Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 254, Section 256 - Melee
"Enemy forces have appeared at the rear, Admiral!" Captain Terinard Skreid roared on the bridge of the "Alione".

On the tactical screen, signals representing the enemy forces were flashing continuously from behind the home fleet.

Admiral Honor Salima turned around abruptly, almost blurting out a rebuke of the "Opening Fleet," but after assessing the situation, she swallowed her words.

By this time, the separatist fleet had shrunk to about a quarter of its original size, and the remaining 150-odd ships were once again intercepted by General Knoxby's forces.

Despite the fact that the "open-loop fleet" successfully intercepted the 19th Mobile Combat Fleet.

The Jedi fleet, like tigers, relentlessly pursued a pack of hounds that had long forgotten their fear.

Honor tracked the course on the screen and keenly sensed that the 19th Mobile Combat Fleet was turning back to rescue "Battle Hydra".

Although the "Open Ring Fleet" launched another interception, the separatists did not back down. Instead, they charged toward their allies with even greater recklessness.

Whenever the Jedi fleet approaches, a Separatist warship will suddenly shut down its engines, allowing itself to "fall" into the formation of the "open-loop fleet".

It then self-destructed in a blinding explosion.

This was an act of near-mad sacrifice, repeated ship after ship by the 19th Fleet, all to hold off the pursuers.

“What are they doing…” Even Skreid was momentarily speechless, his voice filled with disbelief, “What on earth are they doing? Are these people even rational?”

“They’re foreigners,” Honor gritted his teeth. “God knows what they’re thinking! Captain Ottom, turn your ships around and intercept! No matter what… we absolutely cannot let the enemy fleet join us! The rest of the ships, concentrate your firepower and sink the ‘Battle Hydra’! I repeat: Sink the ‘Battle Hydra’!”

However, at this moment, the situation suddenly changed, as if the nine layers of hell of Corellia were rising up, intending to devour the entire galaxy.

The 19th Mobile Combat Fleet brazenly charged into the rear of the Coruscant home fleet.

Kalitrilm's attack lacked any formation and was chaotic; the only common thread was their relentless determination.

The entire fleet surged toward one direction like a tidal wave of steel and destruction.

Despite the Republic Navy's superiority in the quality of its ships and weapons, at this moment, Honor Salima was utterly shocked by the separatists' insane actions.

Kalitrilm's fleet crashed into the home fleet's formation, the warships passing each other at near-light speed, turning into a blurry blur of light and shadow.

They opened all the gun ports and fired wildly from multiple directions as they charged into the melee.

These warships fearlessly deactivated their collision avoidance systems and cut directly into the Republic destroyers with their hulls.

The cruiser fired its main guns at the enemy ship directly in front of it, and was itself engulfed by the fireball of the explosion.

This was a charge that completely abandoned the instinct for self-preservation, wreaking havoc on the battlefield and driven entirely by the frenzied momentum of the attack.

"Disrupt the enemy with all your might!" Karitellim shouted, her flagship engaging three enemy destroyers simultaneously, even though half of its main guns were disabled. "We can't let them regroup!"

Dozens of separatist frigates unleashed their jamming energy at full power, shrouding the entire battlefield airspace in an impenetrable electronic fog, rendering all coordinated attempts by the Republic fleet futile.

Despite their difficult situation, the separatists actually turned the tide of the war and began indiscriminate attacks on the Republic's loyalist forces.

The officers and soldiers of the 28th and 19th Mobile Fleets fought side by side and cooperated seamlessly. Their seemingly innate synergy puzzled any tactician.

These ships and crew members had not seen each other for months, yet now they shared a deep understanding as if they had fought side by side for a lifetime.

Unable to effectively relay the instructions, Honor Salima tried all available communication channels and finally grabbed a young messenger by the shoulder.

"Send a shuttle to the 'Opening Ring Fleet'!" she roared. "Tell those Jedi to open fire!"

"But...but sir!" the messenger stammered, "Our men are still inside—"

"This is an order!"

However, outside of the "Arione", the orders of Honor Salima were interpreted in another way.

With the separatist frenzy disrupting the command chain, the Republic loyalist captains were completely engulfed in the massacre and chaos, remembering only the last instruction transmitted from the "Alione":

Sink the "Battle Hydra"!
Sink the "Battle Hydra"!
Sink the "Battle Hydra"!
The most valiant commanders in the home fleet, Dordonna, Ottom, and Skrid, each led their troops in a counterattack.

Using light signals and battlefield intuition, they managed to reorganize the surrounding warships.

As if receiving a silent command, the entire fleet of three hundred warships simultaneously pressed towards the core area of ​​the 28th Mobile Combat Fleet.

……

Amidst the chaotic battle in the Rondiri system, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi received orders from his pilot, leaving him momentarily stunned.

"What exactly does the honorary general want us to do?"

“This is how the messenger delivered the order, General,” the fighter captain reported. “I lost fifty-six brothers in order to bring this order to you. Please make a careful decision.”

Without waiting for confirmation or response, the captain turned the plane around and rushed back into the melee, flying straight towards that deadly airspace.

It was as if they had disregarded their own lives, or rather, like all units on the battlefield, they had been consumed by the frenzy of battle.

Obi-Wan could feel the heavy gazes of Commander Cody and Olga Prave-Doll, and he struggled to remain calm. At this moment, wavering was not an option.

"Give the order, General," the clone commander said to him. "The Honorable Admiral is prepared to give her life for victory. If we do not fire, we will be letting her and every officer and man in the fleet down."

“We’re about to open fire on our own allies, Master!” cried Warrior Org. “We will defeat the Peremian Alliance… but at what cost? For every separatist we kill, three loyalists of the Republic perish! They are all citizens of the Republic! Our hands will be stained with the blood of our own people!”

“But if we don’t fire, their bloodshed will be wasted,” Commander Cody calmly retorted. “General, if I may be so bold, this is a direct order from the Admiral of the Coruscant Home Fleet… She is the admiral closest to the Admiralty and the Supreme Command.”

"General!" the sensor officer suddenly reported, "Kronau radiation detected!"

"A fleet has warped in?" Obi-Wan turned around, secretly relieved by this brief respite. "Is it the Rendiri fleet that's back?"

"No, General! The radiation is coming from the north! On... the other side of the battle!"

north?

A chaotic battle is taking place on the other side?
Obi-Wan glanced at the timer—the battle had lasted for nearly half a standard day.

That must be the "Hyperion Task Force".

Master Prokhor.

Arrived!

"Connect the communication channel!" he ordered immediately.

The officer quickly operated the system to connect the Jedi Master to communication.

“Looks like I’ll make it to this gathering, Obi-Wan.” The holographic image of Master Keldor brought a sense of reassurance, and Obi-Wan seemed to transform back into the young warrior learning under the guidance of that senior master.

“I need your advice, Master Proud,” Obi-Wan confessed candidly, without any shame, “The Admiral has ordered us to open fire on the chaos before us.”

“She wants to hold back the separatists while we deliver the fatal blow,” General Prokone deduced after a moment’s thought. “Given the current situation, I don’t think there’s a better time than now.”

Obi-Wan was filled with surprise. "You really think so, Master Pro? We're about to...fire at our own allies, if the Admiralty...no, if the Senate finds out we've fired on the fleet of the Inner District nobles..."

“This was at the request of our allies,” the Jedi Master corrected gently but firmly. “We have the communication records, and we also have the sender’s transponder code, don’t we?”

“Yes,” Commander Cody quickly confirmed.

Prokhor nodded decisively. "Then, Obi-Wan, we must be resolute in the face of the battle to come. If we rescue Honor Salima, she will become a powerful ally. Come, let's end this terrible conflict."

Is it more terrifying than the home fleet and the Peremian Alliance combined?

At that moment, Obi-Wan couldn't help but wonder if "Master Prokhon" and "General Prokhon" were really the same person.

Which one is the wise master in the Jedi Temple, and which one is the hero in the hyperspace war?
As Commander Cody left to carry out his orders, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Olga Prave-Doll exchanged glances.

The young samurai's eyes still held a struggle, but she eventually rallied, nodded lightly, and then the holographic image disappeared.

Thus, the Jedi fleet, totaling over four hundred warships, formed a sickle-shaped formation on both sides of the melee and charged down onto the battlefield.

Fate cruelly reversed, and the separatists went from being the perpetrators to being the victims.

They were enduring the firestorm of the melee within, while in the north, General Procon's forces unleashed thousands of spear-like missiles into the fighting zone.

In the south, the "Open Ring Fleet" spewed forth scorching energy and gas, while starfighters, carrying newly loaded torpedoes and missiles, plunged into this chaotic storm.

The explosion was so dazzling that it seemed as if the spiral arms of the Milky Way were burning away.

The airspace became the focal point of fire from all sides, and was burned alive.

The ray shields absorbed the radiant heat emanating from the battlefield, and the ship's steel glowed red-hot at the muzzle of the guns.

Even if the spacecraft's outer shell can withstand the damage temporarily, the people inside cannot.

The crew members were thrown against the bulkhead and collapsed on the deck, dying amidst the interplay of external heat and internal cold.

For others, the suffering lasts longer.

Their bodies convulsed from the boiling of their internal organs, and they choked on the blood they vomited, which then evaporated into white mist.

The molten deck devoured the living and the dead, both republican loyalists and separatists.

Blinding light tore through the spaceship, hurling the corpses into the cold vacuum and erasing all the horror that had occurred inside.

The two Jedi fleets continued firing, gritting their teeth and indiscriminately unleashing hellfire upon allies and enemies alike, like weather control satellites trying to tame a raging hurricane, gradually weakening and disintegrating the chaotic battle.

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(End of this chapter)