3956 BBY - Lehon System
0254 Hours - Republic Flagship Megalodon
The green lasers of the sixteen Hammerhead Cruisers burned through tower like structure of the ancient space station, generating brilliant explosions across its superstructure, as shields and armour buckled under the this overwhelming weight of punishment. A final flash of light heralded this end when it came, and the Star Forge likewise quickly descended closer to its home star than it ever had in its twenty thousand or so years of existence.
"Admiral Dodonna, we've hit their main orbital stabilizers!" announced one of the fleet's ship captains. The aforementioned admiral sighed in relief; her fleet's information on the station had been a hastily assembled mess of assumptions, and even the location of the orbital stabilizers remained mere educated guesswork until the very moment of their destruction. None the less, she was one of the few experienced Republic fleet admiral that hadn't joined Revan's armada at the onset of the war, and it was therefore her job to find some decisive means of ending this hopeless war of attrition against the Sith. This attack had been their last hope, and boy, did it payoff.
The command staff broke into momentary cheers of celebration, commemorating the Republic's first clear, and possibly decisive, victory against the Sith Armada since the elimination of Darth Revan in the early years of The War. Forn Dodonna quickly pushed aside her sense of profound relief and re-centred her thoughts on the responsibilities of the fleet commander. "Everyone, pull back, I don't want to lose any more ships when that space station goes down", she ordered, bringing the momentary lapse of professionalism on the bridge to an end as the officers and crewmembers returned to their tasks. Prim professionalism was as much the call sign of admiral Dodonna's command as any other, her orange dark uniform didn't have any obvious smears or imperfections, likewise her brown locks of hair remained short and organized underneath the fleet admiral's hat that so many of her colleagues dispensed with altogether these days.
Nevertheless, even professionalism had its limits. The admiral turned her head to the small faded green tinted alien to her right and spoke with barely contained excitement. "We did it Vandar, the Sith are routed and the Star Forge Destroyed!"
The Jedi gazed towards the battle laid out before his eyes, but seemed more resigned than exited at the prospect of victory, "But at what cost admiral, so many ships lost, where is the Ebon Hawk and her crew?"
Dodonna could not find a positive answer to this question, for the cost had been great indeed; almost a third of the fleet had fallen before the Sith fleet's defensive line. Similarly, no communications arrived from the Ebon Hawk since the admiral ordered it to board the station and apprehend or eliminate the rouge Jedi Bastila Shan.
A short moment of hesitation entered the mind of the admiral, could she risk the crew on-board her command vessel, let alone the fleet in a search for the missing freighter? The decision to send that bizarre combination of Jedi and misfits to what amounted to a textbook suicide mission weighed heavily on her conscious, but did she have the right to ask more from the brave men and women assigned to her fleet, when they had already risked so much?
A glancing blow from a Sith Interdictor Cruiser well out of effective firing range cut off this thought process before it could run its course. "Ma'am, several Sith vessels are detaching from their retreating fleet, their intention appears to be a death or glory attack run", announced a member of the command staff. For the first time in this battle, the admiral felt genuine anger; how dare these Sith prolong the agony of combat even a moment longer than necessary? The battle was over, they had lost, and any further hostilities would not change the strategic results of this engagement.
"It is too late to escape admiral, the Sith have cut us off", said Vandar, surprising the military professional with his quick grasp of the situation. The admiral nodded, for the Jedi master was correct in his assessment, their fleet could not push forwards, or if necessary, jump to hyperspace with enemy ships attacking to their front, their routed compatriots still obstructing the flanks, and the impending demise of the Star Forge to the rear.
With battle once again forced upon her, the Admiral opened the fleet wide communications channel and spoke to all sixteen vessels in her assault group, and the rest of the fleet deployed against the Sith defensive line. "Assault Group, clear out those incoming Sith ships, I want all our navicomputers to link up and calculate an emergency jump to hyperspace in the event we can't escape in time using sublight speed. The rest of the fleet, continue operating in your preassigned command groups, pursue the Sith fleet and prevent any more of their ships from re-joining the battle, but do not engage them in the projected blast radius of the Star Forge".
0249 Hours - Star Forge Infiltration Team
The Sith warrior grasped as her opponent's lightsabres slipped through her own defences and delivered their mortal blows. Dane Avery did not have the willingness or the time to relish in the death of an enemy. Despite the fall of their master and the death of hundreds of their numbers to the Jedi strike force, the Sith remained dogged in their pursuit of the intruders in their midst. Two Sith troopers similarly attacked the lone Jedi with their Vibroblades, but one was quickly beheaded by a strike from Dane's blue light sabre, while the other fell before a crimson blade, 'borrowed' from a defeated opponent when the Jedi's original yellow sabre was destroyed.
With all three opponents vanquished, the way forwards was once again open. A simple military code hastily reprogramed into the locking mechanism opened the blast door, revealing two more lightsabre wielding warriors. One was an aged man of colour, while the other was a young woman of an unnaturally pale complexion that had not yet fully recovered from the physical effects of the Dark Side.
Bastila quickly emerged from her battle meditation once she sensed the other's return. "Re…Dane, you are alive, so, it is done? Is it over?" she asked, clinging to the hope that maybe with Malak's end and her assistance to the Republic's fleet in its hour of need, a semblance of her former self could be redeemed. The blue lightsabre in Dane's right hand and the many Republic soldiers that had fallen to her battle meditation while it had been employed in favour of the Sith where both clear reminders that her journey to the Dark Side hadn't been without consequence.
Dane nodded, bringing his arms around Bastila in a reassuring embrace, "Yes, Malak is dead, it is over", he said.
A distant but clearly felt explosion proved a useful reminder to at least one of their number, "I hate to break up your reunion lovebirds, but I do not much like the idea of going down with this station", said Jolee Bindo, as always, unable to resist a wisecrack even in the most desperate of situations.
Bastila glanced at the various doorways and picked out the one to the right of their group "This is an escape elevator to the hanger, it is locked down from the other side to prevent easy access to this level, but it should work from our end". The group walked up to the seemingly standard door, but once it opened, it became apparent that it was indeed a secret elevator merely disguised as a doorway. A short conflict between Dane's skill and the elevator's security systems ended with a rapid decent to the hanger bay. Just as the platform reached its final destination, the power systems suddenly cut off, forcing the three Jedi to hack their way through the door.
With this final obstacle to their escape gone, the chaos taking shape in the hanger bay became obvious. Sith soldiers and Dark Jedi where rushing to their various shuttles in a desperate attempt to escape the destruction of the station, but there were not enough of these to be had, and consequently, multiple units of the once united army fought to ether defend or seize the various transports. The Ebon Hawk, a Dynamic class freighter commandeered by Dane, Bastila, and Canderous during their escape from Taris, seemed to share the same fate, and its crew fought tenaciously to prevent the Sith from taking it over behind a hastily assembled barricade of debris and enemy corpses. The bodies of several Jedi Knights lay scattered and motionless, cut down by the sheer weight of numbers of their opponents. Several shots signalled the arrival of ever more Sith troopers in the hanger bay, forcing the trio into a fighting retreat; each working hard to deflect the seemingly endless gale of blasts coming their way.
A second explosion, much more violent than the last brought an entire section of the Star Forge walls crashing down on the narrow catwalk, but just before they could cut off the trio's only means of escape, Bindo managed to grab hold of the largest and most dangerous piece of debris with the force and suspend it in mid-air. Bastila soon joined the Jolee's efforts by taking on the incoming blaster bolts with her double-edged red lightsabre. "Dane, go on! I will cover you!" said Bastila, but the man she referred to seemed to hesitate, distrusting her intentions. Once their eyes locked, and Dane saw no argument would convince Bastila to retreat first, he reluctantly acquiesced, ran the short distance to the Ebon Hawk, intending to join Bindo's efforts in holding together the debris from the other side.
"Jolee, go, I will follow you", said Bastila, but the elder more experienced Jedi was not easily fooled; he knew that she knew that whomever stayed behind last would be hard pressed to hold off the hundreds of barking Sith rifles. "Kid, you have done enough redeeming for one day. I am an old man, and you have so much left to live for", and with a supreme effort on his part, Jolee pushed Bastila beyond the debris and towards the Ebon Hawk. Dane helped Bastila to her feet, and the two Jedi brought their command of the force to bear against the debris in an attempt to give Jolee a chance to cross. The latter ceased his efforts to hold the debris, and seemed to reach out for his lightsabre when the blaster bolt hit his back. Two more rounds found their mark, and before long, the Jedi fell and did not rise again. "No!" Shouted Dane, and moved to try to rescue his compatriot. Bastila saw the incoming blasts and pulled Dane aside behind the makeshift barricade, letting go of the debris out of both necessity, and the need to cover their retreat. "He's dead, Revan, we have to get out of here now!" shouted Canderous, as he and Carth got the rest of the crew on-board the Ebon Hawk. Dane and Bastila likewise exploited the fall of the debris to emerge from cover and board their ship as it took off from the doomed station.
0303 Hours - Republic Flagship Megalodon
"Attention Republic Fleet, this is captain Stazer of the Sith Warship Indomitable, admiral Gerard has been removed from command, and consequently, this fleet will cease combat operations against your forces in return for a general ceasefire in this system", said the voice of the not quite so crazy opponent. In other words, the Sith had gotten rid of the rabid dog in their midst and now wanted to bugger off without fear from a stab in the back from the Republic's forces.
Despite her by no means small desire to see the murderers, traitors, and thieves that made up the Sith fleet pay for their transgressions, there was such a thing as glory, but then there was duty. The ships of the Star Forge assault group needed to retreat just as badly as the Sith did, even more so, since her ships where now closest to the predicted blast radius of the station once it hit the local star. "Captain Stazer, the Republic fleet accepts these terms; our forces will not impede your retreat, so long as you do not hazard our own withdrawal, over and out. All ships of the assault group, engage your ion engines in full emergency speed!
"Ma'am, the Ebon Hawk is hailing us, they have cleared the Star Forge and are on their way, Darth Malak is dead!" announced the communications officer. "Open a channel to Red Squadron and after that, to the Ebon Hawk!" Ordered the admiral, and both these tasks where soon achieved. "Red Leader, send two fighters to cover the Ebon Hawk, I don't want any of those stranded Sith fighters getting any funny ideas".
"Copy that Megalodon, Red 6, Red 5, break formation and cover the freighter on grid 230", confirmed the squadron leader. The communications officer quickly hailed the Ebon Hawk and patched through the fleet admiral, "Carth, you made it!"
"We could not let you start the victory party without us admiral", answered Captain…no, Group Captain Onasi with a chuckle. Dodonna sighed with relief; at least she did not lose one of the more promising officers in the Republic Navy today. "I am sending an honour guard to escort you in; you'll be getting a hero's welcome when we get back home".
"Ma'am, the Star Forge is going off, we won't clear the explosion in time!" Shouted the Megalodon's captain. 'Blast and bother!' thought the admiral; she really did not want to attempt a fleet wide jump to hyperspace with such a cataclysmic event interfering with the accuracy of the calculations. The first lesson any ship captain learned was that strange, often terrible things happened when you screwed around with Hyperspace, but the fleet had no other choice. "Carth, link in your navicomputer to the fleet's network, we are going to execute an emergency jump to hyperspace!" Once the captain confirmed he had done so, Dodonna once again opened a fleet wide channel "All ships in the Assault Group, engage your Hyperdrive in 5, the rest of the fleet is to remain outside the blast zone and obey the orders of Admiral Cede". A few seconds after this command, more than half of the surviving ships in the Republic fleet disappeared from normal space. An almost nova like explosion soon followed, but hit only debris, a few Sith fighters, and empty space.
The soldiers that remained in the Lehon System would never again see the ships of the Assault Group in their lifetimes. Even decades later, when they had turned old and grey, their thoughts would often return to their missing comrades, hoping against hope that they would turn up one day, perhaps comfortably settled on some unclaimed world in the unknown regions. In later years, history would come to refer to this detachment as the Lost Fleet of the Republic.
Note of the Amateur: I have had a rather busy time lately in IRLand, but I have not fogrotten my previously posted Harry Potter story, or my promise to upload a Mass Effect one at some point in the future. This Star Wars - Kotor crossover is mostly a product of recent exposure to two Star Wars adventures, one I know and adore, and the other I was suprised to discover I now sort of enjoy, despite all of its flaws. Rather than shove this idea to one side, I have decided to write a short story of a dozen or so chapters exploring the situation I had in mind. I will probably write a much longer Star Wars story in the future, but for now, this one will do. Expect multiple updates during the next few days, and for this story to end ether in, or shortly after that time frame.
November Edit: I changed the titles as a part of a general plan to clear up this story, along with some spelling and wording here and there. I have also decided to mention that the other Jedi on the strike force died in the battle. In the event of more substantial changes, their nature will be noted under the November Edit. Expect an update sometime this week.
Thank you for your patronage,
A Lover of Nature.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. Disney, Lucas Film, and any organization empowered by them to that effect own the Star Wars title and its related products. Moreover, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed.