Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [166]
But not for long.
The Kaloth battlecruiser had once been considered a very powerful ship, and this one had been modified enough to be able to fight any Nebulon-B Frigate to a standstill. In the hands of slavers it made for a most potent weapon and, under normal circumstances, would have been a welcome addition to the Invid fleet. However, the Thalassian slavers had tried to poach what Admiral Tavira saw as her property, and the price to be paid for that affront was very high.
And even watching various sensor feeds well after the battle, I found it truly difficult to comprehend the vast, destructive capabilities of the Invidious. While I knew how many guns the ship had and could easily describe the relative effects of each, watching them employed in so efficient and lethal a manner left me emotionally numb.
The Harmzuay got off the first salvo, spraying laser cannon and turbolaser fire over the length of the Invidious. A few shots made it through the Star Destroyer’s shields to boil off hull armor, but I’d seen nastier damage done by an X-wing strafing run. The Harmzuay’s gunners didn’t concentrate their fire to compound the damage being done. Their tactics might have worked in the past to frighten off a ship with which they were more evenly matched, but not the Invidious.
And not with Admiral Tavira commanding.
The Invidious’ return barrage devastated the ship that was one fifth of the Star Destroyer’s size. The heavy turbolaser batteries concentrated their fire on the aft end of the battlecruiser, punching through the shields as if they were mere holograms, then boiling great holes through the hull. Atmosphere vented, carrying with it debris and bodies, then subsidiary explosions rocketed more shrapnel and parts into space. The Invidious’ emerald heavy turbolaser cannon shots raked the battle-cruiser’s starboard flank, drilling through shields and burning off the Harmzuay’s weaponry.
With no shields and no weapons, the battlecruiser’s commander did the only thing left open to him—he rolled his ship to present the belly shields and tried to pull away and run. In his case, however, there was no try, and there was no do. There was only die, and the battlecruiser died spectacularly.
As the aft came around, the Invidious hit it with everything. The Harmzuay’s aft looked like a black hole sucking in every green energy shaft the Invidious’ guns spat out. The battlecruiser’s engines exploded immediately, shredding the last third of the ship. The roiling golden ball of incandescent gas actually pushed the Harmzuay further on the captain’s intended course, but by then it was only the spasmodic jerking of a corpse.
The Invidious’ guns cored through the battlecruiser’s hulk, melting everything. Molten durasteel congealed into long, twisted threads that trailed from the wreck like the roots of a nebula orchid. I actually thought I saw, and confirmed by later sensor data review, turbolaser bolts burning through the battlecruiser’s nose. More metal tendrils bled out from the ship’s bow, then the hollowed hull sagged in on itself. What was once the Harmzuay hung there in space like the carcass of some odd metallic animal.
I rolled the clutch and streaked back into the dogfight, but the Thalassians were broken. Half their fighters had already been destroyed, and watching the death of the Harmzuay had taken the fight out of the rest of them. The trio whose skulls could jump peeled off into an exit vector, while the rest of them headed out toward Algara 2. Why they thought they would find sanctuary there I had no idea, but whatever they would face there likely beat the death we’d give them.
“Let them run, Bolts. We’re going atmosphere and see if there is anything to do down there.”
My clutch broke through the planet’s cloud cover first, giving me a good view of