"What is it?" Skye asked incredulously.
Ky'ram could only shake his head in answer, words not finding their way out of him. In front of the two, still connected to the Fondor ship building station, was a large triangular ship. Almost the length of eleven Imperial class Star Destroyers and a stark pitch black, a contrast to the normal imperial grey. Around it swarms of TIE Fighter squadrons flew, looking like fleas around a bantha.
A few sections of armor plating were still missing from the ship, including a large cylindrical tub running the length of the ship on the top deck. Its front came down to form an almost talon like protrusion. All across its deck turbolaser emplacements bristled and hangar bays laid open. Barely noticeable at their distance workers could be seen as specks of dust moving across the hull welding new durasteel armored plates onto the massive ship.
It was clear to both of them that if this ship were to ever be finished it would decimate the entirety of the currently small resistance fleet. Just looking at it Ky'ram almost wished it had been another Death Star, or equivalent sized, super weapon.
"We have to destroy it." Was all he said causing a stare from his co-pilot.
"We?!" Skye almost grabbed the man and shook him in frustration. "We should be contacting the Resistance! We should be ordering a massive attack! We should not be attacking this thing by ourselves with no backup! Us two have no chance against that thing! You're an old veteran force user who barely uses his full power and I'm just a low ranking resistance pilot! We got this mission because we were the best fit but also because we'd be the least missed if anything happened!"
The entirety of the cockpit grew cold as Ky'ram's face grew angrier by the second. With each passing sentence his fist clenched tighter and a small pressure built up around him. The silence that permeated the small room after Skye finished seemed to last for minutes as opposed to the few seconds. Before turning to her and speaking a wave of calm seemed to wash over the old soldier.
"We will send off a message asking for backup of some type, but I don't expect them to get here in time." Ky'ram began to explain. "The nearest base is still three day's travel from here. It took us four days to get here from The Maw, and you can bet your ass that after our little trip there they will speed things up to get this beast on track."
Skye sat down almost devoid of energy. She had been expecting the man to blow up in her face. The fact that he hadn't unsettled her slightly.
"Even if they get here in the time the Resistance fleet is so small that it would barely make a difference here. They don't have more than three capital ships to call their own." Ky'ram continued as he placed a message on a datachip and gave it to Rino. "You're welcome to stay on the ship with Rino and return to the main base, but first you have to get me to a docking bay. Someone has to destroy this thing and we're here."
The man had a slight sadness to his voice; a style of talking that made it sound like he didn't expect to go home from this job. He had started to leave the cockpit and gather supplies. Skye followed after him, intent on convincing him this was the wrong way to handle it.
"Why not come with us and then return when we have the fleet?" Skye asked him as the man grabbed one of the many long rifles from the armory.
"Do you think Luke wanted to run away when he first saw the Death Star?" Ky'ram asked in return, seemingly avoiding the question.
"That's a totally different situation!" Skye yelled at him. "If he had run away the Empire would still be ruling the galaxy! And he had a mentor who wasn't going to just let him run back home scared!"
"This is the exact same thing." Ky'ram said matter of factly, placing a set of baradium charges in his bag. "If we run away now then in thirty years the First Order may rule the galaxy. I'm not willing to run that risk. Rarely do we get to choose when to perform greatness, rather its forced upon us."
Skye stared at the man for a few moments before grabbing a bandolier made of a mixture of explosives. She then quickly grabbed one of the rifles as well.
"Changed your mind?" Ky'ram chuckled.
"The General would never trust me if I didn't bring the second oldest Force user back." Skye teased. "Besides someone has to fly home whatever piece of junk you pick out of their hangar home."
"Listen here girlie," Ky'ram teased back. "If anyone here can fly junk it's definitely me."
Skye scowled at the man and let out a light growl.
"If it's any consolation I don't think I'd want any other Resistance Pilot by my side." Ky'ram said a rare moment of true emotion escaping him. "Unless Dameron is available? Do you think they would send him to take your place if I asked?"
"Just had to ruin the moment didn't you." Skye hissed as she stalked off towards the cockpit to find a safe approach.
"Oh come on!" Ky'ram yelled after her laughing. "You'd think the same thing if Rey had a been a choice to go with you!"
"Ignoring you!" was all the answer he got…
"You're certain that placing the charges here will destroy this whole thing?" Skye asked as she primed one of the baradium charges the two had brought.
"It better." Ky'ram grunted while setting a timer.
"What do you mean?" Skye questioned, pausing her work to stare at the man.
"Relax, I'm joking." Ky'ram told her. "See all these oxygen tanks, and notice that across the hall is the munitions storage?"
Skye nodded as she twisted another set of wires into the contraption they had been building.
"The oxygen tanks will provide some extra fuel giving us a much bigger boom." Ky'ram began to explain. "If the munitions room is next door then a little down the hall should be the true armory. Between the missiles stored in the munitions room and the thermal detonators stored in the armory the ship will either be destroyed or damaged enough that the Resistance fleet will be able to make a real strike against it."
Sighing Ky'ram stood up and looked over the work. All ten of the baradium charges he had brought were wired together to a ten-minute timer, with a backup tampering detector. If anyone tried to deactivate them after the timer started they would need real training to not set it off prematurely. Looking over at Skye's feet he saw her bandolier of explosives and picked it up, placing it over his shoulder.
"Let's get moving." Ky'ram said as he checked the hallway before ducking out the door. "Remember to meet me at the bottom of the ship by the tractor beam docking bays with a ship with a hyperdrive."
"Trust me I know." Skye grumbled. "You won't stop talking about it."
"Making sure." Ky'ram said resisting the urge to ruffle her hair. "Get going I've got my own secondary objective to finish."
Skye nodded as she took off down the opposite side of the hallway. Ky'ram shook his head for a moment and then took off at a jog towards the turbolift nearest what would be the bridge. Finding the set of dual tubes, he called both.
As the first one arrived he finished setting a few of the charges on the bandolier. The door to the tube opened and he tossed the belt of volatile devices in before reaching out with the Force and directing it to go to the command deck. As it rocketed upwards the second turbolift arrived, two storm troopers inside.
The door opened and two blaster shots rang out, followed quickly by two thuds. Ky'ram stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the lowest deck. Right as his lift arrived at the hangar bay where he was to wait for Skye an explosion went off a few hundred decks above him. His only regret was that he didn't get to see it himself.
Stepping out of the lift and into the hangar a quasi-familiar snap hiss caught his attention. Looking out across the bay he saw a man in full black royal guardsmen armor, minus the black robe. In his hands was a saber staff, its red blade easily standing out against everything but his red visor.
"Nice to see the First Order steals all their ideas from the Empire and not just the stupid ones." Ky'ram laughed as he called his saber to him.
The hilt was ornately carved from one of the claws that formed the pincer of an Acklay. Its natural shape gave the hilt a slight curve though some metal had been added to give it more length, almost making it large enough to be considered a saber club from the hilt alone. Engraved on the hilt were the words 'shereshoy', or a uniquely Mandalorian word meaning 'a lust for life and much more', 'ret'lini', meaning 'just in case', and finally Resol'nare, meaning 'The Six Mando'a Tenets'.
With a light hiss Ky'ram's orange blade appeared out of the hilt, reaching a length most would call a claymore. At the sight of this guard took a momentary step back before charging forward at the Mandalorian. As he closed the distance he brought his staff up over his head in a chop which was easily caught by Ky'ram's blade. The Merc took a moment to notice that the man was easily outside of the reach of his own blade and sighed at the thought of having to play so defensively.
"I'm just going to assume that my luck isn't good enough to let that staff pole not be made of Cortosis or Beskar?" Ky'ram lamented almost to himself as he disengaged and made a large sweeping attack from his left.
The swing was caught by the pole of the staff which the man now held in a wide angled grip. Pushing against Ky'ram's blade the man knocked the orange plasma away from him and then made a stab at his opponent's gut. Ky'ram easily knocked the jab away turning back just in time to dodge a boot flying at his armored face.
As he stood up Ky'ram swung diagonally up, trying to cut the man in two, only to watch in surprise as the black armored guard made a large leap backwards. Groaning again Ky'ram could only think how lucky he would be if the explosion would go off and take them both out.
"Of course they wouldn't just revive the Shadow Guards! They would find Force users to place in that division as well." Ky'ram yelled out as he used the force to propel himself at the man.
As he landed Ky'ram flowed into an overhead chop, which the guard caught with his staff pole. As he plotted out his next move the guard let one hand off his staff and aimed it towards Ky'ram. The Mandalorian, feeling a slight ionization of the atmosphere for less than a moment, disengaged his saber and brought it up to block a second before a stream of lightning was let loose at him. His blade caught the attack and Ky'ram let a hand dangle down towards his blaster.
As he unsapped the holster the lightning suddenly stopped and his pistol flew into the hand of the guard. Frowning inside his helmet for a moment Ky'ram reached out in the force and turned the power of the weapon up before crushing the barrel slightly and pulling the trigger. Not even a second later the weapon exploded in the guard's hand. Ky'ram ducked down under the blast and barely caught sight of a black armored charred hand go flying past his vision.
Standing up he saw the guard kneeling down, his staff a few feet away one hand still gripping it tightly. Ky'ram slowly approached the man who he felt reach into the Force to try to defend himself. Reaching into it as well he knocked the man's arm to the side and effectively broke his concentration. His blade seemed to dip for a moment, as the sound of the hangars floor opening drowned out the noise of his blade cleaving through the guard's neck.
Turning to where the floor was retracting he saw a small First Order shuttle, with its landing ramp descended, rising up. Feeling no hostile intent he ran towards the ramp and climbed aboard. Entering the cockpit he found the young female Resistance Pilot he had come with flick switches and lowering them back out of the hangar. They quickly left the large destroyer behind, with no one giving them a second look, as Skye transmitted multiple codes from the ships databanks to the many defense ships stationed around the dockyards.
As she finished keying in the hyperspace coordinates to a midway point between Fondor and the Resistance base a large fireball bloomed into view aboard the behemoth of a ship. While the ship did not crack into multiple sections many armor plates were thrown off and a large portion caught on fire, though this all quickly disappeared as the hyperspace tunnel settled around the shuttle…