The Battle of the Masserix Belt: Heavily-Armed Rust bucket

Posted on Fri Jun 2nd, 2023 @ 10:12am by Reave & Kalen "Rex" Vickers & Mentis & G2-O7

2,997 words; about a 15 minute read

Chapter: Chapter VI: The Last Bastion
Location: Red Raptor, BSD Absolution, Masserix Belt, Bastion Space (Near the border)
Timeline: After "Planet Rex"

OLD

The Rattataki disappeared from view, heading towards the small ladder towards the centre of the ship that fed down to the small gunner's cockpit mounted beneath the ship. A few moments later, his voice came over on the cockpit audio feed.

"I'm in and just adjusting the seat," he grunted, accompanied by a ruffling sound, "I never get used to sitting at this angle, but I'm all right. I can already see fighters buzzing about; how's it looking up there?"

"Uhh.... honest answer?" Rex called down to Mentis, his voice loud enough to be heard over the thrum of the Red Raptor and the stresses of its combat-ready setup. "Like squadrons of heavily-armed fighters that outnumber us two-to-one are launching out of two massive dreadnoughts, right in the midst of an oversized asteroid field looking to crush us into oblivion at every other turn." There was a pregnant pause. "How about you?"

NEW

The Red Raptor careered through a wing of TRI fighters, the interference carried across the communications arrays and equipment that lined the cockpit of the ageing vessel transmitting the trademark screech of their twin-ion engines throughout the ship, just as loudly to Rex and Mentis as if they had been ground-side, the three-winged starfighters zooming overhead.

With the Corellian ship spinning, none of the green beams of plasma that emanated from the Imperial fighters made contact with the Raptor, as they sliced through their formation and forced the TRIs to scatter at different vectors away from the larger freighter. Rex, his arms and hands glued to the broad panel that controlled the ship, pulled the Raptor upwards before another wave of fighters angled towards them, only narrowly cutting away from a spinning asteroid five times the size of the ship that had been flying towards them, but not before G2-O7 warbled a high-pitched panic-filled screech that filled the entire ship.

One of the Company Osk-Wings that had broken formation was not as lucky, as it smashed into the frozen rock and blipped out of existence in a furious haze of unrestrained flames.

"Phwoo!" Rex loosed an exaggerated, but quite genuine, holler of relief across the internal comm channel, and he placed a hand atop Reave's ludicrously-sized hat, tussling it to the Jawa co-pilot's near-violent annoyance. "Too close!"

Reave re-aligned the hat, stared hatefully at Rex for only a brief and carefully-calculated safe second before returning his attention to his own console. His cigarra shuffled across his obscured features, an unseen mouth chewing its butt-end, the smoke adding an unnatural haze to the cockpit.

“You’re telling me!” Mentis’ voice echoed back from where he sat in the gunner’s pit, “It felt like my bottom half was going to be smeared across that rock with how close we were. But not as close as the other guy, it would seem.”

There was a satisfaction in his tone as he continued, “I guess you’re not too bad at flying this old rust bucket, after all.”

There was a little disgruntled chirp from G2, suggesting he felt otherwise, as he rolled his orb-like chassis back in line with the ship’s artificial gravity.

"Well-" Whatever smarmy comment Rex was going to deliver got caught in his throat at the ship jerked violently as several-hundred terawatts' worth of laser collided with the upper hull of the Raptor. Several displays and panels began flashing red throughout the ship, and a few pieces of unnecessary life-saving equipment, masks and unrecognisable kit, fell from unseen compartments overhead.

Rex waved the dangling oddments out of his way with a panicked hand and began jamming his fingers into switches and controls again to regain control of the ship, whilst Reave barked incessantly in his screeching native tongue, mostly at the Human pilot, who muttered a few curses back at him in turn.

"Another wave of TRIs!" He managed to bark down to Mentis, stretching on the controls and pulling the ship around in a broad turn, but the trio of enemy fighters stuck close on their tail, undaunted by the rapid twists and turns of the much-older freighter. And, behind them, another three of the eyeball-centred grey vessels had adopted a similar position, holding fire to not strike their comrades bearing down on the Red Raptor ahead of them. "Two waves of TRIs!"

"I see them, I see them," Mentis repeated and a moment later, the recoil sound of the heavy laser cannon could be heard as he began firing behind them at the hostile craft. Flicking eyes to the monitors, Rex could see they were closely following their movements, likely locked on with their targeting computers as well.

The Rattataki's voice barked on the intercom again, "They're sticking just above my line of sight. Unless we change angle of gain some height, I'm not gonna' to hit them!"

Rex ducked instinctively at a barrage of laser fire skimming across the viewport, even though such an action would have actually made little difference to protecting his head from any actual collision or injury. He brushed aside the action and kept working at the controls, pulling the Raptor at varying stark angles in an effort to shake off the TIE-TRIs, or to at least make it impossible for them to land any meaningful blows on the old Corellian freighter. Despite some flying that Rex considered quite admirable and award-worthy, the dedicated Imperial pilots were not so easily confused or lost.

"They're no Judicials," he grimaced to himself, also finding himself grateful for the improved maneuverability of the Raptor, even though the small Bastion fighters continued to stay close to the ship, unwavering in pursuing their objective.

"We're gonna need to be more drastic, buddy!" He called down to Mentis, despite the internal communications making their voices easily audible to one another - another instinctive behaviour the Human recognised but accepted. "Asteroids or Star Destroyers?" He asked.

A light blaster burn scorched the top of the ship, sending a fizzling screech through the ship and, in response, Mentis could be heard firing back although the ship had carefully remained just out of reach.

His voice echoed back, "I don't know: six of one, half a dozen of the other. I don't know much about battle patterns and formations so lets just keep em' guessing until I can get a good shot in."

"Six of what, half a doz-" Rex shook his head. "I appreciate the support, buddy!" He growled, tugging at the controls with extreme vim and vigour to gain as much control as possible over the Red Raptor, dragging the freighter suddenly upwards and funnelling a large amount of reserve power and fuel to propel the ship faster. The bulkheads groaned and some energy was siphoned from Mentis' turret, causing the blasts to feel and look thinner and sluggish. The lighting, already intermittent, became even less reliable.

The view of space for both men rapidly shifted, the bright-white specks of stars spinning and sliding as the Raptor was repositioned and hurtled at new angles and increasing speeds to throw their pursuers off their trail. Rex, although a seasoned spacefarer, felt his stomach twist and sink with the manoeuvre, his inner ear, eyes and brain all sending conflicting signals that left him regretting the pickled space worm he had scoffed before they took off from the Absolution's hangar.

And, as if in response to the stray thought, the three triangular shapes of the competing Star Destroyers came plainly into view from the Red Raptor's bow. Huge streaks of smoke were being torn into the vacuum of space all along the hull of one of the hulking vessels, debris littering the gaps between the Imperial and Corporation ships. The Absolution, plainly the more damaged of the three Destroyers, looked to be concluding a dangerous manoeuvre of its own, the sharp point of its structure angling round to directly face the Enterprise and Servator.

"That's it!" Mentis' voice erupted with energy over the speaker, "I've got one lined up!"

As he spoke, the ship rang out with laser fire from the lower turret, and a flash of light could be seen bleeding into the cockpit, followed by a modest shockwave against the hull. The ship must have been very close when Mentis destroyed it.

Presumably a little close for comfort for Mentis too as he added, "That was bloody close, but the blast caught another fighter and it has fallen away smoking. The last one has dropped back but I think we can get it, if we stay at this angle."

“So you can singe my eyebrows off?” Rex hollered at the Rattataki. “You better do it quick, Mantis!” He then added, looking dead ahead at a wing of Osk-class fighters now swinging around into a direct firing line position. Already, warning lights and alarms were flourishing on the displays and speakers as the Company starcraft got the Red Raptor locked on by their targeting systems. “Now, Mantis!”

“Almost… just need him to shift a little more…” Mentis mumbled back before the screech of blaster fire saturated the intercom and a furious volley of shots erupted across the bow of the final fighter, with the final bolt clipping the starboard wing and turbolaser of the craft and sending it spinning off course, loosing a final round of fire towards them as it uncontrollably shot away to its final resting place upon the face of an asteroid.

“Kriff and kark!” Rex growled, pulling at the controls very suddenly to shift the Raptor’s angle, just in time to swerve a flurry of bright blaster bolts that would have crashed into the Corellian freighter, filling the void they occupied a half-second before. A moment later, the Osk-wings zoomed through the same space, the Raptor’s manoeuvre occurring too soon and rapidly for them to adequately move, but it had left them dangerously close to the crossfire between the three competing Star Destroyers.

“Void be damned,” he grumbled to himself, loud enough to still be captured on the internal communications by his headset, a resigned tone bleeding into his smooth voice. “Our guys have taken a nasty beating. This ain’t-“ Rex paused and narrowed his eyes. His features creased up and he leant forward from his chair, as if the insignificant space he closed inside of the ship, which was still moving towards the Destroyers, made the view any plainer. “Man… have you… have you seen this?” He fell back into his chair and looked back down the ship’s corridor, as if looking more directly to where Mentis was. “What in the many hells are they doing?”

”Rex, I…” the Rattataki’s voice began before the sound of the microphone dropping was heard. Moments later, the somehow even paler visage of Mentis appeared behind Rex, pushing forwards, almost stumbling over Brick to place a hand upon the front viewport and gaze outwards as the Raptor now drifted towards the capital ships at the heart of the battlefield.

In front of them loomed the Absolution, pitted with fiery holes, having seemingly come under intense fire from one or both of the opposing capital ships during the battle. It was veering to one side with one of its roaring blue engines clearly out of action. But, like a wounded beast, it still propped itself up and faced down its opponents.

Ahead and above, bearing down upon Tarses’ ship, were the Enterprise and the Servator. But something was clearly awry; even without feeling the dark threads in the Force, it was plain to see that the GalactaWerks ship was being torn off its intended trajectory and thrust on a collision course with Anthark’s vessel. Although silent in the vacuum of space, the sheer weight of power that would be required to even nudge such a ship was incredible and that weight was palpable to both Rex and Mentis as they looked out at the impending collision.

“It’s them,” Mentis’ voice was a sharp whisper cutting through the heavy air, “Bomoor and Thane and Amare… They’re pulling that ship down.”

Rex stammered. "B-but..." He watched the display as it unfolded, his expression torn between wonder and horror as he digested the explanation he had received, marvelling.

The smuggler was not a Force sensitive, but he had heard enough stories and spent enough time with Mentis and the others to not be lost in understanding - and had even been subject to the mystical power such a connection could provide. As one hand instinctively touched his throat, his other gripped the controls more tightly and the Red Raptor's velocity slowed, their trajectory offering a clear view of the remarkable sight before them.

As The Enterprise sunk ever downwards, a furious volley of weapons fire could be seen erupting from the superior side of The Servator, creating a channel of green-hued light between them, ripping away at the GalactaWerks ship in a desperate attempt to divert its course from the vessel below. However, the bow continued to tip down until it was poised to plunge into the hull of The Servator.

The Raptor’s cockpit felt like a vacuum, still and motionless as the two men held their breath in anticipation of that final impact. Silently, and with what seemed like the small spark of a match from this distance, the contact was made and The Servator’s hull buckled as it was forced downwards. Bleeding a fiery explosion from its initial wound and igniting a chain of similar explosions as the shockwave spread along the hull and destroyed countless critical systems. At the same time, the descending vessel was similarly collapsing upon itself and the two of them began to merge into one fiery mass of metal.

Mentis shot a hand downwards to grasp at the panel below, but his hand did not find purchase as his eyes refused to look away from the scene and he stumbled downwards until he could find a grip to steady himself.

“I… I never thought such things were possible,” he stammered, “Even the power of the Kaiburr shards has its limits. How is such power possible?”

Rex was silent, enraptured by the unfolding scene. He was unable to determine even to himself whether what he was seeing was a tragedy, a miracle, a necessity or something else. The dampening material that formed the Red Raptor's viewport worked hard to reduce the brightness and glare of the massive explosion, struggling to diminish the optical strain the failure of the Star Destroyers' hypermatter insulators caused. He had seen a number of battles in the void of space, between large and small vessels, and even fought in a few himself, for the Company, the Hutts, or because of his own personal ventures - but those paled in comparison to the sudden and catastrophic annihilation that now dominated the Masserix Belt.

A few more moments passed. He saw Mentis' hands and jaw begin to loosen, as whatever spiritual experience that had gripped him subsided. As the Rattataki adjusted, Rex noticed that the other man also seemed wearier and, if it was indeed possible, paler than he did just moments before.

Shaking himself loose of his own malaise, Rex focused his eyes back on the readouts. A number of the sensors and displays had suffered pronounced interference from the explosion, coupled with the mass shadows that led to a number of hyperspace-dependent mechanisms causing ongoing limitations for the freighter. Squadrons of rebel TIEs and GalactaWerks fighters were now tearing away from their conflict with their Bastion foes. Whilst some, predominantly the rogue Imperial elements, were disarming or taking defensive positions, a number of the hyperdrive-fitted craft were realigning themselves in what Rex assumed was a flight path away from the site of the battle.

"They're breaking off," he said cautiously to Mentis, eyeing his friend with concern. A small light flickered on the communications panel and he read the short message before placing a hand on Mentis' shoulder, carefully applying some pressure to get his attention without being too abrupt. "We're being called back to the Absolution." He applied a little more pressure. "You good, buddy?"

Rex's voice breaking Mentis' daze, he unlatched his tight grasp on the head of one of the cockpit seats he had finally managed to grab hold of. He turned towards the smuggler, his mismatching eyes still wide, and exhaled.

"Not really," he admitted, "In all my years surrounded by death and destruction, I have never felt quite such a thing. It is not something I could describe. Perhaps just as well you do not feel the Force as strongly."

Rex did not reply, but it did not seem that he needed to, either, preferring instead to offer a consoling expression to his co-pilot. After a few punctuated moments of near-silence, where even Reave did not interrupt them, the Human turned his eyes up to the remnants of the display beyond the cockpit. A mingling of rocks and particles, visibly spinning and zooming at starburst-angles, continued to spread broadly out from the former site of the two Star Destroyers.

Mentis sat down in the chair and rubbed his facial scar for a moment before nodding, "Well then, let us head on back before any of that debris reaches us over here. It is dangerous enough with all these rocks out here."

He allowed himself a dry chuckle and his eyes now seemed fixed on the middle distance, "Although it seems our companions aboard the Absolution are far more dangerous than anything out here."

END

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