Another happy landing

-Outside the bridge's windows, the stars rushed past the Silencer in the tunnel effect of hyperspace. The ship was well under way towards Confederate space and had left the Ryloth-system behind. That at least had gone as planned.

-„What was that?!" Grievous growled, holding on to one of the consoles. He had been swept off his feet when the destroyer had made the jump. It was a genuine question: he had not expected complications. This ship had travelled with lightspeed hundreds of times before after all. And it had never once bucked liked this.

-The tactical droid picked himself up from the floor. The jolt that had gone through the ship had sent him stumbling all the way back to the doors of the bridge. His head turned in a manner that, uncommonly enough, seemed to indicate confusion: "Status report?"

-The droids were already typing hurriedly on their consoles. "Hyperspace jump successful, General."

-"I can see that! What happened to the ship?!"

-Reports started to pour in from several directions at once:

-"We appear to have sustained damage to our outer hull, but nothing critical." one droid began. "We are running a full scan now."

-"Major power systems are stable and online." a second added.

-"We have lost contact with the sentries in the main hangar."

-"The navi-computer has taken a hit, but we appear to be headed for the specified coordinates as planned."

-Grievous' eyes narrowed. "What do you mean; 'appear to be'?"

-The droid raised his hands defensively: "Well, uhm, the readings we get are not unambiguous, sir. It seems to have a small malfunction; we currently don't have updates on our course. But the route has been calculated correctly, and the jump has been successful!"

-That last part sounded like the machine was expecting a compliment. The general just glared at it until it hastily turned back around and concentrated on its data. The tactical droid appeared by Grievous' side: "General, we should drop out of lightspeed until we have a clear reading. Our jump was hurried; I calculate a five percent chance that Ryloth's gravitation might have impaired it."

-The cyborg considered it briefly. Despite this small annoyance, the plan had worked out well. And Kenobi should be trapped. "No" he decided. "We'll run that risk. Right now we have them trapped on this ship; once we drop out of lightspeed they will certainly attempt an escape. In a few parsecs we are going to be in Confederate space; they are welcome to try it then." The droid's face was emotionless- of course- and gave nothing away, but still Grievous somehow knew that he was about to protest. It was quickly becoming an annoying habit of him. The general's voice became dangerously low: "Keep. Us. In hyperspace."

-The insolent droid reluctantly resumed his post on the command chair, muttering something about probabilities. Grievous spun around to the rest of the bridge crew, who quickly pretended not to have noticed anything. "The rest of you, fix the computer. And get me the hangar on screen."

-The image that appeared was highly unusual: Where usually only droid fighters would have been; now there were Republic gunships everywhere, parked in the narrow spaces between the few landing craft left in the hangar. Clones were running about between them, checking for droid activity. His eyes focused on a bigger group on the left side, where a figure in a brown robe stood in the middle of a circle of clones, gesturing and giving orders. He coughed in satisfaction; at least he had confirmation that Kenobi was indeed on the ship. And this time he had him for good. The general felt a growing sense of anticipation.

-While he was watching, about twenty or so clones split up from the group and headed for one of the blast doors. The others, led by Kenobi, began to scatter and crossed to the other side of the hangar, to the hallways that led to the bridge.

-"Full lockdown." he ordered. "Keep them in the hangar until we can drop out of lightspeed." His searching gaze went over the bridge: "How many special commandos do we have on board?"

-"Why do we always get the fun missions?" the soldier complained while he attached the detonator to the steel door in front of him.

-"I said it before, I'll say it again: We are too good for our own good." his friend sighed, somewhat exasperated. "So prove it and hurry up with that thing already."

-"Where's your sense of adventure?" one of their brothers, crouching at a safe distance on the other side of the door, contributed sarcastically. "Have you never dreamed about terminating a ship's hyperdrive in the middle of hyperspace?"

-That provoked a grunt. "Sure did. But usually I wasn't on that ship in said dream!" Waxer replied. With another strip of tape he finished his work and armed the detonator. The hurried beeping sounded behind him as he ran for cover.

-Beside him, Boil raised his hand to trace the countdown: "Ok, adventurer, you are the first through that door in three, two, one…"

-The metal frame was blown inwards, hitting something metallic with a loud crunching sound. Immediately, red blaster fire erupted out of the hole. No, they definitely were not welcome. A trooper threw a handful of droid poppers round the corner in advance. The group waited until the blaster fire faltered before they rushed through the hole and decimated the droids still standing. Before anyone had a chance to comment that this was too easy, a group of Super Battle Droids turned the corner behind their fallen colleagues and opened fire, forcing them to seek cover. More clankers appeared behind the first group. Boil fixed his eyes on his scope, not needing to turn his head to know his brothers were advancing right beside him, and kept a careful count of every droid he shot down. Red and blue laser shots were exchanged as the clones sought cover near the walls and behind the fallen droids, while they slowly moved along the corridor towards their objective.

-Somewhere behind all those clankers was a hyperdrive in need of a re-design.

-"We have the hangar surrounded, general."

-Grievous rubbed his hands: "Good, good. Send in my personal guards; I want no disturbances until we are in Separatist space. Then I will deal with them myself."

-The rumbling started again.

-The soldiers had taken position around the hangar doors, waiting for the battledroids to storm in. Now they all looked up.

-Cody, too, standing at the wall next to his general, looked around for the source of the noise. When he couldn't find anything, he checked his HUD again, to see if one of his men had picked something up. They were all doing the same. But more to his alarm than reassurance, there was no sign of any danger. The droids were doing Force-knew-what out there; for some reason they didn't seem to want to enter just now. And the rumbling grew louder by the second. He cursed silently: this entire thing had gone far too hasty. He hated situations where he had no overview of what was going on. And clearly he wasn't the only one in that regard: "I don't like the sound of that!" one of the troopers informed them all over comlink. Cody could only assume how many of them privately muttered the same thing.

-"I have a bad feeling about this." Kenobi echoed as if he had heard the comment, despite the fact that he was not wearing a helmet. Cody saw furrows appear on his brow. Then the general took a deep breath and closed his eyes, completely disregarding the fact that they were in a hangar about to be stormed by a droid army. It was very out of place. But the commander knew better than to interrupt the Jedi when he did that. This connection to the Force had frequently proven to be useful, most recently back on Ryloth, and he didn't much care how it worked or why, so long as it provided help to the mission.

-The hangar began to shake.

-Suddenly the blue eyes flew wide open. Kenobi pushed himself off the wall in a hurry and looked directly at Cody. "Everybody to the gunships!" he commanded, urgency in his voice. He lead by example and made a run for the nearest LAAT/i. The commander didn't think twice, but repeated the order over comlink and sprinted after his general. His men moved barely a second later, without a single question being asked or a comment being uttered. Cody threw a look back: Everybody was running to the ships, completely abandoning their position; if the droids chose this moment to enter, they would find easy targets. But that was of no concern right now: Obi-Wan had felt something, and whatever it was, it was a bigger threat than the droids. They would have to get in line.

-"Uhm, should we tell the commander that the hyperdrive is still intact?" Waxer questioned as their group ran back the way they came, pursued by angry blaster fire.

-"I doubt he expected us to get that thing this quickly." Boil responded while firing over his shoulder, not bothering to look if he hit anything. "Even we are not that good."

-"Then what's the plan? Taking off right into hyperspace?!"

-"The clones are retreating; we have them cut off."

-Grievous stared at the holo-screen. Indeed, they were falling back fast. No, he realized; they were fleeing. Something was wrong here. Now he noticed the floor vibrating ever so slightly.

-"Scan completed. The navi-computer is having small malfunctions, but calculates that we should reach the target coordinates in 30 parsecs. The hull at our stern has been damaged slightly, possibly due to fire from the Republic cruisers. Our left front engines are offline, but the others are operating at full speed. The clones appear to be taking defensive positions in the hangar…"

-The droid continued with his list, while Grievous processed this information. He knew he should have felt triumphant. But something was not right. He could feel a low rumbling emanating from deep inside the ship, steadily growing more insistent. That did not really comply with the positive reports he was receiving. When he looked out the windows, he saw the usual impression of hyperspace rush past; nothing out of the ordinary. So why did he have a feeling like...His look went to the navi-computer, still being worked on by a pair of droids. It still showed them on course. Not a mili-parsec deviation…

-Suddenly, his eyes went wide. "Disengage lightspeed!" he yelled. The useless droids didn't react, completely confused at this sudden change of opinion, but Grievous was not waiting for them, already sprinting to one of the consoles. As it turned out, the tactical droid had come to the realization a decisive fraction of a second faster than his general: He was typing hurriedly on the console of the command chair, using the override. Breaking off lightspeed with a barely functional navi-computer was a serious risk, but if his assumption was correct, that would be the least of their problems. As if it had waited for a signal, the navi-computer suddenly sprang to life and began to beep a warning.

-Another jolt went through the ship, even more powerful than the last, almost sweeping the General off his feet again. The lines of light outside the windows suddenly became contorted; as the calm white and blue of hyperspace turned into bright shades of red. Then the normal star-spangled blackness of space reappeared. For half a second.

-Before Grievous' eyes, a giant brown orb suddenly filled out the entire view, looming in front of the ship. Everyone on the bridge froze. The only sound was the shrilling of the alarm, as the ship's nose heated up in contact with an atmosphere.

-With a shattering crash, the left engines broke off completely as the last pieces of metal that had survived the turbo lasers and the hyperspace finally gave in. Which left the destroyer with a one-sided propulsion, still operating at sub-lightspeed. In a blink, the stern drew level with the mid-section, sending the ship into a horizontal spin, wildly turning around its axis as it tumbled into the planet.

-He was just a few inches away from the gunship when the floor disappeared beneath his feet without warning. His hand just managed to get a hold of the doorframe before something yanked him sideways with brutal force. His helmet hit something metallic, and for a second he lost his sense of where up and down was. Then, suddenly, one of his men flew past him, desperately trying to slow down, and managed to grab his leg. The commander let out a grunt at the sharp pull. Another trooper skidded past; and this one found nothing to hold onto.

-"Magnetize!" Cody shouted the only command that seemed to make sense at the moment into his comlink. Once he followed his own advice, his boots connected with the closest metal surface, that surface being the side of the gunship. Which, as he now noticed, was sliding across the floor at an alarming speed.

-He had no idea what was going on, or where his men were, but staying where he was was not an option. Behind him, the trooper had managed to activate his magnetics as well and, walking sideways step by step, they tried to reach the doors. They were just a few inches away when he saw a pair of armoured arms reach out to them and they were pulled in by two clones who had normally connected their boots to the floor of the ship. The next second, the rapid movement unexpectedly slowed down.

-Cody managed to take a breath and look around for the first time, and realized that their pilot had taken off and had their ship hovering a few feet above ground. His brothers standing next to him all seemed to stare at something behind him. When he turned and looked over the hangar, he witnessed a scene of utter chaos.

-The only fixed point in view was the gunships: Most of the pilots had had the same idea and had taken off, their ships hovering dangerously close to each other. Everything else in the hangar was moving: Containers, ships, droids; everything that was not nailed down, was somehow drawn towards the hangar gates. In between the chaos stood a good two dozen of his men who apparently had not been able to reach a gunship in time. They had magnetized, as commanded, and were now desperately trying to avoid all the objects being flung around. Two pilots were trying to move their ships closer to them to pick them up, but it seemed to be a futile effort, with all the debris forcing them to make dangerous evasions. From his position, Cody realized, he could do nothing to help.

-What could he do, then? Not much, considering he didn't even know what in the world was happening. His look went to the gates, where the first containers were drawn out into space. The commander instinctively scanned the rim for movement, but the trooper that had slid past him earlier was nowhere in sight. He kept looking, but his mind had already turned numb and shut off any questions of how many of his men had been drawn out there. Focus!

-Then he noticed the outside itself.

-He didn't immediately understand what he was seeing: The stars were no longer blurred, but spinning. Every two seconds, a dark brown mass filled out the frame, and then it was gone again. Cody stared at his narrow field of view. After a moment, his eyes widened as he finally realized what that mass was.

-The ship had left hyperspace. And it was out of control. And about to crash into a planet.

-They had to leave now.

-The world was spinning wildly.

-"Cut the engines and engage emergency thrusters!" Grievous screamed. Outside, the ship's hull burned as it entered the atmosphere. And the surface grew steadily closer. The droids did as ordered. Without apparent result: Their spinning was becoming a fast downward spiral.

-A growl, and suddenly the droid closest to Grievous was a head shorter: "All power to the thrusters, I said!"

-"Thrusters are at full speed general! We have too much momentum…"

-The thought of hurrying to his starfighter crossed his mind, but was quickly dispelled: He would not have enough time to make it to the hangar. Nevermind the fact that that hangar was full of clones at the moment. Speaking of… He tore his eyes away from the windows and looked at the holo-screen that still showed the main hangar. He saw the clone ships hovering, apparently able to counter his ship's movement for the moment, but not attempting to do much else. He coughed. It was a small satisfaction, but at least the Jedi would not be able to leave. If their spiral continued, he would die with this ship…

-Unfortunately, Grievous realized as he looked over the bridge again, he had no option to leave himself: His starfighter was nowhere to be seen in the hangar; and the success of using the escape pods in the atmosphere and with their current movement was highly doubtful. No matter how he twisted it, his only chance of survival now was to stabilize the ship somehow. Which meant saving Kenobi as well. The cyborg lashed out again in frustration; but this time no unlucky droid stood in reach. He grunted and looked back at his tactical droid, who was trying his best to slow their fall in any way he could. Priorities, the general reminded himself. He would deal with Kenobi later.

-"Disable artificial gravity and open all hatches! We need as little resistance as possible."

-A heavy cargo crate suddenly lifted into the air and drifted almost lazily towards the hangar door.

-Clone pilot CT-7877 cursed under his helmet and made a sharp turn to the side. He heard a nasty creaking sound as his left wing scraped across the gunship next to his, but there was little he could do about that, other than pray that that would be the worst sound he heard in the next seconds. The crate narrowly passed over him, missing his cockpit by a few inches. He jerked the ship back into its former position, breaking contact with his neighbour.

-His comlink blinked: "Do you mind staying on your side? I've got little enough room here as it is!"

-His friend was not being overdramatic: All the other LAAT/is, already flying far too close to one another and busy enough with countering the Separatist ship's movement, now had to make dangerous evasions to avoid contact with the objects that were suddenly floating about everywhere.

-Those bastards switched off the gravity. He stifled another curse. This was looking less and less good by the minute.

-A proton bomb loosened from one of the bombers on the ceiling and fell, colliding with a landing craft. Multiple pairs of eyes followed it as it floated through the air. After a few far too long seconds, it passed through the shield and into space.

-"Anybody else ready to leave this place?" ,a remarkably calm pilot asked over the com.

-He could wholeheartedly support that: "Sounds good to me, Jet. I say we say goodbye to these guys and get the hell out of here."

-"How is that supposed to work, you two?" a third pilot questioned. "The ship's hull will smash us seconds after we leave the hangar!"

-That was indeed a problem. Their ships were not nearly fast enough to escape this death-trap. But then they didn't exactly have many other options. Seven's fist clenched in frustration. This whole mission had gone horribly wrong.

-"Maybe not." somebody suddenly spoke up. It was Drainer, piloting the ship right next to his: "Look. It looks like we slow down a little every time our part of the ship hits the atmosphere. If we are quick, we could try to dip down beneath it in that moment…"

-A few seconds of silence as everybody checked. Seven looked up from his instruments. His friend was right, but…"We can't possibly hit that exact moment!" someone said it out loud.

-Then Kenobi's voice sounded loud and clear over the comlink: "Good thinking, pilot. Keep calm and I can guide you. Position yourself in front of the shield and wait for my signal to leave."

-Seven's brow furrowed and he was about to question how that was supposed to work, but Drainer was faster: "You heard him, boys! Hold steady and give full power once the Jedi says so. And dive the second you are out of the hangar!" He somehow managed to sound cheerful.

-The first ship began to move and carefully manoeuvred towards the gate. Then a second followed it. After a moment's hesitation, Seven got in line. He prayed his friend was right about that opening. And that the Jedi knew what he was doing.

-The gunship on the far right of the hangar swerved left and right, forcing everyone on board to hold on to the railings, as its pilot evaded the debris. The eerie screeching of metal permeated the air; the dying breaths of the destroyer, joined by the low thrumming of the gunships' engines.

-Obi-Wan blocked out these disturbances. He stood perfectly still. His eyes were closed, his breathing even. He concentrated on nothing and simultaneously became acutely aware of everything around him. He felt the force envelop him and give him reassurance. Something they sorely needed.

-A Jedi should admit when he made mistakes, and this reckless attack had most certainly been one. In this moment, he honestly couldn't have recounted why he had gone through with it. All things considered, it was something his former Padawan was more likely to do. Obi-Wan was beginning to fret that Anakin's attitude was rubbing off on him; any reasoning that went beyond that he refused to dwell on right now. He didn't have time for it anyway: Now it was important that everybody got out of this mess he had steered them into.

-Blurred images appeared in his mind: Their ship, crashing into the surface. Stay in the present. Don't focus on the past or future. Let it guide you. He abandoned the troublesome thoughts of their situation and his perception narrowed, became more familiar: The clones' nervousness. His own fear. And the cause of it, outside…

-The Jedi master reached out, now more calmly. He felt their fall. The planet beneath, waiting for them. The gunship, muscles tense in anticipation. And the concentration of anxiety that was its pilot. He took it all in and waited, just listening, until…

-"Now!"

-In a rush, the pilot disappeared from his perception. Obi-Wan remained where he was: He stayed in the moment, did not allow himself to predict, did not allow himself to reach out again and search. That would help nobody.

-The clones around him went unnaturally still; their presence screamed uncertainty. Unbidden, the image of a destroyed ship reappeared in his mind. He couldn't help it; he opened his eyes again and looked. The seconds seemed to stretch out torturously. Obi-Wan tightened his grip on the metal.

-Then the comlink sprang to life: "Dice here; we are out! Repeat, we are out! Better hurry up, we are not waiting for you."

-The entire ship seemed to collectively release the breath they had been holding. Cody's relieved voice sounded over the com: "Good job everybody. Alright, next one, move it!"

-Obi-Wan took a deep breath. They would get out of here. Just stay calm. He focused again. Felt more anxiety. And trust beginning to overshadow it. The Force was with him. He allowed himself a quiet smile. The next pilot was in position and ready…

-"Now!"

-"Countermeasures are working General; we are slowing down!"

-Not enough, Grievous thought, watching the surface draw steadily closer. The crash was inevitable, that much was obvious now. It was just a matter of how hard they would hit.

-"Time until impact 3 minutes 34 seconds." stated the tactical droid in a perfectly neutral tone.

-The general nodded. He had noticed that their erratic movement had slowed down; the destroyer was now almost falling in a straight line, despite still spinning around its axis. It meant their landing would at least be somewhat controllable, a circumstance for that he was very grateful. "Send out a distress signal to the fleet." he commanded. Assuming they didn't immediately explode on impact, he would need help with getting off this rock. He knew that if their course had been vaguely correct, this planet had to be close to Confederate space, meaning that one of his ships should be able to arrive within a few hour's time.

-"Already transmitting. Our probability of survival is currently 87%." the droid added helpfully.

-Grievous breathed a little easier. This was not going to be pleasant, but it would not be his demise. With the immediate threat now somewhat under control, he finally had time to consider his options. He addressed his bridge crew: "Keep slowing us down as much as you can. And give me data on that planet. I want to know what we are dealing with here."

-Cody reached down, and together with Sergeant Grey next to him he pulled in the last of their brothers who had been stranded on the hangar floor. The trooper was barely conscious; his legs were dragging behind him uselessly: at some point in all that chaos something must have broken them. The clone that had assumed the role of medic for their ship immediately took over and strapped him to the bunk in the back, where two more wounded men were already being seen to.

-The emptying hangar had finally allowed their pilot to drift over to the stragglers and pick them up, very carefully. Those who were still alive, that was; a few of them hadn't been so lucky. It was just adding to the number of men he had lost today. Cody did his best not to think about them. Just a few more names…

-All but a handful of gunships had left the hangar; his would be the last. Except for Kenobi's that was, he reminded himself with a frown. When he looked back, the general's ship was still there in its position, with him just visible, appearing to be meditating. Cody kept his eyes on him. It went against his grain to just leave his Jedi behind, but he also knew that in this situation he didn't have another choice. Just then, the last LAAT/i fired its engines and sped through the gates, leaving the two gunships alone in the hangar.

-"Our turn, commander." the pilot reminded him. "Better get away from the doors."

-Cody reluctantly complied. The blast doors fell shut and the red emergency lights illuminated the interior. His men strapped in as best they could and he followed their example. He did not like it one bit: again, he was unable to do anything, just at the mercy of his pilot's skills and Obi-Wan's feelings. He trusted both of them, to be sure. But he would have much preferred some solid ground beneath his feet and a clanker army in front of him. That he knew how to deal with.

-They were barely 10 miles above ground now. Grievous could make out a rocky landscape beneath him, occasionally interrupted by specks of green. High time to prepare: "Secure the bridge. Raise forward shields. And lock every droid down." he gave out the commands. While the droids obeyed, he looked down one last time, evaluating their 'landing site'. Then his view of the surface was cut off as a second layer of steel plates extended over the reinforced windows, effectively blinding them. Grievous coughed. It didn't matter; at this point they had no influence on their course anyway. He hurled a droid from his console and strapped in, although he wasn't too worried anymore: With their current speed and the shielded bridge, the destroyer's impact would be unpleasant, but most likely no danger to him. Adding to that, the transmission to the fleet must have gone out by now, which meant he was in a very comfortable position, all things considered. In contrast to his enemy, he thought with a hint of malice.

-Reinforcements are coming for me, Jedi. What do you have? Assuming you even survive this fall… Which was not very likely, now that he thought about it. They were far too exposed down in the hangar, and with everything locked down, they couldn't even seek cover in the corridors. Suddenly eager, he activated his console and searched for a transmission of the hangar. He had to see this…

-Where were they?

-Grievous thought his eyes deceived him for a second: Safe for a handful of gunships and landing craft, his hangar was completely empty. The bulk of Republic forces that had filled out everything only minutes before was suddenly nowhere to be seen. And neither was the Jedi.

-Somehow, though he didn't know how that would have been possible, they must have exited the hangar while the destroyer was plunging through the atmosphere. Kenobi had escaped again. Grievous snarled viciously; he was about to hit something. Every time, he thought he had him…

-It took a moment, but through his initial anger, the other implications of the ships not being there hit him: If all those clones had indeed made it out, they- and the Jedi- would have a small fleet of functional transports, while he sat on an immobile ship. And they knew that, too; they would head for his command ship the second it hit the ground, in hopes of finishing him off easily. Which meant, the cyborg realized, that even if their signal went off, reinforcements would arrive too late to accomplish much. He coughed irritably. This situation had very unexpectedly turned on him.

-His eyes swept over the hangar on screen and over the bridge, calculating. His ship would hit the ground any minute now; his options were very limited. But he still had a few cards left to play. And if they were too weak, then he could still bluff: "Activate all bombers and landing craft that are still functioning and have them take off!" The urgency in his voice compelled the droids to hurriedly pass on the command to the hangars. Grievous watched impatiently. Most craft would probably be destroyed immediately, but for now he didn't need them intact; he only needed the effect.

-The comlink emitted a surprised cry: "What the…!" Suddenly, their ship made a sharp turn to the right, so abruptly that Cody was barely able to hold on. The next second, he and everybody else was thrown backwards as the pilot seemed to give full power and sped forward. There was no immediate crash, but their craft still trembled heavily at the sudden strain. The commander regained his footing with difficulty. What the hell is going on?! The closed blast doors offered no answer. He cursed under his breath: He was so sick of not knowing what was happening…

-After a few long moments, the ground stabilized somewhat. His com activated and transmitted an extremely shaky breath: "Phuu! Commander, we're out!"

-Cody made no attempt to hide his irritation: "What happened there, pilot?"

-"You saw those bombers on the ceiling, commander? Yeah, the clankers turned them loose. I think they all just started there! We were lucky we didn't collide with any."

-That didn't sound good. He expected further details, but the pilot went silent, so he questioned: "And where are those bombers now?"

-"If only I knew, sir; I'm scanning. If they made it out of the hangar, I don't have them on my instruments." A few seconds of silence: "We seem to be in the clear. The air here is breathable; opening blast doors now…"

-The commander was hit by a wave of fresh air. His eyes slowly adjusted to the sudden brightness and he saw that they were still a few miles above ground. The pilot was flying a steady course to the planet's surface. Cody anxiously looked around for those droids; he didn't at all like the idea that enemy bombers could be directly behind them for all he knew.

-A roaring sound caused him to look up: Some miles away, the destroyer fell from the sky, trailing a fiery blaze. Cody stared after it. It looked like it would hit the ground hard. He really hoped Obi-Wan had made it out…

-Without warning, the pilot made yet another sudden turn, abandoning their previous course. Cody tightened his grip on the railing and, after making the mistake of looking down, let out a grunt into his helmet. Their gunship was at full speed again, heading in the direction of the falling destroyer.

-A few feet away in the cockpit, the pilot's eyes were fixed not on the giant ship, but on a small speck in front of it that was falling from the sky as well, its outline barely visible against the clouds.

-"Brace yourselves!" the Jedi shouted over the noise. It was a helpless gesture, he knew, but he couldn't do much else. This had gone horribly wrong: He had just been able to see the droid fighters activating all around them before the pilot had closed the doors and ejected them out of the hangar. What disturbed him most was that he had felt no warning in the Force. Then there had been an explosion in immediate proximity to their ship, and suddenly they were falling, so fast that it was clear the pilot had no control anymore. Obi-Wan immersed himself in the Force and searched for a way out, but to his discouragement he found none. All he felt was a growing sense of despair and acceptance all around him. When he looked around, he saw that the troopers were all standing there in silence. He felt a sudden anger, directed at himself, and almost voiced an apology, but nothing came out. Instead he cursed: This was a lousy way to go. Cody and his men had gotten out though; at least Obi-Wan hoped that they did.

-Then a metallic screeching unexpectedly disturbed the sense of finality in the ship: "Everybody hold on; I'm opening the doors! Get ready to leave!" the pilot yelled, barely understandable over the com. Before anyone could react, they were suddenly hit by a gust of wind and the sharp stench of burning metal. Obi-Wan had to tighten his grip before he was swept out of the opened ship. Right behind them, he saw the engines burning, the fire only inches away from the transport bay. In the face of that, he wasn't sure what the pilot hoped to accomplish.

-Then a second gunship pulled up next to them, matching their falling speed. It came as close as possible without making contact with the burning wreck, with its doors opened and the clone troopers inside waving at them hurriedly. It took Obi-Wan a second to take this in. But then he overcame his surprise and took a step back. He barely heard the yelled: "Go, go go!" as the pilot somehow balanced out the floor, levelling it with the second ship's with one last effort of the engines. The Jedi's muscles tensed, his mind going empty, before he made the jump over the chasm between the two ships, aided by a force push.

-His head hit the side of the gunship and a blinding pain went off in his shoulder. He blindly grasped for the doorframe and felt himself sliding off. Then two troopers caught him by the wrist. With an effort they pulled him in. His head spinning, the Jedi turned around and hastily raised his hands, fixing his eyes on the burning transport and the men standing in the opening. Using the Force in a rescue attempt, he got a hold of two troopers and yanked them towards them, trusting on the clones to make the catch while he focused on the others. He pulled out a third and reached for a fourth and then…

-Within a blink, the gunship was no longer beside them. In his confusion, he almost lost the man in his grip, before an arm shot out and got a hold of him. Obi-Wan caught himself and quickly reached for the man as well. The two of them just managed to get the trooper inside before something dark rushed past the ship, missing his feet by only a few inches. When the Jedi looked up, he saw a forest of stone spires looming to all sides. He realized that they had just narrowly missed one of these. Their pilot had pulled up just in time to evade.

-Beneath them, an explosion lit up the rocks.

-Obi-Wan fell back on the floor. He was aware that they slowly stabilized and gained altitude, leaving the death-trap behind, while he stared at the blank metal. His head was empty. For a few moments. Then the situation replayed in his mind.

-A pair of boots stepped into his field of view and he looked up to see Cody standing over him. He hadn't even realized the commander had been beside him. His voice was strangely muted by the helmet: "Sir? We are clear for the moment. We don't have a visual of the enemy cruiser anymore, but the pilot tracked its crash." He paused. "What are your orders, sir?"

-Obi-Wan stood up hesitantly and walked over to the doors. He looked ahead. There was a column of smoke behind the horizon. They were heading straight towards it. He shook his head: What now? He didn't receive an answer.

-The troopers didn't share his hesitation: "No explosion." one of them stated. His presence vibrated with barely supressed anger. "The clankers must have managed a soft landing."

-"Yeah, but they will be sitting ducks right now." a second jumped in. His voice was very controlled: "We should go after them, I say."

-Obi-Wan looked at them blankly. They were right.

-Silence settled over the gunship. The troopers were looking at their general. Cody adjusted his blaster, but made no attempt to say anything. After a while, the pilot was the first to speak up again: "Still don't have a reading on those bombers." he informed them.

-Kenobi's eyes passed over the soldiers assembled in the small space. Outwardly, they were all silent. He stopped at one trooper lying in the back, unmoving. A piece of metal was sticking out of his helmet.

-His look went back to Cody: "Search for a landing site and bring us down." he said numbly.

-The commander nodded wordlessly and passed the order on to the pilots. Their gunship corrected its course and headed for the rest of the fleet, speeding up as the spires behind them vanished from view.

A/N: I'm no science expert, so the details of the crash, especially everything concerning gravity, might have been complete nonsense. Be merciful with me.