Chapter 50 - A Bad Feeling (1/2)
Planet Phindar
- Main headquarters has been taken and the surrender call has been given- said Luke over the radio and Poe smiled.
- ”Seriously, General”- said Poe seeing the enemy TIE fighters sending the surrendering signal- ”did you even need us here? Looks like yiou could have won this skirmish all by yourself”
- ”If only that was so”- said Luke with a sarcastic tone- ”start the second phase to take control of the capital”
- ”Acknowledged”- said Poe who received another message- ”reports of enemies retreating to the South of position.”
- ”They are luring us there”- said Luke- there must be an ambush.”
- ”So let's go”- said Poe animated- ”to be honest I have not satisfied my fill of battle yet”
- ”Go ahead”- said Luke- ”I'll settle things here in the meantime.”
- ”Roger that”- said Poe switching channels- ”This is G-Red leader to all units. Groups Nylis to Quipus are in charge of settling things here. The rest will follow to deal with enemy renmants”
- ”Yes, Sir”- responded the voices of all the members of the squads.
The X-wings immediately changed course to the South where the enemies had retreated. The incredible speed of the starfighter covered the distance in little time and they noticed that the enemies had gotten into a forest with thick foliage which made all kinds of electronic visuals very difficult. X-ray would just show all kinds of confusing images, thermal would be useless in this tropical area and it was still day so night vision was off the table.
- ”We'll have to make passes and try to see something in the old fashion way, guys”
- ”Hey, kid!”- said a very rough voice which Poe recognized as the leader of the IronBone squadron composed of the BTL Y-wing bombers, The besalisk called Tarpax or simply ”The Boss”- ”why not gas them out with a few incendiary droppings? I got some new models I'm itchy ta try!”
- ”Phindians are very protective of their forests and we would get problems with them unless we can report a very good reason to do so”- explained Poe trying to see something in his monitor- ”also, we heard that many phindians escaped from the initial invasion and took refuge of the forests around the cities so we can't just burn it down”
- ”Cheh!!! That's why I hate politics and rules”- said the Boss- ”it makes everything too complicated. Be a good lad and let me, would ya?”
Suddenly multiple explosions and fire sounds came from the forest and some X- wings and bombers received damage and some were shot down.
- ”I'm down! I'm down”- said a voice through the intercom
- ”Ground Batteries firing from the forest”- informed Red 12 sending the exact coordinates to the rest of the team- ”how the hell did they get that?”
- ”Prepare Evasive actions and counter attack”- said Poe making his starfighter move at an incredible speed which made even him, a little dizzy and even though his moves had been impressive, his ship had still received some damage.
- ”More batteries detected”- said another pilot- also we can detect TIE fighters approaching from sector S44.
Poe knew it was a trap but he did not imagine it was this kind. The data had never mentioned the existance of hidden ground batteries in the forests. It looked like the First Order had built them in the short time they had been here which made Poe wondered why they had waste so much time and resources in this planet.
- ”Hahaha! Hey kid!”- said Tarpax with a sarcastic but gleeful tone- ”this a good excuse fer ya?!”
- ”Yes, damn it!”- yelled Poe with anger and frustration- ”let them drown in fire!!!”
- ”Hahahahaha, now now don't be so angry”- said the besalisk with a massive grin- ”you still have lots of fun with those flies coming for us. Be a good boy and swat them fer me, would ya?”
- ”Roger that!”- said Poe activatng his shields at maximum while evading- ”Let the batteries to the Iron bones, we are gonna take care of the TIE fighters, use flares and chasers and set the forest ablaze around the batteries!”
All the starfighters did so and the forest was immediately set ablaze which made the vision from the ground much more difficult due to the smoke and they immediately went to face the TIE fighters in order to protect the bombers to do their job. Poe could hear the maniatical laughter of Tarpax as he let the bombs fall on the ground batteries while he engaged with the fast moving TIE fighters.
- ”There ya go!!!”- shouted Tarpax followed by the rest of his squad who seemed to be fearless of the enemy batteries blastering and giving holes to their Y-wing bombers- ”better luck next time, punks hahahahahahahaha!!”
Almost immediately and with a surgical precision all ground batteries were reached and drowned in massive explosions accompanied with a deafining sound which made Poe trembled a little.
- ”Ahhhh, what a good sound!”- said the Boss with a satisfied tone as if he were savoring a delicious meal- ”this is why I prefer planetary bombing, you don't have that beautiful sound in outer space!”
- ”All ground batteries eliminated”- informed a squad leader- ”enemy retreating”
- ”What? that's all?”- said Tarpax with a dissapointing tone- ”tha' was bȧrėly enough! I'm not satisfied!”
- ”It seems you scared them, Boss!”- said another member of the Iron Bones
- ”What a bunch of sissies!”- commented another who shared the tone full of frustration- ”should we chase and have a targeting contest?”
- ”Don't worry, it seems they need your services in the city at the West”- mentioned Poe changing course and sending the coordinates to his squad
- ”What are we waiting for?”- said Tarpax once again sounding happy- ”my lads will die of boredom if we don't have more ta go kaboom!”
- ”You sure you want to be here and not up there with all the fun?”- asked Poe while flying to the next target at full speed.
- ”Nah!”- said Tarpax grinning- ”As I said I prefer being down hea, plus I left someone up thea who loves tear those big ships apart and ta be honest she and her group are specialists in doing that, so so I feel sorry for the poor bastards who are in her hands now.”
(...)
- ”Let's go for another pass on the Black Star”- ordered Wedge AKA Rogue leader while guiding his team against the swarm of TIE fighters that tried desperately to defend the Star Destroyers in front of them- ”Engage in formation and keep them busy so they don't go after our bombers. Teams 5 to 8 focus on the reserves and open the way.”
- ”Understood, Rogue Leader!”- the leaders of the teams replied through the intercom.
- ”IronBone Squadron, we'll open you a path”- said Wedge contacting with the leader of the group ȧssigned to accompany them- ”be sure to hit them hard.”
- ”Here, IronBone Charlie Leader”- replied the person who was a female Twi'lek whose squadron had been hailed as experts in dealing with Star Destroyers- ”just had these pests out of our way and we'll send this small credit waste to the scavengers!”
Wedge smiled at her way to describe a mega sized Star Destroyer as a ”small credit waste” but then he remembered that for someone who was used to destroy them, in her eyes that may be how she really see them.
- ”Engaging with enemy!”- said someone on the radio.
- ”Enemy number are lower than expected”- said another voice- ”we've got this on the pocket.”
- ”Enemy fighters are too scattered!”- informed another voice- ”are they newbies?”
- ”The path is opened for the rancors, Rogue Leader!”- informed another leader to Wedge but this doubted for a moment- ”Rogue Leader?”
- ”Copied Yellow Leader”- replied Wedge but he did not give the order immediately since there was something bothering him about the behavior of the enemy. However, he also kew he could not let this opportunity slip away- ”IronBone Charlie... you have green light!”
- ”Copied!”- said the Twi'lek leader and she changed channels- ”ok, boys and girls! Time to party! You know the drill so don't make stupid mistakes! I'm talking to you, Persans!”
- ”I won't! Sheesh how longer will ye roast me for that, I was a rookie!”- said an angered voice throught the intercom which caused the laugh of everyone in the team.
- ”I'll do it every time so you won't forget!”- said Andora who was the Twi'lek leader- ”now let's go and send this cheeky piece of crap to the end of the universe and after that Persans pays for the tab tonight!”
- ”Gimme a break!!!”- shouted Persanas but his yell was drowned among the cheers of the rest of the team.
The team of BTL-Y wing fighters advanced in formation in direction to the Star Destroyer Black Star that started to shoot all the batteries they had on them but then they started to scatter having in mind their objectives. Very swiftly the first wave of bombs were deployed and they went directly for the Fore weapons stations and the weapons targeting systems which were on the frontal part of the destroyer. These section would of course had extra protection to defend them, but the groups of bombs had been so accurate that the shields and extra layer protections had just melt like buŧŧer on a hot pan. Andora imagined the panic that the crew of their enemy would be experimenting now.
- ”Target hit!”- informed the responsible for that area- ”wish them luck targeting anything without those!”
- ”Go for the next target!”- said Andora knowing that now the turbolasers and missile systems of the Star Destroyer would be largely decreased in accuracy which will allow them to enter further into their deadly area- ”don't give them time to think!”
Andora had no sympathy for the First Order crew and just ordered the attack to continue. Her team kept targetting critical places on the Star destroyer which was quickly tranforming a mega weapon into a sitting duck. They were definitely pros and no Star Destroyer would stand tall in front of her.
- ”All enemy systems reduced by 60%”- informed the technician of his team after a scan on the Star Destroyer- ”Shield systems in critical condition!”
- ”Good!”- said Andora ŀɨċkɨnġ her mouth as if already savoring the delicious beef she would be eating after the victory- ”All units! Let's go for the head!”
- ”Roger!”- said a voice fulll of vicious intent
- ”With pŀėȧsurė!”
- ”Victory for our war goddess!”