Chapter 61
Pantora – above the marshes
As the Immovable lowered through the clouds, the battle began in earnest. Mace had switched his fighter from sublight engines to in-atmosphere thrusters, and each squadron had their turn landing and refuelling at the orbital platform above Fortress. The previous engagement had been a single cruiser against lower-powered ships and starfighters. That had resulted in the Immovable's shields being decimated. Which explained exactly why at least forty Vulture droids were flanking the cruiser now, like redjacket wasps protecting their hive.
The remains of Torres Squadron formed up, their pilots forming up and preparing to fire on the droid forces. Mace led Kit and Ord through the masses, his laser cannons firing repeatedly as he destroyed any of the droids that flew in his line of fire.
The droids were the obvious targets. Their red and white colour scheme made them stand out against the blue sky as they dove towards the enemy. What was not obvious was their goal. They flew recklessly, even for the droid brains located in the centre of their main support module. Several attempted to crash right into other fighters, and only the superior reflexes of the Republic pilots saved those lucky few who avoided the collision. Many more died as they were clipped and went spinning towards the planet surface.
"Where are those bombers, Captain?", he commed the Indication. "We need them here."
"I'm uncertain, Master Windu.", Gibbs replied, his voice strained with tension. "They had just finished refuelling and were launching when we lost contact. Hopefully they are simply using countermeasures to hide from the enemy scanners."
"They need to get here soon.", Mace clicked off the channel. He wrestled with the controls to dodge an incoming droid fighter. Reopening his comm, he opened a channel to Fisto. "How are you going, Kit?"
"I have been better, Mace.", the Nautolaun replied. For once, the Jedi's sunny disposition had cracked. "The Riverdancer is under a pretty heavy assault though. Should I be worried that your plan is not working? Ar-seven just scanned and told me that the bombers are nowhere to be seen."
Mace reached out with the Force, scanning the area through the Force. What he sensed made him smile, "Shocker Squadron will be here. I guarantee it."
He pulled back on the yoke and pulled his fighter's nose up. Facing the Immovable's hanger, he clicked the trigger back as far as it could go. Blue lasers slammed into the hanging droids. Many exploded on impact, and he watched as the hanger shields were hurriedly raised. They had been lowered to allow the fighters to easily exit the hanger, but with the energy barrier raised, the droids were trapped. It was time for Operation Locket to begin.
He clicked the commlink to contact all the fighter squadrons. "Operation Locket is a go. Torres Squadron, hit the portside. Shocker squadron is on their way with the bombers. We just need to hold out until then."
A series of acknowledgement filled his headpiece, and he turned towards the hanger again for another attack run. Hopefully, they would survive long enough for Shocker Squadron arrive.
Captain Nubon slammed her hand into the dashboard of the Immovable. The Republic were using an unorthodox attack pattern, one that she had not accounted for. She had spent time reviewing the battle tactics used by the Republic in hundreds of previous battles. Usually, their attack plans followed some sort of structure, one that was taught in military academies. It was effective, but easy to counter. Whoever was ordering the starfighters out there was not from the military.
Their constant attacks on the hangers meant that she had just given the order to close the solid blast doors. The droids were working hard to raise the ray shields, but regardless the Vultures were trapped in the hanger. Because of the amount of the droid starfighters Breedas Nal had insisted she jam into the confined hanger space, they couldn't physically get her on-board technicians down to help find some sort of alternative exit or to rig a one-way shield to help them out.
She hurried over to the comm station and barked to the technician there. "Get me the so-called Admiral."
The comm technician, one of the few living beings on the sip, frowned as she typed in the codes. "We cannot, ma'am. The Republic seems to be jamming our comm chatter from one of their cruisers."
"Find out which ship it is and destroy it.", she ordered, and the tech turned to her small collation of droids.
One of the battle droids at the forward-facing system control stations called over to her. "Um, sir? We have a situation here. Our navigation and propulsion have been jammed. We are stuck here in atmosphere, repulsor engines only."
How was that possible? Navigational and propulsion jamming needed to be done with a physical connection to the ships systems. In the past, almost every attempt to do so would have been thwarted because of lifeform scans. Clearly, the Republic's attack on her shield generators had caused more damage than original scans indicated. She relayed her orders to the droid, who stared down at his screen and continued to type in the commands for a full spectrum lifeform scan.
Hurrying back to the viewport, she stared out at the carnage. The Vulture droids outside the ship were still flying chaotically, attempting to ram into any ship that got close. Thankfully, whoever had cut the cruiser's navigation had not been able to take out the droid control tower. As she watched, one of the droids flew headlong into the bridge of one of the Republic frigates. The ship tilted to one side as it began to slowly crash towards the surface, the repulsors alone keeping it aloft. That wouldn't last. It would crash into the swamps below.
"We need to get those starfighters out of the hanger. We lose any more droids, those remaining corvettes can hit this ship, and we have no shields."
"Sir!", it was the battle droid again, "I have a lifeform reading."
"And?", she hurried back over, leaning down to stare over his shoulder.
The droid's thin and angular head turned around to face her, "Ma'am, it appears that the reading is on top of the ship."
Nubon rubbed her head with her gloved hand. She turned towards the comm unit technician again. "Do we still have contact with the surface?"
The young comm tech nodded, "We do, ma'am. Do you want me to connect you with someone?"
Piloting the lead H-79 Tempest bomber, Mito Reed sat straight backed. Her hands were steady on the ship's controls. Her long hair was pulled away from her snout, but her nostrils flared visibly as the anticipation became palpable. The Bothan pilot glided her craft back and forth slightly. She knew her ship well and piloted it better. After years of flying as Shocker Leader, she was used to the vertical bomber's reversed steering yoke. She could do a full vertical spin and dive, even with the added weight of the heavy ordinance stuffed inside the semi-circular disk that acted as a magnetic launch tube. The added weight of heavy proton ordinance made the targeting computer less accurate than it would if they were using concussion or ion bombs, but she knew she wouldn't need it.
Wing Leader Pilios March was flying their escort, leading a trio of starfighter fighters that consisted of her own Gladbron and two V-19's from Torres Squadron. They flew in a wedge-shape formation as they sped across the surface of the planet, flying so low that if Mito looked out the cockpit and craned her neck over the edge of her cockpit and down the long profile of her ship, she could easily spot the husks of smoking Vulture droids and V-19's that littered the rocky ground, remnants of the previous space battle that had survived the fall through orbit.
They had left the refuelling platform above Fortress not long before the enemy had descended. Master Windu's plan was simple. The bombers needed to take out the droid control tower. Once that was done, the ship could be theoretically boarded or destroyed as needed. To get the remaining bombers close though, they needed a small team of soldiers to escort astromechs into the ship and disable the long-range scanners. Until said scanners were focussed elsewhere, Shocker Squadron needed to skirt around the battle. The divergent path had taken Shocker Squadron to the edges of Simbit, where they had then circled around towards the swamplands. The flashes of light on the horizon marked where the battle was taking place. A particularly large boom echoed across the sky, followed by a huge flash of light along the horizon line.
"You see that!", Major March yelled across the commlink, "Change your vectors to go straight for that flash. We are five minutes out at top speed, so set your thrusters to maximum."
Her co-pilot, Nelion Dare, chimed in, "I've sent you an updated path. Follow it exactly. According to Gibbs, the droids are flying erratically."
Mito glanced down at her console and the path that had appeared, and nodded in satisfaction. As one, the ships dipped their wings to the right and turned towards the battle in the distance. The glow of their engines grew to blinding lights as they raced across the rocky desert, which quickly morphed into the marshy swampland.
As the sky brightened unnaturally around them, the size of the battle became obvious. The swamps had more of the Republic starfighters littering the ground. In the distance, the skeleton of one of the Republic Frigates was visible, slowly sinking towards the mossy, mucky water. Above, the Recusant-class destroyer was sending barrage after barrage into the two remaining frigate's shields. Vulture droids continued to buzz around the ships, only stopped by the brave few Republic pilots who remained. The shield on the corvettes were so depleted that the electro-static barrier was partially visible to the naked eye.
Mito primed her cannons just in case. The bombs would not be for the cruiser itself. Instead, the other squadrons of starfighters would be ordered to pull back, allowing the bombers to release their payload into the hangers of the cruiser. That was where the control signal was the strongest. Not only would that decimate the remaining droids still inside the ship thanks to Operation Locket, but it would also power down the remaining droids. The team on already on the hull of the Immovable, a mix of Republic Special Commandos and Senate Commando's, could then take the bridge or the engine room. If the team could take the bridge, then the Republic could use the cruiser to ram the gunnery platform above.
"This is Shocker squadron.", she heard Pilios say over the comm. "Preparing for bombing run Alpha."
Acknowledgments filled the comm and Mito watched the Republic fighters break off in groups of two, until they had completely cleared the area around the ship.
Hands tightening on the controls, the Bothan pulled back on the stick and turned the leading egde of the bomber skyward. Toggling the pulley under her console, she heard the bay doors on the thin base of the ship open, revealing the H-79 Tempest's biggest design flaw. Because of the ship's thin profile, designed to make firing on it difficult, the main fuel lines extended behind the ship's ordinance area. The ordinance itself was held in place by a magnetic field. Any lucky shot could pierce the ordinance and make the ship explode. Any debris would probably scatter and hit other ships, until only flaming debris remained in place of Shocker Squadron.
The targeting computer flashed red, and she spotted the hanger outlined on the ship's schematic. The rest of her squadron, two humans, a Gran and her wingmate, the grumpy Sullustan called Ten Numb, reported that their own ordinance was primed. The destroyer loomed closer. They would need to get the time just right. She took a deep breath and counted to three, then yelled the command while flicking the switch on her yoke. The polarity on her magnetically clamped bombs reversed instantly. Each shot out one by one, until her console read that her bay was empty. She smiled as she heard whoops and hollers from the other fighters, encouraging them.
"Direct hit, Shocker Leader"
"We got them, Team Leader!"
"Harraght.", yelled Molly Kim, the Gran.
Even Ten, who usually remained quiet in these moments offered a few words of affirmation and joy.
Then, hidden behind the cheering, she heard, "We are going in. I repeat, this is Master Enisence. We are commencing boarding."