I gazed out of the viewport of the Resilient, the Venator-class Star Destroyer I used as my flagship. Below us, the city-world of Coruscant glowed with light from the city's skyscrapers. But the Coruscanti were not the only ones treating us to a light show.
All around us, flashes of light illuminated the upper atmosphere. Blue and red bolts streaked through the sky until they struck a cruiser, exploding in shades of yellow and orange. Two vulture droids buzzed past the tower. A small squadron of ARC-170's followed, their cannons spitting green light until the droids exploded. The bridge shook slightly.
Cruisers stretched as far as the eye could see, all pounding each other into a fiery submission. The CIS had launched a surprise attack on Coruscant and kidnapped the Supreme Chancellor. However, what had been a carefully orchestrated strike had quickly turned into an absolute shitstorm over the capital. A lone Trade Federation Cruiser was trying to escape, and, oddly enough, wasn't suffering any damage. I smiled. That's where they have him, I thought. I felt an anxious presence coming toward me. I didn't actually sense the person, just his emotions. Oh, the perks of being a Nautolan. I turned around.
Admiral Harken was speed walking toward me. He saluted briefly. "General Grutar, I have a transmission from General Kenobi. He says it's urgent." He did a quick about-face and retreated to the rear of the bridge, where a hologram of the Negotiator was waiting. I followed, my dark brown robe flowing behind me. I bowed.
"Master Kenobi."
"Knight Grutar," he replied. "Anakin and I are-"
"Excuse my interruption, Master," I started. "I have located the Chancellor; he's on General Grievous' flagship. I can punch a hole straight to him."
The master nodded. "Very good, Amara. Anakin and I won't be far behind. We'll infiltrate Grievous' ship and rescue the Chancellor. Kenobi out."
It wasn't much of a plan, but it was something. I turned to Harken. "Engines to full power, take us in closer. We're getting Kenobi and Skywalker to that ship." He nodded and relayed my orders. I strode to the viewport.
A Banking Clan comm ship was almost directly starboard of us. The starboard turbolaser cannons fired, smashing into the ship with a brutal force. The cannons along the starboard side of the ship fired, punching holes straight into the hull. Red lasers impacted the Resilient, but were absorbed by the shields. "Target the bridge!" Harken shouted.
The dual-turbolaser cannons swiveled, still unloading into the ship. The bridge erupted in a giant fireball, and the cruiser banked hard to the left, out of control. There were several cheers from the clones, but were drowned out as we pulled above another comm ship.
This is Kenobi. We're on your tail, a voice crackled through my comlink. That cruiser will tear us apart.
"I hear you, Master," I said into my comlink. "Admiral! Finish that ship off now!"
A blue beam shot from the underbelly of the Resilient, tearing the comm ship in half. A section of it flew up, colliding into us.
A klaxon blared. "The hull has been breached!" a voice sounded over the intercom.
Kriff, I thought as I rushed to the holoprojector at the back with Harken. "Get me a sitrep, now!" He shouted into the comm.
Starboard decks one through four damaged, a voice crackled over. Unknown casualties, a hazard team is already working on the fires. Several B1's were in whatever hit us, but they're out of commission.
I glanced up to Harken. "How'd that get through our shields?" I shouted.
"No idea, General."
I sighed. "Fine. Keep us updated on the status of the fires," I said into the comm.
Yes sir, the clone's voice said. Harken terminated the call. I began to turn back to the viewport when the holoprojector beeped.
"Another one, sir. Priority, from General Windu," Harken called.
Oh kriff, Windu, I thought, almost panicking. Why in the galaxy would he want to talk to me? I had barely talked to Master Windu, even after Geonosis, and it was usually for a new assignment, another siege. What did he want this time? "Put him through." Harken nodded and pressed a button on the side. A blue display of the Jedi Master dominated the holo. His robes were scorched and torn from fighting droids in the streets of Coruscant when the CIS had invaded.
"Master Windu," I bowed.
"Knight Grutar," He returned the bow, stunning me. Why is he bowing back to me? My brain was instantly scrambled by his greeting.
"We have received word that Master Kenobi and Skywalker have infiltrated General Grievous's flagship on your intelligence. Your mission to escort them to the Invisible Hand has been changed, however. I'm afraid you have new orders."
"Of course, Master," I said. I did NOT want to get on this guy's bad side.
"Clone intelligence has revealed that Wat Tambor may be commanding another Trade Federation cruiser. The Resilient is being ordered to pursue Tambor and capture or kill him. We're sending you the ship's coordinates."
I nodded. "I understand, Master, but what is a Techno Union Forman doing on a Federation ship?"
"That is unknown, however, it is crucial to ending this war as quickly as possible that we capture him alive."
"Yes Master. I'll report back when I have him."
"May the Force be with you. Windu out." He ended the transmission.
I turned to Harken. "Get all of our pilots to their fighters." I started walking to the ship's pilots. Another thought hit me. "And could you get Captain Denos up here?"
"Right away," he said, turning back to the holo. "All pilots to your stations-"
To the pilots, "General Windu has transmitted us the location of a Sep ship that Wat Tambor is suspected to be on. Plug these coordinates in, and do your best to make sure it's the Seps getting blown out of the sky, and not us."
The pilots grinned and nodded. "Yes sir!"
The ship began turning to the right, revealing even more chaos of the battle. The starboard tower of another Venator was alight with flames, and the ship was beginning to drop into Coruscant's upper atmosphere, but a Trade Federation battleship kept pounding it. Another Venator was firing all it had into the underbelly of the ring-shaped behemoth. Fighters swarmed around both ships, exploding into balls of flame seemingly at random. Finally, the battleship exploded in a flash of blinding light, briefly painting the dull gray interior of the Resilient a bright white. I didn't see it. The girls in my visions three years ago had returned.
The redhead was dangling off a cliff from a rope with a bulky blonde man. A giant snow… rancor, almost, was pulling them effortlessly back up. The once green landscape was now covered in snow, almost like Illum or Hoth. Trees were weighed down by the heavy load that looked wierldly out-of place. The rancor hauled the two until they were hanging directly in front of his gigantic face. Please don't eat them, I thought. The rancor roared, showering the pair with snow, until the redhead cut the rope with the knife and plummeted to the bottom.
The pilots were shaking me. Almost everyone was shouting my name. I took in my surroundings. Still on the bridge? Yes. Down in the pilot's bays, apparently. I pushed myself off the ground.
"I'm okay," I said, still a little discombobulated. A clone with navy blue armor, two shoulder pauldrons, and enough ammo pouches to supply an entire battalion, and a black kama dangling from his waist stood by me, his helmet on the ground, forgotten. "Captain, good to see you, but what are you doing up here?"
The clone looked surprised. "I was told to report to you, sir." Confusion was etched into his features, along with countless scars.
"I did?" I asked. To be honest, the vision was what had my full attention, not the cruisers around us. "Oh, kriff, that's right. Walk with me." Denos scooped up his helmet and held it under his arm. A clone had been running toward me with a trauma kit. I waved him away. I started to the back of the bridge. "We have received intel that Wat Tambor is in the battle, on a Federation cruiser. We're going to disable the ship, you and your ARC troopers and I are going to board it. We get in, we get Tambor, we get out. Clean and simple, but be ready for a firefight. The Nemoidians on board are cowards, so they won't put up much of a fight."
Denos nodded. "What kind of resistance, droid-wise?"
"The usual, probably. But it wouldn't hurt to be ready for more, just because this IS a Techno Union Foreman we're trying to snatch."
"Yes sir." The clone pressed his hand to his dark blue gauntlet. "Deadmeat, get the squad to the gunship. We're getting some action."
We stopped at the turbolift. Denos pressed the button to call the lift. "I'll see you in the hangar; we'll get more of the plan worked out."
"Yes sir," the clone said again and nodded. The lift doors hissed open. He stepped in and pressed the button to the hangar. The doors hissed shut and I turned back to the front of the bridge. A squad of vulture droids streaked by trailing two flaming V-19 Torrent starfighters. The torrents exploded just to the right of the tower, sending flaming debris hurtling toward the bridge.
"Brace," Harken shouted as the turbolasers destroyed the vultures. The scorched metal from the torrents and vultures deflected off the shields.
Everyone on the bridge breathed a collective sigh as the debris drifted away. The flames dispersed, revealing a lone Trade Federation cruiser battering a Venator.
"That's it, that's our ship!" a voice called out.
"Lock onto it, now!" Harken shouted. The 8 ventral turbolaser cannons swiveled to target the cruiser. The other Venator's left bridge exploded.
Oh Kriff, there goes our backup, I thought, aghast as I watched the destroyer begin to plummet through Coruscant's atmosphere.
Harken's eyes drifted to me, the surprise in his face was evident. I gave him a small nod. "Fire," he radioed to the gunners.
Gigantic blue bolts tore through the empty space between our two cruisers. Their shields are still up, the gunners called back to the bridge. "Keep firing!" Harken shouted. Soon the space between us was filled entirely with flashes of blue.
The Federation cruiser slowly began to turn away from us. Its engines flared to a bright blue as it disappeared into hyperspace.
Well, I'm foshed, I thought staring at the now empty space where the ship had been only a moment before.
The bridge was dead silent. All of the clones and officers stared openmouthed at our turbolasers pouring into space. "General!" One of the pilots yelled, breaking the silence and causing me to jump. "We're still tracking the ship's location, and have the coordinates for their destination!"
I whirled around, several of my tendrils reaching around and slapping me on the face. "But that's impossible," I protested, convinced the ship was lost. "How do we have the ship's location AND destination?"
"Unknown sir," he said, glancing back down to his display. "It's almost as if they were… transmitted to us."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Follow them!" Harken called to the pilots.
"Right away," they said, and punched commands into their consoles. The turbolasers stopped firing.
The hyperdrive began to hum as the stars stretched into infinitely long lines. The ship lurched forward and we blasted after the Seperatists.
"It may be a trap," Harken finally realized, turning to me.
I looked back to the admiral. "It is almost certainly a trap."
AN: Sorry about the long wait for this! School started and I've been really busy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of What Lies Beyond the Outer Rim. Please leave a review (constructive criticism goes a long way), and I'll see you in the next chapter. May the Force be with you all!
Coat-Rack96
PS I'll have the next chapter of This Swirling Storm Inside up soon.