Ch12 Igniting the Flame
Outside the Maw Instalation 19.7 ABY Early the next morning.
The massive Imperial armada has been preparing all night for their glorious day. A day that will live in infamy.
Onboard the Tyrants Hand Admiral DeGuale pateintly waits for the fleets conformation. Rear Admrial Typho approaches DeGuale.
"Admrial, the fleets are ready for combat. We can leave at any time sir."
"Good, Have Commander Usher's forces proceed to Saleucami. After Usher has confirmed that he begun his assualt, we will move out in six hours."
"As you wish sir." Admiral Typho then leaves the bridge and heads to the comm room. He walkes up to the consule and brings up Ushers frequency.
"Commander Usher do you copy? This is Rear Admiral Typho."
"I read you sir, what do need?"
"Commander, Admiral DeGuale has ordered you to begin your assault. Contact the Tyrants Hand when you have deployed your troops. Give them Hell Commander."
"With pleasure sir." Usher Bows and cuts his signal.
Outside the instalation Commander Usher rallies his six Acclamator Assualt ships for the attack. After they get into formation they jump to hyperspace. En route to Saleucami.
Admiral Deguale watches the six vessels leave the flotilla from his command ship.
"It begins now." He says to himself.
Coruscant Republic Military HQ 20 minutes later.
It still early in the morning, Tim hasn't been up for very long, and he's already down in the hanger doing his preflight checks on his fighter. He was just glad that they were only scheduled for one three hour sortie for the day. His commanders decided to give them a light day to give some of the other fighter units some extra training. It didn't bother him at all. As he's was working his second in command walks up, Commander Mark Andrews, Viper Squadron commander.
"Are we ready to roll Mark?" Tim asks
"Were still waiting for the Cobra's to fuel up sir."
"Damn it. Ok tell Commander Jackson to hurry up, I want to get these birds in the air so we can fly our circuit, come back and get some R&R."
"Yes sir." He then runs up to Commander Jackson with the orders. After a few minutes Andrews runs back to Tim.
"Captain, Ellen said the fulers are running a bit behind, but her squadron will be ready in a few minutes."
"Ok tell everyone else to board and fire up their engines. Standby until the Cobras are greenlined."
"Roger that sir."
Within five minutes the last of the Cobra's were fueled. Once Commander Jackson gave her all clear, the three X-wing squadrons soar out of the hanger.
In orbit of Saleucami one hour later.
Inside the Acclamator Cruiser Commander The Black Kight, Commander Usher prepares his troops for the assault. The clone division commander approaches Usher.
"Sir my troops are ready begin the assault sir. However sir I think we may have a problem."
"What is it."
"I think the alliance has spotted us, our readings show that they have started up their base shield. Our we still going to move out sir?"
"Yes begin landing your troops."
"Yes sir." The clone trooper leaves the room and heads to the docking bay with the rest of his troops.
Hundreds of LAAT/I and Sentinel class dropships leave the hangers and rush to the surface. Three of the Acclamators also head down to the surface to drop in the heavy equipment.
Inside the Saleucami outpost.
"Major the Imperials have begun landing their troops. We have activated the shield as you ordered. My infanty are taking up defensive position as we speek sir."
"Good work Lieutenant. The artillery we be in place in about ten minutes. So your troops will have keep the Imperials at bay until fire support is ready. Have we got signal to Coruscant yet?"
"Were working on it sir."
"Good, Everyone who is not combat arms and who in not working in the command center, grab a weapon and start assisting the artillery crews and the medics. Their going to need help, move out people. I don't think were going to able to evacuate any time soon."
Outside the base the anti-aircraft guns are tearing up the skys, already shooting at least eight LAATs down. Knowing the base was to hot land in, the gunships began dropping their troops on the beach head. The stormtrooper were meet with heavy resistance. Republic troops were killing stormtrooper left and right with their powerful MKII and T-21 repeating blasters. The beach head was slaughter house.
Imperial troops were pinned down. Any one that tried to storm te beach was brutally shot up. Their artillery was useless with the Alliances base shield up. As Imperial AT-STs and AT-APs started rolling on assault ships they immediatly start providing surpressive fire. They too were getting shot up badley. One AT-STs turret was blown off by an Alliance Atgar anti-vehicle laser cannon. Two Imperial A5 Juggernaughts roll off the transports, the first is acting as the forward command center for the assault. The crew inside the two massive tanks can hear and fell the sound of plasma hitting the hull of the vehicle.
A clone platton leader on the beach hears a whistling sound and looks up. He could tell it was artillery. The advancing squad in front of him was blows to pieces by the incoming rounds."Their shelling us take cover!"He yells out, only to get shot in the head by a Alliance sniper. The artillery was pounding Imperial ground forces. Several AT-STs have already been destroyed.
On the cliffs Republic snipers are having feild day. Each scoring several kills, many of them were clone NCOs and officers. One of the snipers lines his sights on the clone spotter on the lead Juggernaught. Once he gets a bead on him he fires. The blast went right threw the clones neck nocking him out of the tower.
The Empire was taking heavy casulties. Over the course on an hour and a half they lost over four hundred troops with another two hundred wounded. They counldn't even get past the beach head. Their aircraft were dropping like flies. One Sentinel was hit by a PLEX missile and spiraled down and hit a AT-AP, destroying them both of the vehicles instantly. The situation was seeming hopless for the Imperials.
On board the Acclamator The Black Knight Commander Usher watches the battle via holographic imageing. He was wasn't impressed with the over results. Many of his troops were killed, including many of his veteran non clone marines. He knew it was time for him to contact DeGaule. Usher heads to the Black Knights comm room.
"Admiral DeGuale this Usher my forces our currently assualting Saleucami. Were taking very heavy casualties though sir."
"Continue the assault reguardless Commander. We will attack the core in less than three hours. DeGuale out." and cutts the transmisstion.
Outside the Maw Instalation the massive starfleet moves into position. Admiral DeGuale gives the mobilization order. The fleet then breaks off and speeds into hyperspace to their targets.
Coruscant Republic Military HQ two hours later
Tim rushes to the war room. They had just got back from their flight. He was still in his flight suite yet. They were supposed to have the rest day off irony had other plans for them. He knew this had to important. He didn't even get his chair before General Rieekan started.
"We have a problem, we have recieved a distress call from our outpost on Saleucami. The Empire have launched a massive invasion force on them. From what they said they have the Imperials bogged down, but they can only hold them for so long. We are sending elements of the Mon Calimari fleet to relieve them. Be on your guard. we are offically at war with the Empire once agian, Dismissed."
Tim decided to go back his quarters and rest for awhile. It was nice to finally relax. As always he lite up a cigar and and sat on his deck. He didn't even change out of his flight suite yet. He sat there for about fifteen minutes, and noticed outside a bunch of troops yelling and running to the hangers and gun stations.
"What the hell is going on. This wasn't on the training schedule." just moments after his comm link beeps. He then knew their had to trouble. It was Andrews.
"This is Welch, what the hell is going on."
"Sir I just word were under attack. A massive fleet of Stardestroyers has entered Coruscants defense grid."
"Alright get everyone to the hanger immediately scramble all fighters. I'll meet you there shortly. Welch out."
Tim quickly sprints to the hanger. In his mind all he think about was how bad this could get, how many of their people were going to die. He tried to put those thoughts behind him. When he got the hanger everyone was ready to go. He then jumped into his fighter and gave his team mates the go ahead to take off. Within moments the whole wing was airbourne.
"This Raptor one, Vipers, Cobras give me heads up, over."
"This Andrews, Viper squadron accounted for."
"Jackson here, Cobra squadron is all here."
"Good, lock soils to attack position. Maximise your defelctor shields. Watch for enemy fighters."
"Raptor one this Rieekan, are you airbourne yet?"
"Yes sir, what are your orders?"
"Your flying towards the MC80 cruiser Liberty Crusader, she has a small groupe of corvetts and one frigate escorting it, But they don't have any fighters. I want you lend them a hand. If any bombers get to them, they won't stand a chance.
"Well do General."
"Good luck Captain, Rieekan out."
"Ok you heard the man, lets get up there lend some support." Tim said.
The X-wings flew at full speed out of the atmosphere. The whole wing was in shock when they saw how large the battle was. Hundreds of warships clashed in battle. The taskforce was in sight. They could already see TIE fighters attacking them.
"This Raptor One to the Liberty Crusade were here to help over."
"This is Captian Wittmore of the Liberty Crusade, thank god your here. We have no fighter support, and we have ties all around us. We need assistance."
"Just hange tight Captian. Everyone engage those fighters."
The wing breaks formation and guns for the TIE fighters. Tim pulls in behind a one of the TIEs and blasts it with cannons. It was his first kill with his new craft. It felt good. One by one the TIE fighter wing was shot down by Tim's wing and the corvetts. Their hard training was proving worth while. Each pilot scored at least one kill. The skirmish there didn't last long, but the battle has only begun.
"Thanks for the help, now we can start moving towards the rest of the fleet. Can you stay with us for awhile?"
"Thats why were here. Wait don't look now but we got two Venators heading strait for us."
"Ok I'll have the Liberty fire her batteries on the Venators. Can you keep those Venators busy?"
"Sure thing, lets move people." The Liberties main guns fire on the Venators, while the X-wings attacked the Venators vital areas. The Liberty proved to be more than a match for the two stardestoyers. Her guns pounded Ventors into submisson. Jackson and Welch flew both flew in close up to the left Venator and each fired a pair or proton torpedos into its bridge, causing a massive explosion inside it. It was rendered helpless. The other was still under heavy fire by the Libery and her escorts. The concentrated fire from the taskforce overwhemled the Venator and caused it explode. Tim looks at his radar only to see more enemies moving towards them.
"Alright don't start celebrating now, we got an Imperial class Stardestroyer coming in." Tim said.
"Welch this Andrews we got fighters coming in..wait OH SHIT TIE DEFENDERS, FIFTEEN OF THEM."
This made most of the young pilots alittle worried TIE Defenders were the best ties models the had, and only elite pilots flew them. Tim wasn't worried.
"Don't panic, Everyone get into pairs and attack the defenders by twos. Captain Wittmore you'll have to deal with that Stardestroyer on your own for a bit."
"Copy that Raptor One."
As the defender formation flew in Tim decided to make a bold move and flew strait infront of the lead defender, and rapidly fired his cannons. The plasma bolts hit the defender right square in the cockpit, destroying it. Tim barley managed to dodge the wreckage. With their flight leader dead the defenders brake formation.
"Now's your chance, get behind those son's of bitches!" Tim yells out.
The rest of the wing follows suite and chases the defenders. The defenders get double teamed by the X-wings. With in five minutes the elite defender pilots were dead. This was a loss for the Empire. They were the only non veteran wing to ever take out a full Defender squadron.
"Excellent job everyone, now lets pound the piss out that Stardestroyer." Tim ordered.
The wing flew back towards the enemy ship at high speed. The Liberty has already done a bit of damage to it, but they wanted to finish it. Tim flew up towards its bridge and fired several cannon blast at its left sheild generator , and Mark shortly after shot up the right generator. The Stardestroyers shields were down. The Liberty and her escorts throw everything they had on the cruiser. The combined fire destroyed the warship shortly after.
Inside the Bridge on the Tyrants Hand, Admiral DeGuale peers out towards the battle. The battle was going as planned , their bombers had disabled many docked Republic cruisers. He got word from the other attack groups, their attacks were also going rahter well. They were paying quite the price though. Several of their ships have either been destroyed or badley damaged. DeGuale knew they couldn't stay out there for much longer.
The battle has been raging for forty five minutes now. Both sides had taken heavy damage. The Republic new the only way to tip the scale was to attack the SuperStardestroyer. The Republic Fleet commanders then order any and all avialible ships to attack the massive battleship. Tim and his raiders have done immense amount of damage to the invading forces. They were respossible for the assisted destruction of six Imperial cruisers and eight squadrons of Imperial fighters. Legendary exploits non the less.
"Listen up command has ordered all units to attack the SuperStardestroyer, Everyone get a ammo count, were going to need every torpedo we have inorder to bring that behemoth down. Lets move." After that Tim and his pilots race towards the giant warship.
Hundreds of Republic fighters and warships bombard the massive Stardestroyer, hitting it with everything they had. It was hit with countless missiles, and torpedos. When Tim and his unit got their they flew low over its hull and unloaded all their munitions on anything that looked vital. It was flying fortress. Tim looked down and could see it was starting to take some damage, but at a high cost, he saw two A-wings get shot down from its AA guns. With their warhead launchers empty there was little more they could do to it, so they flew back towards the fleet to protect them from the remaining TIEs.
Back on the Tyrants Hand the crew could feel the ship rumble and rock from the incoming fire. The ship was starting to take alot of damage. Rear Admiral Typho walks up to DeGuale to give him the statis.
"Sir the Tyrant is under heavy fire, and most of the fleet has broken formation."
"Yes I know our time quota has past, begin withdrawing the fleet. We've done enough damage here."
"Yes sir."
It takes alomst twenty minutes for the massive fleet to fall back. As the Imperials retreat the Republic fleet tries to pick off any stragglers they could before they were able to escape. The battle was over. As Tim and his wing flies back towards Coruscant they pass the orbital docks and see dozens of cruisers and battleships severly damaged. Many of them didn't even leave the docking bays. It was an awful sight.
"This Raptor One, Squadron leaders give me a heads count over."
"Cobra One here, all pilots accounted for."
"Viper One, were all here."
"Good, You all did one hell of a job today. We were lucky that we didn't loose anyone, but alot of other units did. Lets get back to base, I'm sure they have plenty for us to do."
After the three squadrons return to base, Tim hurries out his craft and signals all of his pilots to come over.
"Ok listen there's alot wounded people, I want all of you to go and help the medics out, I'm sure their desperate for any able bodies. I'm need to fing the general and give him a report. As soon I'm finished I'll be right back here to help you. Lets move."
Tim runs as fast as he could to the generals office. He got lucky and was able to meet him half way.
"Captain I'm glad to see your OK."
"Were all fine sir. From what it seems the Imperials were realy only targeting our larger capital ships. I saw many damaged ships in dry dock sir."
"Thats what I've been told, it appears that Rendili, Corellia, and Mon Calamari were also hit, all with similar results. Calamari took the most damage."
"So Saleucami was a diversion then sir."
"It appears so Captian, and worst of all almost a third of our fleets battleships are out of commission."
"What's the damage sir"
"As of now we lost twenty cruisers and have almost sixty disabled in dry dock, another twenty vessels damged while in battle. Amazingly the only fighters we lost a fair amount of were A-wings, at sixty and a total of one hundred fifteen fighters lost. It seems that they weren't after fighters at all. On the plus side, we did manage to capture two Imperial Victories, but that still doesn't make up for what we lost."
"Either way thats alot damage sir. well if you don't have anything else for me I need to get back helping the wounded sir."
"I won't keep ya, save as many people as you can."
"I'll try sir." Tim then runs back to the hanger and helps treat the wounded.
The Maw Instalation the next day.
DeGuale and his staff gather in the waroom to go over the results of the attack. From their records it seems that both sides broke even. The Empire had lost more ships and fighters, but the Republic has much of their fleet on lockdown for repairs, and couldn't launch a counter offensive. Typho looks at DeGuale with an indecisive look.
"Well sir what do think?"
"What do I think Jason? I think this was to be expected. Now that the Republic armada is licking its wounds, we can move on to the next phase. We will continue to hit key Republic worlds, this will keep them busy and allow us to take other smaller worlds, and hit Lylat soon with out having to worry about the Republic coming to the rescue, and as far the damage on the Tyants Hand goes, I'm not worried, I have some special modifications I want done to it anyways."
"I see sir."
"What is the reports of the Saleucami attack"
"The Republic sent a task force to assist the outpost. But when Daala's fleet attack Mon Calamari they called them back sir."
"What was the damage?"
"When the Republic fleet arrived we lost two of the Accalmators, including the Black Night. Commander Usher was killed. I took the liberty to send another task force of my troops to continue the assault. I hope you don't mind sir."
"Thats fine Jason that will keep the Republic occupied for now, but if we need them for another operation I expect them to be ready."
"Of course sir."
Colonel Tyler walks up to DeGuale and informs him that Jadex is trying to contact him. The two head into the comm room to recieve the transmission.
"Yes Jadex."
"Admiral the congress of Adumar have agreed to our offer. Munitions and arms will be shipped to our bases soon."
"Good you have done well. Return to the Maw as soon as possible so we can plan your next assignment."
"As you wish sir."
Authors notes: So what did ya think of that? I told you things were going to get good, and their only going to get better. Now the real action begins. So stay tuned, and no I don't plan on covering every little skirmish, but I will generalise events that have occured. I won't cheap out on the big battles. Thanks for reading and reviewing.