Meanwhile, back at Tynna, the fleet had gone into hyperspace. They would arrive in exactly two hours.
At Mon Calamari, the fleet had just left, and would arrive in two hours and ten minutes.
Two hours later, at Kubindi.
“Sir, we have arrived at Kubindi.”
“Excellent. Power up shields and weapons. Send a message to the Kubaz telling them that we aren’t here to attack them, we are here to defend them from the Tynnans. Launch all fighters.”
“Yes sir.”
“Sensors, what do you have on screens?”
“It isn’t good sir. I have one Imperial Star Destroyer, five Victory Star Destroyers, three Strike Cruisers, one Nebulon-B Frigate, 7 Marauder Corvettes and 4 Gallofree Transports. We also have two Battle Horns. Fighters are launching, all Uglies. 72 Clutches, 96 X-Ties, 144 TIE Wings and 48 B-wing Uglies that seem to have a turbolaser at the bottom of their wing.”
“Damn. Send a message to Mon Calamari.”
“Yes sir.”
“Sir, we have 7 Marauder Corvettes, 3 Strike Cruisers, 1 Nebulon-B Frigate and all the fighters moving in to assault us.”
“Sir, I just got word from Mon Calamari, we have 4 Imperial Star Destroyers, 2 Victory Star Destroyer, 3 Haven Light Cruisers, 6 Defender Gunships, 264 MC-10 Starfighters and 144 K-wing Bombers incoming to help us, due in about five minutes.”
“Excellent. Engines, is their any way we can out run the enemy?”
“No sir.”
“When will we be in range?”
“Fighters in thirty seconds.”
“What happens if we pull back as quickly as possible?”
“Two minutes and twenty seconds for the Marauders to reach us two minute and fifty five seconds for the Nebulon-B Frigate, and three minutes and seventeen seconds for the Strike Cruisers, assuming all those ships travel at their flank speed.”
“Fine. All missiles, do not fire. Turbolasers, lay down a kill zone in front of their fighters now. Once the Marauder Corvettes come into firing range, each Corellian Gunships, team up together in packs of three and take on a Marauder Corvette per pack. Do not fire missiles. All turbolasers on
Tears of the Gods , fire on the other four Marauder Corvettes. Corellian Gunships, when the Nebulon-B Frigate gets in range, hit it with a salvo of missiles. All missiles on
Tears of the Gods , split into two groups and hit two of the Strike Cruisers with a salvo. Fighters, just try to stay alive.”
“Fighter’s in range.”
“Start the kill zone. Fighters, randomly fire as well.”
“Yes sir.”
The fighters, in as perfect formation as most mercenaries could get, flew straight into the salvos of turbolaser and laser cannon fire. A direct hit from a turbolaser or quad laser cannon would destroy a Clutch, a X-TIE, or a B-wing Ugly. A brush from one, or a direct hit from a normal laser cannon would destroy or damage a TIE-wing. Unfortunately for them, the Clutches and X-TIE Uglies, both armed with missiles and proton torpedoes, all fire missiles and proton torpedoes once they were within range. Laser cannon and turbolaser fire instantly exploded them, which then destroyed the fighters that had fired them, and the fighters around them.
“Continue firing.”
The enemy fighters scattered, and tried to fly out of the kill zone. Unfortunately for them, Uglies aren’t maneuverable, so they took a long time to turn. More and more of them were destroyed.
“Sir, we managed to destroy all the Clutches, all the X-TIEs, 9 of the B-wing Uglies and 24 of the TIE-wings before they retreated out of the kill zone.”
“Excellent, cease fire.”
“Yes sir.”
“What are they doing now?”
“They are forming up with the Marauder Corvettes.”
“Excellent. They evidentially wish to over power us with numbers, though I do not understand why they are coming in at us in such a fashion.”
“Sir, the Battle Horn Transports, Gallofree Transports, Victory Star Destroyers and Imperial Star Destroyer have jumped to hyperspace.”
“Watch out for them. Full stop, and accelerate. Where are they headed?”
“Looks like back to Tynna.”
“Why would they do that?”
“If they think their current force can defeat us, so they are going to go back and secure Tynna.”
“I see.”
“Sir, Marauder Corvettes are in range. We have begun firing.”
“Excellent. Fighters, do not engage the enemy. I repeat, do not engage the enemy. Retreat to the edge of the gravity well. Plot a course that will take you straight to the back of the Strike Cruiser formation.”
“Sir?”
“Do it. Once you arrive, hit one of the Strike Cruisers with a volley of two missiles each. Then retreat away and standby for orders.”
“Yes sir.”
The fighters immediately fled, flying at a speed that no Ugly could match. In fact, few real starfighters could match the speed of an MC-10, which was slightly better than that of a TIE Defender.
“Sir, the B-wings have commenced an assault on us. TIE Wings have started to circle the engagement.”
“I see. When will they be closest to the Strike Cruisers, in relation to when the MC-10s get there?”
“They will be at their closest just after the MC-10s get out of hyperspace.”
“I see. Warn the fighters that they should expect to encounter TIE-Wing resistance once they are finished their missile runs.”
“Yes sir.”
“Damage status?”
“Our shields have dropped 40%. Our Corellian Gunships are perfect. Two of the Marauder’s facing Gunships have been destroyed. Those two groups have split into 3 groups and are finishing off three of our opponents. Their target’s are at 5% shields and 7% shields. The other Gunship Group’s target has no shields. Our guns are concentrating on our remaining target, a Marauder with no shields.”
“Excellent. When does the Nebulon-B Frigate get in range?”
“Twenty seconds.”
“Good.”
“Sir, the fighters have come out of hyperspace. They are moving in on the last Strike Cruiser. The lead is transmitting targeting data to the rest.”
“Excellent.”
“Sir, all but one of the Marauder’s have been destroyed. We are dealing with it, and the gunships have broken off their attack. They are moving in on the Nebulon-B frigate.”
“Good.”
“We have 48 launches of torpedoes from the MC-10s. 24 of them were delayed.”
“Excellent. The first salvo will take down the shields, the second will destroy the ship.”
“Corellian Gunships have launched missiles. We have 36 launches.”
“Good.”
“The last of the Marauder Corvettes has been destroyed.”
“Excellent.”
“The shields on the Strike Cruiser are down. The engines are destroyed. We are reading no power to shields or weapons, or anything except for emergency uses. They are venting atmosphere.”
“Good. We must have destroyed the engines and the reactor, but the emergency reactor is still working-.”
Suddenly the ship rocked.
“What the hell was that? Damages?”
“The other Tynnan ships just came out of hyperspace on our rear. They just fired a salvo at us. We have 20% aft shields remaining. They are just barely in range.”
“Sithspawn! All right, full speed ahead. Transfer energy from backup sources, such as gravity and life support in non-important areas, and lower the artificial gravity levels on the rest of the areas. Transfer power from half of the ventral weapons to engines. Get use to those Strike Cruisers now. All guns that remain, fire at those B-wing Uglies and the Nebulon-B Frigate. Sensors, damage reports on the Nebulon-B.”
“Yes sir. The Nebulon-B has no shields. All turbolasers are targeting the ‘spine’, and we expect to have neutralized it soon.”
Tears of the Gods accelerated away from the new enemies. The enemies responded by accelerating as well, but without the advantages used by
Tears of the Gods they had no change at catching them, unless the Gallofree Transports and Battle Horns wanted to engage them by themselves, which it seemed they didn’t.
“Sir, we are almost within range of the Strike Cruisers. The Nebulon-B Frigate has been destroyed.”
“All missile launchers, prepare to fire at the Strike Cruisers. What happened to our MC-10 Starfighters?”
“They have fled, though not at full speed, and are leading the TIE-wings away from the engagement zone.”
“Good. How long until firing range of the Strike Cruisers?”
“Twenty seconds.”
“Tell the Gunships to destroy the B-wing Uglies, but no one is to slow down. Keep at present speed. If we go past the Strike Cruisers, that doesn’t matter, we must not let their reinforcement group catch us.”
“Yes sir.”
The fleet continued forward. Corellian Gunships fired at the B-wing Uglies, and hit some, but they weren’t being very effective.
“All Corellian Gunships, load up your launchers with the diamond boron missiles.”
“Yes sir.”
Diamond Boron Missiles were quickly inserted in the firing tubes.
“We are within range of the Strike Cruisers.”
“Fire all missiles.”
40 missiles flew at each of the Strike Cruisers. They hit, and immediately brought down the shields. Some of them got through the shields and exploded on the hull.
“All turbolasers, fire. Corellian Gunships, fire diamond Boron Missiles, then target the Strike Cruisers.”
“Yes sir.”
More and more turbolaser fire flew straight at the enemy Strike Cruisers.
“Most of the B-wings are destroyed.”
“Good. When are the reinforcement’s supposed to arrive?”
“Fifteen seconds.”
“Good.”
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”
The fleet sent from Mon Calamari flashed out of hyperspace.
“Open a channel.”
“Newly arrived Galactic Coalition fleet, this is Vice Admiral Smith, in charge of the Victory Star Destroyer
Tears of the Gods and nine Corellian Gunships.”
“This is Admiral Van, wasn’t Admiral Arden in charge of that fleet?”
“Yes sir, he was, but he was injured at Tynna. That is where we followed these mercenaries from.”
“I see. If you just continue what your doing, I can handle the rest.”
“Thank you sir.”
“240 MC-10 Starfighters, assault those TIE-Wings. K-wings, go and bomb that shipyard with your ion bombs. 48 MC-10 Starfighters, get those B-wing Uglies. I want
Justice and
Freedom , referring to the two Victory Star Destroyers, to attack that Imperial Star Destroyer. All Imperial Star Destroyers, get four of those Victory Star Destroyers. I want the two Haven Light Cruisers to team up on the other Victory Star Destroyer. Another Haven gets a Battle Horn. Two Defender Gunships get the other Battle Horn and the other Defender Gunships get the Gallofree Transports.”
“Yes sir.”
The MC- 10 starfighters strafed the Imperial Star Destroyer with laser cannons and ion cannons as they flew over top, and then engaged the enemy fighters. The K-wings broke straight at the shipyards. Defender Gunships strafed the Victory Star Destroyers and assaulted the transports. A Haven Light Cruiser went to help them. The rest of the ships carried out their orders with gusto.
“All Corellian Gunships, advanced and target that shipyard.”
The Corellian Gunships moved forwards to assault the shipyards.
“Tynnan forces, surrender now.”
“Send a message down to the planet telling the Kubaz that we are here liberating them.”
“Yes sir, message sent.”
“Still silence from the Tynnans?”
“Yes sir. Wait, we are getting a message.”
“Put it on the main screen and continue firing. Get all ships firing on the transports to start firing on other ships.”
“Galactic Coalition forces, this is Humin. I have a deal. We leave, you don’t hurt us any more.”
“How about you surrender, and we leave you with your transports.”
“How are we supposed to survive as mercenaries with transports?”
“How about you quit your mercenary ways and become traders or something?”
“What? Quit being a mercenary?”
“Either that or we destroy you right now.”
“Sir, the Strike Cruisers have been destroyed. We also have the ISD with no shields, and the enemy fighters have been wiped out.”
“Humin, you have no fighters, your ISD is shield less, your Victory Star Destroyers have almost no shields, we out number you in this small engagement, and we are getting reinforcements. Surrender.”
“Sir, their Victory Star Destroyers have no shields. The ISD’s engines are basically destroyed.”
“Humin, surrender, or watch your fleet be destroyed.”
“Sir, we are reading escape pods preparing to launch.”
“I see. Continue firing, but don’t hit any escape pods.”
“This is Humin, I will never surrender.”
Escape pods blasted from the ISD, and were picked up by the transports. Then the transports turned to run. Suddenly the ISD exploded, and then the Victory Star Destroyers, so close that they were, exploded as well.
“Sir?”
“Let them run. Head to the planet.”
“What?”
“Let them run, they are no longer a danger here.”
The fleet stopped firing, and started to collect other escape pods. Then they took over the shipyard.
One week later, the President of Kubindi signed a treaty, bringing Kubindi into the Galactic Coalition, and bringing the Kubaz back into galactic politics…
