Chapter 74 - The Confederacy strikes back [Finale] (1/2)
Part 8
=RK=
CIC
Mandalorian cruiser Avenger
20 light seconds from Mandalore
”I need to know the status of the fleet!” Pellaeon ordered.
”We're working on it, sir. We've lost one Venator – Offensive at Dawn.Six light cruisers and...” The staff lieutenant paused. ”We've got only sixteen frigates on sensors. Twenty CR90 are presumed lost. Damage reports are still coming in...”
”Those battleships made a number on us.” Trek grumbled. ”At point blank range...” The captain shook his head.
”I want emergency repairs complete ASAP.” The admiral ordered. ”Give me a status update on the damage the fleet took when you have it, staff lieutenant. Comms, I want an update from Mandalore on what the clanker are doing. Sensors – the same from both the fleet and the sensor platforms in the inner system. Captain, I need to know the status of the Silencers. Findlong can they continue firing at the current rate before something breaks.”
”I'll talk with the engineers.” Trek confirmed and went for his comm unit.
Pellaeon turned away and called the sensor logs on the main holotank. He needed to re-examine the engagement so he could judge both how effective the Silencer was without being distracted by the rest of the battle.
A minute later, Gilad was interrupted by a status update.
”Admiral, the enemy fleet is firming up their formation and continuing towards Mandalore.”
”Keep me apprised of any changes. I want a continuous update of hyperspace insertion coordinates at the back of their formation. Turn the fleet on the appropriate vectors once the damage ȧssessment is complete.” Pellaeon ordered and continued studying the engagement.
Gilad's initial impression appeared to be correct – the Silencer was simply devastating against lightly protected targets like the Munificents. As his test suggested, it was useful to break even battleship defenses – that stunt was the only thing that allowed Eight Fleet to cripple one of the Luckehulks in such a short engagement.
Pellaeon slammed a fist in the armrest of his seat – which conveniently lacked any electronics and was well padded for just such occasions. If he had just two more, perhaps three Silencers, Gilad was confident that he could have won. He was reasonably sure that he could still cripple the enemy fleet if he got lucky and one of the super weapons wasn't taken out by the enemy any time soon. Once he knew the status of his fleet, he would be able to refine his plans and ȧssumptions. Perhaps if he could keep striking the edges of the enemy formation and getting away before they could properly concentrate their firepower…
The admiral reset the recording and began examining it again. Splitting his force in two groups each centered around a Silencer might work, however with the way his fleet arrived – in bits and pieces, Gilad knew that he would be unable to keep proper tactical command of both units. The fleet simply didn't have enough time to train as a single unit so any particular clever maneuvers were simply out of the question.
However, there were all those light ships brought by the Mandalorians waiting on the other side of the planet. He could use them. It was going to be very ugly, but it might just work.
”Sir, I've got the status update. One moderately damaged Venator: Midnight Blade. Two lightly damaged: Praetorian and Coruscant Dawn. Two moderately damaged Acclamators: Lighting and Majestic. Three light cruisers in the same state and one reporting light damage. The CR90's fared worse – five moderately damaged and three lightly damaged. The captains need at least two hours to repair important systems easy to fix with shipboard resources.” The flag lieutenant reported.
”Tell them to carry on. We'll be engaging the enemy in two hours. Get the onduty shift take hour and half of downtime – the same goes for the captains.” Pellaeon ordered after digesting the report.
It was painful to hear, though not unexpected. There were consequences of engaging multiple battleships and their escorts at point blank range.
”Fighter loses?” The admiral asked.
”Still compiling them. Torrents were landing at the closest ships when we jumped. Preliminary estimates are a third of our fighter strength. Can be a bit better or worse.”
”Give me the numbers when you have them. Comms, I need a secure line with Skirata. Use a direct beam through the sensor platforms away from the enemy fleet.”
=RK=
Staging Area 7-1
Sundari City
Mandalore
”All units in the AO, he enemy fleet has broken through. Expect Separatist ȧssault within the next twenty minutes.” Control's voice came over the comms of the forces dug in and around the capital.
Among them was a certain Commando unit attached to the only Force Adept on the planet.
”You heard command. Lazy time's over. Check your gear and get to the transports. We'll be reinforcing any position that cannot hold!” Niner ordered.
”You know, I almost pity the clankers.” Dev chuckled before began checking his grenade launcher.
”What gave you that idea?” Aria snorted. The Sith in training looked over the skyscraper roof where they were stationed. The place used to be a civilian landing pad converted for military use. It was quite large too – it had more than enough space for ten LAATs and a unit of Basilisk war droids and it was all properly utilized.
All of them were a part of the QRF to be dispatched once the primary enemy landing sites and likely targets could be established.
”I want one of those.” Aria whɨnėd while watching the five war droids stand up after their pilots got on board.
”Isn't your Master making them?” Fi asked. ”Can you just ask for one?”
”I did!” Aria grumbled. ”The first production runs are promised to the Mandalorians. Perhaps I should ask my Master to adopt me in his Clan so I can get my hands on one faster?” The Chiss woman frowned.
”I want one too! We can all pass for proper Mandalorians, right?” Atin asked.
”Well, general Skirata and his people certainly did their best...” Fi stopped checking his sniper after voicing that thought. ”I wonder if they have long range fire support variants”
”Focus people. You can drool over the Basilisks after we've dealt with the clankers.” Niner shook his head in exasperation. They were Commandos – special operations. While those war-droids were nice, they weren't exactly fitting with Omega's job description.
However that didn't meant he didn't want to get one for himself.
”All units in the Sundari AO, be advised. The Separatist fleet executed a hyperspace insertion in high orbit. They've began launching landing craft and fighters...”
”So it begins.” Niner noted. ”Get on board, we'll be deploying soon.” He pointed at the waiting transport.
=RK=
Sundari airspace
Mandalore
A year of war can be a long time when the leadership of of an army is willing to learn. Since the beginning of the conflict, the Confederacy had attacked thousands of worlds and successfully taken a lot of them. They had lost planets too. However until they experienced a change of leadership, there was no institutional drive to learn from their mistakes – that was left to individual commanders; those who survived after kriffing up anyway.
Yet the leadership was replaced. Both victories and defeats were examined. The enemy tactics too. Conclusions were made and finally the Confederate military as a whole began putting in practice the lessons it should have learned months earlier.
Duro and Mandalore were among the first places where the Confederate army was able to demonstrate how they've changed. Of those two ȧssaults, the latter was undoubtedly the harder. First, the system wasn't secure – the majority of admiral Pellaeon's fleet was still operational and presented moderate to high threat for the CIS navy in orbit. Second, Mandalore was one of the places in the galaxy which anyone reasonable would have thought twice before invading.
The Confederate military did precisely that and they reached the conclusion that the changes in tactics and doctrine implemented across both the army and navy would be sufficient to at least secure a foothold on Mandalore with the forces given to TF-1726. It was at noon Sundari time when that belief was put to the test.
The Siege of Mandalore began with ten thousand fighters diving through the planetary shield followed by fifteen hundred strike craft, thousands of ȧssault ships and hundreds of transport. A not insignificant percentage of those craft were disabled by the energy field protecting the planet. Nearly a fifth of the Vultures and a hundred and twenty seven of the strike craft malfunctioned and crashed. Almost twenty percent of the transports had to make emergency landing where they could with a lot of them hitting the ground at velocities even their droid crews couldn't survive.
Yet, the bulk of the invasion force made it through the first line of defense largely intact. Their first act on entering the atmosphere came from the large transports. They were outfitted with both jammers and missile pods. Suddenly the incoming contacts doubled thanks to Confederacy EW efforts. Thousands of missiles were launched to seek any active sensor platforms they could find. Some were attack birds, however the majority were sophisticated decoys.
The defenders did their best. Things might have been different if Kraken hadn't chosen to attack the region bombarded by general Grievous months ago. If the Republic had provided more material or financial support the defense network around the capital might have been better equipped to face the onslaught coming their way.
The defenders extracted heavy price from the machines coming to invade their world anyway. However, it was a price that Kraken's army could afford to pay. By the time the last transport hit the ground – either landing on its own or shot down, two thirds of the Vultures were destroyed, yet the skies were clear from Mandalorian fighters. Only the surviving AA emplacements made sure that Confederate strike craft and ȧssault ships didn't achieve a total aerial superiority.
The majority of surviving Vultures pulled up to provide CAP and intercept any fighter or bomber flights attempting to enter the region. The ȧssault ships dived at the entrenched defenders on the heels of all remaining strike craft. Blaster fire and missiles crossed in the air seeking their targets. Whole squads were torn apart in their trenches. Unshielded bunkers were blown open by heavy fire. While destroyed ships rained from the sky, ȧssault transport dropped Commando units behind the Mandalorian lines. Some of them even survived to pull back to the closest Confederate staging grounds where engineers were busy setting up shield generators and AA of their own.