Chapter Nine

The Onslaught Part Two

Vanuy extended his furry hands behind his head, gazing out the viewport of the ship. Belo sat beside him in the co-pilot seat, his trunk wiggling as he looked over the equipment. Life had taken an unexpected turn for the both of them six weeks ago. After being caught red-handed trying to steal Ta'sa's wallet, they had offered for the both of them to work and care for the ship during their trip. Granted, flying around to battle-zones and investigating the cause of the Mandalorian Wars was dangerous, it was a lot better than living on the streets of Coruscant.

Jove had said she understood what both he and Belo had gone through, but he wasn't so sure she understood what Belo had been through. His life had been a lot rougher than his own when they had met each other. Vanuy glanced over at his friend, who now seemed to be alarmed about something. He started pointing at sensory data.

"What?" Vanuy said. "What is it?" He looked over what he was pointing at. Vanuy's snout dropped open as he looked at the information. He punched the comlink for the entire ship.

"Jove, you should get in here." Vanuy said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Her voice came back immediately.

"The Mandalorian Fleet is here…and it's big,"

***

"Look, kid. I don't know what your problem is but you need to pull it together." Maverick pulled Aaryn up to his feet. Harman had long since ended the holo transmission to take command of the coming battle. Aaryn looked around the command station of the Citadel, everything was seemingly in slow motion as the Republic soldiers stationed there were abandoning their posts.

Do not be doomed to die on this planet, use the Force… A voice whispered to Aaryn. He wasn't sure where it came from, or what exactly had told him, perhaps the Force, but it snapped Aaryn back to his senses. Aaryn looked at the expansive comm station, it was now time to act. He ran to it, broadcasting to the entire planet and to anyone near who would be listening.

"The Mandalorian's are here! If you are still on the planet, it is time to get off now. Please, listen to me. Get away from Jebble, as fast as you can! May the Force be with us all." Aaryn put the transmission on a loop and turned to Maverick.

"We have to get out of here," Aaryn said.

"You think so? Wow, that Jedi intuition of yours sure is great! I've been saying that since we've got here, genius." Maverick growled.

Aaryn balled his fists up, reaching for his comlink. Before he could call Jove, her voice broke through.

"Aaryn, we're right outside."

"Got it, we are on our way."

Aaryn and Maverick quickly made it out of the building and into the Divinity, both rushing to the cockpit. Jove piloted the freighter up into the atmosphere, the sub-light engines blazing.

"Wow, look at that." Ta'sa muttered. They all saw several hundred ships also racing for the escape of space, apparently haven got Aaryn's message.

"Belo, put be through to the Republic Fleet." Aaryn said, standing over the small blue Ortolan. Belo nodded, punching the buttons with his pudgy hands.

"I'm a little busy, Jedi." Harman's voice abruptly came through. Aaryn could see the four Hammer-head class warships had now started to move into a defensive position. Approaching rapidly was the massive Mandalorian Fleet.

"I know you are planning to jump to hyperspace any second now, but you can't! Not yet." Aaryn shot back.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Maverick repeated.

"Because you have to give a chance to all of these people fleeing the planet, if you jump now they are all going to be slaughtered." Even more ships seemed to be entering the atmosphere, trying to flee the doomed ice world.

"They made their choice to live here a long time ago, mining this pathetic planet. Hell, the Mandalorians have already claimed it's their planet. We are just here because he had to make our presence known." Harman didn't bother buttering up the truth.

"You've sworn an oath the Republic and to defend its citizens. We can't win this fight, but we can give these people a chance to survive. We have to give them enough time," Aaryn debated. There was a long silence over the comlink. The Divinity had now broken the atmosphere and was heading to into space.

"Alright, but we will need your help." Harman finally replied.

"Of course," Aaryn quickly said back.

"Maverick, Aaryn head to the turbolasers, and fasten your seatbelts…it's going to be a very bumpy ride." Jove said, putting her own harness over her shoulders.

***

Jagi checked one last time to see if his helmet was securely vacuum pressurized. The pathetic Republic forces had only sent four Hammer-head class warships to defend a planet the Mandalorians had already laid claims too years ago. Cassus Fett himself had asked Jagi to lead the Mandalorian forces here to Jebble to begin their planning on the invasion of Alderaan.

Jagi smirked was he looked at his very own Bes'uliik, his boots clicking along the metal surface under him. The loyal soldiers under his command also made their way to either their fighters or Bes'uliik war droids. While Cassus had asked Jagi to lead a portion of their fleet here, Jagi left it in other hands to take charge of the warships during the battle. Jagi felt like his own place was right in the middle of the battle, leading the charge. If any major shift were to happen in battle, he would take command of the situation…from his Bes'uliik.

He climbed on top, securely starting the great machine. He looked across at the hanger from his T-shaped visor at two of his soldiers, Gav and Ding. He nodded once, and that's all it took. The entire hanger came to life, teeming with energy. The Mandalorians were ready and wanted battle…now.

"Kote!" Jagi called over the Mandalorian com. The bay door opened, sucking all of the air out from it. Together the war droids and fighter zipped out of the Mandalorian Dreadnaught and towards their enemies.

***

Jove pulled hard on the control stick, flying just above the edge of the Republic Warship. Behind the defensive line, many ships were plotting their course away from the doomed planet. Vanuy sat in the co-pilots seat, doing a very good job of keeping it together. Behind her Ta'sa and Belo sat working the com station and navigation, with Maverick and Aaryn located on the turbolasers.

The closest Mandalorian Dreadnaught was almost in range to start volleying fire. Something was going on with the ship, it was opening it's hanger doors it seemed. Her heart dropped as she witnessed several Basilisk War Droids and Mandalorian fighters exiting and heading straight for the Republic formation to rip them apart. This fight wasn't going to last very long, not with those War Droids now entering the picture. But it didn't have it last long, just long enough for everyone to make their getaway.

She hit the com unit for the ship, "You guys see what's coming?"

"Yeah, we see them," Maverick mumbled back.

"Get ready," Jove simply said.

Then it happened. The Republic engaged the enemy, firing everything it had at the Basilisks, fighters, and the Dreadnaughts behind them. Jove watched as hundreds of massive green bolts shot across the vacuum of space.

Jove closed her eyes, whispered a small prayer, and then her eyes shot open once again. Vanuy glanced over at her, seeing a small fire in them. She seemed like a totally different person now, more focused and determined. The Divinity flipped over, heading towards the on-coming fighters. She activated the forward turbolasers and began to fire.

As soon as they could, Aaryn and Maverick began to volley fire from the main turbolasers.

"I need more power in the forward shields!" Jove commanded.

"You got it, forward shields it is." Vanuy said calmly, punching in the correct buttons on the top console.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Ta'sa whispered to himself. "We're going to die,"

"Shut up back there!" Jove yelled, causing the ship to go in a wild borrow wheel to avoid oncoming fire. Several Basilisks shot past her, heading straight for the Hammer-head warships. They attached themselves to the surface, and began to rip away the turbolasers. She gasped, watching the scene unfold. The Mandalorians had to be either very brave, or very crazy to ride into the open space on top of those things in battle. The ferocity of their attack was simply stunning.

"Divinity, we need you to get these Basilisks off our hull! Now!" Harman's strained voice called through the com channel.

"We're on it," Jove replied, whipping the ship in a hard turn back towards the Hammer-head warships. "A little more power back in the deflector shields, since we have our backs open to them."

Vanuy instantly made sure of that. Jove noticed that only one main turbolaser was firing now.

"Aaryn? What's going on? Why did you stop firing?" Jove asked.

"Kid said he had a feeling or something, some Jedi thing." Maverick called back instead.

"Blast it, now is not the time for meditation. He's the one that got us into this mess anyway." Jove muttered.

"He ain't here, he left for the cabin area." Maverick replied again.

"Whatever just get ready. We're attacking those Basilisks head on." What in the galaxy was Aaryn doing now?

"Oh, krif," Maverick cursed.

The Divinity raced to the rescue, firing its forward turbolasers and Maverick's. They had to make sure they weren't firing on their own ship. The first Basilisk didn't notice in time, forcing it to retreat from the hull to avoid the oncoming fire. The other one however, did notice the ship and began to fire back.

The ship rocked back and forth from its attack. Jove pressed the attack, not letting up and forced it to retreat from the hull. She flew across the stern of the ship, turning sharp to attack the war droids again.

***

"Commander," Ding said through the comlink. "We have a problem."

"The Dynamic-class freighter?" Jagi asked, already knowing the answer. The ship had forced them off the hull of the Hammer-head class warship.

"It's coming back," Gav muttered.

"I'll take care of it." Jagi menacingly said, urging his Be'suliik towards the ship. The ship apparently noticed his own approach and decided it wanted to continue on its course. Jagi smiled tightly under his helmet. It just made it that much easier for him. Jagi extended the hands of the war droid, latching on to the ship at just the right moment. The ship rocked back with force with Jagi now on top of the ship. The turbolaser on top swiveled towards him, beginning to fire at him. He lifted the arm to rip off the turbolaser when something suddenly caught his eye. A green blade extended to life.

***

"He is going to hit us!" Ta'sa exclaimed as the Basilisk raced towards them, seemingly not even getting a starch from the turbolasers. And then the war droid did exactly what Ta'sa had predicted, and it was now on top of the Divinity. The ship violently lurched back due to the new strain on the sub-light engines.

Jove gulped, knowing that the Basilisk was going to shred them into pieces. Maverick was trying to fight him off their own hull now, but to no avail.

"You've got to be kidding me," Maverick said.

"What?!" Jove clinched her fists tightly around the control stick.

"I've found Aaryn,"

"I thought he was in the cabin area," Ta'sa said.

"He was, and now he is on the hull of the ship."

***

Aaryn, in a red space combat suit that had been stored on the ship, ignited his lightsaber. The turbo fire from Maverick let up only for a moment, he was probably shocked he was on the outside of the ship. But then again, he was shocked with himself. The large Basilisk turned slightly towards its new enemy, pointing its pulse-wave cannons at the Jedi.

The war droid shot at him, causing Aaryn jump out of the way. He used the space-suits jetpack to correct himself back to the hull as the pulse wave shot out into open space. Jagi lifted one of its mounting claws to take a swipe at Aaryn. Aaryn ducked, moving as fast as he could towards the Basilisk, trying to keep steady. Jove must have got the picture and decided to fly on a straight course so she wouldn't knock Aaryn off balance and into open space.

Aaryn deactivated his lightsaber, its purpose now having been served. He was using it only to draw away attention from the ship. Aaryn knew as well as the Mandalorian rider that his lightsaber couldn't cut through. Aaryn let the Force flow through him, moving quickly as Maverick laid suppressing fire on the Basilisk. Just before Aaryn had made his way to the hull of his ship, he took along a missile launcher with him. He detached it from his back jet pack, putting to two parts together.

Jagi looked down noticing the missile launcher that was now in point-blank range. He tried taking one last swipe at the Jedi before he could fire it. Aaryn quickly fired it, causing it to lose its grip and break away from the ship. Just before the Basilisk fell away, Aaryn caught sight of its rider and felt his presence in the Force, it seemed familiar to him. Was it the same soldier that killed Mesco?!

Aaryn let go of the missile launcher, making sure his grav-boots were still sticking to the hull. He made his way to the open hatch on top of the hull as quickly as he could.

***

"This is Harman, we are retreating. Thank you for assistance, and good luck." The Captain said just before the three out of the four badly damaged Republic Warships jumped to hyperspace. The Mandalorians had completely decimated one ship before they could make their retreat. Jove wasn't picking up anymore ships in the immediate area besides the Mandalorian Fleet. It was time to get out of Jebble space.

"We've got to go! Aaryn, are you ready?" Jove asked.

"I'm inside now, let's get out of here!" He called back.

"Course set for Taloraan," Ta'sa said at the navigation seat.

"Punch it!" Jove said her eyes on the shield level as they took a pounding from the Mandalorian ships. Vanuy quickly pulled the lever and the stars stretched into starlines, fading into the molted sky of hyperspace.

The cockpit was silent for a long moment.

"Aaryn saved our lives," Vanuy muttered.

"He is also insane," Ta'sa said not long after. Aaryn Karsa, Jedi Knight, had successfully fought off one of the most feared battle machines the galaxy had ever seen. On top of that he did it during a battle in space, depending on the grav-boots of his suit to keep him stable on the ship's hull. Jove took a deep breath and slowly let it out, if this was any indication of things to come…it was about to get very interesting.