Synergy of Storms by WedgeantR2

Part 3: The "Supercell" Battle

It was just a plain old backwater sector of space. There was nothing special about it. Nothing except for the fact that it was the point where Task Force Storm had gathered to plan their next attack. They had chosen to gather together near the Roon system for two reasons. First of all, it was an isolated area of space. Second, it was on a direct vector of the suspected location of the UPA base. The last time the two opposing forces met, the UPA had been forced to retreat to their base. Unfortuately for them, the Imperials had discovered an approximate location of their base by tracing their last vector. They had been traced to either the Hoth system or the Bespin system. Since there were several planets in the two systems, the task force decided to send one Imperial-class star destroyer to each planet in each of those systems. The super star destroyer "Stormreaver," two victory star destroyers, and one Nebulon-B frigate would stay back and hyper into a system once one of the ISDs had discovered the location of the UPA base. All ten ISDs were needed for this mission because there were 10 possible locations where the UPA base might be hidden. All the ISDs formed up and prepared to enter hyperspace... However, unknown to the task force was the fact that the UPA was quite aware of the fact that they were planning attack. Grand admiral WedgeantR2 was looking out the viewport on the UPA base, analyzing the progress of the repairs being made on the ships damaged in yesterday's battle with Task Force Storm. He turned toward Drewhead and GoldLeader who were standing with him and said, "Hey guys, are you sure that comm jammer we got this morning will work?" GoldLeader said, "Yeah. It's a good thing we found out that they could have traced our escape vector as soon as we did. It's also a good thing that the New Republic was able to get us that comm jammer quickly. That thing is supposed to have a long jamming radius. The only problem is, if they send a scout ship to find us, and we use the jammer, we won't be able to communicate as well." Drewhead said, "That's no problem. I am confident that our pilots can handle anything they throw at us." WedgeantR2 said, "Anyways, what is the progress on the repairs being conducted on our fleet?" GoldLeader said, "Well, all our ships have been fixed up except for our three ships and the "UPA One." It looks like the "UPA Virtue" will be finished with repairs by tomorrow, but it will probably be another four days for the "UPA Stonewall" and probably five or six days for the "UPA Paradigm." As for the "UPA One," it looks like it will be anywhere from ten to fourteen days before it is ready for action. The internal damage was much more extensive than we anticipated." "Too bad my ship is damaged," said WedgeantR2. "The sooner we get it repaired, the sooner we can use my plan." Drewhead said, "Well we will try to speed up repairs on the "UPA Paradigm." Actually, if you think about it, we don't need your ship. Wouldn't the "UPA Stonewall" work?" WedgeantR2 said, "No. It doesn't have the firepower needed for this task. We need to do the most damage possible in a very short amount of time. Since the "UPA Paradigm" has more turbolasers and ion cannons, it can hit more targets with more firepower at a time." GoldLeader said, "Well you two are lucky. When we carry out R2's plan, at least you two will get to command your ships. I will be bored all day for like a week. R2, those drinks you're getting us had better be good." R2 said, "Actually GL, you will have the "Falcon Claw." And about the drinks, I'll get us any type of drink you want if this thing works out." Suddenly, battle alarms sounded all over the base. They were under attack! GL rushed over to the comm. He yelled, "All available ships and fighters, launch now and attack those Imps. We will be cutting off your comm systems until you take them out." Meanwhile, Drewhead went to activate the comm jammer, while WedgeantR2 looked at the battle screens. He saw only a single Imperial-class star destroyer. Three TIE fighter squadrons, two TIE interceptor squadrons, and one TIE bomber squadron were launched, along with five assault gunboats and three Gamma-class assault shuttles. A voice was heard over the comm because the comm jammer was not yet activated. "This is the Imperial Star Destroyer "Supercell" to UPA base. Surrender immediately, or------------" The transmission abruptly cut off as Drewhead had activated the comm jammer, preventing them from calling for backup. Drewhead said, "That ought to shut him up." Eight squadrons of starfighters were launched from the four platforms that made up the UPA base. They launched warheads at the ISD and the incoming TIEs. Several TIEs belw up nicely. Turbolaser blasts lit up the area around them as the ISD and three UPA frigates exchanged fire. The ISD's blasts penetrated the shields of the "UPA Moonstalker" but the rest of the fleet soon came up and outgunned the ISD nearly two to one. It looked like this was going to be an easy victory for the UPA. More warheads were launched at the "Supercell." Its shields were collapsing quickly. All the assault gunboats had been destoyed, along with most of the assault shuttles and TIEs. Only five UPA fighters had been shot down and forced to eject, and the pilots were quickly picked up by the UPA capital ships. Then, the ISD began a strange maneuver. It moved forward toward the UPA fleet, taking serious punsihment in the process. It looked it was going to explode any second now. It got closer to the UPA fleet and began to slow down. Right when it was in front of the UPA ships, a huge explosion rocked the ISD. The explosion did not come from the front where the turbolasers and warheads were hitting it. The explosion had come from somewhere inside the ship. On board the UPA base, WedgeantR2 realized what had happened. The ISD had self-destructed! Chunks of debris from the ISD hit several frigates, but the corellian corvettes an gunships were small enough to evade them. It appeared that the "UPA Saratoga," "UPA Moonstalker," "UPA Peacemaker," and the "UPA Guardian" had all been hit and virtually disabled by the debris. The remaining TIE bombers saw their chance. The accelerated to full speed, and, flanked by the remaining TIE fighters and interceptors, began to head for the UPA base. They launched all the warheads they had at the nearest platform, which just happened to be Falcon Wing HQ. The torpedoes hit tis shields which held for a few seconds and then collapsed. All of a sudden, a heavy turbolaser burst caught the TIEs, vaporizing all of them, because they had been flying in a tight formation. The blast had come from the "UPA Virtue!" On board the UPA base, GoldLeader said, "It's a good thing that I was able to get the "UPA Virtue" activated in time. I don't think those TIEs ever knew my ship was operational. I guess they assumed it was disabled while under repairs the whole time." "Good job GL," said Drewhead. "We'd better send some heavy lifters and tugs out there to bring those four frigates in for repairs." GL said, "Hey wait a minute. Won't the task force get suspicous when one of their ISDs doesn't return?" WedgeantR2 said, "Don't worry GL. Once the "Supercell" exploded, I shut off the comm jammer since none of the TIEs have long range communication arrays. I just sent a message to the task force using the "Supercell's" signal saying they were caught in an uncharted meteor shower here and were going to be destroyed. That should keep the location of our base secret enough for now. Once the Imps' search for our base here has turned up nothing, they will probably think they made a mistake in calculating our last known vector." "OK so we're safe for now. But now we have another problem. Who's gonna buy drinks for us?" said GL. As the UPA pilots were celebrating their victory and focusing more on repairing their ships than anything else, the last Gamma-class assault shuttle remaining, which was heavily battered and scarred, slowly crept away and shot into hyperspace... END OF PART 3