Operation Hammerblow

The final operational evaluation for the New Republic Fifth Fleet was designated as Operation Hammerblow. The New Republic Senate authorized the creation of the Fifth Fleet as the newest naval formation, with the purpose of providing the New Republic with the capacity to confront and overcome even the most heavily fortified Imperial worlds. Gial Ackbar, the Admiral and Supreme Commander of the New Republic Defense Force, personally advocated for the Fifth Fleet's establishment, providing assurances and evidence of its necessity.

The Fifth Fleet consisted entirely of vessels from the New Class modernization program, giving it a degree of uniformity that was absent in other New Republic fleets, many of which still included ships that had served the Rebel Alliance. General Etahn A'baht, a veteran of the Battle of Endor and former commander of the Dornean Navy, was selected to lead the Fifth Fleet. His appointment was controversial; despite his participation in the victory at Endor, he had only served in the Defense Force for two standard years. Many senators believed that he had not earned such a prominent role and that a Rebel Alliance veteran should have been chosen. However, Admiral Ackbar countered that while the Rebellion's veterans were skilled in insurgency warfare, they lacked the experience needed to command forces in conventional combat. A'baht's experience with the Dornean Navy provided the essential expertise that the New Republic needed to continue its campaign against the Imperial Remnant.

The live-fire exercise was conducted against the planet Bessimir, situated fifteen parsecs from Coruscant, the capital of the New Republic. Although the Fifth Fleet would only engage drone targets and computer simulations, the tactical planners aimed to make the exercise as realistic as possible in terms of tactics and responses. A'baht personally developed the operation's plan, which was subsequently approved. Observers, including Ackbar, Chief of State Leia Organa Solo, and the Senate Defense Council, monitored the execution of the battle plan from the New Republic Defense Force headquarters on Coruscant.

The Fifth Fleet, under the command of General A'baht, executed a combat formation hyperspace jump to Bessimir. Upon exiting hyperspace, the fleet's Nebula-class Star Destroyers moved to protect the Endurance-class fleet carriers, while the Defender-class assault carriers advanced to the front. Hyperspace-capable starfighters, which had traveled independently to Bessimir, established a defensive perimeter around the fleet, while numerous additional fighters, bombers, and gunboats were launched from the assembled armada. However, one ship missed its jump mark. The Ahazi, a Hajen-class fleet tender, emerged from hyperspace too close to Bessimir, leaving its crew with insufficient time to react. The support ship was destroyed in Bessimir's upper atmosphere, resulting in the deaths of six young crew members.

As General A'baht supervised his forces, battle management reassigned a reserve tender to fill the Ahazi's position in the formation. Upon receiving confirmation that the Fifth Fleet had successfully exited hyperspace and deployed in battle formation, A'baht authorized a group of three assault carriers and their complement of BTL-S8 K-wing assault starfighters to begin their attack run. These vessels and their fighter support advanced ahead of the main fleet, looping under Bessimir's south pole to reach their target: the planet's alpha moon, which housed the primary defense weapons, a massive hypervelocity gun, and the main starfighter base. The moon was located on the opposite side of the planet from the Fifth Fleet's entry point.

Simultaneously, pairs of A-wing fighters targeted Bessimir's communications and sensor satellites. Their attacks provoked a counter-attack from Bessimir, with surface ion cannons attempting to defend the orbiting satellites, thereby revealing their locations to the Fifth Fleet. The lead assault carriers designated the targets with lasers, and the pulse cannons mounted on the fleet's Star Destroyers systematically destroyed the ground emplacements. The Republic's only casualty during this exchange was an A-wing from Blackfire Flight, which triggered a sleeper mine on its starboard wing during a reconnaissance pass.

As the group of assault carriers approached the alpha moon, drone fighters began launching from concealed bunkers. The carriers deployed penetration bombs before veering away from the moon, drawing the drone fighters with them. The penetration bombs used their own inertia to fall toward the moon's surface, then activated tail thrusters to drive themselves deep into the ground. Anti-ship batteries attempted to intercept the projectiles, but most evaded the screening fire. After being driven to twice their length into the moon's surface, the bombs detonated simultaneously. The resulting shockwave destroyed the underground launch hangars, collapsing the structure and silencing the anti-ship batteries. Deprived of command and control, the drone fighters that had already launched followed their pre-programmed combat directives, targeting the assault carriers. The Republic ships quickly eliminated the threat.

Following the assault carriers were the eighteen K-wing bombers of the 24th Bombardment Squadron, led by Red Leader Esege Tuketu. Operating under radio silence, the 24th was tasked with destroying the hypervelocity gun before it could target the Fifth Fleet's ships. The weapon could fire one hundred and twenty projectiles per minute, although New Republic Intelligence had observed that it rarely fired for more than ten seconds continuously. Protected by both particle and ray shields, the weapon's firing control was linked to the shield control. When the weapon fired, the particle shielding would drop to allow the projectiles to pass through. The battle plan required the K-wings, many of which were configured as penetrators carrying only slug cannons and flechétte missiles, to destroy the gun by timing their attack to coincide with the weapon's shield drop during firing. The K-wings split into six flights of three fighters each, skimming the surface of the alpha moon in different directions to converge over the weapon simultaneously.

However, the hypervelocity gun still needed to lower its shields for the K-wing's weapons to be effective. General A'baht, unwilling to risk the fleet, assigned the Nebula-class Star Destroyer Resolve to serve as bait. Equipped with multiple shields, the Resolve exited hyperspace in front of the hypervelocity gun. As the weapon fired on the Republic ship, Tuketu's flight slipped several projectiles through the shield gaps, destroying the generator. Without its shields, the hypervelocity gun began firing continuously at the Resolve. Commander Syub Snunb ordered a withdrawal, hoping that the 24th would destroy the weapon before it destroyed the Star Destroyer. Tuketu's K-wings converged over the target, dropping lob bombs on the gun and destroying it while it still had shells in the barrel. Black Leader Hodo dropped the ordnance that completed the weapon's destruction, confirmed by both Green Leader and the Resolve.

With the Fifth Fleet achieving dominance in local space, the Warrior-class gunships began clearing a path to Bessimir's surface by exposing themselves to ground-based defenses, allowing other ships to locate and destroy them. By clearing a section of emplacements, the fleet created a breach for Republic ships to reach the surface and deploy ground troops for an invasion. Satisfied with the fleet's performance, General A'baht reported the exercise's success to observers in the New Republic Defense Force headquarters on Coruscant, recommending that the Fifth be declared operational.

The operation's outcome elicited varied reactions. While some members of the Defense Council, such as Senator Cian Marook, continued to question A'baht's appointment, others questioned the Fifth Fleet's intended purpose. Senator Tig Peramis accused Organa Solo of creating an instrument of oppression, noting that the test was conducted against a planet without planetary shields. Despite Ackbar's assertion that any planet with strong shields would be subject to an initial commando raid to disable them, Peramis believed that the Fifth would be used to invade underdeveloped worlds or to enforce New Republic decrees on its own members. In protest, Peramis resigned from the Defense Council.

Following the successful operation, the Fifth Fleet was declared operational and assigned to patrol the Seventh Security Zone. However, when news reached the New Republic that the secretive and xenophobic Yevetha had initiated a purge on planets throughout the Koornacht Cluster, the Fifth was reassigned to protect New Republic interests near the Cluster.

Operation Hammerblow was depicted in Before the Storm, the first novel of The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, written by Michael P. Kube-McDowell and published in 1996. It served to introduce the Dornean General Etahn A'baht, one of the trilogy's new characters, and the New Republic Fifth Fleet, which would play a significant role in the series.