Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
So, this will…kinda start the events of The Last Jedi. I say kinda because except for the evacuation of D'Qar, I am completely throwing out the events of The Last Jedi. The events of those first few minutes of The Last Jedi will be the only ones from the movie I will showcase. One or two other scenes from The Last Jedi may be heavily adapted and modified, though.
Alright, let's get to it.
Rico: Do not know what you are trying to refer to
MatbeK01: Yes, of course they've been colonizing planets. As for military ranks, the Alliance basically uses the US military's rank system, with the addition of new names for a 5 star General and the addition of the ranks of Grand General and Grand Admiral at the top.
Chapter 19- Escape from D'Qar
(May 22, 2049)
On the planet of D'Qar, the main base of the Resistance is in an uproar. It's been over 12 hours since Ben, Rey, and Chewie left D'Qar aboard the Millenium Falcon. Now, the Resistance is mounting their evacuation.
The Resistance knew that the First Order knew where they were, considering that Starkiller Base had tried to fire on D'Qar. They knew that the First Order was coming for them sooner or later, and they preferred to be gone when the First Order came.
Leia had summoned most of the Resistance's fleet to D'Qar. One small frigate was on a visit to Naboo, and their flagship was hidden somewhere in the Outer Rim. However, the remaining ships of the Resistance's fleet had come to D'Qar.
There were five ships over D'Qar. These included the Free Virgillia-class Bunkerbuster named the Ninka, the Vakbear-class cargo frigate Vigil, the Nebulon-C escort frigate Anodyne, the MC85 cruiser Raddus, and the MC80 class cruiser Home One. The ships are currently resting in a low orbit over D'Qar while a series of smaller transports are evacuating the Resistance personnel and their gear up to the Raddus and Home One. The squadrons and most of the Resistance personnel have already been brought up to the two cruisers. Now, the rest of the personnel along with their munitions and remaining gear are being evacuated from the planet.
On the surface, Jyn Erso and Cassian Endor are still on the ground, helping to coordinate the evacuation. As they are walking along the flightline, Jyn looks at Cassian and says, "The stocks of Terran artillery shells are still waiting in C bunker. Shall we have the next transport load them up?"
"No, forget the munitions. With the time it's been, the First Order is going to be here soon. We need to get the personnel out first," Cassian says. He glances up, and right as he does, he sees something. The shape of a First Order Resurgent class battlecruiser dropping out of hyperspace in low orbit over the planet.
Up in orbit, the first battlecruiser begins moving towards a better position to engage the Resistance fleet. As it does, a second battlecruiser drops out of hyperspace, followed by an Imperial-II class Star Destroyer, then a third Resurgent.
The third Resurgent is the flagship of the force, the Finalizer. The ship that had carried out the mission to Jakku and the raid on Takodana. And on board the ship is General Hux, who had been ordered by Snoke to lead the attack on the Resistance's base.
On the bridge of the Finalizer, the XO of the ship turns to Hux, who is on the bridge, and says, "We caught them in the middle of their evacuation."
"I have my orders from Supreme Leader Snoke himself. This is where we snuff out the Resistance once and for all. And without them, the Terrans will fall," Hux says.
Hux then turns towards the ship's communications officers. "Tell Captain Kanady to prime his dreadnought. Incinerate their base, destroy their transports, and obliterate their fleet."
The officers send out the transmission. Seconds later, an interdiction cruiser jumps into orbit over D'Qar from a slightly different direction and begins generating gravity wells. A few moments later, one of the First Order's massive Mandator-IV class Siege Dreadnoughts named the Fulminatrix drops out of hyperspace amidst the other First Order ships.
The Mandator IV was the next stage in the Mandator line, and the First Order's efforts to mimic the capabilities of the Terran Alliance's Dreadnought class battleships. Shaped like a giant slice of pizza with an oversized bridge, the Mandator IV was a powerful class of warship. She was equipped with 500 turbolasers and 50 ion cannons, and a point defense system of 80 point defense laser cannons and a dozen concussion missile launchers. However, her primary weapons were her two massive orbital autocannons. As powerful and with a quicker recharge than the cannons equipped on the Dreadnought class and even their replacement, the America-class. With these cannons, the Mandator-IV could devastate enemy fleets. However, their limited numbers also left them as extremely valuable resources, and they were always instant targets whenever they made an appearance.
The dreadnought begins moving into a better position to fire on the Resistance base down on the planet. As it does, aboard the Finalizer, a radar controller calls out to Hux, "Sir, Resistance ship approaching. Guns and shields in attack mode."
Hux walks over to look at the screen. As he looks out the readings listed on the screen, he asks aloud, "A single light fighter?" He looks over the Finalizer's XO, both of them feeling confused.
Out ahead of the First Order attack force, Poe is approaching the task force in his X-Wing, Black One. Behind him, BB-8 is beeping a message of concern. "Happy beeps, buddy. Come on. We've pulled crazier stunts than this."
"Just for the record Commander Dameron, I'm with the droid on this one," Leia says from her position on the bridge of the Home One.
"Thank you for your support, General," Poe responds sarcastically before saying, "Don't worry, General. Just trust Captain Parker's plan."
Poe takes a deep breath, knowing this will be a hair rising next minute. He has to keep the First Order task force occupied. After his moment for a deep breath, Poe flips his radio switch to a frequency he knows the First Order will hear.
"Attention. This is Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet. I have an urgent communique for General Hugs," Poe says.
On board the Finalizer, seeking a boost to his ego, Hux tells the communications officer, "Patch him through." He then looks up and begins speaking, "This is General Hux of the First Order. The Republic is no more. Your fleet is Rebel scum and war criminals. Tell your precious princess there will be no terms. There will be no surrender."
There is a moment of silence before Poe responds, "Hi, I'm holding for General Hugs."
"This is Hux. You and your friends are doomed. We will wipe your filth from the galaxy," Hux responds.
Again, there is a moment of silence before Poe, trying not to laugh a bit, says, "Okay, I'll hold."
Hux and the other officers are confused and fully drawn in. Meanwhile, on the Home One, Leia calls over a restricted frequency, "Captain Parker, I hope you're on your way!"
Far below, from a spot on D'Qar that was relatively obscure and far from the Resistance base, a formation of 16 fighters are streaking up towards the First Order task force from underneath them. They are all the Mustangs of the Hammer Squadron. They are flying with 16 instead of the usual 18 due to Lieutenant Gallo having been shot down and no longer having a fighter, and a second of the Squadron's Mustangs having to be down for maintenance.
In the cockpit of his Mustang, Captain Parker is staring up at the ships above him. They are approaching from below and just behind the center of the ship where the sensors will have the most trouble detecting them. Their low-observable features also help to mask their approach. The fighters are streaking up at absolute full throttle.
The Squadron is carrying out a specific mission that Parker himself had come up with. Although it was extremely powerful, the Mandator-IV had several serious weaknesses. One obvious one was the protruding autocannons. For that reason, the ship had a shield generator specifically designated to generate a shield for the autocannons. However, this left their other weapons emplacements more vulnerable. In addition, the bridge was highly exposed, and the reactor was not only highly noticeable, but the design of the covering over the reactor left it more vulnerable to attacks from the ship's topside.
For this reason, the Hammer Squadron was approaching from this angle to get in close without being noticed. Once they had gotten in close enough, their job was to take out the dreadnought's point defense weapons to clear the way for the Resistance to destroy the dreadnought.
"Halfway there, boys," Parker says over the radio, counting down the distance left.
The Mustangs continue to streak up towards the belly of the dreadnought. As they near weapons range, all of the pilots arm their laser cannons and ready themselves to attack the dreadnought.
In seconds, the Hammers are within striking range. Parker watches as his gunsight flashes to show that he's within firing range of the dreadnought.
"Alright, boys. Let's light it up!" Parker calls out before he squeezes the trigger. His laser cannons spring to life, as do the rest of the Squadron's.
Laser bolts begin impacting some of the point defense laser cannons on the bottom of the dreadnought as well as a missile launcher. Gun crews are caught off guard by the sudden destruction of some of their weapons.
The Hammers streak up under the hull of the dreadnought, firing their laser cannons at the few point defense weapons on the ship's belly. Then, within moments, the Hammers burst up on all sides of the dreadnought.
"What the…?" Captain Kanady, the Fulminatrix' captain, says as he suddenly sees the Mustangs bursting up all around the ship. Then, he recognizes what unit is attacking him, and he curses before he says, "All weapons, fire. And we need to scramble our fighters-five bloody minutes ago."
The Hammer Squadron darts all around the Fulminatrix, streaking low over its hull to fire at the point defense cannons and missile launchers placed atop the hull. The Fulminatrix' gunners try and fire back at the marauding Mustangs, but the Hammer Squadron pilots dodge all incoming fire with so much ease, it seems almost effortless. It almost looks like the Mustangs are dancing through space as they evade incoming fire while also destroying the weapons firing at them.
On the bridge of the Home One, Leia is keeping a careful watch of the progress of the attack on the Fulminatrix. As she watches the fireballs erupting every second or two from the Fulminatrix' hull as the Squadron slowly destroys the Fulminatrix' point defense network.
"This General Organa. Poe, your fighters and bombers are cleared to advance," Leia says over the radio.
"Copy that. Tallie, bring the bombs!" Poe calls out as he streaks ahead to join the Hammer Squadron.
Far behind Poe, the rest of the strike force marshalled by the Resistance for this attack is preparing to make their attack. The Resistance, in addition to their starfighters, employed a number of bombers. They had a small fleet of Y-Wings, and a number of Starfortress bombers passed on from the Republic that were mostly used for surface attack. However, the pride of their bomber fleet was a small number of SB-1B Lancer bombers donated to them by the Terran Alliance. And now, 10 of those bombers are streaking towards the Fulminatrix, surrounded by an escort of 10 X-Wings, 8 SFA-181s, and 7 A-Wings.
"Bombers, keep that formation. Fighters, protect the bombers. It's not every day we get a shot at a dreadnought, so let's make this count!" Tallie, an A-Wing pilot, calls out over the radio to the strike force.
The Fulminatrix has by now begun to scramble its fighters, but the Hammer Squadron and Poe are mostly holding them off. However, the other First Order ships have begun to scramble some of their fighters as well. A flurry of TIE fighters is streaking towards the Resistance's strike team.
"Look alive!" Tallie calls out over the radio as she throttles up.
The Resistance fighters streak forward to meet the First Order's TIEs, some of them managing to shoot down about 8 with missiles before they come within laser cannon range.
As the Resistance fighters and the First Order fighters begin a sprawling dogfight between the two fleets, the SB-1 pilots throttle up to full power and streak towards the Fulminatrix, weaving their way through laser fire. All of the Resistance bomber pilots had been trained by experienced Terran SB-1 pilots, and know how to utilize the SB-1's unique strengths.
A handful of TIEs manage to get through the thick starfighter defense surrounding the bombers. The bomber pilots begin violent evasive actions as they try to press on towards the Fulminatrix. However, they cannot all escape. One of the bombers takes a direct hit to the cockpit and explodes. A second bomber is hit moments later in the engines and goes spiraling out of control in flames.
The remaining 8 bombers press on towards their target. As they near the Fulminatrix, on board the dreadnought, Captain Kanady is focused on their objective of destroying the Resistance base. "Are the autocannons ready?"
"Primed and ready sir," an officer says.
"What are we waiting for? Fire on the base!" Kanady orders. A second later, each of the ship's two autocannons fire a pair of shots down at the Resistance base. The massive blasts impact the base, and the massive fireballs tear through it, obliterating the flightline and all of the various bunkers and other buildings.
However, in all, the destruction of the base has little meaning. Moments before the blasts had hit the ground, the last transport had departed from the base, carrying the last of the personnel on the base., including Jyn and Cassian.
Kanady quickly orders, "Shift target to their cruisers and recharge the autocannons! And destroy those bombers!"
The gunners begin retraining the autocannons as they begin charging them again. However, some of the officers on the bridge are growing concerned as they see how close the Resistance bombers have gotten.
The first pair of bombers break through the TIE fighters and come over the hull of the Fulminatrix. As they approach the indentation in the hull over the reactor, the pilot of the lead pilot calls out, "Alright, open bomb bays!"
The two bombers open their bomb bays. Both of these bombers are carrying a full load of eighty 500 pound bombs. The bombers streak low over the Fulminatrix' hull, weaving their way between weapons emplacements and other physical obstacles on the ship's hull as they try and avoid being shot down by the remaining weapons emplacements on top of the hull. Then, as they near the indentation in the hull over the reactor, both bomber pilots pop their noses up and pull into a slight climb so that they can avoid getting caught in the explosions of their own weapons.
"Over the target!" the pilots call out.
"Bombs away!" the bombardiers call as they flip the switches. In seconds, both bombers drop their entire load of bombs.
As the bombers begin a turn back towards the Resistance fleet, the bombs begin impacting along the indentation in the hull. Although they cannot fully breach through to the reactor, the bombs blast huge chunks out of the hull, leaving the way clear to destroy the reactor.
"We weakened it, but we still need to hit it some more!" Poe calls out over the radio.
"Don't worry. We'll give it to 'em," one of the other bomber pilots calls out on the radio as the other six bombers arrive over the dreadnought's hull.
Several TIE fighters desperately pursue the Resistance bombers, wildly firing their laser cannons. One gets lucky and successfully downs another bomber, the wreckage of the SB-1 crashing into the hull.
The remaining 5 bombers press on to their target, weaving their way across the hull of the Fulminatrix until they finally perform their pop up manuever. Then, as one, they begin ejecting their load of bombs, a mix of 1,000 pound bombs and proton bombs developed by the New Republic. The bombs pummel the indentation in the hull, blasting their way through the armored hull all the way to the reactor. Finally, multiple bombs impact the reactor directly and blow the reactor apart. Immediately, a series of massive explosions begin to tear through the center of the Fulminatrix, slowly radiating out throughout the hull of the ship. On the bridge, Captain Kanady scowls as he watches the explosions tearing his ship apart before a new explosion tears through the bridge, killing everyone on the bridge.
On the Home One, a controller who is monitoring the battle calls out, "Direct hit. Dreadnought down!"
The bridge crew begin cheering, but Leia doesn't. She knows they're not out of the woods yet.
On the Finalizer, General Hux scowls as he sees the Fulminatrix exploding. However, he knows that doesn't mean he's lost. He still has four very capable warships to take on the Resistance's ships, and the First Order interdiction cruiser is still generating gravity wells. Unless the Resistance can destroy interdiction cruiser, they aren't going anywhere.
"Engines ahead full. Close the distance and wipe out these ships!" Hux orders.
The three Resurgents, along with the Imperial-II, begin advancing towards the Resistance fleet. However, right as they begin to fire their turbolaser batteries at the Resistance ships, alarms suddenly begin to blare.
"What is that?" Hux demands.
"General, multiple ships coming out of hyperspace!" an officer responds.
Hux looks out of the viewport, scanning space. Then, two Interceptor-class interdiction cruisers drop out of hyperspace and immediately begin projecting gravity wells. Then, just moments later, a small Terran fleet drops out of hyperspace. The fleet is led by one of the new Torfa class battleships, supported by a Repulse-class battlecruiser, 10 Tokyo class Star Destroyers, and 4 Jutland class heavy cruisers.
On board the Resistance ships, the Resistance personnel begin cheering wildly. At the same time, on the Finalizer, General Hux' blood chills as he realizes how outnumbered they are. Even worse, the Terran ships have dropped out of hyperspace right behind the First Order interdiction cruiser, and immediately begin firing on the interdiction cruiser. With so many ships concentrating their entire weapons array on a single interdiction cruiser, the cruiser is disabled in a matter of moments.
On the Home One, an officer calls out, "General Organa, the interdiction cruiser is destroyed, and the last of our fighters and bombers have returned!"
Leia finally allows herself to smile. The Resistance had destroyed a Mandator-IV, and in return had lost just three starfighters and three bombers, and some damage to the Ninka. "Alright. Let's get out of here!" she calls out. Within moments, all the ships of the Resistance fleet make the jump to hyperspace.
Although he definitely notices the Resistance fleet jump to hyperspace and escape, General Hux is not worried about it. What he is worried about is the Terran task force now turning their guns on him.
"Open fire with all weapons!" Hux orders. However, as the bridge crew begin preparing to engage the Terran ships, Hux slips out of the bridge and heads down to the hangar.
As Hux enters the hangar, he can hear the sounds of explosions as turbolaser bolts begin hitting the Finalizer. He walks right up to a shuttle in the hangar and orders, "Take off immediately. We are leaving and rendezvousing with Supreme Leader Snoke."
"But, General-" the officer standing outside the shuttle starts to protest.
Hux draws a blaster and aims it at the officer. "Yes, officer?"
"Yes, sir. Right away," the officer says.
Hux boards the shuttle with the officer, and the pilots quickly power up the shuttle. The shuttle carefully flies out of the hangar and starts making its way carefully away from the Finalizer as the Terran fleet pounds the few First Order ships as the Terrans scramble their starfighters and bombers to attack the ships. The shuttle carefully flies away until it is far enough away from the Terran interdictors, then jumps to hyperspace, leaving behind the Finalizer and the other three First Order warships to be destroyed by the superior Terran fleet.
(Unknown location)
As the Terran fleet is engaging the First Order over D'Qar, the Resistance fleet is making its way through hyperspace towards its destination.
On the bridge of the Home One, Leia turns to face Poe as he walks back onto the bridge. "I must say, Poe, I do not agree with all of your tactics, but I can't argue with the results," she says.
"Thank you, General," Poe says with a cocky grin. He walks a bit closer to her before he asks, "Where exactly are we going?"
"We're going to meet up with my flagship," Leia says.
"Your flagship?" Poe asks. He hadn't known that Leia had another ship in the fleet besides the ship that had gone to Naboo. Then again, few in the Resistance besides its crew knew about Leia's flagship.
"Yes. And once we have made the rendezvous, we are going to try and find a new base while we make contact with Admiral Jacobsen. Things are about to get crazy," Leia says.
"What about Skywalker?" Poe asks.
"They will find him, but he won't be back yet for a little while. We've got to rethink our strategy from this point," Leia says.
A few minutes pass before Admiral Ackbar calls out, "Coming out of hyperspace."
Within seconds, the Home One and the other ships drop out of hyperspace. Immediately, just up ahead, everyone can see an Imperial-I class Star Destroyer immediately ahead of them.
Poe curses and starts running for the door out of the bridge, "Star Destroyer ahead! Tell everyone to scramble!"
"Poe! Stop!" Leia calls.
Poe turns and looks at Leia in confusion. Leia just smiles and says, "That's the ship we're here for."
"Huh?" Poe asks in confusion.
"That's my old flagship. The Rebel Dream. We got it from the Republic 3 months ago," Leia responds.
"The Rebel Dream?" Poe asks in surprise. The Rebel Dream was an Imperial-I class Star Destroyer originally known in Imperial service as the Tyrant. The Tyrant had seen extensive Imperial service, and had been the one to be disabled by the ion cannon at the Battle of Hoth. The ship was captured by the Rebellion two months after Endor. After it's capture, it was renamed the Rebel Dream.
After its capture, the Rebel Dream had been assigned to serve as Leia's personal flagship. Although it had continued to serve as an active warship, including service during Jakku and Coruscant, it had served as Leia's flagship throughout the years. The Rebel Dream had also received heavy modifications, including a number of Terran weapons and even improved shield generators. By 2025, the Rebel Dream was considered the most powerful and advanced Imperial-I class Star Destroyer in service. Leia hadn't used the Rebel Dream in years, and it had passed on to serve in the New Republic's Home Fleet. With tensions rampng up with the First Order, Leia had persuaded friendly Senators to give the Rebel Dream, which was scheduled to be retired, to the Resistance. Leia had made it the Resistance's secret flagship and hidden it in the Outer Rim.
"Yes. The Rebel Dream has been serving a backup site for all of our intelligence, and our most powerful warship. It's only a step, but this is a step on the way to building a strike fleet," Leia says. She pauses, then says, "The war is about to explode across the galaxy. We have the support of the Terrans, but we are the spark that will light the flame of rebellion and resistance."
And, I'll end the chapter there.
So, yes, this chapter was very similar to the scene from the movie, but I hope the alterations I made made it better.
Also, to address my changes to the Mandator-IV dreadnought. I must admit, the Mandator-IV is one of the worst ship designs I've seen in Star Wars. The overall shape, especially the massive bridge, just make little sense. Now, the autocannon s are impressive, but the fact that the ship's only other weapons are just 26 laser cannons for starfighter defense? It just makes little sense. So, I modified the weapons array on the Mandator-IV in this universe.
Also, for the Rebel Dream. In Legends, Rebel Dream was just as I wrote in the chapter. It was a former Imperial Star Destroyer that was the one disabled by the ion cannon at Hoth, and was later made Leia's personal flagship. I decided to reuse it here to give the Resistance a little bit of heavy firepower.
Next chapter will really start the war, which I am calling the Second Galactic Civil War. It'll be up soon. Until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned!