Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with a commercial aim. I make no money from it.
Phase 27: Victory, you say?
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Part 1
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CIC
CWS Firefront
Namaryne System
TK-A-31 concluded that Operation Corsair might actually work. It's success always hinged on various probabilities – enemy fleet location and spread when it was executed, their reactions, and certain technological assumptions. The Republic fleet in the system was deployed as expected, which was good. It covered three critical locations – the primary populated world in the system, and the major concentrations of industry and mining, which helped sate the fleet's appetite for resources and feed the Republic's industry. Further, as expected, due to the relatively small number of ships TK-A-31 had at his disposal and the threat Admiral Trench's presence at Corellia posed, the Republic commander wasn't willing to throw their whole strength at Task Force Corsair. Doing so risked both exposing the Republic fleet to a potential second attack, or opening either Namaryne itself of its spaceborne industry for a second raiding force. After all, Admiral Trench had the numbers for close parity with what the Republic had in this area of space. In fact, if it wasn't for the second armada approaching the Core, an all-out assault against this system might have been viable if not necessarily prudent. As things stood, all that was feasible was Corsair, the suicidal raid TK-A-31 had to execute and possibly survive intact.
A Republic fleet outnumbering TK-A-31 significantly, and having parity due to a Mandator and a Kuati Battlecruiser leading the charge, moved to intercept Corsair, while the other two large Republic fleets waited for the other string of the Confederate attack. If they didn't move in soon, they would be too late to derail the operation.
A few minutes later, TK-A-31 would be smiling if he could. The other Republic fleets still held their position, even if they could execute a hyperspace insertion every moment now. It was irrelevant now, they didn't do it in time and TK-A-31 did his insertion right in the face of the approaching fleet, which expected something like this, thus it had a loose formation, with the only concentration of ships acting as screens for the super-capitals. As soon as TK-A-31 ships returned to real space, they launched all fighters and small craft available, while half the frigates and a third of the battleships charged straight at the enemy. A few moments later, all the breeching pods followed, while the rest of Task Force Corsair formed a wall of hulls in front of the Mandators and it's escorts, ensuring they wouldn't be able to flee to hyperspace. The rest of the enemy fleet was mostly irrelevant and it would be shot at as it came into effective range.
The Republic's Guardian system and their fighters went to work, throwing everything at the thousands upon thousands of Vultures flying in their teeth. The now obsolete fighters died by the thousands as well and it was certain that not enough of them would get to the Republic fleet to cause a significant amount of damage. That didn't matter, they would allow for a lot of boarding pods to reach their targets and the rest of the fleet would screen the assault ships it launched with their very hulls.
To their credit, the enemy was already reacting, the Republic fleet was contracting to surround TK-A-31's command from multiple sides and thus maximize their firepower at the points of contact. It was going to work too, anything but the two captured Corellian Cruisers was unlikely to survive the onslaught. However, they weren't meant to as long as they could take at least as many republic ships as they were destroyed.
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Blue Sector
Coronet City
Corellia
For a week now, the city was under assault, forcing those stuck within to either fight or huddle in whatever shelter they could find. It took the Separatists months to fully encircle and cut off the city, even longer to gather enough forces to properly attack in the teeth of its defenses, while Corellian Security did its utmost to break the siege. In the end, there simply weren't enough Corellian soldiers left to continue their fanatical attempts to relieve their capital city, leaving its beleaguered defenders to fend off fresh Separatist reinforcements by themselves.
The assault waves came by ground and through the bay, with the only mercy being the theater shield preventing air assault and bombardment. For seven days the Corellians stubbornly held, fought, and died, while the Separatists turned the city's outskirts and it's lavish docks into little more than rubble crunched under metal feet and treads. On the eight-day, the CorSec troopers and volunteers who were still alive had to pull back or risk being overrun by fresh Separatist reinforcements. They fell back to secondary defensive lines – whole districts turned into improvised fortresses, only to face even fiercer assault, this time supported by artillery pieces brought in through the theater shield protecting the city. It was at that point, when the situation in Coronet became nearly untenable, with millions of civilians who were unable to flee stuck into an ever-shrinking perimeter centered around the heart of the city, while their defenders fought, bled, and died to buy them as much time as they could, hoping for a miracle.
It was on the eighth day of the Siege of Coronet City that Admiral Trench launched Operation Corsair. It was on that day, he ordered his space forces to leave the Corellian system. That day, the Confederacy ground forces on the Five Brothers put the finishing touches for the traps they had prepared for the Republic relief forces which they expected to arrive within twenty-four hours at the latest.
On that day, the life of one Soonir Fel, one of the many Corellian children caught in the maelstrom of Coronet City changed forever.
Ever since the Corellian System fell, the only lifeline Corellia had with the rest of the galaxy were smugglers daring to brave the Separatist blockade, many of whom until recently were legitimate Corellian businessmen. Marcus Fel, Soonir's father was no different. He had a small transport business, owned a handful of ships, and made a decent living for his family. When the war began, it barely changed his life, the only thing that change was the cargo he hauled – from the various odds and ends he used to transport for all kinds of businesses on Corellia, to all kinds of odds and ends for CorSec and the Navy. It was only when the Separatists launched their Grand Offensive, when against all odds they pushed the Republic out and defeated the Navy, did things change and for the worse.
Marcus' son and wife were stranded at Coronet City, with Corellia itself almost completely cut off by a strong Separatist blockade. It was strong enough that he didn't even dare risk trying to pick his family and flee with them – they were safer on the ground even with the Separatists invading. Yet, there was still something Marcus could do, he still had a few ships, his crews were all good Corellian boys and girls, all patriots, and Corellia needed them. It needed all kinds of supplies they could smuggle – from food and medicine to power-cells and weapons.
That was how Marcus Fel, a legitimate businessman, became a smuggler. It was how he lost his ships and crews one by one as they eventually ran afoul of the enemy blockade. Marcus himself was lucky. He flew his first ship, the good, trusty YT freighter which he used to build up his small business in the first place. The ship was small, fast, and agile, which allowed him to outmaneuver larger vessels, out-fly and out-shoot the fighters which could actually catch him. Nevertheless, the primary reason why he lasted as long as he did was his cautious nature. He didn't take insane risks when they could be avoided and he aborted more than one run to preserve his ship and cargo.
However, when the Separatists cut off Coronet City with his wife and son stranded behind, Marcus threw all caution to the wind and was among the first to volunteer to supply the city against a gauntlet of frigates, fighters, and air to ground emplacements. Those supply runs were a bloody and dangerous work – of the twenty small ships which attempted the first run, only ten made it to a relatively secure zone on the city's outskirts, and only three survived to break out, all loaded with civilians who had to be evacuated.
Marcus' family weren't among them, so he felt he had no choice and after depositing his load of refugees to the closest Republic controlled port and picking up a load of ammunition, he went back, only to find the ring of ships above Coronet thicker than ever. It wasn't until four days later that the whole Separatist fleet began to move, no doubt planning to ruin someone's day, that he saw an opportunity and flew towards the capital. Marcus had to tangle only with a flight of interceptors, which weren't enough to shoot down his freighter. Once he approached Coronet's vicinity, the fighters broke off, which wasn't a good sign. He could already see Coronet, on the horizon – which was particularly easy these days due to the thick black smoke and the glow of fires visible from orbit. He never saw the city again. His YT flew straight in the range of a Proton Cannon battery deployed as one of the many nasty surprises awaiting the Republic relief force.
An upgraded model of Commando Droids controlled the cannons and was responsible for their protection. When Marcus' ship flew in range, they took aim and fired, bracketing it in with enough ordnance to give even an Assault Ship pause. As tough as the YT freighter was, it was never intended to survive that kind of punishment. It didn't help that Marcus' cargo hold
was chock-full with ammunition and explosives.
After the seventh day of the assault on the capital, no smuggler managed to reach Coronet City and offer it's straining defenders any supplies. The trap was in place and partially tested. The only thing needed was for the Republic to spring it and suffer the consequences.
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Part 2
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Namaryne System
The space in front of the breaching pods and transports lit on fire while countless Vultures sacrificed themselves like a shield made of living metal. Nearly a hundred outdated Munificents were primarily used as transport ships since the war began raced between the swarm of boarders and the fighters sacrificing themselves, forming a secondary defense ring to draw up enemy firepower. It shouldn't have been enough against the fleet facing them. In a more conventional engagement, it wouldn't have been. Admiral Yularen's fleet did have the firepower to degrade even such an assault to impotence. However, the Republic ships were spread thin and moving to surround the advancing Confederate units from multiple sides. This tactic had two large advantages – it allowed Admiral Yularen to maximize his firepower at the points of contact between the opposing forces and as importantly, it significantly diminished the odds of the CIS ships to manage a ramming attack, which would have been much easier against a concentrated fleet with much less space to maneuver.
The downside was that the Republic fleet was in practice divided into Battle Groups which were barely in mutual support range and thus the effectiveness of their Guardian systems was degraded, allowing for the Vulture armada to survive much longer than it would have otherwise. The frigate following those fighters was less fortunate, they were much larger targets and Admiral Yularen had a handful of warships with Silencers installed escorting his Super Capital warships. By the time the Republic commanders figured out the nature of the Confederate attack and abandoned the attempt to properly englobe the enemy forces, it was too late.
TK-A-31 had launched his gambit and for a short while, he would have a rough parity of firepower with the Republic formation that was the heart of Admiral Yularen's fleet. It wouldn't last of course. Within just a handful of minutes, the rest of the Republic fleet would crash into the Confederate force, subjecting it to the kind of firepower even Corellian Cruisers couldn't shrug off. Those few minutes were critical and what TK-A-31 had done his best to achieve.
The surviving Vultures decelerated at speeds which would have been fatal to organic crews even with inertial compensators, throwing themselves at the Republic fighters that came to face them. It was a suicidal maneuver, even more so than throwing themselves at an unbroken fleet with a fully operational Guardian system. The same could be true for the Frigates behind them, which enemy firem mostly turned into wrecks by that point, yet even those wrecks could offer some cover and distraction for the transports swarming around them.
The Vultures burned, shattered by missiles and laser fire. Then boarding pods and transports began dying in numbers that no organic commander would have deemed acceptable if they carried organic troops. By the time TK-A-31's fleet was fully engaged, nearly eighty percent of his boarders were dead before they reached their destinations. For almost any other force the galaxy had ever seen, Operation Corsair would have already been an unmitigated disaster.
As far as TK-A-31 was concerned, so far his mission was going better than anticipated. Twenty percent of the one million six hundred thousand boarding droids reaching their targets was good. Even after accounting for some Droids not making it inside intact aver latching on the Republic warships, that still meant roughly three hundred thousand advanced War Droids would be swarming through the core of the Republic fleet engaged with TK-A-31, just as he was about to hit them frontally with everything he had.
"Emergency power to the engines." TK-A-31's order spread through the CIS' combat net and the core of the fleet accelerated far beyond safe limits, seeking to go within the Republic formation coming straight at them, at which point, the rest of the Republic fleet would have trouble concentrating their firepower on his ships without risking a friendly fire. As a bonus, such a close engagement would allow him to cause as much damage as possible, especially to the enemy ships which received the least amount of boarders or the few which avoided being boarded altogether.
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Republic Cruiser Stardust
Namaryne System
The Breaching Pod slammed into its target with a deafening clang, that echoed through its troop compartment. High powered Plasma cutters sliced through the service hatch of the Venator, then a shaped charge propelled the cut slab of metal inside the ship. Smoke and concussion grenades followed thrown by the upgraded Commando Droids, who raced through one after another after the rapid detonations clearing the way of any potential resistance. Within moments the boarders were inside the ships, facing off against a handful of wounded and dazzled crew-members, all of them unarmed. The Commandos dispatched them with well-aimed shots and headed for the nearest objective – the manual controls of a turbo-laser turret. Once secure and under their control, they would proceed towards the next target.
Two hundred meters and five decks away, another breaching pod cut through a hatch, deploying its cargo. A swarm of MK II Buzzer droids began to spread through the Republic warship, heading for the ventilation ducts in search of shortcuts leading to the main power lines. The few crew-members who were unlucky to find themselves in the way of the swarm ended up cut to pieces.
Two squads of Commando Droids boarded after the Buzzers and rant towards the nearest armory, which was on the deck below. Denying it to the Venator's crew would cripple anti-boarding efforts in this part of the ship.
Nearby, a flight of Assault Transports screened by a squadron of upgraded Vulture Strike Fighters almost made it intact after unleashing their concussion missiles and proton torpedoes from a nearly point-blank range of the warship. The Guardian system did its best, shooting multiple missiles fighter and even clipping one of the transports, which slammed into the armored side of the Venator and shattered from the impact, spreading broken droids all over that part of the ship. It wasn't enough. Torpedoes struck the cruiser, blowing off defensive emplacements, slagging or blinding sensors, and compromising a Turbo-laser turret. The other two transports in the flight landed intact and disgorged their troops. Some of them swarmed all over the hull, carrying charges meant to further compromise the Venator's defenses, while the rest converged towards a breach in the armor.
A lone Torrent fighter came from the port side of the cruiser and strafed the Droids crawling over it, before launching a pair of missiles at the closer transport, blowing it off the Venator. The Republic fighter turned for another attack run, only to find itself in the way of another flight of Assault Transport, which shattered it with their chin-mounted laser cannons before making their final approach.
A missile launched from one of Stardust's division mates sliced in half one of the transports, however the other two reached the Venator intact and safely delivered their charges – swarms of Buzzer droids and two Companies of War Droids.
When all was said and done, the Stardust was lucky – she was merely boarded by enough droids to outnumber her crew two to one. Other Republic cruisers and Admiral Yularen's flagship were less fortunate.
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