Into the Chaos -- Author's note.
Welcome to the tenth chapter of my story 'Into the Chaos'. A Sci-fi story that just happens to take place in the Unknown Regions of the Star Wars universe just after the Great Galactic War, almost 4000 years before the events of the movies.
To those not really into star wars lore, the events in this story happens about 2600 years before Darth Bane instigated the Rule of Two, limiting the Sith to a One Master, One Apprentice system. In other words, there were thousands of Sith in this time period. Some were immensely powerful (Like Darth Malgus), while other were not.
As I said, this is the tenth chapter and if you haven't read the previous ones, I recommend that you do that first.
Disclaimer
: I do not own or hold any rights to any Star Wars licenses, including the star ships used in this story.
Some warnings
:
This is an erotic sci-fi adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.
This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.
P.S. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.
P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)
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Chapter 10 -- Grinda system
Dreadnought Majestic
Getting there
"Treat your crew as you would your own beloved children.
And they will follow you into the deepest valley."
From the Holy Book of War
The first two jumps were nerve-racking. At least for the bridge crew and others who knew just how close the fleet ventured to black holes, several nebulas, and other dangerous astrological phenomena and if I hadn't been able to use the Force to navigate through the dangers of hyperspace, it would have been hopeless, instead of 'just' being difficult.
In a way it was strange, as what I had considered the start of my career, being a Chiss
ozyly-esehembo
or Skywalker, now again was the most important part of my job.
Fortunately, once we had entered hyperspace, there wasn't much to do except wait, and I used my downtime during the first couple of jumps to walk rounds on the ship with a bodyguard in safe distance, greeting any newcomers I met and talking a little with each one, just to get a feel for them and give them a chance to get to know me before we went into battle together.
If there had been any doubt in my mind that liberating the prisoners had been the right thing to do, my walks around the ship would have dispersed it, as every single crew member I met saluted me with wide smiles on their faces.
Eventually, I came down to the hangars, where Flight Lieutenant Kierian had collected the 'new' imperial pilots. When I arrived, the more than two hundred pilots were walking around in small groups, talking among themselves as they looked at the Super Sting and Dragon Claws that were hanging from the ceiling racks.
I was just here for a glimpse of the new pilots, but Flight Lieutenant Kierian quickly spotted my black uniform and walked over to me with a smile on his face. "Hello, sir."
"Hello, Flight Lieutenant. How's it going with the new people?"
"I've just had time to say hello and give them some general info about the fleet, before I gave them some time to look at the starfighters." He paused. "Could I persuade you to give a little welcoming talk to them? I can easily do it, but after seeing them, I feel that they need to hear from a commanding officer."
Looking at the pilots, I nodded slowly. Most of the former imperials I had talked with so far mistrusted their commanding officer and it was an attitude we needed to change before the fleet would be truly effective.
"I trust your instincts." I told him. "Just give me a few minutes to think up something."
"Yes, sir."
He walked away and I called up Tavune. "Mister Tavune, I'm about to give a speech to the new pilots and for that I need two 45 second footages from the Battle at Nodia Prime. The first one featuring Lieutenants Wang and Caranut, while the second one should be about the S-13 Super Stings. Both are already done, but I need to be able to access it in the port hangar in a few minutes.
"Not a problem, sir." He answered cheerfully and I could hear him access the computer. "View channel 1 for the forward projector, channel two for the aft one."
"Thank you, Mister Tavune."
"You're welcome, sir." He paused, but then asked. "Can I record this, so the speech can be used on the cruisers? The pilots there might need to hear the same."
I was silent for a moment. Not due to the request, because that was a reasonable one, but in appreciation of how far he had come. "Good idea, Mister Tavune. Let's do that."
"Yes, sir."
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"Attention on deck!" The Flight Lieutenant called about five minutes later. "Fleet Commander Commodore Thalen present."
I walked over to the podium Flight Lieutenant Kierian had used for his own speech and looked at the men and women in front of me. Since the Imperial Navy didn't allow non-humans in their ranks, there were a lot more humans than any other race, but aside from that, there were a lot of different skin and hair colours.
"At ease, ladies and gentlemen." I said and as a result they shifted to a more relaxed stance. "Fellow warriors, welcome to the Dragon Defence Force. I won't bore you with practical details, that's Flight Lieutenant Kierian's job. Instead, I'll explain what I expect from you, which is pretty simple. I expect you to follow orders, to do your best in combat, to treat every member of this fleet with respect and I expect you to survive." I paused for a moment and looked at their faces. "Let me explain the last one. I don't mean 'survive as long as you can' or anything else like that. The road that brought you here has already proven that you are survivors. I would like to keep it that way and for that reason, we'll give you some of the best starfighters in the galaxy." I gestured toward the rack that held the Dragonclaws. "What you see there is the Dragonclaw Interceptor and it's our version of the Mk. VI you all know... except that it's faster, nimbler, better armored, better armed, shielded and it even has a pressurized cockpit with its own air supply, that can be ejected as an escape pod."
Some of the pilots looked sideways at each other, doubt in their faces.
"Now, we also need scouts, so those not getting a Dragonclaw, will get a S13a Super Sting like the ones at the end of the hangar." I gestured to the racks. "The Super Sting is an upgraded version of the ordinary Sting, with shields and better armor." I paused for a moment to give them time to digest the news, and then continued. "Now, I know that all this sounds too good to be true, so allow me to show you their performance at Nodia and the battle to rescue you guys." I activated the com. "Tavune, Channel 1 please."
A moment later the giant screen at the end wall switched on and for the next 45 seconds, we followed Lieutenants Wang and Caranut in their Dragonclaws, as they took down several S-13s and MK VI Supremacy-class starfighters.
Instead of watching the video, I studied the pilots, who looked stunned at first, but when the vid was over, smiles had begun to show on their faces. The second vid started, this time showing our Super Sting going against the Imperial S-13 and winning.
"That, people, is the Dragonclaw and the S13a Super Sting in action." I said as they returned their attention to me. "As you might have noticed, we also use the old Aurek Tactical Strikefighter due to the fact that it's one of the fastest strikefighters that have ever been built. However, since all of you here are used to the Imperial layout of the cockpit, those of you who make the simulator tests, will get to pilot either a Dragonclaw or a S-13 Super Sting, since that eliminates the time it takes to get accustomed to a new layout. This is important, because in ten days we're going to ambush a battlegroup with a Lictor that carries nine thousand of your fellow prisoners along with five thousand children from Nodia. "That means that we have to take out a S-Class cruiser, two Terminus-class destroyers, two Delta-class carriers, eight Drake-class frigates and three Manta-class corvettes."
This time they looked surprised and slightly shocked.
"In case you think that it can't be done, this battlegroup consists of this dreadnought and eight cruisers, carrying more than five hundred starfighters. We have the firepower to take them, and the trick will be to make sure the Lictor isn't allowed to escape or blow up. The job of the starfighters will most likely be to take care of the enemy starfighters, as well as those capital ships who're not bristling with anti-starfighter weapons."
The weapon layout on the Imperial capital ships varied wildly depending on the role said ship was expected to fill, and the upgrades we had encountered in Nodia, didn't make it any easier.
"Now this isn't a combat we'll just throw you into," I continued. "So, for the next nine days, you will be extremely busy in the simulators. Make no mistake, people. Not all of you are going to make the grade. Not for lack of ability, but despite that you've all been cleared by the medical staff, the simulators will be more than some of you can handle. That is on purpose. I do not want to clear someone for fighting, only to have them die in their first combat." I looked at the rows of people in front of me. "The last and most important thing you need to understand is that we're alone out here. We do not have the almost limitless number of people and resources of the Empire or the Republic to draw upon. That means that every one of you are valuable members of the crew, with hard-earned skills we can ill afford to lose. Those who don't make it this time, will get more physical training if they chose, so they can make the grade later, or become pilots on a larger ship, if that is the choice. It also means that every craft is one we can't easily replace, so while most combat will cause casualties, trust me when I say that we try to avoid that."
Some of them still looked doubtful, but most of them were smiling, and I got the impression that they were looking forward to piloting a starfighter again.
"That's all, people. Good luck in the coming week and now I'll leave you in the capable hands of Flight Officer Kierian."
With a nod to them, I stepped down from the podium and walked out of the hangar.
I hoped that as many of those pilots as possible made the grade, because while we did carry five hundred starfighters, we only had around two hundred pilots and bringing the starfighter complement up to full would dramatically increase our chances of liberating the prisoners, adult and children both.
The sound of children laughing and running feet brought me out of my thoughts and I just had the time to step aside as three children came running around a corner. Unfortunately, they had totally overlooked one of the small cleaning droids and a moment later they stumbled over it, ending up on the floor in a pile, with one of them, a human boy, hitting the wall of the passageway and immediately starting to cry.
With a sigh, I signalled the guard to keep distance, walked over to the human boy and helped him to his feet. At least I tried, but as it turned out he could only stand on one leg. "Easy now. Your leg hurts?"
"Yes, the knee." He cried with tears running down his face as he pointed at the wounded knee.
