Ossus Day, Fanfic set during the Force War

[Farin Vash]

Day 121, 484 ABY
In Orbit Over Bandomeer

The ancient Mantell-class cruiser Halleck completed another orbit over Bandomeer, undergoing the final stages of terraforming designed to reverse millenia of ecological damage.

Her captain, Nareen Tremayne, sat at her command chair on the bridge, watching the handiwork of the Jedi AgriCorps' Yuuzhan Vong shapers for herself, impressed with the progress they had managed to make in nearly five centuries...soon, Bandomeer would be a green and habitable world, no longer reliant on the Cassandran convoys to feed its people, probably even able to feed most of the worlds in its sector on its own, vital now that the mines were completely played out, leaving the planet with little in the way of supporting itself financially.

"Fighter patrol launched, Captain," the Halleck's first officer, Commander Al'ly'ah Foran, reported, the golden-skinned Twi'lek standing at her captain's left, the main holotank now showing the twelve Incom X-83af5 starfighters leaving the cruiser's forward hangar bay, rapidly moving away from the oldest starship still in the service of the Galactic Alliance's Core Defense Force to patrol the space in its immediate vicinity, the telemetry from the Twin Tail squadron relayed to the main holotank, as well as to the holoprojector at Nareen's station, the Halleck's commander watching space from a starfighter pilot's view, something she'd missed for only the hundreth time today, Nareen cursing the political machinations that had taken her squadron from her and put her at the conn of this kriffing relic, stuck babysitting a bunch of—

Alarm klaxons howled, the sensor tech on duty shouting out,"Captain! Am reading multiple capital-class starships reverting to realspace on appro—"

"By the living Force," Al'ly'ah whispered, Nareen not needing her sensor tech's report to know there were now twelve Imperial warships—four full Star Destroyer lines—bearing down on her ship and the Cassandran freighters she had been detailled to protect.

Three of the four Imp command ships being Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaughts...the fourth—

"—a Pelleaon-class Star Dreadnaught," the sensor tech finished saying, Nareen snapping out,"comm tech, order the naval troops to the landers, tell those Cassandran ships to run and hide, now, then contact Fifth Fleet Command at Garqi, apprise them of our situation! Weapons officer, raise shields, load proton torpedo launchers, charge anti-proton emitters, ready turbolasers and anti-starfighter defenses, controller, launch the landers and our remaining fighter squadron, order the blastboats, gunships, corvettes and Falcon Squadron to join Crossfire Squadron in engaging those Imps! Pilot, change course and speed to intercept and attack that Pellaeon!"

"Captain," Al'ly'ah reminded her,"we're not—"


"Carry out my orders!" Nareen snapped in reply, not needing her executive officer stating the kriffing obvious, the thirty capital ships(counting the twenty-four Corellian-manufactured YT-5100z blastboats) and twenty-four starfighters of the Galactic Alliance's 153d Pursuit Line were no match for eight Imperial Star Destroyers, three Star Dreadnaughts, a behemoth which dwarfed them all in firepower, and the thousands of fighters, bombers, blastboats and small capital warships they had aboard them.

The comm tech reported,"Imperials jamming all communications, even secure HoloNet."

The sensor tech then reported,"All four Imp Star Dreadnaughts engaged their gravity-well projectors upon realspace reversion, Captain."

Nareen nodding her head, the sensor tech then adding:

"Bandomeer Defense Force launching A-Wings, B-Wings, E-Wings, Y-Wings and Crossfires on an intercept vector for those Imperials."

an instant before Imp turbolasers punched through the Halleck's forward shields, the bridge erupting in fire.

[Farin Vash]

"Stang!" Commander Me'liza T'horin swore under her breath, thousands of Defenders and Howlrunners screaming towards her twelve Twin Tail starfighters, Me'liza not hesitating to ram the stick full forward, the two Incom twin-ion engines screaming at full power, all four Taim & Bak heavy lasers tearing through the shields of the oncoming enemy fighters, sensors picking up Schimitar bombers launching from all twelve Star Destroyers busily slamming turbolaser bolts into the 153d Line's capital ships, the superlasers on the Pellaeon and the Eclipses powering up, the 153d Line's twenty-four Corellian YT-5100 blastboats streaking past the fighters, into all that fire thrown out by the Imp capital ships, the Bandomeer fighters forming up behind them.

She couldn't see anything beyond that, Imp fighters closing in on her from all directions, Me'liza whipping her fighter in every direction at once, snapping out orders and warnings over her comms at the same time:

"Falcon Leader, intercept those Schmitars! Crossfire Eight, you've got a pair of Howls on your tail, watch out! Crossfire Six, cover your wingman, for kriff's sake! Crossfires Three and Five, tighten up and stay on each other like flies on bantha! Crossfire Eleven, you're supposed to be on my wing, remember?! I need help here! Crossfires Two and Four—"

"Sithspawn!," she swore, meaning that figuratively and literally...sensors picking up multiple Sith starfighters in the midst of all those Howlrunners and Defenders, Falcon Leader—Lieutenant Commander Syl Souch—replying in excited Sullustian,"those bombers have TIE Hunter escort, repeat, TIE Hunters are escorting those bombers."

"And," she added," all of them are painted red and black."

"We," the voice of Crossfire Eleven, her squadron's newest pilot, remarked,"are well and truly kriffed, aren't we, Boss?"

"Looks like it to me," Me'liza remarked.

"All fighters," she added,"press the attack!"

[Farin Vash]

"Divert all available power to shields! Cut in the secondary shield generators! Return fire!" Nareen, blood running down her face, shouted, as she struggled to her feet, wires trailing sparks dangling from the ceiling, alarms howling, medical droids and med techs tending to the too many dead and wounded, as the firefighting droids tended to the last of the fires, the Halleck's chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Nar Niev, reporting over comms, "reactor magnetics fluctuating wildly, uncontrolled fires on all decks, all sections, forward primary shield generator destroyed, all secondary shield generators on line, numbers two and eight heavy turbolaser emplacements knocked out, fire in the hangar bay."

"Medical section reporting heavy casaulties, Captain," Al'ly'ah reported," Eighty dead, 120 wounded...we've just lost the Memory of Alderaan," one of the 153d Line's two CR 90 corvettes,"and ten of the blas—"

"Captain!" the sensor tech shouted out,"Imps are locking superlasers onto the surface of Bandomeer! Schimitars are...my gods...."

The surface of Bandomeer...burned...in the main holotank, the remaining bridge crew momentarily transfixed by the horrifying vision, the sensor tech reporting,"Sensor analysis indicates Imp bombers are using missiles armed with trihexalon warheads."

"Gods," Al'ly'ah whispered, Nareen unable to take her eyes off the sight of Bandor—the planet's only real city—burning brightly in the holotank and out in space, unable to wrap her mind around the idea that even the Empire would stoop so low as to use a weapon so terrifying to have been condemned by the infamous Tarkin himself....

"Controller," Nareen said, "order Crossfire Squadron to disegnage and form a wedge in front of us; have Falcon Squadron, the gunships and the Flying Target coordinate efforts with the Bandomeer fighters; have them concentrate on those bombers."

"Captain, we are receiving a distress signal from the Jedi AgCorps mission on planet, " the comm tech spoke up, the Halleck's powerful ion engines almost propelling her past her escorting starfighters, their twin fire-linked proton torpedo launchers and underslung turbolaser gun pods punching a hole through which the ancient cruiser sailed at nearly four thousand gravites' acceleration, her R11 and R12 astromech droids below loading the proton torpedo launchers, charging the recently-installed anti-proton emitters, calibrating the dedicated energy receptors to which the torps and the emitters were both linked.

"Report," Nareen said almost instantly, the comm tech replying,"it's hard to make out, due to the jamming, but, they appear to be under attack...Sith, Imp storm commandos...."

He trailed off.

"And?" Nareen prompted, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Jedi," the comm tech half-whispered.

"Fierfek," Al'ly'ah remarked into the sudden dead silence of the Halleck's bridge.

[Farin Vash]

"For the New Order!" one of the Jeedai screamed at the top of his lungs, his two lightsabers scything their way through Mezhan Raapuung's companions, the two Padawans with them busy fighting Seeth and Imperial soldiers trying to slash and burn their way through the rest of the AgriCorps personnel trying to make their way to the Incom Y-4 transport powering up its ion and repulsorlift engines and firing on the attackers with its two dual lasers.

The Yuuzhan Vong shaper simply could not wrap her mind around the concept of Jeedai attacking...slaughtering unarmed civilians, but these four, all Human males, all interchangably blond-haired and blue-eyed, were doing just that, their blue, green and silver blades dances of color as they tore through Mezhan's comrades.

"Get to the ship!" the human female Padawan, Anayah Kee, shouted to her, when the shaper caught her eye, the Vong running for the Y-4's open rear cargo ramp, a bolt from an Imperial's blaster catching her first, the force from the impact of the bolt slamming into her right arm spinning her around, casuing her to stumble, Mezhan trying to regain her footing, only to have an invisible hand slam her down onto her knees.

One of the Jeedai attacking the AgCorps personnel standing over her, balled fist in front of his throat, the man leering at her, chuckling, as he extinguished his saber and put it back on his belt.

"A Vong," he remarked. "This should be interesting."
____________________________________________________________________

Anayah Kee saw Mezhan go down, the Jedi Knight standing over her, after forcing her onto her knees, the twelve-year old Padawan not liking the look on his face.

Or the screams of pain wracking Mezhan's body, as that frag manipulated her like a puppet, moving her hands towards the fastenings on her tunic.

He was so busy with that, he didn't even see the lightsaber slashing two-handed across his waist, the Jedi—Master Bi'kk's former Padawan, four years older than Anayah—screaming, calling her all sorts of obscenities, the hand he was using to manipulate Mezhan now clutching the gaping saber cut, the other fumbling for his lightsaber.

An invisible hand slamming into the back of the Jedi Padawan, knocking her down onto her knees, the Jedi she'd wounded turning towards her, grabbing her chin hard in his right hand, leering at her, remarking,"you're no Jedi, and never will be, little girl. You're too much of a slave to your emotions, to base desires which set your feet firmly on the dark path before you were even born."

"I shall," he added,"now free you to be what you truly are."
____________________________________________________________________

Bunter Cob saw the younger Padawan brought down to her knees, Qurtesh Dyas holding her face with his free hand, clutching the wound she'd inflicted upon him with his other, the sixteen-year old Padawan finishing off the Sith disciple he'd been fighting, driving blaster bolts back into the Imp firing them, using the Force to span the distance between Qurtesh and him.

"Weak," someone else remarked from behind him, the burning pain of a lightsaber tearing him in half the last thing Bunter was ever to know.
____________________________________________________________________

"Kriffing stupid," Anayah said, her lightsaber in hand, cutting off the hand gripping her face, rolling away from where it had been, slashing two-handed at the Jedi who had killed Bunter, feeling the pangs of pleasure within her at seeing that miserable frag's body falling away from his legs, recognizing it for what it was, cursing herself for even thinking of giving in to the darkness, forgiving herself this once, because there wasn't time for anything else right now, not with Imps, Sith and more so-called Jedi trying their best to wipe out her and the AgCorps mission her Master had assigned her to as part of her Trials.

Laser pulses slammed down from above, Anayah hearing the scream of Imperial ships overhead, the planet shaking underneath her feet, roars of hot light momentarily blinding her, screaming from off in the distance and all around deafening her, the Padawan slashing frantically with her lightsaber, shouting for everyone to get on that ship, now, Anayah herself backing closer to the rear cargo ramp, the Y-4's dual lasers continuing to fire in rapid cycle in support, one of the Jedi—rogue Jedi—deflecting the laser fire back to its point of origin, destroying the chin turret.

Anayah stepping onto the cargo ramp just as it lifted up into the ship, the voice of the ship's pilot shouting "Everyone, hold on!" over comms, as the Y-4 bulleted straight up through atmosphere, the cargo hold ringing from impacting laser bolts.

[Farin Vash]

"Gods," remarked Captain Tamar Quin, commanding the Galactic Alliance corvette Flying Target, as she watched that elderly Y-4 Raptor trying to shake off the swarm of Defenders and TIE Hunters battering at its weakening shields, its one surviving laser turret overwhelmed by the sheer number of hostiles attacking it.

The CR 90 corvette's own forward shields rocking again, Imperial fighters and Schimitars pummeling them mercillessly, trying to force the Target to move aside and allow them to carry on with the bombardement of Bandomeer.

"Picking up assault shuttles, drop ships and AT-AT barges inbound on approach vector," the sensor tech reported, the corvette's eight quad heavy lasers spitting out fire to dispatch Defenders, Schmitars and Howlrunners in every direction, the Target's pilot, Lieutenant Shanden, driving the corvette even deeper into enemy's formation, two volleys of proton torpedos from the six launchers mounted in the ship's nose punching through it, the holes they made rapidly filled by even more Imp fighters and bombers.

Two pulses of light, each the size of Tamar's ship, shot up from Bandomeer, both striking home, two of the Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaughts going dark, the superlaser on the third Eclipse instantly retaliating, a bleeding wound gushing forth magma where sensors said the planetary ion cannon and turbolasers had been.

Two down, at least, Tamar grimly thought, listening to her comm, as Line Captain Tremayne ordered the blastboats attacking the two disabled Star Dreadnaughts to concentrate their efforts on the remaining two.

Checking the main holotank and her own tactical display, Tamar saw that Y-4 had somehow managed to make it to orbit, but wouldn't stay there for long, not with two of its ion engines dark and the remaining engine struggling to stay lit, the Imp fighters harassing it holing it in too many places now that its shields were down.

"Weapons officer," Tamar said," if you can free up one of the quads, target the Imps attacking that transport. Comm tech, order the Defiance to change course and come to their aid."

Two of the Target's port quads were now hammering away at the hostile craft savaging the Y-4—the sigil of the Jedi AgriCorps clearly visible along one side—one of the 153d Line's three Corellian gunships changing course, tearing into the enemy with all eight of its quad heavy laser emplacements, scattering those she didn't destroy with her first volley.

The corvette's forward shields rocking again, the weapons officer, Gunnery Sergeant Filith K'holen, breaking off a rude Huttese word, reporting,"Forward primary shield generator offline, engaging secondary," at the same time he volleyed another round of proton torps into the enemy ahead of them.

[Farin Vash]

"That transport's about had it," the Defiance's sensor tech reported, Captain Loata Ferr nodding his head in acknowledgement, his Corellian Gunship dispatching the last of the hostile starfighters menacing it, the Y-4 all shot to pieces, its last ion engine going dark, repulsorlifts failing, Bandomeer's gravity clutching at it.

"Pilot," he said,"match target course and speed, open the shuttle bay door. Medical, bridge, I need you—"

"Stang!" Lieutenant Valan, the Defiance's pilot swore, the gunship shaking with the impact of proton torpedos against her port and starboard deflectors, the sensor tech reporting four X-Wings attacking the ship from both flanks, the quads along the sides opening up, Valan matching the derelict Y-4's course and speed, tractoring the transport and bringing it into the gunship's cramped shuttle bay.

"Starboard shields reduced by 80%," Gunnery Sergeant Tallbert reported, one of the X-Wings in the main holotank disappearing from each side of the Defiance, Imp Defenders arrowing towards the gunship at a signal the comm tech had intercepted from one of the surviving X-Wings.

One of the surviving Jedi X-Wings...the comm tech had gotten a clear holo as well, enough to see the robes...and the look of cold malice in his eyes.

The Defiance's starboard shields shook again, Tallbert reporting she was bringing the secondary shield generators on line, Valan accelerating to full speed, jinking violently in every direction at once, alarm klaxons warning of torpedos inbound screaming over each other, Tallbert launching countermeasures, using the ship's tractor beam to caputre and sweep torpedos out of her path, hurling one of them into one of the two Jedi starfighters, blasting it to bits, Loata not even wanting to think about why Jedi would attack other Jedi for the first time in five hundred years, why they would work with the Empire or, worse, with the kriffing Sith....

"Frag," Tallbert hissed, the remaining X-Wing dropping behind the Defiance's ion engines, right into their backwash, where none of her weapons could target it, the gunship sailing into the midst of hundreds of Imp starfighters, Valan shouting to Tallbert, "detonate all our remaining cluster traps, now!"

All at once, blisters built into the hull of the Corellian gunship burst open, scattering several thousand armed and proximity-fused proton grenades in every direction, the Defiance trembling from the successive detonations, most of the attacking starfighters gone in an instant.

The forward shields buckling as staccato turbolaser bolts struck the Defiance, Loata ordering Valan to take the ship as close to the hull of the Imperial V-class Star Destroyer firing at them as she could, Valan immediately complying.

[Farin Vash]

"Emperor's black bones!' Chief Warrant Officer Galeena Thrax swore, the controls of her ship, the Galactic Alliance blastboat Bloodstripe, almost leaping out of her hands as a turbolaser hit hard against the forward shields, her Wookie flight engineer, Warrrdrwrell, swearing, the Bloodstripe's four R12 astromech droids and she working frantically to keep her ship together, Galeena taking the CEC YT-5100 blastboat down to bare meters from the deck of the Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaught, where even its anti-starfighter defenses couldn't touch it.

She just had to worry about the fighters, Howlrunners and Defenders driving laser bolts into her rear deflectors, the eighteen-year old Corellian pilot gritting her teeth and telling her ship to "hold together, baby, hold together," at the same time she shouted over comms,"gunners, keep those kriffing pests off my back!"

Just four ships left from her squadron of twelve, between the fighters and the Star Destroyers, and Galeena the senior officer remaining, something she didn't want to think about overmuch.

"Stay in formation, stang it!" she said to Rancor's Tooth, flying in staggered formation off her port quarter, her ship continuing to tremble all round her, Galeena checking her displays, making sure her four ships' quads were providing as much overlap in their fields of fire as possible, a painfully high-pitched alarm tone warning of concussion missiles locking on to them, the Bloodstripe and the others deploying their remaining anti-missile countermeasures, the blastboat's weapons officer, Gunnery Sergeant Ryy Kaln reporting,"almost there, Boss, just another few—"

"We may not have that long, Ryy," Galeena reminded her Zabrak weapons officer, the rear shields taking a horrific beating from the cloud of starfighters behind her which only seemed to have grown, in spite of the best efforts of the ships' quad laser gunners.

"Got it!" Ryy shouted, the locking tone of the targeting computer followed almost immediately by the Bloodstripe loosing two salvos of concussion missiles and proton torpedos into the deck of the Imp Star Dreadnaught, right where her gravity-well generator was located, the ship and her mates immediately following that up with two more salvos aimed at the Eclipse's reactor core, Galeena shouting,"Run like hell!" over comms, heeling the Bloodstripe hard over and away from the enemy Star Dreadnaught.

Laser fire striking every shield at once, letting her know she wasn't quite out of it yet.

[Farin Vash]

Ripped to pieces, the X-Wing came barrelling through the Corellian gunship's open hangar bay, sliding in on its belly, lasers pumping furiously, the Y-4 crumpling as it exploded, along with the bay's other shuttlecraft, the overpressure throwing Anayah forward, the Padawan using the Force to stabilize herself just barely in time, the hilt of her lightsaber flying into her hand, the blade already ignited by the Force, Anayah mustering up everything Master Sage had tried to teach her about Form V lightsaber combat to deflect the bolts from the upper pair of Taim&Bak heavy lasers(the lower pair having been completely destroyed by the hard landing), bracing herself, as the deck continued shaking underneath her feet, ignoring the smell of smoke and the stench of burning bodies, trying to block out the screaming and cries for help all round her, concentrating on driving those laser bolts back to their source.

The X-Wing's pilot vaulting out of his cockpit, silvery-white lightsaber blade blazing, as he shrieked,"Death for heretics! For the New Order!".

His Force leap from the wreckage of his starfighter drove Anayah back, the Padawan just barely managing to parry his two-handed slash for her midsection, Anayah grunting, mustering all her strength to hold back his blade with her own, the other Jedi using all of his strength to bear down on her blade in an effort to push it aside, the two lightsabers throwing off sparks to add to the fires burning throughout the shuttle bay.

"You're a miserable heretic," the other Jedi hissed at her,"not even close to being a true Jedi, let alone capable of besting one in battle."

Maybe— she started to think, as what he said struck a chord with the doubts in her mind.

Wait a fraggin' minute! she then thought, angry that he thought her so inferior as to fall for one of the most elementary Jedi disciplines, a white-hot rage coursing through her, seeking his bloody and agonizing death, the twelve-year old girl seeing this so-called true Jedi burning forever in the darkest fire, letting herselffeel the anger and hatred fuelling those thoughts, letting those emotions give her the strength she needed to knock back his blade, moving effortlessly from the fifth form of lightsaber combat to the seventh.

And most dangerous...even her Master had difficulty with the form(which Anayah had seen Master Sage do)and she was the sole recognized expert on Vapaad still alive, only the fourth in nearly five hundred years, and two of those had fallen to the dark.

She had no delusions about not falling herself, the emotions she'd let herself feel— that Vapaad demanded she feel—too powerful for her, she was still a child, only a Padawan, unable to even control the blade slashing and slicing furiously in her right hand, the other Jedi hard-pressed to parry and attack in return, Anayah driving him back towards the wrecked X-Wing, the other Jedi then attempting a Force leap over her, Anayah anticipating it, channeling all her Force energy into turning his leap into a push bakcwards and a hard slam onto the deck.

Anayah holding him there, pinning him helplessly on his back, as she walked over to him, lightsaber ready to administer the final blow, part of her thinking she would very much enjoy killing him, as he lay there unable to do anything to stop it.

The rest of her horrified, sickened and revolted by the idea, the hatred and anger washed away in cool fire, Anayah looking down at the other Jedi, his eyes wide with fear and terror, as he gibbered half-coherent pleas for mercy.

"Get up," she whispered, her body starting to tremble, the other Jedi getting up.

"Give me your light saber," she then said, the other Jedi switching off his lightsaber, meekly handing it to her, Anayah then turning to face the flames and twisted debris blocking the passageway immediately outside where the shuttle bay's interior doors had been, telling one of the gunship's crewmen,"cover him. He does anything you don't like, shoot to stun."

The young Padawan then stepping past him, through the dead, the wounded and the fire, igniting both lightsabers, forcing her badly-shaking hands to cut a path through the debris.

[Farin Vash]

Alarms howled throughout the Defiance's bridge, Tallbert shouting out,"shields are fluctuating," the gunship's chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Kaela Songbow, replying tartly over comms,"they're going to do that," the ship shaking from several bad hits on its failing rear shields, Skiprays and Defenders fastening onto that part of the ship like howlrunners on a carcass.

Songbow adding,"We're bypassing and rerouting systems as fast as we can down here, Captain, but, frankly, it's a—"

"Frag," Loata swore under his breath, more Imp starfighters and blastboats swarming down on his bow, the Star Destroyer's own anti-starfighter lasers getting in their licks as well, Songbow's voice coming in over Loata's commlink, continuing her report:

"—just lost internal comms, reactor containment flucuating wildly, I don't know if I can stabilize it, most of the control ciruitry's fried...got two decks collapsed on top of one another, including the deck leading to the shuttle bay, don't have the man or droid power to reach anyone trapped down there...assuming they're still alive."

"Got shields!" Tallbert shouted out, directing the fire of the Defiance's six dual turbolasers and eight quad heavy lasers via commlink, the weapons officer adding,"just barely, slave rig's crashed again, all weapons on local control, just reestablished contact with the missile room, the R11s down there report all tubes loaded and ready."

The Defiance shook again, her executive officer, Commander Rachela Faeyr, reporting,"Most of the crew are casualties, Captain; MED-121B reports twenty-eight dead, 57 wounded, twelve missing."

"Frag," Loata whispered again, Tallbert reporting,"I've got the targeting computer back, still no slave rig, but I can launch—"

The bridge's red emergency lighting dimmed—as the ship took more hits from all quarters—then went dark, Songbow cursing over the commlink:

"Krififng reactor's offline!"

[Farin Vash]

"They're doing what?!" Nareen demanded to know, as her ship shook again.

"The Cassandrans are sending lighters to the surface of Badomeer," Al'ly'ah repeated,"to evacuate as much of the civilian population as they can."

"Making themselves targets as well," Nareen observed grimly, not a kriffing thing she could do about it now, any more than she could anything for the Defiance, dark and drifting over the Star Destroyer on the Halleck's port side— other than send Crossfire Squadron's fighters and the 153d Line's ten remaining blastboats to attack it—both it and and the other Star Destroyer flanking the Pellaeon-class Star Dreadnaught pouring fire into the much-smaller wedge-shaped medium cruiser's shields, struggling to stay online from the onslaught, fighters, bombers and blastboats coming at the ancient ship from every direction, the Halleck's ten working heavy turbolasers furiously driving bolts into both Imp capital starships

"Got the reactor containment stabilized," Nar Niev's voice said,"for now; working on containing the fires and re-routing and bypassing systems."

"<Distance to target 1,000 kilometers and closing,>" the Halleck's pilot, Lieutenant Jowdrrl, growled, the weapons officer, Lieutenant Amelin Seline, adding,"Proton torpedo tubes armed and loaded; anti-proton emitters charged and ready, dedicated energy receptor scanning enemy shield for weak points."

"Thank you both," Nareen acknowledged, the prow of the sixty-four kilometer monster of a Pellaeon-class Star Dreadnaught—which IFF identified as the Maximillian Veers, flagship of the Imperial 815th Star Destroyer Squadron—blotting out much of the view from both the main holotank and the bridge windows, the gaping maw of the enemy ship's superlaser dead center lining up directly with the center of the Halleck's bridge.

"This had better work," Al'ly'ah remarked, as she stood beside her captain, her lekku twitching nervously.

"Agreed," Nareen replied, still looking at the superlaser's cavernous barrel.

[Farin Vash]

"Keep them away from the Defiance!" Me'liza shouted over comms, her Twin Tail's underslung turbolaser gun pod pounding into the two spacetrooper assault shuttles in the center of a flight of Defenders, the shot vaporizing all of them at once, Me'liza ignoring Emfive's telling her the TGP system would take another minute to recharge, flipping the X-83 in several directions at once, Defenders twisting and turning all round her, angling to take her down, insane enough to use concussion missiles so kriffing close to their own mother ship, but that was Imperials through and thr—

Fierfek!

Her fighter's R10 astromech droid beeped in high-pitched alarm behind her, as the front and rear deflectors started to buckle, Emfive shunting power from elsewhere to reinforce them, Me'liza twisting her ship around to take out at least one of the Imps who'd hit her, all four Taim & Bak heavy lasers ripping him to shreds, Me'liza rolling the Twin Tail on its long axis, firing all of its manuvering thrusters and cutting in the repulsorlifts, so that it spun and jerked in every direction, lasers spitting out fire to smash into the deflector shields of Imperial fighters, Me'liza only viscerally aware of flashes indicating several of them had gone up.

"We've got more blastboats inbound!" Crossfire Two—her exec, Lieutenant Commander Cadin Trent—sang out over comms, at the same time Me'liza straightened out her roll and flipped right-side up, lasers pounding the front shields of several Sinear GAT-19 Skipray VIIs, Emfive letting her know the turbolaser had been charged and ready for some time, Crossfire Squadron's commander about to discharge it when her sensors picked up...frag, several more assault shuttles, under heavy Defender escort, moving towards the Defiance and the 153d Line's surviving YT-5100s—deployed around the gunship to protect it with their shields—coming in on a tangent to the approaching Skiprays.

More assault shuttles, protected by a mix of starfighters and blastboats, moving in on a tangent to the second enemy force.

"Fierfek," she whispered.
____________________________________________________________________

"Stay in formation," Galeena said over comms, the Bloodstripe holding station just off the derelict Corellian gunship's mangled shuttle bay, dorsal and ventral quads opening up on the approaching assault shuttles, blastboats and starfighters, the enemy replying with greater force, pounding the YT-5100's shields.

"C'mon, c'mon, get that reactor back up," she said to the Defiance. "We could really use the help right now."

"They're comin' in too fast!" Corporal Ham Keter, manning the dorsal quads, shouted over comms, the ventral quad gunner, Sergeant Reesh, snapping,"keep your kriffing head, before those Imps hand it to you on a platter!"

"Ryy," Galeena said,"start feeding telemetry from the targeting computer to the quads; Warrrdwrell, shunt power from life support, if you have to, but those shields have to hold.

The Bloodstripe shaking, as she gave that last order, the blastboat's flight engineer replying with a few choice words in Shryiwook.

Ryy simply replied,"Quads receving targeting computer telemetry...fighters are having difficulty holding off the blastboats immediately in front of us, some of them are getting through."

"Use concussion missiles," Galeena said over comms, biting off a few choice words herself, as she looked at the HUD,"but sparingly."

If we ever even make it to a spaceport, she thought to herself, I am having TGPs installed at the first opportunity.

"By Palpatine's black bones," Keter then exulted over comms "I got me one!"

Reesh countering,"good, now shut up and concentrate on the several hundred others still out there!" as hits continued raining down on the Bloodstripe's shields.
____________________________________________________________________

"I've cleared a way to the upper decks," Anayah said to the others, the surviving medics, transport and gunship crewmen and AgriCorps personnel gathering up their more wounded comrades and followed the Jedi Padawan out of the shuttle bay, Anayah making sure the rogue Jedi was well in front of her—she didn't like the arrogant sneer which had returned to his face—as she led the way through the smoke and fire-filled passageway to a ladder leading up into the rest of the ship.

"You first," she said to the rogue Jedi, who merely sneered in reply at her, before turning round and climbing, Anayah following, a stretcher bearing one of the wounded Vong shapers behind her on repulsorlifts, the rest of the survivors behind her, as they climbed up through another passage lit only by flames and sparks from dangling wires and the fusioncutters in the manipulative pincers of R-series astromechs, Anayah finally climbing onto a deck which was relatively undamaged.

The lightsabers clipped to her belt both started moving, the rogue Jedi standing on the deck, hand outstretched, chuckling to himself, the Padawan reflexively freeing a hand to reach for her lightsaber, making ready to Force leap onto the deck opposite him.

"Don't," a harsh female voice said from behind the rogue, Anayah making out a an armored Galactic Alliance naval trooper in the dim light afforded by the older woman's helmet-mounted glow rod, the trooper holding the emitter of her E-38 blaster carbine at the back of the rogue's skull.

"Bridge," she then said,"I've located the beings who were in the shuttlebay, along with the kr—individual responsible for damaging us."

“Understood,” she said a moment later, telling Anayah,”sickbay's on this deck; one of the medics should be able to take you there.”

“You, on the other hand,” she said to the rogue, grabbing his arm,”are wanted in the brig. This way!”

[Farin Vash]

Concussion missiles flew out from the AAC-16's twin launchers, slamming into the Imp AT-AT towering over the twisted skeleton of one of Bandor's skyscrapers, the walker shuddering, slewing its head to look down at Ensign Chandra Bardello, hands whitening inside the gauntlets of her powersuit, as she gripped the triggers of the E-Web mounted on her command cupola, Chandra whispering a rude Twi'lek expression she'd heard once, just before the AT-AT finally realized it had a gaping hole in his side and went down, the force of its impact jarring the ground, the repulsorlift armored fighting vehicle moving forward, blaster fire splashing across its forward deflectors, Chandra pumping bolts from the E-Web into a hoverscout, the Imperial vehicle crumpling under the fusillade, crashing into another ruined building.

Whose busted-out windows belched E-Web and missile fire, an entire Imperial heavy assault squad having just now finished setting up in there, Chandra returning their fire, the AAC-16's main turret slewing underneath her, unlimbering its heavy laser cannon into the makeshift bunker, the twin multi-launchers whoosing! more concussion missiles further off to the right of her in response to a request for fire support from the AAC's squad of naval troopers, one of the six ARC-170LAAT/i2s assigned to the Halleck's regiment of naval troopers streaking past her, its rear quads trading shots with a pair of red and black painted TIE Hunters, its forward-mounted missile, torpedo and rocket launchers and the heavy laser slung under each of the six S-foils blasting the kriff out of a target ahead even of the naval infantry squad, another of the Cassandran lighters coming in straight down, as if it were actually built to take that kind of punishment, a pair of Defenders swooping down on it, pelting its rear shields, the AAC moving rapidly forward, on a tangent to the squad it had deployed, Chandra giving the order even as the request for additional fire support had come from one of 3d Platoon's other AACs, coming under heavy fire from a pair of Imperial repulsorlift tanks and the floating fortress they were supporting, concussion missiles already en route to its position, the heavy laser already receiving ranging data from the scanners and macrobinoculars integrated into her helmet, one of the Imp tanks split in two by the heavy laser, the other falling back to protect the now-wounded floating fortress, taking fire from the crippled AAC as well as from Chandra's vehicle, a rocket-jumper squad descending, their blasters and missile launchers firing as they came down, taking out the remaining Imperial tank, Chandra ordering her gunners to concentrate all fire on the floating fortress, the AAC driving through the resulting burning wreckage, past landspeeders and speeder transports crammed full of those civilians still alive in spite of the continuing, relentless bombardement with hex weapons, those survivors heading to one of the extraction points set up at the long-abandoned ice mines and deepsea drilling platforms in the southern latitudes, the lighters and the Halleck'sown elderly Incom Jadthu-class landers standing by to ferry them up to the Cassandran freighters still in planetary orbit in spite of Line Captain Tremayne's orders and all common sense.

Some of the heaviest fighting was back there, Imperial storm commandos and Sith assault troops—led by Jedi, of all people—launching suicide raids to try and take out the grounded ships, as they were evacuating civilians from the ruins of Bandor and the rest of the planet as well...all that they could, anyway, no way were they going to dislodge the Imps off Bandomeer, not with the planetary infrastructure in ruins, its leadership slaughtered and its army badly outgunned and outnumbered, even with the naval troopers on the ground.

A Schimitar plummted in a screaming dive right at her vehicle, Chandra bringing the E-Web up to bear, pounding the Imp bomber's forward shields, the bomber returning fire with its forward lasers at the same time thermal detonators started falling from it, drifting towards the civilians making their way south, Chandra cursing, knowing she wasn't going to be able to—

The Imperial bomber fell apart underneath both her E-Web and the lasers of another ARC-170 streaking by, banking to turn and cover the civilian convoy, now joined by Bandomeer military landspeeders and several ancient Corellian mining crawlers modified to serve as AFVs, their grafted-on blasters, heavy turbolaser cannon and missile launchers slewing on their turrets, belching fire in every direction, incoming laser and blaster shots ringing and smoking off their armored hides.

Chandra turning to look ahead, her AAC moving forward at speed.
____________________________________________________________________

"Behind you!" Master Sergeant Larick Caine shouted over comms, pumping bolts from his E-38 into a scare-painted Sith fanatic,"concentrate your fire!" the hum of a lightsaber all too loud from behind him, the beings in his platoon being cut down.

By a Jedi.

A rogue Jedi, he reminded himself again...hard to keep that distinction in mind, he had family on both sides, Galactic Alliance and Empire, had been that way since the Sith-Imperial War over 350 years ago, when the Second Empire had been split by the Sith coup, compelling Roan Fel's forces to ally with what had been left of the first Galactic Alliance to defeat them and drive the Empire back to the Remnant, the Gordian Reach and the former Corporate Sector...bottom line, his family on either side had been left with a lasting distrust of Force users, something which he had been spending much of his thirty-seven years in Galactic Alliance service trying to overcome....

The Sith finally went down, Larick seeing where the darkside had begun consuming him, the veteran naval trooper shivering inwardly from revulsion, as he turned on his heel, getting a clear shot at the Jedi killing the beings who were his responsibility.

Getting the Jedi's attention as well, the silver-grey robed Human male whirling around, interposing his silvery-white lightsaber blade between Larick's blaster fire and himself, his free hand outstretched, getting ready to—

Do what, Larick didn't know and would never find out, the Jedi's head taken off with a blaster shot from one of Larick's troopers, Lance Corporal Th'les Ki'trek's voice thanking him over comms, Larick telling the Bothan," save it, we're still in the thick of things here."

As he said that, he turned his attention back towards the front, at another Imperial Sentinel-class landing craft landing on one of the abandoned deepsea mining platform the Halleck's naval troopers and Bandomeer's military were using as an extraction point, more Imperial storm commandos, Sith assault troops and rogue Jedi pouring from it, the landing craft itself raining down blaster,laser and missile fire for just a second before Corporal Jadin Laka, one of his fire team leaders, shouted "Fire in the hole!' over comms, a pair of proton torpedos slamming into the Imperial craft and blasting it apart, two more proton torpedos clearing most of the enemy off the deck, more Imperial landing craft continuing to streak towards the platform.

Along with a hodgepodge of landspeeders, amphibons and watercraft, mostly civilian, under heavy attack from Imperials from the air and the surface, a couple of ARC-170s, along with a group of Bandomeer military airspeeders—including a couple of Clone Wars-vintage Rothanna LAAT/i gunships—providing air cover for the evacuees.

"They're getting ready to launch the next group, Master Sergeant," Lieutenant Jan Kotar's voice said over comms, Larick replying with an "Understood," even as a proton torpedo from Laka's launcher winged an Imperial Lambda-class shuttle badly enough for it to crash into the platform with a jarring concussion, Larick shouting,"all squads, advance and intensify fire!" as the next wave of enemy troops climbed out of the burning wreckage of the Imperial shuttle and charged, voices screaming, blasters firing.

Lightsaber humming.
____________________________________________________________________

H'yo Gitsum laughed, as he cleaved the inferiors away from him, blocking blaster bolts easily with his lightsaber, leading his force of darksiders and their followers onward, akk dogs breaking free of the leads some of the Sith assault troopers held in their gauntleted hands, the animals surging forth into the ranks of the enemy, knocking them down and tearing them to shreds, facilitating the true Jedi's task.

The one owed the Empire and the Sith for their assistance with the New Order at least, the Shadow Council realizing they had to have the cooperation of both the darksiders and the inferiors serving them if they were to accomplish their larger goal, one of Gitsum's comrades seeing to the true mission to Bandomeer, the cleansing of all the heretics and the abominations the sham Jedi Council had permitted to work so closely with the AgriCorps.

Gitsum ducked and rolled out of the path of several converging blaster bolts, landing in a crouch and slashing at one of the Galactic Alliance naval troopers, killing the Zabrak instantly, an abomination daring to plunge a vibroblade knife through Gitsum's robes and into his side, the Jedi Knight making the filthy creature pay for his insubordination with his head, Gitsum bringing the blade back down to block a volley of blaster bolts, redirecting them into the female who had brought his ship down with her man-portable proton torpedo launchers, the force of the bolts sending her dead body flying backward, Gitsum reaching out with the Force to grab the launcher and one of its ammunition cannisters, shouldering the weapon, taking aim and firing with his left hand, his right continuing to move the lightsaber in elaborate dances of attack and defense, the Jedi moving forward into the carnage he had wrought.
____________________________________________________________________
Larick broke off an ancient Huttese obscenity, forming his platoon's headquaters squad up and ordering them to open fire, Larick picking up a light repeater up from the deck, walking it across the line of Sith warriors and akk dogs barrelling towards them and ahead of the Jedi casaully slaughtering his way through the opposing naval troopers, calmly walking up to the veteran master sergeant, smiling.

"You're no match for me," he chuckled, Larick finding himself saying,"I'm no match for you," in spite of himself, realizing angrily just what that miserable Jedi frag was doing to him.

"You should simply lay down your arms and die," the Jedi then told him, lowering his lightsaber.

The Jedi didn't say anything else, couldn't with the hole blasted through his throat by the light repeater in Larick's hands, Larick ripping through more Sith, akk dogs and Imp storm commandos, stepping on the Jedi's corpse, spitting on it, remarking:

"We're not all so weak-minded as to fall for that, Jedi!"

another Imperial shuttle touching down on the deck, Larick picking the man-portable proton torpedo launcher off the dead Jedi's shoulders and bringing it to bear on the enemy.

[Farin Vash]

Kaela Songbow swore, as she remained buried in the guts of the Defiance's antimatter reactor, trying to bypass the safeties which kept the reactor offline, growling,"try it now!" to one of her techs at the control console, the reactor's containment field coming on line, the reactor itself following suit.

Alarms howling, as the reactor shut down again, the Defiance's chief engineer screaming "Fierfek!", angrily attacking the reactor's insides again, trying again to reroute the containment systems around the cutoffs, the tech at the controls remarking,"it's no good, Commander, the—"

"I don't want to hear that, gods stang it!" Songbow snapped, continuing to work on rewire the containment systems, cursing CEC for making the safety systems triply redundant, bypassing the remaining safety cutoffs altogether, telling the tech ,"try it again!"
____________________________________________________________________

"That came from the Defiance!" Ham shouted out over comms, massed fire from the gunship's port quads obliterating much of the remaining enemy force massed against them.

"<She's lighting up her ion engines>" Warrrdwrell reported,"<turbolasers and launch systems coming on line.>"

"Defiance to blastboats," the gunship's captain said over comms—no holo, just audio—"while we have the chance—"

"All ships," Galeena said,"interlink your targeting computers with Defiance's."
____________________________________________________________________

"They've linked their targeting computers with ours, Captain," Tallbert said. "Missile room reports all tubes loaded, all missiles armed."

"Then, while we still have power," Loata replied,"fire at will!"

"Targeting computers locked onto Imperial vessel's reactor," Tallbert reported, "missiles away, turbolasers firing, blastboats launching missiles and torpedos."

The main holotank flickered back on at that point, Loata watching fighters, blastboats and assault shuttles continuing to converge on his ship, even now that was under power, and Valan was moving her away from the Imperial Star Destroyer at full speed.

"What could they possibly want?" he wondered aloud.
___________________________________________________________________

"Intensify efforts to capture the heretic and those abominations!" Zach Austhen, true Jedi Master and member of the New Order's Shadow Council, snapped into his comm, as he paced the upper level of the General Maxmillian Veers' bridge, one of the sensor techs in the command pit reporting,"the Halleck's disappeared off all scans."

"Sir," the Veers' captain remarked,"we need to man and launch some of the smaller capital warships to defend ourselves; we'll also need to recall some of the ships we've devoted to the operation thus far."

"Then do so, Captain," Aushten said disdainfully. "Does your kind have to have ours tell you everything?!"

"Controller, recall four wings of Defenders and two blastboat squadrons to defend the ship, order the IPV, corvette and Carrack crews to their ships and have them launch immediately," the captain said. "Weapons officer, intensify fire from the forward batteries; that cruiser—"

The Pelleaon-class Star Dreadnaught—one of only five in the Imperial Navy's arsenal—rocked, the pit lieutenant reporting,"forward shields weakened by—"

A louder explosion knocking the Jedi Master off his feet, hurling him into a nearby bulkhead and sending him sprialling down into darkness.

[Farin Vash]

The bridge sparked, smoked, arced, howled, shook.

And went completely dark.

Nareen holding her breath...the anti-proton emitters had been an attempt by the Galactic Alliance, during the Sith-Imperial War, to apply lightsaber technology to ranged starship weaponry, resulting in beams which cut through armor and shields as if they didn't exist...and a power draw which fried circuitry and overloaded reactors.

The Halleck hadn't used her anti-proton emitters since the final battle at Tattooine nearly three hundred fifty years ago, when she'd destroyed the Pellaeon...and had ended up being almost blasted to scrap afterward, if she remembered what she'd read of this ship's history, the emitters remaining in a state of disrepair until she had ordered Nar Niev and his people to overhaul every system on board.

Nareen fumbled in the dark for something to hold on to, breathing in the heavy tang of ozone and smoke, the Halleck shaking again, her captain waiting for the hit which took out the bridge altogether, cursing, again, the Corellian senator she had crossed, missing her old X-101 starfighter, her squadron mates, the Rogue Squadron, regretting all the things she hadn't done enough of.

The red emergency lighting cutting in, all of the bridge stations coming back online, Amelin reporting,"we've got shields and weapons," Jowdrrl growling "<engines and maneuvering back on line, still blind on sensors.>"

"Surprised we weren't blasted," Nareen observed, the sensor tech replying,"we're still shielded by the wreckage of the Veers, it's interfering with their sensors and ours."

"I'll take that," Nareen replied, snapping out,"pilot, turn us around, get us clear of the Veers'—"

"Captain," the sensor tech reported,"am reading several corvette and frigate-class starships in close proximity to us."

"All of them," the tech added a few moments later,"unpowered and uncrewed."

"Pilot," Nareen said, getting an idea,"cancel previous order. Commander, start drawing up boarding parties, coordinate with Nar Niev and his staff."

[Farin Vash]

Tamar swore, as turbolaser fire rained down on the Target's forward deflectors, IPVs, Assassin corvettes and Carrack cruisers from one of the crippled Eclipses bearing down on her, the gunships Clamor and Cresendo, Falcon Squadron, the surviving Bandomeer fighters, the Caasandran freighters, their lighters and the Halleck's landers, the six surviving Imperial V Star Destroyers forming a wedge off in the distance, pulling some of their fighters and blastboats into a rough screening formation in front of them, Tamar watching flashes erupt in their midst.

Further beyond that, the cloud of gas and debris formed by the exploded Pellaeon continued expanding, interfering with sensors.

For all she knew, Tamar could be the acting commander of the 153d Line, a prospect she did not relish in the least.

Something she had to contend with nonetheless.

"B-Wings, Crossifires and capital ships, oncentrate fire on those Carracks' midsections!" she snapped over comms." All other fighters, deal with the IPVs and the corvettes!"

The Target's eight dual turbolasers now drove bolts into several of the Carrack cruisers' midsections—where their reactors were located—volleys of proton torpedos following up the turbolaser salvos, three of the enemy cruisers breaking in two in a shower of debris and vented atmospheres, the Target lurching downward, Shanden evading the fire from several other Carracks, K'holen calling down fire on two more of the enemy cruisers, a pair of Bandomeer B-Wings streaking past the corvette, the ancient assault fighters driving laser and proton torpedo volleys into the midline of a Carrack twisting so that its forward shields bore the brunt of the onslaught, its ten quad heavy lasers seeking out the B-Wings at the same time the cruiser's five A-9 Vengance starfighters detached from the external racks to hunt down the Bandomeer fighters.

The Carrack'smaneuvering leaving it open to the pair of Mark VI A-Wing starfighters descending on its vunerable flank at high speed, volleying proton torps straight into the enemy vessel's reactor, detonating it in a flash which briefly blinded the Target's sensors, Tamar barking out,"Evasive maneuvers, now! All power to—"

The bridge rocking underneath her chair, turbolaser fire glancing off the starboard shields Shanden had turned to the approaching Carrack cruiser, the Target firing, as six of her dual turbolasers came to bear on it.
____________________________________________________________________

Her B-Wing's lasers hammered a TIE Hunter twisting to bring its guns to bear on her, Lieutenant Iola Meden watching it fall apart at the same time she continued jinking madly, boosters on the verge of burning out, her cockpit's gyroscopics smashed, jamming the spaceframe into position on her port side, lasers from the pursuing A-9s buzzing past her in angry red swarms, the young Bandomeer pilot checking her targeting computer, altering her course to lock onto yet another Carrack-class light cruiser which had managed to make it past the fighting and on an intercept for Jadthu-class landers even more ancient than this starfighter, the cruiser's fighter-like speed and manuverability allowing it to close the range between the landers streaking up from the abandoned sub-70 ice mines and itself.

Iola couldn't bear to look at her world for more than a few seconds, just enough to see fire consuming it whole, undoing everything the Jedi had worked nearly four hundred years trying to accomplish in an instant...best they could was get the survivors offworld, to somewhere else, those fraggin' Imps—

A proton torpedo from her fighter found the cruiser's reactor, even as lasers from the pursuing A-9s found hers, the B-Wing shuddering violently, as the main wing came apart, her cockpit's lights and displays dying in an instant, five more A-9s turning away from the landers and their mother ship to move in for the kill, Iola shunting all auxiliary power from her cockpit's emergency batteries to the dual auto-blasters mounted in the chin...good enough for a few shots.

Good enough.
____________________________________________________________________

Her Twin Tail's TGP smashed the A-9s behind the crippled B-Wing, the B-Wing hammering the ones in front of her with her cockpit-mounted auto-blasters, taking one or two of them before her guns went completely silent, Flight Sergeant Jadea Tull pressing down on the firing stud for the heavy lasers, her fighter streaking over the B-Wing, into the midst of the remaining A-9s, taking them down in a series of tight twists and turns.

Her R11 bleating out warning, as her starboard shields buckled under a withering assault from an IPV emerging from the chaos of the fighting all round, its quads tracking and seeking Jadea's fighter at the same time one of its turbolasers demolished the derelict B-Wing, Jadea not needing to tell Cuetwelve anything, the astromech already shunting power to the shields, the TGP reading charged and ready, the Falcon Squadron pilot twisting inside the Imperial vessel's guns, delivering a counterassault of her own with the TGP and the remaining proton torpedos.

The IPV cracking in half, a dozen more taking its place, her wingmate's voice chuckling, as she asked,"you were going to save some for the rest of us, weren't you?" the rest of Falcon Squadron's Third Flight forming up around Jadea, as they turned to engage the incoming IPVs.
____________________________________________________________________

"Nailed 'em!" Gunnery Sergeant Major Nadjaa Perl half-whispered, the turbolasers of the Galactic Alliance gunship Cresendo blasting a Carrack cruiser in half, concussion missiles streaking towards a group of IPV-4s immediately behind the cruiser, Assassin-class corvettes and Imp patrol cruisers trying to flank the gunship on its starboard side, the Cresendo's pilot, Lieutenant Balmarr, trying her best to put the gunship in several places at once.

At this point, there were no orders for Captain E'li'ah S'acora to give, the green-skinned Twi'lek woman's lekku nervously twitching, as she sat in the command chair, watching the battle unfold in space, the lighters and landers moving from orbit to surface and back again, each time bringing as many of Bandomeer's survivors as they could, while the planet below burned out of control, the six Star Destroyers and their escorts slowly moving into geosynchrous orbit over what was left of Bandor, leaving the three derelict Eclipses behind them...not too long before they had to jump to lightspeed, either that, or contend with the Star Destroyers blocking their path with massed turbolaser and proton torpedo salvos, to say nothing of their surviving starfighter complements.

Another shuddering throughout the ship, another bright light in space, another Imperial ship dying underneath the Cresendo's guns, and it was only a pinprick in a sky full of Imp starfighters and warships, the Cresendo and her crew knowing that going into this fight, knowing that Line Captain Tremayne had made the only choice available to—

A larger blaze of light, inside the wedge of Star Destroyers, the sensor tech calmly reporting,"they got one, Captain."

E'li'ah nodding her head in acknowledgment, Cresendo plunging deeper into the fight ahead of her.

[Farin Vash]

"Commodore of the Cassandaran convoy," the Halleck's comm tech reported, as Jowdrrl piloted them through the wreckage of the Star Destroyer the ship had just blasted,"reporting all his ships are at full capacity, they can't take on any more people."

Nareen sighed heavily...still not enough, too many left behind on the surface of Bandomeer, but....

"Order all ships to j—" she started to say, just before the sensor tech shouted out a report of the lead Imp Star Destroyer jumping to lightspeed.

And, reverting to realspace directly behind and meters from the Halleck, Jowdrrl not even having time to turn the ship around before all of the Star Destroyer's turbolaser batteries slammed into it, the bridge exploding all around Nareen, as she was hurled into darkness.
____________________________________________________________________
Captain Sir Turbert Hult, Knight Of the Imperial Order, commander of the Imperial Star Destroyer Tyranny, smiled, as he watched the relic of a Galactic Alliance ship smashed to atoms underneath the massed firepower of all one hundred twenty of the Tyranny's heavy turbolaser batteries, his pit lieutenant reporting,"Cassandran transports and several of the Galactic Alliance ships have jumped to lightspeed."

"Inform Fleet Command," Hult replied, turning his eyes towards the Corellian gunship now hovering over the deck of the Retaliation,"have them station Immobilizers along all likely escape routes."

"Controller," he then ordered, the Tyranny now drawing parallel to the Retaliation,"recall all our boarding parties and their supporting fighters and blastboats. Weapons officer, target that gunship with ion cannon, then with a tractor beam; have a stormtrooper regiment standing by in the ventral hangar bay to storm the vessel the instant she's brought aboard, inform them the Emperor himself wants the Jedi heretics and the abominations with them taken alive."
___________________________________________________________________

Anayah staggered, reaching out for something in the Defiance's sickbay to hold onto, seeing....

...the sky over Coruscant filled with Star Destroyers, superlasers stabbing deep into the undercity, releasing gouts of fire which brought down many of the uppermost buildings....

...stormtroopers, Sith and...Jedi pouring into the wreckage of the Temple, Master Sage, brown robes torn, ragged and burning, blood running down her face, furiously swinging the lightsaber in her right hand, her left hand and arm hanging uselessly from her shoulder, her stance unsteady and growing more so by the moment, as she slipped into Vapaad, slicing and slashing her way through those determined to kill the younglings behind her.

Her head abruptly snapping back, lightsaber knocked from her hand, her eyes widening in fear as she found herself going down on her knees against her will, a silvery grey-robed Jedi standing over her, smiling, his hands reaching for her hair....

...disturbance after disturbance in the Force, so many dead, everywhere, on Coruscant, Bespin, Bakura, Dagobah, Kamino, Ossus, Garqi, Baltimin, Haruun Kal, Ruusan, Ord Binnir, Mon Calamari, New Alderaan, Wayland....

The lights abruptly cutting out, the ship shuddering underneath Anayah's feet, the Padawan holding on even tighter to whatever she'd grabbed on to, reaching out with the Force to see....

Wishing she hadn't, the pain, violation and brutality happening right here on this shiptearing its way through the living Force, nearly knocking her down...a...void in the Force making its way up here, Anayah drawing and igniting her lightsaber, turning to—

Her world flashing white-hot, every bone jarred with the impact her slight frame made against the deck, something pinning her down, slapping her hard across her face every time she tried to get up, his voice, coming in heaves, telling her "that was for humiliating me."

"And, that," he added, reaching out with the dark side to slap her again,"was for denying your place."
____________________________________________________________________
Alarms shrieked all over the place, the controls going dead in Galeena's hands, the young Corellian cursing, as the dying Bloodstripe headed straight for the Defiance'smangled shuttle bay, a protrusion of which gashed the YT-5100 across her ventral section, Roush screaming over comms for just a second too long, Keter cursing the Imps to every known perdition in every known religion, the Bloodstripe hitting the deck hard, smashing into more wreckage, jouncing Galeena and the others around by the straps of their chairs, before coming to rest in a gaping hole blasted through the bulkhead in the passageway immediately outside the shuttle bay.

Sighing, nodding her head, Galeena unbelted, shouting over her commlink for everyone to draw blaster carbines and such from the armory and abandon ship.
____________________________________________________________________

"Gods," whispered Ensign Adrian Yulee, now the captain of the Carrack-D-class cruiser Sword Hand, watching the Halleck being blasted to ions and the Defiance dragged helpless into the belly of the Imp who'd killed her friends.

"Launch droid starfighters," she said to Corporal Allie Merdown, at the same time she altered course, heading for the location of the Imperial Star Destroyer's tractor-beam projector at full speed, using the vessel's small size and the interference generated by all the explosions to remain undetected, 144 TIE/d droid starfighters flying out of the Carrack-D's internal hangar bay at max acceleration, surrounding the Star Destroyer, nibbling at it with lasers and concussion missiles.

"We've got Defenders and blastboats heading our way!" Gunnery Sergeant Timora Shel cried out, the Sword Hand's twenty quad heavy lasers—all of them manned by SD droid brains—hammering at the incoming enemy craft as they tore at the ship's shields from all directions, the cruiser bulling her way through them, as Adrian manipulated the helm controls, skimming the deck of the Imp Star Destroyer, the fifteen heavy turbolasers locking onto the approximate location of the tractor beam projector and letting go, burning wreckage and vented atmosphere shooting up from the wound the Sword Hand had inflicted, Adrian closing to point-blank range, the Carrack-D on top of the gaping, ragged hole, Timora letting go with several more turbolaser salvos, widening the hole and bringing forth more venting gas and wreckage, even as the cruiser herself shook from hit after percussive hit.
___________________________________________________________________
Hult swore, as his pit lieutenant reported heavy damage throughout the Tyranny, a droid starfighter buzzing the bridge, pulling up just in front of it to hammer one of the shield generators, the veteran Star Destroyer commander barking out orders for the tractor beam crews to recapture the Corellian gunship and Master Sinear's prize as the lights flickered and dimmed to red emergency illumination.

The deck shaking underneath his feet, the pit lieutenant reporting the destruction of both shield generators by droid starfighters, as well as the inability of the sensor techs to find that Carrack-D cruiser, Hult tartly replying,"try directing the fighters and blastboats to the breach in our hull," the massive Star Destroyer shaking under his feet again.
____________________________________________________________________

"I don't think so, you fraggin' kriff," Loata growled, Valan, Tallbert, Faeyr and he driving blaster bolts into the rogue Jedi at the same time, the frag turning on his heel, redirecting their fire, Faeyr instantly falling backward into the passageway, Loata feeling the one which killed him burning through his heart, the Defiance's captain firing anyway, even as his vision began to redden and darken, the rogue chuckling,"inferior," as he casually walked towards them, Loata unable to keep from feeling cold, unable to keep himself from falling to his knees, struggling to keep his blaster carbine aimed at the treacherous Jedi.

His body giving up all struggle in spite of him, the Jedi laughing softly to himself.
____________________________________________________________________
Anayah's lightsaber was in her hands, the Jedi Padawan on her feet, slashing downward, the heretic turning to face her, only to find the two surviving crewers pouring blaster fire into him from behind, forcing him to split his attentions between parrying their blaster bolts and her lightsaber.

He wasn't able to devote any to the Vong shaper charging out of her bed, slamming into him from the side, knocking him off balance, Anayah screaming angry profanities, as the rogue hurled her away from him, into a nearby bulkhead with more than enough force to kill her instantly, a tall, blonde woman with Corellian bloodstripes on her uniform appearing in the doorway to pump bolts from her heavy blaster pistol into his head, the resulting wound gushing forth...dead, blackened bits of flesh, the rogue crumpling instantly to the floor.

Rapidly aging a good fifty, hundred years in the process of dying, or maybe it was the effort of using the dark side to kill Mezhan...maybe it was the fight, Anayah didn't know, and didn't care right now, all she could feel was....

The twelve-year old girl sighed, shaking her head, guilt washing over her...they were all dead because of her, what she represented, she knew this now, Mezhan, this ship's captain and first officer, those poor souls on Bandomeer and out in space, they were all dead, because their enemies...because they themselves...believed her life was more important than theirs...that the lives of Jedi had more value than those of ordinary beings.

She may have thought that as well...she saw now how much of a blasphemy against the Force it was.

"C'mon," the young Corellian woman said to Anayah, Anayah shaking her head, telling the three of them,"go...get yourselves and the rest of the AgriCorps people to the escape pods....I'll be all right...."
____________________________________________________________________
"What?!" Galeena said, not believing her ears...fraggin' Jedi, they could be so....

Frag this.

She started to walk over to where the young Jedi was standing, with every intention of grabbing her by the arm and dragging her to one of the escape pods if need be.

She was sliding backwards in spite of her own best intentions.

"I said go," the Jedi said, brooking no nonsense, adding,"if they want me, then they can have me, no one else.

Now, please, just do as I ask."

Galeena nodded, whispering:

"May the Force be with you."

as the young Jedi walked past the three of them and out of the sickbay.
____________________________________________________________________

"Reading multiple escape pod launches from the Defiance," Allie reported, Adrian moving them away from the Star Destroyer, back towards where the Corellian gunship was being reeled back into its ventral hangar bay, Defenders and blastboats swooping down on the escape pods, Adrian matching the course and speed of most of them, opening the cruiser's hangar bay doors, Timora firing the quads to drive off the enemy, Adrian activating the ship's five tractor beam projectors, sweeping the escape pods inside the Sword Hand, Adrian calling up the ship's stats, noting she had a few hundred SD-10s on hand to supplement the normal complement of naval troopers, the Sword Hand's acting captain directing some of them to meet the Defiance survivors.

"They're all aboard," Allie reported a few moments later. "SD droids are directing them to sickbay; the highest-ranking member of the Defiance's crew is en route to the bridge to take command."

Recalling the Sword Hand's droids took a few more moments, Adrian taking the time to calculate the jump to Garqi, the cruiser entering hyperspace the instant she'd recovered the last of her TIE/ds.

[Farin Vash]

"Sir,"the pit lieutenant reported,"the last enemy cruiser has jumped to lightspeed, with most of the survivors from the Corellian gunship."

"Most?" Hult, ready to strangle the incompetent where he stood, not relishing the prospect of having that done to him when he reported his failure to Lord Admiral Jaran aboard the Shadow Lord.

The pit lieutenant not immediately answering his captain, instead ordering one of the sensor techs in his charge to,"scan that lifesign for the presence of midicholorians."

The sensor tech immediately replying,"midicholorian levels of the being detected in the gunship's starboard airlock are similar to those detected in Force users."

"One of the heretics?" Hult replied.

"A twelve-year old Human female, sir," the pit lieutenant replied." According to the personnel manifest provided us by the Shadow Council, one of the heretic Jedi was a twelve-year old Human female Padawan."

Hult's left hand went refleively to the hilt of his lightsaber, a tight smile drawing the muscles of his long, narrow face to their breaking point.

"Have a battalion of stormtroopers meet me in the ventral hangar bay, Lieutenant, and ready my shuttle for immediate launch to the Shadow Lord."

Without waiting for the subordinate's reply, Hult then smartly turned on his heel and walked off the bridge.
___________________________________________________________________

Anayah took another deep breath, as she stood in the airlock, waiting for the Defiance to stop moving, concentrating on reaching out with the Force to the containment field controls for the reactors on both the gunship and the wrecked blastboat in the shuttle bay, touching them, the control circuitry un-ionized, Anayah breathing deeply again, the Corellian gunship now at relative rest, the Padawan sensing the stormtroopers on the other side of the airlock hatch she now began cycling open, a void in the Force joining them.

Anayah collecting herself, as she stepped through the open hatchway onto the deck of the Imperial Star Destroyer.
____________________________________________________________________

Arrogant in her heresy, the girl stepped onto his deck, bowing her head slightly towards Hult, the Imperial Knight reaching out with the Force to slap her down one, two, three times, blood running from the corner of her mouth, as she tried to stand up, Hult hauling her up to slightly above the deck with another use of the Force.

Only to let her go without intending to, the Imperial Knight suddenly drained, his arms heavy, his knees starting to buckle, Hult screaming obscenities at the heretic, as he drew and ignited his lightsaber, charging her, the little frag not even bothering to draw her own weapon to defend herself, just stood there, a serene expression on her face in spite of the blood running down it, the commander of the Tyranny not hesitating, not daring to show weakeness in front of her or his men, cutting....

...through the brown robes falling like dead leaves onto the deck, Hult whirling around on his heel, barking out,"not one—"

A hot roaring light silencing him for all time.

[Farin Vash]

Elsho, Garqi System
Day 121, 484 ABY

"Intesify fire from the forward batteries!" Fleet Admiral Nachok Teh'kett, commander of the Galactic Alliance's Fifth Fleet, barked to the pit crew of his flagship, the Pellaeon-class Star Dreadnaught Mace Windu, as it shook underneath the Bothan's feet, X-Wings, Defenders and Howlrunners buzzing the Windu, pumping lasers and concussion missiles into its hull, the flagship's own turbolaser batteries and proton torpedo tubes salvoing themselves into an Imperial Pellaeon-class ship, two of the Windu's fourteen wings of X-101 Vapaad starfighters harrying it, the flagship's comm tech informing Teh'kett,"Admiral, Line Captain Cord of the Rogue Squadron hailing you."

"Yes, " the Fifth Fleet commander said to the holographic image of one of his line captains,"good; Aleeta, we need the way to Bandomeer cleared of any Imperial obstructions."

"Understood, Admiral," Aleeta Cord replied, nodding her head, adding,"may the Force be with you."

"With us all, Captain," Teh'kett replied grimly, an X-Wing exploding just meters from the bridge windows, the Fifth Fleet commander adding,"if it's in a mood to listen to us."
____________________________________________________________________



"Jump to lightspeed," Captain of the Line Aleeta Cord said to the pilot of the Skywalker-class assault carrier Rogue Squadron, the 1.1-kilometer starship, its attendant Corellian Interceptor X-class escort frigates and its 432 Incom X-101 Vapaad starfighters all jumping from their position behind the current Galactic Alliance battle line into hyperspace, the Rogue Squadron's captain and commander of the 1143d Heavy Assault Line sitting up in her chair, tensing up in anticipation of what she was certain was waiting for her somewhere between the Garqi and Bandomeer systems, thinking all the while on what was left behind...it had taken nearly a century to restore Garqi after the Vong had reshaped it 500 years ago...it had been the breadbasket and learning center for half of the Outer Rim, a Jedi Praxeum built in Peskada following the end of the Sith-Imperial War.

The Imps had undone that all in a few minutes, superlasers and hex weapons completely devastating the planet, catching the Fifth Fleet by surprise and spread thin across the region, the command group and the local defense forces on the back foot throughout the entire battle...Admiral Teh'kett was hoping to retreat to Bandomeer, pull together the rest of the fleet, bring in the Fourth Fleet from near the Remnant Sectors and the Eighth Fleet from the Unknown Regions and launch a counterstrike.

Which would work, assuming—

The bridge shook, alarms howling, the ship's pilot, Lieutenant Commander Olannah Cree, reporting,"encountering unknown mass shadow, HIMS system engaging."

"All ships drop out of hyperspace!" Aleeta barked over comms, the Rogue Squadron juddering, as she reverted to realspace right on top of a Immobilizer 827-class interdictor cruiser, the command bridge's master holotank showing four squadrons of Defenders twisting and turning away from their intended targets to engage the Galactic Alliance assault carrier.

The Carracks and Carrack-Ds of the Imperial interdiction line closing in on...Cassandran freighters, several hundred A-Wings, B-Wings, Y-Wings and Crossfires, a good dozen or so small and medium Imp capital warships...the Halleck's two squadrons of Twin Tails, two of the 153d Line's gunships and one of its corvettes, Aleeta not even wanting to think about what had happened to the others.

The Halleck, in particular.
____________________________________________________________________
"Forward shields buckling," K'holen reported, slamming turbolasers and proton torps into the attacking Carracks, Tamar too busy coordinating the efforts of her ship, the Clamor, the Cresendo, the Halleck's two starfighter squadrons, the comandeered Imperial ships and the Bandomeer fighters in defending the Cassandran ships, the acting commander of what remained of the 153d Line somewhat relieved at the arrival of the Galactic Alliance heavy assault line, knowing what that meant for their chances of safe harbor at Garqi, but that was a worry for another time.

A squadron of Bandomeer Crossfires caught and savaged one of the enemy cruisers, ripping it to shreds, one of the Halleck's squadrons fastening onto another one, Bandomeer A-Wings and B-Wings concentrating their fire on two more, the Target's bridge shaking again, new alarm klaxons howling, the voice of the corvette's chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Ali Wardon, reporting over comms,"reactor containment's destablilizing, and we have overloads, circuit burnouts and uncontrolled fires all over the ship."

"Divert all available power to the forward deflectors," Tamar replied, Wardon telling her,"Captain, you have all the power we can give you down h—Emperor's black bones!"

Emperor's black bones, indeed....that was a bad hit, a direct one to the number six proton torpedo launcher—with a missile in the tube—Wardon relaying damage reports from the torpedo room, R11s and R12s already en route to liberate those trapped inside and effect repairs.

At the same time, the Target's eight dual turbolasers scored direct hits on two more Carracks, cracking them both in half from hits to their reactors, the sensor tech shouting out,"Howlrunners and droid TIE fighters inbound!" as the Carrack-Ds closed with the convoy behind a cloud of manned and droid starfighters.
____________________________________________________________________

"Sithspawn," Me'liza swore, driving her Twin Tail into the oncoming formation of Howls and droid TIEs, lasers and TGP firing full-bore—she'd long since run out of proton torpedos—blasting ragged, temporary holes into the enemy, Ellthree's warning bleats an almost constant background hum now, the R11 struggling to divert power to her shields and effect repairs.

An elderly Imp Lancer-class frigate was moving slowly up beside her, all twenty of its quad heavy lasers pounding into fighters all round it, its shields awash in blue and green laser fire, concussion missiles detonating against them, some getting through to send parts of the ion engines flying through space in a comet-like trail serving to let the gunners on the Carrack-Ds know where to aim their turbolasers.

Me'liza getting there first, manuevering her Twin Tail through a momentary gap in the enemy starfighters, skimming the hull plating of one of the cruisers, getting a clear shot at the enemy's midline and letting go with a blast from the TGP which split it in two, the heavy quads of another Carrack-Dstabbing at her, proton torps flying past her to slam into the second cruiser's flank, Me'liza following it up with a turbolaser salvo, the enemy warship breaking up before them.

"Thanks for the assist," Me'liza, checking her HUD, said,"Falcon Ten."
____________________________________________________________________

The interdictor crumpled underneath the combined assault of the Rogue Squadron's twenty octuple heavy turbolasers, ten dual superheavy turbolasers, ten fire-linked proton torpedo tubes and six Vapaad wings, the starfighters clearing away the Defenders and joining the Interceptors in making short work of the enemy cruisers, Aleeta listening to the reports coming in from the starfighter control bridge on the ship's port side, as well as to those made by her own command bridge crew, as the 1143d Line, the survivors of the 153d and the Bandomeer starfighters finished mopping up.

Only after the last Imperial warship had been destroyed did she order the comm tech to establish contact with the captain of the Flying Target.
____________________________________________________________________

"I can only assume the Halleck's been destroyed, ma'am," Tamar answered the last of Line Captain Cord's questions. "An Imp Star Destroyer had microjumped right on top of her, just as we jumped to lightspeed, and—"

"No need," Line Captain Cord, her voice visibily strained,"to explain, Captain."

The Rogue Squadron's commander then sighing, telling Tamar what she already knew:

"Garqi's fallen. The Imps hit and hit hard, forcing us to retreat to Elsho, where we're just barely holding our own. Admiral Teh'Kett was hoping we could rally at Bandomeer, pull the Fifth Fleet together from all over the Rim, reinforce with the Fourth and Eighth Fleets and launch a counteroffensive, but...."

Tamar simply nodded her head in reply, at a loss as to what to do next.
____________________________________________________________________

Another hit sent much of the Windu's bridge falling down on top of its crew, Teh'kett snapping off a rude word in his native language, a sensor tech reporting the arrival of nearly a hundred MC 220-class cruisers in system, the Mon Cals not waiting for explanations or orders before diving into the Imps and savaging them good, Mon Cal Viscount-class Star Defenders reverting to realspace behind them.

Along with the command elements of the Fourth Fleet.

"Fleet Admiral Niem hailing you, sir," the comm tech reported, the Fourth Fleet's Sullustian commander instantly appearing in front of Teh'kett, coming straight to the point:

"We've lost Mon Cal, Nachok; Imps didn't fool around this time, they just...my gods, they burned it to a crisp...those frags used hex weapons...their superlasers as well, they just...."

He trailed off, Teh'kett swearing underneath his breath, more Imps, too many more of his ships, dying in space before his eyes.

[Farin Vash]

In orbit over Garqi
Day 121, 484 ABY





Lieutenant Sacarra Valan had virtually no time to acquaint herself with the command which had fallen into her lap, before the comandeered Imperial cruiser Sword Hand reverted to realspace inside the orbit of Garqi.

Imperial warships of every class known to her enveloping the planet now burning in space.

No sign of the Fifth Fleet anywhere.

"Imps are challenging us, Captain," the young corporal serving as comm tech reported,"demanding we either identify ourselves immediately, or—"

"Emperor's black bones!" the gunnery sergeant manning the sensors exclaimed,"we've got Defenders inbound!"

"I see that," Sacarra said, as calmly as one could with Imperial starfighters swarming just outside her bridge windows.

"Lieutenant?" Gunnery Sergeant Lena Tallbert asked.

"Launch droid starfighters, and open fire!" Sacarra said, without a second thought...if she replied, and the Imps saw spacers in Galactic Alliance uniforms manning the Sword Hand's bridge, the result would've been the same.

The cruiser's ten heavy turbolasers began hammering at an Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaught, the quad heavy lasers engaging the fighters at the same time the two wings of TIE/Ds poured out of the ship's hangar bay, the young corporal—she believed her name was Merdown, something like that—reporting,"Captain, Chief Thrax reports she has enough pilots to man at least a squadron of the advanced Howlrunners."

Sacarra nodded...there was a wing of I-7GbK starfighters on board the Sword Hand, and, between the prize crew from the Halleck, the spacers from the Jedi AgriCorps transport and the survivors of the Bloodstripe and the Defiance, she had a total of fifty-four crew, far short of the ship's normal crew complement of 132...good thing a Carrack's-D combination of droid technology and slave rigging allowed the ship to be operated by a single individual from the helm station.

Still....

"Howlrunners away," Merdown reported, Lena blasting gaping holes into the Eclipse, the Sword Hand skimming the skin of the main deck, turbolasers pounding away, the cruiser outracing several of the Defenders purusing it, Skipray blastboats and small capital warships now converging on the Sword Hand, the Wookie running things in engineering growling out several choice words in Shryiwook, as all the shields buckled at once.

[Farin Vash]

The I-7GbK starfighter rocketed out of the Sword Hand's hangar bay, Galeena juking and weaving it in and out of a formation of Defenders, both Taim&Bak heavy lasers blazing away, Galeena salvoing one of the Advanced Howlrunner's eight proton torpedos into a flight of enemy machines, taking two, the remaining element attempting to bracket her, the AgriCorps crewer serving as her impromptu wingman closing the bracket around them instead, the two Howlrunners pouring laser fire into the two Defenders, disintegrating one, sending the other spinning in a firey arc towards the burning planet below, momentarily clearing the way to the deck of the Eclipse.

An opportunity she intended to exploit.

"Bloodstripe Leader to Bloodstripe Squadron," she said into the comm, improvising a callsign as she went along," cover Two and myself, as we try to put a hurting on that Eclipse. Three and Four, you'll follow us as soon as we complete our run, with Five and Six following them, and so on."

"May the Force be with us all," one of the AgriCorps crewers intoned in reply.

"I think," Galeena replied, pushing the control yoke all the way forward,"we're going to have to go it alone on this one."
__________________________________________________________________

"Intensify fire from the forward batteries!" Commodore Thalen Lord Evenson, Knight of the Imperial Order, commander of the Imperial 338th Systems Force, ordered the gunners of the Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaught Japheth, anti-starfighter lasers by the score opening up on the two modified Howlrunners diving down on his flagship, the starfighter controllers desperately trying to vector trips to destroy the two hostile starfighters before--

Fierfek!

The Japheth's bridge leapt out from under Evenson's feet, explosions rippling through his command vessel, damage reports coming in a torrent from all over the ship, the captain turning to him, getting out the words,"My Lord Commodore--" before the ship wrenched violently again, alarms adding to the din, several stations in the command pit exploding, hurling men from them to impact wetly and noisily against the bulkheads, Evenson having to summon up some of his dwindling grip on the Force to stop the ceiling from its progress to the deck.

Even that little effort staggered the scion of one of the restored Empire's ruling families, Evenson feeling his body wither further away as it expended more of itself in the process of using the Force...he would have to undergo rejunvenation and soon, too soon, the New Order needed all of its champions now more than ever, now it had succeeded in setting the heretics and the darksiders at one another's throats.

"Report from the surface, my Lord Commodore," the Japheth's comm tech said. "Lord General Khar says all the heretics on the surface have either been collected for harvesting or eliminated, along with their defenders, and that we are in full, uncontested control of Garqi."

"Some good news," Evenson observed to himself, even as the bridge windows and the shutters shielding them both exploded inward, ripping most of the crewers and officers stationed here to ribbons of bloody, screaming flesh, Evenson shielding himself with the Force.

That shield weakening and failing, shards of the bridge tearing through him, the ashes of what had been flesh and blood floating down onto the deck.

Evenson's body aging further, the Imperial Knight staggering into a waiting turbolift, sagging against the back wall, his vision tunneling out, as he felt himself lose consciousness.
__________________________________________________________________

"Am reading Fifth Fleet signals in orbit over Elsho!" Merdown reported, Sacarra ordering Lena to recall the droid fighters, just before she told the Howlrunners to jump to lightspeed.

The Sword Hand doing the same once she'd recovered the last of her droids.

[Farin Vash]

In orbit over Bandomeer
Day 121, 484 ABY

"My Lord--" the captain of the Imperial Star Dreadnaught Shadow Lord started to say, Admiral Hannar Lord Jaran, newly emerged from rejuvenation, fixing him with an icy stare, telling him,"it had better be good news, for your sake, Captain."

"The reactor and gravity well generator have both been repaired, sir," his flag captain replied, bowing low in deference to the Imperial Knight. "We can jump for Bastion at any time."

"Recall our troops from the surface," Jaran said, walking ahead of the Shadow Lord's captain, towards the turbolift leading to the bridge,"and deploy the interdiction station and magpulse generators. Instruct the Judgement, the Supremacy, and the Imperial Mercy to sow pulse-mass mines in the standard pattern when they jump; we will do the same."

"The orders have already been given, my Lord," the captain replied, the two men entering the lift at the same time, Jaran revelling in the return of vitality and the renewed connection to the Force.

"How many did we manage to collect for harvesting?" he asked, the captain replied,"nearly three thousand, my Lord, almost all the potential Force sensitives amongst the Bandomeer population that the Shadow Council's agents had managed to track; the last of them have just been brought on board."

"Better and better," Jaran, pleased with the total success of his plan, remarked.

"And the HoloNet transceiver?" he then asked, one final and most essential detail to attend to.

"Fully functional, sir," the captain replied, the lift doors opening onto the upper level of the Shadow Lord's bridge.

"They," he added, in a cold, harsh voice,"will all see for themselves the wages of heresy."

"Good," was the only reply Jaran would give to that, the captain ordering the four surviving Imperial warships to jump to lightspeed.
____________________________________________________________________

Tamar swore, her ship shaking violently, as it reverted to realspace well short of Bandomeer, turbolasers and anti-starfighter weapons automatically locking on to thousands of pulse-mass mines sown around the planet, the bulk of what the Target's sensors clearly identified as an Imperial interdiction station sitting high in polar orbit, locking its weapons on the survivors of the 153d Line and the Bandomeer starfighters.

The Clamor exploded from converging heavy turbolaser bursts, the station's hangar bays vomiting TIE/lns and TIE Interceptors by the score, the enemy craft going four-on-one with the Galactic Alliance fighters, the Target's anti-starfighter defenses overwhelmed by the sheer volume of small craft.

"Fierfek!" K'holen swore. "We've got skips inbound, lots of 'em, using those old TIEs as cover to get to us."

The corvette shook itself apart, more of the bridge falling down around Tamar and her crew.

"That's done it for the forward and port deflectors, Captain," K'holen remarked grimly, Wardon's voice reporting over comms,"We've lost half our ion engines, and the reactor's not much—"

The chief engineer's voice dying with a sizzle-craack!, as the internal comm system failed, the bridge lighting flickering and sputtering out, red emergency lighting glowing fitfully, as the Target kept soaking up horrific amounts of damage.
____________________________________________________________________

Me'Liza jinked madly, her lasers ripping into ancient, but no less effective TIE/lns and TIE/ints, Ellthree not even bothering with bleating his concern for their safety, the astromech devoting his full attention to keeping the Twin-Tail from falling apart.

An explosion immediately ahead of her blinded her through her darkened visor, Me'Liza flying through it, her shields pelted with debris, as she came out the other side, TGP blasting skips fastening onto the Flying Target like leeches on a fat bantha, the crippled Corellian corvette slewing on its remaining maneuvering thrusters, debris and ionized gases trailing from too many ruptured engine pods, its starboard and aft deflectors flaring weakly, as they absorbed lasers and concussion missiles, the Target having only her tractor beam to sweep missiles away from her front and port sides, the ship edging closer to the station's octuple heavy turbolasers with each passing second.
____________________________________________________________________

"Now, pilot," E'li'ah snapped,"ahead full!"

The Cresendo, nearly all her reactor power diverted to her three powerful ion engines, surged forward, carrying some of the skips with her, as she found a way through the TIEs, through the mines, locking on to the station's shield generators and loosing volley after volley of concussion missiles which tore their target apart.

"All power to shields!" E'li'ah shouted, as the inveitable response rained down on her ship, shaking it, damage reports coming in torrents over the comm system, Nadjaa adding the fire of the Cresendo's turbolasers to the destructive power of her missiles.

"Rogue Squadron and her escorts reverting to realspace," the sensor tech reported, to which the gunship's chief pilot, Lieutenant Arman Poul, replied,"about kriffing time."
____________________________________________________________________

"Sir!" the sensor tech reported,"Galactic Alliance Skywalker-class assault carrier and escorts reverting to realspace 30,000 kilometers from us!"

"Stang," Lieutenant Jalmar Calrissian swore under his breath, as he stood at the center of his burning wreck of an operations center, watching his turbolasers trade fire with a half-dead Corellian corvette and a equally-shot-up Corellian gunship, the enemy carrier spitting out Vapaad starfighters in a cloud of grey which had little trouble blasting through the ancient TIE fighters assigned to his command, the blastboats, as equally obselescent as the TIEs, lasting equally as long against modern fightercraft.

Calrissan shook his head...this had been his last chance for advancement, both for himself and his family, mired in four centuries' worth of poverty, degradation and obscurity on some backwater world in the Remnant, and it was going to end as disastrously as all the others...the station had just come on line, when the fragging Galactic Alliance had launched its attack, clearing away the mines, knocking down the shields, damaging the gravity well generator and smashing most of the station to bits.

The deck continued shaking under his feet, damage reports overloading the comm system, Calrissian wondering if that kriffing gunship was ever going to run out of missiles to lob into his station, the gunship's volley now joined by a volley of proton torps from the corvette.

And the turbolasers of the carrier, its attendant escort frigates and starfighters, and every other surviving Galactic Alliance starfighter and capital warship still operational, Calrissian watching his dreams of advancement wash away once and for all in a flash of greenish-red fire.

[Farin Vash]

"Captain," the sensor tech's report came almost immediately after the wreckage of the Imp interdiction station fell into Bandomeer's poisoned atmosphere,"sensors picking up twenty-four heavily-shielded magpulse generators on the surface. all of them—"

The Rogue Squadron shaking as turbolaser fire from the planet's surface struck her shields.

"We've got droid TIEs coming up from the surface," came the report from the starfighter control bridge,"upwards of a thousand."

"Generators are protected by droid gun emplacements," the sensor tech said, continuing his report,"turbolasers and anti-personnel blasters."

"Weapons officer," Aleeta ordered almost immediately, watching her Vapaads turn to engage the incoming droids," use the sensors to pinpoint weak spots in the generators' shields; we'll take them out quickly with precision fire from the turbolasers and proton torpedos. Comm tech, order the Flying Target to assume position inside our deflectors, so as to offer mutual protection, then have the other capital ships link their weapon systems with ours; starfighters will keep those kriffing droids off our backs."
____________________________________________________________________

Now, we have droids to contend with, Me'Liza thought darkly, whipping her Twin-Tail around, aiming it at the nearest knot of enemy TIEs, guns blazing on both sides, Me'Liza's shots near enough to the droid fightercraft as to momentarily scatter their formation, Me'Liza and her wingman then picking out a TIE to bracket, bringing all their firepower to bear on it, instantly dispersing his atoms halfway across the Outer Rim, the two Twin Tails turning as one, isolating another droid from the rest, pounding him just as quickly, the other Galactic Alliance starfighters turning the Imperials' strength in numbers against him in the same manner.

At the same time, the capital warships unleashed their firepower upon each of the magpulse generators on planet, using precision fire to enlarge, then slip through weak spots in their shields, blasting them instantly, their combined anti-starfighter firepower destroying any droid TIEs which got through the starfighters.

It was finally over.

Finally over, the veteran starfighter pilot thought to herself again, eyes on the planet still burning below her, all the wreckage and dead bodies floating in orbit, slowly falling into what remained of Bandomeer's atmosphere.

Yeah, she remarked bitterly, turning her battered starfighter around, heading for the Rogue Squadron.

[Farin Vash]

Epilogue

Outside the ruins of Bandor, Bandomeer
Day 123, 484 ABY

The collar of her dress uniform chafed the back of Galeena's neck, the newly-promoted ensign standing at attention, the last of the funeral pyres set ablaze, the priests of a dozen pantheons and major deities speaking a few last words to their departed faithful.

The pyres together took up almost as much room as the city of Bandor, Galeena's own mind drifting to those of her crew who'd lost their lives, the twelve-year old girl who'd gave up her life to save those she hadn't even known, all the others who'd died here, on Garqi, Mon Cal, and Force only knew where else....

The new Supreme Chancellor, Markus, had gone on the HoloNet immediately after the remains of the Senate had relocated to Corellia, told them the enormity of it all, heretic Jedi helping the Imps and the Sith usher in a new dark time.

Markus had gone further, announcing the resurrection of the Galactic Alliance Guard, charging them with hunting down and purging the Jedi Order and the larger Galaxy of these heretics, appointing a Jedi Master, Jaxon Sinear, as the GAG's commanding officer.

It could only get worse from that point onward.

Of that, she had absolutely no doubt.

The funeral dirges of a thousand cultures and alien races echoed through the chill air of Bandomeer, Galeena watching construction droids working in the background, building the new anchorage for the Fourth and Fifth Fleets, Admiral Teh'kett receiving a promotion to Grand Admiral, placed in charge of the campaign in the Outer Rim, the Sword Hand having orders to participate in the counterstrike against Ord Biniir, Galeena leaving with it as soon as more crewer and pilots arrived to complete its complement.

Someone else was amongst the priests tending to the funeral pyres, bathed in a ghostly blue light, Galeena sure it was....

Couldn't be, she thought to herself, knowing for certain it was.

That was Anayah Kee, looking at the pyres with a look of great sadness on her face.

That look passing, replaced with shock...then wonder, Galeena seeing what she saw, blue light suffusing many of those pyres, the spirits of those slain taking form in the Force, standing around the young Jedi Padawan, all of them looking up.

Meeting the young Corellian's eyes for just an instant before departing.
____________________________________________________________________
Imperial Order Fortress, Bastion
Day 123, 484 ABY

"It is all proceeding even better than we could've hoped, Master Rostu," Sinear's holo said calmly, leaning back in the chair of the Supreme Chancellor's temporary office in Coronet. "Very soon, the Guard will be ready to remove those Jedi who are unworthy of their titles from the Galaxy, along with those others who do not conform to our standards."

"What of the heretic who assaulted you on Ord Falklyn?" Kar Rostu, Grand Master of the Imperial Order, head of the Shadow Council, truest of all true Jedi, asked from the gloom of his inner sanctum on Bastion.

"She left before we could arrest her," Sinear replied, his face briefly twisting in anger.

Good, Rostu thought, chuckling slightly.

"However," Sinear added, regaining his composure even quicker than he'd lost it,"both she and the Padawan of mine she'd seduced and corrupted have both been discredited, and their children should already be in one of the harvesting facilities on Bastion."

Even better, Rostu thought, pleased with the progress his former Padawan had made in the two decades since the two men had parted ways.

He would be the first student Rostu had taught in five hundred years that would realize the full potential of the Force, of his own inherent superiority over all the lesser beings in the Galaxy who the Force had destined for submission under the benevolent rule of the true Jedi Order.

He flexed his right hand...he'd stopped taking for granted what it felt like to have two hands of flesh a long time ago, the memory of the prosthetic hand which had been there once burning in his brain even now, that fire serving to remind him of his failings, of all the small-minded, scheming, trifling beings which had thwarted his plans ever since that first failure on a rainy Coruscant night 518 years ago.

Today.

He suppressed his moment of anger and weakness, steepling his fingers together, telling Sinear:

"Proceed then. I will contact you as regularly as I can. May the Force be with you."

"It is with me, Master," Sinear reminded him. "With all of us."

"That is why we will prevail."

—endit—