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| - Aboard the now-functional Rapier, Argon is reading a couple of reports from the staff on the status of the rescued marines. The Corellian is not horribly pleased at this point, but somewhat relieved that the Rapier and Saber have yet to be bothered as they guard the beachhead for the marines that were able to land. Around the two fly the eight remaining fighters. Argon looks to his XO and says, "When are they going to get here? Hopefully the marines are making some progress down there, we are sitting ducks right now." The promised reinforcements finally arrive. The pitch black of one particular bit of space shimmering as various ships transition out of hyperspace. Some smaller ratings like frigates and other pickets are arrayed around a larger Mon Calamari-made cruiser. The Deliverance could be picked out as much by its size as by its bulbous, organic look, the Mon Calamari's trademark design taken to its peak in its construction. The group arrays itself towards the Rapier and begins streaming forward and as it does so, the Deliverance's hangar bays begin to disgorge its fighters. Flight by flight its fighter contingent stream ahead of the Deliverance. "This is Deliverance command to Rapier command, report.", the beamed transmission plays on the Rapier's bridge comms. The arrival of Republic forces and the transmission bring some relief to the slightly-frazzled Argon. The comm officer prepares to send the transmission that follows, "This is Rapier command." A deep breath follows, "We are down to eight fighters. The Saber is badly damaged, we were out of power for a little bit, and all three Corguns were destroyed, as were two transports. We had to rescue two transports' crews and marines, though we could not recover the heavy vehicles. We were able to destroy an Imperial cruiser and land two transports on the surface. Otherwise we have been able to hold our position thus far without incident." "Instruct the Saber to steam out and jump to hyperspace. If its hyperdrive is out, just tell her to draw away from the battlefield.", the Deliverance's commander relies those instructions to the officer nearest him before he reactivates the comm. "We will be at your location in five minutes, Rapier. How are the men we've been able to land doing, what is the situation on the ground so far?" Argon sends the order to the Saber, "Saber command, this is Rapier command, you are to withdraw from the area, use hyperspace if possible. Otherwise get out of the danger zone." In his response to the Deliverance, Argon says, "The space port has been taken, but the city is proving difficult to take at this point. Not going as well as anticipated due to a lack of manpower, but the fight is not over, yet." Rasi stares out at the holographic display of local space, his hands clasped behind him. The man's head tilts slightly to the side as he surveys the battlefield, "Alright then, Rapier. Hang tight, we'll assign some pickets to you. In the meantime, inform the ground troops to hunker down and fortify their gains so far. No need to waste lives, we'll resume the ground attack methodically when we can bring in more transports." Which means dealing with whatever the Imperials have up their sleeves. "Thank you, sir. Will inform the marines to do so." Argon has the communication channel opened to the marines, "This is Rapier command, fortify what you have gained thus far. Hang in there, we are working to get you some more troops down there." He frowns, but it dissipates as he leans back in his seat, "Let's hope for the best." The Remorseless lurked on the edge of sensor range. A distant haunting that reminded the Republic fleet of its presence each time actor sensors swept across one another. The remaining Imperial ships - a handful of Vigil-class corvettes and system patrol craft had retreated and rallied to it but since the loss of the Responder, the rag-tag assembly had not dared to venture closer for fear of following the veteran warship and its escorts to their end. The low chatter across comms channels coordinates the active scans of the fleet, each vessel assigned a different arc of responsibility and feeding their data to the command ship for dissemination, affording the large force a domineering view of local space. Quite suddenly those channels come alive. Multiple hyperspace events reported. One, two, three Star Destroyer sized vessels bursting into real-space in formation, a host of frigates staggered in between them. Imperial reinforcements have arrived. "Active sensors." Vice Admiral Solomon Fields commands from his vantage at the fore of the lead ship's bridge. "Launch all fighter wings and establish close interception patterns." Klaxons blare aboard the Deliverance as the long-range sensors pick out the arrival of the Imperial reinforcements and Rasi grimaces, "Please shut that down, we expected them to arrive so let's not run around like headless chickens.", a sense of normalcy, in as much as one can be normal on the immediate eve of battle, is reestablished on the cruiser's bridge. He looks over the readings, "Rapier, form up on us. We'll lead you in, stay towards the back of the formation and once we're engaged deploy out and pick out targets as the opportunity arises." The fighters reorient themselves towards the newcomers, cutting across the Republic's line smoothly while the larger capital class ships completed their turns slowly and engaged their engines. The warning sirens go off in the Rapier as well until they are dealt with. "So it begins." Argon says and responds to the Deliverance, "Aye aye." With that, he turns to his navigator, "Join the rest of our ships, stay in the rear until the fight begins, then await further orders." He stands and paces a little, "Best to get this over with sooner, rather than later." The Imperial fleet begins to shift - the two trailing star destroyers fanning out as the lead ship begins a slow crawl forward. A cloud of TIE's issue forth from each ship, their screaming engines a hellish call to battle as they swarm about the craft like angry bees. "Force report, sir." A lieutenant with an immaculately pressed uniform snaps to attention, boots clicking on the deck as he presents the admiral with a quick-reference summary of the Republic's present forces. "The Remorseless has signaled, and asks permission to join the battle-group. They're keen to avenge the Responder." "Request denied." Fields replies, accepting the dataPADD and tucking it under his arm as they make their way aft to the command suite - the holoprojector presenting a three dimensional map of the battle arena - nebulous blobs representing signals of varying size, yet to be resolved to an actual ship identification. His eternally dour anima expressed through thin lips. "One medium cruiser will scarcely alter the outcome and i'll not sacrifice advantage for sentiment. Instruct Captain Cror to hold. If the Rebellion is foolish enough to abandon their position to engage us, he is to cut off their ground forces." "How disappointing.", a straight-up fight would have made things more interesting. "Belay that, Rapier, we'll hold position and see what they wish to do, then we'll react accordingly." The Republic formation's maneuvering has thrown off pre-programmed targeting solutions, forcing the various batteries to recalculate based on the new positions. The Imperial line comes to quick order, picket ships taking up positions of broad fields of fire to defend the real killers of the fleet. Cruising speed makes for a patient advance, minutes of tense anticipation passing by for crews Imperial and Republic alike. "Weapons range, sir." Field's tactical officer reports as the Desolator closes to one-hundred-fifty kilometers of the Deliverence. Fields draws a measured breath and issues his order with a curt nod. "Fire." The Deliverance shakes, the impact of the Imperials' fire absorbed by the vessel's shields, residual energy tremoring through the hull. Rasi steadies himself by grabbing the edge of the table before him, and when it passes, he straightens his uniform, pulling down on his jacket's hem. "Return fire at the lead ship.", by now the batteries that faced the enemy had regained targeting locks and thin streams of heated plasma are sent hurtling towards the enemy. "Understood," Argon says to the belay order. He awaits further instructions, until the Star Destroyer opens fire from long range. In a moment of brashness, he calls out to the bridge, "Full shields to the front. I want all forward turbolasers on that thing. Maybe we will be lucky." The initial fusillade of opening fire from either fleet fills the void between the battle lines, every ship with a turbolaser picking its target and engaging - the vast majority fly wide of their targets, mere fractions of a degree off centre producing a miss hundreds of yards wide at the target point while yet more scatter off deflector screens, emitting white flashes as the impact to little significant effect. "Received hits, Admiral. No damage and shields are steady. The Rebel fleet appears to be holding position." "Excellent, Lieutenant!" Fields replies with a hoarse exhortation. "They're no match for us in that position. Continue to close at one half-speed, tight formations and maintain fire on the command vessel." Aboard the Rapier, Argon is not upset that his long-range shots failed to do any damage. "Very well." He tells his bridge, "Await orders from the Deliverance. If we are given the order to close the gap, do so immediately. Just be ready." "Commander, I want you to focus on the enemy anti-fighter ships. If we have any hope of disrupting the Imperial line, we need to deploy our fighters and I want those Lancers taken care of.", the order relayed, the comm channel is cut and Rasi turns back to the holo display before him. He drags a finger through the air tracing a possible route for the fighters to follow. "Tell our fighters that as soon as we can crack those Lancers, they are to start making runs. If the Imperials want to come at us slow, then we can at least take advantage of that." The Deliverance's guns calculate new paths to the Lancers before firing. "Sir." The tactical officer turns from his station toward Fields, who looms thoughtfully over the holographic display of the battle. "The Rebel fleet has begun focusing its fire on our picket ships. Lancer frigates are reporting damage..." he holds up a finger, begging for an moment's continuance as he checks his panels again. "The Hurricane has been destroyed." "Order all Flight Controllers to prepare for fighter attack. Move TIEs to intercept. Order the lancers to withdraw to rear-guard positions and cover our flanks: engage and destroy any strike-craft that make it through." the elderly man instructs, nodding to his sensors officer as the steady exchange of fire continues about them. "Redistribute one-third shield power to their approach vector as soon as you have it locked." The Rapier tries to open communications with the Deliverance, "Sir," Argon says, "Might I suggest us trying to flank the Star Destroyer? You have the more heavily armored ship, and can perhaps get it to adjust its shields accordingly, allowing us to hit it where it's weaker." The order that came through gets a moment of thought, but gives the order order to the weapons officer, "Barring further orders, target the lancers." Again the Deliverance's CO grabs onto the large table before him, the one from which the holo image was being emitted from. The vessel was unharmed, but kinetic energy was still a thing and the Deliverance shakes as a result. "Good idea, commander. Keep an eye out on the Remorseless, I don't want it to sneak in behind us and target our men on ground when we move forward." Which they now do, the Deliverance lurching forward and with it the rest of its group. "Once we engage, take advantage of whichever side we're not facing but until we close on them occupy those Lancers. I want our fighters to have as smooth sailing as possible." Terribly untechnical language, but it did the trick enough in describing what it was that Rasi needed done. The Deliverance wasn't coming directly at its opposite flagship, rather it did so diagonally, slowly beginning to drift towards it at an angle. The Lancers begin to fall back, a small burst of acceleration accompanying their turns as they begin to break from the tight mesh formation as ordered but the focused fire of the Republic fleet keeps coming. Shields flash as the frigates are rocked by minor explosions - showers of sparks and venting gasses from ship systems inflicting a host of minor ailments to the vessels, while in the other direction TIE squadrons scream toward the on-coming fighters. Flight controllers assigning targets before the inevitable clash. "Lancers are falling back, reporting continued light damage." Tactical reports to an irritable rolling of Fields' jaw. "Counter-battery fire..." he doesn't get the chance to finish his order as he's interrupted by sensors officer. "Sir! The Rebel command ship is breaking formation and vectoring off." holo-display shimmering as it updates the Deliverance's position and predicted flight path. "So, this commander has some elementary strategy in him after all..." Fields remarks dryly. "Divert shields fore, aft and starboard. Plot an intercept course with the command ship, best speed. Stand ready ion cannons." "Tell all ships to concentrate fire on the enemy command ship. Relay to fighters that they are to peel off a token force to hold off the interceptors but I want the majority breaking through and concentrating on the command ship", an unenviable task given that that token force would be sure to suffer heavy casualties, but hopefully a gambit that might pay off. The commands relayed to the rest of the force, Rasi turns back to the tactical readout before him, "Even if we win this out, we still need to conserve as much of the Deliverance's operational capabilities as possible, engaging with that Star Destroyer directly seems too high a risk.", the XO's words could only be heard by those around the table, and more than few among the senior officers nodded. "If we don't win, there's little point to anything else in this system, this campaign will be stillborn.", Rasi answers his XO. "Drag it away from the rest of the Imperial fleet and make sure that as much of it is exposed to the rest of our force as possible." The Rapier shakes as the turbolasers hit. The shields officer calls out, "Shield power has diminished, still up, just not as good." Argon scowls, "Lovely." The scowl disappears when the order to target the Star Destroyer is given, replaced with a dark grin, "I want all fire on that Star Destroyer. I want it to be debris." The initial skirmishing of long-range engagement is over. That much is clear. Fighter squadrons clash in the open space between the two forces, Laser fire into the noses of incoming X-Wings and TIE's alike as the two competing tides wash over one another. Explosions pepper the starfield as losses begin to mount. Imperial doctrine in ruthless effect - the TIEs are the worse off for it, superior figher technology and training has always been the hallmark of Rebel military strength, but with no other role to perform the losses are irrelevant. The Empire cares only for kills. The bulk of the surviving X-Wings and bombers surge forward, engines pushed hard as they try to break from the melee before the TIE's can bank around for a pass against them, vectoring in toward the brightly burning engines of the Desolator as it continues to accelerate after the Deliverance. "Damage to the shields, Admiral." the report comes in as an explosion rocks the bridge, briefly overwhelming dampeners. "Two-thirds power." Attacked on three sides, Fields draws a thoughtful breath. "Divert all remaining shield power to aft and starboard batteries." the forward quadrant would simply have to make do. "Eleven kilometers to ion cannon range...Rebel command ship is attempting to flee. We have the lead on them, Admiral but they'll soon match speed." The turbolasers from the Rapier appear to hit, "Outstanding!" Argon grins, but apparently he cannot have a strong emotion for any point of time as the ship is soon jolted by a hit from the Star Destroyer. "Damn it," he scowls, "We cannot really run from this and risk the ground forces. Keep firing. I want all hands ready in case we have to evacuate." A briefly worded, "Faster.", and the Deliverance's engines kick into gear, what was until then a blue-streaked white flare to them begins to grow paler as the cruiser speeds up. Little by little, the pursuing Star Destroyer's shields are being whittled down, but not fast enough to Rasi's liking, not that he has much choice in the manner. Another tremor and another burst of plasma, this time from the Deliverance's rear-facing batteries, arcs towards the Nemesis. "Commander, how are you holding up?", the transmission is sent over to the Rapier's bridge, "Your shields are down but can you maintain your firing rate?" Another light tremor and a sounding of an alarm from the tactical station indicates that shields have failed on the starboard side - overloaded, the emitters have fused and shut down. The second shock wave causes the command staff a slight stagger as the Deliverance pours on a barrage of fire fore and fighters strafe the aft with TIE's in pursuit. "Shields down to thirty-percent power. Damage to primary stabilisers. The Mon-Cala ship is gaining ground." Fields' exhales a breath that might as well be all flames and sulpher, setting down the dataPADD under his arm on the holo-table with an characteristic force. "Break off pursuit." He concedes. The Desolator's defenses were weakened and the Deliverance could dance outside of ion range until the stablisers were repaired. "Plot a course back to the fleet, best speed, and give the order to withdraw from weapons range...they have this round." The massive bulk of the Desolator begins to turn, its weapons scattering streaks of parting fire toward the Republic lines. The Rapier's bridge fills with sirens and bright lights as the ship is rocked by turbolaser fire. Shields overwhelmed and the hull breached, a chain reaction in the gun decks rips through the turbolaser batteries shipwide. The readings are clear, the Star Destroyer was turning back towards its own fleet but at the cost of the Rapier's future contribution to this campaign. "Bring us about towards the rest of the fleet, keep pouring fire on the Star Destroyer while we do so.", he says before turning over to his comms section, instructing them to connect him with the Rapier. The extent of the damage on his old ship was clear enough, "Rapier, you're of no further use here. Send us status reports on your supplies and personnel level. We will coordinate which can be transferred to other ships of the task group before you jump out." Argon respons to the Deliverance, "Understood, sir. Sending what information we have. Sorry we can't do more from here at this time." Argon's voice barely hides the rage under it. He is certainly not pleased to be taken out of this fight.
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