“Detecting energy buildups across the Shadow Hawk!”
“Enemy fighters incoming!”
“Missile launch detected! Countermeasures engaged!”
“Open fire!”
In the deathly coldness of space, weapons snap to their targets, attempting to whip out shots before they are disabled or destroyed. In a brief moment of silence, TIE fighters and Federation Interceptors rush toward each other, while their motherships turn to face, moving to gain an advantage.
That silence quickly ends.
Huge green bolts are blasted out of the deck turbolasers, while secondary cannons wreak hell. Missile launchers fire salvo after salvo, with many firing every tube. In a brief moment, The Reliant’s countermeasures stall, locking on to targets before unleashing lines of tracers, with countermissiles slamming into the unprepared missiles. Secondary lasers fire thin red beams, burning away the missiles. Of the missiles, more than two hundred were launched, with only eight making it pass the initial countermeasures. The rest slam into the shield, inflicting minimal damage.
The Federation responds with its own brand of firepower.
Railguns charge up, shells loading into the central firing chambers. The anti-fighter munitions spray thousands of rounds, with interceptor missiles flying away. Dozens of TIE fighters are destroyed in an instant, with spare rounds slamming into the Star Destroyer Shields. Anti-laser armor melts in an instant, destroyed by something the original designers could have never anticipated. Half the TIE fighter complement are destroyed in a fiery moment, with Federation interceptors chasing down the survivors. Enemy pilots are marked for after battle retrieval, with even a few drones heading out to grab those who will not last long. Some pilots try to get away, or fire their pistols. They are quickly silenced by the drone's stun gun, and are retrieved, pulled back into the bulk of the Reliant, side by-side with the Stormtroopers who suffered the same fate.
Finally, the railguns fire a volley of shells, blue line dashing through the Star Destroyer’s shields. One unlucky TIE fighter is speared by a railgun, the pieces spiraling into the blackness of space. The interceptor behind it swerves to avoid the scrap, with a piece of the cockpit window of the TIE bouncing off the wing of the Interceptor.
The autocannons and missiles follow up, with turret HA-53S-21’s crew preemptively firing all three barrels. Tracers from the secondary weapons fly out, seeking to improve accuracy. Gunnery crews recall their academy days, aiming precisely for different components of the Shadow Hawk. With the thunder of a raging storm, the wrath of those fallen marines are unleashed. A thousand shells slam into the Star Destroyer’s armor, the shield felled by railgun rounds. The Star Destroyer’s armor is thick, but not thick enough. Shells punch into compartments, lighting fires, killing crew, and disabling systems. Several shells manage to pierce the engine housing, disabling the port side engine. An electric backshock transfers into the main reactor, initiating an autoshut off. Lights and systems flicker across the ship, while the secondary weapons' power is shunted to keep the primary turbolaser turrets online and firing. This, in turn, disables the anti-fighter and point defence, allowing the Federation bombers to get close. TIE fighters try in vain to at least disable the bombers, before they release their payload on the Star Destroyer’s primary turbolasers. Each nuclear-tipped warhead burrows into the turrets before imploding, the power cells only adding to the explosion’s wrath. Alarms ripple throughout the control centers, with the entire room shaking. Even on the bridge, rumbles and remnants of the destruction can be felt. Crew run down halls, attempting to gain a sense of balance. The secondary reactors shut down, too many penetrations, too fast. Lights flicker across the hull of the Star Destroyer. The Reliant finishes disabling the weapons systems of the Shadow Hawk before halting fire.
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The two colossal spacecraft sit there, crew on both spacecraft staring each other down. A panic-filled transmission is relayed to a single surviving TIE fighter outside the battle range. The TIE fighter heads toward the nearest station on it’s sublight drives. The pilot will pass out just outside the station, and will barely make it to a full recovery. A light imperial cruiser, an Arquitens-class, recovers the pilot and fighter. The battle data is quickly analyzed, and sent to the sector command. The gears of war have begun to turn.
Back at the site of battle, eight lumbering dropships fly out of one of the Reliant’s many hangers. It is escorted by squadrons of interceptors and mark-18 fighters. Other strike craft are flying patrols and scanning the Shadow Hawk for active weapons. Life signs are still being detected across the ship. The hundreds of marines aboard the dropships ready themselves, the commanders checking scans for enemy weapons signatures, and reading data from the analysis of the Stormtrooper’s weapons and armor. Other marines do the same as solders have for centuries. Checking weapons and armor, praying to gods and entities, writing letters to loved ones. Some will return. Others will not. In the initial breach chamber, the forward element of marines ready their weapons, alongside the crew of the drop-ship. A heavy chaingun along with a light shield generator to prevent a counter-boarding. The leading drop-ship maneuvers to dock, before launching pods into the hanger on the underside of the Shadow Hawk. Technicians and crew run into the hallways, sealing the doors behind them. Stormtroopers ready weapons behind cover. Three Troopers are manning a single E-WEB blaster near the main door. A few pilots on the walkways near the ceiling pull out pistols, ready to avenge their fallen comrades. They are the remnants of the Star Destroyer’s TIE fighter wing. The drop pods sit there, uncaring, harsh metal plates gleam, polar to the black scorch mark and bent hull plates of the Star Destroyer’s hanger.
Suddenly, the top of each pod pops open, an elongated turret emerging. It takes a moment to survey the scene before spitting death. The E-WEB turns to fire, before its bearers are ripped apart by heavy rounds. The pilots snap off shot after shot, before retreating to behind a TIE fighter. The turrets, satisfied with the area around the pods, pop open the front. An exo-suited marine emerges, carrying a standard marine rifle. Her armor glints in the lights of the hanger. She wears the latest and greatest version of combat armor, complete with dozens of medical systems, sensors, and secondary systems. She scans the area before clomping her way over to a doorway. The other marines pop out as well. The pilots on the catwalk try their best to hide, but a marine sneaks below them, and fires a stun grenade from the underslung launcher. It collides violently with the bottom of the catwalk, sending electric shocks through the pilots. The marines form up, and proceed to the next objective. As they leave, the drop pods fill the inside of each pod with heated gas, to create a faux idea of people still inside the pods, to fool any thermal sensors. The pods wait, scanning the surroundings for hostiles.
Back in the dropships, the initial breach teams ready themselves, before cutting a circle in the hull of the star destroyer. Pistons on either side slam the circle of cut armor, splintering it violently into pieces. An unlucky Stormtrooper that was standing too close has dozens of pieces of metal smashed into his armor, killing him instantly. The other troopers open fire, blasting bolt after bolt into the shield. Two flash grenades roll out. A few Stormtroopers engage their helmet filters, but most are blinded by the flash. Federation marines roll out, five on each side. The MK-12 assault rifles bark, spraying rounds down the corridor. The secondary laser mounted on the bottom of the rifle sends thin beams of energy through a few unlucky Stormtrooper’s cover and armor. The Stormtroopers respond with their own volley of bolts. The two lead marines have ballistic shields out, and deflect most of the rounds. A few penetrate, and only one manages to slam through the composite armor, and injure the marine. Medical systems kick in, with pain-blockers rushing through the marine’s veins. The marine grunts, but nevertheless continues on. Medical nanoids start initial repairs, sending data to the mission commander, and updating the severity of the injury. The Stormtroopers lay, covered in puncture wounds, their advanced armor unable to deal with so-called “primitive” slug throwers. Smoke fills the hallways. A high-pitched beeping nose echoes through the hallways, before a small Mouse droid rounds the corner, and tries to reverse. A Marine picks it up, its wheels spinning, beeping in horror as the marine looks it over. Another marine tells him to put it down, before they advance. The mouse droid runs away into another corridor. Brass shells litter the floor, along with the bodies of Stormtroopers, and the errant marine awaiting medical attention. The once clean and polished panels of the Star Destroyers have been scarred by splatters of blood, and a level of violence not seen since the Clone Wars.