[DISCONTINUED] The Soldiers Of Remnant - (RWBY + Star Wars Crossover)

Chapter 30 - Destruction

Bold Font - Time/Location

Italic Font - Thoughts

Cross: "They're right on us sir! Sixteen hundred meters and closing!"

Red blaster bolts kept passing the ship. A few would hit the aft section of the ship and put even more holes in the hull. The bridge was in no better shape than the hull. There were fires on nearly every console, some bulkheads had collapsed near the elevator door, smoke and steam were flooding the room from the vents, and nearly half of the bridge crew was dead. Crane was standing behind the operations console looking out toward the window.

Crane: "It's right there...we're so close...!"

Cross: "Sir! We need your orders!"

Crane snapped out of his trance and began doing as the captain suggested. He dashed over to the tactical console, which was one of the few consoles not on fire. The officer there was pressing buttons of all sorts. Some where diverting power from non-essential systems while others were to try and target the enemy ship. Once Crane reached the console, he hunched over the officer at the station and looked toward his helmsman.

Crane: "Helm, stand by for full emergency stop and prepare to come about to bearing one-eight-zero mark negative zero-three-five! Tactical, target their shields and engines with all proton torpedo launchers and cannons six through twelve! We're only going to get one shot at this, so make it count!"

Tactical officer: "Yes sir!"

Helmsman: "Copy that!"

A few seconds had passed and the time had finally come to kick the droids in the teeth.

Crane: "Aaaand...now!"

The helmsman pulled a lever with a cylindrical tip downward as the ship jolted to a stop. Then it began to turn right toward the enemy ship and the nose of the ship moved down a little.

Tactical officer: "Target locked sir!"

Crane gripped the sides of the tactical consoles in anticipation.

Crane: "Fire!"

The nose of the ship fired two proton torpedoes at the enemy vessel that impacted along the top-center of the ship, destroying the shield generators. After that, the cannons on the starboard side starting hitting an area near the engines causing a chain reaction that effectively rendered the ship unable to move or stabilize itself. Watching those blue blaster bolts lay waste to that ship was all Crane needed to see to change his mood to a pleasant one.

Crane: "Good shot tactical! Well done helm! Send out a communication to-"

Officer: "Sir, they're coming right at us!"

Crane looked out the windows and his eyes widened.

Crane: "Oh no."

Cross: "Evasive action! Hard to starboard! Brace for impact!"

It was too late. The Separatist ship began to collide with the port side of the Shadow Hand. An ear-piercing screech echoed through the interior of the ship as the hull of the enemy vessel dragged itself across the triangular hull of the Shadow Hand. On top of this the interior shook violently, throwing some against the walls or others onto the ground. Sparks and bolts of electricity danced off of the consoles on the ship. More fires started on all decks and nearly half the crew was dead. Only a few such as Crane and Cross managed to grab onto some consoles and panels on the walls. Although the ships managed to separate after a few moments, major damage was inflicted to both ships. The Separatist ship started drifting toward the planet and would certainly not survive atmospheric entry. The Shadow Hand however was stuck spinning to the right and the engines as well as shields were destroyed. Crane stood back up after being knelt down while hanging onto the tactical console.

Crane: "Report!"

Cross ran over to what was left of the engineering console located to the left of the operations console. The officer stationed there was dead with several massive cuts and burns evident throughout his upper body. Rubble and debris of all kinds were covering his corpse that was flat on the console. Cross moved the dead officer out of the way and began reading the damage reports.

Cross: "Damage and casualty reports coming in from all over the ship! Shields, communications, engines, and the auxiliary generators have all been destroyed! We've got breaches on decks three, four, and five! The emergency bulkheads are in place but I don't know how much longer they'll hold!"

Helmsman: "Sir, we're caught in Remnant's gravitational pull! Unless we get our engines and shields back online, we'll be incinerated during reentry!"

What had to be done was regrettable, but inevitable. Crane walked over to the operations console and pressed a red button that began to flash red and black. Crane took a deep breath and exhaled before giving the order.

Crane: "All hands, abandon ship, abandon ship! This is not a drill! I repeat! All hands, abandon ship! Get to the evacuation pods and to the gunships for immediate departure! Set rendezvous coordinates for RMNT-3! Avoid populated areas at all costs! Once you've landed, activate your emergency transponders! Crane out!"

A unique alarm sounded and after a brief moment of shock, the crew began packing whatever they could into the gunships. All of the hangar doors opened and many starfighters and dropships started taking off and headed to the surface. Officers and troopers alike were running up the ramps of the escape pod bay and into the escape pods. The doors shut once the pods were filled with the maximum number of occupants and were launched toward the planet. Crane, Cross, Gizmo, Crimson, Razor Squad, and the unconscious Centaur and Tigh carried by Shark and Apollo boarded Sparrow's LAAT. Not much needed to be said considering the order to evacuate had been given. Sparrow's gunship was the last to be evacuated. As the escape pods and ships flew toward Mistral, the Shadow Hand began to break apart in the atmosphere. The port quarter was the first to break off. Flames engulfed the Shadow Hand as even more parts began to break off. After a while, the ship was out of eyesight and a small explosion was visible from orbit. Luckily it hadn't crashed near any inhabited areas. All the 204th Infantry Brigade could do now was try and survive.