Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapters 97 and 98 - The Alliance has placed this order!

"...We will face two to three thousand enemy ships."

"You're only telling us now?!" an officer from the Amplicon Sector roared, his face turning ashen.

“That’s right.” Raine’s voice rang out at the opportune moment, clear and steady, instantly drawing everyone’s attention. “When we conducted our strategic simulations, we considered the possibility of the Republic sending reinforcements, but we made a crucial miscalculation…”

"What misjudgment?" Diederich asked in a deep voice.

Raine calmly swept his gaze across the room and frankly admitted, "We underestimated the political resources and efficiency that the Republic's top leadership could mobilize. Although we are very reluctant, we must admit that the Republic system still possesses some of the most outstanding military strategists in the galaxy."

Raine walked to the holographic control panel, quickly manipulating the star map to shrink it and refocus on the Peremian trade route, highlighting the key nodes of Rantilis, Chandrila, and Alderaan.

"The Republic used the 'Long Spear Fleet' and the 'Flaming Claw Fleet' as bait and anvils, pushing them in front of us and keeping our attention firmly occupied through continuous sieges and small-scale conflicts. But the 'Steel Blade' and the 'White Breastplate' are their true hidden hammers, lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow."

His voice was calm and deep, completely unconcerned about the reactions of others, as he continued, "With the Peremian route open, Centares has become a ready-made meat grinder. All they need to do is..."

Rein paused, leaned forward, and forcefully traced the clear hyperspace route on the star map with his finger. "They directly jumped over to join the battle, and even brought a 'Consignor-class Star Dreadnought.' This is indeed a cleverly conceived strategy with extremely high execution difficulty. We should be highly vigilant about its planners, but this kind of tactical surprise attack can only be used once."

Hathor gave Ryan a grateful look, thanking him for taking on this tricky problem in time.

"Given their relatively slow follow-up actions, we have reason to speculate that they are regrouping and reorganizing their large fleet."

"The Republic lacked the resources to wage a long-term, large-scale war of attrition from the very beginning of the war, and now it will only be more stretched."

"Kolumex will determine the future of both of us!"

Ryan was merely stating a fact, but everyone present understood the storm brewing behind it.

"We are not fighting alone!" Diedrich slammed his hands on the holographic table, his voice booming and powerful, conveying unwavering confidence. "The Confederate First Fleet, commanded by Admiral Tonis, is rushing from the Southern Theater at full speed! Admiral Trench has also sent a message from Lenna that the Fourth Fleet is being formed! The tricks the Republic can pull, we can pull too!"

Diedrich displayed only unwavering confidence.

Raine guessed that his mind must be consumed by thoughts of conspiracy and betrayal.

Once the truth of Dooku's treason is revealed, it will inevitably cause an earthquake within the Confederacy, and the worst outcome will be complete isolation and helplessness.

Raine silently hoped... that General Severn Tann would arrive as soon as possible along the Salin Corridor.

This is the opportunity she has been waiting for, and she will surely see it clearly.

Of course, just in case, Rennes also prepared a Plan B.

But since that incident, he has known that going against Tann is not a wise move, and it would be better not to use this Plan B.

“If the Republic deploys another ‘Consignor-class’ interstellar dreadnought, it won’t matter whether Trench and Tonis make it in time.” Carly Trilm’s voice came from behind the crowd. She straightened up, stepping away from the wall, her tone sharp. “What good will they do if we’re crushed before they arrive?”

"We should have fought them right here in Centares!" the officer from Amplicon roared furiously, his gaze sweeping over the representatives of the Beldrone and Auriel sectors like knives. "All we've done is give them more time to redeploy troops from the core world! They've already sent a Star Dreadnought? Who can guarantee they won't send another? Or even two!?"

He hit the nail on the head.

Raine and his team desperately needed something to slightly turn the tide... a powerful "force multiplier".

Isn't the scale of this battle just like a super-sized version of the Battle of Salvara?

If the weaknesses of the Knight-class Star Destroyer can be exploited by the planetary defense cannon, then the threat faced by the much larger Monument-class ships will only be amplified exponentially!

"Is there a planetary-scale 'ion cannon' array deployed on Kolmmex?"

Ryan suddenly spoke up and asked.

“Yes,” Diedrich confirmed immediately, but then poured cold water on the idea, “but they are fixed targets, their locations are public, and their range is limited, so they can’t cover the entire jump area. I think the Republic fleet will definitely choose to assemble outside their range. The more realistic problem is that if the Republic fleet really gets close enough for the planetary ion cannons to effectively attack… considering their overwhelming numerical superiority, our orbital defenses would probably have already collapsed by then.”

This concern is very real.

A force multiplier... what else could it be?
Rein pondered, his mind racing, frantically searching his memory for any trace of past combat experience and military theory, looking for that spark of inspiration. The Battle of Krant!
That battle was a textbook example of mobile ambush warfare, and Ryan successfully replicated it on a small scale during the Battle of Teth.

Using celestial bodies to conceal the fleet and launch a 360-degree all-around surprise attack... Calculating the precise communication coordination and fleet position matrix would be an astronomical task, but it is theoretically feasible!

Rein rushed to the holographic control panel again, his fingers flying across the screen, rapidly enlarging the model of the Kolumex galaxy, his gaze sweeping over every celestial body within the galaxy.

The main star Kolumex, several gas giants, and a planet with... rings?

That giant planet with massive rings!
“The asteroid belt…or rather, the abundant planetary ring material,” Renn muttered to himself, a thought beginning to take root in his mind, “How many ‘interception mines’ do we have left in our stockpile?”

Diedrich raised an eyebrow, clearly trying to keep up with Renn's leaps of thought, and replied, "There are still some reserves, but the amount is far from enough to pose a substantial obstacle to the Republic's anticipated massive fleet."

Right, right.

Power multiplier, power multiplier...

Tann's Railgun?
No, that's too far away.

and many more!

In the midst of a brainstorming session, another idea struck Renn like lightning!
"Traction beams!" Raine's voice rose with excitement. "Which ships in our current fleet are equipped with the most powerful traction beam arrays?"

“‘Divine Will-class cruisers’ and ‘Luke Hook-class battleships’,” Hathor quickly listed the main ship types.

“No…we don’t need those high-precision tractor beams designed to guide carrier-based aircraft,” Ryan immediately rejected. “What we need is pure, powerful force capable of moving behemoths!”

“Orbital tugs,” Diedrich answered almost without hesitation, a knowing glint in his eyes. “Kolumex, as the region’s largest hyperspace route hub and trading center, has hundreds of specialized orbital tugs. In addition, many of our large cargo ships and merchant vessels are equipped with powerful traction beam arrays, often used as space cranes.”

"Cargo ship!" Renn snapped his fingers excitedly, his finger jabbing sharply at the gas giant with its enormous rings on the holographic star map. "Perfect! Could we... tow those asteroids, or large enough fragments, from those rings into the defensive orbit of the planet Kolumex? To build... an asteroid defense belt?"

“Uh,” Rear Admiral Diedrich hesitated for a rare moment, “Technically… it’s feasible, but it would severely damage or even destroy the cargo hold structure and traction beam generators of our cargo ships. They were designed to load and unload standardized containers, not to tow rough space rocks, and moving a sufficient number of asteroids to form an effective barrier would be an extremely long and time-consuming process.”

"This is no problem!" Commander Dimura, the officer from Ampliken, suddenly interjected confidently. "Leave this to us, we can handle it!"

"Oh?"

Diedrich and Renn both looked at him with skepticism.

Dimura seemed to realize he had been somewhat out of line and composed himself slightly, but the light in his eyes shone even brighter: "Please forgive my excitement. I am Dimura, the military liaison officer for the Lorona Interplanetary Transport Company in the Meridian Sector. Our company's flagship product is the 'Field-Secured Container Vessel'... or FSCV for short!"

He paused, then said confidently, "They are the largest bulk carriers in the galaxy! There are currently three deployed within the Community Organization space. Each FSCV has a standard cargo hold volume of up to five billion cubic meters! Transporting unprocessed raw materials... such as entire asteroids, is precisely their design purpose... Please watch the technology demonstration!"

As if he had instantly switched personalities, Dimula transformed from an officer into a top salesman.

He magically produced a data chip and skillfully inserted it into the holographic table interface.

In an instant, the galaxy map was replaced by a massive, breathtaking holographic model of a spaceship.

This ship... has a unique shape, but is astonishing in size.

The main body of the ship consists of thirty spherical cargo holds, each half a kilometer in diameter, constrained by a powerful gravitational field. They are arranged like beads on a string and are driven by two huge engine modules, each comparable in size to a star destroyer.

The ship is an astonishing 19 kilometers long!
Ryan had always been wary of corporate officers, but this engineering marvel before him forced him to take notice.

A crazy and daring tactic quickly took shape in Ryan's mind, and he couldn't help but smile.

The Republic’s arrogant strategists could never have imagined what they would encounter in Kolmogoks.

You'd never guess!
“Commander Dimura,” Rein’s voice carried the certainty of a chess player making a decisive move, “Please contact the Lorona Corporation immediately. The Alliance has placed this order!”

(End of this chapter)