Ch23 A Shred of Hope
Coruscant Defense station 19.8 ABY
Tim was abit surprised to here that the ship they would be using was the legendary Katana. The flagship of the Old Republic's prized Katana fleet that disappeared over half a century ago. Now he was standing less that a hundred meters away from her.
"So this is the Katana then sir?" Tim asks.
"Yes Captain. The Republic Captured her during the Battle of the Katana fleet during the Thrawn campaign. Since then she has been on and off active duty. I figured it would serve well during this mission. This is a fully outfitted Dreadnaught with many modifications. It's the perfect ship for your mission." Rieekan replies.
"Dreadnaughts are good vessels. My home defense fleet had two of them. I served on one of them for almost five months." Tim says.
"All the better then Captain." the general replies.
"Who is the commander of this ship sir? I will need to speak with them for mission details." Tim asks.
"You are Captain. I told you before I want you to play an intregal part in this war. I good military leader needs a flagship. The Katana is now under your permanent command." Rieekan says.
"Me sir? I'm honored but are you sure sir?" Tim asks.
"I'm confident in your leadership skills Captain." Rieekan replies.
"Thank you sir. I'll do my best." Tim says.
"So sir whats this ship capable of? Can it cope with a Stardestroyer?" Fox asks.
"As I said before the Katana is a fully outfitted. It has twenty light quad turdolasers, fifteen turdolaser cannons, a forward fire high yield conccusion missile launcher, and fifteen heavy turbolaser batteries. Its got alot of firepower for being a only a heavy cruiser. McCloud if you look at the side of the hull you will see five large blisters. Behind each blister is one of the heavy batteries. Those batteries rival the power of a Stardestroyers heavy guns." Rieekan replies.
"Damn that things got some punch then sir." Fox replies.
"Whats her compliment sir?" Tim asks.
"Besides your X-wings, you will have twelve T2-B Light CAV vehicals, six AAC-1 Heavy CAV vehicals, six T4-B Main battle tanks, twelve T-47 airspeeders, a couple dozen speeder bikes, a full battalion of eighteen LAAT/I Gunships a full company of Repulic infantry, and two bomber squadrons." Rieekan replies.
"That should should give us an edge sir." Tim says.
"Ya I'll say." Fox adds.
"Now listen closely about the bombers. One of the bombers squadrons is a B-wing unit, Lancer Squadron, and one of our best I might add. They are only temperarily under your command for this mission. The fleet will need them back afterwards."Rieekan says.
"And the other sir?" Tim says.
"I figured you would like this, since you said you used to fly these. The other is a squadron of refurbished ARC-170s. They have been refitted and modified. The first major modification is that their torpedo launchers have been fitted to fire high yield torpedos and standard as well. The other modification is that they are able to carry a light proton or cluster bomb load while still retaining its speed and manuverability. These ARC's will be under your command for as long as you want." Rieekan says.
"Your right sir I rather like ARC's. I'll put them to good use. With this set up sir we should have no problem keeping the Empire at bay." Tim replies.
"Good thats what I want to hear, and captain may I ask what is with the wild paint jobs on your fighters?" Rieekan asks.
"Ah yes sir. Its for tactical reasons sir, and to look good sir." Tim replies.
"I see." Rieekan says.
"Sir my ship is still not combat ready. Is it possible that you can hook us up with some weapons for the GreatFox?" Fox asks.
"Well the Cornerian military is technically part of the NRDF now, so yes what do you need captian." Rieekan says.
"Some computer assisted anti-aircraft guns sir. like about five." Fox replies.
"Well how do AG-2 Quad guns sound?" Rieekan asks.
"How are those sir?" Fox asks.
"They shoot very fast, their accurate, and powerful. They will tear any sort of Tie fighter to sheds." Rieekan replies.
"Just what I need sir." Fox says.
"Good, I'll have our mechanics install them by morning. Overall you should have everything you'll need for your mission. Is there any questions?" Rieekan says.
"When do we move out sir?" Tim asks.
"As soon as the three of you are ready. I've done all I can, its up to you three now. Contact me when you have reached Corneria. Good luck and give the Empire hell." Rieekan orders.
After the three officers salute the general he turns around and walks away. The three then quietly face each other.
"Well looks like we have alot of work to do then." Krystal says.
"Lets do this." Fox replies.
"Its pay back time." Tim adds.
"So whats the plan then you two?" Krystal asks.
"Well Krys we need to get the GreatFox preped for departure. One of us should oversee the maintenance crews just incase they mess something up while trying to modifiy our ship." Fox says.
"I can do that Fox. You should help Tim get the Katana ready." Krystal replies.
"Ok then babe. Tim what do we need to do then?" Fox asks.
"Well first we should go on board and get a feel for the ship and meet the crew. Then we should get a look at the hanger and see if all of the support craft and combat vehicles are there and ready. Then we should get a look at the armory and see what we have for small arms. Then finally we should see how we are on supplies, we could be out there for awhile." Tim says.
"Sounds good, lets get going we have alot to do." Fox replies.
"Alright then. Krystal have the GreatFox docked here when then the guns are mounted. We'll move out as soon as were ready then." Tim says.
"Ok then see you in the morning." Krystal says as she kisses Fox and then walks out to the main hanger.
"Well shall we then." Fox says.
"Lets go." Tim replies.
Fox and Tim the procceed to the Katana. The two spend almost half the night making sure the ship was ready for deployment. At around 03:15 the two pilots decide to call it a night, and sit the hanger bay and relax for a bit. Fox looks at the the newly painted X-wings. All the X-wings were painted with metallic tiger striping on the fuselages, with metallic painted flames on the wings and preditory reptile faces on the nose cone. Each squadron had a differnt color, blue for Raptor sqd, red for Viper sqd, and green for Cobra sqd. They are as eligant as they are deadly.
"I like the art work." Fox says.
"Thanks, I'm rather fond of it myself." Tim replies.
"That should scare the hell out of the Imperials." Fox adds.
"That was the idea. Plus I figured were going in to heavy combat, so might as well go in style." Tim replies. Fox just laughs.
"You ready for this man?" Fox asks.
"As ready ready as I'll ever be." Tim replies.
"Good, we should get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us." Fox says.
"I agree. I'll see you in the morning." Tim replies.
"Ok, I'll report back as soon as the Great Fox is ready to move." Fox says.
"Alright, I'll be here if need anything." Tim says.
Meanwhile..
Macbeth Miliarty HQ 07:36.
Nearly fifteen minutes after she awakes, Commander Monroe heads to the commandcenter to get her morning reports. She already knows that the reports are not going to be good. Just yesterday the Imperial Army began their advance on the last free city and destroyed the largest of their few remaining supply trains. She knows they can't hold for on for much longer. She silently walks inside and looks around at the all the young soldiers, who have been working vigorous hours, she then approaches the deck officer.
"Whats the damage today major?" she asks.
"Well commander our artillery is keeping the Imperials at bay, but they will need reinforcements in order to hault the advance ma'am."
"Scramble what gunships we have left and have them transfer our troops from outpost Victor and send them to the city to aid our ground troops there." Katt orders.
"But ma'am outpost Victor is one of the only functional outposts left. Without it, our remaining convoys are nearly defenseless."
"I know that major but we have to protect those innocent people. Now have we heard from Col Madison or Maj O'Donnell yet?" Katts says.
"Yes ma'am, Col Madison and his commando team's recon mission was sussessful. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't have known about the enemies recent advance."
"Where are they now major?" Katt asks.
"They requested to be transfered to the city to help hold on the Imperial advance."
"Alright then. Are the repairs on my Arwing finished yet. I could do myself but I havn't had time lately."Katt asks.
"No ma'am, that flak burst did more damage than you though. Our mechanics are going to have to replace your right wing compeletly, and the G-Diffuser will need minor work done on it."
Just before Katt can respond a young PFC aproaches her.
"Commander you have an incomming message from High Command."
"Bring it up on screen." Katt orders.
"Yes ma'am."
When the large monitor turns on Gen Hare's face showed up on the sreen. He had an optimistic look on his face.
"I've been trying to get a hold of you Katt, what happened?" Peppy asks.
"Imperial bombers have been harassing us for a couple days now. They knocked out our power grid for almost five hours yesterday. But were holding together. Whats the word then." Katt says.
"I have good news. Fox contacted me yesterday afternoon, and he said that the Republic is sending a small detachment very soon. It might only be one ship though, but he said that they will be able help hold them off until the rest of their fleet arrives." Peppy says.
"One ship? I hope this is worth it. My troops can't hold them off much longer Peppy. I don't even know if we'll last another week." Katt says.
"Have faith Katt. Fox said that the strike force consists of some of the finest troops and pilots that the Republic has. Fox said that the Republic has been fighting the Empire for sometime now. I'm sure they know what their doing. So don't worry Katt they'll come through." Peppy says.
"I hope your right for all our sake." Katt says.
Authors notes: Oh yeah they got guns and lots of them. The Katana is ready to kick some ass! But on the serious note I'm sorry to say that my unit is gearin up to go to Iraq soon. So I don't know how many more chapters I'll get up before I leave for training. I just want to says thanks for the support from everyone who has read this, and I also want to give a speacial shout out for Shadow Shinobi57,the Xbeat08, and Mike Sullivan, who have been my strongest supporters. I promise if I can't post while I'm gone, that I will keep writing until this is finished. Best of luck to all of you, and thanks again everyone. starfighter_105..