THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE GALACTIC CIVIL WAR

CHAPTER V DEFEATING A BUTCHER

<FIRST PERSON-BRAISA>

Although I've been in many space battles before, I've only defended the ship I was on from enemy boarders. Never before have I actually boarded an enemy vessel and captured it.
While on my way to the planet Teth, my new command cruiser, the Stealthy, was attacked by an Imperial Star Destroyer. The moment the Imperial ship dropped out of hyperspace, the Stealthy was greeted by a full broadside.
Even though the shields held, the ship still shook violently.
I then turned to the clone officer next to me and said, "Captain, status report!"
"We've sustained no direct damage, though two more hits of that magnitude will certainly disable our deflector shields."
I turned to a clone and said, "Tell the gunners to return fire! Quickly!"
"Yes, Colonel."
I then told another clone, "Lieutenant Coard, prepare a boarding party."
I'd just gotten to the second level when a clone ran up to me and said, "Colonel Nilun, the Imperials are sending boarding parties."
"I want men on all levels. We can't let the Imperials establish a staging area to board the ship."
I'd just gotten to the floor just above the main hangar with eight clones behind me when an Imperial boarding pod pierced the starboard side of the hallway. While I managed to jump out of the way, the force of the impact killed five of the men with me and wounded the remaining three, although the enemy boarders finished them off.
Seconds before the Imperials turned their weapons on me, I switched my gun from straight shot to spread shot and quickly shot three of the ten boarders before rolling back onto my feet and blasting away three more and retreating with the remaining four on my trail.
As soon as I turned a corner, I drew my mortar launcher. The moment I heard the Imperials getting close, I fired an electro bomb and annihilated the remaining four pursuers.
The moment I got to the hangar, I looked for a gunship to board the Star Destroyer. Fortunately, the majority of the fighting that was taking place aboard the Stealthy was dispersed throughout the ship's decks and hallways.
As soon as I boarded a gunship, I ordered twenty other gunships to form up behind and head for the Star Destroyer. The moment the ships formed up, they received an Imperial welcoming gift of heavy turret fire. Seconds before my gunships reached the main hangar, we began to lose gunships very rapidly.
The moment I got into the Star Destroyer's hangar, I drew my vibrosword and began hacking down Imperial troops as my men began to pour from the gunships and started to overwhelm the Imperial forces.
In 197 minutes, the hangar was taken. Although I partially agreed with my lieutenants to press on to the bridge and capture the commander, I personally felt as though it'd be wise to get more troops in the hangar first.
After my men captured the hangar bay, I received a casualty count of seven gunships destroyed before they even got to the hangar, two crashing into the hangar severely damaged, and one destroyed five seconds after it'd landed; 700 troops were lost altogether with the loss of the first seven gunships, 28 troops dead after the first gunship crashed, 11 dead after the second gunship crashed, and 89 dead of those that got out of their ships; 32 men were mortally wounded taking the hangar, 33 were mortally wounded when the first gunship crashed, 19 were mortally wounded when the second gunship crashed; of the first troops to board the enemy ship, 21 were minorly injured, twelve were minorly injured after the first damaged ship crashed, and 19 were minorly injured after the second crash.
To avoid losing more ships to the outer defenses, I ordered eight fighters to protect each gunship as they landed one by one.
By the time I decided it was appropriate to press on and storm the ship, I had 3,000 men on the ship.
The moment the boarders I brought with me charged through the hallways of the ship, the fighting intensified to the point where, whenever I assumed we were driving the Imperials within the ship back, they were in fact retreating to link up with another group of Imperials waiting in the next hallway.
The only bright side I could find to the hit-and-run tactics the Imperials were using was the fact that we would soon have them cornered. Unfortunately, they could also force my men to disperse in the effort.
After capturing two floors, I ceased my advance and decided to shift my tactics.
"All right, men." I said, "Our primary objectives are the prison blocks, where we will, without any doubt, find more people willing to join the Rebel Alliance and the command bridge where the ship's captain will no doubt be."
I turned to my second-in-command and said, "Lieutenant Mourse, you'll take half of the men and head towards the prison levels. Now that we've boarded the ship and are slowly advancing, the Imperials have probably guessed by now that we'd no doubt attempt to release their prisoners and capture the C.O. in charge of the ship."
As soon as I led the advance on the bridge, the fighting became chaotic. The Imperials were no longer playing hit-and-run games, but were now meeting my men face-to-face.
As soon as I fired a mortar grenade, one of the men with me said, "Colonel Nilun, I've received word from Lieutenant Mourse. He's almost reached the prison level, but the Imperials apparently held the bulk of their forces back to guard the prison level as best they can."
"Well, let's hope Mourse renders their efforts in vain."
I then ducked as a stormtrooper fired a blaster bolt that whizzed just above my head.
Moments later one of my men reported that the clones under Mourse's command had advanced into the prison level and were slowly pushing the Imperials guarding the prison levels back.
"It's just as I hoped, soldier. Lieutenant Mourse will have the prisoners freed in no time."
Twelve minutes later, I ordered a volley of grenades thrown in order to break the Imperial line.
As soon as the grenade barrage was over, I drew my vibrosword and began to lead the charge against the dazed Imperial troops. The Imperial troops were skewered within minutes.
I then fired a mortar to blow the door open. The moment the door to the command bridge was blown away, I switched my mortar launcher for my shotgun and switched the weapon back to straight shot.
The moment I entered the bridge, the captain of the ship prepared to throw a grenade at me. With the only choices at the moment being shoot him or get blown to pieces, I fired my gun and scored him straight in the chest.
As soon as the shot hit him, the officer flew a foot back and fell to the ground mortally wounded.
I then approached the dying man planning to ask him a few questions before he died, though he merely gave me a look of loathing and muttered,
"The Butcher is yours, rebel sc-sc-".
With that, the Grand Moff was dead.
As my lieutenants gave me the status of the prisoners, I decided that, instead of returning to one of our bases in the Stealthy, I would display my prize.