Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 231, Section 233 - Forced Breakthrough
Jedi General Olger Prave-Doll watched as the Peremian Alliance fleet charged forward at a frenzied speed of approximately 20,000 kilometers per second, showing no signs of slowing down.

Behind them, the "Open Ring Fleet" followed closely.

If it weren't for the sensor network at Comeno Space Control Center giving her a global view, the two fleets would have been completely unable to detect each other.

Just delay them for a few hours!
She pondered anxiously.

We should be able to do it, right?

In fact, the composure that Olger displayed was completely different from her true inner self.

She is a young Jedi, similar to the late Rhys Aleix, but has never received command training and her personality is not suited for command.

She didn't have an authoritative voice, nor was she used to giving orders, yet she was temporarily assigned to protect what could be considered the most crucial planet in the Arrow Galaxy.

The irony of fate is that she was born in Comeno and, as a child, was sent to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant due to her sensitivity to the Force.

She had never set foot on this home planet, yet now she was ordered to protect it because her fleet was the closest to it.

All of this left her with mixed feelings. Even though she had never truly known Comeno, the thought of her homeland being placed in danger still caused her a dull ache in her heart.

A master might call this the will of the Force, but Org had no time to ponder it at the moment.

At such moments, she even longed to be grounded, to feel the dust and ashes, to hear the groans of the wounded and the roar of war.

Although it may sound almost morbid, it was precisely on the most difficult front lines that her medical skills and talents were fully utilized.

At this moment, she was breathing in the clean but cold air, listening to the low rumble of the reactor and engines outside the bulkhead in the distance.

The space was empty and lifeless, making her feel like a fish out of water.

At such a moment, she couldn't help but feel bitter about the strategies of the Jedi Command and the Republic Navy—

They manipulated the Jedi like chess pieces, forcing characters like her to constantly adapt to positions they weren't suited for.

But daydreaming and resentment are meaningless.

She stared intently at the battle map.

Compared to the current battle situation, those incomprehensible political calculations seem insignificant.

As Org surveyed the assessment of the approaching enemy forces, and the orbital warehouses, cargo depots, repair yards, and supply bases that maintained daily commercial operations throughout the galaxy, a chill ran down his spine.

If the separatists defeat them here, Comeno and all facilities in orbit around the two satellites will be destroyed.

Comeno may be able to activate the planetary shields, but what about those orbital bases?

Will the separatists give us time to evacuate?
Perhaps... unless the commander is a fanatic like "The Grave Slayer," and unless the crew are men and women from Peremia seeking revenge for the losses of "Operation Trident."

Thinking of all this, Olger frowned on the observation deck, already sensing his impending death.

There are reasons why Comeno did not activate the shield.

As long as the shield remains in place, the separatist fleet will not leave.

The Jedi General, holding a hologram, faced off against Prime Minister Tomlin Golasto of Comeno.

He was one of the few people who knew about her background.

The Prime Minister looked at her calmly, his gaze carrying an unspoken question.

She responded softly, "I think they're within range, Prime Minister."

Tomlin Golasto closed his eyes, nodded, and the communication was cut off.

A few seconds later, the launch procedure was initiated. 1200 rays of light flashed across the surface of Comeno, and the continent was enveloped in golden radiance. The light penetrated the atmosphere, and the launched silos emitted lingering smoke like blasting guns after firing.

Then—silence.

Then—1200 thermonuclear missiles roared into the sky, swept past the Comeno naval formation, and left trails of fire.

Org could imagine that the planet's anti-aircraft artillery was being loaded, like a sleeping giant awakening after a thousand years, ready to defend its home.

As the Jedi General watched the missiles hurtle away, their eerie blue trails flickering like fireflies on the battle map, she silently prayed for the separatists.

May your relationship end quickly; it would be a kindness to both of us.

……

……

“My God…” Rael Hathor gasped as he looked at the streaks of light filling the sky. “They’ve launched missiles from half the planet.”

Carly felt her heart clench violently once again.

The flagship detector's alarms blared incessantly, and the battle map was now covered with signals from over a thousand missiles.

Click.

Click.

She almost shouted "Evacuate maneuver!" but held back.

Brigadier General Aviso spent nearly six standard hours meticulously deploying his battlecruiser attack formation, almost like a surgical operation; it's unclear what the consequences would be if he were to order it disrupted now.

But the more than a thousand nuclear warheads flying towards her wouldn't hesitate like she did.

Carly knew that Comeno had more missiles and understood the tactical considerations behind the enemy's decision to launch only 1200, but even the simplest geometric principles couldn't make her feel any better.

"Release the decoys, full shield activation! Frontal shield reinforced! Decoy flares launched! Initiate countermeasures, counter immediately! Prepare for impact!"

These orders might be difficult for ordinary crew members to understand quickly, but not for the 19th Mobile Combat Fleet.

The jamming pods were launched in dense bursts, and the anti-missile missiles covered the battle map like diamonds.

These tiny decoys rushed toward the missile's path, attempting to intercept it with all their might.

The fleet's electronic warfare units were fully activated, jamming equipment was running at full power, and even some long-range buoys whose purpose she had never known were launched.

Decoys were lit up in various places, relying on inertia to follow the fleet's movement, like a synchronized fireworks display.

The entire fleet was shrouded in a massive cloud of electronic and gravitational interference, rendering the guidance systems of incoming missiles ineffective and turning them into unguided ballistic vehicles.

As the Confederate Air Force often said:
Ballistic missiles are supposed to be harmless missiles, but that's not true when more than a thousand of these warheads hurtle in along predetermined trajectories.

Especially when the fleet is simply unable to evade significantly.

Carly watched indirectly through the screen as a large number of warheads were hit by anti-missile missiles or deviated from their targets due to electronic countermeasures and decoy interference.

The number of missiles quickly dwindled from over a thousand to a few hundred, but that was far from enough. Immediately afterward, the area outside the observation window was engulfed in flames, and the fleet's close-in weapon systems and Phalanx CIWS opened fire at full force, weaving a crossfire network in the darkness to intercept the missiles.

But that's still not enough.

Subsequently, when the missile approached to extremely close range, the shield system actively intercepted it, and frigates and light escort ships rushed to block the main ship, sacrificing themselves to ensure the survival of the fleet.

All crew members are risking their lives to safeguard their mission.

But that's still not enough.

Carly bit her lip until it bled, the first Separatist battlecruiser disappeared from the battle map, and at the same time a violent explosion shook her starboard side.

The missile struck head-on, and the shockwave rapidly ripped through the battlecruiser's multiple hull layers until it completely disintegrated.

Then, the second, third, fourth, and fifth ships were destroyed one after another.

In the next breathtaking few seconds, the 19th Mobile Combat Fleet struggled against a storm of missiles.

The deafening roar of the close-in weapon system consumed everyone's attention.

In just a few seconds, it was all over. Two more capital ships were destroyed, and several cruisers and escort ships were not spared either.

But they pulled through.

After breaking through the barrage, they faced 200 enemy ships, 20 combat bases, and surface-to-air artillery on half a planet 1100 million kilometers away.

But none of that matters anymore.

In Carly's view, they had already forced their way through.

They won.

Click.

Click.

“Battle report, Aviso?” She switched communication channels. “Hopefully the losses aren’t too heavy.”

In the thousands of simulations conducted in the past, the fleet has invariably paid a heavy price for carrying out such an attack.

“Five capital ships have experienced internal malfunctions,” Aviso said relatively calmly, though Carly could still hear the background noise from his busy bridge. “However, the installed isolation capacitors have successfully limited the damage, and the ships are still able to navigate and warp, but they will need to undergo a full overhaul of the auxiliary ships before they can be put back into combat. Also… all of the fleet’s tractor beams are unusable.”

Aviso's unspoken message was: "If it weren't for those safety devices, half of our ships would have already turned to steam."

But Carly trusted his judgment.

In any case, the "Tann Railgun" tactic was only planned to be used once, and they did succeed.

The cost was heavy: seven capital ships were completely lost, and another five were essentially rendered ineffective, not to mention the numerous frigates and cruisers lost in the missile barrage.

A rough estimate suggests that nearly a third of the fleet's firepower was destroyed in the recent engagement.

Such immense power comes at a high price.

She couldn't contain her excitement at the thought of the possibilities that the technology might bring when it matured.

Carly has invested heavily in Lorona, a company that is collaborating with a technology alliance to develop next-generation technologies.

She believed they should be setting up their first prototype testbed in the Kolumex system right now... that would be where the first gravitational wave cannon was born.

“Very good.” Despite the heavy losses, she nodded in satisfaction. “Let’s get out of here.”

While the Comeno Navy was retreating from the blast zone to regroup, the 19th Mobile Operations Fleet quickly changed course and maneuvered along the planetary tangent.

Now that the planetary shield has been raised, they are no longer worried about the potential threat of ground-to-air artillery fire.

As she turned, Carly ordered her to open fire.

Thousands of torpedoes hurtled toward the disorganized enemy fleet.

Although the captains of the Comeno were caught off guard by the attack, they reacted quickly, immediately launching torpedoes and activating turbo-laser cannons to retaliate.

Unwilling to suffer any further losses, Carly ordered a rapid disengagement, and the fleet accelerated once again toward the hyperspace restricted zone outside the interception area.

She noticed that the Comeno Navy did not pursue, clearly intending to leave the task to the arriving Jedi fleet and deal with their own casualties first.

Of the 20 combat bases on the battle map, 16 have disappeared, including one of the two level 5 bases.

One-third to half of the 200 enemy ships could not be detected; they were either destroyed or lost power.

In her view, it was a pretty good deal, even though the cost was slightly higher than expected.

Click. Click.

A few hours later, at half the maximum range of the Comeno Blocking Array, the "Open-Loop Fleet" finally bypassed the orbit of the Comeno-A star, appearing on the Separatist probe for the second time that day.

Carly has never been the kind of commander willing to face a Jedi general head-on.

Time ticked by, and the Jedi fleet worked to close the distance. In the corner of Carly's mind, she noticed that the fleet was approaching the hyperspace confinement zone of the Comeno system and was about to escape the range of the interception array.

“There are four hyperspace routes from Comeno to the core system, Rear Admiral,” Tex reminded her. “The southernmost one leads to Quiro, the next to Hubalin, then Quart, and the northernmost one leads to Auderon. Which one should we choose?”

Click. Click.

Beep!
Carly didn't answer immediately; her attention was suddenly drawn to the Star Path Cube in her hand.

She had assumed it was obsolete long ago, since it had been disconnected from the Republic's military network as obsolete technology.

However, when its indicator light suddenly flashed and the entire Rubik's Cube vibrated slightly due to the signal, Carly realized that she had made a mistake.

She held the Rubik's Cube up to her eyes and looked at the small status screen:

[Priestess] Control Panel One Connection Established!

She didn't understand what this meant, but she wasn't too worried.

After a minute of silence, Carly finally spoke to the robot: "...Do I need to reprogram you?"

If Tyx could laugh, he would certainly laugh now, saying, "I will obey your orders."

The 19th Mobile Combat Fleet was once again divided into four task forces, which jumped into hyperspace along four different vectors, and a woman's triumphant laughter echoed through the void once more.

But she was unaware that, under the shadow of Comeno's satellite Fro, 32 separatist warships had suddenly and silently regained power.

They had been lying in wait in silence, just waiting for this moment.

(End of this chapter)