The Mirath Omnes detached itself from the rest of the fleet heading for Chandrila, and headed out of the galactic plane. In his throne room at the heart of the ship, Mirath Omnes himself pondered this latest development. I must get closer to Deominia he thought. I don't need to go there quite yet, but I must know if Domino is truly dead. If so, then perhaps accelerating my plans would be in order.
The shuttle had gotten very cold, and Thix was the only one still conscious. They had been unable to get the systems back on line, and none of the four had any idea where in space they were, or how long they had been there. The four were huddled together to preserve warmth, but there wasn't much left to preserve. I can't believe I escaped from de Devastator's personal prison only to freeze to death in space he pondered. Then, out the front viewscreen he saw a huge ship materialize: a Sovereign Star Destroyer. "Uh Oh." he said as a tractor beam locked on to the shuttle. Maybe freezing to death wasn't so bad after all.
Mirath Omnes pondered this new development as he scanned the minds of his new prisoners. "Place them in one of the escape proof cells." he said to the Lt. in the room with him. "One of them is force sensitive, and another is a slicer. Keep them drugged with stun gas. I will deal with them when the time comes." Mirath reached out towards Deominia with the force, but the cloud still prevented him from determining Domino's fate. Ah, well. I haven't time for diversions any more. If he is not dead, then I will see him at Chandrila. If he is, then Deominia will be mine once again, and much sooner than I had planned.
Tashannoc rushed into Lerma's quarters. The small Zuu Shi was huddled on his bed,
all three eyes closed, hands clapped over his large ears. [What's wrong?] Tasha asked,
concerned.
"I can't control it," Lerma moaned, "It's getting so intense . . . ."
[What? What is so intense?] Tashannoc was worried about his friend. He'd never seen him in
such bad shape before.
"My Sensing ability. How I'm able to tell how something works. It's going haywire.
I'm picking up on everything around me. From the coffee maker, to the fusion reactor, to
the metabolism in my own cells . . . ." Lerma moaned again.
Tasha was unsure. [Is there anything I can do?]
"I don't know." Lerma looked at him. "There's something more. I can see it
in your face. You were worried before you came in."
[Yes, but I don't want to trouble you-].
"Tell me, Tasha. It may be important."
[Well, my spies just reported that they've located Mirath Omnes' fleet. It's posed just
outside the Bormea Sector. The only ship missing was the Sovereign. I think they're just
waiting to launch a strike. I just contacted as many people as I could think of, including
Major Hendrikson, Bjiatocah, Rebel Fleet Command, Sammy Gavin, and Luke at the academy. I
was going to take my 94 working Disks and The Thunder into a nearer position, so that we'd
be ready to retaliate if they strike. I was just about to leave when you called.]
Lerma focused his eyes, and sat up. "I'm coming with you."
[No, Lerma, you should rest-]
"Do I look stupid Tasha? How long have I known you? Over twenty years? I know that
you're going after Neb. Now, don't look like that, I'd never try to stop you, I know
better. Anyway, I like the kid, too. But you need someone to keep your head strait, and
that's me."
[Okay old friend. I'll meet you at the ship.]
Outside the Bormea Sector, a final ship joined a huge fleet of ships, over 300 strong, the weakest being a couple dozen Victory Star Destroyers. The rest were ISD, with the single Sovereign as its flagship. Aboard that Flagship, Mirath Omnes took the bridge, and spoke a single command. "Prepare the fleet to make the final jump to Chandrila at my mark"
Sammy dove around an asteroid and was disappointed when he didn't hear the explosion of the TIE fighter that was following him. Green bolts danced past him on the starboard. He had only one chance left, his secret weapon. Sammy made some calculations and set a pressure/timer trigger on one of the explosives. He hit the release button but just heard a sizzle of a circuit gone wrong. "Dang, still not quite right." Sammy dove under an asteroid and climbed up around it. The TIE didn't see where he went and ended up getting a proton torpedo from the Cat swinging back behind. "Yeah! I sure wish these test drones had more fuel." Beep beep. A transmission came in on his ship's com station. It was time. General Tashannoc sent Sammy a message that the time for action was getting near. "Hmm, I better get back and try and fix that compartment release. Sammy reset the trigger and headed back to the station.
Mara was pacing down the hall toward her room when she passed Luke's quarters. She stopped and look through the open doorway to see Luke packing a small bag. "Where are you going?"
Luke put his lightsaber on his belt, "I have to go on a small mission."
Mara got up, "I'm fully recovered. Could I be of assistance?"
Luke looked at her, "No, it'll be dangerous and I don't want you opened up to the Dark Side so soon after wqhat you went through with Mumar."
Mara sneered, "Skywalker, I'm quite capable of covering my own back in a tough
situation. You need someone like me around. I'm coming!"
She rested her hands on her hips and Luke let a slight grin cross his lips.
"Just as fiercely independent as ever, eh? All right, get yourself packed."
Tashannoc sat in the bridge of the Rolling Thunder, waiting for some sign of an attack. His fleet of Disk Warships were stationed just outside of the Bormea Sector, ready to make a short jump when the time came. He'd heard back from Luke and Sammy, who were coming to join him, and Mara was coming too, but he hoped that they'd have more ships available before the fighting started. His new ships were powerful and maneuverable, but they still couldn't hold up against almost 300 Imp Stars for very long. His joyous reaction to the news that Admiral Ackbar had been found alive was now paled by the monumental task set before him. I just hope we're not too late to save Neb. He only allowed the thought to briefly play through his mind, and then shut it out.
On board the Mirath Omnes as it blazed through hyperspace, Neb Calluna slept. He didn't want to sleep, but he couldn't wake up either. In his mind, he relived over and over again the destruction of his friends and ultimately the galaxy. But the most disturbing was that every dream ended with Tashannoc dying at his hands, and then a new dream started up, and Neb would kill Tasha another way. The small part of his mind that still resisted, much smaller now than it had been even a week ago, kept repeating to itself that it wasn't real, it was only a dream. And then the force lightning flew from Neb's fingers into the writhing and convulsing Tashannoc, who finally lay in a withered smoking heap.
Mirath Omnes gazed down upon his sleeping "pupil," pleased that the dreams were running their course. His face contorted in pain as underneath his robes the flesh around his back writhed and heaved. The dark side energies that worked within him would soon need a new host, and with the focus of the staff he held lovingly in his hands, Neb Calluna's mind should be sufficiently broken when the time came.
Tashannoc waited patiently for Luke, but his patience was rewarded as a Lambda-class shuttle emerged from hyperspace. He contacted Luke, but Mara answered.
"Master Tashannoc, we made it. Now what?"
[I need Luke to transfer over to the Rolling Thunder as soon as possible. You're welcome to come, too, but I'll warn you, this could be a suicide mission. I can't promise anyone will make it back alive.]
Luke appeared on screen next to Mara. "Tasha, if you're right about this Mirath Omnes, then nowhere is safe. Better to go down fighting than to be hunted. By the way, what are those big round things floating near you? Are they some kind of supermine?"
[No, those are my new ships.]
Mara piped in, "Ships? Where are the engines?"
[I'll explain later. Are you coming or not?]
"We're on our way."
Minutes later...
Once Luke and Mara were on board, Tashannoc started to brief them on his plan. [We attach the Thunder to the hull of the flagship, then we work our way through the ship. If we find Mirath, we try to destroy him. If we find Neb first, we grab him and one of us takes him to the ship and leaves, while the rest of us go after Omnes. Then we hope to get out in an escape pod, assuming we win.]
Mara looked skeptical. "Three of us against an entire Sovereign class Destroyer? You were right, it is a suicide mission."
A light next to Tashannoc started flashing, and he spoke a few quick, quiet words into a comlink, then turned to Luke and Mara. [Unfortunately, we haven't got time to come up with another plan. Lerma just called from the cockpit. I laid probes at some of the most likely targets in the sector, and the ones near Chandrila just picked up Mirath's fleet. He's attacking Mon Mothma's homeworld. We've already contacted the fleet. Prepare to make the jump to hyperspace.]
An hour and a half later...
A light in the cockpit let Tashannoc know that it was two minutes until they came
out of hyperspace. He signaled back to the Skywalkers, "All right folks, time to
start earning your way. If you two could man the upper and lower guns while I fly this
thing, I'd sure appreciate it." Then he contacted the rest of the Fleet. "Okay,
we're almost there. I suggest we take out the VSD's first, then start to work on the
ISD's. Just remember, try to keep the ISD's between yourself and that Sovereign. The last
thing we need is to have our ships get vaped by that superlaser. Good luck, everyone, and
may the Force be with you." He shut off the comlink just as the blue streaks of
hyperspace reverted to a starfield, and filling his viewscreen was the 300 ship strong
fleet of Mirath Omnes. The disk warships, with their enhanced shields and weapons split
up, four to a VSD. The rest moved into position to engage the fighters that started
spilling from the bowels of the enemy fleet. Ten of the Disks hung back with Tashannoc to
look out for any surprises.
Tashannoc watched as the Vader's ships moved to attack as well. He hoped that Hendrikson
showed up soon. If there was a ground battle, Bjiatocah and her team would be useful in
any rescue attempts. Tashannoc concentrated on the huge ship looming across space from
him, running mental fingers over every deck looking for a familiar mind. When he found it,
there wasn't one however, but two! Thix! How did Thix get on there? This was going to need
a slight revision of earlier plans. Tashannoc just hoped that reinforcements showed up
soon. It also occurred to him that if any Imperial ships showed up to defend their
territory, they might not identify Mirath's fleet as an enemy. He really didn't want to
face two fleets at once.
Commanding the giant fleet, Mirath Omnes smiled. The bombardment of Chandrila that had taken place before the Wookiee had shown up had killed millions on the surface. The minds of his commanders were so twisted now that it only took minimal effort to control them. The Dark Master's face contorted in pain as once again his body writhed as the dark energies tried to escape. Draining some of the creatures he kept in the lower holds for power, he once again maintained the integrity of his current form. It wasn't going to last much longer, he realized. The attacks were coming more frequently, now. He glanced over at Neb Calluna, nearly catatonic, and knew that soon he would have that new body to sustain him. It just had to take place at the right time, so that Mirath could break Tashannoc as well. The way Mirath's body was falling apart, though, Mirath doubted if he would have the strength to make the transfer if not for the Staff. Once again he stroked his staff lovingly, and then signaled his fleet. "Deploy all starfighters, order them to make suicide runs. Deploy 1/3 of the fleet to attack the Rebels, hold the rest back, and clear a path in front of my ship. When you have a clear shot with the Superlaser at one of the larger Rebel ships, take it!"
The klaxon sounded and the stars coalesced into points of light. The launch command
was given and Sammy was in space staring at hundreds of mammoth ships, VSD, ISD and the
mother of them all, A 20 some kilometer long Sovereign Class Star Destroyer. His shock
only lasted a brief second as the realization struck that the more ships there were, the
more there were to blow up. What he wouldn't give to be a part in taking that SvSD out. Of
course, the idea is to take it out and live. Sammy accelerated to attack speed and hit the
oncoming fighters. One got off a few shots at the Cat and flew past. Sammy was about to
come around to get on his tail but it exploded behind him. "Nice shot, whoever that
was," Sammy said into his comm. Another explosion behind him, another, another. Sammy
turned the Cat around and saw what was going on...The fighters were ramming the Alliances
ships! Suicide missions. The commander must be one sadistic barbarian. Nevertheless, they
were doing significant damage to the capital ships. A bright flash indicated a corvette
had one Tie too many.
"Damn, I hate it when our ships go Boom. Only thing to do is to get them before they
get themselves, and us." Sammy picked an incoming fighter from the second wave and
launched a torp, vaporizing the hull and pilot. Another one soon met the same fate.
"Well, at least they're easy to hit." The second wave of fighters were destroyed
and only one had found it's final mark. The third wave was coming and Sammy was going out
to meet them when he saw a small rebel ship breaking formation. It was headed right for
the Sovereign. Sammy flew over and recognized just whose ship it was.
"That crazy wookiee! I should have known." Green turbolaser fire lanced out from
the destroyer but Tashannoc's piloting skills, aided by the force no doubt, traversed
space safely. "That's weird," Sammy thought. "If the destroyer wanted the
Rolling Thunder destroyed, it could easily unleash enough firepower that even the greatest
Jedi master ever couldn't evade it all. It's almost like he wants him to succeed."
Sammy knew if there was anything that he'd never understand, it would be the Jedi.
Luke fired the quad lasers and neatly dissected a tie fighter. He chuckled as he
remembered a long time ago it was in similar circumstances that he got his first kill on a
Tie. This time, he was going toward a mammoth machine, not running away from it. Giant
green beams started sizzling past the ship. "How's it look Tasha?"
[Not bad, Mirath doesn't want us dead, just to let us know he knows we're here.]
"Well, that's comforting, I think." Luke went back to focusing on the Ties.
"If he doesn't want to kill us, he sure does want to give us a hard time." Just
then the ship rocked and Luke felt the familiar vibrations of a tractor beam holding the
ship.
Tasha yelled a wookiee explicative from the cockpit. "All the time we've worked
together," Lerma said in an injured voice, "one would think I would remember to
bring my ear plugs. Damn wookiees."
Tasha just glared at his friend. [This isn't exactly how I planned on getting on to the
ship, especially when about a legion of troops are going to be waiting for us.]
"We can always try the smuggler hold routine," Luke suggested.
Tasha's growl shot that plan down. [I don't know how Chewie fit down there but I don't
want to find out.]
"Maybe I can be of assistance," a new voice came over the comm. Just then
another ship, about the same size as the Thunder flew past. "I read once that you
tried this maneuver as well, Mr. Skywalker," Sammy came close by the Thunder and
fired two torpedoes toward the Destroyer. They spread out lancing toward the ship along
two paths.
The impact took out 2 of the 3 tractor beams that were holding Tasha and the others. The
Thunder broke free and headed on it's course. [Thanks Sammy.]
Just then more ships appeared out of hyperspace, It was Major Hendrikson's fleet.
[Hmm, you up for some ground action, Sammy? I think you and my sister would make a good
team at a job I want done.]
"No prob, what's the job?" Sammy had a feeling he would regret taking the
"job" the general wanted done. He flew back to Hendrikson's flag ship with only
one thought to console him. He would get his wish.
Lt Mikal Simm sat at the controls of his Disk warship, wishing once again that
Tashannoc had the imagination to come up with a better name for the beautiful pieces of
engineering. He maneuvered through a volley of turbolaser fire from the VSD he was
attacking, his eyes carefully watching the screens in front of him to see where he was
going. One of the gunners reported another missile lock, and all four gunners keyed in on
his signal, firing on the VSD. The first two destroyed the rest of the shields, the second
two blew a hole in the hull. One of the Disk's sister ships moved in and took the kill,
and the four ships moved on to another target, realizing that the fighters were a threat
at the moment. Simm was just about to move his ship into attack position, when suddenly he
started feeling apathetic, like winning wasn't really that important any more. At the same
time, he saw the enemy ships moving to redouble their efforts.
A call came in from one of Simm's gunners. "Are you sure that this is worth it? Maybe
we should just get out of here while we're still alive. Against these odds, it seems
pretty hopeless."
Mikal was just about to agree, when he realized what he was saying. Instead, he tried to
rally his crew. "Yes, these are huge odds, but look. We've destroyed hundreds of
Ties, 10 of 12 VSD's, almost a dozen ISD's and we've only lost half a dozen ships. Only
two of those are Disks, and we're the front line. And anyway, who cares what the odds are?
We're REBELS!" Something about his enthusiasm spread to the rest of the crew, and
they renewed their attack, only to find that the apathy that had affected them was
affecting the rest of the fleet, only more severely. Suddenly, the enemy fleet parted like
a strange marine anomaly, and the SvSD had a clear shot on one of the Vader's new ships.
Mikal signaled his crew: "How do you guys feel about being hero's?" They didn't
need to respond. They all knew what was meant. Racing against the speed of light itself,
Mikal Simm maxxed out the acceleration to a point that without the new compensators would
have flattened the crew into grape jelly. As it was they didn't feel very comfortable.
As the front of the SvSD started to glow a brilliant green, and the beam started to issue
forth, Simm saw it all as if in slow motion. He even imagined the faces on the bridge of
the ship facing that blast, and knew he didn't have a choice: Failure was not an option.
The green light streaked across space, and the small round ship flew itself into the
blast. Simm watched as in a split fraction of a second the shields blew, and the ship
disintegrated, taking him with it. His last thought was an observation that freeze dried
space rations had been his last meal.
MOVE ON NOW TO PART III
RETURN TO THE ARCHIVES
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