Chapter XXXV By Matthew Hardy “All fighter wings scramble: Rogues, Wraiths, Dozen, and Blue group launch at once!” Ordered Admiral Kre’Fey. “Sir Do you wish to put a call out for reinforcements before it is too late?” Asked his communications officer. “You can try lieutenant but I don’t know of any forces nearby that can help now.” Said Kre’Fey. “Very well sir.” Said the lieutenant processing the transmission anyway. There wasn’t a lot of hope help would come, but maybe just maybe someone would hear and come. The fighter groups engaged in a vicious dogfight with the enemy coralskippers. “Stay with your wing. Work together Rogues. Let’s give them Hell today!” Ordered Gavin. “Twenty skips incoming,” reported Inyri Forge. “Only twenty! I’m insulted” laughed Wes. “Come on Hobbie let’s get their attention and move these skips to where we can line them up and knock them out. “Right with you Wes.” Said Hobbie. They accelerated their A-wings cutting through the enemy fighter formation dodging a barrage of lava bombs. “Gotta do better than that!” Said Wes firing his cannons varying the output of his firepower. He overloaded the dovan basil and Hobbie cut in and blasted it from the flank breaking the skip in half. “Oh I see how it is Hobbie. There’s plenty for the both of us. Let the best man win!” Laughed Wes. Wes flipped to his right and chewed through a pair of skips. Cracking their coral and sending them spinning away. “Two already Hobbie!” Said Wes. “Great Wes, I’ve got four already.” Replied Hobbie. “What, I’m not going to be out shined by you!” Laughed Wes. Gavin laughed at their conversation. Just like old times he thought. “Okay Krall lets drop in on that group below us. Follow me in.” He ordered his wingman. “Copy lead.” Said Krall. Gavin now using Kira’s old X-wing in favor of the old Y-Wing he had been using, dove in dropping above a trio of skips staggering his quad laser cannon bursts and mixing his firepower. Two of the three skips blinked out in bursts of flame. Krall cut under the final skip cracking through its belly and breaking the ship in two. “Good shot Krall,” said Gavin. Kira’s three flight used her Stealth-X to their advantage intentionally getting skips to chase them and when distracted Kira would pounce on the skip targeting them. She made three kills dropping through then slinked back into stealth mode waiting for other skips to come close. Firebird and Jaden combined their firepower and picked off two skips each. Major Varth charged through knocking out three skips with her E-Wing. “Watch out nine two skips closing in behind you.” Warned Kira. “Copy Sticks, I’ll draw them to you and you knock them out.” Said Varth. She dipped her E-Wing avoiding a burst of plasma, then flipped over in a barrel roll shaking one of the skips. She reached Kira’s position and Kira dove on top of the trailing skip. He burst in flame after a long sustained burst cracked through its hull. “Where’s the other one Major?” Asked Kira. “I’ve got him,” Said Varth dropping down her nose and blasted the pilot’s canopy as it passed under her. “Let’s move in close to some of the Corvette analogues and take them out, Major.” Said Kira. “Copy that Sticks. Three Flight fall in with Kira and let’s knock out some bigger targets.” Ordered Varth. “On your wing,” said Jaden. “Right behind you Sticks.” Said Firebird. “Actually Firebird you lead on this pass,” said Kira. “Give them something to distract their surface gunners so I can slip my shadow bomb through the ships dovan basil.” “Copy Sticks.” He replied taking point. He flew his X-wing and attracted the attention of the Corvette’s gunners drawing plasma fire away. He dove hard unleashing a steady stream of laser bursts attempting to overload the dovan basils. He fired a torpedo detonating it early allowing the energy to be absorbed by the mini-singularity. Kira pulled in behind Firebird. “Pull up now,” she instructed. “Copy that.” He said. Kira launched her shadow bomb. Unlike a torpedo it did not have a trail that could be tracked by enemy gunners and knocked out. It had a baradium infused warhead, the same material that made thermal detonators so deadly. Kira guided the bomb using the Force sending it straight at the Corvette’s forward bridge area, she assumed it was anyway. The bomb passed through the ships defenses undetected and crashed through the front of the Corvette. It bust in a flash of Blue, orange, and white taking off the entire front half of the ship. Major Varth and Firebird fired a torpedo each destroying the rear section of the Corvette. “Nice job three flight. Let’s see if there is something bigger we can take out!” said Varth. “Not without us you won’t!” shouted Wes and Hobbie’s voices on her comm. “Yeah how come the Rogues have all the fun,” complained Drall, A Wraith pilot. “What can we blow up?” Said Myn Donos. “Well there is a big cruiser ahead let’s try that one,” suggested Kira. “We’re in on this too!” Said Gavin and Krall joining them. “Wraiths eleven and five work with Hobbie and Wes and draw off their fighter cover. Three flight, Krall and I will make a run at that cruiser.” Said Gavin. “Target that appendage underneath the cruiser first. We kill that it will give us a void to exploit.” Suggested Kira. “Copy Sticks, let’s roll” replied Gavin. The ten fighters pushed forward and the first group with Hobbie, Wes, Drall and Myn flew over the cruiser drawing its fire and pulling away a dozen skips. “Overload the forward dovan basil.” Said Gavin to Krall. The two began firing away with laser fire and a pair of torpedoes to detonate early. The Vong craft’s dovan basil extended further out than before and swallowed the two torpedoes before they had a chance to explode. “Frack!” Shouted Gavin. “Looks like they are on to our strategy!” “Let me take the shot lead, just keep those skips off me.” Said Kira. “You heard her gents, let’s give our Jedi some cover. Let’s plow the road!” Ordered Gavin. The five trailing fighters fanned out in a line flying nearly wing tip to wing tip all firing their laser cannons. Five skips blinked out of existence. Kira flew over a pair of skips flying to intercept the fighter line. “We’ll draw them off and it will be all yours.” Said Gavin. Kira selected a shadow bomb with the Force and launched it at the Miid Ro’ik. She guided the bomb through the Force passing through the dovan basil and attaching it where the dread creature hung from the cruiser and detonated the bomb. It blew with a brilliant flash opening a gaping hole in the ship and killing the creature. “Fire at will, flight.” Said Kira. Five torpedoes streaked in to the opening detonating and blowing the cruiser into two halves. “Yee haw!” Shouted Gavin. “Nice work.” “Look out Kira, two skips closing in behind you from twelve o’clock.” Warned Firebird. Kira pushed her stick forward and dove hard avoiding the stream of plasma bursts. She made a quick roll then spun up moving straight at the two attacking skips. Kira had become the hunter instead of the hunted. She fired her laser bursts at the first skip. He was caught unprepared for her move and the dovan basil was unable to absorb her fire. The skip burst with a flash. Five kills for her already. She cut wide then snapped over punching a hole in the side of the second skip which spun away crashing into a Vong gunship. “Come on Firebird, Jaden let’s take out that gunship there.” Said Kira. “Copy Sticks,” they replied. They buzzed around the gunship hitting it from three different angles confusing the dovan basils and allowing Kira to get a long sustained burst to chew through the tough coral exterior. Jaden fired a torpedo which got through and blew the gunship in half. “Yeah!” Shouted Jaden. “That still only counts as one!” Shouted Firebird. “We’re still behind the Jedi. She’s got eight kills now.” “Make that nine boys!” she replied as another skip flashed out of existence. “Show off!” Shouted Firebird. He snap rolled coming up on top of a skip and fired a quad burst at point blank range. The dovan basil didn’t have time to absorb the fire and vanished in a ball of flame. “Oh yeah!” he grinned as he flew through the cloud. “You all right?” Asked Jaden “I’m still here aren’t I” snorted Firebird. “Who’s next?” He exclaimed looking for another target. “Don’t get cocky guys,” warned Major Varth. “Back into formation we got landing craft approaching!” She ordered. “Copy Major,” Said Kira, Jaden and Firebird as they fell back into diamond formation. “How many landing craft?” Asked Gavin. “Hundreds, sir.” Varth replied, “And protected with gunship and Assault Cruiser analogues.” “Damn these guys don’t give up do they!” exclaimed Gavin. “Two flight pull in, Wraiths and Dozen where you guys at? We need some back up here!” “Blue group ready to help Col. Darklighter.” Said Col. Rancor. “Excellent now we have some firepower. Bring those B-Wings with us. We’ll hit those flanking assault cruisers first. Wraiths and Dozen can move in and hit some of those landing craft.” Said Gavin. “What about the front of that convoy?” Asked Hobbie. “Let the Star Destroyers worry about them. We hit what we can.” Ordered Gavin. “Copy Lead, Following you in.” Said Wes. “Rogue leader to Ralroost, give the ground forces a heads up. Landing craft approaching. I don’t think we can stop them all.” Said Gavin. “How many?” Asked Kre’Fey. “Hundreds!” “Okay thank you colonel. Ground team, herd ship team get ready for incoming landing craft. We’ll hit as many as we can but not likely we can get them all.” Said Kre’Fey “Acknowledged Admiral” he heard Korran and Luke reply. Rogue group pushed forward all twelve fighters in a triple offset diamond formation. “Here we go!” Shouted Hobbie. They pushed through a screen of twelve skips turning the whole squadron of Vong fighters into balls of flame and attacked three assault cruisers. The assault cruisers were lobster like in appearance only thirty meters long but had spindly projections coming out of its back that fired lava bombs and plasma bursts. It had pincer like projections in the front of the craft as well. The Rogues concentrated their firepower near the heads of the three assault cruisers avoiding much of the enemy firepower screening the landing craft. Firebird launched a pair of torpedoes drawing the dovan basil forward while Maj. Varth fired a pair of torpedoes at the rear section of the craft. They slammed through and sent the assault cruiser falling out of the enemy formation. “Chalk one up for the Major.” Said Jaden. “I’ve been at this longer than the three of you combined,” she chuckled. Hobbie, Wes and Inyri followed suit blasting a second assault cruiser into three pieces. The Wraiths: Face, Tyria, Kell and Piggy cut through six coral skippers and moved in to attack a gunship peppering the hull of a Bothan Assault Cruiser. Piggy called out attack patterns for them to cause the dovan basils to move their singularities away from critical areas. Myn, Drall, Bhindi, and Runt rushed in from under the gunship firing a torpedo each and split the gunship open underneath its belly. The gunship veered away and exploded in a flash a minute later. “It’s a thing of beauty” Said Kell admiring their work. Rancor’s blue group flew in with his B-wings targeting some of the landing craft. They came in close to each craft diving hard and pulling up at the last second dropping their torpedoes and missiles which slammed into the surface of four landing craft tearing them apart. “Nice hits guys!” said Rancor. “Keep at it until we run out of missiles.” He ordered “Copy Blue leader,” he heard his pilots reply. Kypp’s Dozen joined in on the attack. Following Kypp as he launched shadow bombs at three separate gunships which passed harmlessly through the Vong’s dovan basils and exploded against their surfaces. It opened large holes in them. His fighters followed suit launching a torpedo each blasting the three gunships into oblivion. They flew through a squadron of coralskippers. “I’m hit!” Shouted one of his pilots. “They got me too!” shouted a second pilot. Both exploded from a barrage of lava bombs fired by the enemy skips. “Stang!” cursed Kypp. “Tighten up Dozen, work together like we trained! Let’s make a run at some of those landing craft!” The remaining pilots closed their formation and cut loose with laser fire blasting two landing craft and an assault cruiser. “That’s better guys” congratulated Kypp. “These ships are still moving forwards,” said Wes. “We can’t stop them!” “They’re almost in range of the Imperial fleet we should be getting some support shortly.” Said Gavin. The Star Destroyer’s long range turbolasers opened up on the incoming armada of gunships, and landing craft. The Dovan Basils sucked in much of the firepower but squadrons of TIE fighters, Interceptors, and Defenders dropped in from above. Their fire drew power away from the front dovan basils on many ships allowing the heavy turbolaser fire to punch through several gunships and assault cruisers. Additional firepower from General Farlander’s task force opened up firing on the opposite flank of the enemy formation. It blew through two more gunships, three assault cruisers and five landing craft. The Yuuzhan Vong commander had seen enough. “Lingh move the Uro-ik V’aih Battleships in to engage this fleet now. Full Attack!” Ordered Shai. “Yes Commander.” Said Lingh. “I will lead our forces on the ground Lingh. I will trust you with the fleet until I return.” Ordered Shai. “Yes Commander,” replied Lingh. The Vong battleships and Miid Ro’ik’s proceeded forwards with lethal effect. The Yammosk coordinated wave after wave of coralskippers gashing through Imperial TIE Fighters wiping them out in droves. The numbers were turning in the Yuuzhan Vong’s favor quickly. The Vong battleships opened up on the Imperial Star Destroyers protecting Ithor. The firefight between the fleets was intense. Fire ripped apart an Imperial Class Star Destroyer and soon knocked out two of the Victory Star Destroyers creating a breach that the Vong landing craft could drop through. Kypp’s Dozen and Rogue Squad dropped in to challenge one of the battleships that had destroyed the Imperial II Star Destroyer. Kypp and Kira both dropped a shadow bomb on the battleship punching two big holes in its hull but wasn’t enough to destroy the ship. “Blue Squad make a run at this thing.” Ordered Kypp. “Copy that,” said Col. Rancor. “Keep the skips off us.” “Roger Colonel.” Replied Kypp. The Rogues and Dozen fought hard to keep the skips at bay. Kira’s three flight returned to diamond formation ripping through ten skips. Kira made four kills. Jaden, Firebird and Varth each got two apiece. “The Jedi’s got thirteen kills now,” tallied Firebird. “I got seven.” “Eight for me,” said Jaden “ten for the Major now.” He added. “Rogues, Dozen, Blue group pull up now!” Yelled Kira her danger sense was screaming at her. The Rogues and Dozen pilots were able to pull up, most of Blue Group couldn’t. The battleship unleashed a massive plasma field around it, catching seven of blue group’s fighters in it. The blast acted like an Ion pulse killing the B-Wing’s propulsion. They were sitting ducks, fire from coralskippers and the battleship quickly blasted them all into oblivion. “Damn it!” Shouted Rancor. “My Command’s practically wiped out!” Wraith’s leader Face Loran commed him. “Pull in with us Colonel. We’ll get you through this mess.” “Copy that Face. Let’s take out this battleship!” Said Rancor. “Roger Colonel, the two Jedi gave us a couple holes to work with.” Replied Face. “Kell, Tyria, Piggy, Runt lead the way.” He ordered. Their X-wings rushed ahead taking on eight skips pulling them away from the battleship drawing them off the five surviving pilots of blue group. The battleship’s fire was still deadly picking off three more of Rancor’s B-wing pilots. Rancor cursed and launched his load of torpedoes into the forward gap that had been created. The front third of the battleship blew completely off when they detonated on its surface. “Finally!” he gasped. The Wraiths and Dozen continued to fight coralskippers racking up twenty-seven kills combined. A fresh squadron of skips attacked them from twelve o’clock dropping in from above. A second squadron came up from below them catching them in a vicious and deadly cross fire Two more of Kypp’s pilots were vaporized in the crossfire. “Break off attack pattern Dozen, Wraiths get out of this mess!” Ordered Kypp. “We could use a little more back up here, Rogues,” said Face. “Two flight inbound to help” replied Gavin. “Runt you got skips coming in for you, turn now!” Yelled Kell. He did all he could to get out of the skip’s trap but, it was too late. He took a lava blast that burned through his right s-foil and tore off the snub end of this fighter. The ship veered sharply and lost control. “I’m a dead stick, Curse these Vong!” He cried out. His fighter plunged towards a Miid Ro’ik cruiser. “All right you alien ass holes, in the words of my generation, up yours!” His X-wing continued it’s decent and plunged head on into the cruiser detonating on impact. The entire squadron launched a torpedo at the point Runt had crashed blowing the Yuuzhan Vong ship into a ball of flame. “Good bye Runt, May the Force be with you.” Said Tyria. Vong landing craft penetrated the atmosphere of Ithor and began landing their ships unloading thousands of Chazrach, hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong Warriors and Dozens of Thrall Herders. “This battle is turning into a Rout!” said Face. “We’re in big trouble now!” “Starting to look like Dantooine all over again!” Shouted Gavin. “May the Force Help us all!”
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 20:30:47 +0000
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