And now it's time to begin the next chapter. Just a brief recap; the Kett have returned in force, the Vong have landed on Meridian and are heading to the control room, and Anita Goyle is heading to the Hyperion for a specific cryopod and her own reasons.
Suffice to say, things are definitely going to get a bit crazy in this chapter, given all the moving parts in place. But you've waited long enough, so let's just dive right in, shall we?
Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it at this point?
The Nomad had been hot dropped from the Tempest and immediately made its way back to the bunker that contained Meridian control. Of course, the Pathfinder team had been kept in the loop from the sky as the Vong ship crashlanded near the front of the bunker, scattering the defenders as they did.
The Yuuzhan Vong warriors in question didn't let up and immediately began making their way into the depths of Meridian, while the Nomad drove up to the wrecked asteroid vessel a mere few minutes behind them.
The Yuuzhan Vong had left a few guards behind, who turned to the Nomad as it approached. Ryder didn't hesitate to run down two warriors as they arrived, with Ahsoka and Kota quickly emerging and leaping into the air, their lightsabers alight as they landed and engaged the Vong rear guard in close quarters.
Drack was the first one out immediately afterwards, not willing to get left in the dust as he started firing at any Yuuzhan Vong he could see. By the time the rest of the team had debarked, the Vong rearguard had been all but dealt with, with Drack shooting the last one down.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish." Liam said as he glanced at several of the Vong corpses, putting a few rounds in some for good measure.
"We're not even close to done." Scott scowled, looking towards the bunker proper and taking in the destruction and dead bodies the Vong left in their wake. "The bulk of them are still heading down to Meridian control."
"Fortunately, Remnant constructs have been dispatched already and have sealed off all the main doors." SAM reported. "Furthermore, Captain Neral has dispatched more guards to defend the site."
"I fear that will only be a delaying tactic." Kota replied. "Given the fanaticism we've seen so far, they're going to ignore all the casualties they get as long as they make it to the control room."
"Well then," Ahsoka started running down the halls, with everyone else quick to follow her lead. "we need to make sure they don't get there."
And so the Pathfinder team took off into bowels of Meridian once more.
...
Anita Goyle made her way through the halls of the Hyperion, avoiding the guards and workers as best as she could. She knew that the Nexus would have put out an APB on her, though she was surprised when she found it was suggested they kill her. No doubt the influence of the Imperials at work.
Fortunately, with the return of the Kett and the plans to evacuate the other Outposts as needed to Meridian, most of the personnel here were more preoccupied with other matters than investigating her arrival.
Of course, that wasn't the only distraction that had gone on right now; for a brief moment, she felt a twinge of guilt when she realized that her actions had allowed the Yuuzhan Vong to access Meridian, but she pushed those feelings aside.
Between the Pathfinder team and the Jedi, plus the fact that there were still Remnant and allied forces protecting the entrance, she had faith that the Ryder and his team would be able to stop them before they got to where they needed to go.
Of course, it would gravely complicate her own mission, but at this point, she was used to that thought. She would adapt, one way or another, and once this was done, Meridian and thus the Cluster would be under her control.
And if she was fortunate enough, the Jedi would fall against the Vong, leaving one less obstacle to worry about. Though even if they didn't, she had an idea regarding what to do about them as necessary.
But of course, she was getting ahead of herself. First things first, she needed some leverage. And as she moved through the cryobays, she soon came across the one cryopod she needed and immediately used her access to get it moving while keeping the occupant asleep.
There was a part of her that hated doing this. She had respected Alec and his goals, and his motivations were admirable, if narrow minded. But, Ellen Ryder was the key to making sure that Alec's children would follow her word. And that's what she intended to do.
As she was moving the pod however, she was unaware that another entity had been alerted to what she was doing. Though Goyle had gone to considerable lengths to ensure that surveillance would have a hard time locating her, SAM had also made sure that any activity from Ellen's pod would make sure he was alerted.
...
Meanwhile, the Yuuzhan Vong forces were still carving a path directly through the corridors of Meridian's control bunker, not unlike how the Kett and the allied forces had done several months ago. Though unlike them, the Vong left far more destruction in their wake.
Of course, the aliens with a fanatical hatred of technology were much less willing to leave any of it intact, and with the degree of automation the dyson sphere had and how advanced it was, well, it was unsurprising that the Vong were practically driven to a frenzy to destroy all they considered to be an abomination.
Of course, this didn't mean that the Vong weren't taking casualties. Captain Neral and General Kota had foreseen the possibility that Meridian control would come under attack again, and so had stationed a force of Imperial troops inside the tunnels and bunker leading there.
E-Webs, turrets and fortified positions hammered against the Vong as they made their way through, and while the extragalactic invaders were able to use their own weapons and tactics to overwhelm them, it wasn't without casualties.
It wasn't just Imperials who were guarding the interior. Remnant forces alongside the Impassive's remaining complement of CIS era battle droids held their ground as the Vong horde made their way through, unleashing beams and explosives at the Vong all the way through.
And when they got to the door just before the bunker proper, they found another unpleasant surprise as the Impassive's Droidekas opened fire on the Vong while Magnaguards engaged them in melee. The old CIS droids proved surprisingly effective against the aliens, especially given their nature drove them to a further murderous frenzy.
This was enough of a delay for the Pathfinder team to catch up to the Yuuzhan Vong as they were attempting to get through, and several of the rearguard turned when Kota and Ahsoka ignited their lightsabers.
"Jedi." The Vong commander growled in anger as he saw the members of their hated enemies. "You cannot stop us."
"I beg to differ." Ahsoka crouched low in a combat stance, while Kota held his own saber at the ready.
"I'm going to give you one chance." Scott spoke up in a calm tone, yet there was a clear tone of anger in his voice. "Surrender now, and you will be treated civily."
"And here's my response." The Vong commander spoke up, raising his amphistaff in the air. "Victory for the Yuuzhan Vong!"
As one, the Yuuzhan Vong forces charged against them, throwing their unusual bug like weapons as they did. Ryder and his team wasted no time in opening fire, with the biotics hurling energy attacks at the Vong while the Jedi used the Force to hurl chunks of debris at the enemy lines.
Despite their best efforts to keep them at a distance, the Vong made into close combat with the Pathfinder team, though fortunately, the Tempest crew had come prepared. Cora and Peebee had armed themselves with asari made swords, combining them with their biotics for devastating effects against the aliens.
Liam used his dual omni-blades to great effect, Drack's brute strength and additional Krogan hammer he brought with him crushed several of the alien warriors, Jaal's bioelectricity made it a pain for any of the Vong to get close to him, and Vetra used her own combat training and hidden blades to great effect.
Scott and Sara of course, were dangerous on their own, Scott in particular using his biotic talents to great effect every time the Vong tried to close in on him. The Pathfinder profiles were working over time to give them both an edge in this fight.
Despite that, this was far from one-sided. The Yuuzhan Vong numbers were certainly more numerous, and between their tough armor and high pain tolerance, actually putting them down was far more trying than they would like, and slowly but surely, they were starting to get overwhelming.
"You fight against the inevitable." The Vong commander snarled, his amphistaff pushing against the blades of Ahsoka's lightsabers and forcing her back. "Your galaxy has already fallen to us. This one will too."
"Think about what you're doing! You're the only ones of your kind here!" Ahsoka kicked the Vong commander in the stomach, breaking the blade lock and backflipping away to get some breathing room. "And you're about to destroy the only thing ensuring any of the worlds in this cluster are inhabitable!"
"We spent countless centuries wandering dark space, Jedi!" The Vong commander didn't waste any time as he closed the distance and swiped at the Togruta, causing her to weave and block as needed. "Even if we die here, others will inevitably find the same gateway that brought us! The Angara, the Initiative, the Kett, you will all submit or you will die."
At that, the Vong commander managed to break through Ahsoka's defense, knocking one of her lightsabers askew and sending her to the ground. The commander raised his amphistaff for the killing blow, only for a green lightsaber blade to block it.
"Don't count on it." Kota growled, as he reached out with his other hand, using the Force to grab a piece of debris and hurl it at the commander's chest.
As he was thrown back, Ahsoka managed to get back to her feet and recall her lightsaber. Meanwhile, the Vong commander recovered just in time to see the two Jedi standing before him, and the warrior charged with an angered yell to rejoin the battle.
...
Meanwhile, deeper into the Heleus sector, the battles against the Kett armada still raged, with neither side able to gain a definite advantage. Unsurprisingly, Captain Neral had been forced to retreat deeper into the cluster after the first confrontation.
They had accounted for that, of course, and gave a good fight that resulted in the destruction of several Kett cruisers in the process, but the losses had started to mount and they were eventually forced to retreat to the rally point, one of the outlying systems, with the Kett following shortly after.
With the Impassive still the most powerful ship in their fledgling fleet, Captain Neral held tactical command of the battle, with the Star Destroyer serving as the key aspect of their defense against the oncoming Kett ships.
But there was only so much the Impassive could do alone, as the Star Destroyer was slowly getting worn down by repeated attacks. And the rest of the makeshift fleet wasn't doing much better.
"Captain, casualty counts are increasing across the fleet." Chief Michaels reported. "Full combat effectiveness across the fleet has decreased by 37% and rising. Several captains are requesting instructions on what to do."
It was rather unfortunate that the Andromeda Initiative wasn't exactly full of individuals with naval combat experience, and the Angara were lacking as well. With the Initiative primarily serving as an exploration expedition, while the Angara didn't have a navy to use as such.
There were a few who could help, with several turians and a couple of Angara who had some experience (the latter apparently due to some sort of genetic memory), but they were in the minority.
It was unsurprising, but as the one with the most naval experience present among the allied forces, Neral was well aware that you went to war with the forces you had, not the ones you want. Fortunately, Neral already knew had plans to use against the Kett.
"Use the Scourge against them." Neral ordered, the comms officer relaying them across the fleet. "The same as we did at Meridian; we'll draw the Kett into a vice that they can't escape."
The system they had chosen as a battleground was highly infested with the dark energy cloud, making maneuvering rather difficult in some places. And at his command, the allied fleets attempted to lure the Kett near the Scourge as they did before.
Unfortunately, with the exception of a few Kett fighters, the Kett as a whole didn't follow, instead continuing their attempts to bombard the allies from range. The Scourge still functioned well enough to serve as makeshift cover for some ships, but the tactic didn't work as well as they might have hoped.
It seemed that the Kett had learned from the missteps of the Archon and their own previous fights and refused to take the bait. Fortunately, the allied forces had accounted for that and had already prepared alternative solutions to attack the Kett from an unexpected direction.
Prior to the Kett's arrival, shuttles containing engineers and spacetroopers had been hidden among the planets in the system, and with the Kett cruisers now in play, they made their move.
While Neral had hoped to take advantage of the Scourge directly, the Imperial had expected that it wouldn't be that simple. The secondary goal was to keep the Kett's attention as the shuttles made their approach.
It only took a few minutes before the Star Destroyer and the accompanying fleet began to see the results of their ploy when the Kett flagship briefly stopped firing. The spacetrooper boarding teams had been successful, piercing the hull of the Kett Dreadnought.
Then the dreadnought turned on its fellow cruisers, the Spacetroopers having hijacked the bridge and turning the weapons against their allies. The result was massive confusion among the fanatical aliens, not helped by the Initiative engineers applying what they had learned from Calot's hijacked ship and messing with Kett systems further.
Neral smirked as several of the Kett cruisers were torn to pieces by friendly fire. Debris from those destroyed ships drifted into a nearby gas giant, burning up upon re-entry and the few pieces that made it through would be crushed by the intense pressure of the celestial masses.
Unfortunately, more Kett reinforcements were due to arrive soon, so the engineers and spacetroopers were recalled after scuttling their hijacked ships. Despite this victory, the Imperials knew that the fight was only just beginning.
...
Back in the halls of Meridian control, things were still at a stalemate. Despite cutting down their fair share of Yuuzhan Vong warriors, the Tempest crew were on the brink of being overwhelmed.
The biotics of the crew were feeling overwhelming exhaustion, with Peebee and Cora struggling to keep their barriers up while two warriors hammered against them. Drack was down on one knee, breathing heavily as his healing tried to recover from the damage he had sustained.
Two Vong warriors intended to keep him down for good, but a burst of explosive ammo from Vetra caught them off guard and knocked them against a wall. Another Vong warrior retaliated in kind by throwing a blast bug at her, and while she was narrowly able to avoid getting struck directly, the explosion still knocked her off her feet.
Liam had collapsed to the ground and was leaning against a nearby wall, applying medi-gel to his numerous cuts that came as a result of his being swarmed by several razer bugs.
Jaal had managed to kill the Vong that had attempted to advantage of the ex-Cop's weakened state, but in truth, he wasn't doing much better, having suffered some internal injuries from the impact of a thud bug to his abdomen while Sara was tending to him.
In truth, the only ones still in this fight were Scott and the two Jedi. Fortunately, the Vong had taken numerous casualties themselves, and were down to only about five of their number, with the rest of them corpses on the ground.
Three of them were fighting against Kota and Ahsoka, with the Vong commander stepping in to fight them personally. The trio of Vong warriors refused to let up, keeping the Togruta and blind human off balance by not giving them any breathing room.
Even with the Force to sustain themselves, the Jedi were beginning to tire, and without being able to use the cosmic energy against the Vong, they were being hard pressed to do more than defend themselves as opposed to attack.
Fortunately, Ryder had an easier time with his two opponents. He managed to leave one covered in burning plasma from an incineration app, before avoiding the swing of the second warrior and using his momentum to hit the first warrior with him.
Ryder fired off a cryo blast at the two warriors, and the combination of fire and ice tore them both apart. With his opponents dealt with, Scott wasted no time in turning his aim to the remaining three, unleashing a burst from his assault rifle to grab their attention.
One of the Vong warriors turned to deal with the Pathfinder, leaving Ahsoka and Kota with a slightly easier time. And with the numbers more even, the tide shifted back towards the allies.
Scott was quick to shoot the Yuuzhan Vong warrior in the face when he had an opening, the flaming round pulping his unprotected head. And with Scott providing covering fire, Kota was quick to cut down his opponent, while Ahsoka finished off the Vong commander with a decapitation.
"Well..." Ahsoka panted, before shutting off her lightsabers and sitting down on the floor. "I guess that's that."
"So it would appear." Kota was breathing heavily himself as he leaned against a wall.
"I am detecting no other trace of Yuuzhan Vong life signs anywhere." SAM spoke up helpfully. "This really was the last of them."
"So we did it." Ryder chuckled as he was also trying to regain his strength. "Go team."
For a long moment, no else spoke up, instead merely savoring the moment as best they could. Though admittedly, with all the bodies on the ground, both Yuuzhan Vong and otherwise, it was hard to really celebrate per se, but even the Jedi could feel a certain degree of satisfaction knowing the Vong weren't a threat.
The battle had certainly been one of the hardest they had ever encountered. Everyone was exhausted, but despite their fatigue and injuries, they were still in better shape than the Vong. Eventually though, Kota was the one to break the silence.
"Unfortunately, our work isn't done." The Jedi Master gave voice to what they were all thinking.
"Yeah." Vetra sighed, wincing as she stood up before helping Cora to her feet. "The Kett are still out there."
"Not to mention Goyle." Jaal said as Scott helped Sara. "We still need to figure out what she's up to."
"I swear, we should have just killed her and been done with it." Drack grumbled as the Ryder siblings suddenly recieved a private call on their radios.
"Of course you do." Peebee chuckled and sighed, but Ahsoka and Kota barely noticed as they felt a wave of anger, dread, regret and disgust waft off the Ryder siblings.
"Is everything alright?" Ahsoka asked Scott and Sara, who everyone else noticed were listening to a private call on their comlinks. It was SAM who answered for them.
"I'm afraid we have another problem." SAM said, just as Scott and Sara turned around and trained their guns on the two Jedi.
And I'm going to leave it here. I know it's evil to leave you on a cliffhanger like that, but suffice to say, it'll definitely get resolved in the next chapter. And with the Yuuzhan Vong dealt with, we are definitely heading to the endgame of the story now.
With that said, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.
