Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 337 (Patreon)

Hello everyone! So, quick note, if you haven't seen it, I've posted a new Snippet this past weekend. In case you've missed it or forgotten, these are a monthly snippet releases that serve as a testing ground for new story ideas. This weeks snippet is a Warhammer 40k Chaos Gacha, but with a few major modifications.

These snippets will be around four chapters long and as they are potential future stories, your comments and likes really help me figure out which stories make it! So please, take a look and tell me what you think! Now enjoy the chapter!

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The weeks after the Dovah was launched went by at their usual pace. Talon Karrde continued to feed us locations for slavers, and we continued to send our fleets out to liberate the victims and destroy the slavers' infrastructure. The size of each base varied from small to around the same size as our first base, with several defensive ships and even some ground forces. For a month and a half, we were running almost non-stop raids, pausing our other missions to focus on eradicating a good chunk of the free-functioning slavery rings in the mid and outer rim.

While rescuing victims and destroying slave rings were more than enough of a reward, we were generating significant profit from frequent missions against well-funded targets. As horrifying as it was to consider, selling people was clearly lucrative, as there was a lot of loot we were taking with us after each mission.

The rebellion was happily snapping up the ships, still wracking up an incredible debt, and we were also making decent profit by turning in criminals for bounties. Even after cutting the victims sizable payouts to help them get back on their feet, it quickly became apparent that we were making enough money that, after two weeks of downtime to prepare, we could start producing the second Dovah-class. We slowed down production slightly so that we could produce and acquire parts at a more reasonable pace, but construction was well on its way. 

The first Dovah-class, the Dovah herself, stayed in orbit around Nirn for most of that time while we hired a crew and got them outfitted with proper gear. About half of the crew were experienced in some way with larger starships, with several higher-ranking sentients from the Clone Wars hired to run the show. The captain of the ship, an Alderaanian woman by the name of Aglo Chash, was second in command on an Acclamator-class assault ship for most of the war. She was a steady hand and a smart captain, so we agreed she was a good fit for the job. 

The other half of the crew were rookies, with plenty of people applying for the positions from our recently rescued slaver victims. We also hired mechanics and engineers to help run the ship's droid repair systems.

good chunk of the Dovah's time around Nirn was spent running drills and practices, getting the new rookies and old hands acclimatized to the ship and to each other. They were doing well, and they had an added bonus to the process. Since the Dovah's bridge was deep inside the ship, the viewscreens that acted as viewports could be used to display a simulation. That allowed the crew to practice combat scenarios and emergency situations at will, a serious advantage. They could even do that during long hyperspace jumps.

After hitting and clearing around a dozen slaver bases, it was finally time to hit the big one, the one that contained the hidden prize, a portion of Jabba's emergency fund. Unsurprisingly, the violent Hutt had hidden the cache on the largest off-world base he owned, a huge hub for several sectors' worth of the slave trade. It was well defended, with ground forces and a fleet of five capital ships, along with several squadrons of starfighters. Though none of the capital ships were beyond what we had in the first fleet, there were enough of them to make us pause.

Eventually, we decided that their forces were large enough that we would be engaging with both the 1st and 3rd fleets, just to make sure we had enough firepower to overwhelm them.

We would also be bringing the Lockdown with us again. It was fully staffed at this point, with even a squadron each of MA-wings and Heavy ARCs. It was still not a frontline warship, even at the level of this mission, but it could defend itself well enough.

On top of all that, it would also be the Dovah's first combat mission. 

The crew had trained, run drills, and tested every inch of the ship. Some minor fixes had needed to be done originally, but they had long since been completed. Now it was officially joining the 1st Fleet, turning it into one of our heaviest hitters among all four of our fleets. We had considered putting it in with 2nd Fleet, as it was the lightest in terms of heavy armor, but it made sense that the first one went with the 1st Fleet, as it was our flagship fleet. The 2nd Fleet would get the next one, and was already being augmented by the newest CR90, the repaired and renamed Starlight from our first slaver raid.

Combining the 1st and 3rd Fleets together for the single mission made us a force to be reckoned with, capable of easily handling three Star Destroyers at once, along with their escort fleet and starfighter complements. 

This target was considerably softer than that.

The trip from Nirn to our target took about three days, as the base was deep in the Outer Rim and functioned more as a processing center than as a point of contact, temporary stop, or transfer point like the other spots we hit. The connotations of what a "processing center" for slaves would be were as horrifying as one could imagine.

We dropped out of hyperspace a fair distance away, as we usually did, deploying our starfighter, transferring ground forces around, and getting into a loose formation. Once everything was in place and we were ready, we could make the final jump.

Our initial general plan of attack was very similar to our first raid on outer rim slavery, as we wanted to get on the ground as fast as possible. The major difference was scale: we were now deploying a total of five ground teams, including my crew, Corvak's men, Sabine and Ezra's Jedi-and-Mandalorian mixed team, and two of Frost's clone groups. We were also dropping several commando droid teams to back us up. 

We would be escorted by three squadrons this time, two MA-wings and one Heavy ARC, as well as the Loyal Hound, the Harmony of Jinn. Rather than riding down on the larger ships and the Brick, several LAAT gunships would be carrying the various ground teams down to the surface, protected by our escorts.

In orbit, we would call for surrender, but given that very few of the groups we had asked so far had even considered accepting the offer immediately, we assumed they would refuse. Our forces would target the largest ship, a Dreadnought heavy cruiser, bringing its shields down in a blaze of concentrated fire. Then, once it was defenseless, the Dovah would drop it with what was likely going to be a single shot from its Triple C, the Central Core Cannon. 

The offer to surrender would be made again, and if they still refused, we would go after the second-largest ship, a Nebulon B. After that would come a pair of Pelta-class cruisers, presumably in their assault configuration, as the alternative was basically unarmed. The last target would be an off-brand ship I didn't recognize, which research concluded was equivalent to a CR90 but slower.

When we arrived around the target planet, the ground teams were already in position to descend, grouped together behind the Hope. It was then that we realized that the information Talon had gotten to use wasn't as accurate as that of the previous missions. Instead of five capital ships, there were seven. A second Dreadnought and another off-brand ship were among the expected forces, a sizable shift in fleet strength, turning the easy win into a much more balanced fight.

Still, the plan remained the same, and the ground teams skirted the main battle, pushing their ships to their top speeds to reach the ground as quickly as possible. If we wanted to prevent the slaves from being used as hostages, or worse, killed from spite, we needed to take the facility at the same time we took the planet's orbit. 

As we descended into the atmosphere, diverting further than planned but still making a blitz for the facility, the Lockdown engaged its gravity well generators, cutting off any hope of escape for anyone in its field. 

Of course, that also sent up a proverbial flare, giving the entire slaver fleet a direct target that they would need to take down in order to escape. Thankfully, we had anticipated that, keeping the ship tucked in behind the rest of our fleet, where we could pull back and defend it very quickly.

Then our fleet opened fire, blazing beams of plasma lancing out and slamming into the shields of the closest dreadnought. We had arrived from nowhere, and while we were happy to offer surrender, we were not about to sacrifice the surprise round to do it. Nearly a hundred heavy turbolasers spread out across a half dozen ships opened fire at once, even as we demanded surrender. 

Unsurprisingly, with no time to make maneuvers, set shields to focus from one angle, or do any other methods of defending against mass fire, the first target's shields popped, a few small, sympathetic explosions ripping across the hull.

To their credit, the slaver forces were quick to react. The targeted dreadnought started to fall back, attempting to take cover behind the rest of the fleet so it could regain its shields, while the yet-to-be-targeted ships of their fleet moved forward, attempting to swing left so they could force our own ships into each other's firing arc. It was a well-informed move, but with Dovah's hidden ace, at least the first part was wasted. 

With a flash of light, the Triple C fired, a beam of ion energy spearing out from its bow, slamming into the turning dreadnought. It was an impressive sight, sparks of disabling energy spread throughout its hull and structure, and after a moment, its engines flickered and died, the ship dead in space.

It was about at that point where the combined MA-wing squadrons slammed into the slaver starfighter squadrons. Well, it was less squadrons and more of a barely organized clump, with just over fifty starfighters of various sizes, makes, and models running straight into a fleet of blazing fast interceptors designed specifically to tear other starfighters apart. 

In all likelihood, my MA-wing squadrons could have handled two-to-one odds relatively easily, between their blistering speed, decent shields, powerful weapons, and enchantment-enhanced pilots. The slavers were slamming fast first into the reversed ratio, with two MA-wings for every one of their ships.

It did not go well for them.

Meanwhile, the rest of the enemy fleet reacted... strongly to the decisive blow the Dovah landed. Smaller gunships spun off, avoiding the now listless ship, one half of their heaviest hitters now disabled and unresponsive. The larger ships tried to compensate, with the Nebulon B and one of the off-brand ships actually taking cover behind the drifting dreadnought, which, thankfully, had enough forward momentum to be moving away from the planet rather than succumbing to its gravity.

As the enemy fleet took off, the second dreadnought, both of the Pelta's and one of the off-brand ships clumped together, rotating around and pushing past their disabled ship, clearly hoping to still make their original goal, to put most of the fleet in the way of itself as they picked off targets together. 

Unfortunately for them, we had something waiting for such an attempt. As our combined fleets moved to compensate for their positioning, moving up or down relative to the Hope, the first ship they were looking to take on, our Heavy ARC squadrons moved in like a swarm.

With such a small number of starfighters coming to threaten us, the Heavy Arcs were free to attack larger targets, including barraging the second dreadnought with proton torpedoes, nearly a hundred and twenty of them slamming into their shields in under thirty seconds. Within moments, their shields dropped, and our capital ships switched to their ion cannons, looking to disable the large ship rather than destroy or damage it outright. For a good while, it weathered the massive onslaught well, managing to lower the Hope's shields considerably, with the help of its four escorts. It was enough that the hope was forced to pull back, even as our ships moved forward to hammer the defenseless ship.

After nearly a minute of hammering them with ion cannons, really demonstrating the potency of the Dovah, the second dreadnought's systems began to fail. It was good timing, too, as our ships were starting to suffer under fire from the rest of the enemy fleet, our shields beginning to fall below what I was comfortable with.

However, I didn't need to worry for long, as with their two most powerful ships disabled, floating in space, the rest of the fleet broke. The two off-brand ships surrendered under another barrage of proton torpedoes, while the two Pelta-class and the Nebulon B, which had since pulled out from the shadow of the first dreadnought, turned and ran, pushing their engines hard as they attempted to book it to the edge of the Lockdown's gravity field.

Immediately, we gave chase, firing en masse into their back shields as the Lockdown followed as fast as they could, the Hope remaining behind to protect the Immobilizer-class, just in case. 

While most of our ships could keep up, the Lockdown wouldn't be able to for long while also maintaining the gravity projectors, so our window was rapidly shrinking. Finally, at the last moment, the Nebula's shields dropped, and the Dovah opened fire, the Triple C disabling it in one overpowered shot.

But that wasn't all, even as the remaining Pelta-Class assault ships reached the very limits of Lockdown's range, another barrage of missiles was fired at the two remaining ships. Not only was this swarm filled with proton torpedoes, but it was accompanied by mass plasma dart fire from the Dovah, the closest ship chasing after them. This included not just the normal-sized darts, but the twelve-meter-long super darts. 

First to impact were the standard missiles, both proton and plasma, explosions rippling across the shields of both of the enemy ships. One of them failed completely, while the other just managed to hold on. Then three super darts impacted the still barely protected starship, one after the other. The first cracked its shields like an egg, the second slammed into its engines, while the third slammed into its side further along. 

The explosions washed out all visuals we had on the two ships for three full seconds. When they could finally see, one of the Peltas had escaped, while the other was a complete wreck, huge chunks torn from its superstructure as it rolled and tumbled through space. 

The battle was over.

Out of seven starships, five had been disabled in recoverable condition or surrendered, one had been destroyed, and one had escaped. It was, without a doubt, the most decisive victory we had ever achieved.

Meanwhile, on the surface, our fight was just starting.