At the beginning of Operation Enduring Peace, as the joint incursion into Senex-Juvex had hastily been named, things happened fast. While Admiral Premvold remained at Asmeru with half the Third Fleet, the rest jumped ahead with four task forced from the First. From Neelanon they skipped down the Senex Trace, past Fengrine entirely. At the same time the Imperial task force entered the Senex Sector from Belsavis and routed to a staging point in empty space midway between the Atron and Karfeddion system. They remained there in reserve while the joint Alliance fleets, under command of Admiral Cro Xi, dropped into orbit over the former Vandron homeworld of Karfeddion and immediately issued a declaration that all sides were to cease hostilities.
When faced with such overwhelming force, the ships in orbit offered their surrender. They were a motley mix of House Vandron pickets and modified ships typical of those commandeered by Savyar's partisans. There were no Mandalorian ships among the lot, which almost surely meant they were elsewhere. They'd gone to great lengths to keep the movements of the combined fleets secret so none of their potential enemies would know where they'd chosen to make their stand.
Allana watched it all with the other senior officials in the chamber on Coruscant that had acquired the uncomfortable but inevitable moniker 'the war room.' Chief of State Sevash sat beside her, along with a cluster of other senior senators, while the military and intelligence staff spanned the other half of the semicircle. As with the Battle of Fengrine, they watched it all on a holo manifesting combined tactical data transmitted from observation satellites and Admiral Cro Xi's flagship.
As the Alliance fleets moved to encircle Karfeddion they began to disgorge their support ships: starfighters, shuttles, and landing craft that were to make their way into Karfeddion's atmosphere and lay down troops who'd pacify the planet. This was the critical moment, Allana knew. With the planet encircled and troops landed the Alliance would establish clear superiority over Karfeddion. Resistance on the ground might be difficult but it would be nearly impossible to pry the planet from the grasp of so many warships, even for a biggest fleet the Mandalorian mercenaries could muster.
Cro Xi's voice came in clear through the comm connection. "We've established space superiority. Ships will be at assigned positions in six standard minutes. Then we'll begin landing at target zones."
"I see that, Admiral," said Sevash. "Has there been any communication from the ground?"
"Negative. Our first scout ships are dipping into the upper atmosphere now and doing scans. Please stand bye."
There was a single click as the link closed. Admiral Antilles said, "Things will be hard if it's chaos on the ground, but it might be harder if one side's firmly in control. They'll feel their victory is about to be stolen from them and fighter harder."
"Don't those Vandron ships in orbit signify it's still contested?" asked Tiurrg Dre'lye, the long-serving Bothan senator who was chair of the Defense Council.
"Not necessarily," Antilles shook her head. "We've gotten reports that some House security forces are switching sides rather than be captured.
"Or killed," Dre'lye muttered under his breath, gray fur bristling.
"Hopefully Admiral Cro Xi will figure that out soon enough," Allana offered.
As if on cue, the comm link clicked back on and the Gossam said, "Command, we are in position and are beginning to deploy troop ships. Predict they'll starting landing at their targets in eight to nine minutes."
"What kind of resistance do you expect?" asked Sevash.
"Ground situation is still hard to read, but we've seen no signs anti-orbital cannons or anything but local deflector shields. I don't anticipate landing will be trouble. However-"
Suddenly a new set of lights appeared on the tactical holo; two sets, in fact. One appeared from the coreward side of Karfeddion orbit, one from the rimward end, and both were falling toward the planet and the Alliance fleet ringing it.
"Ah, Mandalorians," said Cro Xi. "Right on schedule."
-{}-
When the call to battle came, Tamar Skirata thought they'd be doing a re-run of the Battle of Fengrine. When she dropped out of hyperspace and plunged her Beskad fighter toward the waiting fleet, she realized how mistake she'd been. This was going to be a much, much bigger brawl, and the forces they'd brought with them would never be enough.
She felt an urge to comm the Mand'alor's flagship and ask him if he'd gone mir'osik, but instead patched her comlink directly to her cousin.
"Dorn'ika, you read?"
"Loud and clear."
"Are we supposed to fight all those ships?"
"That seems to be the plan," he grated.
She checked her scanners. "They're pumping out fighters now. D-wings, Tri-wings, the works. We'll never take them all, or protect Karfeddion."
"Maybe we're supposed to give 'em a bloody nose and run."
"I sure as shab with we could get a-" Her comm board lit up. "Finally!"
She switched her channel and heard Gevern Auchs in her ear, saying, "All fighters, cut ahead and keep those drop ships from hitting atmo. Repeat, target the drop ships. Don't stop to engage their fleet. We'll hang back and draw as many of their snubs off your back as we can."
When the signal ended, as abruptly as it came, she switched back to Dorn's comm line. "Hear that? I guess we've got our orders."
"Think we can punch through their forward line?"
She checked her scanners, checked space ahead with her eyes. The Alliance was keeping some fighters to escort the drop ships but most of them were wheeling around the intercept the newcomers. Of course, there were many more Alliance fighters than there were Mando Beskads, and half those enemy cruisers probably still had fighters in their hangars.
Still, Beskads were fast, just as fast as the enemy Tri-wings. If they could break through the initial line of hostiles coming at them now, they could probably catch up with the clunky shuttles and drop ships while they were still in the atmosphere. They couldn't keep the Alliance from occupying Karfeddion but they could make it extra-costly.
"Let's punch some aruetii in the nose," she growled and throttled forward.
"I knew you'd say that," Dorn breathed, and jumped ahead too.
-{}-
As chief tactical officer on Voidwalker, Davek Fel was given all the details of the battle happening over Karfeddion even as the entire Imperial task force sat light-years outside the system. Standing at his station in the aft of the bridge he traced the movements of all the Alliance capital ships, the launch of their fighters and landing craft, the arrival of the Mandalorians and the joining of battle.
In the beginning the mood among the bridge crew had been one of sullen patience. After the labor and headache of prepping for a battle that would be the first for most of them, it felt unfair to sit back and watch as other soldiers- Alliance soldiers especially- did the fighting.
One thing Davek was sure, though, was that he was glad they weren't part of that first wave toward the planet. The Mandalorian Beskad fighters were fast and nimble and barely slowed down as they cut through the screen of Alliance interceptors. Now they were on their way into the atmosphere to attack the troop ships heading for Karfeddion's main population centers.
"Our TIEs would have stopped them," muttered one of his subordinates.
"We don't know that for sure, Ensign Korak," Davek warned the dark-haired man. "Those Mandos are tough fliers with tough ships."
"We saw what they did at Fengrine, sir," said another ensign, a female Kel Dor named Por Dun.
"Then you shouldn't need reminding. Never underestimate your enemies."
"Is there an issue in your section, Lieutenant?" Khomal suddenly said.
Davek tried not to jump; Ensign Korak did too, less well. The first officer was behind them, eying them carefully. "Well, is there?"
"The Mandalorians have cut through the initial Alliance line, sir," Davek said. "They're going to start cutting up those drop ships any minute now."
"Do you think the Alliance will call on us for aid?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Then we should all keep quiet, wait, and see." Khomal passed his glare to the ensigns, let it linger for a second, then moved on.
"Don't normally see him with a stick up his butt," breathed Korak.
"That's enough, Ensign," Davek said, quiet but firm. He was right, though. Khomal wasn't exactly a martinet first officer. The anxiety of battle must have been getting to him. It was getting to them all in different ways. Korak wasn't normally this chatty.
They kept watching the developments in stern silence. Davek let his glare dart between the tactical readouts and Captain Lorn, who remained seated in his command chair, elbows and armrests and long fingers clasped in front of him, facing the fore of the bridge and its view of empty stars dotted by engine-flare. The Muun didn't seem to be paying attention to anything on the bridge, but Davek knew otherwise. The captain was picking it all up with his keen hearing, waiting for something major to happen.
When he watched the tactical readouts the situation was pretty clear. As expected, the Mandalorian ships plunged into the atmosphere and shot down over fifty percent of the Alliance drop ships before they could land. In orbit, the Mando frigates and corvettes had joined with the enemy fleet. Too small and scattered to withstand a pitched battle, and Mandos were instead doing fast hit-and-run attacks on the bigger cruisers. It was a good way to deal damage, but there was no way the Mandalorians could win this fight.
Davek expected them to pull their fighters back and withdraw, but they didn't. They kept up with the fast attacks, even as the Alliance ships broke formation to try and contain them. Again, the Alliance had numbers on their side. The Mandalorians could flit around and sting like angry thunder wasps but sooner or later they'd be encircled and pulverized by the big Mon Cal cruisers and star defenders.
Then a new set of lights appeared on the tactical holo. Davek announced, "Captain, a second wave of Mandalorian ships has appeared. I'm counting… two-thirds the strength as the first wave."
"Understood, Lieutenant. Thank you." Lorn didn't look back or budge in his command chair, but they all knew their chances of being called into the fight had gotten higher.
"What are they hoping to do?" muttered Por Dun.
"Bash the Alliance as hard as they can, what do you think?" said Korak.
"Yes, but then what?" Por Dun kept her voice down and glanced at Khomal across the bridge, near the gunnery station. "They still can't win a pitched fight."
"They're probably betting the Alliance will run if they get punched hard enough."
"I wouldn't bet on that," Davek told them. He pointed out to the groups of green lights forming on the holo. "They're reforming into defensive clusters. See? They've had to abandon their landing attempts but they'll slug it out before they run because they know they can win a slugging match."
"Then what are the Mandos doing, sir?" asked Por Dun. "It just doesn't make sense."
Davek frankly had no idea, and before he could hazard a guess Lieutenant Renwar called from the comm station. "Signal from Admiral Branth! Alliance has requested full assistance. We are go for launch."
The crew tensed but Lorn just raised his hand slowly, steadily. "Understood. All crews, run final checks. Comm, count us down."
"Yes, sir. Two minutes to launch."
Davek and the tactical crew quickly ran through their checks. Davek personally commed Major Sligh to inform him to put Razor Company on standby in the hangar. While he was telling Commander Samar to get ready to launch his birds, Lieutenant Renwar announced one minute to lightspeed.
Lastly, Davek patched in with his counterpart on Shieldbreaker. Lieutenant Pelky's voice was smooth, firm, and reassuring as always. "Walker, our bombers are ready to deploy once we exit hyperspace."
"Good. Have them fall behind Black, Grey, and Gold Squads. Stand by for targeting information."
"Will do. Good luck, Walker."
"You too, Breaker. Happy hunting."
He waited a split second for a little more of her voice, but nothing came so he closed the link. Renwar counted thirty seconds. Davek looked over his ensigns, all younger than him but not by much. Lieutenant Commander Khomal was moving around the bridge fast now, a storm of motion with the captain at the eye, making sure all divisions were ready for launch.
"Ready, sir," Davek declared when his turn came.
Khomal didn't stop until all sections were good. Five seconds of silence followed and then, perfectly timed, Lieutenant Renwar announced, "Three, Two, One, Zero!"
Loud and firm, Captain Lorn said, "Launch!"
Voidwalker lurched forward with the rest of the fleet, stretched toward the stars, and was enveloped by the light of hyperspace. Davek's breath held. The jump lasted less than ten seconds before they fell out of light and into Karfeddion's outer orbit.
Right where they wanted to be.
-{}-
Launch began the second they dropped out of hyperspace. Black Squad went first, followed by Grey Squad, with Gold Squad last, though the forward TIE-X fighters slowed so that Marasiah's dozen ships could join the same stretched-out line and approach the enemy as a single front. In the center of her viewport was the planet, emerald against the Shroud. Lights of a joined battle flashed and winked in the distance. They'd resolve into starships and explosions very fast.
Marasiah's mouth felt dry. This was a real battle then, a big one, bigger than anything the galaxy had seen in decades. Was the Long Peace officially over? That was for politicians and historians to decide; she tried to focus on the approaching battle. She tried to steady her breathing and pretend her palm wasn't sweating hard inside its glove.
"All ships, this is the CAG," Commander Samar's voice sounded in her helmet. "Blue and Red Squads hold back. Gold Squad, take rear position and protect the bombers. Black and Grey, ahead with me. Prepare to engage the Mandalorian fighters."
"Understood, lead," said Grey Leader. "Targets of opportunity or protect our ships?"
"Stand by on that. Might need to save some Alliance hide first." She could hear Samar's smug grin.
She wished she felt that confident. She was anxious but she wasn't getting any of those sudden bad feelings. At least, she didn't think she was.
As Gold Squad dropped back to protect the bombers the other two lurched ahead. She checked her scanners; as expected, Admiral Branth's Osvald Teshik was moving forward toward the closest battle point. Right alongside it was the Ephin Sarreti. It had probably disgorged all its fighters now. They were probably all hurling right toward the Mandos now, minutes away from glory or death.
Maybe Gold Squad would get that today, maybe not. Voidwalker and Shieldbreaker were deployed on the far end of the Imperial line. She expected they'd split off to some side engagement with Resolution and the rest of the support ships but the order hadn't come down yet.
Then, without warning, static burst over her sensor readout. When it came back it was on the fritz; a red circle, blinking, had suddenly appeared behind the Imperial ships. These readouts weren't meant to be scale-accurate but circle was absolutely giant, almost as wide across as the Imperial line. She'd never seen anything like it.
"Great time for the computer to go on go haywire," she muttered.
She was tempted to hit the screen to see if anything changed, but one of her pilots shouted, "Holy kark! Look at that?"
"What's up, Six?" asked another.
"Look! Behind us, look!"
Marasiah was about to tell them all to shut up when her stomach lurched in her gut. A sudden tug of inertia had tried pulling her back against her chair, like she'd just rapidly accelerated, when she'd done nothing of the kind. The only thing she knew of that could have that effect was a gravity well projector coming online, but even then the pull was never so strong.
The red mark in her aft sensors wasn't going away. She slowed down and pivoted her TIE-X to look behind her while momentum kept carrying the ship forward. As she swung around she saw the line Imperial destroyers and support ships, dozens in all.
And behind them was a rocky planetoid, vaguely disc-shaped, with arms branching off like those of a spiral galaxy. It was huge, at least a hundred kilometers in diameter. It was like nothing she'd ever seen but she knew she'd seen it before, in holo-records, in history books. Her mind reeled, struggling to put a name on the impossible.
-{}-
"A Yuuzhan Vong worldship," Senator Dre'lye gaped. "How? How?"
For an awful moment the command room stared at the holographic readouts in stunned silence. When Allana found her voice she said, "Get Admiral Cro Xi! Now!"
After a second, the Gossam crackled, "Command, this is the admiral. We, ah-"
"We see the worldship," Sevash said, voice shockingly firm. "Admiral, where did it come from?"
"From its vector it appears to have come from the Shroud. It's dropped right on top of the Imperials."
"Is it launching fighters?" asked Admiral Antilles.
"No. It's not launching anything. It's just… No, it's not sitting there. It's approaching the planet, slowly. And it's thrown up a gravity well, a huge one."
He didn't have to say there was no escape. Even as ice took hold of her gut Allana asked, "Admiral, have you tried hailing it yet?"
"Can we even hail them?" someone whispered.
"We've not attempted yet," Cro Xi stuttered. He clearly didn't know either. "We will do so now."
As the link cut off, Dre'lye looked to Allana. "Senator, what the devils is going on? The Vong? Here? Now?"
"Are we even sure it is the Vong?" asked Antilles. "They're not launching other ships."
More calmly than the rest, but still bleeding tension in the Force, Sevash swung his head to Allana. "Well, Senator? Do you know anything about this?"
All eyes were on her and she wanted to scream. But no, they were right to look at her. The Jedi had negotiated the Vong's surrender forty-five years ago. The Jedi had overseen their exile on the rogue planet Zonama Sekot and were the only ones who knew the world's location. The Jedi were the galaxy's sole conduit to the Yuuzhan Vong and she was the only Jedi in the room.
Before she could say anything, one of the techs reported, "We're seeing strange readings from the worldship."
"Strange how?" asked Dre'lye.
"Ah… I'm not sure… I've never studied Vong tech, but it looks like gravitic anomalies..."
"Dovin basals," Antilles supplied. Thirty years ago she'd commanded a task force into the Unknown Regions hunting Zonama Sekot and a rogue Yuuzhan Vong fleet, which made her the sole present expert on their technology. "They're miniature, organically-generated singularities. They're used for defense, for propulsion, for generative gravity wells."
"The strength of the interdiction field doesn't seem to be increasing. It's not accelerating or decelerating either. This is… something else..."
"What kind of something else?"
"Admiral, I… I'm sorry, I just don't know!"
Antilles was out of her seat and halfway over to the tech's station when the tactical holo burst into static and disappeared. The entire chamber was plunged into darkness that lasted three shocked and soundless seconds. Then the holo was back again, only different.
Almost all of the Imperial line had vanished, and so had an entire cluster of Alliance ships.
"Get Cro Xi on the line!" Antilles demanded. "Now!"
As the comm officer struggled to comply, Allana sunk back in her chair. From half a galaxy away all she could do was watch, helpless.
"Admiral, what's happening?" Sevash called; the stress was cutting through even his voice now.
"I don't understand," the Gossam's voice rasped and crackled over the static-choked comm link. "It was just… a burst of force…. It tore the Imperial fleet apart. It went through the fleet and destroyed Task Force Gemstone. They're gone, all of them."
"Get as far away from that worldship as you can, Admiral." Antilles said. "Try to put the planet between it and you."
"I already gave that order." Cro Xi said angrily. "The Mandalorians… They're trying to pin us in place, keep us caged..."
"Break out any way you can! Scatter!"
"Admiral, have you seen this weapon before?" Sevash asked Antilles.
She shook her head. "No, sir, we've already seen what it can do. We can't fight it. We have to run."
"We are running!" Cro Xi snapped. "Stand by!"
He killed the comm link. Allana and the rest watched as the worldship overtook what was left of the Imperial fleet and failed past it. The Mandalorians were starting to pull back, but only from certain vectors. Allana saw it plainly. They all did. The mercenaries were clearing angles for the worldship to fire its weapon while keeping the Alliance groups pinned in place.
Suddenly the entire holo burst into static. They waited, waited for it to come back again, dreading what it would show. The light never came back.
"It was another shot," Antilles lowered her head. "He's gone."
-{}-
"I was there at Fondor, you know," Vilath Dal said thoughtfully as he and Kheykid stood on what passed for a command deck on the worldship.
In truth it was an observation room with a broad amber-tinted dome through which to view the stars. Years of work under the old shaper's direction had rerouted key nerve pathways from other parts of the ship to this chamber. The crew around them was as minimal as it was motley. There was a handful of other Yuuzhan Vong, mixed shaper and warrior castes. Some were humans and other races, Savyar loyalists even when standing on this great behemoth Vilath Dal and the Sith had resurrected from whatever cold tomb in the vacuum it had drifted in for forty years. They worked consoles both organic and mechanical. Vilath Dal had long since left behind his race's typical views on heresy. He'd become a pure creator, passionate and ruthless in his work. As they stood side-by-side under the observation dome, watching the great weapon at work, Darth Kheykid had to admit the Vong was a worthy member of the One Sith after all.
"Fondor," Vilath Dal repeated, almost wistful. "I was just an apprentice shaper then. A boy. I'd still never even set foot on a real planet. We'd brought an entire massive fleet to Fondor to subjugate it, to break the Republic had the Hapan flotilla that had gathered there. But the Jeedai had other plans."
Kheykid had heard this story before. "Centerpoint Station."
"Yes. That ancient machine over Corellia. Designed to manipulate gravity by factors unthinkable by modern standards. It sent gravitic force across light-years and punched through the space over Fondor like an invisible first. Thousands of our ships, millions of our warriors, dead before they knew what hit them." Vilath Dal's dark expression took on a sadistic gleam. "My dovin basal weapon can't reach as far or punch as hard, but ah, it will work. Finally, a little revenge for Fondor."
"Fifty years," hissed Kheykid, "Is a long time to wait for revenge."
"Proper revenge is worth waiting centuries for."
Yes, he deserved to be called One Sith.
A Yuuzhan Vong warrior stepped up to Vilath Dal, saluted with wrists against shoulders, and said something in his nature tongue. Part of Kheykid was irked by how the Vong crew ignored him and deferred to the shaper in all things; the rest of him was glad not to deal with their kind. He couldn't sense a one of them in the Force and he would never get used to that.
As the warrior went away Vilath Dal told him, "The dovin basals have reenergized and are ready for another attack."
"They're starting to scatter. It will be harder to punch through whole groups at once."
"The Mandalorians are there to finish off stragglers." The shaper shouted a command in Yuuzhan Vong and as his crew scurried to work he fixed Kheykid with a cruel smile. "No matter what, they've no place to run. What do you say, Sith Lord? Shall we slaughter them all?"
Kheykid looked up at the battle, reached out with the Force, and felt the death-grip panic of hundreds of thousands of terrified soldiers. He savored that feeling. He didn't know what Darth Xoran would prefer; if she'd want some frightened stragglers to slink away and spread horror stories across Empire and Alliance both. She was on Varadan and he was here. He was a Sith Lord now and it was his decision to make.
"Yes," he told the Yuuzhan Vong. "Leave no survivors."
-{}-
You couldn't see the wave of kinetic energy as it thrust out from the center of the worldship's giant disc. Even laser blasts, fast as they were, gave you a flash and split-second warning you were about to die. There was nothing here. One second Tamar was looking at a long chain of fleeing Alliance ships, harassed by a few Beskad squads and Crusader corvettes, all maybe two hundred kilometers ahead of her fighter. Then, as if totally spontaneous, all of them crumpled from behind and burst into flames. The explosions died just as fast as they'd come, leaving only darkness and faint debris.
Nothing made sense anymore. Absolutely nothing.
She didn't hesitate this time as she punched in the comm channel for Gevern Auch's flagship. The voice that answered was high-pitched, almost whiny, clearly not the Mand'alor.
"This is Striker One," she identified herself. "I need to talk to Auchs."
"Striker One, he's very busy right now."
"I need to talk to the Manda'alor. Now."
"No can do, Striker. He-"
The link seemed to die and for a second Tamar wondered if the worldship had gotten off another shot and wiped even the Mand'alor away, though she saw no more explosions.
Then the familiar voice, always deep and smooth, said, "Make it fast, Skirata."
"You saw that, didn't you? We just lost ships in the last blast. Mando'ade."
"I saw it." She thought he heard just a little tension. "I told them not to get too close."
"Dammit, Mand'alor, you knew what this was from the start, didn't you? You kept that- that thing secret!"
"Operation security, Skirata. Get that in your head. You're not entitled to anything just because you had a big-shot half-jetii ba'buir."
"This isn't about him," he snarled, and it really wasn't. "What, are we allied with the shabla Vongese now?"
"Those aren't Vong, those are our allies. It's Savyar's ship."
"Her superweapon."
"Call it what you want but we just won this battle. Now we have to finish 'em off. Order just came down from our employers, Skirata. Take your cousin and all your fighters. Go get the stragglers on the Imp line. Finish 'em all off."
The connection closed and she knew she couldn't get it back. She swung her fighter around toward the worldship. It had settled firmly in the planet's orbit now, like a disk-shaped miniature moon, and was swinging around to attack the Alliance ships trying to use Karfeddion as a shield.
She found herself wondering what that thing's weapon could do to a world. Whether it would break the crust or shatter it entirely like another Death Star. Whether she'd be there to see it with her own eyes.
The time for soldiers battling soldiers was over, the last pretense of honorable combat gone. This wasn't battle any more. This was an absolute massacre.
"Tam'ika," her cousin's voice sounded in her ear. "Do you hear me? Tam'ika?"
"I'm here," she panted.
"Tamar… What do we do?"
She'd never heard such pleading in his voice. He was always the strong one, the certain one, the true loyal Mando'ad that she could never be deep down, corrupted as she was by Jedi blood.
He really, truly didn't know what to do.
She swallowed and said, "We have our orders from the Mand'alor. Finish off the Imps."
She swung her fighter around and signaled for the rest of her squadron to form up. Dorn's joined the formation. More Mandalorian ships were joining them, including some corvettes and two heavy frigates. All of them raced away from the planet.
When they put the worldship behind them Tamar felt relief seep through her body, but it didn't last long. There was still so much killing to be done.
-{}-
When the concussion blast hit, Razor Company was standing in Voidwalker's hangar, waiting for the signal to file into the waiting drop ships. Then they were on the deck, all tangled up in each other while alarm blared through the ship. Lukas Briggs figured it was only his white helmet that kept him from cracking his head open in the initial fall.
He still had to kick his legs out from between Leila's after internal grav generators stabilized and the ship stopped trembling. Their sergeant, Homs Malkin, tried to call everyone order but even trains stormtroopers got confused and frantic in the chaos. While he was on the ground Lukas was half-certain he was going to die there, Voidwalker blown up around him by some enemy he never even knew was out there, Razor Company not even in their drop ship when it happened. It would be as pathetic a death as a stormie could dream of.
When they got to their feet they tried to make sense of things but nobody had certain news. Major Sligh was the one patched in to the bridge, not any of them, and they had to stand around in the hangar, pathetic and helpless as the alarm kept wailing, until Sligh's voice finally came into each and every one of their helmets.
"All Razors, to the dropships. Repeat, to the dropships. Assume proper locations and stand by for more orders."
Somebody pulled off his helmet and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, "What the kark happened?"
There was a tense moment where everybody waited for some response from Sligh, probably a reprimand, but then the commander said, "The enemy's brought out some new weapon. Our main line is broken and the ship's been damaged. Board the drop ships and stand by for evacuation."
Evacuation. The world rattled through the silence. They weren't getting ready to deploy, they were about to run, and if Sligh was giving the order then it could only come right from the bridge.
Lukas tried to wrap his head around how such a standard deployment could go so wrong so fast. Then he spotted something moving outside the star-filled port of Voidwalker's hangar mouth. He looked; one-by-one, the other troopers looked too.
As the frigate turned their field of vision shifted. The rear half of a hundred-meter gunship tumbled through space. It was close enough to see the flickering embers inside the thrust nacelles and the body of one unlucky crewman, flushed out of an opened deck but stuck on a twisted beam so he just dangled, frozen in the vacuum.
The frigate shifted more. The great gray wedge of a star destroyer drifted into view. More debris winked out stars. Far beyond it, the green sphere of Karfeddion and something else, something round eclipsing half the world. It couldn't be as big as the planet, not even close, but as he stared Lukas' mind struggling to comprehend how huge, how monstrous that thing must have been.
And he thought about his grandfather's stories, about the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of Imperial Space. Knowledge shuddered through him, wracked his body, and only the arms of his comrades kept him from falling down.
-{}-
Voidwalker's bridge was a bedlam. The worldship had been right behind the Imperial line when it unleashed the blast that had swept away nearly the entire task force. Being at the edge of the formation was the only thing that had saved them; the concussive wave had still slipped effortlessly past the particle and energy shields, battering the ship, straining its hull, damaging the exposed systems on its flank. The port shield generator was down, two of the sublight engines were too, and the gunnery team was struggling to reroute power to the turbolasers. Everyone was running about, everyone was yelling. Everyone except Captain Lorn, who remained seated in his command chair even after all this, though the calm had gone out of his voice and he barked orders as frantically as reports came shouted to him.
The most surreal thing of all was that, as chief tactical officer, Davek Fel didn't have that much to do. As the rest of the crew ran about, frenzied, he kept looking back at the tactical holo. The sensors, at least, were still working.
He watched as the worldship delivered one, two, three more blasts, each one simply smashing dozens of Alliance ships and thousands of lives out of existence. He watched as Shieldbreaker pulled alongside her struggling sister ship as Resolute's broken hull began to drift. He spotted, too, the first swarm of Mandalorian fighters heading back their way. To finish them off, he was sure.
"Walker, do you hear me?" Commander Samar sounded in his headset.
The voice jarred Davek's attention from the holo. He'd almost forgotten their birds were still out there. "Loud and clear."
"We're spotting Mandalorian ships approaching. Instructions?"
"Do your best to hold them off, Leader."
"Understood," Samar grunted and killed the comm.
Davek turned his attention to the captain's chair. Lorn was talking to the holo-image of Shieldbreaker's Captain Dobriss, but the sound was inaudible. When the holo disappeared Lorn said, loud enough for all to hear, "Attention! Hostiles are incoming! Prepare for combat!"
For everyone else the news was unexpected. As they froze in dread silence Davek said, "Sir, are we going to fight them?"
"What choice do we have?" the Muun turned a grim look at him.
"Can we run?" some ensign in the crew pit yelped.
Khomal, standing beside Lorn's chair, shook his head. "The gravity well's still up. We're trapped here. And they're not going to lower it any time soon."
Beside Davek, Ensign Por Dun cleared her throat and said, "That's… not exactly true."
She said it too softly for the captain to hear, but Davek asked, "What do you mean?"
"I've been watching the strength of that grav well, sir. Every time it fires its big…. Whatever that weapon is, the interdiction field weakens. Doesn't go away, not at all, but it does so soft around the edges, if you see what I mean."
"How soft?"
She tapped her claws on her console. "Look at my screen, sir. I've started running calculations."
Davek and Ensign Korak both huddled over her shoulder. She was right; that interdiction field was weakening with every shot, but only for thirty seconds or before and after.
It might be enough. It was all they had.
He sprinted over to Lorn's seat, almost knocking Khomal aside as he did. "Captain!" he called, "Captain, we can run!" The Muun stared at Davek like he'd gone mad but he pressed, "That drag field, it weakens when it fires that gravity weapon. There's a one-minute window when the interdiction field weakens. It shrinks."
"You mean like it's draining power?" asked Khomal.
"Or redirecting dovin basals, or however that works for the Vong," Davek said. "Sir, Ensign Por Dun ran calculations. We need to run as far away from that thing as we can and wait for it to use the weapon again. We can do it, sir, it's not that far."
"We're struggling to get two engines back online," Lorn told him.
"And we still have those Mandos coming after us," Khomal warned. "Our port shields are down."
Davek locked the captain's eyes. "Please, sir. It's our only chance. It's either this or we die."
That seemed to decide him. Lorn looked sharply at Khomal. "Lieutenant Commander, you used to be an engineer. Can you direct the team working on the shield generator while Chief Daharr handles the engines?"
"If you need me to, sir."
"Go, Transi, hurry."
The first officer snapped a salute then ran off the bridge faster than Davek had ever seen him move. The captain hailed, "Helm! Plot us a course! Get us as far away from that damned worldship as possible! Comm, tell Shieldbreaker to do the same. I'll explain to Dobriss in a minute."
Voidwalker's deck shuddered as it turned away from the planet and accelerated. A Kontos-class frigate was pretty fast for a ship its size but those Mando vessels were faster. They'd be under attack before they reached a place where they could jump.
Lorn looked back at Davek. "Lieutenant, call our pilots. Tell them to hold a rear guard action. Make sure they're ready to land their birds fast. I don't want to leave our people out here."
Davek agreed and hurried back to his console. He quickly did as the captain said, comming Samar and explaining the situation. The CAG sounded skeptical but ready to try anything, just like the captain. Once he closed the link Davek frantically tried to think of how he could get as many pilots aboard as possible. A one-minute window wasn't enough time to reel three squads of TIEs into their racks, not even close. He could pull back one squad at a time, maybe. Gold Squad first, then Grey, then Black.
By the time he made his decision the Mandalorians were on them. Lieutenant Jaeger had helm had said that the two damaged engines were back to mostly-full capacity but the port shield generators were still down, even though Khomal had gone down there to direct repairs. Mandalorian Beskad fighters began to buzz around the hull, stabbing laser blasts into their unshielded flank. Shieldbreaker pulled up along that same side and used its cannons to chase away the swarm, but the fighter would be back. Worse, the Teroch-class attack frigate was right behind them.
"Anything, Ensign?" he asked Por Dun.
"Were just about in range, sir, but that doesn't matter until it charges the weapon again."
The ship shuddered; somewhere in the aft, the Mandos had scored a major hit. As someone read off damage reports and the deck trembled, Davek staggered over to the captain's chair. "Sir, we're in range. Once that weapon charges we can go."
"Excellent," Lorn ground his teeth. "Helm! What kind of hyperdrive course can you plot?"
Lieutenant Jaeger looked up from the crew pit with a grimace. "Not good, sir. Those Mandos have us boxed in and the worldship's cut off half our vectors. We'd almost have to jump into the Shroud."
"Can we scan the Shroud and find a place to jump into, someplace safe?"
"Long-range sensors are still good, sir," Davek confirmed.
"Then the Shroud it is, Helm," Lorn told Jaeger. "Link your computer with Shieldbreaker's. Wherever we go I want to end up together." He called to another section. "How's the damn shield generator coming?"
Before he could get an answer, another explosion shook the ship, even harder. Davek slipped and grabbed hold of the captain's armrest to keep from falling on his face. He barely noticed a trio of Beskad fighters whipping past the bridge from the port-aft side.
"Damage report!" Lorn was shouting now.
"Sir..." an ensign gaped, "We've got hull breaches on five decks. Emergency bulkeads are down. But sir…"
"Yes? Out with it!"
"Sir, the port shield generator's gone."
The generator and the crew. First Officer Khomal and whoever else was down there, gone in an instant.
"We won't last much longer like this, sir," Davek wheezed.
"Then we'd better hope that weapon fires again!" Lorn snarled. "To your station, Lieutenant! Now!"
As he lurched back to his post Davek remembered the pilots. No matter what they did, Voidwalker wouldn't last much longer without port shields.
He called up Gold Leader's frequency and said, "This is Walker. Bring you birds home, Lieutenant, that' s an order."
"Are you pulling us back, Walker?" He could hear Lieutenant Valtor's frown.
"Yes. You have your orders." He switched comm freqs again, this time to his opposite number. "Breaker," he called, "This is Walker. Do you copy?"
"I hear you, Lieutenant." Pelky's voice was frantic like he'd never heard it.
"I've started pulling back our birds. What about yours?"
"I reeled Blue Squad in. Red Squad is still harassing that Mando frigate."
"Did your captain explain what we're doing?"
"Jump into the Shroud. One-minute window. Something like that."
"Okay. Keep that in mind."
"I will. That all, Walker?"
"Pretty much. Good luck, Breaker."
"You too."
Davek killed the comm just as Por Dun tugged on his sleeve. The Kel Dor said, "I think that worldship's going to fire soon."
His heart jumped. "Is it warming up?"
"Not yet. But see its telemetry? It's tilting, angling toward that cluster of ships. The last big cluster. I'd say it should fire in one minute, two tops."
"You're sure, Ensign? Are you absolutely sure?"
He got an uncertain nod, but still a nod. It was enough. He switched his headset freq once more. "Black One, bring every bird you've got home. All squads." Before Samar could even respond he called up Pelky again. "Lieutenant, call Red Squad home. It's almost time."
"Are you sure, Walker?"
"Just save your pilots. Walker out." He switched of the headset and called across the bridge, "Captain, we've got an estimate! Less than two minutes to firing!"
Lorn glared at him. "Are you certain?"
Davek held his eyes across the distance; he nodded and tried his best to look sure. Lorn nodded back and relayed the order to the comm lieutenant, telling her to give Shieldbreaker the heads-up. Davek glanced at the console read-out from the hangar. All of Gold Squad was back in its racks. Five TIEs from Grey Squad were in and nine from Black Squad.
"Sir!" Por Dun squawked. "The grav well's starting to weaken!"
"Captain-" Davek began.
"I heard," Lorn snarled. "Helm! Tell me we've got a course!"
"Found a little pocket in the Shroud, sir! Just a short jump!"
"Anything to get us out of here. Is Shieldbreaker linked in?"
"Yes, sir."
"Tactical! Tell us when we can jump!"
Davek looked at Por Dun. "Got it?"
"Yes, sir!" she said, loud enough for the whole bridge to hear. "We're outside the drag field!"
"How much time?" Davek glanced at his console. Most of the birds were in, but not all.
"Less than a minute."
"Captain!" Davek called. "We still have pilots out there! Just give us thirty more-"
"Can't risk it!" Lorn snapped. "Helm! Lightspeed!"
Davek raised his voice to object, but then starlines exploded beyond the bridge and bright light carried them away.
-{}-
After losing contact with Admiral Cro Xi's flagship, the observers on Coruscant frantically reestablished connection with another major ship still in the Karfeddion system. They tracked the progress of the battle, watching until that ship was destroyed, sometimes by the worldship's destructive gravity waves, sometimes by marauded Mandalorian frigates. Then they found a new ship and did it all over again, watching as long as they could.
One by one or in rushes, everyone died.
People started to leave the room before the end of it. Allana couldn't blame them, but she stayed. She watched as ever last warship sent into the Karfeddion System- was destroyed. Jaina's son was out there somewhere. Probably he was already dead, and awful was that was, Davek's loss was just a tiny piece of an even greater tragedy. Over a hundred vessels from three different fleets, crewed by more than two million soldiers. One after another after another, they died.
When the last connection broke, when there were no more ships left for them to view the slaughter through, Allana lowered her face in her hands and cried.
-{}-
They'd crept around Karfeddion's nightside face and were swinging toward daylight again. The planet was a slim emerald crescent through the worldship's observation domes. Dead ships and twisted debris now choked the planet's orbit. As fresh sunlight found them they gleamed like jewels.
"So," Vilath Dal asked, as if resuming casual conversation, "Do you think she'll be pleased?"
Darth Kheykid looked out on the stars, reached out with the Force, and felt so much agony rippling across space. It was like nothing he'd known before; it made him feel powerful and glorious like nothing else.
"Yes," he said, "I think she will."