He felt movement, and the light was coming closer. No, he was moving closer to the light... Was he? Who am I? Where am I? So bright, so painfully bright... Who am I? The light was closer and closer to him, and he began picking up speed. A jolt through his chest brought him pain in a searing flash, he felt like curling up into a ball and crying. That felt wrong somehow, he hadn't done that since... since when? Who am I?
Something grabbed his hand. Without thinking, he turned to punch it only to find himself on his knees with his hands clasped before him. Still he moved torwards the light, yet it was not so bright anymore. He did not know who the figure was, yet he felt a sense of profound worship enter him. The man looked at him... looked at his very soul.
Moving, still moving... Away from the figure. He stood up, gazing in the distance. He could hear whispers in the darkness, the pain was there again, searing up and robbing him of his sight. Then suddenly, he could see again. Who am I? The figure was glowing, and majestic in appearance, taller then any man had a right to be, and he felt like a child about to cry again. The figure frowned, looking with disapproval on him.
"Bring him back." the voice spoke above the whispers, above the turmoil in his head, profoundly moving him to obedience which made him feel so warm and at peace.
The figure smiled in approval, then began to shrink... He was afraid again, afraid of the light which threatened to swallow him, ever closer... Another searing flash of pain blinded him, and when he could see again the glorious majestic figure was gone... and in its place was a thing of nightmare. Pale blue skin with jet-black hair, his hands held in front of him clasped in chains, but most terrifying of all were the eyes, so fiercely burning red and devoid of emotion.
"Bring him back." the voice spoke again, and the chains on the nightmare's hands were broken. As the light began to swallow him, he saw the galaxy swirl beneath his feet, a bright red point glowing at the center of the disc, a red burning as fiercely as those eyes.
"Bring him back, Henin." the voice spoke, and the golden figure was there. As he stared at it, he remembered it all. The ship, the fire, the blood, the iron resolution he had, and it broke through his mind's defense like a dam. He could see the bulkhead Jericho slammed into, he could see the jump which took him sailing to his knees with death in his hand... He could see...
"...The idiot." Henin spoke softly as his eyes fluttered open. He could feel a mask covering his mouth and nose, but he couldn't mistake the smell. Medbay. He was alive, alive and...
"Easy now sir, we almost lost you there for a moment." the medic let out his breath in a sigh of relief, putting away his equipment quickly. Another medic held him down as he tried to rise from his bed.
"Please don't strain yourself sir, you will only make it worse." the medic whispered to him as he gently but firmly held him back.
"Where. Am. I?" the words were a strain on his tongue, his mouth was dry as the desert he hated so much back in the training camp on Crimson Prime.
"You are aboard the 'Righteous Fury' sir, everything is going to be all right. Please relax now, we must tend to your injuries." the first medic, whom he decided to call Whisker due to his facial growth, spoke.
"Water." he rasped. The medic dutifully lifted his head, removed his mask and gave him a small sip of water.
"Where is the idiot?" he said a bit more forcefully.
"Who? You were saying that a lot while you were under." the puzzlement on Whisker's face was evident, and his apparent habit of stroking his whiskers was irritating. He didn't know what happened to his boys, and this fool was fondling his facehair... He forced himself to remain calm, he would win no favors from the General if he had to deal with a certain raging patient jumping off his bed to choke the living shit out of the medic in the Medbay.
"Jericho, Trooper, Second company, Legio Irae, LI0207" Henin rolled it off.
"Ah, him." the medic said looking somewhere beyond his bed.
Henin looked to his left as well, and he could see Jericho on the bed besides him, missing his right arm at the shoulder, looking at him.
"Sir." the trooper muttered.
"You're an idiot Jericho." Henin said while looking at him.
"So I was told sir."
- - - - - -
"Thirty two troopers, General Borokal, one battlebird." his second rolled it off.
"Wounded?" Hadis asked, turning around the question in his mind what the fuck was Borokal doing leading the assault on that ship. He couldn't find an answer to it. Looking out of the viewport and the hyperspace tunnel outside, which he did not see in his mind's eye. Thankfully this was the last ship they were reading out the losses, 'Blood Oath' was particuliarily bad, it would require atleast a week to get it up to combat effectiveness. They left it behind on Anaxes, to fix a part of the damage and provide escort for the convoy from the capital which arrived an hour late to strip the battlefield for factory materials. Little enough as it was, the surface of the planet yielded more, after they bombarded the high population centers from orbit.
"Fourteen in the medbay, we recieved a report not 12 minutes ago that one of the worst cases, commander Henin, woke up from his coma sir."
"Henin? Wasn't he the one who led the assault on the bridge of the Cruiser after Borokal had his... accident?" Hadis grimaced, thinking of the sheer idiot luck of it all. The chances of a General leading the assault through the outer corridors of the bridge, happening to coincide with a turbolaser from the Cruiser ripping off the engine-and-wing off a battlebird, which smashed into the bulkhead and vacuumed the general into space... presumably if he survived the crash of the bird itself. Bloody unlikely, yet it happened.
"Aye sir, the very one. Examination of the videos from his squad's helmets was very intense."
"I know." Hadis said, thinking of the particuliarly nasty scene from Henin's helmet, the last scene in fact, of the Bothan on top of the stairs recieving a round in the balls. He started to curl into a ball screaming when a bright flash of light ended the video. He had walked through that bridge after it was done, while the rest of the fleet was busy counting its casualities which were suprisingly light, except on the 'Blood Oath'. He walked in the blood and avoided stepping on the limbs of the unlucky Bothans, inhaling the stink of the place. There was shit everywhere, he realized then. Some of the Bothan's loosened their bowels before death took them to its cold embrace. He looked at a Bothan then, with his private parts blown off, a nasty piece of business. Curled up in a ball, he looked peaceful as a baby, if one didn't look at the chunk of durasteel from the ceiling that crushed his elbow as it was brought down. He wore an Admiral's uniform, and Hadis shuddered at the sight. By the grace of the God-Emperor, that could have been me. With my balls blown off and my arms crushed, bleeding like a stuck pig.
He shook out of his reminiscence as his second told him something he didn't hear.
"Admiral? What are we doing about the Army command aboard?"
"Appoint Henin as the General of the Legio. He earned it today."
"Very good sir. We should be arriving in the Thalasea system soon. I've taken the liberty of assessing the status on our battlebirds, they are at 86 capacity."
"Which is very good, considering the odds we faced. Commend the battlebirds, and express my deepest regrets at their comrades from the 'Blood Oath'. The execution was a sad and terrible affair." Hadis nodded to his second. Unfortunately there was no way around it, he wouldn't have his own men destroy their ships just to paint a couple of more skulls on their wings. The Republic will be trying hard enough. Lieutenant Yule's execution was a necessary if sad act, it would hopefully bring the remains of his squadron to heel.
"Coming up on Thalasea in two minutes lord Admiral." the report from the helm officer came.
"All systems report in." Hadis requested.
"Weapon control ready."
"Communication ready."
"Fighter control ready."
"System control ready."
"Helm ready."
"Engine room ready."
As the reports came in, the clock ticked to ten.
"Countdown to exit, five... four... three... two... one... exiting hyperspace." the helm officer reported. He seemed a bit more sure of himself if Hadis was any judge of character. Good, this shakedown cruise wasn't so bad after all if it got the helm to stop fidgeting with his lips every time they jumped into hyperspace or exited from it.
"Sensors read multiple targets in orbit of the planet, no military response present so far. 'Righteous Fury' and 'His Majesty' have exited hyperspace and are assuming formation."
"Shields activated, battlebirds standing by."
The tactical screen began to blink as information was fed into the tactical computer. Ship configurations appeared several of what appeared to be freighters landing on the planet or leaving it. As it was, it looked like a beautiful morsel to capture, but time was of the essence here. The Star Destroyers approached at flank speed, well past the point where gravity no longer allowed ships to enter hyperspace, before anyone bothered to hail them.
"This is Flight Control to unidentified ship, please transmit your identification, your cargo manifest and your flight plan." the bored voice of some flight controller obviously bored beyond his wits handling traffic.
Hadis smiled. He keyed in the orders to 'Righteous Fury' and 'His Majesty' to approach to closer range before launching their birds.
"This is Flight Control, please respond or we will be forced to restrain you."
Hadis frowned, few people made threats in these days, the Vong had everyone on their toes from what he was given to understand... On their toes... And a bored Flight Controller was...
"All ships launch birds, open hatches and open fire immediately! Jam their communications!" he ordered. Acknownledgements came in from the other ships as fighters poured from the docking bays, and hatches began to open along the hull while turbo laser batteries rose from their compartments. The first volley was fired just before the first freighter rose its shields.
"Contacts in sector B3, ship designations being drawn..."
The tactical screen came alive with red dots as the freighters raised their shields and began returning fire. Too much fire for freighters to possess, too much. Red points of light appeared by dozens on the screen, and Hadis could notice fighters being launched from the bigger freighters. Apparently they turned some into carriers and others into mobile defensive platforms. Behind them, three white triangular shapes were approaching, designated as Victory Star Destroyers, including an Interdictor cruiser which promptly began warming up its gravity well projector. They were launching ships as well.
The only positive thing they had was, they approached too fast and too close to the planet and the freighters orbit. That put them out of the range of the bulky Star Destroyer's devastating guns. It also put them in dead sight of the freighters and their guns. First flashes of hot light were traded, and the freighters were getting the worst of it. 'His Majesty' was lucky enough to fire a volley while one of the carrier freighters was launching fighters, and temporarily lowered its bow shield for the fighters to pass. The deadly payload struck the carrier with punishing force, detonating God-Emperor alone knew how much starships and valuable fuel. Another stroke of luck was, the blast overloaded the shields on an unlucky modified corellian corvette just closing formation with it to offer protection which overlapping shields would allow.
"Weapons, concentrate all firepower on the Corvette." Hadis calmly ordered. It took weapons control full two seconds to fire the volley, and it wasn't perfectly executed at all. The fore guns fired first, the aft and bow guns fired with a delay. He hoped this wasn't another technical mishap, those seemed to be happening alot these days.
As it was, the first shots hit the midsection, while the second shots ripped through the corvette's engines. The ship was venting air and people into space, with fires guttering in the holes punched through their engines.
The battle was descending into chaos and melee's. Hadis saw the 'Righteous Fury' rip through a freighter and begin manuevering to avoid the planet's atmosphere, though the freighter still impaled on its ramming spike didn't the manuevering that close to the atmosphere and the gravity well. The ship shook beneath him when the Star Destroyers opened fire.
"Turn us around. Order 'His Majesty' to deploy itself against the Star Destroyers." There was no other choice, those warships packed more firing power then the freighters, it would rip them apart unless...
"Belay that order, order 'His Majesty' to engage the freighters. Fighter Control, all operational battlebirds are to engage the Star Destroyers at point blank range and try to disable what weaponry they can, if possible take out their shield generators. Engine room, drop speed to flank and rerout all power to shields." Hadis ordered, remembering the lessons about the various weaknesses of capital ships. One weakness the Star Destroyer line of production of the Empire of old shared, was the exposed shield generators and the mounted guns not good at tracking small craft.
Another red dot blinked out, and then the 'Judgement' shook. And again. And again. Then lights blinked and went out.
"What the hell was that?" Hadis turned around, eyeing the crew pit.
"Last I heard from Engineering was something about ion cans sir."
"That makes no sense, what cans are..." the second in command started to talk. The ship shook hard, and out of the viewport Hadis could see air venting out of a hole punched further down the fore of the ship. The lights blinked and came back on.
"Shields are down, restoring now!"
"Damage reports section 1 open to vacuum, bulkheads are sealing!"
"Engines back on!
"Shields are online at fifty percent and climbing!"
"Weapons online!"
"Rerout all engine energy to the shields, I want them at maximum as soon as possible. Weapon control, fire at will on the Destroyers." Hadis ordered as he waited for the tactical computer to reset. He was looking out of the viewports when he noticed the 'His Majesty' taking fire from the surface of the planet. Ion cannons! They were coordinating the Ion cannons with the fire from the Star Destroyers, he realized. Only the heavily armored carparace of the ship saved them from destruction. He thought those Star Destroyers had more firepower though...
"Six battlebirds lost, the fighter commander reports objective complete on the port Star Destroyer, they're doing their best to bring down the shield on the other one."
"Excellent work! Weapons, open fire on the starboard Star Destroyer."
Starfighters began to fly around the 'Judgement', clearly the enemy thought to do the same by disabling their shields. Thank the God-Emperor they weren't on a visible place, as it was the fighters were left with nipping at the hull. Hadis grimaced, they could still cause severe damage, but better to ignore theirs then the fire from the Star Destroyers. His thought didn't even finish when an explosion detonated on the Star Destroyer they were attacking.
"Report." he asked.
"One shield generator down sir, one battlebird lost."
"Weapons, power up the weapons to maximum, I don't care if they overload. Full volley on the bridge of that Star Destroyer. Flank speed, take us in."
The silence of the guns on the 'Judgement' was ominous for a brief moment. It looked as if the battleship was giving up, silencing its guns amidst all the chaos of the battle. Then the guns of 'Judgement' opened fire. Several explosions riddled the deck as turbolaser batteries blew up from the overload, but most of them fired without problems. The shields of the Star Destroyer held for a moment, then fully collapsed.
"Heavy damage on 'His Majesty' sir!" a call came out amidst the cacaphony of the cheering on the bridge of 'Judgement'.
Hadis turned around just in time to see ion fire slamming into 'His Majesty'. Like before, the lights on the Destroyer blinked out and died, and on the tactical computer where noone was looking, the small gold circle around a blue dot vanished. Outside, the freighters were bloodied but alive. Well able to deliver point-blank damage to 'His Majesty'.
"Bring us around, full speed on the freighters!" Hadis was terrified now, their entire plan was in peril now. The lights on 'His Majesty' began to flicker, then die again as another ion blast struck the battleship, disabling it once again. Not far away from them, 'Righteous Fury' delivered a full broadside slamming into a freighter's aft section, sending it tumbling out of control with its engines going on and offline erratically, furtherly complicating its rotation. 'Judgement' was nearly out of its turn, and all power was redirected to the engines in an effort to rush to their comrade's aid, and Hadis started biting his nails.
The shields aboard 'His Majesty' flickered and for a moment came online, weak but functional... A shadow appeared on the bridge tower, followed by the freighter wildly spinning out of control as it went through the weakened shields, into the bridge tower. Somehow, all that strain of kinetic energy served only to detonate the power generator aboard the freighter, exploding in a brutal detonation which ravaged the bridge tower.
Hadis dropped his head in grief and failure.