Darkness Returns
CH28 Breaking The Link
In orbit of Macbeth 19.9 ABY moments later.
In the quiet vacuum of space over the besieged world of Macbeth a giant green glow illuminates above it. With in moments of its appearance the Cornerian and Republic task force jolt out of it and the glow quickly disappears. After a brief moment the task force begins to form up and begin a head count.
"Has everyone exited the gate over?" Fox asks.
"I believe so. Nevel whats our count." Tim replies.
"Captain our sensors report that all ships have successfully exited warp transit." Nevel reports.
"Copy that. Fox were ready on my end." Tim relays.
"Roger that Raptor one. All Cornerian ships are accounted for and ready for combat." Fox replied.
"Alright then, lets do this thing. All fighters lock S-foils into attack position." Tim orders, with that said all the Republic fighters open their wings up, in readiness to ambush the Imperial blockade.
"Katt we need to know where the nearest Imperial cruiser is." Fox says.
"Roger that, stand-bye. Macbeth Command this Commander Monroe here over." Katt replies.
"This is Macbeth command go ahead." The RTO responds.
"I need the whereabouts of the closest Imperial ships to our position." Katt replies.
"Stand-bye." The RTO says and about a minute later." Commander I have one Imperial cruiser bearing 51 degrees at roughly three hundred clicks from your position. Proceed with caution over."
"Roger that Monroe out. Fox Tim did you get that?" Katt replies.
"Copy that, 51 degrees at three hundred clicks." Tim says.
"Man that's awfully close. You think that they have spotted us already or not." Fox asked.
"I'm not sure, but we are cutting close. We have to hit right away." Tim says.
"Alright you heard the lady, all units set bearing 51. Lets move." Fox orders.
"Nevel once we are in sight range of the enemy, immediately jam their communications. I don't feel like engaging half of their damn fleet." Tim orders.
"Will do sir." Nevel replies.
"Ya that would certainly complicate things." Fox says.
"More like put us six feet under." Katt replies. The task-force swiftly moves forward to their unsuspecting prey.
Inside the bridge of the Acclamator Class Assault Ship The Conqueror, the ships XO approaches the Captain who is staring out towards the empty void.
"Sir we have six enemy ships on our screen on intercept course."
"These Cornerians are bold, I'll give that. Notify Head Quarters, raise shields and and prepare for attack." The Captain orders.
"Aye sir, all hands battle stations, scramble all fighters. Alter command and call for reinforcements. Maximize forwards shields." The XO orders.
"Lieutenant I'm unable to hail command, they must be jamming us. We also have detected at least six squadrons of fighters as well sir." The RTO yells out.
"Damn it. Captain were on our own for now. What are you orders sir?" The XO asks.
"Maintain our current position. We will drive out these vermin. You may fire at will. Kill every last one of them." The Captain orders.
"Aye sir.. You heard the man. All batteries fire at will." The XO orders with slight hesitation. The cruisers gunnery crew immediately open fire upon the incoming task-force with every bit of firepower they have.
In the vast void the allied fighters desperately wave in and out of the enemies merciless barrage of turbolaser fire and torpedoes. Their cover was blown, now was the time time attack, and they have a few tricks up their sleeves.
"Their playing no way in." Mark says.
"Were under heavy fire out here guys." Katt says frantically.
"Relax Katt. Nevel if the Katanna is in range commence fire." Tim orders.
"Roger that sir. All batteries intensify forward firepower." Nevel says.
"This Fox to all Cornerian ships fire at will, I repeat fire at will." Fox orders.
The bombardment from the allied task-force was intense. It gave their pilots the opportunity they needed to began their attack run on the outnumbered enemy ship.
"Now is our chance to trash this thing. All Rapiers move into attack position. My team will be point. Lets bring the rain people." Fox orders.
"Lancers sqd, Anaconda sqd, Begin your assault, The rest of us will keep those Ties of your asses." Tim orders.
The Cornerian bombers flew in first wave and attacked from above, damaging many of its vital systems. The Republic bombers flew from below and behind damaging its engines and life support. It was dead in the water, but that didn't stop the onslaught. For the Cornerians this was revenge. The allied interceptors made very short work of what few fighters the Acclamator was able to launch, many shot down as they were attempting exit the hanger. To stop then once and for all, Tim and Fox both fly up to hanger and each launch a warhead inside it killing possibly hundreds and incapacitating the remains of fighter defenses.
Inside the Conqueror
With in the brutally besieged assault ship, the captain just watches the battle knowing that his end is near. Around him he can hear the screams of his crewmen and explosions of the ships systems. His XO desperately runs up to while trying to keep his balance while ships rocks and stumbles from the broadside.
"What are your orders sir?" The XO asks.
"We must abandon ship." The captain says.
"Is it true that our gunners have seen Republic fighters out there?" The XO asks.
"Yes, but that's not important right now you must ge..." Before the captain could finish a massive explosion erupts from the main reactor and turns the ship into a blazing inferno. The Cornerians cheered over the radios, for they have only managed to destroy a handful of Imperial ships.
"HaHa yes, score one for the good guys." Fox cheers.
"Happy trails you imp bastards!" Katt yells.
"Nice work people, but its not over yet. Katt where is our next target?" Tim says.
"Stand by." Katt replies.
"We need to make this quick. The transports will be here in less than fifteen minutes." Fox says.
"Then we gotta work hard and fast." Tim replies.
"Guys I have the location of the target. It is bearing 250 degrees at one hundred clicks..."Before Katt can finish Fox jumps in.
"Shit that way to close. We might be in trouble. They had to have spotted us." Fox comments.
"I agree. We have to take it out ASAP." Tim replies.
"You didn't let me finish. I'd hate to say it but our target has been confirmed to be an Imperial class Stardestroyer." Katt says with a great lack of confidence voice. This news made heart of almost every Cornerian in the attack force, even with their newly acquired training and allies the very mention of these monstrous battleships strike fear inside their hearts. Not once have they been able to bring one these behemoths down.
"Just one, it shouldn't be a problem, granted that haven't called for backup yet. But we need to hurry. Remember your training, if we keep the fleet at a distance we'll have the advantage, but in close quarters broadsides they will quickly overpower us." Tim says.
"I hope your right." Krystal says.
"Tim's right we'll be fine, let's move. Set course bearing 150." Fox orders.
"I copy that, you heard the man full throttle people." Tim ordered.
"Captain should we bother with jamming them sir." Nevel asks.
"I thinks its abit late for that." Tim replies. The task-force quickly speeds off towards their next target in hopes to bring it down in time.
The flight towards their next prey way short, unfortunately they lost the element of surprise. While just barely being in sight range of the enemy, they could see the green glow of the the ships long range heavy batteries taking pot shots at them. At first they were way off target but as the fighters started to close in their shot groups were becoming mush tighter. Fox looks out his canopy and see one the Rapiers wings skewered of by enemy plasma and spin out of control and finally explode.
"Evasive maneuvers." Fox orders. With that said the fighters brake formation and scatter to avoid the onslaught.
"Tim we got Ties coming in fast!" Ellen reports.
"Lets take them out before they take out our bombers. Ellen take half your squadron and escort the bombers while they attack that stardestroyer. Mark's and my pilots will stay back and distract these Ties. Nevel if you have a clear shot fire for effect on that cruiser. Time is ticking people." Tim orders.
"Aye captain. All batteries give them all we got." Nevel says.
"Roger that. First flight on me. Second flight stay with Raptor group and Viper group and cover us." Ellen replies as her and five of her wing-men boost forward to get in of the bombers.
"Acknowledged sir. We got your back." Mark replies as he shoots down a Tie Interceptor.
"Bill form up on me, were going to lead the bombing run. Katt, Krystal you two will take charge of the Arrowheads and provide assistance for Tim. All Bombers set up for your attack run." Fox orders and hits his after burners.
"Right behind you." Bill replies.
"I copy that Fox. Krys form up on me. Let's do this." Katt says.
"In position. Ready for action." Krystal replies.
The allied bombers and their escort make their charge on the mile long warship. The enemy knowing that their outnumbered continue firing sporadically at their attackers. The crossfire was immensely tight. As the assault fighter closed in the heavy batteries managed to bring down one of the B-wing's and another Rapier. Once the bombers reached targeting range, Lancer squadron took the first shots and disabled three out of four of the cruisers port side heavy batteries. Bill then followed up on the first wave and unleashed a nova bomb on the last heavy gun and blows it off it's turret assembly. Fox executing the next phase of the attack, flies at low level across the hull of the cruiser while avoiding heavy defensive fire and flies up towards the bridge and fires a rapid stream of cannon fire at the ships left shield generator causing it to explode. His attack disabled nearly half of the enemies ships shields.
"That ought to even the odds a bit. Katt hows things on your end over?" Fox asks.
"Were starting thin them up a bit. But their speed is making them difficult to track." Katt replies as she lines up her sights on a Tie fighter and kills it.
"Heads up, flight of interceptors at ten o'clock coming in fast." Krystal warns.
"Roger that, Raptor two on me. I got their leader." Tim replies. The two X-wings quickly make their way behind the group of four interceptors. Tim lines up the group leader on his target reticule and fires a short burst of plasma. The loss of their group leader causes the other three to scatter.
"Raptor two follow and engage that singled out interceptor, I'll take the other two." Tim orders.
"Roger that sir." Raptor two replies, and banks right to get on the enemies six. The interceptor not even realizing that Raptor two is in close pursue is quickly shot down in a deadly blaze of fire.
"Bandit down." Raptor two reports.
"Copy that. I'm still in pursue." Tim reports.
The elegantly painted X-wing closed in on closest of the two interceptors and brought it in his sights and hits it with two plasma blasts causing it to spin out of control and burst into flames. The second interceptor, seeing his other comrade perish quickly pulled up and put his thrusters to the max to avoid suffering the same fate. This slightly caught Tim by surprise, and followed suit seconds later. The Tie pilot still focused on Tim failed to see a pink Arwing flying straight at shooting and rolling. By the time he realized what was happening it was too late, for the last thing he saw was a green burst of plasma coming straight for his face. The blast cut through the cockpit like paper and was destroyed instantly. Time seemed to slow down for Tim as he had to react like lightning to avoid the wreckage. He yawed the fight fighter to the right and passed up the downed Tie, as he regained his his position he looked up and seen Katt's Arwing just a few feet above his own. They both just looked at each other and gave one another a smile that said "We own this place" and in a flash the two past each other up like it never happened.
"Woo hahaha, now that was quite the rush." Katt gloated.
"Yeah I'll say. Let's not do that again, any closer and we would have butt heads." Tim replied.
"Agreed. Lets try not to get each other kill quiet yet." Katt responded.
"You two are fucking crazy, you know that right." Mark commented, Tim and Katt just laughed.
"I think that we have most of the Ties mopped up for the most part now." Krystal said.
"Copy that. Fox whats your status over?" Tim replied.
"The stardestroyer has taken heavy damage. She's barely holding together. We'll have her sunk on moments." Fox reported.
"Roger that. What's our time quota looking at now over?" Tim asked.
"ETA for the transports is five minutes." Fox replied.
"Nothing takes five minutes." Tim commented.
"Ain't that the truth." Fox sarcastically replied.
"Ya no shit." Katt replied.
"Ok back to gist, once you guys finish off those few reaming Ties rally on us and help us finish this beast off if we haven't already." Fox ordered.
"I copy that. You heard the man lets finish these bastards off." Tim replied as he made a hard left bank towards one of the remaining Ties.
The battered stardestroyer desperately tried to out maneuver the allied assault. All seemed hopeless for the ship as nonstop bombing runs and cannon bombardment pummeled the massive battleship. The ship was finally on its last limb and begins to capsize. knowing that this was the ample opportunity to make the final fatal blow Fox, Bill and two ARC-170's form up and set their sights on the already weakened ventral reactor on the bottom of the ship. As the four fighters close in they each fire a warhead at the fragile reactor and maximize their thrusters.
"She's gonna burst!" Bill yelled. The impact of the warheads causes the strained reactor to finally meltdown and ignites a massive chain reaction that consumes the warship once and for all. The Cornerians let a thunderous cheer that could heard across the system. This was their greatest moral boost yet.
"YEEHAAA YA." Fox cried out.
"Alright Yeah." Bill yelled.
"We got the bastard." Katt said.
"Finally some progress. What a releif." Krystal commented.
"Nice everyone. Nevel what our status over?" Tim asked.
"All ships intact with minimal to no damage, and no reported crew casualties sir." Nevel replies.
"Excellent, is the area secure then?" Tim asks.
"Wait one sir. Sergeant do we have confirmation that the region is secure?" Nevel says.
"It appears so... um wait sir I think we have something." the radar operators reports.
"Is it the transports?" Nevel asks with a hint of concern in his tone.
"No sir, I have three stardestroyers on my screen now, two Venator-class at bearing 330, distance 90 and one Imperial II-class bearing 180 distance 65. Their on intercept course coming in fast." the radar operator reports.
"Not good. Sir we have a problem. We have three enemy ships headed our way. Their going to try to box us in. Their already almost in firing range." Nevel says frantically.
"Son of a bitch. Ok I have them on my scope. We got company people. Fire all batteries on those Venators." Tim replies. With that said the small task-force begins to provide suppressive fire on the two enemy cruisers.
"That victory was short sighted. Those transports will be here at any moment, we need a plan and fast." Fox asked.
"Were out gunned but we still need to keep the enemy busy. The Imperial class is our biggest threat. The fleet is already throwing what they have at those Venators. I suggest we rally all fighters and start hitting the other stardestroyer. That should keep them busy for the moment. You have a EVAC location, cause were gonna need one and quickly." Tim orders.
"We should fall back to Sargasso. That's the closest safe-zone. By the way transport arrival ETA two minutes." Fox replies.
"I hope your right." Tim says.
"Me too. All right all fighters do a ammo check. Commence attack on that cruiser. Make every shot count. Do everything you can do disable her, I doubt we'll have enough munitions to bring it down." Fox ordered.
Time was very short and now the enemy had the upper hand. The fighters did all they could to damage the beast with what little ammo they had left. They managed to do a fair amount of damage but not enough to hinder it from attacking, surprisingly to the allies pilots, the stardestroyer put less focus on them and more to the task-force. The Imperial II's Octuple Barbette turbolasers threw a massive barrage of fire at the task-force greatly weakening their shields. The task-force was in a bad position and won't last much longer.
"Fox all torpedoes have been fired. Theirs little more we can do to this thing." Tim reports.
"Roger were empty as.." before Fox can finish another transmission enters the net.
"This Transport One to Task-force Alpha. We are at the rendezvous point and are awaiting coordinates for atmospheric entry over."
"Oh thank god" Fox thought. "Roger Transport One. Descend at your current location, this position is compromised and hotter than hell. We can't give you any more cover over." Fox orders.
"Copy that Task-force Alpha, making our approach. Thanks for cover. Good luck. Transport One out."
"All right were down here people. Retreat to fallback positions. I repeat all unit fall back." Fox orders.
"Ok people you the man. General Retreat, Raptor sqd on me everyone else fall back, well keep you covered." Tim ordered.
The small task-force systematically retreated from the battle, nearly costing their lives, however the mission was a prestigious success. This was Corneria's first true "victory".
Sargasso Naval Outpost 18:35 two hours later.
Inside the former pirate hideout, the Cornerians celebrate and rest lightly after scoring their first true strategic victory over the Empire. While the Cornerians celebrated Tim sat quietly on top of the left wing of his X-wing, smoking a cigarette. He was never much of a party person, although was he was very satisfied with the battle results he usually preferred the quiet to ease his tension. His usual daze was interrupted back footsteps, he turns his head and notices Katt walking up to his craft.
"There you are. I've been looking for you." Katt says.
"Why's that?" Tim asked.
"Because everyone else is celebrating the victory, except you." Katt replies.
"I'm not a big party person." Tim says as he ashes his cigarette and takes another puff.
"Oh don't be so damn boring. Anyways I also wanted to say that was hell of job out their. That was some of the best flying I've ever seen despite us nearly crashing into each other. You and your crew have certainly earned my respect to say the least." Katt replied as she lite up a cigarette herself.
"Likewise." Tim said.
"I don't think you realize how much this victory means to us. Even if it was a small one. My people needed to able to say that we actually won a major battle without loosing half our troops only to get routed in the following battle." Katt said.
"I just hope it was worth it. We took a great risk today. The Empire knows were here now and the consequences for our presence here may be dire for your people. I can't guarantee what their next move will be." Tim replied.
"The consequences may be bad but if the Republic wouldn't have committed it's aid we would all be dead in a matter of months. But anyways quit sulking and lets get a few drinks with others, debrief isn't unit the morning anyways." Katt says as she puts her cigarette out.
"Alright I guess I could use a drink or two." Tim replies as he puts his smoke out as well and jumps of the wing.
"You gotta admit though our little fly by was pretty cool." Katt says, Tim just laughs.
"Ya it was pretty cool." Tim replies.
The victory over Macbeth although small gave the Cornerians desperately needed reinforcements and most of all hope, hope that their system would be free once again.
Authors notes: Ya I know that took way too damn long get up and I apologize again. It would have been finished before but I had to do a system format plus with work and all, you get the jist. So how was that for a battle? As always thanks for reading for reviewing.