"General Yoda!" Shouted Commodore Sykes. "The Imperial Fleet is adopting attack formation and preparing to jump to light speed. Do you have any changes to your orders, Sir?"
"No, Commodore," Yoda replied. "To the far side of the planet, we will go. Escort the Perseverance we must." Turning to Anakin he continued, "Your men and your ships prepare. Disrupt the Imperial bombardment you must. Capture footage as well you should. Show the Galaxy the evil of the Sith we will."
"Yes, Master. May the Force be with you," Anakin said before rushing to the hangers.
"And with you, Master Skywalker," Yoda responded. As Yoda turned back to the front of the bridge, the stars lengthened as their small fleet jumped to hyperspace.
_
Grand Admiral Coburn felt sick. The order he had just given was despicable. But what choice did he have? If he had refused the order, Lady Aella would have simply killed him out of hand and issued the order herself. Or found someone else who was willing to. He had the feeling that he would regret today's action for the rest of his life.
Unfortunately for him, he was a professional. And he was loyal. The Empire may not be the Republic he had grown up in, but it was still the legitimate government and he was bound by honor to obey it's commands. Even if those commands sickened him. He had ordered Base Delta Zero strikes before. But that was against worlds that were openly fighting the Republic. When all other options had been tried and failed.He had never had to order one as a first resort. As a demonstration to others. And this was an Imperial world! One that had openly pledged support to the Empire. This was wrong. The conflict in him was tearing him up. The only thing keeping him sane and functioning was a single mantra he kept repeating to himself: Good soldiers follow orders.
As his ships reverted to realspace over Caamas, he saw that the Planetary Shield was still raised. This caused him to raise his eyebrow in surprise. And relief. With the shield in place, there was no way to carry out the attack. Caamas had one of the strongest shields possible. And no amount of firepower that they could bring to bear would be able to disable it.
Turning to Lady Aella, he told her, "My Lord, the planetary shields have been raised. We lack the firepower to disable them outright. What are your orders?"
Darth Aella looked at the Admiral for a moment before replying. She could feel the conflict in him, his personal honor demanding he obey his orders warring with the revulsion at what he was being ordered to do. She could feel the beginnings of the self-loathing inside him that would eventually destroy him. She savored it. She let it feed the Dark Side within her. It's power and strength filling her. When she replied,her voice was soft, almost a whisper. But all the more menacing because of it. "Patience, Admiral. The shield will fall. I want them to see us. To fear what is about to happen to them. To know that their deaths are upon them. They will learn only too late that it is death to defy the Empire. Begin the bombardment the instant the shield falls."
Grand Admiral Barton Coburn felt his blood go cold at the words of the Sith. She was enjoying this. He couldn't do this. It was one thing to carry out a necessary evil while telling yourself it was better for one planet to die than to see hundreds suffer destruction, but this was something else. This was evil for no other reason. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. Without warning, he felt his throat constrict, his airway cut off. Most disturbingly, he heard the voice of the Sith inside his head, whispering to him.
Aella was no fool. She felt the Admiral's resolve stiffen, that he would not give the order. That when the time came to actually order the bombardment, he couldn't do it. He was far too stuck in the ways of the Republic. She decided to motivate him a little. Reaching out with the Force gently, almost as a lover would, she wrapped it around his throat and squeezed. Her eyes flashing yellow, she burrowed her way into the man's very thoughts and whispered insidiously to him, "Now Admiral. Is this really wise? You honestly believe you can defy the power of the Force? Let me show you what true power is."
With that Aella forced the stricken man to live out his every nightmare. Nothing was safe from her. His deepest, darkest secrets and fears were ripped from him and played out before his eyes. Aella enhancing and magnifying every sensation she exposed him to. For Coburn, it seemed to last forever. And for no time at all. Whispering in his thoughts again, Aella said to him, "Now imagine being forced to live in your nightmares for the rest of your days. Your every waking moment filled with terror, unable to rest, unable to recover. Each passing moment worse than the last. You will beg for the release of death.And I will deny it. Over and over again. If you try to kill yourself to end your pain, you will be rescued and returned to health, only to have your torture start all over again. Worse than before. There are things worse than death Admiral. Obey me, or you will discover them for yourself."
With a gasp, Coburn snapped back to reality. The pressure on his throat was gone, the voice in his head as well, his nightmares and fears tucked safely back into the recesses of his mind. The Sith stood exactly where she had a moment before. Had no one noticed what had happened to him? Looking around the bridge, the personnel were going about their duties as if nothing was wrong. Hadn't they seen what she was doing to him? Apparently, they hadn't. Or they were smart to enough to ignore it. Admiral Coburn looked on the Sith with fear in his eyes. He was trapped with no way out. And he knew it. Inside him, he felt something break. Closing his eyes, he meekly replied, "Yes, My Lord. Your orders will be carried out." Turning to his gunnery officer, he said simply, "Begin the bombardment the instant the shield is down." If he was lucky, perhaps he wouldn't live long enough to regret giving the order.
"Admiral," Darth Aella said. "I've changed my mind. Begin firing immediately. I want them to feel safe behind their shield. I want them to have hope. Then we will shatter their illusion when the shields drop and we destroy everything they hold dear."
The revulsion that Admiral Coburn was already feeling doubled when he heard what Darth Aella wanted him to do now. But the specter of what she had promised haunted him. His only option was to comply. Grand Admiral Coburn was a beaten man. His only response to nod curtly nod to his gunnery officer and say, "Make it so." Within five minutes, the first blasts from the turbolaser batteries lanced out and struck the shield.
_
In the hanger bay on the Redemption, Anakin was walking toward the shuttle that Captain Rex would be on, his new Padawan beside him. Anakin was somewhat grim, this mission was so important. Not just because it was going to help restore the public's image of the Jedi, but because they were here to save lives. Unfortunately, that was going to entail taking many lives in the process. For her part, Seryana Ky was still on Cloud Nine. It was only when she realized that Master Skywalker was talking to her that she snapped back to reality.
"Seryana, I know I told you yesterday what I want you to do down there, but I want to go over it again. As a Jedi, your first and foremost responsibility is to save as many lives as you can. But I also want you to watch out for Captain Rex. He's stubborn, and holding him back from being at the forefront of his men is going to be tough. But you've got to try."
"I will, Master. You can count on me," Seryana replied.
"I know I can, Seryana. If I thought for one second I couldn't, or that you weren't ready for this, I wouldn't be sending you down there." Pausing, Anakin reached out and touched her shoulder. "Seryana, it's going to be hell down there. You were able to avoid the worst of the Clone Wars. But when you're down there, you're going to have to make choices, choices you're going to have to live with. At some point, you're going to have to choose who lives, and who dies. Who gets that last spot on a shuttle and who gets left behind. You're going to have to choose to evacuate more civilians or to evacuate your men." Here Anakin paused for a moment, recalling when he had to make the same decision during the war. Continuing on he said, "It's not going to be easy, or pleasant. Use the Force, Seryana. Use it to guide your actions down there. Trust in it, and you'll know that you're doing the right thing. Be a Jedi, not just a soldier. I forgot that too often in the war. Don't make that same mistake."
Chilled by Master Skywalker's blunt advice, Seryana blanched a bit. The reality of just what she was being called on to do finally sinking in. This was no childhood fantasy or dream. The stark reality of just what a Jedi Knight had to face was finally fully revealed to her. Seryana had a flash of doubt cross her mind. "Was she really ready for this? Could she do this? Force, she wasn't sure anymore."
Reading her face and her emotions through the Force, Anakin put his hands on her shoulders and told her, "Breathe, Seryana. You'll do fine down there. I have confidence in you. You fought and defeated a Sith on Tatooine. And what's more, you elected not to kill him, but to bring him to us. You did better than I did in those same circumstances. You can do this, Padawan. Trust in yourself. And trust in the Force."
Taking a deep breath, Seryana nodded and felt her new Padawan braid swing by the side of her face. "Yes, Master. I'll try," she replied.
"Good. Now, come on. Let's introduce you to Rex."
Walking over to one of the assault shuttles, Anakin called out and waved Rex over to them. Breaking off from the group, Rex made his way over to his General, and his friend. "Yes, General?" Asked Rex.
"Rex," Anakin replied. "I want you to meet my new Padawan, Seryana Ky. Seryana, this is Captain Rex. Rex and I have been through more than you can imagine. And he's one of my closest friends."
Nodding curtly to the Padawan, Rex said, "Commander," automatically assigning her the rank as he would any other Padawan.
"Captain Rex. I've heard quite a lot about you and the 501st. I'm happy to be going with you to the surface," Seryana told him.
Hearing that declaration from the Padawan, Rex cocked his eyebrow and looked at General Skywalker. His unspoken question plain on his face and demanding an explanation.
"Well, er, Rex, it's like this," Anakin told him, with a lopsided grin on his face. "You're going to need every soldier and Jedi possible down there for this evacuation. And I'm needed in my starfighter. And, well..."
"You told her to babysit me and make sure I didn't do too much, didn't you, Sir?" Rex said.
"Well..."
"And I suppose you want me to look out for her and make sure she doesn't do too much either, Sir?"
Deciding discretion was the better part of valor here, Anakin started to back away saying, "There, see? You two already know what I was going to say! Good luck, but Artoo is already warming up my fighter." With that, Anakin, turned and fled to the fighter bay.
Shaking his head, Rex mumbled to himself, "'Hero with no fear' my ass." Looking at the Padawan, he judged her to be about twenty. "Odd. Why would the General be worried about someone who should be just about ready for her trials?" Rex thought to himself.
For her part, Seryana was a bit taken aback. "What was that all about?" She thought. Master Skywalker looked, awkward. Hearing Captain Rex mumbling beside her, she snapped back to reality and turned to him with a questioning look on her face.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Commander," Rex said. "We've been together for years, so we tend to be a bit more relaxed. Especially now."
"Oh, okay," Seryana responded. "Still, he seemed, I don't know, awkward."
"He just didn't want to show either of us how worried he is about what we're going down there to do."
"Okay. Well, anyway, it looks like you've guessed what he wants me to do down there."
"Yes, Sir. I can't say I'm surprised. Ah, well. Let's get on that shuttle. Don't want them leaving without us."
"Right. Lead the way, Captain."
_
In the fighter bay, Anakin was preflighting his yellow Eta-2 Interceptor. Artoo, already in his socket on the wing beeped and buzzed angrily at Anakin.
"Yes, I know you already did a preflight, Artoo," Anakin told the droid. "And of course I trust I you! Stop trying to act like you haven't done this exact same thing to me before!"
Artoo's profanity laced reply told Anakin exactly what he thought about that. He also threw in aquestion at the end that Anakin had just known was coming.
"Ok, first off, we really need to have a talk about your language. And second, no, I didn't have to tell em. Rex already figured it out."
Artoo's reply was somewhere between sarcastic and insubordinate. And it was enough to make Anakin think that maybe he really should have had the little guy serviced a bit more often. He was becoming increasingly independent and self aware.
"What do you think I did? I got outa there as fast as I could! Would you have wanted to face Rex like that?"
The silence from Artoo was deafening. "Yeah, I didn't think so," Anakin said. As Anakin finished his preflight, Obi-wan and Zett came up to him.
"Just like old times, eh Anakin?" Asked Obi-wan.
"Wouldn't miss it, Master," Anakin told him. Motioning his old Master off to the side, Anakin lowered his voice and leaned in so only he and Obi-wan could hear and said, "I've got a bad feeling about this Master. There's something about this mission, I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it's something."
Stroking his beard and concentrating on the Force for a moment before responding, Obi-wan asked him, "Are you sure? I'm not getting anything more than what I felt before. Is it possible it's just because of what they intend to do?"
"I don't think so, Master. It's, it's more focused than that. I can feel the darkness from the fleet because of what they're doing, but this is something more. Not a trap, but something bad is about to happen."
"Well, you're senses have always been very good about that Anakin. We'll just have to be on guard, won't we?"
"All we can do. At least this time I don't think we'll be backed into an elevator full of battle droids."
"Please don't bring up the Invisible Hand, Anakin. I still get nightmares about your piloting from that."
Giving Obi-wan one of his cockeyed grins, Anakin told him, "Hey, I landed the ship. Mostly."
"It's the 'mostly' part that worries me." Moving on, Obi-wan asked, "Is your new Padawan joining us on this lovely little joy ride through the fleet?"
Laughing lightly at Obi-wan's forced humor, Anakin replied, "No, I sent her with Rex. She's a good fighter, and a very skilled pilot. But she's never flown a starfighter before. Not even in a simulator. I don't want her first time out to be in the middle of the Imperial Fleet."
Just then, from his socket, Artoo piped up and let out a long, sarcastic sounding series of beeps and buzzes.
"You keep quiet," Anakin said, grateful for once that Obi-wan didn't understand Droidspeak. From the look on his Padawan's face though, Zett apparently did. At least enough to get the gist of what Artoo said.
"What did the droid say, Anakin?" Asked his old Master.
"Ummm, well, he uhhhh, he was just commenting on how he agrees with the way I assigned them to work together."
The indignant beeps coming from Artoo at that was enough that even Obi-wan knew he was accusing Anakin of being something less than truthful.
"Sure, Anakin. Whatever you say. Artoo, I'll talk to you about it later. So if your Padawan won't be joining us, who will?"
"Actually Ahsoka and Master Koon will be flying with us. And no, I didn't assign them that way, they asked to."
"Ok," said Obi-wan, holding up his hands. While Anakin was certainly a changed man, every once in awhile, he still saw his old, rebellious Padawan poke through. This was one of those times.
"Zett and I are going to go do our preflights. See you at launch."
"May the Force be with you, Master. With both of you."
"And with you, Anakin," Obi-wan said with a smile.
_
As the Jedi ships dropped out of hyperspace after their short jump, every fighter they had poured out of them. The fighters immediately formed up and streaked in towards the Imperial Fleet. As they did so, the Jedi could only watch helplessly as the first blasts from the assembled turbolasers struck the planetary shield. For a moment, the Jedi held the hope that the shields would hold, they their attacks would be enough to drive off the fleet, or at the least make it pursue them instead. While they knew that they couldn't defeat the fleet that was before them, their hope, with the shield still up, was to draw them away from the planet and give the Caamasi time to escape. This wasn't to be. Even as the Jedi grabbed onto this hope, the shields flickered and went out. And the destruction of Caamas began.
_
On the bridge of the Enforcer, Darth Aella was in a near trance like state. The fear, pain, suffering and hatred coming from the planet was like a fine wine. And she savored every moment of it. She drank it in as a parched man would drink water. She gorged herself on it. And in turn, she felt her connection to the Dark Side deepen, she felt it grow stronger with every second that passed. She had never felt so connected to the Force before. She reveled in the Dark Side in all it's glory. She could feel her eyes burning as the fury of the Dark Side filled her. As she opened her eyes, she heard gasps all around her, the expressions on the faces of those around her confirming what she already knew. That her eyes, normally soft and blue, were bright and yellow, seeming almost to glow as she allowed the Dark Side to fill her.
So deep was her connection to the Dark Side that she could feel each and every being on every ship around her. She could feel their wants, their needs, their desires. She fed off of them as well. Though it wasn't nearly as satisfying as feeding off the death and destruction taking place below her. As her awareness stretched out, she suddenly jerked and recoiled as if she had touched a white hot flame. For there, at the edge of her perceptions, was a mass of Light. The stink that now filled her nostrils could only come from the Jedi. And not just one or two. No. This was hundreds of them. For a brief moment, she felt real fear and panic. What could one Sith Lord do against hundreds of Jedi? This was exactly what her Master had feared might happen. That the Jedi would mass their strength to strike at them.
But as she calmed, the Dark Side revealed the truth to her. The Jedi were not here to stop her. They were here to stop her fleet. And no mater how good the Jedi may be, and she had no doubt they would be very good as Darth Sidious had shown her unedited footage of the Jedi in battle during the Clone Wars, they would be no match for the immense firepower at her disposal. Turning to the Admiral, she spoke to him. Though her voice was barely above a whisper, it had the power of the Force behind it so that it seemed to echo deep within each and every being on the bridge. "Admiral, the Jedi have arrived. Launch all our fighters, and reorient our ships to fight them off. Do not let a single one escape."
Grand Admiral Coburn looked surprised. "The Jedi? Here" He thought. Quickly turning to his sensor officer, he snapped out, "Report!"
Stuttering with shock and fear at not reporting the incoming fighters before Lady Aella had, somehow, detected them, he said, "S-S-Sir, ap-p-pp-proximately one hundred Jedi Starfighters inbound, Green 076. High sublight speed, attack formation."
Deep within Barton Coburn a spark started to burn. By himself, Aella would crush him. She had proven that already. But with the Jedi available? He would have to play this very, very close to the vest to pull this off. It would be like balancing on a razor's edge. But the payoff if he won, would be worth it. With a barely perceptible hesitation, a hesitation that Aella wrote off as the Admiral having another, minor, attack of conscience, he began to roar out orders. First and foremost ordering the fleet to launch all availablefighters, then barking out orders to reorient the fleet into a defensive posture and provide overlapping arcs of fire for all the ships. He prayed that the butchers bill wouldn't be too ghastly for what he was forced to do today, and he prayed that, for just once, that the Force would be kind to him and his old friend Plo would be out there and know what he was being forced to do.
As the Imperial ships disgorged their fighters, Admiral Coburn watched as the somewhat motely assortment of Eta-2s, Delta-7s, TIEs, Z-95s, ARC-170s and V-19s assembled into their various formations. "Time to see if he could play with fire without getting burnt." Looking at his fighter control officer, he told the young woman, "Send the Eta-2s, Delta-7s and TIEs in to attack immediately. Keep the Headhunters, ARCs and Torrents in close for defense."
"Yes, sir," the woman replied. In seconds, the fighters were streaking away. Coburn said another silent prayer that no one would realize that he just sent away every ship piloted by the true believers in the new order, the recent recruits and non-clones. He had also dispatched every fighter that was not hyperdrive capable. They also happened to be his most maneuverable fighters and by rights should have been kept in close to maneuver around the ships. Fingers crossed no one would backstab him and tell Aella what he was doing.
_
As the Imperial Fighters closed on them, the Jedi tore into them. Though the Imperial Pilots were no doubt brave, and some even highly skilled, they were no match for the battle hardened pilots that the Jedi were fielding. Nor were they a match for Force Enhanced reflexes. "A year ago," Anakin though, "and I would have really been enjoying this." His flight of five had, so far, destroyed at least thirty Imperial Starfighters. Sadly, their victories had not been without loss. Ten Jedi had been hit so far, and all ten had become one with the Force. Anakin had felt their presences wink out. In no time at all though, they had blown through the Imperial Fighter screen and were moving in on the Imperial Fleet.
"Master," Anakin called to Obi-wan. "Does something seem strange to you? Their Admiral did the exact opposite of what he should have done. He should have kept his more maneuverable fighters in close while sending his heavies to attack us."
"That is odd. And now that you've mentioned it, I'm worried about it too."
Overhearing their conversation, Plo Koon joined in, "Their Admiral is either the most incompetent Admiral in the Fleet or he is trying to send us a message."
"What kind of message would he be trying to send us?" asked Ahsoka, her voice utterly calm despite speaking while twisting her fighter around in an almost unbelievably tight corkscrew to avoid incoming blaster fire before blowing the offending TIE to pieces.
"I'm not sure," said Obi-wan. "Zett, watch out for the one coming in on your right." As Zett's fighter nimbly spun out of the way, Obi-wan breathed a sigh of relief. Zett was good, but like his blade work, he thought he was better than he really was.
"I might have an idea," offered Plo. "What if the officer in charge really doesn't want to be there or participating in what he's doing? What if this is his way of showing us that?"
"You mean, outwardly, he's doing everything he can to stop us, but secretly he's making our job easier?" asked Anakin.
"Precisely. He might be trying to tell us that he wants to defect from the Empire, but can't," said Plo.
Zett, piping up for the first time, asked, "Why couldn't he defect if he wanted to? We managed to get away from Coruscant. Commodore Sykes defected. Captain Rex and his entire battalion literally walked away from the Empire under the eyes of Sidious himself!"
At first, the other four Jedi all groaned internally at Zett's naivety and optimism. Defecting wasn't that simple, though all thought it must be nice to still see the Galaxy in Black and White instead of mainly Grey. But as he said that last bit, realization dawned on them. Sidious would never trust something like this to merely an Admiral. And Sidious himself would never have fallen for a stunt like this admiral was pulling. That must mean his apprentice was here.
"Zett, you've just hit the nail on the head without even knowing it," Obi-wan told his Padawan. "The fleet, and the Admiral commanding it can't just defect because Sidious' apprentice is here. He is doing what the 501st did. He's outwardly doing his duty while inside, he's trying to let us know he's with us."
"I agree," said Plo Koon. "Can anyone sense Sidious' apprentice?"
After a moment of quiet while each Jedi in the flight searched through the Force, Anakin spoke up. "I've got her. She's on a Destroyer slightly above the rest of the fleet. I can feel Sidious' taint on her."
"Well, that's our target. If we take out the Sith, we just might be able to save Caamas," said Obi-wan.
A quick comm call, and the situation was explained to every Jedi present. They were to harass the fleet as much as possible while causing the minimum amount of casualties. That done, the five Jedi poured on the power and shot towards the Enforcer.
