บท 185: Ending Of The First Clash
Rozal flew away from the broken remains of The Resolute, his mind now on the Vulture droid he was chasing. He missed two volleys, but the third round of lasers hit the target, and the droid lost control, and crashed into pieces of debris that were floating around.
"There are two on my tail!"
"Hold on, Steel 9, I'm coming!"
Rozal turned around, and saw one of the few remaining members of Steel Battalion being chased by two Vulture droids. His left-wing had been hit, but the pilot was still dodging expertly.
Rozal flew directly towards the other V-Wing, as if he was preparing to have a head-on collision. Seconds before the two ships hit each other, Steel 9 put all his weight in one of the levers, making the starfighter fly up. The two Vulture droids were surprised to see another V-Wing flying towards them, and weren't able to dodge Rozal's laser cannons.
There was a brief pause as he couldn't find any droids near him, which allowed Rozal to take a look at the battle.
The number of Republic starfighters had visibly fallen, while the numerical advantage the enemy had was still the same, maybe even higher. Two Acclamator-class Cruisers were badly damaged, while the other three and the Venator-class Cruisers were still holding on pretty well.
The Separatist had taken more losses than them. Not only had The Resolute taken down two frigates, but during the battle a third one had been blown up. Many other frigates and dreadnoughts were damaged, but only one of them was in critical condition. The Recusant-class Destroyer was still intact, its turrets taking down any pilot bold enough to attack it.
If things continued like this, the Republic would lose in the first clash. Rozal, however, saw an opportunity. He turned on his communicator and called Admiral Dao.
"Admiral!"
"What is it, Rozal?"
"The dreadnought in grid 0-17. It was badly damaged by our attacks. If we can do a bomb rush, we might be able to take it down."
The admiral thought for a while. Rozal was right. It was risky, but if they destroyed the dreadnought, the Separatist would probably retreat for the day.
"How confident are you?"
"Fifty-fifty."
"I will take those odds. What do you need?"
Rozal quickly counted how many starfighters Steel Battalion had left, and ordered them to regroup with him.
"Three or four bombers, and a dozen pilots to escort them."
"Blue leader, you heard him."
"Blue leader on the move. Let's go, boys!"
Followed by about thirty pilots - twenty from Steel Battalion, and ten from Blue Squadron - Rozal started flying towards the dreadnought. The four Y-Wing bombers were in the middle, protected by their small escort.
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"Captain... Bzzz... our scanners detected a small group of... Republic fighters headed our way."
In the command bridge of the dreadnought, a B1 battle droid turned around to talk with the captain. Using the blue colors that identified him as a pilot/captain, the B1 unit quickly dismissed the approaching group.
"Focus fire on the nearest... Republic cruiser. Let the turrets... deal with those flies."
"Yes... Bzzz... sir."
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The mixed group flew in a tight formation. Now, any kind of rank or division didn't matter. If they didn't destroy the dreadnought, then the battle would be over.
"Fighters, when we go by, fire all missiles, spare nothing. Try to take down the turrets. Bombers, your target is the command bridge. We only have one, maybe two chances, so if the first sweep fails, turned around and give it another go. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Let's go!"
The first obstacle that the group met was the Vulture droids that flew to stop them, but thankfully, the droid captain had been stupid enough to dismiss the Republic starfighters as a small threat, and sent the bulk of his forces to attack a cruiser.
As such, the thirty-odd starfighters cut through their opposing side with only four casualties, and now had a clear line of sight to the dreadnought. Only when they were so close did the scanners lock in the bombers.
Immediately, the turrets focused their fire in the middle of the Republic group, but it was too late. The starfighters fired their missiles in quick succession, and knocked down many of the ship's turrets, although this came at the cost of seven or eight lives.
They flew close to the ship, straight to the command bridge, and some of the droids threw themselves at the floor, thinking that the Republic was going to kamikaze them. However, seconds before the starfighters collided with the command bridge, they parted ways, one half going to the right, and the other to the left.
Four Y-Wing remained on the route, and released everything they had. One of them was taken down by the turrets, but the remaining three succeeded in their mission. The dreadnought's shields held on for a few seconds before finally failing.
The command bridge blew up immediately, and the long 'neck' that connected it to the rest of the ship broke, and fell down. Without the command bridge, the dreadnought lost control, and quickly fell towards the planet below.
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The Recusant-class Destroyer had remained at the back of the Separatist fleet, and only engaged in small parts of the battle. Sitting on the captain's chair, it was a weird droid.
It was much bulkier than the normal units, and very square. Its eyes glowed with white light as it quickly calculated probabilities. It was a tactical droid, built to think instead of fighting. This unit in specific was called TA-175, and was personally chosen by Count Dooku.
While he was watching the dreadnought being destroyed, TA-175 shook his head, and made some calculations before speaking to the nearby droid crew with his deep voice.
"We suffered too many... losses to... day. Bzz... Order retreat..."
"Yes... sir. Bzzz..."
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Dageer watched from Ryloth as a Separatist Providence-class Dreadnought crashed down towards the planet. The crash site was far from Lessu, but everyone in the city heard the explosion, and saw the dust cloud.
Not long after, Dageer saw the Separatist ships turning around and retreating. The clones around him and the population of Ryloth cheered, but the enemy fleet simply stopped after getting out of range from the Republic. They had won the first clash, but the battle was far from over.
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"All fighters, return to your cruisers. The Resolute's fighters, your new docking zone is on The Sincerity."
Admiral Dao spoke somberly, but most of the pilots cheered as they got back to their ships. Only those from The Resolute were quiet as they made their way to The Sincerity.
Landing his V-Wing, Rozal looked around. He was glad to see many familiar faces, but sad for the ones he didn't. He had lost good brothers.
Even with the starfighters from The Resolute docking in The Sincerity, the hangar wasn't full. It was clear that they had lost many ships. Too many.
Rozal got off his starfighter, and sat on the stairs. The battle lasted for more than eight hours, and his hands were hurting from gripping the controls and triggers. His back ached as he stretched to clear some of the tension.
"How are you, sir?"
Rozal turned around, and saw Spark, one of the newest pilots of Steel Battalion. He felt bad for the rookie, who had been sent from Kamino just to die.
"I am all sore. Come on, let the engineers deal with the ships. I'm hungry."
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