In orbit above Vontor, the carrier craft launched its missiles from outside the range of the shipyards’ weapons. It focused the missiles on a few of the docked ships, particularly the smaller ones. The shields of its targets could hold for a short time, but it would force their crews to either abandon their vessels, or quickly move them to safety. Meanwhile, the fighters surrounding the carrier spread out into their formations, though they did not yet range far from the carrier itself.
Of course, the Cartel’s defensive forces were not simply for show, and they were neither unprepared for, nor appreciative of a sudden surprise attack. Even if many ships had been taken for the counterattack on Kintan, there was still more than enough of a defensive fleet to deal with a carrier ship. Most of the warships that were not already in defensive positions undocked from the shipyards and moved into formation with their battle groups. Their quick corvettes were the first to react, moving themselves into position to screen for the larger vessels. Several corvettes positioned close enough to the path of the carrier’s missile barrage to use their point-defense systems to intercept as many of the missiles as they could. Some could get through, but not enough to dent the shipyard’s shields. They launched fighters to deal with the Believers’ strike craft, and a few wings of bombers to attempt to disable the carrier itself. Then, the fleet headed full speed ahead towards the carrier, keeping their larger ships in a tight formation with their corvettes to reduce the effect of any bombing runs from the carrier.
The formation did take some time to create, and it could only move as fast as its slowest ships, but it was, nevertheless, completely effective. The carrier tried to weave its missiles between the fleet to hit the shipyards, but it was a fruitless effort. As the defenders’ fleet drew closer, the carrier made a turn away from the shipyards, and scans would show that its hyperdrive was charging. The Starfighters surrounding it moved to form a defensive shield against incoming bombers as the carrier itself accelerated away from the approaching fleet. However, the large and bulky carrier vessel was not a particularly fast or agile ship, and it could not outrun even the larger frigates chasing it, at least not over distance. They were in full retreat…but there was nothing that was not going to plan.
Had their more accomplished fleet commander been present, instead of at Kintan, the Cartel’s defending fleet may have recognized the deception sooner. They might have noticed the peculiar fact that the carrier was not actually launching additional fighters, despite that being the express purpose of that class of vessel. The reason for this was simple: there were no fighters inside for it to launch. As well, all of the fighters which had dropped out of hyperspace around it were interceptor craft, with not a bomber among them. Instead of starfighters, virtually all of the hanger space inside the carrier had been refitted to serve a different purpose specifically for this mission. All of that space was now being used for power and shield generation, making the carrier into an exceptionally well-defended distraction.
Once the defensive fleet had been drawn suitably far from the shipyards, another vessel dropped out of hyperspace on the direct opposite side of the shipyards, and much closer to it. It was also a carrier, much smaller than the sizable Imperial vessel currently occupying the fleet, but unlike their distraction, this one was actually carrying its starfighters. Immediately, the carrier launched its waves of fighters and bombers. As might have been expected for the believers, they had no single style of ship in their fleet. Their fighters consisted of whatever collection of battle-worthy spacecraft they could get their hands on. Some were converted civilian ships, others were made by the same manufacturers that tended to supply Hutt and pirate fleets. The best among them were salvaged military vessels from the Empire, Rebel Alliance, and even the Republic. They had launched two full flight groups of TIE bombers, and flying closest above them were five X-Wings in seemingly perfect condition. They had all been custom-painted with the emblem of the Believers, as well as all bearing markings on their nose depicting some variation of a growling, canid-like creature.
Inside the cockpit of the lead X-Wing was a Bothan man, middle-aged, in a dark brown flight suit. His helmet had a worn insignia of the Rebel Alliance on its right side, and a more freshly-painted Believer symbol on the left. “Vornskr Squadron standing by and ready for our attack run.”
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