Eight Months later…
Cade Valdarin - En route to Ringo Vinda
18 ABE
I watch the black of space roll by. I'm onboard the Mk II Starhawk Warbird, brand new off the assembly line. Ever since the battle at Atrisia, the Republic has been winning more battles. Independent worlds and systems that were content to remain on the sidelines joined the war on the Republic side. Although the Republic's win ratio has increased, the fighting has intensified. Worlds like Minos Korva, a Mid Rim lava world that generates a substantial amount of geothermal energy for many Mid Rim worlds, has seen a prolonged campaign that has lasted almost a year. Malastare has changed hands several times, falling to the Imperium, then being reclaimed by the New Republic. As for my training, I have increased my power to new levels and nearly achieved total control when I experience oneness.
I just turned twenty-six a few days ago. But there was no celebration as news came in that Gorukar had taken life away from three more worlds. Tangrene, Uuqbar, and Gamorr have all fallen, all life taken from them. All those species are now endangered thanks to Pravus. The war has been going in our favor though. I had just returned from a mission on Malastare that resulted in the liberation of the planet when the order came in. Republic Command contacted me with an urgent message; the Imperium had launched a daring attack on the Outer Rim world, Ringo Vinda.
Ringo Vinda is home to one of the few shipyards of the Republic capable of manufacturing the advanced Viscount Star Defenders. Other worlds include Sullust, Kuat, Fondor, and Mon Calamari. Orbiting the world is a massive ring; a ring that serves as both a massive shipyard and a defensive space station. Of course, Republic Command wasn't going to lose one of its' primary shipyards but all battlegroups were engaged at the time. So, the Rapid Assault Force, or RAF, was ordered to go to the world's defense and hold it long enough for reinforcements to arrive. I joined up with the RAF in order to help ensure the shipyard remains intact. Meanwhile, Jevin, Wodi, and the Fourth Battlegroup are engaged at Minos Korva. If the world is lost, that means a significant loss of energy for many Mid Rim worlds. Jevin told me he'll come to Ringo Vinda as soon as he can with all the reinforcements he can muster. For now, it's just me, Commodore Adail, and the lightly armed RAF.
Several hours later…
"All hands, brace for boarders!" I hear blaring over the intercom. The battle started out well, the RAF had managed to surprise the Imperium forces and attack them from behind. But then they focused their attack on us completely, leaving their own force of boarders to deal with the station. The RAF isn't meant for protracted fights, only swift engagements and we have already lost several corvettes and gunships. The Starhawks, of course, have managed to hold on despite massively being outnumbered. They truly are amazing warships, built to withstand punishment and dish out some too. "Valdarin, report to the bridge." A voice says out of my wrist comm. I don a light armored jumpsuit and run down the white scalloped halls towards the bridge, seeing navy security troopers running past me, X45s primed for a fight. Entering the bridge, I see through the viewport a trio of Starhawks moving to take a defensive position in front of the ring. But these battleships, while they can take a lot of fire, are not indestructible.
I rush over to the Commodore at the holotable. "Cade, thank goodness you're still with us. We have intruders on decks six through twelve and they are moving through the ship." I look over the table; a holo-image of the ship is displayed with the boarded sections highlighted in red. "I can assist in repelling them." I say. Adail shakes her head, "No, I need you on that station; your skills will be much more useful there. We can handle the ship. Captain Skyes and his Rancors are standing by in the hangar. You'll take a Katarn-class boarding shuttle to the ring. Fight to the control center of the ring, from there, you can turn the ring's defensive systems on the Imperium fleet. We'll do what we can to hold off the enemy until General Corso's reinforcements get here. Good luck."
I meet Gavin in the hangar, the man shakes my hand. "Good to see you again Cade. You ready for this? It'll be close quarters fighting all the way through the ring." His Rancors are equipping themselves appropriately, vibroblades, DH-24 carbines, and concussion grenades to avoid undue damage to the station interior. The Rancors, with their vacuum-sealed black armor, all file into the shuttle as I walk aboard. The shuttle takes off and heads toward the ring, dodging and weaving to avoid green fire from the Predators.
"All right Rancors, listen up!" Gavin says, his voice electronically distorted through the helmet. "The Republic has been increasing in victories ever since Atrisia but we can't give up now. This shipyard is a large producer of Starhawks and more importantly can create the behemoth Star Defenders. They have been working to complete the third Star Defender, the Warhammer. We can't lose it. Once we are onboard, we do not stop until we take that command station, understood?" A rousing HOOYAH sounds from the soldiers. I gaze out the cockpit to the edge of the system, hoping that Wodi comes soon, we can use the SHARCs onboard the ring and the Fourth fleet to mop up the space forces.
The shuttle reaches the hull of the ring without taking undue damage. The shuttle is meant for placing its nose against a metal hull, then using plasma torches to cut through that hull and creating a vacuum seal to allow the soldiers within to enter the station or ship. The shuttle takes off again, the pilot giving us a thumbs up before turning the shuttle back towards the Warbird. Brandishing my saber, Gavin and another Rancor place a breach charge upon the blast door. Gavin silently counts off with his fingers: three, two, one. Boom! We enter through the resulting smoke and the Rancors open fire as I deflect several red bolts back at Imperium soldiers. Several Juggernauts leap at us as the smoke clears; their presence here indicates that a Praetor is here as well. One of the last ones too, as we have killed nearly all of them. We enter a cargo bay area when Gavin shouts, "Grenade, get down!"
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Minos Korva, Mid Rim
18 ABE
This heat is really starting to get to me. But that's all Minos Korva is: unending waves of heat and lava. Our battlegroup had landed on the world's volcanic surface almost one standard year ago to reclaim an important energy refinery the Imperium had seized. The higher ups had informed us in the initial briefing that the refinery was a key component in delivering geothermal energy to several planets across the Mid Rim. They even explained the whole process to us. The energy is harvested from several thermal vents across the planet's surface, where it is then transported to and refined in the Korva Thermal plant via pipework and infused with a special concoction of chemicals before being sealed in giant durasteel tanks and shipped out in special barges. The number of confused looks and blank stares in that briefing room . . . The moment I stepped off the boarding ramp of our transport, decked out in red, brown, and orange magma gear, I was transported back to the Sullust campaign during the Civil War. Ash and smoke floated on dry drafts of volcanic air, coating our uniforms in a matter of minutes. I remember I broke out in sweat almost instantaneously. It was dripping down my back and underneath my blast helmet, running down my face and stinging my eyes. Volcanic landforms of all types dotted the barren landscape. The only thing missing were giant Imperial AT-AT walkers. We only had a couple of hours to establish a base camp and do reconnaissance before the Imperium struck. And then it all went downhill from there. Months of near-continuous fighting. Both their fleet and their infantry forces greatly outnumbered ours. The Korvan fields became littered with blast craters and debris. And bodies, so many of our own. But despite insurmountable odds, we managed to turn the tide and reclaim the refinery, with a little help from sorely needed reinforcements and the Korvan natives. The Imperium is floundering. We can all feel it. They threw hell at us but we came out on top. Despite this obvious fact, however, our foes are not done. Not by a long shot.
"Wodi? You with us?" Jevin's voice brings me out of my thoughts, back to the present moment. I shake my head, grinning a little sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm here." I'm standing on the Korvan lava plains, watching the last of our forces pulling out. Troop transports come and go, taking with them grimy and weary groups of soldiers. I look on as a platoon of guys from the Fourth lead a column of shackled Imperium soldiers and officers to an awaiting GR-80. Their faces are dirty and downcast, their eyes locked on the ground they tread on. The ones who do look up have blank and hollow stares. Several New Republic soldiers standing near them laugh and jeer, brandishing their rifles and hurling insults. The Imps don't react. "Hey," Jevin says, cuffing me on the shoulder lightly, "you sure you don't need to get a psych eval?" I grin, shoving him off. "Are you kidding me?" Amminius says, sauntering over to place an arm around my shoulder, rapping my helmet lightly with his knuckle, "Wishbone here is in the best mental shape of his life! I bet he could even beat Lando Calrissian at a game of sabacc! You know what they say, 'wisdom comes with age.'" I laugh, stooping over and pretending to use my X45 as a cane. "You just watch it sonny! You're not too young yourself!" Amminius gives me a questioning look, pointing to himself. "Me? Old? Ah, you're full of poodoo." Our group bursts out laughing. Jevin shakes his head, smirking. "It must be nice to get a seniors discount at the officer's bar!" Nom says, grinning. Gav tips back his head and mimes drinking. We continue to joke as we head over to one of the last transport ships. I walk up the boarding ramp, unclipping and removing my helmet, wiping away a trail of sweat. We seat ourselves and buckle our crash webbing. After a few moments, I feel the shudder of the ion engines firing up and look out the viewport to see the terrain of Minos Korva getting smaller and smaller.
Several hours later . . .
I sit in the temperature-controlled spacious briefing room of the New Republic Mark Two Starhawk Accolade along with Jevin, Amminius, and some of the Fourth, listening to the situation report on Ringo Vinda being given by a tall, smartly-dressed Bith captain flanked by several officers, aided by a holographic display of the planet and the station. ". . . The Imperium forces boarded the orbiting defense station at exactly 09:00 and have taken control of decks three through eight, destroying factory components as they go with heavy weapons." The corresponding decks in the hologram strobe red. "They now hold the ring's control center. Our Rapid Assault Force, spearheaded by Jedi Valdarin, has engaged them and have managed to push back the Imperium fleet. However, the situation de-escalated quickly, and they are in dire need of reinforcements. I need not remind you, ladies and gentle-beings, that this station is key to the production of our Star Defenders. Once you are inside the station, push towards the control center hub, here." The control hub strobes blue. "Once there, you will activate the ring's defense capabilities, which will destroy the remainder of the Imperium fleet stationed there." The holographic image of the surrounding Star Destroyers strobe orange and wink out. "To avoid unnecessary damage to the station, you are to go in using DH-24 carbines and concussion grenades." I hear several murmurs of protest. Amminius leans in close and whispers in my ear. "That's like using stun bolts against an array of turbolasers." I nod in agreement. "Compared to Minos Korva, this will be a walk in the park." I tune back into the briefing.
". . . Your secondary objective is to ensure that our Star Defender Warhammer, still in construction, is not destroyed. We cannot afford to be set back." The captain presses a button and the hologram disappears, the lights coming back on. "Any questions?" A pilot in a green flight suit raises a gloved hand. The captain nods to him. "Sir, what is the current strength of the Imperium fleet stationed around Ringo Vinda?" "When the attack started, the Republic security force stationed onboard reported five Star Destroyers, plus a compliment of light cruisers and fighter wings," the captain says, folding his large hands behind his back, "as of right now, I cannot say how many remain. Our attempts to contact the Commodore of the Assault Force have been unsuccessful." "Five Destroyers?" A female pilot sporting the insignia of Zerek Squadron pipes up, smirking. "What do they think we are? Amateurs?" A ripple of laughter rolls through the room. Amminius jabs me in the ribs and grins. I grin back. Once the laughter dies down, the captain continues. "Any more questions? The room is silent. "Alright," the captain says, folding his hands behind his back again, "briefing over. Get to your ships and fighters. We are about to enter our last hyperspace jump. I suggest you make ready. Dismissed." The room breaks out in small discussions as everyone gets up and files out of the briefing room. "This should be fun." Amminius remarks as we walk out with the crowd, swinging his arms and clapping his hands together. "Yeah," I agree, "DH-24s against heavy weapons? Brilliant!" "At least we have the element of surprise." Jevin says, weaving his way through a trio of hurrying flight technicians on their way to the hangar. "They're bound to expect that someone will come to assist our guys," I say, "so it's not much of a surprise." Jevin shrugs. "It's something."
We make our way through the crowded corridor towards the barracks and armory. "Hey fellas," a voice calls out from behind us. We stop and turn to see Captain Ethan Hawthorn and Lieutenant Allan Coates, the younger Coates working to keep stride with Hawthorn, making their way towards us. "Hey Hawthorn! Hey Coates!" The two are abruptly forced to flatten themselves against a bulkhead to avoid a collision with a group of jogging X-wing pilots. Amminius chuckles. Once the pair reaches us, handshakes are exchanged. "Some briefing back there," Hawthorn remarks, shaking his head. "Oh yeah," I reply, "this'll be a piece of cake." "Are you all recovered from Minos Korva?" Coates asks. "Mostly," Jevin replies, running a hand through his hair. " Although I'm still washing ash off my skin!" We laugh. We chat for a few minutes about random topics: the newest landspeeder model, the best ale at the bar, who said what about who, stormtrooper armor, starfighter pilots, the latest New Republic droids and ships. Our conversation is interrupted by the onboard intercom: "Attention troops and pilots, attention troops and pilots. We have entered our last hyperspace jump. Estimated time of arrival will be in one standard hour." "Well," Amminius says, patting his personal comlink hooked to his belt, "I have to go comm Otara and let her know what's going on. I'm dying to hear the sound of her voice!" I smile. I'm just as eager to hear Amara's voice. "I'll comm Amara," I say, "and then I'll be down in the hangar to join you guys." "Drinks when we're through with this one?" Hawthorn calls after us, smiling. "Only if you're buying!" I shout back. Amminius grins. "See you two in the hangar," Jevin says, "and don't be kriffing late this time!" Amminius turns around and puts on a hurt expression. "Now Jevin, when have we ever been late?" I laugh. Jevin rolls his eyes in response and taps his chrono.
One hour later . . . Ringo Vinda
The Accolade exits hyperspace and starts its approach toward Ringo Vinda. Even from here, things look bad. Debris floats everywhere, and flames jut out of many of the Assault Force cruisers. And there are a lot of Imperium ships. I'm hurried into the transport by a flight officer. "Alright," Jevin says when we're all seated and the transport boarding ramp closes, "I don't need to remind you of what was said in the briefing. Let's get this thing done. Once we're aboard, we'll rendezvous with Valdarin and Skyes." Everyone aboard nods. With a 'go' from the flight officer, our transport exits the Accolade's hangar along with its escort and moves toward the orbiting station, dodging turbolaser fire. Other ships slip out of the bay. Starfighters streak by overhead laser cannons screaming, engaging one another, some exploding in brilliant balls of flame. "Target approaching," our pilot informs us. "Three minutes." I check the charge again on my DH-24, a nervous tic of mine. Full. Good, I'll definitely be needing it. Here we go. Hang on Cade.
Cade Valdarin - Ringo Vinda Station
18 ABE
"Fall back, fall back!" Gavin shouts through the helmet. "Sir, our reinforcements are here!" One of the Rancors shouts over the sounds of blaster fire. "The Fourth Battlegroup is here!" I look across the way to Gavin, "Then let's move up!" I throw my green blade into a group of Juggernauts, dicing them to pieces. I summon the blade back just in time to meet two Sith Acolytes' blades. We all parry each other, the two of them seething at me. The one who seems to be in charge speaks, "Finally, we meet the famous Valdarin. Master Pravus speaks highly of you." We shove each other away and they come in swinging at me like wild men. I'm able to easily block each blow and bob and weave between their blades. My powers have been increasing ever since Atrisa. Sidestepping out of the way of the leaders' blade, I cut a horizontal strike across his stomach, instantly letting out a death rattle and the body slumps to the ground. The second backs away; she's just a kid, thrown into this war without understanding her part in it. Even as bolts are flying all around me, I sheathe my saber. "Run and I will not kill you," I say in a somber tone. The girl is a fool, though, and launches herself in a wild acrobatic move to land behind me. She thrusts the saber right where my back was but I move fast, using the Force the augment my speed. Gavin takes the hint and fires his bowcaster dead into the small of her back. Even at only twenty-five, Gavin has become such a powerful figure on the battlefield, being one of the youngest to ever become a Captain in the New Republic. "Deck clear, move up!" He orders the squads.
We move closer to the command station for the whole ring when the corridor in front of me sounds with a loud bang and then a blinding explosion. Through the smoke, like some heroes of an epic tale, I see three figures emerge. I can easily sense the presence of Jevin, Wodi, and Amminius. Their group, including Ethan Hawthorn and Allan Coates, two soldiers of some repute, quickly gun down the Imperium troopers in their path. Jevin turns towards me, "You alright, kid?" I walk over to him, shaking his hand, "You made it, I knew you guys would come." Gavin hooks his bowcaster to his bandoleer, "Glad you could make it General. We've made good progress; the other Rancor squads report they have taken their target areas, all that's left is the command station." Wodi comes back from making sure the troopers are dead, "So, we have this almost wrapped up? That's a bit anticlimactic," he says with an exaggerated sigh. Allan, being the youngest of the group at the ripe age of twenty-four, pipes up and says, "Speak for yourself! This is the first time I've ever fought on a station." Gavin gives a hearty laugh; the Rancor Assault Troopers are specifically trained for combat on ships, on stations, and zero-g. "We'll make a Rancor of you yet!"
Amminius, in his slick black FlexArmor, returns from reconnoitering with his Chiss partner, Zeatuli. It's amazing how the man can talk in a jovial way, joking around with superior officers like Jevin and even High Marshal Ponith but when on a mission, all jokes fade away and he is deadly serious. "Way to the command sector is clear, sir, we have a straight shot, which I don't trust one bit." Jevin nods, "Agreed, it's too easy. Go with Zeatuli and take the engineers to the Warhammer, protect them and get that thing running. We get it behind the Imperium battle line, we'll be able to hammer them from both sides." He offers a crisp salute and slinks off with the Chiss, their FlexArmor designed in such a way that their movement makes barely any noise.
"Meanwhile, Hawthorn, take Coates and Johnson and go with Gerik and his Protectors. Focus on clearing the main hangar." Hawthorn, even though he is a hardened soldier, has never fought with a Protector. Jevin sees the slight shock on his face, "Don't worry, Gerik doesn't bite, and he'll teach you the ways of a warrior." Hawthorn nods and jogs off with the Mandos, the last we hear is an "Oya!" before they round the corner. Jevin looks to Wodi and they nod in agreement. Ever since Jevin became his commanding officer during the Galactic Civil War, they have become steadfast friends and where others call Jevin by rank as is normal, Wodi is one of the few in the military to call him by his callsign and nickname, Blastzone. "Cade, we're with you. Let's retake the command station and turn those turbolasers away from our ships and against theirs!" "HOOYAH," Gavin and the Rancors shout and we advance our way to the command station.
Meanwhile, the battle in space . . .
Admiral Antilles stands on the bridge of his new Mk II Starhawk, Accolade, his SSD having been destroyed during the most chaotic part of the nearly year-long battle for Minos Korva. He overlooks the viewport at the battle raging in space, the massive ring of the station in the background. Seeing a YT-2400 reminds him of the old days flying alongside the Millennium Falcon at Endor, only this transport is the Phoenix, the ship of the treasure hunter turned New Republic Specialist, Sonya Ravenclaw, a close friend and one-time romance of Cade Valdarin. "Sir, shields are at sixty percent! We aren't making any headway!" Wedge looks down at the holo-table, carefully examining the position of the ships of the Fourth Battlegroup and RAF. "Move the Abolisher and Liberator to position Aleph and Starhawks Megador, Jackhammer, and Spirit to position Bravo. We need to move our cruisers to block fire from hitting the station." "Yes sir!" Wedge smiles. He hasn't seen a space battle like this since, well, since Endor actually. It's funny; the New Republic was declining militarily, with crime on a rampant rise. But when the Imperium showed up and it was revealed Xander still lived, the Republic got its act together. The many member worlds, where once they were more focused on their own worlds and people, joined together in a true union and the New Republic Military has now become one the most powerful and adaptive militaries in the galaxy. Shoom. A blue holo of the Quarren, Fleet Admiral and Supreme Commander of the Fleet, Unath Kerex, comes on, the image jumpy and staticky with interference. "Wedge, how are you holding up?" "Good Admiral, the Imperium is putting up a good fight but Corso just reported in. The groups have split up with the Infiltrators and engineers moving to the Warhammer while he and Valdarin lead the main group to retake the command station." More static, then, "Good, the fight goes well on Mon Calamari, it looks like the Imperium is trying to take out our ability to create Star Defenders. I'll be expecting an update once the station has been secured." "Understood Admiral, may the Force be with you." Wedge turns back to the battle, inspecting the massive ships as if they were pieces on a dejarik board. Cade, I hope you, Jevin, and Wodi can take the station, we'll need the firepower to take out the enemy fleet.
Back on Ringo Vinda Station . . .
I finish cutting through the massive bulkhead door with the lightsaber and Force push the door into the room. We enter and a hail of blaster bolts fly toward us . . .
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Ringo Vinda, Mid Rim
18 ABE
We scrape by the flaming bridge of a Super Star Destroyer formerly in a blockade position, pieces of the durasteel giant breaking off and flying past our darkened viewport, some of them impacting our hull with dull thuds and clangs. Bodies and debris vent out of gaping holes on drafts of escaping oxygen. "Shield's holding." Our pilot informs us. We move through more debris fields, closer to the orbiting ring station. We pass by drifting husks of starfighters, their cockpits cracked open and their wings charred stumps, pieces of droids, sections of blackened hull from cruisers and corvettes, and the vac-suited forms of pilots, their exposed skin a bluish color, their lifeless eyes bulging. I try not to stare at the carnage and instead focus my attention on the rapidly approaching station. "One minute." I nervously tap my boot against the floor grating and hold on extra tight to my crash webbing. I look to Amminius seated next to me. His jaw is set, but he cracks me a smile and gives me a thumbs-up. I return his gesture and focus again outside. Nom taps Gav's arm and points out the viewport at the giant frame of the Warhammer, still in drydock. The Defender's outer hull appears undamaged, apart from some carbon scoring across several large hull plates. Good. That's one item on our checklist crossed off. Now we just need to make sure it stays that way. "Pulling alongside," our pilot says, his voice a little crackly with static, "extending docking ring in five." We all unbuckle our crash webbing and file over to the outline of the docking ring, priming our carbines. Jevin moves to the front of our group, shouldering his DH-24 by its strap. He takes out from his pants pocket an NR military-grade fusioncutter and hands it to me. I palm the familiar weight of the handheld cutting torch and hold it at the ready. "Docking ring extending." With a whir of machinery, the docking ring extends outward and attaches to the outer structure of the station, magnetically sealing itself with a high-pitched whine and hiss. The noise always sets my teeth on edge. The ring is tall enough for a soldier to stand up in. Jevin motions inside with his carbine, all business. "Let's get in there. Quix, up front with that cutter."
I nod and move forward with Jevin, Amminius, moving in next to me, the rest of our group filing into the lighted docking ring behind us. Crouching down once I reach the station exterior, I depress the button on the fusioncutter's hand grip, a blue-orange plasma beam jumping to life. "Here we go." Jevin and Amminius step back, and I move the cutter's beam in a wide circle across the durasteel surface, making it large enough for us to clamber through. Amminius looks over my shoulder to admire my handiwork. "You really need to work on your craftsmanship!" He says with a grin. I pause to look at him and roll my eyes. "You stole that line from Ordo!" "No, I did not!" Finished with my work, I flick off the plasma beam and lightly bang the fusioncutter against Amminius' matte black helmet, smirking. I hand the tool back to Jevin, who replaces it in his pocket. "Alright," Jevin says, "let's push it through." He, Amminius and I move to either side of the circle I had just cut. "On the count of three. One . . . two . . . three." On three, we push against the circle, grunting with the effort. After a few seconds, we stop. I look to where there should be a hole leading into the station. There isn't one. "Blast," Jevin curses, hitting the side of the docking ring with his fist, "the outer skin of the station is too thick. We can't cut through it." "We can always go in the old-fashioned way, sir." Allan pipes up from the back. "Perfect," Jevin says, his eyes lighting up, "Carver, get out a proximity charge." Nom moves to the front of our group, producing from his pack the explosive device, handing it over. Jevin attaches the charge in the middle of my circle, setting the timer. "Timer set for ten seconds. Get clear!" We quickly shuffle to the back of the docking ring. Even though my helmet is supposed to lessen loud noises, I know from experience that it isn't always great at its job, so I move my hands under my blast helmet and cover my ears, turning my body away from the proximity bomb. WHOOMP!
Smoke billows from the newly created hole in the metal surface of the station. "Go, go, go!" Jevin shouts. Our group swiftly climbs through the hole, emerging in a long clean corridor lined with teal tubular lights. A red blaster bolt whizzes by my head, striking the wall near the hole in the wall in a shower of sparks. "Stormtroopers!" I shout, bringing up my DH-24 and returning fire, sending a stormtrooper careening into the corridor wall, a blackened hole in his plastoid alloy chest armor. "Friendlies up front!" I hear someone yell behind us. We crouch down and take cover in the recesses of the walls, trading fire with the nine stormtroopers stationed outside a set of thick blast doors set at a junction. In a matter of minutes, all stormtroopers are down and out for the count. Just to be sure, I cautiously move forward and check each armored body. "You alright, kid?" I hear Jevin say, concern in his voice. "You made it," Cade responds, his voice full of relief, "I knew you guys would come." Glancing over at our assembled group, I spy Gavin Skyes and his heavily outfitted Rancor Troopers, along with Cade and five Vinda engineers in blue jumpsuits, clutching stolen blaster rifles. Standing a few feet from them are Gerik Ordo and a compliment of his Mandalorian Protectors in colorful beskar'gam. Amminius and his Chiss partner Zeatuli move away from the group to do recon and intel gathering. "Glad you could make it General," Gavin says, "we've made good progress. The other Rancor squads report that they have taken their target areas. All that's left is the command station." I check the last stormtrooper, dead, and jog back over to everyone. I sigh in relief, saying, "So we have this almost wrapped up? That's a bit anticlimactic." Others in our group nod in agreement. "We head all the way out here, psyched up on defending Ringo Vinda, and all we're left with is cleanup." Nom says with a chuckle. "Anticlimactic is the word for it." "Speak for yourself," Allan says, shouldering his carbine, "this is the first time I've ever fought on a station!" Gavin laughs and claps Allan on the armored shoulder. "We'll make a Rancor out of you yet!"
Amminius and Zeatuli return from their scouting mission, flipping up the visors of their helmets, clipping their carbines to their utility belts. "Way to the command center is clear, sir," Amminius says, addressing Jevin, "we have a straight shot . . . which I don't trust one bit." Jevin nods, his brow furrowing. "Agreed. It's too easy." He pauses for a moment, thinking. Finally, he says "Go with Zeatuli and take the engineers to the Warhammer. Protect them and get that Defender up and running. We get it behind the Imperium battle line, we'll be able to hammer them from both sides." Gavin nods. "That's right. Their ships won't be able to fight a battle on two fronts." Amminius nods in understanding. I grin at him, shaking my head. "I hope your piloting skills have improved since the Inflictor, "Captain" Sinan!" Amminius grins back. "You just wait and see, Wishbone! I was just honing my skills on Jakku. This is the real deal! I'll fly better than Admiral Antilles himself!" I laugh, waving him off. Jevin rolls his eyes. "Go!" Amminius offers Jevin a salute before he and Zeatuli, along with the five engineers, move off down the corridor. Good luck, Amminius, I say silently, watching them go.
Jevin next turns to Ethan. "Hawthorn, take Coates and Johnson and go with Gerik and his Protectors. Focus on clearing the main hangar." Ethan looks a little shaky, his expression nervous. He's never fought with Mandos before. A few of Ordo's Protectors chuckle at Ethan's appearance. I stifle a grin and a chuckle myself, mock coughing into my flak jacket sleeve. It is quite comical. Jevin smiles, putting a hand on Ethan's arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, Gerik won't bite." In response to this, Gerik waves his gloved fingers in a spooky motion, rolling back his helmeted head. His Protectors play along, waving their fingers and laughing. Jevin rolls his eyes, muttering something inaudible under his breath before continuing. "He'll teach you the ways of a warrior." Ethan nods determinedly. "Understood, sir. We'll have that hangar cleared in no time." "Oya!" The Mandalorians shout, hoisting their weapons in the air, "Let's hunt!" Together, they move off down the corridor, turning down a side passageway leading to the main hangar. I silently wish them luck as well. Jevin turns to me and nods. I nod back. We have the most critical mission. The command center hub. Those turbolaser battery arrays need to be redirected or else our fleet won't stand a chance. Like Gavin said earlier, it'll be very difficult fighting a battle on two fronts. "Cade, we're with you. Let's retake the command station and turn those turbolasers away from our ships and against theirs!" Jevin says, hefting his carbine confidently. "Doesn't sound too hard!" I chime in. Cade smiles. "HOOYAH!" Yell Gavin and his guys. Together, we advance down the long corridor towards the station command center.
. . .
We stack up against the command center door, blasters primed and ready, concussion grenades in hand. This is it. We had only encountered light resistance on our way, which was strange. Where were all the stormtroopers? They couldn't all be down in the main hangar. I look to Cade, standing behind Gavin, lightsaber unlit, clasped in both hands. He had been unusually quiet for most of the trip. I push the thought out of my mind as Jevin pushes in an explosive device in one of the cracks of the heavy alloy blast door. Five seconds to detonation. We brace ourselves for the big bang. BANG! "Get in there!" Jevin shouts, tossing in a concussion grenade, "Go! Go! Go!" We rush in blasters up . . . straight into a trap.
Cade Valdarin - Ringo Vinda Station, Command module
18 ABE
"Get in there!" Jevin shouts, tossing in a concussion grenade, "Go! Go! Go!" We rush in blasters up . . . straight into a trap. As soon as the smoke fills the room, Jevin, Wodi, and the troops storm into the room, blaster bolts flying through the smoke. And then that noise comes back; we hear the hissing of the Sith Juggernauts and before we know it, they leap on our group. Several Rancors are taken down and I hear Wodi grunt as he slams a vibroknife into its throat, causing it to croak a death rattle. "Keep firing!" Jevin says between blasts from his DH-24. Even though he is in his early forties, Jevin Corso is still a beast in battle; a Juggernaut launches at him and he deftly dodges the attack, bringing a vibrodagger out in the sidestep and lodging it into the Juggernaut's back, the thing falling with a hard thud on the floor. I'm deflecting bolts and cutting down Juggernauts as they come in close with their wrist-mounted blades when I feel a whisper in the Force, similar to the feeling I feel when Pravus is close and I look toward the other end of the module to see him.
A Praetor stands at the other end, an Umbaran. He doesn't look like the others; where they had armor emulating that of their dark master, Pravus, he wears simple dark blue robes with gold facial markings. He looks at me and ignites a red blade, no monologue this time. As Jevin, Wodi, and the others take cover where they can, behind upturned desks, peering above consoles, their DH-24s start to overheat and smoke, the Praetor launches himself in a forward jump, spinning tightly in a circle and uttering an inhuman battle cry and I bring up my blade to meet his, the red crackling against the green. Finally he speaks, "You have destroyed our order, Valdarin! Only myself and Lord Ferus remain!" I shove him away, crouching and spinning with my blade held outward, bisecting two more Juggernauts that had come in to protect their commander. I stand up, holding my blade aloft, "You threw your lot in with Pravus, you deserve no less!" I raise my hand and he holds up his blade, expecting to counter a lightning assault but he gets a surprise instead. An ancient technique the Jedi of old knew was called Pyrokinesis, the ability to create and manipulate fire. In many ways, this power gave one the ability of creation; they could create and destroy with the flame. The torrent of blue flame launches at the Praetor and he holds up a hand, barely managing to stop the flame with the Force. I hear a high pitched yelp as his skin heats up, several of the Imperium Stormtroopers yell "Protect Lord Etrian!" and begin to shift fire to me, a bad mistake on their part. Releasing the flame torrent, I summon the Force and launch myself at them, bringing the emerald blade to bear on the poor troopers. A broken faceplate here, shattered E-15 rifle there, an arm gets chopped off. The beauty about being a Grey Jedi and using the Juyo form, the most ferocious of lightsaber forms, is that you aren't held back by ideology.
The whisper comes back, I whirl around just in time to duck, a few seconds more and Etrian's lightsaber would have beheaded me. I roll away to see Wodi and Jevin back to back, DH-24s firing so fast that the smokes guzzles out of them. They almost seem like the heroes of an epic; against an endless tide they stand, determination set on their faces. I parry Etrian again, locking ourselves in a saberlock. "Lord Pravus was correct, you are a worthy adversary." "Oh, you have no idea" I say in a grim voice. Suddenly, I deactivate my lightsaber as I spin away; the loss of an opposing blade causes him to stumble forward and I activate again, launching a set a strong power swings that ultimately knock him off balance. He lands a desperate vertical swing to meet my blade but it isn't enough. I force the blade down and with a quick, seamless motion, I jump over him, spin, and quickly plunge the blade into his chest as I face away from him.
The last I hear is "Lord Pravus, help me!" Wodi does a quick check of the bodies, "Room clear!" he says, looking to Jevin for further orders. Jevin raises a wrist, "Major Sinan, report." There is some static, "All set here sir, the Warhammer has been secured and the engineers are finishing up now. ETA three minutes to full operation." Jevin acknowledges an affirmative, hearing from Wodi's comm that Hawthorn's group managed to secure the main hangar, letting more U-wings board the ring. "Wodi, Carver, man those turbolasers controls, start picking your targets." They hustle to it, calling out targets, the guns visibly moving outside the viewport, taking aim at the called targets, some aimed at the engine bank of a Predator, some aimed at a Cutlass-class corvette. The smaller anti-starfighter turrets also take spin up, ready to wave off the inevitable wave of TIE Stalkers when then the shooting starts. "We're ready whenever you are!" Jevin says to Amminius over the comm. "Warhammer launching!" We hear back and see a powerful sight. The enormous bulk of the Warhammer, once inert and sitting in drydock unfinished, now moves straight toward the rear of the Imperium fleet and then it begins. The Viscount Star Defenders are massive ships, shaped like tadpoles actually, and bristling with weapons. Armed with conventional weaponry, they use turbolasers, missile launchers, torpedo launchers, and ion cannons and, being made to match an Executor-class, they are easily able to overwhelm any ship less than a super star destroyer.
The massive bulk of the Warhammer begins lighting up with the flashes of fire, the rear of the Predators begin blossoming with explosions. Jevin gives the order, "Fire everything!"
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Ringo Vinda, Mid Rim
18 ABE
The last of our ambushers, a stormtrooper captain, collapses to the floor with a clatter, multiple burn holes in his charred plastoid armor. All hostiles are down, including the Umbaran Praetor, his pale skin even paler, his blue eyes glassy and unseeing. While Gavin and one of his guys takes a head count, carefully attending to wounded Rancor troops with portable med kits, I move about the command room carnage, making sure that none of our enemies will jump back up for a round two. I place my thumb and forefinger on the neck of each target, feeling for the slightest pulse of life. Some forms I purposely skip over. I don't think a stormtrooper with both his arms and his head lopped off will be living to fight another day. We sure got 'em good. When I confirm that the last target, a mutilated Juggernaut, won't be getting back up, I stand up and shout to the others, "room clear!"
Jevin nods and raises his wrist comm to his mouth, depressing the button to activate it. "Major Sinan, we're all clear in the command center complex, report." Silence. My insides go cold. Did something go wrong? Are they alright? Then Amminius' voice comes back, crackling with static. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. "All set here, sir. The Warhammer has been secured and the engineers are finishing up with the internal systems and targeting computers now. ETA three minutes to full operation." "Confirmed, three minutes. We'll be ready," Jevin replies and clicks off. My own comlink suddenly beeps. "Yes?" I say, raising the device to my mouth. "Wodi, it's Ethan. We've secured the main hangar of the station. Imps put up a hell of a fight, but they didn't stand a chance. Your Mandalorian friends sure know how to get down and dirty!" I smile. "Glad to hear it. We've mopped up here as well." "Great. U-wings have been offloading more troops, and they're clearing out the last bit of Imperium resistance inside Vinda station. Now that just leaves the blockade outside." "That problem will be dealt with soon. Keep your eyes peeled for the fireworks," I respond, smiling a little smugly. "Can't wait! Hawthorn out." Jevin turns to me and Nom, indicating a row of turbolaser array control chairs with his hand. "Wodi, Nom, man those turbolaser controls, start picking your targets." Nom and I nod and move towards the chairs, shouldering our carbines. "This'll be interesting," Nom says to me, grinning, sitting in a chair, moving his fingers over the console. "I've never played gunner before!" I nod, smiling back, picking the seat next to him. "Well, you can't be any worse off than me. We'll be just like Imperial stormtroopers! Won't be able to hit a thing!" We both laugh. I shift my focus to the readout panel on my console, sifting through the available targets, outlined in red; data readouts strobe over highlighted areas, informing us of critical information such as shield strength and system and hull damage. I spare a glance outside the large viewport at the battle that continues to rage, lighting up the starscape with brilliant flashes of light. I set my jaw. Time to even the odds. I call out my first target: A Predator-class Destroyer venting atmosphere from its lower decks, one of its engines on fire. I confirm my choice on the control panel, and the defensive turrets swing into position, letting loose their payload, green lasers slamming into the Destroyer's hull. "Target is history!" Nom lets out with a whoop a few minutes later as the Predator, belching flames, breaks apart. He calls out another target, a Cutlass-class Corvette. Once that target is gone, I call out another. Out in the starfield, I see multiple fighters moving fast toward us, green lasers lancing out to hit our shields. A bright flash splashes across our viewport, temporarily blinding me. "Bloah," Nom curses, slamming his fist into the durasteel frame of the control panel. "We've lost a turret!" "TIEs incoming! I think they've noticed us!" I relay to the others. "About time!" Jevin says, raising his comlink. "Sinan, we could use some help! We're ready whenever you are!"
"Warhammer launching!" Comes Amminius' reply. A thunderous rumble shakes the forward viewport off to our right. We all stop and gaze out the viewport to marvel at the sight. With a roar of its ion engines, the Warhammer unhooks from dry dock and moves past our viewport, blocking out the space battle, throwing our control room into temporary shadow. Everyone cheers. "Yeah!" "Go get 'em!" "Woohoo!" "The big guns have arrived!" "Now it's a fight!" All at once, the weapons bristling from the Warhammer activate, firing a hail of deadly laserfire at the rear of the Imperium blockade. Destroyers are sent planetside in twisted flaming wrecks. "Fire everything!" Jevin orders over the Vinda station comm. "Let them have it!" Our cruisers obey, adding their withering firepower to the Warhammer's and the station's. The seemingly impenetrable blockade slowly crumbles. "Look," Gavin shouts, pointing out the viewport. "They're turning tail and running!" The remaining Destroyers and cruisers are turning towards open space, attempting to flee into hyperspace. Most don't make it, but one of the Destroyers, heavily damaged, and three light cruisers manage to jump. The turbolaser fire comes to a halt. "That's it!" Admiral Antilles says over the comm, his voice thick with emotion, something he doesn't display often. "The Warhammer is safe, and Ringo Vinda is ours once again! Good work everyone. Return to your capital ships. A debriefing will commence shortly." I let out a sigh of relief and slump into my chair, totally exhausted, watching fighter squadrons and gunships returning home. I give Nom a huge grin. I turn to see Cade beaming. After congratulating us all, Jevin orders us to rendezvous with the other New Republic forces inside the station and wait for exfil in the hangar. Once aboard the U-wing, more congratulations are exchanged. I find Amminus in the cramped and sweaty troop bay and give him a huge hug, the both of us laughing. "You're one heck of a starship captain!" I say to him, patting him on the back, grinning. "What can I say, Wishbone, I'm a born natural!" Amminius says, grinning back from ear to ear, cuffing me lightly on the arm. Our gunship slips into the hangar of the Accolade, landing with a slight bump. We disembark, still coming off the adrenaline high of victory. A senior flight officer quickly organizes the troopers and pilots in the briefing room.
We are again addressed by the Bith captain. "This is a major victory for the New Republic, and you should all be very proud," the Bith says, nodding smartly at us. "We have secured Ringo Vinda station, and our newest starship, the Warhammer, is ready for conflict. And, it looks like we won't have to run test trials on the weapons systems!" Laughter ripples through the room. I elbow Amminius in the ribs, tousling his hair. He shoves me, smiling. "But we cannot celebrate yet, as our enemy is relentless. We are to rendezvous at Chandrila with the rest of the fleets, where High Command will discuss our next move. Get some rest and some grub! You all deserve it! Dismissed." Quiet discussion breaks out in the briefing room as everyone gets up and files out. I walk with Amminius, Jevin, Cade, Allan, Gavin and Ethan down the crowded hallway. "I don't know about you guys, but I could sure use a drink at the officers bar." I say. Ordo suddenly pops up from the crowd, putting a gauntleted arm around me and Cade. "Wodi, vod, you're speaking my language." We all laugh. Nom, Lannik, and Gav pop up as well, keeping stride with us. "Hey, Wodi? Think you can get us in?" Nom asks grinning. Gav gives me a thumbs-up. Jevin rolls his eyes. "The bar is for officers only." Nom's face falls. Jevin gives him a small smile. "But I guess you'll all be officers at some point. Come on." Gav lets out a whoop. I smile, leading the way with Jevin and Amminius. Cade shakes his head, smiling at us. I look at him and shrug. "What can I say? As the captain said, we all deserve this!'"
Four months later
Cade Valdarin - Chandrila
Near the end of 18 ABE
I wake up to the sounds of birds, the crisp smell of Chandrilan morning filling my senses. It has been four months since the battle at Ringo Vinda. The Imperium is on the decline, we can all feel it. Ever since Atrisia, they have been on a losing streak but we can't become complacent, after all a cornered beast is unpredictable. Sadly there was news some months ago that another planet had been drained of all living things. Deralia, a fortress world in the Mid Rim, was attacked by Gorukar and now, like Belkadan, Kashyyyk, and the others, it stands there in space, devoid of any living things.
I board the Chandrila Maglev; a fast, eco-friendly way to traverse through the capital of Hanna City. I had received a summons in my Hanna City apartment, Jevin has asked me to meet him at the Republic Command Complex, the "heart" of the New Republic military, if you will. The request was rather vague; all Jevin had said was to meet him there and that something big was going down. I step onto the maglev and suddenly stop, all the passengers are New Republic personnel; soldiers, navy crewmen, I even spot a few members of NRI and (despite the fact they try to hide it) members of the ultra-secret Black Ops group, Alpha Blue. Jevin must have asked a lot more people than just me to come to the complex. I look around seeing if I know anyone when I see Wodi Quix in the back of the room along with Amminius Sinan and Gavin Skyes, they must be talking shop as Wodi leads the Special Hazards and Reconnaissance Commandos, Sinan is an Infiltrator, an elite agent for NRI, and Skyes leads the Rancor Assault Troopers. Amm sees me and waves me over and as I make my way, I over hear the various conversations that the other troops are having. Talks over the latest action in the war, notably the rousing defeat of the Imperium at Malastare (and the fact we kept a good deal of fuel), the loss of Deralia, the latest stormtrooper armor material the Imperium is using, and I even hear a few gasps from some of the younger soldiers when I pass by; "the Last Knights" people are calling Luke and myself. I make it over to the trio, "Wodi, Gavin, Amm, did you guys get a message from Jevin too?" "Yep, we all did. Didn't say a lick about what is going on but he said it was going to be big. All we can do is be patient. So how has your little break on the homeworld been?" Gavin asks.
Ah, my homeworld. It actually has been years since I've been here, the first time being when I was little more than three years old and Vader tracked down my parents, both of whom were Jedi. I was spirited away by a Bothan, an old family friend, and it wasn't until a year later, shortly before the Battle of Yavin, that my aunt, Mon Mothma, formally adopted me as her ward. Even then, we weren't able to come back thanks to the Empire. After the civil war ended, I did make my way back once; I came here to the ancestral Mothma home after the civil war, which as it turns out my father had a secret chamber built deep beneath the home that housed Jedi artifacts, holocrons, even ancient handwritten teachings, and it was here that I trained myself further in the Jedi ways.
"It has been nice being back, even though the war seems to have entered its most destructive part." I say, looking down. "I spent time with Kiara too; any celebration was shadowed by the news about Deralia. We spent time together, talked about what to do when the war is over, and so on. She wants to leave politics and start a humanitarian project for the planets devastated by Gorukar." The men all give their blessings and offer to help if the plan comes to fruition; they've all seen the devastation the Imperium has wrought, they're worse than the Empire ever was. And we converse more about war strategy, how the Imperium, even though on the losing side of the war, still has some bite and this year has seen some of the most destructive battles of the war, and so on to pass the time.
Twenty minutes later . . .
The maglev arrives at the Command Complex, a large building that resembles a half-moon. Running through the "crescent" are training rooms, offices for Command personnel, briefing rooms, armories, you name it. At either end of the crescent are two large, octagonal briefing rooms, rooms named in honor of Rebellion heroes. The Madine Room and Rieekan Room serve as briefing rooms for major situations. On the opposite side of the middle of the crescent lies a flat, rectangle of a building that serves as barracks for the NR forces stationed here. We exit the maglev to meet another famous soldier standing in the front courtyard, Colonel Jon Grissom, a decorated soldier whose record is nearly as impressive as Wodi's. In fact, he's credited as the reason Malastare remains in Republic hands (and more importantly, the massive fuel resources therein). He crisply salutes when Wodi, Amm, and I are the first to step out of the train, "Colonel Quix, Master Valdarin, Major Sinan, it's an honor to see you again." The two salute back, I slightly bow my head in a nod. We begin walking and as we do, we see personnel all over the place. As we head to the Madine Conference Room. Wodi asks Grissom what's going on. All he says is that it is something big and we have all been looking forward to it.
We enter the conference room to see what must be the largest assembly of Republic Command officers I have ever seen. At the center back of the room, where a podium and large holo projector sit, I see Fleet Admiral Unath Kerex and High Marshal Tor Ponith, the supreme commanders of the New Republic military, along with Flag General Jevin Corso, Tav Voren, and Geelo, High General Garm Bel Iblis, and several other army officers and admirals. The High Generals are the highest rank one can reach in the NR military outside of Fleet Admiral and High Marshal and each commands two battle groups, of which there are eight. The Battlegroups themselves number in thousands of ships and thousands more soldiers. The fact that Garm is here, and Jevin, Geelo, and Voren are all the subordinate officers under him, tells me that the Third and Fourth Battlegroups, Garm's command, are being sent somewhere, which is saying something as the Fourth is arguably the most well-known and successful of the Battlegroups. Ponith comes to the podium.
"Soldiers of the New Republic, before we begin, let me just say how proud I am, of all of you. You have served with bravery, courage, and dedication to the ideals that this New Republic was founded on. The brave sacrifices we have all made will be chronicled in the history of the Republic. As you know, a little over a year ago, a raid was launched at one of the most fortified Imperium locations we've seen. The raid at the Terminus Shipyard, led by Major Sinan and Master Valdarin, and the subsequent battle was costly but gave use much needed information. That information was undeniable proof the other Remnant factions, the Graal Hegemony, First Order, and Black Nova pirates, were secretly supplying the Imperium, a clear violation of the Galactic Concordance. Now, you can argue that this backfired because the remnants began fighting us openly on the Imperium's side, those of you who served at Malastare know this first hand, you've fought the "Legionnaires" of the Hegemony. But more importantly was a heavily encrypted file, a file that had the location of the Imperium's capital." Wodi leans over to me and says, "Jevin was right, this is huge."
The holo behind him changes to a large green and white world. "Ladies, gentlemen, and non-gendered beings, it took a year but NRI has successfully decrypted the data file and located the Imperium capital world." He moves to the left so everyone can see. "This is Xauvis, a world located deep within Wild Space. Now, because of the obvious dangers of performing recon on the enemy stronghold and the fact we know next to nothing about Wild Space, the only information we have comes from limited recon from Prowler-Reconnaissance ships and the data file. Now the data points to Xauvis being an exceptionally strong source of kyber crystals; as you know these crystals are the power source for lightsabers." I raise my voice, "And during the Ancient Wars, the Sith used massive kyber crystals to power their super weapons, that would explain how they got Gorukar powered up." Tor nods. "Now, we have pinpointed several locations on the planet, as well as on the moons and surrounding planets, which will be key targets." The holoprojection goes to a northern region on Xauvis.
"This is the Sith Palace, the headquarters of the Imperium. The focus of the invasion of course will be here. Now, as far as the limited recon can tell, the throne room is here, in the middle of the palace, and it is protected by an energy shield that can stop anything short of a Death Star laser, so we need to get boots in there." Amminius leans forward and whispers to us, "I wonder what sorry snobs they got to do that job." As if on cue, Tor asks, "Master Valdarin, I assume I don't have to guess this is where you'll be going? " I nod. "As for backup, Colonels Quix and Grissom, you will be leading a joint SpecForce and Army unit to assault the palace. Now your goal will not be to take it but to buy time for Luke and Cade to find and kill Pravus." Wodi looks at Grissom and smiles, "Just like Malastare, eh Jon?" he smiles back. "Your unit will be an ad hoc team, a mix of SHARCS, Infiltrators, Pathfinders, and Rancor Assault Troopers along with regular Army soldiers. Due to the fact that this is the capital of the Imperium, I expect nothing less than a very determined defense. To that end, Admiral Kerex and I will be commanding this battle as well." The map shifts again to show a city with both old style homes and new-age high tech buildings. "This is the capital city of Kessia. We will be launching a large offensive here as a means to draw off some heat from the palace.
General Corso has opted to lead the Thirty-Ninth, Forty-Second, and Forty-Fourth Tactical Divisions in the battle here. General, I will be assigning heavy armor battalions to join you as well." Jevin nods and begins typing on a datapad, no doubt individual assignments for units under his command. "There are three more key targets on the planet: a kyber refinery, Juggernaut production center, and the main spaceport, all of which our victory will depend on. General Voren and his divisions will assault and destroy the refinery; our analysis has shown Imperium technology, notably their ships, are largely powered by refined kyber crystals, we take this out, we knock out that advantage. You will also take out the Juggernaut facility. As for the spaceport, General Geelo, you and your Jumper Corps have the honor. Ground-penetrating radar shows thousands of the new TIE Stalkers berthed underground, ready to take off at a moment's notice; I need you to take their air advantage." Tor goes on the address the rest of the admiralty and command staff of the Battlegroups, about leading assaults on the heavily occupied moon bases and Xauvis's sister world, Xawin. We also have a large coalition force joining the assault; Choral himself as brought a large number of Wookiee ships and his famous Wookiee Berserkers, along with my faithful companion Salurra. Gerik and his Protectors are here, always gunning for a fight, and an Espirion fleet, led by Commodore Rayus, will also join. I turn to Wodi and Gavin, "This is it guys, the defining moment of the New Republic, this war will finally end after three and a half years." They acknowledge their agreement and go off to dish out last minute assignments to their respective groups.
I begin walking down the hall towards the main hangar where a transport will take me, Skywalker, Wodi, Jevin, and the others to the Viscount while their respective units board their GR-80 troop transports. Along the way, I see Kiara and break off from the parade of soldiers to the transport. We embrace and she gives me a look that tells me everything I need to hear; that she loves me and wants me to be safe. I hold her again and promise that after the war, we can finally be together. We kiss and I walk off while she heads to Hanna City. I longingly look back at her, wishing this war was already over, but time to make that happen now. The transport shuttles us to the Viscount, where preparations for hyperspace are already underway. Tor and Kerex are on the bridge, making last minute preparations and battle strategies. This will either be a great day for the New Republic or a disastrous defeat; the Xauvis system is their capital, in the heart of Wild Space which is uncharted and unknown, and to top that off, they fervently believe in the sith way. As we depart, I can't help but feel that Pravus wants this, I've been feeling a strange call ever since Atrisia, a call to achieve my higher power. I feel like he has something more in mind than simply galactic conquest but we'll find out soon enough. The ship enters hyperspace, the black of space turning to mottled white. Soon, this war will end and it will come down to Pravus and me. One will live and one must fall.
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Hanna City, Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
After several months of preventing Imperium assault forces on Malastare from stealing caches of Malastarian fuel and taking over the refineries, Chandrila's Hanna City is a much-needed change of atmosphere, for all the Fourth. The air is warm and clear, and it doesn't carry the nauseating stench of fuel. I can still faintly smell the stuff on my clothes and in my hair, despite attempts to wash it out of both. On Malastare, the Imperium had attacked and seized an important refinery that harvested fuel from the planet's core, using the fuel to power their ships and fighters, as well as converting it into a dangerous aerosol biotoxin and enslaving the native Dugs and Gran, using them as laborers and test subjects. When word of this had reached the Republic higher-ups, our fleet, along with the Ninth, appropriately equipped, was sent in to drive the Imps off the planet.
When we got there, things quickly went from bad to worse. The first wave of our guys died in swirling clouds of green mist directed at us from across the battlefield, choking to death, despite wearing protective equipment. We had to immediately fall back, poison gas and blaster fire following us the whole way. I was carrying a choking soldier on my back, and when I finally put him down, his mask and my shoulder were completely soaked in crimson . . . Our breath masks were old issue and weren't fielded to siphon out the newer version of these toxins, so we had to hole up while the techs back at home scrambled to produce new ones with better filters. That took two and a half months. Kriff. I can't tell you how many soldiers I saw stumble and fall, desperately clutching at their blistering throats. The Imperium forces wouldn't let us get away that easily.
Finally, we were sent in what we needed and with a little help from the Dugs and Grans' underground resistance, "spectacularly turned the tide," in the words of High Marshal Tor Ponith, taking back the refinery and driving the Imperium out of the sector. A very plucky defense. We slept well that night. With Malastare secured, our wounded were transferred to a nearby medical fleet, and the rest of us were ordered back to the New Republic's current capital, Chandrila, for an important briefing.
We arrived a few days before the briefing with High Command and the other fleets, offloading supplies and troops at Docking Platform E-22, so the soldiers of the Fourth were granted down time. Hanna City is a beautiful place to explore. Its buildings are tall and regal with tasteful architecture, its shops are filled with wonderful things, and its pedwalks and skylanes are not what you'd find on Coruscant. Its restaurants and bars are also top notch, if I do say so myself! We had had a very fine lunch at a restaurant in Old Hannatown Market. I breathe in deeply, enjoying the freshness and smell of foliage. I'm in the well-lit Hanna City art installation at the city's circle with Amminius, Gav, Nom and Gavin, looking at an exhibit of various Imperial stormtrooper helmets on display painted with Alliance sigils, starbursts, and other various colors. "We'd better comm the Empire and tell 'em that we've found their missing trooper helmets," Amminius had said, grinning. We had all laughed. I closely examine one painted a bright purple, with tiny orange letters reading out across the helmet's surface the entire Galactic Concordance. I nod, thoroughly impressed. How had the artist managed to fit all the writing onto the helmet? I point at it, calling out to the others. "Come and look at this one!" They gather at the helmet I had been admiring and Gavin leans in close, squinting, starting to read a section. "The Galactic Empire will hereby remain within its predetermined boundaries set in the Core and Inner Rim and shall not attempt to expand its holdings. The Galactic Empire shall be reorganized into the Imperial remnant. The Galactic Empire will no longer attempt to recruit or mobilize, in any form, stormtrooper forces for its use in planetary or system conquest . . ."
A bearded Pantoran male dressed in a bright suit standing nearby walks over to us, smiling, interrupting Gavin's reading. He indicates the helmet with a wave of his blue hand. "An impressive piece that one is, isn't it? The artist who painted it was a veteran of the Galactic Civil War. Eeyan Vlahos. It took him two standard years to paint and it was completed in 7 ABY." "It is impressive," I say, smiling. "You know, we helped to bring about the Galactic Concordance, so this helmet has special meaning for us." "You are veterans of the war yourself?" "You bet!" Amminius says, grinning, putting an arm around my shoulder. "All of us." The Pantoran's smile deepens, and he offers us a crisp salute. "Thank you for your service, gentlemen." I smile and nod back. "You're welcome. We're proud of it. But unfortunately, our service is still ongoing." The Pantoran loses his smile, and his expression darkens, his voice scornful. "Ah yes. The Imperium. Just when peace had started to blossom, that Pravus and his cronies rose." Gavin speaks up. "Well, we're working on that problem now, so you won't have to put up with him much longer." "I wish you all the best of luck," the Pantoran says, and with one final bow, walks toward another exhibit where other soldiers stand, admiring a stained transparasteel render of the Battle of Hoth. We walk around some more before we take an airspeeder over to the Chandrilian-recommended skygarden before heading back to the New Academy barracks. The next day we spend at the now-rebuilt Old Gather-House in Eleutherian Plaza, walking through the multitude of rooms. The following couple of days are back to business as more New Republic fleets and battle groups arrive. Down time becomes scarcer.
Beep! I wake up to the sound of my comm chirping. I groggily lift my head from my pillow and reach for my comlink on my stand, flicking the strobing button, wanting sorely to turn over and go back to bed. I briefly glance at the chrono on the wall. 06:00. A message from Jevin plays out. All thoughts of sleep instantly go out of my head. I've been summoned to the Republic Command Complex. The briefing. I quickly get up and get dressed in the refresher. I'm not the only one to have been summoned. Inside the refresher, brushing his teeth, is Gavin, matting down his hair. "Hey Wodi," he says through a mouthful of paste. "Jevin sure picks his moments." "That he does," I reply, smiling, blinking the last bits of sleep from my eyes. Amminius walks out of a stall fully dressed and grins at me, walking over to lather his hands. "Hey, Wishbone! I see you've also been summoned by Jevin at this lovely hour." I nod. "You bet! My guess is the briefing." Amminius chuckles. "My guess is that he's going to tell us he's finally getting a girlfriend!" We all laugh and walk out of the refresher, walking together down the corridor. "Wow," Gavin says, surveying the crowded hallway. It's bustling with New Republic soldiers and personnel, all going towards the New Academy maglev train station. I whistle. "Early day for everyone, isn't it?" We maneuver our way through and eventually board the packed maglev. It's a bright and clear day, even at 06:45. Gavin, Amminius, and I sit together, talking with the other soldiers and looking out the wide viewports at the beautiful city. I look to the front of the crowded train and see a robed figure making his way toward us. "It's Cade," I say, tapping Amminius and Gavin on the shoulder and pointing in his direction. The young Jedi finally makes his way over to us, a bright smile on his face. "Morning, sunshine!" Amminius says, grinning. Cade nods, acknowledging all of us. "Wodi, Gavin, Amm. Did you guys get a message from Jevin too?" "Yep," I say. "We all did. Didn't say a lick about what was going on, but he said it was going to be big." I wave my hands for dramatic effect, grinning. Cade chuckles, and Amminius and Gavin grin. "All we can do is be patient," Gavin chimes in. "So, how has your little break on your homeworld been? We've been really enjoying it!"
. . .
Our maglev arrives at the Republic Command Complex and we disembark. "Jevin said the 'big event' will take place in the Madine Conference Room," Gavin says, checking his wrist chrono. In the main courtyard, a few meters from the maglev station, stand several New Republic officers, greeting troops as they pass by. One stands out to me. Colonel Jon Grissom. Tall and bearded, with fierce green eyes. Upon sighting us, the colonel offers a crisp salute. "Colonel Quix, Master Valdarin, Captain Skyes, Major Sinan, it's an honor and a pleasure to see you all again." "Hello, Colonel," I smile. "It's good to see you again. I hope you're all recovered from Malastare." Jon smiles. "Almost. I'm still smelling Malastarian fuel in the mess hall." Jon joins us as we all head to the conference room. "Busy day today," he comments, surveying the scene. "You have any idea what's going on?" I ask him. "I got the same message you did," Jon replies. "But I can promise you that it is indeed something big, and it's something we all have been looking forward to for a long time." I nod. He surely knows more than he's letting on.
We reach the double doors of the conference room and enter to find it already packed. "Sheesh," Amminus says to me, gesturing at all the congregated beings. "Think we can get seats?" I shrug and we make our way through the packed room, looking for available seating. "Think you can use the Force to float a couple of chairs over to us?" Amminius asks Cade, winking. I look to the center back of the room, where several officers and technicians are getting things ready. Two move a high podium into position, while a trio of technicians accompanied by a green astromech test a large holoprojector. Standing off to one side, looking out at the sea of faces, are Fleet Admiral Unath Kerex, High General Garm Bel Iblis, High Marshal Tor Ponith, and Flag General Tav Voren. I also spy Jevin and Geelo. We finally locate a free bench, and quickly claim it. We talk for a couple more minutes with each other and with the guys around us. At 08:30, a chime sounds, and the conference room quiets down, all beings turning to face the podium where Tor Ponith stands. The graying Bothan clears his throat before beginning, smiling at all assembled. "Soldiers of the New Republic, before we begin, let me just say how proud I am, of all of you. You have served with bravery, courage, and dedication to the ideals that this New Republic was founded on. The brave sacrifices we have all made will be chronicled in the history of the Republic. Now, as you know, a little over a year ago, a raid was launched at one of the most fortified Imperium locations we've seen. The raid at the Terminus Shipyard, led by Major Sinan and Master Valdarin, and the subsequent battle was costly, but gave use much needed information. That information was undeniable proof that other Remnant factions: the Graal Hegemony, First Order, and Black Nova pirates, were secretly supplying and supporting the Imperium, a clear violation of the Galactic Concordance. Now, you can argue that this backfired because the remnants began fighting us openly on the side of our enemy; those of you who served at Malastare know this first hand. You've fought the "Legionnaires" of the Hegemony. But the most important bit of information we unearthed at Terminus was a heavily encrypted file; a file that holds the exact location of the Imperium's capital." Gasps fill the room. Quiet discussion breaks out as the soldiers and personnel excitedly chatter and speculate with one another. Amminius jabs me in the ribs, excitement on his face. I jab him back, equally excited. I lean towards Cade and say excitedly "Jevin was right. This is huge!"
With a nod from Tor, the green astromech droid extends its data arm and plugs into the data port on the holoprojector. The conference room lights dim, and the holoprojector comes to life, showing a colored image of a green and white world, rotating slowly. A description of the world along with a string of coordinates appear. "Xauvis." I say slowly, reading. "Never heard of it," Amminius says. "That's the point," Gavin says, rolling his eyes, but smiling. "What'd you expect? Damaria?" Tor waits for the discussion to die down before continuing. "Ladies, gentlemen, and non-gendered beings, it took us over a year to gleam this information, but our crack team at New Republic Intelligence has successfully decrypted the data file and located the Imperium capital world." He moves to the side so everyone can see clearly. "This is Xauvis, a world located deep within the regions of Wild Space. Now, because of the obvious dangers of performing open reconnaissance on the enemy stronghold, coupled with the fact that we know next to nothing about Wild Space, the only information we possess about Xauvis comes from our limited droid-piloted Prowler-class reconnaissance ships and the data file. Now the data points to Xauvis being an exceptionally strong source for kyber crystals; as you know, these crystals are the power source and at the heart of all lightsabers." Cade raises a hand and comments. "And during the Ancient Wars, the Sith used massive kyber crystals to power their superweapons. That would explain how they got Gorukar powered up." I nod. Kyber crystals at the heart of ancient Sith super weapons like Gorukar makes sense. My knowledge on kyber crystals isn't that extensive, but I know enough to understand how they work. The crystals focus energy sent into them and amplify its intensity. Tor nods and continues. "Now, we have pinpointed several critical locations on the Xauvis, as well as on the moons and surrounding planets, which will be key targets." The holo image of Xauvis magnifies, zooming in on the northern region to show a grainy stilled image of an intricate stone palace surrounded by what appears to be wooden buildings, probably dwelling areas, all nestled in a ring of mountains. Amminius leans over to me and whispers "Looks like a pretty peaceful place. Why do all the crazies have to inhabit the most beautiful worlds?" I nod, equally impressed with the image shown. "No idea. I'll bet that once we get there, it won't be as tranquil."
. . .
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Hanna City, Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
"This is the Sith Palace, the headquarters of the Imperium," Tor continues, indicating the holo with one hand. "The focus of the attack will, of course, be here. Now, as far as our limited reconnaissance droids can gleam, the throne room is here, in the center of the palace." The middle of the palace strobes red for a few seconds. "Our droid units picked up a very high-reading energy source emanating from this spot. Based on our previous knowledge and experience, we have determined that the throne room is protected by an energy shield, and no ordinary one at that." The throne room strobes red once again, this time bordered by a thick blue line, also strobing, indicating the shield. "If our calculations are correct, with the shield generating that much energy, nothing short of a laser blast similar in strength to that of the Death Star will be able to penetrate it." Several soldiers around the room whistle, including me. "Imagine if we had something like that on Hoth," I lean over and say to Amminius. "It would have been so much easier." He nods, shaking his head, grinning. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say Pravus fears us! He's probably shaking in his boots right now." "Sir," a soldier near me interrupts, putting down his hand after Tor acknowledges him with a nod, "we don't have that kind of firepower, even with heavy turbolasers. How do you expect us to take that shield out?"
Tor smiles and nods. "Endor, son. Just like Endor. We get boots on the ground and take it out from the inside. With the generators putting out that much power, they'll be prone to overheating and exceptionally volatile. Timed explosives and heavy weapons should do the trick. The blast might even take Pravus with it. Just make sure that you're far enough away when you detonate." Around the room, I see heads nodding in understanding. That's right. We took out the Death Star's shield generator the same way! How could I have forgotten? Amminius leans over to me and Cade, muttering "I wonder what poor souls they got to do that job?" Tor turns to Cade. "Master Valdarin, I assume I don't have to guess this is where you'll be going?" Cade nods resolutely, his jaw set. "As for backup," Tor says, "Colonels Quix and Grissom, you will be leading a joint SpecForce and Army unit to assault the palace while Master Valdarin sneaks in with Master Skywalker to achieve our ultimate goal: the death of Pravus." I turn to Amminius and smile. "Well, you have your answer! We have all the honor." I tune back in to Tor. "Now, your goal will not be to take the palace, but to buy time for Masters Valdarin and Skywalker to locate Pravus. Your secondary objective will be to knock out the shield generator." I turn to Jon, sitting next to Gavin and Gav, smiling. "This'll be fun. Just like Malastare, eh Jon?" Jon returns my smile, nodding back. "Your assault unit will be an ad hoc team, a mix of SHARCS, Infiltrators, Pathfinders, and Rancor Assault Troopers, along with regular Army soldiers. Due to the fact that this is the capital of the Imperium, I expect nothing less than a very determined defense. To that end, Admiral Kerex and I will be commanding this battle as well." A round of applause ripples through the conference room. Once it dies down, Tor motions to the green astromech droid, who changes the holo image, this time magnifying it to show the surrounding city, a mix of older and newer architecture and technology. "This is the capital city of Kessia. We will be launching a large offensive here to draw off some heat from the palace." Amminius leans over. "Coruscant would swallow that city whole." I agree. The city is large, like Onderon's capital of Iziz, but not on par with Coruscant.
"General Corso has opted to lead the Thirty-Ninth, Forty-Second, and Forty-Fourth Tactical Divisions in the battle." Jevin perks up, standing a bit straighter. I give him a mock salute from the crowd, grinning. Jevin doesn't react, but I can almost feel his eyes rolling. A trademark look for him, practically. "General, I will be assigning some heavy armor battalions to join you. You'll also be supported by our latest toy, the T5-B Battle Tank, which is outfitted specifically for this engagement." Jevin nods in understanding and unclips a datapad from his belt, tapping away the necessary information and no doubt, individual unit assignments. Tor addresses the rest of the assembled again. "There are three more key targets on the planet: a kyber crystal refinery, a Sith Juggernaut production center, and the main spaceport. Knocking out these targets will make achieving victory that much easier." As Tor mentions each target, a corresponding area of the city map strobes red, then orange before darkening. It looks like that the Juggernaut center and the kyber refinery are at the western side of the city, several blocks closer to the palace than the main spaceport, which sits near the city's circle. "General Voren and his divisions will assault and destroy the refinery; our analysis has shown that much of the Imperium's technology, notably their ships, is largely powered by refined kyber crystals. General Geelo, you and your Jumper Corps have the honor of the spaceport. Ground-penetrating radar shows thousands of the new TIE Stalkers berthed underground, ready to take off at a moment's notice. I need you to take their air advantage." Geelo nods his understanding. Tor details more targets to ground units, the holo map highlighting each in turn. Our allies are also given mention and tasked with their assignments. The Wookiee Coalition Force, the Espirion Fleet, and the Mandalorian Protectors all accept them with grim determination. Cade turns to Amminius, Gavin, and me and nods affirmatively. "This is it, guys. The defining moment of the New Republic. This war will finally end after three and a half years. We will finally be able to rid the galaxy of Pravus and his Imperium." "Good riddance!" I say, clapping my hands once. "Finally, I was thinking I would be at this until the day I die!" Amminius says, grinning. "Fighting all powerful Sith daily is quite tiring!" "It's about kriffing time!" Gavin says. With a chime, the lights come back on, and we get up. I move off towards my unit to give them additional orders. Amminius and Gavin do likewise. One way or another, I think to myself, this'll all be over. Like Gavin said, 'It's about kriffing time!'
The next couple of days are organized chaos. Starfighters are prepped. Cargo and supplies are loaded onto the frigates and cruisers, and units go over practice drills. I pack my necessary equipment and head down with my own unit to practice and run through the operation. We set up makeshift targets to represent the shield generator and surrounding city buildings. The next few days will be eventful, to say the least! The last night before we head out, our units tour Hanna City one final time and have a large dinner in Old Hannatown Market.
. . .
Aboard the Star Defender Viscount, three days later . . .
To say that the hangar is crowded is an understatement. Every available space has been utilized in some form or another. Hordes of pilots and soldiers hurry to their transports, and droids and technicians make final checks of ships, making last minute fixes and supply runs. When we exit hyperspace, my knees almost buckle at the sight of the Imperium flotilla hanging in space above Xauvis. Most everyone around me stops and gawks. But there's no turning back now! Before boarding my gunship, and after a final briefing of our motley force of SpecForce troops with Jon, I had taken a few minutes and located all my friends and given them final farewells and well wishes. Amminius had given me an overly dramatic speech and a crushing hug, but I could feel him shaking, and could feel the tears run down his face and onto my neck. I'll admit, I cried a little too. We must have been some sight. Jevin is the last one I talk to. I find him standing outside his gunship, one hand on the boarding ramp, surveying the hangar. I flash him a grin. Jevin returns it, his eyes bright. We clasp hands tightly. "So, what is this, the third time we make galactic history?" I ask him, laughing. Jevin laughs too. "Something like that. I'm just sorry I won't be joining you in the palace. Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun!" "Oh, but you get to lead the assault on the capital, I'm sure you'll be more than adequately compensated in that department!" We laugh some more before turning to look out the large viewport at the field of stars. I turn to him. "We've been at this for what, twenty years, Corso? It has been a trip. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing." Jevin gives me a fist bump. "Nor would I, Wishbone, nor would I. I'm proud to have served with you. There's no one else I would rather fight a galactic war beside." I grin at him, my eyes getting slightly misty again. "Or two, in our case." Jevin chuckles. We grasp forearms one more time before the klaxons blare, alerting all personnel to get to where they're supposed to be. "Good luck out there, Wishbone!" Jevin calls after me. I turn and give him a final salute. "You too, Blastzone!" With that, I board my gunship with Gavin, Cade, and Jon. Amminius pops out of his own transport to give me one final wave. "See you planetside!" After a few more minutes of instruction and encouragement from Jevin over the intercom, our boarding ramps close, overhead lights dimming, and our gunships, transports, and fighter wings slip out into the Imperium's cold embrace. Just how cold it was, we'd soon find out. The explosions, laser cannon storm and turbolaser fire should have alerted me sooner.
Three days later
Flag General Jevin Corso - In the Viscount hangar
18 ABE
The fleet that jumped from Chandrila is the largest force the New Republic has ever assembled; two full Battlegroups along with a massive, combined fleet of Wookiees, Mandalorian Protectors, and the Espirion Navy. There are eight GR-80s ready to take my forces planetside: the Thirty-Ninth, Forty-Second, and Forty-Fourth Divisions, along with several armored cavalry columns and recon groups. The other drop bays, of which the Viscount-class has several, are chock-full of ground forces, ready to launch as soon as the fleet drops into the Xauvis system. I look across the way to see five U2 gunships spooling up, Wodi and Jon briefing their small army of Special Forces and Army soldiers on their assault on the Palace. I see Cade and Luke sitting cross-legged on the floor, no doubt meditating and preparing themselves to fight Pravus. Wodi walks over to me, smiling that usual grin of his.
We shake hands and he laughs, "So what is this, the third time we make galactic history?" I laugh as well, "That sounds about right, I'm just sorry I won't be joining you in the palace, sounds like it'll be fun." "Oh, but you get to lead the assault on the capital, I'm sure you'll be more than adequately compensated in that department." Another few laughs and then we turn and look out of the force field to the stars and the ships, and the conversation takes a somber turn. "We've been at this for what, twenty years now Corso? It has been a trip. Looking back, I wouldn't change a thing." We bump fists, "Nor would I Wishbone, nor would I. I'm proud to have served with you, there's no one else I would fight a galactic war beside." "Or two, in our case." He chuckles. We grab each other's forearm, an acknowledgement of the trust and friendship we share. Wodi runs off to his gunship and I raise my voice, "Good luck out there Wishbone." "You too, Blastzone."
I'm waiting onboard the GR-80 when a soldier behind me, a Togruta, Major Kira, my new aide-de-camp, says, "Marshal on deck!" All of us stand at attention and salute. "At ease, soldiers," Tor says as the somewhat diminutive Bothan steps onto the deck. "Marshal, you're joining us?" I ask. He points to an area on a holomap, "We're going to set up an FOB here, a small ways outside of Kessia. I will command the battle from here, so I'm joining your group on my way there." He looks around and asks, "So no last minute briefing, no motivational speech?" I also look around, "Well sir, you are the ranking officer; I figured I'd leave it to you." Shaking his furry head, he says, "No I already have son, this is your time. You are going to become a great leader in the New Republic. Kriff, you may become High Marshal someday, so consider this your last test."
I walk forward a little, keying a code on my wrist device that connects to the comlinks and HUDs of all the NR personnel aboard our transports. "All hands, check your HUDs, be briefed or be sorry. This battle will be the last of this terrible war, in order to win we all need to play our roles." Highlighting in red the area where the FOB and Tor's command station will be, I say, "This is where our command station will be. My forces will guide the Marshal to this zone along with the prefab base." Highlighting the image of a U-wing, I direct the conversation to Wodi across the hangar, "While the bulk of the attack force heads to Kessia, Colonels Quix and Grissom will divert their gunships east and head towards the palace. As they do that, Major Sinan and General Voren's forces will head towards the crystal refinery center and destroy it, thus depriving the Imperium a good deal of energy." Highlighting a GR-80 image in yellow, I continue, "General Geelo, meanwhile, will take his Jumper Corps and assault their main spaceport and airfield. Scans show thousands of the powerful TIE Stalkers in underground berths. If those ships take off, we're in trouble. Now the rest of the assault force hitting the moon bases and garrisons on the surrounding planets have been briefed." I look to the faces of the soldiers on our transports, seeing some younger ones, just kids really in comparison to vets like me, Wodi, even Ethan Hawthorn and Allan Coates. "I know some of you are scared. For many of you, this is the first major battle you have been in, the first major battle that will determine the fate of the galaxy. Look to those on your left, now to your right. These are your brothers and sisters; we are a family. Trust each other, protect each other. Stand fast, stand strong, and stand together, Corso out."
Turning off the inter-ship comlink, I look to the soldiers on my own transport, looking inspired, and Tor gives an approving nod. "Everyone know where they're going?" "Hooyah!" "Everyone know what they're doing?" HOOYAH! "Then let's get it done!"
All hands brace for impact, entering Xauvis space. A holoscreen shows us what the Viscount's scanners are picking up. The massive NR-Coalition fleet enters the system and immediately the black of space lights up with red and green laserfire. I even see the dark dagger shape of the Insidious hanging out there, with its ebon-black heavy stealth armor, purple bolts lancing out from it. We hear Admiral Kerex begin issuing orders to various Starhawks and Mon Cal cruisers and then separate fighter and bomber wings. Then he says, "Ground forces, depart now! You won't get another chance!" Tor picks up the comm, "All ground assault forces, this is High Marshal Ponith, we are a-go, I repeat, we are a-go for launch."
With that the transports take off and leave the bustling alongside the U-wings of the palace assault force. Immediately we begin taking flak, but all transports are still flying strong. "General, Marshal, we got a problem!" the pilot says not long after. Tor and I walk up to the cockpit, "What's the problem?" I ask. As the pilot, a Sullustan, concentrates on flying serpentine to avoid laser blasts, he points to a scanner on the main console, "TIE Stalkers inbound and we have no fighter screen to protect us." Stang, the TIE Stalkers are a new-gen fighter. True to their name, the Stalker is a ship focused on stealth. But at the same time, it is one of the most heavily-armed snub fighters in the galaxy, the access to kyber crystals has given them an advantage over other ships. "Any NR squadrons, this is General Corso, we have Stalkers inbound on the assault force, we need assistance!" No answer, I bang my fist on the wall when I hear a familiar voice. "Rogue Squadron coming in to assist!" Through the viewport we see the wave of Stalkers heading toward us erupt into flames as a wave of T-70 X-wings fly by. "You're all clear, assault force. Good hunting!" says Rogue Leader, Tycho Celchu. The rest of the way is a lot less stressful, the pilots doing a magnificent job of keeping their cargo safe. We break the atmosphere and more flak erupts from the surface. I see a large structure on the ground, just before the snowy peaks of Xauvis's mountains. "There, that's the palace! Wodi, we are taking the brunt of the flak, divert your gunships now. Good hunting." "Acknowledged," he replies. The U-wings divert eastward as our GR-80s head to the landing site in front of Kessia. "Voren, you and Sinan divert to the refinery, Geelo, you have the green light to take the airfield," Ponith orders. The GR-80 reverberates as the landing gear touches down on the surface.
As the bay door descends, stray bolts hit the wall, the city's defenders already taking potshots at us. "Let's move out!" I yell. "Armor units, roll 'em out!" From the small fleet of GR-80s that make up the ground assault force stream thousands of soldiers, from engineers to snipers to common grunts, alongside columns of the MPTL (mobile proton torpedo launcher) artillery and the new T5-B Main Battle Tank. "Armor, take up your designated positions and lay down suppressing fire on the city, all infantry follow your assignments. Forty-Fourth, you're with me. We are taking the city, specifically the administrative building. The Imperium has fortified it and set up a SAM site, it'll take out our birds in the sky until we can eliminate it." A round of acknowledgements sound off and the grunts and I start jogging off towards Kessia with T5-Bs running as cover for us from snipers. All I can hear is the clicking of rifles as soldiers check the charges on their X45s and load fresh clips, the charging of DL-56 blaster pistols, and the power-up sounds of X92 sniper rifles and Z-7 rotary cannons. The fire from the city outskirts intensifies. Luckily, R&D created a smokescreen specifically for the technology of the time; the smoke actually interferes with any tech that would normally see through it. "Smokescreen!" I order and the T5-B tanks launch smoke canisters in front of the army for cover. I see Tor and his group set up the FOB and he starts issuing battlefield commands over the comm. The Battle of Xauvis has begun. As we move towards Kessia and the administrative building, I see the U-wings in the distance touch down near the palace. Good luck Cade and Wodi, you're going to need it.
Cade Valdarin - Xauvis, Sith Palace
18 ABE
"There, that's the palace! Wodi, we are taking the brunt of the flak, divert your gunships now. Good hunting." "Acknowledged," Wodi replies through his comlink. The gunships touch down at the palace landing pads, Wodi and Gavin, who has taken up his old role as Wodi's second-in-command, are gearing up and loading fresh heat sinks into their X45As. "Alright listen up," Wodi says, "we do not stop the attack until Pravus is dead, understood?" Hooyah is the reply. The bay doors drop and we all storm out. Luke and I have our blades drawn and immediately our danger sense kicks in and we deflect several bolts back to their place of origin. Like clockwork, Juggernauts launch themselves at us. I sidestep one and dissect the thing in half with my emerald sword. Luke saber-dashes through a horde of them on the right side as the troops blast the rest. Before long, the outer cordon of guards lie dead and we stack up next to the stone wall of the palace. Wodi looks to Gavin, nodding, "Do it." Gavin pulls out a detpack, attaching it to the wall at one point as Wodi sets the other. A timer counts down from three and BOOM!
The wall implodes and Luke and I roll in the ornate hallway, sabers poised for a fight. Wodi, Jon, Gavin, and the rest file in and we are at a loss, there is no one around us. "Alright, gather around," says Wodi. He holds up his wrist and out from his device pops a holo of the palace. "Alright, we should be here," the far left section of the outer wall is highlighted blue. "Cade and Luke need to get here, to the throne room. Meanwhile, Jon will lead a group here, to the shield generator. Gavin and I will head here, to the barracks. We don't want them sending reinforcements to Kessia." The holo closes and we head off in separate ways, Luke and I heading down the north hallway to the throne room while Wodi, Gavin, and a small squad head westward towards the barrack while the rest head eastward to the shield generator. Wodi cocks back a look at me, "Good luck Cade, may the Force be with you." I nod.
The hallways of the palace are ornate and stately, an exquisitely crafted material borne from the stone of this world. We see carvings in the stone, images of a great battle years past, almost like on the world of Mandalore; ancient depictions of battles between Jedi and Sith. A voice in my head speaks, "This is where I fought the Dark Lord, Kronus. Where I destroyed him but failed to stop his machine of death." I look to Luke, "This is a tapestry of an ancient battle Luke, one our Jedi ancestors fought millennia ago." He nods, "Yes, and it looks like Gorukar was created here. This is where it all started, Cade, and this is where it will end." The mural goes on to depict the final battle that took place, showing a Jedi fleet bombarding the planet and sith and jedi fighting in hand-to-hand. We pass near a room where the stench nearly knocks us back. Peering into the room, we see several Sith Acolytes overseeing a current victims' suffering. Using our powerful telepathic link, we decide to save the poor man from his fate. I telekinetically reach out and grab the light in the room, taking it away and making the room pitch black. The green blades are activated, the green illuminating the dark. The acolytes turn around in confusion; they're well trained in the ways of a saber but are only minimally trained in the ways of the Force in accordance with Pravus' Rule of Few. We make quick work of them and I light the room again. Freeing the poor souls, we help them up and send them towards the gunships. Static, then "Cade, it's Wodi, what's your status?" I raise my left wrist and speak into the comm device, "Wodi, we've freed some prisoners who were about to become Juggernauts, they're headed to the gunships. We're coming up now onto what looks like a processing center of some kind." "Understood, Quix out."
Several hours later . . .
Luke and I walk into what must be the smelliest room in the galaxy. It's a long rectangular room with vats lining the floor and, small one–person carbonite chambers along the walls, and operating tables in-between, covered with blood stains. This must be where the Juggernauts are actually made, the previous room being a preparatory center for Juggernaut production. "Luke, I have a bad feeling about this." "Yeah, me too, it almost feels like-" SHRIEK, "a trap, it's always a trap." With a snap-hiss, our lightsabers turn on and we move into action as several of the mutant soldiers launch out of the recesses in the wall. I bring the hilt down hard onto the lead soldier's helmet and place my left hand against the small of its' back as it falls, slamming it into the ground with a powerful Force push. Ducking and spinning at the same time, I swing horizontally to the left, cutting through the stomachs of two more Juggernauts. Luke flips high onto the upper walkway, several of the beasts following him. He makes an intricate weave with his saber, making a shimmering wall of green, lopping off arms and heads, even causing one to go careening over the railing. "These guys are tough!" He says through our telepathic link. Another launches itself at me and I sidestep to the right, bringing the blade up through the gut, cutting the monster in half mid-flight and I raise my hand to face another, projecting lighting and electrocuting the Juggernaut to cinders.
I look outside through the ornate window to overlook the battle of Kessia, seeing flashes of orange and red blossoming in the sky, I can even see Jevin's army moving into the city and T5-B tanks trading fire with AT-AHTs. "Luke, we need to wrap this up, it looks like the ground forces are taking a beating!" "Agreed, let's go!" Luke replies as he snaps the neck of a stormtrooper that tried to take him by surprise. We exit the long room back to the ornate hallway and begin to run at Force-elevated speeds.
Finally, after cutting our way through swaths of stormtroopers, the inner guardsmen, we come to the heavy black-stone door that leads to the throne room. "Wodi, this is Cade, come in." Static, "Wodi, come in, over?" The comm sounds with blaster fire, "Cade it's Wodi, we've made it to the barracks and are holding them off as long as we can, get in there and do what you need to!" His voice is drowned out by more blasterfire as the signal dies. I get up against the wall on the right side of the door as Luke does the same on the left. With a nod, we place a hand on the door, channeling the Force into the door and causing it to go flying backwards in a spectacular fashion. As we enter the room, I hear a familiar snarl from the shadows.
Tycho Celchu, Rogue Leader - Xauvis' orbit
18 ABE
"All ships focus fire on that nearest Star Destroyer!" The space battle began as soon as the fleet dropped out of hyperspace several hours ago. It was then that Admiral Kerex gave the order for the capital ships, namely Mk II Nadiri Starhawks, to engage in close-quarters with the Predators. The Imperium was waiting for us at Xauvis, the largest fleet we have ever seen yet in the war. Rogue, Blade, and Scimitar Squadrons were ordered to fly cover for the ground assault force, led by General Corso and High Marshal Ponith. It looked like a wave of TIE Stalkers was about to take out the convoy when I saw a break in their defenses and Rogue Squadron swooped in and saved the day. After seeing the transports to the outer atmosphere of the planet, we redirected our efforts to the nearest Predator, its daunting size temporarily blocking out the light of the star.
"Rogue Squadron, Blade Squadron, focus fire on the engine banks, we'll sink that behemoth!" Our T-70 X-wings and B-wings perform serpentine maneuvers to dodge incoming fire, ever moving slowly towards the closest Predator-class Star Destroyer. I take a moment to glance over the rest of the space battle; the Viscount-class Star Defenders are truly magnificent. Huge, tadpole-shaped ships, they are the most heavily armed and armored ships in the New Republic fleet. One Star Defender alone is enough to overpower four Predators outright. Those ships, coupled with the Mk II Starhawk, which like its predecessor touts extreme power in a compact design, are allowing us a slight advantage against the two Super Star Destroyers the Imperium has here. The Warhammer, fresh off the assembly line from the battle at Ringo Vinda is leading the space battle over the sister world, Xawin, while the Viscount, the flagship of the Republic and Admiral Kerex's personal ship, as well as the Vigilance, the second Star Defender made, lead the attack on Xauvis. The Imperium has been able to hold the line so far due to the sheer number of Imperium Star Destroyers and the two SSDs, the Insidious and the Daemon, which have much longer range and have been able to hit our fleet from a distance.
"Blade Squadron, this is Rogue leader, we'll provide cover, bomb those engines now!" "Copy Rogue Leader! Blade Squadron moving in!" We move in and take to dog-fighting with the enemy TIE Stalkers. Those kriffers are tough ships, built for heavy combat. They are armed and armored appropriately. We lost Jenkins to fire and Tenzin is ordered to bail out; his stabilizer took too much damage. "Hang on Rogues, Accolade is moving in!" Admiral Antilles says over the comm, the hatchet-headed ship taking up a position above the Star Destroyer. It begins bombarding the vessel with a hail of turbolasers and ion cannon fire, the concentrated fire obliterating the Destroyer's' shields. The attack gives Blade Squadron an opening to launch a concerted bombing run on the star destroyers' engines, causing them to erupt in a brilliant flash of blue and orange. The explosion sends out a shockwave that causes nearby ships to jolt slightly. "Woohoo, did you see that Rogues? That's how-" "Blade Squadron, cut the chatter, orders coming in from up top," I curtly say, cutting the Blade Squadron pilot off. "Rogue, Blade, Scimitar Squadrons, this is Admiral Kerex. We need to take out the Insidious before we lose more of the fleet, the Protectors' dreadnaughts can't take much more. Concentrate fire on that ship; Viscount, Accolade, Vigilance, Remember Tangrene, and Adjudicator will provide covering fire, take that thing down no matter what the cost!" "Understood Admiral. Alright Rogues, you heard him. Buckle in and pray, we're going in!"
We swoop in, moving across the city-like hull of the Insidious, flagship of the Imperium. The thing is hard to see against the black of space; its heavy stealth armor is matte black, giving an advantage in both physical and electronic stealth. The black hull is currently being lit by the purple flashes of the Imperium's Kyber-powered lasers. Several Scimitars are taken out by flak while the Starhawk Adjudicator succumbs to the Super Star Destroyers' fire. "Tycho, this is Anarin, we see an opening. Blade Squadron moving in, cover us!" "Copy that, good luck Blades! Rogues, attack pattern Omega-Alpha five!" Our fighters begin moving in intricate weaves, dodging incoming fire and returning fire, dropping Stalkers onto the hull of the Insidious. "Admiral, this is Antilles, we're taking too much damage and we can't keep this up!" "To hell with it, I'm using the EM resonance torpedo!" yells Blade Leader. The electromagnetic resonance torpedo is a device created by Research and Development, essentially an enhanced EMP device that is exponentially more powerful, and unstable. I see in my periphery a bright light launch from a B-wing, a blue-yellow object moving at high speed towards the Destroyer. It hits the hull and in seconds, the point of impact erupts in a flash of blue. "Shields are down, concentrate all fire on the bridge!" orders Kerex.
The space between the Republic cruisers and the Insidious becomes engulfed with the red light of lasers and proton torpedoes, the blue of ion cannons, and the particle trails of missiles. The concentrated fire is so great, the bridge erupts in flames.
The ship begins falling from its position, implosions dotting the hull. "All Republic forces, the Insidious is down, I repeat, Insidious is down. Concentrate fire on that remaining Super Star Destroyer. Ground forces, what's your status?" says Kerex. There is a great deal of static; the Imperium is trying to interfere with comms. Eventually a reply comes back. "Admiral this is Ponith, we've taken Kessia, the airfield, and the Juggernaut facility. No word on the palace assault yet, comms have been faulty, stand by."
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Xauvis, Wild Space
18 ABE
Our U-wing rocks to port forcefully as its shields absorb a stray cannonbolt, causing me to slam painfully hard against my safety harness, my armor's edges biting into my abdomen. Ouch! The interior cabin lights flicker several times, casting us into temporary shadow. My helmet's display flickers to night vision for a moment. I flip my visor up in mild annoyance. I look out the shaking viewport to gaze in awe at the battle raging across the starscape. Massive, wedge-shaped Destroyers, of all makes: Victory, Imperial, and Predator-class in blockade position around Xauvis, furiously trade turbolaser fire with our MC80 cruisers, Mark Two Starhawks, and Nebulon-B frigates, while starfighter wings maneuver through the capital ships and floating debris of all sizes, blasting away at one another, sometimes careening away on a random trajectory in flames. The intense battle, with turbolaser fire lancing in all directions, gives the appearance that the starscape is on fire. "There's a lot of flak ahead," our pilot relays over the onboard intercom, his voice crackling, "don't be surprised if you feel a few bumps." A retrofitted and heavily modified GR-75 comes into view on our starboard side, the Deliverance, accompanied by a trio of B-wings flying escort. I check my X45A blaster rifle over, patting the power pack more firmly into place before cinching the strap tighter around my shoulder. Suddenly, our cabin is filled with blinding hot light, and I'm reeling from the shockwave of a very close explosion. A string of expletives comes over the comm. The Deliverance is no longer flying level with us. Pieces of twisted hull plating fall away from a massive breach in its side, still flaming and smoking, venting the transport's interior. I squeeze my eyes shut, but not in time to see a landspeeder-sized chunk of hull impact with a B-wing, sending it smashing into its partner. "That's not good!" a soldier yells.
"Blast it, brace for impact!" Our pilot shouts over the intercom. Flaming chunks of hull slide past our viewport as the Deliverance breaks apart, some of its debris the size of large asteroids, others the size of snubfighters, still venting bodies and supply crates. We hear several dull thuds and scrapes that reverberate throughout the crew cabin. The noise sets my teeth on edge, and I grip my restraining strap more tightly in my gloved hand. Suddenly I'm thrown forcefully against the back of my seat, alarm klaxons shrieking throughout the gunship, bathing us in iridescent red light. Several soldiers cry out and curse. Others stare straight ahead silently, eyes wide. "Damn it," our pilot yells, "we've attracted some attention. Blasted TIE fighters! Rear cannon's jammed! Where the kriffs our escort?" He maneuvers the gunship erratically, tossing us around in our harnesses. "At this rate, we'll be lucky if the S-foils of our U-wing reach atmosphere!" Nom, seated next to me, says shakily. Other soldiers voice similar concerns. The TIE fighters shriek by overhead, getting ready to come at us again. Gavin nervously taps his foot against the deck plating. Jon appears slightly pale. I don't answer, looking to Cade, seated opposite me, all the while flicking my blaster's safety switch back and forth. The young Jedi closes his eyes. Luke, seated next to him, does the same, folding and clasping his hands in his lap. Suddenly, a strange calm comes over me, and I feel a surge in confidence. We can do this! I sit up straighter, looking around the cabin to see others doing so as well. Nervous and terrified looks transform into ones of confidence and reassurance. That calm is dampened, but not broken when our viewport lights up again with green as several laser cannon blasts from the pursuing TIEs splash against our shields, rocking the gunship more. Several of us cringe. I shake my head, seeing sparkles in my vision. "Hang on," our pilot shouts, his voice free of panic, "let's see if we can lose them! These guys are persistent!"
Our pilot maneuvers more strategically through flak as we pass underneath a fierce broadside battle between a Predator Destroyer and one of our Starhawk-class battleships, attempting to shake our tail. Explosions blossom across both hulls as the turbolaser crews find their mark, sending more debris careening off into space, making our already bumpy ride even more so. "This flak is thick!" A soldier shouts. The thunder of the cannons is deafening, even from inside the cabin. "These guys are good, but we're better. Hang on in there," the long-awaited voice of an X-wing pilot relays over our comm. I break into a wide grin. Several of us laugh and cheer in relief. "Glad you didn't forget about us, escort," our pilot says with more than a little sarcasm. Three X-wing fighters come into view and break away to deal with the pursuing TIEs. "Haha, back to the junk world Lotho Minor you go!" "Taking some fire, lead." "On it." "Woohoo, that one blew up good!" "Yeah, we sure taught him a lesson!" I look out the viewport to see the lead X-wing blast the last pursuing TIE to bits. Other transports and gunships have broken through with the help of fighter escort, and together we rush toward Xauvis. But many small sleek dots are rushing up from Xauvis to meet us. Karabast. "Watch it," another transport pilot says, "Stalkers inbound from the surface." "Open fire with heavy ion cannons and forward batteries. See if you can knock 'em into their comrades!" "We aren't in range!" "We can't deter all of them! Where's Celchu?" "Bulk of escort's back mopping up a pursuing TIE wing harassing the Spirit of Kenobi." "All of them?" Jevin's voice comes over the intercom: "Any New Republic fighter squadrons, this is General Corso, we have Stalkers inbound on the assault force. Our current fighter support can't deal with all of them. We need assistance!" We wait for several tense seconds. Nothing. I curse. "They're almost within range!"
All of a sudden, the wave of incoming TIEs begins to wink out of existence, some careening into their fellows. A new voice cuts in over our comms. "Rogue Squadron coming in to assist! Hold it together!" Rogue X-wings roar in from the side, laser cannons blazing, cutting through the solar wings of the incoming TIE fighters, now attempting to maneuver and engage their new targets, causing more collisions and explosions. Soon the only thing between us and Xauvis is a wave of TIE debris. We let out another cheer. The intercom erupts with cheering and laughing too. "You're all clear, assault force. Good hunting!" Tycho Celchu says over our comm before the squadron of fighters bank and race back toward the capital ships. Rogue Squadron is quickly replaced by Green Squadron. "Assault force and Blue Wing, be advised, we're your escort now. It's your lucky day! We'll push forward towards the landing zone and soften up the resistance force. Blue Wing, stay with the transports and gunships." "Copy."
We break atmosphere, our gunship riding waves of turbulence, anti-aircraft flak and clouds rushing past our viewports. Droplets of water streak upwards on our canopy, distorting our view slightly. Below, a Y-wing unleashes its payload, an entire city block of Kessia disappearing in a wave of orange fire. I can feel the aftershock of the bombing in my boots and my teeth. "Watch that cannon fire, Swift Liberation!" "Affirmative. Adjusting heading." "Looks like our landing zone is clear." "Copy that, Liberation." "Green Squadron heading in for another pass. Hang on to your restraining straps!" I listen to the comm chatter, allowing it to clear my head. Gav taps my arm and points out the viewport at a line of snow-crested mountains, where a very large and imposing stone structure sits at their base: Pravus' palace. I nod and heft my rifle. "The hologram doesn't do it justice, does it?" Gavin yells, indicating the palace. "It's a shame we're gonna have to blow it up!" "Ah, it'll look better that way!" Jon pipes up, grinning. We laugh. "There, that's the palace," Jevin says over our intercom, "looks like this is where we split up. Wodi, we'll take the brunt of the flak and keep these moofers occupied. Divert your gunships now. Good hunting!" "Acknowledged." I respond. "Good luck, Jevin. Tell Voren to keep an eye on Sinan for me! And don't worry, we'll save some marks for you boys!" Our two U-wing gunships break off from the main group and head towards a large stone courtyard in front of the palace spanning several blocks. "Touchdown!" A bump reverberates through the hull. We've landed. As one, we unfasten our restraining straps, unhooking and priming our X45A, EL-16HFE, and A280C rifles. "Opening bay doors on your go, Colonel. Good luck out there, guys," our pilot shouts, peeking his flight helmeted head back through to the troop bay. I nod his way and then raise a hand, indicating that I wish to speak. I look into each face staring back at me; some older, many young. I press a button on a nearby console, broadcasting my voice to the other gunship. "Alright, listen up. We've made it this far, but that doesn't mean it'll be a walk in the park from here. Be on your guard, and watch each other's backs. Remember, this is a Sith Lord and his fanatic cultists we're dealing with here. We're on his doorstep, so that means his cronies will be giving it their all. We'll just have to give more! We do not stop the attack until Pravus is dead, understood?" "Hooyah, sir!" comes the resounding reply. I give a thumbs-up to the pilot, who opens the bay doors, bathing the bay in green light. "Go, go, go!" Gavin shouts, making a pinwheeling gesture with his arm out the door. I'm out third behind Luke and Cade, who activate their lightsabers, bringing them up in a defensive pose.
All twenty of us are out and on the courtyard flagstones, blaster rifles up and sweeping the area. "Where is every-" Luke and Cade suddenly whirl, their lightsabers repelling sudden blaster bolt volleys flying towards us. We scatter, diving for any possible cover. I take cover behind a high stone archway with Lannik and a Twenty-Seventh Infantry soldier cradling an SWS-1013 Projectile Launcher. "Return fire!" We pop back out, firing at our opposition: Sith Juggernauts and a complement of stormtroopers. "Tossing a grenade! Watch yourselves!" Several stormtroopers reel from the explosion, some falling to their armored knees, blaster rifles skidding away. We ground them for good. My rifle is hot in my gloved hands, but I continue to fire. Luke and Cade acrobatically twirl and bat back blaster bolts, sometimes sending Juggernauts and stormtroopers careening with the Force. The Twenty-Seventh soldier next to me sends stormtroopers flying with his launcher, their armor charred and smoking. More Juggernauts charge, many popping up seemingly from thin air. "Whoa!" "Don't let those things get close, they'll tear you up!" "Got one!" "Mark down!" "Cover your ears!" Soon, our opposition, riddled with smoking blaster holes, all lie sprawled on the courtyard stones, down and out for the count. A Twenty-Seventh sergeant does a quick sweep of downed targets with a scanner just to be sure, putting another blaster hole through anything that sets off the device. Some forms he purposely passes over. I don't think a stormtrooper with his arms blown off will be getting back up for a round two!
We all gather at the center of the courtyard; Jon doing a headcount of soldiers. Remarkably, we didn't lose a single guy in the attack. My sense of joy quickly dissipates when I look up at the palace. The cold black stone gives me the shivers, and reminds me of what will be waiting for us on the other side. Trying to shake a growing feeling of dread creeping up my spine, I, along with Gavin and Jon, lead the others to the palace wall, where a Twenty-Seventh soldier determines the best place for a proximity charge. "Here's the best spot sir," he says, patting the center section of the wall with his gloved hand, "the wall is weak at this point." We stack up on opposite sides of the wall, ten soldiers on each side. I nod to Gavin, positioned first opposite me. "Do it." Gavin nods back and produces a proximity detpack from his belt, fiddling with the timer before placing it securely on the stone surface. Once he's finished, I set my own charge next to his. We hunker down and wait for the explosion. Any second now. BOOM! My helmet's audio dampeners quiet the sound of the mini blast, but I can still feel it in my stomach and chest. Flecks and chips of pulverized stone rain down around us. Luke and Cade are in first, lightsabers igniting as soon as they step inside, holding them in a defensive stance. We rush in after them; blasters raised and ready to fire at . . . nothing. "Well," Lannik says quietly, lowering his X45 slightly, "that was easy. No welcome party?" We sweep our rifles around the room, prepared for the slightest hint of hostile movement. When no one jumps out at us from the shadows, I motion everyone towards me. "Alright, gather round." I tap three keystrokes into my wrist gauntlet holoprojector and a small holoimage of the palace comes to life, giving us a birds-eye view of the building. "We should be here, in the lower west corridors." The corresponding corridors I indicate with my finger in the holo strobe a deep blue. "Cade and Luke need to get to here, the palace throne room." The center of the palace strobes orange. "While they locate Pravus, Colonel Grissom will lead a group to the shield generators, here." A large room near the east wing of the palace strobes red. "Captain Skyes and I will lead a group here, to the barracks. We don't want them sending reinforcements to Kessia." I see heads nodding as I go through the plan. Once finished, I deactivate the holoprojector and we separate into our groups: two teams of nine, and Luke and Cade. Before we head off, I turn to the others one last time to give a final message: "Do your jobs, and take care of each other. I can't remind you all enough how cautious you must be from this point onward. Just watch your backs. May the Force be with you." Everyone nods silently in understanding. I look to Cade one last time. "Good luck Cade. Give him hell." Cade nods. With that, we head off, Gavin and I cautiously leading our small squad further west towards the barracks, ready, hopefully, for anything.
Jevin Corso - Xauvis, city of Kessia
18 ABE
"General, we got a big problem!" a soldier yells, rousing me back to consciousness. We had made good progress to the administrative complex. After a volley of proton torpedoes from the MPTLs, all ground forces moved in. Seeing our soldiers fight made me proud, they have such courage and valor. Moving street to street, building to building, we traded fire with the Imperium troops, both sides taking heavy casualties. We even ran into a new type of soldier;
it looks like the Imperium has perfected its Juggernaut creation process. Instead of barely controlled, monstrous killers, they are now silent machines, towering over their counterparts at about eight feet tall, their heavy blaster cannons tearing through our Phrik-weave armor with much less difficulty than the normal F-6 rifle used by the Imperium's stormtroopers. The streets are alight with blaster fire while missiles are streaking overhead from our T5-B tanks and in the sky, we see our T-70 X-wings and B-wings dodging and weaving with TIE Stalkers. We head inside the administrative building and immediately take positions at the windows, X45A rifles at the ready. We begin pouring fire across the street, taking down stormtroopers left and right. All of a sudden the wall to my right explodes, one of the new Juggernauts standing in the dust. The blaster cannon it wields shreds through two soldiers until a hail of blasterfire hits its white armor. The soldier drops the cannon and out of a wrist gauntlet a long and lethal looking virbroblade appears. It quickly strikes two more soldiers, slicing across a human's face and stabbing a Quarren in the gut. The soldier next to me, Private Marks, drops his rifle, "Grenade, get down!" He tosses a thermal detonator that lands directly at the Juggernaut's feet. Everyone dives away from the area and we hear a deafening boom, the sound of the blast reverberating throughout the hallways of the building. All that remains of the Juggernaut is the discarded blaster cannon. Marks lets out a sigh of relief and offers me a hand, hauling me up. "Thanks for the assist, Marks, now let's get set up. Get those AA guns set up on the roof!" Captain Meera, who leads a team of combat engineers, nods and heads off with her engineers. A burst of static comes through on the intercom. It comes again, " . . . sir? General Corso, do you read?" "This is Corso, go ahead." Static. "Sir, it's Lieutenant Mason, you have trouble incoming, looks like an AT-AHT."
"Understood, the objective remains, Corso out." I look out across the street and see two of the mammoth sized walkers lumbering towards our position. The All-Terrain Assault Heavy Transport is an advanced AT-AT; it's slightly bigger and much more heavily armed than its Imperial predecessor. The heavy laser cannons begin pounding the sides of the building, causing a massive cloud of dust to form. "Everyone alright?" I ask after a fit of coughing and after I get confirmation from the group, I look to the group's demolition squad. "Launcher!" One tosses me a Havoc Missile Launcher, the newest in New Republic ordnance technology. I take a shot, the missile streaking towards the walker. It's a dead on hit on the "head" but nothing happens. I discard the launcher to the ground, "Kriff, we are out of options!" All of a sudden, I hear the familiar sound of B-wings, "General Corso, this is Commander Navette, we are coming in for a run on those walkers, danger close!" The B-wings swoop in and the lead fighter fires several torpedoes at the behemoth, causing it to stumble until two legs blow out, the massive thing falling hard to the ground. The other stands to its full height and shoots a B-wing with its heavy cannon. The fighter is clipped on the lower wing and begins to dangerously spin out of control. The fireball of a ship heads directly for the walker, hitting it with a force strong enough to cause a massive explosion and that walker too falls to the ground in flames, destroyed. "Hooyah!" The soldiers say, I smirk and raise my wrist comm, "Tav, it's Jevin. How are things on your end?" "Good, charges are set, the refinery is about to blow." Good, everything is going to plan. We hear the rumbling noises of the AA guns going off on the roof and several TIE fighters drop out of the sky. "Wodi, Cade, come in?" There's nothing in response. "Quix, this is Corso, what's your status?" There's a response but there's too much static to make it out. BOOM! There's a large explosion off in the distance, the second assault force has destroyed the refinery center. We're on schedule, that's good. I look towards the palace, hopefully Cade and Wodi are alright, but we have our own problems. Come on Cade, kill the kriffer Pravus and let's go home. I raise my rifle and began firing at an advancing horde, this time with Juggernauts leading the charge. I take aim and fire, hitting a stormtrooper square in the face plate. I take out two more in the next volley, seeing the advancing Juggernauts who, true to their name, are able to storm their way through blaster fire. Their armor must be like ours, made with a weave of some indestructible material, possibly even just like ours and using Phrik. The nice thing with the X45A rifle is that the standard model comes with an underslung grenade launcher, using special, cylindrical shaped thermal detonators. I aim the grenade launcher and fire a detonator in between the two Juggernauts, the power of the explosive and due to the fact they are literally on the spot, they are vaporized. An Imperium repulsor-tank hovers in from an alley and I groan; our heavy ordnance is dry. We lower our rifles in surrender and the tank all of a sudden explodes, a T5 at the opposite end of the street having blasted it. The battle rages on.
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Xauvis, Wild Space
18 ABE
We cautiously move in formation down the twisting, shadow-filled corridor, rifles up and slowly sweeping for trouble, our boots making soft footfalls on the hard stone floor. The hairs on the back of my neck are prickling, and I can feel a cold sweat running down my back, making me shiver slightly. The air is colder here. My skin feels clammy under my uniform. The cold is not only on the surface, it's also inside me, wrapping around my organs like a clamp. I shiver again. The shadows seem to take on a life of their own as we pass, dancing across the stone walls and intricate carvings, many depicting ancient battles, figures locked in brutal combat, and torture. What is it with Sith and pain? I try to ignore the statues and carvings. They're really starting to dark me out. As we continue, I can hear as well as feel in the pit of my stomach the occasional WHOOMP of explosions taking place outside in the city. My mind briefly drifts to Amminius and Jevin. I hope they're alright. Come on Wodi, focus on the task at hand. Now's not the time to daydream. Gavin, walking next to me, catches my eye and gives me a concerned look. I nod to him, indicating that I'm fine. Gavin nods back, giving me a smile that does not reach his eyes. He's scared too. I glance at the other soldiers walking around me. All appear alert, but extremely edgy, eyes darting around. We walk a little way further before I put up my hand, closing it to form a fist. Stop. I silently motion everyone to gather around me. Once everyone is crowded around, I say in a low voice "We're on course toward the barracks. Remember: shoot first, ask questions later. It's either us or them." Nods all around. "How are you all feeling?" The Twenty-Seventh soldier lugging the SWS-1013 looks around at the others before speaking: "Fine, sir, but this place is really starting to get to us." Nom nods. "This is Pravus' last fall back, and so far, we're waltzing right on through. Something's not right."
Other helmeted heads nod in agreement. "It seems only logical that this place would be swarming with the Imperium's finest," Lannik pipes up, "but it's not. I don't have to be a Jedi to sense a trap, here." "The other's outside are counting on us to secure this position," Gavin says, motioning at the outer wall with his X45, "so trap or no trap, we have to continue." "Gavin's right," I say, nodding, "we have to-" A noise further down the corridor makes me stop mid-sentence. Footfalls. Moving toward our position. Instantly and silently, our group moves and takes up positions behind stone outcroppings and statues, blasters trained at the far end of the darkened hallway. I peek out from behind a bust of a hooded and cloaked humanoid Sith, my X45's scope pressed to my eye, stock braced against my shoulder. Just then, my comlink chirps. I must have jumped about a meter high, barely suppressing a yell. The footfalls falter. I hear a high-pitched whimper of terror. The noise unsettles me, gooseflesh breaking out across my arms under my gauntlets. I motion for everyone to hide back behind their cover. Wait for them to come closer. The footsteps resume, sounding unsteady. I cautiously peer out again, barely revealing my face. Out from the darkness walk three silhouettes: one bulky, and two slim. The figures walk shakily into a patch of light. My eyes go wide. One is an Ithorian, the other two human, one female and one male. All three look terrible. No, worse than terrible. Blood-stained rags barely cover their emaciated bodies, and their exposed skin is raw and covered in filth. Clumps of hair are missing from the two humans' heads. Long thin scars run across all their bare arms, many of the wounds still weeping. The skin of their faces host many scars as well. In short, they looked like refugees in a war camp. I had seen the like too many times. Still, for them to show up right where we were heading. I step out of my cover, blaster raised and pointed. My team does likewise. The three beings stop, frozen. "Who are you?" I say in a surprisingly harsh sounding voice. The three stand speechless, shivering all over. Suddenly, my comlink chirps again. Without taking my eyes off our friends, I take it out and depress the button. "Quix here." "Wodi, it's Cade," comes the reply. "Cade? What do you need?" I say. "Wodi, we've freed some prisoners who were about to become Juggernauts. They're headed to the gunships." I stare at the Ithorian and two humans. "Is that true?" The woman nods, her eyes huge. I motion everyone to lower their blaster rifles. With a click, safeties are reengaged. "Can you make sure that they get there safely?" "Will do," I reply, "how are you and Luke?" "We're coming up now onto what looks like a processing center of some kind. We're going to check it out." "Understood, Quix out." I hook my comlink back on my belt and motion for the prisoners to join us, my expression softening. "Let's get you to safety." I nod to the Twenty-Seventh sergeant, a Rodian, who sends two of his men forward. "Get them medical treatment and some food." The two soldiers nod and carefully escort the prisoners back the way we had come. I watch them for a few moments before turning back to everyone. "Let's keep moving. The barracks shouldn't be too much further."
. . .
I down the single stormtrooper guard silently from behind with a knife, embedding it in the trooper's neck seal. I catch his deadweight in my arms and move the armored body into the shadows, nodding to my team. We're at the entrance to the barracks. And with only light resistance to keep us from our goal. Never a good sign. "Stack up." I say. We stack up on opposite sides of heavy double-wide blast door. I nod to one of Gavin's guys, positioned across from me, who produces a magnetic detonator from his belt. "Let's go in loud. They already know we're here." The man nods and places the detonator. We hunker down and wait for the explosion. Whoomp! "Go, go, go!" The plan is to keep the troopers' focused on us inside the barracks. We rush into the room, blasters raised. There are a lot more stormtroopers than we thought there would be. A lot more. "Kriff!" A Twenty-Seventh soldier is cut down by a storm of blasterfire, helmet and blaster flying. "Take cover!" Gavin shouts. We dive in all directions, firing madly. Gavin crouches next to me, screaming in my ear. "This isn't a barracks, this is a damn armory!" Blaster bolts scream by overhead. "Yeah, I noticed! Lock down their escape, we need to keep 'em contained here!" I shout back, downing a trooper with a shot to the faceplate. More pour in. "More coming!" "Return fire! Return fire!" "Gah, I'm hit!" "Grenade going out, watch it!" "Juggernauts incoming!" The noise of blasterfire ricocheting off metal and stone is deafening. The room is soon filled with smoke and flying chips of debris. I see rather than hear my comlink light up. I wrench it off my belt and click the button, firing with one hand, holding the comlink close to my ear. "-odi, come in! Over?" Cade's signal is patchy and full of static. "Cade, it's Wodi," I shout back, ducking as a volley of blasterfire strikes the wall behind me. "We've made it to the barracks and we're holding them off as long as we can. They were gearing up to come get you. Get in there and do what you need to do!" Cade attempts to reply, but the comlink fizzes and pops,cutting off his words. Lost the signal. I jam it in my pocket and continue firing. Hopefully, our antics are buying Cade and Luke time.
Cade Valdarin - Xauvis, Imperium Palace throne room
18 ABE
The snarl reveals itself and turns into a black shadow that lands on the ground and stands to full height. Based on the stench and the height the shadow reaches, I easily determine it to be Darth Ferus, the Trandoshan apprentice of Darth Pravus. "Where's your master, apprentice?" He makes a slight hiss, a laugh of sorts. "My master is not able to join us. He hopes you'll understand." We all activate our lightsabers, Luke with his green blade and my peridot blade casting an olive green glow on the floor, and slowly start to move in a circle, always facing Ferus. "If he isn't here, where is he?" I demand. "Lord Pravus is preparing to make a final strike, a strike that will leave his mark on both you and the Republic, that will forever emblazon his image into the heart of the galaxy, and that will show the galaxy how truly weak the New Republic is." Luke and I enter ready stances and at the same time, the far door opens. It reveals several stormtroopers and two armored, hooded figures. They wear black capes and black tunics, with a grey-silver helm. "Behold my master's latest creation. Until now, the Force has only been able to be used by those sensitive to it but now that has changed. Lord Pravus has found a way to infuse the Force into non-sensitives, these new Shadow Knights. With them and my masters aweing power, we will crush the New Republic in one fell swoop. Hachak!" And the Shadow Knights activate their red blades and leap towards us.
Luke immediately launches a powerful telekinetic blast that hurls them to the upper walkway and slams the troopers into the wall with great force. "You handle the overgrown lizard, I'll handle these two!" He jumps up to the upper catwalk. I hope he's careful, these Shadow Knights may not be full Praetors but definitely are stronger than the average Acolyte and their power is definitely warped. It isn't natural to them. I turn towards Ferus, now that I can focus my full attention on him, he snarls again and we rush towards each other. His saber is not a standard hilt, rather it is a pike. A long weapon customized to his liking, a lightsaber on one end and on the other, a sharp blade. I guess the Sith idea of actually cutting through flesh, the feel of steel rendering it never goes out of style. The pike is actually perfect for the Trandoshan, his height and reach are put to great effect but over the course of this war, I have increased my skill exponentially. Our blades meet, sparks falling to the floor. He swings left, I duck and spin to the right, bringing my blade up to meet his return swing. I launch a ferocious set of attacks, forcing the lizard on the defensive, eventually knocking the blade away and kicking him straight in the stomach, using the Force to put extra oomph into the kick, sending him backwards. He rolls in midair, feet landing on the wall and kicks off again. I jump up to meet him in midair, blades sparking again. We land and get into a vicious set of parries, every attack meeting one another.
Meanwhile, Luke is fighting on the upper walkway with the Shadow Knights. Ferus was right, their power isn't natural to them, and it feels so warped, making them stronger than the average Acolyte. Spinning his blade in a defensive pattern, Luke blocks all of their attacks, and ends the buzzsaw action with a backwards somersault to avoid a horizontal swipe of red saber. At the end of the somersault, Luke uses the Force to pull one of the knights towards him, spinning at the same time, his sword slicing through the knight's stomach as he flies by him. The other knight rushes in to enter into a fierce set of parries with Luke, blades cutting through railing and wall in the enclosed area. Finally, Luke ends it by meeting the knights' blade in a saberlock and, before the knight has a chance to do anything, shoves him with the Force through the large window of the throne room, launching the warrior to his plummeting death.
Luke reaches out to me in our telepathic link and tells me he is going to help Wodi and I see him jump out of the window towards where the armory and barracks are. I also see the raging battle for Xauvis through the broken window, the sky alight with falling debris from the ships in orbit, giving the appearance of a meteor shower. I focus my full attention on Ferus, clearing my thoughts and using the ancient technique of Battle Mind to focus solely on the battle. I raise my saber in a high guard and launch a vicious series of overhand strikes, pummeling his saber each time he raises it to block the attack. Finally, I see a break in his defenses and at the last second, pivot my blade at an angle, bisecting the pike in half, the loss of its weight causing him to stumble backwards. While he's stumbling, I telekinetically grab the severed end of the lightsaber pike, the spiked end, and with a great force, launch it straight towards him. The spike goes straight through his chest. The lightsaber end deactivates and Ferus falls to a knee. "Now, Ferus, where is he!" I say forcefully, peridot-colored blade held to his throat. Through a gurgle of blood, he replies. "Lord Pravus is on his way to making his mark on the galaxy, to laying a wound that will be forever etched into the New Republic and on you." He looks up at me, smiling through bloodied teeth, "You know of what I speak." he says as I feel a dark presence in my mind. My wrist-comm lights up with chatter, most prominently that of Fleet Admiral Kerex, "Repeat all ships break off, we are picking up a massive force dropping out of hyperspace!" Following that, Gorukar and a large flotilla of Predators, the largest ever seen, drops out of hyperspace, immediately opening fire and taking down multiple Starhawks. A pale blue purple beam lances out from Gorukar towards one of the Viscount Star Defenders, the Warhammer, and pierces its tough armor, causing the massive ship to break in half. That's one of only three Star Defenders we have gone. Almost as soon as they arrived, the massive Imperium fleet, complete with Predator-class Star Destroyers and Gollum-class Land Assault Transports along with Gorukar, jump to hyperspace again.
. . .
I meet up with Luke after exiting the palace, his tunic torn and having some cuts and blast marks along his skin. I look at him and Wodi with worry, "We're fine," he says, Wodi voicing in agreement. Luke looks up at the sky as the space battle slowly starts to wind down, "So, that was Pravus, where was he going?" I look at him, not saying a word out loud but transmitting my pain and anger through our bond. He just nods and raises his hand, "Artoo, Ratchet? Bring us the ships, we're leaving." Wodi and Jevin stare dumbfounded and it's Jevin, who has always been like an older brother, to speak first. "You can't be serious. You're going after them alone!" I nod, "Jevin, I have to, he's going to Chandrila, to make a point to me. And if he succeeds in draining the life from Chandrila, he'll become immensely more powerful and go on to destroy the Core Worlds. Jevin, it's my home and where Mon Mothma lives, the woman who raised me and is basically my mother. More importantly, it's a symbol to the galaxy that the New Republic can survive something even as terrible as the Liberation Day attacks. I have to go." Wodi walks up and begins to speak in rebuttal when we hear the crisp voice of Tor Ponith. "Now that's enough, Colonel, you know Cade is right." Wodi turns, "How so?" Tor shakes his head, "We just got word, while we were fighting here, the Imperium launched major attacks against Volik, Takodana, and Arkanis and we're busy mopping up here. Someone needs to go to Chandrila and rally the defenders until reinforcements can arrive. Cade, you have a go." I nod in thanks and place a hand on Wodi's shoulder, "I'll be fine, you'll be right behind me." I wink and run off towards the X-wings with Luke. I overhear Tor say to Wodi and Jevin that he and Kerrex will take the full force of the Fourth Battle Group to Chandrila, leaving General Voren and Admiral Antilles to mop up on Xauvis.
We fly through the remaining Republic, Mandalorian, and Wookiee fleets to the edge of the system, entering hyperspace. While traveling through the mottled blue, Luke reaches out to me in our link, "So, what's the plan here?" "Well, we enter the system, fight our way to Gorukar, get onboard, and kill Pravus before he can use the weapon." He chuckles, "Simple, I like it." The systems chirp that we are about to exit hyperspace, and in three, two, one. The black of space appears and we see a massive storm of activity around my home. Thousands of ships; Republic, Imperium, Mandalorian, Wookiee, and Espirion all in close proximity to each other, some battling at broadsides, cannons taking out chunks of the opposing ship. We angle toward Gorukar and accelerate to attack speed.
Tycho Celchu - Core Worlds, Chandrila
18 ABE
After the Battle of Xauvis the two Jedi, Skywalker and Valdarin, raced off to Chandrila to aid the defenders. It was a little risky but I guess Cade had a personal stake in it; after all, Chandrila is his homeworld and the first capital of the New Republic. Shortly after, the order came from on high from High Marshal Ponith and Fleet Admiral Kerex that the Fourth Battlegroup would head to Chandrila while the Third stayed and cleaned up on Xauvis. It was spectacular, in a way, seeing the entirety of the Fourth Battlegroup leave the Xauvis system. The centerpieces of the fleet were the two remaining Viscount Star Defenders, the Viscount and Vigilance, massive tadpole shaped ships that are the most advanced in the Republic fleet, complete with state-of-the-art armor, shields, and weapons. Unfortunately, they are prohibitively expensive and thus only three were made, with the Warhammer having been destroyed at Xauvis. Following the two mammoth ships, there's the Lusankya, one of the Executor-class star dreadnoughts captured during the fighting against Imperial holdouts, and hundreds of Starhawk-class battleships, Nebulon-B frigates, and dozens of Blockade Runners. Stored aboard the Star Defenders, the SSD, and several dedicated carriers are thousands of fighters and bombers, ready to launch as soon as we hit the system.
. . .
Once we enter the system, chaos ensues. The most glaring thing is the presence of Gorukar, an ancient Sith space station that the Imperium discovered that, according to Cade Valdarin, absorbs Force energy on a planetary scale, meaning that it wipes all life from a planet, leaving a dead hulk in its wake. The monstrosity looms there over Chandrila, just sitting there and not firing its main weapon. Seems Pravus is content to just have it wait there and use conventional weaponry. Alongside Gorukar are hundreds, no, thousands of Imperium vessels. From Predator-class Star Destroyers to Corvus-class corvettes, all engaged in heavy fighting with the planet's defenders. Thank the Force for our allies in the Coalition; the Espirion, Mandalorians, and Wookiees. As soon as Chandrila detected the incoming fleet and sent a distress call, they answered almost instantaneously. A massive fleet of allied ships, from the slender Mandalorian dreadnought-class cruiser to the massive Espirion cruisers and Wookiee Kataran-class battlecruisers rallied to Chandrila's defense, it truly is a site to behold all these groups together, fighting a fierce fight to protect a symbol of the New Republic.
"Squadron leaders, this is Admiral Kerex," the bubbly voice of the Quarren comes through the headset, "you all know the mission and what is at stake. We need to do everything we can to prevent that station from firing its main weapon on the planet." I start my T-70 X-wing up, bringing shields to max, running checks on power systems, and preparing to launch. I'd much rather fly a T-85, they run much smoother but are still in the prototype stage of development. I see outside of the hangar force field the bulks of the Starhawk-class battleships, having become the ship of the line for the New Republic, moving to take positions. We take off; Rogue, Blue, Grey, and Blade squadrons all moving out towards their assigned areas. Blade Squadron, complete with the upgraded B-wing Starfighter, has been assigned to launch bombing runs on the Super Star Destroyer Daemon.
Rogue Squadron, meanwhile, moves to intercept enemy starfighters. Rogue Three, a young rookie pilot compared to the rest of us gets clipped on the wing and spirals into a fiery explosion. I grimace; the poor kid had so much potential. "Boss, there's too much flak!" Riz Dellso, a Rodian who serves as second-in-command of Rogue Squadron says. "Stay the course; we need to end the Imperium here and now, no matter the cost!" Then there's static over the comlink, "Rogue Leader, this is Kerex, come in." I respond, "Admiral, this is Celchu, go ahead." More static, the Imperium forces must be trying to jam communications. "Colonel, I have a Priority Alpha assignment for you." Priority Alpha can mean two things, either something specific needs to be taken out or someone important needs to be escorted. "Send traffic Admiral." He responds, "Our Jedi friends are telling us that the station cannot be destroyed from the outside and they need to get aboard it to take it down. We are sending a contingent of SHARCs under Colonel Quix and General Corso to assist them on the station." My console highlights a blip on the radar and I see two U-wing gunships following two T-85 X-wings. "Those ships must make it to the station; do what you can to protect them." We move into position around the gunships and do what we can to pick off TIE Stalkers as they come. Weaving through the black of space, I hear the chaos of the battle from panicked voices through the comlink. The most distressing is from the captain of the Dawn Of Tranquility, one of the new MC85 heavy cruisers. They have Imperium forces boarding the ship. I hope someone can help them out.
We get within range of the station, dodging purple laser beams from it. The T-85s and U-wings accelerate and disappear into the dark blue-purple superstructure of the station and Colonel Quix's voice comes over the headset. "We made it in, thanks for the assist Rogues, we'll take it from here." We turn back towards the battle when a Starhawk Battleship is vaporized by the Super Star Destroyer. "Rogue Leader, this is Kerex." I place a hand on my transmitter, "Go ahead Admiral, Priority Alpha has been successfully delivered, standing by for new tasking." He responds, "Excellent. Good work. Blade Squadron has been tasked with delivering their payload to the SSD, I need you to provide escort." I accelerate to attack speed, "Alright Rogues, follow me and angle deflector shields."
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
Aboard the Mark Two Starhawk Accolade
I stand alone in a near-deserted corridor, staring silently out the viewport at the mottled blue lines of hyperspace. What do we do when this is all over? What do any of us do? What if we can't stop it? What if we lose them? A ruffle of fabric next to me brings me out of my head. I glance over to see Amminius standing next to me, hands clasped, equally silent, staring out at hyperspace. He notices me looking at him and offers a small smile. "Hey, Wishbone. Contemplating the marvels of hyperspace travel?" I smile, shaking my head, my spirits lifting momentarily. "No," I admit, looking back out the viewport again. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Amminius nod. We stand in silence together for a few more moments before Amminius asks, "So, what are you thinking about?" After a few seconds of deciding what to say, I blow out a puff of air in my cheeks and turn to him. "I was just thinking about all this." Amminius nods, saying nothing. I continue.
"We've been at this for nearly three and a half years. What happens afterward? What do we do when this is all over?" My question, despite its weight, doesn't seem to have taken him that off guard. Maybe he'd been wondering the same thing. "We . . . rebuild, I guess," Amminius says after a slight pause. "Just like the Galactic Civil War, the galaxy will bounce back. There'll be a lot to fix, but . . . over time, things . . . will go back to normal." I nod, mulling over his answer in my head. "What do you define as 'normal,' Amm?" Amminius looks up at the ceiling for a few moments before answering. "I guess I would define normal as the ability to choose your own fate, to be able to live your life as you see fit." He cracks a grin. "Definitely without the influence of goons like Pravus and Sidious." "Yeah," I reply, smiling. "Me too. But seriously, how does hyperspace work?" I laugh, jabbing him in the ribs. Amminius shrugs exaggeratedly and laughs too. "I think I missed that part at University. Must have dozed off. That, or I was staring at Leoni Garamin over in the next row." We look at each other for a moment before we both burst out laughing. It feels good. Tears stream down my cheeks as I brace my hand against the bulkhead. A chirp from my chrono brings us out of our laughter. I clear my throat and lift my arm, tapping the chrono's face. "We're twenty minutes out from Chandrila. We'd better go get everyone assembled." Amminius grins, slapping me on the shoulder. "Only twenty minutes? Wishbone, the slacker!"
. . .
We walk together towards the main barracks, dodging personnel rushing through the congested hallway. The whole ship seems to be buzzing with activity. Even the droids whir about excitedly. We reach the barracks and walk in to find them already full. Fourth soldiers mixed in with colorful Mandalorians hurriedly sort through pieces of neatly assembled kit. Organized chaos at its best. "I need an extra thermal over here." "Here ya go." "Anyone got a spare power cell?" "Got a proximity charge here. Any takers?" "Here, help me with this, vod." "Hebsley, got your medipack and bacta salve?" "Yeah, got 'em here." "Impact grenades?" Amminius and I stand there for a moment, taking in the scene. A Nikto looks up from his assortment to gaze at us. "So, this is it, isn't it Colonel?" The room goes quiet as everyone stops what they're doing to look at us. I nod, meeting their gazes with newfound confidence. "That's right. This is the big one." The soldiers break into applause, cheers, and grins. I cheer with them. Amminius grins, clapping. I hold up my hand for quiet. "I want to say something before we do this." The barracks go quiet once more. All eyes and T-visors are on me. "We've been at this for nearly three and a half years," I begin, looking around the room at each face and helmet, "and we've had our fair share of victories, as well as losses. We've saved countless lives, and have come back from the brink of defeat on many occasions, but we've also lost many good soldiers. Friends and family." I see heads nodding in affirmation. "Worlds have been devastated and stripped of life. Of hope. The galaxy has been shattered. All because one man had an idea. An idea that, left unchecked, will surely spell doom for us all. That man now sits above our capital, ready to unleash his weapon of terror on millions and thrust the galaxy into darkness once more. We're not going to let that happen. I say it's time to let the galaxy breathe once more!" I pump my fist into the air to cheers and applause, even louder than before. Amminius brings his fist into the air too. "Yeah!" "Let's get 'em!" "Oya!" A clap on my shoulder makes me turn around to see Sonya Ravenclaw and a small cadre her Hunters standing behind me along with Gerik Ordo, clad in his forest green battle armor. "You sure know how to give a motivational speech Wodi," she says with a smile. Gerik nods. "Thank you," I smile at them, "it's good that you'll be joining us for the final push." "Oh, I can't let you men have all the fun," Sonya replies, grinning. "Killjoy," Amminius jokes, laughing.
. . .
"Attention all personnel, we are five minutes out from Chandrila. Get to your designated craft and standby." Our motley assault team heads toward the hangar at a brisk jog, jostling for room in the even more crowded hallway. We reach the hangar just as the Accolade exits hyperspace to see an impressive sight. Hundreds and hundreds of ships, of all makes, sit above Chandrila, fiercely trading turbolaser fire with Imperium cruisers, lighting up the stars with explosions. And directly in the middle of it all sits, "Gorukar," Nom breathes quietly. The name sends a chill down my spine and bad memories to the surface of my mind. I repress them. "Get to the gunships. Go!" I yell, pointing to a pair of blue-trim U-wings with their boarding ramps down. Pilots and soldiers scramble around the packed hangar in earnest among technicians, boarding ships and fighters, lugging weapons and supplies. We run through the maze of beings, droids, ships, and supply crates to the U-wings, where standing there waiting for us are Jevin and Salurra, Jevin with his hand on the ramp. "Come on," he shouts impatiently. We split up, eleven of us boarding one gunship, twelve the other. I pick a seat next to Amminius and my Mandalorian friend, Ikko. The orange-clad Mandalorian grins at me before sliding on his helmet. "Long time no see, ner'vod." I smile and nod in agreement. "Boarding ramp closing," our pilot informs us, his voice crackling slightly. "Strap yourselves in, ladies and gentlemen; things are going to get a little rough." I strap in and stare out the viewport at the techs and droids scrambling to make last minute checks on fighters. "Standby for launch." I grip my safety strap tightly in my gloved hands. Amminius turns to me in his seat, giving me a thumbs-up. I nod silently. Here we go. A few more seconds pass by. Then, "All wings, we are go for launch. Launch!" All around us, ion engines roar to life; the noise a deafening crescendo even from inside the crew cabin, droids and crewmen retracting refueling hoses on the floor. The X-wings, A-wings, and Y-wings are out first. I wince as a few immediately are reduced to shrapnel, barely clearing it out of the bay. "Alright, here we go!" Our pilot yells, and our gunship lifts off, flying out into the chaos, closely followed by the other. "Watch that debris field, Quiller." "Affirmative Wex." We streak by one of our cruisers in a fierce broadside with an Imperium Destroyer, turbolasers firing madly at each other. "Watch out for projectiles. That thing's taking a pounding." Our escort, two green-trim X-wings, adjusts their heading and we move away, our viewports still shuddering from the shockwaves. In the next instant, multiple fast-moving dots fill our forward canopy, heading towards us on an intercept course. The cockpit targeting computer emits a series of tones. "TIE Stalkers, incoming!" "I see 'em! Open fire!" Our cabin shakes as our shields take a hit. "With all these fighters," Amminius yells to me, hitching a thumb out the viewport, "one might think we're not welcome!" "One would think!" I yell back. Rogue Squadron, accompanied by Zerek Squadron, roar in from our port and light up the enemy TIEs with their laser cannons and ion torpedoes. "Showoffs!" Ikko grunts next to me, tracking their movements with his helmet rangefinder. I look away from our fighters to gaze on the station, growing larger and larger as we approach. "Look at the size of that thing," Gav marvels. Endel nods next to him. "We're about two minutes out from the station. Get ready," Jevin relays over our onboard intercom. "Acknowledged," I respond, unstrapping my X45A from my shoulder. The others in the cabin do the same. "Here we go, vod," Ata Noulku says, hefting her T-21 and donning her purple Mandalorian helmet. As we get closer to the station, it begins firing purple turbolaser fire at us. Several of our escort are hit and disappear in flames, comms going out in static. "Things are getting a little bumpy! Hang on! Angle deflector shields!" I grip my harness tighter, resisting the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. Kriff!
Amminius taps me on the shoulder and points to my locater, attached to my wrist comlink. "Cade and Luke's transponders should be active. Are you getting a signal?" I bring my wrist up to my eyes and stare at the small holo, where an image of Gorukar is displayed, showing our entry point, an empty fighter hangar, in orange. Two dark blue dots also appear. "There they are," I say, relaying the holo to everyone's HUD, "three levels up from where we're set to enter." "Copy that," Jevin replies over the comm. We reach the hangar and decelerate, touching down with a thud inside the cavernous space. As one, we unstrap our harnesses and stand, weapons held at the ready. I bring up my wrist comlink. "We made it in. Thanks for the assist Rogues. We'll take it from here!" "Copy that Wodi, good luck." "You too, Tycho." I nod to our group. "Alright everyone, let's go stop a madman!" Our boarding ramp descends, and we rush out, blasters raised and ready for trouble.
Major Gavin Skyes - Core Worlds, Chandrila, closing on the Dawn of Tranquility
18 ABE
The Battle for Chandrila rages on. The space battle is pure chaos but the land battle is worse. The last I heard from Colonel Grissom on the ground was that they were taking heavy losses in and around Hanna City. But I can't worry about that now. As Colonel Celchu and Rogue Squadron escorted Valdarin, Skywalker, and Quix's group to Gorukar, I received orders from up top. During the midst of the battle, one of our heavy cruisers, the Dawn of Tranquility, came under heavy attack and was boarded. The cruiser is a heavy hitter, one of the first MC85 heavy cruisers. The ship also possesses experimental shield technology, its shields able to sustain much more punishment than a MC80 battlecruiser. The plan is relatively simple; myself, my XO, Lieutenant Darro Xenarri, a male Kyuzo, and a detachment of Rancor Assault Troopers, soldiers trained specially for zero-g and ship-board combat will insert into the ship at different sections and work our way to the bridge and get the ship back under the control of the Weequay captain, Ralen Falani, and get the ship back in the fight.
. . .
Our U-wing pulls up near the port-side hangar, a second U-wing near the starboard hangar, and a third at the rear near the engines to prevent sabotage to the engines and sinking the ship all together. "Groups two and three, this is Skyes, we are in position, report." I say through the filtered black helmet. "Group two in position at the starboard hangar," says the electronic sounding voice of Darro, "Group three reporting in," says Sergeant Nival, a Soccoran male. "All groups execute boarding maneuvers," I reply through the headset. Our U-wing then pulls alongside the hull so that we are parallel with the Dawn Of Tranquility, then my tech expert, a Togruta female named Shila, dons her helmet and pulls out a military-grade fusioncutter. We all don helmets and seal off the drop bay from the cockpit. The nice thing with the Rancor armor is it's vacuum-sealed and a soldier can survive for up to half-an-hour in the black of space or in an environment without oxygen. She lights the cutter and begins cutting into the hull into what should be the access corridor to the hangar. The other teams report their successful insertion into their respective target zones, Lieutenant Xenarri's group into the starboard hangar and Nival's into the engine section of the ship.
. . .
We stack up on either side of the blast door leading to the portside hangar, Shila on the right and myself on the left. She and the other Rancors wield DH-24 blaster carbines, a weapon that essentially takes the frame of the popular DH-17 pistol and adds a rifle stock. As for me, I wield my ever trusty bowcaster, a gift from Valdarin's Wookiee friend, Salurra. This bowcaster is unique in the fact that it has Wroshyr wood furnishing along the stock. Ever since Gorukar attacked Kashyyyk and drained it of all life, Wroshyr wood has become extremely scarce and until the Wookiees regrow their world, it'll remain so. I raise my wrist, "Xenarri, Nival, report," I say through the filtered helmet. Xenarri responds, "Group two is ready boss, say the word." "Group three ready," the strong voice of Sergeant Nival reports. "All groups execute," I say after hearing their acknowledgments and I give a nod to Shila who proceeds to attach an electronic override device to the door; we wish to avoid unnecessary destruction to our own ship. The device glows blue, a sign the bypass is complete. The door slides open and Shila tosses in a smoke grenade. In three, two, one, "Go, go!" I charge in, taking cover behind the fuselage of a T-70 X-wing and charge my bowcaster. There! I pop up and release the charge, sending a powerful quarrel wrapped in plasma energy at my target, a white-armored Imperium stormtrooper. His armored body is sent flying when the bolt hits him. Shila and the others, a full squad of six, take cover behind various crates and barrels, using them to steady their aim. Pop, pop, pop, their targets are taken down during the confusion caused by the smoke grenades. Several stormies retreat inside their boarding vessel, "Kheuren, take it out!" I yell to our squad's demolition expert. The black-clad trooper brandishes an SWS-1013 munitions launcher, a multi-purpose launcher that can carry anything from simple grenades to heavy proton missiles. The launcher shoots a blue-orange object that zooms straight into the exposed main deck of their boarding shuttle. In a brilliant orange flash, the shuttle explodes, leaving debris scattered on the flight deck. I launch another quarrel at a trooper on an overhead walkway, the blast sending him flying off the way and plummeting to crack on the hard metal floor. "Hangar secure," Shila reports. "Xenarri, Nival what's your status?" Nival reports that the engines have been secured, the Tranquility engineers having gotten back into the deck and are stabilizing the ship. Good, that's one objective down, two to go. "Xenarri . . . Darro come in!" "We're having a small bit of trouble boss, but we're making progress, hangar will be secured momentarily." I gather my squad back together in the center of the hangar, "Alright objective one is complete, now we make our way to the bridge to rescue Captain Falani. Sergeant, bring your squad up the rear and meet us there." He replies an affirmative.
. . .
The way up to the bridge is relatively uneventful, seems the Imps were content to take only key areas on the ship. We free Navy personnel along the way and rescue the ship's marine contingent, bolstering our strength. We get to the blast doors to the bridge, white doors with intricate designs on them. The Mon Calamari truly do wonderful work. "Admiral Kerex, this is Gavin, we are preparing to breach the bridge, standby." The Quarren gives an acknowledgement and wants a sitrep when we're done. I give Shila a nod; she places another electronic bypass device while I ready a flash grenade. As soon as the doors slide open, I toss the grenade in and we turn our heads, the grenade goes off and we hear the gasps of the stormtroopers inside. With a simple hand gesture, we file into the bridge, blaster blazing…
Colonel Jon Grissom - Chandrila, Core Worlds
Hanna City, Republic Command Complex
18 ABE
The Battle for Chandrila has been going on for nearly half a day now. The last I heard from space, Quix and his assault team had boarded the station following the Jedi. The fighting on the ground has gone from bad to worse. Before the Fourth Battlegroup arrived, the local defenders were being pushed back by the Imperium. They attacked Hanna City in a blitzkrieg fashion, Gollum-class landers touching down with blasters ablaze. AT-AHT walkers soon came next, the scene reminiscent of Hoth; massive walkers on an unstoppable march. Their ground forces pushed in as far as the Republic Command Complex, the heart of the New Republic military. There, the defenders managed to hold back the tide. As soon as the Fourth arrived in the system, Marshal Ponith ordered all ground forces to land near the complex, to regain the command center and then repulse the Imperium out of Hanna City. At first things had gone well, a majority of our U-wings and GR-80 landers had touched down safely. The Imperium has made repeated attempts to clear us out but to no avail. For now we remain within the complex, several walls have been bombed to dust, the once pristine white walls now covered in carbon-scoring and soot.
. . .
I lower my X45A rifle from its perch, looking down the battle line. I can see the hairy mass that is my aide-de-camp, the Grigorian Major, Malakai. He sits there holding a Z7-rotary cannon. The Grigorian's strength nearly matches that of a Wookiee; I marvel as he lays down suppressing fire on a group of white-armored stormtroopers as they tried flanking our line. The rest of our group is a motley collection ranging from Humans to Kyutzo and there are even some Kage amongst us. Seeing a break in the fighting, I lean to my right towards a Private, Nemitz. "Give me cover, I need to talk to the Marshal!" He hurriedly nods at me and raises his X45A and begins peppering the opposing stormtroopers with blaster fire as I stay low and run towards the graying Bothan. I slide into position next to him as he raises his own rifle to fire a thermal grenade, vaporizing a Juggernaut and several troopers. "Marshal, what's the plan?" He crouches back into position, "We need to push into the city and take it back but those walkers present a problem!" I see him glance down the line, "Jon, take Malaki and a small squad and flank around their line, we need one of those walkers!" I stare at him dumbfounded and then realization dawns on me. Of course, those walkers pack much more firepower than the old AT-AT and can really punch a hole in the Imperium line. I nod at my commanding officer and rush back over to Malaki's position. Beckoning several others to huddle around me I say, "Listen up, we need to commandeer one of those AT-AHTs, their firepower will give us the boost we need!" "Boss, are you sure we can do that? They're bound to have those things on lockdown!" says the metallic voice of Malaki through his translator. A Kage male wielding a Valkyrie sniper rifle loads a fresh energy pack, "It makes sense, I've seen what those walkers can do, and they pack serious heat." Kratos, a Kyutzo who serves as a Pathfinder, voices his agreement in his alien tongue. "Ok, we go in three. Three, two, one, go go go!" We make a break across the courtyard to the bombed out right wall of the complex. When we get there, we look out to see an AT-AHT lumber down an alley. Looking to Kratos and our resident sniper, Neggi, I give them their orders. "You two, you are the most nimble of our group; scale the walker and use this to get in,"" I say handing them a magnite crystal-powered fusioncutter, strong enough to cut through the tough armor. "Malaki, Nemitz, and I will lay down covering fire for you." The two warriors nod and slink off, waiting for my signal.
. . .
The walker lumbers ever closer, the sounds of the battle all around us. I gander a little at the pristine white of Hanna City, now marred by warfare. I can't wait until this war is over so we can start rebuilding. There, an opening! Tossing a flashbang in the center of a group of troopers flanking the walker, I give the signal to the Neggi and Kratos and they begin to creep ever closer to the massive walker while the three of us lay down covering fire, resulting in the white walls of the surrounding buildings taking stray bolts, turning the white to charred black. Watching the two scale the walker as we shoot troopers who lean out of hatches to shoot them off is spectacular, the only other people I've seen able to move like that are the two Jedi, Valdarin and Skywalker. I hope they are ok, Wodi and Jevin too. Before I know it, Neggi is aiming from the top of the walker with his sniper rifle while Kratos uses the fusioncutter and they are in. When the coast is clear, they lower the loading elevator from the "belly" of the walker and we join them.
Once inside, Marshal Ponith sends me coordinates in the city where the Imperium is thickest. We lumber off towards the closest, where a small group of walkers have pinned down a squad at a Hannatown café. At first, there is no trouble; they assume we are on their side. But when I give Malaki the order to fire the heavy cannon on the closest walker, a large firefight erupts, the pinned squad now fighting with renewed vigor. Finally, a soldier peers out of a second-story window with a SWS-1013 Munitions Launcher, firing a blue-yellow object towards the walker. The object is an electromagnetic-resonance torpedo, only scaled down from the one that took down the Insidious. The flare hits the walker dead on the head, a cascade of blue lightning falling over the walker, causing its lights to falter and burn out, leaving it vulnerable. A heavy blast from our walker causes the head of the walker to erupt in flames. "Marshal, we've cleared the market area, we are now heading for City Hall, standby." The Battle for Chandrila rages on.
Darro Xenarri – Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
Nearing the Dawn Of Tranquility
The gunship holding myself and my soldiers pulls up a few meters from the starboard hangar of the Mon Cala star cruiser Dawn Of Tranquility, the pilot adjusting readings on his terminal and control board to ensure our stability. I glance out the window at the massive cruiser, seemingly undamaged from the outside. Its internal workings, I am unsure. My soldiers, much like my original clovoc fighting order, but different in other regards, unsling their DH-24 carbines from their shoulders, at the ready. We wait while the other gunships maneuver into position, their progress relayed through my modified helmet's communications link. The battle in space grows ever more hectic. Massive leviathan ships jockey for control as smaller starfighters zip by. The large space station also sits, like a giant asteroid, seemingly inactive, save for occasional dark violet turbolaser blasts emanating from its surface. They say that honor and justice will return to the galaxy at large when this Pravus and his Imperium are defeated. I can only hope so. Our unit leader, Gavin Skyes, a strong Human male, radios in for a check. I confirm our position at the target hangar, the standard basic of my electronic translator mask sounding strange in my head. Sergeant Nival, a Soccoran male, also reports his successful positioning. "All groups, execute boarding maneuvers," Gavin orders. I nod to the pilot peering at us through the cockpit divider. "Take us in." He returns my gesture. I magnify my helmet's heads up display to show an enlarged image of the interior. Inside, I spy two Imperium Gollum-class landing craft, with several stormtroopers spread out throughout, thirty in total. Our gunship enters the hangar, concussive missiles firing. Several troopers are lifted off their feet, flailing their arms and legs.
Our gunship touches down, its bay doors opening, and we rush out onto the deck to a storm of blaster fire, taking cover behind large containers and firing our carbines at the remaining stormtroopers still standing. Approximately four minutes later, all stormtroopers are out of the fight. One of my unit stands up to look around to confirm we are alone again. He is sent flying backward as a green blaster bolt hits him in the chest, bits of his armor falling to the deck. "More stormtroopers!" Another of my squad cries, as stormtroopers rush in from side doors, firing at us. I order my troopers to throw concussion grenades and pick their marks. A large door opens at the rear of the hangar, and out comes a bipedal AT-DP, an All Terrain Defense Pod, prominent during the reign of the Galactic Empire. I curse in my native tongue. We may be here awhile.
. . .
Once the hangar is clear again, I instruct our demolitions expert to rig the two Imperium landing shuttles. While he works, I go to my downed squad member and retrieve his ID tag, placing it securely in my flak jacket pocket. I silently say a few words in his honor. Once this task is completed and we are all assembled, I instruct my team to stay on their guard, and we cautiously head towards the main hangar door, located opposite of where we entered. The pitted deck is covered with the charred bodies of stormtroopers. I glance at a few as we pass. May they find peace. Smoky haze lingers in the air, and flames still lick at the destroyed AT-DP. One of my soldiers produces an electronic bypass device from her belt and attaches it to the wall keypad of the door. After a moment, the device glows blue, indicating that the security measures put in place by our enemy have been successfully bypassed. I hand the device back, and produce a life-form scanner from my own belt, fine tuning the device to detect any signs of life in the corridor ahead. I adjust the device to also scan for IFF codes; Identification Friend or Foe. When the device reports that nothing lies immediately ahead, I open the door, my team of five slowly entering the large corridor, blasters up.
. . .
Our path to the main bridge of the Dawn Of Tranquility has been mostly clear, save for pockets of troopers on decks three, seven, nine, and thirteen. We cleared them without incident. We also have freed ten marines from captivity in cell blocks, giving them salvaged F-22 blaster rifles. Our unit finally reaches the designated rendezvous: the heavy blast doors of the main bridge. After ten minutes, Gavin appears with his unit thankfully intact, bolstered by five more freed marines and an assortment of Navy personnel. Nival and his group appear shortly after. Gavin relays a message to Admiral Kerex. Once finished, he nods to one of his soldiers, who produces another bypass device. The door unlocked, Gavin tosses in a flash grenade inside and we enter the bridge at his command, blasters spraying the enemy positions.
Cade Valdarin - Chandrila, Core Worlds
Onboard Gorukar
18 ABE
End of day one
Shwoom. The peridot-colored lightsaber comes to life, bisecting armored limbs as I swing the saber back and forth between stormtroopers. The battle for Chandrila has been going on for a full day since the reinforcements arrived, two days altogether. Luke and I headed straight for Gorukar when we entered the system, bypassing enemy Destroyers and fighters along the way. I had heard the Dawn Of Tranquility was under attack but we had to put that out of our minds, focusing solely on dodging the intense defensive net around the station. Finally we managed to dock on the station, landing in a cavernous docking area, the walls the same sickly blue color that is the rest of the station. It was pure chaos the minute we opened the canopies, blaster fire from all angles and lightsabers, lots of lightsabers, both red and yellow and belonging to Acolytes and Shadow Knights. Immediately we fell into our battle stances, Luke holding his blade in a vertical high guard, myself holding the blade low. It was a terrific fight, Luke and I able to sync our minds through a battle-meld, coordinating without speaking. After a flurry of weaves, parries, and thrusts with lightsaber and several blasts of force energy, we cleared the room, the floor littered with blood and the severed limbs of stormtroopers. From there our mission was clear: we could sense the tainted energy of this place emanating from the observation deck. Pravus is undoubtedly there as well, so we speed off, meeting heavy resistance all the way. In our wake, more bisected armored limbs of troopers litter the floors.
. . .
We entered one of the armories for the onboard security forces and the troopers there were waiting, an ambush. Jedi are incredibly effective against a trooper, even several. But against a horde, a lightsaber can only block so much. "Fall back!" I yell to Luke, the two of us falling back to a defensive position, deactivating our lightsabers and picking up Imperium TL-99s, an upgraded version of the popular TL-50 repeater, and firing wildly behind the cover of upturned tables and benches. "This is bad," yells Luke, stating the obvious. "Keep firing, we can't give up now!" While we are busy firing, a Shadow Knight lands to the right of us with two Juggernauts flanking him, red blade held high. I turn to meet the new threat when from far down a corridor, red bolts lance out from smoke, several taking down the knight and a hailstorm of bolts take down the two Juggernauts as they turn to return fire.
"Move in, protect the Jedi!" I hear a familiar voice yell. I see Jevin emerge from the smoke, X45A firing non-stop as he runs forward. I also see Wodi and Gerik come in, Wodi placing his rifle on top of a crate for stability and launching a thermal grenade from his underslung launcher and Gerik's twin DL-56 pistols starting to smoke from repeated use. I see several Mandalorians, SHARCs, and Infiltrators move into the armory and I even see Sonya Ravenclaw, of all people. Amminius brings up the rear, firing a Cortosis-compound needle from his Needler that hits its mark dead in the faceplate. Before long, the armory is cleared; the fallen bodies of stormtroopers and the Shadow Knight litter the floor. Wodi and Jevin walk up to us, Wodi shaking my hand. "Great to see you again kid," he says as he surveys the room. "We ran into your handiwork a few times you know, very impressive." I chuckle a little and then I see Salurra, the big oaf giving me his bear hug. Sonya walks up to me with a pouty face, "What, I don't get a thank you?" I smile at her and hug her as well, "Thank you for coming at the last minute."
"So, how's the battle going?" Luke asks, directed towards Jevin. "From what we last heard before docking, the Dawn Of Tranquility had been boarded and Gavin was taking his guys to retake the ship." Jevin nods, "The Daemon is still giving us trouble and Jon has relayed from the ground they've retaken the Command Complex." Amminius pops into the conversation, "So all-in-all, not all that well. We need some fancy tricks up our sleeves." I nod, hefting my lightsaber, "I need to get to the observation deck, that's where Pravus is and also the kyber crystal powering this place. Everything will be decided there." Wodi looks at me and then at Jevin, a determined grin on his face. "Then let's end this, move out!" He says as he looks around at the assault group. We move on, leaving the armory and heading down the corridor.
. . .
Entering a long hallway, we see stormtroopers lining the walls, taking cover in small alcoves, F-22 rifles primed and ready. Amminius, being an Infiltrator, an agent of NRI and thus aptly equipped with flash, smoke, EMP, and concussion grenades, hands off several to members of the group as Jevin and Wodi peer around the corner. Wodi gives a hand count; three, two one, and makes a fist symbol. Two soldiers, a SHARC and Mandalorian, toss in smoke grenades as Salurra lobs a concussion grenade. Donning IR goggles, Jevin shouts, "Go go go!" Red bolts rip through the smoke and we hear several grunts as stormtroopers are hit. Luke and I dash into the room, green and peridot-colored blades illuminating the smoke. I notice that several stormtroopers are wearing First Order-issue armor; ever since the discovery that the other remnants were assisting the Imperium, the First Order, Graal Hegemony, and Black Nova pirates began openly assisting our foe. After a brief skirmish, I impale a white-armored stormtrooper through the abdomen. "Alright, this should be it," Wodi says, checking a technical readout he had downloaded from a terminal during his trek. "Based on the readouts, there's a reactor here," as a holo of Gorukar pops up from his gauntlet, a bottom section is highlighted in red. "Amm, take half the unit with you and set charges on the reactor, hopefully that's enough to knock this thing out of orbit. Sal, take some men and go back to the hangar, we need to keep our escape avenue open." With a confirmatory roar, Salurra lumbers off with several SHARCs in tow and Amminius takes Gerik and his group. I stand at the blast door, standing resolute. "Cade, he's behind there isn't he?" Jevin asks. I simply nod and look at Luke, he nods back. We place open palms on the heavy door and infuse Force energy into it, blasting it into the observation deck. And there he stands; overlooking the battle through a large panoramic viewport wearing simple black robes with red Imperium symbols. As we enter, lightsabers at the ready and blasters primed, he turns around, revealing the distinctive diagonal scar on his face, a mark from a training session with Vader during his time as an exalted Inquisitor. But what are more distinctive are his eyes; he is deep within the tainted energy of this place. His eyes are as black as black holes and his skin grey and charred looking. Just like Palpatine before him, the tainted energy he commands has a necrotizing effect on his body, only his is far greater, the energy he has, thanks to this station, is on a scale that no one should have. "Finally, you have come." Pravus says to me, memories of our first real encounter on Endor going through my mind. "We won't need these, they will only slow us down," Pravus says as he casually flicks a finger towards Jevin, Wodi, and their portion of the assault team, his power being so great that a simple gesture sends them and Luke flying into the previous corridor. As soon as Luke goes through the door, a force field activates, its red shine contrasting with the sickly blue walls. I turn around wanting to help my friends but stop when I see Wodi get up and blast the field several times to no effect. "Your friends cannot help you now, boy. We are of a kind, you and I; we have the ability to wield power that few others have ever dreamed of and fewer still have ever obtained, they will only get in our way."
I reach out to Luke in our bond; Luke, stay with them and protect them. There should be gunnery station nearby, try to lend assistance to our fleet. He gives an acknowledgement and replies with the old saying, "May the Force be with you." I turn to Pravus and ignite my Peridot-colored blade, the olive-green illuminating the floor. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, reaching a state of pure calm and I feel it; the feeling of oneness with the Force, of pure power and understanding. I open my eyes and my senses are enhanced a thousand-fold, I sense everything, from the tainted energy of this station to the frightened children on the planet below. I can feel Wodi's presence along with all the others. So this is what oneness with the Force feels like, it's invigorating. I see Pravus flash a wicked grin, "Good you have reached your potential. Perhaps you are worthy." An odd statement but I can't worry about that now. "Let us see your new power." As he says this, he raises a hand, firing red-colored lighting at me. I raise a hand and generate a blossom of fire, blocking the lightning all together. Next he nods and objects around him; chairs, crates, and shredded pieces of the durasteel floor come flying at me. Again, holding my hand out, palm outward, the debris hits an invisible force field and hits the floor behind me. Lowering his hand, he smiles again, brandishing his own lightsaber. The hilt is a long silver cylinder, with a black hand-grip taking up most of it and crowned with four spiked emitter guards. Activating the sword, he says to me, "So this contest will not be won through skill with the Force, but what of skill with the blade?" At this we both dash at each other, the sheer power we are both wielding would make our movements appear as blurs to non-Force users and untrained force-sensitives. We meet each other head on and clash in a saberlock. He cackles as we force each other away and bring blades up for another clash.
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
The hangar interior is hazy, clouds of smoke from small fires still crackling wafting through the air, the only continuous sound in the cavernous space. I take a whiff and wrinkle my nose, suppressing the urge to cough. The smell of singed flesh and discharged blaster bolts burns the inside of my throat. "Looks like we missed the welcoming party," Amminius comments quietly next to me. "I'll say," I nod, looking around, taking in the scene. The walls and deck plating are covered in blaster burn marks, and charred white-armored bodies lie sprawled everywhere, many missing various limbs. Xyrr Pyl whistles softly, the noise distorted through his helmet speaker. "These Jetti sure know how to use a saber." "Stay alert," I remind everyone, "there could still be more. Set up a perimeter until Ravenclaw arrives." Several soldiers and Mandalorians move off further into the hangar, blaster flashlights moving about as they look around. I worriedly check my chrono on my wrist. Where is she? Did something happen? Approximately three minutes later, my worries are put to rest as Sonya's YT-2400 light freighter Phoenix touches down a short distance from our U-wings. Sonya and three of her Hunters walk down the boarding ramp and toward us, all dressed in black military vests and light armor plating, EL-16HFE rifles, Heavy Field Editions commonly carried by our guys, slung over their shoulders. When the group reaches us, Sonya gives me a smirk, indicating the downed stormtroopers and debris with an outstretched arm. "This your boys' handiwork?" "No," I reply, "it was like this when we got here. Looks like they put up a hell of a fight. What kept you?" "We had a very persistent tail." Two of her guys nod at her words. I recall our guys on perimeter through my comlink and step to the front of our motley assault team. "Alright, Cade and Luke's transponders still say that they're on the third level of this station. Let's get there and give them a hand!" Turning around, I gesture forward, and we move towards the rear of the hangar at a brisk walk, where I see a set of heavy blast doors, a large circle cut through them. Off to our left, two X-wings sit with their canopies still raised, the Jedi's Astromech droids, Artoo and Ratchet, beneath the red trim one, repairing a damaged S-foil. The droids beep a greeting at us as we pass.
"Looks like the Imps tried to contain them by locking them out," Lannik remarks when we reach the doors, running a gloved hand over the melted surface of the hole. He examines the blackened console set into the wall before turning to me. "The door controls are fried. Good thing our Jedi friends created an opening. It would have been a shame to waste ordnance." One by one, we duck down and maneuver through the hole into the corridor beyond. I'm third to go through behind Jevin and Amminius. I hug my X45 close to my chest as I squeeze through. Straightening, I move away from the blast door and survey our surroundings. Like the hangar, the strangely iridescent dark blue walls and floor of the corridor are riddled with blaster burns, and armored corpses of stormtroopers are everywhere. Several smoking frames of blaster turrets still stand. "They sure are pulling out all the stops trying to keep Luke and Cade away," I say, shaking my head. Salurra, grunting in mild annoyance, is the last one through, having to hunch down considerably to fit through the human-sized hole. We pass through the corridor in relative silence, the same sights meeting us at every junction. We board a maintenance turbolift and ascend to level three.
As we exit the turbolift, I pick up the distinct sound of blaster fire. "You hear that?" Jevin says. "Yeah," I reply, starting to break into a run. "Let's move!" As we run down the corridor, the blaster fire grows louder and louder. "It sounds like quite the firefight!" A soldier behind me yells. We round a junction to see red blaster bolts pouring out of a large room further down the corridor labeled 'Armory'. "Let's get in there and give them a hand!" Yells Jevin, rifle stock braced against his shoulder. "I see an Acolyte and two Juggernauts by Cade," yells Gerik, rangefinder down, "right side!" "I see 'em!" I yell back as we draw closer. The Acolyte, his profile partially obscured by smoke, has his crimson saber held high, ready to bring it down on Cade's shoulder. We take out the Acolyte first before concentrating fire on his two bodyguards. "Move in, protect the Jedi!" Jevin shouts. He heads in first, firing as he goes, followed closely by me and Gerik. Cade and Luke are hunkered down behind two upturned tables, TL-99 rifles clutched in their hands. The far end of the armory is occupied by a horde of stormtroopers and Sith Juggernauts. I take cover behind a large gray supply crate for a moment, blaster bolts flying over my head, before popping back up, launching a grenade at the troopers with my underslung launcher. BOOM! Five troopers and one Juggernaut are sent careening. I duck down for a second before coming back up again, firing a volley of bolts at a pair of stormtroopers not in cover. "On the left, on the left!" "Get down!" "Woah, that was close!" "Lobbing a grenade!" "Take this, di'kut!" "He's down!" Ten minutes later, all Imperium soldiers are down and out for the count. Thriz Saist and our team medic, Hebsley, check to make sure. "We're clear!" Hebsley shouts back after the last trooper is pronounced dead. Everyone stands up, shouldering their weapons, some removing their helmets. Thriz and Hebsley make their way back to the group, maneuvering through charred bodies and debris. Jevin and I walk over to Cade and Luke, who stand smiling at us all. "You came just in time," Cade says. I grin at him and shake his hand. "We have our moments. It's great to see you again, kid. We ran into your handiwork a few times, you know. Very impressive." Cade chuckles, and is soon lifted off his feet by Salurra in a Wookiee hug. He's next targeted by Sonya. I smile and look on.
"So, how's the battle going?" Luke turns to Jevin and asks. "From what we last heard before docking, the Dawn Of Tranqulity had been boarded and Gavin was taking his guys to retake it." Jevin nods. "The Daemon is still giving is trouble and Colonel Grissom has relayed from the ground that they've retaken the Command Complex, but the rest of the Fourth is struggling to maintain ground. Casualties are mounting." "So, all-in-all, not all that well," Amminius says, stepping to my side. "We need some fancy tricks up our sleeves, and fast." Cade nods, unclipping his lightsaber from his utility belt and flipping it over in his hand. "I need to get up to the observation deck. That's where Pravus is, as well as the kyber crystal powering this place. I believe that killing him and putting this station out of commission will be the key. Everything will be decided there." Our group stands in silence for a few moments, taking in the gravity of Cade's words. I look to him, then Jevin, then Amminius, and then the rest of our assault force gathered around us and smile determinedly. "Then let's end this. Move out!"
. . .
We board a large turbolift and ride it all the way up to the floor where the observation deck is. It's a silent trip. The tension in the turbolift is almost palpable. I nervously flick my blaster's power setting switch. We finally reach our destination and exit to find ourselves in a long corridor. After a brief skirmish with more stormtroopers, it's decided that Amminius will take his Infiltrators and Gerik and his group to knock out the main reactor of Gorukar, located on the lower levels. Salurra, accompanied by six of my men, will head back to the hangar to make sure our escape avenue remains open. After good lucks are exchanged and both groups go their separate ways, that leaves myself, Nom, Lannik, Jevin, Sonya and her Hunters, and Luke and Cade standing in the now-empty corridor. We cautiously walk to the set of heavy blast doors and stop. I look to Cade, a mixture of emotions running through my head. "Cade," Jevin says quietly, "he's behind there, isn't he?" Cade doesn't answer. He doesn't have to. Giving Luke and the rest of us a nod, he places his open palm on the door. Luke joins him. A few moments later, the metal crumples, and the door is blasted inwards. We rush in, blasters raised, and lightsabers ignited. My gut clenches. There Pravus stands, alone, dressed in a simple black tunic, his back to us, gazing out a giant panoramic viewport at the battle in space. A moment later he turns. I stare, unable to look away. His skin is a charred gray color, like burned firewood, and his eyes are like soulless pits, black as space. His body looks haggard, but coursing with energy at the same time. A small smile flickers across his face. "Finally," he says, his voice seeming to echo through my head thousands of times over, "you have come." I clutch my temples, the effects of a pounding headache coming over me. The others do the same, some squeezing their eyes shut in pain. Cade and Luke seem unaffected. "We won't need these, they will only slow us down," Pravus speaks again, flicking a hand in our direction. My mind screams at me to react, but before I can do anything, I'm lifted off my feet and hurled out of the room, slamming into the corridor wall with such force that I momentarily see stars. I hit the floor in a heap with the others, my whole body aching. A crimson ray shield activates in the space where the blast doors used to be. No! Panic envelops me. Ignoring my pain, I get to my feet and pick up my fallen blaster, putting a few rounds into the shield to no effect and I frantically look to Cade, desperately wishing to get back inside and help him. Cade closes his eyes momentarily. Behind me, I hear the others getting to their feet. Luke steps to my side and nods to Cade, his eyes also closed. "May the Force be with you," he says. I look to Luke, who offers a small smile. "Cade will be fine. Let's give our fleet a hand. There's a gunnery station near here." Taking one last look back at the ray shielded observation room, I follow Luke and the others down the corridor towards the gunnery station.
Amminius Sinan – Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
"Good luck Amm," Wodi says to me, grasping my forearm and squeezing tightly. "You too, Wishbone," I reply, giving him a wink and a smile. "Give Pravus my regards." Wodi grins and nods. I nod to Cade, giving him a wink as well. Cade offers a somber smile in return. With that, I turn with my assorted group and head back toward the large turbolift, accompanied by Salurra and Wodi's guys. We board and begin our descent, letting Salurra's group off at the level leading back to the hangar where we had entered. "Good luck, guys," Hebsley says as he steps off. "We'll be waiting for the big boom." The doors close and it's just us and the Mandalorians in their brightly colored armor. We descend further into the station, the constant soft whir of the turbolift seeming to press in on my eardrums. "I wonder what's happening out there," one of the Mandalorians, Chank Skirr, says, toying with his blaster carbine, breaking the silence. The sounds of the space battle outside are next to nonexistent down here. "Hopefully, our fleet is kicking the Imps right up their armored-" Ata Noulku begins to say when our turbolift comes to a halt. "Looks like this is our stop," Gerik remarks, maneuvering his way forward. I bring out a life-form scanner attached to my gauntlet and peer at the screen. "Getting anything?" Gerik asks. "No, nothing so far," I reply, lowering my arm and un-slinging my GE-26N Needler Carbine from my shoulder. We cautiously make our way out of the turbolift and scan our surroundings, rifles up and ready just in case. The corridor here is made from the same dark blue iridescent material as the hallways above, but somehow it looks murkier. The lighting panels embedded in the walls and ceiling are sparser too, making the far end of the corridor lost in shadow. If I thought the silence in the turbolift was pressing, it's nothing compared to this. I stare into the silent dark corridor ahead, listening for the slightest hint of enemy movement. My ears begin to ring from lack of noise. "Cozy," I exclaim quietly, trying to break the tension, "add some drapes and carpeting and it'll be perfect." No one laughs. "Right," I say, squaring my shoulders, "let's go find that reactor."
As we move further down the corridor, I start to notice strange carvings etched in the walls. Alien symbols and letters are scrawled across the surface, ranging in size and quantity. All appear to have been etched by desperate hands. "I wonder what they're saying," Zeatuli, my Chiss partner, says quietly next to me. Nad Kunch runs his green gauntleted hand over one of the markings. "What I wouldn't give to study this," the Mandalorian comments. "This in an alien tongue that I'm not familiar with. I don't think anyone is." We continue, our footfalls echoing eerily, the sound bouncing off the walls. So far, we've had no encounters with any enemies. "Where is everyone?" One of my soldier's voices aloud. "This place is beginning to give me the shivers." No idea, I think to myself, maybe they're smart and avoiding this level altogether. Further down, what seems a lifetime later, we come to a halt outside a large, heavy looking door. "This must be it, the door to the reactor," I say to the others. Next to the door on the right, inset into the wall, is an ancient keypad, coated in grime. "Let me have a look at that," Nad says, and kneels, putting his helmeted head close to the panel. Gerik and I kneel next to him. "What're you thinking, vod?" Gerik asks after a few moments, putting a gauntleted hand on Nad's green shoulder plate. "I think this door is only going to open if we input the right word," Nad replies after a pause, resting his hands on his haunches. "And I think that word is on one of these walls." He gestures to the wall writing around us. I look around at the walls, covered in etchings. Great. "Well, that really narrows our possibilities down," I remark. We spread out along both sides of the corridor, small glow rods lighting the carvings, searching. Up close, the carvings make even less sense than they did before. What language is this? "Look here," Thriz Saist exclaims, pointing up at the ceiling. We all stop and look. Illuminated by his glow rod, there's one carving that's larger than all the others, four characters long. We all turn to Nad, who inputs the characters into the keypad. The tiny screen on the keypad lights up orange. With a soft ka-chunk, the door begins to rise. "That did it!" With the door fully raised, we cautiously enter the reactor room.
My eyes go wide. The room is huge, dimly lit by a sickly green light filtering through from giant grates in the ceiling. The walls themselves, held up at intervals by massive pillars, seem to be pulsing with energy. But that's nothing to what is dominating the center. Two giant reactors sit in the center of the room, their interiors humming ominously with a blue crackling light that makes my eyes hurt when I look at it. The reactors are connected to the ceiling by two large metal arms ending in multiple tendrils, also coruscating with blue light. A large yellow orb sits near the top of each reactor by the "arms", blinking periodically. Near the base of the reactors, a thick pipe runs between them, connecting them. The whole thing is closed off by a small gate, with a railed staircase leading down to the base of the reactors. "This is surreal," Ata remarks breathlessly. I nod, whistling, the sound reluctant to come from my dry lips. Gerik, seeming to have recovered from his awe quickest, says, "Charges, base of the reactors and around the room. Now!" I shake my head and clutch my bag filled with high-power detonite charges, putting on a brave smile. "Time for the big boom, not even magnetic tape will be able to fix these boys when we're done." Moving quickly down the stairs, we set to work, moving about the huge room to set our charges. I nod to Thriz next to me before moving off.
. . .
Thunk. I set my last charge onto the metal base of the second reactor, depressing the button on top to prime the detonite. I mentally sigh in relief, removing my helmet momentarily to wipe my forehead. It's been more than a bit creepy down here. I haven't seen any of my group in the past half hour, bits of short chatter over the comlink from a few guys being the only indicator I'm not alone in my task. I bring up my comlink to my mouth, keying in the group code. "I've set my last charge," I relay, "heading back up the stairs." "Good to hear," Gerik's voice comes back. "I'm already up here with Chank, Ata, and your Infiltrator friend Zeatuli. Waiting on the others." I reach the stairs and begin to climb when the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Was that skittering? I turn around and peer into the inky darkness with my glow rod. Nothing. I flip on my helmet's night vision. Nothing. I'm about to resume climbing when something shiny off to the left of the staircase before the shadows catch my eye. An empty Mandalorian helmet, painted black and white. Xyrr Pyl's helmet. "Xyrr?" I call out with a little uncertainty into the gloom. No answer. I wait a couple of more seconds before rapidly ascending the staircase. I run over to where Gerik and the others are waiting. "Something's wrong," I tell them. "I saw Xyrr's helmet lying off by the staircase, but no Xyrr."
Gerik immediately un-holsters his twin DL-56 pistols, holding them at the ready. Ata, Chank, and Zeatuli bring up their rifles as well. Gerik is about to reach for his comlink hooked to his belt when a blood curdling scream sounds from below us, followed by blaster fire. "That's never good!" Chank yells. Charging up the steps moments later comes the orange-clad Mandalorian Ikko Dass, several plates of his armor missing. In his arms, Ikko cradles a writhing Nad, his ragged jumpsuit between the green leg armor of his left leg soaked in crimson. "Giant shabla things," Ikko roars as he approaches us at a dead sprint. "Run!" A second later, two nightmares emerge from the darkness below. I stare, transfixed at their horrifying appearance, unable to move. Time seems to slow down. Two enormous arthropods, many jointed legs writhing, eyes blood red, spikes jutting out at all angles, as pale as corpses, with jagged mouths gaping. On one of the creatures' spikes is an impaled human in an Infiltrator outfit, the spike going clean through the chest. "Run!" Gerik repeats frantically. Kicking my mind and body into action, I turn tail and run with everyone else, sprinting out of the reactor room as fast as I can. With Ikko in the lead, we dash madly down the corridor, crazed etchings flitting by, toward the turbolift. Behind us, growing louder, is the skittering of thousands of pairs of legs.
Suddenly, Ikko slips and crumples to the ground, Nad writhing even more violently. "Ah hell," Ikko curses, jumping to his feet. "Help me with him!" I leap forward, putting one of Nad's arms around my shoulder. Behind us, I hear blaster fire as the others cover us. Hideous shrieks tell me that the creatures aren't too happy about being shot at. Too bad. I can barely hold onto Nad, but with Ikko's help, manage to brace him between the two of us. "Go!" I shout. We continue running. "The turbolift's ahead!" So close!
And then a tendril reaches out and takes hold of my leg. I scream and fall to the floor. No, no, no, no! "Sinan!" Ikko shouts. Gerik rushes over to me and begins to hack furiously at the tendril with a long vibroblade. Ata, Chank, and Zeatuli turn, pouring fire at the approaching creatures, who shriek louder. "Get the door!" Gerik screams at Ikko in between swings. With one last swing, the tendril separates, and I'm showered in viscous pink fluid. "Come on! On your feet!" Gerik yanks me to my feet, the tendril still wrapped around my leg, and we sprint for the open turbolift, Ikko and Nad, slumped against the wall, already inside; Ikko gesturing furiously at us to hurry. We reach the turbolift and hurl ourselves inside, followed closely by Ata and Zeatuli. Chank is about to do the same when one of the monsters spits green fluid at him, hitting the blue Mandalorian and causing him to freeze in place. Chank lets out an inhuman shriek of terror. Gerik curses and fires a grappling hook at Chank from his gauntlet, piercing the thick chest armor. "Pull!" Gerik orders. As one, we yank. Hard. Chank breaks free from the goo and comes hurtling into the turbolift, slamming into us. Ikko pounds the turbolift controls, and slowly, the doors begin to close. The creatures barrel closer, tendrils outstretched, mouths open. The doors close. Wham! The creatures impact with the metal. The doors groan, but don't cave. I let out a hysterical short laugh and sink down the wall to the floor as the turbolift rises, closely followed by the others, no one saying a word. I look on as Gerik moves over to Nad, removing the man's helmet to give him some rank, but fresh, air. Ata administers a bacta salve and a shot from a portable medkit. The sound of my comlink chirping makes everyone jump.
Fumbling with the device, I depress the trigger and wait, too exhausted to speak. "Amm, its Wodi. Have you set the charges? We're heading back to the hangar now! We have to get out of here!" The only word I can manage is, "Yes." Having said that, I drop the comlink, my head rolls back, and I pass out.
Cade Valdarin - Chandrila, Core Worlds
Onboard Gorukar
18 ABE
Pravus and I have been dueling non-stop. To anyone not trained in the Force, we would appear as blurs, our power so great that only a trained Force-wielder would be able to see our movements. Our blades crash again and we back away from each other, parts of our robes burned away and multiple cuts on our skin. Neither Pravus nor I have been able to break the other's defense, only scoring glancing blows here and there. The battle outside has only intensified through the viewport; the Daemon was destroyed in a concerted attack by the Viscount, Rogue Squadron, and several Starhawk-class battleships, the explosion coloring the window with a faint fiery tint. We lock blades again and he smirks, "Come now, Valdarin! You are better than this!" Pravus suddenly jumps backwards, landing near the viewport, and sheathes his saber. He gives a simple nod and doors on either side of the room open, revealing four masked and robed Shadow Knights.
"If you are not willing to use the full power available to you, then you are not worth my time," he says. The knights rush in at me, all four red blades bathing the floor in a blood red shine. I fall back into my Shien form, blocking as much as I can and retaining the ability to launch strong counter-attacks. But there's too many, they keep getting through my defense although none land a critical blow. Ever since I became one with the Force, all pain and fatigue has been shut out. Parry, parry, thrust, duck and spin. I start to walk backward as I parry their blades, thinking of a way to defeat them. But then I remember a technique Luke showed me shortly after Jakku, when we started our trek for ancient Jedi lore. Force Repulse, it's called. Essentially one gathers the Force in their hands and releases it in a powerful 360 degree wave. Letting them close in once again, I deftly maneuver away from several blades, shutting mine off, and fold my arms in so that my right and left hands face the opposite direction. And then I extend both arms straight out to the sides, releasing the charged energy. The repulse is normally very powerful but due to my oneness with the Force, that power is increased exponentially; the knights are sent flying into the walls of the room, the power being so great I can easily hear bone crack and their bodies' slump to the floor.
"It's over, Pravus." He smirks, igniting his sword once more and I follow suit. We charge at each other and I fall into my preferred saber method, a mix a Djem So and Shien for strong, overbearing offense and a solid defense. I also use Battle-mind to focus on nothing but Darth Pravus. I land several straightforward heavy blows against him, overhead, now to the left, to the right, and spin away for another round. As he moves in again, I can see it, a small break in his technique that I can exploit. He is maneuvering so quick, a sudden stop to the momentum should throw him off balance. We begin parrying blades again; overhand strike, from the left to the right and back to the left, back to the right. Finally, I bring my blade low, aiming for his right knee; he moves to meet my blade. Blades connecting, I move his blade towards my right and disconnect. In a quick spin of the wrist, I knock his saber even further down and move in for a killing Shiak through the chest but he's able to regain his footing and blocks again, locking us into another prolonged parry. With a great shove of Force energy, I move him backwards slightly and charge, launching strikes characteristic of Djem So; powerful, long blows that batter away defenses. He meets my blade with a vertical deflection but I hit him with a force so great he loses his footing. Seizing the break in momentum, I bring my blade back from the right, batting his saber away to my left. And in a quick, fluid motion, I bring my blade down, cutting off his weapon hand, lifting the saber and cutting right across his face, the cut being deep enough to cause damage but not sever the head. And lastly, as my blade leaves his face I spin and when my back is towards Pravus, I flip my saber so it's in a reverse grip and plunge it backwards, impaling the Dark Lord of the Sith through the abdomen. He lets out a gasp.
I remove the saber and walk away a little, turning around and deactivating my lightsaber and look upon my once mighty foe, now with his right hand missing, a freshly cauterized scar running horizontally across his face, and gaping hole in his abdomen. I look to see the battle outside; the momentum our forces had gotten has fallen, the Imperium forces are moving to surround the fleet once more. I hear a few hoarse cackles and look again at Darth Pravus. He smiles at me through bloodied teeth. "You can save them. You are truly worthy of the power you now wield." I look at him in confusion. He laughs; a speckle of blood hits the floor. Even with the gaping hole in his body, he still manages to hold on. Having the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord in him must give him a greater tolerance for pain. "Think about it, you have reached a power that few others have ever dreamed of, and fewer still have ever obtained! You could be what Palpatine was not, what I never could have been: an all-powerful sovereign, not a tyrant like he was but a stalwart defender. You could bring order to this chaotic galaxy." A Starhawk ramming into a Predator Destroyer catches both our attention. He starts again, "All wills subject to your own, all dissension would be silenced by your thoughts. You can be a truly immortal emperor." I stare at him, wondering why a Sith would talk like this. As if on cue he says, "Come now Valdarin, you and I are the same, we call ourselves Jedi and Sith but are really more. We do not believe; truly believe, in the Dark and Light. You are no Jedi, you do not believe the Force is only just a shield to protect the weak, but that it is also a tool, a weapon for the strong to take their rightful place. You could finally bring order to the chaos that is organic life, be what no Force-user before you has been."
I look through the viewport at the massive space battle again, Pravus' words echoing in my mind. I could end all war, all chaos. A voice echoes in my mind as well, that of Argus Valdarin, my ancestor whose spirit taught me to achieve oneness. A great test will befall you and choice will be made. I deactivate my lightsaber and can hear an impatient sigh from Pravus. "You're right, Xander. I am no Jedi. I am a Warrior of the Gray. There is emotion, yet peace, ignorance, yet knowledge, passion, yet serenity, chaos, yet harmony, death, yet the Force. There will always be evil in the galaxy for without evil we would not know good but evil cannot be allowed to flourish. And what you propose would be a great evil, to deny a sentient being their right to live the way they want, their right to self-determination. Their will subject to my own, which is an evil I will not abide." I clip my lightsaber to my belt. "You would squander this power then, based on philosophy?" Pravus says through a now hoarse voice, his life-force is draining. "Pravus, there is a difference between you and I; I don't need a position of power to know my place. I have become one of the most powerful Jedi in history and I will be a sentinel of the galaxy, a vanguard of the return of the Jedi but I do not need to become the emperor of the galaxy to do that." He laughs, "Your Republic is doomed then. Even now, my last command still stands, there are more like me; soldiers of the fallen Empire who wish nothing more than to see your Republic fall." I look down at him. Being so enveloped in the Force gives me an almost perfect clairvoyance yet because of Pravus' power, I can only read murky thoughts. "Gorukar wasn't the only Sith secret in Wild Space, was it?"
He lowers his head and chuckles for a moment. "Now you die!" He yells as he lunges at me with the remaining hand, coruscating red lightning down his arm; a makeshift lightsaber, if you will. I ignite the Peridot-blade again and sever his left hand as well then grab his head with my hands. There is a technique the ancient Jedi used that was forbidden due to the destructive ability and the potential for Jedi to fall to the Dark Side, but for a Grey Jedi there is no worry. A Jedi can sever ones connection to the Force. The result is so extreme that it usually ends in death. Imagine having your sight taken away after years and years of using it. I close my eyes and will there to be an invisible wall around him. The result is instantaneous; without the Force to shut away the pain, the added effects of both hands being lost, severe pain from the cut across his face, and the gaping hole in his abdomen is too much and he gasps one last death rattle, and then slumps to the ground.
Finally, after three-and-a-half years of torturing the New Republic, of taking life and hope away from entire worlds and not to mention making those systems nigh-unlivable for Force-sensitives, Xander Verush lies dead. Dark Lord of the Sith, Lord-Emperor, former Emperor's Wrath; all of these things and now he lies dead. My vision goes a little blurry for a second, the strain of holding oneness this long, I now understand why Pravus appeared the way he did; mortals are not meant to have power like this.
I hear the force field shut down and feel the familiar presence of Wodi, Jevin, Luke, and the others. Wodi, Jevin, and Luke rush over to me and stop when they see Pravus on the floor and then stare at me. Wodi looks at me, "Cade, we caught the end of that fight. I couldn't see anything, just blurs, but Luke said you were brilliant!" I simply nod my head but let out an exasperated sigh. Jevin, being the older brother he has always been to me, rushes to stabilize me. "What's wrong," asks Wodi. Luke chimes in, being able to sense my thoughts and pain through our bond. "He is feeling the effects of having power that no Force user should have access to. Cade you need to let go." I shake my head, "I can't, not yet. I need to destroy the Imperium."
"You've done enough!" shouts Wodi. "No!" I yell, surprising everyone, including myself. "If the Imperium isn't destroyed here, today, they will come back. And then we'll be right back where we started!" I stand, letting Jevin know I'm fine. "We have the charges set so let's go." Jevin tells me. I shake my head, "Not possible. Explosives won't cripple Gorukar nearly enough. The Sith built this place, so nothing short of the Force will be able to destroy it, completely." Wodi stares at me but stops when he sees how resolute I am. He looks a little crestfallen. I take out a chip from my belt and hand it to him, "This is a locator, use it to find me planetside." "It's suicide Cade." I respond somberly, "A Jedi's life is sacrifice." He, Jevin, and Luke all look to the floor. I place my hand on Wodi's shoulder and give him a smirk, "But I'm no Jedi, am I. I have no intention of dying here today." Luke asks me how I will take the station down. "I'm going to send this monstrosity careening into the Xalena Ocean, the largest on Chandrila, and destroy the station piece by piece. I'll bail out before the crash, with luck landing in the ocean. You use the locator to find me and we all live to fight another day." Luke nods at me; we grasp forearms in a traditional Jedi salute, "May the Force be with you, brother." "And with you, now go." They begin a brisk jog back towards the hangars.
I turn and look at the fallen body of Darth Pravus and then to the battle outside, his words echoing again. An immortal sovereign, order to chaos. I shake my head. No, even though I believe in the Force a little differently from Luke, there are lines I will not cross. A choice lies ahead of me; I can't bring life back to the worlds devastated by the Imperium but I can make sure those tragedies never happen again. I leap over the railing to a floor below, the housing chamber for the massive Kyber crystal powering the station. Faint booms echo through the walls, the explosives going off. The crystal is a sick blue color, like the station exterior. Even looking at the crystal is difficult, the tainted energy nearly causing me to double over in pain.
I can feel the station about to fire; Pravus must have had the station ready to attack and made a contingency to have the station fire should he perish. I look out at my homeworld; all those people would lose their lives. Without thinking, I place my hand on the massive crystal and begin to absorb the energy. The energy is so tainted and there is so much it causes me to drop to my knees in fiery pain. Closing my eyes and concentrating on my breath, I stand again and open my eyes. The crystal is now a milky grey; I completely absorbed all of the tainted energy. It feels so intoxicating, all the power. I can feel everything, can sense everything. Looking at the battle, it's as if time itself is slowed to fractions of a second. I walk towards the viewpoint, tendrils of lightning coruscating from my feet with each step. Once there, I see the Imperium fleet, even after a day since the reinforcements from Xauvis arrived, they still are a formidable size, there's even a Super Star Destroyer still in the fight. I see a cluster of seven Destroyers pounding a cluster of Starhawk battleships. I hold out my left hand and slowly make a fist, the result being the Destroyers crumpling as if made of tissue paper, caving in on themselves until they explode. I look to see another group harassing the Viscount, Accolade, and several other cruisers. Closing my eyes, I hold out my right hand, pointing with the index and middle fingers and will lightning. Opening them again, I see, as if lightning from the heavens, a bolt appear out of nowhere, going back and forth through the nine Destroyers, each time ripping straight through the hull and causing massive explosions until the ships blow apart.
I fall to my knees; the pain of holding in this much power is taking its toll. Even though I am using the Force to shut out the pain, I can still tell my limbs are on fire and my vision goes black. Is this it? Suddenly faces of my friends and family flash; of Wodi and Jevin, of Luke and Kiara, of all the others who have helped me become who I am. I can't let them down. I stand again, with pain but I stand. I see another group of Destroyers and the dreadnought hammering a flotilla of Starhawks and Mon Cal cruisers. Summoning a good deal of energy, I cup my hands and turn slightly to the right. Then I extend both arms straight in front of me, palms open, unleashing a powerful telekinetic burst of energy. The ships are flung violently, flipping in invisible air and some are destroyed while others manage to right themselves and flee the system. Let them run. At this point, the power I wield is taking a toll, I can see my hands shaking, and my vision is blurred. I can't give up; there is one last thing to do. Seeing the U-wings of the assault team and Sonya's Phoenix, I raise both arms above my head. I reach out as if grasping a bar, immediately feeling resistance due to the size of the station. Then, I force them down towards the ground, launching the station towards the planet. As we make our descent, I reach out again and begin using the Force to tear the station into pieces, the largest being the deck I am on. I see the viewport light up with the heat of re-entry, that's my cue. Charging the Force in my hands, I create a shield around myself and place a hand on the window. As soon as we break atmosphere, I destroy the viewport and launch myself outside and to the side of the falling observation deck, watching the mass of debris fall by in a brilliant fireball. The journey is fast and before I know it, I hit the water, hard. The shield protects me but the impact is still extremely rough. With great pain, I turn over in the water to watch the remaining pieces of Gorukar fall towards the planet in a brilliant meteor shower. I can vaguely make out Imperium ships being destroyed, the explosions coloring the sky. I even see some ships jump away but for all intents and purposes, the Imperium is finished. I activate the beacon on my belt and hope that someone finds me before I drown. As my vision fades to black, the exhaustion of holding on to so much power for so much time has drained all energy from me. I hear the sound of an engine and hear a familiar voice say, "We've found him."
Wodi "Wishbone" Quix – Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
Boom! Another Imperium TIE disappears in a fiery explosion outside the expansive viewport, my lasers having hit it directly in the center of its bubble canopy. "TIE down!" I yell out in victory to the others, spread out around me in the smoky gunnery room. "Nice one, Wodi!" Nom yells back through the haze, blasting away fighters at his commandeered gunner station. Another down, I think to myself, millions more to go. My eyes flit across the ongoing battle; the huge capital ships, explosions dotting their surfaces, locked in broadsides with one another, heavy cruisers and transport ships mixed in, and starfighters racing about all of them, blasting away at one another. I quickly adjust the targeting computer on my own gunnery turbolaser with a few keystrokes and fire at a nearby Sentinel shuttle, no doubt filled with stormtroopers, accompanied by an escort heading towards one of our crippled MC80 security cruisers, the Swift Liberation. The lasers shear off the shuttle's top wing, sending the boxy Sentinel spiraling out of control and into one of its escort TIEs, causing both to explode. I next focus my fire on the remaining fighters scattered throughout the debris field.
After we had been separated from Cade by the force field, Luke had led our group to a nearby gunnery station, telling us that we would be of better use to our fleet. After a short battle with the gunnery crew, now all sprawled on the floor riddled with blaster holes, we had each climbed onto one of the massive turbolaser batteries and selected targets. It hadn't taken long for the Imperium craft outside to figure out their own station was firing at them after their fighters started to go. After taking out two bomber wings attempting to disable us, a third bomber group had managed to evade our fire, destroying two of the arrays with proton torpedoes, killing two of Sonya's guys manning them in the resulting detonation.
I down another TIE. "Wodi," Luke's voice crackles over my comm. "I think it's time to head back to Cade. The fleet can handle themselves for now." "Alright Luke," I acknowledge, taking my hands off the control yoke and keypad. "I'll get everyone together." I look one last time out at the space battle over Chandrila continuing to rage before hopping off my turret. I bring up my wrist comlink and key in our group frequency. "Fun's over everyone, we're heading back to Cade."
. . .
We jog swiftly down the corridor back toward Pravus' throne room. My heart sinks slightly when I see the glow of the force field still active and keeping us locked out. Kriff! I then see something else that puts the force field clean out of my mind. Inside the room, two blurs seem to fly about, streaks of color, lightsaber blades; one crimson, the other an intense green, clashing with one another. "Look at that!" Lannik says in awe, pointing inside. "It's Pravus and Cade." Luke says, a small smile cracking across his face. "And Cade is holding his own more than well!" I look at him questioningly. Luke just smiles. I turn back and stare, transfixed, at the fight inside the throne room that I can barely see. "Unbelievable," Jevin breathes quietly. He and the others gather around, equally mesmerized. And then, in an instant, the fight is over. Both combatants stand still; one battered, but resolute, and the other broken. Pravus teeters unsteadily, a gaping hole in his abdomen, both his hands lopped off at the elbows, and a cauterized gash across his ashen face. His mouth opens in a pained gasp, his soulless eyes staring disbelievingly at Cade with a mixture of fear, confusion, and anger. Then he crumples to the floor. The shield deactivates. We enter the room almost cautiously, barely believing our eyes. Pravus is dead! Cade regards Pravus for a moment before looking to us, appearing many years older for a brief instant. "Cade," Jevin says, at a loss for words, switching his gaze between the young Jedi and Pravus. "Cade. It's . . . it's over." "Cade," I say, a grin spreading over my face, shaking my head in amazement, "you did it. We only caught the end of the fight. I couldn't see a blasted thing, but Luke said you were brilliant!" Cade doesn't respond, but merely nods before letting out an exhausted sigh, swaying slightly on his feet, his face pale.
Jevin, having recovered from his shock first, rushes forward to stabilize Cade before he falls. We move forward too. "Cade, what's wrong?" I ask, scanning him for injuries. "Are you hurt?" "No," Luke replies, resting his gloved prosthetic hand on Cade's shoulder. "He is feeling the effects of having power that no Force user should have access to. Cade," Luke says, speaking directly to him, "you need to let go." Cade shakes his head, saying in a slightly raspy voice, "No. I can't, not yet. I need to destroy the Imperium."
Anger and frustration flare up inside me. "You've done enough! Killing yourself won't destroy the Imperium!" I shout, exasperated. "No!" Cade yells, straightening, putting a hand on Jevin's arm for a moment. He begins to pace. "If the Imperium isn't destroyed here, today, they will come back. And then we'll be right back where we started!" My anger falters. I know he's right. "We have charges set on the reactor," Jevin says, "Amminius and Gerik brought enough with them to blow this station all the way to the edge of known space. Let's go!" But Cade shakes his head. "Not possible. Explosives won't cripple Gorukar nearly enough. The Sith built this place, so nothing short of the Force will be able to destroy it, completely." I stare at Cade in disbelief, realization dawning on me on what he plans to do. I open my mouth to protest his decision. Cade looks at me, stopping my protest before it starts. His expression is kind and understanding, but resolute. He removes a small device next to his lightsaber from his utility belt and holds it out to me. "This is a locator. Use it to find me planetside." I take the device numbly. "It's suicide, Cade," I whisper quietly, "what you're planning to do."
"A Jedi's life is sacrifice." Cade responds simply. I look to the floor, sadness enveloping me, a burning sensation starting in my throat. I feel Cade's hand on my shoulder and look up. Cade is smirking. "But I'm no Jedi, am I. I have no intention of dying here today." I smile back, his smirk giving me hope." "What's your plan?" Luke asks quizzically, smiling. "I'm going to send this monstrosity right into Xalena Ocean, the largest on Chandrila, and destroy it piece by piece through the Force," Cade says, looking out at Chandrila from the viewport. "I'll bail out before the crash, with luck landing in the ocean. You use the locator to find me and we all live to fight another day!" He finishes with a grin. Luke nods. "Reckless, but noble. I like it!" He grasps Cade's forearm. "May the Force be with you, brother." Cade grasps Luke's forearm in return. "And with you, now go!" Jevin and I nod to Cade one final time before we turn with the others and rush out of the throne room and towards the hangar.
As I run, I look out at a viewport at the space battle. I key in the code to Amminius' comlink. "Amm, it's Wodi," I shout into my own comm, "Have you set the charges? We're heading back to the hangar now. We have to get out of here!" "Yes," Amminius gives a short reply, sounding completely out of breath. I place the device back on my belt. We stop at the turbolift, Lannik slamming the button. "Come on!" He says, irritated. Finally, the lift doors open, and we're hit with a horrible smell. Ignoring it, we jump in. "Hopefully Amminius, Gerik, and the others made it back to the hangar," Sonya says. "Judging by the smell in this lift, looks like they were just in here." We descend rapidly. Around me, I can feel the walls of the turbolift shuddering. "Something's happening." Jevin says uneasily. The turbolift doors open and we rush out, heading down the corridor. The deck is shuddering beneath our feet, and small pieces of debris are beginning to fall. I look out another big viewport as I pass, and almost trip over my feet in shock. "Look at those Destroyers!" Nom yells, as he screeches to a halt. We all stop and look. The Destroyers, several standard and one Super, are rippling and buckling, slowly imploding on themselves. "Our cruisers couldn't have done that!" "They didn't." Luke replies, his voice full of wonder and admiration. "Cade." I say, awestruck. "Keep moving!" Jevin yells, tearing his gaze away from the scene outside. We run once more, finally bursting into the hangar. I let out a relieved laugh when I see the others outside of our two U-wing gunships and Sonya's Phoenix.
We rush to them. Amminius' group appears in bad shape. I grab Amminius in a tight hug. "You're okay!" He hugs me back. "More or less." He begins to excitedly tell me about the reactor situation as we hurriedly board the transports with the others, Luke getting in his X-wing with Artoo, Ratchet getting into the astromech socket of Cade's fighter, and Sonya and her Hunters boarding their freighter. "Let's get out of here!" Sonya's voice comes over the comm. "You don't have to tell me twice!" I shout back. Our engines come to life, and we slip out into space, closely followed by the other transport, the Phoenix, and two X-wings. As we head away from Gorukar and toward our fleet, we're met with another extraordinary sight. Several Star Destroyers are drifting aimlessly upside down, their lights darkened, pieces of debris breaking off their hulls. "Cade's handiwork." Luke says over the comm. "We sure missed quite the show," our pilot says in awe from the cockpit. We reach the fleet and are about to dock when the pilot lets out a cry of shock and tells us to look out the rear viewport. We all gather near the viewport and I watch in complete amazement as Gorukar, beginning to break apart, falls towards Chandrila. No one says a word.
Later . . .
"I'm telling you, there's no one down there!" The annoyed Sullustan captain of the rescue shuttle Merriam repeats, gazing out the open bay doors of the shuttle at the debris-ridden ocean. "I have to get back to the triage center. Our fleet is still mopping up the last of the Imps." Amminius, Jevin, Salurra, and I had boarded the rescue craft almost half an hour ago to find Cade, his locator having pinged. "We stay until we find him, that's an order!" Jevin says, glaring at the man. "One more pass. Try over there. It's a wide debris field." "That's what you said last time." The captain mutters. Salurra growls threateningly. I hold up the locator to show the Sullustan. "This device isn't lying. Cade is down there." "The signal is just a little patchy because of all the interference." Amminius adds. Just then, the device pings louder than it had ever done before. We all excitedly cluster at the bay door opening to gaze down at the ocean as the pilot lowers the craft slightly. After scanning through the debris, my eyes fall on a human form bobbing in the water next to a large chunk of metal. "There!" I shout pointing. The captain signals to the pilot, and we begin descending towards the water. "We've found him!" I say, relief flooding through me. "We've found Cade!"
. . .
In the large medical unit of the Command Complex, I stand next to Cade, who is fast asleep under a white bed sheet on a white gurney. Around us, in beds and bacta tanks, are many other soldiers being attended to by nurses and medical droids. More are being brought in regularly. I feel someone walk up next to me and place a hand on my shoulder. I look to see Amminius, smiling broadly at me. I smile back, reaching up to tousle his hair. He shakes his head, grinning. Pulling up chairs to Cade's bedside, we both sit silently and wait. A feeling of calm serenity comes over me. Through an overhead viewport, the sun is shining.
Cade Valdarin - Chandrila, Core Worlds
18 ABE
Hanna City Hospital, Private Ward
I wake all of a sudden, the last thing I remember is floating in the ocean, watching the destruction of most of the remaining Imperium forces and the sky filled with the burning remains of Gorukar. I lost consciousness just as the engine of a ship sounded and heard someone say, "We found him." But what I woke up to is something I didn't expect. A fine gray mist covers the ground and the sky is also gray. I look down and see that the gray robes I was wearing during my fight on the station are gone, replaced by more traditional brown robes of the old order. I look around some more and think to myself, am I dead? As if on cue, a deep voice responds, "No you aren't dead, not yet anyway." In front of me a spirit materializes, that of Argus Valdarin, my ancestor and the one whose spirit taught me how to achieve oneness with the Force.
"Argus, where am I?" I ask, "If I'm not dead, where am I?" He looks at me, the faint white of a Force ghost surrounding him, "You are in the Netherworld of the Force. I wanted to thank you, for doing what I failed to do millennia ago." Suddenly the gray mist shroud is replaced and we are in a beautiful wood, the planet Tython. The sky is colored with a lavender tint and the crisp smells of Force trees fill my senses. We walk to a bench in front of the Jedi Temple, partially built into a mountain, and still in pristine condition despite millennia of abandonment. As we sit, Argus speaks again. "I am proud of you, my boy. As are your parents; you had the key to ultimate power and yet you had the will to turn away. You truly showed the spirit of a Gray Jedi, to know power and not be tempted by it; you have made the Valdarin line proud." I stand up and close my eyes, letting the sounds of the forest fill my ears, "So will this be the last I see you?" I ask him, an honest question as I have come to rely on his guidance and teaching. He stands to join me. "It is, my boy. My time to join the Force completely has been a long time coming, but do not fret. The Force binds all things, it surrounds us and connects us together; as long as there is the Force, I will be with you, as will your parents and all those you care about." I nod, "Thank you, Argus, for everything." He smiles, "Thank you my boy, for correcting a mistake I made so very long ago. May the Force be with you, always." As he says this, his spirit fades to mist and I truly wake up this time.
My eyes open to see a warm light coming from the ceiling, a hospital room. I gingerly look around, my body still exhausted from becoming one with the Force and maintaining that form for so long. I can see three familiar figures at a table in the corner; Wodi Quix, Amminius Sinan, and Jevin Corso. All dear friends and all in dress uniform: a clean white tunic, black pants, and a large New Republic emblem adorning the left shoulder. Using the Force to enhance my hearing, I overhear them talking about the status of the New Republic, how there is already talk about the Populists pushing to demilitarize the Republic, how Tor kept good on his word and retired from active service, and how there are Republic fleets chasing down the remnants of the Imperium that fled the battles at Chandrila, Ganthel, Carida, and several others. To my right, sleeping in her chair with her hand clasped around mine is my Zeltron fiancée, Kiara, whom I promised when this war was over I would be with her. I gently squeeze her hand back, causing her to wake up. She sees me awake and the look in her eyes I wouldn't trade for the world. She kisses me gingerly and then says to the group at the table that I'm awake. They stand, with Amminius saying into a wrist comm, "He's awake."
Wodi walks over to the bed and lightly taps my shoulder, "Well kid, you've done good. The Imperium is well and truly defeated." Jevin nods, "What you did there, I don't think anyone will forget that." I lift myself out of bed, Kiara holding my arm to give me support. Once fully standing I nod to her, letting her know I have the strength to stand. "So what happened after the station was brought down?" Wodi rubs his hands together, "Well, the station was brought down, like you said you would. As the station was falling to the planet and falling apart, the Imperium fleet just . . . broke. Their ships became disorganized, Admiral Kerex gave them an option to surrender but they didn't take it. We demolished most of the fleet but some ships did manage to escape. And they weren't the only forces; the Imperium launched attacks at the academies on Ganthel, Carida, Dac, and several others. Luckily, the assaults were repulsed as well and now the war is, for all intents and purposes, over, with small clean-up operations here and there." Amminius walks over, "They're ready sir." Jevin nods, "Come on kid, everyone is waiting." I shake my head at him, knowing I've told him a dozen times over I don't like ceremonies or titles, but it's time for celebration. We exit the room and I stop in my tracks; there lining the walls are New Republic Honor Guards, white armored soldiers with plumed helmets, used for ceremonious occasions. When they see me, they stand to attention and we walk through the tunnel they make with their rifles.
We come to the first corner; I see three armored figures there. My good friend, Gerik Ordo, and two of his armored Mandalorians silently talk amongst themselves. Gerik stands there in his usual green and black armor, helmetless, and with a beautiful kama and a sash from left shoulder to right hip. One of the helmeted warriors nods and Gerik turns, "Ah, vod! You're awake!" We grasp each other's forearm, a symbol of mutual respect amongst his culture, "You had me worried there for a while. Three days you were out!" We laugh a little. "I thought you would have been on Mandalore to help rebuild?" He smiles and shakes his head, "I came because there is something you need to hear." He says something in Mando'a to one of the guards, who brandishes a well-crafted case. Opening it, he removes a beautifully crafted scabbard and Gerik pulls the sword out of it. The sword has a jewel-encrusted hilt and is adorned with runes along the blade. "This is the blade of Mandalore the Ultimate, perhaps the greatest hero among my people. He was a wise leader, a strong warrior, and a humble man. Because of you, Cade Valdarin, the Mandalorian people remember the way of honor." He sheathes the sword and takes the blade and holds it horizontally in front of me. "The Mandalorian people have unanimously declared you a friend to the Mandalorian people and thus, bequeath this gift to you, a show of our admiration and everlasting respect." I take the sword and I'm at a loss for words. "Gerik, this is . . . I can't take this." He shakes his hand at me, "Now none of that. You deserve it." I take the sword and attach the strap over my shoulder, Gerik smiling. "Oh! I almost forgot. Cade, you have caused the Mandalorians to do something that has not been done for years. The Council of Chieftains has decided to hold a democratic vote for the position of Mandalore, the warrior who will lead our people." I point to the sash, "So I imagine you are in the running for this?" "Yes I am, and it's thanks to you. Because of your trust in us, the Mandalorians are now seen in a better light than simply the fading memory of marauders; we are now heroes and so, with a new role in the galaxy, the chieftains feel the position of Mandalore is needed once more. I shake his hand, "Well you are a great choice and you are a truly courageous leader and a terrific warrior." He places a hand on mine, "And Cade, know that House Ordo considers you blood kin; no matter where you are in the galaxy, no matter when. If you need assistance, House Ordo will answer the call." Smiling at me, he claps me on the shoulder, "Now go brother, enjoy your victory. I have to run, the votes are about to be tallied." He and the guards turn and walk off. We continue on through the hallway, more honor guards lining the hallways.
At the next turn, we see three hairy giants, three Wookiees who have reached legendary status in the Republic: Salurra, Chewbacca, and Choral of the Wookiee Defense Force. "Sal, come here you hairy carpet!" I exclaim. He wraps me in a bear hug. "What brings you three here?" Salurra grunts and roars, telling me in Wookiee speak that he has been made the new head of the Wookiee Defense Force. "That's great Sal! You'll make a good leader." Some more roars, affirming that he will forever be friends with the Republic and plans to only strengthen those ties further. Choral sifts up to me; he wears a translator around his belt, giving his voice an autonomous tone. "We also came to honor you, Cade Valdarin. The Chieftains have elected you an honorary Wookiee; you will always be welcome among our people and we will always lend aid if you shall require it. As well, we come to gift you this." He looks to Chewbacca who produces a rich medium-brown tunic, styled in the traditional Jedi Robe look, the sleeves ending in light tan rings at the end and intricate markings going down the tabards. "This tunic was made by the finest Wookiee artisans with now rare Wroshyr wood fiber." Taking it, I can feel the Force flowing through the fibers in it, "Choral, I can't take this. Your world is gone; I can't take what remains of the Wroshyr." He holds up a shaggy hand, "Nonsense, my people are master gardeners. We will create a new world and grow new Wroshyr trees and will, eventually, reclaim Kashyyyk and reseed the world anew. I take the tunic and put it on over the white shirt, standard hospital garb on Chandrila. "Thank you, all of you, for everything. And before you go, Salurra, you have been with me for eighteen years because of a life debt given on Bespin. You have more than adequately served that debt. Therefore, I release you from your debt." He utters something that even I don't understand and Choral has to translate. "He says that to follow one so honorable, no life debt is needed." I tear up and hug Sal again. "We will see you at the ceremony," Choral says. As they lumber off, we continue onto the reception room before the exit.
At the reception area, we see more honor guards along with familiar faces; Tor Ponith, Unath Kerex, Gavin Skyes, Geelo, Tav Voren, and several others. "Ah, the guest of honor has arrived!" Tor says. Gavin gives on order, "Company, attention!" They stand to crisp attention and we walk over to Tor, I stop along the way to shake hands with Gavin. Tor extends a furry hand and I take it, shaking hands with him and we both laugh. "Well, we both have seen the first true test of the New Republic to the end." "That we have, Tor, that we have. So I hear you retired?" He chuckles, "Yep, Kerex and I both, although I'm not leaving the military entirely. Beginning tomorrow, I will be starting my tenure as Military Aide to the Chancellorship, I need to ensure that this military that I have overseen for so long be is not reduced to a shell of its' former self. Luke joins the group, wearing tan brown robes instead of the normal black. He takes my forearm as I take his, "You're looking much better, how do you feel?" he asks. "Good Luke. We did it." He smiles at me when Amminius chimes in, his ever jovial self, "So, now that Cade has become, what was the way you put it Skywalker? He became 'an extension of the Living Force itself,' so now that that has happened, who's the stronger Jedi?" Luke and I look at each other and start laughing. Amminius looks hurt, "What, it's an honest question." He says sheepishly. "Amm, it doesn't matter who's the strongest. Cade and I are a team; we work together to fight evil and injustice, we are brothers-in-arms." Luke says. "Besides, we'll need to work together to rebuild the Jedi," I tell him. "And I don't think I can do that again, not without completely exhausting my body, no one should have that much power."
"You know I don't like ceremonies, Tor." "I know son, but it wasn't my idea. The Chancellor felt that we can capitalize on this momentous occasion and that having an emblem, a symbol of the New Republic's victory, would be a good thing, so here we are." I sigh, "Well, let's get it over with then." Jevin, this time, gives the order to fall in formation. Wodi goes to the door and places a hand on it and turns towards me, smiling and offering a wink, "Well kid, you ready for another adventure?" I look to Kiara, taking her hand in mine, Jevin places a hand on my shoulder, Amminius smirks at me, and Gavin winks at me. "Well, as luck would have it, I am." He opens the door to the bright Chandrilan sunlight and the sounds of millions of people clapping and cheering, the Chancellor saying into a microphone, "And now, citizens of the New Republic, I give you the hero of the Imperium War!"
FIN
Epilogue
And it was over. The New Republic had faced its greatest test and survived. Indeed, even after the destruction of the Hosnian system, Republic officials and historians would remember the Imperium and its dark master, Darth Pravus, as the greatest threat the New Republic ever faced. Following the clean-up efforts against the remainder of the Imperium forces, the New Republic shifted its focus. The Senate, now controlled by the "Populist" faction; a group that felt the individual worlds deserved more say and less central government and didn't believe in a strong standing military, voted to demilitarize and focus on rebuilding those worlds ravaged by the war, particularly those that had been attacked by Gorukar. However, thanks to the efforts of the heroes of the war, the military was partially saved. While funding would stay the same and access to the best academies and manufacturers was obtained, the military was downsized to about a third of the strength it had achieved during the Imperium War, although this was still a formidable size. With Wild Space now relatively safe now that the Imperium is gone, the New Republic leadership saw an opportunity to be had. Wild Space is plentiful in resources that are virtually untapped. It was and is home to thriving worlds that have no sentient populations and several worlds that would serve well as fortress worlds. To that end, a new branch was formed, the New Republic Scouting Service, or known by its more popular name, The Expedition. This bureau serves as a proxy government for the New Republic in Wild Space; it is the face for the Republic to those who live in Wild Space. The Scouting Service's main goal is to help those species whose worlds are now uninhabitable, thanks to the Imperium, find new worlds. At the head of this project are the Wookiees who survived Gorukar's attack on Kashyyyk. The Wookiees are master gardeners; they even have begun to reseed their homeworld where the other affected worlds; Damaria, Belkadan, Tatooine, Axxila, Tangrene, Gamorr, Uuqbar, and Deralia, are still barren. To meet its other goals, the Expedition has political administrators, civilian leaders, and military veterans at its service. While the Imperium was gone, there was still a myriad of dangers in Wild Space; warlords commanding armies comparable to any intergalactic force, hostile species, and according the Cade Valdarin, other hidden Sith secrets. In that light, many veterans of the Imperium War would join the powerful Scouting Service Military, which was comprised of a powerful fleet and army. The fleet, called the Expeditionary Fleet, was given many advanced, combat-oriented ships due to the fact they would see crisis on a more frequent basis. Its army contingent was given the most advanced combat vehicles, like the T5-B heavy battle tank and the 3A Mobile Proton Torpedo Launcher. The "Scout Soldiers" as they were called, would in time become known as some of the most elite warriors of the New Republic. Compared to most New Republic troops, these soldiers would see action and combat on a much more frequent basis. As for the heroes of the war, their stories will take them all across the galaxy.
Cade Valdarin - Warrior of the Grey
Grey Jedi, honorary Wookiee, blood-kin of the Mandalorians. Following the Imperium War, Cade was lauded as not only a great hero and savior, but a legend, especially to the people of his homeworld, Chandrila. Stories already spread of how he became one with the Force, defeated Darth Pravus, and used the absorbed energy of Gorukar to destroy it. Valdarin has now become one of the most powerful Force-users in history, along with his ancestor. Both having received the highest honor possible, the Alderaan Medal of Valor, he and Luke were welcomed as heroes all across the Republic. After creating the new Jedi with Luke, fulfilling their dream, Cade was offered a position. Luke, in his unofficial but publicly accepted role as Grand Master, offered to Cade the role of Battlemaster, head lightsaber instructor. Cade declined, citing that he needed to travel to Wild Space and help the newly formed New Republic Scouting Service. The New Republic created this branch to colonize Wild Space, take advantage of the vast resources therein, and build to military fortifications. Cade also traveled there often due to insidious hint Pravus gave him that yet more Sith secrets were there. Thus, Luke gave him a different title, Jedi Vanguard, as Cade would be the first representation of the Jedi to new species in Wild Space. It was on one of the return journeys that Luke asked Cade to train his personal apprentice, Ben Solo, in the ways of the lightsaber; of course Cade wouldn't teach Ben everything in the ways of the lightsaber. However, Solo would attack the New Jedi while Cade was in Wild Space, knowing he couldn't take on the master duelist. Cade would then fake his death and retreat to the Deep Core until after the Battle of Starkiller Base.
Wodi Quix - Tireless Soldier
Following the War, Wodi would remain in the NR military as commanding officer of the Republic's premier Special Forces unit, the Special Hazards And Reconnaissance Commandos. He would remain here for half a decade, leading the SHARCs on clean-up duty against holdouts of the Imperium and various crime syndicates and pirates, like the Black Nova and Zaan Consortium. Eventually, he would leave the New Republic military after the threat the First Order posed was disregarded. The other Imperial Remnants had fought openly in the Imperium War and still the Republic did not take them seriously. Thus, when Leia Organa made her Resistance, High General Jevin Corso asked Wodi, one of his closest friends, to join. Wodi's mission was to help protect the New Republic while working with the Resistance and doing whatever he could to help Leia's group. He would always remain loyal to the Republic and during his time with the Resistance, would do anything to help protect it. Shortly after the destruction of Hosnian Prime, General Organa would give Wodi a crucial mission: to find the Warrior of The Grey and bring him back to the Republic.
Tor Ponith - Father of the New Republic Army
The old Bothan was true to his word. Following the cessation of the war, he retired his military commission. However, the perpetual soldier could never leave the military and so became the chief military aide to the chancellor. In this capacity, he worked to prevent the naïve Populists from dismantling the military entirely. Along with the other heroes of the war, like Wodi Quix and Cade Valdarin, he argued for the military with some success. This group managed to argue for continued funding for the military, including the best contracts money could buy. The end result was a compromise; the military would be taken down to a third of the strength it had achieved during the War. However, it had contracts with the best weapons, tech, and starship manufacturers as well as access to the top academies. Even though the military would be significantly downsized, the military would have the best people, the best ships, and the best weapons available. When the Republic would again see crisis against the First Order and the newly discovered Praetoriate, Tor, as the highest ranking government official left after the destruction of Hosnian Prime, would become Acting Chancellor. Tor Ponith would go down in history as the first (and greatest) High Marshal of the Republic as well as the Chancellor who permanently disbanded the Galactic Concordance. During this new conflict, his protégé, Garm Bel Iblis, would succeed him as the second High Marshal of the Republic.
Jevin Corso - Stoic Defender
Corso, following the war, would eventually be promoted to the highest position in the army outside the war-time only rank of High Marshal, High General. His actions during both the Civil War and the Imperium War made him one of the heroes of the New Republic and his command ability earned him the respect of his soldiers and the fear of his enemies. Along with Tor Ponith, he would argue on behalf of the military when the Populist-controlled Senate wanted to disarm the Republic. He would order Colonel Wodi Quix to leave the military but join the Resistance and defend the Republic from the outside when it was clear the Senate would block their attempts to curtail the First Order. When the threat of the First Order was revealed, Jevin would again see action leading his soldiers against both the First Order and the newly revealed Praetoriate. He would forever remain close friends with Cade Valdarin, the Jedi hero whom he saw as a little brother.
Unath Kerex - Naval Legend
Following the war, Kerex, like his dear friend and counterpart, Tor, retired from active service. Kerex would remain in touch with the navy though, as his student, the Mirialan, Iella Nari, succeeded him as Fleet Admiral of the Republic Navy. He would also argue for continued support for the Republic military and when the threat of the First Order was revealed, he, like his teacher, Gial Ackbar, would lend his naval expertise to the fledgling Resistance.
Xellius - Legacy of Darkness
The former Praetor, who always seemed to be able to escape death, would eventually make his way to the Unknown Regions. Instead of perishing at Atrisia, he went into a death trance, escaping the noticing of his enemy, Cade Valdarin. He vowed revenge on the Republic and more importantly, Cade Valdarin. Gathering survivors of the Imperium to him, he would form the Praetoriate, named in honor of the position Darth Pravus had given him. Shortly after, he would receive a summons to a conclave. The conclave was a meeting of the heads of the most powerful Remnant factions: Snoke of the First Order, Superior General Teradon Graal of the Graal Hegemony, Natasi Daala, self-proclaimed Pirate Empress of the Black Nova Pirates, and now Xellius, leader of the Praetoriate. The meeting was to discuss the future of the Remnant groups. The largest and most powerful of them had gone up against the Republic and lost. The hero Cade Valdarin had been the catalyst for its destruction and the faction leaders knew that they could not hope to defeat both he and the Republic and also knew none of them would be able to reach the power that the Imperium had reached. However, Snoke would propose they work together, to work to fulfill Darth Pravus' dream of destroying the Republic. Thus he proposed they pool their resources into a weapon that, although not nearly as effective at demoralization or sheer loss of life as Gorukar was, this weapon would nonetheless be a weapon of mass destruction. The weapon he would name in honor of Darth Pravus, who had become a teacher of sorts to him. He would name the weapon after a codename Pravus had used during his tenure as Shadow Guard of the Empire; this weapon would be called "Starkiller".
Gerik Ordo - Mandalore the Reviver
After the war, Gerik would return to the adulation of the Mandalorian people. The clan chieftains unanimously voted for the first time in centuries to name a warrior Mandalore, leader of the Mandalorians. They voted Gerik Ordo, who was hailed as not only a great warrior but a savior of not just the Mandalorians but of the Republic, to the position. In his new role, Gerik would write the SuperCommando Codex, a writ detailing the Mandalorians new role as honorable warriors-for-hire. He would revive old traditions as well as keeping some of the ways of the New Mandalorians. Also, he would start efforts to rebuild war-torn Mandalore, which saw major success and Mandalore began to become habitable again. As such, due to his warrior skills and his revival of the old warrior ways and their planet, the people declared him Mandalore the Reviver. He would forever keep strong ties with the Republic and more importantly, his adopted blood brother, Cade Valdarin.
Gavin Skyes - Jedi Friend
Skyes would remain in the military for a time following the Imperium War and eventually be promoted to Colonel. However, the Senate's refusal to allow military action against the First Order, which had fought against them openly in the war, was too much for him. His good friend and mentor, High General Corso, persuaded him not to leave the military altogether but rather, to join the New Republic Scouting Service. This scouting service was based solely in Wild Space, where essentially it was a proxy government, complete with its own military and political structure. Officially, the "Expedition" as it was colloquially called, was formed to scout for new worlds for the refugees of those lost to Gorukar, to tap the vast natural resources of the region, and to establish military outposts and fortresses in key strategic areas. Unofficially, its mandate was to help Cade Valdarin find the Sith secrets that Pravus had hinted about; anything as bad as Gorukar needed to be found and destroyed immediately. Gavin would take the news of Cade's supposed death hard but five years later, following the Battle of Crait, he would find Cade alive and serve by his side once more as The Expedition fought the newly formed Praetoriate.
Geelo - Lightning Warrior
Following the war, Lieutenant General Geelo would remain in command of the elite Jumper Corps and revolutionize the use of jetpacks and would serve the Republic faithfully. Along with his commanding officer, High General Corso, he would remain in the New Republic Army, using his expertise to make the army a competent fighting force despite the fact that it was decreased in size. A common nickname he earned from the men and women under him was "Crazy Green" a tribute to his reckless, but effective, tactics with a jetpack. He would again serve the military valiantly when the Imperial Remnants declared war following the destruction of Hosnian Prime.
Amminius Sinan - Wrath of the Republic
Sinan would go on to be promoted to Colonel himself and receive several commendations for his actions behind-the-lines during the War. He would become a member of the New Republic's Black Ops group, Alpha Blue, having a part in several black operations. However, after learning that the Senate had disregarded the First Order, the Graal Hegemony, and the Black Nova, he decided to resign, eventually joining Leia Organa's Resistance as one of its chief intelligence agents. Like his friend, Wodi Quix, he would remain extremely loyal to the Republic, so much so that he would drill into his subordinates the loyalty and love he had for the nation he had helped to create.
Salurra - Loyal Bodyguard
Salurra would succeed his father as the leader of the Wookiee Defense Force, earning a great deal of respect from his people. This force would be of tremendous help to the clean-up efforts of the New Republic military against the remains of the Imperium. In the years after the war, Salurra would work occasionally with Cade Valdarin, the man to whom he pledged an eternal life-debt due to his honor and courage, and with the other heroes of the Imperium War. News of Cade's death would hit him hard but following the Battle of Crait, he would be contacted by none other than Cade Valdarin, asking him to help the New Republic Scouting Service fend off the Praetoriate while the Resistance took on the First Order.