Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Star Wars movies, shows, books, comics or games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not for sale, or rent. The Mobile Armors, and later Mobile Suits mentioned in the story are inspired by the various Gundam shows. They obviously belong to their respective creators, and, or copyright owners.
Chapter 3
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Part 5
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CIC
FEW PSD Palpatine's Honor
Cal-Seti system
"That's a lot of ships coming our way, Captain. Every single one of them is going to be more than a match for one of our Star Destroyers." Commander Uuvorhelem looked at Piett. "You have a brilliant plan, right?"
"Send Omega Code to the scout detachment we have at the hyper-lane leading back home. Attac
h our sensor logs of the approaching enemy battlegroup, as well as the conversation we had. Cal-Seti is now a part of the Federated Empire, and we will do our duty!"
"Aye, sending Omega Code, Captain. Comms, do so." Uvo paused and looked back at Piett. "You know, that doesn't fill me up with confidence."
"As you said, there are a lot of ships coming straight for us." Piett stared at the tactical plot. "And they just threw a small craft swarm at us. Launch all fighter wings. They're to intercept the enemy strike craft as soon as they fully enter Guardian range…" Firmus trailed off. "We can't afford to play this safe. Launch all strike craft after the fighters are out of the barn. They are to make a hyper-space insertion at the flank of the enemy formation and execute a high-speed deflection run, minimizing their exposure to Guardian fire. If at all possible, cripple one of those Bulwarks. Their engines will be a priority target."
"Divide and conquer?" Uvo asked.
"We can't slug it out for long, not against these odds. Get the fleet to constantly update hyperspace transition coordinates deep within the system. We'll have to pull back to let our shields recharge, and execute emergency repairs."
"What's wrong with those people? They're coming fast and dumb." The primary sensor operator exclaimed, breaking discipline. While he was new to the job, under the circumstances, Piett decided he would have words with the lad if they lived through the battle.
"I think they don't have a Guardian system!" Piett shook his head in disbelief. Neither Commandant Jaxx mentioned one, nor the Commanders of the Tartans. While small, those things should have had a light version installed, making them much deadlier against small craft.
"Why not? Everyone sane has the system?!" Uvo asked.
"Why no one thought seriously about it before the General saw the proposal by those two young engineers during the war and pushed to have it field tested?"
Those two poor bastards had to change their names. They also had to avoid the public eye due to angry pilots, and their families, from all over the galaxy, who wanted the engineer's heads on a silver platter.
That was the rumor anyway.
"Huh, they're going for it?!" Firmus was the one to exclaim this time.
=FG=
Gold Leader
Gold Squadron
Cal-Seti
Gyrver Lam, one of the few remaining pilots from the late Alderaan Royal Guard, wanted to howl with glee. He drove his X-Wing in a parabolic arc, that would allow him to cover a wing of Y-Bombers heading for the bridge of the closest enemy ISD. This was it, he was going to get yet another pound of flesh for Alderaan and his family!
At one and half-light seconds from the target, the Republic fighters and bombers were coming in fast. They were already past the point they could disengage and avoid the Imps. Not that any single pilot would want to avoid a bunch of fat, juicy targets like these!
The gleeful banter over the squadron's comm band was telling.
Even better, the enemy ECM was less effective than expected. That allowed Lam's fighter to detect the usually elusive signatures of massing enemy fighters. The Imperial response time was sluggish. They would let the bombers get too close before being able to engage them, not that the X-Wing would give the Imps the opportunity…
It was at that point, that everything went horribly wrong. Within heartbeats, hundreds of new targeting sensors lit up the approaching New Republic craft.
"Warning, missile lock. Warning, missile lock. Warning, missile lock.." The threat response computer announced.
"What the hell is this?"
"I'm painted by enough enemy sensors to get my shields to fluctuate!"
"We've got incoming missiles…"
"Sweet stars…" Lam didn't even figure out he blurted that out.
His sensors screen became hazy, then resolved, covered by countless angry red dots, that were quickly approaching. Those were missiles. Those were hundreds, if not thousands of missiles coming his way, which was, of course, impossible.
"Missile lock. Incoming missiles. Missile count… error…"
Lam's blood became ice water. The kriffing Imps sucked them in good, the bastards.
"Break and deploy counter-measures! Gold Leader to all Gold Elements, break, break, break!"
At 1.2 light seconds from the enemy, nearly a thousand anti-fighter missiles of all types reached the scattering New Republic formation. For all their agility and acceleration, the small craft was in no position to shift their approach vectors enough to matter much.
As if that wasn't bad enough, a hundred of the missiles were huge things, fit to strike capital ships. When they got close enough, their sleek bodies fragmented, releasing a hundred sub-munitions each.
The New Republic pilots were good. They believed themselves to be the best in the galaxy. Over the decades as part of the Rebel Alliance, many of them did the impossible more than enough time to back up such boasts. They flew state-of-the-art fighters and bombers, possessing advanced ECM suites and excellent counter-measures.
They also had the numbers to overwhelm most Imperial battlegroups by themselves. Between the large battleship's vast hangars, and the smaller complement carried by the rest of the fleet, the New Republic deployed nearly three hundred X-Wings and Y-Wings each, with a token 12 A-Wing Interceptors flying from the Liberty.
The first, long-range missile strike was the least effective due to better than expected New Republic ECM and counter-measures. That, combined with the distance, helped many Republic pilots to break the lock of the missile swarms coming for them. That was when they found out how nasty those missiles were. They went to search for new targets, guided by numerous distant sensor clusters. The Y-Wings were even better protected than their X-Wing escorts. They had more power to spare for ECM, yet at the same time, they were larger juicier targets. They were even less maneuverable, especially at the combined approach speed between them and the incoming missiles.
On top of that, the thousand sub-munitions that blew up in everyone's face were simply unfair.
Still, despite all odds, most New Republic small craft made it through their first brush with the Federated Empire's infamous Guardian system. Only a couple of dozen fighters and bombers died, targeted by hundreds of missiles apiece. Their pilots died before they knew what hit them.
Distant explosions and shrapnel damaged a few more X-Wings and strained the light particle shields of the others, meant to deal with micro-meteorites.
Lam found himself somehow alive, after diving through an impossible swarm of missiles. All he could see outside were the flashes of explosions and pure chaos. Relief and exhilaration flooded his system before training took over.
"Gold Leader, to all Gold Elements, voice off!" The Squadron Leader demanded.
"Gold Two, by the force I'm still alive! I'm alive!" Hysteric laughter flooded the Gold channel.
"Gold Three, I've suffered minor damage, but I'm all right…Mother of mercy…"
"Alert! Missile lock detected! Missile lock detected! Incoming missiles!"
"Break and keep evading! We need to get close enough to the bastards, or they're going to pick us out one by one!" Lam decided that attacking was their best viable option. They had to take out those missile launchers. Trying to run would only allow the Imps to shoot at them until their magazines ran dry. That wasn't something Lam wanted to experience, thank you very much! Doing so was a good way to get killed for no gain at all.
A second missile salvo hit when they were one light second from the enemy. This one erased nearly thirty star-fighters and bombers from existence. As if that wasn't bad enough, the New Republic's small craft would need to endure at least four more such gauntlets before they got into effective weapons range of the enemy fleet.
Each subsequent missile barrage, took at least thirty, or more fighters and bombers, damaging some of the remaining New Republic small craft.
They were still at four light seconds from the enemy fleet when more than ten fresh and intact Imperial Starfighter squadrons joined the fray. They opened fire at the scattered and disrupted ranks of New Republic pilots. The Imperials struck at long range, using concussion missiles, adding two barrages of their own, between Guardian salvos. As soon as the Imperial Interceptors, and New Republic small craft got to grip with each other, the Guardian lit up space with the hundreds of laser cannons it had under its control. The Imperial escorts joined the fray, forcing the Republic pilots to fly through a wall of fire.
Meanwhile, 72 Mobile Armors and 24 Heavy Strike Crafts entered hyperspace, escorted by three star-fighter squadrons.
Lam was in no position to notice most of those events. He pushed his X-Wing to the limits of its internal compensator, feeling gravities press on his body in a painful manner. Blood rushed into his head during an impossibly steep loop.
There was simply too much incoming fire, and no matter where he flew trying to evade, something shot at him. Strike after strike burned through his X-Wing's shields. Lam turned, aimed at the distant blur that was the closest enemy capital ship when two brand new ARC 170 MK IV star-fighters appeared at his tail.
Gold Two tried to make them go away. The existence of their rear gunners came as a very unpleasant surprise to him. That those supposed antiques were heavily shielded as well as another. When all was said and done, while the enemy's performance was inferior to that of an X-Wing, it was more than close enough under the circumstances.
Lam died screaming, immolated in his cockpit as two heavy laser cannons shredded his X-Wing. Behind him, Gold Two managed to disable the shields of one ARC 170, only to lose his own, and receive a laser blast straight into the cockpit.
=FG=
Black Leader
Black Squadron
Cal-Seti
Garven Dreis felt a moment of unease as his Dragon Mobile Armor jumped into hyperspace. He had the good fortune to fight only droids of all stripes during the war. Now, he was about to go blow up people, who just had to be unreasonable bastards.
That no one was certain if the enemy had a Guardian equivalent, didn't help anyone's nerves. Still, it wasn't like they had much of a choice. Back in the day, the GAR had to often retreat and abandon worlds to the enemy, because the Republic betrayed its responsibilities. In contrast, the Federated Empire's pledge was they would defend every single Imperial world, and if facing overwhelming opposition, evacuate as many people as possible, while making the enemy bleed.
This was now an Imperial system. No one was going to take it if Garven had something to say about it!
Stars streaked past his armored cockpit, and his Dragon emerged almost at point-blank range of a Nebulon-B frigate. The odd-shaped ship gleamed with light reflected by the sun and Cal-Seti itself, showing the beauty of the design in all its glory. Sporadic laser fire came his way. The few bolts of coherent light that struck the MA, harmlessly dispersed on the powerful forward deflector.
The incoming AA fire was too light, and inaccurate to account for a Guardian system. Garven relaxed at that realization.
"Black Elements, Black Leader, there is no active Guardian system. I say again, there is no active Guardian system on the enemy ships! We take out the Nebulon-B, then focus on the closest battleship. Our targets are weapon emplacements, especially AA nests. Leave the engines for the Heavy Strike!"
Garven accelerated towards his target, ignoring its jamming for visual targeting. He lightly pressed the trigger, unleashing two silver beams of condensed energy at the neck of the Nebulon-B. Deflectors flared and held. Just before he flew under the frigate, Graves emptied one of his proton torpedo box launchers, and ejected it, reducing the weight of his armor. Behind him, most torpedoes found their mark, cracking armor open, and sending a wave of explosions rippling down towards the engine pod. His squadron flew behind him, racking the dying frigate with heavy beams. They left in their wake a burning useless wreck and headed towards their primary target.
The Bulwark opened fire with heavy broadside weaponry, followed by a lot of uncoordinated laser fire. Compared to the Umbrella and Guardian system, the Dragon was designed to survive, if briefly, the incoming counter-fire was like little more than rain splashing against his shields.
The small freighter-sized Heavy Strike Craft came next, just small and agile enough to avoid proper anti-capital ship weaponry. Each one of them carried enough proton torpedoes to ruin anyone's day.
=FG=
Available small craft at the start of the engagement:
New Republic – 280 X-Wings, 280 Y-Wings, 12 A-Wing interceptors;
Federated Empire: 142 ARC 170 MK IV fighters, 24 Advanced Torrent Interceptors, 12 experimental TIE Defender Interceptors; 72 Dragon MA, 24 Heavy Strike Craft.
By the time the New Republic small craft clashed with Federated Empire interceptors, they had lost 33 X-Wings, 95 Y-Wings, and 6 A-Wings, with many of the rest damaged to one extent or another, and their formations disrupted. They suffered two more missile barrages by the Guardian, and two from the ARC-170s before the dogfight began, at which point, they were well into Guardian laser cannon range…
The only reason the New Republic small craft did as well as they, did against massive missile swarms, was due to advanced ECM, countermeasures, and raw performance.
=FG=
Part 6
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CIC
FEW PSD Palpatine's Honor
Cal-Seti system
Against all odds, the ragged remains of a Y-Wing squadron made it to the tower. All the way there, a vicious dogfight was carried out, leaving destroyed Starfighters in its wake. A barrage of proton torpedoes overwhelmed the weak particle shielding of the area meant to deflect micro-meteorites, and smashed into the observation lounge, turning it into an oven.
Concentrated fire from the Guardian system and the escorts, blew up the last enemy bombers as they finished their attack run, showering the PDS with molten debris.
There were nearly sixty remaining enemy fighters. Most of them had to contend with an equal number of interceptors, while the battle net poured fire at them from all sides.
Meanwhile, the two small fleets entered effective range and opened fire. The enemy focused on Piett's two Victories, which flew slightly ahead from his larger and longer-ranged ship. In contrast, Firmus was content to first target the Republic's escort, making the lives of his strike craft that much easier. The confirmation that apparently neither the Galactic Empire nor the New Republic possessed a Guardian equivalent was both exhilarating and confusing, no matter what he said earlier. The damn thing was such a game-changer, that now, Piett could scarcely imagine a space battle without it!
"Enemy energy signatures are larger than expected… They're concentrating heavy firepower upon the Eternal Dawn and Battlemaster. At this rate, their shields will hold only for a few minutes." Piett's Tactical officer dutifully reported.
"We have a lock on the leading enemy escort. Coordinating targeting solutions… Launching missiles. We've got good contact." The gunnery officer reported. "Targeting hostile E2 with turbolasers, light dispersal, full power."
"Incoming long-range missiles. Forward escorts will intercept." Sensors reported.
"Have the Dreadnoughts move forward and take some pressure from the Victories, then rotate them behind us to recharge their shields. Power up the Silencer, and as soon as the enemy fighters are gone, move us on course zero-one-five, and open the main hangar doors."
The Palpatine class, had its single Silencer mounted on the main hangar's ceiling. Its whole platform could move down. That allowed both maintenance access and gave the weapon to fire from relative safety.
Missiles and turbolaser bolts streaked between the light second distance separating the converging fleets. At this distance, ECM and evasive maneuvers could still make heavy cannons miss their targets. Yet, soon that would no longer be the case.
The enemy escorts in a position to do so opened fire with turbolasers, and heavy laser cannons, targeting their counterparts.
A vibration passed through Palpatine's Honor when a whole barrage meant for the Battlemaster missed its mark, and struck over the superstructure. The deflectors did their job superbly, however, the heavy strike was a reminder of what they were dealing with.
"Tactical, give me an analysis of enemy firepower and defenses," Piett demanded.
"The enemy's weapons are roughly twenty to forty percent more powerful than what we have as equivalent. That's a rough estimate. We need to get closer or review the strike craft data before confirming this. Their shields are twenty to sixty percent tougher than expected, especially that Mon Calamari cruiser. The estimated enemy power output is twenty to fifty percent higher than ours. Sir, we aren't winning a slugging match against those odds."
"It's a good thing I don't plan to fight one."
In the distance, interposed on the sensors, Piett's strike craft swarmed a sole battleship holding the edge of the enemy formation. For an endless minute, nothing changed on the tactical plot, then the Bulwark's acceleration went down significantly, and it rapidly fell out of formation.
Seconds later, the handful of surviving enemy fighters finally broke past Piett's fleet and ran into hyperspace. There were only twenty of the X-shaped fighters left. None of the fast and agile interceptors, and more importantly, not a single bomber made it away.
"Bring our fighters in to rearm and repair. As soon as they're ready, inform them, and have them ready to launch to augment our strike craft." Piett ordered. A closer look made him wince at the losses. More than a third of his interceptors were gone. Many of the rest glowed ominously amber on the holo-screen showing the status of the fleet. The situation with the Victories was better but just. If they hadn't fallen back a bit by cutting down acceleration, thus allowing a pair of Dreadnoughts to cover each, then, their shields would have been drained enough to allow damage to the hull from leaking energies.
Firmus suppressed a wince at that. The Victories shields were faring worse than anticipated, and that state of affairs wouldn't improve as the range closed.
"All ships, focus fire on HB4 at my command. Silencer deployment authorized. Target HB4." That was the Bulwark on the other side of the enemy formation from where the strike craft was busy swarming over the enemy escorts protecting the second battleship on their side.
In the distance, a concentrated missile barrage touched the leading enemy frigate. Without a Guardian system, it managed to shoot down only a few of them. The rest slammed into it from above and below. A moment later, its main reactor lost containment, and a short-lived star lit up the space between the two fleets. A second Mon Calamari frigate fared a little better, shattering under the guns of three Star Destroyers.
Sadly, this was not a one-sided slaughter. Even as Firmus watched two enemy frigates die, the focused fire of all six MC30's hammered down one of his light cruisers. Its Guardian system did fair in shooting down incoming projectiles. However, the turbolasers on those things quickly shredded their shields, before another barrage broke the back of the wildly evading ship. Its front twisted into a fiery ruin, while it's still burning engines pushed the rear half past it, and spun out of control.
One of the Tartan patrol craft found itself at the wrong time and place, and vanished in a flash of light, tanking a full salvo from a battleship.
The enemy shifted targets, focusing on the Dreadnoughts, while they ponderously attempted to fall back. As distance fell, accuracy increased, and staggered barrages smashed the shields of an Assault Carrier aside, before boiling heavy armor.
The Silencer's pod extended from the PSD's hangar. It aimed and unleashed a rich red beam that scattered all over its target. It burned through shields and left deep molten gorges into the brick-like form of the battleship.
"Target locked on. The Fleet is firing. The Silencer is rising back into the hangar, no issues detected." Tactical announced.
Both fleets hammered a single target. The Dreadnought Assault Carrier cracked after its armor ablated from one too many barrages, and turbolaser bolts found its innards, detonating munitions for the strike craft. A large explosion tore the hangar doors wide open, and the carrier fell out of formation, losing all propulsion. The enemy switched targets to the next Dreadnought, smashing at it with salvo after salvo, even as Piett's ships savaged the crippled battleship. The Bulwark left formation, turning to port, and opening its largely intact broadside towards the Imperial fleet. This didn't change the fact that by then, it's front third was little more than useless ruin.
Meanwhile, the duel between the escorts wasn't going so well. While relatively fragile, those Mon Calamari frigates had a punch out of all bounds to their size. The Imperial light cruisers and corvettes simply didn't have the firepower to kill them fast enough.
"Switch targets to those MC30!" Piett barked after he saw them take out one of his Corellian frigates, and cripple a light cruiser in short order. "As soon as the target is neutralized, the fleet will take course zero-four-zero and enter lightspeed as soon as the navcomputers are synchronized! Order the strike craft to join us for repair and resupply. Once we return to real space, contact the enemy commander. We've got the upper hand. There is no need for more people to die today."
By the time the Imperial fleet jumped to lightspeed, it managed to kill another MC30 frigate, and its escorts damaged another. In exchange, the enemy pounded a second Dreadnought cruiser into near scrap, and nearly depleted the shields of the remaining two light cruisers, causing light damage in the process.
=FG=
FE Losses: 51 fighters, with many more damaged. 1 Dreadnought cruiser. 1 Dreadnought Assault Carrier refit; 2 Light Cruisers destroyed, two light cruisers with almost broken shields suffering light damage from power bleed-through; 1 CR90 corvette, 1 Tartan patrol craft. Minor damage to the three SD due to bombers and fighters taking out Guardian weapon emplacements, sensor clusters, and blowing up the Palpatine's Honor observation deck, diminishing long-range sensor capability;
Status of FE strike craft – currently unknown.
NR Losses: 185 Y-Wing bombers; 227 Y-Wings, 6 A-Wings. 1 Nebulon-B B frigate, 3 MC30 frigates, 1 damaged, 1 Alderaan War frigate, 1 Bulwark with crippled engines and diminished combat capacity, 1 Bulwark with heavily damaged forward third.
=FG=
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