Chapter 2: The Battle of Christophsis
2 weeks later
Christophsis
After that meeting General Void and I fell into a comfortable routine of checks and tests of our men; needless to say they passed with flying colors. Then high command sent us to Christophsis where we would be seeing a true space battle for the first time.
My first words as we arrived out of hyperspace and I saw the tactical board were, "What the actual kriff is Skywalker doing?!" Some "Hero With No Fear" he is. The idiots just suicidal. I wonder why no one mentioned that to me, though.
General Void's reaction wasn't much better as he exclaimed incredulously, "Three Cruisers and some transports fighting a fleet like that, he could have at least waited for us!"
"Communications, hail them," I ordered, Skywalker better not get killed before General Kenobi arrived with his new "toy".
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Venator Star Destroyer - Resolute
Bridge
Today was not a good day for Anakin Skywalker. He'd engaged a full blockade with 3 warships and was getting a beat by a surprisingly competent seppie admiral. He was snapped out of his thoughts when a clone tech announced 4 ships coming in from behind them.
"Sir 4 Venators arriving out of light speed; The Negotiator, The Titan, The Liberty, and Event Horizon," the tech said with a relieved tone, "General Void and Kenobi are ordering us to pull back and regroup."
"General Skywalker, regrouping and attacking as a united force would be beneficial," confirmed Admiral Yularen.
"Very well," Skywalker said, "Transports fall back; we'll cover your retreat." In a quieter tone he mumbled, "Obi Wan's new toy better be good."
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Venator star destroyer - Negotiator
Main hangar bay
Twenty minutes later
General Void and I had arrived at General Kenobi's ship prior to Skywalker and seen the surprise for ourselves.
"Interesting, a cloaking device on a ship as small as this. And it can still deliver a lot of supplies," I said as I marveled at the work of engineering in front of me, "I remember that I once saw a cloaking device on a freighter when I was serving with the Judicial Forces. It blew up ten seconds after its engines turned on."
"Well let's hope that doesn't happen here," General Kenobi said with a perturbed look on his face, "After all, Anakin is flying it."
"Wait what," I said as I stopped looking at the ship and it recloaked, "You're letting Skywalker fly this thing!?"
"Is there a problem with this?" General Kenobi asked.
"Yes!" Was he serious right now?
"I share the admiral's sentiments," General Void said, "Skywalker is brash and arrogant. How do we know that he won't attack the enemy flagship once he gets the chance?"
"Anakin also happens to be our best pilot, so if something happens he can get out of it," countered General Kenobi.
"If anything happens Skywalker will most likely be the one causing it," I grumbled, "we'll need to use the fleet to distract the Seppies."
"Hey! Who's brash and arrogant?" Skywalker had arrived without us noticing and interrupted us, "Now Obi wan, where's this new toy of yours?"
I resisted the urge to face palm and said, "Right in front of you General Skywalker," was this seriously the man who we were going to let fly a prototype more expensive than a Venator?
Skywalker realized that it was a cloaked ship and then stuck his prosthetic arm out to touch it while the techs were decloaking it. "That's some ship," he said, "who's going to fly it?"
"You," said Generals Kenobi and Void.
"Awesome!" He said.
"Wait wha—"
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Venator Star destroyer Negotiator
Bridge
30 minutes later
After much persuading from Kenobi and Void, I finally was okay with letting Skywalker fly this ship. We settled on sending the Venators just barely in effective weapons range to distract the Separatist admiral and it was time to launch the ship.
I was in the hangar bay with Skywalker giving him final instructions to, "Only drop off the supplies, do not kriffing engage the enemy."
His reply was the same as it had been the last 30 times and I was satisfied.
Then a panting and red faced Admiral Yularen came running up to us, "General Skywalker, Admiral Patton," he breathed out, "Something about this morning's engagement struck me as familiar, so I did a bit of research."
"And?" We both asked
"And, I believe the opposing commander is none other than Admiral Trench."
It was at this point that I interrupted, "Wait, wasn't he vaporized at the battle of Malastare narrows?"
"That's what I believed too, Admiral Patton," Yularen showed us his data pad and said solemnly, "The last time I saw that symbol…; well let's just say I lost a lot of good men that day."
His eyes narrowed, "That's why I'm volunteering my services as a consultant onboard the ship for matters pertaining to Trench."
"Welcome aboard admiral," Skywalker cheerfully said. He slowed down for a second and said, "Although we might not need you, my orders are to stay on a mercy mission."
"With all due respect General, with Trench I don't think that's possible."
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Venator Star Destroyer - Titan
Bridge
10 minutes later
I was back on my flagship in my command chair and we were ready to attack. Skywalker and Admiral Yularen had left five minutes prior so that our heavy weapons would have a lower chance of hitting their ship. At the possibility of Admiral Trench being in the battle, our fleet changed plans and had 3 Venators arranged in a "v" formation with two Venators on top of them and two below them. We were determined to take down his flag ship and hopefully him with it.
"Sir, all ships in firing range," a clone bridge officer informed us.
"All ships bring forward batteries to bear; you may fire when ready" I ordered "Launch two wings of bombers and 5 heavy fighters wings for a strafing run of those escort ships."
Calls of Acknowledgement rang through the comms as our heavy cannons opened fire on the Invincible, the Providence Class Dreadnought that served as the flagship of Admiral Trench.
After 3 minutes of both fleets getting nowhere with our heavy turbolasers I ordered our fleet to move closer for higher accuracy while the fighters entered torpedo range.
The Y-wings opened fire with a barrage of heavy proton torpedoes on the Invincible, while the ARC-170's heavy laser cannons strafed the ships surrounding it. Then something odd happened. The ARC-170's salvos went without a hitch and 4 Munificent class frigates were either destroyed or mission killed. However the Invincible activated it's "thermal shields" and they absorbed a full bombing run that should have at least mission killed the ship.
"What the?!" I exclaimed, "That's not supposed to happen! All ships get into full effective range and beat this spider's ass."
My Venators continued to fire on Trench's flag and we heavily damaged its systems, but it came at the cost of the bottom two Venators in our formation, which were destroyed by the combined fire of Trench's ships that were in effective range. My bombers continued to wreak havoc among the enemy's formation, mission killing the two closest Lucrehulk class Battleships, while my fighters engaged the vulture droids.
My focus on the battle was disrupted as one of the clones next to me reported that Skywalker had finished his supply drop and was itching to get back into the fight. I told the clone to, "Tell General Skywalker that he is cleared to engage Trench's flagship. Oh and while you're at it tell him to not wreck the new ship too much."
I was met with a reply of, "Yes sir!" and shortly after I saw 4 proton torpedoes come from a decloaking ship heading for Trench's bridge and engines. By this time my remaining Venators were nearly in broadside range, as we had slowly been creeping closer. I ordered them to open fire and with a final salvo Admiral Trench's flagship was destroyed.
"Deploy interdiction mines," I ordered the Arquitens class light cruisers. The Seppie fleet would not be escaping today.
By the end of the day the majority of the separatist fleet was destroyed while roughly a third retreated. My tactic was for all Venators to focus down on a single ship and move on. The majority of Trench's fleet held position, which turned out to be a fatal mistake. My fleet only lost two Venators, the Liberty and the Redeemer because of my swarming tactics. All in all, this was a victory and the separatists were in no position for a counterattack with their fleet in this area heavily damaged.
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Venator Star Destroyer - Negotiator
Hangar bay
"Great job General Skywalker. Oh, and you too Admiral Yularen" I said in congratulations to a job well done.
"Call me Anakin, Admiral," Anakin said with a smile on his face.
"Well then call me Silas, Anakin," I smiled back.
"The 212th and 501st will continue laying siege to the remaining separatist strongholds while the 554th will head back to Kuat to acquire reinforcements," stated General Kenobi.
"Very well" agreed General void.
"Darn it," said Pinpoint, "They always get to have all the fun."
"Relax commander, I'm sure that someday we'll get boarded. Then you can have all the "fun" you want," I jokingly reassured him. "General Kenobi, Anakin, it's been a pleasure, have fun down there."
After a second I also asked, "Can I keep the ship, though?"
"Pardon?" Asked General Kenobi.
"The stealth ship," I replied, "I want it."
"It would be useful in coming engagements," agreed General Void.
"It's not ours," replied General Kenobi. After putting his hand on his chin and pondering the issue for a moment he said, "Although, we could give the ship to you and you could ask KDY if you can keep it."
"That would work," I said, "If we can't keep it, someone would have to return it anyway."
Everyone in the conversation voiced their agreement, and after dropping off a little more supplies we set course for Kuat with a new ship in the primary hangar bay of the Titan.
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A/N Any Reviews or feedback would be helpful. 11/1/23 update