Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. I decided to do a double upload today.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 5- Defense Treaty
(February 17, 2022)
In the hangar bay of the Hood, the hangar is filled with the sound of saws, welding equipment, and other heavy machinery. Across the hangar bay, teams of the Hood's crew, with a few Sith workers, are hard at work, working to patch up the damage in the hangar bay sustained during the fight with the Eclipse.
It's been two years since the Hood first arrived on Zallin and made contact with the Sith. Since then, the Hood and the Sith settlements on Zallin have settled pretty well into a status quo.
Soon after Hood's arrival at the planet, they had begun mining operations on Zallin. The targets of mining included metal to patch the damaged parts of the hull and rebuild weapons that they could rebuild, as well as various minerals to rebuild wiring and circuits that had been damaged or destroyed in the battle.
For the first 7 months, the repair efforts were entirely mapping out the repairs that were needed and mining the materials that would be needed. Then, in early August of 2020, the actual repair work began on the battlecruiser.
Since the repairs began, the work has progressed smoothly. The Sith, despite not knowing the ship and its technology, have proved to be good workers, and relatively easy to instruct in how to carry out the repairs.
The forward sections of the ship have been fully repaired, and now efforts are being focused on the hangar bay and the outer damage on the stern, which are areas with some of the most serious damage from the battle with the Eclipse. If all things continue on schedule, these repairs will take another 6 months, and then repairs will begin on the weapons emplacements that required more than minor repairs, the engines, and the bridge.
In a corner of the hangar, one of the officers in charge of a work crew is sorting some supplies that just got delivered from the planet's surface. Suddenly, he hears, in a distinct accent, "Excuse me? Lieutenant?"
The lieutenant turns to look and sees one of the Sith on his crew looking at him. The Sith who had been recruited to work on the ship itself had all learned English in the time since they had come to work on the ship so they could communicate with the crew, since all members of the crew knew English.
"Yes?" the lieutenant asks.
"My torch is running low. I need more propane," the Sith responds.
"Gotcha," the lieutenant says. He quickly grabs a tank of propane over to the Sith and hands it over to him.
The Sith nods in thanks before he swaps out the tank on his welding torch. He then puts his mask on again and resumes his work. He's currently working on cutting a sheet of metal for one of the ordnance elevators in the hangar bay.
As the lieutenant walks back to his work, he thinks again on how lucky they are to have the Sith working with them on the repairs. This Sith colony had a slightly different culture than that of their ancient ancestors, brought on by the hardships of surviving on this planet after being stranded there. Although war was still an integral part of their society, they had also developed a strong sense of working together for their own survival. Because of that, they had a pretty good work ethic when committed to a task, and they had been excellent workers since day 1. In addition, their physical strength helped with many required tasks.
As this is continuing in the hangar bay, up on the bridge, Captain Moorhouse is reading the most recent reports from the officers overseeing the repairs. These reports come in once a day unless something goes wrong. It's an important part of his role as captain, but a boring one.
As Moorhouse is reading, he suddenly hears a loud beeping. His head quickly snaps his head up, because he recognizes this sound. It's the alarm to signal that ships are coming out of hyperspace.
"What the hell is going on?" Moorhouse shouts.
One of the officers monitoring the detection systems is frantically trying to get some idea of what's happening. After a few moments, the officer looks at Moorhouse and says, "Captain! We have several ships dropping out of hyperspace in the far parts of the system. However, the hyperdrive readings are not like normal readings."
Moorhouse immediately makes his way to a powerful set of binocks on the bridge. Moorhouse looks through the binocks out towards the outer parts of the system. Sure enough, within seconds, several ships drop out of hyperspace. However, Moorhouse realizes that they are unlike any he's ever seen. The ships look like large spheres with wings extending out from their sides. In addition, they are not very big. Maybe a bit bigger than an Imperial Dreadnaught class heavy cruiser. Moorhouse counts 10 of them.
"Contact Admiral Pellaeon immediately!" Moorhouse orders.
(Albaron's home)
"I have received all of the mining reports. They confirm that the quotas we have set for this month have so far been met," Albaron says. He says so in English, having learned the language from Pellaeon and the crew of the Hood, so he no longer needed a translator to communicate with their allies.
"Very good," Pellaeon says.
"Your instruction efforts in the use of your construction equipment has also been very well received. I received a message from Chief Umbra. He wished to express his personal gratitude and let us know that their new temple project has been a tremendous success thanks in part to the equipment and knowledge you have provided his tribe," Albaron says.
"Good to hear, Chief Albaron," Pellaeon says.
Suddenly, Pellaeon's commlink begins to buzz. Pellaeon pulls it from his belt and activates it. A second later, Captain Moorhouse appears.
"Captain. What seems to be the trouble?" Pellaeon asks, seeing the expression on Moorhouse's face.
"Admiral, ten ships just jumped out of hyperspace in the edge of the system and are making their way towards the planet. I have ordered the crew to battlestations just in case," Moorhouse says.
"Can you identify them?" Pellaeon asks.
"No, they are of an unknown design. They resemble a sphere i would estimate to be about five to six hundred meters in diameter, with wings extending from its side," Moorhouse says.
Upon hearing this, Albaron curses in his native language. Pellaeon looks at him and asks, "You know these ships?"
"Yes. They came from another planet in a neighboring star system. We have been troubled by them for millenia. They appear every so often and attack us to attempt to plunder our world. At times we have driven them off, at times we have been forced to hide until they depart," Albaron says.
Pellaeon think about this. After a few moments, he says, "Well, as part of our agreement for your people assisting us in repairing our ship, we swore to defend your people while we were here. By your leave, I will order my men to land all of our ground forces to prepare for a ground battle if necessary, and we will destroy these ships."
Albaron looks at him in slight surprise before he nods and says, "Very well, you may land the remainder of your troops. I will send word to the other chiefs in the meantime and order them to prepare their warriors."
Pellaeon nods, then looks at Moorhouse. "Alright, captain. Maintain battlestations. Mobilize the 6th Armored and land it a hundred miles south of the town. Scramble all ships. Our fighters and bombers will help engage these ships while our shuttles will maintain a safe distance."
"Understood, Admiral!" Moorhouse responds before cutting the transmission.
Within minutes, the Terrans have begun reacting to the incoming attack. The Hood's weapons batteries are coming back online as all of its fighters and bombers scramble to prepare to face this new enemy. All while transports are bringing the entire 6th Armored Division down to the surface and the 61st, already on the ground, is preparing for battle.
On the bridge of the Hood, Captain Moorhouse is watching the ships as they approach. As he's getting a better look at them, he can see they are more meant for transport, and seem to be relatively lightly armed. Although only about 70 percent of the Hood's batteries are operational at the moment due to damage or maintenance on the others, that should be more than enough to destroy this small force.
As the ships approach, Moorhouse sees a large number of landing craft beginning to peel away from the ships and head down to the surface. Moorhouse calls out, "Range to targets?"
"Captain, enemy ships are in range," one of the radar officers calls out.
"Open fire!" Moorhouse orders.
For the first time in about 3 years, the Hood's weapons open fire. Turbolaser bolts streak through space towards the incoming ships as the Hood's engines power up and moves towards its targets. Bolts from the turbolasers begin slamming into the ships, which are pretty much unshielded. The ships begin to rock under the punishing fire from the Hood.
As the Hood is engaging the ships in orbit, down on the ground, the landing ships that had been sent down by the ships begin to land and let out their complement of soldiers, which seem to be some species similar to Zabraks, but with horns on other parts of their bodies as well.
However, they have set down just a few miles from where the 6th Armored Division is resting. The commander of the division, Major General Gerald Strickland, watches through binoculars as the enemy landing ships begin setting down their troops.
Strickland tries to take a mental count of the soldiers being deposited. By the time they finish, it seems like there's a force of about 15,000.
"Alright. We have a force of about 15,000 ahead of us, with only a few war beasts and no vehicles of any kind. Order a full tank charge and let's wrap this up quickly," Strickland orders.
Strickland's orders start passing through the division, and the division quickly scrambles to get into fighting formation for a tank charge. The 6th had been stood up in 2017, with three armored brigades. In all, they have 100 Challenger 2 tanks and a dozen AW-1 Leviathan walkers.
In a matter of minutes, the division is reorganized into fighting formation, with it's three brigades lined up alongside each other, the 100 Challengers all lined up at the front of the division, with the Leviathans behind them. They are all waiting for a signal.
Across the battlefield, the landing ships start lifting off to head back to the ships in orbit. However, as they climb through 5,000 feet, a screaming roar begins to echo over the battlefield. A second later, several X-Wings come streaking over the 6th Armored, heading straight for the landing ships. As they get within close range, the X-Wings starts firing their laser cannons.
The landing ships are completely unprepared for an aerial attack and are caught completely off guard. X-Wings slash through the formation, laser bolts flying in every direction, downing over 20 landing ships.
The landing ships begin violent evasive manuevers as the X-Wings comes around for another attack. At the same time, the 6th Armoured responds to the signal and the commanders sound the charge. Their engines already running, the Challenger 2s of the division throttle up and begin moving, accelerating up to their top speed of 25 mph on off road terrain. Behind them, the AW-1s begin walking towards the enemy lines.
The Leviathans begin firing first, their heavy laser cannons sending bolts flying into the midst of the enemy, who have not even assembled into a proper battle formation. The first casualties among the enemy come as heavy laser bolts impact in their midst, killing a number in the explosions and sending more flying. The enemy try desperately to arrange into formation as the Leviathans continue firing.
Finally, at a range of just 2 miles, the Challengers begin firing their 120mm guns, firing HESH rounds into the midst of the enemy. The first volley of rounds kills over 200 individuals and wounds even more.
The mysterious hostile creatures quickly realize that they are outgunned and start trying to retreat. However, they cannot outrun tanks or walkers. The tanks close the distance between themselves and the enemy very quickly. As they approach, they slow down to just ten miles an hour and continue firing their main guns, and now start firing their machine guns as well.
The enemy quickly realize that they cannot outrun the tanks or Leviathans. Apparently, they decide to go down fighting and turn to face the enemy. However, Warrior infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles have now joined the tanks at the front lines, as well as a few Pathfinder walkers. These vehicles and troops deposited by some vehicles pour laser, rifle, and machine gun fire into the advancing enemy. Together with the tanks, they form a wall of solid metal and hot lead.
Hundreds of the enemy are cut down in seconds and their advance quickly stalls. As they try to overcome the shock of the attack and figure out a way to move forward, the coup de grace comes with the arrival of air support. A dozen X-Wings and 4 Apache attack helicopters. The X-Wings swoop in from above, firing their laser cannons on the enemy from above in long strafing runs, killing dozens of them. As they pull out of their first runs, the Apaches come in at over a hundred miles an hour. The Apaches begin strafing the enemy with their 30mm cannons while also launching volleys of unguided rockets into the midst of their troops. Dozens are slaughtered in seconds. The Apaches stay close to the 6th's front lines to protect the division while the X-Wings continue their strafing runs, killing hundreds over the next few minutes.
Strickland is watching all of this from behind the enemy lines. Already, several thousand of the enemy have fallen, without a single casualty among the British, and the battle is less than 15 minutes old. He lowers his binoculars as the X-Wings make another strafing run and says, "Order all armored units: Continue pursuit of the enemy. Do not stop until they are destroyed or they surrender."
Within a minute, the tanks and Leviathans continue moving after the enemy in hot pursuit, continuing to fire. The tanks had just replenished their stock of shells from ammunition trucks, and are ready to continue the fight. Strickland watches as his forces continue their pursuit, feeling a bit of relief. After the heavy combat of the Galactic Civil War, this is a bit refreshing to have a fight where they so outmatch the enemy.
(February 18, 2022)
Pellaeon walks slowly into the main hall in the center of the town. He's here to meet with Chief Albaron.
The battle with the attempted invasion of Zallin had taken place the day before. Needless to say, it was one of the most lopsided victories in Terran history since the Battle of California during the Clone Wars. The entire invasion force had been wiped out. The Hood and her air wing had destroyed the ships in orbit in just 8 minutes, and the 6th Armoured Division had wiped out the ground forces in just an hour. All without taking a single casualty.
As Pellaeon enters, he sees Albaron and a number of his advisors. As he enters, to his surprise, a number of the Sith bow to him, muttering things in their native language.
Pellaeon walks up to Albaron and says, "Chief Albaron, we have confirmation that the few individuals who escaped from the invasion army were just captured. We feel very confident that these are the last ones."
"Good news," Albaron agrees. He then smiles slightly before he says, "Pellaeon, I must say, this entire time, I did not realize the power you held at your disposal."
Albaron pauses, then says, "We are indebted to you for protecting our planet. And, I will tell you now, some of the villages across the planet that have heard what happened and seen the footage you sent have begun to believe that you and your crew come from the gods. I must say, I am trying to decide on that myself."
"We are not gods, Chief Albaron. But we appreciate the thanks. We only did what was right, and we did promise to defend your planet after all," Pellaeon says.
"Still, we thank you for that, Pellaeon. And I reaffirm to you that we will do all we can to help you get your ship operational again," Albaron says firmly. He then extends his hand, which Pellaeon takes with a slight smile.
And, I'll end the chapter there.
I hope this was a good chapter. I mainly put this in here to help cement the alliance between the Hood and the Sith.
Next chapter will show the Hood finally departing from this planet. It should be up tomorrow or the day after. Until it's up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!