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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3666766" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 496: Turning PointRulae’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?</blockquote>

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