Within the last 4 hours, Bilbringi Shipyards
Garin hung in space, his eyes closed as he dosed inside his cockpit. He'd set his Defender to maintain station in relative to the Knight. The rest of Hades and several other units floated nearby in and around the capital ships, the Knight was among several other cruisers and frigates settled in around an interdictor destroyer* there were two smaller interdictor cruisers in their portion of the line that also fell under the formation's purview. The smaller cruisers and frigates drifted between the three interdictors, ensuring constant coverage for the valuable warships. At the center of the Imperial line rested the Bilbringi Shipyards and their Golan defense platforms along with the Chimaera and her battle group. They'd been here for a little over an hour and not much had happened aside from the sudden panic and scattering of the civilian traffic lanes. Many had opted to simply remain docked at the yards instead of risk open space whatever it was the Imperial formation was preparing for.
"Hey Gar," Toth called.
Garin's eyes flicked open, "yeah?"
"The interdictors just powered up and began projecting, I think this is it."
"About time," muttered Kalan, "I'm stiffer than a hull plate!"
"Heh, I'm sure you can manage some basic calisthenics in your suit Kal." Responded Matrin teasingly.
"Black Knight do you have any signatures?"
"Affirmative Hades lead, multiple hyperspace profiles are being projected into the system, ETA seven minutes."
This assertion was confirmed a moment later when Pallaeon's trim voice echoed over the com lines.
"All units, enemy reversion is imminent; power up and prepare to engage. Vessels on the picket line maintain your positions and defend our interdictors until otherwise ordered."
Garin flipped his controls and felt the familiar and reassuring vibration of his shields coming online. His sensors registered dozens of other power signatures coming online all around him as Hades and all the rest came to full combat readiness. He glanced down at his chrono and began counting down the time until the Republic fleet was to drop into realspace again. The minutes ticked by at a crawl and the digital numbers became his entire world for those grueling moments, when the last sixty seconds began to race by he gripped his control yoke and braced his feet against his flight pedals. At thirty five seconds the Republic fleet dropped into space in front of his viewscreen, there was no hesitation in his voice or actions as he kicked the throttle to full and leapt towards the enemy.
"Hades engage your targets."
Before the command was fully out of his mouth, Mantis and Diamond opened with a rippling barrage of concussion missiles; the barrage tore past Garin's cockpit racing towards the rapidly recovering Republic forces. As expected the Republic broke itself into three wings, the largest wing going for the center of the Imperial formation while the outboard wings turned to engage the flanking arms of the Imperial fleet. Garin performed a brief sweep of his sensors and felt a nervous smile cross his features. The two forces were about even, he could even see a few star destroyers in the Republic line; this could be interesting. Though clearly the Republic was still very thrown off by the sudden reversion to realspace and the instantaneous assault by the Imperial warships and fighters as evidenced by the rather lack-luster battle formation they were arraying themselves into. Garin certainly welcomed the chaos; it made his job that much easier.
The missile volley that erupted in a brilliant blaze of light amongst the recovering Republic fighters, scattering them in every direction; using this tactic in a conventional battle had some major risks he admitted. If any of the other units operating on Hades' side of the battle had accelerated into the oncoming Republic fighters too quickly there could have been a major fratricide. Luckily that hadn't happened, as Hades closed on the still shaken Republic fighters he keyed his missiles and dual linked them. He slid his crosshairs over an oncoming B-wing and waited until he had tone and pulled the trigger; his missiles streaked out and slammed into the oncoming fighter, sending it spinning off course as its shields took the hit. He sped past the disoriented fighter, locking his tractor beam onto it and dragging it along with him, his fighter jerked and he smiled, the B-wing and another red blip had vanished off his sensors.
As far as he knew, Hades was the only unit equipped with the tractor weapons. He wasn't sure if Thrawn had ever reintegrated their production. The 'runners unfortunately were too underpowered to carry them and the Scimitars simply didn't have the hardpoints for the weapon so Reaper squadron was without them, but all the other fighters under his command carried the micro beams and they all knew how to use them in a dogfight. That fact was quickly evident as his tactic of dragging fighters back through their own ranks like wrecking balls was mirrored by both his wingmen. He grinned and kicked his thrusters, throwing his fighter into a rolling bank that brought him down on top of a hapless Y-wing, its shields survived his barrage, but they didn't survive the crossfire as the rest of his flight brought their weapons to bear. The lumbering fighter buckled and collapsed in a short lived fireball that vaporized into space as Garin searched for fresh targets. There was no shortage of either Republic or Imperial blips on his sensor board and out his viewscreen he could see literally dozens of fighters twisting and turning in combat.
"This is Diamond leader; we are through the fighter screen."
Garin smiled, "happy hunting Diamond group. Say hello for all of us."
"With pleasure Hades one," Harth said coldly.
"Shadow and Wyvern persecute these flyers, Mantis you've got overwatch."
"Way ahead of you lead," Toth responded crisply, "this is like picking grapes off a vine. They might as well be standing still."
Garin smiled and nodded to himself as he vented an A-wing that tried to go after a trio of bombers attempting to follow in Diamond's wake. Laserfire spattered over his shields and he snapped downwards in a spin, Shadow two and three rocketed past him in pursuit of his attacker and he swung up and around to cover their after approach. It was a good thing he did too because a pair of X-wings decided that the strikingly colored** Defenders were prime targets and swung in behind them and began peppering them with cannon fire. Neither ship took direct hull hits but it was enough to scare them off of his wingmates who were performing evasive rolls of their own to get clear of the string of angry red bolts the fighters had sent their way. Garin swapped his hud to apprise him of Hades' condition and smiled to see that the unit had taken no losses yet. He still expected that to change, but it was good to see that his people were tearing their opponents to pieces for now.
Three large blips broke off from the Republic fleet and sped towards the picket line; he also noticed that the outermost interdictors had fallen back into the main battle line, probably a good idea considering their exposed position.
He keyed his com, "Reaper lead you've got three assault frigates trying for a break out."
"We have them sir, leave it to us."
The assault frigates were a nasty job, basically a retooling of the Dreadnaughts, the Rebellion had originally used them in limited numbers as fast strike raiders, but the Republic had started producing them in large numbers and the fast, sturdy, and well armed ships were one of the nastiest things Garin had flown against. He hoped the Reapers could handle themselves interdicting the things but there was little he could do at this point, he selected his next target and brought up his missiles again, switching over to single fire and loosing a warhead at the oncoming X-wing as his wingmates opened up with their cannons. He flew through the resulting debris field and found himself smiling. He supposed at heart he really had become somewhat of a combat junkie; he stole another glance at his sensors and nodded approval as the Knight and Golem moved to reinforce Reaper as they intercepted the oncoming frigates. The Republic wasn't going to win this one at this rate, and if they lost there'd be little stopping Thrawn from rampaging straight across Republic space and nailing them in their coffins.
Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards
"You really thought you were going to win didn't you," she said quietly.
I nodded with a bitter smile, "we had it made. Your fleet put up a good effort I give you that but the battle was going our way and anyone with any sense could see it. By the time things turned you'd lost nearly a quarter of your fighters and several capital ships for relatively light losses on our side.*** So yes, I thought we were going to win."
She looked at me for a long moment before shifting her gaze, "then what happened next must have come as a true shock."
I snorted and laughed, the bitterness stinging my throat.
"Which part of it, it all went to hell and got spaced so fast I'm still trying to decide what went wrong exactly."
Within the last 4 hours, Bilbringi Shipyards
Garin swore as the last of the Golan platforms went up, he was too far removed from the center of the line to be of any real help but he'd still kept an eye on the developing situation. He still wasn't sure exactly what had happened but it seemed like a swarm of freighters from the shipyards had broken dock and attacked the platforms. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem, except these freighters appeared to be armed like small capital ships apparently as they, with assistance from a squad of fighters had just finished off Bilbringi's static defenses and torn a hole in the Imperial line that the rest of the Republic force was widening with brutal force. The only good news if it could be called that was that given his position on the flank of the main battle the Republic's renewed assault was taking them away from Hades. Considering the widening back in the Imperial line though, he didn't think there could be any good news.
He flipped the unit wide channel, "all units abort your current assignment, push on their flank and give them something to think about people before they forget we can do more than sting."
He got a string of affirmatives, there was no hesitation as Hades dove away from the fighter skirmish and charged the nearest capital ships letting loose with volleys of missiles. Perhaps because they'd been so concentrated on widening the newly made breach, the gunners on the first cluster of ships didn't fire on Hades initially. That or they were just too surprised to see a swarm of fighters break off and come directly at them to fire. The first ship, a smallish Mon Cal cruiser took the brunt of the missile barrage and was rabidly set upon by the swarming fighter wing. Only its redundant systems saved the cruiser from being torn to pieces as Hades swept over it and in amongst the other ships. The crossfire that resulted at least meant that the Republic warships were shooting each other as they tried to swat down the fighters.
"We've got company," someone called.
Garin checked and yes, some of the fighters had come after them. No surprise there.
"Shadow and Wyvern engage those fighters," Garin turned words to action and pulled off the hull of the frigate he'd been running along and pulled up to face the oncoming fighters, his eyes widened as a brace of torpedoes were loosed at him, the pilot of the B-wing hadn't bothered with a lock and from point blank range there was very little he could do. He began firing wildly and saw one torpedo lanced by an ion shot drift harmlessly off course; the remaining three hit him head on. His shields buckled and his power flickered as his fighter jerked and spun wildly, he killed his throttle and swore as he began running diagnostics.
"All ships, the Grand Admiral is dead, fall back, I repeat all ships withdraw."
Garin hadn't been paying attention to the theater com but now he did and he heard the desperate chorus of calls for new orders. He didn't pay them much attention even then, what Pallaeon had just said sent icy spikes of déjà vu through his mind. Thrawn dead, Pallaeon calling a retreat; he stopped wrestling with his controls and leaned back against his seat suddenly feeling very tired as he closed his eyes. It was Endor, all over again; somewhere in the galaxy, someone was laughing.
"Garin can you hear me?"
He opened his eyes with a sigh and keyed the com, "yeah I hear you."
"Damn Gar you scared the spit out of me," Toth called, "you're missing your port wing and your starboard is barely holding on."
"That explains the power problems," Garin said stoically.
Toth's tone shifted, Garin smiled, yes, he recognized his tone too. It was defeated, "orders Gar?"
"Harth can you hear me?"
"Yes."
"You're in command; get everyone out of here before they slaughter us."
"What abou—" he began.
"I'm dead in space, I've barely got power, just get to the Knight."
His targeting computer warned him of a weapon lock from his aft and he scowled at the interruption, clutching his yoke and squeezing the flare launcher. A moment later something exploded behind him.
"Damn Gar," Toth said with forced cheerfulness, "you got him****."
Garin frowned, "all of you get out of here now."
"We're not leaving you sir," Kalan responded tensely.
"You can't afford to tow me, and that's the only way I'm getting out of here."
A Diamond Blue flew in close to him and he scowled as its tractor beam tugged at his fighter, "get out of here!"
"Negative boss," Matrin replied, "I'm dragging you back home."
"Mat look out," someone else shouted, a missile hit Matrin's ship and he spun away from Garin's craft which kicked violently as the tractor lost its hold.
"Don't get yourselves killed; just go now while you still have a chance at running!"
"Hades withdraw," Hath said quietly.
"Like hell," shouted Kalan and Matrin in unison.
"The next person who tries to save me," growled Garin; "is going to get shot."
They couldn't see it of course, but he reached for his cannons, he didn't even know if the remaining weapons had any charge left, but it was all he could think of at the moment. There was a long silence, no one else tried to approach him but neither did they leave. The pause was punctuated by cannon fire and detonating ordnance as Hades continued to fight around Garin's crippled ship.
"We'll be back for you," Harth finally said stonily. "Hades withdraw," he repeated.
Garin didn't say anything, he just leaned back in his seat and watched his viewscreen as Hades broke and ran until he could no longer see them with the naked eye. He watched as the minutes passed and the distant shapes of capital ships winked with pseudo-motion and vanished into hyperspace. His eyes focused on what he thought was the Black Knight and watched as she too vanished into the stars, he keyed his computer, when it didn't respond he gave it a solid whack with his fist. The screen flickered to life and he cycled through the menu until he found what he was looking for. Seven; that was how many of his people had been lost, eight including him he supposed. Something hit the ship and electricity leapt from his screens as his systems fried. That was that then, he was completely disabled. He assumed the next pass would be the last; it shouldn't be very long now. He reached down and touched his waist where the buckle would be and smiled.
"Sorry Daru, looks like I broke the promise."
Something covered flew in above him and he frowned, looking up and wondering what that meant. Was his killer mocking him? That was just what he needed, a sadist. The hatch blew and a helmeted face looked down and directed a blaster at him; motioning for him to come out. Garin sighed and nodded, raising one hand and reaching down with the other to unfasten his harness. He pushed off slowly from the seat and gripped the lip of the hatch with his hands slowly as he free floated. The flightsuit didn't have any kind of propulsion, and for a moment he considered shoving off into space under his own power rather than letting the Republic take him prisoner. The thought passed as soon as it came. He looked up to see a transport floating in space above him as another space suited figure grabbed him from behind and jetted upwards towards it.
They landed in a small airlock, which sealed itself and cycled rapidly, the two Republic space men took their helmets off one of them was a Sullustan.
The human tapped Garin's helmet with his blaster, "alright Imp take off the helmet."
Garin did so slowly, no point in getting shot now after all. When it was off and clipped to his waist they secured his hands with binders and took him into the interior of the transport. Three other individuals wearing Imperial flightsuits sat on benches, they looked at him sullenly as he sat down.
"Alright," the human called into his comlink, "onto the next one."
*For those wondering why there are interdiction cruisers and destroyers; there are two distinctive interdiction vessels in use by the Empire and to a lesser extent by the Republic. The Immobilizer 418 Cruiser is the warship based off the Vindicator Heavy Cruiser (Black Knight); both built by Sienar Fleet Systems. While the larger Interdictor Star Destroyer is built by Kuat Drive Yards and based off that firm's Star Destroyer lines. I do not know if there is a proper class name for the interdiction destroyer.
**Hades is still sporting their singular paint job.
***I can't find numbers, but it appears that the Republic took a serious beating while the Empire suffered comparatively light casualties in the initial act of the battle.
****While hardly the best way to deal with a pursuing fighter as flares do not pack much firepower, lightly armored and shielded ships like TIEs and A-wings can be destroyed with a direct hit.