Jaina's Journal_Entry_15
"Return to Darkness"
By obi's girl
Disclaimer: Valis Q. Palid is my character; everything else belongs to GL.
Regretfully, my moment of bliss with Jag was cut short when alarms filled the Squadron hallways. Not again! I huffed, kissing Jag one last time before exiting the lounge, calling Wedge; Jag was right beside me as he also commed his Squadron. Jag and I had to cover our ears as we stood in the doorway; pilots were rushing every which way down the hall. This definitely wasn't a drill. Finally, I connected – but to Colonel Darklighter. At least I connected to somebody. "Colonel, what's happening?"
~~Yorik coral! One of our guys spotted them while out on patrol; we managed to decipher part of the transmission before he was vaped. ~~ He paused, talking to some one else momentarily, ~~I have to go. Get to your X-wing, and May the Force be with you. ~~ Before cutting off the transmission.
I glanced at Jag. He already grabbed his gun from its holster. He nodded to me; I nodded back, grabbing him into a passionate kiss before racing down the opposite hallway.
**
I covered my ears as I ran into the Bay, quickly boarding my X-wing. I turned abruptly, hearing a frantic voice behind me. It was a male Chiss pilot; he was about Jacen's height and probably my age. "You my wing man?" He nodded yes, boarding a craft next to me as I prepped Sparky. I smiled to myself, thinking this was Jag's doing. He wanted the best out there with me. What a sweetheart! No, not now, girl! The Chiss connected his computer to my X-wing, how, I don't know and I didn't care.
**
As my X-wing joined my mates in orbit, I tapped my COM, connecting to my Chiss wing mate. "Hey, what's your name?" There was static for a moment before he answered, as I kept my eyes locked on my computer scans.
~~Valis Q. Palid. ~~ He answered, coming about my left side. Valis, huh? Well welcome to the Rogue Squadron.
A moment later, I was shocked to hear Jag's voice over my com. ~~Hey, like the surprise? Figured you needed a new wing mate. ~~
"Thanks Jag but now really isn't the time to talk. Sorry, I'm switching you off honey." I scowled to myself, doing just that, expecting a rebuttal but nothing. Valis came over my COM again, "Yes?"
~~It'll be better to spread out, the Vong will be confused...~~
I nodded, firing my ion cannon covering one of the other pilots as he/she rounded about and reversed course running after the Vong that shot him/her. Strangely, as I fixed on another Vong in front of me, another appeared right behind me, ready to blast me right out of the orbit if it weren't for Valis checking my back. He cornered off to the side, shooting down the yorik coral. I smiled, as he once again came about, taking on speed.
A light flashed from my right side. One of the coral vaped one of the Rogue pilots. I closed my eyes, forcing back the tears as I vectored my X-wing in direct path of the ship. Valis' voice cracked over my Com but I didn't answer. I didn't have time to answer. My X-wing wavered in orbit, as I focused to target the yorik coral. It took awhile but I finally managed and shot twice; the first shot took it off balance for a moment but the second shot vaped it. I heard my COM beeping again and I knew it was my Chiss co-pilot. I grudgingly grabbed it, my other hand on my stick. "Valis, what is it?"
~~Sticks, my computers have picked up an anomaly up ahead, vector 2.14. Could be a wormhole or something; force field --- I don't know. Stay away from it, whatever it is. ~~ He switched off, as I tripped my scanners, reading the vector Valis claimed to be dangerous. It's not that I didn't trust him, I did, but if my senses were right --- they were right. I fired two torpedoes into the vector and they disappeared. Either the Vong knew about this or not, if they didn't, two points for me!
"Valis, the vector you said was dangerous, I have a plan. Rely this information to the other pilots." I rambled, pushed some relay buttons, sending the information through the fleet. Valis beeped me again, so I knew they agreed with the plan. "Get those yorik coral to follow you, but don't get too close to the void or you'll be sucked in yourselves."
One of the other pilots, cracked through my COM ~~What if they know the void is there? ~~
I huffed, gritting my teeth, "If they knew it was there, they would have stationed three corals behind to guard it." I answered, biting my lip. Or not. There was a chance they did know the void was there, but I was praying they didn't know. "Corner as many yorik coral as you can. It'll be nice if we can pull all of them in together without having to spread things out a bit."
~~Copy, Sticks. ~~
I shrugged, focusing on two yorik coral; Valis wasn't too far behind me. In fact, he grabbed the other one, giving me the chance to snag another. If this doesn't work, we're going to have to make a quick run for home. One of the coral snipped Valis' on his side but it wasn't serious. He kept on target, but grew to close to the vector. I grabbed my COM, huffing, "Valis, you're too close to the vector. You need to back off. Copy? Back off; you're too close to the vector!"
Static filtered through my COM before Valis was able to respond. ~~Repeat. ~~
I rolled my eyes, shooting one more Vong as he was trying to escape. "Back off; you're too close to the vector! Valis, back off or you'll be sucked in by the void!" I glanced out my port view.
He was backing off but not before something from one of the Vong ships stretched out and grabbed Valis' wing! It looked to be like an arm extension. I nodded, shooting the midsection of the arm, forcing it to back off and retreat.
~~Thanks, Sticks. ~~
I nodded, shooting up several of the Vong ships. I might have seemed like a crazy woman but it was working. The coral were backing off towards the void. I bit my lip. Just a little bit closer; just a little bit closer. Perfect. The coral were pulled back by the void; several of them scrambled to escape but realized they were cornered and let the void suck them up. One by one, they disappeared off the scopes.
I glanced behind me; Valis was at the back, between two other X-wings. The last one fired randomly before vanishing, probably not even caring where the shot ended up. As far as I knew, it streaked past hitting virtually nothing but space.
I smiled and relaxed, hearing the many cheers over the COM. It was over.... Almost over. Someone connected to my COM; I tapped it, expecting some other pilots' congratulations for the idea but what came next, was totally unexpected.
~~Sticks.... Been hit. Need medical assistance...Jagged Fel. ~~
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