Alvaros gave a low whistle as they exited hyperspace. "Damn boss, this is going to suck hard," he commented. Paler looked up at the magnified view of the shipyard and then looked down to begin giving orders.
Fury gave him a moment. "Paler, how bad?"
"Depends on what exactly you are looking for. Two Golan-IIs, enough mines to take a chunk out of a planet, and enough firepower to take us out. By the way, you might want to take a seat next to me and get out of the way."
Alvaros began handling requests for berthing from the shipyard coordinators. Three squadrons of E-Wings and X-Wings had already launched and were forming an escort wing around the fleet.
Fury and Paler got to work. Paler started laying out a grid of this shipyard. "Alright, the beacon is on the
Freedom which is the second ship in the lineup. The
Tranquility is just about complete and is first in line, the
Harmony has about everything but a squadron and full crew is third, and the
Steadfast next to her is spaceworthy but not entirely completed. We shouldn't have to worry about the
Resolute as it doesn't seem to even have shipboard power yet. But I'd keep a few guns on it just in case.
"The goal is to target the
Steadfast and work our way down the line to include the
Tranquility and
Harmony. We'll give the
Steadfast a few parting shots but that's about it. Hopefully the stormies can take it easily.
"Obviously our biggest threats are the Golans and the fighters from the
Andoan Dawn. The
Emancipator is a complete unknown. I have no data on its status or if it is even capable of leaving its berth. Same for the
Tranquility but I'm gonna bet it is just about fully operational."
Fury sighed. "Alright, task some targeting orders. Have the ships move into position as soon as we can do so. Also, get our fighters ready to go. We're about to have a busy day. Anything else?"
Paler cringed. "Real bad news? I'm picking up two gravity well projectors coming online. CC-7700s. It is going to take me a minute but I'll update you with a firing solution."
Alvaros wasn't seeming to be getting anywhere convincing the shipyard of his bona fides. Some actor he turned out to be. "And get those Majestics back, damn you. I'm flying a Corellian warship. I have the right codes. No one knows where this damn yard is anyway! How dare you accuse me of being a spy?"
The Officer on Duty was having none of the act. "If you won't calm down, we
will fire warning shots and you
will submit to our 'paranoia' as you have been calling it."
Paler nodded to Fury, who stood up and nodded to Alvaros. "Captain," he said. "We're ready."
The OOD suddenly became concerned. "Ready for what?"
"Ready to stop talking to your sorry ass!" yelled Alvaros. "Shields up. Fire at will!" One last look at the holo. "And I'll see you in hell!"
The fleet had begin moving into a formation that put the
Castanaveras and
Bent at the center with two of the Victory frigates as Task Force Aurek. The other Victory's accompanied the
Bludgeon and were to focus on the "left" of the yards to take on the closest Golan-II as Task Force Besh. The
Richter was providing cover to the
Pezzini and
Kiddo while the
Havel was covering the
Angel as Task Force Cresh,
Kerbouchard and
Sledgehammer which would be breaking "right" as Task Force Dora.
At this moment, however, the immediate issue was to fire the first shot.
At Alvaros' orders, all ships turbolasers began seeking out targets from amongst the starfighter escort, hitting many of them by surprise. Morningstar-D fighters left the
Castanaveras with a shudder, joining those emerging from the
Richter,
Bent and
Havel.
Fury was momentarily blinded as the
Bludgeon took an early shot at the nearby Golan. Immediately a third of its beacon lights went out, though the remaining guns were beginning to seek targets.
"Move forward and protect TF Cresh", yelled Alvaros. Laser beams began splashing against the forward shields. Off to the right of the bridge,
Sledgehammer shot a bolt at the nearest CC-7700. The Interdictor craft actually recoiled from the shot. Missiles began streaking towards it from the
Angel and
Kerbouchard.
"Status report Paler!" yelled Fury as a few random missiles hit the
Castanaveras and almost threw him to the ground.
"Nothing's wounded yet, but I don't see that lasting for long. We should have brought more fighters." The shipyard and
Andoan Dawn were throwing dozens of new fighters into the fray.
"This is going to be close. Get those gunners to hurry up please," he shouted to fire control. They just laughed.
A few minutes later the situation was becoming clearer. The fleet was in trouble.
Sledgehammer was in danger of losing its shields but had disabled the CC-7700 with its escorts finishing the job. It had also fired two bursts at the
Emancipator, which could, after all, launch from its berth. Plumes of flames near the engines meant that was temporarily not the case. The
Tranquility was now online and beginning to leave its berth.
Task Force Cresh had, however, done its worst against the other MC90s. Moving from under the
Castanaveras and
Bent and had severly crippled the
Steadfast, while the
Harmony had thrown up shields fast enough to only lose the port side of the ship. Without an engine plant, it was still firing from its dorsal and starboard turbolasers.
Freedom was offline from a shot from the
Sledgehammer but it was unclear how damaged it might be. Most likely systems were coming online and it would be a danger in mere moments.
Fury, aboard Task Force Aurek, was watching a slugging match with the two Majestic cruisers
Bespin and
Dantooine. Having mopped up the Strike cruiser that had escorted them into the shipyards,
Castanaveras' fighters had taken on two of the Nebulon-Bs and had crippled one. A few missiles had split the other in half.
Over on the other side of the battle, the
Bludgeon had lost one of its escorts and had silenced the first Golan.
Fury ordered an escort for the Raiders and sent them to take over or cripple the first Golan before it got online again.
He ordered additional cover fire and escort to send the Dark Dragoons and Eclipse squads on their respective targets, taking care to stay out of the way of the
Tranquility's fires.
Then he waited for the tide to turn. It didn't take long.
The
Pezzini took a broadside of bombs from the K-Wings aboard the shipyard and began breaking up.
The same group of bombers damaged the
Richter and it cost the whole of its fighters to turn back the aggressors.
Using the shell of the
Pezzini for cover, the
Kiddo moved back behind Task Force Aurek with the
Richter limping behind. Prior to getting hit hard they had managed an array of salvos at the shipyard itself, with spectacular results.
Bludgeon had lost its second escort frigate and was now being torn apart by fighters. It launched its escape craft and the ship began counting down its auto-destruct as it came up to the second Golan.
Sledgehammer was now being harassed by fire from the
Emancipator and
Tranquility though it managed one more shot at the second CC-7700, crippling it at least temporarily. The
Kerbouchard and
Angel set themselves between the Aggressor and began hammering back at the
Tranquility with their last missile salvos.
As the ships collected themselves together, the Imperial Center fleet had managed to kill another Nebulon-B and had shot the
Dantooine's engines out from under it. It was adrift and still firing when the
Sledgehammer self-destructed right next to it.
Bludgeon took out the shields and part of the second Golan at about the same time. The
Bent had evacuated and were now aboard the
Castanaveras.
Paler looked at Fury, who looked at Alvaros, who was looking mighty grim at this point. "The Navy better finish this place off. God knows we paid enough to lighten their load."
"S'alright Captain. Let's just get the hell out of here." Paler had sent the remnants of the fleet coordinates out of local space so they could regroup.
They had done all they could. Now they just had to get out of here. With a short hyperspace jump, they left it up to the navy to decide the rest of the battle.
