Hohoho! Have another chapter as a Merry Christmas from me. Thanks for reading, and please enjoy~
Chapter 16
Anakin rocked his starfighter back and forth to avoid a hail of laser bolts that fired on him the moment he exited Hondo's vessel. He retaliated with a string of blaster shots that blew two vulture droids apart, and he did a barrel roll to avoid a torpedo that slithered through the resulting explosions.
For fear the torpedo would somehow find its way to Hondo's vessel, Anakin looped around and blasted it.
Republic forces, Separatists, and pirates pounded on each other, and it took several long moments for Anakin to make any sense of the chaos. It looked like most of the pirates, in their decrepit starfighters, had decided to ally themselves with the Republic.
Though it appeared the Republic wouldn't offer much assistance. One Republic flagship lay in the center of the clash, the hull fractured in various places and burdened with several Separatist boarding crafts. The pirates faired about as well, most of their larger ships overrun by Separatists. More and more vulture droids swarmed them.
On the other side of the battlefield, two Separatist flagships flanked a Droid Control Ship that unleashed another wave of droids into the fight. They crippled one of the pirate ships until the entire vessel collapsed in on itself and imploded.
Anakin's little starfighter wouldn't put up much resistance with the Republic and pirate vessels already overwhelmed. But from the looks of things, droids manned most of the enemy fighters, which meant a lethal blow on their control ships might turn the tides.
"We're going in, Artoo," Anakin said.
R2 whistled at him, an excited barrage of beeps, and Anakin cut straight through the battlefield. He dove under enemy fighters to skirt their fields of vision and swiveled between perplexed pirates to shake several vulture droids off his tail.
A particularly scrappy starfighter whizzed past his head and slammed into one of the boarding tunnels connected to the Republic ship. The starfighter streaked away, unharmed, but a plume of droids exploded out of the tunnel and scattered into space. The fighter definitely looked like a Separatist ship, though a manned one, and rare on that battlefield. A familiar touch of the Force reached him through that starfighter: Obi-Wan.
Of course Hondo had stolen another ship.
Obi-Wan seemed to have matters well in hand as he zigzagged and fired on anything and everything threatening the Republic vessel.
Anakin zipped through the battlefield until he broke into open space on the other side. A wide expanse stood between him and the Separatist flagships, and he pushed his ship hard to close the gap. A few straggling droid vessels fired on him, but he made quick work of them before hurtling down beneath the flagships. Laser cannons fired on him from the vessels, but he maintained enough distance to not get hit.
They wouldn't worry about one stray fighter, not against the flagships. As far as they knew, he was harmless to them. Even if he launched his entire ship into one of those massive vessels, he'd splatter himself on a shield and have no detrimental effects.
Anakin had other plans. He killed his engines and set his starfighter into a tired drift near the engines of one of the flagships, out of sight and out of mind.
R2 beeped at him in apparent confusion, but Anakin maintained his focus on the large crafts above. Watching, waiting for vulture droids or laser fire. As expected and as he hoped, a single starfighter meant nothing to them.
"Keep an eye out, Artoo," Anakin said.
He scanned the external workings of the three vessels before closing his eyes and sinking into a familiar state of meditation, the type in which he lost himself whenever he worked on droids or ships. Whenever he worked together countless little pieces and formed them into something whole and complete. The only type of meditation at which he ever excelled.
He turned his focus on the Control Ship stationed above him. He visualized the thick hull and all the intricate parts that ran between the walls. Same as he'd done in his prison cell at the Temple, on Tatooine, and at the HoloNet Station, he crawled through the wires. He melted through the casings to the thread of wires firing energy from power cores throughout the whole of the ship.
R2 whistled, and it echoed in his mind, but far away. Drowned under the whir of electrical currents and pure, raw power.
Anakin followed the wires inward until he found himself entangled in dozens of currents firing rapid charges of energy. He traversed the wires towards the source of the pulses, towards the heart of the machine. The electricity, the surges of energy, burned through him and blurred his thoughts, but he only needed to push a little further. A little deeper.
A barrage of commands through the wires tingled in the back of his mind. He couldn't understand them. Commands to droids, commands to destroy his allies. Anakin dug at those cables and the circuitry of the computer they powered, and gave a fierce yank with the Force. Nothing happened at first, so he pulled harder. Several of the cords tore away. Eventually, the entire circuit board ripped away from its casing.
Entwined as he was with the machine, a jolt of pain ran through him when he tore it apart. Sparks sizzled at his mind but felt like it burned at his flesh. Heat surged through the frayed wires and melted intricate parts. Overwhelming warmth scorched Anakin.
Like the flames of Mustafar. The vision pried into his concentration. Flames lapped at his body.
Somewhere far away, R2 screamed a warning.
Anakin pushed on anyway and tore at another circuit board, then another bundle of cords. He lunged through one bundle of wires to the next, from one computer to the next, and shredded their main components with only the Force. Fire—it melted away his hair and his flesh, burned through his throat and his lungs.
His stomach dropped, and black visions of Darth Vader coiled around his thoughts. He couldn't retreat. Couldn't find his body again. He lurched from the wires, but they fastened around his arms and legs, trapped him in the increasing blaze. Smoke suffocated his lungs.
Raspy breath in. Raspy breath out. Darth Vader's breathing.
Anakin thrashed against the pull on his mind that refused to let him go. R2 screamed again, and an explosion echoed his warning. Anakin gave a violent push with the Force and hurled back into his body. The ferocity of the jolt tore the air from his lungs, and pain hammered through his head from the efforts. The warning lights flashing across the Droid Control Ship made everything worth it. A small explosion ignited from the ship.
Then a torpedo hit his wing, and R2 screamed at him again.
"Sorry, buddy," Anakin said. His voice cracked through his mask, and he barely heard himself. He fired up the engines. "Let's get out of here."
Several man-powered starfighters shot from the nearby flagships and scoped out his position. Many more launched onto the battlefield in an effort to replace the droids that failed. Overhead, the Control Ship rocked with another blast, and a chain of miniature explosions spread from the central sphere.
Anakin turned his ship, but another torpedo struck as another starfighter locked on his location. Laser cannons fired on him, but Anakin ducked his vessel to avoid—only to find three more enemy starfighters coming from the rear.
"Not good," he said.
He whipped his starfighter in a loop to shoot down two of the oncoming vessels, but he missed the others. His mind and his hands didn't seem to want to work together, his thoughts still tangled in the wires. As though he'd left a part of himself up there, never to be retrieved again.
Another torpedo flashed towards him, and Anakin veered to steer the blow away from R2 but took the hit in the engine instead. He chased another one of the starfighters and shot it down, but the controls lurched under his hands. At that point, he wasn't sure if the ship fought him or if his own body and thoughts resisted him. Several more enemies locked on his location. Two opened fire. Anakin wheeled his ship out of the way, only to meet another enemy head on.
The scrappy starfighter zipped out of the flames of the crumbling Droid Control Ship and fired on the enemy starfighters. Obi-Wan. R2's head swiveled around, and he beeped with delight at the arrival.
Anakin took advantage of the opening Obi-Wan provided and flipped, plummeting on the lingering enemy vessels. He fired and blasted through them as Obi-Wan cleared the way above him. Anakin did the smartest thing he could think to do, given the muddled state of his mind, and he trailed behind Obi-Wan towards the battlefield.
He was glad he didn't have communications open with Obi-Wan, because he was confident he'd get a lecture for taking a leisure nap on the battlefield while blowing a ship up with his mind.
At least it had been effective. The droid vessels had all frozen on the battlefield and been destroyed. Some of the pirates, including Hondo, took advantage of the mess and picked at the debris while the Republic dealt with the lingering Separatists. Anakin spun to check the status of the enemy flagships.
More vessels launched from the flagships, and they still had the Republic outnumbered. Especially if the pirates fled, which they'd likely do now that they had some breathing room.
To Anakin's surprise, the swarm of oncoming enemy fighters spun and retreated to their ships. The flagships and what remained of the Droid Control Ship turned in unison and fled in streaks of silver, leaving a few dejected Separatists in fighters chasing after them.
"What just happened…?" Anakin muttered.
Anakin turned his vessel and found two new Republic flagships and countless Republic starfighters closing in on their position. Obi-Wan dropped low enough to catch Anakin's eye, a sure signal that he wanted Anakin to follow him, and set off at a slow pace towards one of the approaching flagships. Slow, because Anakin's sickly starfighter couldn't do much more than that. He'd taken quite a bit of damage while he lollygagged in those wires.
He puttered his starfighter into the hangar of the Republic vessel where Obi-Wan led him. An assortment of ships had arrived ahead of them, and countless people gathered inside, some rushing about, others at work on the ships, some chatting. Even some pirates had shown up. Probably Hondo looking for a payout.
Anakin landed near Obi-Wan but struggled to press the right switch to open the cockpit and struggled more to lift himself out of it. R2 offered an emphatic whistle as Anakin crawled out of the cockpit and nearly planted face-first on the durasteel floor. He managed to land on one knee and both hands, though, and rose fast enough that few probably noticed. R2 followed him and whistled again, solemn.
His nose ran. Blood tickled down the back of his throat and forced him to swallow several times, which only served to sour his stomach. Through the haze of his vision, he caught Obi-Wan frowning at him before joining the others.
"Well met, Cody," Obi-Wan said, shaking the hand of his clone commander. "It's good to see you."
"I'm just glad we made it in time, sir," Cody replied.
"But how did you…" Obi-Wan frowned and folded his arms across his chest. "Let me guess. You intercepted my message." When Cody offered only the slightest tilt of his helmeted head, Obi-Wan let out an exasperated sigh and glared at the others. "Is there anyone who didn't intercept our transmission?"
"I received it." Master Unduli said, quietly and without expression, as she stepped out of the crowd. "That is why I came."
"Commander Rex also recently contacted us asking if you'd been retrieved yet…" Master Secura added.
"Of course he did."
"I don't think the Hutts intercepted it," Hondo offered from a nearby huddle of pirates. One of his men leaned over and whispered into his ear. The Weequay pirate's eyes widened, and then he smiled and waved a hand in good cheer. "Nevermind. They're on their way. Seems my men got the jump on them."
"Goodbye, Hondo," Obi-Wan said with little enthusiasm. He and the other Jedi Masters stared at the gaggle of pirates.
"All right, I'll just be taking my ship." Hondo veered towards the starfighter Anakin had just vacated.
"Goodbye, Hondo." Obi-Wan's tone went hard.
"Very good then," Hondo said. He shuffled away from the Jedi starfighter and scurried with his men towards their ship at the far end of the hangar bay. "You owe me, Kenobi. Offer still stands, Skywalker."
Anakin squinted through the blurry film over his eyes. The Jedi Masters and clone troopers resumed their dialogue, and at exactly the same moment, Hondo flapped a hand at several of his men. They dashed to the scrappy Separatist starfighter Obi-Wan had flown while Hondo and the rest made a break for their ship. A tiny smile tugged at Anakin's lips at the pirates' efforts, and he returned his focus to the discussions. Hondo could have that piece of junk if he wanted it.
"We need to get moving," Master Secura said over the roar of ship engines as Hondo departed from the hangar. "In case you weren't informed, the Death Star—"
"We've heard. We can catch up on the way." Obi-Wan waved the others forward, and the group scattered, some towards the bridge, others back to their own ships.
Anakin followed, but his steps slowed when Obi-Wan waited for him. Arms crossed. Scowl on his face. He tipped from side to side, but maybe that was Anakin's vision going cross. Anakin shook his head, but it only amplified the ringing in his ears and sent pain hammering through his temples.
"You need to go to medbay," Obi-Wan said, a ferocity to his tone he hadn't taken with Anakin in a long time.
"I'm fine." Anakin gave Obi-Wan a wide berth and pursued the others. "I need to keep moving."
"Anakin, you can't even walk straight."
Anakin slowed. Everything swayed from side to side, but he'd thought it only from his watery vision combined with the lenses of his mask. He focused on the ground, carefully placing one foot in front of the other, in order to improve his stride. The efforts only served to make him dizzier, and he wobbled.
"I'm fine—"
"You are not fine. You need to rest. If you keep pushing yourself like this—"
"I said I'm fine." Anakin raised his voice and turned on his heel to face Obi-Wan, but he tipped in the process and stumbled backwards. Obi-Wan reached for him, but Anakin caught himself and braced his feet in a wide stance. "Stop doing this. Stop worrying. Alderaan is going to be destroyed." And Anakin was to blame. "I'm not going to sit by and do nothing."
Anakin whirled around and made for the door, but the hangar bay tipped over his head. He stepped forward, but his foot missed the ground.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan's voice distorted.
Visions flooded his mind again of Darth Vader, Bail and Leia's deaths, and the impending destruction of Alderaan. The screams of the people reverberated through his mind until it became a deafening roar that drowned his senses. The sound shook his vision and sent tremors through his muscles and bones.
The durasteel floor raced up to meet Anakin. His last thought before the world went dismally dark: he was really sick of falling.