Through Imperial Eyes

Chapter 11

"All stations ready, Admiral. We're waiting for your orders." Commodore Faro asserted.

"Jumping out of hyperspace." (Y/N) stated.

"Open transmission. Contact the rebel base." Thrawn commanded sternly.

(Y/N) glanced rapidly at him standing in front of the window near Governor Pryce. Both hands clasped behind his back, his stance was confident, looking straight ahead at one of the rebels' destroyed ships and analyzing the situation. The battle had just begun when the Chimaera emerged from hyperspace and the blockade had already hit one of the enemy ships. The hologram figures of the rebels soon appeared in front of him.

"General Dodonna, Commander Sato, Captain Syndulla..."

He spoke to them with a measured, stern voice that honestly gave chills to the young woman operating down in the crew pit. He was at that moment the Grand Admiral she was used to working with, the brilliant strategist that always had the upper hand against his opponents. She, on the other hand, had never been less sure about which side she stood with.

"...Now, let us proceed." Thrawn concluded before ending the transmission.

"Bombers approaching our capital ships in arrowhead formation. Enemy fleet advancing." Lieutenant Hammerly said.

"Reinforce our center and send in the fighters" he ordered back.

"TIE squadrons launched." (Y/N) confirmed soon after.

She heard the Grand Admiral argue briefly with Admiral Konstantine and Agent Kallus suddenly taunting him. She had to admit he had some guts for someone in such a precarious position.

"Four ships exiting the atmosphere. Progressing rapidly towards us." Hammerly said.

"TIEs have engaged the targets. Several enemy ships destroyed, the others are taking heavy fire." (Y/N) added, her eyes deeply focused on the console in front of her.

"Capital ships, hold your positions" Thrawn ordered to the other Admirals of the fleet.

"Rebel carrier is changing its course, sir. Our Interdictor is breaking formation and moving in to intercept." Hammerly further informed.

The crew soon overheard Thrawn and Admiral Konstantine's hologram argue on the walkway. He was definitely angry at him for disobeying direct orders, (Y/N) observed.

"They're going to collide!" someone exclaimed.

The whole bridge was suddenly rattled as both ships crashed into each other, sending debris all around them. The impact was so violent that the lieutenant strongly doubted Konstantine had survived it. An officer soon approached the Grand Admiral and confirmed that a single rebel ship had managed to slip past the Imperial blockade during the commotion.

"Konstantine was careless. Let's hope he did not undermine my efforts. Press the attack. Force them to the ground." Thrawn ordered.

"All remaining rebel ships are turning back and heading towards their base, Admiral." Lieutenant Hammerly informed him not long after.

"Acknowledged. Call the fighters back to the ship." he replied.

While the TIEs returned to the hangars to fill up, several other imperial cruisers jumped out of hyperspace to join the rest of the fleet. All stations checked up their consoles and reported their status during the down time of the battle. (Y/N) compiled her data for later and took a moment to breathe. Tension always built up in her shoulders when they were engaging with their enemies, but this time the mental strain was worse than usual. She felt bad for all the rebel ships that were destroyed, for all the lives lost. She also hoped that at least some of the Interdictor's crew managed to escape the collision, however unlikely. She sent a silent prayer and tried to focus back on the various indicators displayed in front of her.

Now that the rebels had been forced back to the ground, she wondered how the rest of the confrontation would go. She was pulled out of her own thoughts by the voices of Governor Pryce and the Grand Admiral up on the walkway.

"...remaining vessels have fled back to the surface and are taking shelter under a localized shield." Governor Pryce was saying.

"Very good. Let's test their mettle. Commence the attack." Thrawn ordered the crew.

"Turbolaser turrets engaged. The other cruisers are engaging now." Lieutenant Pyrondi soon informed them.

"Their shield appears to be holding." another weapons technician said after the fleet had delivered a prolonged salvo towards the surface. (Y/N) held her breath while she heard the warship bombarding the planet below.

"They've had enough. Cease fire." the Grand Admiral commanded harshly.

(Y/N) looked at them walking away from the front deck. He put Governor Pryce in charge of commanding the imperial fleet while he would lead the ground assault. Having regained enough strength to stand up between the troopers guarding him, Agent Kallus once again taunted the Admiral, this time attesting of the rebels' ingenuity even against the most dire odds. The Chiss remained unphased by his remarks, confident about the Empire's imminent victory.

One of the officers in the crew pit later updated them when the ground assault began.

"AT-STs and AT-ATs have been deployed in the western quadrant along with the troops. TIEs are pursuing the rebels' aerial reinforcements."

"Several ships just jumped out of hyperspace. Mandalorians by the looks of them" another one informed Governor Pryce.

"Sabine Wren. Send TIEs to intercept and move our capital ships to reinforce them." she ordered.

"TIE squadrons have launched." (Y/N) soon confirmed.

"The rebels have jammed our transmissions" the communications' technician said.

"An enemy strike team has been deployed on the hull of our Interdictor!" another one informed Governor Pryce with a slight disbelief in his voice.

"Well, repel them!" she exclaimed. "We will not lose to this rabble!"

"Ordering countermeasures" (Y/N) answered.

However, they soon realized their efforts were unsuccessful. The second Interdictor suddenly exploded, immediately sending a blinding blue light in the darkness of space. Seeing the rebels breaking through the blockade, Pryce became more and more agitated, yelling orders around and giving in to Agent Kallus' snarky remarks. She eventually had him taken away by a couple of stormtroopers.

"Rebels ships leaving orbit, Governor." Lieutenant Hammerly told her.

"Engaging turbolasers!" Pyrondi exclaimed, not even waiting for her to give the order anymore.

"TIEs moving in" (Y/N) added.

"Sir! They've broken through the blockade. They're powering up their lightspeed engines!" Hammerly said not long after.

At that point, Governor Pryce was in over her head, completely silent. She was looking outside the windows, defeated. The rebels had managed to slip through and for one (Y/N) couldn't help but feel relieved. They received confirmation from the troops down on Atollon that they were preparing to head back now that the sudden electrical storm they had faced on the surface had vanished.

"The remaining rebel ships have jumped to hyperspace." one of her crewmates finally stated.

Even if the 7th Fleet had the upper hand in the first half of the battle, the rebels managed to pull a victory out of a certain defeat. A small smile crept up on (Y/N)'s face. It was exactly like Agent Kallus had predicted earlier. Her smile grew a little bit wider and she lowered her head to hide her expression from her colleagues. She then finished gathering the data she needed for her report.