Author's Note: Chapter 34! No news, just enjoy!
Also, I do not own SAO or Star Wars.
Chapter Thirty-Four - Down with the Empire!
Kirito led Silica and Lisbeth behind the T7 droid, Yui, as the small assault squad tip-toed their way through the forests of Dromund Kaas, and into the imperial fold near the entrances of Kaas City.
The grounds were crawling with Sith troopers and Dark Lords, and up in the skies above the city, large Harrower cruisers were taking to the atmosphere by order of Emperor Lusac.
Yui propped up a small map of the city, and turned to show the three humans following behind her tracks. "Okay, the grounds of the city are set with wide walkways, and large overarching bridges connect the upper levels with one another all around the main court yard."
"Wow." Kirito tried his best to not ignore his daughter's briefing before the assault, but he was looking over a bush that gave him an conveniently nice view into the town. "It's a lot cleaner inside than I expected it to be. Those walls are super tall!"
"Yea, my player apartment is actually in Kaas City. I've missed that personalized stronghold ever since I followed Asuna across the galaxy looking for you..."
"Maybe if we win here, and we don't manage to destroy the planet, your apartment can house our next meeting for finding Peter Mathis." Kirito gave her a smirk, but never turned to show her as he tried to survey the grounds himself. "This isn't perfect, though. There are a lot more guards than I realized."
Yui agreed, but her hand started to rub her lower chin as if her plan had just managed to change. "Yes, there are, which is why we're going to use Lisbeth's housing features to call us a transport to her balcony."
"Oh right!" Lisbeth snapped her fingers and rubbed the droid Yui on its metallic head. "Good idea, little clanker! I can call a taxi service to and from my apartment. Then we can use that to get inside the Citadel!"
"This is all working out to be too easy...I hope we know what we're doing." Silica clutched her blaster pistol, and turned to see several guards walking their way.
"Don't worry, Kirito smiled, and drew two empty lightsaber handles as he readied them for anything that might attack their group. "Everyone was worried that Amanda would be the only player strong enough to beat Lucas, which is why I managed to grab something from our fight back on Coruscant to help me challenge the Emperor...something that may let me get inside his head."
The black skies beyond Dromund Kaas were empty of all crafts, all except the limited imperial fleet stationed on guard. The medium-sized defense that was left to hover above the planet was watching ever carefully to see when a Republic assault would appear on the horizon.
Admiral Sinon was dressed to the nines in her brand new beskar-plated armor. The deep green and chromatic steel color became the envy of the entire crew aboard the Mother's Rosario.
One Imperial Operative felt very envious of the new admiral too, both in title and in favors. "I still don't know how Lisbeth's stupid Mantis ship was able to out-speed my Phantom. I should have found the kid first."
Sinon rolled her eyes as the Republic turn-cloak, Argo, stood behind her, looking out the large bay window accenting the bridge of the dreadnaught. The sniper's helmet was in her right arm, and her Amben-styled sniper rifle sat strapped to her back. A new, black cloak symbolizing her status as a Grand Admiral hung from her right shoulder, and fell off the back to her lower side.
"If I knew you wanted the armor so badly, I would have been happy to give it to you before it became bound to my account. I shouldn't even be wearing it if I'm being completely honest."
"Why?" Argo scoffed and fiddled with a small audio gadget as she tried hearing a signal from down on the planet. "Too good to wear combat armor as a Grand Admiral?"
Sinon stared into open space, as the stars reflected off her clear-cut glasses. "It's not because of my rank, it's because of my class. I'm still a Sniper. If an enemy gets close enough to me for the armor to do its job, then that means I've already failed at doing mine."
And just like a scene out of the famous films, dozens of star cruisers shot out from the void of space, and exited their jump from hyperspeed to join the Sith fleet above Dromund Kaas. Scores of Republic Valor-Class cruisers had started to make way for the orbit of the planet, and three large crews of fighters shot from the bowels of the core ships to attack the defending Sith Empire
Admiral Chrysheight smirked through the wide window of his lead ship, which he oddly dubbed the Rath. He surveyed the fleet from Coruscant as it left the closest hyper-lane, and called over to his men on the communications link. "All squadrons, please, report in."
Grand Master Agil spun his daunting blue Jedi Defender starship toward the looming battlefield, a ship which he named the Battle Axe due to its oddly large shape at the bow, and a calling memory from a style of weapon that he used in another world.
Agil sounded back, delivering his call-sign. "Blue leader, standing by."
Klein led an entire fleet of crimson Republic Liberator fighters through the other side of the field, and powered on the shields to his impressive vessel, the Salamander.
"Red leader, standing by." He was feeling quite sure of himself for the battle just beyond his view.
A third set of fighters, mainly made up of BT-7 Thunderclaps, were all dyed with yellow paint, as a higher-up Commando on Agil's Republic council led them on the right end of space.
"Gold leader, standing by."
Agil nodded, and switched on a control to turn on his forward deflector shields. "To all ships that need it, lock S-foils in attack formation."
The more advanced Liberator-Class fighters folded their extended wings out to battle mode, and raced in to follow their commanding assault team as the battle started to erupt.
Chrysheight took a deep breath, and felt the smirk fade from his now serious face. "May the Force be with us."
Kirito, meanwhile, had just powered on his two lightsabers to take out approaching Sith Warriors jeopardizing his mission. He and the group had taxied into the player home occupied by Lisbeth, and unfortunately met up with a band of Sith guards during their descent. In his right was still the red lightsaber that he earned from Asuna's victory over Trentyn on Tatooine, but in his left hand he now held a brilliant mint green color, almost a greenish cyan that deflected a bolt shot out by a guard to his right.
A small craft hand landed with them on Lisbeth's balcony platform, and caused the crew to jump back in the speeder quickly, and make way for the bottom of the Citadel.
Kirito kept his lightsabers on as he hit lasers back at the returning fire from their rear. Lisbeth had equipped her sleek hunter's helmet, and shot out several bolts as well to try and take out the engines of the approaching speeder.
Silica steered her way through the high rises of Kaas City, and allowed Yui to hook into the control box to upload a map to the navigation system.
"Guys!" Silica heard alarms flaring up from several laser blasts that made it past Kirito's defenses and into her back-right engine. "You're going to have to start taking more of them down if we hope to land at the right coordinates!"
"AGh!" Lisbeth let out a loud battle cry as she tossed a sticky thermal detonator, and managed to take out one of the three approaching cars. "Easy for you to say, Pig-tails! Try shaking some of them off through the skyscrapers! We can only hit so many of them at a time!"
"That's...ugh...true!" Kirito wanted to mediate between them, and looked down at the map Yui had provided. "But...We don't necessarily need to land on the coordinates."
"What?" Silica spun around a large satellite antenna, and tried to looked back at the crazed sword-wielding saint. "What do you have in mind, exactly?"
He could tell by her voice that she already knew the answer, but just to be safe, yelled back to Yui to give her a heads up. "Yui, try to hold on as best as you can. Lis, keep ahold of the door. If they shoot us down into a crash landing, we can fake our deaths in the crash. It might fake them out and get them off out tail."
A second laser blast abruptly took aim for the left engine, and hit its mark perfectly as Silica started spinning out of control. Lisbeth powered on a jetpack, and just after Yui insisted on using her own jets to escape the crash too. Kirito scooped up Silica with two hands, and leapt out of the falling speeder just down on the platform at the foot of the citadel tower.
The fighters chasing them circled around the tower, and tried to commit to another lap before doubling their search. Silica clapped as she looked at their victorious escape. "Wow, you were right, they totally fell for it!"
"Yep, they sure did..." Lisbeth sighed, and took off her helmet. "Guess it's a good thing I left this faction full of idiots while I had a chance."
She then turned to see the large wall of the citadel's exterior standing high in front of them, then delivered a cute yet sarcastic smile to the group leader.
"Alright, time for your flashy laser swords to cut us a path inside."
Klein was sailing over the hull of a Harrower Sith ship as he shot two enemy Mk. VI Supremacy Fighters out of the sky. During the long-time repairs dealt to his ship, he had the man-led turrets on the top and bottom connected to his forward controls.
Now, he could blast imperial scum by his own hand without the need for a crew or co-pilot. He was easily the fastest small ship in the skies at the moment, and circled around to watch his buzzing Red Squadron take out several turrets along the edge of the cruiser.
"Klein!" Agil called over through his mic. "Keep to the edge of the fight. We can't engage with aggressive tactics until we've confirmed that Kirito and the others have taken out the teleporters on the surface!"
Klein shrugged, and took out two more ships as he drove the bow of his ship to the center of the attack. "They're just sitting here, though! I figured by now something would have given out and shot back at us. Or we would have seen some ships trying to flee the planet out of fear."
"This is very unusual." Agil kept his ship on the periphery of the field. "The player count down on the planet's surface is still the same as it was when we entered the atmosphere. They're not trying to warp off the planet."
Klein tried to find Agil in the skies, and left his squad to their own devices. "But why would they not try to escape if they...if they knew we'd be here."
He then noticed something very odd. The master garrison that Darth Rosario led over the skies of Alderaan was not here. Klein was with Silica and the others that escaped the Sith Lord's fleet right after the Aldreaan battle that cost Leafa her life. He knew the ships from that garrison were black and red, yet all the cruisers except the Mother's Rosario positioned above the space station here at Dromund Kaas were currently grey.
He immediately flipped the radio back on to his entire squad, and made sure to keep his communication up with Agil and the other commanders.
"Break off the attack! This isn't the Korriban fleet!"
Chrysheight was left unconvinced. "But we've confirmed the Mother's Rosario is leading the defense. Are you sure this isn't Asuna's old fleet?"
Klein powered on the main boosters to his ship, and circled to meet his squad. "Pull up! All craft, pull up!"
Agil need no convincing, and rallied his own fighters behind him as they gathered to support the main Republic flagships. "Take evasive action! Gold group, stick close to holding sector 2!"
Chrysheight tried to gather what on Earth was going on, until a large shock took the back of his cruiser, and caused him and the high command on his ship to stumble around the bridge.
"Admiral!" One of his pilots called out. "We have enemy ships in sector 5!
That was the back end of space behind the battlefield, just behind the Republic fleet. Chrysheight looked down at the radar, and noticed within seconds that the Sith Empire had doubled their fleet over Dromund Kaas, and were now ready to bring an even fight to the Republic.
"We were tricked..." He muttered to himself with dissatisfaction and a befuddled expression. "It's just like the fight from the films...It's a trap!"
"Aaand there! No player can warp away from Dromund Kaas!"
Lisbeth had just finished dismantling the warp technology developed by Amun-din, and stolen by Lusac to keep all Sith players trapped to the planet. The only way to leave the planet's surface now, was to enter the chaotic dogfight breaking out above.
Kirito had just pulled his blade from an enemy player's body, and let the fallen drop to the floor as he turned to gather the others. "So where to next? We need to get to work on the Shock Drum."
"He's right." Silica held her weapon up, and followed the group down the corridor leading to the southern tower. "Our fleet can't hold them off forever."
"Hold yer horses." Lisbeth was trying to calm her new friends down, and read Yui's flashing radar. "We're going to have to find an elevator shaft or something to make it down to the secret lab. Your Republic leaders said it was underground so..."
"DADDY!" Yui turned on like a racecar and shot for the nearest elevator door. "The Shock Drum is right below us! 30 floors down!"
"That's great!" Silica ran after her, and Lisbeth followed. Kirito ran slowly behind them.
"Nice find, Yui! We need to make sure to stick together once we end up down..."
Kirito stopped walking, and felt a small shiver of cold take his spine. A pulsating energy was growing large every time he took a step further down into the lab. He also felt his vision growing cloudy, that is until a vision of a bizarre temple shrouded by the lush jungle of the planet's dreary surface formed inside his mind.
He quickly grew distracted, and turned to run back the way they came without alerting the three girls. Just as Lisbeth's boots hit the inside of the elevator, the door started to shut, but the tiny droid noticed their party was now a whole member short.
"DADDY!" Yui shrieked through the closing doors, and let the elevator take her and the others down to the depths of the Sith Citadel. Meanwhile, Kirito had a new mission of his own to take care of.
"Fighters coming in!"
Gold Leader shouted over his comms. link as a horde of Sith Supremacy-class fighters zoomed through their ranks, and swarmed their offensive with glowing green and red firepower.
"There're too many of them!" Agil was trying to avoid getting hit, but every time he swayed out of the way of one of their hosts, a second came that much closer to hitting his other side.
Klein, on the other hand, stayed calm and collected. He re-routed his squadron to cover the flanking Sith coming from Sector 4 and 5, and then tried to gather what he could from the others.
"We need to accelerate to attack speed. It'll draw the enemy away from our cruisers!"
"Copy, Red Leader." Agil obliged, and caught the attention of even more enemy ships. Blue group and Red group were taking on a full enemy fleet at this point, while Gold was left to guard the Rath and the other command ships.
"Are we not going to attack?" Argo shouted off at Sinon, who remained calm and in command of the Mother's Rosario.
The Sniper shared out her next point to be made. "I have direct orders to hold this fleet here while the Korriban forces take them out from behind. If you'd like you can take them ship to ship."
Argo had already made her way from the door and snapped at two of Sinon's personal guards. These were guards given to her by Emperor Lusac from his very throne room. "Two men, come with me."
They nodded, and as the three left for the hangers down below, Sinon nodded at her rapidly swelling radar. Four guards remained at her side.
One technician in her command crew turned from his desk and shouted over to his C-O. "Admiral, the deflector shields are only holding out at 50% power!"
Sinon nodded firmly, and turned to address her remaining guard. "Captain, prep my shuttle for the Space Station. I'll take the command from there."
Klein soared past the wing of the Mother's Rosario, and tried taking out its forward guns. His shots missed, but only because three enemy crafts scared him off the course.
"Watch yourself, Man. You're getting swarmed up there!"
"I got it, I got it..." Klein mumbled back into his microphone, and engaged the shields to his rear. "Red group, I need three men!"
He received help, then rallied his small escort back around the side of the ship. As they emerged to the bow, a large crew of new ships exited the central hanger of the black and red command dreadnaught. Two swift X-70B Phantom shuttles were being escorted by a swarm of fighters as they separated and spilled out into space.
The two shuttles split apart, and each carried five ships surrounding their hulls. Agil flipped on his targeting computer, and flew after the one heading back for the space station. "They've broken up. Six ships heading for the Rath."
Klein laughed, and powered on his boosters as even his side ships failed to keep up with his immense speed. "Cut off the other one, Agil, I'll take this guy!"
He spun around a cloud of explosive fire that formed from a destroyed bomber to his starboard side, and shot a barrage of laser bolts at the fleeing Phantom ship.
Meanwhile, the pilot, Argo, was taking the elegant Sith shuttle down lower to the surface of the Rath. Her Phantom-Class starship was named The Informant, and she was proving to be just as crafty of a pilot as Klein.
"This is getting pretty difficult...this kid can really fly."
Agil was having an equally difficult time with his assault on the other fleeing shuttle. The name of this Phantom starship was actually a play on its class title. Sinon piloted the Phantom Bullet with great ease, and dodged every shot that Agil sent her way. Her escort was starting to break down the Master Jedi's defensive crew as well, and all this forced Agil to peel up and try again for another fly around.
"This person is quite the commander...the Force is strong with them too."
"Master Agil!" Chrysheight tried reaching out to his ally. "The Sith Space Station is the one calling in more reinforcements for their fleet. You need to take out that spaceport's communications, or blow it out of the sky if we want to stop them from getting any more aid!"
Agil heard him loud and clear, and then decided that the shuttle would not be his target, but instead the entire space station would.
"Blue group, Gold group! All fighters available for an assault head for the Sith Space Station!"
"We're on our way!" Yelled several pilots to Jedi Master Agil. He quickly lost Sinon's escort ships as they started defending themselves from incoming fire. The Jedi pilot tried taking out the hanger-side guns from the Sith spaceport before his crew entered for their official assault, but just then one of the bolts shot his port side engine, and sent him tumbling toward the hanger too.
"Blue group! I'm coming in hot toward the hanger! All shuttle-class aircrafts follow me in for an internal attack!"
His Jedi Defender scraped the ground of the Sith spaceport, and as the doors shot open, a blue lightsaber was ready to combat the Sith crews that were stationed inside the central hanger. Several more Republic shuttles landed safely behind the Battle Axe.
After securing the hanger a full battalion of Republic commandos, several Jedi knights, and a few smugglers all followed Jedi Master Agil into the innards of the spaceport.
"Find the main reactor room and take it out. My unit will take out the command and communications. We'll meet back in the hanger once the alarm sounds."
Kazuto Kirigaya had finally made it out of the expansive city on Dromund Kaas, and through the thick jungle hiding the Sith's secret temple. He felt an ominous presence coming from the innards of this dreadful hall, but also noticed the crew and guards stationed outside it had been called up to the battles above.
He kept his weapons at his side, and continued walking into the same labyrinth that Sinon followed before, only this time no guards or Sith Warriors waited inside to greet their unexpected guest.
Then, the core of his heart felt like it had turned to ice, and a small headache was growing ever piercing in the front of his head. He tried to fight this feeling, but also managed to locate a large set of golden doors that seemed to aggravate his situation even more.
He pushed the doors open with the power of the Force, and walked in to find a large, ornate throne room with vaulted ceilings, and elaborate Sith Empire banners showcased at every corner. Odd artifacts dangled from the ceiling like giant stalactites decorated with ancient Sith carvings, but just above in front of the largest Sith banner in the room, sat a chair accented by fiery blue braziers lighting up the gold in the throne's arms.
Emperor Lusac did not lean forward, but merely waved a hand to greet his expected guest. "The circle is now complete. The boy who killed my sweet sister has come to take my life too."
"Luke Mathis." Kirito balled his hands into fists, and kept his wits about him. "You're going to pay for trying to research that Shock Drum I discovered. You and the Sith Fleet are stranded here while the planet killer is being set to blow as we speak."
Emperor Lusac mockingly guffawed, and shifted his weight to his other side. "Then why did you come all the way here to find me?"
"You and I have some unfinished business." Kirito narrowed his vision, and waited for the Emperor to join him. "I take it your Royal Guard must be up in the dog fight?"
"They are indeed, yes. I lent them to your friend, Sinon, as a gift. She's the acting Grand Admiral of my forces, do you know?"
"Grr." Kirito gritted his teeth together, and pointed up at the obnoxious Lord of the Sith. "GET OFF YOUR DAMN THRONE AND FIGHT ME!"
"HA! Now!?" Lusac sat up, and clapped his hands together. "But you're so...unbalanced! I would make easy work of you if we were to fight one another here. Besides...it's just like you told my friend, Trentyn...I'm not your true enemy, am I?"
Kirito reached down for his weapons, but never pulled them up. "I'll ask about your father when I have you on the ground, dying with pain, and begging for me to end you."
"You're a fool, Kirito!" Lusac howled. "That sort of vengefulness is not the Jedi way."
Kirito had just about had enough, and took the silver lightsaber handles off his belt. "I already told your sister...I am no Jedi."
"I know that, and that makes you a waste of my time." Lusac smirked down with his pale face looming underneath a dark hood. "Which is why I will not fight you. I'll leave that to my executioner. The Empire's Wrath."
He pressed a button on his throne, and Kirito jumped back to see that a small circular hole had opened from the ground at the foot of the staircase leading up to his throne. Kirito held his lightsabers, though they were still turned off as he tried to collect the horrible feeling that continued to grow inside his mind.
Now though, his eyes were open, just like the first day he saw her. The day she took the life of his little sister, Suguha. The Dark apprentice of Emperor Lusac had risen once again from the fight on Ilum. Darth Rosario stood before the grey Jedi now, with eyes taken by sinister pain and suffering.
He had no way of recognizing her beautiful face under all the scars and breathing equipment, but he knew by those fiery orange eyes, which were now completely taken by the Dark Side, that Asuna Yuuki had fully bent to the will of the Dark Lord.
"Asuna...no..."
1. So Lisbeth had a player home, and they found a way to use it to their advantage.
2. Sinon is the Imperial Admiral, but Chrysheight and the crew fly through space to challenge the Empire.
3. Lots of call-backs to ROTJ here Yes, I'm cheap, but I'm just trying to be goofy with it! (Like those famous lines from Lando and Ackbar)
4. Found the Sith Labs, found the Emperor, and...uh oh, found Asuna. How will the hero get past this daunting presence?!
Until next time!
