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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2915059" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 363Jyren had spent a good half hour speaking with his ‘mother’ through the Holocron he still kept with him. It had become, over the years, a way for him to put all of his thoughts in order and make sense of all the chaos that seemed to follow him around. Despite the fact that the image of his mother was just a holographic recording meant to sift through the information contained within the ancient data-storage device, it still had a way of being very helpful when Jyren needed it. He may not have remembered his mother, but now, at least, he had her help to guide him along...and not once had she led him down the wrong path.    But then something happened that should most definitely not have happened. The entirety of his quarters shook. Violently. Jyren grabbed at the wall instinctively, but managed to hold back the urge to morph claws for grip. They were odd enough on an Alraxian, and he was definitely not going to deal with that in his human form..especially when so many people had the chance of finding out exactly what they didn’t need to know.Two more shakes rocked through the ship, but by now, Jyren was up and staggering to his door. He hit the switch and turned into the corridor, immediately heading through a group of panicked looking marines towards the nearest turbolift. In the few minutes it took him to get in the lift tube and arrive on the bridge of the Star Destroyer, the alarms had kicked in. Because of this, Jyren was not surprised to see the black of realspace outside the many viewports of the Star Destroyer rather than the swirling blue of hyperspace that should have remained for at least another hour.    The bridge, itself, was ablaze with activity. Crewmen ran from station to station, and a few even jumped down into the two crew pits, obviously no longer able to enjoy the break that hyperspace provided most of the pilots and sensor operators. Orders were being barked from one side of the scanner and communication stations just near the lift, and, recognizing the voice, Jyren headed right for it.    “Admiral!” he managed a quick, if not fairly pathetic, salute at the sight of the tall, angular-faced human, “What’s going on?”    Two dark green eyes landed on Jyren, and Admiral Tarus took a moment before pointing back to the turbolift, “Agamar is already under attack. We’ve hit some kind of gravitic mine on the outskirts of the system.”    “A trap?” Jyren asked, already knowing where he needed to be and turning back towards the turbolift.    He managed to catch sight of the Admiral nodding, “Two cruiser analogs and swarms of coralskippers. Get to the hangar and get the Zephyrs in the air. Commodore Nok should already be there.”    No response to that was necessary, and besides, Jyren had no time to give on. His eyes caught a bright flash from the front viewport as the shields took a heavy impact of some sort, and then Jyren was in the turbolift. It was a surprisingly short trip down to the hangar. The large, main hangar of the Araddon was even more chaotic than the bridge. A group of A-Wings was just leaving as Jyren ran straight for where his X-Wing was. At least he was already wearing his flight suit...a habit that had come back very quicky after returning as a pilot.    “Half of your squadron’s already out there,” the technician said as he pulled off the fueling cables and grabbed the ladder that Jyren pushed away from the cockpit.    Jyren quickly pulled on his helmet, strapping it on while leaning over the side, “Where’s the Commodore?”    “Already out,” came the quick response, “You’re clear, Captain. Good hunting.”    “Thanks,” Jyren hit the switch on his canopy to bring it down and then turned on his comm to find it already filled with voice. Finding a break in the voices, he said, “This is Two, who’s still in the hangar?”    There was a short silence before he got a report that the half of the squadron still there was the same group that had trained together. Just as the report finished, the sound of Commodore Nok’s voice came over his headset, “Get out here and form up on us. Stay close to the Araddon until we receive orders.”    A series of double clicks sounded over the comm, and in another few moments, the remaining six X-Wings left the hangar and headed for the rest of the squadron. It didn’t take long for them to form up together, and just as they got into formation in front of the large Star Destroyer, Jyren got his first real sight of the Yuuzhan Vong.    Two asteroid-like objects hung a good distance away, spraying some sort of red-orange fire straight into the Araddon and the other ships in the small fleet...two of which were already burning. Near the two Vong cruiser analogs, Jyren could see a multitude of small objects that had to be the coralskippers...small, Yuuzhan Vong starfighters.    “What’s the situation, One?” Jyren asked after only another second, not sure of what to make of everything as he could barely make out the tiny dot of Agamar’s star in the distance.    There was static for a moment before the Duros’ voice returned, “The Vong attacked about twenty standard minutes ago. The fleet here is overwhelmed, but they’re holding on. It looks like the Vong were waiting for reinforcements are arrive...we can’t help Agamar until we break through their rear defenses.”    Jyren nodded to himself, not liking how this was turning out one bit. He glanced out the canopy to his side, seeing where his wingmate hung next to him. In her cockpit, Rea looked, and felt, slightly nervous, but ready to act. All of the squadron felt that way. But when Jyren reached out further...it was strange. There should have been something there, but instead there was nothing. No...not nothing. It was the absence of anything, even a nothingness. Like an intangible hole in the Force, a black, emptiness so cold that it sent a shiver of Jyren’s spine, the wall of Yuuzhan Vong sat between their fleet and the life of the planet beyond.    It was...wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.    “Coralskippers incoming,” Rulae’s voice only partially broke Jyren out of the emptiness. It was enough, however, to get him into the moment, exactly where he needed to be, “Lock you S-Foils into attack position, Zephyrs. We’re on guard duty for the fleet until the Corellia and Taelon have their engines back online.”    The two damage ships in the fleet...engines out already? The Vong had really caught them off guard. But it sounded fixable, which was something. Those two ships were meant to stay behind and guard the Araddon from waves of starfighters, but without their assistance, X-Wings and, from the looks of it, a squadron of newer E-Wings would be doing that job.    His eyes widened as a reb-orange blast shot over the squadron, and not a second later, Rulae called out, “Flight One and Three on me! Flight Two stick with Zephyr Two! Don’t wander off from the fleet!”    There was no time for any other words. In a wave of red-orange flame, the coralskippers charged through.</blockquote>

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