Kuat Drive Yards, YARD-I-302
On the massive yards of Kuat, millions of workers could be seen working on the hundreds of warships being built—ranging from Star Destroyers to Lancer-Class Frigates.
Yet a singular entity stood out amongst the fancy ships, for it was far from new. It was an outdated ship—a ship type that had been all but abandoned by the Imperial Navy. Yet at YARD-I-302, one stood in its full glory.
And from a window in the yard, two individuals could be seen—one standing in front of the other. Clad in his Imperial Navy uniform, his left chest puffed out, showcasing his three blue and two red dots, which signified his rank as an Imperial Captain.
On his right stood Major Catcher, newly promoted and now commanding the Stormtrooper forces assigned to the flagship of Captain Aaron. No longer sporting the red pauldron, a proud orange pauldron had replaced it.
Major Catcher's gaze travelled alongside the gallant figure of the massive construction before him—a Victory-II Class Star Destroyer.
He had heard the rumors. The hidden truths. Being assigned to the Victory-Class Star Destroyer was known as the end of one's career. Once you were assigned to one, your career was ending.
Yet Captain Aaron had repeatedly stressed the fact that he explicitly desired the Victory-Class Star Destroyer Mark II before them, even going as far as to imply that it would serve its purpose more efficiently than an Imperial-Class Star Destroyer would.
And Catcher had looked at the reports—and he would be lying if he denied the sheer talent of the Kuat Shipyards. Its maintenance issues had been all but solved. The technical errors that plagued the Victory-I and II during the Clone Wars and early Imperial period were gone.
And in its stead, the Relentless had emerged—which was what Aaron had named it. The Kuat Engineers had boosted its speed to an almost groundbreaking 0.75 Class-rated hyperdrive. Therefore, the Relentless was the fastest Star Destroyer in existence.
And Catcher had seen the potential in the vessel. Captain Rysell and Catcher were well aware of their assigned task, by their new superior commander—Moff Roran Darr: to hunt down rebels throughout the Galaxy.
Indeed, the Fleet Admiral had used the success of the Battle of Datar to spiral his own rise as a Moff of the Tiaan Cluster, commanding the 132nd Sector Fleet—which the newly birthed 132-1st Squadron was part of, led by Captain Aaron Rysell.
The squadron had been built under the command of Aaron, who had gained quite the political acumen due to his role in the Battle of Datar, which became known as the Rebel Graveyard.
The HUD of Major Catcher lit up as it displayed the tactical formation of the 132-1st Squadron:
FLAGSHIP: Victory-Class Star Destroyer Mark II — The Relentless
HEAVY CRUISERS: 2x Imperial EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigates — The Tessera and The Gallant, 1x Immobilizer 418-Class Cruiser — The Swift End (Remind me to add picture if I haven't)
CARRIERS: 3x Ton-Falk Escort Carriers
DESTROYERS: 3x Modified Arquitens-Class Light Cruisers — The Hound, The Irrefutable, The Hunter, 8x Carrack-Class Light Cruisers
FRIGATES: 15x Lancer-Class Frigates
The Imperial warship classification was far more effective than that of the Anaxes War College System, Catcher decided.
The flagship spoke for itself.
The Heavy Cruisers were known as the punchers of the fleet, capable of inflicting heavy pressure on capital ships.
Carriers too were self-explanatory. They existed purely to carry a fighter complement. The Ton-Falks were designed for carrying—not for fighting like the infamous Venator-Class Star Destroyer.
The Destroyers referred to smaller and more mobile ships in the fleet, often tasked with destroying anti-fighter platforms or dishing out lighter volleys of fire on capital ships. Not capable of taking down a capital ship alone, yet capable of inflicting damage.
Frigates, meanwhile, were the broad term for anti-starfighter platforms or the lighter warships in a fleet. They were essentially the smallest ships, not capable of posing a threat against capital-grade vessels.
…
While the pair of officers were busy watching their new flagship through the emptiness of space, fighters could be seen evading each other, firing yellow training lasers as they engaged in dogfights.
Flight Commander Jaruss Wagner, now the commanding officer of all 329 TIE Fighters assigned to the 132-1 Squadron, observed from his command post. His flight was organized into four TIE Interceptor wings, a single bombing wing, and an interceptor wing.
Jaruss Wagner was beyond shocked—yet excited—as the news of their expansion reached his ears, especially as the details of the improved flight wing came to light. Jaruss didn't know how, but he assumed Aaron had connections in high places.
For their fighter wing was of exceptional quality.
Each and every TIE of the 132-1th Flight was extremely advanced, consisting of over 329 TIE Fighters, 48 TIE Bombers (four squadrons), and, additionally, their flight had nine TIE/rc fighters—reconnaissance fighters. Jaruss knew he would rarely interact with those pilots, but they were still under his command.
But for Jaruss, the most exciting part was the general TIE Fighter class that would serve as the main force of their flight: the infamous TIE Interceptor Fighter. It was not yet widely used across the Imperial fleets, but the rumors of its efficiency had reached even Jaruss's ears.
Then there was the Commando Flight of the 132-1th Squadron: two squadrons of TIE Defender-class Fighters, piloted by 24 top graduates from the Imperial Flight Academy on Coruscant—his aces.
The TIE flight which he currently commanded was the wet dream of any flight officer in the Imperial Navy. And Jaruss would bet his sister into slavery that this flight would become renowned across the Imperial Starfighter Corps.
But Jaruss pushed such thoughts to the back of his mind as he refocused on the training dogfights being fought all around the Kuat Drive Yards.
For every elite he had received, he had received more than ten newbies—and they needed to be brought up to shape. Jaruss had been given a strict message: incompetence would not be permitted in this unit.
And as much as he enjoyed the freedom that came with being a pilot prior to the expansion, he knew just as well as Aaron did that incompetence could not be permitted when hunting rebels.
For the rebels survived on Imperial incompetence. And if they wished to root out the fools who supported such naive ideologies, they would need to remain at top shape.
_________________________
patreon.com/pondsfyre - +20 chapters, alongside 4 other stories of mine. Each 50+ chapters.