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Phase 5: The Naboo Affair

=RK=

Part 2

CIC

Republic cruiser Avatar of Victory

Not for the first time, admiral Rufaan Tigellinus hoped that the name of his ship would turn out to be prophetic. A month of almost high level combat or on a good day probing skirmishes all across the system tested his tactical abilities to their limit. His considerable drive and high level of confidence were beginning to fray around the edges as loses continued to mount and the stress of command began to take its toll.

Tigellinus ice blue eyes watered as he continued to stare at the tactical display for fifth hour without a pause. He had no idea what crawled up the Seppies' collective exhaust ports, but that's how long they've been throwing themselves at his fleet with what could be considered suicidal tenacity. In five short hours he lost more ships than in the past week combined and it wasn't a quiet week by any means.

"Give me a summary of consumable expenditure across the fleet." Rufaan somehow kept his voice calm and composed, despite the strain he felt. He wanted, needed to snap at someone. The Separatists were unrelenting. It was beginning to look like that they finally got their nerve up and decided that they no longer could keep such powerful force as his own bottled up at Naboo.

Tigellinus barely acknowledged that a member of his staff confirmed receiving and working on his order. For a moment his mind drifted to his decision to stand his ground and follow his orders. As more and more ships and even whole battle groups continued to arrive at Naboo, he had been terribly tempted to cut his losses and attempt a fighting retreat to the Core. Even with the fall of Corellia and who knew how many powerful enemy formations concentrated on the practical routes back to places where he could get his ships the supplies and repairs needed, the risk was potentially worth it.

In purely military perspective either retreating from Naboo or ordering most of his fleet to scatter and deal as much damage as possible to the enemy with hit and run tactics was the right call to make. However, there were political aspects to his situation. Complication that he didn't see coming and suspected that those on Coruscant would find them quite disturbing. Rufaan was politically aware officer – he had to be given his pedigree and ambitions. Because of that little fact he was very much aware of what and who he was protecting down on Naboo.

That though brought a tiny bitter smile on his face. The quarantine he was supposed to enforce was shot to hell, though in an unexpected fashion – there weren't many people who left Naboo. On the contrary – there were a lot of new people calling that planet a temporarily home. Many more droids too, who were engaged with the newly formed Naboo Guard, two GAR army groups formed from the trooper compliment of Tigellinus' ships and various formations' courtesy of the political complications he was not so reluctantly babysitting.

The admiral had to admit that without the unexpected newcomers and the ships and soldiers they brought, Naboo would had fallen by now and he would be on the run with whatever assets he managed to salvage from the ensuring mess. On the other hand, without them, the enemy might not had concentrated such a powerful force against Naboo. Or perhaps they would have... That was a circular thinking and without a recent and right intelligence on the Confederacy current overall strength, little more than idle speculation.

It didn't matter in the end. Those people and ships were present, their military was under his overall command and Rufaan was going to do his damn best to either win or make the Seppies' wish they had never ever heard of his name by the time they forced him to abandon Naboo.

"Separatist Lukrehulks are launching small craft towards the planet." A sensor operator reported.

"Shift few squadrons from the reserve to reinforce our people on the ground." Tigellinus ordered. With both sides having GUARDIAN and UMBRELLA systems on every capital ship, small craft losses during the first week of combat had been so atrocious that even the Confederacy, who was able to receive reinforcements, simply lacked the numbers to make a use of the Vulture swarms they so loved.

Planet side it was different. There was still an ongoing fight for air superiority above Theed and the Republic lines surrounding the capital. The Separatists had more fighters, the Republic forces had the benefit of a lot of AA weaponry protected by theatre shields. So far it has been a stalemate.

The same was true in space, however it appeared the enemy had decided on a crude but effective strategy to win. They were slowly grinding down Tigellinus' command and forcing him to expend his weapons stocks at an unsustainable rate. While he did have a few mobile coilers and refinery ships with the fleet, which he put to good use at Storm – the system's sole gas giant. While it wasn't a practical source of Tibana, its gases could be refined in a less potent but still useful ammunition. Besides, it was a good source for fusion reactor fuel. For that reason alone, there still were ten cruisers and a lot of lighter elements skirmishing with a lot stronger enemy force among the asteroid rings and thirty two moons surrounding Storm.

Without the refinery ships or the gas giant, the Republic's supply situation at Naboo would already be critical. It still would be shortly. Those support ships simply weren't enough to supply such a vast fleet. Salvaging whatever was possible from crippled or outright wrecked friendly and enemy ships alike did help a lot, however unless the pressure relented, either losses or insufficient supplies for prolonged combat operations would force Tigellinus to abandon Naboo.

He had been pondering that dilemma ever since he made the decision to stay in the first place. Convincing the various politicians at Theed to run would be tricky – they might see it as the Republic abandoning them again in which case they might do something regrettable.

Rufaan's choice was made for him a few minutes later while he was engaged in directing units from the reserve to replace the cruisers at the vanguard of his formation. Having more than enough ships to rotate them so they could restore their shields and enact repairs was one of the reasons why he still commanded such a large fleet. Unfortunately the enemy was using the same tactic, which in this case favoured them – they could get enough ammo to actually win. Tigellinus wasn't so fortunate.

"Multiple new contacts! Three light seconds out, bearing..."

The admiral winced when the tactical plot zoomed out and began updating itself. Those were a lot of ships and they had to be enemy – there was on chance in hell there was such a large friendly force on the loose in the region. Everything that could had reached Naboo at least a week ago. And that bearing – it showed the new arrivals were coming from Separatist controlled space. Probably Darknell, which was one of the enemy large staging grounds in the region...

The plot updated and Tigellinus stared at it in disbelief. This had to be a deception! The newcomers had Republic IFFs and Rufaan recognized some of them as ships that were supposed to be at Kamino. With the Separatists heralding that world's destruction by general Veil he as most people assumed that the enemy had laid waste to the whole planet and destroyed the large Republic fleet gathered there – no way they could sell such an outrageous lie if survivors could make their way to friendly space to contradict them.

Were those hostile ships or did someone at Kamino managed to extract most of the fleet gathered there? Or were they forced to surrender and under enemy control?

"Hail them! I want our flanks pulled back. Begin calculating hyperspace vectors in case they're hostile." Tigellinus ordered.

This was either a miracle or a disaster. If that new fleet was under separatist control then he might be unable to get the politicians safely away from Naboo even if he could persuade them to run. The consequences didn't bear thinking about...

=RK=

Part 3

Flag Bridge

Corellian cruiser Freedom

Naboo

"Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus." I tasted the name. It didn't ring a bell. Was that a good thing or not? I had no bloody idea. "Joanna, are you familiar with your counterpart?" I asked quietly.

"Just the family name. The Tigellinus are supposed to be quite big in the Core. Distinguished military and civil service. They're usually quite successful in keeping scandals under the table. However, I don't recall anything of note about this Rufaan."

Lucky me. All I got to go by was the Force, who was still whispering about possibilities. Considering the Dark Side's sense of humour, that might very well be the possibility of me getting myself killed. The bait was very good too – gutting the Confed fleet at Naboo would go a long way in redressing the numerical disparity between us and the enemy. For a change we did outnumber the Emperor buggered bastards and I would be damned if I didn't take advantage of this golden opportunity.

I briefly considered attempting to seize operational control of all Republic forces in the system, but stopped myself before saying anything aloud. I didn't know what orders Tigellinus had, nor who gave them. If he declined following my commands it would create a rift that would allow more of the enemy to get away. With the disposition of forces being what they were, if someone on the other side acted fast a lot of the Separatist ships could make it out of the trap they suddenly found themselves in.

"Admiral Tigellinus, general Veil. I recommend you execute a general assault upon the enemy forces with the goal being to pin as many of them in place as possible. I further recommend concentrating on disabling the hyperdrives of as many of them as possible." I sent a signal to Avatar of Victory and wasn't that a nice name for a warship... "The same orders go to our fleet as well, Joanna. Let's cripple as many of them as we can. We'll kill them later."

"Aye, sir." Holt relayed my orders. "I recommend a modified wedge formation with us in the lead."

"I concur. Launch small craft but keep them in our shadow. I want them to lie low until our formations intersect then they're going after targets of opportunity." I continued. "Plot a tactical jump to get in their faces as well an escape one just in case. Keep us on approach vectors which will allow us to steer clear of Naboo and enter hyperspace if needed."

"That will allow more enemy ships to escape." Joanna played devil's advocate again.

"It might be what allows us to escape if this turns out to be a trap and the Separatists have another fleet or two waiting to jump on us." While the chance was remote given the total surprise we achieved at Darknell, that simply wasn't an option I was ready to dismiss. I was seldom this lucky. More often than not, when an opportunity as this one fell in my lap it was either a trap, the universe trying to lull me into a false sense of security or someone on the other side kriffing up by the numbers. At least at few distinct cases it had been all of the above at the same bloody time.

I closed my eyes and centred myself. I would need to use Battle Meditation for at least the initial clash. I was loath it to admit it but my current fleet was once again far from properly trained to act as a single well oiled machine. That was the reason I used that ability back at Darknell, otherwise even with the surprise we achieved my fleet wouldn't have been able to execute the initial devastating hammer blows that won us the battle with minimal losses. Ideally I would need at least a month or two of intense training before considering such operations without being able to lean upon Battle Meditation. What little training we managed to do at Eriadu simply wasn't enough otherwise.

It was a good thing I was able to cheat otherwise I would be stuck back at Tarkin's home drilling this fleet for the foreseeable future.

Instead, I plunged in the Force, focused my mind and gently spread my awareness until I could touch the command crews of every ship under my command. The strain was significant but so far manageable. Ironically, facing enemy made of mostly droids made utilising Battle Mediation somewhat easier – I didn't need to spent effort at influencing a whole enemy fleet too. The downside was that against the machines the Battle Meditation while still very useful simply wasn't as devastating as it was against organic opponents.

A full third of the enemy fleet peeled off following the lead of their ships on the flank facing away from Naboo. The warships engaging the local forces along with those relatively close by redoubled their efforts to shatter Tigellinus' leading elements. The rest of the enemy fleet began manoeuvring for bearing that would get them away from Naboo's gravity well and on bearings that would allow them to escape in hyperspace.

Tarkin's force arrived in system almost a minute before the rest of my fleet could properly engage the enemy. His formation opened up like a flower petal and fell upon the enemy's rear elements like a pack of starving krath hounds. Turbolaser and Ion cannons thundered and their fury splashed over the shields of fleeing ships.

That's when things went in a less than ideal direction.

"Enemy frigates and destroyers are assuming collision course!" A sensor operator frantically shouted. I could feel the man's sudden spike of terror even after he got his emotions more or less under control.

"Independent manoeuvring! Prepare for emergency evasive manoeuvres!" Joanna snapped.

"Concentrate fire on enemy light elements until they aren't in position to ram our ships. Unless we've got Lukrehulks trying to ram us, the Freedom is to ignore Separatist escorts and concentrate on enemy capital ships."

Even the mere ten percent at which Joana's ship could keep her particle shielding while the deflectors were at full strength would be enough to tank multiple collisions even at relativistic speeds.

The Freedom was built to be a monster in space warfare and she already proved it in multiple engagements. She could run over multiple Munificents without really noticing.

Joanna wasn't happy about my last order but she bit her cheek and relayed it to the captain anyway.

He wasn't happy either.

Someone on the other side was a tricky bastard – the enemy entered a modified diamond formation made of wave upon wave of ships, with each covering the one behind it. While such an arrangement significantly cut down the amount of fire-power they could bring to bear forward, it also ensured that more of them might survive to get to grips with my fleet. Not enough to make a difference in conventional engagement but I had the nasty suspicion that there would be nothing conventional about their attack.

Then there was no more time for thinking things over. The fleets engaged and my attention was taken by the Battle Meditation.

Our escorts accelerated and flew in the vanguard doing their jobs. Frigates and light cruisers were immolated by turbolaser fire as they clashed with a massive screen of over two hundred Munificents led by nearly thirty light destroyers. A devastating barrages of impossibly coordinated fire-power wiped out the first two enemy waves. The third lived long enough to gut a number of escorts which got their shields torn to tatters from the Separatist leading elements. The fourth wave fared little better.

It was when the fifth came under fire when the enemy showed their hand – their formation seemingly flew apart and the remaining ships of the vanguard went to emergency acceleration heedless of the strain they put on their engines and inertial compensators. A solid phalanx of then battleships with cruiser escort came behind them followed by the rest of the Separatist force headed our way – eight more Lukrehulks and twenty more lighter capital ships with twice their number of escorts.

By any conceivable means that was a respectable force. Without the Freedom leading the charge they could hurt my fleet badly if handled properly. With their obvious intention to play kamikaze, there was a significant potential this to turn into a Pyrrhic victory.

I didn't intend to give the enemy such a chance.

Thirty five more seconds – that's how long the light elements of the enemy vanguard lasted. They dragged too many of my escort to hell with them for comfort, yet my battle line remained practically untouched. It took a pair of frigates and a whole light cruiser sacrificing themselves by physically intercepting enemy Munificents, but it was enough.

When the enemy heavy elements entered effective range, I mentally ordered a stunt my fleet was unable to execute under normal circumstances. Except for the Freedom and her escorts, it seemed that the rest of the ships under my command lost their nerves and our formation flew apart as they scattered. That impression persisted for fifteen seconds – long enough for us to come to grips with the closest group of Separatist capital ships and for the rest of my fleet to overfly them with only taking a few scattered shots.

The space around the Freedom suddenly turned into a nebula ignited by the aborted birth of multiple tiny suns. Proton torpedoes and concussion missiles detonated under the punishing GUARDIAN counter-fire, shields blazed as they reflected and absorbed barrages from whole battle groups and ships began to die. A Venator lost her defences and was turned into a flying tomb. The Freedom returned the favour by gutting a Lukrehulk a mere heartbeat after its shields collapsed under the bombardment of her consorts. Separatist cruisers flew at us intent on mutual annihilation and the rest of our battle group suddenly de-accelerated. The Freedom suddenly shot forward alone and an enemy command ship was simply annihilated upon her armoured prowl. Hundreds of heavy turbolaser cannons kept shooting as fast as they could reload and multiple enemy ships fell out of formation unable to keep the pace.

At the same time the rest of my fleet executed another manoeuvre that no one in his right mind would have tried without at least weeks of relentless training. My ships acted as one guided by my will alone and their feinted flight turned into an attack as they collapsed inwards and aimed for a partial englobement of the remaining Separatist capital ships heading our way. Meanwhile, Tarkin and Tigellinus did their best to cripple as much of the rest of the Separatist fleet.

Another of my Venators died and the Freedom's deflectors shone as the heart of a raging star when every enemy ship in range let lose with everything they had remaining. Waves of missiles clashed with the GUARDIAN and some broke through after two more command ships managed to ram us. The particle shields went critical in places and torpedoes bit in my Flag's armoured hide. More weapon emplacements and sensor clusters were turned into slag or merely damaged if lucky, a whole Lukrehulk ponderously lumbered in our way and the helmsman had to fire emergency thrusters in a last ditch attempt to avoid yet another collision.

He almost did it too.

The Freedom's keel slicked through the battleship's shields and for a split second both ships lost their protective fields at the point of contact. Before the top of the Lukrehulk was pulverized by the impact droids managed to get a single salve through the hole in our defences thanks to their inhuman reflexes and precision. Even more weapons went offline – some permanently and then we were past the gutted battleship which was unlucky enough to be hit by the full brunt of our engines as the Freedom continued to swing upwards still locked on her unsuccessful evasive manoeuvre. The slagged Lukrehulk detonated in our wake and then we were through. Our consorts struck the damaged remains of the Confederate vanguard with savage fury. Two more Venators died but in exchange they turned their targets into drifting lifeless wrecks.

A short savage fight ensured between the rest of my fleet and the remaining Separatist battle line that came at us. Before the Freedom could safely engage it was all over too - my ships paid up front but only a couple of damaged cruisers and a single battered Lukrehulk somehow broke through to flee in hyperspace.

Tarkin was busy taking out crippled Separatist ships by detaching whole battle groups to go after them and it seemed that Tigellinus had things well in hand – according to Freedom's sensors he had what was left of the enemy fleet hopelessly intersected with his force with no way to flee to hyperspace.

When the dust settled twenty minutes later, less than a third of the Confederate forces present in the system upon our arrival managed to escape our wrath. For the time being the system was secure, yet by all accounts there was still ongoing vicious fighting across Naboo's surface. I had the nagging feeling that the interesting times here were far from over.