It's Sunday, which means a new chapter! What happens, you may ask? I can't say, but Megrez doesn't slap Zeth (Not yet at least). Anyways, here is "Chapter 10: Escape."
Chapter 10: Escape
Zeth smiled at Athie, then turned to face the table. "My escape from you soldiers is delayed. The Ebony Hawk is experiencing engine failures during startup." He turned to a Lieutenant, the same one he spoke with a few days ago. "Can you get a tech on that? It would mean a lot." His answer was a brisk nod as the junior officer turned on his heel.
"Back to what I was saying before I was rudely interrupted." Megrez had both hands on the holo-table, which broadcasted an Image of Lothal and 7 red dots which Zeth assumed represented enemies, "The Grand Admiral's task force just appeared above Lothal a few minutes ago. This leaves us with two options, we fight..."
"Or we flee." Athie finished Megrez's thought. He nodded.
"If we fight, we are risking the lives of everyone in this cave. We would probably run out of food, then ammunition, then manpower. Food would run out in a few weeks, ammunition a few months, and manpower soon after that. If we flee, we can fly in low atmosphere fly off on the other side of the planet. We can reach a cruiser at our original landing point and tow the Ebony Hawk after us if needed."
Everyone around the holo-table contemplated both options. It was either lose everyone on land combat for sure or maybe lose everyone during transport. Zeth let a long breath out of his nose, causing everyone to look at him. "I think," he said, "We should evacuate. The odds would be more in his favor." Everyone around him nodded, agreeing. "Good, let's start moving out. Athie and Nikeki, with me. May the Force be with us all."
He would have to just hope the odds were in his favor.
He would have to just hope the odds were in his favor.
Grand Admiral Thrawn sat in his command chair, his face propped up on his blue hand. His intelligence personnel has reported that the rebel forces were evacuating. The location of their destination was irrelevant, as he could easily find it. The only question was where were they leaving planetfall, near them, or on the other side of the planet? Most likely the latter if they wanted to conceal their escape.
"Captian," Thrawn purred, "Can you direct our forward scopes on the rebel's base?" The Captian nodded and turned to his first officer to give the command. The Grand Admiral stood and strode to a holo-table that showed a map of the planet that they hovered above. He put a hand to his chin, stroking it. He murmured some words in the language of the Chiss. He turns and walks up the command walkway to look out the forward viewports.
He keyed his comlink on, "Captian Livon of the cruiser Adarga, this is Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Chimaera. Move to the following coordinates that I am sending you now." He nodded at a tech seat to the right and below him. His hands flew over the keyboard and nodded back.
"Understood Admiral!" the crisp voice Captain Livon came over the comlink, "Receiving coordinates now!" Thrawn turned his com off and pocketed it into his tunic. It was only a matter of time that the rebels fall into his hands.
At the foot of a Rebel transport, orderly chaos ensured. Megrez shouted orders and Athie and Nikeki were helping the others load crates into the transport. As for Zeth, he was sitting with his feet up on a small crate scrolling through a datapad.
As he was scrolling, a shadow appeared above him. He looked up to see Athie staring down at him. "How can I help you?" He asked.
"What I want you to do," she smirked, "Is help us load up the transport before I put a blaster bolt through your head."
He jumped out of his seat and saluted smartly, "Aye Aye, Captain!" and started pushing the crate into the transport.
As soon as he was in the ship, Megrez gave the command for the rebels to get in. Zeth walked into the cockpit to see Athie and Nikeki standing around a holo-projector.
"There seems to be a glitch," Nikeki said, pointed at a red dot that was on the other side of the planet. "Our scopes say that all ships are still on this side of the planet."
"Ok," Zeth nodded, and turned to the captain, "Let's get this hunk of junk off this planet, shall we?" He nodded and started the startup sequence while talking with his pilots. He turned back to the girls, "Where Megrez?"
"Right here," Megrez came out of a door, pocketing his comlink. "Sorry about that, had to make a quick call."
"Engines online," Shouted the Captain.
"Let's go!" Megrez called out, and the transport's repulsor lifts kicked in. The ship slowly moved upwards, heading into space.
"Sir?" Someone from the crew pits spoke up, "Rebel transport is moving, shall we?"
"Yes, that would be nice," Grand Admiral Thrawn said. He took his comlink out of his tunic. "Captains, this is Grand Admiral Thrawn. Are we ready to move?" After being acknowledged, Thrawn spoke again, "Follow behind the Chimaera and ready for combat. This is the beginning of the end of the Rebellion."
Soon after takeoff, the rebel space was in the calming darkness of space. Well, it was calming until a proximity alert went off.
"Captian!" a pilot yelled, "Cruiser up ahead!" The Captain swore, pulling up his datapad. Megrez spoke into his com. Everyone looked out the forwards viewports, except for Zeth. He stayed back and noticed something else.
"Star Destroyers," he said, and everyone turned to look. Three Star Destroyers were coming at them, escorted by a dozen cruisers. The Captain swore again. Megrez kept speaking into his com and then pocketed it.
"Reinforcements arriving in 30 seconds," Megrez said coldly. Then, the TIEs deplored, dozens of them.
On the other side of the transport, a Mon Calamari ship came out of hyperspace, along with a frigate and a few X-wing squadrons. Both sides flew at each other, reading for a fight. Now, all that had to happen is the transport beating the TIEs to the frigate and getting in. After that, they could flee into hyperspace. It seemed that everyone else also knew what needed to happen. The transport turned at the frigate and started towards it.
Next to Nikeki stood Zeth, Mandalorian hemlet in hand.
"Let the Force be with us."
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