Against the Pirate Armada
For many years, the Khuiumin system was the main base for the notorious Eyttyrmin Batiiv pirates. Eventually, the Imperial Fleet High Command ordered two Victory class ships (the Bombard and the Crusader) to deal with the renegades. The pirates had advance warning, but did not flee; they believed they could deal with two antiquated lumbering Victory Destroyers.
The Eyttyrmin Batiivs amassed an armada of small and medium-sized ships: about 70 starfighters, 50 yachts and miscellaneous civilian ships converted to missile boats, a few dozen cargo haulers and ore barges armed with improvised weapons, and approximately 28 corvettes and other patrol craft captured from the local constabulary forces of nearby systems. In all, the pirate fleet numbered more than 140 ships.
Upon reversion to normal space, the Victories launched their TIE fighters and deployed for action. Captain Dadefra, commander of the Star Destroyer Bombard, ordered his ship into the thick of the outlaws, while the Crusader engaged the pirates from a distance.
Although partially screened by TIE lighters, the Bombard at first took heavy damage from concentrated Batiiv firepower. Soon, however, it began to give as good as it got.
Pirate corvettes were snared by the Bombard's multiple tractor beam projectors. Imperial gunnery crews knocked out the trapped corvettes' facing batteries with ease.
Captain Dadefra ordered his tractor beam crews to draw the trapped corvettes even closer, shielding the Bombard from the other pirates. The veteran ordered communications jammed to prevent the pirates from coordinating their actions.
The remaining pirates were baffled, unable to get a clear shot at the Bombard but unwilling to give their heaviest ships up for lost. Flight after flight dove at the Star Destroyer, trying to knock out its tractor beam projectors. Repeated Batiiv attacks were thwarted by precise defensive gunnery and volleys of missiles. Constant and coordinated long-range hammering by the Crusader added to the pirate fleet's disruption.
While the corsairs continued to attack the Bombard's tractor beam projectors, Captain Dadefra ordered his complement of Zero-G Stormtroopers to board the trapped corvettes. Under heavy fire, troopers crossed the void and boarded the nearby pirate craft. Once the corvettes were secure, Dadefra ordered half of the Bombard's gunners to the newly-captured ships.
Captain Dadefra ordered his tractor beam crews to draw the trapped corvettes even closer, shielding the Bombard from the other pirates. The veteran ordered communications jammed to prevent the pirates from coordinating their actions.
The remaining pirates were baffled, unable to get a clear shot at the Bombard but unwilling to give their heaviest ships up for lost. Flight after flight dove at the Star Destroyer, trying to knock out its tractor beam projectors. Repeated Batiiv attacks were thwarted by precise defensive gunnery and volleys of missiles. Constant and coordinated long-range hammering by the Crusader added to the pirate fleet's disruption.
While the corsairs continued to attack the Bombard's tractor beam projectors, Captain Dadefra ordered his complement of Zero-G Stormtroopers to board the trapped corvettes. Under heavy fire, troopers crossed the void and boarded the nearby pirate craft. Once the corvettes were secure, Dadefra ordered half of the Bombard's gunners to the newly-captured ships.
Needless to say, when the corvettes opened on the pirate fleet with their remaining guns, panic struck. No longer needing to train its guns on the corvettes, the Bombard opened up on the remaining pirates, trapping them in tractor fields and destroying them with precision turbo laser fire.
The remnants of the pirate fleet began to flee, helter-skelter. The largest group headed away from Khuiumin's gravity well, trying to make an escape to hyperspace, but were intercepted by the Crusader and her TIE squadrons , which had been holding off for just such an event.
A second group retreated to the relative safety of Khuiumin's surface, hoping to shore up defenses for the impending siege to come.
The last group fought on against the Bombard and the newly captured close support of corvettes. But they were no match for the Star Destroyers - even so-called antiquated models. The battle was one sided. The pirates were wiped from the sky.
The coup de grace came less than a day later. A heavy and concentrated barrage of concussion missiles from the Crusader crushed the pirate stronghold's defensive shields - and then the stronghold itself. Total casualties for the operation were 86 Imperial dead and some 238 wounded. Fewer than 275 pirates out of 9000 escaped alive.
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The events of the battle were later turned into the Imperial Ministry of Propaganda and Reeducation Holo Vid "Victory on All Fronts" [Episode 11] with the Eyttyrmin Batiivs being cast as Rebel Alliance sympathizers.
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Excerpt taken from The Star Wars Sourcebook, Nov/1987, WEG40002