Here's chapter 4 everyone!
to persevere is to do the near impossible.
Bloodfeud sighed as he stalked through the halls of the Malevolence keeping an eye out for the door that he was looking for. He had informed Dooku of the jedi's escape and as he had predicted his reaction was a sight to behold...At first. Then it just got irritating. And finally it got to the point Dooku just hung up on him, probably to cool off with lightsaber training. Something Bloodfeud wish he could do, but alas he had more important things to do, like remembering where the hell that room was in this outrageously giant ship(he's happy he memorized where his room and all the other 'most important' locations were). Why couldn't this be same size of standard Subjugator class-star cruiser? Honestly. As he moved through the halls of his ship, Bloodfeud thought back to the conversation that had left him with such a bitter taste in his mouth.
Five Minutes Prior….
"You let them escape?!" Dooku bellowed.
"Calm down, old man. So what if they got away? It lets me fight them again!" Bloodfeud said cheerfully. Dooku seemed to shake with rage.
"I don't care about your foolish thrill seeking! Now the Republic will know about the ship and the ion cannon! You may have cost us the Malevolence and the war!" Dooku bellowed.
Bloodfeud passively said "Yeah, one ship determines an outcome. I thought you said you actually knew shit about war, or was it that you really were talking out your ass? Is that why you don't fight out here?"
Dooku's fury, at this moment, could actually be felt through the Force. "If you were as well versed in the art of war as you claim, you'd know a single soldier could mean the difference between complete victory, or overwhelming defeat." drawled the count through clenched teeth.
"Please, I'm worth a thousand soldiers and you know it." smiled Bloodfeud as one of his commando droids brought him a datapad with some unknown information on it that made Bloodfeud smile.
"If you could follow orders perhaps. Otherwise your little more than a stubborn attack dog, with trouble remembering he is on a leash. Or that he is in fact not irreplaceable."
"Oh really?," began Bloodfeud narrowing his eyes at Dooku, "Please enlighten me, just who else is there?"
"You think I'd name them?" asked Dooku crossing his arms behind his back.
"Ha! I knew there's no one!" said Bloodfeud.
"Whatever makes you sleep better at night. Now if you excuse me, i have business to attend to. More important than dealing with a mindless animal. And remember, this ship must be defended at all costs."
Before Bloodfeud could give Dooku a nasty retort for that 'mindless animal' crack Dooku hung up on him. Hm, so that's what that felt like…
"Fucking prick." growled Bloodfeud under his breath, "I hate being called an animal."
Now...
Bloodfeud sighed as he found the door he was looking for, a door with a red medical symbol on it. And just why would a ship filled with droids need a med bay? Well, Bloodfeud needed some, 'unique' treatment from time to time. Once he entered, he was met by a medical droid who nodded at him.
"Ah general. Late again for your treatment, I see."
"Stuff it doc, I'm not in the mood today." replied Bloodfeud laying down on a medical table and removing his right vambrace so he could roll up his sleeve. And the medical droid had already retrieved a needle and was filling it with a neon green liquid, and brought the syringe to the sith lord's bare arm.
"Remember, no attempt to stand for the next 30-60 seconds. Let the serum's immediate side effects wear off before attempting to get up and leave. If you start to see black spots or experience hot flashes, return to me immediately or send for my presence." informed the dorid for the hundredth time. Or was it the twelve hundredth? Bloodfeud had honestly lost count
"I know doc, you tell me every time we do this." replied Bloodfeud as the medical droid plunged the syringe and inject its contents into the sith lord who sighed. Bloodfeud place his free arm behind hi head and leaned back, getting comfortable. Soon his mind began to drift.
In all fairness he probably shouldn't have let them escape, of course had he told Dooku he had hesitated when he saw the padawan, the man would've likely claimed the general was losing his stomach for this kind of work. Of course that was bullshit, as Bloodfeud has killed plenty of padawans with no problem... So why not her? Perhaps he thought that terrified look on her face was cute? Still he's met a few good looking jedi of the opposite sex, and while sometimes he had acknowledged such during their combat, never hesitated. Perhaps she reminded him of someone? But who, he couldn't tell you. He couldn't recall anything about his past. What he did remember was waking up in a medical lab of some sort with a sour looking dooku awaiting him to awake. Even then dooku didn't favor him and sometimes Bloodfeud wondered if he did something to deserve the man's hatred. But of course then he decided he didn't actually care and moved on. Maybe he was just relishing in his moment of triumph too much? Whatever the case is, he didn't know.
"General?", the medical droid's inquiry brought the sith from his musing and back to the world of reality. "You were proving to be unresponsive when i informed you you could stand. I feared that I'd have to run a diagnostic."
"No need for the special treatment doc, just thinking about things." assured Bloodfeud standing up and shaking the pins and needles from his hand before rolling his sleeve back down and placed his vambrace back in it's rightful place. Bloodfeud nodded his thanks to the medical droid and carried on his way, going to room for some much needed rest
Meanwhile….
On a Republic Cruiser Anakin Skywalker was going over his attack strategy with the most skilled clone pilots around. Shadow Squadron. They had to hit the Malevolence fast and hard or many more lives will be lost. Several case convoys and fleets going missing are already being link to the massive, yet somehow elusive ship. With that in mind Anakin skywalker has already developed a plan of action to destroy the ship and perhaps it's leader as well. Admiral Yularen was explaining the basic details to the plan before handing it off to general Skywalker.
"Thank you admiral." said Skywalker as he moved over to hologram of their target the Malevolence R-2 was projecting, the subjugator class star-cruiser's image rotating for the clone pilots to behold. As he began to speak he spotted Master Plo-koon and Ahsoka Tano had made it for briefing, the Kel Dor recovering from his injuries quite well for the short amount of time since his space duel with the sith lord. He regarded the two with a nod, which Plo Koon return and Ahsoka responded to with a friendly wave of her hand.
"Since we can't go full strength on the Malevolence because of the ion cannon, I believe a squad of bombers can evade it and get close enough for a direct attack." began Skywalker, "We're gonna be targeting the bridge. It will destroy the ship's controls and hopefully general Bloodfeud, bringing this war closer to an end." he finished. There was a nervous shuffle of feet from the clones. Bloodfeud was the biggest baddy of the war to date. He had slaughtered numerous jedi and uncountable clones, not to mention he drinks the blood of any living creature he chooses. Most of the clones even began calling him "Blood sucker". A moniker as fitting as it was chilling.
"Skywalker is taking a big risk." Koon noted.
"You get used to it." smiled Ahsoka looking up at Plo who nodded his head.
"Perhaps I will, but still we should exercise caution, especially in situation where Bloodfeud is concerned."
Skywalker finished the briefing and said "Pilots, to your ships." All the pilots got up and quickly got to their ships.
Anakin Turned to see Koon and Ahsoka walking up to him, "Skywalker your plan is most…aggressive to say the least. Do you think your squadron can handle this." questioned Koon. Anakin smirked at Plo koon's question before answering him.
"You tell me." he turns to a group of clones "Matchstick!" he yells. The clone known as Matchstick turns to face his general "You think we can do this?" Matchstick then straightens and said "Without a doubt sir, we're Shadow Squadron minimal casualties , maximum effectiveness."
"Admirable, but even minimal casualties can lead to a failed mission." Koon stated while turning back to Skywalker. A point the other Jedi knew all too well.
"And with Bloodfeud on that ship the defenses will be incredible." Ahsoka stated adding reinforcement to Koon's concern. Anakin could understand the worry coming from his fellow jedi, but at the same time opted to simply shrug it off before reassuring them.
"Won't be a problem snips. We're taking that ship down and Bloodfeud with it." the general stated before walking off with admiral Yularen.
"He seems to inspire great confidence in his troops." Koon noted. Perhaps too much confidence. A danger as much as it can be an advantage, one the enemy would be sure to exploit if it became the latter.
"He does lead by example." chuckled Ahsoka before noticing Plo Koon stiffen up. The older jedi had just felt a disturbance in the force, or perhaps more accurately got him by it like a runaway speeder. There was also something… familiar about it. Too familiar for his liking.
"Master Plo what is it?" asked Ahsoka worryingly.
Koon placed hand on his head while saying "I felt a great surge of anger then power like I have never felt before." Ahsoka looked confused and asked just what the meant for them.
"It means someone has made Bloodfeud very angry."
On the Malevolence….
"What!" yelled Bloodfeud, the fury and scorn clearly evident in his voice. But while many of the battle droids in the room, the shimmering image of count Dooku couldn't look more unfazed. Or uncaring to his 'subordinates' woes.
"You have Your orders General."
"I will not attack a medical station.1)there's no sport in going after prey that's already injured. I'd even call it honorless. And 2)where's all the fun in that? None, there's no thrill of combat to be had against men who can't fight back"
"Follow your orders for once in your life."
"Oh yeah? kiss my ass Dooku." countered the younger man, making Dooku glare at him. His constant use immature and vulgar language was starting to grate on the count's nerves. Did he know nothing of professionalism? Honestly, in his day military commander were refined and spoke with dignity. Bloodfeud was neither of these things, being brash, cocky and overtly rude.
"You will follow these orders and attack this republic medical base. Without it their troops will die, even you must see the tactical importance in that."
Bloodfeud looked like he wanted to give some sort of rebuttal or counterargument but fell silent. Dooku had a point, leaving the enemy with sanctuary for their injured to recuperate and heal would be a blow indeed. But even so this was something that Bloodfeud had no interest in. And rarely had trouble with following kill orders.
"Be that as it may, I have no intentions of-"
"You will follow through on these order and destroy the medical base. That is final." repeated the sith lord one final time. Dooku then cuts the transmission making his order final.
"By the force, do I hate him." he said right before he then turned and seized a random battle droid by it's head and ripping it off with little resistance.
" Change course to the medical base by Naboo."ordered the sith lord, tossing the droid head over his shoulder, finding that act of violence to have calmed his nerves. Somewhat at least. The droids did just that as Bloodfeud left check up on his 'special surprise' for Anakin Skywalker and company.
"Soon it will be time to see just how good of a pilot Anakin Skywalker is." he spoke darkly right before chuckling about the thought of blowing the chosen one to pieces.
Meanwhile on The Republic jedi cruiser….
Skywalker was arguing with Ahsoka as usual. The subject of their little spat this time? Ahsoka questionable 'skills' as a pilot. An argument Ahsoka seemed to be more prepared for than Skywalker had anticipated.
"Admit it you don't like my flying ." she stated, pointing at him accusingly. Anakin was struggling badly, trying to come up with a good lie when Plo-koon and Admiral Yularen walked in. when the admiral clear his throat, Anakin was silently thankful that he had been in a sense 'saved' by his too subordinates.
"Spies have located the Malevolence in the Ryndellia system." Yularen informed the general, a grim air about him.
"That near the Naboo system isn't that where our primary medical base is?" questioned Skywalker, already gaining a new sinking feeling in his gut.
"Yes and it will most likely be his next target." Answered Koon, "But fortunately there are many star clusters in the Ryndllia system. This will be making Bloodfued's trip all the more difficult.".
Ahsoka hesitated before speaking "If i may, but is this kinda strange?" THis cause the others to regard her with a similar looks all saying 'how so' and urging her to elaborate.
"I've been looking into Bloodfeud's files since what happen in the debris field and this just doesn't seem like something he'd do, attack a defenseless medical base. This isn't Bloodfeud's style, I mean has he even attacked anyone who couldn't fight back before?" she questioned. She did have a point this was new for Bloodfeud. After all the Malevolence never attacked a medical transports convoys and squadrons yes. But a medical station or anything defenseless? Never.
"Could be that Dooku is forcing him to do this. That or he's decided his kill count isn't big enough as it is, and just wants to go for the easiest target. Either way doesn't matter we have to stop him before he destroys the medical base." stated Anakin in voice of priority
"Yes well most certainly will. But we'll have to take a little shortcut to get there before the Malevolence." stated Koon firmly.
"We?" asked Skywalker with a knowing and almost expectant smirk. Ahsoka on the other hand didn't look as thrilled.
"Master Plo, with all do respect, are you sure that's a good idea. I mean you're not even fully healed and…" she trailed off when Plo raised a calm and, motioning for her to stop before placing it on her shoulder as comforting gesture.
"I'm more than ready to with you young soka. My injuries looked worse than they actually were as i suspected. Besides," he paused to look around the hanger at the twelve y-wing that were ready for flight, "by the looks of it you need all the help you can get.".
Skywalker nodded and said "Your ship is already set to go. Come on Ahsoka let's get going." Ahsoka looked at Master Plo a bit worried but waved goodbye to master Plo nonetheless and followed her master out.
In space…
Twelve y-wing bombers and a jedi fighter were all prepared to enter the nebula in front of them. "This shortcut should take us straight to the station. And the Malevolence." stated Skywalker. In his jedi fighter Koon added "A nebula can be very unpredictable. We should use caution."
"No worries, general shadow squadron can handle it." reassured a cloned named Broadside. The fighters entered the nebula prepared for anything. Most of them at least. Anakin noticed his padawan was feeling conflicted through the force and decided to investigate.
"Does something trouble you, Ahsoka?"
She sighed and stated "So you noticed."
"Wasn't hard to sense my padawan. So tell me what's on your mind snips?" urged Anakin with a smile. Ahsoka hesitated, should she tell him? Part of her was scared of what his response would be, but at the same time...
"It's about Bloodfeud.I've been thinking about him since your duel with him."
Anakin's smile immediately vanished "Ahsoka why would you be thinking of him. I mean he's a sith lord ,he's killed countless jedi, and to top it all off he's drank the blood of most of them. He's a monster."
To say Ahsoka was surprised by his sudden and anger filled out burs was an understatement. But then again, could she really have expected anything less? She learned quickly into her apprenticeship to the man that he was a passionate fellow at times. Mix that in with his less than pleasant views on Bloodfeud and well... And to be fair Bloodfeud was indeed, a ruthless killer and, for all intended purposes a monster. But then she remembered something
"But then why didn't kill me when he had the chance"
"Well he's killed people as young as you before so it can't be that. Maybe you reminded of someone."
"If that is the case, she must remind him of someone important for I've never heard of the general hesitating, even for second." chimed in Koon after listening in.
"I doubt a monster like that has ever been close to anyone before" stated Anakin spitefully.
"That reminds me shouldn't we pity him? I mean I never heard or seen anything like him, what if he wasn't born that way?" began Ahsoka, having gone through an entire codex of species in the galaxy from Rodians to Lasats only to find not single species resembling Bloodfeud was listed. "What if someone made him like that. He's a creature that can no longer have a normal life because people are too scared of him at first glance to even try to get to know him."
"Maybe we should pity him," began Anakin with sighed before stealing his voice once more, "but that doesn't change the fact he's a murderer or that he's attacking a medical base." finished Skywalker firmly. Ahsoka nodded and tried to stay focused on the mission to save the medical station. But her mind kept drifting back to a sith lord by the name of Bloodfeud.
Later….
"The scanners are useless!" complained a frustrated Ahsoka as she smacked the computer in front of her. This in turn earned an amused chuckle from her master that further grated her nerves.
"This is real flying. No scanners, you just feel your way through." stated Skywalker to his padawan with an ever growing smile.
"He's right Ahsoka. Clear your mind, and you'll see the path." added Plo koon also seeming to have little problem navigating in the fog that currently enveloped the squadron.
"I can't see anything, path or space.".
This earned another chuckle from Skywalker. Broadside then spoke up " I always know where I'm going."
"And where might that be?" Tano asked.
Broadside replied with "I'm going to blow away that ship and its boss.". That earned a chuckle from Plo.
"I can't recall ever hearing a clearer a path." the clones and jedi then began laugh actually enjoying this time before the their mirth had subsided and everyone had a chance to refocus themselves Ahsoka voiced a questioned to her master as he lead the squadron through the fog.
"So Sky-guy,where did you hear about this short cut?"
"Its an old smuggler's route. Used to hear about it all the time on Tatooine." smiled Anakin feeling rather proud of himself for eavesdropping on the smugglers that frequented the place he lived.
"A smugglers route? Oh goody." She said sarcastically. Undaunted Skywalker continued with relaying his information on the short cut they were currently using.
"They call it Balmora run.". Koon then immediately straightens up, knowing that as well. But not at all for the same reason as Skywalker.
"Balmora run?" he asked alarmed and then as if on cue Ahsoka informs the other of it.
"I'm picking up a contact, and it pretty big.". Koon speaks up again the alarm in his voice more present than ever
"Skywalker,we must turn back, it's too dangerous!" warned the kel Dor.
"We have no choice. We need to catch the Malevolence." stated Skywalker not understanding the danger, not that he was trying to. What could be so bad about some regular old smuggler's route?
"Picking up another contact and this one's bigger."
"Skywalker!, Balmora run is the nesting grounds of the giant Nebray Mantas!" yelled Koon. Ahsoka saw a contact pretty close to the ship on radar. And it was big. She turned the turret to take aim at a possible threat, and gasps when she sees a giant creature fly towards them. At this point Skywalker starts to fully comprehend Plo koon's worry. And why only the most daring pilots ever went this way.
"Evasive action!" yelled Skywalker over the com link, causing the squadron to separate in order to evade the gigantic creature. Ahsoka looks out through the window and sees hundreds maybe thousands of Mantas swimming just like a vortex beneath them.
"These gas gulpers are huge." said Ahsoka.
"There's so many of them!" added Matchstick in both wonder and nervousness.
"Don't shoot or they'll panic !" warned Koon.
"They'll panic? I'm about to panic." shouted Ahsoka "These things can eat us!" she added. Matchstick tried to fly under one and clipped his left wing. Smoke immediately started to erupt like a volcano. Skywalker could easily fly through this but he didn't know about the others. "All wings follow me." he commanded. All the fighters followed his orders and followed him closely. He went under and over heads, wings, and tails. Ahsoka saw one in front of them with it's mouth wide open. She thought she felt her heart stop.
"That one looks hungry." said Ahsoka
"Nah it's just happy to see ya." said Anakin cheerfully. The fighter continued until Ahsoka said "We're out of here!". The fighters flew away from the nebula and the Nebrays.
"That crazy trip had better been worth it." said Ahsoka grumpily to her master. Who proceeded to assure her it would all pan out fine. Koon looked out his window and saw that Matchstick's fighter was glowing dangerously on the left.
"Matchstick your ship looks damaged." Stated Koon.
"No worries, Just a scratch." he insisted. Koon then added
"We need to be careful. The lost of a single ship gives our mission a better chance of failure."
Skywalker was about to say something when his scanners picked up a giant mass. Almost as big as the Nebray Mantas they had just escaped. "Looks like we might not be able to 'play it safe'." said Skywalker looking ahead with a hardened expression.
"The Malevolence." Broadside confirmed.
"That is one big cruiser crusher." said a now uneasy Ahsoka Tano.
On the Malevolence….
Bloodfued saw that the medical base had begun evacuation procedures and stated "No surprise that they must have saw us coming.". But bloodfeud did mused that while this ships couldn't sneak up on a dead rancor, it could still take a large amount of punishment, as well deal even more of it out. Even if it's main weapon was a coward's god send. It didn't take long for him to sense the thirteen total fighters coming to try and stop him. 'Cute effort, it really is.'
"There you are, and I thought they'd never show up. In fact I think I'm it's already *chuckles*. All vulture droids prepare for combat. And leave Skywalker to me or else.".
After that he turned and addressed the commando droid that lead his personal guard, "You know the drill. Make sure everything's running smoothly until i return." he ordered making the droid nod.
"Roger, roger. We will not let you down general. The republic will not know what hit it."replied the commander making Bloodfeud chuckle.
"That's the spirit. Carry on." and with that, he walked towards the door to exit the control center. He smiled as he made his way to the hanger, to pick up his 'surprise' for Skywalker.
Out side….
Ahsoka saw the Malevolence turn to face them and a squadron of vulture droids come at them. "Incoming." she warned the rest the rest of the fighters.
"Everyone get ready, this gonna be a tough one." and as soon as those words left Skywalker's lips, bombers and vulture droids collided and mixed signaling the beginning of the fierce battle. Koon detached from his hyperspace ring and engaged a group of vulture droids. The strange thing is, that none of the vulture droids moved to attack Anakin and Ahsoka. In fact they were avoid their fighter, even as the two tried to engage them.
"Uh, shouldn't they be attacking us?" questioned Ahsoka making her master nod in agreement.
"I've noticed it too. It's like they don't have any interest in us." 'or someone else does', "Focus up snips, I got a bad feeling about this."
After several minutes Anakin spotted second wave of Vulture droid coming to aid the smaller van guard that had suffered heavy losses due to the talented and experienced pilots. But what really caught his eye was the Rogue Class-starfighter at the front of the pack leading the charge. From what he could see the ship had been customized with a blood red paint job with gold dcal and a darkened cockpit.
"Who's starfighter is that?" questioned Ahsoka also seeing the fighter. She remembered have run into the same kind of ship while they were returning Rotta (or 'Stinky' as she had affectionately nicknamed the baby hutt) to Tatooine, but neither of them look like the one they now face.
"Don't know, but this can't be good." said Anakin as the second wave converged on their squadron and the red starfighter immediately engage Anakin and Ahsoka's bomber.
"Looks like that fighter isn't shy about taking us on, it's right on our tail!" stated Anakin or in other words "we got guns so can you use them already?".
Ahsoka growled and said "I know, but your flying isn't helping.". Then they heard their com-link go static like and they heard a familiar voice.
"I agree your flying is making it harder to shoot you."
"Bloodfeud." said Skywalker. Bloodfeud chuckled
"The one and only. By the way I do hope you enjoy my sith fighter I think I'll call it Blood-rush." he said as continued to fire at them missing by a few inches because of Skywalker's skilled flying abilities.
"You better start calling it space dust-Ahsoka blast him!"
'So that's her name. Ahsoka.' Bloodfeud thought as he dodged fire from Ahsoka.
"I'm glad you jedi all use the same frequency. I was worried i wouldn't be able to talk to me favorite punching bag and his faithful sidekick." taunted Bloodfeud as he began to trade fire with his opponents.
"Punching bag?"
"Sidekick?"
At the sith lord's latest jab Ahsoka redoubled her efforts to shoot him. Bloodfeud in turn continue to evade her fire, flipping and dipping through space as he choose to take his time to try and line up his shots, favoring accuracy over quantity.
"Ahsoka are you even trying to hit him!?" questioned Anakin making Ahsoka growled.
"You wanna switch places!?" she shot back.
"I'm about to, yeah."
"Have to give it to Skywalker here Ahsoka, you can't shoot for crap." mocked Bloodfeud.
"See even the sith agrees with me, now blast him!" ordered Skywalker making Ahsoka groan in disbelief. Of course now they get along enough to gang up on her.
"Here Skywalker, let me show her how it's done." offered Bloodfeud as they began to simultaneously fire at each other in one hell of a dog fight. Diving, turning, spinning, ascending, the dog fight waged until skywalker pulled a complicated maneuver that caught the sith lord off guard and switched the position.
"There we go, let him have it snips!"
"Roger that Sky-guy." smiled Ahsoka eager to Bloodfeud on the defensive.
"And me without any rear blasters." muttered Bloodfeud as he began dodging enemy fire once more. For a few more minutes this continued, until Bloodfeud felt it was time to play his trump card.
'Time to see who's the real pilots are and who's the worthless posers.' he thought to himself before hitting a button on his control counsel, opening up a secure line with the Malevolence. "Bloodfeud to Malevolence fire the ion cannon!"
"Roger, roger." came the reply of the commando droid he had left in charge,"What about the station?".
Bloodfeud growled and said "If Dooku wants this base destroyed he better come and do it himself. After all I'm only doing this to kill Skywalker" Skywalker paused, "And besides when I'm done with him no one will try to stop our forces." he stated
"Roger, roger." replied the commando droid before turning one of the normal battle droids, "prepare the ion cannon."
"Some of our own will be caught in the blast, including the general."
"The orders came from the general, now open fire or I'll have you shot for insubordination." replied the commando droid. Outside Bloodfeud's comms came to life once more.
"Firing the ion cannon now sir you might want to steer clear out of the way in the next 40 seconds."
"Don't worry I have it handled." replied Bloodfeud as he and Skywalker began circling each, trying to get a clear shot on one another. He counts his seconds until he suddenly pulls away from the fire fight leaving his adversaries confused.
"Where is he going?" questioned Ahsoka, believing they had him on the run now. until Anakin sees the cannon fire and yells " Incoming! We can't outrun that thing, so everyone bank up!" .
The fighters did their best to avoid the blast. Closer and closer the ion disc came. Anakin sensed something above him and looks up and sees Blood-Rush above him. He can vaguely making out movement inside the cockpit, before realizing it was Bloodfeud waving at him. Before he promptly stuck his middle finger up and flips him off, before putting more power in the Blood-Rush's engines and sped off and flying away. Skywalker grunted angrily and says
"Now that just cuts it." he said as he was about to go after him but when he looked he completely disappeared. That was puzzling but Skywalker didn't have the time to wonder about his disappearing act. For instance the progress of one of his fighters.
"Matchstick, your speed is dropping! Move it!" Skywalker commanded urgently.
"I'm giving it all she's got, it's just…." was all Matchstick could get out before his Y-wing's cockpit bursts into flames and started to erupt smoke. His fighter's side exploded and shot out smoke as well. The bomber then stopped in mid air before slowly beginning to fall Most of the Y-wing bombers managed to steer clear but one was not as lucky. The two ships collided and exploded. Finally Skywalker and the other fighters approached the top of the blast. Most of the fighters were able to clear it. Some however didn't make it.
"We lost Matchstick and Tags." Ahsoka reported "Three more fighters got caught in the ion pulse.". Skywalker scowled before feeling a disturbance in the force. Skywalker swerves to the left just in time to dodge three missiles. The missiles then start to follow his ship.
"Of course they have targeting, why wouldn't they!?" said Skywalker as he punched it, swerving and diving in order to try and make the missile lose their lock on. No such luck, "Hey snips, you think you might wanna blast those things?"
"I'm doing my best here! But were in the name of sith hell did these things come from." she stated as she blasted one of the pursuing missiles, catching the other two in it's blast.
"It must be Bloodfeud, his damn ship must have a cloaking device."
"What gave you that idea?" stated the sith smugly. Suddenly the Blood-Rush deactivated it's cloak, speeding towards Anakin and Ahsoka while firing his blaster cannons. Skywalker jerked his bomber from side to side before barrel rolling to avoid colliding with Bloodfeud's fighter. He then made a sharp turn and lined up a shot with the red starfighter.
"Take this!" yelled Skywalker as he sent some missiles of his own Bloodfeud's way.
"Master we needed those rockets!"
"Don't worry snips we got more. Now let's get back to the others.". Meanwhile Bloodfeud was pulling very similar maneuvers to that of Skywalker's before opting to heading toward the field of deactivated Vulture droids. He suddenly banked up and over them, allowing the two missiles to speed past and crash into the deactivated droids. He turns the Blood-Rush around to look for his opponents and it doesn't take long to spot them heading towards the other fighters who already started to advance on the Malevolence.
"I'll just say I was still dealing with missiles." smiled the sith as he sat back and watched in anticipation. Anakin and Ahsoka finally made it to their fellow troops, before pulling ahead to once more take point of the formation. The seven remaining bombers and jedi starfighter approached on the Malevolence, dodging the blasts that came from the ship's defense turrets. The blasts cause much turbulence, and the bombers struggled in keeping formation while avoiding getting hit by one of the cannon blasts.
"This isn't working master! We need a new strategy!" stated Ahsoka worryingly just as one of the back fighter took a hit to the side before crashing into the side of the Malevolence harmlessly.
"No we don't Ahsoka. We can finish this. Even if Bloodfeud isn't on the ship any more we can still stop this thing before hurts anyone else."
"Skywalker, listne to your padawan" exclaimed Master Plo, "We need a new plan, considering we lost about half our fighters already, we'll never make it to the bridge!". Skywalker grunted in annoyance. They were right, but what else could they do? That was when he had a rather brilliant idea and looked to see the ion cannon not to far away. He smiled, having figured out their new course of action.
"All ships head starboard for the ion cannon. We can't take down this ship but we can still destroy it's weapon." he said over the comm. All the fighters that were left ,were soon behind Skywalker, enroute to the Ion Cannon. They all headed towards the ion cannon and fired their rockets. On contact the Ion cannon exploded and entire Malevolence shook from it.
In his starfighter Bloodfeud said "Too bad, I was hoping they'd continue and destroy that ship," he sighs "but at last they took out the weapon. Anyways not bad…. For a jedi.". The Malevolence was thrown into complete and utter chaos as more explosions follow the Ion cannon's rocking the ship in one big domino effect. Fires were popping up everywhere and the ship began to tilt, and the droids were struggling not to crash into each other. Outside Skywalker looked to his right and saw Bloodfeud coming right at him. He then charged at him and engaged in yet another dog fight while the rest of the squadron broke off to deal with the remaining droid that were now aiding their general.
"You destroyed the ion cannon, making that damn ship virtually useless." then, unexpectedly the sith lord began to laugh uncontrollably, "I thank you jedi, I really but, alas, I must destroy you. Still, thanks for the favor!".
"He's thanking us?" questioned Ahsoka "At this point snips I'm not surprised." answered Anakin. Then the Blood-rush suddenly banked up hard and cloaked itself and disappeared, causing the two began to search frantically for him. The red fighter reappeared under them before shooting up them, blaster ready.
"Game over!" howled the sith in pure delight before suddenly being forced to make a hard left. Then his face fell as he felt a disturbance in the force That sharp turn was the only thing that saved him from a cannon blast.
"What the hell?" he yelled. He then saw three Republic jedi cruisers exit hyperspace that had already begun to fire on him and the Malevolence. "Sir we've picked up three cruisers exiting hyperspace." said a droid.
" Uh, hello, I'm out with them, so i can see that!" responded the general, shaking his head. "Give me cover fire and when I get back prepare to retreat immediately got it? oh,and have a cup of blood ready for me, would you?"
"Roger, roger."
"well played Skywalker, well played." Bloodfeud said as he returned to his ship. Obi-wan Kenobi stood on the bridge of the attacking cruiser.
"Don't let up gentlemen. We have them now." Kenobi told the men working who manned the cannons that fired on the Malevolence. In the hanger Bloodfeud started laughing even more. His ship was crippled and he was under attack. But he was so happy. He despised this ship and it's cowardly tactics with all his heart. And now it was on the verge of destruction. He then turned on this heel to return to the control room. He couldn't wait to see Dooku's face!(even with how the last chat they had went)
On the cruiser….
Kenobi stood on the deck of his cruiser with Koon when Anakin and Ahsoka walked.
"Have you managed to contact master Luminara?" Kenobi asked them. Skywalker nodded his head, but the frown on his face his fellow jedi that there had been a problem of some sort.
"She's dealing with reinforcements for the Malevolence. She won't be able to help until she drives them off." reported Skywalker.
"Guess we'll have to this alone." mused Obi-wan, as the cruisers proceeded to fire on the colossal cruiser crusher.
"Luckily, it seems this ships is on it's final leg." added Koon.
However onn the separatist ship's bridge the conversation wasn't as light as the on the jedi were having.
"Looks like this ship is standing on a last leg that's already broken." said Bloodfeud casually as he drank the blood from his wine glass with big and rather irritating smile. Dooku, on the other hand, looked as if he was about to snap at any minute.
"As much as I would like to see be destroyed by the jedi, I can't afford to lose this ship. So I have arranged a hostage situation." he said in a somewhat calm matter, but the rage was clearly etched out on his old wrinkled face.
"And what kind of hostage are talking about here?" asked a amused and somewhat interested Bloodfeud
"An essential galactic senator that has close ties to the jedi. They will cease their attack with her on board." Dooku informed him with his eye twitching slightly.
"Her? This wouldn't happen to beeee, oh, I don't know-Padme Amidala?" guessed the young man to Dooku guessing his exact thoughts. Not that it was hard, the closest planet was friggin naboo.
"Indeed general." replied Dooku before shutting off the comm-link.
"A woman on board, I should make her feel at home." he muttered " And maybe even throw on something formal for the occasion." he joked. After a couple of minutes of ship rocking and on coming blaster fire rushing past the viewing window on the bridge a small Naboo ship exited hyperspace. It immediately tried to avoid the Malevolence.
"Sir shall we activate the tractor beam?" asked a droid. Bloodfeud responded with holding his hand out the ship the stopped in mid air and he proceeded to pull them into one of the hangers with force grip. "I'll take that as a no."
"What the hell do you think?" replied the sith, focusing on keeping his grip. He then continued to pull in the retreating ship of senator Amidala.
On the jedi cruiser….
"Master? A ship just came out of hyperspace., but it's too small to be reinforcements," Ahsoka said as she stared at the scanner. "It looks like it's from Naboo," she added as she turned to the three Jedi behind her.
"Contact it immediately," Anakin said, praying it wasn't who he thought it was.
"Naboo ship, identify yourself," Ahsoka said into the comm. A woman's voice came back through.
"This is Senator Padme Amidala!" the woman said as a hologram appeared on the projector in front of the Jedi. In an instant Anakin's heart jumped into his throat.
"What are you doing here Padme?!" Anakin asked in alarm.
"I heard that the banking clan wanted to organize a treaty and I was sent to these coordinates," she answered. Before Anakin could tell her to run, the ship stopped mid-space. Then it was starting to get pulled back toward the Malevolence, toward a docking bay.
"Tractor beam?!" she asked in alarm.
On the Republic Cruiser, all four Jedi knew it was no tractor beam. They sensed something else. "Bloodfeud's pulling her in with the Force," Kenobi said grimly. Skywalker felt like he was going to have a heart attack.
"Stop firing on the Malevolence! That's an order! We can't risk losing the Senator," Skywalker told the admiral. All the cruisers stopped firing in a short amount of time.
Malevolence...
On the Malevolence, Padme and C-3PO were trying to make an escape attempt. "I'm overloading the power systems," Padme said as she clicked a few buttons on the control panel. Sure enough, in a matter of seconds, a warning sign began flashing on the main screen. "Come on," she told the droid as she headed for an exit. She couldn't use the real entrance, or she'd get captured immediately. Instead she snuck through the open parts of the ship that landing gear had left.
"Come on 3PO," she muttered as she looked around to make sure no one spotted them. When 3PO finally got down (or fell down), they ran to hide behind a large pile of crates far from the ship. The docking bay was in bad condition. There were fires all over the place, crates scattered everywhere, and droid parts scattered; destroyed by the explosions.
Several minutes later Bloodfeud and arrived with several droid behind apporahced the ship before stopping, his personal guard following suit.
"Commander i want you to stay out here with the rest of the squad, while i investigate the ship." the sith turned to two of his red clad magnaguards "you two, with me. And make sure those things are set to 'stun'."
"Roger, roger" came a united reply form the three droids he addressed. Bloodfeud nodded and turned to enter the ship, noting that he smelled smoke from the Naboo vessel's engines. 'Probably burned them out while trying to break free.' he thought rather amused.
Padme watched as the sith and two of his magnaguards enter her ship. Seconds later an abrupt "Shit!" was heard and Bloodfeud was seen running out of there with impressive speed as the engines exploded. Bloodfeud was just out of range not to be caught in the deadly blast but was still sent flying into a wall from the blast. Hard. Padme flinched after seeing , just ouch.
"He should be down long enough for us to escape." she stated getting ready to move. Then as if on cue they heard monstrous growling behind them
"What was that?" asked C3-PO completely full of fear as they slowly turned around to see who or what was standing behind them. They see non other than the sith lord himself. He wore a half scowl half grin plastered look on his face.
"That…really... hurt." he said between his pants. Most of his face was hidden from view since his hood was lower than usual showing only his mouth. But she could still see his chilling icy blue eyes, almost glowing with rage.
'The rumors are true about him.' she mentally noted as he stared her down. He then lifted his hand to the side in a casual manner and struck 3PO with his red force lighting. The droid was shut off immediately. Padme gasped as she saw this, reaching for her pistol on pure instinct. But Bloodfeud seized her pistol with the force and crushed it into a ball. It was then that remaining droids had surrounded her and the sith, blaster trained on the disarmed senator. She glared at the sith general, hiding fear with defiance.
"You've got a lot of courage, kidnapping a Senator," she snapped.
Bloodfeud started chuckling and said "To be fair, it can't actually be called kidnapping if you technically walked right through our front door." A few of the droids laughed at that, but Padme wasn't amused.
"You really think holding me will save your ship?" she asked. Bloodfeud snorted began laughing at the statement as if it were joke before shaking his head.
"As if I care about this ship. In fact, I hate it. To be honest, the only real I had you captured is a simple one."
"And what reason would that be?" she asked, fearing the answer. Under his hood Bloodfeud smiled.
"The Jedi will surely try to sneak aboard to rescue you. When they do, I will duel them. And then I will kill them. You see, Senator, I could care less about this war of yours. I just want to fight Jedi. It's my sole purpose for living. I fight Jedi, I kill them, I drink their. Maybe take 'trophy' if I feel like it. That's what I do, and this ship has only proven to be a thorn in my pale ass, as far as that respect. Until now," he explained to her.
Padme's look of horror was evident, and her thoughts floated to Anakin. She didn't want him to fight this guy because of her. Bloodfeud seemed amused by her fear before chuckling. A quick peek into her mind and one word was heard: Anakin.
"No" began Bloodfeud placing a hand on his stomach, leaning over slightly, "You... and Skywalker?" the look on Padme's face was all the confirmation Bloodfeud need before he burst into hysterical laughter. Ever since the duel against Koon in space, he had been doing that more and more frequently.
Padme's heart beated faster than ever. The fires nearby felt like they were getting hotter as time seemed to slow. "A Jedi in love with a Senator? Isn't that, like, illegal according to the jedi code or something?" he shrugged "Ah, who gives a shit! I have the chosen one's lover as my hostage! Could this be any more perfect!?" Bloodfeud said. Both he and Padme know that Anakin would come running to save the senator's life, and thus right into Bloodfeud's hands. Before Padme could respond, Bloodfeud's hand blurred across her vision. She felt pain explode on her face, and everything went black.
To be Continued….
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! It was a long one but hopefully a good one! Anyway next chapter will feature the destruction of the Malevolence and yet another showdown between Anakin and Bloodfeud. Anyway, i hope you enjoyed and please leave a review! Tell me what you thought of the dog fights? Or Bloodfeud's starfighter? Anyway, see you all next time!