Author: I had to separate this chapter into 2, I got carried away with all the action sequences and all, I love how this turned out. Would appreciate reviews, comments, likes, kudos, (power stones if on webnovel as well) if you can recommend this story - also I am working back on the last of us fanfic again next chapter should be next week.
Currently 3:39 am as I am finishing editing this massive 10,000 chapter I had to separate in two, hope you enjoy.
I sat in my office, staring at the datapad screen. The long-range probe feeds had been quiet for hours. Too quiet.
The confederation strike group was still on course, but their initial speed put them at 6–8 hours out. Enough time to double-check positions, run one more simulation, maybe grab an hour of sleep.
I rubbed my eyes, I have slept like 2 hours but no more, I am too stressed for that, what if they attack early? What if they sent a forward assault group? Too many possibilities and variables. I need to lock the fuck in... But first more caf.
I try to take a sip from my mug but its empty.
I need more
beep.
Shit.
I did not scramble like an addict when I heard the comm panel chime, totally didnt.
The message was short.
Update:
Strike group accelerated. Hyperdrive push detected.
New ETA: 15 minutes.
Slight comm chatter transitions between the ships.
Probe retreating.
End transmission.
I stared at the words. My heart kicked in rapidly, the obscene amount of caf not helping.
I opened the encrypted channels. "Reza. Jaster. Torv. Elara. Varn. Strike group accelerated. ETA 15 minutes. Positions now, if you need a piss go now. Confirm."
Replies came in seconds, a myriad of confirmations with that I leaned back. The office felt colder and darker even though the sun is just an hour away from rising.
Everything was in position. Everything is okily dokily.
I hope.
***
Captain Zyrak Vex reclined in the gaudy decorated command throne of the lead cruiser's bridge, his four deceptively spindly yet somewhat muscular arms draped lazily across the armrests like a predator who had already tasted blood.
As a Xexto, he had always found the galaxy's bipedal species amusing only two arms, two legs, one head, so limited in their reach. He flexed his four independently, relishing the advantage. Two held the stim-stick he was slowly chewing, the third tapped a rhythm on the console, the fourth rested on the arm of his seat, his long dexterous fingers drumming.
Multitasking came naturally. It was how he had risen to command this ragtag strike group: by being everywhere at once, seeing everything, striking faster than anyone expected.
The bridge was dim, lit only by the red glow of tactical displays and the faint blue pulse of the hyperdrive status. His crew mostly all species from the outer rim bar a few Rodians, a Weequay and two humans, they all moved with practiced efficiency. They knew better than to interrupt him when he was thinking, evidence of the last person who did can still be seen in the lred now dried liquid on the ground where he slit an impudent new bloods throat with his hidden vibroblade.
Right now, he was thinking about how piss easy this was going to be.
The strike group was a thing of beauty, in its own brutal way. Three small cruisers, the third one being a recent addition as of a week ago, all of them are from the rotten dead Republic, stolen when they were on their way for repairs in Kuat, they were patched up in Nar Shadda courtesy of the hut starport and refitted with extra armour plating, turbolasers, and point-defense cannons. Not the most gracfull of bitches but elegant enough but most importantly tough.
One troop hauler, a converted bulk freighter with reinforced hulls and docking clamps, packed with less than 300 of the scum he calls subordinates and their toys: light speeders, repulsor sleds, two old tanks that are probably older than some developing systems from the outer rim, they had seen better days an old emblem and name something about empire of Zakul, whatever shit civilization it was its nothing but obscure history. Ha!
Though their tanks held up nicely, it still had enough armour and cannons to roll over entrenched lines. Eight fighters shielded, fast, armed with concussion missiles and heavy laser cannons, better than the scrap TIEs the Empire loved to throw away. Three skiffs nimble, perfect for harassment, boarding, or hit-and-run.
The adjutant, a weasel-faced near human species named Kort'th'han, leaned in from his station. "Captain. We are at the system edge. No contacts on long-range. The Imperial Gozanti is still drifting.
The hauler and its sizable escort jumped out-system three days ago with no return signature. Their defences are down."
Vex clicked his mandibles in satisfaction. "Easy prey."
He had been waiting for this moment since the scouts first reported the kid governor's stunt, hes got balls I will give him that after surviving that blatant assassination. Then he picks a fight with us taking two skiffs and damaging the third. It was humiliation of the highest order for us and the wider confederation.
Poking a nest he should have left alone, now the nest was going to bite him so hard his scrawny little fucking neck pops off.
Vex leaned forward, all four arms moving in unison. Two adjusted the tactical display, zooming in on the Gozanti's position. One flicked ash from the stim-stick. The fourth pointed at the moon.
"Fighters launch first," he said. "Clear any stray TIEs. They are scrap slow, unshielded. Our birds will shred them. Cruisers follow. Bombard the Gozanti. Keep it pinned. Skiffs harass the moon outposts, and Durklak or Durklik, whatever the primitives fucking call it disrupt their mining and if there is no resistance start looting." I take a whiff of the stim-stick
"Troop hauler land on Prime, take slaves priorities pretty women and children, loot the palace in particular. Put the rest of the city to the torch and kill anyone and anything we cant take with us"
Korr nodded. "Why bother with this backwater at all, Captain? The kid's too poor to be worth the fuel."
Vex laughed a rattling chirr that echoed off the bulkheads. "Because he dared to fuck with us. And because the confederation watches. Every faction has eyes on this, even outside the federation people are watching.
We need to hit back hard. Show strength, show we do not tolerate being robbed. Maybe the kid has hidden gold or something. Scouts mentioned Mandalorian ships. If they are there, we take them too, mandalorian slaves, particularly the women sell for a fuck ton to the hutts, though I heard the new rising power crimson whatever is paying equal a hefty price for any mandalorians." Korr grinned.
"Boarding teams are ready."
Vex spread his four arms wide. "Jump in. Full acceleration. They will not see us coming."The helmsman nodded. "Jumping now." The stars stretched into lines, the system rushed in.
The bridge crew tensed while the sensors lit up.
Vex watched the Gozanti drift on the display, dead in space.He smiled.
Then the adjutant stiffened. "Captain! The Gozanti it's moving! Engines online! Weapons charging! Shields at full readings" Vex's mandibles clicked sharply. "What?!"The bridge erupted in alarms. Tactical displays flashed red. The "crippled" cruiser suddenly had power. Shields up. Turbolasers hot.
Vex stared at the screen. His four arms froze." Impossible, the vile retch tricked us." Vex slammed his four hands on the console "I want him dead, with the gozanti we are bound to get heavy losses and damages. No, I want him alive and make him watch as his people suffer and this system burns! BURN IT ALL. BURN!"
On the display more ships are seen emerging from the moon.
***
Captain Reza stood motionless on the Gozanti's bridge, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the main tactical holotable. The cruiser floated in low orbit over Elyria II, engines cold, , shields deliberately kept low to sell the illusion of a crippled ship.
The crew had been on silent stations for hours, weapons were hot but masked and I make periodic check ins with other ships and fighters as well as the boarding teams.
The bridge was dim, lit only by the soft red glow of tactical displays and the pale blue pulse of the hyperdrive status, imperial officers moved with practiced quiet, no unnecessary chatter, everyone is nervous because even if ordered to keep quiet they usually dont.
The probe alert and Kaels orders had come in around15 minutes ago. The scum were here and I get the honour of commanding the battle where the goal is their annihilation and capture of their ships.
Reza watched the sensors intently, the first contacts dropped from hyperspace on the system edge, then accelerated hard.
Three cruisers, initial intel had said two. Reza's jaw tightened, its a surprise to be sure and an unwelcome one at that, we knew its possible and we knew we had to adjust in case it happened .
He tapped the console voice low and deceptively calm. "Bridge to all stations. Three cruisers confirmed. Not two, adjust targeting priorities all bombers to the third cruiser, target engines and weapon batteries, leave the skiffs mostly left alone except occasional turbolaser fire and TIE harassment they are small blips in these battles. Confirm."
Affirmatives came back in clipped tones, the pirates committed first, fighters swarmed ahead eight shielded, fast, better armed than our standard TIEs, their cruisers followed, turbolasers hot. Skiffs flanking from the sides while the less armoured and armed troop hauler hung back, ready to drop shuttles and land somewhere.
Reza waited, one heartbeat, two.
When the lead fighters entered optimal range, he gave the order through an encrypted burst.
"All ships, engage, engage!" The Gozanti machinery surged to life with a violent whirl, engines flared with blue-white streaks of fire as the translucent shields snapped up into full power.
All the while turbolaser batteries and point defence cannons powered on with a energy hungry for blood, all the crew onboard and the small contingent of stormtroopers snap into place going about their tasks with meticulous, bordering on sociopathic precision, the so called "damaged" pretense shattered in an instant like glass on a rock.
"Fire," Reza said.
All one could see outside the bridge viewing port was streaks of red turbolaser bolts flying towards the enemy positions.
Turbolasers slammed into the nearest cruiser, its shields flared, one fighter exploded in the initial volley, another spiralled out of control, trailing fire both caught by surprise.
However, the pirates were fast, their fighters reacted, two TIEs who were sent to intercept their fighers were already down shredded by concentrated fire from shielded pirate craft.
Reza saw the flashes on the display, losses already. As was expected from the cheap mass produced trash that was the - Twin Ion Engine or TIE.
The loses were expected but it still stung all the same.
"All bombers to cruisers," he ordered again. "Ignore skiffs unless they stray in too close, dogpile the fighters, coordinate and approach from multiple vectors, after the fighers are down focus on other ships, overwhelm them with numbers ." Bombers launched in waves and in pairs, while the TIEs swarmed.
The two mandalorian Kom'rks joined the fray along with more TIES and the cargo hauler from the crater hideout. The air battle turned into chaos.
The cruisers recovered and returned fire.
The Gozanti shook its shields held, but barely under the inital barrage of the three cruisers.
"Target the third cruiser, prioritize it I want it dead in space kill the engines first. Disable it before it can support the others, contact the boarding teams and make sure they prepare for 3rd joint boarding, they will need to designate secondary personnel who will have to do second boarding."
The bridge crew moved fast, Targeting reticles shifted and messages were sent.
Turbolasers tracked and locked onto target while the bombers dove in between incoming laser fire getting in position to deploy their proton torpedo's.
TIEs swarmed the fighters and occasionally pursued the skiffs making them back off from boarding the Gozanti or landing on the surface.
Reza watched the tactical display, fighters were dropping, pirate shields good, but numbers favored the defenders.
One cruiser limping, second taking heavy damage. Third still strong, but targeted.
"Hauler is launching shuttles," a sensor officer called. "Skiffs breaking for Prime." Reza nodded. "Ground teams, prepare. Boarding shuttles, launch on my mark."
Reza took out an old style watch and waited for the next minute to tick in
"Mark"
***
Atii sat strapped into the co-pilot seat of the lead Kom'rk, fingers curled tight around the weapons controls, eyes flicking between the tactical display and the viewport ahead. The crater hideout had been a tomb of boredom for hours with engines cold, camo netting heavy over the hull, ECM pods humming at low power to keep their signature buried in the moon's dust.
Father was at the main pilot seat, hands steady on the controls, scarred face lit by the red glow of the instruments, he is on the boarding team, his replacement pilot who will take over is seating behind him.
Even though he has not slept since yesterday or eaten and is in a dogfight his expression was still grim calm, focused, the same look he always wore in battle.
No fear. No excitement, Just purpose and discipline.
I didn't get much sleep, just a quick nap in the cockpit seat while the others ran final checks, but her mind had been racing the whole time, the trap, the plan, the pirates... The governor. I shake my head.
Days now.
Days of dragging him to training every afternoon and some mornings and night too.
Days of watching him fall on his face, miss blaster shots, stumble through stances, curse her out in three languages she didn't recognise, probably some posh dead language they teach in fancy noble school instead of teaching him how to fight.
Days of bruises blooming across his shoulders, his ribs, his ego. Days of him getting back up every single time grumbling, sarcastic, exhausted, but never quitting.
I sigh
I liked that about him. More than I wanted to admit out loud.
He was small, thin, soft in the way most humans were. No armour, no weapons, no fighting skill, its pretty weird. But for him and others us mandalorians are pretty weird.
They have no beskar, no training since they were a child, if ever. And yet he kept showing up, albeit with a bit of forceful persuasion but he could have left the moment I dragged him there but he didint, he stuck it out.
Kept letting me push him beyond his limits, he kept trying, kept improving... I think.
Slowly but stubbornly.
She caught herself thinking and talking about him too much lately, not just during training. After.
When he limped away bruised and cursing, When he sat in the war room staring at maps and numbers with that tired, focused look. When he shot her that sarcastic half-smile and said something biting but never cruel, or when he would get possessive of the caf making machine on one of his bad mornings.
She wondered what his old life had been like, before this planet and before the governor title. I heard he was sent here as an exile and a death sentence pretty much after his parents were in an 'unfortunate' but fortunate to others accident.
She started orbiting him like a persistent moon.
She wondered if he ever thought about her the same way.
I sigh, probably not. He was too busy trying to keep everything from falling apart.
The encrypted burst came through father's comm. "All ships, engage, engage!"
Father's voice was low and calm. "Launch."
Atii's heart kicked up a notch, this is going to be hers first major scale battle.
The Kom'rk's engines roared to life, camo netting was thrown down and the ship burst from the crater rim like a spear, dust billowing in a silent cloud behind it. The others afollowed in tight formation. The hidden TIEs scrambled from nearby to support those that were sent by the Gozanti and the launchpad from the surface, the trap had sprung.
Atii's display lit up immediately.
"Dogpile," father said. "The fighters are to be destroyed, do not try and disable them, we can always recover the wreckages.
Atii locked on one of the pirate fighters, only six remain after two were destroyed in a surprise fire from the Gozanti. Atiis fingers danced across the controls, quad lasers charged. She locked on and pressed down and fired.
Bolts slammed home, shields flared blue-white making the fighter staggered but it did not explode and continued flying through, the system picked up that its engine was smoking and trailing sparks.
"Good hit," father said. "Again."
Atii fired again, another burst making the fighter spiral out of control, crashing into the moon's surface in a silent fireball.
Pirates scattered, another TIE exploded due to a pirate concussion missile, that same fighter then went onto hitting our supporting skiff making it shudder and go up in flames as it started drifting.
Atii dived low, strafing run on the nearest cruiser weapons batteries targeted and the bolts hammered the shields, one of its turret went dark.
"Shields weakening," she called. "Keep pressure." The air battle turned into chaos.
The cargo hauler started to show its weight, with its light armament it started targeting the fighters, shuttles and skiffs exclusively while absorbing some of the hits from the cruisers with its shield, distracting them keeping the pressure off the Gozanti and the bombers.
Pirate fighters were good, decent shielding and good armaments with the pilots being somewhat skilled, but they were heavily outnumbered and our Kom'rks outclassed theirs.
Atii's Kom'rk took a glancing hit, shields flared and alarms screamed, father banked hard. Atii compensated, locked on another fighter, fired and crippled it before he could release the torpedo's towards the cargo hauler that is taking a heavy beating now, I can see that its shields are begining to fail in some points, there is light smoke coming out of the right side of it.
Next thing she knew she felt a heavy jolt through the seat as she hit her head on the side, one of the cruisers turbolaser bolts hit us square in the side, the shield was almost instantly drained. I felt the adrenaline spike, felt the ship shudder. For a second just a second her mind flashed with multiple images, of her father and the clan, the burning mandalor and the crimson blade piercing her mother and then briefly to a dark haired small guy who she only knew for a few days.
She shook her head heavily and recalibrated the targeting system trying to get a lock on another fighter.
Outside the viewing port she saw one of the bombers turn into a ball of fire and slam into the top haul of the cruiser, setting of secondary explosions with its remaining cargo.
Finally I get a lock on and fire.
Missed by a meter, I cursed under my breath and try to adjust. Fired again. hit, shields flared up and he kept moving. Taught bastard.
Jaster nodded. "Good flying, daughter."Atii grinned, sharp and bright. "Told you I fly better than most." The battle raged on around them.
***
Torv gripped the crash bar in the boarding shuttle, the low hum of the engines vibrating through his armour. The stormtroopers behind him were silent and motionless as statues, helmets sealed, rifles charged, only thing that mattered to them now is killing the enemies of the empire and bringing peace to this forgotten part of the galaxy.
Meanwhile behind them militia in mismatched but still somewhat unified gear shifted uneasily breathing fast and nervous sweat pouring down their faces but they dont try and hide or run away. They are green and scared, but eager and brave.
The shuttle rocketed from the crater hideout on Elyria II, engines flaring blue in the vacuum, docking clamps extending toward the lead pirate cruiser's hull. The Mandalorians had gone in first, their Kom'rks breaching the outer plating with precision charges and they jumped out mid flight from the flying Kom'rks and flew in on their jetpacks.
Jaster's voice crackled over the comm. "Beachhead made," Jaster said, voice cutting slightly through an explosion that rocketed near our shuttle. "The beach head is secured but the further corridor is still being held by the enemy, there is heavy resistance, get in fast my lieutenant and his squad cannot hold on forever, the faster they get to the bridge the faster we win the cruiser"
Torv grunted. "Go-ahead confirmed. Boarding now." The shuttle docked with a hard clang. The breach seal locked. Charges blew a hole in the hull inward in a burst of sparks and molten metal. Pirates screamed, as they were cut down by the blaster fire from the stromtroopers.
Torv kicked through the breach first, his heavily modified rifle up, an old gem E-313 Power Interceptor from the cold war between the old republic and sith empire, a long sleek black and silver rifle with an inbuilt compensator and thermal imaging with a few modifications and modern upgrades this was a beast of a weapon, capable of switching between a heavy calibre sniper fire, a heavy repeater and multi shot, it eats through gas, thats why I have more than triple standard gas canister ammo on me.
As soon as I stepped in blaster fire greeted me immediately. Red bolts lanced through the smoke filled corridor, dropping low, and switching to a repeater to suppress them and letting others get in safely, I leaned out and fired back.
One pirate fell, hit right in his unprotected neck multiple times, the power of the blasters tearing his head off his shoulders, another pirate charged, it was one of the ones we shot in our breaching, he was better armoured and I can see we only hit the side of his armoured chest.
He ran at me, vibroblade raised. I sidestepped, and slammed rifle butt into the man's helmet. Crack, it was not only the helmet I felt crack under the butt of the rifle. I switch to the scatter shot and shoot him right in the chest making him flail upwards with a breathless scream as all his organs are either shreded or liquified under the scortching blaster shots. The pirate went down not even twitching.
"Stormtroopers, go! For the empire and the governor!" Torv barked. "Push! Push! Get behind cover and start suppressing fire." They poured in, white gleaning armour and black visors with black blasters against the grimy pirate deck. Bolts crisscrossed across the hallway. A stormtrooper took a hit to the shoulder and spun but kept firing, a nearby trooper dragging him to safety as they both continued to shoot.
Another dropped dead, helmet charred black due to a high powered blaster shot straight into the visor. The Mandalorians had made the beachhead, a jagged hole in the bulkhead I can hear the beskar-armored warriors holding their own further up the corridor with repeaters and grenades. We probably ambushed these pirates as they were trying to flank them.
We finally got rid of the remaining pirates and pushed forward, we made it out into a spacious room, probably a cargo bay of sorts as we see the battle unfold. We immediately start firing upon the flanks of the pirates.
However, a particularly bulky alien a siniteen if I am correct he pushed out from cover and started firing wildly a heavy repeater into mandalorians. One Mandalorian was down armour scorched, but alive, dragging himself behind a crate, if he wearing anything short of beskar he would have been dead.
Torv joined the line, sliding beside the most decorated mandalorian. "Engineering first. Armory second. Bridge last. Move! Second wave, militia move in towards us, stay behind cover and try not to get in our way!"
Stormtroopers and mandalorians pushed forward in a wave, mandalorians taking into the air with their jetpacks forcing the pirates to divert their attention while the stormtroopers fearlessly charged in, one stormtrooper getting hit by a bludgeoning weapon and before he can be finished he rolls to the side, stands up and tackles him to the ground while a nearby mandalorian comes up from the side kicking the bastard in the head and putting two blaster shots into him.
The blaster fire was a constant whizzing and roaring all around.
Smoke stung his eyes through the visor, a pirate grenade rolled into the corridor Torv kicked it back followed by an explossion and some screams, it only hit the cover they were hiding behind, but it still exposed the pirates to their blaster fire, one mandalorian used his jetpack to fly close to them and burn them alive with his wrist mounted flamethrower, the smell of charred remains and smoke wafting throughout the area.
"Clear!" a stormtrooper yelled. They advanced forward, deck plates slick with blood, melted remains and debris. Pirates lay twisted, some dead, some groaning others screaming as they try to hold their insides from becoming outsides, Torv stepped over one like that and did not even give him mercy, let him die in agony.
We move up towards a multi junction split. "Split into squads, first to engineering second to armoury. Mandalorians will go straight for the bridge once we are done we move in to support, if they take it first they will provide overwatch for us and hinder the enemies." Trov turns to the militia who only got 3 shots off before it was over. "You will split up and each team will follow the stormtroopers, you are to follow orders, those going with me will listen to me."
Torv took engineering. His team stormed down the left corridor. Pirates ambushed from a side hatch a vibrohatchet and blasters. Torv fired twice in his scattershot module. Dropped one, the other dodged out of the way and a stormtrooper beside him took a vibrohatchet blade to the thigh he screamed and went down.
Torv bashed the pirate's head against the wall multiple times. Crack. Crack. Crack, he then took the vibrohatchet that was of a good quality and snapped it to his belt
"Push! Push!" They reached the engineering bay, doors sealed. Charges were set after a five second timer it blew inwards, chaos inside. Technicians working on fixing up the dying engine and guarding pirates started scrambling, blasters everywhere. Torv dove for cover behind a console and switched to his sniper module, he fired, headshot.
He dove back down just in time to see a way too eager, and exposed militia start to run in firing wildly everywhere, not even five steps in he collapsed as he got hit right in the cheek making him spin backwards and hit the floor hard as half his face is now scorched and melted.
"Secure the core! Militia dont do what this stupid fucking idiot did and get to cover instead of running into the open like a moron!" Torv yelled then looked towards the stormtrooper lieutenant. "Lock it down!"
Stormtroopers fanned out, militia now trailing behind them wary. Heavy fighting ensues some consoles exploded making sparks fly. A pirate rushed with a thermal detonator beeping, Torv shot him in the leg making him stumble, the detonator rolled.
"Grenade!" There was a small explosion as shrapnel flew from the nearby consol, A militia man took a piece to the leg, grunted dove for cover and kept fighting.
Torv grunted. "Maybe not all of these greenhorns are worthless after all."
The bay cleared, pirates were dead and dying few surrendered or were given the opportunity to. Torv secured the core console, locked down engines and powered down part of the energy in the ship, "Engineering secure, how is the bridge and armoury?" he commed, after a while "Armoury is resisting heavily, they have mutliple heavy gun emplacements and are using two slave children as living shields, advise on course of action over?" then it was the mandalorian who responded next "bridge is sealed we killed the defenders outside, attempting breaching only five individuals are left on the bridge, approximate time to breach six minutes. "Understood, we will now move to armory to support" I turn off the comms and point to a few militiamen and two stormtroopers "You guys guard the prisoners and engineering I am moving to the armoury."
The armory was worse, pirates were barricaded with heavy repeaters, two screaming kids infront of the repeaters to stop us from suppressing them. Bolts like a storm, there walls are too thick to breach from the side we have to move in through the main door.
Torv looked at the two screaming kids and is palming a detonator thinking wether to just ignore them but he cant ignore the kids, cant kill them. Not again. He puts it away and look around for anything that might be useful, he cant snipe them because there is no angle to do it and the only angle would make him exposed.
Torv looks around and spots a gonk droid, he jogs towards it and grabs a welding tool and welds a small sheet of fallen metal on it and follow behind the gonk droid as it moves across the corridor, he feels the heavy repeater shots hit and almost stagger the gong droid but it holds, he lines up the shot from between the gong legs and the little space from the sheet and shoots a fat Gammorran in the head, but it just shoots of the helmet and sears a bit of its fat heavy forhead, two more shots to the head finally bring it down.
The stormtroopers rush in as I stand up to my full height and fire off quick suppressing shots towards the other heavy repeater emplacement. Lost two stormtroopers in the entry. They advanced. Torv was the one in the lead switching to his shotgun configuration, at some point one of the militia took the crying kids to the back and out of the way, a pirate fell then another and another until they cleared the room, this time there were no surrender taken.
Armory locked down. Weapons offline."Armory secure," Torv commed. "Heading to bridge."
The bridge corridor was hell. Pirates burnt to a crips or blown to bits with detonators, some with sliced throats or just simply riddled with blaster fire in. One pirate was barley alive and some fool hearted militia tried to go and give him aid just for the fucker to blow himself up, the militia man screamed, arm gone, the pirate half his body gone as his whole body is now blacked as his blood boils away.
Torv pushed forward, mandalorians breached the bridge door. The captain a scarred human fired back fast and died faster.
Bridge secured. "Cruiser secure," Torv commed. "Minimal losses. Moving to next." But as they cleared a side hold, Torv stopped.
Slaves, prisoners chained. Tortured, mutilated, bodies twisted from beatings or worse, some still alive. Groaning, begging. Torv's stomach turned as he grit his teeth."Fucking animals, secure them and give them medical," he ordered. "Medics in, those not wounded and fresh keep moving we have another boarding to do you mandalorians go with us as well."
They split up, some stayed on the ship continuing to secure the ship, while the other went back to the boarding shuttle.
***
Jaster Mereel gripped the controls of the lead Kom'rk, eyes locked on the tactical display as the troop hauler loomed ahead. The massive converted freighter drifted in low orbit, engines dark, shuttles already launching in waves. Drop pods streaked toward the Prime. Skiffs broke formation, engines flaring as they dove for Havenridge.
The air battle was winding down, pirate fighters shredded, TIEs and Kom'rks dogpiling the survivors one cruiser is already secured while the second one its only the bridge left the third is now under the full barrage of the bombers and Gozanti.
From the side I can see our cargo hauler get rocketed by a massive explosion as I see dim emergency lights flaring as a massive fire starts on its side.
Their troop hauler is still operational and it was the real threat, its armoured, armed and packed with hundreds of pirates and refusing to surrender.
My daughter sat in the co-pilot seat, hands steady on weapons but I can see the telltale signs of anxiety in her. Its only natural this is her first big battle and not a skirmish, the last battle she was a part of was when she was still a child while on mandalore.
"Shuttles launching," she said, voice tight. "Skiffs breaking for Prime, drop pods firing."Jaster nodded once. "Hauler refuses surrender. Plan B." He opened the comm to the boarding teams. "Mandalorians, jetpack assault, hangar breach, if it prooves too risky and costly to continue retreat back out, then we go from the outside. Bridge windows. Vacuum them out, demand surrender or we turn off life support, no second chances. Make sure you have your mag boots on."
Affirmatives came back fast. "Ready."
"On my mark," Jaster said. The Kom'rk accelerated, closed distance. The hauler's point-defense cannons opened up, red bolts lancing through space. Jaster banked hard, shields flaring to life.
Atii returned fire, quad lasers raking the turret still operational. "Shields holding," Atii called. "Hangar bay in range."
The first wave jetpacked out and towards the hangar bay, Beskar-armored warriors launched from the Kom'rk's side doors. Thrusters flared as they streaked toward the hauler like arrows.
Jaster followed in close support, Atii on weapons, covering their approach.
The hangar bay doors were open. Pirates waited inside, with multitude of heavy repeaters and even anti armoured repeaters, grenade launchers and makeshift hurried barricades.
The first Mandalorians hit the deck and immediately blaster fire erupted, within a second a warrior took a direct hit to the chest beskar held but he was shot out of the hangar bay into space. Another tried to jetpack to cover, while letting his flamethrower roar, pirates screamed as fire washed over them, charred bodies fell, one jumped up to him, body still on fire as he dragged the warrior down in his last moments, they fell together but he had no strength to attack the warrior anymore before he breathed his last.
The pirates were ready and determined, they coordinated and concentrated their fire. A Mandalorian went down, leg blown off at the knee due to a secondary explosion from a nearby gas tank that a pirate deliberately shot while another took a grenade to the chest armour cracked and held, but he collapsed all the same due to the shock trauma he sustained.
"Repelled," Jaster commed. "Pull back. Plan B." The surviving Mandalorians jetpacked out of the hangar with their wounded, they put the wounded inside under the care of two other mandalorians and two medical droids.
Their thrusters burned hot as they flew outside they arced around the hauler's hull, hugging the plating to avoid point-defense. Jaster maneuvered the Kom'rk to the bridge tower, Atii locked weapons on the viewport. "Charges ready?"
"Ready," Jaster said.
The Mandalorians closed on the bridge windows, magnetic boots locked, charges set. Shaped explosives, precise and powerful.
"Breaching. Breaching." The windows blew inward, oxygen inside roared and vacuumed out, pirates inside screamed, soundless in the void, in space nobody can hear you scream their flailing bodies sucked out, blood freezing in the coldness of space.
Mandalorians boarded, jetpacks cut in with blasters up, the bridge was chaos everything that was not nailed or glued down was flown out while the remaining pirates grabbed ont anything they can as they wait for the emergency shutters to shut into place. Some tried and failed to fire accurately, bolts ricocheted off beskar.Jaster's team pushed in. Dropped three pirates in seconds, secured the consoles, locked down systems and put emergency shutters down. They then transmited their demands for surrender or they life support will be turned off. Turned off life support
Jaster commed. "Weapons offline, bridge secured."Atii received the hacked manifest from the co-pilot seat. "289 pirates aboard. Light vehicles. Two old tanks. Some slaves in the holds, from what I can see they need medical attention.
"Jaster's jaw tightened. "Medics inbound. Secure the holds." But then the sensors lit up."Skiffs, shuttles and anything that can fly along with drop pods launching," Atii said. "Heading for Havenridge. Intel said there will be three hundred pirates total from what the boarding teams said and what we see here its at least six hundred something."Jaster pulled up the count. -289 from the transport. Plus skiffs. Plus escaping drop pods from the cruisers, at least 420 - 430 pirates.
More than intel predicted. Jaster opened the comm to ground forces. "Ground teams. Pirates landing on Prime. - 420 - 430 total. Prepare. Reinforcements inbound."The battle shifted.
The transport was secured. But Havenridge was next, there were still some fighters left and the second cruiser is still firing, bridge not secured while the third cruiser is now in a full slug fest with the Gozanti.