Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.
Phase 11: The long way home
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Part 4
=RK=
Shuttle DB-9A31
stratosphere
Naboo
Tigellinus had to admit, the view was breathtaking; that was saying something considering he watched the unfolding battle from the co-pilot seat of an evacuation shuttle after his Flag got shot from under his feet... for the third time since the siege of Naboo re-commenced. This time it was a close call from a ramming attempt. A damaged Munificent almost managed to slam into the Stratagem's flank, however concentrated fire from the cruiser itself and her escorts blew it up shortly before it could make contact. Unfortunately, that still left an awful lot of tonnage coming in at near relativistic speeds and a lot of that high velocity shrapnel did connect. It was the difference from losing the Stratagem with most of the crew and merely the old girl getting her flank perforated and accumulating enough damage to mission kill her and prompt evacuation before the next wave of the enemy could come to grips with her.
Just to make things more interesting, in this sector of the battle-scape, the Separatist managed to fight their way to the edge of the atmosphere, forcing more than a few Republic ships into it to prevent an orbital drop or bombardment straight on top of Theed, which was right below them. That made for some very impressive fireworks caused by turbolaser fire, missiles and explosions in an environment where they actually had something to burn.
In the distance, the Admiral could see a damaged Venator slowly losing her fight with gravity and gently gliding down through the atmosphere. Battle damage and friction soon turned her into a fiery comet and Tigellinus hoped that the ship was under enough control to make a gentle landing otherwise the impact was going to wipe out a significant chunk of real estate planet-side.
"We've got confirmation sir, Admiral Tarkin has resumed operational command over the battle." The pilot informed him.
"At least that went according to plan." Again, he didn't add. Soon after the battle began, Tarkin got his own Flag blown up but managed to evacuate. After that they quickly hashed up a chain of command in case either of them had to displace to another ship or got properly blown up.
The pilot went evasive when the threat receiver screamed its shrill warning. Laser fire flew just above the canopy barely missing the shuttle. Then a nearby cruiser responded and only the canopy polarizing saved the sight of the people in the cockpit when hundreds of Guardian emplacements wiped out of existence whatever was gunning for the shuttle. The sheer volume of fire caused turbulence despite the nearly non-existent atmosphere at this height and the small ship shook forcing the pilot to struggle for control.
One of the few light cruisers the Republic had left in the fight gracefully flew above the Venator and unleashed a missile barrage that looked like fiery lances tearing through the heavens. The cruiser below followed suit and it literally disappeared behind the engine plumes of hundreds of AA missiles.
"A Torrent squadron is vectoring in to cover us. Should we continue to the new designated flag or land on that Venator?" The pilot asked.
"The Flag." Tigellinus ordered. Landing on a ship in the atmosphere, in the middle of the battle was going to be hazardous not to mention it was going to make it a target and potentially bring it down on top or near the capital.
The pilot banked right, which allowed the Admiral to see the effect of the missile barrage. A damaged Separatist dreadnought was skirting the edge of the atmosphere above. Its underside was scoured by weapons' fire and obviously the Umbrella was either heavily compromised or outright gone. Apparently the same was true for a lot of the sensors because the ship flew fat and dumb into the missile barrage without trying to evade. The AA missiles finished scouring the underside from working equipment and further hammered the armour. Then the light cruiser's ordnance hit and four blinding explosions lit up the sky. There was just enough atmosphere there to enhance the shock-waves a bit and when the glow cleared it revealed an expanding fireball with a ship broken in two in the centre. The rear section soon went critical and exploded, which only helped propel the nose in a terminal dive towards the planet.
The Venator accelerate towards the large piece of wrecked ship and unleashed its broadside upon it, shattering it into pieces hopefully small enough to either burn on re-entry or at least not cause too much damage.
Then the shock-wave reached the shuttle and Tigellinus now knew how the contents of a shaking tin-can felt.
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CIC
Republic cruiser Shield Bearer
High orbit
Naboo
Controlled chaos surrounded Wilhuff Tarkin when he walked into his new Flag's CIC, after a power-surge messed up communications from the makeshift Flag Bridge built in an unused briefing room.
"Coordinate with Broodmother's and Dawn's battle groups. I want that battleship silenced." The Captain, an older than usual looking Clone, ordered just as the Admiral entered.
"Admiral on deck!" The Sergeant in charge of the CIC's security detail snapped.
"Carry on, we've got a battle to win." Tarkin waved.
"Good to have you on board, sir." The Captain spared a moment to greet him.
"Fight your ship, Captain." The Admiral walked to the holo-tank and after getting a nod from the skipper he zoomed out the tactical plot until he could see as much of the battlefield engulfing most of Naboo above the capital and the surrounding space.
Nothing of note had changed since he had to move to the CIC. The enemy was still pressing hard and barring a miracle, they would get at least neutral skies above Theed sooner or later. Right now both sides were almost evenly matched, but that wouldn't last. While initially the Separatists outnumbered the Republic forces significantly, they spent a lot of ships to break GAR's formations and reach the planet. They just kept coming aware that the supply situation of the Republic navy was bad and soon would be critical. They also wanted a fast victory this time, not like the prolonged siege they were content with the last time, which nicely preserved their own ships while whiting down the GAR's ammunition and fuel stocks.
If the Separatists just kept pushing, the Republic lines were going to break, of that Tarkin was certain. The fleet was at twenty percent Tibana gas levels across the board with certain ships as low as fifteen. There was no way to safely resupply in the middle of the battle and that was mostly a moot point – Tarkin had to order the captured enemy fuel and Tibana tankers to scatter in deep space until the battle was resolved.
The big question was if the Separatist had committed everything they could afford. Tarkin did have reinforcements incoming after they secured Malastare. Sooner or later Veil would be coming too if he was alive, unless he had to fight a defensive battle at Eriadu or his way through an unexpected blockade at Darknell. Though that wasn't something Tarkin could count on – he had no idea how the strike at Sullust had turned out. The worst case scenario was that there would be more Separatist ships coming to counter his own reinforcements and then things were going to get especially ugly. He did have a contingency for that case, it was cold blooded, it was going to be very expensive but there was no much use for ships unable to shoot...
"Get a line to Theed." Tarkin ordered after examining the plot for a few more seconds. "I want to know if the shields down there are up and if we have any forces outside their screens. Give me a status on the weapons on that battleship the Separatists parked next to the city too. Are any of them operational and able to shoot up?"
"Working on it, sir."
"I want our ships above Theed ready to pull back. We're about to re-dress our lines and do our best to collapse the enemy's flanks. If we can suck them a bit closer to the planet we might be able to englobe them and maximise our fire-power advantage while minimizing the amount they can effectively bring to bear."
If it worked... It still wasn't going to be enough. Unless the Separatists cut and ran, the Republic fleet wouldn't able to kill them all before most of the fleet ran out of ammunition. Add the expected battle losses and when the dust settled the enemy would likely take control of the system... If it wasn't for the force coming from Malastare.
"Sir, we just went under twenty percent Tibana gas reserves." The weapon's officer reported.
"That's a court-martial offence right there." The Captain mused. "Fuel?" He idly asked.
"Fusion is all right. Hyppermatter – tank's less than a quarter full."
"Not too shabby... if the major hyper-lanes weren't under enemy control."
"Another court-martial offence?" Tarkin asked.
"That's more than a few for you too, sir. I would be pleasantly surprised if that isn't the case across the fleet."
"Well, let's make sure we win the battle so we can worry about any possible legal complications."
"Admiral, Theed's and Naboo's shields are up and operational. The grounded Lukrehulk has working only secondaries – good enough to discourage air-strikes or the odd Munificent."
"What about our forces down there?" Tarkin asked.
"We've got units scattered all over the place outside the theatre shields, sir. They were busy hunting down clanker stragglers from the siege. A lot of them won't make it back to safety in time. Orders are out for them to go to ground and under as a solid cover as they can find."
"That won't really be good enough." Tarkin sighed. Damn it, such a waste! "Have our ships above Theed begin pulling back..." He began issuing the orders that would hopefully trap the Separatists against Naboo. He hoped that the reinforcements would come before his fleet ran out of things to shoot with.
=RK=
Part 5
=RK=
CIC
Republic cruiser Adler
Low orbit above Naboo
When Admiral Tigellinus finally got himself back in command of a part of the battle, the situation had changed. The Republic ships at Naboo were divided, leaving a straight corridor leading to the planet, right about the capital. A significant number of the remaining enemy was pouring right in, hell bent to exploit the breach in GAR's formation. Their ships at the edge were hammering at everything in range, doing their best to peel out the flanks and thus widen the breach leading to Naboo.
It took him a few moments to figure out what Tarkin was thinking and to determine that yes, the enemy hadn't fought their way clear to the planet yet. It was sound plan, in theory, if the Republic navy at Naboo had enough ordnance left to actually shoot up all the Confederate ships they were trying to trap.
"Status of ammunition reserves, ours and across the fleet?" Tigellinus barked an order. He sent a quiet prayer to the god he didn't believe into that friendly reinforcements would turn up soon, then began issuing orders to redress the wavering Republic formation in order to pull back damaged ships and maximise fire-power at the point of contact.
"Fifteen percent Tibana for us. Between twelve and seventeen across the fleet." Came the shocked response.
Perhaps another prayer wouldn't hurt? There was always the chance, no matter how remote, that the enemy would decide they have miscalculated about the state of Republic supplies and break off, allowing the GAR units to resupply from captured stocks. At least Tarkin's bid for short lived pirate life was quite successful. It was unfortunate that there was no time to distribute the haul he brought back.
"In two minutes the fleet will advance upon the enemy. Concentrate fire on their light elements." The Worst came to worse, if they could gut the Separatist escorts and leave just battleships around, there was always the last resort for the desperate and insane...
Outside, the mutual annihilation continued apace. Ships tore themselves apart in mutual funeral pyres, fighters and bombers sneaked in sensor shadows ready to jump at any damaged unit vulnerable for such attack, while the CAP of both sides watched warily to jump on any such attempt.
"Admiral Tarkin confirms, advance will commence in one minute. The Separatists are commencing bombardment upon Theed. The shields are holding."
"They can't hope to breach the defences any-time soon. Look for landing craft masked by the bombardment." Tigellinus suggested.
"The formation is re-dressed, sir. Our freshest ships are on point."
"The fleet will advance now." The Admiral ordered.
=RK=
And advance it did. The two wings of the Republic fleet seemingly collapses as they stretched and thinned their ranks to surround the enemy and maximise their fire-power. The Separatist frigates and light destroyers took the brunt of the incoming fire-power. One after another, the escorts burned when they became targets for multiple heavier ships. Others found themselves facing the undivided attention of whole packs of Republic frigates – just enough fire-power to overwhelm their shields in short order and mission kill if not outright destroy.
They didn't go quietly into the night either. Droid precision was good enough to concentrate the return fire even as the Republic erased whole Munificent divisions. Coordinated barrages slammed into still replenishing shields and soon Venators, Acclamators and locally built, less capable cruisers, had to depend on their armour belts. In some cases, said last line of defence was intact and it held, for a time. In others – not so much. At any rate, the weapon systems and sensors mounted on those ships were by necessity less well protected. Venators had to fall back when they lost most of their weapons in order to be replaced by ships that could still shoot. Others were less fortunate. The incoming fire found gaps in armour that couldn't be properly fixed with the time and resources available between the battles. Soon enough, Republic ships began to die too. First to go was a Venator unfortunate enough to become the sole focus of four mostly intact Munificent divisions. Her shields broke, the following barrage blew through compromised armour and one more was all it took – dozens of turbolaser bolts slammed into the open superstructure of the cruiser and found something vital. When the following salvo hit, it wasted itself into an expanding ball of plasma and scything debris.
Those frigates' triumph was a short lived one – return fire from the Venator's consorts soon saw them gone, but not before they managed to damage another cruiser and wipe out the Republic ships own escorts.
Soon enough, the battle lines reformed. The bulk of the Separatist fleet was funnelled into a cigar shaped formation with Naboo in front, the Republic navy surrounding them from most directions and only a spreading group of their ships at the back fighting desperately to prevent a complete envelopment.
By that point, the GAR actually had a slight numerical advantage, though a significant number of the Confederate ships they managed to trap were Lukrehulk battleships and Providence dreadnoughts. Fire-power wise, the Republic was actually out-gunned thought they still retained an advantage at the point of contact on the edge of the two formations.
Under different circumstances, the tactical situation would have at worst spelled a Pyrrhic victory for the GAR...
=RK=
CIC
Republic cruiser Shield Bearer
High orbit above Naboo
"That actually worked." The Captain, whose name Tarkin couldn't bloody remember, stated. "Now we have to enjoy the spoils." The ageing Clone grumbled.
Tarkin silently agreed. The losses getting so far were actually a bit worse than he anticipated – there were too many ships suffering not yet repaired damage from previous engagements and the cumulative effects reared their ugly heads in the worst possible moment. Too many of the remaining Republic ships blinked amber on the tactical display designating them as damaged. Others were grey and pulling back for now showing they were no longer combat effective. They were going to be the last resort. Probably soon too...
For few more minutes the slaughter continued in silence broken only by the Captain giving orders and the odd report for his ears.
"We're down to seven percent Tibana gas and out of ordnance for all launchers. Status of the fleet... six percent on ammunition stocks and going steadily down."
"The fleet will continue to advance. All combat ineffective ships and those with over sixty percent of their weapons knocked out, prepare to execute Case Red." Tarkin ordered in a detached voice as if he didn't just order a suicidal ramming attack upon the enemy capital ships... which might not even be enough if the Separatist either got lucky or had someone fast on their feet in charge. "Concentrate fire-power to clear up approach lanes for the Case Red units." He idly hoped that enough of the crews had time to evacuate but he knew that wouldn't be the case for a lot of those ships.
The Republic formation shifted again and everything with still operational engine surged forward. GAR firing patterns changed as whole battle groups concentrated on blasting a road through the remaining Separatist escorts. More Munificents and Recusant died and Republic cruisers flew to take their place and keep the newly created holes in the enemy formation open. Various damaged ships surged into the holes and initially the Confederate forces were slow to react – it took them time to figure out what the maniacs surrounding them were up to and then precious moments to believe that the Republic stole an idea from their play-book. When that happened, the remaining Separatist escorts and whole battleship divisions accelerated to plug the gaps before the kamikazes could get among them.
Fighters and bombers erupted from the sensor shadows of the advancing ramming ships and descended all over the Confederacy navy from close to point-blank range. What was left from the Vulture CAP went for the kill and over the next couple of minutes the battlefield was chock full with tiny explosions signifying dying small craft. The Republic bomber contingent at Naboo virtually ceased to exist then and there but not before hammering the Separatist force that tried to plug the gaps in the formations of their escorts.
First to go was the Acclamator Firebird, who slammed into a damaged Lukrehulk propelled by red-lined engines.
"Hyperspace events! Multiple hyperspace events!"
"Damn it, we're committed now!" Tarkin snapped. "Get a sensor fix on them, I want to know how many and who are they!
"Two distinct forces. One is four light minutes above us, IFF read friendly! The other is three light minutes behind us... Separatists, sir."
"Contact our reinforcements. Have them intercept the enemy reserve." Tarkin ordered. This was sheer providence. The Separatist sucked them nice before calling up their reserves. Either that or they got fortunate on when their own reinforcements arrived. The Republic force at Naboo was committed with no good way to disengage – if they did so right now, they would lose a lot of ships anyway, perhaps most and wouldn't have anything to show for it, not to mention that if the enemy could track them down before they could resupply it would be all over anyway.
"Jedi Master Madorin acknowledges. He's dispatching a part of his force to reinforce us and taking the rest against the second enemy formation."
"My compliments to the Jedi Master. Case Red will continue as planned."