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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1822251" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 19: Not-So-Rough LandingsChaos didn’t exactly describe the scene around Naboo well enough. At least the Y-Wing and the three of them aboard were fine. Akan was piloting as before, Jen in the gunner’s seat, and Shadow(in her kitten like form again) purring quietly at getting an ear scratch in Jen’s lap. Filling the viewport in front of him was the planet Naboo. But that wasn’t the source of the chaos. The source was far to the left side of the planet, where three very large fleets were engaged. The New Republic had sent a considerable force against the planet, catching the Imperials off guard. This meant that both of the defense fleets responded immediately, as did the fighters on the ground. To add to the chaos, word had gotten out on the planet, and riots were breaking out.    The people of Naboo were never friends to the Empire, but such a strong hold had been taken on the planet that the people had simply lived with it. There was nothing they could do. Of course, now they could. Many New Republic ships had come down near major cities, taking out Imperial garrisons and forces. Akan had thought this was more of a hit and fade move at first, but now he realized it was a full blown planetary assault. Which meant he’d have to get his job done quickly. The Empire would do its best to get anything important off the planet, even if they succeeded in driving off the Republic. Ahead of him, the four assault transports from the Claw were diving in to their respective points on the planet. The Claw was already retreating out of the planet’s gravity well and preparing for hyperspace.    So far, so good. Which meant it was going to get very bad soon. As the ship dove through Naboo’s atmosphere, Akan’s sensors locked onto the garrison they were to get into. Strangely enough, it was easy to see. This was because of the green lights that were shooting up into the sky from it. Turbolaser batteries. That was overkill. Thankfully, they weren’t good at hitting starfighters(even slow Y-Wings). The assault transports were what had to worry.    “Going to have to make a run and take some of the ground forces out before landing,” Akan said in a strangely calm voice over his shoulder. This was strange because the entire flight he’d been fidgeting, whimpering, and whining about the seats not being designed for tails.    He soon spotted their side of the station(which was almost as big as a city, itself), and noted it was only occupied by two blazing turbolasers. The Republic forces already on the ground on the other sides were keeping most of the troops occupied. Good. Or bad, since that was yet another thing to go wrong. Before leaving, Akan had switched the systems so that he had weapons control locked forward. This meant that the ion cannon could no longer fire as a turret, but at least he didn’t have to worry about Jen or Shadow breaking anything.    [HEY! I can shoot things!] Shadow responded to his thoughts.    He simply sent her a mental growl and let the targeting reticle on his HUD slowly come to bear on one of the turbolasers. The second it locked on, the turbolaser spun around to start firing at him. They hadn’t detected such a small fighter coming in(as his was the only fighter to come into the atmosphere and they had been looking for assault ships). As the turbolaser fired shots over and around the Y-Wing, Akan shot off a single proton torpedo. The ship shook slightly from the force of the blue streak now leaving it, a testament to the age of the Y-Wing.In a few more seconds, the torpedo impacted with the large battery, destroying it in a bright flash. Alright, so that was probably overkill. Akan couldn’t help but grin a little as he started to level out the ship. The other battery had taken notice of him, and was bearing its two turrets on the Y-Wing as he switched to the lasers. Dropping to an almost dangerously low altitude(which just happened to be below the firing arc of the battery), Akan held in the trigger. Bright red blasts shot out at the battery, impacting it one after another until it shattered in a flash. Quickly, Akan pulled the Y-Wing up and out of the way, starting in a long loop to get them into a position to land.    Through all of this, he’d not noticed the fact that Jen was clinging to the seat. She wasn’t a fighter...and being in a starfighter and being shot at pulling the stunts he had was more than enough to make anyone nervous. The fact that she could only see the aftermath(and the turbolaser shots flying PAST them) made it worse. Shadow on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the excitement, though Akan could feel that she’d rather be out there having ‘fun’ instead of sitting around. But then again...ear scratch. That single action had pretty much made her useless to the world.    In a few more moments, the Y-Wing was down. As the canopy opened and Akan got out, he heard a whimpering noise from Shadow. He glanced back to see Jen had gotten up and was also climbing out. This, according to Shadow’s thoughts, was bad because ear scratch had stopped. Then something changed, and he looked to see the ‘usual’ Shadow also climbing out looking like nothing had happened. Akan was on the grass covered ground first, and helped Jen down. He was going to help Shadow, but she had hopped down gracefully and was looking to the complex in front of them with interest. It wasn’t all that different from the one on Endor, except that it was much more obviously Imperial. The flags, markings, and general no-fun straight lines everywhere did that. There was a single entrance, a small single door almost hidden in between two of the buildings and a wall.    Shadow and Akan exchanged looks, and without a word(they didn’t need them anymore, anyway) started towards it. Jen had drawn her small blaster pistol and followed them. The quiet was unnerving her some. She found it odd that Akan was so quiet. Maybe that was because of all the changes recently. He did have a lot to think about. But now wasn’t the time for this. She had a job to do...even if it wasn’t her place on the battlefield.</blockquote>

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