Mara frowned just slightly, wondering whether he actually wanted them to try... this had all gone perfectly; a textbook operation, well-planned but with flexibility, contingencies in place. So much so that in the actual event, he'd had nothing more to do than stand on the bridge and give out orders calculated months in advance. He was spoiling for a fight and she knew it.
The question was; did he? Would he throw it all away simply because he wanted a challenge?
She'd just opened her mouth to voice this when a flicker of motion at the corner of the viewscreen drew both their eyes.
"Sir, the Fury's arrived to port. She's requesting orders."
"Tell her to launch TIE's - see if it will draw the Rebel fighters off us."
"The Fury acknowledges, Sir. They're launching three squadrons now."
"Sir, enemy fighters are driving us off-course- three degrees st..."
"Correct it." Luke ordered, turning to the Helm Officer, the ramshackle freighter beginning to buck slightly beneath their feet as heavy laser fire hit home from close range. "Stay on-course for the lightspeed jump."
He turned back to the comm, "Tell the Fury that the Rebel freighter is boxed in - have her move around to a clear line and engage tractor beams - I want that ship."
He'd barely finished before Ops called out, "Sir, the Alliance fighters are staying with us- we have a partial failure of the aft shields- engine shields are critical."
In the middle of all this pandemonium Luke glanced momentarily at the man, aware that in the pressure of the moment he had said 'Alliance' and not 'Rebel'; making a mental note that the Ops officer may be a Rebel spy. "Tile remaining shields to compensate." he ordered, turning casually away to Comm, "Is the Fury in position?"
"She estimates another minute, Sir."
"Divert power from the forward shields to shore the aft. Tell Freighter One to come up behind our engines to protect us from strafing runs. "
"TIE fighters are engaging the enemy... Sir, the Rebel freighter is pulling away."
Luke turned, "Will she make it clear before the Fury locks on?"
There was a brief, tense pause as Ops ran simulations, "No, Sir. The Fury has the edge."
"Sir, aft shields three and eight have failed- shield four is critical."
The failure of a single shield was bad enough, but manageable by tiling adjacent shields to reduce the unshielded area- if shield four failed combined with three however, it would give a sizeable hole to aim for if the Rebels took another run at the engines. Luke glanced knowingly to Mara; "Time for us to leave, I think."
He didn't bother giving the order; Mara turned instantly to Helm, "Contact Freighter One then engage lightspeed engines."
The stars before them turned to streaks as the Attin'Cho powered away with her prize, leaving the battle behind in a distant blur of light.
Chapter 13
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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The two battered freighters hugged close together well away from recognised shipping lanes but still in Bothan space, proof of their close shave already written across the hull plates of the larger vessel in the form of multiple dark carbon streaks, a sure indicator of mid-gauge laser cannon fire.
In the Ready-Room of Madine's freighter, the Sol, still relatively undamaged compared to the Arcturus, Leia Organa, Han Solo and General Crix Madine were equally huddled, still trying to figure out just exactly what went so catastrophically wrong.
And more importantly, how to put it right again.
"I'll tell you what we're gonna use," Han Solo said, as cock-sure now as he always was, seriously disgruntled at the fact that they had not only lost Mon aboard the Attin'Cho, but almost lost the Arcturus, and Leia with it, when the Star Destroyer Fury, which had been languishing at the Col Din platform near the unrecognized Sol, had replied to a summons on Imperial channels by the Attin'Cho and pulled a virtual slingshot around Bothawuii to get to Leia's ship. Only the arrival of the Sol, knowing instantly where the Fury had gone and having just barely loaded their cargo, had saved her.
Solo looked to Madine, still fuming, "We're gonna use that damn thing that we all risked our necks so you could sneak off and pick it up today."
The General paused, considering; they'd gained two valuable weapons today, as well as invaluable intelligence - the only problem was, they were in no position to use either yet. "We have no way to deploy the DEMP generators from the ships we're in now- nothing with sufficiently hardened systems."
"We'll deploy them from here." Han argued, unmoved.
Madine frowned, "If we use them now, we've lost them - we'll never get them restored in time to go after the Invincible. Plus we've lost the element of surprise- they're presently unaware that we have them at all."
"So that's what you want 'em for- the Invincible." Han said, prompting a momentary tightening of Madine's jaw at his frustration of having let that out in present company. The Empire's latest Super Star Destroyer was due to be launched in five month's time, itself fitted with DEMP technology - the only ship in existence that was. Han remained unrepentant, "It comes down to this General; which do you want more- the Invincible or Mon Mothma?"
The General looked away, sighing, clearly unconvinced.
"Do we have any reason to assume that any Star Destroyer in the fleet is hardened against DEMP technology yet?" Leia prompted, looking for a clear path.
"No." Madine said, "To our knowledge, none of the fleet has yet taken the time in spacedock necessary to have all upgrades implemented. All that manpower's gone into having the Invincible ready on time."
"Not even the Peerless?" Leia said, aware that it had been the Fury who had been at Bothawui, a Destroyer know to travel in The Heir's attachment; perhaps the Peerless was involved too.
"No." Madine glanced to his fellow Corellian then back to Leia, who was very much aware that in Mon's absence, she had become the de-facto Commander-in-Chief. "However, let me point out the flaws in this plan; firstly, we haven't tested the DEMP generators we just received from the Bothans, nor have we recalibrated them following their transit. Secondly, we have no solid proof that the Fury is vulnerable. Thirdly, we are very, very sure that both the Sol and the Arcturus are vulnerable and if we fire the DEMP both will be damaged beyond repair. And finally, even if all these things were resolved, we still have no idea where Chief Mothma is."
They'd made contact with Home-One as soon as the Arcturus and the Sol had exited their short hyperspace jump; the Fury had gone to lightspeed within minutes of their own narrow escape, clearly with another destination in mind, firinf Leia's worry that perhaps the Peerless was involved too. Informed of Mon's capture, the Rebel baseship had immediately initiated an all-points search for the Fury as well as establishing that both the Peerless and the Executor had entered hyperspace, which rendered them untraceable until they reverted to relspace - and both had been less than four hours from Leia's current location.
The Fury and the Attin'Cho, were nowhere to be seen - and the Alliance had a lot of ships scattered, looking for them right now.
"I'll tell you where she is," Han said without hesitation, "She's onboard the Fury. The'd never risk keeping her on a freighter when they had a big fat Star Destroyer just waiting to go to their location. The Attin'Cho's already been abandoned somewhere or blasted into space-dust. She's onboard that Destroyer."
"Why the Fury... of all Destroyers, why the Fury?" Madine's logical mind was searching for reasons, playing the hunch which all good field Generals had- that this fact was important... somehow.
"The Fury is part of the Core Fleet." Leia said, stating the obvious in the hope of prompting some unanticipated realisation, "That's The Heir's fleet; it shouldn't even be out here."