Admiral Firmus Nantz was one of the most celebrated naval commanders of the New Republic.
For two years, he commanded the First Battle Group, which over time grew into the First Fleet of the New Republic.
Two years of successful campaigns...
He was one of four fleet commanders personally selected by Admiral Ackbar after the Battle of Endor. One of four sentients who took command of the Rebel Alliance fleet, divided into four equal parts.
The Mon Calamari had made this decision to better wage war against the Galactic Empire and the various state entities that had emerged after the death of Emperor Palpatine.
Warlords multiplied like bacteria in a nutrient medium. Not even a year had passed since the Emperor made his famous flight down the second Death Star's shaft, and the Galactic Empire had already turned into feudal territories, warring with each other over precedence, resources, power, income...
Nantz provided certain assistance in the Alliance's advance into the Core Worlds, which was highly appreciated by Admiral Ackbar and the Provisional Government. He was tasked with wresting the Western Reaches from the Imperials — a vast portion of the galaxy starting near the planet Thyferra and ending at the galaxy's edge near the planet Termirnus.
Planets so familiar to history as Mustafar, Bespin, Yag'Dhul, and thousands of others groaned under the Imperial yoke.
Nantz began his campaign from the planet Saijo in the Saijo sector of the Outer Rim. From there, he directed the First Battle Group to Abraxas in the Yushan sector, where the fleet engaged pirates on the planet Eiatu, a place once frequented by the infamous Leonia Tavira.
Next, he entered into conflict with the far from weak Imperial warlords — Utoxs Prentioch and Sander Delvardus.
He operated in the Hevvrol sector in the Mid Rim, conducting a campaign against several targets in that region. The strike on Bannistar Station and the subsequent capture of an Imperial base after heavy bombardment.
He attacked the planet Glom Tho, where New Republic forces decisively routed an Imperial flotilla, and the forces of General Tyr Taskeen captured key foundries. Glom Tho was the decisive battle of the Hevvrol sector campaign, and the victory blunted the expansion plans of another warlord, Moff Par Lankin, who ruled the Lambda sector.
A year after the Battle of Endor, Nantz's forces won a relatively easy victory at Yag'Dhul over Delvardus's forces, ending the warlord's expansion into the Central region. Nantz's forces subsequently linked up with the rebellious worlds of Kilpar, Mrlsst, and Bestine in the Colonies. Entering Herglic space, Nantz established contact with the planet's native inhabitants, who had declared their independence in the post-Endor period.
Around the same time Nantz was in the Inner Rim, Delvardus attempted to retake Sullust, but was defeated by units of the First Battle Group. Delvardus then lost a series of battles along his border at Sunrafrsix, Cabal, Klak'dor, and Sluis Van. The string of defeats forced him to abandon his domains and retreat to the Deep Core.
A year after that, Nantz and the First Battle Group moved against Prentioch's territory, leading to the latter's capture during the siege of Bomis Koori. With the Western Reaches firmly under New Republic control, Nantz began planning the conquest of the Core Worlds.
Which was accomplished with the support of the Third Battle Group, then under the command of Admiral Ackbar.
Eventually, the New Republic successfully liberated Coruscant, the galactic capital.
Nantz transferred to another post when the First Battle Group was finally realized as the First Fleet and placed under the command of Admiral Drayson.
But events of the last few months forced him to return to his former post — following the death of General Madine, Drayson took the position of Director of Republic Intelligence, and Firmus Nantz took command of the First Fleet.
And almost immediately faced the need to increase the combat readiness of his forces, switch to round-the-clock patrolling of his area of responsibility — the Core Worlds.
Ackbar intended to deal with the threat by taking the entire First Division of the fleet with him, generously augmenting it with light forces.
A small sacrifice, it must be understood, in weakening the defense of the Core Worlds, if it allowed the final resolution of the threat posed by Grand Admiral Thrawn and his neo-Imperial state — the Dominion.
Firmus Nantz did not believe that Chandrila, the planet the squadron under his command was heading to, was being personally besieged by Thrawn. More likely — it was one of his subordinates.
But, one way or another, the job would be done — Chandrila would be free, and the enemy defeated.
The squadron transitioned to realspace.
For a moment, it seemed to Firmus that nothing was happening in the system at all.
Where was the enemy squadron that had been reported?
Why was there not the slightest sign of a siege? No trace of a battle?
Oh no, there was — the communications stations were destroyed, the patrol ships were gone too...
Combined with a silent sector relay — now there was an explanation for why the government of Chandrila was silent...
"Full speed ahead," Firmus ordered. "We'll reach orbit and find out what's going on..."
The fleet, consisting of thirty MC80-class star cruisers, moved from the emergence vector towards Chandrila's orbit.
Directly into the Asteroids-II minefield laid by Captain Dorja and his squadron.
On this day, rhydonium had never been so popular.
* * *
The Stormhawk, along with its escort ships, was approaching its target: a group of Mk-II strike frigates.
Captain Morgot Astorias watched the enemy rearranging into a battle formation, noting their obvious and disorganized intention to attack the Stormhawk's task force from the right flank.
"Good," Morgot said, assessing the prospects. "Ships of the task force, prepare for 'Deception' maneuver. Bombers, move behind the destroyer's stern and be ready to attack. The same goes for the corvettes."
Unlike the New Republic ships, Dominion starships could maintain communication with each other, so the ships reacted instantly.
The enemy was moving in a line-abreast formation, apparently maintaining contact with each other by exchanging information via laser beam. They had no other option — in any other case, they simply wouldn't have time to react to a threat.
The Stormhawk's task force, after reforming its initial formation, also advanced towards its target in a line-abreast formation — the Star Destroyer in the center, with three Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers on the port and starboard sides.
Given the fairly large gap between the seven New Republic strike frigates and Morgot's unambiguous intention to wedge himself between them, allowing himself to engage the enemy starships with his broadside artillery, the plan was more than readable.
And the commanders of the enemy starships also understood it, beginning to tighten their formation. This would allow them to perform a rough equivalent of the "Alpha Strike" with their forward batteries. Not many ships enjoy being fired upon from every available barrel.
The only problem was that the Republic commanders were too blindly copying Imperial tactics.
Yes, they thought that Astorias intended to move to the "Swarm" tactical maneuver, mixing the lines and switching to individual ship-to-ship engagements. Yes, it wasn't a bad option, but it was time-consuming.
"Alpha Strike" the concentration of fire from all ship artillery on a single target — was developed for Imperial Navy starships, which have a wedge-shaped design. This arrangement of main armament allowed for truly terrifying enfilading fire.
But the strike frigates lacked both the individual firepower and the appropriate configuration of gun mounts for such a maneuver. They intended to compensate for this deficiency through the number of ships participating in the attack.
Golden-scarlet flashes of turbolaser fire danced across the Stormhawk's forward deflectors. They spread helplessly across the energy shield, unable to penetrate it.
Not yet.
"Distance to enemy — thirty-five units," he was informed.
"Attention, task force," a perfect distance to execute the plan. "Begin 'Fakeout' maneuver. Targets — at your discretion. Bombers, attack the fifth frigate in the line, corvettes — the sixth. Interceptors — free hunt. Fighters — general cover."
Were twelve squadrons of TIE fighters enough to cover seven large ships?
Under normal circumstances — no, since the enemy also had air cover.
But under the current circumstances — yes.
Because the enemy no longer had any air cover worth considering.
The essence of "Fakeout" was that an organized fleet, moving predominantly in a line-abreast formation, would charge at the enemy as if preparing for a "Swarm." The calculation was precisely that the enemy commander, through ignorance or negligence, would disrupt his own formation to counter the attacker's actions and prevent him from turning the battle into a melee.
But from the counter-maneuver — the concentration of ships and tightening of the front — Morgot understood that he was dealing with relatively experienced commanders. They had chosen perhaps the best way to counter both "Swarm" and "Fakeout." The tightened formation allowed them to increase the power of their own salvo, and overlapping their shields with each other even allowed them to strengthen their overall defense.
The problem was that Morgot did not intend to execute a standard "Fakeout."
At the last moment, at the turning point, the approaching ships of his task force executed a sharp turn to starboard. They formed a line astern, one after another, while unleashing the full power of their broadside artillery on the enemy ships, slowly shifting to follow the heavy cruiser that had become the lead ship at the end of the line.
Yes, the enemy commanders realized that they had been fooled from the very beginning, and so eagerly began to batter the heavy cruiser at the rear of the line...
And this cost them precious minutes, during which they missed the moment of the interceptor and corvette strike.
Tactical maneuver "Fakeout"/"Deception."
The sixth assault frigate in formation was plastered with a dozen CR90s that had practically instantaneously closed in from its rear hemisphere, beginning — with absolutely no resistance from the Republic forces — to riddle the ship, wearing down its shields, strengthened though they were by friendly support.
The fifth and seventh frigates in the line had some success in their attempts to change position to support their embattled comrade — the ships did indeed turn to engage the annoying corvettes — but…
A dozen proton torpedoes launched by TIE bombers literally vaporized the aft section of the fifth assault frigate…
"Prepare to envelop the enemy," Morgot ordered.
The rear three heavy cruisers in the wake re-formed, directing their forces against the last ship to surround it. The seventh New Republic assault frigate, realizing that the Dominion, having broken their formation, was now moving into the announced "dogfight," could do nothing but engage the three ships that were surrounding it in a triangular formation — the most effective for delivering firepower from multiple directions at once.
The sixth frigate valiantly spun in place, fending off the CR90s swarming it, but the second bomber run left it unable to defend itself properly as well.
Gaping with ragged wounds along its starboard side, belching smoke mercilessly and with flames blazing in its breaches, the corvette choked on fire, its deflectors losing power — but it did not surrender.
The Stormhawk began ranging shots on the fourth frigate, letting it taste the full murderous power of the star destroyer's enfilade fire at point-blank range.
Three heavy cruisers, supported by interceptors and fighters, circled in the dance of a classic broadside-versus-broadside engagement, showering the assault frigates with a hail of turbolaser and laser bolts while simultaneously awaiting their turn — support from the TIE bombers or the Stormhawk's gunners.
Well, those parties did not keep them waiting long…
* * *
Captain Abyss watched as the New Republic star cruiser squadron prepared for its breakthrough.
Formed into a blocking formation, the contingent led by the Void Wanderer was firing on the ships of the enemy's detached task force, successfully cutting them off from the main body of the First Fleet grouping holding the right flank of the Grand Admiral's fleet.
Formed in a line astern, the enemy surged forward for the breakthrough, hoping that the tactic they had used more than once in the past would work this time, too.
"Picked the wrong target," Abyss said quietly.
The maneuver was called the "Ackbar Slash."
Naturally, as is often the case in military-space tactics, it was named after its inventor.
The essence of the maneuver was that it was ideally suited for ships with powerful deflector shielding and a strong broadside salvo.
Execution involved passing the enemy battle line through the center of the opposing formation. Given the conditions above, the tactic was a perfect fit for the Mon Calamari star cruisers of the New Republic. Equipped with the SEAL system, which pumped power to the ships' deflector shields directly under enemy fire, the star cruisers could easily withstand the hurricane of fire that Imperial ships could rain down on them during opposing passes or while engaging their broadsides.
As the line passed through the enemy formation, the attacking ships would deliver broadside salvos against the enemy vessels on both sides — like threading a needle. And during that time, the 'eye of the needle' could respond only with the fire of the two nearest ships past which the 'thread' was passing, while the ships in the 'thread' could maintain continuous fire on the 'needle's eye.'
Given the speeds at which the maneuver was executed, the 'needle's eye' had no time to re-form and bring all its forces to bear against the enemy.
But this time, the enemy commander had made a mistake.
He was breaking through the Void Wanderer's contingent, completely ignoring the fact that the Dominion fleet's formations did not operate at great distances from one another.
Or perhaps they simply hadn't accounted for that fact, considering the drifting hulks of starships everywhere and the turbolaser hell raging around every ship on the battlefield.
"Contact Captain Aban," he ordered. "I need support from the Abyssal Fury and her contingent."
"Yes, Commander!"
The tactic invented by Admiral Ackbar was, without a doubt, good. The enemy's return fire came only from those ships on either side of the attack line, since the ships at the outer edges of the enemy formation were out of optimal firing position. Not to mention that the fighter screen now surrounding the enemy line would undoubtedly throw itself at the Void Wanderer and the heavy cruiser beside it.
"Captain Abyss," came the almost instantaneous reply from the Abyssal Fury's commander. "I'm a bit busy having a 'conversation' with a stubborn MC90. The bastard doesn't want to be boarded at all, and on top of that, he's running straight for Coruscant…"
From what he'd heard, the Abyssal Fury was one of the few star destroyers whose commanders preferred not to pound the enemy into "drifting scrap metal" but rather to deploy boarding parties as soon as the opportunity arose.
"I need help," the Void Wanderer's commander admitted. "I'm blocking the commodore's task force…"
"Doesn't matter," Stormaer's hologram waved a hand. Well, yes — the "firstborn" of Thrawn's fleet were allowed to behave somewhat… outside protocol. Guard, after all… "You need help?"
"I'd appreciate it," Abyss stated. "They're using the Ackbar Slash against my contingent."
Captain Stormaer's hologram nodded knowingly. Judging by the shifted pupils in the volumetric projection, the Bellicose's commander had shifted his gaze to the tactical monitor on his own destroyer's bridge.
"Range thirty, six MC80s," he named the disposition unerringly. "I see, you've started re-forming from line into 'bowl'…"
"…with a subsequent transition to 'pincers,'" Abyss finished the thought. "I need backup. The enemy's lead ships will break through. I request you disengage and support…"
"I disengaged three minutes ago," Stormaer said. "Prepare your 'pincers.' I'll execute the 'Tartar' attack pattern, but without the hyperjump."
Which was logical, given the gravitational anomaly they were all in.
"I'm grateful," Abyss replied.
Looking at the tactical display, he saw that the Bellicose, supported by its Corellian corvettes, was beginning a combat turn.
Captain Stormaer's contingent was positioned behind and twenty units to starboard of the Void Wanderer's contingent, occupied with the aforementioned 'conversation' with the MC90. According to the IFF transponder indicators, about two dozen Gamma-class boarding-and-assault shuttles had already docked with the Mon Calamari cruiser, meaning that by pulling the most powerful and fastest ships of his task force out of the fight, Antonias was leaving only six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers to counter the MC90.
An incomparable priority of targets — the MC90 was a valuable prize, but six Dreadnaughts couldn't hold it.
But if Stormaer didn't come to Abyss's aid, they would lose as many as six enemy ships — and not just any ships, but star cruisers that could be boarded…
The readings on the tactical monitor changed — the MC90's acceleration had stopped. In fact, the Void Wanderer's onboard computer indicated that the MC90's engines were either disabled or destroyed…
It seemed Captain Stormaer had found a way to both support Abyss and not lose his prize.
Truly, the "Abyss" is insatiable…
The tactical maneuver: Ackbar Slash.
Meanwhile, the distance between the lead ship of the Republic task force and Abyss's contingent had already shrunk to ten units. The density of fire was becoming such that even thinking about a miss was impermissible — practically point-blank range, where you couldn't miss no matter where you aimed.
The enemy was heavily concentrating fire on the Void Wanderer and the cruiser on its starboard side, clearly marking the corridor of their breakthrough.
But Abyss wasn't sitting idle either.
If at first he had been exchanging fire with the enemy, his ships formed in a line abreast, now both cruiser squadrons — three ships each — were beginning to edge forward in a slow echelon pattern, mirroring each other's positions.
Yes, a standard "bowl" for an ambush tactic. This allowed the formation of a kill zone for enemy ships that ended up in the center of the formation. And that was happening right now.
The main weakness of the Ackbar Slash was the possibility that the lead ship of the breaking-through formation could be disabled or destroyed. And Abyss was doing his utmost to realize exactly that counter-maneuver. If he succeeded, the alpha strike on the lead MC80 would create a situation where the ships following the lead vessel would break their formation to avoid collision.
"Bombers and corvettes, join the attack on the lead ship," Abyss ordered. "Interceptors — counter the enemy's small craft. TIE fighters — shift to guarding the contingent's ships."
Unlike most of the enemy cruisers, this half-dozen had retained its own air wing. The Republic ship commander clearly intended to use his fighters for diversion. Conditionally, eighteen squadrons of X-wings against a dozen TIE fighters, unevenly distributed to protect seven large ships of the contingent.
Unequal odds, but everything would change the moment a dozen TIE bombers, escorted by interceptors, did their work…
But before the proton torpedoes could begin tearing into the lead MC80's hull, the Abyssal Fury entered the battle.
From a range of twenty-five units, its gunners disrupted the lead star cruiser's intentions for a safe breakthrough with merciless fire. Using the advantage of the "Tartar" attack pattern, which involved dealing damage to the enemy fleet from a position "above" them — that is, one or two echelons higher — the star destroyer began pounding the MC80's upper deflector shield in what were essentially range conditions.
Abyss noted that a squadron of fat TIE bombers had emerged from the Abyssal Fury's lower hangar, heading for the Republic ships.
"All fire — on the lead cruiser's forward shields!" Abyss barked, understanding his battle comrade's tactic. "Dreadnaughts — maximum speed! Close the 'pincers' immediately!"
Stormaer was breaking the Ackbar Slash, forcing the lead ship to endure crossfire not only from the Void Wanderer and the cruiser to starboard but also overloading its deflector field generators from "above." The enemy was doing everything to realize Admiral Ackbar's tactic, firing at the original targets, but it was already too late.
The bombers from the Void Wanderer were already tearing its stern to pieces, dooming the ship to the unenviable role of a wounded straggler.
The Republic fleet's fighter screen surged to intercept, but TIE interceptors from Captain Abyss's ship tied them up in combat.
At the same moment, the heavy cruisers that had been moving in an echelon pattern up to that point made a simultaneous turn, bringing their bows to bear on the beams of the six enemy star cruisers. In doing so, the two pairs of Dreadnaughts could bring not just one broadside turbolaser blister to bear but both, instantly increasing their firepower.
And all of it was directed against the six Mon Calamari star cruisers — but primarily against the rear three.
A dozen Corellian corvettes, six from each contingent, even if they couldn't turn the tide of the fight, still — moving at immense speed, drenching the star cruisers' shields with fire from their laser and turbolaser cannons — were frankly getting on the enemy gunners' nerves, preventing them from concentrating fire on any single ship in Abyss's contingent.
The Dominion fleet had realized the worst-case scenario for the Ackbar Slash — they had broken the enemy's formation by damaging the lead ship in the line astern column.
In this case, the attacking group risked being destroyed by the enemy.
Any attempt at organized resistance turned into scattered pockets of resistance — effectively, into a "dogfight."
With one small exception.
The Void Wanderer, the Abyssal Fury, six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, and twenty-four Corellian corvettes from both contingents had completely surrounded the six star cruisers.
And now, with the air wings of two star destroyers busy exterminating the Republic's X-wing screen, the outcome could only be one.
Six star cruisers of the New Republic were caught in a kill zone.
The Ackbar Slash ended in an autopsy in six copies.
* * *
"Some of the enemy ships are retreating to the defensive stations," Gilad noted, watching as part of the star cruisers and their support ships turned their engines toward the advancing Dominion forces and fled at full speed.
The Grand Admiral watched as eight Victory-class ships, consolidated into two squadrons with an equal number of ships under the command of Captains I-Gor and Kalian, were engaging an equal number of MC80s for effect, literally gutting the New Republic starships.
"Apparently, they've decided to protect the last line of defense," Gilad continued his thought. "If the Golans fall, Coruscant will be left defenseless before the invasion."
"Don't delude yourself with fantasies, Captain," the Grand Admiral chuckled quietly. "Generals Solo and Antilles are doing what they consider most optimal in this situation: retreating under the protection of the Golan platforms. Evidently, the former smuggler and the young commander have turned out to be smarter than their more illustrious comrades."
"Sir?" Gilad looked at him uncomprehendingly.
"Under normal conditions, Golan-type defense platforms can provide the best security for a protected asset in terms of defense," Thrawn explained. "Antilles and Solo need time to repair the damage inflicted on them by Captains I-Gor and Kalian's squadrons in order to decide how to continue the battle. By the time we reach the Golans' weapons engagement zone, a significant portion of the damage will have been repaired. As will communication with the surface and ground command: at least they'll certainly try to do that. You see," the Grand Admiral pointed to the growing outflow of battered First Fleet ships, "the other commanders also realize that attacking our forces was not the best idea. They've decided to shift to defense and adopt a wait-and-see position."
"What will our next moves be, Admiral?" the Chimaera's commander clarified.
"First," Thrawn said in a thoughtful tone, sweeping his focused gaze across the space beyond the viewport, "we will finish off those we are currently in combat contact with. Then, we will deploy boarding parties to the least damaged ships, and technical teams will try to bring them to a transportable state before our withdrawal. Those starships we cannot take with us will have to be abandoned. But before that," a cheerful note appeared in the Grand Admiral's devilish gaze, "we will strip the most valuable components from them. Primarily — the SEAL systems."
Pellaeon nodded understandingly.
Getting that technology from the shipbuilders of Dac — technology that allowed shield reinforcement directly during battle — was impossible even for large sums on the black market. The Mon Calamari disliked smugglers and, by their sophisticated nature, did not cooperate with black-market dealers. The only way to acquire such technology was to strip it from a damaged enemy ship. Given the growing fleet and its needs, some time would pass before specialists could reverse-engineer the system and build the necessary factories in the Dominion itself.
For now, they had to resort to scavenging, "degreasing" trophy ships for the benefit of Imperial-design starships — not to mention that the SEAL technology on MC80s and MC90s differed radically. There was no point in keeping SEAL generators from MC80s for future upgrades of the "Imperial" ships to the "triple-zero" level.
But with trophy MC90s, the pickings were slim…
Therefore, the attack on the New Republic's First Fleet would allow them to build up a certain stock of both ships and spare parts.
The viewport darkened, protecting the vision of the sentient beings on the bridge from the blinding flash that appeared where the Republic assault frigate had been.
The enemy ship had not withstood the concentrated fire from the Chimaera's gunners and exploded when the turbolaser power reached its innards, vaporizing the reactor shells.
Gilad looked at the carnage.
The Dominion fleet was crushing the enemy.
Deformed and torn-apart New Republic starships drifted in an ocean of debris from their own hulls and the disfigured wreckage of fighters. Some were already being approached by Gamma-class assault-boarding shuttles, or other types of military-transport ships were docking…
In total, about fifty enemy ships still showed certain signs of "life," and therefore could at least either be restored to an acceptable level or stripped of key components needed by the Dominion.
Approximately the same number of ships were still fighting.
The operational-tactical formations of Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet were pulling these starships apart into different parts of the vastness of space, depriving them of support from their allies.
Significant forces of the First Fleet had withdrawn, but no more than thirty star cruisers and assault frigates remained there, along with a couple of dozen escort frigates and two dozen Corellian corvettes or gunboats.
Considering that each of the twelve reinforced squadrons of the First Fleet that had been dispatched to the "attacked" systems had been waiting for surprises in the form of camouflaged asteroids packed with rhydonium, it was no wonder that the entire line core of that part of the New Republic Defense Forces had ceased to exist.
Yes, the First Fleet, like the Fourth in its time, had not been completely destroyed, but one must not underestimate the power of propaganda.
Having routed the First Division of the Fourth Fleet in the battle for the Ciutric Hegemony, Grand Admiral Thrawn had launched a full-scale information war against the New Republic, portraying the capture and destruction of individual enemy ship formations as the defeat of the entire fleet.
A considerable exaggeration, of course, if one knew that each of the New Republic's fleets comprised nearly three thousand combat ships. True, the vast majority were support ships, gunboats, corvettes, frigates, and light cruisers, which were easy to build and repair.
But the grateful audience of the galaxy's inhabitants listened to and watched these news with their mouths open.
Those closer to the military understood that Thrawn's statements operated in terms of line ships, which formed the backbone of any fleet and performed the most difficult tasks. So, when he claimed to have relieved the New Republic of a large number of star cruisers and destroyers, the Grand Admiral was not sinning against the truth; having destroyed one of the enemy's four fleets, Thrawn was not sinning against the truth. Because the same Fourth Fleet, for example, after the beating at Ciutric IV, had ceased to represent anything more than simple combat security for its controlled territory.
The New Republic still hadn't been able to properly dispel this rumor. Even the return of the starships from the Ghost Nebula and the termination of the search for Ennix Devian hadn't helped much to rectify the situation.
And now…
Thrawn had not only effectively destroyed the enemy fleet's core without suffering significant losses (and who was even counting those destroyed Corellian tubs anymore?), but he had also dealt a powerful blow to the entire Defense Forces and the prestige of the New Republic.
Who could they protect if they couldn't even save their own capital?
Yes, a question that more than one sector, which had unwisely agreed to become part of the New Republic, would be asking itself after this day.
However, one question remained, one to which Gilad could find no answer, no matter how much he pondered what was happening.
And he asked himself this every time Thrawn launched a grand-scale attack on the New Republic's possessions.
"Won't the future buffer for protection against Palpatine's hordes collapse before the old psychopath returns?"
"You have questions, Captain." And this mannerism — when Thrawn practically knew exactly what was on his flag officer's mind — was also beginning to be a bit unnerving.
"Yes, sir," Pellaeon admitted. "Effectively, after the conclusion of the Ciutric campaign, the Fourth Fleet can no longer conduct offensive operations."
"Yes," Thrawn agreed easily. "We forced them to concentrate on defending their assigned sectors."
"Now we are effectively destroying the First Fleet," Pellaeon continued. "Traps in a dozen systems, the asteroid attack here at Coruscant," he glanced at the battlefield, where the blackened hulks of star cruisers and other enemy ships were visible as a grim spectacle. "Sir, if we defeated the Fourth Fleet 'on points,' then the First… We are destroying its line core. Cruisers, assault frigates…"
"All correct so far, Captain," a half-smile played on Thrawn's lips. "What is the question?"
"Palpatine," Pellaeon replied.
Thrawn sighed almost inaudibly, as if that name was already practically causing him inconvenience.
"You said that the New Republic would be the buffer that would stop Palpatine's war machine," Pellaeon continued. "Then you began a campaign that not only deals tangible damage to the Republic's military potential but also causes sectors to break away from them. Yes, I remember you said that an attack by Palpatine on neutral systems was unlikely — he would first try to destroy the New Republic. But the scale of the campaign against the New Republic… Sir, without the First Fleet's core, they won't have anything to defend the Core Worlds with at all, and they will fall first when Palpatine's armada comes pouring out of the Deep Core. So what's the point? Are we destroying the New Republic, or are we still trying to preserve it as a buffer?"
For a few seconds, Thrawn was silent.
He calmly watched as a squadron of TIE Interceptors, like a flock of birds of prey, tore the Corellian corvette to pieces. With each pass they punched so many holes in it that with every passing second it looked less and less like a starship at all.
"Order 'Grey Wing' to stop damaging our future prize," the Grand Admiral commanded, pointing at the battered New Republic starship. "Pull it into the hangar with a tractor beam and conduct a boarding action."
"Yes, sir." Gilad activated his comlink, issuing orders to the on-duty assault unit and the flight director. "Done."
The Grand Admiral watched calmly as the mangled vessel, smoke billowing from all its engines and flames erupting from the ruined bridge, began to slowly approach the Chimaera. At close range, several ion cannons fired on it, ensuring there was no malicious intent from the doomed crew.
"As for your question, Captain," though Gilad had been waiting for an answer, Thrawn spoke unexpectedly — "Palpatine's main goal is to settle scores with his enemies. The New Republic and the descendants of Darth Vader are priority targets. We already understood that after the attempt to capture the Jedi Knight Skywalker on Polis Massa. As long as neutral systems don't welcome Palpatine's enemies, they are a secondary target — one the Republicans will prevent him from reaching by crushing them along the way. So yes, the more systems secede from the New Republic, the more will survive the coming invasion with minimal issues."
"But at the same time, we have effectively defeated two of the New Republic's four fleets," Pellaeon reminded him. "Sir, the First Fleet... after this attack, they'll be left with at best a hundred, maybe a little more, star cruisers for the entire Core Worlds."
"Correct, Captain," Thrawn said.
So...
There had to be some logic buried here.
But Gilad didn't see it.
Yet the logic was there.
Probably.
The commander of the Chimaera was silent for several minutes before his thoughts coalesced:
"Will our campaigns somehow allow the New Republic to strengthen itself?" a mad assumption, considering how many military personnel they had destroyed in this single battle alone.
Not to mention their own losses.
"Correct, Captain," Thrawn replied. "I had to attack Coruscant so that you could piece together the simplest picture."
Gilad thought that today was a lucky day for the New Republic.
If he hadn't figured it out, who knows what Thrawn might have done in the future? Maybe he would have burned Bothawui, or shaved every Wookiee bald, or recruited the Ewoks who defeated the Imperials on the forest moon of Endor into the Dominion's army — you could never be sure with him that even simple actions weren't part of a grand victory plan.
"Notice what our enemy is fighting with," Thrawn continued, apparently deciding that a star destroyer in the thick of battle was a fine place for another instructive lecture. "Tell me what you see before you."
"Star cruisers, strike frigates, gunboats, corvettes, fighters..." Pellaeon listed, hoping he might have guessed at least something right. Because he had absolutely no idea what the correct answer was.
"You could have stopped at star cruisers, Captain," Thrawn noted. "Could have stopped," Gilad echoed his thought. "The Republic's equipment lineup is diverse. So vast that sometimes it makes you wonder how they have the money to maintain such a ragtag band. But it's not even about that — their logistical failures are the key to our prosperity. The main capital ships of the New Republic are MC80 star cruisers in various modifications and Imperial Star Destroyers. The complete inventory of the latter, as well as information on damaged, abandoned, and lost Imperial ships, came into our hands, incidentally, thanks to an attack on the files of a Republic Intelligence division known as 'Asset Tracking'..."
Gilad mentally cursed.
Now it was clear why Zakarisz Ghent was aboard the Chimaera. Thrawn had taken from the New Republic all the data on every Imperial ship they had ever engaged in battle.
All abandoned and deemed non-repairable, all shot down and damaged, contaminated by radiation from reactor leaks, lost...
At one point, Thrawn had tasked fleet analysts with cross-referencing Imperial archives with fleet data on where Imperial ships had disappeared to after Endor. This was necessary to at least roughly estimate what forces Palpatine commanded.
Now he had obtained a copy of the same work from the New Republic. Not only did he now know exactly how many Imperial ships the rulers of Coruscant possessed, but he also had precise information on how many had been destroyed!
Though, if you recalled the story of the Guardian, it would be fair to say: "Oh, that's not certain, oh, not certain at all!"
The Republic had a reputation for not finishing things properly.
And it didn't matter whether it was the Old or the New...
"At the beginning of our campaign, we repeatedly encountered the prevailing opinion, among both Imperial and Republican officers, that the MC80 was a ship capable of fighting on equal terms with Imperial-class Star Destroyers," Thrawn continued.
"Oh, really?" Pellaeon thought with a mental smirk. "The Mon Calamari tubs never..."
Then he remembered Endor.
He remembered what had happened in the six years since.
He remembered the ease with which the Republic's "tubs" had fought against the Imperials.
He remembered how confident Thrawn's fleet officers had felt when that mad clone, Joruus C'baoth, supported them.
He remembered how far Imperial combat capability had fallen and how many months it had taken Thrawn to restore it. Forget combat quality — for almost a year the Grand Admiral had been painstakingly gathering and welding back together the self-respect of the Imperials, restoring it to its rightful place in the minds of his subordinates, driving out the uncertainty in some and the arrogance in others.
He remembered that only by cloning the best specialists had Thrawn managed to turn the situation in their favor...
Yes, under those conditions, an MC80 seemed equal to a Star Destroyer... one crewed, at best, by slackers and conscripts.
"Now we are successfully proving, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is not the case," Thrawn continued. "The only New Republic starship of this type that can genuinely withstand a Star Destroyer in artillery combat, without support from ubiquitous proton torpedoes and fighters, is the Home One type..."
Admiral Ackbar would certainly have argued with that, but there probably weren't even molecules left of him.
"Everything has limits, Captain," Thrawn said. "Including my patience. It is pointless to explain to the New Republic and their hard-of-hearing government that years of hard labor lie ahead and they should focus on rearming the fleet to face a more dangerous enemy. No, they don't want to listen. They cling to the old ways, measuring their victories by past merits. However," Thrawn looked at Gilad, "they are not alone."
The thought was as simple as all genius things.
"You are bleeding their fleets dry to force them into modernization?" Pellaeon clarified.
"On shipyards across the galaxy, especially on Admiral Ackbar's homeworld, hundreds of New Republic warships sit unfinished," Thrawn continued. "While an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, even in its current state, will remain combat-capable and relevant for another ten, twenty years, the MC80's time is passing. The New Republic doesn't see it. But I do. So I will take from them what I need to strengthen the Dominion's defenses. I will take as many MC80s as I need. I will destroy as many as necessary, I will seize their Star Destroyers — I will do everything to make them act as I need them to. And they will."
"You intend to form sector fleets from the Mon Calamari ships," Pellaeon realized.
"Precisely," Thrawn continued. "In secondary roles, their strike frigates and MC80s will still be useful for a time. But with more advanced ships — Star Destroyers — operating on the front line. This approach guarantees us two simple outcomes. First: by taking from the New Republic the junk that is useless in open combat against Star Destroyers, we force them to redirect their efforts toward completing their MC90s across the galaxy. By taking their Star Destroyers, we strengthen our regular fleet and our own armed forces. Second: by transferring former Republic ships to the jurisdiction of the Moffs and sector defense fleets, we not only increase the number of defenders who, in the event of an attack, can hold out until the regular fleet arrives, but we also ensure a qualitative advantage."
"A regular fleet advantage over sector forces?" Pellaeon was surprised.
"Yes."
"Sir, but..."
"Why?" the Grand Admiral anticipated his question. Pellaeon nodded affirmatively. "Security, Captain. The regular fleet is crewed by officers and men loyal to the Dominion — clones. The sector defense forces are crewed by conscripts. If any planetary governor, or even a Moff, decides to test our strength by playing at separatism, we will crack open his skull and turn it into a drinking cup before he even realizes how deep the trap was laid at the very founding of the Dominion."
For all his composure, Gilad's mouth fell open.
"We are building a state on the ruins of the old order, sometimes obtaining consent voluntarily, sometimes imposing it by force," Thrawn continued. "Time will pass before the old ways fade and new traditions and mutual understanding take root. During that time, rebellions are possible — rebellions that, in the midst of the resurrected Emperor's campaign, would be devastating for the entire Dominion. One sector betrays us, and the entire core falls. That is precisely why the primary task of the forces placed under the Moffs and governors is maintaining law and order. While they think everything is fine and they can do whatever they please, Lieutenant Colonel Astarion's subordinates continue their work. There will be no loud trials, no exposés, no show trials for treason — the traitors will be found and eliminated quietly."
The commander of the Chimaera stood in silence and listened...
As always, when Thrawn explained his plans, everything fell into place.
"A step ahead," right?
Like hell!
Thrawn always has a plan within the main plan, and if you look closely and think, there are hints of a couple more backup plans alongside the spare one, not to mention the safety nets.
This wasn't a man — it was a machine. Ruthless and soulless, overwhelming in the power of its intellect. Not a single inefficient movement, not a single action without multifaceted benefit.
Even now, under the threat of Palpatine's invasion, Thrawn continued to accomplish tasks not only to satisfy the latter's wishes (the destruction of Republican formations fit perfectly into that paradigm) but also to increase the New Republic's combat capability. Not to mention solving the problems of expanding and technically equipping his own Dominion's armed forces.
Only one question remained...
"Sir," Pellaeon said, coughing into his fist. "If the New Republic commissions a large number of new-generation starships capable of fighting our destroyers and the Imperials' on equal terms, won't that cause us certain problems with the Republican Defense Forces in the future?"
Thrawn turned his head.
His eyes blazed with hellfire, and a slight smile played on his lips.
"By the time the Resurrected Emperor's campaign concludes, only fragments of the New Republic's fleets will remain," he promised. "Fragments that will pose no major problem for us."
Except for one fact...
"But Palpatine's followers will have the fleet he has been hoarding in the Deep Core for decades," Gilad reminded him.
Thrawn gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"Correct," he said. "In militaristic states, after the death of an ambitious and capable leader, in the absence of a clear chain of command and in the presence of great ambition among subordinates, civil war is inevitable. Each follower will pull the blanket toward themselves until it tears apart."
"Something we already witnessed after Endor with the Galactic Empire," Gilad said meaningfully, casting an appraising look at Grand Admiral Thrawn.
But Thrawn remained an unyielding wall, continuing to observe the course of the battle.
Republican starships burned; Dominion starships dotted the void with their blackened hulls. In several places, medium Strike-class cruisers from the Grand Admiral's fleet, which had been less fortunate in line combat, struggled to contain damage. Their formation commander clearly faced an unpleasant conversation with the commander-in-chief after this battle. Ah, what a shame it wasn't Dobramu commanding those cruisers...
Yet one thought wouldn't leave Pellaeon's mind.
Once, Thrawn had told him he would die. A simple conclusion when you tie your life to the armed forces.
But the Grand Admiral had given him a data storage device, saying it contained everything he would need after Thrawn's death. The device was encrypted with top-level clearance codes...
And for the first time since those events, the thought of finding out what was stored there crossed Gilad's mind.
But he wouldn't do it.
If there was one thing Gilad had learned while directly under Grand Admiral Thrawn's command, it was that Thrawn never did anything without reason. If the device was meant to be viewed when Thrawn died, then so be it.
"A desperate escort frigate is moving toward us from starboard, Captain," Thrawn brought him out of his reverie. Gilad looked in the same direction but only saw a Nebulon-B2 diligently fleeing a pair of medium cruisers. Not the slightest hint that it...
It turned.
The escort turned toward the Chimaera, unleashing the fire of its surviving cannons on its deflectors and rapidly approaching.
Was it any wonder Thrawn had predicted the enemy's maneuver? No, it wasn't.
"Starboard batteries," Pellaeon switched on his comlink. "Shift target to the Nebulon-B2."
The Grand Admiral silently turned and walked to his favorite chair. Settling into it, he habitually stroked the ysalamiri, continuing to watch the battle.
And though it was approaching its final stage, one thought wouldn't leave Pellaeon.
If Thrawn died, everything would come to an end.
Literally — everything.
But it wasn't proper to dwell on that.
Ahead lay the final act of the spectacle.
"The Siege of Coruscant" begins now.