Chapter 25
"Good. You're getting better at anticipating my moves," said Jacen Solo as he deactivated
his lightsaber and wiped a bit of sweat from his brow.
Danni Quee also deactivated her lightsaber. "Yes Master Solo."
Jacen grinned. "I think we're a bit closer than Master and Apprentice," he said as he kissed her lightly on the cheek.
Danni smiled and opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by the beep of Jacen's comlink.
Jacen sighed and put it to his mouth. "Solo here."
"Master Solo, this is General Farlander. We've got a major problem. I'd appreciate if you'd report to the war room of the base as soon as possible."
"I'll be there in a few minutes sir." He clicked off the comlink. "Danni, there's a situation. Get Valin. Have him go to the class I'm supposed to be teaching and tell them that I've been called away for a few minutes. Then head for the communications room and wait for me."
Danni nodded. "I'll go now." Both of them left the sparring room and headed their separate ways.
The base, the Temple, and the biotics facility were connected by a grav rail network, so they could be reached easily from any one of the buildings. The biotics facility had been hollowed out by engineers. A system of braces and catwalks allowed the whole building to be used as a giant hanger.
Pilots stayed in a barracks facility that ran up the side of the biotics facility. The landing pad on the roof would open up and ships would be allowed to land.
The Alliance base was home to the ground personnel and command staff. Jacen walked briskly towards the grav-rail station. He was the only person on it. When he stepped inside the rail car, a soothing droid voice asked, "Where to?"
"Base."
"Authorization code?" The younger students weren't allowed to go to the other compounds without an older apprentice, Knight, or Master. Jacen sighed then puncehd in the code on a little keypad. "Code accepted. Brace yourself."
Jacen grabbed one of the handrails and waited for the ride to end. It was short, only about a minute. The compunds were only a few hundred yards apart, but the rail system moved slowly.
When he arrived at the station, a young ensign was waiting for him. "Will you come with
please, General Farlander is waiting for you, Master Solo."
"What's going on?" Jacen asked as they started walking to the war room.
"General Farlander knows more about the situation."
"Tell me," Jacen said putting the Force into his words.
"A CSA fleet seems to have dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system," the Ensign replied as they reached the war room. People were running rushing around everywhere.
"General Farlander," said the young Jedi Master.
General Farlander whispered into his headset comlink for a second and turned to face Jacen. "Master Solo. A Corporate Sector Authority fleet has arrived in system. They're moving to establish a blockade." He turned to face the tactical sensor board. "We've got two Victory-class Star Destroyers here and here. There are four Carrack strike cruisers and two older Lancer frigates here," said the General as he pointed everything out on the board. "The second group is here. There are four Corvettes, and a Nebulon-B frigate here." He paused for a moment. "And in the center is a Super-class Star Destroyer. All of the ships have their respective complements of fighters."
Jacen wished he had his sister's extensive knowledge of starships. "How many fighters are we talking here?"
"A hundred-seventy-six. And if the Carracks and Corvettes are carrying any, it's probably closer to two hundred."
Jacen frowned. "What do we have here?"
"I've got two full wings, seventy-two. I know your uncle has a squadron of fighters as well, but they're pilotless. We've also got several freighters, some of which used to be smuggler ships, and are well armed. But even then, we don't have the kind of firepower to combat what they've got up there. The Lancer will chew our fighters up."
Jacen clenched a fist. "Sithspit."
"So far, they've not tried bombarding our shields. They're probably going to try to got after the Jedi." Jacen nodded. "We have a few options. One, we can evacuate some of the trainees. I can have two transports prepped and ready for take off in twenty minutes. But the chances of getting them past the blockade are small. We can try to mount an assault, but that's suicide. Last, we go turtle. They seem to be trying to blockade the system. They'll have come down onto the ground, and we've got a decent chance of beating them down here. While we wait, a friendly fleet arrives and I send my fighters up to help. We got a distress signal out before they started jamming long range transmissions."
"I've got to tell the other Jedi. I've got some people that are veterans of the war, but not far enough along in their training that they have lightsabers. Do you want them?"
"Probably, though things may change. I've got instructors that can come and help you equip and train your people."
"Send them over after I leave. I'll have my comlink on." With that, Jacen turned and jogged back towards the rail station, his robe flying around him. The Jedi were in danger, and at the moment, their fates all rested in his hands. I'd better not screw this up.