In the scattered seconds when he wasn't diving and juking away from attacks by other Sith, Darth Terrid marveled at how badly he'd failed. He'd planned for a betrayal by Darth Saydel; not expected it but at least anticipated the possibility. Even there he'd gotten it wholly wrong. He'd been certain that Saydel would use her opportunity to annihilate Shedu Maad, along with Wyyrlok and Krayt. It wasn't her nature to be servile; he still couldn't believe she'd chosen loyalty to the dreaming Dark Lord over greater ambition, but it was clear she'd done exactly that.
He couldn't indulge in self-pity or regret, not when two Furies were bearing down on him. They'd chased him close to Orelon's atmosphere and the cloudscape spread out beneath them like a red and brown ocean. He couldn't tell which other Sith were on his tail but he could feel their angry determination to kill the traitor. He threw himself into loops and twists and hard turns that made blackness crawl at the edges of his vision but still he couldn't escape them, and when his sensors showed an Alliance ship approaching he immediately ran for it.
As he pulled up and jumped skyward he immediately spotted the great bulk of the troop carrier. It was making a dramatic belly-flop into the cloud ocean with the aim of locking its ventral cargo hatch with the loyalist station and bringing as many people aboard as possible. Terrid no longer cared about stopping them but he dropped his targeting reticules on it and fired anyway.
The carrier's weapons turrets finally noticed the three Furies darting toward them and opened fire. They didn't discriminate between Terrid and his enemies but at their far range the turbolasers accomplished nothing except to force his pursuers behind him to break formation.
It wasn't much, but it would have to do. Terrid kept charging the troop ship, spotting turbolaser fire and slipping around every blast, while the Furies tried to continue their pursuit. When he spotted a flight of dart-shaped Tri-wing interceptors vectoring toward him, his heart lifted. He dodged their initial volleys, targeted one, and punched through its shields with a single torpedo. He plunged through the fireball and continued accelerating toward the carrier while, behind him, the pursuing Furies were forced to tangle with the remaining Tri-wings. A few Alliance interceptors came back to chase him but he barely noticed. He aimed for the carrier and pushed his speed to maximum.
He found the Force, even through his panic and rattled nerves. He put his hand on his seat's ejection controls and, two seconds before his fighter slammed into the carrier's shields, he pulled the lever hard.
His fighter, magazines still near-full with shadow bombs, created a stunning explosion when it hit the shields. The concussive wave would have turned Terrid's every bone to mush but as his ejection seat tumbled out, he called on the Force and erected an invisible shield around himself for the crucial second.
And then he was falling, straight down toward the broad station surface. The ejection seat's built-in repulsorjets struggling to counteract the gas giant's immense gravity and he had to call on the Force to cushion his impact. Even then he landed hard enough to smash in the bottom of the ejection chair. Pain stabbed through his right leg, the chair tipped, and he tumbled hard onto the metal hull.
He worked to disentangle himself from the crash webbing. He was still alive; when he looked up he saw the massive carrier lowering itself to couple with its target but no Furies or Tri-wings still trying to kill him. The repulsors that kept the station hovering inside Orelon VI's atmosphere also counteracted the planet's strong gravity; were it not for that his bones and organs would have already been crushed. He tried to stand, almost rose to full height, then pitched forward on hands and knees as blinding pain shot up from his leg. He rolled into his back and tried to examine it through his vac suit. He felt no major breaks, but knew some bones must be dangerously fractured.
Exhaustion overtook him. Terrid sprawled on his back and stared up at the Alliance carrier that filled half his vision, at the thin clouds of the upper air and the sparks of distant explosions high above. And he knew that none of them mattered because he'd already failed. In his obsessive drive to be better and stronger and fiercer than any other Sith he'd created the mechanism for his own destruction. Now he was betrayed and badly wounded, trapped on the outside of a station about to be blown to atoms with no ship and no chance to escape through a space swarming with ships that all wanted him dead.
For a moment there seemed no reason to do anything but lie here, watch the swirling skies, and wait to die.
But the moment passed. He might have been a fool but he was still a Sith, and Sith did not surrender. He felt the supply pouch at his waist it and found his lightsaber. He'd need it to cut his way inside the station. He didn't know what he'd do once inside, but he'd manage something. He'd survive a little longer and that was the small victory he needed, the only one he could get.
-{}-
When the signal from Darth Maleth rippled through his battle-meld, it was what Kheykid had been waiting for. During the fight to destroy the shield generator he'd focused furiously on the task at hand, knowing all the while that once it was done this mission would turn truly dangerous, pitting Sith against Sith. He'd hoped to delay that moment until they were close to Intruder or at least clear of the Hapan soldiers that were pursuing them, but they were not that fortunate.
Instead they were trapped in a corridor, pinned between squadrons and battling back lasers from both sides. When Maleth's mind touched his Darth Kheykid faltered but Inexor, right behind him, moved true. The four-armed Codru-Ji danced around a volley of blasts with disarming grace and began hacking away at the loyalists with four swords.
Kheykid looked to the other end just as one desperate woman tossed a grenade at the cluster of Sith. Darth Morlid was fast; she caught the sphere in midair, threw it back to the soldier, raised a Force wall to shield them from the concussive blast that rocked the company corridor so hard it dented walls outward.
Ruyn and Vurik stood right behind her but weren't even paying attention. They were looking back at Kheykid with realization in their eyes, asking silently if now was the time to attack.
That was when the Barabel realized what he should have already. Maleth's power to link minds was so strong he could send his message only to those he'd chosen to; only those who were still loyal to Lord Krayt.
Morlid and Inexor were unaware, but that wouldn't last long. He gave Ruyn and Vurik a tiny nod, and they turned to face Morlid. And Kheykid spun around to initiate the fight he'd dreaded.
Inexor had just finished hacking down the last loyalist soldier. His back was turned and Kheykid couldn't hesitate. He jumped forward and thrust his right blade toward the Codru-Ji's back. Warning came to Inexor but not in time; he skirted to the right but Kheykid's red sword skimmed his left side and cut a burning hole beneath his ribs.
Kheykid dug the claws of his feet into the deck to keep from overbalancing. Inexor jumped back, spun to face the Barabel, and for a second their eyes met past the blaze of their sabers. There was no anger or hurt in the Codru-Ji's eyes; after all, he'd planned to do the same. What Kheykid saw was embarrassment at failing to strike first.
Inexor lashed out with his upper set of lightsabers. Kheykid dropped low, onto all fours, and snapped his wounded tail as hard as he could. Inexor leaped above it and propelled himself over Kheykid's back; his lower-right lightsaber lashed down but the Barabel dropped beneath it and rolled onto his back, raising his left arm as she did so. His short blade slipped above Inexor's and cut the hand off at the elbow. Inexor cried out in pain but when his feet hit deck he managed to keep himself upright.
Kheykid got back to his feet as Inexor lunged. The Codru-Ji was too close to use his upper blades and Kheykid caught his remaining lower sword and pushed it back. He surged full upward, slamming Inexor into the wall, and as the Codru-ji tried to swing his upper-left blade down onto Kheykid's spine, the Barabel opened his jaws and sunk his teeth into the opposite arm. Even as he felt Inexor writhe and tasted blood he felt the hot, searing pain of one lightsaber digging into his abdomen and cutting through his lowest rib.
Pain made him bite down harder and he wrenched his head to one side. Inexor howled like an animal as Kheykid staggered back, arm still twitching in his jaws while the Codru-Ji jetted blood from the stump of his upper shoulder.
That was when Darth Ruyn found his chance. The Twi'lek stepped up behind his stunned and staggered enemy and took Darth Inexor's head off with a high horizontal swipe. The head fell first, and the body dropped after it, still pumping blood out from its gaping arm-socket.
Behind Ruyn, Darth Vurik stood over Darth Morlid's smoking corpse. He was a young Lord and his eyes were wide with shock at what he'd done, but Ruyn's attention fell on Kheykid's wound.
"Are you badly injured?" the Twi'lek asked.
He felt the pain still shooting out from the sound on his side and slumped against the wall. He spat out Inexor's arm and carefully ran his claw-tips over the burnt opening. The lightsaber cauterized the wounds it made, and this one did not seem to have pierced any organs. It still hurt, horrifically, but he was a Sith. Pain was his fuel. It would have to be, if he was to get out of here alive.
"I fare better than they," Kheykid rasped and looked down on Morlid and Inexor. "But forget them now. We must hurry."
"To Intruder?" asked Vurik.
"If we are lucky," he hissed, "But I suspect it's already taken."
-{}-
When the time for betrayal came Kroan got his warning. It wasn't the signal he'd been expecting but it was just enough to save his life. He and Darth Heyd had been standing guard by the auxiliary airlock, watching for enemies that never came, feeling distant ripples in the Force that informed them of all that was going on elsewhere. Standing side-by-side they tensed as the other Sith engaged the Jedi, felt relief when the shields fell, and share the surge of confidence that Darth Maleth spread through his battle meld.
But when Darth Heyd breathed in a tiny gasp, Kroan felt nothing at all. His mind worked fast. There was only one real difference between him and the Duros on this mission. Maleth shouldn't have known that difference, but if he did it explained everything.
Kroan didn't know for certain, but if he hesitated he was a dead man.
He grabbed his lightsaber a second before Heyd reached for his. He ignited it and swung it upward just as the Duros thumbed on his switch. There was no chance. Kroan's swipe cut upward across his torso, from hip to shoulder, and Heyd collapsed instantly.
The split-second's exertion left Kroan breathing hard as he stared down at the corpse of the other Sith Lord. He didn't know how things had been reversed so badly but it didn't matter. Kroan had been a fool to cast his lot in with that arrogant Chiss upstart. The temptation of being a real Sith again, molding galactic history as he'd done before, had cost him everything except his life.
No, he had one more thing left. He looked at the open airlock portal and the dark bay of Intruder beyond. He'd paid attention to Kheykid's flying on the way in and was confident he knew how to pilot it out. There might be a massive firefight going on overhead but with this ship he was confident he'd be able to slip away unharassed.
Where he'd go after that was another issue entirely. The Jedi had severed his connection with Kuat and robbed him of his power by birthright. His corporation had declared him dead years ago and absorbed all his assets. He could think of only one ally left, an ally almost as desperate at he was, but they might offer a chance to rebuild, or at least temporary respite.
Kroan looked down at Darth Heyd's flat dead face and felt nothing. He bent down, plucked the Duros' lightsaber off the ground, and hurried through the airlock.
-{}-
When everything they'd been afraid of happened in an instant, it was to Admiral Lekwash's credit that he didn't hesitate even as panic gripped his crew. Seen from the tactical display the situation looked dire: new Hapan warships were emerging from the Mists surrounding the system and making fast micro-jumps to Orelon VI. A trio of double-disc Battle Dragons had placed themselves at the rear of the Alliance line to block any escape to hyperspace. Admiral Vahl's ships, which had spread an open channel to allow the empty carriers passage for the planet, were constricting formation and tightening the net on the Alliance line from all sides. At the same time the first two Alliance carriers had already reached Orelon VI and were starting to draw in loyalist evacuees. Their heavily-shielded hulls would protect the station for orbital fire for a time, but too many Hapan ships were bearing down on them.
It was an unwinnable scenario and just looking at it Allana froze in terror, but Admiral Lekwash immediately started barking orders. He commanded the ships at the rear of the Alliance line to turn and begin attacking the three Battle Dragons behind them. The ships that had just passed through Admiral Vahl's net began pushing forward to Orelon VI with orders to defend the two carriers as long as possible.
"You've split our fleet in two," Allana whispered as she and the Quarren watched it all play out on the tactical holo. Bright Union hadn't come under enemy fire yet, but it was just now pivoting to attack the three Battle Dragons. Past the bridge Allana could see the first explosive bursts as Alliance and Hapan ships joined in combat for the first time since the Secession almost forty years ago. It was everything she hadn't wanted to see.
"Vahl will have to split her own forces to fight both our battle groups. We have enough firepower to punch past those Battle Dragons and get most of our ships out of here." His small eyes slipped sideways and caught hers. "I was sent here to save lives, not start a war."
"I know. But what about the ships stuck at the planet?"
"They'll cover the carriers while they load up as many people as they can, but there's no way they can take in a hundred thousand. My hope is that they'll be able to break out and escape once they're full. If not-" His face-tentacles curled in distaste. "Those loyalists were dead already. We at least had to try."
Allana thought of Jade and Tanith down there. She knew they'd stay selflessly behind until as many as possible got away, just like Katia, Taryn, and Zekk forty years ago. The thought of losing them too was almost unbearable.
But trapped here, with Admiral Vahl's fleet already forming a wall between her and the planet, there was nothing she could do. Nothing except reach across that distance with an invisible touch and say she was sorry.
-{}-
They were trying to load a hundred thousand desperate people into two ships meant for half as many and the result was total chaos. The great portals connecting the station to the troop carriers were wide enough to fit three Jade Shadows flying side-by-side, and Alliance soldiers were doing their best to hurry people up the ramps and into the ships' great bowels. Jade had no idea where those escaping Sith had gone. She couldn't even see the other two surviving Jedi in the great sea of people that filled the loading area. She only knew they hadn't been trampled by the tenuous Force-link that bound their minds together. All three women were trying to direct the flow of shoving, shouting people but over so much clamor no single voice could be heard above the bedlam.
In the midst of it all, Jade felt her cousin reach across the distance of embattled space and offer an aching apology. Jade had no idea what was going on outside the station, just that it was bad, and Allana's touch explained nothing. All it offered was a farewell and a faint hope, a plea, that they'd meet again.
The touch was gone quickly, and despite its sorrow Jade felt lifted. In that parting she'd sensed Allana's concern for her, yes, but not for herself. That meant one of them would probably get out of this alive, which was something.
Then it was back to trying to direct the stream. Jade continued to shout and wave people toward one access point or another but she wasn't a big woman and she was constantly jostled on all sides. Across the sea of heads she spotted a blazing lightsaber held high- blue, probably Balm's- and felt the shock of the Hapans around it. Putting the fear of the Jedi in them was a smart move and Jade reached for her own saber to do the same. Just as her hand found the weapon she realized the comlink in her pocket was buzzing and probably had been for the past few minutes.
Shee pulled it out, held it close to hear, and said, "This is Jade. Can you get this?"
"This is Tanith. Is that your lightsaber I see?"
"No, but I was about to fire mine up. Where are you?" It was impossible to pick out any single head in this crowd, even Tanith's bright red one.
"In the back. It doesn't matter. Jade, we've got a problem. Reshul and the other Duchas were in the situation room when the evac ships came. They're stuck down at section…. C29."
Jade tried to dig up her mental map of the station when someone shoved her hard, almost knocking her off her feet. She clung to the comlink with her right hand, awkwardly drew out her lightsaber with her left, and stabbed its violet blade toward the ceiling.
Now people started giving her edge room. She heard Tanith's tinny voice say, "I can see you."
"Then you can see I'm kind of stuck here. What do you want me to do?"
"Jade, Reshul and the other Duchas are important. When the loyalists come to New Hapes they'll need leaders and-"
"I'm sorry, I just can't get to them." It might not have been a very Jedi-like sentiment but she didn't feel like shedding tears for stubborn old nobles left behind.
"Wait," Tanith pressed, "The Chalks are with them too."
Jade cursed aloud. Maybe it also wasn't Jedi-like to care about the lives of Force-users over those of normal people, but she couldn't help it. In the brief time she'd gotten to talk with Elliah and Hogrum she'd seen their potential, not just to grow in the Force but to grow free of the stagnant society they'd clearly grown to hate.
And then, like a miracle, her comlink sounded with a new chime. She knew that one, even against the din, because she'd programmed it to sound only when receiving a transmission from Starlight Champion.
"Is there some emergency airlock they can get to?" she asked Tanith before switching over. "I've got an idea."
-{}-
On the tense and too-long ride from Hutt Space to the Hapes Cluster, Roan Fel was stuck with a lot of questions. He wondered what was so urgent they'd had to race here for, what business three Imperial Knights had doing apparent Jedi deeds, and whether his uncle's mad action might get him killed. The moment Starlight Champion reverted to realspace he got his answers all at once and he didn't like any of them.
Arlen had dropped them in the middle of a fiery brawl between a trio of double-disc Hapan Battle Dragons and a cluster of lumpy Alliance Mon Cal cruisers. He'd forgotten what a good pilot his uncle was; the Jedi nimbly wove his awkward ship around a flight of Miy'tils that were just as shocked and confused by their appearance as Roan was, then veered out of the battle zone and set a straight course for the brown and red gas giant that lay ahead. The Orelon system was awkwardly placed inside a pocket of the Transitory Mists that cut off hyperspace travel and veiled most of the Hapes Cluster from outside observation, which meant that just as there was only one way into this place there'd be only one way out. As he peered over Arlen's shoulder from the back of the cockpit, Roan saw lots more he didn't like. A fleet of Hapan warships had surrounded the planet on all sides and he spotted a cluster of explosions in the gas giant's low orbit that seemed to mark a pitched battle.
Treis, seated beside Roan, asked the question for him. "What in the hell is all that?"
Nat Skywalker had taken the co-pilot's seat after they'd moved Mohrgan to the infirmary, and the Jedi apprentice glanced over Champion's sensor readings. "Looks like two Alliance troop carriers are docked with the station. Probably loading up passengers. I see a couple more Alliance ships plus a few other ones forming a shield in low orbit."
"I'm guessing those are loyalists," said Arlen.
"They've got Hapan ships on all sides," Nat added. "They look like they're trying to punch through and knock out the station."
"And we want to get closer?" Roan gaped.
"Maybe. Nat, can you patch a hail to your mom?"
"I'll try," the apprentice said, and started punching commands into the comm console.
When the voice came on it was so marred by static Roan had to lean close and tear his attention off the battle to make sense of it.
"Arlen….. that you?" a woman said.
"Mom, it's me!" Nat cried. "We're heading your way. Can you hear us?"
"Nat… have Arlen?"
"Right here," the Jedi Master called. "What's your sitrep?"
"…evacuating…. -eed help…"
"Who needs help?" Nat asked. "Mom, how can we reach you?"
"Not me," Jade Skywalker said. "Get…. into clouds, find emergency airlock-"
"What airlock?" Nat called against the static. "Who are we getting?"
"-lock 24D. Twenty-four levels down…. Northwest edge. Got it?"
"We'll handle it," Arlen called, and killed the transmission from his console.
"Wait!" bleated Nat. "We didn't hear everything."
"We heard enough to do what she wants."
"But we don't know-"
"We'll find out the rest when we get there," Roan said. "Worrying about everything else will only distract us."
The apprentice glared back at him but said nothing. Worrying about his mother was understandable but these Jedi weren't like Imperial Knights. They weren't trained as soldiers and didn't know how to prioritize in combat situations, which meant Roan and Treis would have to take charge when they reached their destination.
He just hoped whoever they were rescuing was worth all this.
Starlight Champion had the advantage of being a small and unfamiliar craft, and as they approached the planet from the side opposite the besieged loyalist station they attracted little attention from the Hapan Nova cruisers spread wide in mid-orbit. After passing the initial enemy line Arlen took them on a dive toward the planet so steep it pinned Roan to the back of his chair. The gas giant's strong gravity drew them in extra-fast and Arlen kept plunging them straight toward the clouds. For a second Roan thought his Jedi uncle was going to drop them right into the planet's swirling storms and get them all crushed by the pressure.
Right before they hit the cloud deck Arlen jerked the throttle back and levelled them out. This time Roan's stomach nearly dropped through his lap but once he got past the strain and nausea they were sailing clear and straight through the misty upper clouds.
Reckless. That was what his father always called Arlen. It had been so long since Roan had seen his uncle that he'd forgotten how reckless he could be.
Even at max atmospheric speeds it took them too long to get close to the station. Roan first spotted the flash of distant explosions and laserfire, then watched the battle creep up from over the horizon and rise high in the sky. The Alliance and loyalist ships were making a valiant effort to hold back the Hapans, but as the jutting forms of the troop carriers finally appeared over the horizon, the first Hapan turbolasers finally started breaching the defensive line. Roan watched as a few mighty green lances fell from the sky and cut through the clouds, narrowly missing the carriers as they sat docked over the station.
All they could see of the station itself was the bulge of its uppermost levels as they emerged from the clouds. The rest of it swelled invisibly for hundreds of meters beneath, and with its shields gone all the old station had was its armor-plated and pressurized hull to resist the powerful currents of Orelon VI's mighty storms.
"Mom said northwest side, twenty-four levels down," Nat reminded.
"Don't worry, I've got it," Arlen said as he gripped the control throttle tight. At their speed they'd reach the station in under a minute, assuming another spear of turbolaser fire didn't fall from on high and vaporize them.
"Twenty-four down?" Treis asked. "Won't that take us into the clouds?"
"Yeah, hope not too deep." Arlen bit his lip. "Shields up, Nat?"
"Shields up."
"Then here we go." He pushed the throttle forward and sent them into a dive.
Roan gripped the arms of his chair tight and this time his stomach tried to escape through his mouth. The cloud-ocean swallowed them up and reduced visible to zero. As shapeless swathes of pastel red and browns drifted around their window Roan felt strong currents buffet the ship even as they decelerated.
The station appeared before them like a giant gray wall. Arlen killed the engines and swung them off a collision course, then began to crawl parallel to the surface, just meters above.
Clouds still churned around them and the throttle bucked in Arlen's hands as he said, "Someone please tell me when you spot an airlock."
Nat, already half-risen from his seat, stabbed a finger outward. "I see something!"
Roan couldn't catch it from his backseat angle but Arlen nodded. "I've got it. Looks like an airlock to me. Just hope it's the right damn one…"
As Arlen wrestled his ship under control and brought it around to couple with the airlock, Roan reached out with the Force. He could sense people on the other side of the station's thick gray wall, lots of scared, frantic people. He had no idea how many, but he thought he could make out two minds a little clearer than the others.
"I think we've got it," he announced.
"Good to hear," Arlen grunted as Champion's hull grated against the station exterior. The ship trembled one more time and he announced, "There we go! Locked in!"
Now that the cockpit was still, Roan unbuckled his crash webbing and rose. Then everything shook again, so hard it threw him off his feet and into Treis. Both Knights went tumbling into Roan's seat.
"I thought we were locked in!" Roan shouted as Treis pushed himself off.
"We are! That was a turbolaser blast! They just landed a good one on the station," Arlen said. "Listen, Mohrgan's injured and I'm staying at the controls. Nat, Roan, Treis, you've got to get everyone on board you can? Understood?"
"Understood," announced Nat. As Treis and Roan were still trying to extricate from each other the Jedi boy grabbed his lightsaber and sprinted out of the cockpit.
Once the two Imperial Knights were standing they hurried after him. Roan felt a spike of embarrassment as he watched his younger cousin- the undisciplined Jedi apprentice- take charge of the situation by manually unlocking and opened Champion's hatch. He and Treis followed Skywalker through the airlock and into the doomed station.
When the three teenage knights opened the airlock's second doors and entered the chamber they found themselves facing a room packed with at least two dozen people. They were mostly older, mostly women. Many were dressed in layered gowns that looked criminally expensive and frankly ridiculous, especially when they were all messy and disheveled from the frantic flight to the airlock. When Roan scanned their faces he saw surprise wash over the group, then incredulity, then a bit of fear as they started noticing the lightsabers dangling from the three young mens' belts.
Nat was the one who pushed the other two clear of the doorway, breathed deep, and announced with impressive volume, "We're here to rescue you! Please make an orderly line through the airlock and into our ship!"
The line wasn't orderly but at least it moves fast as the old Hapan woman picked up their layers skirts and hurried for the exit. That was when Roan noticed the dirty water pooling on the floor that stained the rims of the nobles' dresses and rippled around the base of his boots. He realized that this station had to have a water reservoir and the turbolaser fire must have cracked it open.
As the first nobles hurried through the airlock the entire station quaked under another turbolaser hit. A cry from the back of the room announced more water rushing in and Roan felt it surge halfway up his calves.
He, Treis, and Nat did what they could do direct the flow of people. Treis saw an old woman knocked to her knees by the tremor and rushed to help her. Roan made his way toward the back of the chamber to get a better count of the evacuees. There was about thirty, and he hoped Arlen's ship could hold that many.
Another turbolaser shot rocked the station, not as hard as the last one, but it sent an even greater rush of water into the room. It swirled like an undercurrent and Roan grabbed onto the closest Hapan, a male servant, to keep both of them from falling. The water swelled up toward his waist and he pushed the servant toward the exit. Treis was nowhere to be seen but hopefully aboard Champion and Nat was by the airlock, helping people through.
Just a minute or two more, Roan thought, but when he looked behind him he saw one black-haired woman trying to push against the gushing water for a hallway leading deeper into the station. Roan lurched for her and grabbed her by the upper arm.
"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted. "We have to go!"
When she turned around he saw she was just a girl, the same age as him. "He's still back there! My brother!"
Roan looked down the hallway. The lights had gone out and he could see in the darkness was water was pulsing through the corridor into the airlock vestibule.
The girl jerked her arm free and stared down the corridor again. Roan staggered after her even as water rose up to his hips. "I don't see anyone!" he called.
"He's up ahead! I can feel him!"
The door on the corridor's far end slid open. Even more water gushed through and so did the barely-visible form of another person, probably a boy a few years younger than the girl. The boy started sloshing through the water with big awkward steps and his sister was almost with him when the corridor shook more violently than ever.
Water crashed off one wall, crested, and tumbled back down, soaking all three of them through their clothes. Beneath the crashing Roan heard the groan and twist of metal as vibrations shook the deck, but before he could give a warning a bulkhead burst open. He reached out with the Force, grabbed the girl, and pulled her two steps back as a supper girder came crashing down and lodged diagonally from floor to ceiling, separating her from her brother.
They started shouting for eachother but Roan called, "Get back!" and drew his lightsaber. He silently thanked whoever'd designed the thing to be waterproof and made two quick cuts. The fallen support beam collapsed in three pieces, allowing the boy to climb over its ruin and embrace his sister as the water pulsed around their waists.
"Come on!" Roan insisted, grabbing the girl by the shoulder and taking her brother too.
As they trudged through the water the girl asked, "Are you a Jedi too?"
"An Imperial Knight." For some reason he felt compelled add, "My name is Roan Fel."
Normally that was enough to put respect and a little fear in people's eyes. He'd grown up with it, gotten used to it, and maybe even liked it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten a look as blank as the one the girl was giving him now. He'd thought even Hapan loyalists would have seen the news sometimes in the past eight years.
"I'm Elliah, this is Hogrum," she said as they reached the vestibule chamber. Nat was waving the last stragglers through the partially-flooded airlock portal and looked relieved when he spotted Roan.
"Is that all of them?" Skywalker called.
Roan looked at Elliah. "Is it?"
"We're the last ones," Hogrum said as he hacked up a mouthful of water.
"Great," Nat said as he helped them through the airlock. "Let's get the hell out of here."
-{}-
Darth Kheykid chose to see it as a sign of gratitude that Darth Maleth sent a shuttle to retrieve the three remaining Sith. The attempt by the Alliance to evacuate its population had produced a chaotic firefight overhead. Hapan Miy'tils and Sith Furies battled with Alliance Tri-wings. Turbolaser fire from Nova cruisers in low orbit tore smoking gouges out of the station's hull but hadn't yet pierced the shields of the Alliance carriers. In all that chaos it wasn't difficult for one armed shuttle from admiral Vahl's flagship to slip into the clouds.
Kheykid, Ruyn, and Vurik met their ride at the same airlock where they'd left Intruder. It enraged the Barabel to think that his precious ship had been stolen by a traitor but there was nothing to be done for it now.
When the airlock opened they were ushered into a shuttle by a handful of Hapan guards who looked curiously nonplussed to see a Barabel, a Twi'lek, and a Chev in torn black robes with fierce tattoos across their faces. Clearly, these were part of the queen's most loyal guard.
As soon as they were aboard, the shuttle detached and began to rise out of the clouds. Kheykid, wounded though he was, managed to stagger into the cockpit in time to see them lift clear into the sky. He watched with satisfaction as two more turbolaser blasts fell into the top cloud-drifts, impacted on the station and sent up geysers of smoke and flame. A few more good shots and they'd likely knock off the repulsor-systems and send the whole thing tumbling to Orelon VI's distant core.
Kheykid wrapped his claws around the back of the pilot's seat. "I need to speak with Black Majesty."
The pilot complied without a word, and when the holo sprung to life it showed Darth Maleth's long-haired, tattoo-lined face. These vermin were well-informed.
"It is done," the Barabel hissed. "We are on our way back. Were all the traitor's starfighters destroyed? Including Terrid's?"
"Yes. All of them."
It was a victory, but he wasn't satisfied. "What about Intruder?"
"It eluded us. Who was aboard?"
"Darth Kroan."
"I don't see him giving us trouble, not by himself."
Kheykid growled deep in his throat. Maleth was probably right; Kroan had made few friends on Shedu Maad. Likely he'd fly back to his old allies in the Empire or on Kuat, or whatever other vermin would tolerate his wounded vanity.
"I look forward to seeing you soon, Lord Kheykid," Maleth said.
"As do I. Until then."
Kheykid tapped a claw on the comm control and shut the connection off. The shuttle rose further and he watched as faint starlight grew brighter overhead. The damage he'd taken against Inexor and the loss of Intruder had wounded his own vanity, but he reminded himself that a true One Sith should be beyond those things. His purpose was to serve Darth Krayt's design, and in that regard today had been a triumphant success. With the unlikely aid of Darth Saydel they'd purged all the would-be traitors from their order, leaving it leaner and stronger and more dangerous than before.
As they ascended into space he felt himself being drawn into Darth Maleth's battle-meld. He felt the minds of all the other One Sith touch his own and savored their shared delight as they welcomed him home.
-{}-
Jade had always intended to stay behind once the Alliance troop carriers pushed off, but by the time they closed their gates the entire station was shuddering from the repeated impact of heavy turbolaser fire. She didn't know what it would take to knock out the repulsorlift generators and send them plunging irretrievably into the clouds, but the death blow could come at any time.
Even with the carriers packed with more than their design capacity, allowed there were still tens of thousands of loyalists trapped on the station with no hope of escape. As the last wave of people marshalled to go aboard the carriers, it fell to Tanith Zel and the Jedi to undertake the awful task of deciding who they could fit aboard Jade Shadow. With three blazing lightsabers behind her to command attention, Tanith crawled atop a storage crate and called those remaining to attention.
"There no more time to argue or delay," the woman called, so loud everyone trapped in the vast chamber could hear. "We have one ship left, with only enough space for a handful of people. Please, I beg you, send their children forward to be saved! Give us your daughters and your sons and I promise we will get them to safety! If you want your children to live, send them up now!"
The mighty loading doors closed as the Alliance carriers pushed off the entire station rattled but Jade barely notice, so transfixed was she by the heartrending sights before her. Parents dropped to their knees weeping and embraced their sons and daughters, many of whom looked too young to have known any home except this dying prison. Children too small to even walk were passed to older ones by tearful parents. Valiss and Balm clutched babies to their breasts, handed over by weeping mothers who'd placed their last hope in two Jedi. Jade felt the last remnants of her resentment for these people- buried so deep after her own mother's death and survived so long- finally dissolve to nothing. None of these children deserved to lose their parents so young. None of the adults, however errant or blameful their loyalties, deserved the death they'd been given.
"We may have only minutes left! We have to take action!" Tanith seemed to be summoning Allana's volume and power of command. "Those of you to the right, clear the path now! Let us pass through! Let your children escape safely!"
After the madness of the rush to escape on the carriers, Jade would never have imagined those left to die could summon the order required. Somehow they did. Tanith stretched an arm straight to the auxiliary hangar entrance on the far side of the chamber and the crowd parted like two receding waves. Valiss and Balm hurried into the gap, sabers still lofted high as their carried babies in their other hands. The assembled children scampered to follow. Another great tremor shook the station but Tanith remained atop the crate, pointing the way for the remaining children. When the last of them finally passed ahead and Valiss opened the door to Shadow's hangar bay, the Hapan woman finally jumped down and joined Jade in hurrying for the exit.
And as they marched to leave, they passed through the heart of the crowd. Women and men who'd been panicked and screaming just ten minutes ago now watched their children and the Jedi walk past in silence. It was the silence of mourning and reverence both and as she walked Jade couldn't look away from the faces of all those readying themselves to die, couldn't flinch from the resignation and dignity in their eyes. For all these Hapan loyalists believed and represented, all they'd supported, all they'd done, they'd found a way to meet their final moments with fortitude and safeguard the future. It was all Jade could do to keep from weeping in front of them.
And then she and Tanith passed into the auxiliary hangar. Jade Shadow was there. The huge crowd of children were pooled around it but didn't move close. Valiss and Balm stood between the children and the ship but they'd dropped into combat stances and their sabers now dipped forward, toward the single figure standing beneath Jade Shadow's nose.
He wore a tattered black flight suit and he clutched an unlit lightsaber in one hand. His posture was stiff and awkward, all the weight shifted to one leg. His black-haired head was bowed forward but as Jade stepped close it lifted so she could see his familiar blue face and blazing red eyes.
Jade held her violet blade in front of her but didn't move closer. Darth Terrid held her stare across the short distance. Then, with a flick of the arm, he sent his lightsaber skidding across the deck until it tapped against her boots. The simple motion unbalanced him and he pitched forward onto his hands and knees. Through the Force Jade could feel the pain emanating from his broken leg and filling his body.
With effort, Terrid pushed himself upright and looked at her from his knees. Sweat gleamed on his face and his voice strained in agony as he said, "I surrender to you, Jade Skywalker. Do with me what you wish."
-{}-
The fighting retreat of the Alliance fleet had succeeding in knocking out the three Battle Dragons arranged to block them, but even as ship after ship started jumping to hyperspace, away from the Orelon deathtrap, Bright Union lingered on the system's edge to watch how the end played out.
For Allana it was grim viewing. The twin troops carriers had been packed over capacity with people and lurched slowly out from Orelon VI's strong gravity well. The few battered Alliance and loyalist ships left to defend them did so bravely, even as the bulk of the Hapan fleet bore down on them. From their far distance Allana could only watch and wait. Her connection with Jade in the Force was dim and strained but still there and she dread the moment of its winking out forever.
Even as the carriers broke away from the planet, many Hapan ships stayed low over Orelon VI to deliver the killing blows to the station. From Bright Union, so many thousands of miles away, its death looked like an anticlimax. One moment its beacon was there, the next it wasn't, and Allana knew the repulsorlifts must have finally failed and the mighty facility was plunging deep toward the gas giant's core, where it would be crushed and ripped apart by the pressure of its storms. She felt a faint tremor through the Force as tens of thousands of lives were extinguished.
She felt another a second later and a glance at Union's tactical holo revealed the truth she already knew. Pinned down by a pair of Battle Dragons, one of the carriers had been unable to evade, suffered grievous damage, and finally exploded, taking all live aboard. And shortly after that a Mon Cal frigate, packed with brave Alliance crew who'd be whisked away on a supposedly simply retrieval mission, crumpled beneath broadsides by two Nova cruisers and burst into flames. Thousands more died and with a sinking feeling Allana wondered if more loyalists would die today or more Alliance crew. The Hapan exiles would take the blame for all those Alliance dead. Allana would also take blame and, irrational as it was, the Jedi would take the blame too.
The one cruel upside was that the remaining fighting ships were able to form a protective barrier around the last carrier. The whole bridge crew on Bright Union watched, tense and breathless, as the tight formation punched past a set of Nova cruisers arrayed to block them and pushed away from Orelon VI's gravity well. And, to Allana's amazement and relief, she still felt Jade in the Force.
As Admiral Lekwash asked the comm lieutenant to patch him a line with the fleeing carrier, Allana went over to an ensign and said, "I need you to hail a ship for me. Can you do that?"
The young Sullustan nodded. "Do you have the transponder ID?"
Jade Shadow's alpha-numeric calling code hadn't changed in sixty years. Allana knew it by heart and recited it. A few seconds later she heard a voice that made her knees weak with relief.
"We hear you, Bright Union," Jade Skywalker said.
"It's me, Jade. What's your situation?"
"We'll be clear to jump in under a minute. Did Nat and Arlen get clear?"
"Yes. They got their cargo too. Did Tanith make it out?"
"She's with us. We loaded as many children as we could before we left."
Allana could imagine the heartrending sight of so many young families torn forever. She could imagine how it would have affected Jade specifically.
"Thank you. Thank you both," she whispered. "Once we get clear I'm going to ride Bright Union back to Coruscant. There's going to have to be accounting for this. But please, if you could take those children to New Hapes-"
"Allana…." Jade began, but trailed off, hesitant.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to drop the kids off on an Alliance ship and go straight to Ossus."
"Is something wrong?"
Another long, hesitant pause. "Something important happened. Allana… I can't explain right now, but this could change everything."
Everything was already changed. After this battle nothing in the Hapes Cluster would be the same. After so many Alliance lives were lost, nothing would be the same for her on Coruscant either. Yet through their Force-connection, tenuous as it was, Allana felt that something even greater had happened, though she had no intimation what.
All she could do right now was sign off and go back to waiting and watching. When the carrier and the tattered remnants of the Alliance task for finally slipped free, Admiral Lekwash gave the order for Bright Union to withdraw. Allana watched from the bridge as the view panned away from Orelon VI's storm-bright, battle-ringed sphere, past the cool drifting Mists, and to the open patch of stars through which they'd jump.
When the deck shuddered and they fell into the flashing light-tunnel of hyperspace, Allana felt exhausted relief wash over the bridge crew and even the admiral, but she felt none of it herself. They'd survived; that was the best she could say about today. On Coruscant she'd be held to account, and it would get ugly, but whatever lay ahead for Jade sounded like the greater reckoning.