Rex knew enough about composite laser engineering from his days repairing the dishes on LAAT's to recognize the supersized collminator beam assembly in front of him.
The Chief Gunner had lead him deep through the bowels of the the superlaser, through compartment's primed to pump planet destroying amounts of energy and non-tachyonic hypermatter particles. Rex couldn't help but admire the engineering needed to contain and channel said power; however, he also had realized that there was a one glaring flaw to it that he supposed no one had considered, something Rex had seen happen on small scale during some gun malfunctions on LAATs.
Collminator failure had cost more than one of his brother's their lives in the side turrets of those gunships.
It might cost him his life, it might cost the whole team their lives, but it would stop the station from being a threat, at least for a while until it could be repaired or a new one built. And somehow Rex doubted Ahsoka, or the father and son Skywalker would disagree.
"And as you can see Lord Vader, the main brace for the collminator charging regulator continues to be within nominal tolerances, and the maintenance crew reaction times have noted no hesitation in their training drills and continually improving drill times. Ahead is the main cullminator inspection antechamber; as per shutdown protocol, it is currently de-energized." The Chief Gunner said as he lead the old clone into one of the substations for the superlaser maintenance staff that was adjacent to their primary inspection gantry around the base of the superlaser.
The officer was barely even looking at Rex, instead of focusing on surveying his own staff for anything that could potentially embarrass him in front of Lord Vader or the Emperor. As they entered the antechamber, the door behind them shut, and a small inspection hatch opened that lead out onto a gantry way just beneath the main focusing array.
When the Death Star's superlaser was preparing to fire, this chamber would end up energized as the power needed to focus the collminator beam. If something interrupted the flow, or induced an outside fluctuation to it after it was passed the regulator but before it hit the main focusing array, there would be nothing to dampen the disruption or protect the focusing array from fluctuating surges it was not designed to handle.
So as the officer led Rex along the gantry way, Rex quietly and quickly palmed a droid popper off his belt, armed it, and slid it into a bundle of high temperature, low resistance optical-crystalline induction pathways that lead to the arrays. As they continued along the gantry, around the full inspection circuit, Rex snuck the other droid popper into the regulator housing where it met the chamber proper.
The officer had droned on the whole time, not even seeming to view Rex as more than a walking piece of recording equipment. As Rex and the Chief Gunner returned to the main firing control complex, an alarm and alert sounded throughout the station, announcing the arrival of the Rebel fleet.
"Karabast, of all times!!! Men, get the gun back up to full readiness, in case His Majesty wishes to utilize it. You are dismissed, trooper; please report to Lord Vader that we will have the main gun online in record time." The Chief Gunner said, as Rex returned to the turbolift and began heading for landing bay where they had docked. The old clone had a feeling that he may need to provide a quick evacuation or rescue in the near future, and Lord Vader's Lambda was unlikely to be fired upon by Imperial gun crews if it took off without authorization.
***
Something was wrong.
Sheeve Palpatine could not figure out what it was, and that worried him.
Vader and his son both felt more at ease with each other's presence then they should have. There was something new in Vader's mind that he was hiding from the old Sith; he had been able to mask it enough that all Palpatine could discern was that is was related to his offspring and was not something Vader had known previously.
The younger Skywalker was not as filled with uncertainty as he should have been, but was not fully able to shield his thoughts. And that lead Palpatine to a very unexpected thought flitting across the boy's mind, new enough to be not fully masked...he knows the superlaser is operational. There was some fear for the newly arrived Rebel fleet, because of the superlaser, he suspected. However, even that...felt the Superlaser was as not safe as it may have appeared.
That brought a frown to the old Sith's face, and he realized Vader may have been speaking out of turn with his son.
"I'll need to discipline Lord Vader, if he survives", Palpatine thought as he turned his mind to the Togruta female who was currently...smiling directly at his face.
He felt her use the Force to slight degree on her own person, but Palpatine could not figure out what she had done, before she spoke to him in an almost...curious tone.
"Chancellor, when did you first become a Sith Lord? Was it before or after you ordered the inhibitor chips placed in the clones from Kamino? I've always wondered just how far back you power extended? Who was your master; Maul never said who had trained his former Master." The Togruta woman asked lightly as she looked out the window at the arriving Rebel fleet.
***
Han was running a lot of scenario's through his mind as the probe droid began to move towards the group Rebels, and with it alerted if they blew it up now it would only bring down more Imperial's upon them and put other sensor nodes on alert.
Though with the fleet overhead now, perhaps stealth had run it's course.
That was when he heard a massive explosion in the distance. Looking over his shoulder back toward where the shield generator's were, he saw the emitter dish engulfed in flame and saw girder's snapping as the mounting holding it up failed and twisted over to the side.
It was all Han could do not to start hollering with cheer, but he looked to Leia who had a massive grin on her face. She whisper to Han "Seems that Agent Tano is living up to her reputation."
The probe droid was obviously distracted by the explosion. In the few seconds it was, Chewbacca fired 3 rounds of ionicly charged bowcaster rounds into the droid, which sparked and lit on fire as it fell to the ground as it's systems cut out all at once.
The scout, Nic Scant, ran to slap the charge on the sensor dome, and then began running towards the other rebels, now that stealth was no longer an option.
He made it about half way when his neck was severed by 3 bolts from a second probe droid which had just exited the hatch, about 2 seconds before the explosives in the pack went off and blew apart the whole sensor dome outpost. The rest of the ground team cringe at the sight of his death, but were proud the old scout had got the job done.
"Han get on the line to the rest of the teams and tell them to make for the shuttle pads once they plant their charges. Reinforcements will need a place to land, and we will need to mark targets for the bombers and ships in orbit." Leia said as the team began to move back into the trees.
***
"You have certainly become rather well informed, haven't you, Lady Tano. Perhaps. Do you perhaps want to know how to become a Sith yourself, having seen the power we wield in this galaxy. Have you finally seen through the lies of the Jedi who so wronged you and your master?" Sheev asked, trying to figure out what game the former Jedi was trying to play.
"No, I just wanted to know if it really was you who ordered the inhibitor chips placed in the clones. They understood loyalty, and I wanted to make sure I knew who to blame for forcing me to fight Jesse and his brothers. My master made his choices, but those men never had a choice as long as their chips worked right. You made a big mistake revealing the chips to clone trooper Fives years ago; he got enough of the information to Commander Rex that he was able to leave a record, a record which saved his life and mine." The Togruta said, throwing Palpatine a angle he had not expected.
If there was one thing the Sith and Rule of Two never put much value in, it was loyalty to one's subordinates, particularly disposable ground troops literally bred for war.
***
Hera Syndulla was surprised when one of the first things that happened after hyperspace reversion was a private comm channel from Ahsoka popped up on her personal commlink. It was not very loud, but she could hear Ahsoka speaking with someone, and grabbed it from her belt to turn up the volume as the fleet assembled after coming out of hyperspace.
As she was listening and flying, Hera realized Ahsoka was face-to-face with the Emperor, and it sounded like...she knew that respirator. Yet...Ahsoka did not sound afraid at all.
"Chopper, keep the channel open and start recording this, I need to conecntrate on flying. Get Callus up here, I need him to verify this." The Twi'lek said over her shoulder.
As she was looking back over her sensors, she notice the huge Imperial fleet coming around the limb of the Sanctuary Moon, and heard Calrissian call out that the shield was still up.
Pulling the Ghost into a massive powered slide of a turn, she reoriented the ship towards the incoming Imperial ships.
Then her sensors registered a large explosion on the surface of the Sanctuary Moon, in the location where the shield generator was supposed to be.
"Countermand those orders fleet; resume course for the Death Star, get behind it and use it as a shield fromt he Imperial fleet." Hera heard Ackbar call out, the old Mon Cal having obviously seen the same sensor readings she had. She knew that the Admiral needed to hear what was going on, if Ahsoka truly was face to face with the Emperor on an open comm.
"Admiral, this is General Syndulla, I have a channel you need to hear; it's from Agent Tano. Just listen to it yourself, you'll know what to do." Hera said, as she sent of a holocomm burst to the flagship.
****
The comm on the old Sith's throne rang out with a priority alert just as Palpatine felt a massive wave of danger wash over him.
"Why do you disturb me, Moff Jerjerrod?" Palpatine said.
"Forgive me your Majesty, the shield generator's emitter array was just destroyed by an explosion and the base is reporting almost all of their perimeter and sensor nets just went offline; a few probe droids on detached security report being fired on by Rebels before being destroyed." The Moff replied, sounding like he was expecting to be killed in the next several minutes for his 'failure'.
Palpatine never broke eye contact with the Togruta in front of him, but his frown deepened significantly.
"Has the base been invaded by Rebel forces or lost communication with the fleet?" The old Sith asked, trying to determine his next course of action, seeing surprise on the younger Skywalker's face as well, and even Vader was surprised.
"So Tano had acted on her own to do this...shame she likely cannot be turned, she'd be a wonderful replacement for either Skywalker." Palpatine thought to himself as he awaited Jerjerrod's answer.
"No, your majesty, it appears they have not yet breached the main defensive perimeter. Our troops are on alert, but the only off-planet comms still operational at the base are the hypercomm unit in the control center. Local communication are spotty at best. We have several special forces teams in the area as well, who are being sent to scout for the Rebel's ground force's. However the Rebel fleet has resumed course towards the station." the Moff said.
"The Legion will deal with the Rebels on the ground; have the fleet move to block the Rebel fleet's retreat, while having fighters keep them away from the station till we can fire the main gun." The Emperor commanded.
"My lord, the main gun is currently cycling up from a snap inspection ordered by Lord Vader. It will be online in 5 minutes. However the Rebel fleet will be within the minimum safe firing range in only 7 minutes. We will only have time for one shot, the station would be in danger if we fired any closer. They appear to be trying to move to put the Death Star between themselves and our Fleet." The Moff said over the comm, deferentially but clearly trying to impresss upon his Emperor how bad the situation appeared.
The old Sith paused at that, and looked at the Force signatures of the people in the room with him. The only thing that kept him from feeling anything more than mild annoyance was the fact his facilities on Byss were secure, and not even Vader knew of them. Still, Palpatine would prefer not to lose this station if he could help it.
"Can the station make a jump into hyperspace?" The Emperor inquired.
This caused Vader to look sharply at his master, while Ahsoka and Luke both started, eyes wide. If the gun and hyperdrive were operational...that was not something the Alliance could fight in a stand up battle; if the station's own particle shields came online it'd be effectively invulnerable to outside attack.
"Your Majesty I...parts of the hyperdrive have been installed, but it has never been tested and is not complete. We also have no navigational shielding installed yet either. We may be able to power the current systems up and jump...a half a light year without risking hyperfield collapse, hull buckling, or hyperdrive failure. it would be another hour before with could risk a jump once that was done." The Moff said, clearly not excited to inform his Emperor of these facts.
"Then prepare to fire on the largest of the Rebel cruisers and have the fighters drive them into a better firing position; we shall deal with these rebel scum here. Tell the Fleet to move in and engage the Rebels with overwhelming firepower; keep the Rebels from damaging this station if you value your life, Moff Jerjerrod." Palpatine said, before cutting the comms.
It was time to see how much he could tempt the Togruta with nothing more than the truth. Sith were good at deceit, but sometimes the truth could serve just as well. He had turned her master using his desire to protect the ones he loved and Palpatine knew the former Padawan was not above attachment's of her own; her continued hunt for Bridger and her presence in the battle proved that.
"Oh dear, your forces having some problems with my friends?" The Togruta asked smugly , smirking at Palpatine's face.
"Well my dear, it seems I underestimated you; however, all you have done is forced me to no longer play any games with your friends. You will soon see the might of this fully armed and operational battlestation." The Emperor said.
****
AB: Sorry for the long wait, been hard to get motivated to write for a while, and how to do what I wanted to do with this battle. Decided splitting up over a few chapter's was the easiest way to make sure I could get something out while still tinkering with the rest.