For Jed, the hallway was like a theater set. On the stage, Youlia appeared to be pushed against the wall by a stranger.
He raised his blaster and fired.
The shot was not precise, but he surprised Crebs and made him turn his head. More by instinct than by calculation, Youlia threw her right foot with all her strength towards the crotch of her opponent. The shoe only partially achieved its goal, but still made her enemy bend. With her valid arm, she then punched him with redoubled fists and finally broke free in a crunch of cloth.
Jed rushed to support her when he saw a compact group of Death trooper emerging from the airlock at the other end.
He fired at the newcomers, shouting to Youlia:
"Colonel! Get out ! To the pods quickly!"
The Death Trooper retaliated, and Jed had to take refuge in a corner while Youlia disappeared towards the pods. He heard the access door close behind her.
He then saw Youlia's opponent painfully straighten up and light a lightsaber.
"Damn" he thought. "He's going to cut me up like a sausage..."
There was only the width of the corridor between the two of them. The imperials' fire stopped, certainly so as not to risk hitting the imperial in Jedi dress who was advancing towards him without smiling.
Jed jammed his blaster against his hip and was about to fire when a flicker flashed through his field of vision. To his amazement, the man collapsed without a word.
He turned his head towards the airlock to see Diane with a big smile on his face and thumbs up.
"I've always been very good at darts, Lieutenant!" she cried.
Jed risked an eye out of his shelter to see that the Imperials had disappeared.
"Oh, that! But where did they go?" He wondered.
"I don't know and I don't care!" replied Diane. "We must leave here and quickly!"
"The elevator!"
Jed ran to the elevator and pressed the call button.
"I hope they didn't cut it off!" he thought. If they know the floor is invested..."
To his great relief, the display screen gave a sign of life.
"Hurry up! Bring in the wounded!"
Isse and his commando entered the command post. The Death Troopers formed a perfectly coordinated compact block that exploded noiselessly on a sign from the commander. In the middle appeared the specialist.
"Do what you have to do" said Isse.
The technician walked without a word to the navigation console.
Isse then gave his orders:
"Pull back! The position must be held at all costs!"
"To the death and beyond!" The "blacks" answered in their hearts.
Then he added:
"Two men with me! We're going Jedi fishing!"
They quickly left the post and spread out in the corridor.
Republican flagship RSV115 "Emancipator", rescue pods.
Youlia made sure that the doors were closed, then looked at the two rows of pods on either side of the entrance. One slot was empty, the first on the left.
"He didn't strain himself" she thought of the Admiral.
His heartbeat seemed to have moved across his shoulder. During the fight against the imperial, the dagger that had stuck under his left collarbone had moved and began to weigh heavy in her flesh.
A panel on the ceiling recalled the instructions for an evacuation.
She read: "Put on a light suit to guarantee survival if the capsule is damaged." There followed a series of pictograms detailing the procedure to follow.
She almost laughed. We were not there anymore. Everything had shattered, the command, the fleet, the ship... and her with it.
She settled into the first capsule on the right, closed the sarcophagus and pressed the release controls on both sides of the bunk. She had to activate them one after the other, her completely numb left arm no longer responding.
A breath passed, followed by a dampened shock. Pneumatic ejection was triggered.
She found herself in the void, thirty meters from the ejection port. The capsule, carried away by its momentum, moved away from the vessel. She activated the recovery flash and triggered the on-board recorder. This device was used to collect the last message of the castaway
She made her report. No doubt the latter she thought:
"Flagship invested by collision. Command post in the hands of the imperials following commando action by the black guard. Crew entrenched in the castle"
She hesitated and finally added:
"If you find me dead, close the box and throw it in the dark. End of report"
Assault frigate "Hoth's Revenge II", service shuttle.
The LRSS liaison NCO was on the listening post. He had first gone to the "Space Queen IV", where he realized that the Commander had come to the same conclusions as he had.
He had then picked up his colleague and were back on the "Hoth's Revenge II" when the diversion order arrived. The two NCOs were then seated in front of the receivers, one listening and the other ensuring the periodic broadcasts to the two frigates.
Fate had designated him as a listener, which for the time being was not very exciting. With headphones on one ear, he was getting nothing but white noise and some interference.
Suddenly he jumped from a block. His earpiece had just sizzled. He hurriedly put on the headphones and concentrated.
At first he thought the interference was a bit louder, but then he recognized the clacking of a blaster. He counted at least five shots at a rapid rate. The sound was somewhat muffled, but he had no doubt.
He controlled the frequency of the broadcast and had a second adrenaline rush. It was the command post.
He announced to his neighbour in a curt voice:
"Blaster fire in the command bridge. Five shots at a rapid rate"
"Transmitting"
He didn't hear the call from the cockpit.
"A pod just ejected!"
His colleague relayed the information to the frigates and then turned back to the pilot.
"Order to retrieve it!"
"Roger" confirmed the pilot, who began the approach manoeuvre.
He pushed the amplification all the way up and closed his eyes to concentrate. He heard a lot of confusing things, noises, scraping, distant conversations...
He was so focused that he didn't react any more when the co-pilot cried out again:
"Second pod ejection!"
Then, all of a sudden, he managed to hear an intelligible sentence and that was the final bouquet. That sentence was: "To death and beyond!"
The motto of the Death Trooper!
He thought he was talking, but in fact, he almost shouted to the man next to him:
"Death Trooper to the command bridge!"
"I'm transmitting" replied the phlegmatic voice.
In the meantime, the approach to the capsule had been made and the co-pilot had gone to the airlock to recover it. He used the magnetic grapple launcher to throw a cable and began to pull it gently back into the hold.
He had just finished when he received a call from the cockpit.
"A second capsule had just been ejected. Stay put, I'm getting closer"
He grabbed one of the hanging rails running on the walls. The ship turned slowly and he saw a hundred meters away the second capsule which emitted the flash at fixed frequency.
He felt shocks reaching him through his soles. He looked down and realized that it came from the sarcophagus he had just recovered. He leaned toward the small window and almost took off his magnetic soles in surprise.
"Hold to pilot. We just got the Admiral back!"
"Transmitting"
The co-pilot felt the blows double.
"I'm sorry, Admiral" he thought. "You'll have to wait. Recovery first"
He resumed the same procedure, which went smoothly. The second capsule joined the first one on the floor of the hold. He closed the outer doors and re-established the pressure.
He removed his helmet and then heard the blows coming from the admiral's sarcophagus. He paid no attention and leaned towards the window of the second capsule.
The glass was red and opaque.
"Wounded in the second capsule!" he shouted in the general line.
"I'm transmitting" replied the imperturbable voice again.
"Instead of transmitting, ask for a blue line with the ship's doctor!" replied the co-pilot.
He opened the lid. The smell of fresh blood seized her nostrils. He saw a woman lying in a torn uniform. A dagger emerged from his left shoulder, just below the clavicle.
"She must have lost two liters" thought the co-pilot to himself.
He got up and went to the wall box in the on-board infirmary. He opened it, broke the seals of the refrigerated compartment and removed the synthetic blood bags.
"Hold to crew. I need help!"
"Negative. All stations must be held"
"Do I have a line to the doc?"
"Yes. I switch"
He listened to the doctor. The instructions were clear. Transfuse, don't remove the knife and put under surveillance.
He took out his own knife to cut the two handles and prick the transfusions. The admiral's capsule was shaking under the blows.
"I forgot that one" said the co-pilot. "After all he can help me"
He unlocked the lid and Rousseau sprang like a devil out of his box.
"I've been knocking for five minutes! Are you deaf or what? Your registration number!"
"Admiral, I have an emergency wounded man!"
"I don't give a damn about your wounded man!"
He looked at the bloody capsule disgustedly.
"Wow! It's repugnant!"
"Help me. Hold the pockets while I find the veins"
He cleaned the arms, found the veins and pricked the syringes.
"The probe now..."
He unbuttoned the jacket and cut off the sticky blouse. The admiral pinched his lips. He managed to clean a clean skin surface at the heart and stuck the sensor to it. He turned it on and nothing appeared.
"Damn it, she's going!"
He began CPR. Blow, squeeze and start again and again... Finally the monitor started beeping.
He announced, wiping his mouth: "Welcome back to the front!"
He turned to the admiral who had remained frozen like a salt statue.
"Do you recognize her?"
"Yes, it's Youlia Ashrod, the commander of internal security of my ship..."
"I'll hold the pockets. Go to the cockpit to connect with the frigates"
Rousseau held out the bags and left without a word. The co-pilot, left alone with Youlia, saw the flashing of the recorder. He pressed the play button and listened to the message. This done, he says:
"Sorry, colonel, for the wide black, it will be another time..."