CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

x

x

Around Centrepoint Station

Corellian system

Ralgha nar Hhallas bit back a curse. This new craft, an X-wing, was new to him, but he admitted that it handled itself perfectly. If anything, it was better than a Dralthi, or any of the craft used by the Kilrathi. But that did not make it easier for him to take down this enemy. This pilot, who had identified himself as 'Fang' when Ralgha demanded his name, was extremely skilled. He had managed to evade most of his attacks. And now, he seemed to have disappeared entirely.

Ralgha knew all too well that it was unwise to become too focused on one specific goal to the exclusion of all other factors, especially given the immense battle that continued around him with the three fleets tearing shreds off each other. However, this particular pilot presented a serious problem, and he needed to be dealt with.

Four other X-wings pulled in along side his own. A glace at the screen told him that the pilots were Vua Rapuung, Valin Horn, Danath and Hammer.

"Still having trouble with that one particular pilot?" asked Valin over the com channel.

"He is proving to be… most infuriating," Ralgha admitted. "Would you know what became of his one remaining wingman?"

"He's dead," Hammer replied. "Danath took him out. Didn't you?"

"I did," Danath answered in the usual Chiss monotone. Worryingly, his tone still seemed more negative than usual. It was something that he had after losing his fellow Chiss pilot Sesha at Naboo.

It was Vua Rapuung who got them all back on track. "Listen, we need to work together to take out this enemy. After then, we can finally get back to the battle at hand."

"Better make it quick," Valin pointed out. "The Kilrathi seem to be getting the upper hand. Their fleet has just broken through the Five Worlds main defence line, and they're also doing too good a job at holding our forces back."

"Very well then," Ralgha said. "I think I have an idea. It is very risky, but it may be our only shot."

Khajja nar Ja'targk had managed to get away from Ralgha for the time being. Try as he might, he could not get over the sick feeling he was left with upon discovering that one of his own people had betrayed them and sided with their enemies. Khajja had been filled with the desire to take out the traitor, both to remove the taint and to gain the honour from the kill. But that had been denied him. This Ralgha had obviously possessed a great deal of talent, and he would not be caught out easily.

Amidst the laser fire and exploding vehicles, Khajja spied a lone X-wing fighter looping around the obstacles, as if the pilot was searching for something. He felt his blood start to run once more. That would most likely be the traitor that he was seeking out. And even if that were not the case, the desire to destroy even one more enemy was a prospect too appealing to pass up.

Gunning the engines of his Dralthi, Khajja tore after the lone fighter. As he expected, the pilot must have sensed him, and began twisting his fighter into loops, even dodging some of the wreckage that now littered the space around Centrepoint Station. The Kilrathi pilot let loose a volley of laser bolts, scoring a few hits on the enemy's shields, but most of them went wide.

A talented one indeed, Khajja mused. He accelerated to full throttle and pursued the errant fighter. This chase continued for about a minute, with the one known as Fang chasing after the lone enemy craft, opening fire at regular intervals and sporadically scoring hits against it. It was not long before the enemy's shields were drained, and the hits began to strike the unprotected hull.

Arrogance was a trait common amongst the Kilrathi, and Khajja nar Ja'targk, otherwise known as Fang, was no exception. In his arrogant pursuit of this one particular X-wing, he had neglected to notice that the pilot had made no attempt to turn about and return fire. Had he done so, Khajja might have realised something truly vital. Something that might have saved his life.

As it was, however, he continued to fire until the X-wing appeared to stop moving around, and hover there in space before him. Believing his target to have lost all power, Khajja pressed the trigger and blew the vehicle away.

Less than two seconds later, his own Dralthi exploded.

The four X-wings flew through the quickly dissipating cloud of fire that had been Khajja's Dralthi. "We got the bastard!" Hammer crowed victoriously.

"Yes," Ralgha added sombrely. "But we were not quick enough to save Danath. Our plan was not a complete success."

Ralgha had come up with the plan, using an old Kilrathi tactic that harkened back to their days of hunting prey animals across the plains of Kilrah. It was known as haggin, and called for a lone warrior to act as a decoy to distract the prey while the other warriors circled around it and attacked. When he had mentioned this plan, everyone had been surprised when Danath had unflinchingly volunteered to be the decoy.

"Don't feel too bad, Ralgha," Valin said. "I have a feeling that Danath did not want to make it back alive."

"What do you mean?" Vua asked.

"You saw what happened to him after Sesha died. He seemed to lose all hope. And just before his ship was destroyed, he just stopped flying and hung there, letting the Kilrathi to blow him up."

"He basically commited suicide," stated the Yuuzhan Vong warrior.

"Exactly," Valin replied, and a thick silence descended over the four pilots. It was only broken a few seconds later by Vua.

"I suppose it does not matter. If there is an afterlife, then they will be reunited there, and we shall honour both of their memories by continuing the fight. The Five Worlds forces are in disarray, and the Kilrathi are all that stand between us and our objective."

Their minds back on the fight, the pilots steered back into action.

Bridge of Pride of Corellia

Thracken Sal-Solo was positively fuming. He had been certain that his forces would be able to withstand an assault from outside and protect Centrepoint Station, but the combined onslaught of the Galactic Alliance and the Kilrathi had been too much, and they were starting to falter. Why did they have to attack at the same time? Why could they have not just attacked each other and then attack him after they had been weakened?

His flaghsip, the egg-shaped dreadnought Pride of Corellia had managed to weather most of the storm, but even now, it was taking a punishment. Its immense size along made it an obvious target, and throughout the conflagration, ships from the other two fleets had scored hits on its shields, bringing them down to the point where the hull was now exposed and vulnerable to fire.

A sudden explosion from down in the depths of the giant warship sent shudders through its structure, which could be felt even on the bridge. Personnel were thrown off their feet, and several panels had malfunctioned, causing sparks to fly.

"Sir, we've lost our main hanger and most of our gun emplacements!" a helmsman cried out.

"There goes another of our engines!" came another cry.

Thracken swore and smashed his fist against the armrest of his chair as he pushed himself up and stormed towards the viewport. Both of the Alliance and Kilrathi forces had suffered noticeable casualties, but that was nothing compared to the Five Worlds Liberation Front. Their forces had been largely decimated, and most of those who were still around appeared to be making movements to get away from the battle.

Cursing, Thracken turned to his communications officers. "Tell those fools not to break the line!" he yelled.

The harried officers rushed to carry out their orders, but the looks on their faces indicated they were simply wasting their time. "It's no use, sir," one of them replied shakily. "They have shut off all communications and are withdrawing from the fight."

Thracken felt his blood simply starting to boil at this point. Looking back out the viewport, he wanted to yell, rant and rave at the participants of the battle. He wanted to order his forces to get back in position and berate them for being cowards. He wanted to yell and swear at his enemies; tell them to leave him and the entire Corellian system well enough alone. To keep their grubby hands off of Centrepoint Station!

Bravely or foolishly, one man, the aged officer named Cavil, approached Thracken and spoke in a calm voice. "Sir, might I suggest that we retreat for now?"

Thracken snapped his head around to look at the other man, his gaze one of pure fury. "Out of the question!" he barked harshly.

To his credit, Cavil did not appear to be intimidated by Thracken's current disposition. "If we retreat now, we will save our lives, and may be able to return at a later date."

"If we do that," Thracken ground out, "then we leave Centrepoint Station in the hands of our enemies, and the entire Corellian system under their occupation. What do you suppose I should do?"

"If nothing else, you should pray that the Alliance wins this battle, and not the Kilrathi, because then you know they will not subject the citizenry to a bloody massacre." Cavil's visage remained calm.

Thracken was obviously not impressed. "It's always so simple for people such as you, isn't it, Cavil?" he practically spat. "The Kilrathi would terrorise the people and commit mass murder against them, sure. But the Alliance will oppress them nonetheless, and exact retribution on them for our actions. No, we cannot let that happen. We contine fighting." His eyes had suddenly taken on a crazy look.

Cavil took a step back. He had stood by Thracken since the beginning of his insurrection, and was committed to his goals, but right now, it seemed the wannabe dictator had lost all common sense. And to be honest, that was starting to scare him.

"I'm sorry, sir," he replied earnestly. "But I cannot sit by and watch you condemn all these people to death."

Thracken's features lightened slightly, and he took a breath. "Well," he replied simply, "that is just too bad." He then calmly pulled a small blaster pistol from a concealed holster at his waist, pointed it between Cavil's eyes, and pulled the trigger once.

The sound of the blaster shot resounded throughout the dreadnought's bridge, startling everybody there. Cavil's head snapped back with the impact of the blaster bolts, and his body seemed to just stand there for a second, then dropped to the floor.

Holding the pistol up so that everybody on the bridge could see it, Thracken swept his gaze across the room, taking in the shocked looks of everyone there. "Now," he spoke firmly, "if nobody else has any objections, we shall continue holding the line."

Nobody dared to oppose him after that.

On the bridge of the Dragon's Claw, Leia's brown gaze had hardly left the battle. The Star Destroyer now gradually sliced its way through the conflagration, drawing ever closer to the immense bulk of Centrepoint Station.

That thing is much larger and older than either of the two Death Stars, and a great deal more powerful, Leia mused. She suppressed an internal shudder. Even now, more than three decades after it had happened, the memory of her beloved homeworld of Alderaan being reduced to rubble by the first Death Star struck deep in her heart. The sheer power of that weapon had been terrifying enough, yet it seemed positively dwarfed when compared with Centrepoint.

Why did we not take measures to destroy this thing ages ago? Leia wondered.

Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the helmsmen speaking up. "Ma'am, we've broken through the Five Worlds lines, and we now have a clear run at the Station."

"Excellent. Prepare to move in."

"Of course, ma'am." The helmsman paused for a second. "Wait a minute… that huge Corellian dreadnought is moving in! It's trying to block our path!"

Through the viewport, Leia watched as the massive craft called Pride of Corellia; a vain title if she ever heard one; moved steadily to block their route into to Centrepoint Station. Clearly, Thracken was not going to give up without a fight.

Holding back a sigh, Leia turned to her crew. "Obviously we're going to need to take out that dreadnought before we can move in on the Station. I want all available ships on the task!"

"Alright Renegades, listen up," Wedge declared over the com. "I've just received orders that we need to take out that huge dreadnought and clear the way to the Station. I want as many of you who can do so to form up on me, and we're going to make a run on the bridge. Are we clear?"

"I'm with you, Leader," reported Lensi.

"Same here," said Luke, followed by acknowledgments by Jacen, Zekk, Tahiri, Lowbacca, Anja and Alema.

"I'm coming too," Han announced as he pulled the Falcon into position near the assortment of X-wings. "If you're taking a shot at my scumbag cousin, there is no way I'm going to miss out on it!"

"Fine by me, Han," said Wedge. "Lock in your targets and get ready to move out." Each one of the pilots focused their attention on the Pride of Corellia's bridge and prepped their weapons.

"Move out!"

Almost as one, the nine X-wings and the Falcon made a beeline for the dreadnought. Dogfights and explosions continued to occur around them, but nonetheless, they focused on their objective and continued to draw closer to it.

On the bridge of the dreadnought, the atmosphere was tense. Thracken Sal-Solo's cold-blooded execution of Cavil had caused everyone to take an unintentional vow of silence, lest they find themselves the next target of their dictator's outbursts.

Regardless, one crewmember broke this when serious news caught his attention. "Sir!" he cried to Thracken, "some enemy ships are making an attack run against this very bridge!"

The already-tense atmosphere on the bridge turned outright fearful at this sudden information. Ignoring it all, Thracken glared out the viewport at the offending vessels. He recognised nine of them as X-wings, but the last one was all the more familiar to him. And very much hated.

The Millennium Falcon. Han!

"Fire on all of those craft, I want them taken out! Especially the freighter!"

The attacking craft were closing in on the Pride of Corellia when lances of fire burst forth from the turrets remaining around the bridge. Throughout the battle, these had been occupied with tracking and firing upon various targets. But now, they were all aimed directly at the squad gunning for the bridge.

"Evasive manoeuvres, now!" Wedge cried in alarm, just before he pitched his X-wing into a turn to dodge the bolts.

All other craft in the group did the same. The Falcon moved with less agility, given its size, but with Han Solo at the stick, his decades of experience more than made up for it. Still, the shields of the Corellian freighter still felt one of the powerful bolts graze it.

"Dad! Are you alright?" Jacen cried.

"I'm fine, Jacen, just a little graze," Han assured his son.

Two of the X-wings were not so lucky. Despite being a Jedi, Alema Rar had not been fast enough, and had been hit. As her X-wing exploded, the other Jedi and those who were Force-sensitive felt the Twi'lek woman's Force presence wink out as she died.

Lensi also did not move quickly enough. He had dodged most of the blasts, but a couple had still managed to get through. The first had brought his shields down to almost zero, and the second had taken the rest away, while also causing severe damage to the hull. The systems were fried, and the craft practically unable to move any direction. It was less of a fighter craft now, and more of a flying obstacle.

"Lensi, are you alright?" Wedge asked in shock.

"Wedge…" Lensi's weak voice came over the com. He seemed barely unable to speak. "I'm gonna… I'm…"

"Lensi, try not to talk, okay? We're going to get you out of this."

"Don't worry about… me, Wedge," the Duro pilots struggled. "I'll finish… the fight…" Without any further word, he accelerated his X-wing to the best of its greatly diminished capabilities.

"Lensi, what the hell are you doing?" Wedge yelled.

The Duro ignored him, and continued to streak towards his objective…

The bridge of the Pride of Corellia.

Thracken continued to look out the viewport of his ship. He was glad to have seen that at least one of the X-wings had been struck by the bombardment, but it was still disappointing that most had avoided it. And it left him with a sense of distaste to see his cousin's ship suffering only a graze. No matter, he would get him on the next run.

Lifting his gaze, Thracken saw that the X-wing that had been struck continued to fly, albeit having suffered from incredible damage. If nothing else, he supposed he had to give the pilot credit for their tenacity.

It was a second later before Thracken realised exactly where the X-wing was heading; straight for the bridge on a kamikaze run!

He opened his mouth to order his people to open fire, but the battered fighter smashed into and through the transparisteel viewport before he could open his mouth.

From the outside view, the impact and explosion of Lensi's X-wing sent a shockwave that took out the entire bridge.

With the control centre taken out of commission, the massive dreadnought was now out of control, and now began a directionless course that arced away from the battle, back towards the massive bulk of Centrepoint Station itself.

Pulled in by the massive station's intense gravity, the Pride of Corellia started to pick up speed, going faster and faster as it approached the unforgiving ancient metal surface. The dreadnought was effectively turned into an artificial meteor.

With a massive shudder, the doomed vessel smashed into Centrepoint Station, causing a titanic explosion that rippled along the metal surface. Fire and debris spewed every direction in the vacuum.

During the battle at Endor, the Super Star Destroyer Executor had its bridge destroyed by a crashing A-wing, causing it to plummet into the surface of the second Death Star. Now, ironically, the Pride of Corellia had suffered an almost identical fate.

Kalralahr Gilkarg nar Kiranka stood back and watched the impact. Though he had not planned it, he still had to admit that it was not an unpleasant thing to watch, particularly given the fact that it was an enemy vessel and not one of their own.

Though he had nothing to confirm it, he knew in his bones that the commander of the Five Worlds Liberation Front was more than likely on that vessel, and it was highly unlikely that he would have survived such a devastating explosion. If that were the case, then there was definitely one less irritation to deal with.

As an added bonus, it appeared that the rest of the Five Worlds forces had been pitched into utter chaos. With the destruction of their flaghsip and presumed death of their leader, they had lost whatever will they had left, and were now either retreating while they still had their wits about them, or flying around, looking for something to do, or some enemy to fight, and failing miserably.

Gilkarg smiled. They would be dealt with soon enough.

"Not unexpected, but not an unpleasant development either," he remarked. He turned to the officer behind him. "Any word on Khajja and his squadron, Shintahr?"

The officer, the Shintahr, shook his head in response. "None, Kalralahr. It is believed that they were destroyed by enemy fighters."

Gilkarg grumbled. "Well, no matter, I suppose. Both of our enemies are in total disarray. It is time to move in on the next phase of our plan. Have our capital ships move in to make a defensive ring around Centrepoint Station, and inform my shuttle pilot that I am on my way."

He grinned again. "Our time is at hand."

Now, in this chapter sees the deaths of two EU characters who died in the same book (that being LOTF: Fury). The first was Alema Rar, who was a villain in that canon anyway - not to mention a bit of a weirdo. The second was Lensi, who actually died at Centrepoint when he was shot down by his former comrade, Wedge Antilles. I decided to give him a more heroic ending this time, and yes, his death and the destruction of Thracken's flagship is meant to mirror how the Executor was taken out in Return of the Jedi.

As for Thracken, the guy was an asshole, and when I wrote this chapter, I figured he was the kind to go crazy and execute any subordinate who did not follow his orders, even when they were doomed to fail. It actually makes his death all the more satisfying!

Ok, the climax is coming up!