BY: Deathstrike

Meanwhile, in orbit above Twycross, Grand Admiral Thrawn surveyed the battle data being transmitted into the holographic tactical display inside his private command chamber. He keyed the tactical command channel.

"Sergeant Noyes, your attack is drifting too far to the south. Do not be distracted by the enemy units, proceed directly towards the power generators in Sector 8 and disable them."

A nervous reply came back, "Acknowledged, sir".

Thrawn leaned back in his command chair, his glowing red eyes shrinking to slits, as he looked over the progress of the invasion. The unknown defenders were putting up significant resistance, and though their units' armor was weaker than the Imperial AT-ATs, their numbers and their weapons were still taking their toll. Thrawn knew that they couldn't hold out much longer though...the psychological damage of a planetary bombardment by a Super-Class Star Destroyer was well documented. With the ability to reduce multiple targets, including cities, to burning craters within minutes was something no warrior could take for any extended period of time.

Thrawn had carefully selected the surface targets for the Vindicator's 1000 turbolasers and ion cannons. Most were military structures, with several large civilian population centers thrown into the mix. He wanted these new aliens broken, not obliterated. Subjugating worlds on the Fringe was Thrawn's primary mission, so he was well acquainted with the technique. There was much to learn if they were to have any hope of finding out where they were and how to get back to the Empire. The Grand Admiral knew that if the Emperor was missing from Imperial space for too long, it could create serious leadership problems within the New Order.

He was broken from his pondering by an alert communication from the bridge.

"Grand Admiral, 5 vessels have appeared at the edge of the system and are on attack vectors to intercept us."

"Ship type?" asked Thrawn.

"Unknown, sir. Scans indicate that one is a transport vessel, 2 appear to be escort ships, and the other 2 might be landing vessels for the enemy ground units engaging our AT-ATs."

"Very well, Captain. Move us into position to fire on the transport vessels, and engage them once they are in range. I want them destroyed. Leave one of the escort ships crippled, but intact."

"Understood, sir."

The Commonwealth escort cruiser Sarna peeled away from the jumpship and headed in-system, taking up position ahead and slightly to the right of the 2 dropships.

"Ok, what are we up against?" asked Captain Tate.

"Scanning...uh...oh my god...sir, you'd better look at this..." replied the sensor operator. He punched up a system display on the primary viewer.

The captain's jaw dropped. "Is that an error?" he asked, gaping at the massive ship which as heading to intercept them.

"Negative, sir." came the choked reply. They had no choice, they had to try and protect the dropships and the jumpship...its engines wouldn't be replenished for several hours.

Several hundred sideways "I"-shaped fighters were vectoring in on the jumpship. Tate watched in horror as they began firing volleys of lasers and torpedos into the big transport, causing gysers of flame to erupt across the surface. More of the fighters began to engage the dropships, and the gargantuan warship moved in, opening up with what seemed to Tate to be unlimited numbers of weapons points. Hundreds of beam weapons tore into the dropships, shredding and blasting them to pieces in a matter of seconds.

"Open fire!" ordered Tate. If he was dying here, now, then he wanted at least some sort of payback.

PPCs and missles screamed toward the Vindicator, but impacted harmlessly upon the forward deflectors. Tate saw the jumpship disintegrate, mercilessly destroyed by the fighters. He had no more orders...who could fight against that?

Thrawn watched as the jumpship, then both dropships, and finally one escort ship were erased from space by the firepower of the Vindicator and its fighters. No match for the might of the Empire. He signaled the bridge.

"Captain, cripple that ship, then have it brought aboard in docking bay 3. Board it and alert me when I may begin interrogating the crew. In the meantime, return to the planet and deploy 20,000 ground troops, along with 2 of the prefabricated outposts, to the surface. I doubt that resistance will be a problem from this point on."

"Aye, sir."

The Vindicator turned away from the expanding dust clouds that were once a formidable Commonwealth attack force and moved back toward the planet to continue the bombardment.

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