Fleet Combat Training

[Horaecio Nhelsinn]

With the sound of rushing air filling the room, the men of the crewpits each turned their head for a moment as their commander entered the bridge then quickly returned to the work at hand.

"What's the situation, captain?" He gravely asked as the answer loomed in front of the Star Destroyer, the planet Ghorman filling a third of the view port.

"Sir, rebels. We've picked up one MC80 two Corellian transports and..." The captain paused and confirmation arrived. "One Nebulon-B."

His orders were to blockade Ghorman and, although he believed this to be improbable, his orders included preventing any rebel forces from entering the planet's atmosphere. His dealt hand contained a Victory class Star Destroyer and two Imperial class Star Destroyers, one of which was only present until hostilities died down on the planet. A loss of Ghorman was more than unlikely, the true test of his abilities was going to be damage control. Granted the Empire's wealth knew no limit, waste would not be tolerated under Nhelsinn's watch.

The rebels were keeping their formation tight, the MC80 would watch the Nebulon's back and visa versa. The Corellian transports only ally was their speed. He had a moment to breathe before the transports, most likely carrying troops and weapons for the rebels on Khorman, made their move towards the surface. Time enough for the two Imperial class ships to catch the Rebel fleet between each side of a Star Destroyer? No, fate could not be so generous. The Victory Class was closest to the Rebel Fleet as it patrolled outside the equator of the darkside of the planet, its long range capabilities could tie the Nebulon-B down unto the point in which the Imperial Class's TIE fighters could destroy the transports, worst case scenario being the transports escape.

"Tell the Hyperion to break patrol and engage that Nebulon, Captain." He ordered in regard to the Victory class. "Inform the Helius to release half its TIE Squadrons, the same applies to us. Get the Interceptors out of patrol and on those transports, until then, I want four squadrons on there until the Interceptors relieve them. Get all Bombers on deck."

The speed of the TIE would ensure the fighters the first engagement over Ghorman as the Star Destroyers trudged through the vaccum towards the Rebel fleet.

"Turn this ship 15 degrees port, then forward full go." The Osiris had a date with an intrusive Rebel fleet. "Order the Helius outside Ghorman's moon and to stay put." Should the Rebels have any tricks up their sleeve, the Helius could guard the rear, using Ghorman's moon to its advantage. If the rebels dared to enter more ships into the proximity of Ghorman near the darkside of the moon, they'd have a Victory class to contend with and the Osirus coming within close range. A three pronged attack would be out of character for the rebels, on top of that, Ghorman was not that vital to the Rebellion.

Nhelsinn didn't need his crewmen at the communications controls to tell him the Rebels were dispatching their fighters. Tiny grey specks, illuminated by Ghorman's star, had begun to unfold from the decks of the two Rebel ships. They would try to lure the TIEs towards the Nebulon, no Imperial was foolish enough to follow near the craft. As TIE fighters screamed over the bridge, filling the view port, Nehlsinn kept his gaze focused on the MC80. To destory the capital ship would not be easy, allowing an escape hadn't dared to tempt his mind, he had yet one more trick up his sleeve.

[Teleran Balades]

Silence reigned over the bridge of the MC 80, Pride of Acadia. The alliance had only recently gotten word of the revolt taking place on Ghorman. The world was small and out of the way with no real strategic importance. The empire would just write it off as another insignificant gnat and crush the uprising, not expecting any organized help from the outside. But that wasn’t how the Alliance worked; even a single liberated world was a victory. A beacon of hope for the galaxy, something that not even the might of the Empire could crush.

Captain Lorash and his small force had been the nearest to Ghorman, preying on Imperial shipping. The transports with the group had been two of the victims. That was a victory in itself, using the Empire’s own devices of destruction against them. But the small feeling of triumph for the Pride of Acadia and the Uriel quickly faded.

Not one, but three Star Destroyers guarded the planet, waiting to deliver swift retribution on those who would dare oppose the Empire. The Calamarian Lorash was used to being overpowered, but this show of force made even his skin dry out.

“….Sir….. your orders?”

Lorash reluctantly tore his eyes from the viewscreen to look over the concerned faces of his command crew. He was in command of over three thousand good men and women. Many of them would lose their lives today, but the cause was worth more than what any of them could give. Still, it troubled the Calamarian knowing that such bright souls would be snuffed out.

“Reduce speed to twenty-five percent and launch all starfighters. Keep everyone close, we wait to see what they do.” The Imperials had the upper hand by far and Lorash wouldn’t make any decision until he knew what the enemy was up too.

As humans and aliens alike watched, two of the destroyers broke orbit while the other turned away from the engagement, heading for the moon. All the while, TIEs boiled out of their hulls like a swarm of angry wasps. Of the closing destroyers, the victory-class was leading by a far shot with multiple squadrons of fighters quickly overtaking the lumbering cruiser. There were so many that Lorash could only see a ball of shiny metal.

“Sensors count eight squadrons total. TIE Interceptors are closing on different vectors, they must have been scouts.” The captains lip-tentacles twitched, only eight? Two Impstars and a Vic could support fourteen squadrons total. The Imperial captain had to be a cautious one. Guarding their back door, not committing all of their forces gave the alliance forces an edge, but they were still grossly outmatched.

“Blue squadron, stay with the transports at all times, engage only if they are threatened. Grey squadron is on anti-ordnance duty. Everyone else, stay close, don’t engage until I give the order.” The TIEs would hit hard and fast, but for once the alliance had almost an even number of fighters, six squadrons against eight, but where the alliance fighters lacked numbers, they made up with strength.

After the TIEs were dealt with, it was on the Victory Destroyer. Lorash smiled One step at a time. His confidence grew a bit, he could play ball this way.

[Horaecio Nhelsinn]

Amazement never ceased to capture his mind when the flawless speed-oriented engineering of the TIE blended with the fire charged Imperial spirit of the pilots came to shine in the effulgence of battle. The TIE was the bread and butter of Imperial fleet battle, what the soldier is to an army; victory lay in their hands. Their counterpart, the Hyena to the great Imperial Lion, the X-wing poured from the hulls of the Rebel ships. Armed with shields and great firepower, in one-on-one combat the X-Wing could overcome the TIE, but it was order that drove the TIE squadron to victory, much like the Empire.

Already, the number of TIE fighters was greater than that of the X-Wings, they would need more. "The remainder of TIE's aboard our ship are to drop 15 Kilos applicate, 5 ordinate. On captain Hast's order they are to engage all X-Wings from the rear." Captain Hast had never failed to understand Nhelsinn's strategy and they had both preformed this exercise many times before. X-Wings could not fire backwards, exposing their engines to attack, a flaw in which was easily exploited in short runs by a number of TIE squadrons through the rear, which in this case of the rebels most likely protecting their cargo ships, was practically given.

"Engaging enemy." Was the call of the Hyperion's captain as the Victory class ignited in a fury of cannon fire towards the rebel fleet. Sensation tingled in his throat, his own ship, the Osiris, would engage the rebels soon.

"Ready all turbo lasers, divert power from Ion cannons to the ship's drives." He said as he walked near the window. "Connect me to the Imperial army on the surface, captain." Hopefully the Stormtroopers were doing their job, it would make a world of a difference.

[Teleran Balades]

Hyperion’s long-range batteries opened up and heavy laser fire spattered across the prow of the Acadia’s. Bright starburst exploded from energy bolts slamming into deflector shields in a dazzling display of color. Awe crept into Lorash, he knew that with each blast his ship lost some of its protection, but he found the scene beautiful none the less. Calamarians enjoyed their art more so than many races, even their warships took on the smooth and deceptively gentle curves. Battle itself became and intricate dance or melodic concert with each action flowing into the next. But it would always end in a sad coda and the deaths of thousands.

In the distant dozens of more flashes illuminated the floor as starfighters clashed, weaving in and among each other. Through it all crept the massive cruisers. “Tell the transports to use us as a screen. Uriel is to stay on our port flank, at four clicks out, break to either side of the VicStar.” Return fire from both rebel ships burned angry red streaks in through the sea of black. With the smaller Nebulan-B hung close to the gargantuan cruiser where it could be guarded by the Mon Cal’s superior shields while still being to bring some of her turbolasers to bear.

“Gray squadron; get ready to hunt some missiles. All point-defense gunners to their turrets now.” Lorash walked among the frantically racing command crew. The rebels may not be as orderly or efficient as Imperial crews, but they possessed a kinship and fierce determination that was unrivaled; the captain could count on them to hold up against the onslaught.

Gripping the hand-rail with both-flippered hands, Lorash ordered his taskforce to full speed. As one, the alliance ships lurched forward.

[Horaecio Nhelsinn]

"Sir, General Maydrick reports sixty percent Ion cannons captured relative to our position." The captain said as Nhelsinn walked to the front of the deck.

His eyes watched the battle unfold before him. By now the strategy should have been apparent to even the most foolish of Rebel commanders, but regardless, the rebel fleet charged forward. "Give them the coordinents of the Rebel Fleet with orders of continuous fire until I tell them to stop."

To believe that the surface Ion cannons would be capable of continuous fire would be naive, but so long as they strived for it Nhelsinn would be in good shape. A strong blast from a stationary Ion cannon could disable an entire ship, however, such fire to be so accurate to hit the enemy ship dead on was less than likely. He could only hope for a few weak shots to disable the shields before the two ships passed each other.

Hast had better have those transports covered... Nhelsinn thought for a moment before returning his attention to the battle growing to a climax. It wasn't that he didn't trust the fighter captain, he only hoped nothing had surprisingly gone wrong.

"Ready port cannons, prepare for broadside." The tension rose in his voice as the Rebel and Imperial ships drew near. The fire eminating from the bows of both the Osiris and MC80 was but play compared to the hell that would erupt in moments time. Should the planetary cannons have completed half their task, the MC80 would be all but disabled at best. At the very worst, it would continue on to the path of the Helius and be destroyed.

"Captain, I need a presumed status on the Nebulon B." It was the only variable left within his control.

[Teleran Balades]

(OOC: Ghaaaaahhh, I haven't been caught in that trap since I went through training. Excellent work. :))


“Arrgghhh” Lorash brought his arm up to shield his eyes from the bright flashes blinding out even the thick swathes of turbolaser fire. Emergency alarms shrieked and instantly the ship began to shake. An instant later blue bolts of energy struck the Pride of Acadia, the power surged killing all transmissions to her allies. Stumbling backwards, the Calamarian dared a glance in time to see a second barrage streaking towards his vessel.

The second volley overloaded the MC-80’s strong shields in a spectacular display of arcing energy coruscating across Acadia’s gunmetal hull. Power erupted throughout the ship; sparks flying from exploding access panels. Lorash coughed violently, trying to clear acrid smoke from his lungs. As the emergency lights came, he spotted his first mate lying face down, the energy serge caused the panel she was standing in front of to explode sending plasteal fragments into her face. He lifted her head and saw the bloody remains and jumped back.

"Medic!!!" His scream hoarse, but managed to snap him from his trancelike shock. He set relinquished her body to a pair of medical personnel knowing that it’d do no good, she was already gone.

“What the hell happened?” A sensor officer across command ring stood from the body he was seeing to and looked at Lorash. "Sir before we were hit the sensors detected the ion cannons on the planet powering up. I think they fired on us sir."

A panicked cry rang out from a shaken engineer. “Our shields are down and we’ve lost power to several sections of the ship. I’m bringing the back up generators online now.” A pause. “Comms should be up shortly.”

Lorash’s struggled to get thinking straight again. The damned imperials had learned since Hoth, but a full power volley should have disabled the ship at once. Realization hit the captain. “Get us out of range of the planet NOW.” A planetary ion cannon would normally take several minutes to recharge, but Lorash figured that they had about thirty seconds before the guns fired again.

In an uncharacteristically human manner, the captain clenched his fists glaring out at the murderous enemy.


------------------------------------------------

The moment Acadia was hit by the disabling shots, Lt. Commander Grennel of the Uriel banked his vessel to port far enough down range that rogue ion wash wouldn’t affect his ship.

“Captain Lorash……Lorash come in. Frell, comms must be down.” With the taskforces command ship temporarily out of full functioning order and the chain of command severed, he would have to take matters into his own hands. The rebels had their own pocket aces, but he had been hoping to use it later. But they desperately needed a distraction.

“Go now, we’ll hold ‘em off as long as we can.”

With a sudden surge of power the correlian transports leapt ahead of the fleet, their protection blasted away by the surface cannons. The pair of vessels recklessly skimmed low over the Osiris’s hull, streaking over weapons batteries faster than their gunners could track. Like hell’s demons, A-wings from Blue squadron kept pace leaving a trail of scattered TIE debris, following the fast transports as they sling shot about the hulking ship and raced into the void away from the battle.

Uriel took a moments leave of the MC-80’s bulk, raking the Vicstar’s hull with her own turbolasers, casting a sheet of destructive energy in the transport’s wake.