Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this chapter will be phase one of the strike on Bosthirda, which will be entirely the air combat with the Hammer Squadron. You may see some elements inspired by Top Gun: Maverick in this.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 12- Top Guns
(July 2, 2026)
In the briefing room of the airfield just outside Theed, Jared, the Hammer Squadron, and the Rangers assigned to Jared's command are all sitting in chairs as an intelligence officer conducts a final briefing for the strike on Bosthirda.
"As shown by the information recovered by Major Hansen, Bosthirda is located within Sith Space," the officer says, pointing to a map of Sith Space showing the location of Bosthirda, which lies between Dromund Kaas and Korriban.
"The planet is the home base of the Dark Force cult, as you know. As we have been able to determine, at least several hundred cultists are currently on the planet. However, the planet is now also host to former Imperial forces who have sworn their loyalty to the cult."
The officer pauses as a series of diagrams show up, show different Imperial units and figures detailing numbers of the indicated units. "Over the last few weeks, and especially over the last week, we have monitored a series of ships crossing into Sith Space. This is likely due to the attack on Dromund Kaas several weeks ago and subsequent operations against the Dark Force. Current estimates for forces present include two to three Imperial II class Star Destroyers, two Arquitens class light cruisers, and a force on the ground of up to 2,000 stormtroopers. A transmission we intercepted has suggested that this force might have gotten their hands on a series of TIE Strikers and a few TIE Defender starfighters."
"After conferring with Major Hansen and Captain Page, the operation will be carried out as follows: the Hammer Squadron will lead the way to Bosthirda, arriving 10 minutes before the ground team. Hammer Squadron, your goal is twofold: first, establish air superiority by destroying the ships in orbit and shooting down any TIE fighters that manage to get airborne, and destroying any transports that attempt to evacuate cultists from Bosthirda; and second, destroy ground forces, break down outer walls of whatever facility the Dark Force has present, and provide close air support for the ground team when they arrive."
"Ground team, you will arrive in the system 10 minutes after the Hammer Squadron. Once you have confirmed that the way is clear, you will move in and land on the planet at the main stronghold of the Dark Force. Your goal is simple: destroy the fortress, eliminate as many cultists as you can, and either kill or capture their leader, the individual known as Kadann."
The officer pauses as he looks over the team, before saying, "Unless there are any other questions, you are dismissed to prepare for the mission." Everyone gets to their feet and begins to file out of the briefing room. The Squadron heads for their ready room, and Jared and the Rangers head to the armory.
In a few minutes, the pilots and WSOs of the Hammer Squadron file out of the ready room and onto the flightline, where their SF-15s are waiting as ground crews finish prepping them. The crews start doing their walk-arounds, ensuring that everything is in position and that the weapons are secured, as well as confirming that the ground crew have armed the fighters with the proper ordnance.
Meanwhile, in the armory, Jared straps up his boots and glances around as he watches the Rangers gathering up their gear. Most of the Rangers are arming themselves with FN SCAR assault rifles and P226 pistols (both slugthrowing and blaster versions). However, he also sees some of them arming themselves MP5 submachine guns, a few grenade launchers, and even a pair of M240 machine guns.
In a matter of minutes, the Rangers are armed and ready to leave. They all gather around Jared, and once Jared confirms that the Rangers are all ready, he says, "Alright. Let's go."
Jared and the Rangers file out of the armory and onto the flightline. There, their shuttle is waiting for them, parked just a short distance from the Squadron's SF-15s. The group begins to board the shuttle as the Squadron's pilots and WSOs wrap up their checks and begin climbing into their cockpits.
In his cockpit, Jonathan runs his final cockpit check as he begins powering up the engines and his avionics. Finally, Jonathan finishes his final check and closes the canopy. He then fully powers up the engines and lifts the fighter off the ground. All around him, the rest of the SF-15s of the Squadron are slowly lifting off of the ground.
"Hammer 1 to control tower. Requesting permission to climb to orbit," Jonathan calls out.
"Control tower to Hammer 1. Permission granted. Proceed north out of the field and initiate climb once out of the base perimeters," the controller in the tower responds.
"Copy that," Jonathan responds. He then begins flying north at low speed, the rest of the Squadron following behind him. Then, once out of the perimeter of the base, each pilot noses up to initiate a steep, 50 degree climb. As they are climbing out of the atmosphere, the shuttle carrying Jared and the Rangers begins lifting off the ground to begin their journey too.
In orbit, Jonathan hurries to program his navicomputer with the path to Bosthirda. Finally, after what feels like longer than normal, Alex says, "Coordinates set, sir."
"Copy that," Jonathan says before getting on the radio and saying, "All Hammers, call in!"
One by one, the rest of the Squadron calls in to confirm that they have successfully programmed their hyperdrives. Once the last of the Squadron confirms that they have programmed their hyperdrive, Jonathan places his hand on the hyperdrive throttles and pushes them forward. A second later, his SF-15 jumps into hyperspace, with the rest of the Squadron following behind him a second later.
(July 3, 2026)
"Alright, boys, stand by for sunlight speed," Jonathan calls out over the radio. After a complicated hyperspace journey, they are finally arriving at Bosthirda.
The rest of the Squadron calls in to confirm they're ready. Jonathan watches his navicomputer as the distance to the drop out point lessens. Then, finally, as it comes time for the squadron to drop out of light speed, Jonathan calls out, "Now!" Jonathan pulls back sharply on the hyperspace throttles, and his SF-15 drops out of hyperspace, the rest of the Squadron following him in the next few seconds.
Immediately, Jonathan takes an analysis of the situation. Bosthirda is up ahead, with a brown and black surface. Sure enough, as the intelligence officer says, there are two Imperial class Star Destroyers and two Arquitens class light cruisers present, with one of the Star Destroyers down inside the atmosphere. To their shock, there's also an old Venator class Star Destroyer in orbit. They knew the Empire still had a handful of Venators, but didn't expect to see one here.
"Alright. We handle the warships first. Hammer 3 and Hammer 4, join me and Hammer 2 in taking the Destroyer in atmosphere. Hammer 7 to Hammer 10, take the Destroyer in orbit. The rest of you, take the cruisers and that Venator. Let's get it done," Jonathan calls out over the radio.
"Copy that, Captain," Hammer 5 calls over the radio.
"Let's do it," Hammer 12 calls over the radio.
Jonathan throttles up and closes on Bosthirda, the rest of the Squadron following him closely.
Aboard the Imperial ships, they had noticed the Squadron dropping out of hyperspace on their scanners. Now, on the bridge of the Star Destroyer, the captain sees them approaching and calls out, "Sound the alarm! It's the Hammer Squadron!"
Alarms quickly sound on the warships as a warning message is beamed down to the planet. All four warships begin scrambling their TIE fighters as they start warming up their gun batteries to engage the incoming fighters.
Jonathan is now fully in combat mode, eyes outside the cockpit, his fingers moving around the controls purely by muscle memory. As the Squadron approaches the warships in orbit, Jonathan sees TIE fighters beginning to stream out of their hangars.
"Alright, here come the fighters! SPlit up and take your targets!" Jonathan calls out. The Squadron begins to separate, ready to handle their assigned targets. Jonathan and the pilots he assigned to follow him throttle up to full power and dive into the atmosphere, ready to engage the Destroyer in atmosphere while the rest of the pilots prepare to engage the ships in orbit.
As Jonathan and his three companions enter the atmosphere, they quickly see that the Destroyer has already scrambled its TIE fighters. "Fighters, incoming! Clear to engage!" Jonathan shouts over the radio before quickly descending several hundred feet below his wingmen to avoid them being clustered together.
Jonathan quickly flips his armament switch to his laser cannons. Aiming his gunsight into the midst of the incoming TIEs, Jonathan squeezes the trigger, spraying laser fire into the midst of the incoming TIEs, blowing one TIE to pieces. His wingmen shoot down two more before the merge.
In seconds, Jonathan's flight of four SF-15s merges with a massive force of almost 60 TIE fighters. Jonathan snaps the stick into gut and cuts engine power, whipping his tail around as he tries to keep the TIEs in front of him. As his SF-15 turns at the absolute limit of it's ability, Jonathan quickly takes an assessment of the enemy. Most of the TIEs are interceptors, but he also spots three TIE Defenders in their midst.
Jonathan doesn't have more than a few seconds to take an analysis of the situation before he is drawn back into the dogfight taking place as two TIE interceptors flash past his nose. Jonathan turns after them, trying to get his gunsight on them.
The TIEs try to evade Jonathan, but his agile Space Eagle easily manages to stay on their tails. After just a few seconds, Jonathan manages to get his gunsight centered on one of them and squeezes the trigger, sending a stream of laser bolts out and blowing the TIE to vapor. Jonathan then shifts his gunsight to the second interceptor and fires, blowing it apart.
Jonathan swivels his eyes around and quickly sees a pair of interceptors behind Hammer 4, about 1,500 feet above him. Jonathan snaps the stick back and slams right rudder, pulling up about 50 degrees and banking right to get behind the interceptors. As he does, he switches the armament control to his Sidewinders and manages to get a good tone on one of the interceptors. Jonathan squeezes the trigger and launches the Sidewinder. The missile turns hard to pursue the interceptor, which is almost 40 degrees off its nose. However, with the advanced manuevering tech used in this model, the Sidewinder easily tracks to its target, blowing the right wing off the TIE.
Jonathan pulls in behind the second interceptor pursuing Hammer 4. The interceptor seems to realize that Jonathan is there and tries turning away from Hammer 4 to avoid Jonathan, but it's too late. Jonathan points his nose out ahead of the interceptor and squeezes the trigger, sending out a stream of laser fire and destroying the interceptor.
Jonathan immediately snaps into a tight left turn. With so many TIEs around him, he has to keep moving if he wants to survive. Within seconds, Jonathan sees an interceptor coming right at him. As he sees it, the interceptor starts firing its laser cannons at Jonathan. Jonathan snaps the stick back and slams the rudder, barrel-rolling up and over the stream of laser fire coming from the TIE interceptor.
The two fighters pass each other and start turning to get behind each other. After tense seconds, Jonathan manages to get somewhat behind the interceptor. Although he's not yet in laser cannon range, he is within range of his Sidewinders. Jonathan switches back to his Sidewinders, and after a moment, he gets a tone on the TIE. "Fox Two!" he calls out as he squeezes the trigger. Although at the limit of its detection abilities, the Sidewinder tracks smoothly to its target and blows it to pieces. Kill number four for the day.
Jonathan levels off and searches for another target. Then, laser bolts go flying past his canopy. Jonathan swivels his head and sees one of the TIE Defenders behind him, firing its laser cannons.
Jonathan shoves the throttles forward, trying to accelerate beyond the TIE's range, but the TIE accelerates in turn to keep up with him. Then, Jonathan spots a TIE interceptor coming at him from his 2 o clock position.
Thinking quickly, Jonathan snaps the SF-15 to the right. As he goes, he squeezes the trigger, firing his laser cannons and destroying the interceptor coming at him. "Splash 5!" he calls out over the radio.
Looking behind him, he sees the Defender turning to stay on his tail. Jonathan reverses his turn, but the Defender does too, staying on his tail, firing its laser cannons.
"Alright, let's do this, Alex!" Jonathan shouts as he noses down and banks harder left. As the Defender follows him, he sees an interceptor coming across his nose. Jonathan noses down a bit more and pushes the throttle forward, flying just past the interceptor. The interceptor tries to turn after him, but is hit by the laser fire from the TIE Defender on Jonathan's tail and explodes.
"Haha!" Jonathan laughs as the interceptor explodes. A second later, the Defender flies through the smoke cloud from the destroyed interceptor. As it does, the Defender launches one of its own missiles at Jonathan.
"Smoke in the air!" Alex shouts. Even though most missiles used by starfighters don't actually put out smoke, it's still the standard call for when a missile is pursuing you.
"Hang on!" Jonathan shrouds as he pushes the throttles even further forward and snap the stick into his gut, pulling up into a steep climb.
"Alex, countermeasures! Now, now!" Jonathan shouts. Alex flips the switch in the backseat as Jonathan banks slightly left. Immediately, countermeasures deploy out of the back of the fighter. Thankfully, they successfully decoy the missile on their tail,, and the missile detonates behind them.
"Splitting the throttles!" Jonathan says as he grabs the throttles, snapping the left engine all the way back to idle and shoving the right throttle forward as he snaps the stick into a hard left turn, deploying his flaps as he does so. The SF-15 cranks around incredibly quickly, while it's speed drops drastically. The TIE Defender pilot is caught off guard by Jonathan's move and overshoots Jonathan's SF-15.
As Jonathan comes down behind the TIE, he quickly locks up one of his last two Sidewinders. "Got tone. Taking the shot!" Jonathan squeezes the trigger, and a Sidewinder launches. The TIE Defender tries desperately to avoid the incoming missile. For a second, it looks to Jonathan that the missile might actually miss. Then, the missile makes a last second turn and proximity detonates, destroying two of the fighter's six wings. The TIE Defender goes spinning out of control, exploding a few seconds later.
"Yes! Splash 6!" Jonathan calls out as he barrel rolls past the fireball.
Jonathan looks around and sees Hammer 3 flying low over the hull of the Star Destroyer while chasing a pair of TIE interceptors. However, he has three TIE Strikers on his tail.
Jonathan throttles up and closes on the tail of the three Strikers. He flies just feet over the hull of the Star Destroyer, on two occasions flying around larger turbolaser batteries. Finally, he gets behind the tail of one of them and centers it in his gunsight, squeezing the trigger and blowing it apart.
The other two TIE Strikers realize they have someone behind them and try a hard right turn to evade Jonathan. Jonathan is on them like glue, turning hard right after them. He manages to get his nose out ahead of them and fires his laser cannons, blowing one and then the other to pieces. Jonathan smirks as he streaks through the clouds of smoke left by the destroyed fighters.
Almost immediately, another TIE interceptor starts flashing past Jonathan's nose. The interceptor is moving so fast Jonathan almost can't react fast enough…almost. Jonathan moves his nose slightly to the right to keep it in front of the interceptor and fires his laser cannons, destroying the interceptor. Kill number 10 for the day.
Jonathan levels off before snapping into a hard turn back towards the Star Destroyer. As he does, he spots two more TIE Strikers heading towards him. Jonathan levels his fighter straight at them and starts firing his laser cannons, blowing one of them apart. Jonathan then has to barrel roll up to avoid getting hit by laser fire from the second striker.
The two fighters merge and start turning to get on each other's tail. However, Jonathan immediately realizes he must be dealing with an inexperienced pilot, as the Striker is not turning near as tight as he knows it is capable of. In a few seconds, Jonathan is on the TIE's tail. He easily centers it in his gunsight and squeezes the trigger, blowing the Striker to pieces. His 12th kill for the day.
Jonathan streaks past the Star Destroyer, looking for another target. Suddenly, laser bolts go flying all around him. He looks back and sees a pair of TIE strikers coming up behind him.
Jonathan immediately implements a tactic he devised himself, and has only practiced a handful of times. He shoves the throttles forward and noses down slightly, pulling ahead of the TIEs. Then, all in the space of about a half a second, Jonathan shoves the stick forward to force the nose down before pulling both engines back to idle and deploying his speed brake, applying delicate taps to his other flight controls. The result sees the SF-15 tumble end over end forward in midair, completely unpowered and almost completely out of control. However, it does result in the fighter facing backwards for a brief moment every tumble. As the fighter goes through it's second tumble, Jonathan waits until the right moment before he squeezes the trigger, sending laser bolts spraying out randomly. By luck, the bolts destroy both Strikers on his tail. Jonathan then shoves the throttles forward and manipulates his ailerons and elevator, leveling off the fighter and resuming level flight.
"YOU ARE INSANE!" Rick screams at Jonathan.
"Say what you want, but we're alive and I got the kills," Jonathan says before snapping the SF-15 into a tight turn back towards the Star Destroyer.
As Jonathan turns back towards the Star Destroyer, he realizes he can only see three more TIE fighters in the air. Seeing this, he calls out over the radio, "Hammer 2, Hammer 3, Hammer 4. Finish these last three TIEs and then target the Star Destroyer!"
Within seconds, two of the remaining TIEs are shot down. The last one, trying desperately to evade Hammer 4, who's on his tail. However, he crosses right across Jonathan's nose in the process, and Jonathan blows him apart with a few last bolts, scoring his 15th kill of the day.
Jonathan doesn't waste any time. He decides on a bit of an unorthodox way of dealing with the Star Destroyer. As Hammer 3 and 4 head for the bridge, weapons at the ready, Jonathan heads underneath the Star Destroyer, flying the length of the hull, firing his laser cannons at any weapons emplacement in his way. A number are saved by the ship's deflector shields, but two turbolaser batteries are destroyed.
Finally, Jonathan reaches the prow of the Star Destroyer and streaks past it. He then noses down and begins a long, looping turn back towards the Star Destroyer so that he's coming up at the bow from underneath.
As Jonathan completes his turn, his target comes into view: the immediate underside of the ship's prow, where the navigational deflector generator rests within the hull. Jonathan cuts his throttle back, decreasing his speed to only 220 mph. He then centers his gunsight on the exact spot where he knows the generator lies, which he knows from studying the schematics of the Imperial-I extensively during the war.
As he closes within an appropriate distance, Jonathan waits until Alex has confirmed his SGM-65 Maverick missiles are locked on, then squeezes the trigger and rapid fires all six of them. As soon as the last missile leaves the launch rail, Jonathan switches over to his laser cannons and starts firing his laser cannons continuously. The bolts begin slamming into the target spot, and seconds later, the Mavericks impact along the hull as well. Jonathan keeps up the laser fire. Although the missiles had not successfully breached the hull to reach the generator, they almost had, and it takes only a few more laser bolts to breach the rest of the shields covering it and the the hull, finally destroying the generator.
Jonathan banks away to avoid hitting the Star Destroyer, then pulling straight up and zoom climbing 5,000 feet above the Star Destroyer. He then yanks bank on the throttle and speed brake, stalling the fighter and causing it to fall backwards. He then shoves the throttles forward and dives towards the Star Destroyer.
Jonathan then switches over and arms his laser guided 1,000 pound bombs. "Lase 'em, Alex!" Jonathan calls out to Alex, who quickly uses the laser targeting pod to target the prow of the Star Destroyer.
"Prow targeted!" Alex calls out.
"Target acquired! Bombs away!" Jonathan calls out, dropping four bombs before pulling out of his dive. The bombs ride the laser all the way to the target, blasting the prow apart.
Jonathan now banks away one more time and makes a final looping turn to make a head-on run against the Star Destroyer. As he does, he sees that Hammer 3 and 4 are pounding the bridge, while Rick is attacking the ship's engines. The Star Destroyer is firing its weapons at the attacking fighters, but a number of batteries have already been destroyed and the others are failing to even get close to scoring a hit.
Jonathan then refocuses on his attack run. He arms his proton torpedo launchers and activates his targeting computer. He targets the wrecked prow, then squeezes his trigger repeatedly. One by one, he launches all eight of his proton torpedoes. The torpedoes fly the brief distance to the prow and slam into the prow of the Star Destroyer. The powerful weapons tear apart the front of the Star Destroyer, causing heavy damage. Worse still, the torpedoes set off a small store of ammunition in the bow, which begin a series of explosions in the bow of the ship.
Jonathan banks away from the Star Destroyer, glancing back at it. As he glances back, he sees that a series of explosions are tearing apart the front of the Star Destroyer. He guesses that one of his torpedoes must have penetrated a lot further into the ship than he expected. A daisy chain of explosions is running through the bow. At the same time, a series of explosions are tearing apart the stern as the engines are exploding and the bridge is burning badly. The Star Destroyer begins to fall from the sky, falling towards the ground below where it eventually impacts a few miles from the Dark Force's compound on the planet's surface.
Jonathan cheers in his cockpit as he watches the Star Destroyer hit the ground. He then looks up, and sees fireball in orbit, suggesting that the other warships are receiving similar fates.
Right then, the radio crackles to life. "Captain Page, Major Hansen. We have reached the system. Is the way clear?"
"We hear you, Major. Ships and fighters are handled, and we are beginning attack runs to remove outer defenses. Cleared to start your approach," Jonathan says before winging over and diving towards the compound, laser cannons at the ready.
Phase one of the attack is over. And now, it's time for the ground team to shine.
And, I'll end the chapter there.
I hope you liked this action packed chapter and the descriptions of aerial combat. I wanted to end the displays of the Squadron with a real doozy.
Alright. Next chapter will be the ground attack on the Dark Force's compound on Bosthirda. It will be up tomorrow or the day after. Until it's up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!