A small portion of the Republic fleet moved towards the main phalanx of Imperial Star Destroyers. The portion was only a pair of battlecruisers, the Republic's first laudable attempt to create a ship of the line to compete with the lethality of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer and her family of potent cousins.

Among the latest offspring from this dynasty were the Reign-class Destroyers, each over two thousand meters long and packed with as much electonric weaponry as heavy ordance.

Leading the Imperial formation was the Allegiance-class Star Destroyer Dante, followed by the Reigns and then the Imperial IIIs, arrayed as such by squadrons.

On the left was a pair of Reign-class Star Destroyers heading up the auxiallary squadron, commanded by an officer only a year away from receiving a flag of his own. Marraria was his name and at seventy years of age and ninety percent of that spent in Imperial service, he was a proven and dedicated officer. All his extended life he had commanded men on the field of battle and could outmatch many officers his ranked senior.

He brought the lead ships of his squadron to port to match the detachment of the Rebels, the rest remaining stationary out of range of the ion battery below.

From his ships came pairs of turbolaser bolts by the hundreds, every battery emplacement near overheating with the weight of fire ordered from the bridge. The Rebels could shoot down missiles but were ill equipped to intercept energy pulses. The turbolasers drilled their point home, wreaking havoc with the enemy's shields and armor. Ion cannon laced itself in with the deadly cannonade not for the purpose of capturing the sieged vessel but shorting her defenses. When such was accomplished, missiles would tear her belly open to the stars, her bulkheads snapping like bafoor trees in a Calamarian tempest.

But that was a way away.

Four squadrons of TIE Defenders had remained in reserve in their hangars, another four deployed for defense. The quartet of Defender escorts rushed forward amidst the melee of fire and released their own small missiles against the Rebel warships. The craft were too small and the missiles too fast for the rebel flak batteries to interceot effectively, though most did fall prey to flechettes and battery countermeasures. Those that fell home scored armor and chipped away at the steel cocoon around the hull. It was not much, but it was a start.

* * *

Meanwhile,

On the planet below, the Imperial fighters and bombers rushed over the heads of looking civilians, braving the small arms fire of every civil officer with a pistol, each on target blast eaten up by the humming shields of the Defenders.

The first obstacle to overcome before a run could be made on the planetary ion battery was the elimination at least one of four flak towers set up around the mammoth weapon poiting up like an obelisk. Each tower had an arc of fire that was lethal and accurate, aided by mini torpedo launchers and range finders of the highest class.

The going would be tough indeed.

The fire from the batteries was intense, brilliant explosions dotting the dusk sky. About the savannah, soldiers with small arms knelt into the damp earth and fired their weapons at the screaming attackers above. Their fire would be ineffective if it hit the speeding craft,; their ability to do something, however ineffective, was what brought them to such an end.


Each flak tower was fifty meters high, its case firm duracrete supported with grids of tempered steel to hold it in place. Direct hits from orbiting barrage platforms would simply be laughed at by its solid battlements.


The fighters had on their side only valor and courage. Their weapons were small in comparson, but among the largerst vessels of their miniscule class could carry.


Overhead, the fighters screamed and juked the hail of crimson fire the was lancing from the towers themselves, a dozen quad batteries of linked flaklasers giving their all to the battle.


The leading squadron of TIE Defenders fell back and regrouped, then sped off towards the northern tower at near flank speed. Fire laced their formation and half were destroyed by the time they came over the top of the grey structure.


Behind them, unscathed for the sacrificial act of their comrades, flew two squadrons of Scimitar Assault Bombers. As the Defenders broke, they released their ordance and ascended into the atmosphere. Behind them flared a massive light, behind it flame and shadow.


The flak tower had been eliminated.


As had the shield it was defending.