Chapter 25
Jaenera Targaryen
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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As the Siege of Kharzh'ulla entered its second week, skirmishes continued to rage in the hundreds of thousands of empty space extending between the planet and the Imperial blockade. This particular skirmish, though, would be different from the previous ones, as it would see the Klingons joining the siege.
The Sovereign Class Starship (roughly equivalent to an Imperial heavy cruiser) USS Maximilian Robespierre opened the skirmish with its main phaser array firing no less than six times in the space of just two seconds over a distance of sixty thousand kilometers. Her sister ship, the Sovereign Class Starship USS Jean-Paul Marat followed up with three shots also from its main phaser array over the same distance.
Trailing behind the two bigger vessels, the Nebula Class Starship (roughly equivalent to an Imperial medium cruiser) USS Jacobin also fired its main phaser array. Only four shots in just two seconds, but easily matching its bigger cousins' range. Then Jean-Paul Marat fired its main phaser array again, with Maximilian Robespierre following up before taking a few seconds to adjust its target, and firing off three phaser blasts in one second.
On the other side of the battlefield, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey cruised on a perpendicular course past the Federation vessels. Its shields flickered as phaser blasts splattered against them, while also brushing aside the wreckage of the battle. Green blasts burned through space as the Klingon vessel's disruptors fired again and again, punctuated by the blazing pulses of no less than five photon torpedoes.
Repeated hits from disruptors and photon torpedoes briefly caused a flicker in Jean-Paul Marat's forward shields, allowing the last Klingon torpedo to punch through and collapse the Federation vessel's prow in a massive explosion.
The skirmish escalated then, as five TIE Bombers swooped in from the flank, the darkness of space lighting up as the Federation vessels opened up with hastily-installed flak cannons. The TIE Bombers jinked and wove through the energy blasts erupting along their course, before lobbing their payloads of proton bombs at Maximilian Robespierre, inertia keeping the bombs going even as the TIE Bombers swooped away.
To the Federation's credit, their shields held against the onslaught of proton bombs, with Jacobin briefly cutting through the Imperial jamming to avenge the attack with its main phaser array. Four shots in one second, shooting down all but one TIE Bomber before Imperial jamming again scrambled long-range targeting.
Maximilian Robespierre then fired its main phaser array, six shots in two seconds, with Jean-Paul Marat following through. The first barrage collapsed the Klingon shields, while the second barrage caused critical damage, forcing the crippled vessel to retreat, covered by another Bird-of-Prey. It was this second Klingon vessel that Jacobin targeted, firing its main phaser array four times in two seconds.
The Klingons responded with disruptor fire and a trio of torpedoes, before a salvo of phaser blasts knocked out its shields, and forcing it to peel away. Maximilian Robespierre fired off several phaser blasts in its wake, before being joined by Jean-Paul Marat in laying down curtain fire to cover the arrival of a trio of Excelsior Class Starships (equivalent to Imperial heavy cruisers). They immediately opened fire with their phasers, joined in moments later by Jacobin.
By now, the Empire was moving to fill the gap the Klingon withdrawal had left, ARC-170 Starfighters flying straight towards Maximilian Robespierre. Proton torpedoes burned bright through space as they soared past flak to explode against the Federation vessel's shields, Imperial pilots flying straight overhead as energy blasts erupted all around them, the fire intensifying the closer they got to the Federation vessel, to the point it was as if they were flying through a kaleidoscope as they flew over the Maximilian Robespierre, one ARC-170 exploding into a cloud of debris from a point-blank hit from a Federation flak cannon.
At the same time, a squadron of Y-Wing Bombers climbed unnoticed up the z-axis before coming about to dive out of the stars towards Maximilian Robespierre at a 90-degree angle. Unlike the ARC-170s, the Y-Wings had a clear approach, neither the Federation's phasers, torpedoes, or even flak cannon able to fire straight up. Dropping off their proton bombs close to point-blank range, the Y-Wings leveled out along the x-axis before peeling off, the surrounding space a storm of energy from Federation flak and explosions against its shields.
Jacobin and an Excelsior fired their main phaser arrays at the retreating Y-Wings, but they themselves were now coming under dive bombing attacks. Proton bombs collapsed the Jacobin's shields, allowing a proton bomb to punch into the bridge between the saucer and the dorsal-rear hull before exploding, and blowing the dorsal-rear hull clean off, forcing the Jacobin to retreat, covered by an Excelsior.
More ARC-170s now targeted Maximilian Robespierre, proton torpedoes pounding against its shields. Jean-Paul Marat also came under attack, its shields collapsing under repeated torpedo hits, allowing an unfortunate ARC-170 to land a lucky hit at its engine section. Flak shot down said ARC-170, but its torpedo knocked out Jean-Paul Marat's main power, with a warp core breach only delayed long enough for the failing reactor to be ejected, its explosion lighting up space for tens of thousands of kilometers.
By now Starfleet was retreating, with the last shots of the battle being a strafing run on Jean-Paul Marat's bridge by ARC-170s before the crippled vessel managed to withdraw covered by Maximilian Robespierre and two Excelsiors.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On day thirteen of the Siege of Khazh'ulla, Starfleet launched a sortie against the Imperial blockade. The target was the Vindicator Class Heavy Cruiser Vindictive, Starfleet committing sixty Peregrine fighters divided into five squadrons. The Empire had seen them coming, however, with the Vindictive maneuvering its dorsal hull to face the incoming Starfleet attack craft.
"Weapons free." The order went out. "Fire."
"Target locked…firing!" the lead Peregrine signaled.
"Firing!" the second Peregrine signaled in its turn.
Photon torpedoes flashed across space, eating up thousands of kilometers in minutes to slam against the Vindictive's particle shields, which flickered from the impact. "Shifting attack vectors…" the lead Peregrine signaled while banking to port. "…switching to plasma torpedoes, and firing!"
Plasma torpedoes strobed with white light as they launched from the Peregrines, Starfleet channels filled with cursing as they urged their torpedoes to actually penetrate. No good; again, while the torpedo volley hammered the cruiser's shields, they held fast.
"Incoming fighters!" the warning went out.
"Break formation!" the wing commander barked. "ENGAGE!"
The Peregrines broke formation, dogfights erupting across space as Peregrines fought against V-Wings and TIE Fighters. "Bandit on my six!" the wing commander signaled while evading emerald lances from a TIE Fighter.
"On it, commander." His wingman signaled. "Torpedo away!"
A torpedo flashed across nearly a hundred kilometers in barely a few second before turning the TIE Fighter into burning scrap. "Watch those Imperial ships!" the wing commander barked as sensors spotted CR90s and Carracks moving to englobe the Starfleet sortie. "They'll cut off our line of retreat!"
Then he grunted in dismay, as he saw a Peregrine ahead to starboard get shot down by a TIE Fighter. Alarms sounded as two more Peregrines went down soon after, shot to pieces by TIE Fighters. "If only we could use warp!" he cursed. "Damn interdictors…squadron leaders, abort engagement! Fall back immediately! I repeat, abort engagement! Fall back!"
There was no response, a single look at the display showing all squadron leaders were down. What Peregrines were left were responding quickly, however, trying to escape while being chased down by V-Wings and TIE Fighters, the enemy's superior numbers allowing them to simultaneously chase down Peregrines from the rear and keeping the latter occupied, allow another Imperial to shoot them down from the front or the sides.
"Bandits on our six!" the wing commander's wingman barked.
The warning was punctuated by blue beams from a V-Wing's laser cannons, the wing commander and his wingman's Peregrines weaving back and forth to avoid getting shot down. "Sir…about warp…I might have an idea…" the wingman desperately began.
"Now's not the time to experiment…" the wing commander began only to abruptly break off as his aft shields collapsed from a direct hit. "…alright, let's try it out."
"Roger…setting warp coils to resonate at a matching frequency to the graviton flux of the Imperial interdictors' simulated gravity field…"
"Hurry it up ensign…"
"Standing by to engage Warp One…engage!"
The other Peregrine's nacelles began to glow, as if to jump to warp…
…and in the next second, they exploded, the warp coils blowing themselves apart and causing a power surge that set off a warp core breach. "NO!" the wing commander shouted, but it was too late, his wingman already dead in a massive explosion.
The only upside was the explosion was enough to destroy one V-Wing and damage the other, causing it to retreat, allowing the wing commander to escape, the only survivor of his ill-fated sortie against the Imperial blockade.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Let's go angels!"
"ROGER!"
On the fifteenth day of the Siege of Kharzh'ulla, the 101st 'Cloud Dragons' Independent Air Wing of the Imperial Navy launched a sortie against the planet's orbital ring. They were led by Lieutenant-Commander Hela Calgaris of the Scarlet Angels Squadron, composed of twelve V-Wings, all piloted by Clone War veterans.
Not that any of the pilots were clones, though.
They were all, each and every one of them, born the normal way. Unlike soft and effete people of the Core, Valyrians of every stripe didn't shy back from the war, least of all when it was fought by upstart Outer Rim yokels and corporate parvenus. Even now, with the Clone Wars long over, and the Galactic Republic reorganized into the (first) Galactic Empire (!), the Valyrians continued to serve proudly.
Even more so, since it was an open secret that the Emperor was also the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith.
A worthy successor then, to the mantle of the great and glorious Darth Revan. Hero. Savior. Conqueror. Victor of the Mandalorian Wars. Slayer of the dread Mandalore the Ultimate. Dark Lord of the Sith.
The Valyrians of his day and age had been proud to march and fly under his banner, and later on, under the six-pointed star of Dromund Kaas.
How could the Valyrians of this day and age do any less, and not march and fly under the banner of Darth Sidious?
In addition to the Scarlet Angels, there were also the Silver Wolves, also composed of twelve V-Wings, for a total of twenty-four V-Wings flying escort duty. In their wake flew a total of twenty-eight Y-Wings, divided between the Black Falcons and the Sable Serpents Squadrons. All fifty-two attack craft swooped down to fly low over Kharzh'ulla's orbital ring, low enough to practically skim over the surface, various abandoned structures and other outcroppings along the ring blurring past as the Imperial attack craft flew towards their target.
"Starfleet has finally realized the stupidity of trying to defend the entire orbital ring, and thus spread their forces too thinly. Well, they had to use their brains eventually."
Laughter echoed across the briefing room, from the gathered Valyrian pilots as well as the scarred and grizzled wing commander standing next to the holo-projector at the head of the room. "Starfleet has concentrated their forces and AAA around key locations: energy production, sensor nodes, communication relays, and of course, the shipyards." The wing commander said, pointing a baton at the hologram. "Among other things, but those aren't important right now. Your target, will be this set of yards, codenamed by Starfleet as Port Invincible."
Contemptuous snorts went up from the pilots, but the wing commander was unfazed. "It's heavily-defended, surrounded by AAA batteries supported by overlapping fighter patrols." He continued. "Our Klingon allies will be launching a sortie of their own to draw away as much of the enemy fighters, but Starfleet's not stupid enough to deprive themselves of a fighter umbrella. A frontal assault is possible, but it'd be a waste of time when our objective isn't the fighters, but the yards themselves."
"Meaning we'll have to fly in low, under the radar, and bomb them to bits before they realize what's up." One pilot remarked.
"Precisely." The wing commander said with a nod. "As you can see here, these yards also house hundreds of ships, ranging from Defiant Class Corvettes to Excelsior and Akira Class Medium Cruisers. This is a prime opportunity to destroy an entire fleet at harbor."
"Or with the harbor itself." Another pilot remarked. "I like it."
"I'm guessing that's another reason why we can't just launch a frontal assault." A third pilot pointed out. "The feddies would see us coming, and launch their fleet before we get a chance to blow them to Chaos."
"You'll have your chance." The wing commander firmly said. "You'll all have your chance. Now then, the mission plan…"
Hela flew low and fast, her V-Wing gracefully weaving through the labyrinth of abandoned orbital infrastructure. A gentle left here, then a gently but long right here, and then a sharp and equally loft left, followed by a short space to level out before a gentle right and levelling out again.
"Here we go, angels." Hela said while turning left. "Alpha Point – let's dance!"
"ROGER!"
The Scarlet Angels flew fast over the last few kilometers, then rolled sideways and through a narrow space between two orbital structures. The Silver Wolves followed, then the Black Falcons, but the second Y-Wing through failed to roll properly, causing them to clip a wing, and causing their Y-Wing to plummet in a blazing death ride to explode against the surface. The rest of the squadron grimly flew on, Lieutenant Raegon Mellarys of the Sable Serpents dipping his wings as he lead his squadron through and past Alpha Point out of respect for the fallen.
Past Alpha Point, the Imperial attack craft turned hard to the right, then gently to the left, and hard again to the right, with Bravo Point right ahead. Once again, they rolled to get through the narrow space between orbital structures, this time taking no casualties as they continued along the no man's land above the orbital ring.
"Right, angels." Hela began after several minutes. "Charlie Point's up ahead, don't forget, aileron roll…HERE WE GO!"
Hela was first through Charlie Point, her V-Wing aileron rolling though and past Charlie Point. The Scarlet Angels followed one after another in her wake with no losses, but Lieutenant Jaenor Agaleos of the Silver Wolves wingmen weren't so lucky. One of them slammed clean into the portside structure, flying debris clipping the next V-Wing and causing them to spiral out of control into the starboard structure. The third V-Wing flew too low and slammed into the ground, but the rest of the squadron managed to get through.
"SHIT!" one of the Black Falcons shouted as he lost his nerve and flew up, right into Starfleet sights.
Photon torpedoes shot up into space, the high-flying Y-Wing going up in flames.
"We're made…SHIT!" another pilot angrily spat.
"Not yet we aren't!" Hela quickly countered. "Keep going! The mission's not over until the fat man's drinking from the wine bottle!"
As if on cue, she rolled right and through and past Delta Point, the Scarlet Angels following in her wake. "Scarlet Leader, be advised." The encoded line warned. "Enemy attack craft on approach."
"I see them." Hela growled. "What are they…oh."
She broke off as the Federation attack craft bombed their course, turning the rest of their flight path into a blazing inferno. "Double-power to shields." Hela ordered while adjusting her controls. "Looks like the last approach isn't going to be quick and clean, but we've all earned our wings dozens of times, so let's show them what we've got!"
"ROGER!" the rest of the Valyrian chorused as they flew into the inferno, shields flickering as they struggled to keep the Imperial attack craft unharmed.
High above, the flight of six Federation attack craft flew fast and away, confident in their success and stunned at the Imperials' seeming mindlessness, preferring to die in a fire than retreat in defeat. That is, until a concussion missile flew up and fast and shot down the rearmost Federation attack craft.
"Hello, boys!" Hela said over an open line as she piloted her V-Wing into open space. "You owe us a dance!"
"And there's nothing like dancing with angels!" one of her wingmen added.
"So, just die already!" her other wingmen concluded, the Scarlet Angels breaking formation to dogfight their Federation counterparts.
Hela then launched a concussion missile, and shot down another Federation fighter. Meanwhile, her wingmen opened with their laser cannons, weaving and turning across space to keep on their quarries' tails, and tore up two more Federation fighters. By this point, more Federation fighters were arriving, only to run into the Silver Wolves, with Jaenor quickly shooting down a Federation fighter with a concussion missile.
"Commencing bombing run!" the word went out over the encoded line.
With Federation fighters in the airspace, the Federation flak cannons were effectively silenced, giving the Y-Wings a clean run at Port Invincible. The Federation vessels at the yards were already powering up, crew and port personnel scrambling to launch the fleet before they could be destroyed, with a few beginning to clear their moors, but it was too late.
"Happy Empire Day!" a Valyrian cheerfully greeted over an open line as she dropped no less than twenty proton bombs in her wake.
She wasn't the only one, as the Y-Wings of the Black Falcons and Sable Serpents dropped bombs across Port Invincible. Explosions erupted in their wake, yards and ships exploding before leaking antimatter caused even bigger secondary explosions in a near self-sustaining chain reaction. In less than a minute, over two hundred Defiant corvettes, over a hundred Excelsior and Akira medium cruisers, a number of Nebula medium cruisers, a few Galaxy medium cruisers, and even a single Sovereign heavy cruiser, the USS Francois Hanriot, had been destroyed, and nearly two hundred thousand Starfleet personnel had been killed.
"So much for Port Invincible!" a Scarlet Angel mocked as they flew away.
"Mission accomplished." Hela simply said while adjusting her controls. "Let's go home."
Engines blazing, the Scarlet Angels and other Imperial attack craft headed back to the fleet.
The Sovereign Class Starship (roughly equivalent to an Imperial heavy cruiser) USS Maximilian Robespierre opened the skirmish with its main phaser array firing no less than six times in the space of just two seconds over a distance of sixty thousand kilometers. Her sister ship, the Sovereign Class Starship USS Jean-Paul Marat followed up with three shots also from its main phaser array over the same distance.
Trailing behind the two bigger vessels, the Nebula Class Starship (roughly equivalent to an Imperial medium cruiser) USS Jacobin also fired its main phaser array. Only four shots in just two seconds, but easily matching its bigger cousins' range. Then Jean-Paul Marat fired its main phaser array again, with Maximilian Robespierre following up before taking a few seconds to adjust its target, and firing off three phaser blasts in one second.
On the other side of the battlefield, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey cruised on a perpendicular course past the Federation vessels. Its shields flickered as phaser blasts splattered against them, while also brushing aside the wreckage of the battle. Green blasts burned through space as the Klingon vessel's disruptors fired again and again, punctuated by the blazing pulses of no less than five photon torpedoes.
Repeated hits from disruptors and photon torpedoes briefly caused a flicker in Jean-Paul Marat's forward shields, allowing the last Klingon torpedo to punch through and collapse the Federation vessel's prow in a massive explosion.
The skirmish escalated then, as five TIE Bombers swooped in from the flank, the darkness of space lighting up as the Federation vessels opened up with hastily-installed flak cannons. The TIE Bombers jinked and wove through the energy blasts erupting along their course, before lobbing their payloads of proton bombs at Maximilian Robespierre, inertia keeping the bombs going even as the TIE Bombers swooped away.
To the Federation's credit, their shields held against the onslaught of proton bombs, with Jacobin briefly cutting through the Imperial jamming to avenge the attack with its main phaser array. Four shots in one second, shooting down all but one TIE Bomber before Imperial jamming again scrambled long-range targeting.
Maximilian Robespierre then fired its main phaser array, six shots in two seconds, with Jean-Paul Marat following through. The first barrage collapsed the Klingon shields, while the second barrage caused critical damage, forcing the crippled vessel to retreat, covered by another Bird-of-Prey. It was this second Klingon vessel that Jacobin targeted, firing its main phaser array four times in two seconds.
The Klingons responded with disruptor fire and a trio of torpedoes, before a salvo of phaser blasts knocked out its shields, and forcing it to peel away. Maximilian Robespierre fired off several phaser blasts in its wake, before being joined by Jean-Paul Marat in laying down curtain fire to cover the arrival of a trio of Excelsior Class Starships (equivalent to Imperial heavy cruisers). They immediately opened fire with their phasers, joined in moments later by Jacobin.
By now, the Empire was moving to fill the gap the Klingon withdrawal had left, ARC-170 Starfighters flying straight towards Maximilian Robespierre. Proton torpedoes burned bright through space as they soared past flak to explode against the Federation vessel's shields, Imperial pilots flying straight overhead as energy blasts erupted all around them, the fire intensifying the closer they got to the Federation vessel, to the point it was as if they were flying through a kaleidoscope as they flew over the Maximilian Robespierre, one ARC-170 exploding into a cloud of debris from a point-blank hit from a Federation flak cannon.
At the same time, a squadron of Y-Wing Bombers climbed unnoticed up the z-axis before coming about to dive out of the stars towards Maximilian Robespierre at a 90-degree angle. Unlike the ARC-170s, the Y-Wings had a clear approach, neither the Federation's phasers, torpedoes, or even flak cannon able to fire straight up. Dropping off their proton bombs close to point-blank range, the Y-Wings leveled out along the x-axis before peeling off, the surrounding space a storm of energy from Federation flak and explosions against its shields.
Jacobin and an Excelsior fired their main phaser arrays at the retreating Y-Wings, but they themselves were now coming under dive bombing attacks. Proton bombs collapsed the Jacobin's shields, allowing a proton bomb to punch into the bridge between the saucer and the dorsal-rear hull before exploding, and blowing the dorsal-rear hull clean off, forcing the Jacobin to retreat, covered by an Excelsior.
More ARC-170s now targeted Maximilian Robespierre, proton torpedoes pounding against its shields. Jean-Paul Marat also came under attack, its shields collapsing under repeated torpedo hits, allowing an unfortunate ARC-170 to land a lucky hit at its engine section. Flak shot down said ARC-170, but its torpedo knocked out Jean-Paul Marat's main power, with a warp core breach only delayed long enough for the failing reactor to be ejected, its explosion lighting up space for tens of thousands of kilometers.
By now Starfleet was retreating, with the last shots of the battle being a strafing run on Jean-Paul Marat's bridge by ARC-170s before the crippled vessel managed to withdraw covered by Maximilian Robespierre and two Excelsiors.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On day thirteen of the Siege of Khazh'ulla, Starfleet launched a sortie against the Imperial blockade. The target was the Vindicator Class Heavy Cruiser Vindictive, Starfleet committing sixty Peregrine fighters divided into five squadrons. The Empire had seen them coming, however, with the Vindictive maneuvering its dorsal hull to face the incoming Starfleet attack craft.
"Weapons free." The order went out. "Fire."
"Target locked…firing!" the lead Peregrine signaled.
"Firing!" the second Peregrine signaled in its turn.
Photon torpedoes flashed across space, eating up thousands of kilometers in minutes to slam against the Vindictive's particle shields, which flickered from the impact. "Shifting attack vectors…" the lead Peregrine signaled while banking to port. "…switching to plasma torpedoes, and firing!"
Plasma torpedoes strobed with white light as they launched from the Peregrines, Starfleet channels filled with cursing as they urged their torpedoes to actually penetrate. No good; again, while the torpedo volley hammered the cruiser's shields, they held fast.
"Incoming fighters!" the warning went out.
"Break formation!" the wing commander barked. "ENGAGE!"
The Peregrines broke formation, dogfights erupting across space as Peregrines fought against V-Wings and TIE Fighters. "Bandit on my six!" the wing commander signaled while evading emerald lances from a TIE Fighter.
"On it, commander." His wingman signaled. "Torpedo away!"
A torpedo flashed across nearly a hundred kilometers in barely a few second before turning the TIE Fighter into burning scrap. "Watch those Imperial ships!" the wing commander barked as sensors spotted CR90s and Carracks moving to englobe the Starfleet sortie. "They'll cut off our line of retreat!"
Then he grunted in dismay, as he saw a Peregrine ahead to starboard get shot down by a TIE Fighter. Alarms sounded as two more Peregrines went down soon after, shot to pieces by TIE Fighters. "If only we could use warp!" he cursed. "Damn interdictors…squadron leaders, abort engagement! Fall back immediately! I repeat, abort engagement! Fall back!"
There was no response, a single look at the display showing all squadron leaders were down. What Peregrines were left were responding quickly, however, trying to escape while being chased down by V-Wings and TIE Fighters, the enemy's superior numbers allowing them to simultaneously chase down Peregrines from the rear and keeping the latter occupied, allow another Imperial to shoot them down from the front or the sides.
"Bandits on our six!" the wing commander's wingman barked.
The warning was punctuated by blue beams from a V-Wing's laser cannons, the wing commander and his wingman's Peregrines weaving back and forth to avoid getting shot down. "Sir…about warp…I might have an idea…" the wingman desperately began.
"Now's not the time to experiment…" the wing commander began only to abruptly break off as his aft shields collapsed from a direct hit. "…alright, let's try it out."
"Roger…setting warp coils to resonate at a matching frequency to the graviton flux of the Imperial interdictors' simulated gravity field…"
"Hurry it up ensign…"
"Standing by to engage Warp One…engage!"
The other Peregrine's nacelles began to glow, as if to jump to warp…
…and in the next second, they exploded, the warp coils blowing themselves apart and causing a power surge that set off a warp core breach. "NO!" the wing commander shouted, but it was too late, his wingman already dead in a massive explosion.
The only upside was the explosion was enough to destroy one V-Wing and damage the other, causing it to retreat, allowing the wing commander to escape, the only survivor of his ill-fated sortie against the Imperial blockade.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Let's go angels!"
"ROGER!"
On the fifteenth day of the Siege of Kharzh'ulla, the 101st 'Cloud Dragons' Independent Air Wing of the Imperial Navy launched a sortie against the planet's orbital ring. They were led by Lieutenant-Commander Hela Calgaris of the Scarlet Angels Squadron, composed of twelve V-Wings, all piloted by Clone War veterans.
Not that any of the pilots were clones, though.
They were all, each and every one of them, born the normal way. Unlike soft and effete people of the Core, Valyrians of every stripe didn't shy back from the war, least of all when it was fought by upstart Outer Rim yokels and corporate parvenus. Even now, with the Clone Wars long over, and the Galactic Republic reorganized into the (first) Galactic Empire (!), the Valyrians continued to serve proudly.
Even more so, since it was an open secret that the Emperor was also the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith.
A worthy successor then, to the mantle of the great and glorious Darth Revan. Hero. Savior. Conqueror. Victor of the Mandalorian Wars. Slayer of the dread Mandalore the Ultimate. Dark Lord of the Sith.
The Valyrians of his day and age had been proud to march and fly under his banner, and later on, under the six-pointed star of Dromund Kaas.
How could the Valyrians of this day and age do any less, and not march and fly under the banner of Darth Sidious?
In addition to the Scarlet Angels, there were also the Silver Wolves, also composed of twelve V-Wings, for a total of twenty-four V-Wings flying escort duty. In their wake flew a total of twenty-eight Y-Wings, divided between the Black Falcons and the Sable Serpents Squadrons. All fifty-two attack craft swooped down to fly low over Kharzh'ulla's orbital ring, low enough to practically skim over the surface, various abandoned structures and other outcroppings along the ring blurring past as the Imperial attack craft flew towards their target.
"Starfleet has finally realized the stupidity of trying to defend the entire orbital ring, and thus spread their forces too thinly. Well, they had to use their brains eventually."
Laughter echoed across the briefing room, from the gathered Valyrian pilots as well as the scarred and grizzled wing commander standing next to the holo-projector at the head of the room. "Starfleet has concentrated their forces and AAA around key locations: energy production, sensor nodes, communication relays, and of course, the shipyards." The wing commander said, pointing a baton at the hologram. "Among other things, but those aren't important right now. Your target, will be this set of yards, codenamed by Starfleet as Port Invincible."
Contemptuous snorts went up from the pilots, but the wing commander was unfazed. "It's heavily-defended, surrounded by AAA batteries supported by overlapping fighter patrols." He continued. "Our Klingon allies will be launching a sortie of their own to draw away as much of the enemy fighters, but Starfleet's not stupid enough to deprive themselves of a fighter umbrella. A frontal assault is possible, but it'd be a waste of time when our objective isn't the fighters, but the yards themselves."
"Meaning we'll have to fly in low, under the radar, and bomb them to bits before they realize what's up." One pilot remarked.
"Precisely." The wing commander said with a nod. "As you can see here, these yards also house hundreds of ships, ranging from Defiant Class Corvettes to Excelsior and Akira Class Medium Cruisers. This is a prime opportunity to destroy an entire fleet at harbor."
"Or with the harbor itself." Another pilot remarked. "I like it."
"I'm guessing that's another reason why we can't just launch a frontal assault." A third pilot pointed out. "The feddies would see us coming, and launch their fleet before we get a chance to blow them to Chaos."
"You'll have your chance." The wing commander firmly said. "You'll all have your chance. Now then, the mission plan…"
Hela flew low and fast, her V-Wing gracefully weaving through the labyrinth of abandoned orbital infrastructure. A gentle left here, then a gently but long right here, and then a sharp and equally loft left, followed by a short space to level out before a gentle right and levelling out again.
"Here we go, angels." Hela said while turning left. "Alpha Point – let's dance!"
"ROGER!"
The Scarlet Angels flew fast over the last few kilometers, then rolled sideways and through a narrow space between two orbital structures. The Silver Wolves followed, then the Black Falcons, but the second Y-Wing through failed to roll properly, causing them to clip a wing, and causing their Y-Wing to plummet in a blazing death ride to explode against the surface. The rest of the squadron grimly flew on, Lieutenant Raegon Mellarys of the Sable Serpents dipping his wings as he lead his squadron through and past Alpha Point out of respect for the fallen.
Past Alpha Point, the Imperial attack craft turned hard to the right, then gently to the left, and hard again to the right, with Bravo Point right ahead. Once again, they rolled to get through the narrow space between orbital structures, this time taking no casualties as they continued along the no man's land above the orbital ring.
"Right, angels." Hela began after several minutes. "Charlie Point's up ahead, don't forget, aileron roll…HERE WE GO!"
Hela was first through Charlie Point, her V-Wing aileron rolling though and past Charlie Point. The Scarlet Angels followed one after another in her wake with no losses, but Lieutenant Jaenor Agaleos of the Silver Wolves wingmen weren't so lucky. One of them slammed clean into the portside structure, flying debris clipping the next V-Wing and causing them to spiral out of control into the starboard structure. The third V-Wing flew too low and slammed into the ground, but the rest of the squadron managed to get through.
"SHIT!" one of the Black Falcons shouted as he lost his nerve and flew up, right into Starfleet sights.
Photon torpedoes shot up into space, the high-flying Y-Wing going up in flames.
"We're made…SHIT!" another pilot angrily spat.
"Not yet we aren't!" Hela quickly countered. "Keep going! The mission's not over until the fat man's drinking from the wine bottle!"
As if on cue, she rolled right and through and past Delta Point, the Scarlet Angels following in her wake. "Scarlet Leader, be advised." The encoded line warned. "Enemy attack craft on approach."
"I see them." Hela growled. "What are they…oh."
She broke off as the Federation attack craft bombed their course, turning the rest of their flight path into a blazing inferno. "Double-power to shields." Hela ordered while adjusting her controls. "Looks like the last approach isn't going to be quick and clean, but we've all earned our wings dozens of times, so let's show them what we've got!"
"ROGER!" the rest of the Valyrian chorused as they flew into the inferno, shields flickering as they struggled to keep the Imperial attack craft unharmed.
High above, the flight of six Federation attack craft flew fast and away, confident in their success and stunned at the Imperials' seeming mindlessness, preferring to die in a fire than retreat in defeat. That is, until a concussion missile flew up and fast and shot down the rearmost Federation attack craft.
"Hello, boys!" Hela said over an open line as she piloted her V-Wing into open space. "You owe us a dance!"
"And there's nothing like dancing with angels!" one of her wingmen added.
"So, just die already!" her other wingmen concluded, the Scarlet Angels breaking formation to dogfight their Federation counterparts.
Hela then launched a concussion missile, and shot down another Federation fighter. Meanwhile, her wingmen opened with their laser cannons, weaving and turning across space to keep on their quarries' tails, and tore up two more Federation fighters. By this point, more Federation fighters were arriving, only to run into the Silver Wolves, with Jaenor quickly shooting down a Federation fighter with a concussion missile.
"Commencing bombing run!" the word went out over the encoded line.
With Federation fighters in the airspace, the Federation flak cannons were effectively silenced, giving the Y-Wings a clean run at Port Invincible. The Federation vessels at the yards were already powering up, crew and port personnel scrambling to launch the fleet before they could be destroyed, with a few beginning to clear their moors, but it was too late.
"Happy Empire Day!" a Valyrian cheerfully greeted over an open line as she dropped no less than twenty proton bombs in her wake.
She wasn't the only one, as the Y-Wings of the Black Falcons and Sable Serpents dropped bombs across Port Invincible. Explosions erupted in their wake, yards and ships exploding before leaking antimatter caused even bigger secondary explosions in a near self-sustaining chain reaction. In less than a minute, over two hundred Defiant corvettes, over a hundred Excelsior and Akira medium cruisers, a number of Nebula medium cruisers, a few Galaxy medium cruisers, and even a single Sovereign heavy cruiser, the USS Francois Hanriot, had been destroyed, and nearly two hundred thousand Starfleet personnel had been killed.
"So much for Port Invincible!" a Scarlet Angel mocked as they flew away.
"Mission accomplished." Hela simply said while adjusting her controls. "Let's go home."
Engines blazing, the Scarlet Angels and other Imperial attack craft headed back to the fleet.
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