CHAPTER 23

"Dehees, please respond," Drakis yelled again, his eyes almost tearing up.

"Drakis, I'm here. We had a little problem."

Drakis took a deep breath. Out the forward viewport, he could see blaster fire impacting on his bridge. It would not get through the bridge's thick armor and transparisteel windows, though.

"I was worried. Thank the Force you're ok!"

"Drakis, calm down. We'll all be dead soon anyway."

"No! Go to an escape pod. Get out now!"

"I'm not leaving, you know what the rebels do to female POWs."

"I don't want you to die. I love you," Drakis yelled over the comm.

"But I don't love you Drakis."

Drakis turned away from the comm. He watched as a formation of B-wings and Y-wings fired proton torpedoes right at him. They exploded harmlessly on the forward viewport and surrounding armor. Drakis walked to the front of the bridge. As he walked by the crewmen, they turned away and looked busy. Everyone pretended they didn't hear the embarrassing conversation that just took place.

Drakis gathered his composure and then walked to the holo. He looked for a moment.

"Conn, you see those five ships engaged with the Dark Lord?"

"Yes Sir," the man steering the ship replied.

"I want you to ram these three, right here," he pointed to a spot on the holo. "If they move, then we'll be in between them and the Dark Lord. If they don't move, then we will destroy them," Drakis explained. "Can you put us right there?"

"I think so, Sir," the man at the conn replied, not sounding too confident.

"Get up," Drakis said, then he started to sit down.

"Drakis, I'll do it," Jarlenski said. "You're the OOD. Besides, your arm is still in a sling."

"Ok, do it."

Jarlenski took over the conn. The engines rumbled (the ones that were still functioning), and the giant ship lurched forward.

"You sure about this?" Jarlenski asked.

"We have no guns, no shields, nothing. We are just a giant dagger, flying through space. So, while we still have propulsion, let's use that dagger," Drakis said with a sinister look in his eyes.

#

Khan slashed at Luke. Then he slashed again from the other direction. He reached out with the force, and grabbed some paintings off the wall. He hurled them at Luke. Luke changed their direction a little and they came down on Khan. One masterpiece fell on top of Khan's head, breaking its frame. He fell to one knee.

Khan dove toward Luke, stabbing with his saber. Luke batted his saber out of the way, and then swung back the other way. His lightsaber grazed Khan's shoulder. Khan dropped his lightsaber. Luke used the force to throw Khan's weapon to the side. Now Luke approached Khan. He appeared to be defenseless. Luke came closer. Then Khan put out his hands and blasted Luke with lightning from his fingers. Luke caught most of it on his lightsaber, only getting burned a little on his wrist.

Khan continued to blast away with everything he had, despite the negative impact it was having on his health. Luke weathered the storm. Khan stopped and then his lightsaber came flying back to his hand. The battle was back on. The Sith Lord seemed to catch his second wind, despite his injuries. Everything started coming off the walls, and spinning around them. Luke pushed some objects into Khan, while he did the same to Luke. Khan got knocked over by a table and a chair, while Luke got hit with a picture frame.

Luke got up and batted away a slash from Khan. He was getting used to Khans tactics. Whenever one of them fell to the ground, Khan would run, jump up high and then swing downward on top of Luke. Now the two got back on their feet and circled one another. Khan tried to lift the debris around them and start it whirling. Luke reached out with the force and pushed it back down. Then Khan looked elsewhere. He started pulling pieces of the wall off. Chunks of building material started heading their way. Luke tried to take control and throw all this material at Khan. As they wrestle, using the force, to control all the pieces of building material and other debris in the air, Khan again charged with his lightsaber. Luke pulled all the debris towards them. Then he jumped 10 feet in the air. All the material came down on Khan, who then pushed it, and it all went flying outward. Luke landed behind Khan. The two spun around, lightsabers meeting.

Khan took a wild swing at Luke's head. Luke ducked, and then slashed Khan's Leg. Khan fell to the ground, he couldn't get up. He swung wildly at Luke from the ground. Luke Jumped away from Khan. Khan laid there, saber in hand, unable to get up. Luke thought for a moment. What was he supposed to do now? Should he kill Khan, was that the right thing to do? If so, he had to be careful; Khan was still powerful.

Just then, the doors opened, and palace guards came pouring in. They started firing at Luke and Khan. The two deflected shots, now having a common enemy now. Luke moved away as he was batting blaster bolts at the wall. The large room had balconies from the upper floors. Luke jumped up to a third-floor balcony. He stared for a moment. The guards stared in disbelief. Then he ran down a p-way.

When Luke got outside, he jumped off of another balcony, down to the surface. He could see his friends running.

"Come on Luke," Lando yelled.

"I'm coming, just go," Luke said.

Lando didn't listen. He sprayed some blaster fire at the entrance to push the guards back, as Luke ran up. He jumped into the speeder, and Lando got in behind him. He was thrown to the seat as Han hit the accelerator.

"We're not going to have time to talk this time," Han said, as they approached the second gate.

Lando had already read his mind. He fired two proton grenades and blew the gate to pieces. Chewy took out the gunner on one of the cannon, and Luke reached out with the force and knocked the other one down. The guards fired as they flew through the gate. Leia laid down some suppressing fire with her automatic. When they came to the first gate, Luke ripped it free with the Force. They flew through the gate so fast that none of the guards got a shot off.

#

"Take evasive action! That Super Star Destroyer is trying to ram you," Ackbar ordered.

Two of the ships simply moved to the other side of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Dark Lord, thus evading the Exar Kun. One ship moved away to find a new ship to fight.

"Bradley, have your fighters blast her bridge, I don't want them trying to ram anymore of my ships," Ackbar said.

"It's no use Admiral, that thing has a super thick shell around her bridge, we can't punch through it," Bradley explained.

Ackbar thought for a moment.

"Then blast her engines, maybe we can stop her from moving."

"Wedge, send some fighters to knock out the engines on that Super Star Destroyer," Bradley said.

"Copy, Commander."

They watched the fireworks from Ackbar's command center as two Imperial-class Star Destroyers blew up at almost the exact same time. One Alliance Assault Frigate was burning as well. She was finished.

"Admiral Ackbar, this is Admiral Sing," a voice came over the comm. "Sir, we fought each other to a standstill. We've destroyed one of their Star Destroyers and wiped out most of their fighters. They pushed off; and are sitting out of range. We have lost four capital ships, but we can still fight. We're between them and you, so they aren't getting past us."

"I understand," Ackbar said.

"Sir, we can move to engage them, or we can stay put and block them."

"Hold your position Admiral Sing, there's no reason for you to take further losses. Keep me updated, Ackbar out."

"Peto, find the weakest Star Destroyer. Instruct all the ships that were fighting the Dark Lord and the other one, to engage that weakest ship," Ackbar instructed.

"Yes Sir."

After Peto gave the order, Ackbar spoke again. "This is the Domino Theory of naval warfare. The six of them will move to help two other ships, together they'll finish off their opponent quickly. Then, the eight of them will go help in another battle, and that one will be won more quickly. Then there will be nine or ten ships to go help in another action, each time they will win faster, because there will be more ships fighting one Star Destroyer," Ackbar explained to his protégé.

#

Several squadrons engaged the fighters around Melious shuttle. One X-wing came in behind it. The pilot squeezed the triggers and held them down, blasting away at the shuttle. The shields fell and its starboard engine caught fire. The shuttle began to spiral out of control.

"Sir, the Admiral's shuttle has been hit," a Lieutenant on the Widowmaker's bridge, reported.

"Can we lock a tractor beam onto his shuttle?" Captain Sturm asked.

An officer pressed a few buttons quickly. "I can't get her, Sir, the shuttle is too far away."

Sturm thought for a moment. He pointed to a ship on the holo.

"Send that Strike Cruiser. Tell them to pick up the Admiral's shuttle."

The Ensign sent the order, and one Strike Cruiser sped away from the battle.

"Captain Sturm, eight rebel ships are clustering around the Darth Maul," his XO reported.

"Move some ships to help."

"Which ones, Sir?"

Sturm looked at the holo. There wasn't much left. "Uh, us, the Impervious, and the Darth Kalen."

Those three Star Destroyers pushed into an already cramped pile of ships maneuvering around each other. They were followed by the ships that they were already fighting. The Darth Kalen had been fighting a Mon Calamari cruiser. The Impervious had been taking on a Mon Calamari cruiser and an Escort Frigate, and the Widowmaker had been fighting a Mon Calamari cruiser and an Assault Frigate. These five ships followed the three Star Destroyers into the cluster of eight Alliance ships and the Star Destroyer Darth Maul. In this situation, fresh guns from unused sides of ships now opened up on new targets. It was a pressure cooker, in which ships would burn quickly. Ships maneuvered for the best positions to shoot from. After five minutes, the Darth Maul was ablaze.

"We got that Star Destroyer Admiral, and one of their Strike Cruisers is in flames, as well. But we're going to lose an Escort Frigate and an Assault Frigate soon," Peto reported.

"Send some gunships and fighters into this concentration of ships," Ackbar ordered, pointing to the holo.

"Yes Sir," Peto complied. Then he looked at the holo again. "In the big pile, they are concentrating on our three most damaged ships," Peto said in a concerned tone.

"We're going to lose a few ships, but those three Star Destroyers will go right along with them."

"Shouldn't we move them?"

"Those ships won't make it out in time, and if they did, the Star Destroyers would follow them. Plus, their TIE bombers would smell blood and come in and finish them off. Those ships have a better shot in a pile of 13 Alliance heavy ships and three Imperial ships."

Ackbar was right. It happened quickly, with so many ships fighting in such a small volume of space. The Alliance lost an Escort Frigate, an Assault Frigate and a Mon Calamari cruiser. The Empire lost three Imperial class Star Destroyers.

Captain Sturm sent out one last message, "Fight to the last!"

Before smoke on the Widowmaker's bridge, overtook him.

#

An airtight hatch opened, "halt, why did you open this hatch," a sailor asked, before he shined the light on Neestas' rank insignia. "Oh, sorry Sir,".

"Lieutenant, what's the status of the ship?" Neestas asked the officer in charge of the damage control team.

"As far as we know, it's not good. There's a huge fire burning on the back of the ship, main power is offline. It's bad," he said as he closed the airtight hatch behind Neestas and Shek.

Neestas went to a panel and checked that there was pressure in the next compartment, before opening the hatch. He opened it. All the men in the damage control team were looking at him. He figured he should say something.

"Why don't you guys move your team back 30 frames, so that you'll be closer to the escape pods."

"Aye, aye, Sir" the men said as they headed aft.

Neestas and Ensign Shek opened the next hatch and moved forward. They closed it behind them, and were alone again. He flashed his flashlight on the overhead, "frame 730."

"Pak, we're still kilometers away from the bridge. Don't you think that we should evacuate, we'll be dead before we get there," Ensign Shek said, calling Neestas by his first name.

"I'm not about to give the rebels a Super Star Destroyer, and I certainly don't want to be a prisoner of war."

"You're not giving them a Super Star Destroyer. The ship is burning. You'd be giving them a pile of scrap metal."

"You want to be a POW?"

Shek thought for a moment.

"We can set the trajectory of the escape pod to land on the far side of the moon. Pick somewhere remote."

"And then what? How do we get back to the fleet?"

"We don't."

"So what? We live in the jungle like cavemen?" he asked indignantly.

"There is equipment in the escape pod for making clean water, and for fishing. I've been to Imperial survival school, and I'm guessing you have too, with you having been in intelligence."

"How did you know that I was in intelligence?"

She pointed to one of the pins on his uniform.

"Look, we can bring a few blasters to hunt with. There are rations in the pod too. We'll build a little shelter out in the wilderness, I have a vibroblade. We can live there together, just the two of us," she said, as she played with his shirt.

Neestas thought for a moment…

#

"Drakis, Sturm is dead. The Admiral's shuttle is spinning out of control. The other ships are asking us for instructions," Jarlenski said.

"Seriously!" Drakis said, not believing the circumstances.

"Looks like you've gone from Lieutenant to Captain, to Admiral," Jarlenski joked.

No one laughed.

"How many ships do we have left?"

"Five. Well, six if you include us."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know dude, you're in command," Jarlenski said, clearly wanting no part of that level of responsibility.

"Once they finish the other ships, they'll all focus on us," Drakis said.

He looked out the forward viewport, which was mostly blackened and had a few cracks from all the blaster fire and proton torpedo explosions that it had absorbed.

"We have no chance. Either we fight to the death, or we get in escape pods and try to land where our troops are," Jarlenski summed up their options.

A voice came over the comm. "Exar Kun, Darth Plagueis, request instructions. Are we to continue fighting, or to withdraw?"

"All ships, this is the Exar Kun. We fight to the death," Drakis said with determination. "Jarlenski, do we have any guns left?"

"We have 19 functioning guns, seven turbolasers, five ion cannon, and seven quad lasers."

Now the bridge was shuddering and shaking more than before.

"What's going on out there?" Drakis asked.

"There are five heavy cruisers blasting away at the bridge," Jarlenski said. "We're not going to last much longer. Should we abandon ship?" he asked.

"Go if you want to. I'll stay here and fight the ship!" Drakis said with fire in his eyes.

That was enough for Jarlenski. He went over to a section of the bulkhead and pushed a button. A hatch opened to an escape pod.

"Alright people, whoever wants to leave, get in. Let's make sure that they're full."

Some crew members started to fill the ten-man escape pod.

"We have room for three mo…" Jarlenski was saying when a blaster bolt hit the forward viewport.

The transparisteel finally gave way, and shattered. Air was sucked out of the hole at extremely high speed. The pressure difference was more than any person could withstand. Everyone one the bridge was sucked into space.

#

"Admiral, those two Star Destroyers just surrendered!" Peto exclaimed. "So did the carrack cruiser," he added.

"What about the other ships?" Ackbar asked.

"The strike cruiser went to hyperspace. In addition, two of the Star Destroyers facing the Feegians left. The last one is surrendering, too. That's three Star Destroyers!" Peto said, practically jumping up and down.

"Let's get boarding parties on them quickly, so that they don't change their minds."

"Aye Sir. What about the Super Star Destroyer?"

"Let's ignore it for now. If we see any guns firing, just take them out with ion cannon, so that we can repair them later."

#

Detrick ran to the next bunker over, he was almost knocked over by one of the men running out of it. He ran to Tesla.

"They gave the order to fall back."

"Fine!" she said, as she threw her weapon on her back.

"We gotta hurry."

"Look, someone left a bantha gun," she said, picking it up on the way out.

Castillo and Lena were waiting for them a little farther back. Once they were all together, the group retreated back a few hundred yards, to the next line of prepared defenses. They dove into the bunker and got ready.

Then fire started coming in from the Imperial walkers. At first it was sporadic, then it became sustained as more Imperial troops advanced. They continued to return fire as it intensified.

"They keep advancing, we're going to have to fall back again," Detrick said.

One Imperial walker was dead ahead. It turned its head and began firing right into their bunker. Detrick and Lena ran out of one side, and Tesla ran out of the other. They looked around.

"Castillo!" Lena called.

She ran back into the bunker. Castillo's arm was sticking out. She grabbed it and pulled him up. Dirt fell as his figure emerged. Then a large blaster bolt from the Imperial walker impacted on Lena's torso. Detrick watched as her arm sailed over his head. The Imperial walker pumped several more rounds into the same area. Lena and Castillo's bodies were cut to pieces.

Detrick stared in horror. Tesla switched off the both safeties and armed her bantha gun. She ran up close to the Imperial walker, blaster bolts sailing over her head from nearby troops. She aimed at the underside of the walker and fired. The blast punched through the walker's armor and hit its power generator. There was a huge internal explosion. The walker stopped moving, and its guns went dead.

"Nice shooting," Detrick said, still half in a daze from what he had just witnessed.

"Come on, there are five more behind him," Tesla said.

They started to run, but were stopped by Sergeant Bauder.

"Command says to hold here," he said.

Detrick put up his finger as if to argue, but there was nothing to be said. They had their orders. He looked back and to the left.

"I'm not going in that bunker," he said, referring to the bunker that his two dead friends were in.

He went to the next one over and got in, as blaster bolts exploded around him.

"So why aren't we falling back?" he asked Sergeant Bauder, who had gotten into the same bunker.

"Not sure," was the reply.

#

"General Reekan, this is Wedge. The battle is over up here. We can begin ground strikes as soon as your shield is down," the voice said over the comm.

"Lower the shield," Rieekan ordered, "Now!"

"Shield is down General," an Ensign reported after a few moments.

"Wedge, shield is down," the General said into the comm.

"Copy General, my readings confirm that the shield is down. Please inform your ground forces that we are coming," Wedge replied.

#

Both Detrick and Bauder's comms buzzed. They put them up to their ears, to hear over the pounding they were taking from the Imperials. "… I repeat, we have inbound spacecraft, do not fire on them."

Detrick smiled as he heard Rieekan's message.

"Hey! Hey! Everyone listen up!" Detrick yelled. "We got X-wings coming in, don't shoot at anything in the sky!"

Thirty seconds later, the first wave came. Detrick watched a pair of proton torpedoes slam into the side of an Imperial walker. He could feel the heat from the explosion. Another walker fell to an X-wing, and he saw two more get blasted by Y-wings.

"They're really kicking the crap out of them," Bauder said.

"Yeah. Is it time to counterattack?" Detrick asked.

"No, the X-wings will come back. They're probably out of torpedoes, but they'll strafe the infantry."

The X-wings came down, just as Bauder said they would, and blasted storm troopers.

Detrick asked again, "Now?"

"No."

"What happens next?"

"I don't want to spoil it for you. Just watch"

Now came the B-wings. Proton torpedoes and blaster fire poured out of them like droplets of water coming from a garden hose. The firepower was ten times that of the X-wings. Every Imperial walker was taken out. The entire Imperial line was on fire. Detrick could not find one stormtrooper standing. Actually, he found just one. Detrick reached for his rifle. Then a blaster bolt cut the storm trooper down. Detrick looked back. The shot had come from Tesla's gun.