Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 493: Dying

The initial similarities between Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology and Alraxian biotechnology was a large reason for keeping even more quiet on details of the Alraxians to anyone that didn’t need to know. Suspicions would very easily arise in a galaxy that was looking for people to blame. While they were currently using the Jedi, another species that used living technology would likely cause even more trouble.

And the similarities were only there on the surface. Tobias had very little experience with Vong technology, but he could already tell. Alraxian technology was alive...really, truly alive, and almost always sentient. Of course, there were levels of sentience. Morphsuits were definitely alive but they had very limited thought processes and basically no communications skills. Many of the other Alraxian tools were similar, but they were very much natural extensions of their own evolution.

The Vong’s technology just felt so alien and...and unnatural. To Tobias, the corridor they were currently walking in looked forced rather than natural. The fact that they didn’t speak also made Tobias uneasy. Ships were supposed to be able to yell at you for hurting them. But this one...there was something else. Something about the chunks on the floor and the odd dripping ooze from the walls that just felt wrong. Felt like...

“Its dying,” Tobias said softly, his voice barely loud enough to be heard over the thrumming of his and Master Ral’s lightsabers.

“What was that?” Master Ral stopped a moment to glance back at Tobias, a curious look on his face.

Tobias bit his lower lip then motioned to the floor under their feet, “Its...falling apart. I think the ship is dying, Master.”

The Omwati regarded him with a serious expression for a moment, then turned forward again, “More the reason to move quickly.”

“Why haven’t we seen anymore Vong since the hangar?” it was a dumb question, as all logic told Tobias that asking it mean Vong would appear. Too late now, though.

Master Ral stopped a moment at a four way intersection in the corridor they were following. To the left and ahead of them were seals that looked like doors, and to the right, the corridor continued onwards, “If the ship is dying...either they are leaving or attempting to keep it alive longer, I would expect.”

There was a squelching sound to the left, and both Tobias and Master Ral turned to see, to their surprise, a human. He looked to be about thirty standard years old, with no hair and covered in ragged, torn clothes. He was bleeding from various wounds and looked terrified.

His eyes went wide at the sight of the two of them, “More Jedi! Thank the gods!”

Guttural voices could be heard from behind the human and Tobias looked past him to see a rather large room with many Vong within...most of which were coming towards them. Master Ral motioned for the human to come to them, and said quietly to Tobias, “The Vong we fought in the hangar were not warrior, Tobias. These are.”

“How can you tell?” the human had taken the signal, and run to them. Tobias shifted and pressed against the wall, feeling the ooze cling to his clothes , to let the man stand behind them, who was thanking them over and over.

Two of the Vong were now through the opening, charging at Master Ral with large amphistaffs, not the small, knife-like weapons from before. Master Ral planted his feet and raised his weapon, “These Yuuzhan Vong are much taller, they wear full armour, and they are much more heavily scarred.”

Tobias couldn’t argue with any of that. He also couldn’t help Master Ral, as the corridor was only wide enough for one of them to fight safely in, and the Jedi Master had slowly inserted himself between Tobias and the two Vong. In a second, Master Ral was a blur of motion, dodging and parrying the two warriors who were squeezing together to attack the single Jedi.

Before he could try to help, the human grabbed Tobias arm tightly, “Help me, please...”

When Tobias turned to face the human, he finally got an actual look at the man. Beyond the scratches and scars there was something else. On his right cheek was a protrusion that looked...it looked like a rock. Like the walls around them. And it was attached, it was actually coming out of his face.

“What is that?” Tobias asked the question before he’d realized it, immediately wishing he’d found a better way to say it.

The man, who was emanating pure fear and terror through the Force, shook his head, “I don’t know! It...hurts...and the others...they have them, too! They’re dying! Its killing us!”

There was a loud growl from behind, and Tobias shot a glance over his shoulder to see that Master Ral had removed the arm from one of the two Vong, though there was a good sized scar across the Omwati’s face, too. He should be helping his Master, but...

“I can try to take it out,” Tobias mumbled, starting to reach up with his free hand to the protruding...thing in the man’s face.

“NO!” the man batted his hand away then jumped back into the wall, making a squish sound as he hit it rather than a thud, “Will kill me! Already killing me! Its dying! Its dying and killing us all with it!”

“What’s dying?!” like his mother, Tobias didn’t deal well with vague statements. They just made him confused and, also like her, angry, “Is it the ship?”

“Yes! The ship!” the man nodded, removing himself from the wall as a few pieces of it fell away, “But...but its not killing us! That thing is! That tentacled thing that won’t get out of my mind! Its dying and its going to take all of us with it!!”

And then, suddenly, the man let out a terrifying cry and charged at Tobias. Instincts instilled in him by his mother took over, and Tobias swung his lightsaber up into a defensive position. The act of swinging the blade up was enough to cut a long, deep slash from the man’s hip to his shoulder. Tobias’ eyes went wide with shock when the man dropped to the ground, suddenly realizing he’d killed the man by accident!

“Grah!” the sound from behind Tobias snapped him out of his shock. He spun around completely this time, and saw Master Ral hit the ridged floor face first. The Vong with two arms was already following through, spinning his amphistaff into a one handed grip, with half of it coiling like a snake around his forearm while the rest of it became more a whip.

He cracked it forwards, and the snake-head of the staff shot out towards Master Ral’s body.

“Master!” Tobias, again, reacted with instincts he didn’t realize had been so well drilled into him. The problem was that while the instincts were there, the training was not. Nor was the experience that taught most warriors to at least take a quick assessment of the situation before acting.

Tobias swung his lightsaber upwards, batting the amphistaff up and away, and stepping over Master Ral’s body. The Jedi Masn’t dead, nor unconscious, and was quickly getting to his feet. But the Vong was already adapting to this quick change from the small human who’d stepped in the way.

A knee came up and dug hard into Tobias’ exposed midsection, with a spike from the Vong’s armour driving up through Tobias’ skin. He cried out, his vision going completely white with pain, and then flashing an even brighter white when the knee, and spike, was removed. Immediately, Tobias bent over in pain, and then was quickly met with a heavy force to his spine, probably a fist, and he hit the floor face first, too, head spinning and unable to do anything but feel pain.

If Marix had been there, she’d have screamed at him for being stupid like Jyren. She’d also have jumped right in and protected him. But she wasn’t. It became disturbingly apparent to Tobias how far away she was as the pain washed over him. Now he couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. His mind couldn’t see through the pain and he couldn’t force the wound to remorph.

So Tobias lay there, curled up and face first on the floor of a dying Yuuzhan Vong starship in the middle of the largest battle of the entire war, doing nothing but slowly bleeding to death.

And through it all, Tobias found that he just wanted to go back home and feel safe again.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 494: Orbital Defense

“Oh, Loki...” Marix said softly as she ran a hand along the nose of her ship. She shook her head and sighed, “You didn’t have to do this...”

[Of course I did.] there was a slight tension in Loki’s normally jovial voice. [If the Empress’ ship will not step forward, why should anyone else? And it is not the first time.]

Marix turned to look down Loki’s body, towards the swept back ‘wings’. Or rather, ‘wing’, as she was on his port side and couldn’t see around him. But there, attached beneath the ‘wing’ was a Jendari laser cannon. There was another one on his other side. They were strong weapons, roughly the strength of a turbolaser cannon.

“Finally got your eye on a mate, then?” she managed to force a grin onto her face as she patted his nose and started to walk over to the open hatch.

[Um...what?] he was so cute when he was confused and terrified by things like that.

The grin became devious as she stepped into the hatch and it closed behind her. As Marix headed to the cockpit, she idly let a hand trail across the bulkhead along the way, “Can’t think of any other reason why you’d be first unless you were trying to impress a girl. Course, even then, you’d probably be last to the show. Always were slow...”

[Hey!!!] the bulkhead actually had a slight tremor run through it.

Marix allowed herself another laugh before she arrived in the cockpit and had a seat. Time to get to work. Her voice changed completely when she asked, “How long do we have?”

[About five minutes if the Jendari are right.] even Loki’s voice shifted from wounded to business-mode. He was a lot like her when it came to getting things done. Besides, this was going to be different. Something that hadn’t happened ever before. There wasn’t going to be much time to be anything but serious.

She only nodded to acknowledge his comment, and was already taking the controls and moving Loki out of the Jendari ship’s hangar. When Loki was out in Alraxia’s orbit, Marix could see other ships, Kanyaks, moving in a large formation not far from the Jendari ship. Those would be the Knights and the other ships outfitted with weapons. The Jendari had done the best they could in the limited time there was. They would have to hold off the Mrrakesh for only a short time before more Jendari ships arrived. Once that happened, Alraxia would be safe enough...but it was going to be a tough fight until then.

So Marix had a plan. It was rather simple, but effective enough. Most of the Kanyaks would simply do their best to help the Jendari hold the Mrrakesh from getting to Alraxia’s surface, which they would undoubtedly be attempting. But Marix, and a few others both former Tam’Day’U and well trained Knights, would board the Mrrakesh ships and try to disable them from the inside. She’d done similar before. It was doable...but would be more dangerous than ever. The Mrrakesh would be ready for that kind of attack, and the ships would have very large troop compliments.

But that wouldn’t stop her. It never did. And now Alraxia was in the crosshairs and her children were right there, too. Failure wasn’t even a possibility. The Mrrakesh had to be held back at all costs. It would be nice to have an actual fleet there, but this wasn’t like fighting the Vong at the Gateway. The Jendari would help, but they were definitely a different kind of fighting force. It would have to be enough, though.

Marix closed her eyes a moment to calm her breathing. When she opened them, she looked out towards the outer reaches of the Alraxian system. Beyond Alraxia, herself, there were only three other planets in the system. One close in towards the system’s star, and two others in deep er orbits. None of them were habitable, and only Alraxian had any moons. But all Marix could see was deep space...exactly where the Mrrakesh would come from.

[Did you ever consider comming the New Republic?] Loki was bad with silences, especially when waiting on something like this.

“No, I didn’t,” Marix shook her head, sitting back a bit and trying to keep as relaxed as was possible, “They wouldn’t come anyway. They have their own war to fight. This is ours...and only ours.”

[But the Vong...]

“Are not directly attacking us,” Marix finished for him, “Even then, they wouldn’t come if we asked. It’s a big galaxy, Loki, and they have a great many more systems to defend than our corner of space when we really don’t even want them here.”

As best as a starship could, Loki sighed. He didn’t like what was coming. Marix didn’t, either, but she knew it was necessary. And she knew they would survive. Ket had been worse than these Mrrakesh. He knew the Alraxians weaknesses much more intimately. The Mrrakesh would be working with their thousand years of prejudice, and Marix could use that against them.

One Alraxian couldn’t take an entire Mrrakesh ship.

The Mrrakesh were warriors. Powerful warriors twice the strength of even the greatest of the Alraxians. They even had weapons specifically designed to kill Alraxians now: swords that left pieces of metal within the victim to make sure they died when attempting to remorph. Not to mention that the Alraxians just weren’t trained to fight at all. It would be a quick, decisive battle for the Mrrakesh.

The Alraxian Empress wouldn’t risk her own life to fight on the front lines, just as the Mrrakesh leader wouldn’t.

Or at least, that was all how it was supposed to be.

But Marix was the front line, despite the objections of the Jendari and any Alraxian, including the Knights that were her guards, that saw her before she reached Loki. But her mind was made up. She could fight Mrrakesh. She could kill Mrrakesh. She the best trained warrior in all of the Empire and the most experience; the only Tam’Day’U to actually survive as one for as long as she did without being killed on a mission. And not only that, but she was the only Alraxian in the entire Empire that didn’t have a thing to worry about from metal. It was ironic, of course, but that was one of her greatest strengths, and it came from another Empire...that horrible Galactic Empire that had captured her and cloned her with some extra modifications here and there.

Too bad for the Mrrakesh. Those scouts wouldn’t have been able to report that little anomaly back before they were killed, which meant she still had that element of surprise.

[Marix...] Loki’s voice was soft, as if he was doing his best not to bother her.

She looked up to the viewport and saw it. Or rather, them. The distinct, geometrical shape of the Mrrakesh Battle Cruisers that she’d learned very well while defending the Gateway. Good. They didn’t bring anything else...or not right away, at least.

Through the Alraxian Network, she sent a nudge of encouragement to all of the Knights that were there aboard their Kanyaks. This was it. This would be a fight like Alraxia had never seen. And Marix knew that many of those Kanyaks who had volunteered to have weapons grafted to their bodies would die. Those peaceful ships that were such wonderful companions were going against their deepest beliefs to protect Alraxia, a planet that wasn’t their own.

It was a testament to the bravery and loyalty of the Kanyaks. It was also something that Marix was not going to let happen in vain.

“Loki,” her voice was hard and cold now, as she gripped the controls tightly and started angling Loki towards the Mrrakesh ships, “Figure out which one’s their lead ship and lets get aboard before they know what’s hit them.”

[Already on it...] Loki sounded distracted, which was a good sign. As they led the charge in towards the distant ships, he added a vital piece of information that she’d neglected to ask, or even check for herself, on. [There are seven Mrrakesh Cruisers, Marix. I believe I’ve found the lead, though.]

Seven.

They were thirty seven lightly armed Kanyaks, a single Jendari warship, and two more Jendari ships to arrive soon, whenever that was, against seven well armed Mrrakesh Cruisers and probably smaller support fighters. Vastly outnumbered, but that was expected.

Marix put that all aside and leaned forward in her seat, putting all of her focus into keeping herself and Loki alive, and keeping the Network strong. Panic was the last thing they all needed, “Plot the fastest course you can to that ship and let me know if anything changes.”

[Of course.] Loki, while still sounded distracted, had that oddly happy tone to it that he got sometimes. Then, just to confirm that he was insane, added. [Haven’t had fun like this in years!]

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 495: Change of Plans

Remorph the wound.

Gods it hurt. It hurt so much. The pain was making it hard to think straight and he was panicking and that was just making it all worse and worse.

Remorph. The. Wound.

Somewhere deep in his mind, the words cut through the chaos. It wasn’t really a voice. They weren’t even really words. They just were. Instinct was the closest to it but much more demanding than instinct, if that was possible.

Remoph. Now.

He was avoiding it. Avoiding it because...because it hurt! Wait. Stop. Somehow, he found the focus and centered it around the pain, willing his body to pull together around the gaping wound that was still allowing blood to leave his body. He was dying. He was dying but it was stopping and he would live...

No.

But he wasn’t bleeding anymore! He was safe now! Alive!

Get up.

The wound was still weak! Remorphed or not, he could still tear open strengthening tendons with fast movement like that!

Get. Up. Now.

The words did it again. They made his body move while his mind argued with...with...itself, apparently.

Tobias stood up, falling back against the not-so-solid wall behind him as his eyes opened and gave him a view of the scene in front of him. His eyes came into focus just in time to see a large Yuuzhan Vong drop to the ground right where he’d been.

“Get your lightsaber, Tobias,” Master Ral sounded out of breath, and looked terrible. His robes were cut and sliced in multiple places, revealing painful looking wounds. Yet the Jedi Master stood up straight, the two Vong at his feet and no longer moving.

Get the lightsaber. Quickly. Stop standing there.

The ‘voice’ hadn’t gone away. And it was still succeeding in keeping Tobias alive, as he turned around to see the metal cylinder of his lightsaber hilt a couple of meters away. With the Force, he called the weapon back to his hand then looked to Master Ral, “Are you okay?”

“Never do anything like that again,” Master Ral’s voice actually held a hint of venom in it and he sounded so much like Marix it made Tobias’ blood go cold, “Do not simply put yourself in the path of an attack. If you are going to survive a fight you have to see everything.”

“But you were...”

But you were face down and they were following up with killing blows. You were going to die.

Master Ral shook his head, “I was moving. You must calm your emotions, Tobias. They cloud your judgement and they will get you killed. The only reason those two warriors didn’t finish you was because I was forced to press an attack to distract them.”

Tobias hung his head, and then mumbled softly, “You won...”

“I did,” Master Ral turned and started to the now-closed door where the two Vong had first exited from, along with the now-dead human, “And because of that more fighting is going to be even more dangerous. We’re both injured now, Tobias. And we’re still on the enemy ship.”

He hadn’t considered that. Of course, why would he have? Tobias had no real combat experience in his life. He’d seen fighting. He’d heard about it. But he’d never been the one actually there, in the middle of it all. And Master Ral was not going to be able to protect him the whole time. Tobias had to look after himself.

Somehow...

Master Ral reached the ‘door’ and checked the walls for a few moments before finding a membrane-like indentation. Pressing his hand on it caused it to deflate, and the door opened with that strange sound to reveal the room from before. It wasn’t Vong in there! Well, yes, but only a few...three, four more warriors were turning to the door with looks of surprise and anger forming on their faces.

In the center of the room was a huge pit, and in it, hundreds of humanoids. They looked to be half-dumped into some kind of liquid and many of them had the coral-like protrusions from their faces that the man from before had. And then there was the creature in the middle of the pool. It was like a floating squid, with a bulbous body, two tiny little eyes that were turning to see these newcomers, hundreds of long, thin tentacles, and a very large, sharp tooth.

And it was in Tobias’ mind. He could feel it there, searching...searching...digging...

“A Yammosk,” Master Ral spoke the word but it meant nothing to Tobias.

Tobias shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, “Its not using the Force but I can...feel it!”

When Tobias opened his eyes again, the warriors were closing in and Master Ral had his lightsaber up and ready, “This is what we felt. It is using those people. Feeding off of them and nearly touching the Force. And...”

Master Ral didn’t trail off so much as just stop mid sentence. By now, Tobias had reignited his lightsaber and the blue-green blade was up in front of him as the warriors made a slow approach for some reason. They seemed to be trying to get a good look at their two opponents before attacking.

“Master...” Tobias was suddenly much more worried than he was a moment earlier.

Suddenly, the Omwati Jedi turned to the nearest of the Vong, who was now charging, and hurtled his lightsaber. The blade flipped once, then dug straight into the Yuuzhan Vong warrior’s chest. The force of the throw sent the body flying back and into the warrior that had been behind him. Immediately, the blade was returning, too, as Master Ral used the Force to pull it back.

But the two other Vong were going to get to them before the lightsaber. Tobias had to act. He had to. But...the last time.

No. Focus.

The voice again. Whatever that was, Tobias couldn’t help but like it. Hearing that, alone, focused him and his eyes made a split-second survey of the two Vong. And he decided what to do.

Ducking low, Tobias ran straight for the first of the warriors, sweeping his lightsaber at the Vong’s legs. The speed with which he moved was enough that the warrior didn’t have time to counter, and the armour at his legs was light enough that, somehow, the lightsaber removed both of his lower legs from the rest of his body.

Remembering what Marix had taught him, Tobias was already looking to the second warrior. The amphistaff was swinging down at him already, and all that Tobias could do was to plant as feet as best he could in his crouched position and swing his blade around to parry the weapon. When amphistaff met lightsaber, the Vong didn’t simply push against the other weapon. Instead, he whipped his staff away, twisting it around and then slashing towards Tobias’ exposed left side.

But the amphistaff met another lightsaber, and Master Ral’s deflection of the attack gave Tobias the time he needed to get up to his feet completely, swinging his lightsaber high towards the warrior’s head as he did so. Again, there was a unique sound as the energy of the lightsaber was caught by the amphistaff, but it was followed by a growl of pain from the Vong as Master Ral cut off the warrior’s other arm, then sliced his blade back down to finish the warrior off completely.

“Time to go, Tobias,” the words were the last thing he’d expected to hear from Master Ral, especially when the last of the four warrior was getting up and charging for them, amphistaff in a whip-like form rather than that of a bladed staff.

“But what about—“

Master Ral grabbed Tobias arm and ran for the way they’d come in. As he dragged Tobias with him, the Jedi Master spoke quickly, “We found what we were looking for. We need to leave now.”

“What about the people?” the door closed behind them and Master Ral was kind enough to relinquish his grip and allow Tobias to keep up on his own.

But they only went a few steps into the corridor before Master Ral stopped and pointed his still-active lightsaber to the human that Tobias had cut down, “They are all like him. There is nothing we can do right now.”

“Why are you in such a rush?!”

The words were spoken just as the remaining Vong warrior got through the door and came up behind them. With only a little room to maneuver, Tobias was between his Jedi Master and the Vong. Thankfully, he saw this right away and didn’t try anything stupid. Or, at least, anything that, to him, was stupid. What he did do was turn, raise his lightsaber, and plant his feet.

The Vong warrior whipped the amphistaff around, the snake-head of the weapon spitting poison at Tobias as he tried to swing his lightsaber at it. Some of the poison landed on Tobias’ shoulder, and it felt more like acid as it ate through his clothes and then down to his skin in a matter of seconds. The searing pain caused Tobias to cringe, but he pushed it aside somehow, knowing that this kind of distraction was what got him a knee to the stomach last time.

He spun his lightsaber around, this time successfully batting away the head of the amphistaff, then twisted left to avoid a fist aimed at his face. Having learned well from Marix not to let an advantage go, he spun the lightsaber around again, and took off the Vong’s arm at the elbow, though this seemed to have no actual affect on the warrior, who sent a flick through the amphistaff and it immediately went rigid.

When the weapon came down at Tobias’ injured shoulder, he managed to insert is blade in the way and catch the staff. Two hands pushing against one should have meant Tobias could push away the Vong, create an opening, and end it...but this warrior was extremely strong, and pushing both weapons down to Tobias.

And then he had an idea.

Tobias deactivated his lightsaber, and then felt a violent pain as the amphistaff suddenly cut into his shoulder wound. His vision went red, but he didn’t lose focus, and thumbed the activation switch of the lightsaber again.

The snap-hiss was sudden and muffled as the blade ignited directly through the warrior’s neck. The Vong dropped, his amphistaff leaving Tobias’ shoulder in the process. Immediately, he went to remorphing the wound. It was slow, and he didn’t even completely get it due to being so rushed and inexperienced, but it would be enough until normal methods of healing could take over. His arm wouldn’t fall off, at least.

There was a moment where he looked to Master Ral and actually saw what might have been pride in the Omwati’s eyes. Tobias was sure that Marix would be proud. That was an unorthodox tactic, but a perfect tactic for an Alraxian. She would be proud of him for that, even if she screamed at him for being recklessly stupid.

But then he felt something in the Force. It wasn’t the...Yammosk or whatever that was. It was something else. It reminded him of the feeling he got when danger was eminent, but at the same time was completely different.

Master Ral obviously saw this in Tobias face, and nodded, “That is why we must leave.”

“What is it?” Tobias asked as Master Ral led the way, swiftly, back to the hangar to their ship. So much for a long exploration of the Vong ship...

“Something is happening,” it was vague, but it was obvious that Master Ral was explaining the best he could, “And we have to leave this ship right now.”

“People are going to die...”

Tobias had no idea how he knew that, but he did. People were about to die. Hundreds. They weren’t even dead yet and he could feel it coming. It was a terrifying sensation and it took all of his focus to continue after his Master.

“I believe so,” Master Ral agreeing to that was in no way comforting.

It was coming fast, rocketed from light years away. There were other Jedi involved in the battle for Fondor. Many of them much stronger in the Force than either Tobias or Master Ral. But they were all busy with their own little battles within the greater fight. None of them were currently detached like Tobias and Master Ral were. And so, despite some of the greatest Jedi of their time being there, no one knew what was coming. Even the two Jedi that did know didn’t know what, exactly, it was. They simply felt its approach. And it made them both much more urgent in getting to the shuttle.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 496: Turning Point

Rulae’s X-Wing shook violently again and his astromech screamed in panic and anger. Despite the fact that a quick check showed Rulae that his X-Wing now only had three S-Foils, more of a Y-shape, that hit had only taken out his top, port S-Foil and not engulfed the main engines or other vital systems. Not that X-Wings were designed to fly that way...there were thrusters on those wings along with the laser cannon.

Through his comm, he could hear both Rea and Adria trying to ask him if he was alright and saying they were also trying to get to the Coralskipper on his tail, but he didn’t really pay attention to them. Instead, Rulae had done something he hadn’t in years...he switched from computer controls to the stick due to losing one of the S-Foils. He hadn’t piloted like this in years, but he could compensate better and still avoid being taken out.

So now, Rulae had one hand on the control stick, pulling the X-Wing into a tight loop and then twisting off to the side, skimming just over one of the Vong cruisers that was firing as it went for the shipyards beyond, and another trying to divert power to his shields to make sure he didn’t take another hit.

His sensors showed a new blip close by, coming in from above. He had no time to actually identify it, as there was another skip coming in from ahead of him now. Immediately, he pushed the stick forward, sending the X-Wing into a dive while he cut the thrust down on the drives to try and cause the two skips to overshoot him. It also happened to coincide with the edge of the cruiser, meaning he was now using it for cover for a short few seconds.

Red-orange globs of magma-like fire from behind showed that one of the skips was still behind, but the cruiser wasn’t firing on him for some reason. Maybe it didn’t have any guns to bear...

“Hold still, Zephyr One!” it was the voice of the Hapan from the Teril squadron.

Rulae didn’t have time for chatter. He was focused. Very, very focused. He needed that for his current situation.

“Three more coralskippers breaking off from the main formation!” that was Rea, who, according to the sensors, was formed up on Adria’s wing in their own pair, which Rulae had broken off from after taking a hit to try and shake his pursuer.

Pulling on the stick, Rulae’s X-Wing twisted slightly thanks to losing one of its main thrusters, and then started away from the cover of the cruiser. He glanced up to try to see the skip, and caught a short glimpse of the nimble starfighter coming in behind him, firing all the while...but he also saw the crescent-shaped Miy’til fighter from the Hapan’s Taril squardon behind the skip, firing rapidly. Farther off, he could see the rest of the fight...all of the capital ships and the rest of the fighters fighting in what looked like absolute chaos. That was a death trap in there...

“Got him!” that was the Hapan, with a very thick accent. Rulae also noted that the voice was male, which seemed interesting to him. Though maybe the women all took command positions...he didn’t really understand the nuances of Hapan society beyond a vague idea.

Rulae glanced behind him again to see only the Miy’til and allowed himself a sigh before clicking on his comm, “Thanks, Taril One. Good shooting.”

As he spoke, the Duros brought his X-Wing back around to Adria and Rea, who looked, and sounded, to be engaged in a rather fierce dogfight of their own. There was a cheer, and he knew it was Adria. Fighting against the uneven thrust from his three engines, Rulae pulled them into view to see two skips in front of the two X-Wings, both being fired on.

In a pair of flashes, both skips detonated in a shower of rocky coral. It was a wonderful sight.

“Sir,” Rea didn’t sound enthusiastic through the crackling comm like Adria did.

Rulae pulled his X-Wing into formation with them as they moved away from the cruiser that was firing on the shipyards now to come to bear on a group of skips that was coming their way again. A check of the sensor board showed two Miy’til fighters joining their formation, too. Clicking the comm again, Rulae managed a calm tone despite his current situation...which he noted they hadn’t said anything else about, “What is it?”

He was close enough to see Rea in her cockpit glance down at the something on the console in front of her. She then turned to look at him and he could see a frown on her blue-skinned face, “Switch your sensors to a broad scan range...I’m picking up an energy buildup just outside of the system.”

That was...odd.

Rulae looked down at his sensor to do as she’d said, but Adria’s voice cut in, “Sithspit! Eyes to starboard now!!”

Both Rulae and Rea immediately turned their heads.

Starboard was, on the galactic scale, Coreward currently. It was also the direction leading out of the system where they had jumped in from to meet the Vong attack. And there should haven’t been a light like a star there, because the Fondor system’s star was on their port side, beyond Fondor, itself.

But there was a light. It was dim at first, then grew in intensity rapidly before Rulae realized that it wasn’t actually growing, but getting closer. In a moment of horror, he knew exactly what was happening, but couldn’t find his voice to yell it over the comm to alert the fleet which likely wasn’t going to see it in time since they were all focused in front of them, not behind.

It all happened in a flash. The light formed into a beam of energy. Its angled seemed to change from Rulae’s vantage point, and it continued past them across his X-Wing’s starboard side. First, it hit the Hapans. Their fleet was positioned almost dead center with the beam, their Battle Dragons and Nova Cruisers incinerated in the blink of an eye. And then it hit the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, tearing through their ships just like it had the Hapan’s, destroying all of the ships that hadn’t either broken off to attack the shipyards or moved straight into the New Republic’s formation.

And then the beam of energy simply faded away, leaving the debris and barely anything else.

For the first time in all of his career, in the middle of a battle, Rulae heard a silent comm. No one knew what to say. Very few had ever seen such destruction.

“What...what was that...?” Adria’s voice was barely a whisper over the squadron’s frequency.

Rulae checked his instinct, doing a quick calculation on the trajectory of the energy beam. As he did this, he couldn’t help but notice that the Vong ships were actually starting to retreat. In a few moments, he had the information he’s suspected. That blast had crossed light years...and come from the Corellian system.

Shaking his head, Rulae said quietly to the two other pilots, “That was Centerpoint Station.”

“But...but the Hapans...” Rea was understandably overwhelmed, “It took out as many Hapan ships as it did Vong...”

Rulae just nodded, though she likely didn’t see it. Glancing to his port side, across the still-smoking section that had once been an S-Foil, Rulae switched to a local comm and said to the two Hapan fighters with them, “Teril One, this is Zehpyr One...we’ll escort you back to the New Republic fleet.”

“Under...understood, Zephyr One,” the man’s voice was shaking, a rare thing from a pilot, “We’d like to...to fly by...by ours...to see if our ship is...still...”

If the Hapan finished the sentence, Rulae didn’t hear it. Quickly adjusting coarse and glad the skips were actually pulling away with what was left of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, he looked to the empty, wreckage filled space in front of him that had once been the Hapan Battle Fleet. Now, he could count the number of ships without any trouble, “We’ll stay with you, Teril One. We’ll stay right on your wing.”

The battle was over.

The vicious fight that was actually tipping in favour of the New Republic thanks to the Hapan fleet was ended by a superweapon from lightyears away. And now thousands were dead...many of them allies. It hadn’t even been a year since the war had begun...barely a few months since the fall of Ithor. Now it was something different. Somehow, despite the fact that the Yuuzhan Vong were, for the first time that Rulae could clearly remember, retreating from a major attack on the front lines, it didn’t feel like a victory.

Flying through the remains of the Hapan fleet and seeing how much was gone as they received the order to return, Rulae started to wonder about the people running the war. Things were bad, but they were never bad enough to unleash something like Centerpoint, which was barely understood in the first place. And to destroy an ally to take out an enemy? It left a terrible feeling in Rulae that made him sick. This wasn’t how they fought.

How could they possibly move on from this? Where was it going to go next? And, almost more importantly, once the Vong had recovered, how would they react?

 

[AnonymousOne]

I have just finished reading through all 17 pages. Damn.

You have a flair for writing that is just fantastic ...

BTW .. favorite character in the entire story ... Loki.

Keep up the good work AMG!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I have just finished reading through all 17 pages. Damn.

You have a flair for writing that is just fantastic ...

BTW .. favorite character in the entire story ... Loki.

Keep up the good work AMG!

Glad you like it!

...and great pick for love of a character, by the way. Loki is the man. Well, metaphorically.

On a slightly different note, if you guys haven't already voted for the ENnies, make sure to. There's a link at the top of the page. Doesn't take long to do and there's some amazing things entered this year.

...similarly, I've put my hat into the ring to be an ENnies Judge for NEXT year. Voting starts for that soon(next week, I believe, but don't quote me on that). You don't have to vote for me(though I'd appreciate it, of course ), but definitely check out the judges and vote for next year's!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 497: Coincidence?

When Venda’s transport exited hyperspace, she was surprised to find more than just the usual traffic that came and went from the busy planet of Fondor. Instead, she found a battle...and a vicious one, at that. It took a few moments after glancing at the sensor panel on the side of the cockpit to actually determine what was going on, though. There were hundreds of ships, a great many of which were displaying New Republic IFF signals, another large amount displaying Hapan signals, and with the others just...blank. That meant Vong, probably.

Venda shifted her chair to look out the viewport to see it with her own eyes. To the right, only half-visible was Fondor and its various, distant shipyards. Everywhere else, off a ways from her ship a safe distance, were various grey sections of space that were ships, and flashes of red, green, and orange. Laser fire.

Her ship sat there, in the outer reaches of the system for a long five minutes as she just stared at it all, her mind working. The Jendari gave her the coordinates to Fondor. They sent her to Fondor. She’d never, in all of her life, heard of a Jendari in the galaxy before...and now, apparently, they knew about Fondor. And they’d given Venda a simple set of coordinates as she was leaving to go there. Did they know there was a battle?

At this point, Venda found she couldn’t put that out of her mind. Everything about it was odd and...

She felt a ripple in the Force that caught her attention and caused her to turn to look at the sensor board. Nothing. She looked back out at the viewport and then saw something. It was the same beam of energy that Rulae had seen, but Venda was able to watch the destruction from farther out as the beam cut through a huge swath of ships.

In that moment, a racking scream echoed through her head, causing Venda to double over and almost curl up in an odd pain on the control consoles in front of her. Thousands of people, in one instant, had just died. Thousands...and they weren’t Yuuzhan Vong. She wouldn’t have felt that.

As Venda recovered her breathing, she looked up to see no more flashes of light. Reeling from the pain in the Force and trying to figure out what was going on, she turned again to look at the sensor board. There were a handful of Hapan signals and the what was left of the un-marked ships were moving off...retreating.

The Yuuzhan Vong were falling back.

But...

What had that been? It had killed so many! From the looks of the sensor board, mostly all Hapans, too! Was that how they were going to have to defeat the Vong?! If that was the point the war had reached...should they even continue fighting?!

The feeling of pain through the Force had faded, though it was hard to shake the echo of it out of her mind. But despite this, she felt something else. It was distant, like a tiny candle burning far away, but it was there and...and calling out.

A Jedi?

Grasping onto something she could understand, Venda focused on the feeling. It was faint. Faint and...fading. Injured? Maybe. Calling for help. But it faded in and out. No, it wasn’t fading it just wasn’t consistent! And it felt vaguely familiar...

Considering what she just saw, there were many, many other things Venda could be doing. In fact, the comm board was beeping. Likely a New Republic ship noticed her and was trying to figure out who she was. But that could wait. Everything could wait. There was a Jedi alive somewhere in there and he needed help...and for all Venda knew, she was the only one who heard it.

Venda clicked off the comm message, too busy focusing on the faint feeling through the Force to bother with anything else, but did make sure to transmit an...Old Republic IFF signal. At least it wasn’t Vong. Then, taking the ship’s controls, Venda followed the Force and took the ship in towards the system.

It wasn’t long before Venda was passing wreckage of Hapan starships. Large, circular panels from their mighty Battle Dragons were everywhere. It had been a huge fleet...and one shot from something had reduced it to nothing. Venda made sure not to look too close, for fear of seeing bodies. Here and there, she could see movement, but it always, thankfully, turned out to be New Republic starfighters heading back to the main fleet, which was still a good ways off to her port side. There hadn’t been any other efforts to contact her, and no one had fired on her, so Venda figured she was safe for the moment. The Navy likely had their own problems to deal with.

In another few moments, she was maneuvering through what looked like a small asteroid field. But Venda knew better. This was what was left of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet that hadn’t retreated. Here, she couldn’t identify what was what. It all looked alien and oddly disturbing to her. After being able to speak with a starship, it was hard to fly through the debris of other living ships, despite not knowing their sentience, without seeing them as gutted life forms with their insides strewn across space for everyone to see.

Someone...please...anyone...

Words.

There were no images, but she felt the words. Venda cut the thrust to the engines and looked around, both with her eyes and through the Force. She was close. The feeling wasn’t much stronger but it was clearer now that she was close. Or now that she thought she was...there!

Quickly, Venda adjusted her heading and directed the ship towards a point not far from where she was. It looked to be on the edge of the Vong debris, and it took some very careful maneuvering to not run into anything. She soon wasn’t following just the Force, either. There was a glint of metal that caught the light of Fondor’s star, and she knew exactly where she was headed now.

When Venda got the ship a little closer, she saw a small escape pod. Small was an understatement. It was only a few meters long, if that. She got in close enough to use her ship’s meager tractor beam and carefully pulled the small escape pod in close. The ship she was given by the Jendari was just large enough to pull it into a cargo bay, and so Venda, after quickly checking that the bay could be sealed safely, opened it, carefully pulled the pod in, and then closed and re-pressurized the cargo section.

And then, immediately, she got up and headed there. It was a short walk to the cargo bay, and the ship was old enough to have a small green light next to the door to indicate it was pressurized. She’d never actually seen one of those before. Where did the Jendari get this thing?!

The door swished open easily when Venda hit the switch, and there, sitting rather unceremoniously in the small cargo bay, was the escape pod that suddenly looked a great deal smaller now that she was right next to it. It took a bit of searching, but Venda found the hatch, noted there were no viewports of any kind, then just opened the thing, hoping that the sudden silence in the Force wasn’t due to a death.

Opening the hatch was easier thought about than done. When she twisted the lever around then pulled on it, the thing didn’t move. Venda grumbled something under her breath that even she wasn’t sure of, and then just pulled harder. There was a hiss, a crack, and then the hatch snapped open to reveal two occupants crammed into the tiny escape pod that barely had room for one.

Staring up at her with wide eyes was Tobias, the last person she’d have ever expected to find...and he looked like as surprised. He was also covered in blood and other liquids that she decided were best left unidentified, and looked, generally, terrible. Crammed next to him was the Omwati Jedi Master who she barely knew, and Venda quickly realized that Master Ral wasn’t moving...though she could feel him through the Force. Unconscious, then.

But she just stood there staring, and Venda had a very good reason for it.

The Jendari had sent her here.

They had sent Venda to this battle all the way across the galaxy from the Alraxian Empire without an explanation, just a smile and a set of coordinates that she for some reason decided to follow. And there, at those exact coordinates, she’d just found the son of the Empress floating in an escape pod, and looking like he’d just barely survive the fight of his life.

There was no such thing as coincidence. The Force had a way of making things happen as they should, when they should. But this was different. This wasn’t the Force.

The Jendari had sent her.

They knew. Somehow, they knew.

 

[Angcuru]

Take THAT Nostradamus!

 

[AnonymousOne]

I'm still trying to figure out why the Jendari don't have a God complex. I know the story about trying to force a certain humanoid race to grow up the way they wanted failed ... but normally (at least in the realm of political economy, which I study rather intently) Those in power seem to see a failure only as a minor setback to their over-arching plans of creating a better world.

Just an observation.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I'm still trying to figure out why the Jendari don't have a God complex. I know the story about trying to force a certain humanoid race to grow up the way they wanted failed ... but normally (at least in the realm of political economy, which I study rather intently) Those in power seem to see a failure only as a minor setback to their over-arching plans of creating a better world.

Just an observation.

It was only touched upon in that one post(back a page, I believe), and it wasn't exactly specific.

Basically, they did have a God complex of sorts at one point with that first race. Its comparable to parenting, really, as that's how the Jendari saw it then and now. Except then, they took a very forceful route and pushed the species to make the same decisions that the Jendari had made, even if they weren't right for THAT species. Basically, they tried to make them more like the Jendari, and that, in a sense, drove the species to killing itself for various reasons.

The important part is what the Jendari TOOK from that. To the Jendari, they saw that imposing their own development as a species on another caused a sort of implosion for some reason, which they attributed to the Force. Basically, their influence went AGAINST what the Force was pushing that species, and so it backfired completely.

The whole time, the Jendari were the same benevolent species, just with a more heavy-handed attitude. That incident changed things. They moved to a much more distant, guiding hand of a parent. It was basically deciding that a species needed to make its own mistakes, and its OWN choices. The Jendari have no real desire to rule. They are very much the pinnacle of a peaceful race despite the fact that they CAN defend themselves. They also saw great potential in the Alraxians, and like a parent, are gently helping the Alraxians exceed them.

Admittedly, this flies in the face of how we're used to seeing things, but technically we're all humans. The Alraxians are very alien to humans as it is culture-wise, and the Jendari even more so. They're a species that baffle even the Alraxians, and everytime it seems like they've been figure out...well, they give someone a set of coordinates that takes them to the right place at exactly the right time.