CHAPTER THREE – First Battle of New Coruscant
Prekto watched his ship's armaments glide towards the unknown attackers. He was not surprised by the fact that the deadly assault did not penetrate the enemy's shields. Prekto knew that if a ship was spherical in shape, the shields could be drawn at full defensive power with a minimal amount of energy.
"Halt the attack." Prekto said, gesturing towards his audience.
One of the officers pulled out a small comlink and mumbled an encoded message. The others approached Admiral Prekto carefully.
"Sir, High Command has recommended we wait for the reinforcements. I've just gotten off the transceiver with Commander Frykal on the surface. Enticement is on its way from Bilbringi," one of the officers reported.
"He sent for a super class ship?" Prekto asked, knowing that the Enticement was one of the largest ships in the fleet. The war cruiser was a behemoth at ten thousand meters long.
"Yes sir," the other officer replied, "It will be here in two standard hours."
"We can't possibly have a super ship here. It will spark panic down on New Coruscant, can't you see?"
"That is irrelevant next to the fleet of attackers upon us, admiral. We must take the chance."
Prekto frowned, crossing his arms in disapproval, "I do not agree," he turned towards the viewport, "Move the Kulklar to point blank range and launch the starfighters."
"Isn't that a little risky, sir?"
"Moving the Enticement is also risky. I suggest you quit contradicting yourself, officer, or you will be dismissed from your post."
The officer to the left clenched his teeth, but nodded with respect towards his superior commander. Prekto smiled, knowing that his substandard counterpart couldn't see beyond his back.
"Etaias, the enemy is moving forward into attack position. Shall we answer with our own fighters?" one lesser primate asked in the native tongue of the Yevetha.
"Tell battle groups one and two to focus all firepower on that ship, nitakka. They are to dispatch their fighters to counter the enemies own as well." Nag Sunra replied.
"The gravity bombs have been laid before them, Primate Nag. Why do you wish to waste precious shots against an already losing enemy?" the Dark One asked, turning to the Yevetha primate.
"That is merely our way Dark One. The way of the Yevetha is to exterminate the vermin to make room for the Pure and the Blessed himself and to make the Glory stainless and perfect." Nag said, trying to prove his point.
"And so you use overkill. You Yevetha have much to learn. If you want to take out your opponents effectively, you must not waste time, energy or pride. That is your one weakness and so it shall forever be your death; dishonorable and wasteful."
"We survived the Gods, didn't we?" Nag retaliated with an angered breath. "We survived their wrath that laid waste to the spawn world a millennia ago. That is not a mere victory, but a revolution that will be remembered by generations to come." The Yevetha proudly stated with a bloody grin.
The Dark One lashed out with his anger at the alien's continuing incompetence, reaching for the Dark Side to immobilize the gullible Yevethan primate, "They were not the Gods you praised, Primate Nag. They were nothing more but brutes, like you. And that was what had cost them their lives as an honorable species. Their own Gods lead them to failure. I do not hope the same for your own kind, Primate Nag. You are not totally worthless as you are known to be."
"Your words do not scare me, Dark One." Nag admitted. "Neither does the will of the Blessed. Only the actions of the Gods inflict terror upon my pure soul. Believe what you believe, and I'll believe what I believe." Nag had let his opinion be known with the Dark One, a rare and unusual trait with a Yevetha.
"You wretched Yevetha are no more but savages, with the exception of the Viceroy," the Dark One continued. He wanted to end this pointless argument now, so he pointed to the Kulklar's moving image that was portrayed as a hologram, "For now, focus on your duties. We will never have this discussion again? Understood, Primate Nag?"
"For the good of the Glory and the Pure, I must comprehend with your will, Dark One," Nag looked at the nitakka commander and spoke in the Yevethan tongue, "With hold your fire until my command, nitakka."
"Of course, etaias, your will be done."
The Kulklar lumbered towards the fleet of the unknown attackers, with its guns firing spontaneously and almost randomly. The massive hangar doors opened, and the magnetic field was clear for fighters to proceed. The fighter armada consisted of a wing of Gunblades and a few squadrons of H-wing starbombers, which were close to being classified as gunboats instead of starfighters given their large size and amount of heavy weapons.
The fighters hummed alongside their mother ship like piranha beetles to their hives, speeding past the Kulklar in a hurry towards the attacking fleet.
Prekto watched his fighters as little green dots on the holo projector aboard the bridge. He knew the fighters would cause an annoyance to the enemy until reinforcements would arrive, and until all hell breaks lose. Prekto pulled out his personal comlink, issuing an encoded message to the gunners of the station. He stared at the holoscreen afterwards, and watched as the Kulklar's guns aligned up perfectly and fired in strategic bursts.
He was shocked to see most of his fighters gone from the holo projector.
Squadron by squadron, Prekto watched his precious little green blips disappear from sight. The Admiral's anger grew immensely as he grinded his teeth in protest. He saw one of his officers' approaching him.
"Sir, we are detecting gravity anomalies to port and star board side. Our hull is taking structural damage. Module cabins A1 through B37 is experiencing life support leakage." The nearby officer grimly said, pointing out the damage on a data screen to the Admiral.
"What the hell are these things?" Prekto asked, grimacing at the sight of several flashing alarms.
"We are expecting an answer to that very soon, Admiral. Sooner than what we had hoped for." Another captain reported, stern and swift to react to the Admiral's constant questionings and orders.
Another officer approached with a worried expression plant on his red, tiring face, trying to keep the earnest tone in his voice. "Sir, it is recommended that we evacuate immediately. Our reactor is going critical."
"Already?" Prekto questioned, startled by the news. "We haven't even reached our destination!" the Admiral bit his lip, pondering about the circumstances he was in. "Alright," he said relunctly, "Ready the escape pods. Order a full evacuation."
And she was only a day from retirement, Prekto reminded himself, what a shame... what a waste.
"Etaias, the enemy is scattering. The vermin are retreating back to their spawn world." The lesser primate reported from his situation place behind the controls. Sensors had indicated many smaller craft being dispatched from the Kulklar, as the capital ship began to detonate.
Nag nodded towards the nitakka, confirming his pleasure "Excellent. Send the fighters to intercept." The High Primate ordered. His lips curled, revealing a touch of insanity and a taint of greed to the Yevetha's countenance.
"As you wish etaias." The nitakka replied, fidgeting at his superior's breath.
Nag looked towards the Dark One, still smiling with a visible sign of greed and power, hoping he had cracked the apprentice's self-image. The Yevetha noticed that the apprentice did not bother to look back, most likely in fear of disrupting his ego. Nag's overconfidence in his independence began to swell to great length.
Dozens of escape pods launched from their holdings aboard the crippled ship. Flashes of light erupted in space, and the helpless crew watched their beloved Kulklar crumple under the sudden gravity changes in the void of space. Part of the hull had spilt, emitting a fiery explosion and spilling loose cargo and even the bodies of the people that were not able to make their escape in time. Most of the escape pods were ordered by Admiral Prekto to make for Muscave Station.
Prekto watched the stars through one of the many view ports in his rectangular pod, strapped down with crash webbing. He heard an unusual pitch scream by. He looked out into space to see speeding pieces of space junk... or rather enemy starfighters.
The escape pod shook after taking several laser bolts. Prekto's crash webbing was the only thing keeping him from violently rolling around in his safe house.
"Get to the laser cannon!" he cried, pointing to the pod's gunnery controls.
"Yes sir!" a daring commando saluted, unbuckling his webbing and carefully making his way through the crowd of refugees. He was nearly knocked down by another blast.
Finally he situated himself behind the control panel and took a hold of the trigger arm. The commando squeezed the trigger lightly while staring at the targeting computer, aiming his shots.
Prekto witnessed a ball of fire appear outside his port side window, with red laser bolts streaking past the inferno, "Good shot!"
The commando sent another burst of deadly laser fire towards another ugly starfighter, blasting one after another. A third blast rocked the escape pod. Prekto looked over to the gunnery station, only to see the once joyful soldier engulfed by a wave of blue sparks and red fire. The danger quickly passed, but death soon replaced it.
The commando was dead, electrocuted by the deadly blast that had also claimed the life of the laser cannon.
"Sith spawn! Redirect the engines. We have to shake those things off!" Prekto commanded.
The escape pod shook violently seconds later. Prekto realized that it was not a mere laser blast, but that the Kulklar itself had vanished and replaced by a ring of vibrant colors and a splash of electricity. The sudden eruption sent a ripple through space, with the wave of energy pushing the escape pod towards its new destination; New Coruscant.
Nag watched with delight and satisfaction as the image of Kulklar disappeared from his tactical analysis screen. A burning sensation of triumph had shot up his spine, soothing his brain and quenching his thirst for conquest of the vermin.
The controlling nitakka had reported with a sneer, his beady eyes filled with delight of the destruction overshadowing the loss in Yevethan Starfighters. "Target destroyed, etaias, although several escape pods have jettisoned from the mother ship."
"Good, good. We'll get them soon enough," Nag assured the young nitakka with a bloody grin. Soon enough will the vermin taste defeat and the power of the Pure.
The jewel of the vermin, or new Coruscant as they called it, inched towards Nag's greedy clutches.
