"Patch me through to the flagship." Aaron stood, having moved from the operational centre to the bridge- where Captain Luca had transferred command.
Aaron had arranged his ships in a fairly simple formation; the four Imperial-Class Star Destroyers forming a heavy line, with a secondary line consisting of the pair of Victory II's, the quartet of Strike-Class Cruisers, a trio of Arquitens and the dozen Carrack-Classes, with a backline consisting of the Immobilizer and Ton-Falk's, with Lancers and Broadsides hiding behind the various Star-Destroyers.
Before them stood 14 Imperial-Class Star Destroyers of various classifications, some 19 Strike-Class Medium Cruisers. With a noticeable lack of Ton-Falks or Lancers, though they had half a hundred Carracks.
This was the entire fleet tasked with guarding the southern part of the Lipton Route- and they had all been gathered here- and Aaron seriously doubted that it was a coincidence. And though he did not allow it to be shown, he felt his body burn with excitement.
This was exactly what he needed, what he dared not hope for- but had happened anyhow.
"Admiral Linus Giar, my name is Commodore Aaron Rysell- and I've been tasked with the investigation of Moff Cassian Thrunn- and I have been given temporary authority over any Imperial Fleets in the sector to assist with the apprehension, my crew is transferring authority codes and a document signed by the Admirality for his arrest, and your suspension as an commissioned officer- and relief of duties as sector admiral," Aaron spoke as the holographic figure of the human- slightly fat- admiral appeared, though as Aaron began speaking- a smirk appeared on his face.
"You see, Commodore." The Admiral spoke slowly, even as the fleet was clearly finalizing their formation to contend against ours. They were forming up with a very heavy forward and secondary line, consisting of 6 Star Destroyers and 9 Strikers each, with the Carracks forming up between the lines- and lastly a trio of quasar-class carriers in the rear. Alongside some frigates and supply ships. "My Moff has commanded me to hold and defeat this pitiful fleet of yours- and all my Captains are with me. We have enough resources to escape to deep space for a few years, and we will return once the Empire falls- which it will. So no, Commodore. I will not be relieved of my duties." He spoke, and without responding, Aaron shut down the connection.
"Inform all ships through open comms that they will be rewarded- should they turn on their Admiral," Aaron spoke, as he walked to his seat with confidence. "And order the fleet to hold; we shan't retreat."
"Men of the Leviathan, you have been with me for years- and never have I failed you. And I promise, I will not fail you this time either. Put all your trust in me, and I shall get all of us through this." Aaron spoke, addressing the men on the bridge- who had been faltering slightly at the enemy numbers. But immediately responded with a strong.
"YES, SIR!"
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"The Commodore is no fool, Admiral- do not underestimate him." Moff Cassian spoke to Admiral Linus, though the Admiral scoffed at him. "I know very well what he wants; my contacts inform me the Grand Moff has moved his fleet towards the sector- but the same contacts will sabotage him to the degree where no rescue will arrive in time."
"Very good, Admiral. But remain vigilant; I place my faith in you." And with that, the connection shut down as the Admiral turned to his crew. "Order all lines to advance, and deploy TIE-Fighters. We'll soften them up before our main guns reach them."
"With all due respect, Admiral. The roster indicates the 32nd Squadron has a high number of anti-fighter capabilities- we may be sending our men into a meat grinder." His second in command, a Vice-Admiral spoke, but Linus brushed him off.
"We hold a 4.6 to 1 advantage in fighters, Vice-Admiral. And we are on a time schedule. If we do not terminate these Imperials within the next 4 hours, we'll be caught or hunted by Imperial Reinforcements. Now do as I say and launch all fighters." He barked, and the Vice-Admiral sighed, but agreed- as nearly 1,300 fighters rushed out, keeping 200 in reserve.
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"Initiate SO-9, and prep seismic missiles. I spent a lot of resources to develop these- let's test them out." Commodore Rysell spoke, as a comms officer transmitted the codes to every ship, where a crewmember was stationed on a non-32nd squadron ship to 'describe' these procedures to them.
The Rebelling Fleet would enter the tertiary firing arc within the next ten minutes, whilst the incoming TIE-Fighters would spend 2.
Within half a minute, almost every TIE-fighter was deployed, as almost half had already been in action by the time they noticed the incoming fighters teaming up. The SO-9 procedure was fairly simple; the outer ring was formed by the TIE-Fighter complement of the three additional starfighters. A total of 144, in addition to Lancer-class frigates.
The secondary line was formed up of professional interceptors- 248 TIE-Interceptors and 24 TIE-Defenders. While the third and last line was formed of the 96 TIE-Bombers, serving as a last-line of support. Though Rysell also had a major role for them.
Secondly, the Imperial Star Destroyers were rising in a checkerboard formation, with two above and two under, with very clear space between them. Which was now slowly being filled by Victory-II-Class Star Destroyers, Carrack-Class Medium Cruisers, and lastly Broadside-class cruisers.
The incoming TIE-Fighters had formed a prolate spheroid- clearly attempting to protect the near three hundred bombers with their thousand TIE Fighters, attempting to break through the three-pronged defense of the SO-9, it was a textbook offensive- yet very effective against outnumbered opponents with support from cruisers.
The whole concept was that they would be in danger during the original frontal clash, but would then split up behind their cruisers and target their rear-lines- sacrificing TIE fighters for a quick offensive. Exactly what Rysell had gambled on.
Seconds turned to minutes, as all missiles launchers were aimed forward- advanced AI targetting solutions constantly adapting to develop perfect firing solutions. A system still under demo, but was working with ruthless efficiency with the new type of missiles.
"They have entered maximal range, orders?" The officer responsible for missile launchers spoke up, yet Aaron remained silent. As the TIE-fighters were a kilometre out.
A 3/4 kilometre out, yet Aaron remained adamant. "Hold"
But, as they reached half a kilometre out. His ruthless order ran out, as he gave the command. "Open fire."
And the next moment, near 448 missiles launched from the fleet- with azure-like fire blasting forward as they formed a curved rotation over the incoming TIE-swarm, which had activated every weapon and was blasting away, hitting over a hundred. But contrary to most missiles, they did not explode instantly but it took them a second, which allowed all missiles to avoid the explosions.
"Prepare second volley." Aarons ruthless voice commanded, even as he watched the missiles. But his crew got to work.
The remaining three hundred curved into their lines at different positions, before exploding in concussive waves that took out hundreds of TIE-fighters instantly- nearly 600 from quick estimates from a computer.
The TIE formation was thrown into disarray, split up but still charged forth. And the second volley which came twelve seconds later was less effective.... fewer missiles were shot down but each missile had a 0.7 kill rate. Still, they took down nearly three hundred TIE-fighters.
Their numbers were instantly reduced from 1300 to 400. Odds that Rysell liked a lot more, though the morale amongst the TIE-fighters disintegrated instantly, and they desperately attempted to escape.
Sadly, though, TIE-Fighters were far outperformed by the TIE-Interceptors and Defenders of Rysell's fleet, which instantly picked up the pace alongside TIE-bombers. Armed with hunter-missiles from IDMR(Imperial Department of Military Research), and throughout the next 4 minutes another hundred and fifty were shot down, before the fighters retreated back to their own lines.
Sadly- Rysell knew the rebellious fleet still had some five hundred and fifty fighters remaining, and they did not hold air superiority yet, but they were no longer at a disadvantage.
Which was enough for Rysell, as the Imperial Fleet was slowly closing in. Though he had reacted aptly and reformed his defensive lines, alongside rearming the missile launchers with standard assault concussion missiles, whilst the bombers returned to Ton-Falks for rearming.
While in another part of the system, down on the planet's surface. Captain Lux was leading an assault team on the Moff's mansion, but with the naval battle above the planet- it had been all but locked down and they'd have to force their way in from now on.
And lastly, in one of it's many forests. The man known as the 'Cleaner'- alongside his last three operatives- entered a hidden bunker, intending to wait it all out- per ISB instructions. After all, they would not risk his capture, and had other plans to keep the Moff silent.
Either through assisting in his escape, or silencing him permanently.
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Sorry for taking so long, sickness and writing block. But I'm back now, and by the way supporting me on påetron really really helps me get back from stuff like this, even if you're just a non-paying member.
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Pondsfyre - +20 chapters, alongside 5 other stories of mine. Each 50+ chapters.