After the victory Gungans came out of hiding, enjoyed some much appreciated respect, and even set up colonies around Naboo's neighbors in space.
But the Empire had put a halt to that.
All three major Gungan colonies were destroyed in a set of strange accidents. Settlements starved for food as shipping became haphazard or unavailable. The last straw was when a new breed of amphibious predators began stalking the confines of Gungan cities on the planet of Naboo itself, entering their underwater habitats and slaying gungans at will. The globes of energy that were the gungan's primary weapon proved all but useless against the strange biology of the invaders.
When they appealed to the Imperial Senate for aid, a mission was dispatched. Imperial scientists studied the predators and engineered a virus, a disease to wipe them out. But the plague, once released, effected gungans too.
It was not the first instance of Imperial genocide, nor would this be the last.
Determined to make something of their last moments, the surviving gungans, led by war hero Jar Jar Binks, took their native fleet out of concealment and conducted an attack on the nearest Imperial Navy transshipment point in hopes that the Imperial disease had a cure stored there.
They were not expecting to fly into a war any more than the Imperials were.
===========
"Strike Leader, this is Strike Three, I am beginning my attack run."
The fixx and pop of lasers speared out from the little fighter as it approached the deadly Gungan ship, scoring on shields only lightly annoyed at the barrage. What was far more deadly was this was one of a squadron of TIE/gt, the ground attack version later to be supplanted by the TIE Bomber, launched from the Masticulator. Its lasers were hardly its primary armament, as its repeated launch of concussion missiles as it made its pass proved. The physical projectiles passed through the gungan's reflective energy shielding and scored impressive explosions upon the hull.
Overhead, flying cover for the pair of ground attack fighters, was a squadrons of ordinary TIEs. But missiles have two weaknesses lasers do not share. They could be dodged even if fired accurately, and they could be shot down. As the gungan missiles spat back at the ground attack fighters, their combat air patrol friends shot down the deadly projectiles so the little craft did not have to break off their runs to dodge.
Meanwhile, Corruption was pouring fire into the gungan modified cruisers, trading batteries with gug-noughts and what few of their lightning missiles they could fire through the screen of attacking fighters.
And the Masticulator was moving into range.
===========
"Damn it, Helm, I need full power!" Mancuso shouted, eager to go racing to the remaining parts of the fight.
His two ships had taken care of the opposition on their side of the depot, and it was half a minute away even at their impressive sublight speed from the other, where the fighting went on. That was thirty seconds too long as far as Mancuso was concerned.
"Comm, signal the Rapier. See those two fighters hanging back from the fight? I'll bet my pension those are TIE/fc models feeding targeting control information to their cruisers. Knock those birds down and you won't have as much trouble with those lasers being so frightfully accurate. Your and the Gungan's shields will stay up longer. And somebody get me the Scimitar! They're on the wrong side of Impstar D! They should group up with Broadsword on the same angle so the Impstar can't use all its guns on 'em. Right now they're being chewed to pieces, double up so you're both on one side and you only face half the fire between you."
"Damn." Mancuso breathed, watching the gug-nought under fighter assault begin to bleed atmosphere. Corruption and Masticulator switched fire to begin chewing at the defensive fields of the next gug-nought, while their fighters finished off the first.
Turbolasers reflected off brief patches of Gungan shields before finding weak points, seams where the shields joined together, and burrowing through, igniting explosions along the ship's decks.
===========
Four damaged Imperial Star Destroyers had managed, in ones and twos, to launch a TIE squadron between them. Impstar A, named the Aggression, had actually got a full four out of its hangars despite the warring and burning plus ongoing fighting with droids.
Joining their ragtag group to the wing commander of the six squadrons launched from the Masticulator, they were following his orders as a coordinated attack on the invaders, new and old.
Leaving one gug-nought, their first target, dead in space they flew as a group to add their firepower to the concentration of blows that was presently crippling gug-nought 2 (The Sequel).
One of their TIE/fc models was struck on a support brace by a turbolaser, clipping off that wing and sending the flaming ruin of the fire control fighter speeding in to impact on shields of one of the strange aggressive cruisers who'd first ambushed this system. The other spotter ship immediately began an impressive array of evasive actions, without dropping targeting lock on the Gungan cruiser its own ships were pounding to helplessness. Then, inexplicably, the Imperials spread their previously concentrated fire between the two remaining Gungan ships.
Two assault shuttles full of boarders, one from the Masticulator, one from Corruption, began to issue forth and approach the stricken gug-noughts, under cover of the new fire spread.
As his star cruiser came under fire in this newest assault Jar-Jar started running around the bridge screaming, "WEESSAAA GONNNA DIIIEEEE!!!!"
===========
Launching an assault shuttle was the last act of the Corruption. The fire from that ship had been weakening as the Rapier and its wingmate poured fire into her already punctured shields. At Mancuso's order they twisted in flight, letting their underside concussion missile tubes face the now-unshielded Imperial.
The captain of the Corruption was a coward. He surrendered the moment his attackers had missile lock on his unshielded Star Destroyer.
That was the same moment both the Bonbori and Naginata entered range to begin adding their fire toward the destruction of Imperial D, and did so with haste and vigor. It was also the moment when the second of three gug-noughts fell adrift, dead in space, engines wracked and power struggling between remaining shields and keeping life support in the face of its massive air leaks.
The TIEs switched targets, and began coordinated attacks on the wounded Flamberges.
All this while a science pod was shrieking for attention that a star was about to blow.
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(Posted Wed, 21 Apr 2004 22:56)
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