Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 228-230 - Independent Interstellar War

In a dimly lit conference room aboard the Chimera, all six senior officers of the 28th Mobile Fleet were present and seated around a long metal conference table.

The atmosphere was heavy, and everyone patiently awaited Commander Chom's assessment of the current fleet situation.

The logistics officer was carefully reviewing the status reports submitted by each senior officer, his brow furrowed.

“Our repair modules and consumable ammunition reserves are running low,” Ryan said, mainly to break the uncomfortable silence.

Those self-propelled mobile manufacturing facilities, known as auxiliary ships, are cumbersome and slow, but are crucial for the fleet's ability to enter the core world and return safely.

The prerequisite is that supplies can be continuously supplied.

Everyone understood that this would be the first real test for these auxiliary ships, and Rein was particularly worried that they would be unable to meet the requirements, which would undoubtedly bring annihilation to the fleet.

“Replenishing the fleet with fuel cells is no problem,” Chom said, looking through the list of requirements one by one, his tone tinged with helplessness. “Consumable ammunition can also be replenished from Given Shipyard, but the repair modules and the excitation gas for the turbo laser cannons are a big problem.”

"...Why?" Brigadier General Vinok asked with difficulty. "Why are these problems?"

“Because we lack raw materials,” Chom answered directly and bluntly, “and we don’t actually have any stockpiles of that particular gas.”

"Then why not?" Renn pressed. "Didn't the auxiliary ship resupply in Salust last time? How could it have already used up all the battle damage repair materials?"

Looking back, the answer is actually quite obvious.

“When we were replenishing supplies for the auxiliary ships, it was based on the assumption that the fleet had participated in fewer battles and suffered less damage,” Chom’s explanation fell like a heavy brick. “We can build enough fuel cells to keep the entire fleet running at full capacity twice, but to ask us to repair a hundred ships, or even rebuild almost another hundred... that’s asking too much. You might as well just ask the Hutts for charity.”

“However,” Chom continued in a dry tone, “the Given Shipyard is right here. Give me a week, and I’m sure I can get this fleet back to a state where it can handle the next battle.”

The other officers nodded in agreement, secretly relieved that the logistics supervisor had not continued to reprimand them.

However, Ryan couldn't help but frown noticeably.

In the guilt-filled silence of the conference room, everyone could hear his movements.

He could almost hear the faint cracking sound of Chom's neck joints as he turned to stare at him.

"Is there anything I need to know but don't yet understand, sir?" Jom asked, trying his best to control his tone.

The use of the title "sir" was clearly an attempt to suppress his possible urge to punch Renn across the table, but Renn paid no attention.

To be honest, he didn't blame him.

“This is something everyone here needs to know,” Ryan corrected, while taking out a stack of printed papers and distributing them to everyone on the table.

"A paper map!" Kret exclaimed, his mouth agape in surprise as he flipped through the documents. "In this day and age?!"

These pages contain maps of the southern part of the core world, marked with various star systems, planets, and handwritten annotations.

This is basically the result of Ryan's personal research, but he was too busy, or rather too lazy, to organize it more formally.

As for this research, it was actually a background investigation of the Tapani Federation. In order to enter the central region of the galaxy, they had to cross the latter's territory.

Unfortunately, Raine was fairly certain that when Octavian Grant retreated from the Yggdul system, he had already closed the door behind him.

“…Wait—” Someone spoke first, but Rein ignored them and continued.

“The Independent Star Station has launched Operation Starburst. Everyone, take a close look,” Raine said, focusing on the documents in front of him without looking at their expressions. “Our mission is to infiltrate the core world, create as much chaos as possible, and then withdraw. Ideally, we should take Admiral Dua Ningo’s bastion fleet with us. However, our comrades in the 19th Mobile Fleet have already launched the attack, so we are already behind schedule.”

Raine paused to catch his breath, finally raising his head, expecting to hear protests and angry voices.

After all, a quick glance would make it clear that this is a near-suicidal mission.

But for some reason, a thoughtful silence fell over the room. Every officer, including Chom, was engrossed in the documents before them. Perhaps the name "Independent Star Station" had quieted them down, or perhaps the mention of the sister squadrons that had already set off had an effect.

In any case, Ryan accepted this small stroke of luck and continued speaking.

“Starting from Yagdul, we only have two viable routes into the core world: either follow the Rima trade route to Tefala and Fondo, or turn onto the Corellian trade ridge to Fries and Corellia,” Raine said, tracing the hyperspace route drawn in ink with his finger. “But the problem I’ve found is that whichever route we choose, we have to traverse the entire Tapani Federation, which will inevitably lead to war.”

"Did the Tapani Federation expect us to come?" Brigadier General Greshad asked sarcastically, "because even we ourselves didn't anticipate this."

“Well, if that’s the case, then Octavian Grant’s strategic vision is much better than we thought,” Ryan replied, “because he certainly thought of that.”

“I initially thought he retreated because he realized he couldn’t win,” Hogo Schiff said gently, licking his pale lips.

"Our reconnaissance department discovered that blockade arrays have been deployed in the Tefala and Mechis systems. Several of our reconnaissance ships are stuck, but they managed to transmit some images before losing contact."

The images show forward defensive positions, newly built defensive fortifications, and even orbital defense platforms in the galaxy. Keep in mind that Tefala and Mechis III are under our siege.

Have you ever seen defensive platforms deployed around a besieged planet? We must assume they anticipated our arrival.

“In that case…” Kret muttered to himself, “how exactly are we going to complete this mission?”

Rein slammed his hands on the table, causing the papers to flutter slightly. He looked around and said, "This is why we've gathered here. And now, our fleet, which originally consisted of three hundred ships, is reduced to only one hundred still combat-ready, and we're severely lacking in materials for further repairs. So... any ideas?"

A silence fell over the table, with only the distant hum of the generator and the soft rustling of paper filling the room.

After a long silence, Hogo Schiff was the first to speak.

The man from Muen tapped the paper in front of him lightly, “How long has ‘Operation Starlight’ been in preparation? The initial composition of the 28th Mobile Fleet…”

“It seems to have been tailor-made for this attack,” Diderich Greshad continued. “While other fleets will share independent dry docks and auxiliary squadrons, these two mobile fleets will have their own dedicated auxiliary divisions.”

"Operation Starburst and Operation Stormgate were planned simultaneously," Raine truthfully stated. "I was only just allowed to reveal the details of this mission."

“I can imagine why,” Krett said, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward. “But I think the extreme importance of Operation Starburst to the separatist cause means that we’ll be forgiven even if we act as if we have a blank check from the Confederate Air Force, right?”

Ryan perked up, pleased that someone else besides himself had come up with an interesting idea. "I'm all ears."

“Let’s gather every Republic ship in this system that has the capability for hyperspace travel,” the Nemoidean suggested, “and equip them with robotic skeleton crews, using them as mobile supply depots.”

"...Not as a warship?"

“They’re not used as combat ships,” the logistics officer confirmed. “We put them under the command of Commander Chom. They fly with us, jump with us, and provide the fleet with critical ammunition, gas, and military-grade materials during the voyage.”

Vinok frowned in confusion, and at that moment, Ryan felt the same way. "Are you planning to fill the hangar of the 'Jackal-class' Star Destroyer with materials? I'm pretty sure cargo capacity isn't the core issue. What we lack is the resources themselves."

“No…” Chom picked up the list again. “Krett’s idea is to treat these ships as resources. We can dismantle them during flight, take their ammunition reserves, extract their liquefied gas tank reserves, and dismantle their hulls directly during the voyage. This way, we don’t have to mine asteroids, refine ore, and start manufacturing new parts from scratch. Theoretically, the parts we need are already prefabricated on these ships.”

“But is that really the case?” Raine raised a legitimate concern. “We all know that our Separatist warships are built with prefabricated components and modular compartments… This is a quality trade-off we have to make because we lack large shipyards, but are the Republic’s warships built the same way?”

They looked at each other and came to a conclusion.

None of them were engineers, nor were they naval architects or shipbuilders.

“What I mean is,” Schiff said somewhat uncertainly, “it’s not a matter of capacity, right? The key is efficiency, and there’s no faster way than using prefabricated components directly.”

“Does this still matter?” Vinok slammed his hand on the table. “We’ve already gathered all the sophisticated prefabricated components and military-grade alloys together. Don’t expect the stars to align themselves according to our commands anymore. What’s more important is…”

Vinok turned his attention to Commander Chom, "Can we really make this plan feasible?"

P.S.: I'm currently preparing for the Empire arc's storyline; there will be an extra chapter next month!

(End of this chapter)