“Bring us in for the kill,” Captain Larson ordered, smiling at such an easy victory. Before him floated the holographic image of a Lucrehulk-class Core Ship, belching flame from the gaping maw that had once been its dorsal surface. The head of the beast, The captain thought, zooming the tactical hologram out to show the remainder of the enemy force.
A trio of Recusant-class Light Destroyers held tight formation to one side, obviously slaved together in an attempt to avoid any catastrophic navigational errors from their dim-witted droid brains. Opposite them hung the Providence-class Carrier/Destroyer, the first few passes of Larson's formation proving the modular craft to be far more carrier than destroyer. And near the Providence flew a Munificent-class Star Frigate and a trio of missile frigates, the smaller vessels struggling to fit themselves within the mass shadow of their larger cousin, their AI's obviously aware of what was soon to come.
The Cooperative Rocketeer Fast Attack Group hurled itself through the cloud of Vulture droid starfighters separating it from its prey without the slightest hesitation. With their control sphere destroyed the small fighters were useless, falling inert as soon as their command signal went silent.
But as he drew close for the finishing blow, Captain Larson's simple plan for a simple victory became suddenly and painfully complex. Sensors reported power spikes from the droid fighters scattered all around, tactical warned that the Recusant trio had banked into a sharp turn and was powering straight for the Second Wave warships, and comms made an unexpected report: the enemy may be using blink code for communication.
Shield levels plummeted as the swarm of Viper droids sent a full salvo of energy torpedoes into the Claymore Battleship, more damage reported as several of the small fighters simply hurled themselves into their target. It was much too late by the time Captain Larson realized what was happening; he ordered the formation to pull away, but the trio of Recusant Light Destroyers succeed in cutting off Rocketeer's sister ship, the vessel's fate sealed as one of the three droid destroyers collided with her.
The shields were gone now, damage reports coming in from across the ship as dozens, and then hundreds of droid fighters plowed themselves into the sole remaining Claymore. Larson was dimly aware that one of his Longswords was reporting heavy missile fire from the droid frigates, and then the Munificent's main gun fired, tearing into Rocketeer's forward section as the droid fighters broke off their “living torpedo” tactic and began mass assaults on his gunships and remaining frigates.
“Signal the surrender, disengage.” Leaning back in his chair, Larson tapped the controls on his holodisplay one last time, pulling up the image of the wrecked Lucrehulk, now shown in its true and undamaged state as the simulation drew to an end. Smarts, He thought, reading the transponder tag to himself. What the hell have you begun? These droids, whatever they were, however they came into being; they weren't CIS leftovers, and they weren't cannon fodder.
The Cooperative Combined Council had demanded an initial test run of Guardian before the full-scale battle simulation scheduled against the Drackmarian Outer Fleet. The Overseer left no doubt in their minds as to the system's potential. A hardware/software upgrade to the already highly automated droid warships had turned them into the pinnacle of Guardian's potential, every ship and subsystem interwoven into a single, cohesive force.
Captain Larson was a capable leader who would go far in the Coalition military. He knew his ships, their crews, and―most importantly―his own limitations. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of the Guardian program or the buildup of droid military hardware within the Cooperative military. He made the mistake of believing that he had to defeat the Overseer―that he had to destroy the Lucrehulk Core Ship named Smarts―to win the day. Guardian had suspected as much, and had acted accordingly.
It was a lesson Captain Larson would not soon forget. It was a victory the Combined Council could not fault.
A trio of Recusant-class Light Destroyers held tight formation to one side, obviously slaved together in an attempt to avoid any catastrophic navigational errors from their dim-witted droid brains. Opposite them hung the Providence-class Carrier/Destroyer, the first few passes of Larson's formation proving the modular craft to be far more carrier than destroyer. And near the Providence flew a Munificent-class Star Frigate and a trio of missile frigates, the smaller vessels struggling to fit themselves within the mass shadow of their larger cousin, their AI's obviously aware of what was soon to come.
The Cooperative Rocketeer Fast Attack Group hurled itself through the cloud of Vulture droid starfighters separating it from its prey without the slightest hesitation. With their control sphere destroyed the small fighters were useless, falling inert as soon as their command signal went silent.
But as he drew close for the finishing blow, Captain Larson's simple plan for a simple victory became suddenly and painfully complex. Sensors reported power spikes from the droid fighters scattered all around, tactical warned that the Recusant trio had banked into a sharp turn and was powering straight for the Second Wave warships, and comms made an unexpected report: the enemy may be using blink code for communication.
Shield levels plummeted as the swarm of Viper droids sent a full salvo of energy torpedoes into the Claymore Battleship, more damage reported as several of the small fighters simply hurled themselves into their target. It was much too late by the time Captain Larson realized what was happening; he ordered the formation to pull away, but the trio of Recusant Light Destroyers succeed in cutting off Rocketeer's sister ship, the vessel's fate sealed as one of the three droid destroyers collided with her.
The shields were gone now, damage reports coming in from across the ship as dozens, and then hundreds of droid fighters plowed themselves into the sole remaining Claymore. Larson was dimly aware that one of his Longswords was reporting heavy missile fire from the droid frigates, and then the Munificent's main gun fired, tearing into Rocketeer's forward section as the droid fighters broke off their “living torpedo” tactic and began mass assaults on his gunships and remaining frigates.
“Signal the surrender, disengage.” Leaning back in his chair, Larson tapped the controls on his holodisplay one last time, pulling up the image of the wrecked Lucrehulk, now shown in its true and undamaged state as the simulation drew to an end. Smarts, He thought, reading the transponder tag to himself. What the hell have you begun? These droids, whatever they were, however they came into being; they weren't CIS leftovers, and they weren't cannon fodder.
The Cooperative Combined Council had demanded an initial test run of Guardian before the full-scale battle simulation scheduled against the Drackmarian Outer Fleet. The Overseer left no doubt in their minds as to the system's potential. A hardware/software upgrade to the already highly automated droid warships had turned them into the pinnacle of Guardian's potential, every ship and subsystem interwoven into a single, cohesive force.
Captain Larson was a capable leader who would go far in the Coalition military. He knew his ships, their crews, and―most importantly―his own limitations. Unfortunately, he knew nothing of the Guardian program or the buildup of droid military hardware within the Cooperative military. He made the mistake of believing that he had to defeat the Overseer―that he had to destroy the Lucrehulk Core Ship named Smarts―to win the day. Guardian had suspected as much, and had acted accordingly.
It was a lesson Captain Larson would not soon forget. It was a victory the Combined Council could not fault.