Contruum System, 10 ABY
Admiral Karthokk sat in the captain's chair on the bridge of the Aggressor, waiting impatiently for the coming battle to begin. He glanced at his watch while tapping his foot on the floor. Any minute now, he thought, we should be coming out of hyperspace. How long it had been since he last saw combat. He yearned to litter a planet's orbit with wreckage from the rebel ships. Soon, my fleet will be pounding the rebels to--"Admiral Karthokk, we'll be dropping out of hyperspace in ten seconds." A bridge officer reported to him, interrupting Jang's chain of thought. He nodded at the officer, confirming he recieved the update. A smile blossomed on his face, a cruel smile a combatant would give his soon-to-be-dead opponent.
Within seconds, Jang watched as the stream of hyperspace tranformed into white lines, and then revert back into the starry-filled void known as space. As the other ships in his fleet departed hyperspace, he looked onward, and saw the planet of Contruum in the distance, along with the numerous drydocks and shipyards orbiting her. The bridge officer spoke to him again. "Sir, sensors report that the shipyards are deploying starfighter and bombers, making a heading towards the fleet. Several capital-class Mon Cal warships defending Contruum are hanging back to defend the shipyards, and several smaller craft of Contruum-make are also heading our way. Also, the rest of the fleet reports in as awaiting orders." For a long moment, the Admiral just stared off at the enemy ships, analyzing their deployment. Afterwards, he grabbed his comlink and keyed for fleet-wide transmission.
He cleared his throat. "Task Force Aggressor, this is Admiral Karthokk. Subjagator, form up on the Aggressor's right flank. Domination, Carnage, form up on our left. Enforcer, Void Wanderer, stay in close behind and above us. Nest, don't get too far from the main line, but try to stay out of enemy turbolaser range. Carrack Cruisers, tuck in beneath us to operate as support. Move out." He watched the Star Frigates in his fleet position themselves on either side of the Aggressor, and tensed up as the Star Destroyer began moving forwards, towards the enemy shipyards.
In a matter of minutes, the starfighters first deployed by the enemy came in close enough that Jang could point out their make. "X-wings." He whispered, somewhat bitterly. An X-wing was the starfighter that blew up the First and, arguably, Second Death Star, and knowledge of those kills made sure that future pilots of those craft would be as so daring to try to take down a Star Destroyer by themselves. And sometimes, they succeeded in doing so.
He once more barked an order into his comlink. "Forward line, deploy TIE Fighters. Keep those snubfighters away from us." Giving him a safe feeling, TIE-series fighters began debarking from their ships and engaging the enemy fighters. Engaging in dogfights which, had they not been life-or-death, would have made for a great air show during a parade, the TIE pilots managed to widdle down to enemy X-wings, which eventually retreated back to the hangar bays they came from. Thankfully, the Aggressor made it close enough to the shipyards that their turbolasers could finally rain down fire upon
them.
Another cruel smile appeared on his face, as the shipyards began breaking into pieces, the under-construction ships docked in them floating off into space. That smile left him, again, as soon as he saw the bulbous warship moving in to engage his Star Destroyer. He didn't know for sure, but the thing looked like the new Mon Calamari Star Cruiser intelligence reports had told him about. He couldn't remember its name, but he did remember that they possessed enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with an Imperial Star Destroyer.
Never before had he faced a ship that potentially could take an ISD down, and as such he could feel a little bit of sweat trickle down his forehead. "Get our fighters up-front," he said to the bridge officer, "and form a screen in front of the Aggressor." After confirming the order, he suddenly began to feel antsy, he felt like he needed to be up and doing something, other than ordering people to do his bidding. Then, a thought came to his head.
"Actually, belay that order, Lieutenant." He stated, getting up and grabbing the young man's shoulder to get his attention. "Order our fighters to form a screen around their laser cannon batteries, hangar bays, and bridge." The bridge officer looked confused, and rightfully so, but went about implementing this new command. Sitting back down in the captain's chair, he leaned forward to get a better look at the battle in front of him. The Mon Cal Cruiser fired on the Aggressor, its turbolaser fire dissapating against her shields, and the Star Destroyer returned fire, with a similar result.
Then, he saw his plan come into action. TIE Fighters streaked past the Aggressor's bridge towards the enemy ship, and watched as they began swarming the turbolaser turrets, blazed past the cruiser's hangar and swinging back for another pass, and buzzed the bridge of the ship, occassionally putting a few shots in on it, which merely came into contact with the shields. He smiled as the turbolaser gunners accuracy lessened, a result of the TIEs constantly being put into their path, preventing them from getting reliable target locks. With the hangar too, what fighters were remaining in the cruiser couldn't deploy, or risk colliding with an oncoming snubfighter.
The bridge crew too was probably getting jumpy due to the TIE Fighters swinging by, which would cause the rest of the ships functions to be conducted with less efficiency. Time to finish that fish bowl off, he thought. He gazed over at the bridge officer who was delivering orders to another officer, but caught the Admiral's gaze and returned it with a salute. "Yes, sir?" He asked. "Lieutenant, order the turbolaser gunners to halt firing and wait for my order to fire simultaneously." Though he expected the man to look on with confusion again, this time he merely nodded his head and went about implementing the orders.
Once the Aggressor's tubrolasers no longer fired, he then issued the order into his comlink. "Mark." He said. With that, in one simultaneous burst, turbolaser blasts leaped out from the ISD, impacting the Mon Cal cruiser's shields which was engulfed in blue ripples as a result. He issued the order again. "Mark." With another burst, fire lanced out towards the enemy ship, this time the color in the ripples slightly transparent, as opposed to the solid color it was a second ago. He issued the order three times more, and with each shot, the shields grew weaker, as signified by how clear they were becoming. Finally, they gave way, and with the final burst, the shields dissappeated all together. Speaking into his comlink, he addressed the turbolaser gunners. "Tear that ship apart." He said, coldly. The burst fire then quit as the turbolasers began firing independent from each other. Within minutes, the Mon Cal Cruiser was no more, torn to pieces by his assault.
After about ten more minutes, the battlefield lay silent, with Admiral Karthokk's forces the clear victor. In the end, he had lost the Subjagator, the Enforcer, and two Carrack Cruisers, abismal losses. He addressed his bridge officer again. "Send a report to Bastion. Contruum has been captured, minimal losses sustained, awaiting new orders." With that said, he exited the bridge and headed to his personnel suite to rest.
Topic: Alignment on the Offensive (Read 4169 times)