One could have been able to cut the atmosphere on the bridge of the Eternal as the Proclamator-Class was about to fall out of Hyperspace. The whole ship was on battle stations and Artemis was in a repulsor-seat in the middle of the bridge, ready to immediately bark out orders.
The Royals, flanked by a stoic looking Sailor Pluto and an even more grim Sailor Saturn were a few meters behind the Admiral. Between Chibiusa and Usagi were Luna and Diana in their cat forms.
The XO of the ship was at the head of navigation's console and counted down until they would be back in real space.
"Re-entry in three, two, one!"
The lights and space around them became clear again and the Eternal found itself looking at the eastern hemisphere of the Planet of Fondor. And romping around the planet was the biggest space battle all of them had ever seen.
A great lot of capital ships on both sides were scattered from the orbital shipyards above the planet and it's six moons all the way through a third of the system and slugging it out in a brawl that didn't know any elegance anymore.
Star Destroyers and Cruisers were raking each other with broadsides while smaller corvettes and frigates tried to either assault enemy lines on both sides or give cover to the larger ships, especially against the swarms of starfighters, gunships and bombers which were rushing past the larger ships or attacking them.
A great lot of destroyed starships of all sizes and debris was already scattered through the system.
Standing out in front of the biggest orbital dock and flanked by two MC90 Cruisers, was the biggest ship of the Alliance in the system, the name-giver of its class, the Harbinger. The flagship of General Garm Bel Iblis, the legendary Corellian Commander and Commanding Officer of the Third Fleet of the Galactic Alliance's Navy.
A few days had passed since the reception on Coruscant.
SunTzu had been back as he had promised but only for a few hours. While Ami and Makoto were still busy supporting the rebellion on Kataia, the Far Side occupied with guarding the Taskforce's two Star Galleons while they shuttled supplies and refugees through the southern part of the Galaxy and top on call to help on Kataia and the Eternal getting resupplied, the enemy had started a major offensive in the Colonies.
Immediately SunTzu had requested to deploy in advance and after his King letting him know in all honesty that he'd better be alive, when they would follow up, he was allowed to go.
Naval Intelligence had suggested that the fights in the South and the Core had calmed down considerably because the enemy formations had been smashed but the truth was that the enemy had held back most of it's ships and was now attacking aplenty.
The enemy even had had faked destroyed formations with fake debris and staged radio communication to give a wrong impression to the Galactic Alliance.
And the ruse had played out perfectly.
Moving out from the west of the Core and then slightly turning towards the East from the Zenox Cluster the enemy had waltzed through the defensive lines, heading straight for Fondor.
Being the second biggest manufacturing planet for Kuat Drive Yards, and one of the most important shipbuilding planets in the Galaxy, along with the docks of the 2. Reserve Fleet, where older capital ships were getting made ready to participate in combat again, it made for one prized target.
Almost nobody had expected such big enemy fleets, especially coming in from the West, and within a few days the enemy had smashed his way to the Tapani-Sector and headed clearly towards the Fondor-System.
At least until Bel Iblis had taken every ship he could muster without opening another door for the enemy and steamed towards Fondor, meeting with the Local Defence Forces just in time to support them against a large enemy wave.
Whichever ship was close by and could help made its way towards the immensely important planet as well and now an at least on paper sizeable fleet tried to do it's best to keep the opposing forces at bay.
Three Golan III Defence platforms, 5 Star Destroyers from the local Defence Fleet, a Bulwark Deuce and various smaller ships from the 2nd Reserve Fleet as well as the Bel Iblis's Core Fleet around the Harbinger, containing several Star Destroyers and Cruisers and a multitude of smaller ships, among them Nebulon B, B2 and H Frigates, Quasar Fire Carrier, a CEC Destroyer and Assault Frigates made one of the largest defensive fleets the Galaxy had seen since the War against the Yuuzhan Vong.
The enemy was more than well equipped in both quality and quantity as well, at it's core a fleet of eight Star Destroyers had formed itself around an Allegiance-Class Battle Cruiser, basically an enlarged ISD-2, sitting half the system away while more and more ships of the had enemy entered the system and attacked. The Allegiance-Class clearly was the flagship of the enemy forces and was used in an electronic warfare role as it disrupted any holo-communication.
A quartet of Star Destroyers, two modern Rejuvenator-Class SDs and two Strident-Class SDs, had tried to attack the Allegiance together with two wings of supporting snub fighters but had been destroyed when suddenly an enemy flotilla had fallen out of Hyperspace close to the GA-Ships. It was hard to communicate over the distance but Bel Iblis and his staff assumed that it had been a trap all along. Having lost four of their most powerful ships, the troops of the Galactic Alliance decided to switch completely to defensive tactics until enough reinforcements for an massed attack had arrived.
Right now the battle was pretty even but it was clear the side which could bring in reinforcements faster would win.
It was a battle against time and the defenders of Fondor were not able to communicate with the Galaxy outside the system apart from sending couriers, ships that then were missing in the battle.
The situation was getting more dire by the hour.
"Shields up and running, Admiral."
"Weapons 100%, torpedo-launchers loaded as ordered."
"Ganymed, Umbriel and Voyager report status green and are ready to disembark."
The various stations reported to Artemis and within a second he gave out orders, calmly on the outside, although he could see that the situation was worse than anybody had thought.
"Full steam ahead towards the Harbinger, sent out Ganymed to form a fighter shield around us. Tell the Voyager they are cleared to scout up ahead. Comms, try to get a connection up to General Bel Iblis. And maybe someone can find out what happened to our pilot."
Artemis last sentence made both Saturn and Pluto glance over to him.
AICA rocketed out of the hangar of the Endurance-Class Fleet Carrier Intrepid, former flagship of the New Republic's Fifth Fleet and now lead ship of a flotilla a few hundred thousand klicks away from Fondor. Bel Iblis had split his forces and the group around the Intrepid was one of the flotillas which had seen the most action so far.
SunTzu tried to shake off the nausea and the dizziness, the last stim-pack had hit like a hammer and while the hot flush was bearable, the rest of the side effects did affect his combat effectiveness. And AICA would probably self-destruct if he'd throw up into her cockpit. At least the stim-pack had killed the exhaustion-induced headache.
Both, starfighter and pilot were worn out at this point. In the last three days since they had gotten here, SunTzu had slept only a single digit amount of hours total and hadn't eaten much more than Nutri-bars. Not even tapping into the Force helped much anymore so he kept it for the times he was in dogfights.
He was pretty much just running on caf, stim packs and unwillingness to die exclusively.
And Setsuna tells me smoking is bad…
Not that he hadn't had a cigarette since he had run out of them somewhen yesterday morning.
AICA wasn't doing much better, ammo and Tibanna-Gas were getting low and last night she had gotten a good hit from the Ion-Cannon of a Loronar Strike Cruiser which had temporarily killed her shields and also had fried some circuits.
And they hadn't had much time to take care of it, every snub was needed direly and the two of them had flown dozens of sorties since arriving.
SunTzu was flying together with the thrown together air superiority wing of the Intrepid, the squadron had been named Charcoal because most of it ships had laser scorch marks somewhere on their frames.
The squadron had developed a personal vendetta with an enemy squadron of Alpha-Class Xg-1 Star Wings, commonly known as Assault Gunboat, after both squadrons had shot down ships of the other.
There was one standing out, its pilot was flying more reckless than the others and he had scored at least eight kills on the GA's forces, two of them on Charcoal Squadron and he was a real thorn in the side of every fighter wing on the GA's side.
Until yesterday afternoon SunTzu had a wingman, they had been a pretty good pilot as well, a Rodian, but the enemy ace had waited until the squadron was giving escort to a bomb run of the remaining K-Wings of the Intrepid's space wing and then had ambushed them. SunTzu's wingman, Charcoal-14, an A-Wing-pilot as well, had aggressively attacked the enemy but the enemy ace had proven as too much to take for him.
SunTzu had tried hard to shoot the gunboat down then but had to disengage his pursue when he got close to enemy lines near that damned Allegiance, where a line of anti-fighter-corvettes was just waiting to light up starfighters.
SunTzu had felt anger for a moment after his wingman had gone out in a soundless explosion in space but the exhaustion and his will to self-preservation had extinguished that flame pretty soon. He had to take care of AICA and Charcoal Squadron's task, keeping the space open between the Intrepid and the Harbinger, as well as Fondor, was too important to be lost in a personal fit of rage. Or was it because loosing so many people he had cared for just had made him numb? Good thing he could keep the thinking aside as usually another mission waited for him soon after getting back to the Carrier, leaving no room for thinking about anything else than combat.
Flights from space to the surface of Fondor had become rare as the capital ships had pretty much deployed all their ground forces not needed for self-defense along other non-necessary personnel to the planet, making sure that if space would fall, the resistance on the ground would be unbroken. At least if the enemy wouldn't Delta Zero the whole planet, which given its industrial importance of it seemed at least unlikely.
This meant that all the efforts now were focused to keep the ways open for reinforcements and the own ships already in system. And if they wouldn't fly sorties for that, there were still escort missions for the bombers, armed recon and interception missions.
Right now the squadron was out for another armed recon although these usually turned into regular combat missions in a matter of minutes.
It didn't even took three minutes this time, Bel Iblis had ordered a Bulwark Deuce they had made ready from the Reserve Fleet, using every crewer and officer not necessarily needed on half of their ships, along with some escorts to support the rest of the flank opposite of the Intrepid, the enemy had decimated most of the defenses on that side and was now looking to make a breakthrough there.
For that he was using a dozen of smaller cruisers and destroyers.
And right behind them came another wave of TIE Bombs, homing in for the kill, another reminder of General Phyncx. SunTzu wondered if the Taskforce got the General on that base on Varonat and these drones were just his legacy or if he was still out there. If so, SunTzu would like to meet him without witnesses and make him pay.
But even thoughts of brutal revenge had to wait, because if Fondor would fall, the GA would probably loose most of the Southern Colonies and areas down to the Outer Rim and the Wild Space, so concentration on the task was more important, especially in the worn out state SunTzu and AICA were in.
The rag-tag squadron of X-, A- and E-Wings was ordered to take care of anything coming towards the Bulwark's way, especially the TIE Bombs and within another minute and a micro-jump later they had closed up with the huge Battlecruiser and it's escort consisting of a Balrus-Cruiser, two Corona-Frigates and a Sacheen-Class. The small flotilla had a few decimated squadrons of fighters themselves, mostly Defender-Starfighters and older models, so close-up protection of the capital ships was left to them.
Of course the enemy wasn't stupid either and had started another diversionary attack along the front, keeping the advanced positions of Bel Iblis's forces busy.
"Open formation Charcoal-Squadron, let's make sure the other squadrons get less fun than we do." Charcoal-Lead, a Duros, major in rank, came in over the squad frequency, now managed without the use of the holonet.
As Charcoal-13 AICA was the last ship in the formation but now SunTzu accelerated her while they headed for the first four ship formation of TIE-Interceptors.
These pilots obviously had been rookies as they didn't even break their diamond formation when they had noticed the black A-Wing approaching them heads on, instead they kept moving in formation so that three of them could shoot straight at AICA at the same time.
And although AICA wasn't at the full capacity of her abilities she still was faster.
Jinking their laser fire SunTzu pulled AICA in a steep climb and then dived down right on top of the formation, taking out two of the agile TIEs, AICA, using the ability to rotate her lasers took out one on her own as well as they veered away.
"Thirteen leave some for us as well." Charcoal-8, a female Sullustan flying an E-Wing, came in right before she destroyed the last TIE of the quartet.
"Sorry Eight, I just thought I'd be quick with the diversion and head straight for the main course."
Judging from the enemy's snubs and tactics everybody already knew that the enemy's space fighters who had advanced the most were just there to tie them in place and give them less time to deal with the TIE-Bombs and bombers.
"Thirteen is right, Two to six you stay with me, rest of the squadron try to intercept the bombers. Disengage if you see any signs of the Assault Gunboats."
It didn't take long until Charcoal-Squadron joined up again, the Captain of the Bulwark, one of Bel Iblis's most loyal men and his number three in command, having served with the Corellian since before the Thrawn-Crisis, had decades of experience with countering enemy attacks and formed the rest of the other squadrons in his flotilla in a way that would maximize their usability. Very soon over thirty Defender-Starfighters had taken over the direct and close protection of the capital ships and the other starfighters relieved Charcoal-Squadron.
The squadron took out dozens of TIE-Bombs and several bombers heading for the flotilla before the enemy had to withdraw from this section of the front.
Meanwhile the Bulwark had made its way to its destination and supported the last two remaining ships on the flank, a battered VSD-1 and an Assault Frigate MK.2, basically a completely beefed up Nebulon-B. Just minutes earlier the third remaining ship, an old Quasar-Fire-Carrier had been destroyed.
The Bulwark's presence alone was enough to make the enemy pull back but not before the Galactic Alliance's Forces settled the score and destroyed a fleeing enemy capital ship as well.
At least for now the area around Fondor was secured but everybody knew that the enemy would be back, not to mention that starfighters were getting at each other practically everywhere in the system and the ongoing heavy fighting relentlessly going on in the advanced positions.
Artemis ordered to steer the Eternal through the safest seeming path towards the Harbinger while the starfighters formed around it.
Haruka and Michiru in the Voyager had rushed out of the hangar and right into the mayhem.
Haruka, being the expert at armed space recon she was, gave full thrust, trying to outrun any enemy ships, while Michiru kept her eyes close on the sensors, ready to immediately take on any pursuer. Somewhere in this systemwide mess was SunTzu and they were eager to find him.
Charcoal Squadron was on their way back to the Intrepid when the Harbinger reported that another ship, a Proclamator-Class, had entered the system, and that it was one of their own ships.
"Guys, we got at least a little bit of more firepower. Harbinger reports that a Proclamator just dropped in and is moving towards Fondor." Charcoal-Lead let his squadron know and of course the mention of a Proclamator-Class made SunTzu curious.
"Lead, we got a name of the ship. Or where it's from?"
While Charcoal-Lead still was on the line with the command chain, AICA came in.
"First! And yes, that Proclamator is the Eternal."
AICA just had finished her sentence when the squadron leader came in again.
"The ship is called Eternal. Sorry, that took a bit but apparently someone else asked that question right before me."
"Copy, Charcoal-Lead. Those are my friends. Permission to link up with my chain of command?"
"I hate to let you guys go, but I'm pretty sure your friends brought ammo to properly arm AICA and that will maximize her usage. Permission granted. I'm on bingo and we're all Winchester, if you need an escort you'll have to wait."
"Copy, Lead. I can make it from here."
"Are you sure, Thirteen? That's quite the distance from here."
I'm pretty sure there's a mean British tomboy with her lovely companion already out there searching for me in their modified TIE, that's all the help I need…
"Affirmative, we'll just have to hurry."
"Good luck thirteen. We'll see you guys at the front."
"Copy Lead, have a pleasant trip back to the Intrepid."
SunTzu gave all energy on the engines and pulled AICA into an Immelmann, blasting towards the entry vector of the Eternal AICA had determined.
"Michiru, anything on the sensors yet? Or the radio?"
"Negative." A chuckle came through the intercom. "Are you worried, Haruka?"
"Well… the Kraut isn't as good a pilot as I am. Not that something happened to him."
More amused laughter followed.
"You're so adorable when you worry about SunTzu."
"I'm not worrying… I…"
"Contact, 72 Klicks, heading 296."
Michiru checked the data on her screen.
"Flight of three ARC-170s, probably also out for reconnaissance. No transponder signal."
"What do you say we take a small detour and take some enemies out since we're already out here. Lil bit of counter-reconnaissance one could say."
"Hit it, ma cher!"
SunTzu and AICA rocketed through the war zone, sometimes dodging enemy starfighters, or in one case even blowing them out of space because they were moving straight towards them.
On their way they even passed a skirmish between two frigates, the GA one, a Nebulon C, clearly winning, it's enemy being a predecessor model and in contrast having lost it's fighter complement already while the GA Nebulon's X-Wings swarmed the enemy , so they passed this battle scene as well.
After a few minutes AICA finally got a sensor ping on a familiar TIE-Aggressor.
"Guess which TIE-Aggressor is out here as well, and I bet it's looking for us?"
"Course?"
"On your HUD."
It still were a few thousand kilometers and just as SunTzu veered into the direction AICA came in again.
"Looks like our little joyride just got a bit more complicated. Three capital ships have jumped right between us and the Voyager. Oh and they're releasing their fighters."
"It never gets boring around here. Try to contact the Voyager as soon as you can. Full energy into the engines. Oh, and music please."
Two minutes later, Bel Iblis had sent out half of his reserve, one of the two last remaining ISDs of the Fondor Defense Force and a frigate towards the three enemy ships, a carrier and two frigates.
Fighters were swarming the scene as SunTzu rushed towards it coming from Fondor and Haruka and Michiru coming in from the other side of the system.
It was the Voyager who got there first, but having the indulgence to still have weapons with range, Haruka slowed down considerably and began to shoot missiles at the enemy capital ships. At least until a flight of six TIE-Interceptor headed towards them.
Haruka shot two down with missiles and then turned tail and tried to shake them, as four against one wasn't exactly a fair fight, even in Haruka's book.
SunTzu came in fast and took out a pair of TIE-Bombers.
"One more round and we're moving on." He told AICA as he swung her around a trio of TIEs.
"Just a bit more. Less tempo, Haruka. Yes, and… got one!"
Michiru had blown out another one of the Interceptors out of space with her laser turret in the back of the Voyager.
A fracture of a second later Haruka accelerated again as the other TIE behind them veered away to not end in the debris of his wingman.
Haruka flew a few sharp turns until she found herself behind another TIE and a laser salvo into the ball-shaped cockpit later it was over for another TIE.
SunTzu had shot down two more bombers and a starfighter before he took a last pass over the enemy carrier, raking it with laser fire.
AICA had informed him about the location of the Voyager, but in the midst of the chaos out here SunTzu wasn't able to make much of radio contact and just as SunTzu disengaged, an enemy T-Wing began to follow him.
Haruka and Michiru were still busy with the two remaining TIE-Interceptors when SunTzu came into visual range.
Heavily multitasking with trying to get a lock on the TIE in front of her, not getting shot from the other behind them and also keeping an eye out for SunTzu.
"SunTzu, you got a chaser." Haruka grumbled through gritted teeth and just as if he had heard it, SunTzu dived down and slowed AICA down almost to a hold, surprising the T-Wing. The enemy starfighter shot past him and two laser salvos from AICA later it was over for SunTzu's pursuer.
"Okay, now to help the girls." SunTzu stated as he accelerated again and took course right towards the Voyager.
The TIE in front of Haruka had no other chance to abruptly jink to the left, which brought him right into Haruka's crosshairs and she shot a salvo into his wings, making the ship fall apart.
AICA made a quick barrel roll upwards and around the breaking apart snubfighter and then shot past the Voyager.
The TIE-Interceptor behind it kept its distance but was equally surprised by AICA and quickly dealt with as well.
"Awww… I wanted to get him." Michiru pouted over the radio.
"I'm so terribly sorry my dear Michiru-Chan."
"This costs you a dinner."
"Fine. But only if Haruka gets to sit on the neighboring table to watch us excessively flirting the whole evening."
"Ara Captain, you really know what a Lady wants."
"HEY!" Just as SunTzu had swung AICA around to form up next to the Voyager, Haruka chimed in. "Could you two stop and concentrate on combat and not on working on my nerves?"
"As you can see SunTzu, Haruka was worried about you again."
"D'awww, I missed you too, Ruka. Can we go home now, AICA needs ammunition? And I should really get some rest. Or another stim pack."
While SunTzu and the Voyager landed back on the Eternal the flagship of Taskforce Sol continued its way towards the planet and soon closed ranks with the Bulwark Mark II under the command of Commodore Sebriv Saulins.
Finally communications could be established and because of the adaptability and wits of engineers onboard the Bulwark, the Drutash, a makeshift antenna had been built, enabling communication with Fondor and the Harbinger. From the inside of the Eternal two certain men from Tokyo immediately began to help from their workshop with fine-tuning the frequencies while also trying to find a way to break the enemy jamming, something they had been one since the Eternal had arrived in system.
Meanwhile Bel Iblis and Saulins briefed Artemis and the staff of the Taskforce about the situation.
SunTzu just had left the cockpit and was stretching himself out when Karlena and some other members of the ground crew appeared.
"Gods of Iridonia, I can see from here that you two are completely done for."
"Karlena!" AICA cheered happily. "I need a complete maintenance."
SunTzu smiled at the Zabrak. "First of all we need to rearm her. Missiles, torpedoes, Tibanna Gas, everything."
Karlena looked at SunTzu and immediately understood.
She sighed and turned to one of her men. "Rearm AICA with highest priority. And the Voyager as well."
Ten minutes later, after visiting the bathroom and at least drinking some water and an energy drink, SunTzu was back at the hangar.
He really needed a break, some sleep and a warm meal. But of course an alarm blared and reported the entry of more enemy ships, heading towards allied lines.
It never stopped but before leaving for combat again he at least needed a cigarette.
Standing in the middle of the busy hangar he yelled.
"Someone got a smoke for me?"
A young crew man approached him and put a half-full package in his hand with a nod.
"Thanks Man, I'll get that back to you."
A few more minutes later he was sitting on top of the back canopy of AICA's cockpit, smoking the cigarette and waiting for the ground crew to finish their work so he could take off for another mission.
Yes, he was tired, exhausted. His senses weren't at their full potential and he had to concentrate hard. His body was full of toxic substances and needed everything from nutrition to hydration.
But space was were he needed to be. In AICA's cockpit, fighting. It was where he could make a difference. Save his comrades and make the enemy pay for everything they have done to him and this Galaxy.
He was beyond his limit but he knew he needed to get out there again.
He took a last draw on his cigarette as the crew man working on AICA's side gave him a thumbs up, he was ready to go.
The young man extended the palm of his gloved hand to SunTzu and SunTzu handed him the cigarette with a thankful nod and they fist bumped.
"Give them hell, Sir."
SunTzu nodded and then switched AICA's main system on.
"Smoking is harmful." A smile crept over his tired face as he heard her voice and it make him look to the other side of the ship.
"Especially in an environment with live explosives and fuel." SunTzu shot Sailor Pluto a grin as she approached AICA. And damn, looking at her, a stark contrast in her Fuku to the scenery of the hangar and a hint of a smile on her lips, made his heart beat faster and for once that weren't the stim-packs.
Pluto stopped next to the cockpit and for a moment SunTzu could see that her eyebrow shot up in surprise.
Yeah, I know, I look horrible. The stark contrast to you my beautiful goddess.
"You look tired."
"I'm okay, I'm needed out there."
Her gaze gave away that she wasn't quite sure about the being okay part.
"How many stim packs did you take? And when was the last time you ate a warm meal?"
Okay, her genuine care definitely made his heart beat faster than the stimulants he had taken in the last few hours. Even with the nicotine kicking in right now.
"I promise I'll live healthier after this." He said with a wide grin and put on his flight helmet.
She closed her eyes and bit her lips but then couldn't deny herself a small smile before she turned back. She put a hand on AICA's frame as she looked directly into his eyes.
"Take care out there, Captain."
"Yes Ma'am." His smile was still big as he gave her a wink and then Pluto stepped back and SunTzu closed the canopy and put his attention back to AICA's systems.
One hand firm around the Garnet Rod, standing tall in the hangar she watched on as AICA lifted off and hovered towards the hangar shield.
The Voyager subsumed behind AICA and Michiru, her black pilot helmet already on, nodded to her from the backseat of the Voyager.
And then both starfighters accelerated and left the hangar back into the combat zone.
While Sol's starfighters engaged the enemy along with the Taskforce from Saulins, Bel Iblis assessed the situation.
Because of her extensive modifications, namely the stronger reactor, the four warhead launchers and the six additional ion-cannons the Eternal could very well serve as anti-starfighter and -bomber-shield, using her multi-warhead-missiles and relieve other ships, which would make up forces for an offensive move.
Just as the last enemy ship, a Procursator SD, steaming towards their frontline exploded under the heavy fire of the Alliance's capital ships, Artemis and Saulins met on the Drutash and boarded a shuttle which brought them over to the Harbinger, escorted by a squadron of X-Wings, the Voyager and AICA.
Two hours later, AICA and the Voyager took up armed recon in the meantime until escorting Artemis and Saulins back again, the offensive was starting.
The Drutash and the Eternal stayed at their current locations while the other capital ships on their flank, one of the MC90s next to the Harbinger and various smaller craft formed up under the escort of most of the long-range capable starfighters of Bel Iblis's forces.
The capital ships would start diversionary attacks on two different enemy positions and a force of several starfighter squadrons, among them Charcoal Squadron, would escort a bomber wing, mostly B- and K-Wings, including Sol's Triton Squadron, would attack that Allegiance-Class and make sure that communication would work again.
There were plenty of enemy starfighters, highly probably including a certain squadron of Assault Gunboats, but if one attack would succeed in destroying the enemy flagship then this one.
Every starfighter pilot the Eternal had was in space except its youngest one.
Hotaru had been ordered by Haruka to stay onboard the Eternal, she deemed their mission, supporting Charcoal Squadron as the tip of the spear, as highly dangerous. And Haruka very well knew that her foster daughter would definitely not stay in the back of the battle once it had started. Michiru and SunTzu both supported the decision but of course Hotaru hadn't been pleased at all.
Still haven't gotten any decent rest or a warm meal SunTzu had AICA formed up in his old position within Charcoal Squadron with the Voyager now to his right.
The diversionary attacks just had started and the enemy was reacting, sending out forces from other positions to counter the attack.
The space superiority starfighters did a micro jump into Hyperspace and fell out of it a few hundred kilometers in front of the Allegiance-Class and swarmed out.
The reserves of warheads had been giving out and none of the pilots wanted to come back without having all their ammunition spent completely.
The first strike completely annihilated a forward flying TIE-Squadron and within a few seconds several wings of starfighters were heading for the Galactic Alliance's starfighters.
And just as the space battles had begun to become dogfights the Squadron of Assault Gunboats appeared on the scene, coming in right from the middle of the flotilla of the Allegiance-Class.
"Take care with these Xg-1s, they're quite good. One of them is a real ace." SunTzu warned his wingwomen as he steered AICA into the course to intercept one of the advanced starfighters.
This time the Galactic Alliance had a trump card in their hand though, the EE-Wings of Taskforce Sol made it next to impossible for the enemy to get a missile lock on the Galactic Alliance ships, nonetheless their lasers were still deadly.
A fierce and confusing battle arose and sometimes SunTzu needed to rely on the Force to not loose the Voyager in the wad of starfighters shooting each other.
After a few minutes it became apparent that the Galactic Alliance's snubs had the upper hand and the enemy ordered his ships back.
This was the moment Bel Iblis had waited for and the bombers and assault fighters were ordered to begin their attack.
Meanwhile the Assault Gunboats still gave Charcoal Squadron a hard time and some of the pilots of the Squadron even had been blown out of space.
But the enemy had casualties as well and soon it became apparent who the ace was, he had shot down more snubs and also Charcoal-3. And now he was after SunTzu.
And goddamn, he was good.
Maybe it would have been easier if man and machine hadn't been so worn, but SunTzu really needed everything he got to stay out of the very skilled enemy's crosshairs.
But just as the Assault Gunboat's shots began to gnaw on AICA's shields, the enemy's laser impacts visible on it and shaking SunTzu around, Haruka swung around from shooting down what seemed to have been the ace's wing man.
The Voyager was turned upside down as it blasted over the Gunboat.
The blink of an eye it took to do so was enough for what the one Sailor Senshi that very might could have been the best turret gunner in the Galactic Alliance's Navy.
Blasting out from all the cannons of the turret she hammered down at the Assault Gunboat and while the second shot of the ion-cannon made his shields collapse the lasers riddled its cockpit and left wing.
The enemy starfigher was still shooting when it exploded.
"Now we're even." Michiru announced, knowing that SunTzu had been intend to get this guy.
"For saving my well-shaped behind I'll still buy you a dinner." SunTzu let out in relief.
"Not gonna argue with that. Now, shall we clear the path for the bombers?"
The starfighters, although partly decimated, began to swarm out and create a safe path for the bombers, even going so far to draw the fire of the capital ships onto their fast-moving ships so that the bombers could deliver their payload.
First came the K-Wings from Bel Iblis's ships, all armed with Plasma Torpedoes, similar to EMP-Torpedoes, able to knock down the shield of a starship.
The point defence of the Allegiance could take out some of the torpedoes but not all of them and the shields of the two thousand two hundred meter warship broke down in lightened colors.
Next we're the B-Wings and Triton Squadron and the torpedoes fired now hit critical points on the ship and after a moment, in which the Allegiance's lights flickered, there was a huge secondary explosion in the middle of the ship, the reactor, and the ship broke apart.
The GA's starfighters just had turned around, away from the other enemy capital ships shooting at them, not even knowing if the holonet still was jammed when suddenly alarms in all of their sensors began to shrill.
"I have multiple contacts coming out of Hyperspace behind us. Twelve… correction, eighteen Cruisers and Star Destroyers. And an Assertor." AICA reported to SunTzu and he immediately checked his rear mirror, the huge behemoth that the Assertor Super Star Destroyer was, basically a beefed up and more broad-built Executor-Class, was looming behind a fleet of Star Destroyers.
"All starfighters return to rearm immediately." The voice of the legendary Garm Bel Iblis came in over a holo channel.
The snubs didn't need a second invitation, as fast as they could they rocketed away from the enemy fleet and as soon as it was safe to do so, some even did a micro jump to get away.
Behind them the enemy fleet formed up, other ships already in system participating in the act of forming up around the Assertor.
Charcoal Squadrons and the three Earthlings escorted some of the K-Wings back to own lines before they parted and headed to their respective motherships.
Everyone knew that they hadn't had the slightest chance to win against such an overwhelming force.
A few minutes after landing Michiru, Haruka and SunTzu reached the bridge after having sprinted there directly after leaving their cockpits.
Artemis and Mamoru were listening to a holo of Bel Iblis, transmitted from the General to all ships.
Next to them was also Colonel Grill, the commander of the US-Marines onboard. There were more bad news.
"A Dominator Star Destroyer is prohibiting us from leaving the system. And most of the enemy fleet is moving towards us. We will form around Fondor, we will need its planetary weapon systems as well. Our goal is to stall the enemy as long as possible, Coruscant is scraping together what they can and tries to really as many crew members as they can to man the empty ships of the Reserve Fleet as well. Unfortunately that Assertor and its fleet were actively stalling our reserves as they used secret Hyperspace routes for diversionary attacks all over the Colonies and the Inner Rim." The seasoned Commander took a moment. "We all know that our reinforcements won't come in time but I still intend to take out as much of them as we can before we have to leave the system. Our units on the planet then will continue the fight until we can come back."
Bel Iblis's transmission ended and immediately Endymion, Artemis and the staff got to work, while the pilots got back to their starfighters.
Haruka, Michiru and SunTzu left for the the advanced elements of the own ships while Hotaru got the order to escort dropships to the planet.
Colonel Grill had requested from his command in the United States to leave units back on Fondor to help with the defense of the Planet, the Marines were tired to just sit around.
Washington was not too happy, especially since it seemed like a suicide mission, but the Colonel's recall to the Corp's mission and the saying "No better friend" made the US-President finally authorize the mission.
Since the Taskforce was already stretched thin they couldn't sent in ground troops without compromising the entire mission of the force, nonetheless the Taskforce's soldiers gave the Marines a heroes' goodbye and supported the expeditionary force heroic mission generous with extra weapons and ammunition.
While the first transport, containing Grill and his staff left the Eternal, the flagship of Taskforce Sol maneuvering in formation with the Drutash towards Fondor, the enemy forces had sent out hundreds of starfighters, gunboats and bombers against Bel Iblis's ships and the first starfighters began their clash.
Meanwhile Bel Iblis shuttles brought more and more crewmen from the Harbinger to docked ships in the Naval Yards. The crews of the docks were working like maniacs to get ships ready to participate in the battle. Apparently Bel Iblis tried to do his in part in boostering their numbers from inside the system.
The Galactic Alliance had plenty of casualties but somehow made it with around fifty percent of its remaining starfighters through the waves of enemy starfighters after hours of battle.
The first capital ships were now fighting against each other as but the enemy superiority showed and a wave of Star Destroyers, ISDs, VSDs, a Tector-Class and Procursators waltzed straight through the defensive lines, the Assertor right behind them.
Not all of those ships made it but the avalanche of grey Durasteel was heading straight for Fondor.
AICA and the Voyager had been ordered back to the Eternal again, the Proclamator still besides the Drutash, who now had formed a few kilometers away from the Harbinger on it's left. Not that the Voyager and AICA had needed ammunition anyways.
Artemis and Captain Saulins were onboard the Harbinger again, a meeting with General Bel Iblis. The meeting hadn't taken long before the officers left the flagship again with grim looks on their face.
SunTzu was sitting inside AICA's cockpit, sleeping when Haruka knocked on the frame.
"Wake up SunTzu, Artemis wants to see us."
SunTzu jolted up, wiped the sleep from his eyes and checked his chrono, twenty minutes, it almost had been refreshing.
Artemis was standing in the middle of the hangar, Commander Johnson next to him and the pilots formed in a semi-circle around him. All starfighter pilots stationed on the ship except Hotaru, who was escorting shuttles to and from Fondor.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, General Bel Iblis spoke out what we all knew would happen. Coruscant can't sent reinforcements in time before the brunt of the enemy forces will be over the planet."
There wasn't much of a reaction, everybody knew that since the arrival of the enemy reinforcements it had become a fight against time.
"That Dominator-Class is preventing our retreat from the system, so the highest priority lies in taking it out. You all will be part of this mission. I don't have to tell you that our all survival depends on that."
This time all starfighters left in one big block of ships, flying fast towards the enemy. Most of the enemy starfighters had been destroyed in the defeated attack earlier on, but there were still the anti-fighter-weapons of the capital ships out there, which was why the Galactic Alliance snubs looked for safety in numbers and velocity.
A micro jump wasn't possible due to the working DSD so the block of the dozens of starfighters moved as one from Fondor. And although everyone hoped that he wouldn't get shot down, knowing that one's sacrifice made your comrades live made it bearable.
The starfighters shot past the advancing ships, and although not all of them made it they pushed through and held straight for the DSD.
Only to find it properly secured from several Star Destroyers and smaller ships tightly formed around it, a masterpiece of capital ship navigation and effectively disabling a concentrated missile and torpedo attack.
Placed behind the DSD and its wall of ships, looking menacingly in the shadows of the myriad of warships, was a Secutor-Class Star Destroyer.
"Foooock!" Haruka yelled out as she spotted the enemy defense. She and SunTzu had been flying at the front of the formation and now had to think and act fast to find a new plan on how to attack.
Somehow SunTzu was drawn to that Secutor in the back. Someone, or something, dark and twisted was on that ship. Could it have been? No, he wasn't sensing the immense darkness that radiated from Abeloth. Nevertheless this aura felt similar to her.
Before he could put more thought into it, the enemy acted and not only did the larger ships began to open fire but the Secutor also began to discharge TIE/Ds en masse.
The starfighters were forced to break their formations up and a fierce battle, similar to the big fights of Rebel Alliance starfighters against Imperial fleets in the Galactic Civil War.
Meanwhile Garm Bel Iblis, now 90 years old, stood alone in front of the bridge's window of the Harbinger, looking on how the remaining ships of his command defended Fondor and it's space docks against the enemy onslaught.
He thought about what he know about the Forces of Chaos, this enemy was a bigger threat to the life in the Galaxy than the Empire and even the Vong.
While outside the capital ships, his with the support of the orbital defence stations, shot at each other, the behemoth that the Assertor-Class was, moved slowly forward to the planet.
General Garm Bel Iblis turned around to his number two.
"How far are we with the evacuation?"
The Galactic Alliance could take out some of the ships around the DSD but somehow the ranks were closed fast by other remaining ships moving almost perfectly efficient to close the gap.
It was only because of the risky maneuvers of the GA's pilots, some of them dying in the process, that they somehow could knock down the shields of the Dominator.
But the enemy acted instantly and began to shoot suppressive laser fire to make an approach almost impossible to survive.
"All ships fall back behind the planet and be ready to retreat, Commodore Saulins overtakes the command then."
For a moment Bel Iblis observed the Assertor now filing out most of the window outside the bridge of the Harbinger.
He regretted that his last order had been a retreat order. And that they had to leave Fondor, although now his second-in-command along thousands of GA soldiers had strengthened the local ground forces.
He closed his eyes and made his peace with the Galaxy before he walked over to one of the consoles on the bridge and activated a pre-written program.
From the bridge of the Eternal, veering away while pumping out as much fire as they could at the closest enemy ships, King and Neo-Queen as well as their Admiral watched how the Harbinger stopped it's shooting and began to accelerate forward.
"What's with the Harbinger?" Artemis asked and the officer on the sensor station answered after a moment.
"The Harbinger put almost all its energy in its shields and the rest exclusively in the engines."
Endymion and Artemis glanced at each other.
Even with the help of the EE-Wings it was almost next to impossible to make way through the enemy fire.
Even Charcoal Squadron, Haruka and SunTzu had their problems and together with the other ships just could fly close to the enemy wall of laser fire, shoot a salvo and hope that at least a few of the warheads would hit.
None of them could cross through the death zone and nobody even dared to try it anymore.
Except for one Y-Wing, a lone Longprobe. Agile and almost artistically it somehow maneuvered through the hailstorm of laser fire and went straight for the Gravity Well Generators.
And then its pilot dropped everything he had on them.
Proton bombs rained down on the middle of the Star Destroyer and one of the bombs exploded in the ships reactor.
What followed were large secondary explosion blowing up the four Gravity Well Generators before the other systems followed.
After seeing the Longprobe's doing, AICA and the Voyager had followed the Y-Wing through the fire and formed close around it to shield it as they rocketed away from the now exploding Dominator-Class.
The Harbinger got faster and faster and headed straight towards the Assertor.
The larger ship now began to shoot everything it had at the Harbinger but it was over a few seconds later.
The Harbinger crashed into the ridge on the top of the enemy ship and for a moment it looked like the shields of the Assertor would hold but then they finally lapsed and the Battlecruiser Harbinger drilled herself into the Star Dreadnought. It took another moment but then both ships exploded and broke apart.
Endymion and Artemis observed Bel Iblis sacrifice from a monitor shown the transmission from one of Fondor's Golan Stations.
In that moment the voice of Commodore Saulins came in, his voice sounded tired.
"The Gravity Well Generators stopped working, all ships jump to assembly point Besh immediately."
"Get ready for the chew out of your life, young lady!" Michiru came through the radio, speaking to Hotaru in the Longprobe as they formed up next to the other allied starfighters, rushing away from the enemy to jump to safety.
Haruka wasn't listening in, she was proud but not happy about Hotaru's risky actions but what really took all her notice was the now setting in realization that they were evacuating now, they had lost the system. Fondor had fallen. All the fallen here had been for nothing.
"If we ever retake Fondor, I swear I'll marry you, Michi." She let out, making Michiru immediately stop her motherly arguing with Hotaru.
SunTzu wasn't really listening as well, looking in his rearview he could see how many enemy ships there still were.
But that wouldn't matter, he promised himself to take Fondor back. Even if he had to do it alone.