"Control, Command One... what the hell just happened," Dianna asked over the comm. She watched as the republic capital ship began rolling in a lazy yaw and firing all guns in random directions. The second hammerhead and the attack frigate were both taking heavy friendly-fire. Not enough to seriously damage the other two Republic warships, but enough to cause them to take emergency evasive action, and temporarily removing all three ships from the battle.
"Just a little added insurance from long ago, but that's neither here nor there. Very shortly they'll recover. For the moment, all ships concentrate on those fighters. Let's even up the odds for our boys before the Unity can launch the remainder of their fighters," Trychon instructed.
Thirty fighters had launched from both capital ships before Trychon's diversionary tactic prevented more from launching, six more than originally expected. According to their original plan, all of their own freighters, gunships and the Stalker would have been tied up with the main capital ship, but for now they were free to fire on the Republic fighters for a few minutes, and the superior firepower of the pirate ships had an immediate impact. Without the support of the larger ships, Republic fighters were going down left and right.
Raezyr and his small fighter escort kept concentrating on their own portion of the misssion: subdue and board the cargo shuttle carrying the payload of aurodium.
"They're shields should have failed by now," Jester One called over the comm. "We've hit that sucker more times than I can count."
"Jester Leader, Mole One. That thing has highly upgraded shields for obvious reasons. Just keep firing those ion cannons. If we don't get it shut down soon, it'll make the jump to hyperspace," Raezyr replied to all the fighters with him.
"Taggart, divert some of our shield power to the ion cannons," Raezyr said, turning to his co-pilot. "Let's see if we can't increase our rate of fire."
"Divert our shield power?" Taggart asked. "Are you sure that's wise?"
"Just shut up and do what you're told," Raezyr growled. People questioning his orders was beginning to grate his nerves.
With another barrage of ion fire from themselves and the specially equipped fighters, their prey suddenly went dead. "Dengar, NOW!" Raezyr ordered, and the ex-Mandalorian turned on the small tractor-beam used for towing or retrieving small objects. It wasn't much, but it prevented the shuttle from tumbling.
With his target steadied, Raezyr took careful aim and fired the specially designed plasma-cutter round, striking the shuttle's hull just behind the spacecraft's cabin. They watched as all the gases were expelled explosively, along with anything that wasn't securely tied down inside... including the occupants. "Zanz, Taggart, Dengar, get your enviro-suits on while I dock, and hang on."
Normally, when hijacking a spacecraft, standard procedure was to dock and use a slicer to bypass the target's security systems and keep the shuttle in one piece, but that could take a while. This time they didn't have that luxury.
"Command One, Control, this is Mole One," Raezyr called into the comm. "We have acquired the target. Insertion team will be making entry in moments."
"That's a good thing," Trychon called, and Dianna then echoed his sentiments.
"Tell them to hurry, Mole," she said. "Our delay tactic is at an end."
Raezyr took a moment to study his sensors and sure enough, the Unity, while still seemingly rolling out of control, was no longer firing at all. In minutes, they would most likely regain nav-control, and at any moment they would be launching the remainder of their fighters. The other two Republic warships had already maneuvered safely into new attack positions. The hammerhead had already begun firing upon the Stalker and the rest of the pirate ships, while the frigate was beginning to bear down on Mole One itself. "Gentlemen! I suggest you hurry," Raezyr called as the insertion team got ready to open the hatch. The Sith reached for the comm switch. "Jester One, Mole. We're going to have company!"
"We copy you, Mole," the squadron leader replied. "Two, Five, Six, form up on me. Target their shield generators. They should be located..."
Raezyr didn't listen to the fighter's battle tactics. Instead, he looked for Mannix' transponder signal and was glad to see it was still present. He also noted that the Republic fighters had taken heavy losses which was a very good thing, as the Unity's hangars suddenly began to spew it's eighteen remaining fighters.
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