Through Imperial Eyes

Chapter 17

"If we get out of this alive, I swear I'll strangle him with my bare hands." (Y/N) muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Commander Hammerly asked beside her.

"I was just talking to myself, sorry." she said louder to her crewmate. "I hope the Admiral is right on this one, or we'll all be in big trouble."

"Oh...right. I sure can't argue with you on that. I think the worst part is knowing it's our people who are going to shoot us down if his plan doesn't work." she agreed with a pessimistic tone.

"First slingshot ready, Commodore." Lieutenant Pyrondi said behind them.

"Slingshot: Go." Faro signaled.

And so the maneuvers began. If Thrawn had predicted their opponent's movements correctly, the TIE fighters they had just sent on stealth mode using the tractor beam would slip right past the Star Destroyer's sensors. They would slowly drift into position while the rest of the shots would be called. (Y/N) was waiting for her cues patiently, listening to the conversations around her and trying to keep herself calm.

"I hope you realize, Commodore, that on pure balance-sheet analysis this can't possibly work. A single Star Destroyer against four is called a mauling." Pyrondi warned Commodore Faro.

The young woman winced hearing her words. She was right, of course, and everybody else knew it. On top of it all, Thrawn wasn't even on the Chimaera with them to give the orders. He was aboard the ship right across from them, the one that they might need to start shooting at if his whole plan came crumbling down. On the contrary, if he was right, he was on the ship that would eventually attack them. His partner, and his unborn child, and also his whole crew.

...And that's why she would kill him for making her so stressed out, or at least haunt his dreams if they all died. Around her, her crewmates continued to execute the next maneuvers in the precise order they were supposed to.

"Slingshot ready."

"Marg Sabl ready."

"TIEs are on attack vector, speed was adjusted to give the enemy time to react." (Y/N) then confirmed looking at her console.

"Ion bursts!" Commander Hammerly suddenly shouted.

The crew had already targeted the opponent's cannons, so they were ready to fire their own in return. As expected, the salvos collided and burst into space like fireworks. Soon after, a second and a third salvo tried to hit them, all three bursting in a similar manner when the Chimaera's ion cannons countered their shots.

Another salvo from one of the other Star Destroyers was fired, too rapidly for their cannons to intercept. However, the fighters they had launched earlier were on the perfect vector to absorb the shots. Up until now, Thrawn had predicted every maneuver perfectly. Commodore Faro was becoming more confident, and so was (Y/N).

"Starboard TIEs: Go." the Commodore ordered.

"Cannons firing. Tractor beams locked." Pyrondi then said.

Another round of enemy shots were countered. So far, they had a perfect score. Maybe they would survive this after all, (Y/N) thought with a small sense of relief.

A full squadron of TIEs was then launched against them. They responded by sending in six fighters in tight formation straight towards the targets, conveniently hiding a round of proton torpedoes in their shadow to prevent the pilots from seeing them. With impeccable timing, they suddenly broke formation to let the torpedoes fly past them, too close for the enemy pilots to be able to completely escape the blast radius.

However, the purpose of the maneuver was not to kill them, but to disable their ships. That's why the torpedoes suddenly exploded, creating a cloud of debris that instantly damaged the fighters critically when they flew through.

Following the Grand Admiral's predictions, the next attack was a direct salvo of turbolasers, which was absorbed by the Chimaera's deflector shields, and then the fighters they had sent in dark via slingshot maneuver came into play. All this time, they had drifted towards the ship unnoticed. They suddenly powered up and before the enemy could react, they disabled the ship's targeting systems.

The next salvo completely missed the Chimaera, and (Y/N) heard Commander Hammerly sigh with relief beside her. So far, not a single person had been hurt on any side, and quite little damage had been caused. Her crewmates were starting to breathe more easily too, although they were not yet out of danger.

"Helm: bring us a hundred meters positive" Commodore Faro ordered next.

"If I'm right, the next part is the gravity-well generator" Hammerly said to (Y/N).

"Yes. It's still cloaked, but if the trajectory is right it's supposed to be right below it now" the lieutenant confirmed.

They soon saw Thrawn's shuttle slip outside of the ship and make its way along their opponent's hull, once again undetected by the crew. It positioned itself right on top of the short-range transmitter, effectively blocking any attempt from the traitor to call for reinforcements from the other Star Destroyers that had tried to stay neutral in the conflict until now. Their crew's loyalty had been challenged, and it seemed like they chose to remain on the side of the Empire instead of their allegedly traitorous Admiral.

Along with the shuttle, a few fighters launched from their opponent's Star Destroyer and began disabling the remaining turbolasers targeting systems. The cloaked generator similarly activated and slammed against the ship violently, probably wreaking havoc in the hangar bay. Up on the walkway, Commodore Faro had opened a transmission to address the admirals on the other ships and was urging them to join their side.

"...Once again I call on you to defy the Admiral's illegal orders and join me in demanding that he be placed under arrest and relieved of command pending a full investigation..."

Not long after she finished with her speech, the three other ships formally gave their support, turning the odds against the traitor now left alone against all of them. Even if a part of the young woman was still angry at Thrawn for putting her and the whole crew through this strenuous exercise, (Y/N) had to admit that he outdid himself this time. She couldn't help but be impressed by his impeccable strategy. He managed to defeat his enemy by predicting every single one of his tactics and was now already aboard his ship to proceed with the arrest.