Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 180, Episode 182 - Deadly Charge (4.2k)

Renn's nerves tensed instantly.

He immediately reassessed the fleet's acceleration; otherwise, when the two sides made contact at such insane speeds, the Confederate fleet's carefully maintained formation would completely collapse, plunging into chaos from which it could not be effectively commanded!

He had noticed that some of the slower dreadnoughts and battleships were starting to fall behind, and the massive Lucrehook-class battleships were being left far behind.

However, if the entire fleet is ordered to shut down its engines now, the fighter groups hidden in the glow of the capital ships' engines will be exposed.

Although the Republic certainly anticipated that they would send fighter jets, the exact location of the jets would directly reveal which wing the Confederacy planned to launch its main attack from.

They must keep the engine emitting a bright, energy-radiating exhaust that easily masks any small signals...

Unless Ventress suddenly takes matters into her own hands.

Ventress, however, acted on her own initiative.

She led a force of 15,000 fighters, including her own Genievix, the Rogue-class of the 46th Escort Fleet, and the Vulture, Hyena, and Scarab of the 28th Mobile Fleet.

Suddenly, the entire force changed course and flew directly toward Commander Kretz's Fifth Support Division, three million kilometers behind them.

Renn inwardly cursed himself for overlooking a crucial point.

Ventress was first and foremost a Sith man who believed in intuition and power, and only secondly a Confederate officer.

“Ventris,” Raine forced down his raging anger, trying to keep his voice steady as he connected the line, “explain your actions!”

“…Something’s not right,” Ventress’s voice was low and urgent, confirming Raine’s vague unease. “We’re falling into Alrix’s trap.”

“So your solution is…” Renn almost blurted out “desertion,” but he stopped himself and used a more neutral term, “…withdrawal from the battlefield?”

“I’m not running away!” Ventress rudely denied. “I’m reducing our relative interception speed! We need to slow down!”

Without further hesitation, Rein immediately switched to the fleet broadcast channel: "Attention all ships, this is the 'Repulsion'! Immediately shut down the main sublight engines! Repeat, shut down the main engines! Maintain current formation!"

Since acceleration has already changed the position, continuing to sprint at high speed is pointless.

The command was transmitted instantly to every warship via encrypted narrowband.

Almost at the same second the order was given, the entire 28th Mobile Fleet seemed to have its power cut off. The dazzling exhaust flames of the engines that covered the array instantly went out, and the starry sky seemed to suddenly darken.

The moment the tail flame disappeared, the detector immediately detected a new threat signal—

"LiDAR locked on!" The synthesized voice of the small tower was more urgent than ever before. "Multiple enemy units are using high-energy laser beams to scan and locate our ship! It is recommended to immediately activate the energy shield and initiate all passive countermeasures to deflect and interfere with the laser beams!"

Renn waved his hand absentmindedly to indicate his agreement, his eyes fixed on the tactics screen.

"'Repel,' this is 'Weeping Sun'! Orders received!" Vinok's voice, laced with suppressed rage, came through the communication channel. "What the hell is Ventress up to?"

"I'm handling it!" Renn gritted his teeth, switching back to the dedicated line with Ventress, his voice almost a growl, "Reduce interception speed? Where are you going?! Answer me!"

A piercing alarm sounded, and Godell looked up: "Sir, Commander Kretz requests emergency narrowband communication access."

“Tell him I’ll handle it right away!” Ryan replied irritably.

"Yes, sir." Godell's voice was completely flat.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Ventress's frustrated voice boomed like thunder. Raine realized her anger wasn't directed at him, but rather at her own thwarted instincts. "You're the ones who need to slow down! Now!"

"Estimated contact time: thirty minutes," Little Ta announced in his signature dry, monotone voice.

"Why!?" Renn suddenly stood up from his chair, his voice rising uncontrollably.

“I don’t know!” Ventress screamed in response, her voice filled with self-rage. “But I just know! Aleks should have launched her fighter jets by now! But she didn’t! Something’s not right!”

Renn turned sharply to look at the tactical hologram.

The marker representing the Republic Fleet showed no signs of slowing down, and the simulated halo of its engine exhaust flames on the screen had expanded from tiny specks into dazzling orbs.

Through the transparent steel observation window of the bridge of the "Repelling" ship, the tiny stars in the distant void have now become clearly visible and steadily brightening light sources.

"You put our entire battle plan in danger based on just a... 'something' feeling?" Renn questioned sharply.

"Sir! Commander Kretz is requesting access again! Highest priority!" Godell reminded him.

"Estimated contact time: 27 minutes." Little Tower's voice was like a death knell.

“Let him wait!” Renn said in a deep voice.

"Yes, sir." Godell remained calm.

"Ventris! I order you to return to your designated combat position immediately! Otherwise, I will activate the 'Vulture' fighter's mandatory control protocol and take over command!" Rein's eyes darted frantically between multiple display screens, his brain racing to calculate whether he could still recall the fighter and salvage the situation. "You can still catch up if you turn around now!"

"Estimated contact time: 25 minutes," Xiaota announced coldly.

Ryan cursed under his breath, "Goldell! Execute the mandatory control protocol!"

"..."

“Goldell?” Renn felt a chill.

"Control signals...unable to establish a valid connection?" Godell's voice carried a rare hint of uncertainty. "It seems...they're beyond the effective command range?"

Ryan's brow furrowed deeply. "Impossible! She couldn't possibly have direct control of all the fighters tied to her own fighter jet! They must rely on the central control node of the mothership or the fleet command ship!"

"They... Commander Ventress temporarily transferred command authority for all 'Vulture' fighters to the 'Fortress' command network before the operation," Goldell confirmed by pulling up the operations log.

That's Kretz's flagship!

"Sir! Commander Kretz has requested an emergency communication for the third time! He insists on speaking to you immediately!" Godell reminded him again.

"Bring it in!"

The communication screen lit up, revealing the face of Commander Kretz, a Nemodian, whose expression was unusually serious: "General, I apologize for disturbing you at this critical moment—"

“Kretz! You have mandatory control of the ‘Vulture’ fighter jets on your flagship! Transfer the authority to me immediately!” Renn interrupted him, speaking rapidly.

Kretz remained silent for a moment, his tentacles wriggling uneasily.

“…I’m sorry, General,” he spoke again, his tone complex and difficult to decipher, “but I think our objectives and the enemy’s objectives… may not even be on the same battlefield.”

“…What?” Renn was stunned. “The heading vector of the enemy flagship ‘Resilient’,” Kretz pulled up a shared data file, “does not intersect with the headings of any ship in our fleet. She has not set any of our ships as interception targets.”

Rein suddenly looked at the small tower, and the tactical robot immediately brought up a precise flight path vector diagram.

Sure enough, the straight line extending from the "Endurance" that represented its course and speed did not intersect with the Confederate fleet's dense network of shipping lanes!
Generally speaking, targeting a specific objective is a simple way to provide a tactical reference point for the entire fleet.

If Aleks hadn't locked onto any Confederate ships, there were only two possibilities.

First, she was flying around completely erratically.

This is incredible.

Or... her target wasn't the Confederate fleet itself at all!

“…Little Tower, analyze quickly!” Raine’s voice deepened.

“There’s no precedent for this behavior in my tactical database,” Little Tower replied, the processor spinning at high speed, “starting a new computation thread to attempt parsing…”

“There’s no time!” Ryan waved his hand to interrupt him, glanced at the timer, and saw that there were only twenty minutes left before contact was made. “Just tell me, what are our chances of winning if we lose fighter cover, but the enemy also has no fighters and their formation is in disarray!”

Xiaota quickly conducted a simulation: "Based on the current parameters, the enemy ships have no fighter escort and have not formed an effective combat formation, while our side maintains a complete formation and firepower... The calculation shows that the probability of our side achieving a decisive victory is 86.955%."

“It sounds…very high…” Renn murmured, but the number did not dispel the gloom in his heart.

What exactly is Ventress worried about?
He squinted, staring intently at the chaotic yet relentlessly advancing trajectory of the Republic fleet on the tactical hologram.

Even if Aleks's objective is not to intercept a specific ship, the Confederate fleet will still intercept her at the predetermined coordinates.

In the absence of fighter interference from either side, the numerically superior and well-organized Confederate fleet could easily surround and destroy this smaller Republic task force.

The outcome seems unchanged... They will still win, and they will still eliminate the enemy.

“Little Tower,” Raine’s voice carried a hint of wavering he himself didn’t realize, “recalculate! Provided… the enemy manages to form some effective formation at the last minute before contact?”

The small tower's electronic eye focused on the hologram: "Considering their remaining time and mobility, the enemy's possible effective formation options are extremely limited. The probability model shows that the likelihood of successfully forming a formation is lower than—"

“Ventris and Aleix have sparred!” Renn interrupted him irritably, rubbing his temples. “I can’t ignore the possibility that her ‘strange’ feeling might stem from a Force warning! Even if it can’t be quantified!”

“The Force cannot be incorporated into a reliable probabilistic model because its nature is neither quantitative nor qualitative,” Little Tower explained.

"I know! ...We've argued about this countless times! Just give me the result!"

"...Calculation complete."

After a while, Xiaota finally stopped the calculation, picked up the data board, and entered the results into the main system.

Instantly, several phantom formations, estimated based on the current state of the Republic fleet, were projected onto the tactical hologram, suggesting that they might have barely formed a formation before contact.

One of the formations and its variations is highlighted; it is a sharp, cone- or arrow-shaped rhombus.

Ryan stared at it, a strong sense of familiarity suddenly gripping him... Where had he seen it before?
where is it?
Metalon!

Memory cleaves through the fog like lightning!

During the later stages of the Battle of Metalon, in order to break through the Confederate lines and rescue trapped troops, Prokhorne commanded the Republic Fleet to form this highly penetrating "arrowhead" formation!
It sacrificed flank protection, concentrating all its strength on one point to forcefully break through the enemy lines!

Ryan glanced quickly at the timer.

Only fifteen minutes left!

He had to make a decision immediately!

By this time, Ventress's fighter squadrons had taken up new defensive positions around Kretz's 5th Support Division.

The actions of the Fifth Support Division itself were also strange; they tightened their formation and doubled the density of their ranks, as if preparing to meet an attack.

Raine felt his mouth go dry and subconsciously licked his lips. "Little Tower, overlay the simulation of that cone-shaped arrowhead formation onto the Republic Fleet's current course vector! Then, extend the course along the very tip of this virtual formation! See where it points!"

The hologram immediately generated a new simulated image.

The markers representing the Republic Fleet quickly rearranged into the sharp arrow formation, and then a blinding red line shot out from the tip of the arrow, instantly piercing through the simulated array of the Confederate Fleet's current position and extending into the void further back, beyond the display range of the tactical screen!

"What is her target?!" Renn's heart pounded. "The Sulurub asteroid belt behind us? Zoom out the star map! Quickly!"

The screen expanded rapidly, and the deadly red line stretched deep into the asteroid belt... Then, under the simulated gravitational pull, it underwent a tiny, but purposeful bend!
Its destination is—

"Enemy final course lock detected!" The little tower's electronic voice suddenly rose, revealing for the first time a programmed "panic." "Target coordinates confirmed! It's... the coordinates of the Sixth Auxiliary Division, Jom's mobile dock!"

Renn gasped instantly, his pupils contracting sharply in shock!

He finally understood!

He looked again at the simulated arrow formation, and the horrific scene of the Battle of Metalon came to mind once more.

It was with this reckless charge that the Republic Fleet managed to tear a breach in the Confederate defenses!
He looked at the timer in despair.

Ten minutes left.

It's too late! There's simply no time to redeploy!
Do not!
A cold voice exploded in his mind.

He should have thought of it earlier!

It should have been clear from the moment she launched that seemingly suicidal charge!

Rhys Alrix is ​​no fool!
She's a tactical mastermind!

Ventress sensed danger; it was a warning from the Force!
Kretz also noticed something was amiss!
Because Aleksander's target was never them!
It's not that I need time...

Instead, Aleks needs time to complete the charge!

"All fleet, emergency turn!!!" Renn pounded on the fleet's public address button with all his might, his roar echoing across every Confederate warship, "This is the 'Repulsion'!"

"Order all units to steer fully to left! Immediately activate the reverse thrusters for full-power braking! Reduce speed!"

"Once the turn is complete, and the enemy ship enters the main gun range, immediately broadside the enemy and open fire at will!"

"Stop them at all costs! Protect the Sixth Auxiliary Division!!"

(End of this chapter)