando droids who began to run in the other direction seeing that they didn't want to end up like their colleagues.
Ghost nodded at Jyn while he switched to his dual pistols, ready to push the droids back. "Alright brothers, BLAST THEM! CHARGE!" Jyn shouts to his brethren. The group of clones let out a war cry and begin their offensive charge against the fleeing boarding party.
Location: Airspace above QR85
While Jyn, Saber, and Ram had been fighting the droids on their ship, the fleet battle was taking a turn for the worse. The Venator's crew was able to repel the boarding ships worth of B2s and commando droids, however Cadelle had ordered the fleet to charge the blockade after another Munificent was downed. Unfortunately the Imperials had lost the Victory Star Destroyer known as The Insolent in the time it took to destroy another frigate and finish off the two heavily damaged Rescusants in order to make an opening.
The droids clearly didn't want a repeat of the missile maneuver Cadelle just pulled. Marlow still didn't suspect that he was intent on charging past the enemy fleet to try and make the jump to lightspeed. The problem was that the droids were blocking the only charted hyperspace route out of the system. Meaning, they would likely be able to destroy their engines before they could make the jump. Still, it was all he could do besides having the fleet make a random jump. But, as the Imperials moved closer to the Separatists the fighting got uglier as turbolaser fire became more accurate and smaller weapons came into range.
The Huntress was especially taking a beating, it shields down to 40%. Despite putting the remaining Victory Star destroyer and Dreadnaught in position to take the brunt of the fire, the droids were trying to target the Venator and the support ships.
Cadelle examined the layout of the battle on the holotable he realized that one of their Arquintens had moved too close to the enemy fleet. "Lieutenant, open a comm channel to the Unstoppable!" Cadelle knew the captain of the ship was known to be a glory hound, hence the ship's name.
"Captain Albretch bring your ship up behind the Piercer this instant!" waiting a few agonizing seconds for a reply the Captain finally replied "Sir if we are to win this battle we need to pour as much fire on those droids as-ZZTTT" The connection ended. Running up to the bridge viewport, Cadelle saw that the Unstoppable had been hit by one of the few remaining boarding ships.
The crew would probably be able to fight off a huge number of droids, but given how the thumb-tac shaped ship was embedded right next to the Arquinten's bridge they would be unlikely to stop them from killing the command staff and destroying the bridge controls. Running up to Marlow in the hopes he would change his mind Cadelle addressed the general "Sir we have lost a third of the fleet, our shields are down to 10%, the enemy fighters have overwhelmed our defenses, and our progress against them is not nearly enough. You must order a retreat!"
The ship rocked from more laser fire. Marlow had to regain his footing before responding to the Admiral. "I WILL NOT tolerate cowardness under my command Admiral! Continue your attack against the enemy and bring them to their kn-" Before Marlow could finish, Cadelle dived into the crew pit after spying a vulture droid rapidly spinning towards the bridge. As it collided, the shields did their best to absorb most of the impact, but it wasn't enough to stop the viewport from shattering.
Marlow and several other bridge staff were sucked into space, screaming for their lives before they were taken into the black void. Holding on for dear life on one of the consoles, Cadelle could feel his fingers slipping while the vacuum pulled on his body. By a string of luck, the emergency shutters finally closed, sending Cadelle and the other survivors onto the floor.
Picking himself up, the Admiral spied the lieutenant propping himself up on one of the consoles. " Lieutenant, have our forces prepare to make the jump to lightspeed." As the lieutenant stood up he smiled and replied "With all haste sir. Where should we make for?"
Knowing he was taking a big risk, Cadelle told the lieutenant that they would have to make a random jump as it was better than attempting to fully get past the blockade where the Seps would be able to destroy most of their engines. Deciding to take example from former General Skywalker's Padawan, Cadelle told the lieutenant to recall all fighters and tip the ship over so that their ventral side faced the enemy.
Meanwhile in the combat airspace, Ghost Squadron was still doing their best to take down the enemy fighters, but the fighter complement of the Lucerhulk and the rest of the enemy fleet was almost too much to handle. Ghost Leader was not happy with the fact he had lost three of his squadmates during the carnage. He wanted to strangle whoever didn't order an immediate retreat, but his anger at command kept disappearing for no reason.
Finally, a message to be recalled to the hangar came through. Prompting Ghost Squadron to hightail it to the Huntress. Since the venator was performing a Marg Sable, it would be much easier to get inside without risk of being shot down. Ghost Leader looked down at his radar though, he realized Ghost Eight was falling behind. "Ghost Eight what's the problem with your fighter?!"
The response was choppy but there "I took a few hits back there, my engines can only pull 2/3rds of their maximum output." Turning his Z-95 around, Ghost Leader sped towards his wingmate dodging to the left as a Consular Corvette near them exploded. It was a shame, Ghost Leader liked that ship, it was called the Unity. The situation got worse as he saw 2 droid Tri-Fighters move to intercept Ghost 8. Ghost Leader hated Tri Fighters, they were a challenge for even the most experienced pilots with their low target profile, insane maneuverability, and extremely high speeds.
Diverting all power to his engines, Ghost Leader opened fire upon the two enemy fighters. Both Tri-fighters barrel rolled out of the way, but one was clipped by Ghost Leader's laser fire. Ghost Eight's gunner was able to finish the damaged droid off, but the other Tri-Fighter unleashed its own laser fire at the limping ARC-170 causing it to explode, the occupants screamed as they were engulfed into the blast.
In a rage, Ghost Leader swooped in from above and blew the droid fighter to pieces. Morale for the Imperials continued to collapse as the Corsair's engines were blown apart, meaning the Acclamator would be left behind. The Imperial ships did their best to charge up their hyperdrives as fast as possible, but it started to look like it wasn't fast enough when one of the Pelta Frigates called the Hope was hit and began to buckel. As the Hope burned, so did Ghost Leader's engines, doubting that he would make it back to the Huntress before the jump. "Come on R7, have our engines give everything they got!" Ghost Leader had thought it prudent to add in an astromech to his Z-95, not to mention he was rather fond of his astromech since they had spent so many years together.
Time was running out, ten seconds left as he sped past the wreckage of the Unity. Nine seconds, more Tri Fighters began to follow him. Eight seconds, Ghost Leader maneuvered around the Corsair, who was now dead in the water. Seven seconds, enemy fighters were gaining on him. Five seconds, the Huntress's engines began to turn from blue to a bluish-white, indicating it was ready to make the jump. Four seconds left he dived towards one of the side hangar bays on the huntress, crashing into one of the hangars as the doors closed. Three seconds, the doors were sealed shut as the tri fighters threw everything they got at the venator hanging doors but to no avail. Two seconds, the fleet is ready to jump as the remaining ships all point in the same direction. One second, the sound of the venator engines grew louder. Zero seconds, the fleet makes the jump into the unknown.
Location: The Dispatcher (during Hyperspace travel)
The clone troopers were busy finishing up the remaining commando droids as squads of clones continue to search each deck for any stragglers. Ghost takes down the last commando droid he saw in sector one, cutting down the machine to scrap parts with his dual service pistols. Behind the ARC trooper Jyn crushes an armless super battle droid to the wall with his shield. Ram blasts the droid's head several times with his carbine to finish it off.
"Hell yeah! Another victorious battle for the 707th!" Ram said excitedly as it was the first time they had ever fought anybody in months. Jyn releases the now dead B2 droid as it falls to the ground with the sound of metal parts spilling out from the damaged head component. He joins Ram as they walk over to Saber. "Didn't I overhear the sound of a hyperspace jump?" Jyn questioned as the three began to walk back to the turbo lift.
"Possibly, let's go find out." says Saber, the three troopers approach the turbo lift, the doors opened and they stepped inside with Ram pressing the button for the lift to take them directly to the bridge. Something didn't feel right to Saber, he has a gut feeling that a huge disaster is about to strike, but he didn't know what it would be. The droids onboard were defeated and they escaped from the Separatist fleet, what could possibly go wrong?
Location: The Huntress(Hyperspace Exit)
The Imperial fleet had successfully jumped away from the Separatist reinforcements, although with barely enough fuel left in their engines. The Huntress and the other remaining ships jumped out of hyperspace, all of the ship's engines completely exhausted. To their surprise an enormous planet was in sight of the fleet. Caddel was for once clueless of where the fleet ended up, "Lieutenant, where are we?" The clone officer checked the navigation map to see where they were, pressing a few buttons to bring out the precise coord of where they were, but nothing came up.
Instead the monitor showed an error. "Admiral, something is wrong. The navigation system seems to have fried somehow during our jump. The computer does not recognise this star system" says the clone officer as he tries again to reboot the navigations computer, but to no avail when the results it showed says error again. Rubbing his chin for a moment, Caddel decided to do things the old fashion way.
"Bring up as many star charts from the database as you can and try to manually pinpoint our location as well as any descriptions matching that planet ahead of us once you've scanned it, then...bring me a damage report along with a list of all we lost." Caddell was surprised that even the ship itself didn't know what section of space they had jumped to.
While they were on the border of the Unknown Regions, the jump shouldn't have taken them into it given how they only spent less than a minute in hyperspace. However the moment of questioning came to a halt as his comlink buzzed to life, "Admiral! A commando droid is planting explosive charges inside the hyperdrive room, we are moving to intercept!" says a clone trooper. "DO NOT LET HIM BLOW UP THE HYPERDRIVE, GET THERE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!" Caddell shouted into his comlink.
In the hyperdrive room, a commando droid just finished planting a few charges to destroy the hyperdrive until the doors of the room opened, four clone troopers saw the droid holding the remote detonator and began to take aim at the droid. "There he is! Take him out!" exclaimed a clone as they opened fire at the lone droid, taking it down as fast they could. However it was too late, the droid activated the trigger the moment the clones enter the room.
The hyperdrive room exploded, flinging the clones back while the generators were blown to pieces as the whole room was engulfed in flames. The bridge staff was unable to stay upright as the entire ship rocked from the force of the explosion. Cadelle picked himself up and he realized they didn't have much time before they would eventually enter the planet's gravitational field. "Prepare to fire the retrorockets once we reach minimum altitude and evacuate as many as possible before we make the descent, this might get bumpy everybody. Evacuate the ship!"
Back on the Dispatcher's bridge, Saber and his two brothers watched escape pods eject from the Venator along with all of it's remaining fighter complement and a few gunships as it descended towards the nearby planet.