Chapter 17
A final sputter of blaster bolts flickered out at Luke and his team, but they were all swatted down by K'talla's whirling blue blade before the wielders themselves were cut down by her economical attacks. Behind them, the corridors of the Chimera were becoming littered with the scarred and blasted bodies of stormtroopers and Army commandos as the strike team lead the way towards the command tower of the massive warship.
The commandos slid up against the wall, and Luke jerked a thumb soundlessly at the wall panel visible across from them, feeling his anxiety increase noticeably. The further on this mission went, the more ominous his feelings seemed to become. If only he could get a clearer sense from the Force...
One of the soldiers crept over to the computer and fed a datacard into a slot wordlessly, reaching out to tap the keys with his gloved hand, a blaster now slipping into his left fist.
Luke glanced over at K'talla's massive form. She was not even breathing heavily, and her massive eyes were devoid of expression as she scanned the hallways. Luke could feel the tendrils of her consciousness stretching out. If any more threats showed themselves, they would know it.
Unless they moved ysalamiri into place. Fortunately, many of the Empire's remaining ysalamiri had died on Wayland, and Luke fervently hoped they were not harvesting and equipping their ships with more of the creatures.
"Got it!" hissed the man at the computer panel. "Thrawn's chamber, deck 3. I have...shavit!"
"What now?" Luke asked softly. They could not afford to be caught out of place now.
"Blocked my access," the commando grunted. "They know we're here now."
"Better get moving, then," Luke whispered to himself, and wordlessly beckoned the rest of the strike team to follow him to the nearest turbolift shaft.
"You were right, Admiral," Pellaeon said stiffly as he peered down at the young officer's display board. He felt the shadow fall across him as Thrawn stepped up beside him. "Intruders detected on deck 15, attempting to access main computer. We've locked them out, sir, but they managed to get at least a partial download."
"Has security been able to identify the intruders?" Thrawn asked speculatively.
"Uh," Pellaeon said, reaching over to tap a quick command in. "Nothing positive as yet, sir. There seem to be two groups of Rebels now inside the Chimera, Admiral. One is heading consistently towards the main reactor, but the other wanders slightly."
"Indeed," Thrawn murmured to himself, eyes half lidded.
"Admiral?" Pellaeon asked, hoping that this was merely another stroke of genius oncoming rather than an actual bafflement at the situation.
While he was waiting, a blast shook the Star Destroyer. Pellaeon whirled to glare into the crew pit. "Report!"
"Two Mon Cal cruisers have crossed into lanes 4 and 7, Captain!" shouted a dark major at the conn station. "They're trying to use their ion cannons to clear a path for their starfighters to breach the Golan perimeter!"
Thrawn turned to regard the major. "Move the Inexorable into lane 5 and have them run interference, major," he ordered. "Then have planetary defense call the Golans into a shorter orbit."
"Admiral," Pellaeon broke in quietly. "That will give them a window to sit at the shield edge and blast away to their heart's content." Another detonation illuminated the entire bridge as a pair of X-wings flared into incandescence.
Thrawn merely glanced at him. "Then, detail Fleet group Three to jump insystem on a course consistent with the Rebel's positioning," he finished.
"Yes, sir!" the major saluted smartly and leapt to give the orders.
"Captain," Thrawn continued, turning back to Pellaeon. "We must gather all the ysalamiri that we have on board and transport them towards the command tower immediately."
"Ysala-?" Pellaeon floundered. "Skywalker? Here?"
"He is the only one who has both the knowledge of the Chimera and necessary skill to infiltrate this far unchecked," Thrawn noted. "Recall his escape with Talon Karrde."
Pellaeon frowned. "But sir," he asked. "Why the ysalamiri here?"
"Because they have decided that the best way to win is to chop off the head of the snake," Thrawn explained patiently. "That is the only explanation for such a foolhardy strike on a ship that they know they cannot hope to destroy by a mere commando team."
"Yes, sir," Pellaeon sighed, and moved to give the orders.
The strike team managed to get to Thrawn's chamber almost all intact, though one man lay dead at the opening of the corridor, and another nursed a graze of the arm with a blaster bolt. For such a vital area of the Empire's flagship, the halls here were uncharacteristically quiet. By this time, Luke's warning sense was practically overwhelming him, and his lightsaber never left his palm.
Both he and K'talla moved to bracket the door that was indicated on the map as Thrawn's personal suite, though the décor gave no such indications. Thrawn had never been one to do things blatantly or in the usual manner.
Strangely, the door opened quiescently enough, and the remainder of Luke's team filed somewhat haphazardly into the small chamber beyond. A second manipulation of controls, and they were in.
The room was not lavishly furnished, but neither was it plain. The duplicate of a Star Destroyer captain's chair sat in the centre of a wraparound console more suited to a warhip than a set of living quarters. Various holoprojector relays were visible around the room, but no significant security measures could be found.
With his lightsaber still on guard, Luke moved cautiously to the displays around the chair, and activated the power system. A hum built to a low drone, and the room lit up.
The display panel was currently blank, and all the lights blinked placidly, regardless of the growing tremors of space battle detonations as the Star Destroyer rolled with the punches the combined fleet was delivering. Luke pressed a series of keys that looked familiar, and the HoloNet icon blazed into view on the screen.
Licking his lips, Luke stared at the controls a few seconds more. Then, guessing blindly and trusting to the Force, he hit a combination that he hoped would allow the message to be broadcast over all Imperial channels related to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Double-checking that he was indeed on Thrawn's personal channel, he began to speak.
"This is Luke Skywalker, son of the Lord Darth Vader, on board the Grand Admiral's flagship," he began with what he hoped was proper authority and confidence. "To any Noghri who may hear this message: I call for you to rise up against your masters and show them that the Noghri will not be slaves any-"
With a fizzle of static, the holo-display died.
Luke frowned. He'd hoped to continue broadcasting to make sure any Noghri heard him, but that should have been sufficient if there were any within range of the transmission.
"We are done, then?" K'talla asked slowly, moving slightly towards him. Luke, strangely, did not feel any less worried now that the task was complete. If anything, his feelings of doom increased.
"Well, as done as can be," Luke said, an unpleasant conclusion forming slowly in his mind. "I guess we should make our way towards the-" he never finished the sentence.
With a crackle of igniting lightsaber, K'talla leapt forward, the In'ca Din'ca Master's blade slicing in from overhead at Luke.
Luke barely managed to light his weapon and block the attack as he stumbled away from the display ring, shock fogging his mind. No, it couldn't be; not the only Jedi he might ever find left after the Purge. And the other thought; how could he have misjudged them this badly?
Landing confidently from her massive jump, K'talla flicked a hand delicately backwards, washing both of Luke's commandos in a wave of blue flame that quickly dropped them to the floor and extinguished itself quickly, taking with it their lives.
Stunned, Luke barely managed to deflect the next series of furious strikes. It was obvious that his ally was actually a Dark Jedi, but how had she concealed herself for so long? Why did he not realize?
Then, he felt a surge in the Force, a wave of pain.
Corran.
"You see, half-trained Knight Skywalker?" K'talla said calmly as she crashed down upon him, causing him to stumble. Luke rolled away somewhat clumsily, reaching for the door's activation panel, but it refused to open. "There is no way to escape from this. You may as well give up now." She struck again, a lateral, lunging blow that Luke hopped above as he circled out of her range.
"I have faced the greatest focal point of the Dark Side the galaxy has known, K'talla," Luke said steadfastly. "You do not frighten me." And, truth be told, he was surprised to discover that that was the truth. Yes, there was still shock at his error, but there was none of the fear or anger that his encounter with the Emperor had elicited.
The In'ca Din'ca Jedi sneered and pressed the attack again, swinging massively with the bright blue lance of energy. Luke parried both strikes, and then slashed backhanded at her midsection, forcing her to step back or else be impaled.
"Enough of this," she growled, and raised her one hand to unleash Dark Side energy at him.
The door blew in with a clash of explosives and rending steel.
Both Jedi turned to regard the sudden interruption, but Luke used the distraction to duck out of sight behind the display, pitiful cover though it was.
"Cease battling, Jedi!" ordered a cultured, sharp voice. Thrawn. Strangely, Luke could not feel their presence, and his stomach sank. Ysalamiri had been brought to deal with the meddlesome Jedi.
Luke stood up to view the tableau himself, but he moved too soon.
Unblinking, K'talla struck.
A wreath of paralytic lightning struck Luke as he rose, throwing him back over the panel to crash painfully in Thrawn's chair. The pain lessened for a second as he gasped for breath and reached for the Force, but another blow struck him.
"I ordered you to cease!" Thrawn snapped again, and K'talla turned to regard him with the arrogance and authority of many years of Dark Side mastery.
"I do not heed your command, Imperial," she sneered.
"You will," Thrawn said quietly, in a deadly monotone. "Or you will be cut down where you stand." Luke felt his sickness worsen. Through blurred vision, he saw Thrawn's troops: two squads of heavily armed and armored stormtroopers... and a gray-skinned Noghri, standing calmly at his side.
"Do your best," K'talla said calmly. "I fear you not."
"Very well," Thrawn said, stepping back. "Open-"
"I am the son of Darth Vader!" croaked a half-paralyzed Luke. "Help me!"
"-fire!"
Luke collapsed backwards as the scene dissolved in chaos.
He woke painfully, feeling somewhat pushing and pulling his body into an uncomfortable position. A groan escaped his lips. It was like after Endor all over again.
"You must wake, son of Vader," a pained voice growled at him. "Quickly."
Tapping tiredly into the Force, Luke washed the blurriness from his eyes to find the blood-smeared face of Thrawn's Noghri bodyguard staring down at him, teeth set. "The door will not hold forever."
Luke blinked further, and found that he had been levered into the cockpit of a TIE Interceptor. A vacuum suit made for the fighter had been haphazardly thrown over his body, and the helmet rested uncomfortably on his chest.
"What happened?" he groaned.
"A fight," coughed the Noghri, and blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. "The Grand Admiral yet lives, and the ysalamiri I have set up at the hangar entrance will not hold the barricade against your foe's weapon. You must leave, now!"
"But my friends-"Luke protested.
"There is no time!" the Noghri spat. "You are honorable, but your people have need of you yet. Go, and avenge your friends in days hence!" With that, he dogged the hatch of Luke's fighter closed, and raced towards the entrance.
Heart tearing as he did so, Luke put on the helmet and looked at his controls to discover that the fighter was already prepped for launch. He thought hard. Was there no way to somehow save the rest of his friends? Corran, Wedge, and others doubtless hurt, captured or dead?
A flash of light came from the entrance to the nearly vacant fighter hangar as the tip of a lightsaber began to burn through a pile of heavy equipment set up against the thick blast door.
Luke felt a lump congeal in his throat. He had to escape. He owed it to what was left of the Republic. He owed it to the Noghri who was going to die to let him escape. He owed it to the Force.
Luke's TIE screamed out of the bay as K'talla burned through the last of the barricade and reached out to burn the life from Rukh's body with a single blaze of dark flame.
Less than ten minutes later, the Imperial forces withdrew from the planet Coruscant, suddenly finding themselves besieged by a renewed and more coordinated assault by a section of the In'ca Din'ca armada. However, once the white warships of the Imperial Navy had retreated to leave the planet to the Rebels, the guns of those same In'ca Din'ca battleships were turned towards tired Rebel cruisers and unaffiliated In'ca Din'ca craft.
Luke, roaring through the renewed firefight, broadcast wildly on all Rebel frequencies. "All loyal forces, withdraw!" he screamed. "There are Dark Jedi in control of part of the armada. All forces, withdraw!"
A final sputter of blaster bolts flickered out at Luke and his team, but they were all swatted down by K'talla's whirling blue blade before the wielders themselves were cut down by her economical attacks. Behind them, the corridors of the Chimera were becoming littered with the scarred and blasted bodies of stormtroopers and Army commandos as the strike team lead the way towards the command tower of the massive warship.
The commandos slid up against the wall, and Luke jerked a thumb soundlessly at the wall panel visible across from them, feeling his anxiety increase noticeably. The further on this mission went, the more ominous his feelings seemed to become. If only he could get a clearer sense from the Force...
One of the soldiers crept over to the computer and fed a datacard into a slot wordlessly, reaching out to tap the keys with his gloved hand, a blaster now slipping into his left fist.
Luke glanced over at K'talla's massive form. She was not even breathing heavily, and her massive eyes were devoid of expression as she scanned the hallways. Luke could feel the tendrils of her consciousness stretching out. If any more threats showed themselves, they would know it.
Unless they moved ysalamiri into place. Fortunately, many of the Empire's remaining ysalamiri had died on Wayland, and Luke fervently hoped they were not harvesting and equipping their ships with more of the creatures.
"Got it!" hissed the man at the computer panel. "Thrawn's chamber, deck 3. I have...shavit!"
"What now?" Luke asked softly. They could not afford to be caught out of place now.
"Blocked my access," the commando grunted. "They know we're here now."
"Better get moving, then," Luke whispered to himself, and wordlessly beckoned the rest of the strike team to follow him to the nearest turbolift shaft.
"You were right, Admiral," Pellaeon said stiffly as he peered down at the young officer's display board. He felt the shadow fall across him as Thrawn stepped up beside him. "Intruders detected on deck 15, attempting to access main computer. We've locked them out, sir, but they managed to get at least a partial download."
"Has security been able to identify the intruders?" Thrawn asked speculatively.
"Uh," Pellaeon said, reaching over to tap a quick command in. "Nothing positive as yet, sir. There seem to be two groups of Rebels now inside the Chimera, Admiral. One is heading consistently towards the main reactor, but the other wanders slightly."
"Indeed," Thrawn murmured to himself, eyes half lidded.
"Admiral?" Pellaeon asked, hoping that this was merely another stroke of genius oncoming rather than an actual bafflement at the situation.
While he was waiting, a blast shook the Star Destroyer. Pellaeon whirled to glare into the crew pit. "Report!"
"Two Mon Cal cruisers have crossed into lanes 4 and 7, Captain!" shouted a dark major at the conn station. "They're trying to use their ion cannons to clear a path for their starfighters to breach the Golan perimeter!"
Thrawn turned to regard the major. "Move the Inexorable into lane 5 and have them run interference, major," he ordered. "Then have planetary defense call the Golans into a shorter orbit."
"Admiral," Pellaeon broke in quietly. "That will give them a window to sit at the shield edge and blast away to their heart's content." Another detonation illuminated the entire bridge as a pair of X-wings flared into incandescence.
Thrawn merely glanced at him. "Then, detail Fleet group Three to jump insystem on a course consistent with the Rebel's positioning," he finished.
"Yes, sir!" the major saluted smartly and leapt to give the orders.
"Captain," Thrawn continued, turning back to Pellaeon. "We must gather all the ysalamiri that we have on board and transport them towards the command tower immediately."
"Ysala-?" Pellaeon floundered. "Skywalker? Here?"
"He is the only one who has both the knowledge of the Chimera and necessary skill to infiltrate this far unchecked," Thrawn noted. "Recall his escape with Talon Karrde."
Pellaeon frowned. "But sir," he asked. "Why the ysalamiri here?"
"Because they have decided that the best way to win is to chop off the head of the snake," Thrawn explained patiently. "That is the only explanation for such a foolhardy strike on a ship that they know they cannot hope to destroy by a mere commando team."
"Yes, sir," Pellaeon sighed, and moved to give the orders.
The strike team managed to get to Thrawn's chamber almost all intact, though one man lay dead at the opening of the corridor, and another nursed a graze of the arm with a blaster bolt. For such a vital area of the Empire's flagship, the halls here were uncharacteristically quiet. By this time, Luke's warning sense was practically overwhelming him, and his lightsaber never left his palm.
Both he and K'talla moved to bracket the door that was indicated on the map as Thrawn's personal suite, though the décor gave no such indications. Thrawn had never been one to do things blatantly or in the usual manner.
Strangely, the door opened quiescently enough, and the remainder of Luke's team filed somewhat haphazardly into the small chamber beyond. A second manipulation of controls, and they were in.
The room was not lavishly furnished, but neither was it plain. The duplicate of a Star Destroyer captain's chair sat in the centre of a wraparound console more suited to a warhip than a set of living quarters. Various holoprojector relays were visible around the room, but no significant security measures could be found.
With his lightsaber still on guard, Luke moved cautiously to the displays around the chair, and activated the power system. A hum built to a low drone, and the room lit up.
The display panel was currently blank, and all the lights blinked placidly, regardless of the growing tremors of space battle detonations as the Star Destroyer rolled with the punches the combined fleet was delivering. Luke pressed a series of keys that looked familiar, and the HoloNet icon blazed into view on the screen.
Licking his lips, Luke stared at the controls a few seconds more. Then, guessing blindly and trusting to the Force, he hit a combination that he hoped would allow the message to be broadcast over all Imperial channels related to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Double-checking that he was indeed on Thrawn's personal channel, he began to speak.
"This is Luke Skywalker, son of the Lord Darth Vader, on board the Grand Admiral's flagship," he began with what he hoped was proper authority and confidence. "To any Noghri who may hear this message: I call for you to rise up against your masters and show them that the Noghri will not be slaves any-"
With a fizzle of static, the holo-display died.
Luke frowned. He'd hoped to continue broadcasting to make sure any Noghri heard him, but that should have been sufficient if there were any within range of the transmission.
"We are done, then?" K'talla asked slowly, moving slightly towards him. Luke, strangely, did not feel any less worried now that the task was complete. If anything, his feelings of doom increased.
"Well, as done as can be," Luke said, an unpleasant conclusion forming slowly in his mind. "I guess we should make our way towards the-" he never finished the sentence.
With a crackle of igniting lightsaber, K'talla leapt forward, the In'ca Din'ca Master's blade slicing in from overhead at Luke.
Luke barely managed to light his weapon and block the attack as he stumbled away from the display ring, shock fogging his mind. No, it couldn't be; not the only Jedi he might ever find left after the Purge. And the other thought; how could he have misjudged them this badly?
Landing confidently from her massive jump, K'talla flicked a hand delicately backwards, washing both of Luke's commandos in a wave of blue flame that quickly dropped them to the floor and extinguished itself quickly, taking with it their lives.
Stunned, Luke barely managed to deflect the next series of furious strikes. It was obvious that his ally was actually a Dark Jedi, but how had she concealed herself for so long? Why did he not realize?
Then, he felt a surge in the Force, a wave of pain.
Corran.
"You see, half-trained Knight Skywalker?" K'talla said calmly as she crashed down upon him, causing him to stumble. Luke rolled away somewhat clumsily, reaching for the door's activation panel, but it refused to open. "There is no way to escape from this. You may as well give up now." She struck again, a lateral, lunging blow that Luke hopped above as he circled out of her range.
"I have faced the greatest focal point of the Dark Side the galaxy has known, K'talla," Luke said steadfastly. "You do not frighten me." And, truth be told, he was surprised to discover that that was the truth. Yes, there was still shock at his error, but there was none of the fear or anger that his encounter with the Emperor had elicited.
The In'ca Din'ca Jedi sneered and pressed the attack again, swinging massively with the bright blue lance of energy. Luke parried both strikes, and then slashed backhanded at her midsection, forcing her to step back or else be impaled.
"Enough of this," she growled, and raised her one hand to unleash Dark Side energy at him.
The door blew in with a clash of explosives and rending steel.
Both Jedi turned to regard the sudden interruption, but Luke used the distraction to duck out of sight behind the display, pitiful cover though it was.
"Cease battling, Jedi!" ordered a cultured, sharp voice. Thrawn. Strangely, Luke could not feel their presence, and his stomach sank. Ysalamiri had been brought to deal with the meddlesome Jedi.
Luke stood up to view the tableau himself, but he moved too soon.
Unblinking, K'talla struck.
A wreath of paralytic lightning struck Luke as he rose, throwing him back over the panel to crash painfully in Thrawn's chair. The pain lessened for a second as he gasped for breath and reached for the Force, but another blow struck him.
"I ordered you to cease!" Thrawn snapped again, and K'talla turned to regard him with the arrogance and authority of many years of Dark Side mastery.
"I do not heed your command, Imperial," she sneered.
"You will," Thrawn said quietly, in a deadly monotone. "Or you will be cut down where you stand." Luke felt his sickness worsen. Through blurred vision, he saw Thrawn's troops: two squads of heavily armed and armored stormtroopers... and a gray-skinned Noghri, standing calmly at his side.
"Do your best," K'talla said calmly. "I fear you not."
"Very well," Thrawn said, stepping back. "Open-"
"I am the son of Darth Vader!" croaked a half-paralyzed Luke. "Help me!"
"-fire!"
Luke collapsed backwards as the scene dissolved in chaos.
He woke painfully, feeling somewhat pushing and pulling his body into an uncomfortable position. A groan escaped his lips. It was like after Endor all over again.
"You must wake, son of Vader," a pained voice growled at him. "Quickly."
Tapping tiredly into the Force, Luke washed the blurriness from his eyes to find the blood-smeared face of Thrawn's Noghri bodyguard staring down at him, teeth set. "The door will not hold forever."
Luke blinked further, and found that he had been levered into the cockpit of a TIE Interceptor. A vacuum suit made for the fighter had been haphazardly thrown over his body, and the helmet rested uncomfortably on his chest.
"What happened?" he groaned.
"A fight," coughed the Noghri, and blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. "The Grand Admiral yet lives, and the ysalamiri I have set up at the hangar entrance will not hold the barricade against your foe's weapon. You must leave, now!"
"But my friends-"Luke protested.
"There is no time!" the Noghri spat. "You are honorable, but your people have need of you yet. Go, and avenge your friends in days hence!" With that, he dogged the hatch of Luke's fighter closed, and raced towards the entrance.
Heart tearing as he did so, Luke put on the helmet and looked at his controls to discover that the fighter was already prepped for launch. He thought hard. Was there no way to somehow save the rest of his friends? Corran, Wedge, and others doubtless hurt, captured or dead?
A flash of light came from the entrance to the nearly vacant fighter hangar as the tip of a lightsaber began to burn through a pile of heavy equipment set up against the thick blast door.
Luke felt a lump congeal in his throat. He had to escape. He owed it to what was left of the Republic. He owed it to the Noghri who was going to die to let him escape. He owed it to the Force.
Luke's TIE screamed out of the bay as K'talla burned through the last of the barricade and reached out to burn the life from Rukh's body with a single blaze of dark flame.
Less than ten minutes later, the Imperial forces withdrew from the planet Coruscant, suddenly finding themselves besieged by a renewed and more coordinated assault by a section of the In'ca Din'ca armada. However, once the white warships of the Imperial Navy had retreated to leave the planet to the Rebels, the guns of those same In'ca Din'ca battleships were turned towards tired Rebel cruisers and unaffiliated In'ca Din'ca craft.
Luke, roaring through the renewed firefight, broadcast wildly on all Rebel frequencies. "All loyal forces, withdraw!" he screamed. "There are Dark Jedi in control of part of the armada. All forces, withdraw!"