CHAPTER XXII: THE LAST RESORT

Above Elysia the space battle raged on as the Sith destroyers advanced. RS Victorya was taking hits but not as many as the two previous Ring Ships due to fact that only her aft section was exposed. RS Victorya’s aft ring gun was blazing and rotating with fury- striking Fallen Star along her wedge-shaped hull and knocking out many of her guns before scoring a direct hit on the reinforced tower structure. Onboard, Max-Stranglar was slammed against a bulkhead. He ordered his ship to move out of range of RS Victorya’s guns while Black Dawn and Night Strike attempted to advance on the fleeing Ring Ship turning their starboard guns into her hull. But not a chance as RS Victorya was heading home at full speed.

As the Ring Ship sped home luring the destroyers away, all two hundred Blue Diamond Mk.Is formed up into attack groups and pushed their throttles wide open to engage the bulk carriers. They were led by Red and Gold leaders who transmitted the encoded firing coordinates to the fighters. They would attack in random patterns to confuse the Sith pilots and bulk carrier gunners, forcing them apart.

By this time, the piloted Black Ravens were ordered to intercept the Diamond craft and destroy all of them. A volley of Nexia missiles auto-launched ahead of the Ravens targeting the two hundred Whill star fighters. The Blue Diamonds opened up with their discharger cannons and hundreds of explosions flashed within the Sith Fleet.

Forty Black Ravens were destroyed while only twenty-five of the Blue Diamonds were. Even though the Sith Nexia missiles possessed techtrallic self-homing, the Blue Diamonds used that to their advantage as they waited until the last seconds to make sharp maneuvers all around the first wave of attacking Black Ravens whose pilots watched in horror as their own missiles looped around and were now suddenly locked onto them!

The next wave of Raven pilots opened up with their slung T-Packs as the Blue Diamond Group Leaders directed two attack groups through the Sith Fleet, avoiding the Ravens, and heading straight for the bulk carriers.

This alerted the Gretches which fired up and rushed up to meet them with their mini pulsers blazing. The Diamond craft had Admantium hyper-plating which deflected the Gretches guns and picked many of them apart as the Diamonds launched volleys of Star Streaker missiles against the bulk carriers. Seventy carriers were hit and their volatile contents exploded within them sending burning Ground Crawlers, Krane Observers, Tactical Rollers, and thousands of Sith bodies as well as animal bodies drifting into space. The carnage was horrible with mangled and shredded bodies and debris fanning out into the Sith Fleet. Several of the guardian Gretches were hit by their own debris field and thirty of them were destroyed total.

Onboard Fallen Star Stranglar was angered by the sudden losses. The MD-13 already calculated that the Fleet had lost 40 Black Ravens, 30 Gretches, and 70 bulk carriers containing 70,000 troops,  350 Ground Crawlers, 140 Krane Observers, 140 Tactical Rollers, 70 Military Airlyters, 700 hursas, and 140 death hounds. Whill losses so far: 2 Ring Ships and 25 Blue Diamond Mk.I fighters, 1,725 dead. These were unacceptable losses this early in the campaign. We must turn back and defend the bulk carriers.

Stranglar gave the order to now turn all three destroyers back and for them to train their guns on the remaining Diamond craft.

Red and Gold Leaders were ordered by Captain Vimy to avoid the destroyers and continue assaulting the bulk carriers. He congratulated them for their bravery and determination. RS Victorya would now slowly swing around and take advantage of the destroyers plight.

Still, the battle raged on as another attack wave of Black Ravens closed in on the remaining 175 Diamond craft. Another intense battle of guns and missiles ensued This time, sixty of the Black Ravens fell as Red and Gold Leaders pressed the attacks on the bulk carriers, which opened up with defensive guns of their own. Forty Blue Diamond Mk.Is erupted in flames or exploded in the barrage of fire. Red Leader Tamon Rand was killed and Gold Leader’s ships were badly mauled. Yet the groups downed another forty carriers.

Back on Fallen Star Stranglar was seething with anger. The MD-13 routinely reported the loss of another 60 Black Ravens, 20 Getches, 40 bulk carriers, 200 Ground Crawlers, 80 Krane Observers, 80 Tactical Rollers, 40,000 troops, 40 Military Airlyters, 400 hursas, and 80 death hounds. Total accumulated losses this engagement:  100 Black Ravens, 50 Gretches, 110 bulk carriers, 550 Ground Crawlers, 220 Krane Observers, 220 Tactical Rollers, 110 Military Airlyters, 110,000 troops, 1,100 hursas, and  220 death hounds. Whill losses so far: 2 Ring Ships, and 65 Blue Diamond Mk.I fighters, 1,765 dead.. This is madness. The Whills are beating us through attrition with puny star fighters. We must begin landing our troops regardless of the star fighters.

As Stranglar reviewed the tactical and strategic situation in his head, a powerful explosion jolted Fallen Star. Stranglar was knocked to the floor and rising back up looked out the reinforced bridge view screen to see in astonishment that the last Ring Ship had turned back and re-entered the fight. As he watched the ship swing into view, he and the bridge crew were temporarily blinded by RS Victorya’s glaring rainbow Magna-flectors. The Ring Ship’s wave benders also prevented the ship’s scanners and weapons systems from locking onto the ship. RS Victorya let loose the forward ring gun and Fallen Star’s outer hull was being pierced at nearly point blank range. Blinded, Stranglar ordered the ship to turn away, “HELM 3.66 PORT, PREPARE TO CHARGE AND LOCK ALL M-PACKS ONTO THE RING SHIP!”

This was a critical mistake because as she turned port, Fallen Star’s entire starboard side was exposed. Captain Vimy ordered both inner ring guns to rotate to port firing only. The ring guns blazed with photon firepower and ripped into Fallen Star’s starboard side near the Rekurium reactor core. Emergency shielding went up as the hull was breached but it was not enough. The photon discharger cannons knocked the shield generator out and damaged the reactor core, causing a leak. Radiation surged through the Fallen Star like energized poison killing hundreds of its crew.

On the bridge of Fallen Star Stranglar had heard the explosions aft of the tower and wondered what had hit him. As the ship turned away, the sudden jolt had the bridge scanners all lit up. Engineers reported a core leak and quickly tried to exit the ship via escape pods but the Sith officers shot them dead, even as the Rekurium core began to critically overheat. RS Victorya was moving away from the ship now, ready to attack the next destroyer. Stranglar cursed the Ring Ship in his heart… but knew he was dead already.

As the temperature rose in the reactor all Stranglar could do was watch the scanners continue to flash the warnings until the reactor readings peaked and Fallen Star lived up to its cursed named, exploding with a brilliant flash that not only destroyed it but one-hundred more Black Ravens nearby and seventy-five Blue Diamonds.

The space war was coming to a close with only one Ring Ship left and sixty Blue Diamond Mk.I fighters… not enough to stop the remaining 600 plus Sith starships from reaching Elysia. Sadly, Captain Vimy had to break off the fight as the two remaining Sith destroyers had come around and were now poised to attack RS Victorya and the sixty Diamond craft.

There were still one hundred more Black Ravens as well and forty Gretches to deal with. It would be suicide to attempt to fight any longer.

Supreme Commander Max-Titor of Black Dawn had taken over command of the Sith Fleet as Night Strike’s hull penetrations had their firefighting crews busy. Critical systems were shutting down leaving Night Strike inoperable for the time being. Max-Titor left the crippled destroyer behind and ordered the landings of the bulk carriers to commence immediately with the last one-hundred Black Ravens and forty Gretches leading them in.

Black Dawn would pursue RS Victorya, effectively neutralizing her threat.
 
The only thing the Whill Fleet could do now was dispatch the remaining star fighters to the Jez’aral Valley for atmospheric attacks on the Sith ground forces once they landed or unloaded.

To Gold Leader Joran Hasf this was unacceptable and he opened up communications to all remaining Blue Diamond MK.Is, “ Whill pilots we must NOT let the Sith land on Elysia. It will be much easier for them to fight in the atmosphere and daylight than in the cold, harsh darkness of space. I vow to sacrifice my life for Elysia. Shall darkness prevail? Who is with me?”

The response was overwhelming. Over the interlink combat channel the decimated Whill Fleet made one last defiant gesture to the Sith. When Hasf had asked, “Shall darkness prevail?” ALL of the other fifty-nine Blue Diamond Mk.I fighter pilots responded, “NEVER!” in unison. In waves they turned back towards the Sith Fleet and signaled Hasf to lead them in. Hasf smiled but gave these solemn words, “make the hit count. One ship sacrificed for one bulk carrier. Darkness cannot be allowed to triumph over light”.

On Black Dawn the intercepted transmission caused panic in the ship and in the entire Sith Fleet. Tens of thousands of Kyries in the cargo ships were cursing the Whills and frantically the carrier pilots demanded that the destroyers and Black Ravens do something -NOW!!!

The Blue Diamonds had turned around and facing the Sith armada Hasf ordered his pilots not to engage anything but the bulk carriers, “We’re making our attack run now, all power to forward shields, throttles open, maximum acceleration!”

With that said, the Diamond craft shot out from above Elysia with their reactor cores running critical. The Black Ravens and Gretches prepared to meet them with a volley of fire but the Diamond craft raced with fury straight through the destroyer fire and past the Black Ravens and Gretches, locking onto a bulk carrier each. The Sith could hear them coming and braced for impact. Then one-by-one powerful explosions tore through the carriers, sending them burning out of control or colliding with others in their combat formations as each target tried in vain to evade.

Brilliant flashes filled the Death Fleet and urgent pleas for help came in to Black Dawn only to be silenced in a flash. Sixty flashes to be exact with another fifteen as a result of explosive collisions with other carriers.

Max-Titor didn’t want to look at the screens but the MD-13 reported the shocking news anyway- a final loss of 75 bulk carriers: 75,000 troops, 375 Ground Crawlers, 150 Krane Observers, 150 Tactical Rollers, 75 Military Airlyters, 750 hursas, and 150 death hounds. Amassed Sith losses over entire battle: 1 Destroyer, 200 Black Ravens, 50 Gretches, 185 bulk carriers, 925 Ground Crawlers, 370 Krane Observers, 370 Tactical Rollers, 185 Military Airlyters, 185,000 troops, 1,850 hursas, and 370 death hounds. Sith forces remaining: 1 lightly-damaged Destroyer, 1 inoperable Destroyer, 100 Black Ravens, 40 Gretches, 515 bulk carriers, 2,575 Ground Crawlers, 1,030 Krane Observers, 1,030 Tactical Rollers, 515 Military Airlyters, 515,000 troops, 5,150 hursas, and  1,030 death hounds. Whill losses: 2 Ring ships and 200 Diamond star fighters, 1,900 dead.

Onboard RS Victorya Captain Vimy dropped to his knees in anguish having escaped practically unscathed, 850 Whill souls aboard saved.

The Sith ego was damaged and yet they still would outnumber the Whills once they landed. They had sustained heavy losses yet were undeterred from their objective.

Back on Tirahnna, Lord Rexor contemplated the future in silence…