Unforgiving exited hyperspace at the edge of the Selonia system. Grand Mofff Jerjerrod settled himself as he saw the oceanic world appear before him. This would not be a repeat of his last failure, he told himself. This mission was all about stalling the rebel fleet stationed here from being able to aid the raiding fleet at Corfai. The ISB agents had truly hit on a bit of treasure this time, capturing a rebel sympathizer who just happened to have fleet movement details for the rebels in this sector, including the locations of several rebel encampments. The information was not complete, but it did state that General Dodonna would be leading an assault against the system of Corfai, and that Commander Sato was holding a fleet at their newly built outpost at Selonia. That bit of information Tiaan already knew, as he recalled that initial engagement. The Imperial forces commanded by Admiral Motti had been diverted to set a trap for Dodonna at Corfai, while Tiaan’s Task Force Zekkog was being sent to keep the rebel reinforcements from being able to come to their aid.
“Sir, the Ion cannon emplacements are just where the intelligence indicated they would be”, the tactical officer informed the bridge staff. “Also, we have a positive sighting on the rebel forces. Their fighters are staggered far away from us, with an MC80 liberty variant and two Nebulon B’s in support. They’re firing engines, and coming around towards us.”
Tiaan was grateful the fighters were far out of their approach path. Commander Sato was renowned for skillfully using fighters to open up ships to extra fire from his capital ships. “Prepare for use of the Gravity Shift technology,” Tiaan said. The device was amazing, and he had been having his crews train with its use extensively since it had been installed on the Interdictor class ship.
“Fire.”
The asteroids in front of his fleet suddenly stopped their current slight spin towards his fleet, and instead were moved into the path of the oncoming rebel force, causing them to have to slow and turn to avoid a dangerous collision.
The flight commanders ushered forth the large squadron force Tiaan had built up especially for this mission. Quickly, several Lambda class shuttles were ushered forward with elite strike teams of ISB agents to put down the Ion Cannon platforms. It was essential that these teams carried out their work before the fleet moved into position, and give them a chance to wreak havoc on the ship's defenses.
“Getting the all clear from all teams sir, they’ve been able to neutralize the crews,” the comm.’s officer informed Tiaan. “We are clear to head in.”
The enemy fleet had slowed down to a near stand still on the far side of the asteroids. Tiaan knew for his mission to be a success, he had to force an engagement. “Order Khopesh and Obedience forward at best possible speeds. Keep Halberd on our left flank to scare off any of those fighters,” Tiaan said. Orders went out, and the ships all moved. The rebel fighters were finally getting close enough to their main fleet that they might have become an issue, if not for the wall of TIE fighters blocking their path. Khopesh’s movement to the flank of the MC80 must have worried the rebels, as they moved several squadrons of Xwings into range to protect it.
Khopesh slowed its speed to be able to stay out of range of the bombers, and fired a small broadside into the MC80’s flank. The tactical readout showed it was an excellent shot, knocking out the shields on that side. Obedience moved forward to press the advantage on that side, and was able to do damage to the other shield sections. That fast movement though had allowed a small flight of A-Wings to get close to Obedience, and Liberty took the opening to do severe damage to the shields on the Victory Star destroyer. “Get the Shield generator going, and maneuver us into position to use the new targeting scramblers on that ship!” Tiaan ordered. The targeting scramblers were a powerful piece of technology, temporarily blinding automated targeting computers and making so many turbolaser shots go wild. Unforgiving’s unit though was a massive power drain, so it could only be used after a lengthy recharge period. It also had a very minimal range effect, so the ship using it had to be close to the action. As Obedience tried to slug it out with the larger star cruiser, one of the Nebulon Bs began firing as well, although to little effect since the MC80 was between them. With the rebel fighters largely still out of position, the fighter wings began taking attack runs on the MC80, trying to help overload shield generators. They were to almost no effect though as the Obedience closed on its quarry. It was badly damaged, but finally was in range to fire its armament of missiles and torpedoes at its adversary. The resulting damage could be seen from Unforgiving’s command deck clearly. “Order all fighters and bombers not currently engaged to fire at that star cruiser,” Tiaan called out. If he could bring down this star cruiser, possibly even killing Commander Sato, he’d likely be able to route the rebels from the sector.
The Gozanti carriers that trailed the fleet helped pull the weight of coordinating all of the attack runs from Obedience, which was now suffering from sever damage. Its engines had taken a severe amount of damage, and the ship was still receiving fire from the damaged Liberty, as well as a small corvette that had appeared. However, nothing seemed to be getting through the thick armor of the enemy flagship, as nearly every bomb seemed a dud or ineffective.
Obedience had ground to a halt and was being overtaken by the swarms of enemy fighters. The captain informed Tiaan that the engines were still functioning enough to jump to hyperspace, and the Moff grudgingly obliged the request. It would already take weeks in dry dock to get his carrier serviceable again, and letting it go down with all hands in what was supposed to be a diversionary raid would not look good.
With the Victory now gone, the liberty turned its attention on Halberd, which had been continuing its course along the exposed flank. The engineers running the targeting scrambler fired the unit again, and the shot that might have destroyed the small Raider went wild, doing some damage to the shields. The Raider returned fire, and the Liberty sank to a crawl. The guns from Tiaan’s ship added no effect as he entered into range. Tiaan ordered one last bombing run at the damaged MC80, to try to put it down. However, the shots missed the mark as all of the fighters were being recalled. The enemy squadrons were now beginning to move into position to attack Khopesh and Unforgiving. The Task Force pulled away as shots from the enemy frigates peppered them.
“All fighters recovered sir, we’ve got everyone from Obedience aboard. Even if it’s tight fit,” the wing commander informed Tiaan.
The task force made a quick jump away to light speed, with Tiaan wishing he had been able to just get one more bombing run in to destroy that MC80. However, he knew he had done his job holding the enemy fleet there.
Epilogue
The Imperial defense of Corfai had been a brilliant success, in which Admiral Motti was widely praised. Tiaan’s own efforts at Selonia to aid it had elicited some faint praise, which had allowed the Moff to get Obedience into the shipyards right away and get it back to full strength ahead of schedule. It had also allowed him to make a chance to recruit a fighter ace, one who was both adept at dogfighting and at strategic bombing runs. “Ah, Tan Stele, it's good of you to join me. We have some things to discuss prior to our next mission together” Tiaan said as the pilot walked into his office, and the doors shut behind him.
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