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The situation was becoming increasingly dangerous for Anna and everyone else on the ISD Devastator. The shields were nearly gone, and if they fell, even the mighty hull armor of the ISD couldn’t hold up long. It was looking grim, especially for those with command interfaces that showed the entire battle.

There was good news too, though. The focused fire from the Imperial ships had downed a Mon Calamari cruiser, famed for being nearly indestructible. The wreckage from the destroyed Rebel ships were now littering their side of the battlefield, impeding some of the turbolaser shots from both sides. The new wreckage from the MC-80 now joined the already cold and lifeless debris from the two Nebulon frigates that had fallen so early in the battle. Their names, it seemed, were no defense against the raw firepower that had been delivered against them. Anna imagined the view from the other side of the battlefield. It must have been grim. Shining white hull plates mixed with wreckage of durasteel and the twisted and charred superstructures of the fallen ships. Occasionally they might even see things that came from the inside. A piece of wall, computer panels, lighting strips, maybe even a lifeless body. It must have made for a haunting battlefield from their perspective. It would either make them pause, consider the losses they had taken today, and maybe back off, or it would make them press on and avenge their fallen brothers and sisters. Few would be unmoved by such a sight. For Anna, the sight showed her that the Rebels were taking considerable losses. Just that would make this day worthwhile.

The field of wreckage from the fallen Red Claw did similar things to the imperials, as the three destroyed ships did for the Rebels. Anna had already seen many things from the destroyed ship float past her view port, even a few bodies. Still, it was not as bad as it could have been. The masks, helmets and caps that Imperial troops wore made them faceless, cogs in the Machine, tasked to carry out duties and do them perfectly. If a few of the cogs failed, others would be there to take their places. It also made it easier to look at the dead bodies. You couldn’t identify anyone in space without seeing their faces. The rebel soldiers on the other side of the battlefield may have been able to see the twisted and ghastly faces of their comrades, but the helmets on Imperial troops hid this. If one ignored the fact that they were in space, they could still be alive. In fact, some of the stormtroopers may still have been alive. Their armor was fully sealed and contained a twenty-minute air supply. Even now, her sensor board showed search-and-rescue ships plowing through the debris, occasionally picking up some equipment, or a trooper that had been sucked out into space. There were even spacetroopers in armor out there. Some of them were moving around, helping locate the others that were still alive. Others were outside working on spot repairs and maintenance. Some were even engaging enemy fighters. Their armor may not have provided too much protection against the heavy weapons carried by starfighters, but spacetroopers were tiny targets, much too small to let the computer accurately hit, or to track with missiles, especially in the debris field. In comparison, the spacetroopers had plenty of cover to work with, but had to hit starfighters that were moving very fast, and with strong shields. The laser cannons were good weapons, but the mini proton torpedo launchers were probably what were going to down an enemy fighter craft, if anything.

A flash of motion and a warning on her command screen caught Anna’s attention. The orders had come in for some battle maneuvering and a change of formation. The alert was issued to all turbolaser gunners to watch their fire while maneuvers were happening. Anna soon saw why.

Star Destroyers were built with most of their heavy weapons on the top side, facing forward. This allowed maximum firepower to be directed at one target, while reducing the chances of enemy fire hitting by showing the smallest target profile. It also protected the weaker flanks of the ship, including the engine nozzles in the back. The dorsal mounted heavy turbolaser batteries had a very large range of fire as a result, but currently they were all pointed in one direction.

The remaining Victory Class Star Destroyer was nearly untouched by enemy fire. It had taken several stray shots, but nothing serious. It was all but ignored in the Rebel effort to take out the Imperator Class Star Destroyer. Now, this would pay off for the imperials. The battle maneuver orders were given for the Victory to move in as a shield for the Imperator. The Victory was currently executing a one hundred and eighty degree roll, to invert its orientation relative to the Imperator. It was also moving directly in the path of the turbolaser fire coming from the opposing line. Now that most of the enemy’s ships were destroyed, they could not fire upon the Imperator from many multiple angles. The Victory moved in as a shield to protect the Imperator from most of the enemy fire being thrown its way. As it maneuvered though, it carefully left the firing arcs of the topside turbolasers clear. This maneuver protected most of the Imperator Star Destroyer, making it very hard for the Rebel gunners to hit it now. It also left the firing arcs of most of the turbolasers clear, letting them fire on the Rebel ships freely. Now, the Rebel ships were forced to fire on the fresh Victory Star Destroyer. It’s shields would hold out for many long minutes, allowing the shields on the Imperator to recharge, and giving them time to repair any damaged systems. This little maneuver, while not being offensive in nature, had the effect of now putting the Rebels on the defensive. A hail of turbolaser fire so thick that one could almost walk on it now came from one concentrated direction, all focused on the other MC-80, who's backup shields were nearly gone.

To add to this, the new Imperial fighters were now on the scene. A fresh pilot in an advanced craft is a deadly foe. Add to that the fact that there were dozens of them, and the Rebel starfighters were in serious trouble. Anna doubted that even the legendary Rogue squadron would escape from this battle without losses. There was also a squadron of fighters coming over to the Star Destroyers, presumably to pick off the B-wing bombers. The B-wings may have been sturdy, but they were very bad for fighter-to-fighter battles. They would fall quickly to any space superiority fighter; this was now especially true since their enemies were top-of-the-line Imperial interceptors.

The rebel commander now had two options, both of them bad. One option was that he could keep his capital ships between the Imperial ships and the shipyards. This would mean taking the full forward brunt of the imperial ships, while firing on a fresh imperial ship. The other option was to split us his ships and move them so that they could fire on the ISD. The downside to this was that by the time the ships had moved enough to have clear firing arcs on the Imperator, it’s shields would have recharged a significant amount, plus the path to the shipyards would be open and clear for the Imperial ships to head for. It was a bad situation to be in, and Anna was glad she was on the side she was currently on.

Anna smiled. The battle was indeed going well. It looked like the rebel commander was either freezing up, or had chosen to keep his ships between the imperial forces and the shipyards. There was still the threat of the B-wing bombers though. They would do a lot of damage to the ISD before the TIEs got here t take care of them. As they released their payloads, Anna could almost feel the shields strain to deflect the blasts. Luckily, the shield provided by the VSD had given the ISD's shields some time to recharge already, and they were holding, if just barely.

As some of the missile launchers opened up on the B-wings, the TIEs arrived, slashing through the first squadron of B-wings and going right past them, still firing. Their first pass was utterly devastating. 48 heavy laser cannons tore into the shields and hull of several B-wings, destroying them almost before their pilots had time to react. As the TIEs passed all the B-wings, they broke into flights and gracefully arced back into the battle, each flight firing at a single target. They were supplemented by the anti-fighter fire coming from both of the Star Destroyers, as well as the missiles. It drew some fire away from the Mon Cal cruisers, but they wouldn't last long anyways, and the B-wings were currently the most pressing threat.

Looking at her command panel, Anna called up a status report on the VSD. In the 30-odd seconds it had been a shield so far, the shields on it had gone from nearly full to about 90% and falling at a fairly steady rate. Doing some quick math, Anna guessed that the VSD would move out of position in roughly four minutes, if not a bit sooner. By then, one Mon Cal should be destroyed, and the ISD would have enough shield power to take on the other one, assisted by the VSD.

Anna zoomed in on the MC-80, the one that had lost its shields. Turbolaser bolts now struck its armor, tearing away great chunks of it, or shattering it and exposing the decks underneath. Anna could already see several hull breaches, nothing too serious yet. Still, the MC-80 was doomed, and about to fall now. Its time was at an end. The MC-90 was being fired on as well, now increasingly more as it became apparent that the MC-80 was about to be destroyed. As aim was switched from the MC-80 to the MC-90, Anna ordered that her turbolaser gunners stay on the MC-80, ensuring that it would be destroyed quickly.

As she looked through her zoomed-in view, she could see the fighters dueling around the capital ships, behind them, even among them. Some of the pilots had to be suicidal to be in the line of fire of the great capital ships, but Anna suspected that some of them were just that confident.

Zooming out again, Anna checked her turbolaser stations. Battery 17 had overheated, and the repair crew was working on it now. Battery 42 needed a resupply of gas; Anna dispatched another refit crew to deal with it. Finally, Battery 39 had requested a change of crew. It was odd, perhaps the gunner had broken, or something had wounded him in the gun pit. There was no damage reported though. TO be safe, Anna dispatched a refit crew, a medical team, and a spare gunner crew to that station, to take care of all the possibilities.

Turning back to the battle, Anna checked her own gun, adjusted her aim, and continued firing.