AN/AR At The end.


Chapter Seven: The Theatre of War

The Falcon bucked violently as she came out of hyperspace near Dubrillion. Instantly the dark skies outside the cockpit of the Falcon exploded into a cacophony of color, scintillating between red, green and orange.

"By the Force," Leia whispered.

They could see ships launching from the burning surface of Dubrillion under escort from X-wing and Y-wing fighters, while heavier B- and K-wing fighters flew a second line of defense. Even before the small convoy of ships left the atmosphere, the strange, rocky fighters of the enemy darted in and opened up with their balls of plasma energy.

Nearby, four frigate-sized enemy ships continued to engage the Ralroost, Rejvuinator and the two capital ships' escort craft. The space between the two sets of ships burned with heavy fire. Even with the naked eye Han could see ships flare and then fade into dust as they died.

"New Republic Defense Forces, this is General Solo," Han announced over the com. "Senior officers report."

"This is Kre'fey, General," the Bothan admiral said. "Please forgive me if I am brief. I have a few things dividing my attention."

"I'll bet you do. Traest, the Obi-Wan and Defender are en route with escort and support ships. They should be here in about two hours."

"That's welcome news, General." The Admiral's voice was lost in static. Han looked up and saw the shields around the Ralroost glimmer against an enemy onslaught. As soon as the barrage ended, his voice cleared. "Things are becoming somewhat unpleasant out there, General. Might I suggest you come aboard?"

One of the supporting New Republic gunboats flared out and split in two under concentrated Vong fighter fire. A nearby B-wing began tumbling wildly through space as its primary foil vaporized under enemy plasma. "I might at that," Han said.

Docking was easier said than done. With Jacen and Jaina once more on the quad lasers and Leia once more on the heavy turbolasers, Han wove and dove and blasted a path through enemy ships when suddenly they heard something. "What is that?" Han said with a note of panic on his voice. "What is crawling on my ship?"

Just then Karia arrived. "Dad's going out to see what's going on," she announced.

Han shrugged and continued flying as best he could. Finally he saw the Ralroost's hangar bay doors open. "Coming in!" he announced to the Ralroost, his cockpit, and the galaxy in general.

The Falcon soared through the shields of the Bothan heavy assault cruiser and slowed immediately. Han was out of seat the second the engines started to cool down. He ignored everyone as he ran to the loading ramp and dashed out. Bothan officers stood staring up and Han turned to see Kale Naberrie standing on top of his ship with a meter-long insect gripped in one hand. The insect was kicking giant rear legs and flapping its wings in an attempt to get away. Kale simply held it in place as he hopped lightly down from the top of the converted freighter.

"These were launched by the enemy fighters," Kale said. "You have some hull damage where they chewed through. I got them as fast as I could." He turned to the bay technicians. "These things need to be studied. Do you have any shield containment areas? It will eat through any other material."

"We have hypermatter storage cubes," one of the technicians said. "That's held in a magnetic stasis field."

"That should do," Kale said.

Han watched as Kale walked away. He turned at a presence expecting to find Leia. Instead he found himself facing Mara Jade. "Look, Mara…"

She slapped him. The blow stung as if she struck him with a closed fist. Her eyes flashed dangerous as she let her hand drop. Even so, she still swayed from the effort. Leia was there almost instantly, but Han waved her off.

"If it was Anakin or Jacen, you'd be in Helska by now," Mara said softly.

"If it were my son, he wouldn't have been there to begin with," Han snapped back with a growl. He looked at his wife for a moment, then back to Mara. "Take the Falcon," he said at last. "You and Leia, and the others. Take it and get your boy. My place is here with my command."

The fire banked somewhat in Mara's glare. Offering the ship that had served as his mobile command platform and personal transport for over a quarter of a century was as significant a peace offering as he could make, and she knew it. She nodded. "Thank you."

Han shrugged. "I have a weak spot for ladies who beat the stars out of me."

Under her breath, Leia said, "I'll remember that."

Han grinned tightly and then turned and jogged toward the nearest turbolift. Mara turned and found herself an inch from Leia's steely glare. "That is the last time you lay a finger on my husband," she said.

"Mom?" Karia said.

Leia looked from Mara to Karia, noticing the fear and worry in the younger girl's eyes. "Don't worry, Karia," Leia said. "We're family. We're supposed to fight."

Karia didn't believe it for a second, but neither she nor her mother commented as they climbed back into the Falcon. A few minutes later Kale returned. He climbed up the ramp. "I heard Han is loaning us the Falcon," he said as he arrived in the cockpit.

He looked at Leia, then Mara, then finally his daughter. "I see," he said with forced lightness. "It's a one of those kinds of days. I get that. Are we leaving?"

"We're leaving," Leia said shortly.

"I'm going to ride shotgun," Kale announced. "The least we can do is take some of the pressure off the refugees and Han's people."

Leia didn't ask what Kale meant as he left the cockpit. A moment later, Jacen announced that he could see Kale sitting on the upper hull of the ship. "I guess that's what he meant," Leia said. "Han, do you copy?"

Her husband's voice came through loud and clear. "Copy. I've set up command here. You're clear to launch. Get clear of the theatre as fast as you can and watch out for those bugs."

"Don't worry, Han," Leia said. "I'll take care of her."

"I know you will, Sweetheart. I love you."

"I know. I love you too. See you soon."

"You'd better. Solo out."

The Falcon lifted off the hangar deck and drifted toward the shields. Beyond it, space still blazed with the battle. The moment they left the safety of the Ralroost they came under fire again as a wedge of Vong fighters in perfect precision swept past the nose of the heavily modified freighter.

"Punch it," Leia said from Han's seat. This time, Mara flew co-pilot while Karia and Anakin sat in the navigator and weapons seats. Like his siblings, Anakin knew the Falcon almost as well as his father, and because of his unique mechanical aptitude in the Force, in some ways he knew it even better.

Unlike Han, Leia did not have any natural aptitude to flying. She did, however, have the Force as her ally. The Force whispered to her of dangers fast approaching, and sped her reflexes in order to meet those dangers.

"Wow," Leia heard Anakin whisper. She turned to her left and saw Kale walking on the surface of the Falcon as if it were a nice afternoon on Alderaan, rather than the depths of space. He moved to the very edge of the right loading arm that housed the heavy turbolaser and squatted down like a sprinter about to launch.

Leia understood. "Okay, closer," she said.

"What?" Anakin said. The Falcon turned abruptly toward the four enemy frigate-analogues. "Mom, uh, didn't dad say to fly away from the battle?"

Around them, two Republic gunboats died in billows of flame. "When have I ever listened to your father?" Leia said.

"We have fighters on our tail," Jacen announced.

Just outside the transparisteel windows of the cockpit, Leia watched as Kale stood back up and turned to face the enemies behind him. He reached out a single hand, and everyone on the ship felt the surge of Force energy.

"Okay, we have fewer fighters on our tail," Jacen said in open awe.

A moment later, they felt another surge. "Make that none," Jaina said.

Outside, Kale squatted back down as if about to pounce. The ship started to buckle and groan as Leia twisted it around approaching plasma fire. Somehow Kale held on. Reaching a point he liked, Kale suddenly shot off the front of the ship like a torpedo toward the nearest of the frigates.

"Okay," Leia said. "Now we get out of the main line of fire." She spun the Falcon up, over and away from the frigate-analogues and started flying out of the main theater.

Suddenly the whole sky lit up. Leia brought the Falcon around just on the edge of the battle and even from their distance she could see the Rejuvinator blow. The Imperial-II class star destroyer erupted first along its port and starboard lines. The hypermatter reactor's demise split the great vessel in two main pieces that blew apart from each other. The front section, still trailing fingers of flame into the vacuum, slammed into one of its only remaining gunships, while the aft portion began tumbling toward the planet below.

"By the Force," Leia whispered.

On the other side of the battle, one of the enemy frigates suddenly shuddered and lost station-keeping. The whole ship seemed to swing along its aft point as the bow of the ship swung up and over directly amidships of the frigate beside it. Both ships broke open like shattered boulders. There was little flame-out until the main plasma cannons ruptured their lines. Both ships abruptly exploded.

Just minutes later Kale hovered outside the Falcon's cockpit. He motioned for the dorsal airlock and disappeared overhead.

"We'd better get going as soon as he's aboard," Mara said.

Leia nodded, but couldn't keep her eyes off the now lonely object that was the Ralroost.


"The Falcon is away, General," one of Traest's aids said in open awe. "Two enemy frigates destroyed."

Han nodded. He set up his command station toward the rear of the Bothan's bridge. His idea was to let Kre'fey do his job, for which the Admiral was grateful. Han's job was the overall management of the situation.

"General Solo," Admiral Etahn said over the holonet. "I am pleased to announce the Obi-Wan should be with you shortly."

Around Solo, the Ralroost shivered under enemy fire. "Good to hear. We've lost the Rejuvinator. Two enemy frigate-analogues have been destroyed, but two remain. We are taking heavy fire and are loosing civilians."

"Understood, General. Rest assured, we're almost there!"

Han stared at the holographic strategy board, and then something clicked. "Etahn, drop out before you reach the system!"

"General?"

"Drop out of hyperspace now!"

The Dornean blinked his large black eyes, and then the image in the console to Han's right blinked. "Very well, General. We've dropped out of hyperspace."

"Good. I have an idea. Here's what I need your people to do."

Ten minutes later, the Ralroost began pulling away from Dubrillion with the last civilian transports amid brutal enemy fire. The two frigates began pulling out of the nearby asteroid belt where they had retreated following Kale's intervention. The capital ships began unleashing massive volleys of plasma while intercepting return fire with apparent ease. The frigates had just left the last tugs of the planet's gravity when the Obi-Wan and Defender dropped out of hyperspace. The moment the two destroyers dropped from hyperspace they unleashed a full volley of assault concussion missiles in addition to an intense barrage of turbolaser fire.

The two frigate-analogues shuddered under the barrage, but like the fighters the strange ship shields seemed to be able to absorb much of the punishment. Missiles disappeared and turbolaser fire actually changed direction to be sucked into the odd pockets of nothingness surrounding the ship. However, the barrage was so intense that some shots did get through and large pieces of the rocky surface blew off into space.

In the exact moment the first barrage of turblasers and concussion missiles struck, two squadrons of X-wings dropped out of hyperspace directly behind the enemy ships and fired every proton torpedo in their arsenal.

The Praetorite Vong ships could not simultaneously shield against the heavy barrage from the New Republic capital ships and the torpedoes launched from behind them. The torpedoes struck the yorrik coral without hindrance and began blowing large pieces of the still-tough hulls apart.

The enemy shields immediately weakened as dovin basils attempted to determine which threat was greater. The shifting of the shields allowed more heavy turbo-laser fire to penetrate the enemy defenses. A yellow line formed along the port side of an enemy ship, glowing more and more brightly until at last the chemical fuel used by the living plasma cannons exploded in a brilliant flash of light that ended the life of that ship.

All guns turned onto the remaining vessel. It attempted to retreat only to find itself cut off by a flight of B-wings wielding torpedoes, laser cannons and concussion missiles.

The second Vong capital ship flared brilliantly in its death throes. The individual fighters soon followed, leaving the theatre of war empty.

Han straightened. He heard a muffled clapping and turned with surprise to see Traest Kel'frey and the rest of the Bothan bridge crew applauding. "A brilliant stratagem," Traest said as he left his command chair to join Solo. "Now we know how to destroy their capital ships."

"Assuming we have a numerical advantage," Han said. He switched channels and a three dimensional image of Wedge Antilles appeared. The general was actually in his flight suit. "Wedge, where are you?"

"En route with the rest of the 5th Fleet," Antilles said. "It took some fast talking to get the Defense Minister to authorize the movement. Looks like we're two hours out."

Han nodded. He activated another switch and Etahn's face appeared next to Wedge's. "Gentlemen, I don't like what I saw here. We lost a lot of good people to an unprovoked attack. The fact these ships were powerful enough to hold off two of our best for as long as they did, and even take one out entirely, tells me we are facing a dangerous enemy."

"So we're going to kill them first?" Wedge said, reading his fellow Corellian's mind.

"Damn right," Han said. "We're going to establish a forward firebase on Dubrillion. I don't know why this area of space was selected, but according to what the Jedi said, this appears to be a true extragalactic invasion. If this is the spot they're coming through, then this is the spot we're going to meet them at. When Antilles and the rest of 5th Fleet arrive, we are going to Helska."

"How many ships will we take?" Etahn asked.

Han blinked, and then grinned evilly. "Every last one. I'm going to wipe these bastards from the galaxy."


dajohu--Kale's one strength is also his weakness. Han's rant will help to a cerain extent, but not as much as the general hopes.

Goldenrat--Obviously I did too, but on the other hand if I were Han, Corran, Wedge or even Leia and saw this incredible weapon on our side just walk away, I'd be upset.

darthridian--Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it, and you're right that even with all his power, he can't do everything. But this story is just getting started--we have a long way to go!

Relyan--Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Roosterman71--My Han is not a pansy. He's not going to get drunk for months over a friend's death, no matter how beloved. He's going to do everything in his power instead to ensure those responsible for that friend's death pay. I like my hand better than the canon Han. ;)

The-Knight2000--Thank you. We'll see a little more Kryptonian-inspied chaos throughout the story. Like I said before, this is basically just the beginning.

Thank you all for reading. I hopey ou continue to enjoy!