Just a little bit to realistic...maybe

[teukros]

Pter Thanas had arrived at Selonia only days earlier, and presumably was even now crawling through the tunnels and caverns that the queer aborigines called home. Hopefully he wasn't claustrophobic. Perhaps in the future he would think twice before showing mercy towards those who had opposed the Emperor's Will.

 

Unbeknownst to the tunnel-dwellers, ten ships of the Imperial Navy were hard on Thanas's heels. The VSD Master dropped out of Hyperspace first and took up a watchful attitude in a high orbit. After a few minutes, a half dozen Tyderian shuttles emerged from the Master and rapidly descended to Selonia's surface. Each of them was carrying an Imperial agent.

 

The Selonians would eventually realize that it was in their best interests to voluntarily join the Empire. In the meantime, it was the Master's task to keep watch over their world and ensure that Rebel spies did not interfere.

 

Five days after the Master entered Selonia's orbit, a large Imperial fleet arrived some distance away. Admiral Zuggs, on the bridge of the ISD Judicator, exchanged pleasantries with the Master's captain, but they were only passing through. All ships under his direct command - ISDs Judicator and Punisher, Imperial Dreadnought Subjugator, and Corvettes Ophion, Themis, Mnemosyne, Eurynome, Eurystheus and Eurytion - would jump to the rebellious world of Xyquine as soon as all ships' Hyperspace calculations were complete.

 

They didn't even bother to enter Selonian orbit. Though distant enough that there was very little local change in the curvature of space, they were still close enough to Selonia to be affected by its gravity and they were actually slowly falling towards the planet.

 

Two minutes later, the last Corellian Corvette had finished its calculations. Admiral Zugg's ships turned into nine streaks of light and then winked out of existence.

 

When they dropped out of Hyperspace Admiral Zuggs had occasion to reflect that this was not the first time that Imperial Intelligence had been badly, badly wrong. Less than a minute had passed but the Judicator's sensors were already revealing that there was much more than a mere token Rebel presence on Xyquine. Admiral Zuggs didn't even twitch when loud klaxons started blaring. The worst that he had feared was visible on multiple displays and repeater screens around the bridge; numerous squadrons of Rebel starfighters were rising from the surface of Xyquine and accelerating toward his ships.

 

Retreat never even entered his mind; there was a job to do, and they were here to do it. If the order was given for the T.I.E.s to be deployed, every one of them would have to be recovered before the Imperial ships could jump into Hyperspace. But there would be no retreat, and so the order was given.

 

There appeared to be no fewer than four squadrons of Y-Wings intercepting them. Commander Needa was confidently boasting that "his" T.I.E. Fighters would blow the Rebels out of space. Admiral Zuggs would have felt just as confident, if the T.I.E.s had actually been _in_ space. At the moment they were all still inside the Judicator, the Punisher and the Subjugator, and it would take precious minutes to launch them. This was the Empire's Achille's Heel, and the Rebels knew it.

 

For on paper the Rebels didn't have a chance. The Imperial class Star Destroyer was the toughest, strongest, and most resilient ship in the Galaxy. The Dreadnought Subjugator was the likely target but it also was a very tough ship and able to endure tremendous punishment. The six small Corellian Corvettes were already moving into position between the large ships and the Rebel fighters, and they would provide antistarfighter fire. Finally, the ISDs' starfighter deployment was entirely defensive, which meant that more than 150 T.I.E. fighters - thirteen full squadrons - were about to be launched from the three main ships and that would be enough for them to outnumber the Rebels by more than three to one. Eventually!

 

Admiral Zuggs watched the Rebels approach on repeater screens until they entered visual range. He then looked forward and saw them. He had the uncomfortable feeling that they were all aiming at _him_.

 

For their target was not the Subjugator.

 

48 Y-Wings - the most durable starfighters in the galaxy - were in formation and were making their attack runs, like 48 giant arrowheads which had just been fired, all straight at Zuggs.

 

The Y-Wings flew right past the six Corellian Corvettes, ignoring the fire from their laser cannon. Five T.I.E. squadrons were in space but the Punisher's two squadrons were staying close to their mother ship and so were out of position. Unshielded T.I.E. Fighters vs. Y-Wings, and at worse than 1:1 odds! But when he glanced at the nearest repeater screen he could see that another two T.I.E. squadrons had just been launched. He reached for the nearest rail and braced himself; Zuggs knew that if he was still alive in sixty seconds, the Rebels would be fools not to retreat.

 

He was watching the distant lights of the Corellian Corvettes as they turned in space, ruefully shaking his head and reflecting that he had never before thought of Corvettes as "ponderous", when his whole world turned white, and then black. The floor he had been standing on didn't seem to be there anymore, and he felt himself falling.

 

Throughout the Judicator, circuits shorted out, relays fused, and overloaded power couplings blew wide open, and were automatically disengaged. The massive ship had survived the Rebel onslaught, but its shields were gone. Not damaged, not failing. GONE. Another attack like that and the Judicator would be gone as well.

 

But the Y-Wings had flown past the Judicator, with an approximately equal number of T.I.E. Fighters in pursuit. They would not be able to form up for another single massive barrage like that one.

 

And the Imperial Star Destroyers were the best ships ever built. By ANYONE. Their damage control teams were excellent, and they possessed layers of redundancy, with multiple backups for every system. The Judicator's shields had started to rebuild the instant they were destroyed. And the shield strength was climbing fast.

 

Some Y-Wings circled around for additional passes. Ion fire hit the Judicator and tripped tens of thousands of circuit breakers throughout the ship. The Punisher's T.I.E. squadrons were still out of position and couldn't help. And the laser fire from the Corvettes seemed to be bouncing off the Y-Wings' shields.

 

But somehow, the Judicator's shields were back up to half strength.

 

Commander Needa, burned and possibly concussed but still standing and giving orders, knew then that he would live. He wondered why the Rebels didn't jump away to safety. Surely they had entered the battle with the co-ordinates for one Hyperspace jump already calculated by their astromech droids?

 

But even as he watched, the T.I.E. squadrons from the Punisher entered the battle and started firing upon the Y-Wings. The Y-Wings disengaged then and started to fly away from the Judicator, in a nearly straight line. And they started to die.

Edited February 23, 2005 by teukros

[teukros]

I've continued to tinker with the starfighters' values, trying to get them to behave more realistically. I think I've got things pretty close to where I'll want them.

 

They are now a SERIOUS danger to capital ships.

 

 

                      Res.   Mat/Mnt Armor/Screens   Speed/Agility    Las /Ion /Torp

T.I.E. Bomber           1      9/ 9      36/ 0            7/ 7          30 / 48 / 64
T.I.E. Fighter          0      6/ 6      16/ 0            9/ 9          30 /  0 /  0
T.I.E. Interceptor      5      9/ 9      16/ 0           10/11          48 /  0 /  0
T.I.E. Defender        11     27/30      26/26           10/10          63 / 48 / 32
Y-Wing Starfighter      0     12/ 9      28/14            8/ 8          30 / 48 / 64
X-Wing Starfighter      1     15/12      20/10            8/ 9          48 /  0 / 32
A-Wing Starfighter      4     15/15      16/10           11/11          45 /  0 /  0
B-Wing Starfighter      6     21/24      40/30            7/ 7          48 / 72 / 64

 

 

They're also seriously expensive. In my story above, the loss of four Y-Wing squadrons would represent the loss of 48 MAT.

 

So on the one hand they are much more effective, on the other hand they are a more precious resource. I no longer have my shipyards build them just because they have nothing better to do. And I tend to deploy them more conservatively.

 

 

 

LEGEND

 

"Laser Cannon" damage is calculated as follows: Dual Blaster = 30, Quad Blaster = 48, Concussion Missiles = 15

 

"Ion cannon" damage is 24 points per Ion Gun.

 

"Torpedo" damage is 32 points for fighter-bombers and 64 points (with longer range) for bombers.

 

 

Fighters:

 

T.I.E. Fighter: Dual Blaster

T.I.E. Interceptor: Quad Blaster

A-Wing: Dual Blaster, Concussion Missiles

 

 

Fighter Bombers:

 

X-Wing: Quad Blaster, Proton Torpedoes

T.I.E. Defender: Quad Blaster, Concussion Missiles, Ion Guns (2), Proton Torpedoes

 

 

Bombers:

 

Y-Wing: Dual Blaster, Ion Guns (2), Proton Torpedoes (2 launchers)

T.I.E. Bomber: Dual Blaster, Ion Guns (2), Proton Torpedoes (2 launchers)

B-Wing: Turbolaser(!), Dual Blaster, Ion Guns (3), Proton Torpedoes (2 launchers)

(B-Wing "laser cannon" damage is 48 but with 167% normal range)

 

 

 

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