Death Throes of the Cartels : Episode IV

After being brought up to speed by the Jedi, I was finally able to return to the bridge. I was honestly tempted to stay in the medical bay and let my subordinates continue on, after all, they'd done so well without me so far, but the weight of responsibility wouldn't fuck off. So, back to work.

Not a minute after stepping back into the Indomitable's bridge, I was slapped across the face by a pissed off Twi'lek. Under the circumstances, I may have deserved it.

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There wasn't much for me to do, to be honest. The Neimoidian security forces on the Supply and Demand knew damn well what they were doing. Faced with near-endless waves of Hutt mercenaries, they demonstrated quite thoroughly why, in another timeline, they would later be known as the Neimoidian Gunnery Battalion. The Mark 3 Brutes, despite being nigh unstoppable with cybernetic enhancements and cutting edge power armor, were few in number, useful mostly for ripping apart key objectives. Most of the fighting was left to the average "gunner," clad in thick armor reminiscent of Spanish conquistadors and wielding long blasters with powered bayonets. Vicious and unrelenting, Neimoidian Gunners were unstoppable at long range. If you survived the precision fire from their rifles, the crew operated machineguns, and field guns, it wouldn't be long before you found yourself being vaporized by long-range howitzer fire. If you managed to get in close, well, apparently Neimoidian Gunners took to close-range combat just as readily. Those bayonets were not for show.

I was also treated to the sight of AATs operated by skilled, sentient crews, rather than B1 battledroids. It was a thing of beauty. First of all, Neimoidian tank crews loved modifying their vehicles. The most common was simply welding on two additional turrets on the wings of the tank, along with more armor. Sometimes the rear of the tank would be extended to fit a shield generator, or perhaps a generator for a larger main gun. My personal favorite was a battlewagon created by welding three AATs together, all in a column, followed by attaching as many guns as you could fit.

Second, the Neimoidians were good pilots. An AAT was a deceptively fast, nimble vehicle. The Trade Federation was doing the tank a huge disservice by putting them in the hands of B1 battledroids. A trained crew could have an AAT running circles around other tanks, strafing side to side to dodge incoming fire while keeping all guns facing the enemy. Even in a full forward charge, they could weave in a zig zag motion to throw off the enemy fire, while losing almost no momentum. Furthermore, they deployed in swarms.

It was not uncommon for Hutt mercenaries to be encircled by AATs and ripped apart.

This was all before factoring in working alongside the Naboo, or getting fire support from my two airborne Star Destroyers, or getting orbital support from the fifteen Neimoidian Providence-class cruisers and two Corellian Star Destroyers that had just exited hyperspace.

Wait, what?

"TFS Tripwire to all ships, hyperspace exit confirmed. Interdiction field online. Good hunting."

There was a ping from my sensor display as my captured Leviathan-class interdictor activated its gravity well generators, trapping the Hutt fleet between a massive incoming fleet, and the ground to space batteries on Naboo.