Operation Anvil [Part 8]

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.

The surrounding space was aglow, criss crossed by red and green turbo laser blasts, and bluish laser lances. In the next few seconds the Guardians engaged and the leading ships of the Republic formation literally disappeared behind the glow of thousands light missiles. Jole zoomed in, watching his ships salvo go. The cameras followed those missiles until they neared the enemy battle group, where their trails were lost on a background exploding ships and detonating ordinance.

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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.

=RK=

Corellian Cruiser "Freedom"

First Assault Fleet

High orbit over Geonosis

Commodore Holt smirked. For once ONI weren't a bunch of useless pains in the butt. 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, barely 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."

"Invincible Actual requests permission for tactical jump on the following coordinates..." an area on the holodisplay lit up.

It was on Rogue Two's right flank, close to a third of their battleships. Between them and the planet. It was going to be costly, jumping in close range to those leviathans. Nevertheless, they needed to die. "Granted. Coordinate with Commodore Holt. I want that enemy battle group erased from existence."

Yularen relaxed and calmly watched the progress of the battle. Unless something went terribly wrong or one of his people kriffed up by the numbers, he was now a spectator until it was time to deal with the orbital defense network. In the holotank green symbols changed into amber colors, falling out of formation. Others blinked out, announcing a death of a ship. The casualties were rather heavy but acceptable. The same couldn't be said for the enemy, especially once the flanking maneuver was executed. The Admiral winced when he saw Tanith, one of his Venators, suddenly missing form the plot. It took him a few seconds to find what happened. Apparently the Cruiser lost its forward shields and had the misfortune to receive the attention of three battleships and a few frigates for good measure.

"Tactical jump coordinates ready and fed to the battle group."

"Good. Execute."

Reality twisted and then twenty Venators, one Corellian cruiser and what was left from their escorts were at new position. It should have taken them at least few seconds to take their bearings, but the Republic crews reacted as if nothing happened. The only delay was the one needed for the weapons to swing into position and then the battle group opened fire as one. The Munificent frigates screening the battleships flew apart under two concentrated salvos, giving enough time to the behemoths to start reacting.

It was far from long enough to make a difference. Invincible and her escort concentrated on the closest battleship, while the rest of the Venators unloaded their weapons upon two more. The space around the Capital ships blazed, almost warping as shields struggled to disperse the monstrous energies assaulting them. First to give was the deflector of a Lucrehulk, turbo-lasers slagging armors and weapons alike. Next a Venator listed to port, half its side a burning ruin. More battle ships and two DCS maneuvered, wadding straight into the fray, while the Confederation formation started to unravel. At the same time, Freedom and her escorts finished off the last of a second division of battleships and advanced, aiming to cleave through Rogue Two's battle line. Simultaneously, Republic escorts darted forward, moving for close attack run at distances where the enemy heavy weapons had trouble targeting them.

Meanwhile, Rogue One was doing much better. It had parity with Coronet's battle group firepower wise, at least initially, and while it was suffering lower numerical casualties, the Republic's loses were concentrated amongst their Light ships. The battle there was devolving in a slugging match too, one that the Republic was going to eventually win, though with rather heavy casualties. That was until the retreat order was given. The forward elements of the CIS fleet pressed the attack, sacrificing themselves in a rear guard action in order to give the rest of their forces time to pull back. And it worked, Coronet and her escorts were satisfied with destroying the enemy ships that stood their ground.

Rogue Two on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate. They were heavily engaged, enemy ships cutting off possible vectors for a hyperspace jump. By the time Invincible and Freedom met, cutting a grim harvest of destroyed or crippled hulks, barely a third of that CIS formation managed to get away.

The Confederation forces scattered, many of them unable to make a direct jump to Geonosis.

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71st Bomber Squadron

Three light seconds from Geonosis

"Here we go again." Lieutenant Falk muttered after his Y-Wing emerged from hyperspace. They had waited for a hour or so after making an extended FTL journey to the void outside the system. Now it was their chance to shine. "All right, men. Each squadron is to make an attack run at a different frigate. We'll circle back and hit whoever survives." The 71st was just a single wing amidst the veritable armada that had arrived shortly after the fleet began their attack. As expected, the CIS hadn't wasted ships and fighters or deep space patrols. The early warning network of Satellites ringing Geonosis has been dealt with by a few stealth ONI corvettes, making this strike possible.

The bombers swung from below, avoiding the ineffective AA fire of the damaged frigates that were their chosen prey. They closed to point blank range and unloaded their proton torpedoes in the lightly armored belly's of the frigates. For three of the five Munificents that was one blow too much. One was consumed by cascading secondary explosions. The whole drive section of another blew up, sending the remaining half of the ship to tumble uncontrollably. The third lost power and drifted into the void.

The remaining two frigates suffered heavy damage but survived the initial strike. One managed to complete its hyperspace calculations in time and jumped to safety. The other was torn apart by the second bombing run.

"Well done, boys. Now let's do it again. Homeplate Actual, this is Talon Actual. Mission accomplished. One got away, with heavy damage. Requesting new targets, over."

"Hold one, Talon Actual. Ah. Return to the fleet to refuel and rearm. All targets of opportunity have been hit. We'll need you to help dismantle the orbital defenses."

"Wilco."

Falk suppressed a sigh. These newbies were like robots. After the battle of Ryloth, what was left of the 71st had been temporally disbanded and folded in other formations. A month later, he had been given the option to rebuild the wing, with all but new meat. The unit had never been the same again, which wasn't helped by the fact that the newest batch of his brothers were like robots. No sense of humor whatsoever, no chatter that wasn't related with the mission. Nothing. Kriffing wankers.

=RK=

Republic Cruiser "Chimera"

First Assault Fleet Flagship

High orbit over Geonosis

Slowly I let the Battle Meditation go, careful not to cause a backslash amongst my soldiers. The strings of the web connecting us started unraveling. First one by one, then by pairs and scores. Soon enough, I was alone in my head, with only the Force making me company. I let her go too, except the barest of trickle, which I used to sustain me. The weariness from all that strain hit me like a super freighter, nearly knocking me out. It would have if it wasn't for the Force that I had used to keep me on my feet.

I steadied myself and made my way out of the command tower, which luckily remained unscratched during the engagement. A few minutes later I was on the bridge, returning salutes.

"Admiral Yularen, great work. You handled the battle exemplary. Once the fleet has been brought back into formation, commence long range bombardment on the ODG. Let's see if the new missiles are as good as the egg heads are raving about. When its compiled I want to see a detailed breakdown on our loses as well as an estimate on the enemy's." I paused as another wave of weakness hit me.

"General, are you all right?"

"I think I overdid it a bit," I muttered.

"I'll get you that data personally. Now you should get some rest, sir."

"That's the plan. Just don't let Kenobi start the ground invasion before we control the orbitals."

"I'll make sure that the Jedi contingent behaves. Now get some rest or I'll call some folks from medical to sedate you. Frankly General, you look like a you are on your last legs."

"I feel that way too. Besides mentioning the folks with the needles is not cool at all."

An hour later, elements from first assault fleet commenced long range bombardment on the orbital defenses ringing Geonosis.

=RK=

Estimated losses after the fleet action during the Second Geonosis:

Republic Losses:

21 Venators, 11 damaged;

93 Light cruisers, 69 damaged;

125 Frigates, 45 damaged;

12, 587 Torrent fighters; 211 Y-Wing bombers;

Confederation of Independent Systems loses:

6 Droid Command Ships, 1 Damaged;

24 Battleships, 5 damaged;

312 Munificent Frigates, 31 damaged;

36, 975 Vulture fighters;