**Chapter 548**
**Scene 1**
**LO-091 POV**
**Red Wing – TIE Bomber Formation**
LO-091 watched his instruments with near-religious fervor. While the plan was sound in theory and had worked perfectly in the simulator, this was the real world. One of the first lessons Commander Skirata taught all clones — not just his favorite commandos — was that simulations and training, while vital, never precisely reflected reality. Taking success in them as a guarantee for success in the field was optimistic at best, damn foolish at worst.
That was especially true when trying something new and untested in real combat conditions.
Finally, the signal came from the flag, lighting up the bomber's communications suite.
"Red Actual to all Red elements," the lieutenant's voice crackled. "We've got a clear signal, and we're going in. Concentrate fire on weapon emplacements, and leave the kill for the rest of the wing."
A chorus of affirmatives answered him. LO-091 glanced at his gunner, took one last look at his controls, and focused on the instruments in front of him.
Five seconds to go. The signal remained loud and clear despite heavy enemy jamming. A jolt of sudden deceleration pushed him back into his seat as the inertial dampeners struggled. The gray void of hyperspace vanished, replaced by a chaotic pyrotechnic display of green and blue turbolaser fire.
A massive gray Lucrehulk-class battleship loomed directly ahead, its burning shields visible under the constant barrage from the Republic fleet. The armored behemoth responded in kind, firing wildly at targets across the battlefield.
As soon as realspace transition completed, LO-091 slammed the afterburners and flew straight at the battleship. A quick glance at the distorted sensor display showed the rest of Red Wing following right behind him.
"Surprisingly enough," he muttered, "the General actually knew what he was talking about."
It was relatively easy to avoid the last-ditch defensive fire. What they couldn't dodge, the deflectors handled. Only a handful of Vultures remained in the area to intercept — stragglers. The main enemy fighter screen was too busy fighting for survival against the TIE Avengers escorting Red Wing.
"Nothing between us and the target," LO-091 said with a small smile. "All Red elements, weapons free. Hit those turbolaser batteries hard!"
He unleashed a barrage of proton torpedoes against a quadruple turbolaser emplacement. The warheads struck true, immolating the guns in a brilliant fireball that bloomed across the Lucrehulk's hull.
"Direct hit!" his gunner cheered. " emplacement down!"
LO-091 leveled the bomber just a few meters above the battleship's armored hull — too close for most anti-air fire to track effectively. He banked left and lined up on the next target. Another pair of proton torpedoes erased a second heavy turbolaser battery.
The explosion was close. The blast wave caught his bomber on the edge, rocking it violently.
"If we were in atmosphere, that would've been suicidal," he muttered. "Good thing explosions don't propagate well in space."
His new flight path carried him straight toward the central sphere of the battleship. Weapons, sensors, and communications arrays covered most of it — a target-rich environment. LO-091 grinned, activated the afterburner again, and held the trigger down, unleashing laser bolts and proton torpedoes as fast as the systems allowed.
Four torpedoes obliterated a cluster of heavy weapon emplacements in a chain of explosions. Six more slammed into the primary communications array, turning it into drifting space dust. The blast was so powerful it confused the guidance on his remaining torpedoes, which slammed harmlessly into the thick armor instead.
A single torpedo struck a gun nest, disabling one weapon but leaving the others operational. Seconds later, Red Three put two more torpedoes on target, finally silencing the emplacement.
"Red One pulling up!" LO-091 called, scanning his degraded sensors. Heavy jamming from both sides made IFF readings spotty. He could only see four of his squadron mates clearly.
"All Red elements, go for another run!" he ordered.
His bomber banked sharply under a wild barrage of defensive fire, executing a turn that would have torn a lesser craft apart. He came back around on the wounded Lucrehulk. The massive ship was still somewhat operational despite the pounding it had taken.
It was time to finish the job.
The TIE Avengers and Punishers of Red Squadron, part of the first wave of 250 starfighters, tore through the remaining droid fighters and hammered the capital ships. Over one hundred Separatist vessels had already been destroyed, with another two hundred and fifty crippled and drifting.
**Scene 2**
**Orron III Orbit**
**IPV-2C Stealth Corvette *Archer***
Sergeant Soap stood on the bridge of the *Archer*, watching the unfolding orbital battle. The other two stealth corvettes — *Shark* and *Hammerhead* — held position silently alongside them, hidden behind the enemy fleet.
Task Force 141 was an elite unit handpicked and trained by General Dagon Marek himself, drawing the best clones and volunteers from Dark Star, the 12th Sector, and Mern 13 forces. They were the scalpel.
Soap glanced at his men. Tank and Grunt, the heavy gunners, looked like two-meter-tall juggernauts in their reinforced armor, rotary cannons ready. Drake, the demo expert, was hugging his grenade launcher and whispering to it again. Reaper and Farsight, the sniper-spotter pair, waited calmly. Ghost, the infiltrator, stood silently in the shadows. Doc, the medic with the morbid sense of humor, and Wes, the "normal" grunt who still couldn't believe he was here, completed the team.
"Sir, signal incoming," Clone Operator Talon reported. "Target acquired. Operation Shadow Hand is a go."
"Fire torpedoes," Soap ordered.
From the three previously cloaked corvettes, twelve high-yield torpedoes launched in perfect coordination. They streaked through the void and slammed into the rear sections of three Lucrehulk-class battleships.
The explosions were catastrophic. One Lucrehulk's engines detonated in a chain reaction, tearing the ship in half in a brilliant fireball. The other two suffered massive hull breaches and began drifting, secondary explosions blooming along their spines.
"Keep stacking them up," Soap said with a satisfied growl. "For Dark Star."