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Phase 5: The Rim Campaign I, Act I

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Part 3

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Space is vast and empty. By its very nature, hyperspace is empty save for artificial constructs traversing it or objects intentionally (or accidentally) pulled inside. Those are facts of nature, which often lead to various misconceptions about interstellar travel and its limitations.

Hyperspace is a dimension of "compressed" space, where distances are shorter, and the speed of light is much higher, allowing for traversal of the galaxy within a couple of days.

Gravity in real space throws shadows in hyperspace.

The above factors combine to create hard limitations to faster-than-light travel. Due to hyperspace's "compressed" nature, gravity shadows can be much larger and distorted within it, creating a geography of sorts. A ship traveling at lightspeed would be influenced by those shadows. At best, interacting with one of them would drag the vessel back into real space, forcing it to move away from the gravity well that cast said shadows. At worst, safeties won't engage properly or would engage too late. This can lead to ships smashing into "hard" shadows created by stars, black holes, and supernovas, which would destroy them. If the safeties engage too late, the vessel could be dragged out of hyperspace too close to such objects, resulting in their destruction as well. This means that for anything but the shortest hyperspace jumps, a ship needs detailed calculations and a map of the area they are jumping through as well as the coordinates of their final destination, or risk destruction.

In practice, those factors are directly responsible for the existence and utility of hyperlanes – discovered and constantly monitored corridors through hyperspace clear from gravity shadows, which allow rapid transit throughout the galaxy…

In special cases, gravity shadows could significantly influence the stellar topography within a system, making short-range hyperspace travel hard to impossible. This is the case in parts of the Unknown Regions, the Galactic Core, and notably, the perilous routes leading to Chiss space….

Hyperspace: Nature and Geography, by Dr. Eli Sumari

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Malevolence, Subjugator class heavy cruiser
Cularin System, Thaere sector

More and more fleet elements completed their transition and formed into separate task forces. A massive fighter screen buzzed around, looking for mines and other nasty surprises.

An odd combination of the binary stars, gas giants, asteroid fields, and smaller planets in the system meant that gravity shadows blocked hyperspace travel through it, save for relatively small entry and exit points with constantly shifting edges. If the enemy had enough assets, meeting us as we emerged would have been a useful strategy. Mining the hyperlane access area could have also worked, though doing so would have endangered any incoming traffic.

For a system like this, the massive asteroid belt between the outermost gas giant and the next would serve as an excellent ambush spot or, if bypassed, staging area for raids on convoys and smaller military units.

From what we knew, the local Republic garrison and whatever ships fled to it had no prayer of slowing us down in an open battle. If our only goal was to pass through the system, we could do it relatively rapidly and unmolested.

We had to secure the place and ensure free transit for logistics and trade, which complicated things.

We had a gas-giant planetary system to deal with. A planet in an eccentric orbit looped around the system's plane at an angle, stirring up the gravity shadows and heavily contributing to what they were. An inhabited world with two moons and a scorched planetoid just far enough from the binary stars to avoid being covered by boiling lava. Finally, there was an odd molten world with a resort moon on the system's outer edges.

A regular fleet could spend a long time scouring this place for nasty surprises and hunting down enemy battle groups hiding throughout the system. The asteroid belt was going to be a bitch to clean and almost certainly contained nasty surprises. The gas giant and its moons created opportunities to hide ships and defensive installations from long-range sensors until someone got into a range of fixed defenses.

It was good that this system wasn't in a more critical position like a hyperlane hub, making it a natural fortress that had to be fortified. Due to many factors, including history, location, and whatever moved the system out of time, it was not even close to being defended as well as it could be.

The good news here was that Cularin offered another training opportunity. It helped that we had a mid-sized fleet by CIS standards, a rough equivalent to the Republic's Sector Fleets. By the time everyone arrived, we would have about two thousand ships and a chance to clear the system while testing the coordination of separate task forces on a system-wide scale.

Two task groups separated from our armada, heading for Almans and Morjakar – the outer worlds in the system, including the one with the resort moon. They were a hundred ships strong each, with thousands of Vultures to act as scouts and screens.

Two larger task groups formed, ready to begin a systematic purge of the asteroid field. Each contained four hundred ships, with a core of Lucrehulks, giving them tens of thousands of fighters to scour the asteroids for nasty surprises and flush out enemy vessels.

Admiral Trench was in command of half of our remaining assets. His job was to secure the gas giant Genarius and the industrial heart of the system built there. He had floating cities to conquer, mining operations, refineries, storage facilities to capture, and other industrial centers spread across the planetary system.

In the grand scheme of things, the industry there was nothing to write home about. However, even after all these years, I could recall a lifetime when I would have deemed it a most impressive achievement.

My task was to get the primary populated world in the system, unimaginatively called Cularin as well, and its two moons. Barring any nasty surprises in the asteroid bells, it would be one of the two best-defended places in the system to discourage pirates, if nothing else.

Before heading for our targets, we waited for our task groups to finish forming. I had no intention of bringing us through the asteroid field, even though avoiding it would require a few hours of a long detour. Data began streaming onto the bridge from the separate task groups, putting the Confederate command and control systems to the test.

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Part 4

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asteroid belt

Cularin System, Thaere sector

A constant stream of transmissions looped over all channels, disrupting all but encrypted military communications.

"People of Cularin, the Republic betrayed you. They sent Clones to arrest your Senator and now force you to fight a battle you can not win. I offer you a singular opportunity to stand down and enter negotiations for admission within the Confederacy. If your forces surrender, they will be treated well. If they persist in fighting and wasting my time when they cannot win, I will annihilate them. I am Darth Vael, Dark Lord of the Sith and Admiral of the Confederate Navy. You know what my kind does to those who oppose them. Choose now, and choose well. Either break your chains or die bound to the rotting carcass of the Republic."

Commander Wraav roared in indignation after hearing that proclamation. The pilots of his wing voiced their own displeasure with curses, roars, and angry hisses. If the Trade Federation wasn't a major power within the Confederacy, then such a proposal might have been tempting. As things stood, it was only the Jedi and the Republic that saved Cularin from exploitation by the Federation, and even after that, those honorless curs kept playing despicable legal games to get ahead.

The way the Republic treated their Senator angered many in the system. However, that woman's insistence on neutrality irked even more people. How could they stand aside and just watch when they could be fighting those who still desired to exploit their system?!

"Commander, we've got incoming… a lot of them…" The commander of the support squadron reported.

Vesh squadron was outfitted with old, large, heavy fighters, modified to act as command and control platforms for all assets deployed throughout the asteroid belt.

Even before some Force-damned madness put Cularin out of time for centuries, the system used to be cut-off from the rest of the galaxy for nearly a thousand years after the hypelanes leading out of it were collapsed, leaving it stuck under gravity shadow making hyperspace travel impossible. That isolation meant that those stuck into Cularin had to become self-sufficient. They had to prepare for the day when they could once again contact the wider galaxy, and everyone knew that Hutt space was nearby, which meant pirate and slaver raids.

Building large ships was out of the question with the industry and technology they had available or could develop in isolation. However, the nature of their system meant that even if they couldn't hold it, they could ensure an enemy occupation could be too costly to contemplate. A key for that was the asteroid belt created on the last day of the New Sith Wars by obliterating one of the planets in the system. Over the centuries, large asteroids became fighter, bomber, and raider bases. Work crews hollowed out many smaller rocks, turning them into sensor platforms, oversized mines, or hidden weapon emplacements. Slowly but surely, the asteroid belt became a death trap and a staging ground for military units that could bleed an invading force in the long run by choking their logistics and striking at lightly defended convoys passing through the system.

The few larger elements of their System Defense Navy and the Republic ships deployed to Cularin would make a stand at the planet the system was named after or behind the fixed defenses meant to fend off raids at the industrial centers around the gas giant.

Wraav's job was to patiently wait like dozens more Wing Commanders across the asteroid belt and begin hitting soft targets when they presented themselves.

Refined sensor data reached the Wookie's fighter, and the computer eagerly updated the map of his zone of responsibility. He blinked a few times at the wave of red approaching, then tapped the screen with a large finger. Wraav growled quietly at Vesh's Commander, asking for clarification.

"I told you, boss, there are a lot of them. The sensors are all right. I checked three times already!" A note of unease could be heard in the human's voice.

Wraav couldn't blame him. Nearly four thousand fighters and bombers spread throughout the asteroid belt, backed by a powerful defensive network. They would be able to cripple even a mass pirate or slaver attack. They could have given the Trade Federation a run for its money, or so people thought.

The war of Droid Fighters flying through the asteroids as if devouring them on the screen had more vessels than all small craft Cularin's defenders could muster. Wraav wisely doubted that he saw more than a fraction of what the enemy brought to this fight.

"Launch everything. We will lure them into the fixed defenses," the Commander ordered. That would allow them to destroy as many of those machines as possible. If they were lucky, the greedy bastards of the Trade Federation would back off, deeming the price for victory too expensive.

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Bridge, Death Dealer Lucrehulk class Droid Control Ship
Cularin System, Thaere sector

Odd but good simulated sensations ran up and down Kraken's circuits. The Super Tactical Droid was attached to Admiral Trench, acting as his adviser, trusted subordinate, and, as of late, Chief of Staff. Today, he was granted the privilege of semi-independent command and the opportunity to prove himself.

Kraken was in charge of one of the task groups ordered to clear the asteroid belt. Due to the size of the thing and the time the locals had to fortify it, this was not easy. However, compared to previous operations, this time, more than enough assets were available to do the job right. They also had the right tools for the situation.

Throwing capital ships among the asteroids where they would be highly vulnerable to traps and ambushes would be foolish. Neither pressing time constraints made that imperative, nor did an impatient commander order such reckless charges.

Kraken and his fellow Tactical Droid, in charge of the second task group dealing with the asteroids, deployed their ships in a circle around the belt, with frigates and escorts flying between the heavier combatants and the danger. Luckrehulks with special cargo hovered at the formation's outer edge in anticipation of finding juicy targets.

Hundreds of droid fighters flew around each ship, screening it against possible danger. Thousands more Vultures waited in reserve or swarmed all over the asteroids in search of prey. They fired at anything suspicious, including rocks with too much metal content, just in case, lighting up the field with a constant stream of explosions that crawled through it at a good enough pace.

"Enemy fighters detected. They are pulling back towards a cluster of larger asteroids," a B1 reported.

They were either running for their lives, luring the Vultures into a trap, or both.

"Send two squadrons to scout the edges of the area and prepare the special munitions for a long-range strike," Kraken ordered.

Within the hangar bays of select Lucrehulks, droid crews did final checks on missiles already loaded within launch platforms. The cavernous cargo holds of those ships were full of more such weapons. Their warheads came from countless mining sites across Confederate space. The Admiral requisitioned the missiles from various system defense navies. They were technically short-range, possessing just enough fuel to accelerate and strike invading ships that came too close to defensive installations.

Here and now, that didn't matter. Those weapons could deploy as usual, then fly on a ballistic course until reaching their targets. Their seismic charges would cripple or destroy everything in their area of effect, save for a proper capital ship or battle station.

The name itself was an odd misinformer like it could be expected from particularly foolish organics. There was no air or enough other matter in space to compress for a regular shock-wave to be an issue unless talking about something of a supernova scale.

However, one type of power could do the trick if properly harnessed – gravity. Gravity waves could shear or shatter things apart if they could be utilized in the right way. Mastery of gravity manipulation technology and the particular properties of a relatively rare gas with the unimaginative name Collapsium could do the trick.

Kraken watched the signatures of his scouts blink out one after another. Jamming cut off their reports, leaving only a garbled mess to reach the fleet. Their destruction and where it happened told the STD all he needed to know.

"Launch a saturation missile strike over the whole designated area. Prepare escort squadrons for a second strike if the enemy manages to intercept or sufficiently degrade the first one," Kraken ordered and watched in satisfaction how hundreds of missiles streaked towards the suspected location of an enemy base, or at least a trap.

As the strike approached the asteroids and their fuel was about to run out, the weapons shifted course, spreading them out. Doing so would allow them to cover the whole targeted area. It would also ensure that intercepted missiles detonating wouldn't proximity kill fellow weapons.

Through the sensors of the Vulture swarm within the asteroid belt, which was currently hanging back, Kraken could see the missiles approach and the stream of defensive fire that rose to meet them. During the final attack phase, those weapons could not maneuver, making them easy targets for the fixed defenses.

The tactical plot is updated with dozens of weapon emplacements.

"Launch a second strike with assigned escorts," Kraken calmly ordered. He would peel out and destroy every enemy defensive installation until they were all gone or the locals figured out that surrendering might be a good idea.