Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
fb111a: Oh, no doubt. But Michael Flatley is the pinnacle of Irish dancing. Trying to get someone new to Irish dancing like Rey to dance Lord of the Dance would be like expecting a high school quarterback to match Tom Brady.
Chapter 33- Stop the Advance
(November 1, 2049)
In his Naboo headquarters, Jonathan is in the midst of a holo-call with Admiral Tanaka. "How much longer until you reach the target point?" Jonathan asks urgently.
"Two hours," Tanaka responds.
"Okay. The rest of the fleet is engaged elsewhere, so once this battle starts, there will be no backup. You understand that, right?" Jonathan says.
"Yes, Grand Admiral," Tanaka responds, his expression deadly serious. He knows how important his task is.
"I'm trusting you with this, Tanaka. We have to hold them here. If you succeed here, pull back to Malastare itself and set up a defensive line to await reinforcements once they are available," Jonathan says seriously.
"Yes, sir," Tanaka responds.
"Godspeed, Admiral," Jonathan says before he ends the call.
Jonathan leans forward against his desk, his mind racing a thousand miles an hour. With the current state of the war, they can't afford another loss. This has to work.
(Outer Rim)
On the bridge of his flagship, the Vanguard, Admiral Tanaka watches as the blue of hyperspace lengthens out and then resolves into stars as the ship drops out of hyperspace. All around him, he can see the other warships of his fleet dropping out of hyperspace as well. The ships all begin moving immediately into their assigned positions.
Tanaka is currently at the command of a massive chunk of the Terran Andromeda Fleet. Led by the Vanguard, it also includes the Torfa class battleship Lortir, three Repulse class battlecruisers, an Argus class starfighter carrier, a dozen Baltimore class Star Destroyers, 20 Tokyo class Star Destroyers, 10 Naboo class heavy cruisers, 12 Anzio class light cruisers, and 8 of the 10 interdiction cruisers in the Andromeda Galaxy. They were also joined by 6 former Republic warships requisitioned to fight alongside the Terrans, including 4 MC80 class cruisers and 2 Imperial-I class Star Destroyers.
Admiral Tanaka had been assigned to lead this fleet in a critical task. The Alliance had had relative success in keeping the First Order from advancing too far "south" in the galaxy. However, the First Order was still pushing their luck wherever they could. Not long ago, word arrived on Naboo that a First Order fleet had managed to slip through a gap in the Alliance's defenses. However, their movement was picked up by detection stations and the information fed directly to Jonathan. Experts had calculated based on their course and an intercepted transmission, the fleet's destination was believed to be Malastare. Jonathan had immediately scrambled every warship that could be spared to form a fleet under Admiral Tanaka's command.
Admiral Tanaka and Jonathan had devised a plan. Intelligence analysts had managed to pinpoint the route the First Order would be taking to Malastare. Admiral Tanaka selected a spot of open space well away from any planet to set his trap. Tanaka had taken most of the interdiction cruisers currently in the Andromeda Galaxy, and intended to set an interdiction trap. Already, the cruisers have begun generating gravity wells as they move to their positions. As the First Order fleet reaches their position, the gravity wells will pull their fleet out of hyperspace, forcing them into battle with Tanaka's fleet. By doing it this way, Tanaka would avoid having to try and prevent a landing and could focus all of his resources on destroying the fleet. It also gave Jonathan more time to plan a better ground defense for Malastare.
Tanaka watches anxiously as his fleet manuevers into formation for this battle. The Alliance has only tested this tactic in simulators, given how unpredictable hyperspace travel between planets can be, especially over long distances. They had no idea exactly how this was going to turn out, or if it would even work at all. But if it does work, it could prove a valuable tool in preventing further planetary invasions.
Tanaka watches as the ships of his fleet manuever into position to prepare to engage the First Order as soon as they drop out of hyperspace. At the same time, Tanaka can see starfighters and bombers beginning to launch from their ships.
The minutes pass in relative silence as Tanaka waits. Then, alarms begin to blare. An officer calls out, "Admiral! A fleet is coming out of hyperspace!"
"Here we go!" Tanaka calls out.
Moments, all of the ships of the First Order's fleet drop out of hyperspace in a matter of seconds. The officers aboard had all been shocked when they suddenly found their navicomputers pulling them out of hyperspace. Now, they find themselves surrounded by a large Terran fleet, with starfighters already scrambled. Valuable seconds are lost as the officers aboard the warships fumble over their thoughts as they try and get their situational awareness.
"All units attack!" Tanaka orders.
Starfighters surrounding the First Order's fleet turn in towards their targets and throttle up their engines. In seconds, Terran starfighters are swarming over the First Order's ships, firing their laser cannons and missile into the vast hulls, explosions tearing into the fleet.
On the flagship of the First Order, the commander of the fleet shouts, "Get us out of here!"
"Admiral, there are interdiction cruisers spread out through space! We're not going anywhere!" an officer calls out to him. The admiral realizes how much trouble his fleet has just dropped into. He stares out of the viewport at the massive form of the Vanguard as the massive Super Star Destroyer moves forward to engage them. This is not going to be good.
(Hours later)
On the bridge of the Vanguard, Admiral Tanaka watches as the forward weapons batteries unleash another volley of turbolaser fire against the Resurgent currently engaging the Vanguard. The battle against the First Order's fleet has been raging for almost 10 hours. The surprise of the trap Tanaka had sprung had really proven the break that Tanaka needed. It had taken so long for the First Order to react to the situation that they had completely lost any chance of being able to be on the offense.
As the Vanguard's weapons batteries destroy a number of the battlecruiser's weapons, a squadron of Mustangs streaks low over the battlecruiser's hull. The Vanguard has mostly worn down the ship's shields with punishing fire, and now the Mustangs are hoping to strike the final blow.
A few point defense batteries that are still intact on the upper hull open fire on the incoming Mustangs. The Mustang pilots throw their fighters into wide sweeping turns as they press on towards their target. One Mustang is hit on the wing and goes cartwheeling into the hull, exploding against a broken turbolaser battery.
The rest of the Mustangs press on. As they near the bridge, all of the Mustangs begin their pop up maneuvers, climbing about 500 feet above the hull before flipping over onto their backs and diving towards the bridge.
The lead Mustang pilot centers the crosshairs of his targeting computer on the bridge of the battlecruiser. It takes only a second before he is satisfied that he is properly targeted, and he squeezes the trigger, firing two proton torpedoes. The pilot immediately pulls up and snaps into a tight turn away from the battlecruiser.
The first two torpedoes slam into the bridge and tear into the armor around the bridge in a pair of huge explosions. Within seconds, more proton torpedoes fired by the remaining Mustangs impact the bridge, blasting through the armor and viewports and tearing apart the bridge. On the bridge, the admiral in command of the First Order's fleet sees a torpedo break through a viewport and has just a second to think that he's doomed before the torpedo explodes and he is vaporized.
On the bridge of the Vanguard, Admiral Tanaka watches as a series of explosions tear apart the bridge of the flagship and the ship begins to fall out of control. Several crewmen on the bridge of the Vanguard begin to cheer as they watch.
It's clear by now to Admiral Tanaka that the battle is in his hands. All of the troop transports have been destroyed, and the First Order has only 12 warships left now, primarily Resurgents. In exchange, Tanaka's fleet has lost only three cruisers and a Star Destroyer.
"Engines ahead full and engage those two battlecruisers," Tanaka orders. The Vanguard's engines soon throttle up and the ship begins moving towards two battlecruisers up ahead, the gunners readying themselves to fire on the two ships.
(Naboo)
In his headquarters on Naboo, Jonathan watches as a hologram of Admiral Tanaka comes up in front of him. He has been waiting anxiously for further word from Tanaka.
"Admiral, what's the situation?" Jonathan asks.
"Very good, Grand Admiral. We've destroyed most of the enemy fleet. They have just 12 warships left, and all of our interdiction cruisers are still intact. They're not getting away," Tanaka says.
"Excellent, Admiral. Continue your attack and report back when you have destroyed the fleet and are making your way to Malastare," Jonathan responds. Admiral Tanaka nods at Jonathan before cutting the call.
Jonathan smiles a bit. At last, the Alliance has achieved a major victory against the FIrst Order. If they can keep this up, it shouldn't be too long before they can begin to counterattack and start regaining territory.
And, I'll end the chapter there. I know this was a shorter chapter, but I hope it was still good.
Next chapter will probably be up in a week or two, once I'm done with my final exams. Until it's up, leave a review and stay tuned!