Chapter 26: Freedom Fighters

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The first wave of the Sith invasion force had descended. The aerial battle had gone from the republic fighting from below and the Sith on top, to an even level. Now both armies of ships were intertwined above the Coruscant buildings while the Republic tanks were forced to the lower alleys between the buildings. Meanwhile, a second wave of Sith was lowering into Coruscant's atmosphere. The Republic armada wasn't as fortunate. Their nearest reinforcement depot was destroyed by Darth Carnivis and his Risa'griez Citadel.

Carnivis stood proudly in the center of the Citadel's bustling command bridge with his arms folded over his chest. As Sith troopers and other deck officers sat at their assigned positions, relaying commands and messages to each other, Darth Carnivis stood and stared at Coruscant through the bridge's main viewport. A fangy smile crept across his feline face as he imagined those lower lifeforms scurrying around down there as they fled for their lives. If he could he'd use the Citadel's superlaser at a constant rate to level the city-planet. But he could't. He was proud of his weapon but his one grief with it was the time it took for the superlaser to recharge. Counting the cool down and recharge it could take anywhere from a quarter of an hour to a full five hours to ready again. The time of recharge was always unpredictable and effected by how powerful of a blast they wanted to achieve. The original attack that took out the planetary defenses, as well as the one that scarred Hypori, was a full five hour charge. Now he was relying on half hour charges.

The Citadel lingered in the space safety outside of Coruscant surrounded by a defense gathering of Sith cruisers and fighters. From that position they could use their suplerlaser against the Republic but the Republic had no weapons that could reach them. Being so far away from the Republic scum Carnivis could also direct his forces without meddlesome distractions. With the second wave descending and the Republic reinforcements crippled, his plans were going perfectly. His plan was to strike suddenly and continue to dominate the Coruscant skies. Always moving fast. Never backing down to let the republic regroup. He knew they had to move fast. They had the numbers now but that wouldn't remain. Eventually other planets will send their own reinforcements to aid the Republic. By that time, Carnivis needed their ground forces to land so the aerial armadas on Coruscnat could break away and concentrate on repelling the reinforcements once they arrived. Meanwhile, the ground forces could invade the strategic senate points that his Master, Darth Rajjor had designated. The ground forces could kill what the Master wished dead and capture what the Master wanted captured. Together the overpowering forces of the Sith would destroy the Galactic Republic and begin construction of a new order of galactic Sith rule.

"Master, we just lost a cruiser." An officer who was in charge of ship formation and coordination announced to him.

Carnivis wasn't concerned over the loss of a single cruiser from a tactical standpoint. It was a loss sure, but he wasn't upset over it. In fact, he imagined how many enemy lives were lost when that cruiser fell and crashed into the buildings below it. Hopefully, the civilians on Coruscant hadn't been able to fully evacuate to the lower levels just yet.

Then he got the message he was waiting for from a trooper stationed behind him, "Superlaser is ready."

An even wider smile curled across his face, "Target?"

"Our target is ready; Republic fuel station and fighter hanger bay." Another trooper announced.

"Do it." He ordered.

The Citadel shook slightly as the superlaser fired another beacon of light upon Coruscant. From his point of view the effects of the blast were unnoticeable. Another drawback in his eyes. He may not have witnessed it with his eyes but he could feel the devastation through the Force. It... warmed him.

________\-V-/________

Ah, the bridge of the Zellbalck. The interior was the same graystone color as the hanger walls. Added in some some black and burgundy accents. The ceiling was an arch shaped, bow ceiling that could also open an act as a giant viewport window. Separate control panels and command posts were stringed across the walls... It was allot dirtier than I remembered. It used to be reasonably clean. Not great but not bad. Now there was oil leaks, open panels, loose wires, random jackets hanged over the backs of chiars, and blaster pieces laid on the floor. Sitting at the ships main control panel, doing some last minute repairs was the Sluissi mechanic, Sbaki. All of us, except for Wodigeo who was still in the hanger, entered into the bridge. I walked straight for Sbaki and patted her on the scaly shoulder. Without turning away from what she was doing she welcomed me, "Welcome back to the chaos-s-s."

"Glad to be back." I told her with a chuckle. Same old Sbaki. Work comes first.

I left Sbaki momentarily to her work as Illune gathered us in the center of the bridge. We stood and began drawing up our game plan. Lwyn crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "So it's right back to business. Out of the fire and into the inferno."

"Thats how it goes when you dip into our type of work." Illune told her.

"Nobody is forcing you here." Hotshot added.

"Hey, don't get em wrong. I'm your first option at a front line power house." Lwyn said, without a doubt of herself.

"Is that so?" HotShot asked with a touch of doubt.

"It's true." I verified for her, "Lwyn is the best of the three of us with a lightsaber. She's not as battle-tested as you or I but I don't doubt shes the best one here."

"Thank you." Lwyn said with a grateful nod.

"However," I told Lwyn with a grin, "Our assault will be strictly aerial."

"Ah." Lwyn backed down, "Then I'm probably the last one you want."

"Thats more my territory." Vayne said a with grin.

"You fly?" HotShot doubted, "Frogs don't fly. They eat them."

"What is it exactly you plan on doing?" Illune asked me, ignoring Vayne and HotShot.

I called over to Sbaki, "Is the Zellblack's wide-range slicer still working."

"Naturally." She called back to me without slowing her work.

I turned to Lwyn and Vayne and gave them a bragging nod and smile, "A wide-range slicer. A hacker's dream tool Sbaki and I modified. Very effective. Very illegal."

"This ship has never used a Republic sanctioned spaceport. If the Republic ever caught us they'd find a lifetime of jail time's worth of illegal modifications." Illune told them, "Which brings up the fact that if this is the Zellbalck's last stand, it's going to have to go out with a bang. Literally. Every piece of evidence that leads back towards us needs to be vaporized."

"I think we can work that into the plan." I told him with a smile.

________\-V-/________

There was no grouping between the ships anymore. Now that the Sith had descended there was no order in which way the ships flew. Off in the distance two Sith cruisers flew over to a Repubic frigate. They surrounded the frigate one on each side and opened fire. The smaller frigate never stood a chance and was shot down in seconds. The Republic had trouble putting up a fight. Heavy reinforcements had yet to arrive. If they could just get more of their own cruisers in the air the fight would be evened. But this fight was just a bullying.

Annoli's eyes grew wide as a Sith cruiser flew above their heads. She was looking directly up at it's underbelly. As she stood there helpless she heard a loud boom to her left. Their tank escort had fired its large cannon into the Sith's massive hull. It didn't appear to be very effective. The Sith's shields were still strong and active. The only thing that attack from the tank had accomplished was getting the Sith's attention. A turret on the bottom of the Sith's hull turned towards the tank and let loose a flurry of shots. Annoli watched in horror as the shots hit the tank's cabin and starboard side causing it to catch fire as the tank began to plummet from the skies. Annoli gasped as she watched in slow motion as it fell. Instinctively, she reached out with her mind and grabbed onto the tank. She imagined holding it and pulling it towards her. In response the tank fell towards her on the rooftop. Almost if it was falling down on a guided wire aimed for her. With a loud screeching sound of metal on metal, the tank slid to a safe stop on the corner of the rooftop. Annoli had saved the tank.

The able bodied soldiers and Annoli rushed over to flaming tank. The cabin was pulverized and the two inside were dead. The rocketeer on the starboard side was gone from his seat. Or rather, the seat where he sat was completely missing. The rocketeer on the port side however sat slumped over in his seat. The squad captain rushed over to the crashed tank. He carefully crawled onto a part of the hull that wasn't on fire and leaned over to the rocketeer. He reached under the rocketeer's helmet and checked for a pulse. He called out, "He's alive!"

Annoli was relived that there was at least one survivor. There was no time to celebrate however. The turret was still aimed at the rooftop. Wennsis readied her lightsaber as she prepared to deflect whatever came at her. She stared at the turret, just waiting for it to fire. She heard laser fire and felt quick to act. But the fire never came towards them. Instead the fire she heard struck the enemy turret causing it to explode. A moment later a swarm of Republic starfighters flew underneath the Sith cruiser. They zipped by overhead as they sprayed laser fire on the cruiser's underbelly. The sprayed fire took multiple turrets out of commission. At the tail end of the swarm of fighters were three Republic transports. Two of them slowed down and circled the rooftop as they slowly came down for a landing. Two fighters stayed behind as well while the others headed forward. The fighters remained airborne to provide cover for the transports while the cruiser still remained above them. All of this done without the luxury of communications between the ships. Wennsis let out a relived sigh, "Force be with us."

The soldiers had removed the injured rocketeer from his seat and carried him to safety. Annoli ran over to Wennsis with a smile on her face, "We're saved. At least for the moment."

Wennsis gave Annoli a respectful nod of her head, "Annoli, that was a great thing you did with the tank."

"O-oh? Th-thank you, Master Wennsis." Annoli blushed.

Wennsis let her complementary moment pass and quickly went back into war mode. She turned towards the Republic soldiers who were helping the rocketeer into one of the landed transports as well as their two injured comrades. She told them, "After they are safe we shall head to the Rotunda."

"Yes, Master Jedi." The captain called back to her just as he finished helping one of his injured into the transport.

With the three injured in one transport, the rest of them headed off into the other transport. Wennsis was the last one to step inside. As she did the pilot asked her, "Where to?"

"The Rotunda." She answered as she sat down onto a bench.

Annoli took a deep breath as she strapped herself into her seat. She had mixed feelings as she felt the transport lurch up and forward. She was really glad to be off that rooftop. But then again she really didn't want to be in another transport after her last experience.

________\-V-/________

The plan was set. It was going to be dangerous and it was possible that none of us would survive. I more than anyone else. We were all willing to take those risks though. As the Zellblack was in hyperspace traveling towards Coruscant we all gathered in the Zellblack's hanger. Illune, Verru, Wodigeo, and Sbaki were all wearing black and white flight suits. Sbaki's was specially made to fit her lower half-serpent body. Vayne, Lwyn, and I still wore our clothing from Hyarsythe. We gathered in a circle for what could be some of our last moments alive. Illune spoke to us, "This is probably the last of the 'Zellblack Freedom Fighters'. One way or another. Either we die or we survive and I officially retire."

"And I was just starting to get used to this ship." Vayne said as he looked around the hanger.

"Well consider yourselves honorary members of the Zellblack Freedom Fighters." Illune told Vayne and Lwyn.

"Then you'll need names." HotShot told them. She put her hand on her chin as she thought, "Ty'Vayne aka Frogface."

"Ahem!" Vayne protested, "Can't you think of anything better?"

"Nope." HotShot quickly dismissed his protest and turned to Lwyn, "And you shall be... VoidCutter."

"VoidCutter?" Lwyn repeated.

"Man, you have allot of names." I joked with Lwyn, "Lwyn Mun Orlen, aka VoidCutter, aka Zecarpase."

HotShot nodded, pleased with herself, "Those are your Zellblack names. Wear them with honor."

"Frogface. I am so ever filled with honor and pride." Vayne said with flat sarcasm.

"It'sss better than mine." Sbaki told him, "She named me Slither-skinsss."

I laughed. I don't know why but the name Slither-skins always made me giggle. Wodigeo had the worst name though. I turned to him and asked him even though I already knew the answer, "And what name did she give you again?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Please don't make me say it."

"Pudge-O-Fudge." Hotshot answered for him.

Lwyn and Vayne both laughed. Wodigeo grumbled, "Don't call me that."

Just then a droid's voice was heard through the hanger's speakers, "Time of arrival is approaching one hour."

The joking went away and our demeanor became serious. It was time for work. I took a half step into the circle and took turns looking each and every one of them in the eyes saving Lwyn for last. I then told them, "You know what to do. By the time we arrive I want everyone in their fighters ready to leave. We may end up flying right into the Sith's nest and we could be fired upon immediately. So you guys have to get out right away. Got it?"

They were silent. When we were coming up with our plan I was given control. It was my plan, my show and what I told them, they didn't necessarily like. The plan was solid but they didn't like the fact that I was going to be staying on the Zellblack while they would take their fighters and flee. I wasn't exactly wild about it myself but thats how it had to be. I was the only one who could get the job done. It wasn't exactly a suicide mission, but it was close. Their silence told me they weren't happy with that fact. I appreciated it. I asked them again, "Got it?"

"Got it." Illune told me.

In time they all told me they agreed. All except for Lwyn. I continued on, "I'll stay here, do what I have to do, and then hopefully get out of here before the Sith can do anything about it."

"You had better make it out of here." HotShot warned me.

"I'll be fine." I lied. Truthfully I wasn't sure at all.

Sbaki reached over and put her arm around my shoulder. She slithered forward and led me away from the circle. As she led me away she pointed towards the racks that held the starfighters. There was one of the racks at the bottom with a closed shutter door. Sbaki smiled and told me, "I know you haven't been back very long. But! I ssstill have a 'welcome back' gift for you. Bet you thought you'd never see this again."

She removed a wireless remote from her flightsuit and pointed it towards the closed shutter door. She hit a button which caused the shutter door to roll upwards. My jaw dropped slightly as the door opened and revealed a black and silver starfighter. A one-pilot cabin in the center of a bladed-wedge body. Near the back of the wedge, one on each side of the ship, there were two bracketed, V-shaped, stabilizer wings. Mounted between the wings were anti-aircraft, concussion missile launchers. At the front and center of the main body was a dual-mounted, snap fire, laser cannon. It looked newly repaired and freshly painted. Last I saw it, it had made a crash landing with me in it's pilot seat. When I left it, it was a scalding heap of metal. I left Sbaki and walked towards the ship. I smoothly ran my hand over it's finely polished hull. It was definitely my old ship, "Sforzando". I turned to Sbaki and smiled, "I can't believe you fixed it."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Don't get any wrong ideasss. I didn't do this for you. I just thought it was a shame for sssuch a fine ship to meet such a tragic end. But you know, it is yoursss after all."

I walked back towards her and patted her on the back, "Nice job, Slither-skins."

"Ugh." She moaned as we both made our way back to the circle.

They were all discussing something while Sbaki and I were away. When I asked them what it was, Lwyn turned to me and defiantly told me, "It's decided then. I'm staying with you on the Zellblack."

I stopped in my tracks, "Wh-what?!"

HotSot joined Lwyn, "She makes a good point. How do we really know you don't plan on playing the martyr? You get us to leave the ship while you stay aboard and 'heroically' stay aboard and sacrifice yourself for the mission?"

"Huh?" Was all I could get out.

Vayne joined those two, "We don't trust you enough to get the job done and then get out alive. Not unless another life is on the line besides your own."

"So what? You want to die to?" I shouted at Lwyn, "Fine. I don't know if I'll survive or not but if you're with me or not isn't going to change anything."

Lwyn rolled her eyes, "Look buddy, my mind is made up. I'm staying here and there is nothing you can do about it. Believe me, I've seen you fight compared to me and I know there is nothing you can do to stop me."

I put my hands on my hips and bit down on my lower lip. I shook my head as I tried to search for something to say to change her mind... but she's too damn suborn. I knew there was nothing I could say or do. Finally, I slumped forward as I submitted, "Fine. It's your own choice. Your own stupid, stupid choice."

"Heh." She said victoriously, "Thought so. Besides I can't drive one of these ship thingys. So someone will have to do it for me. May as well be you."

I turned my head over my shoulder towards the Sforzando, "Damn. I guess I'll have leave my reunion with my ship for another day."

"What do you mean?" Lwyn asked.

"The Sforzando is a one-pilot fighter. My well chiseled body and your fat-rump won't both fit inside." I both informed and playfully insulted Lwyn.

In return, she playfully stared daggers at me. At least I hope it was playfully, "Oh... Now I almost hope you do die after that remark."

Ignoring Lwyn, I turned towards Sbaki and asked her, "What do you have in a two-pilot fighter?"

"Nothing pretty but it'll get the job done." Sbaki answered.

I then faced Vayne and pointed towards the Sforzando, "You think you can handle that ship?"

Vayne smiled ear to ear, "Oh-ho yes!"

"Good." I told him, "It's a rental from me so don't damage it."

"Of course not." He said as he eagerly rubbed his hands together.

Vayne walked off towards the Sforzando while Sbaki led Lwyn and I towards a back rack. There she showed us an ugly, ugly ship. It looked very alien. The entire ship looked like a half circle. Almost like a flying saucer chopped in half. It didn't even really look like the body of a ship, it looked like nothing but wingspan. Just a drab orange, reversed half-circle, wing. The cabin in the center of the wing was set up for two pilot to sit back-to-back. The one in the front was for the pilot while the one that sat in the back acted as a gunner for a rear mounted laser turret. As far as I could see the only other weapons the ship had besides the turret were two laser cannons at the tip of each side of the half-circular wing. No missiles, no torpedoes, no illegal modifications. And... it was ugly. I turned towards Sbaki and asked her, "Is there nothing else?"

"Not as fast or well ssshielded as thisss one." She assured me.

"Does it have a name?" Lwyn asked.

"No."

"Great." I sighed, "Instead of dying on the Zellblack I'll die in this... flying Hutt-slug."

Sbaki shrugged her shoulders, "There you go. You can name it, 'Hutt-Ssslug'."

I pointed my finger accusingly at Lwyn, "I blame you."

She apologetically smiled, "Umm.... sorry?"

Sbaki shooed us away, "Off you go. I'll have to prepare the Hutt-Ssslug for you."

We left Sbaki to do her job while the others left to prepare their own fighters. Leaving Lwyn and I standing alone in the hanger. As we stood there she asked me, "So what are the odds you think we'll get out of this alive?"

I didn't have an answer for her. I wanted to know that answer myself. I took a brief moment to meditate about it. Unfortunately. my meditations gave me no new insight. I turned towards her and shrugged my shoulders, "Well... I'm pretty confident that we'll get our job done."

"Aaaand how confident are you that we'll survive after we complete our mission?" She pressed the issue.

"Hey, I don't know. You're the one who wanted to stay behind."

"Ugh..." She moaned, "Yeah I know.... I know..."

"You can still back out."

"Nah." She said plainly, "If I die with you it won't be that bad. I guess. I'd take dying fighting the Sith than live as one. If it wasn't for you I'd probably be living as one. So I guess I owe it to you. Even if we both die in a fiery explosion."

"Umm... thanks for the vote of confidence." I said with dry sarcasm.

"Any time." She said with a snicker.

________\-V-/________

Zade and Fredika flew in silence. Fredika wouldn't admit it but she was grieving for the loss of her brother. Zade didn't blame her. Jedi or not, they were family and nothing would change that. Since the time the blast that wiped out the Republic depot, they had decided that defending any bases was futile with that weapon. Zade had noticed an abundant number of Sith drop ships flying around the Senate building. Not surprising. Some of the most important people in all the galaxy were in there. They were top priority targets. The Sith were turning that part of their invasion over to their ground forces. Zade decided that if they could be of any assistance, if could be thinning out the ground forces from the skies. Zade told Fredika over the comm, "We're headed to the Senate Rotunda. We'll aid them in any way we can."

"Yes." She responded flatly.

"Perhaps you should sit this one out-" Zade began.

"No!" She protested, "Don't take me so lightly."

"Very well."

They sped forward headed for the Rotunda. They stayed low to avoid unnecessary fire from Sith fighters. As they sped forward Zade took a look down between the alley walkways and bridges that ran between the Coruscant buildings. Many of them led and connected to the Rotunda plaza. If the Sith planned to land their drop ships and deposit their troops they would have to do it safely away from the Rotunda. Then have their troops proceed on foot. If the drop ships tried to land near the Rotunda they'd be nothing short of target practice for the Republic forces. So those walkways and bridges would be where they would arrive from.

Zade thought of shooting down the walkways and cutting off the pathways to the Rotunda but that was to dangerous as there were still a few civilian stragglers using those walkways. If those civilians didn't hurry they'd be met face-to-face with the Sith invaders and their fates wouldn't be much different if Zade had gone ahead and just demolished the bridges anyways. But there was no way Zade could ever bring himself to endanger innocent lives. He couldn't even bring himself to seriously consider it. Fredika was watching out of her own cabin and caught something in the corner of her eye, "Master! Look to your starboard side."

Zade joined in her looking over his starboard side. He didn't see it at first but at second glance he saw it. Deep down in the alleys, where shadows covered the roads Zade could see multiple, glowing, red lights bobbing around in the darkness as they moved down the alleyways. They were the glowing red blades of Sith lightsabers. The invasion was moving forward once again and it was at the Senate's doorsteps.