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Star Wars - A New Power Ch. 24 - Departure
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<blockquote data-quote="Angcuru" data-source="post: 2147270" data-attributes="member: 10948"><p><strong>Prologue, Part 2</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><em>Figher Hangar Bay of the RCS Interdictor...</em></p><p></p><p>"Generals, what should we tell the occupation forces regarding your absence?" The hangar officer asked.</p><p></p><p>"We have detected a disurbance that requires our immediate and personal attention. We won't be gone for more than a few hours at most." Miera told him as she did a final systems check on her ship. Weapons systems, engines, life support, hyperdrive, check. New cloaking field that the Jedi Order fortunately doesn't know about, check.</p><p></p><p>"Are you sure this will work?" Arias asked once the officer had left.</p><p></p><p>"Of course it will. I planned it, didn't I?" Miera hit the switch to close her cockpit.</p><p></p><p>"The last time you said that we had to fight our way out of a Trade Federation Control Ship." Arias closed his cockpit and started up the engines.</p><p></p><p>"No, you forget. You took out half the droids on the ship before I cracked the system and fried the entire network."</p><p></p><p>"Same thing."</p><p></p><p>A short while later, they were in hyperspace en route to a Seperatist staging point orbiting Bespin.</p><p></p><p>"You remember the plan, Arias?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah. Now you're SURE that these cloaking devices will hide us in hyperspace, too?" Arais said over the comm.</p><p></p><p>"If they don't it'll be just like any other engagement, and we'll have to come up with another plan. No worries."</p><p></p><p>"If you say so. Hold on, we're at the dropout point." Arias watched the hyperspace countdown reach zero, and pulled they out into realspace not ten meters from each other. Right in front of a fleet of Trade Federation Dropships surrounding Bespin. Within seconds of their arrival, several wings of drone fighters scrambled to intercept them. "Ladies first." Arias blew her a kiss.</p><p></p><p>"Bah." Miera returned the kiss and set her engines to ramming speed. Arias followed soon after, the two Jedi Starfighters speeding toward what looked like at least sixty drone fighters. The drones split up into two groups, one heading for each of them.</p><p></p><p>Arias sped straight towards one group, Miera at the other. As the shooting started, Arias started into a maneuver that was both offensive and defensive, highly effective, and deceptively simple. He set shields to full forward, sent his ship into a speedy spin, and pulled back and to the right ever so slightly on the yoke, firing his ship's blasters all the way. The result was a spinning corkscrew blazing blaster fire that went ramming straight towards the center of the drone fighter formation. This forced the drones to pack into a tight group to improve the likelyhood that their concentrated fire would hit the Jedi Fighter. What few blasts that managed to hit his fighter were deflected harmlessly by the ship's shields, while his weapons took out four or five drones before he purposely collided slightly with the centermost drone, destroying it and jolting him around 180 degrees just in time to see the rest of the drones continue forward and trigger the sonic mine which he had dropped off seconds before. There was a soundless moment as the mine detonated in the middle of the tightly packed drones, taking out at least half of the formation as they scrambled to turn around.</p><p></p><p>Arias balanced out his shields and set to work taking out the remaining drones with good old blaster fire, risking a quick glance at his wind monitor screen to see how Miera was faring. Apparently, she had decided to do the exact same thing as him. Figures. She taught him how to do that, after all.</p><p></p><p>Half a minute later, they finished off the remaining drones and drifted towards each other to form back up. "Ready?" Miera asked. Their scanners indicated two incoming Mark 6 Concusion Missiles.</p><p></p><p>"That's our cue. They sure aren't fooling around with us."</p><p></p><p>Though they could keep a steady distance from the missiles by putting their engines on maxiumum, the missiles could keep up as long as their target's engines were firing, as they were powered by the stray ions picked up in their target's wake. The missiles could theoretically track a moving target until their molecular structures completely degenerated.</p><p></p><p>The two Jedi spread apart and headed directly away from the Federation Ship cluster, purposely letting the missiles almost catch up to them.</p><p></p><p>"I'm transmitting the hyperspace coordinates to you now"</p><p></p><p>"On my count. Three..." Miera said.</p><p></p><p>Arais stared at the scanner screen, watching the missiles getting closer and closer.</p><p></p><p>"Two."</p><p></p><p>Four seconds until impact.</p><p></p><p>"One."</p><p></p><p>Three seconds to impact.</p><p></p><p>'"HIT IT!" Miera yelled over the comm.</p><p></p><p>Four things happened at once, eight if you're picky. Arias and Miera simultaneously initiated their cloaking devices, started up their hyperdrives, and jettisoned their spare parts canisters. Just as they entered Hyperspace undetected, both missiles impacted the canisters in dual explosions, giving the illusion that two Jedi had just been destroyed.</p><p></p><p>Arias and Miera breathed a sigh of relief as the blue tunned of hyperspace greeted them.</p><p></p><p>"Well, it worked." Miera said.</p><p></p><p>"Thankfully. So what now?"</p><p></p><p>"You tell me, you picked out the destination."</p><p></p><p>"Well, we only have enough supplies each for a short trip, and for what we have planned, Varonet was the best bet."</p><p></p><p>"Good choice. Recently 'liberated' from the seperatists, largely decimated, lots of fleeing refugees, plentiful automated meltdown reclamation plants. Perfect. Well, not really but you know what I mean."</p><p></p><p>"We should be arriving in about six hours or so. Best get some rest." Arias said.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><em>Outer Rim world of Varonet, several hours later...</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>They emerged from hyperspace right on schedule, a short distance from the world of Varonet. Miera was thankful that they had set their ships to drop out automatically, since it was the sudden absence of the pleasant hum of hyperspace that awakened her. The apparent absence of her fighter hull was slightly unnerving, but that was also reassuring in that the cloaking device was still doing its job. A shame that they wouldn't be around for much longer, really. She pressed the comm button to contact Arias, and was greeted by an image of him slumped against the canopy, along with his soft snoring. Really, how often did you hear of a Jedi who snores? Miera grinned, upping the comm transfer volume to its maximum.</p><p></p><p>"WAKE UP, HUBBY!" She practically screamed into the comm.</p><p></p><p>"WHOWHATWHERE?!" Arias woke with a start and a jump, bumping his head on the canopy. He reoriented himself. "So we've arrived then, good."</p><p></p><p>"Ha, you should have seen the look on your face." Miera giggled. "Anyway, I've scanned the surface and found a suitable location to ditch. A reclamation plant about thirty clicks from a refugee departation station."</p><p></p><p>"Our luck is holding out, good. How long till we can get there?" Arias said, rubbing his head.</p><p></p><p>"Fifteen minutes or so. Flight schedules say there's a refugee ship departing for Endor."</p><p></p><p>"Why would they send refugees to Endor? There's nothing there but forest."</p><p></p><p>"The Holonet is advertising that the Republic desperately needs cheap labor for a mining camp there. Apparently since most refugees don't have any credits, they can pay off their trip by doing some work there, then they can earn enough to afford a trip to wherever they're going." Miera observed.</p><p></p><p>"A good opportunity to lay low for a while, then. Good. We'll take that one." Arias said.</p><p></p><p>They piloted their ships through the upper atmosphere, having waited for one of the regular meteor showers to provide cover for their entry. Even if their ships were invisible, two parallel lines of fire in the sky would be a dead giveaway. They set their ships down on the flat plains surrounding the reclamation plant, not far from the main smelter. </p><p></p><p>Miera opened the canopy on her fighter and checked out the smelter with her electrobinoculars. Two small chutes too small, but two open vats that would be just right.</p><p></p><p>"Looks like the only way is in that big vat in the center of the thing. Why it's open to the air I have <em>no</em> idea, but it'll do." She looked across to Arias, who was sitting on the wing of his fighter, getting some much-needed fresh air. "We're really going through with this, aren't we?"</p><p></p><p>"Of course we are." Arias said. "If we didn't we'd only be helping the Jedi Order to destroy itself. It's sad really. The Order may have lost its path, but it doesn't deserve to be destroyed altogether."</p><p></p><p>"Like you said, there's nothing we can do about that now. Mine first, then?"</p><p></p><p>"If you want, they're both going in there, anyway."</p><p></p><p>Miera nodded, and gathered her posessions from the ship's hold before hopping to the ground. She concentrated on the ship, and after a moment it rose into the air and was quickly drifting towards the smelting vat. It hovered for a moment, and after a short look of longing, Miera relased the Starfighter, allowing it to fall into the molten mix. Arias follows suit, with the same look of longing on his face. After several minutes, both craft are gone.</p><p></p><p>"No turning back now." Arias takes Miera's hand and squeezes it gently.</p><p></p><p>"I still can't believe it's turned out this way." She let out a shuddering sigh.</p><p></p><p>"It'll be alright, Miera."</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Three hours later they were on a medium-sized transport cramped in amongst a mix of sentients. Primairly humans and some twil'leks, but with a small minority of bothans as well. Fairly representative of the planet's populace, even the ratio of children to adults. </p><p></p><p>"A twelve-hour trip to Endor, or so the pilot said..." Arias told Miera. They sat on one of the few cushioned ledges on the largely empty ship. All of the major comforts had been removed, along with many of the walls to maximize passenger space. So much so that there wasn't even a divider between the passenger hold and the cockpit. Just one big shell.</p><p></p><p>"It may seem strange, but I can't help but notice that some of these refugees are Force Sensitive. Lucky for them the Order didn't find and recruit them, otherwise they wouldn't survive what's coming." Miera sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. They had rid themselves of their Jedi Robes before getting onto the transport, now clothed in meager disaster relief donation clothing. Not very comfortable, but it helped them blend in. Miera were soon asleep, but Arias stayed awake for the duration of the trip, watching her sleep with a little smile on his face.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Twelve hours later, they pulled out of hyperspace just as predicted.</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute...this isn't right." The pilor said. "This isn't Endor at all, it's not even NEAR Endor! The navicomputer must have screwed up bigtime!" That got Arias' attention <em>very</em> fast. The Seperatists had developed technology that let them pull craft out of hyperspace, and the Republic had taken it from them. Did they know that he and Miera had deserted?!</p><p></p><p>Arias rushed to the 'cockpit', expecting to see a Republic or Seperatist fleet waiting out there, gloating at him. Instead he saw that the ship had come out of hyperspace in the middle of an asteroid belt in a system he did not even remotely recognize. In fact, one thing he didn't recognize in particular was the asteroid headed right for them at what seemed to be a VERY high speed. Arias pointed it out to the pilot.</p><p></p><p>"There, it's coming right for us!"</p><p></p><p>"I see it!" The pilot seemingly didn't mind getting orders from who was to him just another nameless refugee when his life was in danger. "I don't think we can get out of the way in time!" Panic looked to be setting in on the pilot. It was clear that the transport didn't have the capacity to maneuver out of the rock's path in time. The ships sensors started blaring a warning that the asteroid was on a collision course with the transport. </p><p></p><p><em>Looks like I have no choice.</em> Arias held his palm against the duraglass of the cockpit, reaching out to the asteroid.</p><p></p><p>"What the heck are you doing! I can't see-..." The pilot saw the asteroid...slowing down? he looked up at Arias, seeing his face a mask of concentration.</p><p></p><p>Arias clutched the rock in his mind, pushing against it to slow it down and guide it away from the ship. It glided past the cockpit, but grated against the ship's hull with a resounding groan from the superstructure.</p><p></p><p>Miera (along with everyone else) woke with a jolt. She saw Arais standing next to the pilot and rushed over to him. "What's going on?!"</p><p></p><p>"We came out of hyperspace in the wrong place. It's no system I recognize, and what's more, we came out into an asteroid belt!"</p><p></p><p>More sensors blared warnings. </p><p></p><p>"Another asteroid!?" Arias demanded of the pilot.</p><p></p><p>"No, it's something else." The pilot called up a diagnostics list. "Oh hell..."</p><p></p><p>"What?!" Miera demanded</p><p></p><p>"We're leaking oxygen and fuel." The pilot went pale. "That collision must have ruptured the life support and engine systems." He checked advanced diagnostics. "We have two hours before life support fails!"</p><p></p><p>This brought a generous bout of panic and screaming from the tightly-packed refugees.</p><p></p><p>"SILENCE!" Arias commanded. Surprisingly, it worked. "If we panic, we die."</p><p></p><p>"Quickly, do a scan of the nearby planets. There may be some that can support life." Miera said.</p><p></p><p>"Right." The pilot shook his head and went to work scanning. He asked to noone in particular, "You're Jedi, aren't you."</p><p></p><p>"What makes you say that?" Arias asked.</p><p></p><p>"The asteroid, you kept it from destroying us, somehow."</p><p></p><p>"Maybe, but I'm not a Jedi." Arais said.</p><p></p><p>Miera looked at him, shocked for a moment. Then her expression softened, and she nodded.</p><p></p><p>"Hey, you could be a Wookie Go-Go Dancing Sith for all I care, you saved our lives."</p><p></p><p>"That's an...interesting observation." Arias said.</p><p></p><p>"Forget about that, what does the scan show?" Miera asked.</p><p></p><p>"One planet in the entire system that can support life. Forest/Jungle type."</p><p></p><p>"Which one is it?"</p><p></p><p>"That one right in front of us." The pilot pointed at a blue-greed sphere surrounded by asteroids. "We can reach it before life support runs out, but then theres's those asteroids the contend with. Doesn't look like we have much choice, though."</p><p></p><p>Arias rubbed the sides of his head in frustration. Then he noticed that all of the refugees were silent, and looking at him expectantly, pleadingly, even. <em>Again, no choice.</em> "Just get the ship to that planet, let us worry about the asteroids."</p><p></p><p>The pilot looked at Miera and Arias. "Right." He put the engines on full speed.</p><p></p><p>For a tense hour, there was silence in the ship as it moved steadily towards the unknown planet. An hour which the two now ex-Jedi spent constanly warding off incoming asteroids as the planet grew larger in their vision.</p><p></p><p>"We'll be intering the atmosphere in one minute." The pilot finally announced, bringing a strange mixture of relief and panic to all aboard.</p><p></p><p>The threat of the asteroids was now past, but there was still the question of whether the damaged transport could make a successful landing. Everyone who could held fast to the nearest solid object, and a few people <em>were</em> that nearest solid object. Arias and Miera held onto each other. The entry through the atmosphere rocked the ship violently, but passed quickly. They came out into thick clouds, then into an open, blue sky, which would have been a pleasant site in any other situation. Especially considering that the pilot reported having lost control of the ship, and they were heading for an outcropping of rock on the edges of a thick forest. Arias and Miera tried to take hold of the ship through the force to slow their approach, but the ship was moving too fast and they were far too tired to have any noticable effect. Inevitably, they impacted.</p><p></p><p>How much time had passed before she awoke, Miera had no idea. The inside of the ship was total black. An occasional moan could be heard, but other than that, there was silence. There was no way to find out how many had survived and how many...didn't. Miera fumbled around, not knowing which way was up. She felt the around until she found the exit hatch, and tried to open it. No luck, it must have been damaged in the crash.</p><p></p><p>Miera took the lightsaber which she had hidden in her clothes, held it against the hatch, and ignited it. After a few seconds, she pulled it back. Daylight shone through the hole she had made. She quickly stuck her blade back into the door, this time at the edge, slowly working it around until she had completely cut out the door. With a kick, the hatch fell out and hit ground. Light poured into the ship. Miera saw Arias slumped against a wall, and hurriedly dragged him out of the ship. She shook him gently and pleaded with him to wake up. After several minutes, his eyes opened. </p><p></p><p>"Oh, thank the force you're alright." She held him close.</p><p></p><p>Arias reached up and stroked her cheek. "That's the second time in two days you've said something like that. Lets try not to make a habit out of it."</p><p></p><p>Miera smiled. "<em>You</em> try to stay out of trouble."</p><p></p><p>The refugees had begun to come out of the crashed ship. Some lay on the ground, some kissed it in thanks, while others helped carry the dead and wounded out of the ship. All told, surprisingly few had died. Aside from seven or eight of the sick and elderly who had died, there were a few broken limbs, but nothing more serious than that, although everyone had their share of bruises.</p><p></p><p>Arias looked over them for some time, and then at their ship, which lay imbeded nose-first in rock at a crazy angle. "I think we're going to be here for a while."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Angcuru, post: 2147270, member: 10948"] [b]Prologue, Part 2[/b] [center][i]Figher Hangar Bay of the RCS Interdictor...[/i][/center] "Generals, what should we tell the occupation forces regarding your absence?" The hangar officer asked. "We have detected a disurbance that requires our immediate and personal attention. We won't be gone for more than a few hours at most." Miera told him as she did a final systems check on her ship. Weapons systems, engines, life support, hyperdrive, check. New cloaking field that the Jedi Order fortunately doesn't know about, check. "Are you sure this will work?" Arias asked once the officer had left. "Of course it will. I planned it, didn't I?" Miera hit the switch to close her cockpit. "The last time you said that we had to fight our way out of a Trade Federation Control Ship." Arias closed his cockpit and started up the engines. "No, you forget. You took out half the droids on the ship before I cracked the system and fried the entire network." "Same thing." A short while later, they were in hyperspace en route to a Seperatist staging point orbiting Bespin. "You remember the plan, Arias?" "Yeah. Now you're SURE that these cloaking devices will hide us in hyperspace, too?" Arais said over the comm. "If they don't it'll be just like any other engagement, and we'll have to come up with another plan. No worries." "If you say so. Hold on, we're at the dropout point." Arias watched the hyperspace countdown reach zero, and pulled they out into realspace not ten meters from each other. Right in front of a fleet of Trade Federation Dropships surrounding Bespin. Within seconds of their arrival, several wings of drone fighters scrambled to intercept them. "Ladies first." Arias blew her a kiss. "Bah." Miera returned the kiss and set her engines to ramming speed. Arias followed soon after, the two Jedi Starfighters speeding toward what looked like at least sixty drone fighters. The drones split up into two groups, one heading for each of them. Arias sped straight towards one group, Miera at the other. As the shooting started, Arias started into a maneuver that was both offensive and defensive, highly effective, and deceptively simple. He set shields to full forward, sent his ship into a speedy spin, and pulled back and to the right ever so slightly on the yoke, firing his ship's blasters all the way. The result was a spinning corkscrew blazing blaster fire that went ramming straight towards the center of the drone fighter formation. This forced the drones to pack into a tight group to improve the likelyhood that their concentrated fire would hit the Jedi Fighter. What few blasts that managed to hit his fighter were deflected harmlessly by the ship's shields, while his weapons took out four or five drones before he purposely collided slightly with the centermost drone, destroying it and jolting him around 180 degrees just in time to see the rest of the drones continue forward and trigger the sonic mine which he had dropped off seconds before. There was a soundless moment as the mine detonated in the middle of the tightly packed drones, taking out at least half of the formation as they scrambled to turn around. Arias balanced out his shields and set to work taking out the remaining drones with good old blaster fire, risking a quick glance at his wind monitor screen to see how Miera was faring. Apparently, she had decided to do the exact same thing as him. Figures. She taught him how to do that, after all. Half a minute later, they finished off the remaining drones and drifted towards each other to form back up. "Ready?" Miera asked. Their scanners indicated two incoming Mark 6 Concusion Missiles. "That's our cue. They sure aren't fooling around with us." Though they could keep a steady distance from the missiles by putting their engines on maxiumum, the missiles could keep up as long as their target's engines were firing, as they were powered by the stray ions picked up in their target's wake. The missiles could theoretically track a moving target until their molecular structures completely degenerated. The two Jedi spread apart and headed directly away from the Federation Ship cluster, purposely letting the missiles almost catch up to them. "I'm transmitting the hyperspace coordinates to you now" "On my count. Three..." Miera said. Arais stared at the scanner screen, watching the missiles getting closer and closer. "Two." Four seconds until impact. "One." Three seconds to impact. '"HIT IT!" Miera yelled over the comm. Four things happened at once, eight if you're picky. Arias and Miera simultaneously initiated their cloaking devices, started up their hyperdrives, and jettisoned their spare parts canisters. Just as they entered Hyperspace undetected, both missiles impacted the canisters in dual explosions, giving the illusion that two Jedi had just been destroyed. Arias and Miera breathed a sigh of relief as the blue tunned of hyperspace greeted them. "Well, it worked." Miera said. "Thankfully. So what now?" "You tell me, you picked out the destination." "Well, we only have enough supplies each for a short trip, and for what we have planned, Varonet was the best bet." "Good choice. Recently 'liberated' from the seperatists, largely decimated, lots of fleeing refugees, plentiful automated meltdown reclamation plants. Perfect. Well, not really but you know what I mean." "We should be arriving in about six hours or so. Best get some rest." Arias said. [center][i]Outer Rim world of Varonet, several hours later...[/i][/center] They emerged from hyperspace right on schedule, a short distance from the world of Varonet. Miera was thankful that they had set their ships to drop out automatically, since it was the sudden absence of the pleasant hum of hyperspace that awakened her. The apparent absence of her fighter hull was slightly unnerving, but that was also reassuring in that the cloaking device was still doing its job. A shame that they wouldn't be around for much longer, really. She pressed the comm button to contact Arias, and was greeted by an image of him slumped against the canopy, along with his soft snoring. Really, how often did you hear of a Jedi who snores? Miera grinned, upping the comm transfer volume to its maximum. "WAKE UP, HUBBY!" She practically screamed into the comm. "WHOWHATWHERE?!" Arias woke with a start and a jump, bumping his head on the canopy. He reoriented himself. "So we've arrived then, good." "Ha, you should have seen the look on your face." Miera giggled. "Anyway, I've scanned the surface and found a suitable location to ditch. A reclamation plant about thirty clicks from a refugee departation station." "Our luck is holding out, good. How long till we can get there?" Arias said, rubbing his head. "Fifteen minutes or so. Flight schedules say there's a refugee ship departing for Endor." "Why would they send refugees to Endor? There's nothing there but forest." "The Holonet is advertising that the Republic desperately needs cheap labor for a mining camp there. Apparently since most refugees don't have any credits, they can pay off their trip by doing some work there, then they can earn enough to afford a trip to wherever they're going." Miera observed. "A good opportunity to lay low for a while, then. Good. We'll take that one." Arias said. They piloted their ships through the upper atmosphere, having waited for one of the regular meteor showers to provide cover for their entry. Even if their ships were invisible, two parallel lines of fire in the sky would be a dead giveaway. They set their ships down on the flat plains surrounding the reclamation plant, not far from the main smelter. Miera opened the canopy on her fighter and checked out the smelter with her electrobinoculars. Two small chutes too small, but two open vats that would be just right. "Looks like the only way is in that big vat in the center of the thing. Why it's open to the air I have [i]no[/i] idea, but it'll do." She looked across to Arias, who was sitting on the wing of his fighter, getting some much-needed fresh air. "We're really going through with this, aren't we?" "Of course we are." Arias said. "If we didn't we'd only be helping the Jedi Order to destroy itself. It's sad really. The Order may have lost its path, but it doesn't deserve to be destroyed altogether." "Like you said, there's nothing we can do about that now. Mine first, then?" "If you want, they're both going in there, anyway." Miera nodded, and gathered her posessions from the ship's hold before hopping to the ground. She concentrated on the ship, and after a moment it rose into the air and was quickly drifting towards the smelting vat. It hovered for a moment, and after a short look of longing, Miera relased the Starfighter, allowing it to fall into the molten mix. Arias follows suit, with the same look of longing on his face. After several minutes, both craft are gone. "No turning back now." Arias takes Miera's hand and squeezes it gently. "I still can't believe it's turned out this way." She let out a shuddering sigh. "It'll be alright, Miera." Three hours later they were on a medium-sized transport cramped in amongst a mix of sentients. Primairly humans and some twil'leks, but with a small minority of bothans as well. Fairly representative of the planet's populace, even the ratio of children to adults. "A twelve-hour trip to Endor, or so the pilot said..." Arias told Miera. They sat on one of the few cushioned ledges on the largely empty ship. All of the major comforts had been removed, along with many of the walls to maximize passenger space. So much so that there wasn't even a divider between the passenger hold and the cockpit. Just one big shell. "It may seem strange, but I can't help but notice that some of these refugees are Force Sensitive. Lucky for them the Order didn't find and recruit them, otherwise they wouldn't survive what's coming." Miera sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. They had rid themselves of their Jedi Robes before getting onto the transport, now clothed in meager disaster relief donation clothing. Not very comfortable, but it helped them blend in. Miera were soon asleep, but Arias stayed awake for the duration of the trip, watching her sleep with a little smile on his face. Twelve hours later, they pulled out of hyperspace just as predicted. "Wait a minute...this isn't right." The pilor said. "This isn't Endor at all, it's not even NEAR Endor! The navicomputer must have screwed up bigtime!" That got Arias' attention [i]very[/i] fast. The Seperatists had developed technology that let them pull craft out of hyperspace, and the Republic had taken it from them. Did they know that he and Miera had deserted?! Arias rushed to the 'cockpit', expecting to see a Republic or Seperatist fleet waiting out there, gloating at him. Instead he saw that the ship had come out of hyperspace in the middle of an asteroid belt in a system he did not even remotely recognize. In fact, one thing he didn't recognize in particular was the asteroid headed right for them at what seemed to be a VERY high speed. Arias pointed it out to the pilot. "There, it's coming right for us!" "I see it!" The pilot seemingly didn't mind getting orders from who was to him just another nameless refugee when his life was in danger. "I don't think we can get out of the way in time!" Panic looked to be setting in on the pilot. It was clear that the transport didn't have the capacity to maneuver out of the rock's path in time. The ships sensors started blaring a warning that the asteroid was on a collision course with the transport. [i]Looks like I have no choice.[/i] Arias held his palm against the duraglass of the cockpit, reaching out to the asteroid. "What the heck are you doing! I can't see-..." The pilot saw the asteroid...slowing down? he looked up at Arias, seeing his face a mask of concentration. Arias clutched the rock in his mind, pushing against it to slow it down and guide it away from the ship. It glided past the cockpit, but grated against the ship's hull with a resounding groan from the superstructure. Miera (along with everyone else) woke with a jolt. She saw Arais standing next to the pilot and rushed over to him. "What's going on?!" "We came out of hyperspace in the wrong place. It's no system I recognize, and what's more, we came out into an asteroid belt!" More sensors blared warnings. "Another asteroid!?" Arias demanded of the pilot. "No, it's something else." The pilot called up a diagnostics list. "Oh hell..." "What?!" Miera demanded "We're leaking oxygen and fuel." The pilot went pale. "That collision must have ruptured the life support and engine systems." He checked advanced diagnostics. "We have two hours before life support fails!" This brought a generous bout of panic and screaming from the tightly-packed refugees. "SILENCE!" Arias commanded. Surprisingly, it worked. "If we panic, we die." "Quickly, do a scan of the nearby planets. There may be some that can support life." Miera said. "Right." The pilot shook his head and went to work scanning. He asked to noone in particular, "You're Jedi, aren't you." "What makes you say that?" Arias asked. "The asteroid, you kept it from destroying us, somehow." "Maybe, but I'm not a Jedi." Arais said. Miera looked at him, shocked for a moment. Then her expression softened, and she nodded. "Hey, you could be a Wookie Go-Go Dancing Sith for all I care, you saved our lives." "That's an...interesting observation." Arias said. "Forget about that, what does the scan show?" Miera asked. "One planet in the entire system that can support life. Forest/Jungle type." "Which one is it?" "That one right in front of us." The pilot pointed at a blue-greed sphere surrounded by asteroids. "We can reach it before life support runs out, but then theres's those asteroids the contend with. Doesn't look like we have much choice, though." Arias rubbed the sides of his head in frustration. Then he noticed that all of the refugees were silent, and looking at him expectantly, pleadingly, even. [i]Again, no choice.[/i] "Just get the ship to that planet, let us worry about the asteroids." The pilot looked at Miera and Arias. "Right." He put the engines on full speed. For a tense hour, there was silence in the ship as it moved steadily towards the unknown planet. An hour which the two now ex-Jedi spent constanly warding off incoming asteroids as the planet grew larger in their vision. "We'll be intering the atmosphere in one minute." The pilot finally announced, bringing a strange mixture of relief and panic to all aboard. The threat of the asteroids was now past, but there was still the question of whether the damaged transport could make a successful landing. Everyone who could held fast to the nearest solid object, and a few people [i]were[/i] that nearest solid object. Arias and Miera held onto each other. The entry through the atmosphere rocked the ship violently, but passed quickly. They came out into thick clouds, then into an open, blue sky, which would have been a pleasant site in any other situation. Especially considering that the pilot reported having lost control of the ship, and they were heading for an outcropping of rock on the edges of a thick forest. Arias and Miera tried to take hold of the ship through the force to slow their approach, but the ship was moving too fast and they were far too tired to have any noticable effect. Inevitably, they impacted. How much time had passed before she awoke, Miera had no idea. The inside of the ship was total black. An occasional moan could be heard, but other than that, there was silence. There was no way to find out how many had survived and how many...didn't. Miera fumbled around, not knowing which way was up. She felt the around until she found the exit hatch, and tried to open it. No luck, it must have been damaged in the crash. Miera took the lightsaber which she had hidden in her clothes, held it against the hatch, and ignited it. After a few seconds, she pulled it back. Daylight shone through the hole she had made. She quickly stuck her blade back into the door, this time at the edge, slowly working it around until she had completely cut out the door. With a kick, the hatch fell out and hit ground. Light poured into the ship. Miera saw Arias slumped against a wall, and hurriedly dragged him out of the ship. She shook him gently and pleaded with him to wake up. After several minutes, his eyes opened. "Oh, thank the force you're alright." She held him close. Arias reached up and stroked her cheek. "That's the second time in two days you've said something like that. Lets try not to make a habit out of it." Miera smiled. "[i]You[/i] try to stay out of trouble." The refugees had begun to come out of the crashed ship. Some lay on the ground, some kissed it in thanks, while others helped carry the dead and wounded out of the ship. All told, surprisingly few had died. Aside from seven or eight of the sick and elderly who had died, there were a few broken limbs, but nothing more serious than that, although everyone had their share of bruises. Arias looked over them for some time, and then at their ship, which lay imbeded nose-first in rock at a crazy angle. "I think we're going to be here for a while." [/QUOTE]
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Star Wars - A New Power Ch. 24 - Departure
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