Author's Responses at the end.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Green and Gold
New Republic Defense Force soldiers formed hastily drawn lines behind barricades composed of collapsed buildings on all the main walkways as the Vong drop ships arrived. The battle of Coruscant was not like any battle the Yuuzhan Vong had fought. There were no clear areas for them to marshal their forces. There were no massive plains with a definite defensive line to approach.
The whole planet was a city, and was heavily populated and equally heavily defended.
Yet they came anyway. Millions of Chazrach, hundreds of thousands of Vong warriors, and beasts of such horrifying countenance and variety that the defenders simply stopped trying to track what was what and fired as best they could. Tanks and battle droids fought artillery beasts and fire breathers. Republic AT-ATs encountered Vong rakamats.
In every battle, the defense forces fell back in disarray with stunning losses. Sectors of the planet crumbled under the onslaught as coral skippers flew almost unchallenged through the sky. Coruscant was falling, not slowly at all, but very surely.
Warmaster Tsavong Lah was among the first warriors to land; he surveyed the hateful edifices of the un-living city with disdain. Clouds of smoke rose up from buildings as far as he could see. Behind him stood two figures—Intendant Nom Anor had finally found his way back into the Warmaster's good graces with the coup involving his agent, Viqi Shesh. The other was none other than Reck Desh.
Desh watched the battle with a blank expression. "Qahsel has reached the Jedi Temple," he announced.
"How do you know this?"
"I can hear them fighting."
Lah accepted the strange powers of the infidel with an imperceptible nod.
"Ahh," Desh whispered. "He's finally returned."
Lah turned and stared. "What do you speak of?"
"Naberrie is here. He is fighting Qahsel, just as we hoped. He is so determined to save his son that he is allowing this world to crumble around him."
"I do not wish to lose Qahsel," Lah said. "He has become a valuable weapon against the infidels. When Supreme Overlord Shimrra arrives, I will present this world to him with Qahsel as his personal servant."
Desh took the hint. "Then it would be best for me to go assist him," he said.
With a rush of air and a blur of motion, Desh was gone.
"Trust that one little," Nom Anor said when he was gone.
"You brought him to me, Intendant," Lah said in a threatening growl.
"He, like Qahsel, is an amphistaff to be used. But he can also turn in your hand and bite you, if it benefits him to do so. When Qahsel is made whole as Yuuzhan Vong, it may be advisable to use him against Desh."
"Perhaps," Lah said. He thought back to the last report from Nen Yim. "I want the secret of his power in our grasp before I risk him in such a battle. Yim has been unsuccessful conceiving a child. I have ordered her to take a different approach with him."
Desh heard the entire conversation as he flew toward the Jedi Temple, but he did not care. The Vong were the tool, not he.
Ahead, he could see the Jedi Temple. Or more precisely, the remnants of the temple. The last transports were already fleeing, but what caught his attention was the collapsed edifice that once framed the giant doors of the temple.
The titanic struggle between Kale Naberrie and his son still raged. He caught the glare of green and gold lightsabers even from three kilometers away. The blades moved in a dance of blinding speed. The fact that much of the temple was destroyed while the two fought proved to Desh that his plan had been successful.
He approached and confirmed his suspicions. Kale Naberrie was stronger and faster than his son, but was simply unwilling to strike a killing blow. Jor-El, while smaller and weaker, refused to give up and continued to try and kill his father. That one difference leveled the relative dissonance in their power.
Then he spotted a flame of red hair, and Reck Desh smiled. "The wife!" he crowed aloud. If Kal-El lost his precious wife, then it was entirely possible he would be distracted enough for Jor-El to finish him. Even if not, it might drive Kal-El into a rage sufficient enough for him to destroy his only son.
Either way, Desh won.
He descended on Mara Naberrie with a predatory smile. He landed hard enough to crack the permacrete directly behind her. She spun around, but he already had her by the neck. "Poor little human," he whispered. "I wonder how Kal-El will feel watching me rip your body apart?"
"He'd probably want to do this," she whispered. Her eyes took on a red glow.
"What…Arghhh!"
Desh dropped her as Kryptonian heat vision seared into his own eyes. He blinked back the pain and quickly reconfigured his visual sensors. "What is this?"
"You're the one, aren't you?" Mara said with narrowed eyes. "You're the one who took my son and turned him into a monster. You're the one Jor-El warned us about. Brainiac."
Desh straightened. "What did that fool do to you, woman?" Desh demanded.
"He made me an equal for his son to love," Mara said. She snapped out a kick with precision that would have made even her old master proud. Only, she did so with speed and strength unparalleled by any but her family.
Her foot crashed into the side of Desh's head and shattered it. He flipped through the air toward the far wall and crashed through it. "Kale, Brainiac is here!" Mara called.
Across the shattered remains of the Jedi Great Hall, Kale nodded. "The real villain," he said.
"No villain," Qahsel snarled. He wiped soot and permacrete dust from his face with his arm. "He showed me the truth."
"He turned you into a lie," Kale said. "I failed you, my son. You and your mother both needed me, and I chose her over you. I'm sorry that I wasn't there to save you then. But I'm here now. And so is your mother. We're going to save you, Jor-El. We love you too much to do anything else."
With a blur Mara was there too with a green lightsaber made from a traditional adegan crystal. "What is this?" Qahsel demanded. "How can this vermin move with your speed?"
"She's Kryptonian now," Kale said. "But she is still your mother. I am your father. We love you, Jor-El. We will save you."
A massive mushroom cloud rose over the distant horizon as Vong forces obliterated the NRDF headquarters building. Overhead, the sky turned a scintillating shade of gold, before the color fled. Almost immediately, thousands of plasma bolts came raining down in a sheet of death that swept inexorably toward them.
Suddenly Desh was there again. The indentation in his head caused by Mara's kick was filling in with a strange, black fluid that solidified and restored both skin and hair even as they watched. "We will continue this discussion another time," Desh said. He grabbed Qahsel's arm, and blurred into flight.
"Like hell!" Kale roared and immediately took flight after them. A moment later, less sure of her new powerss, came Mara.
Desh and Qahsel flew directly toward the approaching sheet of plasma fire. They began an intricate dance of flight around the down-pouring balls of fire and brimstone that was steadily leveling an entire sector of the planet-wide city. Kale came straight through, blowing through the blossoming clouds of smoke and debris that rose up from the dying city. From the midst of the destruction a single gleaming tower rose unscathed as localized shields protected it from the worst of the onslaught.
With a grim smile thrown over his shoulder, Desh led Qahsel directly through the tower. Once through, he stopped. "Topple it!" he ordered Qahsel.
The warrior did as he was ordered. He darted forward and pushed.
Kale saw the top of the tower falling and realized what it meant. "Mara!" he roared in the Force.
"I'll get it," she said. "Go!"
She sped past him and caught the falling section of tower even as Kale flew past after the fleeing forms of his son and Desh. It was Mara's first time trying to lift something truly large, and she struggled with the effort. Finally, she realized she could not lift it, but did have sufficient strength to guide it gently down. Through the Force she could feel terrified people inside.
Ahead, a squadron of NRDF soldiers and battle droids were fighting a desperate rear-guard action against twenty times their number of Chazrach soldiers and a hundred Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Firebreathers strolled along the large plaza toward the wavering defensive line.
Desh grabbed Qahsel's arm once more and spun him around like a slingshot until he released the young Kryptonian like a missile directly toward the New Republic forces. Qahsel shot through the plaza floor like a missile and destroyed four of the supports below it. Knowing exactly what Desh meant to do, Qahsel then used his lightsaber and began destroying the repulsor coils that kept the impossible architecture of Coruscant from toppling over.
Desh slowed as Kale came streaking toward him. "It is time to choose, Kal-El!" Desh cried. "Your son, or the humans?" Behind him, Qahsel came floating up with his kryptonite lightsaber lit and ready. "You cannot have both."
The three of them floated above the chasm that formed when the connecting span between the Vong forces and the NRDF cracked and fell into the lower city.
"I can try," Kale said. He reached out his right hand and the crazily tilting platform filled with thousands of civilians stopped falling and straightened.
Desh and Qahsel both rushed forward, but found their progress inexplicably halted when Kale raised his other hand. "Let me go!" Qahsel screamed.
Desh, however, appeared openly stunned. "You seem to have forgotten what I am, Brainiac," Kale said. "Not just Kryptonian, but Jedi as well."
"There are limits even to your power, though, Kal-El," Desh said.
That's when the ground forces of the Yuuzhan Vong began firing at Kale. Fire breathers and rakamats began belching out barrages of plasma fire. The first blow struck Kale in the ribs, but he gritted his teeth and did not loosen his Force grip. The next ten that hit were too much. Desh and Qahsel both broke free and charged toward him as the platform below began to tilt once again.
Kale threw the plasma off, Force-gripped Desh and threw the synthetic being directly into Qahsel. The two hit with an audible thud that reverberated through the area. Both tumbled into the shadows even as Kale continued to fall.
He finally recovered his flight enough to dart through the air and catch the edge of the platform where several civilians had already tumbled and were themselves handing on for dear life. Kale used the Force to flip them back over the safety rails as he straightened the platform. He looked up and saw two streaks in the sky darting between the plasma.
"This isn't over," Kale muttered.
He looked around and motioned for a soldier with an officer's insignia. "Captain, do you know where the nearest evac center is?"
The captain, as stunned as his soldiers at the turn of events, nodded. "We were on our way when we were attacked."
"Get the rest of your people off the platform and I'll accompany you," Kale said.
The captain, with something concrete to do, began issuing orders with much more confidence. The last of the civilians were herded off the platform, followed by the soldiers and finally by the battle droids. Only once they were clear did Kale allow the platform to collapse.
Moments later Mara joined him. "Where's Jor?"
Kale looked at her a moment and she nodded. "I understand. What are we doing?"
"We're going to try and get as many civilians away as we can," Kale said. He looked down and saw that his jumpsuit was in tatters from the plasma barrage, but the fabric was attempting to re-knit itself. Mara also wore a jumpsuit with the El family crest on her chest, albeit a smaller version. The suit accentuated her curves, the black made her hair shine all the brighter. "We are going to get him back," Kale said.
"I know," Mara said simply.
The two of them joined the party of mostly human refugees and their military escort. "Captain," Kale said. "How far is it to the evac point?"
The captain, who appeared still in his twenties, stared at the crest on Kale's uniform and the lightsaber on his belt a moment before he mustered a response. "About ten klicks away." A rain of plasma bolts swept through a clumping of nearby towers. "But with the damage I'm not sure we're going to make it."
Mara also walked through the civilians and was aware of eyes on her. She was unaccustomed still to the potency of her hearing, and so was not able to shut out the constant whispers. "That's Kale Naberrie." "That's his wife." "She can fly too?" "Where were they?"
The last question was repeated again and again, and more often than not the stares she received were accusatory. This was, she knew, exactly how Kale felt when he emerged from Naboo to save Jor-El the first time.
She returned to her husband's side. "We have a problem," Kale said. "The evacuation route these people were following has been obliterated."
Mara looked back and estimated perhaps two thousand civilians and another three hundred soldiers. They were going to need a full transport ship. Or…. "We could always borrow a Vong drop ship."
The young captain stared. "A Vong ship?"
Kale grinned. "They would be less likely to fire on one of their own."
"There was a drop ship just a little ways back from where we came," Mara noted.
"Captain," Kale said. "I want you to stay here." He looked at his wife.
"I'll stay with them," she said.
With a nod, Kale shot into the air. "He really is Naberrie," the captain whispered aloud. He looked back down at Mara. "But the stories said you were human."
"Things change, Sweetie," Mara said. They looked up as just a minute later a shadow passed over them.
The Yuuzhan Vong drop ship looked like a thorny, spiked mollusk as Kale gently brought it down on the edge of the precarious platform where the civilians huddled. A hatch was still open from where Kale picked it up.
"Get them moving," Mara said. "I don't know how much time we have before they begin firing on this tower."
Her answer came almost immediately. Following the theft of the drop ship, Yuuzhan Vong forces immediately targeted the tower cluster. The civilians screamed in panic as they ran toward the ship. Fortunately the drop ship was designed to allow the fast egress of soldiers and war beasts. It proved wide enough for civilians to board quickly with a minimum of pushing.
The whole tower began to shake violently under the onslaught as the distant tops of towers shattered under the blow. "Get your men in now!" Mara shouted at the captain. He nodded, and his people crowded in after the civilians. Mara noted with a touch of pride how the soldiers would stop and assist the slower civilians and children.
Finally, the ship was loaded just as the first plasma ball struck the platform proper.
Mara flew off the platform and underneath the ship, where Kale held it upright with a look of grim determination. "Let's go," he said.
Mara nodded. "The civilians in the tower I caught had their own transport. I hope they make it out!"
"We can only do so much," Kale shouted back over the din of the enemy barrage. They both rose into the air as the atmosphere of Coruscant itself burned under the orbital barrage. "It looks like they've gained superiority in orbit."
Mara nodded. "Kale, Leia said they were regrouping at Alderaan."
Kale didn't respond and the two of them carried the drop ship into the outer atmosphere of the planet. As they did so, they both saw first-hand the effects of the battle.
If there had been sufficient air, both would have cursed.
Dozens of New Republic hulks burned with the remnants of internal atmosphere, even as some of the larger ships skimmed the atmosphere in decaying orbits. The debris field was so thick that it was impossible even for Vong ships to get through without bumping into the shattered remains of the New Republic fleet. They both saw a destroyed Golan-II defense platform floating at a crazy angle against the horizon of the planet, trailing debris. As they drew closer they could see it was split physically in two.
Coral skippers flew lazily through the stew of wreckage, patrolling for any surviving ships. With their bodies hidden underneath the Vong drop ship, neither Kale nor Mara attracted much attention as they flew out of the immediate war zone.
They found the last remnants of the fleet holding a rear-guard action just beyond the orbit of the second moon. A trio of New Republic cruisers held a pair of Vong destroyer analogues at bay while trying to leave a passage open for straggling transports.
Kale touched Mara's shoulder, pointed to himself, then at the Vong ships. He then motioned for her to take the drop ship. She nodded and placed her hands on the coral hull of the ship. In space, the only strength needed was to guide the inertia of its movements.
She watched as her husband accelerated to near light speed and slammed through the dovin-basil shielding of the nearest destroyer. He erupted from the far side and crippled the second destroyer. The 2000-meter-long destroyer analogue suddenly reared up as if pinched by a planet-sized giant, before it took on a completely unnatural spin that at first glance appeared to violate every law of physics known.
The swinging ship impacted cross-ways through the back of the first ship Kale pierced. Both exploded when their plasma feeds blew.
Rather than joining her, Kale flew toward the nearest cruiser and disappeared. She could feel his touch on her mind through the Force, though. He was telling the Republic forces not to fire on the drop ship. She shifted its passage and headed it toward the main hangar bay of the largest ship—a Nebula-class heavy cruiser.
Kale was waiting for her when she brought the ship into the hanger bay. Rather than try to pressurize the whole bay, clamping arms secured the odd-shaped ship and an airlock arm began to extent to the ship. Mara simply positioned herself into the back of the arm as it adhered to the uneven surface of the drop ship. There was no side hatch for the passengers to use, so as soon as the arm pressured, Mara lit her lightsaber and made one.
Soldiers were waiting on the other side of the coral hull. "We've made it to the NRFD forces," she explained. "Ship personnel are coming. Get your people out so we can dump the ship." She then turned and jogged toward the far airlock. It opened to reveal several more NRFD fleet marines, and Kale Naberrie.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, much to the embarrassment of the soldiers around. The two were old enough not to care. "We did some good, at least," she said when at last they parted.
"And we will be back," Kale promised. "I will die before I give up on our son."
Mara nodded her whole-hearted agreement. "Let's go talk to the captain," she said. "Based on what we saw, I doubt very many more transports are going to make it out."
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Author's Responses:
Thanks to Exodus, The-Knight2000; Manus Dei and Dajohu for your reviews. I really appreciate it.
Q: Now that is a suprise but I'm not sure that I like it.
A: The idea behind Mara's being remade into a Kryptonian was inspired by Superman II. In the movie, Superman became human so that he and Lois Lane could married as equals. Kale couldn't afford to lose his powers, and so in this case Mara was actually elevated, but the end goal of equality was the same. As to them dying or being depowered--I haven't reached the final chapters, though I'm getting there. So not even I know for sure who is going to die or not.
Q: you're not playing favorites with the Vong, which in my opinion were nothing more than some author's idea of a wanked up Mary Sue race in military affairs
A: I agree wholeheartedly. In this fic, the Vong win because of NRDF politics as much as by military force.
Q: Glad to see he's (Thrawn) playing a role in this fic.
A: Thrawn has a major role in this story.