~~
Earlier today, Antarran Republic Intelligence discovered the location of a relatively lightly defended Rebel Base. A heavy patrol group were diverted to deal with the situation;
Approaching the asteroid field that disguised the base, they were met by a pair of Rebel Artemis-class Destroyers.
The Rebels got cocky, and were easily lured into a trap once their ships were moderately damaged.
One rebel destroyer was quickly wiped out, though the other proved elusive.
Suddenly, a third Artemis cleared the field behind the cluster of Republic destroyers, laying into their rear sections.
The Athena finished up the last of the greeting party and turned to fire on the ambusher.
A nasty crossfire to say the least, although the destroyer managed to survive most of the fire.
But it wasn't going to survive forever. It was soon trapped and destroyed.
The Loyalist forces moved in to initiate an assault on the base. Rather than deploy boarding teams, Fleet Command elected to destroy the base on the spot. No offer of surrender was sent.
Unfortunately, the base was quite well reinforced, and the rocks took quite a pounding.
Fortunately, the defenses gradually wore down after continued volleys of magnetic accelerator fire.
The base wasn't quite down for the count, but without fighters, they could only sit and wait.
Several key structural sections were severed, sending large portions of the station floating off before they disintegrated.
Yet more of the base ended up floating off as it slowly fell apart.
Several structural supports came loose during the engagement, striking some of the closer Artemis-class Destroyers.
One was soon forced to withdraw, though the others continued valiantly.
Suddenly, a large portion of the unstable base came loose, drifting towards the destroyers who had not withdrawn. They soon withdrew after taking considerable impact damage from the debris.
With only the Athena left, things seemed like they would take time, but somehow, the base started to disintegrate, exposing the command core.
The Athena pounded relentlessly on the command core until it was nothing more than a floating cloud of scrap and bodies.
Fleet Command has designated this mission a success, despite damage taken by the three republic destroyers. Whilst it could have gone better, the appearance of the third Rebel Artemis was somewhat of an unexpected occurance and could not have been predicted. Either way, the rebels have lost a staging post, and that, gentlemen, is what counts.
Fleet Command out.