Chapter 38 - Operation Anvil [Part 8] (1/2)
Part 8
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Light Cruiser ”Corellian Fury”
Task Force Lacoon Flagship
First Assault Fleet
High Orbit over Geonosis
”Concentrate fire on the fighters. Reinforce the forward deflectors!” Commodore Solo might have as well have been discussed the weather. The Corellian's tone and whole bearing was that of a bored man.
The Light Cruiser shook from a nearby explosion.
”Rrrgar!”
”We lost Legacy.” the sensor operator answered.
”A pity. What's the status on our launchers?”
”Reloading. Next salvo will be ready in ten.”
”Swell. Target that frigate. I want it gone.” Solo designated a target on the holo display. ”Guns,” he pointed at another Munificent, ”coordinate with the rest of the squadron. I want that gone yesterday.”
”Enemy fighters incoming. Guardian is engaging.”
”I guess the tin cans didn't learn. Oh, well. At least the fireworks will be pretty.”
Solo moved to a free console and called up the picture from the external cameras.
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Missile AFC ”Dart” Number 90413
High Orbit over Geonosis
Dart 90413, wasn't a particularly bright member of her kind, though she wasn't much dumber ether, thank you very much. All she wanted was to do her job. So, when the time finally came and she was loaded in her launcher, she was giddy. Her tiny electronic brain buzzed in content as it was fed loads of tasty targeting information. Her ride's powerful sensor clusters found her a playmate and sent a signal. Dart 90413 became giddy with excitement! It was time to meet a new friend!
She was propelled out of the electromagnetic launcher and her powerful engine ignited. Squee! She was the first Dart to race away, speeding to remain ahead of her sisters, who followed suit, the shrews!
That was so inconsiderate! Her new friend tried to escape! To run from her! That simply wouldn't do. Dart 90413 entered a steep turn, sweeping straight at her designated playmate. She was almost there when the inconsiderate jerk just blew away, leaving her to fly alone. Even worse, that traitorous guidance signal abruptly cut off, abandoning her. She sulkily drifted for almost a minute, engines cut to conserve fuel, when her sensors picked up the siren song of another Guardian node. She was redirected at a new playmate and forced her engine to its limits to get there in time.
Moments later Dart 90413 slammed into the side of a Munificent frigate, which had its armor already shredded by a few hundred of her sisters. She slipped through a gaping hole just above the hangar deck and flew straight into the unsecured ordinance storage bay, detonating in a pile of neatly stacked bombs. The resulting explosion shattered the spine of the ship. It's engines cut off too late, their momentum snapping the frigate in two.
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Corellian Cruiser ”Freedom”
High orbit over Geonosis
Commodore Holt smirked. For once ONI weren't a bunch of useless pains in the buŧŧ. One after another, enemy ships were falling out of formation, their fire slacking and then cutting off completely. Meanwhile, Holt's battle line advanced, led by her own Freedom. The Corellian Cruiser was dividing her attention between multiple Munificents, her heavy turbo laser banks making short work of the enemy frigates.
Holt glanced at the fleet status display. While the light elements were hit hard, the Capital ships were largely intact, while the Confederation force was simply melting. Simply put, the Munificents weren't build for such a slugging match. The battleships were already engaging and dealing grievous damage, but by themselves they couldn't win this. And their support would soon be gone.
”Alter course five degrees to port. Take us towards those three battleships. Weapons, coordinate strikes on targets without escorts. Secondary guns are free to engage targets of opportunity.”
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Droid Command Ship ”Nemesis”
Third Wing Flagship
High Orbit over Geonosis
”Our communications have been compromised. We are detecting aggressive viral packages in the network.”
”Take down the datanet and isolate the mainframes. Status on the fighter strike?”
”Enemy fighters are on intercept vectors. Missiles incoming!” one of the tactical droids exclaimed.
The Admiral watched helplessly as the bulk of his remaining Vultures was simply washed away by a tidal wave of missiles. In the same time, the Venators were maneuvering to clear their firing lines and engage with the full fury of their weapons. There was no disruption in the enemy formations, no mistakes to capitalize on. The attack was becoming a battle of attrition. One he no longer had the numbers to win.
That's how it is. Ningo slumped in his chair. Geonosis, it was a trap, a meticulously planned one at that. Now it was turned on them. Apparently no one thought that the enemy commanders would have similar ideas about this battle. Then there was that Guardian system of theirs. The new Republic weapon, it had already changed the face of space warfare, making all small craft in the Confederacy's arsenal obsolete. Useful for little more than distraction or air superiority within a planet's atmosphere. Because in Space? They were just dead weight. This time, despite the enemy fleet being heavily engaged, their accursed Guardian and CSP did even better. Of the forty thousand odd Vultures he sent, bȧrėly few hundred were going to reached the enemy lines, where they would die before they could pass what was left of the enemy escorts.
”Start calculating escape vectors. We'll execute a tactical retreat and pull back to the defense line. There is no point of continuing this.” The Admiral waved at the holotank where he could clearly see his fleet dying. Kriffing Munificents. Kriffing Republic too! Why did they have to luck out and get someone competent in charge too? If he had had the numbers in decent ships he could have won this battle. ”And pull back whatever remains from our fighters. The last thing we need is to be pounced on by bombers.”
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Republic Cruiser ”Chimera”
First Assault Fleet Flagship
High orbit over Geonosis
”Enemy fighter status?” Yularen asked.
”What's left of them broke off. About eighty percent are gone.”
”It's about time. The Confed fleet will soon try to break away. That or they stay and die. If they run I want intercept vectors calculated. Vector bomber formations on any enemy group that doesn't jump straight into range of the Planetary defense network. It's time to wrap up this battle.”