Be ready. That's all I got to say. Sorry for the hiatus. I'll be up and running again soon. And many more to come.
_
"Blaze, we are coming out of hyperspace." Anakin Skywalker, first Chosen One, said as he waved his hand over the enhanced scanner that Ahsoka and I had installed quite a long time ago. "I'm picking up several craft orbiting the other side of the planet."
"How are you guessing that?" Lyra asked, not seeing the scanner on the dash.
Anakin leaned over to the side, letting her see, "We are piggybacking off of one of the satellites surrounding this side and using it to scan for the other satellite on the other side." He drug his finger over the display, a holographic picture of the planet, and spun it in a circle, turning it to the other side where the shipyards were. "See?"
I turned my head to better see what he was doing, "Ah." I made a noise, "You're right, Skywalker."
Anakin nodded, "I know I am."
The holographic display now held a massive shipyard in orbit above the massive junk planet, but now there were quite a few more anomalies flying around it. From the projected images, I could make out at least three frigates, standard transport class, and one massive structure flying right next to the shipyard, sharing its gravitational stability from the planet.
However, there were very strange anomalies coming from the sensors about the ship. It was as if it was in a constant course lane.
"That's strange." Anakin commented.
I leaned over to see what he was looking at. The anomalies were set up so that it was a combination of blurred dots mixed with random weight data.
"What are those?" I asked.
Skywalker shook his head, "I don't know."
"Cargo ships?" Lyra broke into the conversation, pulling her robe off and settling it onto one of the seats very neatly. "They look about that size."
I shook my head as I looked at the weight data, "No. The size is a bit small for cargo ships."
Cali joined the group, "Is there a way we can access the weight readouts?"
Anakin nodded his head at my blonde Padawan learner, "Yes." He craned his neck back a bit, "R2. Can you pull up the weight readouts for us please?"
R2 warbled out an affirmative response and his metal arm plugged right into the control socket. Seconds later, it spun in a circle a few times and new data came up in a flash.
"Thanks, R2." I said to the droid. I quickly turned back to the holographic image, more specifically back to the new data, "Well, it seems that these things weigh a lot more than normal cargo ships, including any cargo that they would have in them."
"So, transport ships?" Lyra tried again.
I shook my head, jabbing my fingers forward and zooming in on the blurry dots, "I don't know. They aren't big enough ships for that."
"Maybe they are stripped down versions of transports." Anakin offered, causing Lyra to smile, then he added, "But, if that's the case, why are they going from the station? Stripped down transports are supposed to be outfitted properly aboard the shipyard."
That was true. Transports like that were commissioned to be rebuilt for sturdier designs and bulkier interiors for more massive cargo. In most military cases, it was protocol.
I shrugged my shoulders, my own Jedi robe falling onto the seat. I reached up to my shoulders and waved a hand over the fabric, snapping it nice and neatly along the seams until the sleeves fell off. I rolled my shoulder upwards and groaned a bit before answering, "I can't give you an answer for that one."
Cali poked her own finger forward and traced the path-line from the station to the ships and then from the ships to the GG, "Look at this though."
I squinted my eyes. The lines were somewhat dragged. The ships were actually descending a fraction of their current altitude each time they came within another unit of the superweapon, "Oh. I see."
Cali smiled, "Yeah. That's drag. These ships are obviously transporting something. And, to answer Skywalker's question, that is what they are normally supposed to do, but apparently the Shadow Brigade is using these stripped-down versions to transport something from the shipyard."
"Metals maybe?" Lyra offered, "Shipyards come with extensive supplies to a bunch of different types of metals for the cruisers built there."
I nodded, "That's true, but why would they need metals? And, more importantly, why are they transporting the metals directly onto the Galaxy Gun and not onto another starcruiser?"
"Maybe it isn't metals then." The power in Lyra's voice died out.
I gave her a glance, "No, you could be right. I'm just curious."
"Well, what else is aboard the station that could be of major use to the Galaxy Gun?" Cali asked me in particular.
I turned to her, "There are many things, but I guess radioactive components inside the Melters would be a good thing to grab."
Anakin nodded his head in agreement, "Now that sounds even better, but there's still drag."
Cali poked one of the blurred dots and compared it to another blurred dot and the results came up different. She nodded, "I see." She said, "Each transport carries something different. Look."
We all leaned forward attentively.
"This one" She pointed to one of the ships closest to the GG, "is experiencing a hell of a lot more drag than this one." She then pointed to one that was in the middle way of both places. "My guess is that they are transporting two different sets of cargo on different ships."
"Whatever uses they have for all that metal and radioactive material can't be good." I said, then took the controls back in my hands and angled the ship so that we were farther into a blackout zone. That meant that the ships couldn't detect us. We would use minimum power and fly at an un-scanned area to avoid detection at all costs.
Failure wasn't an option for this mission.
If what we thought was true, the war could end right there on that massive structure orbiting the planet. I made a promise to my family, my friends, and to the Jedi that I would protect the galaxy and end the war within a year's time. There was no way I was going to renege on that promise.
"Agreed." Anakin said, taking the secondary controls and diverting the pilot power from mine to his.
"Hey!" I protested, glaring at him slightly, "My ship, I'm the pilot."
Anakin gave a begrudging smile and diverted power back to me, "Fine."
I gave a pout, "I don't try to pilot your ship do I?"
"My ship fits one person!" Anakin exclaimed.
"Not the point!" I said back.
Cali giggled, "Throwing fits are we, Master?"
I saw Lyra give Cali a rude glance, "You call him Master so much that it's weird. Can you stop?" That tone was equally as rude.
"It's for respect, Lyra." I said to my friend, "In fact, you should technically be calling me Master as well since I am one and I'm legions stronger than you."
Lyra made a face, "No way. That would be even weirder. No way in hell am I ever calling you Master."
I laughed, a good hard laugh that I was sure was going to be the last one I laughed for a long time, "Ok. Ok. I see your point."
The display suddenly lit up red and an alarm flashed. Anakin flung his hand forward and shut it off, cutting off the main power as well, letting the ship float in stationary drift.
"Would you look at that?" I muttered to myself as the station came in view, "That thing is gigantic!"
When I was a kid, I had read about the size of the Galaxy Gun in junior and adult novels. Back then, it was clear how big it was to the imagination of a preteen, but now it was something completely different.
It had to have been at least three times the size of the station itself, and the station was big to begin with. Now, true to the design, it wasn't as big as the Death Star, but I knew that the power behind it was just as powerful.
It was centered on a rig, made up of molded and circular connectors that wrapped around and centered in on the main hub. The hub was nothing more than a massive circular eye, obviously situated with several viewing stations as well as massive power generators.
Sure enough, the central eye was connected to one huge cannon that was roughly about a quarter of a mile long with several indention points that ran across the exoskeleton. There was several access ports around the barrel that led up to the massive hull, obviously covered by a thin, but existent energy shield of some sort.
From where I was, it looked like there was an ominous purple glow emanating from the ports.
Then, I realized what it was, "Anakin, look at the barrel. See the glow?"
Anakin nodded, "The purple one? Yeah, I see it."
"What is that?" Lyra asked, peering forward just as the purple glow turned bright blue.
"More importantly, what is that?" I said, my voice rising as something struck me as odd.
R2 warbled out a frantic response.
I already knew what was happening.
"Damn it! They know! Shit!" I shouted, throwing the switch for the power. The ship sputtered back to life and the display crackled back to full.
"What do you mean they know?!" Anakin exclaimed, taking the controls and swerving to the right, turning around in that same moment. "R2! Get us out of here!"
"No!" I shouted back at the droid, "Don't!" I flashed my head quickly back to Skywalker, "This may be the only chance we have to end this war!"
"We can find another way, Blaze!" Anakin shouted back.
In the Force, I felt Lyra and Cali shift uncomfortably, but their distress was evident. Skywalker and I were at odds and they knew it.
"No!" I took back the main controls and turned the ship back around. Within the seventh second of my focus being back on the Galaxy Gun. The blue glow was now pulsating erratically.
"We have to leave, Marko!" Anakin shouted, his mechanical hand slamming against the dash board.
"Damn it! No!" I bit back, "We can't!" Do I even believe that? Can we fight right now? Did I plan this out?
"Master!" Cali suddenly shot out, "The scanners are picking up massive amounts of seismic energies!"
"Seismic normally refers to the ground! What the hell are they doing in space...? Unless..." I trailed off, then felt it spark, "Tractor-EMP!"
"We've got a massive problem!" Lyra shouted.
That was an understatement. If that thing was a Tractor-EMP then it would completely disable our ship as well as knock us all unconscious while pulling our ship into one of their docking bays. That would be the best of times.
Not.
"I get that!" I shouted back at her as I stared out at the blue glow pulsating out of the cannon, "I really hope I'm wrong here."
"What?" Anakin turned. "What did you say?"
"There were seismic energies in play. Now, that either means tractor beam or something much, much worse." I said, my mind racing a thousand miles a second to comprehend what was actually going on.
Seismic energy was a tricky thing and it could be controlled on different frequencies, but this one was tricky. Tricky and different.
Then, the blue light turned blood red.
"I was wrong."
Before anyone could say anything, the Galaxy Gun fired. But, instead of an EMP coming out through an electrical transference, it was fired out in the form of a massive wave of crimson energy. Like a massive bolt fired from a massive gun, which was essentially what it was, in a nutshell, out into the reaches of space.
However, this blast wasn't aimed at us.
That was my next fear. But, it didn't come at us. That was when I saw that the transport ships coming from the station had stopped completely. There were none left. They all had gotten aboard the GG.
The blast ripped through space and tore through the space station above Raxus Prime. There was no blow back and no explosion. It just burned a hole through the center of the station, leaving bits and pieces to float in the vacuum of space.
Soon, mere seconds after, the station fell. The gravity well must have been completely destroyed.
It streaked through the atmosphere, becoming a burning pile of metal. Thousands of people suddenly vanished from existence in the Force, causing a pit to form in my stomach.
"They weren't firing at us." I whispered, lowering my head for a moment.
Cali finished for me, "They were destroying the station for good."
I raised my head up, "This complicates things."
"How so?" Anakin asked. "We already knew what it was capable of."
I clenched my fist, straightening myself, "It means they are about to leave!" I yanked the ship toward the side and then threw my left hand up, hitting the cloaking button. "This better work."
"Stealth?" Lyra asked, buckling herself in tighter.
I nodded, "And, now, evasive maneuvers."
"Nothing too fancy." Anakin said.
I smirked gently, "Starting to sound like Obi Wan. Just hold your stomach and make sure your lunch doesn't come back up. I ain't cleaning up after you, Skywalker."
Clutching the controls tightly, I chucked them forward on their steering console and the ship flung forward, the engines blasting out with almost an explosion of momentum. The ship rumbled violently for a moment before stabilizing, the shaking giving way to a slight bumble.
There was at least a thousand meters between me and the station. That wasn't a distance that was hard to cross. No, that would only take a minute at best. But, I knew that the GG could have its hyperdrive activated in less than a minute.
The navi-computer onboard could pre-prepare a coordinate plan chart across the galactic plane and be off within seconds. It was a miracle that the floating station was still where it floated.
As I approached the huge station, I reached back into my mind. Into the knowledge I had accumulated over the years of being with this universe without living it.
The GG had several access ports. At least, the one that Palpatine created did. This one was connected to a rig. Naturally, rigs of that size had access ports across the back-half of the station to get to the over-looking command stations as well as the cooling tanks covered by shielded glass.
"Marko!"
I refocused myself, seeing the bright red glow emanating from below the station.
Bottom engines? Are they going into hyperspace upwards?! I shook my head, frowning. "I see it."
The ship sputtered for a moment before blasting forwards again, closing the little distance left between us and the massive battle station. The Beast slid onto one of the access ports and sealed with it, metal rods connecting to the receiving ends.
I threw my head back, "R2! Run a jam! Make sure they don't know we docked."
The astromech beeped out a response and his mechanical arm went to work on the control port, spinning in a vicious circle several times before he came back, uttering another beep that sounded like a conformation.
I unstrapped myself, "Good. Let's go."
I walked out of the cockpit and to the access hatch. I ran my hand over the wall panel.
Lyra strolled up to my side, "I hope this works, Blaze."
"Me too, Lyra." I muttered, opening the hatch.
I leaped through the hatch, my hand coming down to unclip my sabers and hold them at the ready.
No one. I thought to myself, clipping my weapons back onto my waist. I turned back to the hatch, "The coast is clear. Let's go."
Lyra leaped out onto the metal flooring and gave her hair a quick whip as it fell into her face. She took a look around at the walls and at the flooring, and finally at the hallway behind me. At that same moment, Anakin and Cali jumped out of the ship and beside her.
"This place is even bigger on the inside than the outside." She mused, sounding a bit impressed by the size of the interior.
Anakin crossed his arms, walking forward beside me but not facing me directly, "That means it's gonna be heck of a lot harder to find the stations. But, that's saying this place even has stations like the ones you said."
I looked into Cali's eyes as I responded, "They are here. I know it."
"If you are wrong, then we all die." Anakin said, a bit quieter, but his voice hard.
This time, I did turn to look at him, "Our destiny isn't to die here. We can't. We have to destroy this station."
"And destroy the Commanders." Cali put in so delicately.
I gave her a nod, "That too."
Lyra rand forward till she was midway through the hall where the hall split into three more halls. She looked down each of them, then turned back to the group, "And the first order of business is to find out how to get to the stations."
I ran up beside her, Anakin and Cali flanking me. When I made it to her, I looked down each identical hallway, casing each one with the utmost level of scrutiny.
"The Southern Station will be your target, Lyra, Cali." I said, closing my eyes and letting the Force guide my vision.
In an instant, the middle path became clear for Anakin and I, but the left path was the one for Cali and Lyra. Quickly, I retreated from the Force as to not be detected by any of the Sith aboard the station. I knew that there were dozens of Sith circulating throughout the facility, doing their duties and waiting for the next moment to strike.
Wrath was here as well.
I had felt him just as we exited hyperspace.
And he was at the spire.
I held my hand, "Anakin and I will go to the top. We will meet back here when both stations are wired to blow."
Anakin nodded, "Sounds like a plan." He reached behind him, pulling out three wireless ear coms, "Each of us should take one. This way we can communicate wirelessly without having to raise our wrists. One wrong move and you end up dead. We want this to go as smoothly as possible."
Lyra reached forward and took one, "Lucky us."
Cali nodded, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Anakin said, placing the earpiece in his ear, then he turned to me, "Turn your HUD on."
I nodded, tapping my own earpiece, my transparent display appearing before my eyes. Quickly, with my mind, I switched to the next section of data streaming before my eyes and smirked as the mass detection levels came up.
"It looks like there won't be a lot of problems from here on out till we get nearer to the Stations." I said, blinking my eye and pushing the info to the side, "We should get going."
Anakin nodding, unclipping his own saber, "Lead the way."
I turned to Cali and Lyra, laying a hand on both of their shoulders, "Good luck guys. Call us if you have any trouble."
"Ok." Cali nodded.
Lyra smirked, "And if they find out that we are on board do we retreat?"
I nodded, "Yes. Fight through what you can and do what you have to but get back to the ship as fast as you can. Take off without us if you have to. We will find another way." I led my hand down off of Lyra's shoulder to her hand and held it gently before giving it a squeeze, "Be careful, Ly."
Lyra's face softened, "You too, Jamie." She leaned up and giving me a peck on the cheek before turning away, "May the Force be with you."
She broke off into sprint, Cali following close behind, matching stride for stride. As they left, I felt dread set over my heart, but I pushed it away. There was no way we could lose. If we did, then there was no hope for the galaxy.
If Wrath was able to use the Galaxy Gun like he planned to, then the galaxy would be in a chokehold.
I clenched my fist, I can't let that happen. I won't let the Sith win.
It was a certainty in my mind. I couldn't deviate from it now. If I did, everyone died. I had far too much to fight for to give up. To accept defeat. To go quietly.
The station, and the Sith, were going to go down one way or another.
I felt a nudge on my shoulder, making me turn back to Anakin, "Right." I said and started down the opposite hallway, our footsteps soft and quiet with our presence in the Force lowered but aware so that we might not be detected.
