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Phase 23: Operation Star Hammer

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Part 1

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It's no stretch to say that Operation Star Hammer was the most ambitious and complex operation the Republic Military undertook during the last years of the Galactic Republic. Over sixty percent of the warships the Republic Navy had at that point massed upon five theatres of operations. Second Assault Fleet was responsible for the first one. Multiple Kuati Star Dreadnoughts and Battle Cruisers made its core – a full third of the super-capitals the Republic possessed at the time made for a massive armoured fist. Two still rebuilding Sector Fleets with appropriate escorts were folded into Second Assault bringing its numbers to an even 800. Their initial targets were Neimodia and Balmorra – both within direct hyperspace insertion range of Kuat. Fleet Admiral Coburn took command of this force during the Coruscant Summit and immediately commenced intensive drills in preparation for offensive operations.

The second theatre consisted of the Third Assault Fleet under General Kenobi backed by a large portion of the Republic's Strategic Reserve commanded by Admiral Yularen. Three Mandator star dreadnoughts and a number of older battle cruisers made the core of this fleet. All told, General Kenobi had 2000 warships ready to be unleashed against the Separatists holding Corellia and on the face of it, an insufficient force…

The Republic fleets meant for the other three fronts initially gathered at Tirahnn and Tanaab forming multiple echelons. GAR High Command authorized General Veil to rebuild First Assault Fleet and use it as the tip of the spear for Operation Star Hammer. While he had under his command the refurbished Alsakan battlecruiser Glory along with her sister Kuati ships Valour, Pride and Tenacity, he led his portion of the operation from the first Republic warship outfitted with Artificial Sentience – the Victory class cruiser Victory. At its peak, First Assault Fleet consisted of 1000 warships of all types and made up the first echelon of the forces gathered at Tanaab.

The second echelon consisted of Fourth Assault Fleet under Admiral Midori Sanchez commanding from her Flag, the star dreadnought Shield. That fleet was almost exclusively drawn from and staffed by Kuat and its citizens with half the escorts drawn from various SDFs. All told, 600 warships.

Second and Third Core Fleets, respectively under Admirals KL-331, Kyle and Valerie Trent from Anaxes made up the third echelon. It was exclusively made of ships drawn from various Core SDFs. All told – 1200 ships.

"Operation Star Hammer: Restoring Honour"

Medea Publishing House

Kuat

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Flag bridge

Republic cruiser Victory

Tanaab

High definition dust clouds passed in front of my eyes while Vicky eagerly zoomed in one of the three galaxy maps surrounding me. Those to the left and right she already had centred on the relevant sectors, complete with readiness status and countdowns. Obi-Wan and Coburn were still in the process of properly assembling and training their forces after accepting my crazy plan and reshuffling thousands of warships over tens of thousands of light-years complete with their logistics train. Mission creep came along with a significant increase of available resources, something that followed from the success of the Coruscant Summit. In fact, many of the well trained ships and crews originally slated for the liberation of Corellia were now under my command, while Obi-Wan and company were working like maniacs to train up their new commands. They had the time if barely – unless a disaster struck, their portion of the operation wouldn't launch for at least a week. Part of the reason they were in position right now was to dissuade the Separatists in general and Admiral Trench in particular from any thoughts of pre-emptive strikes to disrupt our plans. He did in fact attempt three reconnaissance in force adventures that would have shown him exactly what he expected – we were massing forces to finally retake Corellia.

It was too bad that we had our eyes on other systems firs. For the past few days we cut off the holonet in all sectors bordering enemy controlled space and had our E-war assets working in overdrive. A diversion meant to ensure the enemy that Mandalore would be my primary target was underway since a day after the Coruscant Summit ended and with it and the ominous silence over most of the front-line, Operation Star Hammer began. Three cruiser battle groups would reach Mandalore within minutes busy escorting supply ships to relieve my people and once they got there… My eyes focused on the central holo-image Vicky was busy projecting and constantly updating.

"We should be there..." Bo muttered from behind me.

"We'll be going home, soon."

The image zoomed in further until the hyper-lanes leading to and from Mandalore could be easily seen along with the symbols of our ships and a countdown.

"Status of third to fifth echelon." I demanded.

A fourth holo-image burst into existence to my right showing two systems – Tanaab where we currently were and Tirahnn, where the fifth echelon was still assembling. Their job would be to move in after we secured our objectives and hold them thus ensuring a large chunk of enemy territory would be cut off when we were done. After that, depending on what the Separatists did they would either hold position or aid the fourth echelon in destroying any and all fleet elements and industry between Randon, Nanth'ri and Antar. Meanwhile, I would be leading my fleet to relieve the Zeltros-Manaan pocket if it was still holding in the first place and then open a second front in the Core at Commenor where we should be able to link up with Second Assault fleet before swinging through friendly space bleeding damaged ships to any and all available repair facilities and at the same time receiving reinforcements from completed new construction, repaired ships that were ready to return back to the front and anything else that Satine could squeeze from the SDFs in the Core.

That was the plan anyway. It was too bad that the enemy was going to get a vote and that the new anti-matter weaponry wasn't yet ready for mass deployment. On the other hand, every assault fleet had at least ten Silencer equipped vessels raring to go with ten more slated to come online by the time Obi-Wan and Coburn launched their own offensives.

The two fleets slatted to execute this first portion of Star Hammer blinked in cheerful green colour. Everyone was ready, hyperspace coordinates were already calculated and put into the nav-computers. All that was needed was my go order.

Vicky refreshed and further zoomed the image centred on Mandalore. The battle groups exited hyperspace four light seconds away from the planet itself. A decent sized enemy fleet hung above the desert containing Sundari but nothing that could pose a major threat if I brought a whole assault fleet there. Even with massive Separatist jamming it was obvious that the months long fighting had done a number on Mandalore – there were large sections of the desert burning and clearly visible from the diversion force's position. Twenty seconds later what had to be at least two full Sector Fleets jumped in to box the "relief" force that had made quite the obvious preparation for its doomed mission... complete with Zash using her abilities to mask as me.

"First Assault Fleet, we're a go." I ordered just as enemy jamming ensured we lost contact with Mandalore.

One jump to Gizer, a system that we had crawling with hunter-killer groups and E-war assets to ensure we would give the enemy as little warning as possible. After that we would be back to Lantillies where the assets currently at Gizer would follow us, join the Republic presence in that system and then go to retake Roche and ensure the enemy wouldn't be able to sneak a blocking force behind us. In forty eight hours, the fifth echelon would move to secure Lantillies, Kashyyyk and Randon. By then, I should be hitting Umbara while Admiral Sanchez moves from Randon as the second arm of our strategic pincer. Her final destination would be Antar, thus pocketing dozens of Separatists controlled sectors.

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Part 2

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Bridge

Republic super-freighter "Haul with us"

Mandalore

Ten droids of various models crewed the bridge with a hundred more spread throughout the ship, primary in main engineering making sure everything operated to a satisfactory standard. Considering the nature of their mission, the presence of those machines could have been considered a waste if it wasn't for a simple fact - "Haul with us" and her sisters were slated for decommissioning and scrap before the war began. They were used extensively during the past two centuries to the point no insurance company would be insane enough to insure cargo hauled by them any-more.

That little fact wasn't something the new owner of the freighters cared about – all they had to do was reach their destination once, preferably survive a few minutes after exiting hyperspace too. The first objective was achieved with a gusto, even if the hyperdrive, ancient reactor and engines gave out sounds that would have made any self-respecting engineer pale and run for the escape pods.

The droids in main engineering merely busied themselves with slowing down various cascading failures that would ensure that at best the freighters wouldn't go anywhere else under their own power without being practically rebuild – an increasingly unlikely prospect with two large Separatist fleet exiting light speed in perfect positions to box in the small Republic "relief" force.

"Target rich environment." The droid in charge of "Haul with us" announced gleefully, not that his compatriots had the capability to care. They were too busy ensuring the incoming enemy would have a very warm welcome.

Moments after exiting hyperspace, the super-freighters, which were all contained ships, began shedding their cargo. By the time the Separatists arrived and began closing in with the doomed Republic force, each transport was surrounded by a constellation of at least hundred containers, most containing missile pods with every sixth being either jamming emitter or targetting array. Less than a minute later, when the enemy entered effective range, roughly a thousand missile pods, some of them still busy disengaging from the super-freighters took aim and unleashed possibly the densest missile barrage since the war began.

A thousand of the missiles were large ship-killers with concussion warheads. The rest – all twenty thousand of them were modified long ranged proton torpedoes… and all of them targeted the vanguard of the enemy force – its Munificent screen.

The cruisers and their escorts added their own ordnance to the barrage, though the hundred or so missiles they launched were mere afterthought.

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CIC

CIS Providence Dreadnought "Sith's Bane"

Mandalore

The sheer shock born of surprise at the unexpected attack and sheer density of the salvo would have stunned an organic crew for a few precious moments. Even droids, who weren't networked would have acted slower, trying to prioritize the most dangerous threats while trying to defend only their own ships to the detriment of the fleet as a whole.

Instead, TK-51, who sat in the middle of the CIC of his brand new Flagship, had all forces under his command bound within a single network, working with his purpose. Once it was clear how dangerous those missile ships were, he prioritized them for destruction and made his leading escorts accelerate right into the teeth while the capital ships decelerated as fast as possible. Another command had the remaining Munificents accelerate to reform a defensive screen in front of the core of his fleet. At the same time he ordered the launch of the small number of fighters left in the fleet – all configured as scouts, to help in the missile defence. With Vulture stocks either expended, in the process of being upgraded or dedicated to air-superiority and bombing missions planet-side all over the galaxy, nowadays the Confederacy fleets had only a fraction of the small craft armadas they used to deploy with. Projection and war-games were conclusive – once ships build with dedicated UMBRELLA or GUARDIAN systems came online in numbers, the number of Vultures needed to break through a battle group's AA coverage would become prohibitive. Right now, a few thousand fighters would have been extremely useful.

TK-51 had only three hundred fifty one.

He spent a few moments pondering the validity of copying this new tactic, before a fast browse through the assets the CIS currently had available dismissed the idea as practical on the offensive – the Confederacy's logistics were stretched to the breaking point. Wasting freighters needed to haul munitions, fuel and other supplies all over the galaxy as missile platforms was currently out of the question. In contrast, the Tactical Droid wouldn't be surprised if the Republic currently had more transports that it could effectively use with the industrial base left under their control. They could spent them this way without regret – the same wasn't true for his side. Perhaps capturing and repurposing ships, or building cheap expendable platform? That was something TK-51 would be noting in his AAR.

The UMBRELLA system and the late Vultures performed admirably and the E-WAR efforts of the Separatist fleet helped lure away a significant number of missiles. That however was a cold comfort for the twenty Munificents that became the target for the tattered remains of the barrage – between three and eight ship-killers and thirty to forty proton torpedoes devoured their hulls, boiled away armour before shattering the decks bellow it.

Even worse, the necessity of a last moment shift in formation meant that TK-51's ships despite their networking and superior numbers were unable to properly concentrate their firepower in order to dispatch the enemy in short order. The few Munificents trailing behind the sacrificial vanguard faced the full attention of the Republic cruisers and escorts and died before they could breach the forward facing shields of those super-freighters…

That in turn was going to be painful. While TK-51 was busy reforming his fleet and pondering the tactical implications of the enemy's latest stunt, the freighters had shed hundreds more containers and launched another massive barrage. The Tactical droid had to dedicate some of his processing power in figuring out the trajectories of those discarded containers that trailed behind the enemy fleet, because if they intersected the approach trajectory of his ships, they might just impact with enough kinetic energy to damage external component – not really a danger under most circumstances, however a brief set of calculations confirmed that number of containers would pass through his fleet before the enemy has been neutralized…

At that thought, TK-51 froze for an instant and began running more calculations while going over the sensor logs. He had the nasty suspicion that at least some of those pods were very much full with missiles and simply drifting until they came in range to unleash their payloads at point blank range. If he allowed that to happen, it would be indeed painful. He could shift vectors, avoid the containers and perhaps diminish the effect of the following missile barrages, however that might just allow the enemy fleet an opportunity to escape.

That was unacceptable. Bothan intelligence was fairly sure that Veil was leading this force in order to liberate his throne world while the Republic's military at large prepared their long anticipated offensive to liberate the Corellian system. Everything TK-51 knew about Veil as well as multiple analysis of his personality as well as knowledge about Mandalorian culture led to a simple conclusion – the Sith had to be here, taking risks in order to maintain the support of the Mandalorians who made a major part of his power base. The Tactical Dorid's orders were clear – he had to engage and destroy Veil. He had no choice, even if it meant a constrain upon his tactical options. TK-51 merely added a few shifts in his formation to ensure that his escorts would take the brunt of the incoming missile strikes – which would be getting nastier and nastier until either the enemy ran out of ordnance or those freighters were destroyed. With the distance shrinking rapidly, it meant that the UMBRELLA and what was left of the Vultures would have less and less time to intercept the incoming missiles before impact.

That's why he had the majority of his remaining Munificents burning towards the super-freighters with orders to take them out at any cost and by any means available. He checked – soon he would be able to sent a few frigates through hyperspace straight in the face of those missile ships and it will be all over then.

TK-51 watched with displeasure how the primary targets cut their acceleration as one while the Republic battle groups converged to screen them from the wrath of his ships. Those transports were upgraded with military grade ships, however once the deflectors got breached, a single barrage would likely mission kill them – something that didn't happen before Venators moved in to intercept the incoming fire. The range was now close enough for optical sensors to see the glowing drives of missiles passing around the enemy cruisers.

TK-51 was down fifty frigates and his battle line was about to engage the enemy in earnest when the timer in his mind counted to zero and fifteen Munificents kept behind the escort screen vanished into hyperspace… only for half of them to re-appear in front of the enemy cruisers and be shattered by heavy turbolasers. The remaining frigates did get close enough to open fire on the super-freighters and TK-51's hunch was proven right in a spectacular fashion. Just as those Munificent targeted the transports, supposedly inert containers spat forth proton torpedoes and concussion missiles to join salvoes leaving the freighters themselves. In a conflagration lasting mere seconds, the remaining Munificents died, yet they took three of the five targets with them. TK-51 was right again – once their shields got breached, even a few hits could cause chain reactions among the stacked containers full with munitions. What he didn't expect nor bother to scan for was gravitic mines – which some of those missiles that lost targets and went inert had to be. That's what dragged his frigates out hyperspace, it had to be! Usually, such tactics were useless on the offensive – and even defensively it took a great number of mines, unless they merely surrounded more or less static installations and their primary purpose was to prevent the enemy entering hyperspace in point-blank range. It wouldn't have mattered this time either if he had shifted vectors in order to lessen the effects of the missile barrages.

It didn't matter! With only two of those missile platforms left, the UMBRELLA would have much easier time handling the incoming salvoes and more importantly – the Confederate battleships finally had clean lines of fire and targeting solutions upon Veil's ships. The escort's sacrifices and those of the droids crewing them wouldn't be in vain. Veil was going to die today!

If he could, TK-51 would have frowned. Not only the next salvo wasn't launched as expected, but the enemy warships didn't show the coordination that would mean the Sith was using his Battle Meditation… Even as enemy escorts burned and the cruiser shields glowed with the strain of fending off an overwhelming assault, the Tactical Droid began to doubt. Veil was many things, willing to die quietly he wasn't. TK-51 knew the Sith should be using the Force right now, trying to shift the course of the battle in order to survive if not win. What he was up to?!

A Venator's shields died and a concentrated barrage soon slagged every weapon and sensor array along with large swaths of its armour, leaving it as a drifting coffin. A second one followed in a short order, then a third. In contrast – not a single shot went towards the Confederate battle line. The Republic capital ships continued to target TK-51's escorts and now he knew what they were up to and ordered his battleships to begin immediate emergency deceleration while pushing every single remaining Munificent in the forming gap.

Then the super-freighters turned into massive missile platforms launched the single largest barrage of the battle – all targeted on four Lucrehulk Battleships. The enemy's escorts were gone, the Venator battle groups shattered with cruisers dying one after another, yet the Republic's last strike of the short, vicious battle landed despite everything TK-51 could throw at the incoming missiles. The targeted ships tried to manoeuvre, however they were already decelerating and simply lacked the acceleration to significantly affect the time before the missiles hit. Further, with mines spread all over the two fleets tracks, the odds of a successful escape through hyperspace were slim at best, though the droids controlling those ships tried anyway…

TK-51 froze. With gravitic mines spread in front of them, Veil's ships wouldn't have been able to escape anyway. He had to know that and say what you will about the Sith, he wasn't suicidal… or was he? What he did at Bothawui…

The last enemy warship became a drifting wreck, then one of the targeted Lucrehulks fled into hyperspace and reappeared in front of the remaining freighters, which in turn unleashed few thousand more missiles at it before the rest of the fleet could finish them. That battleship simply blew up after thousands of proton torpedoes slagged everything on its surface before a few hundred ship-killers simply blew it up. The other three Lucrehulks were luckier – when all was said and done, if cut apart some useful equipment might be salvageable, though none of them would see combat ever again.

TK-51 won, however he was beginning to doubt Veil led the force he faced, much less that he killed the Sith.