Chapter 49

Sululluub Asteroid Field, Sullust System

Brema Sector

“We have received another transmission from Admiral Trench,” Tuff informed.

“Good news?” I asked hopefully.

“Negative. Our standing orders are still in effect,” a note of disappointment was produced by the droid’s artificial personality, “We are not to engage with the enemy until Operation Storm-Door commences.”

Hope shrivelled into a confused frown, “You did remember to tell him that the enemy is engaging us, right?”

“I have briefed the Admiral with all the necessary information, including the state of our forces and all actions that have transpired in the last sixty-one system hours,” the droid replied, “This is our third request for orders to engage. Admiral Trench has shown every indication of maintaining his stance.”

–And his stance was the Office of the General’s stance, which in other words meant the Pantoran. Before the Supreme Commander affair, Trench and Tann were the two most reputable officers in the Separatist Alliance. Pillars, you could say, holding up the Confederacy’s military, and as we are at war, thus the Confederacy itself. That naturally meant a rivalry, one perhaps tinged by mutual respect, but still persists to this day.

The reason for which? There were still two prevalent groups of officers in the CAF. Those formerly on corporatist payrolls, and those on federal payrolls. The Militia Act had by and large eliminated the former, mandating the latter nation-wide, but there was still a noticeable difference in culture between one and the other.

Sev’rance Tann may be the Supreme Commander now, but Trench still had the ear of a not insignificant fraction of the CAF. The point I’m getting at is that if Trench and Tann aren’t on the same page, the CAF would not be operating as smoothly as it currently wass.

In other words, Trench wouldn’t so blindly enforce Tann’s ‘standing orders’ unless he himself personally agreed with her. We’ve already explained in detail the exact predicament the 28th Mobile found itself in.

I breathed out. Since Trench still did not change his orders even after that…

 

So is this all part of the plan? I could only suspect.

It has been sixty-one system hours since that initial bloodless skirmish, and Jedi General Rees Alrix has attacked us two more times. Three skirmishes. Three messages to the Admiral begging for permission to attack and wipe them out. Three rejections.

It was actually infuriating, how obvious Alrix’s play was, and how we were unable to respond due to–what I assume, at least–greater strategic concerns. For sixty-one system hours, I could almost see the cogs turning in her head as she methodically tore apart our situation like a noir detective, sussing out every detail that made us tick.

See, I had made a mistake, sixty-one system hours ago. We did not know why General Alrix had targeted the Auxiliary Division; we didn’t even know if that was her intent at all. In preparation for her attack, we had taken every precaution. Not only had we moved our main battle line forward by fifty-five million klicks, we also left the Auxiliary Division in the middle of an asteroid field, guarded by over an additional hundred warships. An attack on the auxiliaries shouldn’t have even existed in the realm of possibility.

Who would take that risk, for five unassuming converted bulkers? Who would spend a hundred veteran warships for that?

Alrix did anyway.

We think Alrix did anyway. And that was the problem, we soon realised. There was no exaggerating the importance of the ‘6th Auxiliary Division. Not only was it the fulcrum for Operation Starlance, it was also a cornerstone of Operation Storm-Door on the Rimma Trade Route. So when Alrix fixed her intercept on the auxiliaries and charged, we flinched.

Because our plan was blatantly obvious from the start; allow Alrix to come to us, and encircle her forces. She must have known that as well. For all we knew, her insane charge was simply a test to gauge our reaction, with no intent to actually follow through. Whatever the reason, we gave her an answer.

Because we flinched. I gave the order to prioritise the defence of our auxiliaries. We abandoned our strategy to encircle, and pivoted into a defensive line ahead.

And that confirmed her suspicions. Because we were slated for a crushing victory. Even if Alrix had followed through and smashed straight through us, the ultimate result would have been her fleet being caught isolated in the black, between two Separatist forces. We could have easily adapted and envelop her anyway, completely destroying the one major obstacle in our path without Storm-Door even starting.

Except the risk to our auxiliaries was too great. Taskforce Conciliator still wielded nine Tector-class Star Destroyers and sixty Venator-class battlecruisers. Enough firepower in both capital ships and starfighters to pose a real threat to our rearguard. By the time our main battle line has reversed and caught up… even a single auxiliary being lost would cut down our chances of success in future campaigns by a fifth.

Sixteen system hours later, Taskforce Conciliator launched their second attack. Alrix split her force into half a dozen squadrons and dispersed them across the star system, keeping her main formation between us and Sullust In the first skirmish, we had flinched, raising Rees Alrix’s suspicions–now she wanted to confirm those suspicions.

For the next eighteen system hours, we suffered raids and skirmishes all across the Sullust Star System. She attacked, we fled, and she pursued. Again, and again, and again, to the next moon, and the next planet. She prodded different sections of the 28th Mobile Fleet, gauging our reaction each time and slowly building up a case. In the end, we made the decision to retreat into a highly defensible position in the Sululluub Asteroid Field, around a derelict mining station discovered by Horgo’s Strike Division. As Alrix had ostensibly given up her task of sieging Sullust in favour of hunting down our auxiliaries, this was the only surefire way to physically keep her at bay until the order to execute Operation Storm-Door arrives.

A wait that was growing more and more unbearable by the hour, to the point where I felt like a persistent ex-lover constantly dialling Trench for updates. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, Tuff convinced me that our case would be more convincing if we did so after every enemy action instead, to build up justifications.

In any case, it was then she all but confirmed that the ‘6th Auxiliary Division was truly the linchpin the 28th Mobile Fleet pivoted around. After all, the ‘6th was what put ‘Mobile’ in ‘Mobile Fleet.’ Every time she pressured the position of the ‘6th, we would redeploy in force, slowly but surely retreating the auxiliaries deeper into the asteroid field.

In that time, she realised the second thing; we weren’t going on the offensive. When she split her force, she opened up a massive weakness. We could have surged out, crushing each squadron in detail. But we didn’t. We were under standing orders not to. But she didn’t know that, and with her suspicions raised, she wanted to confirm that too.

Twelve system hours later, Task Force Conciliator sallied out a third time. But this time, she didn’t adopt any formation. In fact, she adopted the antithesis to ‘formation.’ As if mocking us, she deployed each of her ships in isolated groups of two to three, parading them just outside the Sululluub Asteroid Field. She tested our limits, like dipping her toes into gryzard infested waters, trying to figure out exactly how close she could get without us attacking.

She got her answer when she came within five-million klicks of the asteroid field, when Horgo Shive’s ‘2nd Strike Division struck out with the speed of a viper, destroying a cruiser and two corvettes in the blink of an eye. She withdrew again, after that.

After all three skirmishes, we immediately requested orders to attack. Jedi General Alrix was, after all, slowly but steadily discovering the true purpose of the ‘6th Auxiliary Division. We had already intercepted multiple outgoing transmissions requesting reinforcements from nearby Loyalist taskgroups. Our situation was deteriorating by the hour. Taskforce Conciliator had discovered our fatal weakness, and mercilessly exploiting our inability to attack, flipped the battlefield on its head.

Taskforce Conciliator had the upper hand against an opponent four times their size, albeit, somewhat equal tonnage. And infuriatingly, in all three skirmishes, she used insane tactics that should have never had succeeded, if not for the chains bound around our wrists.

It has been fifteen system hours since then.

Horgo Shive contacted me.

“Alrix is out in force again,” the Muun Commodore reported, “She’s headed right for us with her entire fleet.”

I shared a look with my tactical droid, before breathing out slowly, “What mad strategy is she going to employ this time?”

“She’s already employing it, Admiral,” Shive possessed a tone one would have observing an exotic animal in a menagerie, “She’s coming at us through the asteroid field.”

Despite myself, a note of beleaguered expectation dropped from my tongue, “So she’s actually doing it.”

⁂

Commodore Kendal Ozzel observed the tactical display and deflector readout in tandem.

The Sululluub Asteroid Field was a vast thing, a torus-shaped belt orbiting the star in between Sullust and the gas giant Lununmo. It was there that the enemy had hidden their most protected assets; the five auxiliaries. Over the past sixty-one system hours, the Separatists have withdrawn deeper and deeper into the asteroid belt under the constant pressure of Taskforce Conciliator.

That alone was proof that the auxiliaries were key to their campaign. No other force would sacrifice so much, and risk so much, to protect some mere retrofitted merchantmen. Bringing bulkers into an asteroid field was bold enough. They didn’t have military-grade deflectors; all it took was a few fast moving asteroids slipping through their escorts to cripple them. Yet, they hazarded the threat anyway, all to create as much distance between them and Taskforce Conciliator.

After all, who would fight a battle in an asteroid field?

Kendal Ozzel grinned.

We would.

Over the last sixty-two hours, they had discovered two key objects of interest. First, the Separatists were prioritising the safety of their auxiliaries to an unbelievable degree. Second, they were unwilling, or unable, to go on the offensive. With both factors in mind, Taskforce Conciliator possessed an incredible advantage. They could choose the time of battle, they controlled the initiative, and they could set the siege.

“Deflectors holding steady, sir,” a technician notified.

“I’m not blind, ensign!” Ozzel snapped, “Look in front of us! Resilient’s division is shielding us from the asteroids! Our only priority at the moment is to remain untouched until the General gives the order.”

“Y-Yes sir.”

Intermittent flashes of blue light battered the polarised viewports. Turbolaser bolts, vaporising any asteroid that draws too close for comfort.

The Separatists have chosen their fortress cleverly. There was a clearing, deep within the asteroid belt, carved out by a derelict mining station, large enough to station the entirety of their fleet. From the clearing branched two winding corridors, each around 2,000,000 klicks long and 40,000 klicks wide, separated by a some hundred-degree angle transversely and thirty-degrees vertically, in which laid the tumultuous chaos of the Sululluub Asteroid Field.

In this nature, the Separatists only needed to defend two thin, navigable strings of space. And should Taskforce Conciliator push down one capillary, they can evacuate their auxiliaries through the other. The tunnel-shaped voids were originally excavated by the Sullustans, to access their old mining station–but now it was to be another battlefield of this ever expanding war. Even Ozzel had to admit, there was no better location to stage a defensive battle.

There were concerns among the staff, though it seems there always was some way or the other. It must be a Separatist trick, they say, the enemy most certainly awaits us with a trap–that is plain to see!

Ozzel had to remind them not to think so hard about it. No need to look at the guarlara in the mouth, as it were. The only thing they had to focus on was the destruction of the enemy fleet before their foe suddenly finds the will to attack.

They didn’t have to stress over the true purpose of the auxiliaries if said auxiliaries were scrap metal drifting on solar winds.

But the Separatists have chosen a location where we can’t trap them! They bickered loudly again. After all, a diameter of forty-thousand klicks was not too small to host opposing lines of battle. The Perlemian Coalition’s Armada, hamstrung by unknown orders as they were, still boasted many times their number. For Taskforce Conciliator to bear any possibility of breaking through one corridor, they must bring the full might of their fleet–which will allow the enemy to escape from the other exit.

No matter. The answer to this conundrum was obvious.

“Follow the General’s lead!” he roared, jabbing forward, “Deflectors to the bow; all ships, forward!”

Star Destroyer Imperious forged ahead at the head of nine Tectors and twelve Venators. Directly ahead of them, battlecruiser Resilient’s ice-blue ion drives sputtered, then roared, leading the way for two dozen Venators and a score of escorts–while on their starboard bow laid the main mass of the Sululluub Asteroid Belt. And on the opposite side of the belt, little over four-million klicks starward, was the battlecruiser Statesman leading the remainder of Taskforce Conciliator.

Said answer was of course approaching down both corridors, trapping the enemy.

One of Imperious’ batteries thundered off, vaporising an asteroid that dared to slip Resilient’s reach.

Ozzel diverted his attention to the radiation scanners, and the fiery red blots piercing through the cool blues and blacks of lifeless rocks.

He would have preferred to be leading the vanguard, but the Jedi General had all nine of their battleships grouped together under his command. Even if he wasn’t privy to her exact plan–if she even had a plan–it was clear enough that his nine Tectors would be hammerblow to crush the Separatist menace once and for all. He only needed to be a little bit patient…

Still, there was that nagging feeling at the back of his head, that all was not what it seemed. Why did General Alrix split our fleet in two, for one, or three, counting my squadron. It couldn’t be as simple as trying to hit the enemy from two angles; the Separatists still boasted four times their number…

He chewed air.

Jedi’s still seeing something I’m not. Again.

⁂

“They’re coming in from both corridors,” Krett laid out the basic details, “Two-thirds led by Resilient to our starboard, and one-third led by Statesman to our port.”

“Splitting their force like this…” Horgo narrowed his eyes, “Do they not understand that Statesman will have their positions overrun immediately?”

“We’ll match them,” I said to the officers, “Diedrich and Horgo will hold the line against Resilient and Imperious. They will give ground and buy time. Vinoc, Ventress and I will take our port flank, against Statesman. We’ll take our heaviest dreadnoughts, smash their starward division, sweep around to the rimward side of the belt, and block Alrix’s rear.”

Diedrich Greyshade and Horgo Shive had the most experience with independent command, and their ‘2nd and ‘3rd Divisions were nothing to scoff at either, with a combined 115 warships–twice the number of the the Republic’s left flank, if not quite twice the tonnage. Considering the make of both fleets, in fact, the tonnage differential was nearly non-existent. Against the full-forward firing arcs of Star Destroyers, they were initially going to have a hard time about it, but we had an astrographical trick up our sleeves.

Vinoc, Ventress and I, on the other hand, will have 130 ships, among which were some of Ventress’ repaired warships. Three times the Republic’s starward flank. That left Krett with some hundred and twenty warships in reserve.

“I’ll take the rear again,” Krett confirmed, “I’ll keep an eye out for any enemy stratagems. But for now, stay wary.”

Krett was our defence specialist, aboard the floating fortress Fortressa. He was one of the first to figure out Alrix’s play sixty or so hours ago, even without the Force in his head. Seeing how I was blind as a mole-rat then, I would be remiss if I didn’t take his advice. I mean… he successfully stalemated not one, but two Jedi Generals at the Siege of Ringo Vinda for three entire months. Neimoidian or not, he had a better head on his shoulders than any of us, in this regard.

“General Alrix’s stratagems may seem mindless at first,” Krett warned, “But as with all Jedi, the idea behind all of them are rather simple. The hardest part is to stop overthinking. Consider meeting us in the belt. It may seem the height of lunacy, but it has its merits.”

A round of affirmative nods swept through us. Looking at the tactical readouts shared across all of our displays, it was spelled out plainly. Within the confined spaces, Alrix was likely seeking a brawl, where Republic ships held the tactical advantage.

See, the battlefield doctrine of the Republic and Separatist Alliance had irrevocably diverged. The Republic had greater access to high quality ammunition, thanks to their heavily industrialised Core Worlds–seen with the widespread use of their iconic blue ionised blaster bolts. The Confederacy, on the other hand, was forced to rely on cheaper, unrefined gases, as apparent from our red bolts.

As turbolaser bolts were close quarter armaments, Republic starship designers naturally gravitated to heavier, frontloaded brawlers. Star Destroyers.

To counter this, the Separatist Alliance moved away from gas-based weaponry, and invested in self-propelled warheads. The Providence-class star destroyer was the product; boasting a heavy array of turbolaser batteries, indeed, but its main firepower lay in its 306 torpedo tubes in 102 launchers. Then came the dreadnought variant, boasting twice that number. It was designed to be the antithesis to the Star Destroyer; to levy its missile armament to pound its opponents to scrap before they could ever get trapped in close quarters combat.

By contrast, Venators only had four torpedo tubes, and it has been discovered that the Republic’s newest Tector-class had foregone torpedoes and missiles entirely.

Long range battles like Centares was where the Confederacy’s starfleets shone most brightly, but get trapped in a Star Destroyer’s hammerlock–even a Venator’s–and a Providence is unlikely to win in a one-to-one brawl.

“Looks like Alrix doesn’t want a repeat of sixteen hours ago,” Shive grinned, “Can’t blame the girl, you know?”

Sixteen hours ago, Alrix sent a Hammerhead a bit too close to us, into the effective range of one of Shive’s missile frigates. This time, she was approaching under the cover of the belt, effectively forcing us into the close quarters brawl Separatist battle doctrine had evolved to avoid.

It was true that the only reason we were in this predicament was because of Ventress, even if none of us would say it in her presence. If it wasn’t for Ventress’ damaged flotilla stuck here, we could be stationed safely outside of the Sullust System’s termination shock, waiting patiently for Operation Storm-Door to begin. However, we chose this location for a reason. The navigable tunnels had a quirk Alrix couldn’t know from outside, one that allowed us to marshal our full numbers.

And it was that they widened ever so imperceptibly closer to the clearing, until it was too late, ballooning from 40,000 klicks to nearly 100,000 klicks in diameter near our end.

“One more thing,” Ventress rasped, “Our Vultures will be useless.”

“Not useless,” Diedrich admonished, “Just… diminished.”

Vulture swarm tactics don’t work in an asteroid field, for obvious reasons.

“I will take our best aces,” the Sith Acolyte said, “And only the most responsive Vultures. Any more would be a liability out there. This time, Bonteri, when I warn you, do your best to listen to me.”

“Duly noted,” I sighed, “Anything to add, Vinoc?”

“Look out for me too, Ventress,” he drawled, “I’m not the most connected with the Force.”

Ventress sneered, but crossed her arms in agreement anyway, “I know.”

There was a jab there, depending on how you took it. But Vinoc only seemed amused, and I wasn’t in the mood for stepping into other people’s quarrels.

“If that’s all,” Horgo clapped with long, spindly hands, “Let’s get the show on the road!”

“Remember,” Krett said one more time, “In a battle outside the bounds of common sense, commonsensical thought is always found most lacking. The Jedi’s first and final trick is not on the battlefield, but in our heads. Whatever happens, do not overthink it.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The holograms then flashed out of existence. Repulse’s pilothouse dimmed into battle lighting, and the heavy thuds of blast shields vibrated the bridge as they covered the viewports. The holographic HUD spun up a moment later, cycling through a dozen different sensor modes before settling on IR.

I patted one of Repulse’s consoles as the ship automatically pinpointed the enemy signatures ahead, Star Destroyer drive cones radiating brightly through the dense asteroid field.

“Time for another go at it, old girl.”

Repulse rumbled in agreement.

⁂

A firefight was breaking out.

Ozzel could only watch the shadowed backs of Resilient and her two-dozen battlecruisers as the first opening salvos trumpeted the declaration of battle. There had been once again cautionary words of Separatist trickery from the staff, right before the outset. After all, in these narrow corridors it was impossible to use a large force to its best advantage. The Separatists will not be able to marshal their most irritable tactic, the presentation of broadsides in line ahead.

It was reasoned, then, that the Separatists were likely to prepare a trap ahead.

Ozzel scoffed at that.

It’s not so complicated. The Separatists won’t spring any trap, because they won’t be able to. It is the Republic taking the initiative, setting the stage, and controlling the pace. This was the Republic’s game, not the enemy’s.

Sixty-three system hours since the first Skirmish at Sullust, the forces of the Republic and Confederacy met in the first major engagement in the star system. Loyalist warships, in convex formation, steadily pounded forward, intent on overwhelming the enemy with the depth of the all-forward firing envelopes of their Star Destroyers. Hundreds of brilliant beams pierced the boundless forest of asteroids, blue-red fangs of energy bit into deflector shields in sparks of bright light, the sheer volume trapped within the constriction turning them almost violet.

Don’t overthink it. That’s what Ozzel always said.

There were no fancy formations, no brilliant manoeuvres, no convoluted stratagems. There were only shields forward, and the enemy ahead. This was not a battle of skill, but one of pure firepower.

And the Navy of the Republic was not lacking in firepower.

General Alrix’s battlecruisers roared ahead in furious forward assault, heavy DBY-827 turbolaser batteries shoving shot after shot down the throats of the enemy. In this battlefield, the main Separatist ships of the line, their Providences, were unable to present their broadsides, whereas the Republic’s wedge-shaped hulls could open fire with all guns.

Ozzel felt his stomach churn. They were winning, that much was certain. After responding to the initial assault, the Separatist right flank had finally laid down a steady stream of laser fire, and began retreating back up the corridor. But something still nagged at him. His Tectors, the heaviest warships in Taskforce Conciliator, were stationed at the rear.

It was not so much that it was a questionable decision–though it no doubt was–simply that he wished he was in the vanguard, so that he could see the faces of the fleeing enemy himself.

Unable to do so, Ozzel occupied himself by reviewing the tactical displays to vicariously live the battle through the screens

And it was there he noticed that as the Republic left wing pushed the Separatists further and further, the diameter of the corridor was slowly beginning to widen, like a reverse funnel. As it did, the enemy was able to introduce more ships to their frontline one by one. Already, some Separatist Providences were trying to storm past the bow of Resilient, nearly brandishing their torpedo launchers, if not for the relentless fire of the Republic front pushing them back.

“Get me a line to the General!” Ozzel barked.

“Patching in the Resilient right away, sir!”

General Alrix’s hologram commanded the deck of Imperious as she appeared, earthen cloak ruffling in an imaginary breeze.