Golden Emperor: en route to Fondor
It would not be long now until this galaxy was returned to its rightful owners. If the vermin were truly gathered at Fondor, as Moff Drikl Lecersen believed, then their end would be swift. But if not, cleansing the galaxy would simply take a bit longer. Supreme Warmaster Shotel Za was a patient man.
Nonetheless, it was imperative that the people of Nibiru take back this galaxy and keep it strong, no matter how many trillions had to die. The Nightmare was coming. It had to be defeated, lest it consume the galaxy. And with several decades to prepare, this could be done.
The swirling gray veil of hyperspace tore itself apart into lines, and then into stars, as Fondor's gravity well pulled Shotel Za's fleet back into realspace. With the enemy already in range, the Tho Yors and Tho Yens began launching murderous sunsets. Roughly a fifth of the Tho Yors had their lower portions, with their cannons on their stubby fingers, oriented toward Fondor. Great quartets of golden lightsaber blades came from these Tho Yors.
The Terran war cruisers and sole Terran Annihilation cruiser, the Olympus Mons, let loose with their own beam weapons. These red lightsaber blades were more powerful than what the Tho Yors could manage, and groups of them were used to target individual Tho Yors or Tho Yens. The Yens slowed down, allowing the larger Yors to endure the abuse for them. Should any of the Tho Yors' shields be taxed to the point of concern, another Tho Yor could easily take its place.
Tho Yads proceeded to pour out of their carriers, using them as cover, as Shotel Za's fleet drew ever closer to Fondor. The Supreme Warmaster was not surprised to sense the dark side of the Force begin to envelop the enemy fleet. Darth Krayt, it must have been, was creating a battle meditation. The Sith Lord and the rest of the aliens here who stood in the way of the unity needed to save the galaxy would be exterminated without mercy.
Green joined the amber and red, as Fondor's long range turbolaser batteries plunged their mighty beams out through the one way planetary shield, and between enemy ships to harass the Celestial fleet. As with the Terran beam weapons, if a particular vessel was endangered from this, another could simply take its place.
Shortly thereafter came more green and red from the long range batteries of the alien ships and the Golan IV defense platforms. Among the alien ships were Imperial Mark IIIs. They strongly resembled their predecessors, but lacked a command tower. It had been a ghastly design flaw; just how many Star Destroyers had been lost on account of that? These new destroyers' command centers were buried deep within. They seemed to also have a slightly faster firing rate...
Large points of light appeared on the space-ward side of Shotel Za's fleet, and morphed into more alien ships and, even worse, Nibu ships. Bwua'tu's fleet has arrived. Along with Warmaster Huitl and his traitors; they were Ronin'i, having forsaken their master!
Shotel Za could sense another Sith among the new arrivals, spreading his mind out in his own battle meditation. Darth Plagueis was quite easy to recognize when employing a battle meditation. He was similar to Abeloth, suspended as he was between life and death. Such an abomination had no right to exist, let alone even think of ruling a galaxy.
"So the parasite is happily nestled within its host," Shotel Za mused. Yes, he wanted his fleet surrounded by the enemy. This way he could take advantage of his capital ships' ability to fire in all directions. Amber energy proceeded to explode from the space-ward side of the screen. Many of the Supreme Warmaster's Tho Yors and Tho Yens had left hyperspace with their lower portions oriented this way. A kaleidascope of light erupted from the new arrivals, as they opened up with everything except proton torpedoes and various types of missiles. The Nibu fleet began to spread out into an enormous screen formation, as they continued toward Fondor. The golden vessels which were able to do so started lining themselves up with enemy vessels to stay away from Fondor's turbolaser batteries. Bwua'tu's fleet, hoping to eventually be able to implement their short range weapons, had no choice but to follow.
"Outer rim, continue toward Fondor. Remainder, form a slight concavity toward Bwua'tu's fleet. Prioritize the destruction of the Turk Brand and Olympus Mons." Taking out the aliens' flag ships would be quite the psychological blow. Space lit up even more as the aliens' short range weapons, including ion cannons, and proton torpedo and missile launchers, joined the fray. The ion beams and ordnance added blue and violet to the psychedelic mix of color. "The enemy fleets may be trying to conceal enemy fighters with their short range weapons," the Supreme Warmaster advised his fleet.
Shotel Za raised an amused eyebrow as cluster of small icons indicating enemy fighters appeared on one of the tactical displays. More of these clusters began to appear. Right on cue, it seemed. "Engage enemy fighters," the Supreme Warmaster ordered. Tho Yads began to pour out of the screen, mostly going to engage Bwua'tu's fleet. Small explosions started peppering the battlefield in short order. The tactical display confirmed that mostly enemy fighters were falling.
"Twelve new contacts," said the new chief tactical officer, Shao Lin, who'd replaced Atlatl. Her voiced was raised slightly with worry. "Very close. Coming at speed." Shotel Za followed the officer's gaze to another section of the display, and glimpsed seven Star Destroyers of old variants, including a Venator-class and a Victory-class, along with five large cruisers. They were close, indeed. Six of the destroyers were arrayed around the seventh. The cruisers were in front, with four surrounding the fifth.
Tho Yors and Tho Yens were already pounding away at the new contacts with their amber anger, much of the fire, Shotel Za could tell, coming from their lower portions. The Supreme Warmaster needed people who could think on their own. Who didn't need his permission to take action, especially when there was little time to react.
The new contacts weren't returning fire, meaning they were saving energy for something else. They were closing the distance to Shotel Za's fleet at a greater than they should have. And their shields seemed to be holding up quite well. The cruisers began spreading out and, as they did so, their deflector shields expanded.
"Any sign of fighters from new contacts?" Shotel Za asked.
"No," Shao Lin said, mildly puzzled. It was good that she found this odd. There was a reason they hadn't launched any fighters yet.
The Supreme Warmaster reached out to the new contacts, and felt the dark side. Sith. Not surprising given that they'd known just where to exit hyperspace. And the fleet at Kesh had consisted of old vessels such as these. "New contacts are Sith," he warned his fleet.
Finally some of the golden fire found its way through one of their shields. Tongues of flame began to burst from one of the cruisers. It pealed away from its fellows... and exploded in an enormous glob of fire. "New contacts are bombs," the Supreme Warmaster warned his fleet. He frowned as flaming pieces of debris came flying out of the explosion. Some of them began ramming the Tho Yads. Those were the fighters. Shotel Za brushed them in the Force, and realized that they lacked living pilots. Droid fighters!
The eleven remaining new contacts suddenly blasted away from each other like magnets of the same charge. Droid fighters, including Shadow TIEs, bleed out of them, but lagged behind. Another cruiser was destroyed, and the Star Destroyer that had been behind it continued forward. A Tho Yen plowed into it, the over sized explosion destroying both vessels, and damaging a pair of Tho Yors. Droves of droid fighters descended on the Yors. A swarm of Yads came to the larger ships' defense. The droids practically ignored the Nibu starfighters, and continued pounding the Tho Yors.
The nine remaining enemy contacts were sustaining major damage, but it barely slowed them down. The three intact cruisers and one of the Star Destroyers headed toward the ring of Nibu ships over Fondor, while the other five destroyers headed toward the bowl that was engaged with Bwua'tu's fleet. Golden vessels began maneuvering out of the way in whichever directions they could. The enemy vessels all detonated within a couple seconds; not even the Tho Yens and Tho Yors were quick enough to escape this.
Hundreds of droid fighters followed in the destruction's wake, falling upon wounded Celestial vessels. Squadrons of Tho Yads met the droids in a vicious exchange. Most of the droids simply tried to crash into the Yads, and some succeeded. Droid fighters could be quite tricky to fight, as the way droids thought couldn't be read through the Force. But eventually the Tho Yads started whittling down the droids' numbers..
Shotel Za brought his attention to a display of Fondor. The planet hurtled through space at tens of thousands of miles per hour in its slightly elliptical orbit around its sun, also named Fondor, and spun on its slightly tilted axis at about a fortieth of that speed. This entire battle was taking place within Fondor's orbit, thus following the planet around its sun. He tuned the ship's comm. to special frequency. "Nim Cha, drop out at Oridin City."
"Yes, my lord," the other Warmaster replied.
"The enemy is distracted by the false hope of a potential victory," Shotel Za explained to his new tactical officer. "It will take time for them to react.
Almost a dozen starbursts appeared from hyperspace, some distance from the main battle, and dimmed into golden Tho Yors. Some of Fondor's ground based batteries redirected their massive green laser beams at this new threat. Undaunted, Nim Cha's ships adjusted position slightly, orienting their bottom halves toward Fondor. Great pillars of amber energy stabbed into the planetary shield. It was all directed at a relatively small area of Fondor's planetary deflector shield, making it look as though a wildfire were raging upon its surface.
The inferno over Oridin City dissipated as the planetary shield was melted open. Swarms of Tho Yads, escorting troop transports, known as Tho Yiks, poured through the hole. The Yiks resembled large Yads, but with their pair of wings at the top of the craft. The body was wider, bestowing a somewhat flattened appearance, and longer. The golden river in the sky streamed away from Oridin City, and headed toward Fondor City. It was on the night side of the planet, over which the space battle was taking place.
Fondor City
Once again Tahiri Veila could feel the Force's agonized throbbing, as it was made to wage war against itself. So many thousands of people were killing each other. Death seemed to be celebrating, with all the explosions and weapons discharges as its fireworks.
Great columns of green energy stabbed into a sky that should have been dark. The turbolaser batteries which birthed them were mighty gray-black towers with double barreled heads. Like the planet itself, these batteries had their own deflector shields. The protective barriers pulsed in annoyance as Tho Yads and Tho Yiks hovered around them like mosquitoes, laying siege with their golden proboscises.
Ally and Fondorian forces moved in to defend the towers. Among these ships were the Sarlagesus, the Millennium Falcon, and several dozen Multi-Altitude Assault Transports, belonging to the Galactic Alliance or the Fondorian government. A swarm of golden invaders broke off from their assault on the turbolaser batteries to deal with the defenders.
Tahiri, in her X-wing, and Thraes Solusar, in his X-wing Interceptor, flew cover for the Sarlagesus as the custom-built freighter blasted toward the nearest of Fondor's turbolaser batteries. Thraes' wife, Allana Solo, who happened to be newly pregnant, piloted the ship. Her father-in-law, Kam Solusar, was operating upper/right quadlaser. Evelyn, the Sarlagesus' droid brain, controlled the lower/left quadlaser.
The Celestials had arrived far earlier than anyone had expected, as though they'd been tipped off. Allana and Thraes had been in a meeting with one of Fondor's governors at the time. The couple had been left with no time to make it to space, let alone to the edge of the world's gravity well. It would have allowed them to either still fight or, when it became necessary, retreat. As the future leader of the Jedi, keeping Allana alive was imperative. Tahiri Veila would do everything in her power to protect the kid.
Tahiri began to realize that something was different. She brushed against the Force, allowing its turmoil to buffet her like raging waves. She dove down beneath the swells, and found a calm acceptance. She frowned; how the Void could the Force be at peace with all this carnage? The Celestials were slaughtering thousands of people, and the worst was yet to come!
There had to be some piece to the puzzle she was missing. What if it was something else the Force was at peace with? It was clear that the Celestials were going to win this conflict... And then the Force would stop tearing itself apart.
Tahiri's subconscious screamed a warning at her. Allana, obviously having received the same warning, stood the Sarlagesus up on its wing. The souped up freighter's quadlasers whipped around toward the stern, and opened fire, as four continuous sunbeams burned through the air around it. Tahiri and Thraes pulled their fighters up into upside down loops, coming down above and behind the two offending Tho Yads.
But the bogeys were already breaking off their attack, and pealed off in opposite directions. Tahiri lost track of Thraes as they split up to follow their individual targets. Their every move guided by the Force, Tahiri and her opponent exchanged fire for a couple minutes. The Tho Yad fired backwards with its two glowing energy orbs. Instead of a single continuous beam, each orb fired off pair after pair of sunbursts. As expected the X-wing's shield rippled quite a bit more than the Yad's shield.
The Tho Yad led Tahiri in a bit of a circle as it tried to get behind her, where she'd be unable to fire on it. And in a faster, more maneuverable craft it was only a matter of time. Tahiri shut off her two starboard side engines, and put extra power into the port engines, whipping her X-wing hard to starboard. Before it could fully register to Tahiri's brain that the Celestial fighter was hurtling toward her, she fired off a proton torpedo. Two instants before the ordnance hit, she fired her laser cannons. Four red bolts of energy impacted the shield. One instant later the torpedo slammed into the slightly weakened shield. Even as reddish orange fire erupted, partially within the shield, Tahiri launched another torpedo. She fired her laser cannons again, and the beams hit right before the ordnance.
The Tho Yad sped up, even as the resulting explosion began to rip it apart. Tahiri pulled back on the control stick to pull her X-wing up. The snub fighter heaved violently as the Yad blew up beneath it. An alarm hammered out of the cockpit's speakers as the X-wing went into a spin. The ground seemed to rise up as though to swat at the craft. Maybe Tahiri could work with this. She created a tensor field throughout her body, and gathered Force energy around her and her flightsuit like a second skin. Just as the X-wing's deflector shield grazed the ground, she pushed the second skin outward into a bubble. Flames roared outside the energy field, and the ground pummeled her, as the snub fighter was ripped apart. Tahiri pulled her Force presence tightly around herself, hoping the Celestials would believe she had just died.
The fire quickly died down to the point where Tahiri could hear the chaos of the battle. Sonic booms thundered overhead, while weapons screamed like the souls of the damned. Dust swelled into the air as various ordnance hit the ground. Fighters and troop transports exchanged fire. Many met their end in dangerous showers of shrapnel and hellfire.
Tahiri waited for the flames to subside a bit more before lowering her shield. While it did protect her, maintaining such a thing meant using the Force. And that made it harder to hide her presence.
A Tho Yik went down by the nearby turbolaser battery. Bits of flaming debris crashed to the ground. A small portion of the battery's shield, right at ground level, shook under the weight of six continuous needles of amber fire. Permacrete around the tower's base flew up into the air as dust. The three Tho Yads immediately ceased firing, as several Celestial soldiers scrambled out of the Yik, and through the brief gap in the shield.
The Yads then collectively turned their attention to the Sarlagesus, practically ignoring Thraes' X-ceptor. The trio split up, making it harder for the freighter to target them. Six amber needles hit the upper/right side of the Sarlagesus' shield. The needles punched through, and bored into the quadlaser turret. There was an explosion, followed by a series of sparks, as the weapon tumbled off the stern of the ship.
Two of the Tho Yads broke off their attack on the Sarlagesus to deal with Thraes, while the third continued to ravage the freighter. One of its two golden death rays burned its way straight through the obsidian colored vessel. The Sarlagesus skipped on the ground like a stone on the surface of a pond, before skidding to a rumbling halt. Tahiri couldn't believe what she was seeing. Allana was going to die, and not by the hand of the Sith.
And then the lone Yad blossomed into a reddish orange flower. No sooner had that appeared than it was replaced by a large grayish disk. The Millennium Falcon. Tahiri sometimes wondered if the YT-1300 somehow possessed the power of the Force; it always did seem to be in the right place at the right time.
Seeing that the Celestials were nicely distracted Tahiri bolted from the cloud of dust concealing her, and made her way over to the downed Sarlagesus. She crept along the front of the wing, which was on the left side of the craft, trying to stay reasonably hidden; the freighter's chaotic landing had helpfully thrown a fair amount of dust into the air. She was nearly to the cockpit when Seff, Allana, and Kam came around under it. Thank the Force they were alright. Tahiri hadn't been able to sense them as they were also hiding themselves.
"We need to get under that shield," Seff said. His fingers and forearms seemed to melt, and then solidified into broad swords. "I'll lead."
"I'll tell the folks inside to lower part of the shield to let us in when we're close enough," Kam said, pulling out his comlink.
Tahiri nodded. She experienced a minor sense of unease. In response the green eyed blond gathered more Force energy to her body, and then pushed it up. The air around the four Jedi shimmered gently, and took on a very subtle green hue, as a protective dome of energy came down around them. A hail of azure energy bolts blasted out through the turbolaser battery's shield, and slammed into Tahiri's shield. She could see, as the dust continued to settle and the group trudged forward, that the Celestial soldiers had dark yellow on their armor. This identified them as supporters of Warmaster Tosi Karu.
There was no point in returning fire, since it wouldn't get past the battery's shield. Nor was there any sense in trying to hide anymore. Tahiri and Seff reached out to each other through their Force bond, and drew upon the light and dark sides of the Force, respectively. Tahiri was still mildly uncomfortable with this. But then, through their nearly constant Force meld, the two sides of the Force began to swirl together, and find balance. It was something truly beautiful. Almost perfectly unified, but not quite. There was another step that Tahiri didn't yet understand.
But right now Tahiri's main concern was keeping her shield up. This was becoming increasingly difficult. Her heart seemed to be beating inside her skull, and her breathing was becoming labored. Green arcs of lightning danced upon her shield, as impact craters, under the assault of the Celestial soldiers' high powered fire. Twelve bolts would come at a time; every Celestial soldier Tahiri had seen carried two swords, so she figured their were six soldiers firing on them. And with bolts pouring out as though from autoblasters, it would be impossible for Tahiri and her friends to successfully block or deflect them all. Tahiri started to draw more heavily on both sides of the Force, and pumping its power into her shield.
"The shield's about to open up," Kam said. Tahiri brought her attention to the turbolaser battery just in time to see a square portion of its shield, starting at ground level, turn the palest of oranges before evaporating. Silver-white energy erupted from Seff's forearms, while Tahiri, Allana, and Kam opened fire with their heavy autoblasters. The Celestials' fire decreased as some of their swords were relegated to intercepting the Jedi's fire.
Tahiri broadcast a tentative warning to the other Jedi, and received a calm acceptance in return. Relieved, she allowed the shield to dissipate. At that instant the four Jedi charged the Celestial soldiers. Tahiri Force pushed a Celestial woman to the ground. She swung her lightsaber to the left, intercepting a downward slash from another opponent. Tahiri turned her heavy autoblaster on him, keeping his other sword busy. Until the long silver weapon cleaved through her blaster, as though it were blue butter.
Tahiri released her grip on the blaster's handle, and Force chucked both pieces of the weapon at her enemy's face. She dropped to her knees, and shut off her lightsaber. She angled the pommel toward his abdomen, and reignited the blade. Sparks erupted as the blade pierced his armor. Tahiri spun around behind the dying man as a hail of azure lightning bolts burned toward her. She ran up the man's back as he slumped forward. Tahiri's lightsaber was a green blur as the blade intercepted enemy fire from the twin swords leveled at her.
The woman behind the swords, whom Tahiri had just recently pushed to the ground, lumbered forward. Tahiri Force hurled a random chunk of debris at the woman's head. She Force tossed it to the side, and then leapt at Tahiri. Tiny green sparks showered from Tahiri's lightsaber blade as it clashed with a sword, and bent at an odd angle. The green eyed Jedi partially extended an arm, holding the other sword back.
Tahiri pushed a small energy barrier out in front of her, slamming it into the Celestial woman. Tahiri landed on the ground, and spun around to find her slightly dazed opponent rising to her feet. Tahiri noticed a fallen Celestial's sword on the ground beside the woman. She Force yanked on it, sending the weapon sailing into the woman's side. She was dead before she hit the ground.
Tahiri sensed the last of the six Celestials die, as a lightsaber's humming briefly altered its pitch. She let out a disgusted sigh. None of these had been a good kill. These soldiers hadn't been monsters like the Sith, or Yuuzhan Vong, or Nephilim. They were decent people who just happened to be on the other side of this blasted war. She picked up on identical feelings as Seff, Allana, and Kam walked over to her.
Kam was missing his heavy autoblaster and he had somehow lost a lower pant leg. "My blaster got cut in half," he commented.
"Same here," Tahiri said. "I guess we can each grab a sword."
"They're basically heavy autoblasters," Allana agreed. The redhead still had her blaster, but her hair was now quite short.
Outside the shield, some of the turbolaser batteries had started targeting Tho Yads and Tho Yiks. It may have looked a bit ridiculous, trying to destroy fighters with such heavy weapons. But the Ally and Fondorian forces were overwhelmed, and none of them wanted the Celestials punching through those batteries' shields. Unfortunately this tactic was largely ineffective, and distracted the batteries' crews from hitting the enemy capital ships in orbit. Not that that had been helping much.
Numerous clashes had also broken out on the ground. Knots of Celestial soldiers whose armor had dark yellow or maroon, marking them as supporters of Shotel Za, fought against everyone else. Terrans fought alongside Celestial soldiers with turquoise on their armor. The latter were supporters of Macua Huitl, and therefore allies. Alliance and Fondorian soldiers fought alongside Imperial soldiers.
There were also droids. Such as the droid gunship, and two modern day variants of the droideka. The decimekas, or Decimator droids had three pairs of wheels, two in front and one in back. They sported four arms, each ending in a heavy laser cannon, which doubled as a sword. The execekas, or Executor droids were quite similar to their predecessor. But their legs were longer, and doubled as swords, and their two pairs of laser cannons were connected directly to the shoulders.
"The fun's far from over," Seff commented, gesturing toward the dark tower of the turbolaser battery. Tahiri sighed; if it was a foregone conclusion that the Celestials were going to win this conflict, then there really wasn't much point in fighting. It would just result in more death. Yet Tahiri knew they could not give up.
Tahiri and Kam each took a Celestial sword as Seff led the group over to a hole that had once been an access hatch. Tahiri could sense over a dozen Celestial soldiers in the tower, along with a number of Fondorian soldiers and the turbolaser battery's operators. But there didn't seem to be any Celestial soldiers waiting nearby inside in ambush. From what she'd been told they couldn't hide their Force presences to the extent that Jedi could.
Tahiri entered first, ready to form an energy shield at a split second's notice. But her danger sense was quiet. The others followed behind her. There was a short hallway, with an intersection at the middle, forming a sort of cross. At the end of the hall was another hole, that had once been a door, leading to a turbolift. The lift was out of the question as it had certainly been sabotaged. Fortunately that door also led to a staircase that spiraled around the lift shaft. Although they couldn't sense any Celestials waiting at the intersection, the four Jedi were prepared for an ambush. It was an ideal spot for that. But they made it to the former door without incident.
There wasn't too much furtyer to go, as the command room was on the third floor. Tahiri cautiously led her friends up the staircase, while Seff brought up the rear. This would offer Allana more protection, for whatever that was worth.
A warning leapt from Tahiri's brain stem, and she felt three life presences falling through the turbolift shaft. Bullets of blue energy tore through the cylindrical shaft. The shots were easy enough to evade, but the Jedi had just given away their exact locations by their Force usage. Tahiri could sense several more Celestials coming to reinforce the first three. They appeared to be falling through...
The shaft was then shredded in a flurry of indigo lightning arcs and slashing sword blades. Small bits of shrapnel flew into the air. A sheet of Force energy materialized in front of the Jedi. Greenish veins radiated from the impact sites. Tahiri's heart found its way back to her skull as she tried to hold the shield. She felt a scrap of metal cut across her right arm. The shield evaporated as the pain, though minor, broke her concentration. Fortunately that was the last of the shrapnel.
Unfortunately nine Celestial soldiers jumped out of the remains of the shaft, landing in the Jedi's midst. A pair of silver swords swung down at Tahiri's head; she raised her borrowed Celestial sword just in time to block them. The green blade of her lightsaber sparked as it intercepted bursts of blue fire. This was quickly replaced by two more silver swords. Tahiri's lightsaber deflected one of the blades, and then blocked the other.
Tahiri dropped down to her knees as the sword she'd deflected came swinging for her neck. A Force shove from one of the Celestials knocked her onto her back. She caught what may have been that same sword with the Force as it slashed down at her throat. Tahiri was exhausted and knew she wouldn't be able to hold that blade back much longer. Her life was about to end. And yet she was at peace. Well, it would be a quick death.