Obsidian nebula, Galactic North space

On board HMS Manta

11 BBY, 4 hours later.

A wall of fire and light began in the first seconds after the hyperjump emergence, her own ship becoming the main target for the Vong dreadnaughts, and returning fire equally.

Although it would have been possible to concentrate all her fourty proton beams batteries on the Manta on a single Vong capital ship and dismantle it in seconds, that would have meant that the remaining 43 Vong dreadnaughts called Kor Chokk by their race, would have been free to engage the smaller ships in her own fleet, and very likely eliminate them before they could be eliminated in turn.

Like this, she kept the attention of 90 percent of the Vong capital ships on her own dreadnaught, which had enough shields and armor to tank perhaps twice this many ships for hours.

The Mountains and the Hammers opened fire with their MAC guns, and heavy masser batteries, always in groups of three, and on the same target per each formation.

Thousands of coralskippers began launching from the Vong ships, these being the equivalent of starfighters, but each carrying 4 times the firepower of a Preybird, and 6 times the firepower of a TIE fighter. They fired molten rocks, which dealt high damage, especially to particle and thermal shields, and mostly ignored ray shields.

A more outdated fleet, with the standard shielding would have been forced to retreat just from these tiny fighters, as they would have targeted the superstructures on the Republic or Galactic Navy ships, and blew away sensors, turrets and bridges with impunity.

Now, the Emperor was wise and blessed with precognition, and thus her fleet was not only equipped with 3S and 4S shields, but also thick armor, quadranium plates 20 meters thick, and durasteel over it, for the older classes of Nebula destroyers, and 50 meters of duranium for the Pef Navy battleships and the Nebula V.

The three Nebula V destroyers in the upper side of the square were also concentrating their proton batteries on the Vong dreadnaughts, 12 proton beams slicing through the bioarmor of the lead Vong dreadnaught.

The Manta was being shook constantly by converging fire from 40 Vong dreadnaughts, and the AI diverged power from two more Ardanium reactors towards the shields.

The sublight engines were relegated to a secondary backup reactor, and being merely used to position and angle the ship for better fire angles. They weren't chasing anyone right now, and the huge plasma and rock projectiles of the Vong were straining her ship's shields, as intended.

'That's right, you alien scum! Focus on me, and don't mind the other ships' Natasi thought to herself, while keeping an eye for the outgoing damage.

The Will was directing the Manta's proton beam batteries on the thin necks connecting the half-spheres of the Vong dreadnaughts, and once separated from the main bioship, targeted each with a duo of the MAC diamond-tipped ferrous slugs.

The first was meant to deplete the dovin basal gravity shielding, then the other would pierce right through, and rupture the bioarmor, thus exposing the soft flesh inside to vacuum, and maser or turbolaser fire.

All this happened at once, with forty heavy targets and kept the attention of the Vong armada on the Manta.

Not all of it, but at least the heavy hitters.

The Hammers began their run, accelerating on the flanks and destroying the smaller Vong cruisers with a single concentrated salvo from their heavy and megamaser batteries, while their proton beam batteries continued to fire on the Vong dreadnaughts.

Thousands of her own starfighters began launching from the Mountains, a percent of them being remotely controlled by organic pilots deep inside the carriers.

They would attempt to force the coralskippers to engage them at the edge of the AA bateries range, thus letting the targeting computers and the AI pick them up with missiles and gatling masers and lasers.

Tractors beams helped a little to slow the coralskippers down, but weren't as effective as they would be against normal starfighters. They each had a dovin basal lifeform, used for propulsion and shielding, and thus making them slippery and able to escape tractor beams after a few seconds of gravity waves oscillations.

Still, even two seconds was often too long, in a high speed chase. The coralskippers began evaporating, as the Nebula destroyers could target them with medium masers and turbolasers, and weapons meant to engage corvettes and frigates were just enough to blow up a coralskipper, in a few shots.

All that remained was more gas, thickening the gas nebula and earning the destroyers their class name.

"We're at the turning point now, Admiral. 20 Vong dreadnaughts have been destroyed. Their remaining frigates and cruisers are emitting more energy. I suspect they're trying to retreat" her tactical officer commented with a wavering voice.

Natasi Daala Greyshade smiled wryly. A retreat was pretty unlikely, with the Hammers and their Nebula escorts now englobing the Vong fleet from four sides.

No, they will attempt...ramming.

"All ships, prepare to receive rammers. Gravity wells to maximum" she commanded on the tacnet. It was amazing how clear the signals were, unlike other battles, since even pirates had sensor baffles.

The Vong jamming was quite weak, and mostly affected the Republic made destroyers, since the Pef Navy used a least three types of comms and sensors, a third of them based on different crystals.

Whoever the Vong were optimized to fight, were pure technical ships, based on electronics and electricity, like those Abominor droids in the database.

The Fades and the Orions went into stealth mode, then changed course, while the Mountains and the Hammers began turning 10 degrees left and closing their armored maws.

However, the ramming target were not the small ships, nor the battleships, but the destroyers.

50 Nebula I and II were damaged or outright destroyed when the Vong ships crashed into them. The other Vong escorts were hit by proton batteries and other secondary weapons before they could aim themselves properly.

Admiral Greyshade sighed inward. Her flawless victory was ruined now.

Even with the much reduced crew on the Nebula class destroyers, 50 ships meant 50 thousand people. Perhaps less, since the upgraded ships had multiple bulkheads and redundant life support.

No time for that, there were still 20 Vong Kor Chokk dreadnaughts to defeat, and dozens of weapons to be tested in real combat.

Proton torpedoes, proton bombs, the Defoliator bombs, Bafforr tree pollen bombs, and many others.

Once the Vong dreadnaughts were crippled, it was time for weapon testing. What works, how it works, combination of weapons effects, and hundreds of other experiments.

The Pef Navy's weapon designers wanted live testing, and an isolated Vong fleet was the perfect testing ground.

A few seconds later, the mangled wrecks of the Nebula destroyers began vanishing, no doubt due to Emperor's mercy.

Pef was not going to let the salvageable crew on the ships die, when he could simply yank them inside his Centerpoint station and nurse them back to health. Perhaps even resurrecting the dead, as he was rumoured to have done before.

She doubted it a little. Not the possibility, but the expenditure of effort. The Voices or other Maids, were a more likely recipient of resurrection than simple navy crew. Then again, with Emperor Pef, you never knew.

"Leave the one to the right alone, Will. We should always leave a survivor to tell the rest what awaits them." Natasi said with a cold voice. She didn't like this policy, as it gave the enemy too much information to regroup and find new attack avenues.

Then again, the Vong had telepaths and even planetary scale brains, like Helska IV was presumed to have.

They already knew what happened. Perhaps this was something else again.

Some kind of intricate 20 steps plan of the Emperor.

Using this battle to bait the Vong armada waiting outside the galaxy to do something foolish, perhaps.

"All targets eliminated, Admiral. A single dreadnaught remains, with half of its spheres intact." the Ensign on the sensors reported a few minutes later.

She checked the stats of her Manta. Shield generators and capacitors were recharging, although they went down to 60 percent at the height of the battle.

Total loses, 14 shield penetrations, and 12 turrets damaged, on her flagship.

Over all, 344 starfighters lost, 23 Dakka corvettes and 51 Nebula destroyers. 0.5 percent casualties to a Vong fleet comparable to her own, in size and capital ships numbers.

So, this was the message the Emperor wanted to send the Vong.

Send a hundred times more ships, this was merely a lovetap.

'Well done, dear maid. Set course to Belkadan. Reinforcements await you there.' Emperor Pef transmitted via the holonet,

a holographic hand ruffling her hair before vanishing.

Natasi arranged her hair back, while her officers smiled in concert.

Holograms were not supposed to touch you...damn magic powers.

Belkadan system, Pef Empire

11 BBY

"Nice to meet you Admiral" the small Dornean Admiral quiped at her in an attempt at joviality.

"Same here Admiral. Now, do you have more ships, or is this it?" Natasi asked with a frown. She had expected at real war fleet, perhaps similar to the one she commanded in the final battle for Lwhekk, the Ssi-ruu homeworld.

Then again, those Narwhal ships...they looked strangely familiar, like something she would have made herself. If desperate enough to attempt ramming a worldship. The penetration spike was quite obvious.

"Nope. Just these 3 Narwhals and 200 Nebula V. Should be enough." Admiral E'than replied with a shrug.

Natasi blinked twice in confusion, then realized what the words meant.

"You have found the worldship then?" she asked with excitement.

"Didn't have to do anything, actually. The worldship just jumped into the Helska system, accompanied by 144 Vong dreadnaughts, one of them severely damaged. I think you know which one that is..." the Dornean replied with a smirk on his face.

"Captain, we should get going then. We better not be late for the party..." her AI said softly, and with a tinge of excitement.

"Fleet wide, we're jumping to Helska, ready yourselves for combat when we emerge" Admiral Grayshade spoke sternly, then turned around and left the bridge. The AI would know what to do, preparing the fleet to jump in formation.

Inside, she was fuming. Reinforcements? 3 ramming Narwhal ships and 200 destroyers?

What was the Emperor doing?

Sure, the Nebula Vs were amazing, and should theoretically be able to engage a Vong Dreadnaught by themselves, but there was a worldship at Helska!

It was 10 times larger than her Manta! What if ramming didn't work? What if the Vong escorts numbered in millions?

What was even the point of engaging the Vong with similar numbers? Or even less, considering the Vong dreadnaughts outnumbered her three times.

Kriff!

More games being played, for some obscure purpose.

And if Helska IV had a yammosk, like her AI concluded, it would be even worse!

The Vong would have a tactical advantage, being coordinated by a telepathic brain 100 kilometers in size.

"You're angry, Natasi..." Peffy said gently, having appeared in her office by magic.

"Not angry, but confused. We could have a million ships in this fleet, and be certain of victory. It's like the Emperor is playing with my life, and life of my crew, for no reason." she replied in a weak voice. Damn him, and his magic!

"Oh, would we be certain of victory? Would the Vong stay and fight, if outnumbered a thousand to one?" her husband asked rhetorically, while flying up and laying down on the ceiling.

Natasi dismissed his antics to focus on the words. It was easy to forget how smart he was, when distracted by his looks or Force feats.

Her brain began calculating probable scenarios, depending on the fleet size engaging the worldship and its fleet.

How small should the fleet be, to make the Vong feel secure enough to stand, and not disperse in the galaxy?

A minute later, she smiled faintly. Her fleet was exactly as large as possible, and still small enough to give the Vong a hope to emerge victorious and enact revenge.

"I am bait after all. Keeping the Vong focused on me, and trapped by their hate. What if they value survival more than vengeance?" she asked softly, raising her eyes towards the ceiling.

The Avatar had vanished a second ago, and a ring was left in his place, now falling towards her hand. She caught it in mid air and looked at it curious.

A simple ring, just a band of gold. It fit her perfectly. A few seconds later, the ring vanished in golden motes, leaving her with just a memory.

Natasi Daala Greyshade sighed inward. Still a moron, after all.

She closed her eyes, and began planning her next victory. She only had 2 hours left.

---------------------

Helska system, Praetorian Vong

2 hours later

"Mountains, engage from range! Hammers flank left and up!" Natasi ordered calmly, annoyed that all her planning had been in vain.

Her AI, the Will had diverted all power to shields the second the fleet entered combat range, using only secondary reactors to power sensors and defensive guns.

The Vong worldship hit hard, if not fast. And the dreadnoughts were also concentrating their firepower on the Manta.

At this rate, even the Manta's oversized reactors and shields will fail in 7 minutes.

6 minutes now.

The only thing that went right, was the Vong ignoring the Nebula destroyers completely, no doubt convinced they would be easy to destroy, just like in the Obsidian Nebula battle.

Ten seconds to make a decision. Her brain went into overdrive, trying to anticipate the Vong tactics.

"Narwhal One, begin ramming run. Nebulas, concentrate firepower on the dreadnaughts. Narwhal Two and Three, cover the Manta's flanks!" she demanded after her time expired.

Prolong the Manta's survival by absorbing fire from 40 Vong dreadnaughts on the flanks with the sacrificial ships.

Further reduce incoming damage by slowly eliminating the dreadnaughts, with the Nebula V destroyers.

Not the best plan, or even a good one, but at least something. The shields should last 11 minutes now.

Not enough, as the Narwhal One would need 12 minutes to ram the worldship. But better than doing nothing at all.

"Will, any ideas?" she whispered gently, while racking her own brain for an obvious solution, which just wasn't there.

Being overwhelmed by superior firepower was not a puzzle.

"Intercepting the large rocks shot by the worldship with seismic missiles. Should give us a minute more" the AI replied calmly.

Would that even work?

Not if they had dovin basals on those large projectiles for terminal guidance. Then again, her own MAC rounds lacked terminal guidance...

Perhaps something to address at another time though.

Natasi looked around the bridge, noting down who was keeping calm, and who was breathing too heavily.

Three ensigns were beginning to panic, as the ship's destruction became more and more apparent.

Shield penetration occurred more often now, as the drumming of fireballs of molten rock continued to pound on the shields.

A hundred guns were already out of commision, not that the Manta could spare energy to fire them anyway.

"Anything else we can do?" she asked rhetorically, not really expecting a genius idea to occur, but you never knew...

The Dornean Admiral patted his moustache, and looked at her curious.

What? Was she missing something obvious?

"Perhaps not yet, then?" Admiral E'than said softly, as if speaking with someone invisible.

Damn it. More magic?

Natasi dismissed the paranoid thoughts and concentrated at directing the fleet, and exploiting gaps in the Vong's fleet defences as more and more of their ships exploded or simply died from bafforr tree pollen missiles or seismic shockwaves.

Minutes crawled by, each minute bringing the Narwhal closer to the worldship, and the destruction of the Manta as well.

No matter. The battle would be won, she had no doubt now.

With most of the Vong's navy firepower concentrated on her own dreadnaught, the reinforced 122 fleet had almost free reign to target and destroy every single Vong ship in this sector.

Perhaps this was her destiny? It almost seemed fair. One ship to destroy an entire Vong fleet? Always.

She was bait, after all. The largest bait in the galaxy, but still bait.

Another minute, then another.

And finally, the last one.

The Manta's shields were redlining, and still the enormous worldship and 27 remaining Vong dreadnaughts were pounding and pounding, having melted down a quarter of the forward batteries, just with lucky shield penetrations.

Perhaps she should turn the ship at an angle, to bounce off some of the incoming fire by deflection?

Might buy the ship another minute... "Shields failing!" a panicked ensigned yelled on the bridge.

"Rakata shield online. Returning fire" the Will AI spoke gently, returning power to the weapon systems, and beginning to open up with the remaining 6000 heavy masers and 30 proton beam batteries. The nearest Vong dreadnaught disintegrated into thin strips of meat and coral in mere seconds.

Natasi blinked once, then once more.

The Manta had a Rakata shield? Why did she forget about it?

"Absolutely fabulous, just like the Emperor said. But I had to see it with my own eyes..." the hero of Celanon commented with obvious envy in his voice, as he turned and left the bridge, not even staying for Narwhal's final seconds.

The shaped-charge penetrator worked, exploding with a crescendo of proton bombs and seismic charges, inside the Vong worldship, and scattering it into the void.

A minute later the last Vong dreadnaught also died, and the Nebulas switched targets on the remaining Vong cruisers and frigates.

A flawless victory. And it only took a forgotten memory.

Helska system, Galactic north

Helska IV - Pretorian Vong/disputed

The planet was a ball of ice, ice which was floating on a lifeless ocean. Well lifeless except the Vong, with their War Coordinator buried deep under the ice, and millions of armored soldiers guarding it.

In my memories, Anakin Solo blew up the planet, just to kill the yammosk, because he wasn't equipped or prepared to fight a war, and used to most expedient means to win.

Now, our droids and tanks and starfighters were fighting the Vong on equal terms, losing about 30 percent more units on average, except in a single planetary operation theater, commanded by an actual officer, and not a tactical droid.

"Artillery units in j3 and j4, switch to incendiary. Tank units in g2 use those masers guns in armor piercing volleys. Infantry units in f4 and f5, retreat south west and let the guns do their work." her voice commanded with authority, and not a single tinge of fear.

So confident. Then again, she was quite safe here, aboard HMS Mountain Lava.

"Incendiary rounds won't hurt the Vong though..." I mused maybe a bit too loud.

"It's to melt the ice and pin them in place. Now shut up" the girl explained sternly, her gaze still fixed on the screens in front of her.

Hmm. Another tactical genius then, trying and likely succeding to exploit the terrain, instead of simply pounding the enemy with overwhelming fire.

"Major, our tank units won't reach the pocket in time. They can't get enough traction with this ice" her aide whispered while computing the intercept time.

"Light tanks at g4, go in repulsorlift mode and accelerate. Medium tanks at g3, stop and use your mortars. Gauntlet tanks, split by even numbers. Odd numbers continue on your vector. Even numbers, retreat eastward and cover the artillery." the Major commanded after a second of calculations.

Hmmm. Clever girl. But still underestimating the yammosk.

"Medium tanks, continue your advance at half speed and spread out more." I ordered in a muted tone, not just for this sector, but for the whole planetary force.

Here it comes!

The ice cracked and broke, as various warforms exploded from the ocean below, barely missing the tanks.

'HMS Mountain Lake is begining drops with their aqua droids and submersible tanks. ETA 18 minutes' the Core AI sent me with an encrypted pulse.

Good to know you care. 'I was born to fight the Vong' Core muttered back.

You weren't exactly born...my artificial friend.

"Who messed up my orders! Oh. Nevermind. Those worms would have eaten the tanks..." Major Tessala Corvae exclaimed, then trailed into a lower tone.

"Reinforcements are en route, Major. Underwater units this time." her aide explained calmly, while blinking confused as he turned his head towards me.

Sigh. Time to go. The ground assault will fail this time, and the Navy will need to bring ten times more droids, at least.400 millions war droids and 40 thousands tanks, lost for nothing.

I teleported back on the Dart, and resumed my Avatar shape, leaving the disguise of Admiral Ethan.

Just as I predicted, the Vong were messing with the minds of our organic commanders, stealing the battleplans from their minds.

Well, not all the Vong, just their telepathic commanders, the yammosk.

"We're kinda screwed. I don't know what to do..." I said with a tired sigh, as I left my armor and jumped next to Solana in her tub.

"You could ask the Core to command. Telepathy doesn't work on him" Solana mused with her eyes closed.

"Didn't work for the Silentium. They lost, didn't they?" I asked rhetorically.

"You'll figure something out. We have some time left, and better weapons..." she answered carelessly, while washing my hair with kind hands.

"The Vong have experience. Millions of years of galactic warfare. You saw, six seconds was all it took. A slight error, nothing major. Just ignoring the ocean under the ice, thinking it was solid ground. The yammosk saw it and counter-attacked perfectly." I answered in a tired voice.

"So we don't fight them on the ground. Can we win in space, Peffy?" my maid asked me a bit worried.

I stayed silent, thinking back on the last engagements.

Eventually.

If we have enough ships.

They won't fall for the same trick. Not after the Pretorian Vong report what they encountered.

They'll be ready for us.

"We can. But should we?" I muttered, as the effort to stay awake became too much and I fell asleep.

"Still so weak...64 hours of battle meditation, and..." Solana muttered to herself.

'He is decent enough, for a human. I guess you can help a little, my daughter. The galaxy would be boring if all the small critters died' her father whispered in the Voice bond.

'As you will. Any sign of Sekot yet?' she asked with anticipation.

'Just a vague memory from Pef. Somewhere in southwest. But that's good enough. The Pilot will know where to go. I'll be ready, in a few years' Solanus concluded with an amused tone.

Solana caressed the hair of the cloned human in her lap and closed her eyes.

Soon. Soon her life will truly begin.