Chapter 24 - Battle for Takodana - Seventh Part (1/2)

Planet Takodana Orbit

A massive space ship battle was raging all over the place while the two fleets in combat tried their best to push each other. It was a chaotic view and any normal person would be unable to make any sense out of it but it was totally different for the commanders of each fleet.

- ”Star Destroyer Scar Mace shields are off and request aid”

- ”40% of TIE fighters have been lost”

- ”Engineer Bay informs that the weaponry on the left side of our Star Destroyer has been lost”

- ”Resistance bombers approaching from point 98, 6674.”

The reports came down on Commander Sylus by the second and none was reassuring. It has not been a long time since the beginning of the battle but he knew that he was being outsmarted by the

enemy's commander. He gritted his teeth in frustration and started to give commands as ast as he could.

- ”Tell Scar Mace to change positions to point 97, 444 so he can be covered by Infinity Star Destroyer! Have each leader of the TIE fighters to regroup their teams closer to us so we can support them! Tell Engineer bay to pass all energy to the rest of the weaponry systems and point our superior and inferior cannons at our left side to cover for the loss! Send the TIE fighters that are regrouping to intercept the bombers!”

Even though, he gave the orders in a very collected manner, he was getting desperate by the second and he knew that if h did not turned the tables somehow these actions would be just temporary palliatives.

- ”Enemy Main weapons charging”- informed an officer and Sylus saw in the monitors how practically all the Mon Calamari cruisers were preapring to launch an all out attack.

- ”All energy to frontal shields”- ordered Sylus knowing the weak offensive power of the enemy cruisers.

- ”They are not pointing at us!”- informed the officer- ”their target is...”

- ”Scar Mace!”- said Sylus and tried to warn the Star Destroyer but it was already being bombarded by the combined firepower of multiple cruisers.

Sylus knew it was too late for the Scar Mace which was left without shields and he could only see how the once powerful and proud Star Destroyer was obliterated.

- ”Tell the survivors to abandon the ship”- ordered Sylus trying to salvage the most of the situation.

- ”Scar Mace's reactor has reached critical levels and it's about to collapse”- informed the officer with a shocked expression. Sylus looked at the flagship of the Resistance forces with unbelieving eyes.

- Tell the Infinity to take distance and elevate their energy shields to maximum.

The orders were given but they were still a little late. The Scar Mace Star Destroyer exploded with the strenght of a mini sun and everything around it was desintegrated in a second. The energy liberated was so potent that it even reached the Dark Hammer and made it shake. Sylus recovered and immediately asked for the damage report.

- ”Shields reduced but still stable”- an officer informed- ”Star Destroyer Tiamat shields at 20% and rear propulsors offline”

- ”Mon Calamari Cruiser positioning to finish it off.”

- ”Give the order to abandon the ship”- said Sylus with great frustration knowing that the Star Destroyer was lost.

This was the problem with Star Destroyers. Their offensive capabilities were top notch and their defense systems were monstruous, but there was a key weakness in all of them that had been impossible to deal with even after so many years. The rear section of the massive starship was simply too weak to resist the continuous concentrated bashing of the Mon Calamari Cruisers which was the reason why a Star Destroyer should never show that part in a battle. Now that the propulsion systems were down, it was a like a sitting duck waiting to be butchered.

- ”All main weapons of two Cruisers targeting Tiamat”- informed the officer with a professional yet, worried tone.

Sylus could only felt regret. They had brought six Star Destroyers since the operation was supposed to be a easy and fast one, but now, his fleet was reduced by half while the enemy had not suffered any casualties and they had been surrounded by a dozen Mon Calamari Cruisers that were slowly surrounding them. Sylus could only try his best to resist as much as he could since he knew that all that had happened until now was part of the plan of Akbar and he had played into it.

- ”It was all a trap!”- said Sylus accepting his defeat in his heart- ”In his eyes I'm like a child trying to play chess with a master.”

- ”What's the situation with the ground forces”- asked Sylus calculating in his mind.

- ”They are being ambushed by Takodana forces which has slowed down the process.”- informed the officer.

- ”I see”- said Sylus with a sigh- ”I'll have to apologize with the General, but it's the limit of my skills. Send the signal!”

(...)

Takodana Skies

While you coukd say that the Space battle was chaotic, you could only describe the aerial combat in Takodana as extremely beautiful. The TIE fighters and X-wing fighters drew lines with their movements that were difficult yet hypnotizing to see. Two teams of the Rogue squadron were ganging on the two black TIE silencer fighters that were trying to coordinate with each other in order to get the upper hand.

- ”Team 2! Close their exit point on the left while we route them!”- ordered Poe while shooting at one of the silencer which dodged at the last second- ”Cheh! Cheating bastard!”

Many would raise their eyebrow at Poe for saying those words when it was technically him and his team the ones using more numbers and going 12 to 2. However, Poe knew that this was the only way they could stand a chance against this type of pilot. The battle was extremely intense and Poe, who could easily dispatch 10 normal pilots in a few seconds, had to admit that these knights of Ren were just in another level of skill.

- ”Never fight one vs one”- Poe remembered General Skywalker's words in their training- ”if you want to shoot them down you need at least three veterans trained against a force user.”

-”They will try to scare you”- said General Skywalker in another ocassion in a very serious tone- ”the moment you fear them is the moment you will go down.”

Poe understood why he said that. After a few evasions and incredible moves, any untrained pilot would start to panic and get desperate. Any other pilot would have been overwhelmed by now, but the Rogue squadron was different since they have put the two Knights of Ren on the defensive. They had been trained by the best and most powerful Force user alive and so he had taught them strategies to fight against them. It could be said that they had been created to slay Force Users in the skies.

- ”Don't use orthodox tactics- had said General Skywalker- ”use confusing and new tactics so they are lost in what to do. If you can distract them for just some seconds, opportunities will present themselves and you'll be able to shoot them down.”

The Rogue squadron tactics were all unorthodox and created by the best pilots and strategists. Furthermore, they were in constant polishing to never be outdated. In that moment the two enemy fighters divided and went in opposite directions.

- ”They will try to divide you and take you individually so teamwork is key.”- Poe chanted what the General had said as a mantra- ”Leave the left one to Team 2... Team 1 focus on the Blackie of the right.”

The Knights of Ren expected some kind of confusion at their divide and conquer strategy but there was not even a glimpse of openings and the whole Rogue squadron moved as one. All the pilots of the Rogue Squadron trained and lived together and as a result, they knew each other very well. Their synchronization was so perfect that it had been deeply ingrained in their flying style. It was like a dancing group that moved in perfect rythmn after thousands of hours of practice. However, Poe detected a slight doubt in the Knight of Ren and even though it could have been a bait, he knew this would be the best chance he had.

- ”Penta Waltz!”- shouted Poe and as if the rest of the team had expected the order, they all moved smoothly and so coordinated that even a rookie would guess the massive amount of training necessary to do the figure.

Five of the team members separated from Poe who was the center in different direcctions while Poe kept the enemy tied with heavy fire not letting it go. The Knight of Ren felt something was wrong and tried to make an evasive move in an almost impossible angle. However, this only made Poe grin since the enemy's evasion had been expected and by doing so, he had entered the trap that immediately sprung on him by receiving five the almost simultaneous shot from all directions. The knight of Ren still managed to survive and even though his TIE Silencer had been battered badly he had still managed to break through the formation of the five X-wing fighters. However, when he believed that he had managed to escape, he saw in disbelief the extra X-wing from Poe just in front of him.

- ”Good bye, sucker!”- said Poe while shooting precise shots with his heavy laser cannons that went directly into the ċȯċkpit of the TIE Silencer where the knight of Ren was located.

- ”Good job, guys”- said Poe after watching the enemy being obliterated- ”let's join Team 2 to get rid of the other one.”

- ”Here Rogue 7!”- said a voice for the radio- ”we failed at cornering him and he managed to get away with great damages. We lost Rogers and Swinks... sorry Boss...”

- ”There's nothing we can do about it”- said Poe after a long silence fell on the group.