On board his ship, Mirath Omnes watched as the Superlaser hit the wrong target, giving the other ships time to maneuver out of the way. "Damned annoying, that rebel spirit. He must have had a strong mind though, mustn't he, Neb. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. You're busy at the moment. Keep up the good work, my boy. I'll give you all the juice you need, so to speak." Next to him, the mute form of Neb Calluna focused on the battle in front of him, his strengthened Jedi Battle Meditation having a profound affect on the Rebel troops. "No, Neb, it won't be long now before you won't have anything to worry about, ever again . . . ."
Hendrikson dashed to his quarters onboard the Xenomorph and flipped open a dresser
drawer, exposing a wooden, polished box. He pulled it out and ran a hand lovingly along
the surface. He popped the two locks on either side of the casing open and pulled off the
top.
Inside was a long, silver archaic weapon. Not a laser weapon, but a old-style
sniper/infantry assault weapon, with two barrels: One on top, with no silencer, fired
armor-piercing rounds from a forty-shot clip. The bottom, which had a sight that was
calibrated to it's attributes on top, was the sniper barrel, silenced, and deadly.
Hendrikson preferred this ancient weapon to the modern weapons: Lasers, Detonators and
Vibro-Blades.
"May not be quite as good as a blaster carbine, but still pretty darn
formidable." The sniper bullets wouldn't quite go through stormtrooper armor, but the
assault barrel on top would pierce it like a knife through warm butter, and then again
through the body inside. Ouch.
"Okay, let's go." He said to himself, shut the case, shoved a few extra clips in
his pockets, slung the rifle over his shoulder and exited.
Major Bjiatocah's growl didn't need translation. "That's about what I
said," Sammy explained Tashannoc's plan. "So are you in?" There was no
question. Wookiee honor demanded she go, and her commandos went where she went. The way
Hendrikson was holding his rifle, it was obvious that any attempt to rescue Thix without
him would meet with dire circumstances. The seven of them went to the hanger. "Ok, I
guess we should take the Cat since I'm the best pilot and I know her the best. The more
help we can get at dodging all those turbolasers the better." Sammy was starting to
feel lethargic. "How are we ever going to do this? We can't possibly succeed. We
might as well not go." He could see the others were starting to agree with him.
Bjiatocah shook her head and roared. A speech of what sounded like inspiring words, along
with some threatening expressions snapped Sammy out of it. "I do believe that is the
first time I've ever heard a Wookiee pep talk." They shot back out into the fray of
battle just in time to see one of the disk ships fly into a massive green ray obliterating
it. "Well if that's not motivation for taking that thing out I don't know what
is." Sammy flew strait and fast toward the Sovereign Star Destroyer. "I don't
know about sovereigns, but the detention cells on ISDs are in the back." Deadly green
light shot out at the Cat from the behemoth. Sammy did his best to dodge most of it but
the sheer number of batteries firing meant that some were hitting and draining the shields
quickly. To make matters worse, a pair of Ties had come onto his tail. "Well, for the
Ties, let's hope my little surprise actually works this time." Sammy set a
pressure/timer fuse and loaded the explosive. He pushed the button and heard a WHOOSH
followed by a BOOM as the hatch in the back opened and the explosive was released into
space. The vacuum activated the pressure trigger and the timer went off right as the Ties
passed it. "YEEHAAAA!!! 'Bout time I got that working!" The explosion also must
have fooled the gunners for a while, thinking the Cat finished. It gave them enough time
to get close into the destroyer and under the arc of fire. They headed toward the rear
looking for a spot to latch on and get aboard. "Well, I'm not sure if that was the
hard part or not, but it's over." Bjiatocah, more fond of ground combat than space,
growled in relief. She got her commandos together and set up to invade the inside of a
Sovereign Star Destroyer, and Major Hendrikson prepared to go in as rear guard.
As the Cat maneuvered around the back of the SvSD, Sammy suddenly realized that he wasn't
quite sure where to land. That problem was solved quickly, as he heard Tashannoc's voice
in his head: Sammy, land here, head forward, take the first turbolift you find up about 4
decks. That out to get you near Thix. Along with the message was a mental picture of
exactly where on the underside he was supposed to attach his ship. Sammy also noticed that
with Tashannoc's mind touch, all of the remaining doubts that he had had vanished. Now he
KNEW that they would succeed. From the attitude in the aft cabin, he had a feeling that
Tasha had fixed more than just himself.
On board the Thunder, Tashannoc made a last probe of the SvSD and carefully used his
landing claw to attach under a small ledge of steel on the hull. He deployed his boarding
tube, and headed aft. Luke and Mara met Lerma and himself at the hatch. Tashannoc
pressurized it and opened it. Once they all had pressure suits on to guard against any
mishap during the transfer between ships, Tasha commented, "Well, it's a good bet
they know we're coming, but I think Mirath wants to face us himself. We should be able to
make it to him, but he won't make it easy. I suppose that only leaves one question: Who
goes first?"
Mara glanced at him, "I should think it would be obvious . . . ." Luke, Lerma,
and Tasha glanced at each other and smiled as Mara ignited her lightsaber and dropped down
the tube preparing to cut her way into the hull.
"Of course," Tashannoc gestured as she dropped in, "Ladies first."
Lerma was the next to drop into the SvSD after Mara, followed by Luke and Tashannoc. They
were in a hallway that was empty, and relatively dark for a Star Destroyer. There were no
doors that the group could see, just the hallway stretching in either direction.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Luke intoned.
Tashannoc just nodded, and the four of them arbitrarily chose a direction to go in, hoping
to find a turbolift. Neb was definitely a few decks up, and a little to the port side from
where the Jedi and Lerma were located. Of course, the hallway only ran aft and forward.
The group started moving forward, knowing that there was more of the ship in that
direction. Apparently they had made a wrong choice, because from out of nowhere came a
mass of humanoid forms charging down the hallway towards them. The four knew that there
was no way they could fight off the mob, and so they ran in the other direction. After a
few hundred meters, they came upon a turbolift. Tasha and Mara fought off the mob with
their lightsabers while they were waiting for the lift to arrive, then the four piled in
as quickly as they could, leaving the screaming forms behind.
As the turbolift descended, Mara was the first to speak. "Does anyone else feel as if
they're being herded?"
The other seven intruders on board the Mirath Omnes entered not into a hallway, but
into a storage room. This room did not hold provisions, however, but was filled with
various creatures. "What is that stench!" one of Bjiatocah's commando's
declared, before realizing that these animals were living in their own filth. Over 50
creatures of about half a dozen species huddled together, shying away from the seven
intruders. The creatures were representatives of all sorts of animals, predator and prey.
They seemed to lack any desire to deal with their natural tendency to feed on each other.
Bjiatocah spoke. "Tasha said something about this. Dark Side Force users can siphon
energy from non-sentient creatures. They end up killing those creatures but I doubt that
they care very much. These things must me Mirath's batteries, so to speak."
"Well, shouldn't we free the poor things, Major?" Major Hendrikson glanced at
the large Cracian Thumper askance.
"Look at them. They hardly have any minds left at this point. They've been here too
long: death would be a blessing. We can only hope that your friends aren't like this when
we find them." Sammy and Lance glanced at each other, obviously unsure as to whether
Bjiatocah's attitude was the best way to go. She didn't give them any time to argue as she
set one of her commando's to work on opening the door. As the door opened and light shone
in the room, the animals all huddled away from the light, keeping to the shadows. With
their blaster rifles ready, two of the commando's leapt out into the corridor, and scanned
it, then gave an all clear sign.
Bjiatocah motioned Sammy and Hendrikson to go first, then she and the rest of her team
followed. The hall was quiet as they headed in the direction of the nearest turbolift.
Out in space, things were not going well for the rebel fleet. Two of the Vader's new ships had been demolished, as had countless support ships. Even the maneuverable Disks had taken a beating, down to 2/3 their original number. Hendrikson's ships had fared the best, having shown up last. They hadn't had the time to take the beating that the others had. The spirit was quickly going out of the Rebels. If not for the strength of their resolve before coming here, they probably would have retreated already. Those who could fight off the effects of the Battle Meditation tried to rally the spirits of the others, but to no avail. If something didn't happen soon, Chandrila would be lost, and a large chunk of the Rebellion fleet as well.
The turbo lift arrived and the seven infiltrators crowded in. Sammy pushed the
button that Tashannoc had indicated to him telepathically. The lift started to move as a
shiver ran down Sammy's spine. He did not doubt the General's intention, but he still
didn't like other people being able to get into his mind.
The lift approached the designated floor and Bjiatocah, her commandos, and Major
Hendrikson all drew their weapons. The door opened, and they could see 6 troopers walking
in formation across the hallway from a cross corridor. The two Majors opened fire,
Bjiatocah's heavy crossbow laying one trooper down and their armor did little to stop the
powerful bullets of Hendrikson's gun. Two down before the enemy even knew they were there.
The commandos took another down as the troopers took cover behind the intersection.
"Uh, not good!" Sammy yelled as he noticed there was little cover in the turbo
lift. The element of surprise had given them a slight edge, but now they were sitting
ducks. Sammy primed a thermal detonator and threw a curveball that missed the close wall,
then curved and hit the back wall of the intersection. It fell on the floor behind the two
troopers covered there and blew them, and parts of their cover away. The other 6 kept a
heavy enough fire to keep the remaining trooper at the other side of the intersection
pinned down. Bjiatocah took the opportunity to charge forward and around the corner.
"I like her style." Sammy commented as he followed, slipping on his brass
knuckles. A wookiee roar is enough to give even a seasoned fighter second thoughts, a
hesitation that more often than not becomes fatal. Bjiatocah took the trooper, with an
ashen face and wet trousers, down with one swat of her massive arm. The coast was clear,
for now.
"Ok, this way!" Sammy followed the map in his mind. They continued down other
corridors meeting little resistance. "Strange, I guess those troopers didn't get the
word out." Sammy wanted to swallow his words as he turned the corner to the last
turbolift that would take them to the detention block. There guarding the way, taking
cover in 4 intersections and doorways, were 2 squads of troopers (which would be 16
troopers), augmented by an E-web repeating blaster. Sammy dove into the opposite hallway,
with a descriptive warning, just as the troopers opened fire.
"Well, so much for making this easy..."
As they moved deeper into the Destroyer, things were not looking up for our
Magnificent Seven. They were up against 24 troopers and a E-web repeating blaster, which
it turns out has a shield generator as well. Furthermore, Sammy was cut off from the rest
of the group and running low on grenades, his weapon of choice. "2 left. Well, I
still have my backpack of explosives." Sammy looked down the hall and saw a door
leading to a room towards the troopers. It was a storage room of tech equipment, computer
repair stuff, and the like. The room was big enough that on the other side of the far wall
would be some of the troopers. "Well, time for a surprise." Sammy rigged up an
explosives charge next to the wall. He then went back outside. "Major Bjiatocah, I
need your commandos over here. I'll throw a grenade and you cover with fire." Two
commandos got ready and Sammy threw a detonator to the opposite wall of him. The two
majors and the other two commandos covered with fire as the grenade blew 4 troopers out of
hiding. The two commandos dove for Sammy's side but one got nicked in the arm with a
blaster bolt. "It's not too bad," he groaned, "I can manage." "I
hope so cause here's my plan..." The three went back into the room and got ready for
the surprise.
"We need that shield down!" yelled Bjiatocah. "I can do it, sir. Just cover
me." This was from the commando who had been with Bjiatocah since she had started the
group. "I know how to get past the E-web. He made a gesture to the bandoleer of
grenades he had across his chest, all linked to go off at once with the right signal. He
called it his 'suicide strip.' "We all knew what kind of mission this was going to
be. Some of you have to get out." Bjiatocah just closed nodded, the only expression
of feeling being a quick blink. The commando kept under cover for as long as he could,
with fire coming from behind him to cover him as well. Finally, he leapt at the legs of
the troopers and the generator, triggering the grenades. The other six covered themselves
with their arms as the man exploded. As the smoke cleared, the shield was down, as were
most of the troopers. Only 9 were still alive, and two of those were lying with missing
limbs on the floor. The other 7 were a bit stunned, but were beginning to regain their
composure. The E-web was still in operation too. That didn't matter nearly as much now,
however. Bjiatocah gave her orders: "Alright, lets move in and take 'em out, real
quick like!"
~KABOOM!~ Sammy heard an explosion to make even him proud. He ran outside and saw
the 2 majors and one commando moving up. He went back into the room, took cover and blew
the explosive on the far wall. The two commandos with him charged through the door and
into what should have been a fray of fighting. As it were, the second blast took out 3
troopers, leaving only 6 of the 24 troopers left. The commandos, Bjiatocah, and Hendrikson
quickly took out those.
"What was that explosion?" Sammy asked.
"That was one of my commandos and his 'Suicide strip.'" Bjiatocah explained.
"Wow," Sammy whistled appreciatively. "That's how I wanna go out."
"You may get the chance yet," Hendrikson commented. "Let's move!"
The remaining 6 got in the lift and headed toward the cell block. The door opened and 6
troopers and techs were in the control room. Sammy quickly threw his last detonator in the
center ring of the control station and closed the door again. He took the lift back to
where the E-web was. "Does this thing still work?" One of the commandos checked
it out. "Yeah, help me carry it in," he said, sensing Sammy's plan. They went
back up and found 3 people still alive and most of the computer terminals smashed. The
commando unleashed a barrage with the repeating blaster, along with Bjiatocah and
Hendrikson, making short work of the rest.
"Ok, let's find out where our boys are." Hendrikson checked a working computer
and found the cell numbers. "Here, Thix is in 1138, and here's some more pilots in
2187."
Thix wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. His cell door had opened and Major
Hendrikson stepped in. "Sir?!?"
"Hey, Thix! Good to see you alive and well. Let's get out of here."
"What? How?"
"Don't ask, it's a long story."
They met the other pilots out in the hall. "Wait," Thix stopped. "The
slicer, he helped us escape from, uh, where ever we were. He's in the next cell."
The whole group headed back to the control room. "Ok, You're a slicer?"
Sammy pointed to the newcomer. "Good, I need you to find the main power room to this
behemoth. Major Hendrikson, why don't you take the pilots back to the Cat. Wait 15
minutes, if I'm not there by then, take off. Major Bjiatocah, I could use some help. We
have a Sovereign to overthrow..."
Mara's comment about being herded had turned out to be all too accurate. For almost
an hour now, the three Jedi and Lerma had been chased through the halls of the giant ship
by hordes of unarmed people, obviously in thrall to Mirath Omnes. They were completely
lost now, and had no idea where they were going, or where they'd been. Tasha's link with
Neb had been severed since shortly after the chase began, and now all four were being
flooded with a sense of great darkness, tinged with a malevolent glee.
"We've got to figure something out soon," Tashannoc growled to the other three
as he prepared to open another door. They had been chased into another alcove that ended
in a door. All the rest like this had been turbolifts, so Tashannoc didn't expect anything
different. As the mass of humanity closed in on the group, the doors closed.
"Up or down?" Luke asked.
"Up sounds good to me," said Mara, and with no argument the turbolift started to
ascend.
Lerma, who had been fighting to keep his feet at times due to the overwhelming nature of
his overloaded talent, suddenly spoke for the first time since the group had entered the
Destroyer. "This isn't right. We aren't going up, we're in a loop. I think that we'd
end up in the same place regardless of whether we went up or down."
As the doors to the lift opened, a voice intoned, "How perceptive, my little friend.
Please, come in and join me." A tallish man was standing at the head of a banquet
table that was covered with cold and steaming dishes, most of which at a glance were
recognizable as body parts from various sentient beings. A soup made from Gammorean
pancreas, a platter heaped high with human hearts, a plate of Mon Calamari swim bladders.
Mirath Omnes was dressed in long purple robes, and a cape with a high collar. His face was
drawn and pale, yet without the discoloration and disfiguration one associates with long
term use of the Dark Side. His voice was bright and full of youthful enthusiasm. Without
the overwhelming sense of evil that the four entering the room felt, he would appear
disarming and friendly.
As the three Jedi simultaneously raised their lightsabers, Mirath cowered in mockery.
"Away put your weapons. I mean you no harm." He laughed. "That is how it
went, wasn't it Luke. Yes, I know all about that. You'll find I know a lot more than any
of you expect, about a great number of subjects."
Nal clenched his fists, "Drat! What a way to clear our family name, two ships down! Send in more X-wings and Y- wings, get those ties! Let's keep up the good fight!" The words sounded hollow even to him. Zee and Mon Mothma watched as the new fighters were launched. Their flying was sloppy, and they were easy targets for the attacking forces. What is wrong? They all wondered. Why does everything seem so hopeless?
Luke and Mara moved to flank Omnes on either side, and Tashannoc approached from the
front. Mirath continued to mock them, "Go ahead, destroy me. You don't know what you
will be unleashing. I am more powerful than any of you think. A simple thing like death
will not stop me. Come, strike me down."
Never one to pass on such an invitation, Tashannoc calmly approached the Dark Master, who
made no attempt to defend himself as Tashannoc struck him down and cleaved Mirath with the
purple blade of the lightsaber.
Of course, Tasha had no way of knowing how long Mirath had been keeping himself in a state
of Rage, so when the lightsaber came down, he was unprepared for the blast of energy
released by Mirath and was thrown backwards in an explosion of blue light. Luke and Mara
were at a safe distance and were unaffected by the blast, but as soon as Mirath was down,
an illusory wall disappeared, revealing Neb Calluna, clutching a gold staff with a red
crystal in the head. Neb's eyes came alive, and lightning arced from his fingertips,
catching Luke and Mara unawares. The two crumpled, and gasped at the excruciating pain.
Neb, or Mirath, approached the fallen Tashannoc with a sneer of contempt on his face.
"You didn't actually think that you could defeat me with your pitiful group of
friends, did you?"
Meanwhile, an unnoticed Lerma gasped in realization and yelled, "TASHA . . . !"
As Mirath transferred himself into Neb, the Dark Master became so focused on the Jedi, that nothing else mattered. The effects of the Battle Meditation ceased, and the Rebels started to rally, and his focus on the minds of his minions fell away, causing his forces to fall into disarray.
Lerma hid, cursing himself for not being more effective against the monster facing
him and his friends. He watched in horror as Tashannoc, followed by Luke and Mara
went down, and Mirath, now in the body of Neb Calluna, moved in for the kill.
Then, Lerma's heightened ability grasped what was going on. The workings were so
muted, so subtle, that at normal strength he never would have noticed it. As it was,
realization dawned upon his face, and he yelled, "Tasha, it's the staff! That's the
key! Neb is still fighting!"
Lerma was sure that he was too late, until he saw Tasha shrug off a blast of lightning,
then strike with his lightsaber. Tasha had been faking, luring Mirath in closer.
Omnes was driven backwards, warding off Tasha's blows with the staff.
Realization was working its way through Tasha's mind as well. He recognized the
staff as the one from the temple when he fought Domino, and saw Mirath's hand in events of
the past few months. Lerma opened his mind to Tasha, who saw how the transfer,
focused through the crystal on the head of the staff, was working, and how to stop it.
Tashannoc sent a telepathic message to his friends, ~We need to
combine our strength. Concentrate, and open yourselves to me.~
In another part of the ship, Major Hendrikson was escorting Thix and the pilots back to the Cat. They were in the middle of a firefight when behind him, Thix nodded, then closed his eyes as if in a trance. Hendrikson assumed it was some sort of force thing, trusted Thix, and kept on firing on the troopers ahead of him, making sure that Thix was out of the line of fire.
With the added powers of his friends with his own, Tashannoc concentrated the
energies of the force into the dark energy of the crystal. What happened was akin to the
reaction of matter to anti-matter, and the crystal exploded. Fragments of the crystal
scattered anywhere, but caused little damage: only Tashannoc was close enough to be
injured, and he only received a couple of scratches, and one sliver embedded in a paw
thrown up to deflect the shards from his eyes.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo!" Mirath screamed, and the
Twi-Lek form collapsed. At the same time, Lerma screamed and collapsed. Tasha disconnected
the link between the Jedi, then cast about for Mirath's presence, hoping to imprison it
until it dissipated. Once he found it he glanced at Mara.
"Mara, why would Mirath's spirit be hovering over you?"
Mara's natural instinct was on alert, "He must think I'm easily subjected to the Dark
Side."
Luke muttered, "What? No student of mine....." Luke moved in close to
Mara, thinking to protect her.
Tashannoc intoned, "Focus. We need to imprison his spirit."
In their minds, they heard Mirath laugh. ~Never! I cannot be defeated this time!~
MOVE ON NOW TO PART IV
RETURN TO THE ARCHIVES
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