"Lieutenant Thorsa, have you picked out the best specimen?" the geneticist cowered under the baleful glare of the Sith lord. "Yes Lord Domino, I have picked out the best 10 Julayps for your experiment. I've chosen them on a rating system based on physical agility, strength, and intelligence." The Dark Master reeled in delight, "Good. Good! I look forward to tinkering with these dark powers! Are the cloning cylinders ready?" The scientist winced, obviously disgusted. "Yes my Lord. The team has had them set up for several hours, but thought it best not to disturb you while you were meditating. The final tests were run one and a half hours ago! They are ready!" As the genetic researcher left the facility, Domino's evil laughter seemed to shake the entire building to the foundation.
"Now what?" Thix said to nobody in particular as the TIEs trailing him suddenly started firing on each other. "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Becky said over the comm. Thix felt some slight wave of the force, and realized it wasn't. "No, it's someone manipulating the force...dang, I wish I'd read my Jedi Powers compendium. I think it's Battle.. something." He heard one of his Green squadron pilots say, "Feeding time!" and blow away a TIE bomber. Thix was relieved to see the many VSDs lay off firing at the Mon Cals and begin tearing into each other as well. Where in the name of Xikatz was the Xenomorph? Should have arrived an hour ago. He sighed and targeted a TIE. For Dantooine's sake, he hoped it would get here soon. And he hoped the Jedi holding precedence over this battle would not grow tired or lose concentration...
Tashannoc was going to need to talk to Neb, but considering the results, it wouldn't be too harsh. He had just received word from his sister on the surface about the Imperial plans, and what she planned to do about it, and was shocked. This much carnage over comm equipment? 'Wouldn't it have been cheaper to buy the darned stuff?' he thought wryly. But there was no time for that now. The Fighters were starting to let the TIEs take each other out, and focus on the Capital ships. After heavy bombardment from a squadron of B and K wings, a VSD exploded. The Rebels didn't come out unscathed, though. Over a third of the ships attacking the VSD were destroyed too. Tashannoc ordered the Gift to move in and pick up any surviving pilots.
On the surface, Bjiatocah was done. The comm center was deserted, and all of the equipment was in the same place it was when they got there. "Okay," she said to her squad, "Move out!" "We're just going to let them take it?" One of the newer members of the team, a replacement for one of the men she lost on Mechis III, didn't seem so sure of her plan. "Trust me," she said, and left it at that. The team moved out to start attacking the Ground troops that were approaching the base. Without fighter cover, the Walkers were stopped cold. A single detachment of O-Wings had stayed on the surface as cover, and were taking pot shots at the AT ATs, just playing with them it looked like, until one of them actually took a hit to his aft shields. At that point, the game was over, and the O-Wings unleashed their Arakyd concussion missiles at the unsuspecting AT-ATs, blowing them all to bits. Unslinging her Heavy Bowcaster as the lift vehicle moved into the fray, she started to pick off the stormtroopers coming at her. The massive explosive quarrels from the 'Caster, with a direct hit, could blow a Trooper to bits, and take out the two next to him as well. If it were to land in the midst of them… well, it would probably just leave them all writhing in pain as they tried to find missing appendages. However, Major Bjiatocah rarely missed.
Once they reached the front line, where the Rebel Troopers were starting to rally at the destruction of the AT-ATs, she put aside her Bowcaster, and went into the fray armed with her strength, teeth, and a small Vibroblade, letting her Wookiee Battle rage have its' effects. The Rebels and Imperials alike were terrified as her towering frame rent Imperial troops limb from limb. 'Finally,' she thought. 'A battle I can sink my teeth into!'
As the five Blades jumped out of hyperspace, Rafaella reached out for Tashannoc's mind: "Tashannoc, I have arrived. Do you need any help?" When she received Tashannoc's reply, the Hope swung around to meet Tashannoc's ship. She followed close, firing at what Tashannoc was firing at. The other four Blades spread out, harassing Imperial ships whenever they found them, flying around them, confusing the pilots and firing relentlessly. This was the sort of work Blades were made for, and the pilots rejoiced at being able to do what they had been trained for at last... When Taista found out that Devastator was not fighting in this battle, he hissed and used a couple of choice swear words that made Rafaella wince. She wondered how much longer she could keep the lid on Taista. Maybe giving him his own ship again had been a mistake? Lin was singing softly to herself as she flew through the battle. This way she didn't have to think of anything else than the matter at hand.
She forgot her own anger and her worry about her family. She hadn't seen them since she had left Kashyyk many years ago. She'd never returned, even though she missed them terribly at times. Never seeing another of her kind... She blanked her mind, concentrating on the battle, on giving the Imperials as much fear and death as possible...
"Unghh...Where am I?" Hendrikson tried to stand, but his vision wheeled in circles and he found himself back on the ground again. He tried to think straight. He had jumped out of his airspeeder, saw it crash, saw the Wookiee and his (her?) men, and then nothing...He sat up again quickly, the dizziness was almost too great. What became of the Wookiee? If he/she was a Imperial...couldn't be. The Imps enslaved Wookiees, they didn't hire them as soldiers. Who-who-who? He racked his memory. There was an explosion off in his peripheral vision, and he slowly turned his head to look. He saw a couple O-Wings taking out some AT-AT's on the ground not far away and some rebel soldiers fighting with stormtroopers below the mammoth machinery. He recognized the same Wookiee as he had been thinking about a second ago, and tried to stand to get over there. Too late he realized his left leg was broken. "Ahh!" He fell down and remembered the wisdom of always checking your bones after a fall. He squeezed his arms, one at a time. Fine. He tried his ribs, found two broken. "What a great day I'm having," he said. He hobbled on one leg and began slowly making his way across the plain towards the fighting, wondering what he would do once he got there.
Jedi Master Rafaella stared at the Knightfall, wondering how much more it could take... She could feel a lot of force sensitive people here, as always... There was one woman...she seemed confused...was she Imperial or Rebel...she didn't know, maybe..." She saw the destruction her students wrought, and was a little saddened. She wished there had been some other way than violence, but at present there weren't, and she had sworn an oath...
She emptied her mind of these superfluous thoughts, and concentrated on winning the battle, and keeping Tashannoc from getting hurt. After all, she was a Therkan, and Therkans never took anything lying down...
As the ground battle between the two ground forces went on, the Rebels were glad that even if the Ion Cannon was out, the Imps hadn't found the shield generators yet, well hidden as they were. The Rebels had learned their lesson at Hoth. With the shields, it would be impossible for the Capital ships to bombard the surface. One of the repulsorlift vehicles that Bjiatocah's team had brought was hit, and the mounted weapon was useless, so it was used to get the wounded to transports for evacuation to the Gift, ROM, and other ships in obit above. As Lt. Markham was bringing the lift back for another group of casualties, he saw a figure stumbling and dragging himself towards the battle. 'Man,' he thought, 'that guy has got to be determined, stupid, or both.' He floored it and brought the 'lift over to the man, as he collapsed in the underbrush. Recognizing the rank insignia, he leapt down and loaded the man onto the lift. "Easy there, Major. You look pretty banged up. I'm Lt. Markham, I'm with Major Bjiatocah's commando squad. I'm also trained as a field medic, so if you'll sit still for a minute, I'll tend to your wounds." As he started to administer a tranquilizer while he set the bone, Hendrikson objected, so the Lt. complied. Once Hendrickson was tended to, Lt. Markham asked him, "So, where to, sir?"
Thix maneuvered his way over the surface of a Nebulon-B2 Frigate and set a course for the nearest ISD, his computer tagged it as the Revenant. Green squadron had entered the fray with 12 members and were down to 7. He ordered three X-Wings (including himself) to arm torpedoes and make runs on the ISD, with the other four running guard duty. Yellow squadron, sans 6 members, was already bombarding the large vehicle.
"Hey, Thix, glad you could join us. Most of us are running out of torpedoes, so we're gonna cut off and head to the Retaliation for a reload." Becky Caleer said over the comm. Thix responded, "Copy that; go ahead. We'll do some damage for you, Becky." Yellow squadron disengaged and Green members started their bombing runs. Suddenly Thix saw a green dot on his radar disappear. "Green 6! Report!" Static. Turbolasers must have gotten him. Not even enough time to cry out. Thix fired a pair of torpedoes, watched one detonate on the shields and the other get through and tear up a hunk of machinery below. His sensors told him he ad taken out the ISDs Gamma Deck cafeteria. "Great, maybe I can starve them to death."
Rafaella stared at the Knightfall as the Hope continued to blaze away. She wondered how much longer it would take. She was almost itching to go somewhere and do something really stupid and daring, like stealing Domino's cigars or hijacking an SSD, or something. Frowning, she put that thought into the deepest recesses of her mind, together with the small voice saying that she had to go somewhere else. She'd do that when she was finished here. She owed it to Tashannoc, and to the Rebels, and to everyone in the galaxy, to do a good job here. If she had anything to say at all, Dantooine would not go the way of Alderaan, or Dalleth. She almost winced as she considered what her home had become...
Thix hit the accelerator on his X-Wing and felt himself get pressed back into his chair. The ISD below him fired ion blasts at the TIEs that were 'under the influence' in the hopes of saving both pilot and craft. This plan, Thix admitted, was a good one. Yellow squadron was back in action, and Thix hoped that they could finish the job on this ISD soon. The Lightbringer had engaged this target for a while, firing from behind, to distract the turbolasers near the bridge so the fighters could make safer strafing and bombing runs. An entire squadron of Y-Wings had been destroyed attacking this behemoth, and it was obvious that the Rebellion didn't want to lose any more pilots than necessary. Thix had only scored one material hit, the one that took out the cafeteria of all things, but others were striking it lucky, ripping through girders to destroy tactical stations and power generators for the turbolasers.
The bridge remained unscathed. Thix unloaded his missile tubes into a weak spot in the shields, watched them break through and incinerate an area directly below the bridge. For a second he wished that the ship in front of him was the Knightfall, but of course, it wasn't. He fired his lasers into the spot he had just blasted, digging a little deeper. Others behind him followed and fired, making the hole a gaping wound in the top of the Star Destroyer. Thix heard a member of Yellow squadron cry out as his ship was destroyed, and Thix held back a curse. They were dropping like flies. Already Green squadron was down to 1/3 their original power, and Yellow squadron was down to 1/4. Becky had become ranking officer and taken command, and Thix wondered who would take command if he were blasted. All the other members of Green were ensigns. Thix heard a whoop of victory from a member of Blue group, kilometers away. He glanced over, watched as the front of a VSD was vaporized. The ship tumbled, out of commission. Blue group headed towards the Retaliation for some reloads. Thix locked his lasers on full and tore into the ISD, the lasers spattering on shields and occasionally frying some metal beneath. His radar bleeped, and Thix glanced down. A capital ship just jumped in-system. His stomach flip-flopped. What if it was another ISD? They would be doomed. He read the identification symbol. "Woohoo! Hey, Green group, guess who finally made it to the party!" Thix smiled happily. "The Xenomorph is ready to rumble!"
It was not difficult. The Deominian Cloud was thick with space trash, but not too thick to make it unmaneuverable. He moved through at low throttle and full shields. Some of the space chunks were huge. He was no Han Solo when it came to outrunning Imperial Fighters.... he was more into sticking around and fighting. The small box on his heads-up display blinked red as the triangle over the targeting cursor started to beep. "Darn it!" Arcana swore as he targeted a group of TIE Fighters. He hit the Decoy Beam on his console so the lock would be lost, then transmitted the codes that Domino had given him. After all, the Admiral did not take kindly to having his ships lost when he was supposed to be receiving cigars. "You are clear to pass," the flight leader relayed. Arcana nodded. "Should have known that before!" he shouted back. After a moment longer, the Star Destroyer came into view. He watched for signs of battle and headed towards the Command Ship. Domino would have his cigars soon enough.
Rachel O'Connor paid no attention to the SSD that had just come in. She wanted to see the space station gone. A few more shots knocked the thing down into the planet's atmosphere.
Down on the ground, the battle raged on. Imperials pondered over why in the blazes the fighters decided to fight each other. All on the ground paused for just a moment a tremendous sound came from above them. A great ball of fire, deteriorating at such a massive rate, fell from the sky. I hit the ground several miles off to the south. The explosion it made was more than an earthquake. Fortunately, the battle was way upwind and didn't have any risk of being consumed in any of the toxic fumes produced by the crashed space station. The fighting resumed. Two of the remaining AT-AT's conversed with each other. They realized from their readouts that the shield was finally down. Everyone headed into the compound. It would soon be over. More bombers had arrived along with plenty of escorting fighters. They didn't fare to well against the squad of those strange new fighters the Rebels had left there for defense, but the TIEs numbers were just two great. One by one, the O-Wings fell. Soon, the only ones remaining were in space and the bombers made quick work of the base.
Back in space, Rachel radioed the commander of the ground forces on a heavily encrypted code. "Commander," she said, "obliterate the place. Destroy the com equipment. It has been tainted or something. We don't want to risk anything." "We will destroy it completely," the commander replied. With the space station gone, the Imperials could concentrate more so on the battle at hand. Rachel reached out with the Dark Side of the Force to straighten out the minds of her pilots. It took a great deal of concentration, but she was able to break through to them. They quit attacking each other and turned back to the fight at hand. 'These people want a brawl? Well, they will get one!' Rachel thought. Soon, she would order the attacking force back to space. She had a plan for that SSD that was near to bearing down on them....
Yodaa drifted in space. His senses woke him from his hibernation. If he had slept any longer, the incoming comet would have destroyed him. However, Yodaa was quick and clever. He reached out with the Force and made a protective shield around him and his little pod. The comet caught him. Now, he was being pushed through space. Yodaa would know the right time to push himself off the comet.
Bjiatocah watched as the O-wings returned to orbit, to work with the other fighters on the capital ships. She was too wrapped up in her battle rage to pay much attention. A laser blast scorched her side and damaged her armor, but she ignored it as a superficial wound that didn't need any attention paid to it. She kept fighting, oblivious to most everything else. Her men, on the other hand, realized that the troops were being overwhelmed. Upon receiving the signal that the base had been evacuated except for the troops, Cpt. Lucis, her second in command, grabbed her out of the battle at great personal risk, and made her see reason. With that, the Major sounded the retreat. The heavy weapons on board the 'lift vehicles covered the retreat of the troops to the shuttles waiting to take them up to the newly arrived Xenomorph and the ROM. Bjiatocah's team would be taking their own shuttle up to the Gift. Most of buildings were empty, with a few exceptions, and as she left, Bjiatocah input the code that destroyed the shields. The two remaining projectors within the compound, part of a well disguised quintuple redundancy system, blew up, as did the power generators themselves, which were hidden in a sensor shielded bunker buried beneath the rock at the base of a mountain two kilometers to the north of the base itself. All but one of the shuttles made it safely through the turbolaser fire to their respective Carriers.
Tashannoc wasn't sure what to make of the situation at this point. The fighters were effectively taken care of, and those that were disabled by the Ion cannons were being taken out easily by rebel fighter craft. The recent addition of the Xenomorph bolstered the Rebels, but they were definitely still outnumbered. It would take a while before the Sovereign could bring its power to bear. The loss of the evacuated space station wasn't very important, except that Tashannoc was unhappy at the destruction of the wildlife down on the surface of the planet. Suddeny, he overheard some of the comm chatter from the Rebel pilots.
"We're just going to let them have the base? Over my dead body!" "Don't do anything stupid," Tasha replied, "Thix, isn't it? I know you have a good head on your shoulders. There isn't anything down there but empty buildings now. It's our job to make sure that those troops don't have anywhere to go once they have the base. At that point, we can just swamp them. But first, we need to get rid of these Destroyers!" Thix was fairly excited that the General knew his name, let alone would take the time to explain to him what was going on, in a bigger perspective. Well aware that the General was probably right, he answered, "Yes, sir!" and got to work with zeal destroying the Destroyers. Tashannoc watched as the fighters moved off once again. The Lightbringer was working heavily on one of the ISDs, and with the new help of the fighters, it was destroyed. However, the Lightbringer had taken some heavy hits to its shields, and the aft hangar was pretty much destroyed. Then Tasha saw two VSDs working over the Rebel's captured ISD, and just before he could order reinforcements, the ISD lost it's stabilizers, and started to move wildly. The brave captain, still not willing to go down without a fight, plowed the arrow shaped hull into one of the VSDs, which collided with the other. The three ships exploded brilliantly, and the small pieces that remained began to burn up as they entered the atmosphere.
Thix looked at his statistics. No more missiles, lasers at half charge. Time for a reload. He pulled his X-Wing in a 180-degree loop, and set a course for the Xenomorph. He used ammo sparingly, and this was only his second reload. He noticed that fighter craft were being launched and landed furiously out of the hangars of the carrier. He took this as a good sign; it meant that the pilots were unloading their missiles into the capital ships quickly. He felt uneasy to park his craft in the relative safety of one of the carrier's turbolaser turrets, so he circled the ship. There seemed to be a big hole in space where the station had hung. He felt bad about its loss, yet exhilarated at the fact that they had kept the Imps at bay long enough to evacuate it. He was cleared for landing, and set his fighter down on the hangar bay's floor. He jumped out and hit the ground hard as techs ran over to recharge, refuel, and reload his ship. He stretched, and realized how long he'd been in his X-Wing. He cracked his knuckles and sighed. There was nothing he could do, overall. They were still working on the ISD they had started on an hour ago. A tech yelled to him, gesturing wildly at the X-Wing. Thix sprinted over to the ladder and climbed in yet again, blasting into space.
Quickly, he pulled alongside three other X-Wings heading to the ISD. Thix saw that
the bridge shields were down, but the forward turbolasers were firing with amazing speed.
Thix and the others formed up in a single file line. The first X-Wing made a run, firing
two proton torpedoes. One made it through, but missed, detonating above the bridge; the
other torpedo was destroyed by a laser burst. The second X-Wing set itself up for a run,
but Thix saw it become a bright fireball as a turbolaser nailed it. He gritted his teeth.
Arming his torpedoes, he flew in on the bridge. He pulled the firing trigger. To his
disappointment, both missiles were destroyed. He yelped as he narrowly avoided a laser
blast, then ducked under a second salvo. "Umm, Thix?" Thix heard Becky Caleer
say to him over the comm; she was in the fourth X-Wing. "Was surviving that any hard
feat?" "Not at all." He lied. "Okay.." She accelerated and flew
towards the bridge. A turbolaser burst nicked her rear shielding, and she started, firing
her missile too early. She pulled up. "Ooh, sorry!" She said. Thix grinned and
pointed down, he would have felt foolish if he realized she couldn't see him. The missiles
streaked in and detonated on target, obliterating the command area. The ISD continued to
fire it's turbolasers for a moment, then stopped all activity. With the loss of the master
control panels, everything ceased operation. "ALRIGHT! Perfect shot, Becky!"
Thix said as he heard cries of joy from various pilots as well. "Way to go, Yellow
3!" "Great shot!" "Yes!" But Becky remained silent. "Hey
Becky, you okay?" Thix said over the comm. No answer. He was forced to maneuver out
of the way to a
TIE fighter that was behind him. By the time he recovered, Becky had flown to the ROM for
a reload.
The battle raged in space. Lieutenant Knox had gone back to the command ISD to form up another group of TIE Interceptors. This time, he handpicked the leaders of 7 other groups. Knox and 7 squadron leaders headed off towards a Mon Cal MC-80 that was playing havoc with a VSD. The Mon Cal made the mistake of sending the majority of its' fighters planetside to help assist the ground troops, leaving it not very well defended. Knox and his group made short work of the resistance they encountered. They were more experienced fighters than most of the recruits the Rebellion had to throw together. Knox and his group of TIEs headed towards the back of the Mon Cal where there was a weak spot showing up on the shields near the engines of the Mon Cal. They radioed well ahead of schedule for the VSD to start moving away from the Mon Cal so that it would not be damaged in the explosion. Knox let his lasers fire out. The others did the same. A hole was punched directly over one of the huge hyperdrive engines. Knox's group homed in on it and sent the engine to super critical. The TIEs retreated. A few moments later, the Mon Cal blew to bits. Knox and his group headed for another Mon Cal
Yodaa let the comet push him for nearly a day. He began to feel a couple of Force sensitive beings in the near distance. Yodaa touched the comet with the Force. It soon pushed him out of the comet's path. Yodaa was now again adrift.....
Captain Neb Calluna, Pilot of the Rebellion and Jedi in training, looked out over the battle as the Sov. SD was nearing range to bring its massive power into force. He was concentrating on the TIEs, making sure that every Imperial fightercraft played the game by his rules.
There were almost no TIEs left at this point, as they had been very efficient in killing each other off. However, he was having trouble with a few strong minded ones, and could only watch helplessly as, with support from a pair of VSDs, they destroyed a Mon Cal cruiser. His mind was so clouded by the outside presence, that he was sure that the ship was Tashannoc's Gift. 'Your friends are dead, and it is your fault. You weren't fast enough! What are you going to do to make up for it?' The voice in his head was insistent, and he reached out for Tashannoc or Lerma's presence and couldn't find them. His sorrow and loss turned to rage, and suddenly new knowledge poured into his head, and he reached out with the Force and crushed the two VSDs and the fighters that had destroyed the Gift. Revenge was sweet, and so he began to gorge himself, destroying first the fighters, then one by one destroying the Imperial capital ships. Unfortunately, it was slower going than he had hoped, and he had only destroyed half a dozen before he reached considerable resistance. He bore down even harder, wanting revenge more than anything else, completely ignoring the officer on the bridge who was yelling something about General Tashannoc. Tashannoc was dead, didn't the idiot know that?
Tashannoc was shocked as he felt the wave of dark energy come from Neb, and didn't even react as he started his wave of destruction. However, soon he and Rafaella, in an attempt to keep Neb from going to far over the edge, blocked him, and it was taking all of their strength. Then a third joined in, the woman on the ISD. Tashannoc found it ironic that she would be joining them in this. He felt that for this one instance the conflict within her subsided, both wanting to help stop Neb for different reasons. But Neb was even stronger than Tashannoc had thought, and maybe even the three of them wouldn't be enough to stop him for long. What could they do now?
Rafaella stared at the carnage Neb created. Then she noticed that she'd clenched her hands so hard her claws'd gouged her hands, and she was bleeding. After taking care of that little matter, she turned to Neb. It didn't last long before she found out what was the matter. "Why on Dalleth'd he think Tashannoc's dead? He's right here..."she thought worriedly. Then she reached out for Neb's mind, trying to get through to him. Oddly enough, she couldn't. If she couldn't contact Neb, maybe he couldn't contact them either…
Once on board the Gift, Markham made sure that Major Hendrickson got swift treatment for his injuries. Major Bjiatocah, on the other hand, hadn't had enough carnage yet, so she made her way to one of the gunnery bays where the gunners were starting to collapse from exhaustion. She took over for one of the most worn down teams, and started shooting at any Imperial ship she could find. Then she saw that the VSD she was shooting at crumpled like an old carbonated beverage container. "What the #e!! is that!" she yelled.
Hendrikson groggily opened his eyes. He saw through double vision, and rubbed his forehead and blinked. The room became one piece again. "Phew.." He saw the room he was in was white, and his blaster was not at his side. He sat up instinctively. "Please, try not to move so quickly. Most patients find that after bacta treatment they have a major headache, if you'll pardon the pun, sir." A Two Onebee droid said, looking up from a table. Hendrikson suddenly felt like a hydrospanner was being banged on the side of his head, and realized the droid was right. He was tempted to ask why the bacta couldn't help with migraines but decided against it. The droid trundled over and offered a painkiller to Hendrikson, which he gladly took. "Where am I?" "You are on board the Gift, sir. I am unaware of the battle situation right now. However I am notified of any loss of capital ships and I regret to tell you that we lost a Mon Calamari Star Cruiser not too long ago. However that loss was followed by the destruction of two Victory-Class Star Destroyers. I apologize again, but I regret I know not any of the details."
"Can I go?" "Certainly sir, as long as you would be kind enough to take it easy over the next day or so." Hendrikson flipped open a lockbox where his belongings were and grabbed up his blaster, datapad and a couple credit chips. He wondered what he could do now. Feeling somewhat like a fifth wheel, he found his way up to the bridge of the Gift, and seated himself at a security station. "Well." He examined a radar built into the console where he was sitting; couldn't make much sense of it. He did manage to see that the Xenomorph had made it to the battle. That was good. He would have thought more but found himself suddenly famished. He grinned. Most people would think him crazy to eat in a time like this. He had a cred chip; might as well get some fruit at least, something to hold him down. He made his way to the turbolift, wishing himself in a fighter or on the Xenomorph. He'd have to ask about a transfer, and thank whomever it was that found him down there.
Rafaella continued to stare at the carnage Neb wrought, wondering how she could get through to him, short of hi-jacking his ship. She could do that, of course, but it was very risky... Taista swerved around, barely avoiding getting hit by Neb. Rafaella turned around suddenly, telling her co-pilot to take care of the Hope for the time being. She had to do something. She had to get through to Neb somehow. She couldn't contact him through the Force, oddly enough, so she'd have to get on his ship, somehow. She readied herself for the task, remembering how she'd hi-jacked the Tetsu-ko so many years ago. But this was the first time she'd have to get on board a ship that moved. She gave the five other Blades orders to try to slow Neb down as much as possible. Then she left...
Tashannoc saw the Blades start to move off. He contacted Rafaella. "I can sense what you're planning on doing, and don't-" "Tashannoc, I appreciate that this is your friend and all, but don't try to stop me!" "I was going to say, 'Don't think I'm going to let you do it . . . alone. I put the crew on the Sovereign-Class Destroyer there; they'll let me through the defense screens and turbolaser fire. Just follow me in, and back me up." The battle over Dantooine had come to a halt. The Imperials were stunned by the carnage being ripped through their ranks, and the Rebels sat in mute horror at the brute destruction that left twisted forms in the place of imperial Destroyers. Most of the Rebels felt that this was an awful way to win, if you could call it that.
Tashannoc led Rafaella to the Sov. SD, and they were allowed to dock in the landing bay. Tashannoc led the way to the bridge, and Rafaella had to hurry to keep up with his long strides. The bridge itself was a model of terror. The bridge crew cowered away from their captain, who had seemingly gone mad. They knew that somehow he was responsible for the destruction of the Imperial fleet, and it frightened them to think of what he might do if he turned his powers on to them. Tashannoc started to approach the figure who peered out the glass onto the battle, rage emanating from the very essence of his body. Rafaella started to follow Tasha, but hung back as the Wookiee signal with a wave of his hand. "Neb," Tashannoc said softly, "I'm here to take you home." Neb Calluna whirled to face his friend, and a look of recognition passed over his face, for a moment, to be replaced by hatred. "You think I can't see through your lies! Tashannoc is dead! I saw it myself. Whomever you are, and however you got on to my ship, you will regret it." Neb tapped into the newfound knowledge that seemed to be at his disposal, and sent bolts of lightning flashing at Tashannoc, who calmly dissipated the energy. "Neb, open your mind! It's me!" With that, Tashannoc thrust his presence into Neb's mind, only to discover that it wasn't just Neb in there! Neb stopped, his eyes clearing for a moment. "Tasha?" he whimpered. Recognition covered his face. "What have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?" In his anguish, Neb lashed out with the Force. Taken unaware, Tashannoc and Rafaella (and the rest of the bridge crew for that matter) were knocked unconscious.
Outside the carnage stopped. The Rebels still had four Mon Cal Cruisers and the remaining fighter craft, while the Imps were down to three ISDs, two VSDs, and a handful of fighter craft. Nobody was sure what to do next. Rachel O'Connor was fairly sure that it was only luck that had kept her ship from being crushed. A signal came in from the planet. "We have what we came for. Pick us up get us off this hunk of rock!" Rachel sent the order to have shuttles sent to the surface.
Tashannoc and Rafaella awoke in their respective ships, floating in the space where the Sov. SD used to be. Tashannoc quickly scanned with his sensors, and caught the Sovereign right before it entered Hyperspace. His heart fell. After a few moments, a call came in from the Gift. "Sir, the Imps are launching a bunch of shuttles to the surface. Should we shoot them down?" Tashannoc replied, "No, there's been enough death already. As long as they don't pose a threat to you and the fighters, let them get their men off of the planet. Let them leave." With that he keyed off the comm system, not wanting to talk any more. He watched the Imperials as they made to pick up their men. "Neb," he whispered, "Why?"
With their mission objectives completed, the Imperials realized they were evenly matched with the Rebels, if not outgunned. Rachel O'Connor collected what few escape pods had been launched from the crushed Star Destroyers, not willing to risk her troops any further. At least, that was the reason she gave herself, ignoring the little voice in the back of her head that wanted to leave the Rebels be, or join them. She recalled the TIEs, and called the ships into retreat. The Rebel ships wanted to follow them and hound them all the way into hyperspace. "NO." General Tashannoc ordered. "Just let them leave. There's been enough death for today. Let them go." As all of the hangars on the Gift had been damaged enough so that the Rolling Thunder couldn't land, he brought it in on another Cruiser. As he was leaving the hangar, which had a few X wings, and was starting to fill up with other craft, he ran into Thix Barkon."So, General, what's going to happen to Dantooine base?" Thix asked. ~I don't know,~ Tashannoc projected into Thix's mind, not sure if he could speak Wookiee. ~That's for others to decide.~
"So, did we win? I mean, we still have the planet, and the Imps ran off, right? So we won." If you can call this winning, Tashannoc replied dejectedly, and pushed past Thix to get to the bridge and contact the Gift. "Man," Thix wondered, "What crawled into his fur and died?"
As the Hope and the other five Blades sped away from Dantooine, Rafaella was lost in thought. She wondered what had happened, and why she and Tashannoc had been returned unharmed to their ships. There was something puzzling about this Neb person. Something she had sensed before, a long time ago. Suddenly she realized what. She remembered what had happened to her brother Marek. Obviously Neb wasn't alone in his mind any more... Someone else was there too... It was with a sinking feeling in her gut that she sped away from Dantooine, and from whatever had happened.
Thix swallowed hard. Where'd everything go? One minute he's dodging TIEs, the next minute the TIEs have to start dodging each other, and then a Mon Cal and two VSDs blow up in rapid succession. What was going on? It was Force-assisted, that much he could tell, but didn't know much else. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice the Red blip on his radar. A TIE flew behind his X-Wing and blasted the shields, one bolt managed to get through and puncture his engine. "Blast!" He managed to gain enough control to send himself on a course to the Retaliation. He radioed ahead so they would allow him to land. His ship hobbled to a stop in the hangar and he got out. He walked slowly to a bench and sat, letting the adrenaline drain out of his system. "Foof." He saw another X-Wing from Green Squadron and one from Yellow. The Green's left upper laser was destroyed, but Yellow's fighter seemed intact. Why did they land? Thix got up to inspect the craft. Perhaps it was a computer problem. Lowie back at the Academy had tough him a little about computers. He decided to run a scan to see what, if anything, went wrong. He climbed the ladder; was surprised to see the pilot sitting in the chair still. His helmet was on and the blast shield was down, obscuring his face.
"Hey, what's wrong with your X-Wing?" Thix asked. The pilot didn't respond. "You okay?" The pilot reached up and removed the helmet. "Becky? I though you were still out there!" Thix said in disbelief as he recognized her." "Thirty seven thousand eighty five." Was all she said. "What?" Thix said back. "Thirty seven thousand eighty five. That's how many hands there are on a Star Destroyer, and I killed them." Thix knew the feeling. He personally had never taken out anything bigger than an Assault Gunboat. He had never been confronted with this situation before and didn't know quite what to say. "Umm, well, it wasn't just you, there, uh, were others who helped so maybe you can divide it up..." "Thanks, that made me feel better." She said, somewhat sarcastically. "Hey, I'm only trying to help."
"Yeah, well, go help Green squadron." Thix jumped off the ladder and landed heavily on his feet. He stalked away from the X-Wing. "Fine, Becky Caleer, but the guilt'll ride with you. I was trying to ease the burden." He made it back to his X-Wing and waited for the lengthy repairs to be completed.
Tashannoc emerged from his quarters in the Gift, feeling refreshed after four days of fasting and Meditation. One of the new MC-2600's, with Admiral Ackbar in command, had shown up to assess the situation on Dantooine, so there was nothing left for Tashannoc to do. Major Hendrickson had been returned to his ship, fully recovered. Suddenly, Tasha remembered something, and retraced his steps back to his room. Sure enough, there was a six-day old message from Lerma waiting for him, that he hadn't had time to check. The message stated that Lerma had exhausted his contacts on Tatooine, and hadn't turned up anything except that Domino had been eliminated as the person who had planted the listening device. "No more time." The message concluded. "I'll try to get back to you in a couple of weeks. I'm not on Tatooine, so don't try looking for me." With Bjiatocah leading the team on the surface making sure that the base really was deserted, Tashannoc felt very alone. He decided to eat and then meditate again, hoping that in the calm strength of the Force, he could find some answers.
Neb Calluna had a few problems at first once he stopped the imposter Tashannoc. The voice in his head had told him to kill the Wookiee, but something made him stop. Once the two intruders were placed back on their ships, Neb had "persuaded" the majority of the crew to follow his orders, and the rest had been locked in harmless areas of the ship. Now he had dropped out of hyperspace near a planet in an uncharted arm that spiraled off the edge of the galaxy. The Presence was there. "Send down a shuttle to these coordinates," he ordered, "And have the person you pick up meet me in my quarters." He left the bridge.
Lerma Haaknu carefully piloted the small shuttle he piloted down to the surface of Corellia. He wore a dark hooded robe so that he couldn't be recognized. Corellia considered itself independent of the current struggle, but that didn't mean that some unscrupulous person would take advantage of the Bounty on his head, and the head of any remaining member of his race. Mos Eisley had been relatively safe, as almost everyone there had something to hide, and he had somewhat of a reputation there from some escapades many years ago. However, here on Corellia, he'd have to be careful. "Too bad I'm pretty sure that my next stop will probably be in the corporate sector," he muttered to himself, and after he landed in the spaceport and paid the necessary bribes, he made his way into the rougher part of the city to meet his contact.
Tashannoc had a vision. Not just any vision, but one of the past, present, and future all at once. What he saw was the apparition of his old master, Kolon Ri. After getting over the astonishment of seeing his old friend again, and the shock of losing the hope that he might still have been alive, Tashannoc listened to what Kolon Ri had to say. "You are uneasy. It is difficult to lose a pupil, especially one that is also a friend. That is why I hid you, Tashannoc, and why I never saw you again, as much as that hurt me. I had to know that you were safe to follow your own path. I am glad of the path you have chosen for yourself. But now you are in turmoil once again. I fear that this may be a hard time for you when you are once again tempted by the Dark Side. Therefore, you must return to the planet on which I left you. There you will find the answers and the peace that you need. Only there will you learn how to save your friend. My time here grows short, and so I will leave you. But please know that of all the students I ever had you were my favorite. You were my son." With that, Kolon Ri faded away, and Tashannoc was left with a feeling of even greater loss. And it was with this feeling of lonely desolation that he boarded the Rolling Thunder and departed to find the planet he had left so many years ago.
Thix stalked his prey. He reached into a shirt pocket and withdrew a weapon. Sneaking up silently behind his goal he.......dropped in a 1-credit chip and pressed a button. He reached down and grabbed the bottle of Fizzyglug that dropped down. The cafeteria onboard the Xenomorph was spacious and well-furnished, but had overpriced food and drink, at least in Thix's opinion. He sat down next to Hendrikson at a table and hit his head slowly several times on the tabletop.
"Easy there, Thix! You'll hurt yourself." "I know." He popped the top of the Fizzyglug bottle and took a sip. "Not bad." "Why would you do that?" "Bored." Thix took another sip. "Do you, what, want another battle to break out?" "Something. ANYTHING! To get my mind off things." "Off of what?" "Oh, nothing." Hendrikson had a feeling that Thix was wondering about something. But he couldn't tell what...
"Ha ha ha! It worked. I will now have legions of entirely loyal, nearly tireless creatures, to work my bidding!" If a Sith lord could feel joy and happiness, then Domino was experiencing it through the success of his project. No longer would he have to worry about the fear that humans have to overcome when going into battle, nor would he waste a thought over the frail human pilots losing consciousness doing heavy G maneuvers. His mass of Julayps were a miracle of genetics and Dark Side proficiency! "I can all ready see the Rebellion kneeling before me, and the Emperor! Ha ha ha ha ha....."
Marquis eased her ship onto the makeshift landing pad. She liked backwater worlds such as Vidaltia. Mid-tech based lifestyle. The people were never too dependant on the latest gadgetry, and you don't get lazy when you actually have to lift a finger to survive. She knelt down as she made the presentation of the credits she had vowed to deliver. This was, of course, not a vow to any being, but a vow to herself. After her family was butchered, she had determined to help anyone in trouble. As she knelt on one knee, the ruler of these people approached her and placed a medallion around her neck. "You have helped us in our time of greatest need. Please accept this token of thanks. It is the medallion of Sapim Keratu. It will protect you when danger comes your way, and heal you when you are infirm." Marquis was stunned. "Why give this to me? Why not give this to one of your warriors?" The elderly regent smiled at her, and handed her a small leather pouch. "Take it, we can not use it! And take this, a small amount, I'm afraid, but you'll need some credits to refuel sometime, won't you?" The people of Vidaltia were far too kind, and yet she felt she could not refuse these gifts. This wasn't what pulled her into her current life, she just liked the satisfaction of helping others. But she didn't mind a small reward now and then either.
Rayla was crouched in the trees, peering through her macrobinoculars at the proceedings in the city center. The old guy is putting something around Marquis's neck, 'Wait a second!' she thought. 'Lord Domino has a medallion much like that one! I guess I will have to keep shadowing this woman.' Rayla ran back to her ship to get ready for the imminent departure from this world.
Lerma entered a smelly dingy hole in one of the darker sides of Corellia. Since it was midday, and the summer sun poured hot down on the streets, there wasn't much in the way of clientele. He found a quiet corner of the tavern, and ordered a glass of cheap Corellian whiskey, expecting that if he ordered anything more expensive, it would be the same stuff anyway. And I thought that dive in Mos Eisley was bad he thought, and waited for his contact to show up.
The shuttle came back on board the Glorious, and Neb watched it as it entered the hangar. A few minutes later, there was a signal at the door. "Enter" Neb croaked, trying not to let his nervousness show. The door opened, and in walked a tall man, over two meters in height. He had black hair, and a young face that was very handsome, and had an ashen quality to it. He held himself upright and his frame seemed to fill the entire room. His clothing was black tattered rags but underneath there was a glint of something else, something much more befitting this kingly man. But the most remarkable thing about him was his eyes. His eyes, that smoldered with fire and froze with ice; that were as soft as the down of a chick and hard as the rock of a mountain. What color were they? They held Neb mesmerized, those eyes, and everything within him wished they would look away and never stop. Finally, breaking contact, the man spoke. "I am Mirath Omnes," the man said. "And you, Neb Calluna, are all mine."
Lerma's contact showed up four hours later. The human was very nervous, and wouldn't
give his name. "Look," she said, "It doesn't matter. The person you're
looking for is named Dalon Marr. He's a bounty hunter, but he also does other odd jobs for
Glunteb the Hutt. I've set up a meeting for the two of you on Nar Shadaa. You'll find him
at the tavern called the Gundark's Ear. And watch yourself, that place can get a little
rough." Lerma paid the informant then saw CorSec men coming into the tavern. The
barkeep pointed
in Lerma's general direction. Not waiting to find out what CorSec wanted, Lerma carefully
moved behind a group of Gotal and teleported to the other side of the back wall.
He probably would have realized that the room on the other side was a brothel, even if he hadn't interrupted someone in the act. The "lady" screamed, and the man looked up from his exertions. Lerma recognized him as being a rather important man in Corellian politics. "Excuse me." Lerma said. The Man's face turned red with anger. "Where did you come from? No matter, I'll show you to intrude on another man's business!" However as the man stumbled naked out of the bed and tried to grope for his blaster, the woman's screams had brought the woman who ran the brothel and her thug security force into the room. "I think this is my cue to exit," Lerma said, and ducked under one thug's blow, grabbed another by the arm and used his body to block the blast from the politician. Go figure that he'd be a terrible shot, as the blow that should have hit the thug square in the back (and would have vaporized Lerma were the thug not in the way) ended up just barely hitting the thug's arm. As the thug howled in pain and turned his anger on the naked fat man, Lerma popped into the hall behind the Madame. Quickly getting his bearings, he teleported to a dark alley three quarters of a kilometer away that he had scouted out earlier that day for just such an occasion. Knowing that the authorities wouldn't start looking for him this far out this soon after the disturbance, he quickly made his way to the spaceport and, paying another bribe, got a rapid departure time off planet. It was only after he was in hyperspace that he realized that there was blood on his shirt, not his own. "Darn," he said. "That's not going to come out. Maybe I should charge the Madame to replace it . . ."
MOVE ON TO PART III
RETURN TO THE
ARCHIVES
This page hosted by Geocities
Get your own Free Home Page