"Being a Jedi isn't just about using the Force. it's a commitment to a certain way of doing things - a certain way of looking at things…." Jacen Solo.


Well I haven't quit this project. This is for sure. I have been busy working on another story full effort. Two prologues and two/three chapters ready. Once they are done I will break away from them and go full speed on this story again.

I already have a new chapter ready. It just needs some reworking before its ready.

What I did with this was merge this chapter 8 with my old chapter 9. To make this combined Chapter 8. This should condense the battle down some. It really is unnecessary to spread it out over 4 chapters. And add more per chapter. I put some in chapter 10 as well.

Bare with me and enjoy this revised version. New comers thanks as well.

Been awhile so

Dramatis Personae

Etrum Abahn, Captain, Leader JADF Taskforce
Heska Jysl, Lieutenant Commander, Female Bothan.
Denan Kiish, Ambassador, Jenrai Councilman, Male Zebrak

Yavin 1- Tanem Vekk, Commander, Near Human
Yavin 2- Hanik Seese, Female Quarren
Yavin 3- Elajul, Race Unknown

Yavin 4- Kak'besi, Male Mir'bishi
Yavin 5- Nejim Paet, Captain
Yavin 6- Giani Jin, Male Deveronian

Yavin 7- Nataru Kawar, Male Roujin
Yavin 8- Raska Hara, Female Barabel
Yavin 9- Kasseopia R'hea, Major, Female L'hion

Yavin 10- Esel Palv
Yavin 11- Vila Marik, Female Verillu
Yavin 12– Tybolt, Droid


Chapter 8

Major Beil LaSorta grinned as he followed his target under a fat transport. It was a crazy chase but LaSorta had him and he wasn't letting up. His pursuit jetted to port trying to angle away from him and towards the underside of another largeship. "Not this time you little son of a gundark!" LaSorta fired off a concussion missile from his fighter. It tracked the enemy closing on its target and exploded, the enemy fighter tumbled off into space. LaSorta found his target and fired, finishing the job. Can't shake Concussion missiles that easy can you. They are not as simple to evade as torpedoes. Relatively anyway.

"Sir," rasped his second in command. "Looks like the enemy is thinning out. We practically have them on the run. That big gunship thing is still causing havoc with our fighters though."

"Good Fielle. Take the remainder of Lian's Wing and Jade Wing and mop up the remaining enemies. The rest of you on me, lets take out that Gunship." He looked on his scanner 22 fighters lined up with him to attack the gunship analog. Now to finish the job. This shouldn't be too difficult.

Major LaSorta looked outside his canopy. The weird ship was already heading away from the battle towards open space. It was smaller in size than an old Rebel Blockade Runner, to use the common nickname. But it was faster and more maneuverable than anything LaSorta had seen that size. 60 percent of its length was the ovoid shape of its hull. A long "tail" protruded from the back of the hull, and the ship had two wing protrusions on the side of the hull. It kind of reminded LaSorta of a Corellian PodWhale. LaSorta grinned, You're not getting away from me little fish.

The strange ship left the fringes of the convoy, heading in a course that would take it towards the oncoming Yvarra. As it approached ever closer, sections of the "tailfin" extended open on each side, uncovering what appeared to be racks.

Racks filled with many cylindrical devices.

Devices that appeared to be missiles.

"What in the Creator?"

In a brilliant display, dozens upon dozens of strange missiles shot out both sides of the "tailfin." Their propellant trails dazzling like the blossoming of an exotic flower. They ripped into the fighter vanguard, destroying many fighters and damaging others.

LaSorta could say nothing as four missiles closed on him, too close for him to even try to dodge.

"No...!" cried Lt. Mirindi. Even her unnatural calm cracked momentarily by the grimness of what she read. She composed herself quickly before reporting. "Terrible news Captain Abahn. The fighters trailing the gunship analog have been heavily damaged or destroyed. Some sort of missile spread."

"Damn! I was counting on those fighters." Abahn said. He was really getting tired of these surprises.

"Must have been some sort of Missile Frigate." Hesska Jysl grumbled. "Misinformation is killing us Sir."

Abahn shook his head. "The lost is bad I know LC. But the situation hasn't changed that much. The Convoy is actually out of the worst of its danger. Mirindi update please." Abahn seemed a little more calm as he said this. Having the civilians out of danger was a relief to him, despite the losses his people were suffering.

The Verillu quickly ran her eyes over the incoming data. " The enemy gunship...er missile frigate is headed on a direct course towards us and its picking up speed. There are 5 active survivors still following the enemy ship and harassing it. It seems there are about 9 of our fighters breaking off from the convoy, they are fighting with the few remaining enemy fighters. They are also now headed this way."

"Put that data up on the display please."

The computer updated all the information being shown on the forward view screen. All of what she said could now be seen. Abahn looked at the other sortie taking place. The Enemy Cruiser analog was also changing its course to engage the Yvarra. The designations of the Yavins flew towards its hull. Another group of Yavins were heading to combat a new force of fighters. Good we drew them off.

The Cruiser loomed before them, almost to the point of taking up the whole Cockpit canopy. As they neared the ship opened up with a volley of fire. Large burst of energy flew towards them as they approached. Burst similar to the ones used by the enemy fighters except they were as large as a starfighter. Thankfully there did not seem to be anywhere near as many blasts coming at them like if they were to attack a Republic Star Destroyer. Kasseopia R'hea's voice came over the comm. "Get ready for attack run. Lets try a simultaneous barrage first."

The Varias spread out for the attack, no need to tempt fate by staying bunched together. They dodged nimbly around the incoming fire even though the ship's guns were very accurate in their ability to track the fighters. Nejim noticed that Giani barely dodged one of the bursts. Could something be wrong with Giani? He worried about that and was going to open up a channel but it was now time to fire. "OK open fire!" roared Kass' voice.

All at once they fired. The propellant trails from 10 torpedoes lit up the darkness as they spread towards the hull. They struck dead center, blossoming into a mini-supernova that rolled on the ships shields, engulfing it in a blast of light. It was a bit disorienting, but it lasted only a seconds. Finally the torrent ended, but the ship still remained, as if laughing at them. Seemingly unharmed.

"Dammit! What's that thing made off!" yelled Giani. Nejim had to admit it was a bit unsettling when any capship shrugged off a full torp barrage, not just this ship. But this ship was nowhere near as big as a ship that usually shrugged off that type of damage. Could it be advanced shielding technology?

"Don't jump the gun Yavin 6," said Kass', "We knew this might be a tough nut to crack. "Lets take another barrage, this time Nejim's wing launch 5 seconds after our volley."

They could only launch one more time before they would be forced to pull up and try another attack run. It was extremely risky even trying to fire another volley at this close a distance, but that was what Kasseopia R'hea was known for. Nejim just shook his head at the thought. Kass and Raska Hara fired their torps, and Nejim started counting. He saw a large burst of energy coming towards him and was forced to dodge it. He quickly lined up his shots and fired, a few seconds behind the others. These torpedoes also hit blossoming into another supernova of energy. The fighters broke off at the last minute. Strangely, or perhaps more frighteningly, the enemy fire came at them faster and more accurately. These blasts seemed smaller than the others; it was an intense hail of energy. It was all Nejim could do to keep out of it.

That was when he saw tragedy. As he pulled up in a long loop back towards his entry vector he looked out of his cockpit and saw one beam clip Kak'besi's Varia sending it into a crazed spin. Then as if gloating, a turret on the enemy ship fired at Kak's starfighter with a full powered blast.

Wiping him away. There was nothing left.

"KAAAAAK!"

The gunship came ever closer towards the Yvarra. Even with the Yvarra firing its forward guns it did not stop. The smaller ship proved quite stubborn in the damage it could take. Even with is hull scared with many bruises it still came on.

"Interesting... it's shields are back up again. What an obstinate ship." Reported the flat voice of Omwan.

"And it's still coming. What is their plan? How could they hurt us if they are that damaged?" said Lt. Lesli, as she was shaking her head confused.

Another officer added. "At present their momentum is too great to..."

"Captain!" yelled Ambassador Kiish.

"I know...I know, they are trying to ram us." Said Captain Abahn very nonchalant. A few of the other who still hadn't figured it out gasped in surprise. " I was waiting for the right moment. Omwan fire up the tractor beams. Faye get ready to fire our forward repulsors, I knew we might need them. Hold, and initiate on my command. Tell the fighters to prepare for a forward volley. They'll know when."

Everyone stood tense as the enemy ship barreled towards them.

"Hold..." Someone breathed hard trying to release tension.

"Hold..." The enemy ship almost filled the entire viewport.

"Hold..." Everyone had their eyes on Abahn.

He scowled at them. Damn. "OK now! Omwan, Faye go."

Only then did Omwan put as much power into the tractor beams as he could. It hammered into the gunship pushing it up and off course. Still the thing grazed the Yvarra. The shields shrieked and sparked as the two large ships skinned each other. Death seemed imminent if the shields collapsed. The entire ship rattled as if in pain. The crew was thrown everywhere.

"Now Kiki!" The young Navigations officer barely hesitated as she fired up the repulsors. This last bit of force was all that was needed to push the gunship analog off course, it scraped by… barely. "All Guns able… Fire!"

All of the guns that could track fired at the passing ship. An intense storm of energy rammed into the back of the gunship analog crippling it. The surviving fighters let loose every missile or torpedo they had ready. This was the stake through the heart. Explosions blossomed and engulfed the gunship, seconds later it exploded in a giant burst of blue, adding to the inferno.

Everyone yelled in celebration. Even the pilots could be heard over the comm. system. Abahn smiled, they needed some sort of victory, especially after all that had happened. But he quickly reminded them about the enemy at hand.

"LC! Put those fighters to work, have them back up the Yavins." He said looking around. A few faces turned serious again as the danger of the situation overrode their previous happiness. A few bridge crewmembers were still getting up off the ground from the close call. "Snap to people! We still have another enemy ship to take out!" he yelled, hoping to get their spirits up. The odds looked much better, now to save his friends. Please hold on Yavins!

They came from the shadow of the enemy Cruiser analog, speeding towards Tanem and his five fellow Yavins. They must have used their own ship to cover their approach. Tanem figured this was true because surely if they were launched from the Cruiser they would have swarmed Kass' team already. Instead the enemies were on an intercept course with Tanem, or more accurately, with his Yavins. He scowled at them heavily, "They must have accepted our challenge," he said to himself. Something about that idea bothered him, but he found a smile anyway. He had diverted them from Kass and Nejim for the moment. Kass, whose team was currently making a run on the bow of the Cruiser Analog, those pilots had enough problems.

Tanem whistled as Navi designated the enemies on his heads-up display. 4 new enemies bracketed in yellow approaching at incredible speeds. Far faster than Tanem expected.

(THEY ARE DIFFERENT). Navi, his Astromech Droid, blurted out. It enlarged the image as much as it could, though static kept it from being a totally clear picture. Still it was good enough for him to see that they were beautiful… It was different than the other starfighters the Yavins encountered on the battlefield today. The hull was longer, more in relation to the fighters he was used to seeing. It reminded him of a winged animal. A smooth golden winged animal, with its ovoid hull and swept wings. "They certainly pay attention to design ascetic." He said as they approached. They flew in a severely tight formation, like a pack of empathic marine predators. Incredible precision.

"Watch it Yavins, these things aren't the same as the others." He advised.

"Worse I suspect," Elajul laughed. "It always gets worse."

"Hey this is a Tanem party remember," said Esel Pavl also laughing. "I'd be disappointed if it didn't."

They were almost within attack range now. "Stow the chatter dammit. We need Focus!" he yelled, thought a stubborn smile wouldn't leave his face.

The brief respite was over. The two opposing forces clashed in a frenzy of fire and return fire, of maneuver and engagement. The Yavins rushed the enemy ships in spread formation, everyone attacking from different angles, trying to use their number advantage to squeeze the enemy. The strange fighters did not flinch though; they stayed in formation maintaining course until they had almost barreled through the Yavins position, then they broke. The four enemies splitting off into four different directions, each the intercept of a Yavin. Again in eerie precision.

Tanem hard rolled to starboard, a fury of shots nipping his shields. He gritted his teeth as he flung the ship into a series of shaking maneuvers. He clipped off a few shots at his nearest opponent. It nimbly dodged the laser beams as if playing a game. It was quickly becoming apparent that these things were far above even the enemies they had fought earlier today. They were faster and tougher than the others. And despite their larger size, they were far more maneuverable than the smaller fighters. A certainty hit him as he guessed what they might be. His attitude turned dour. Elite ships………………for elite pilots.

Aces.

Nejim was dangerously close to losing it. His rage for Kak'besi was blinding him. His anger was deluding his senses. Which could prove incredibly dangerous, as he raced toward the Cruiser Analog on another attack run. He didn't want to care; he just wanted to make sure he lived to see this thing die in flames. The rational part of his mind knew that he should calm down. That he couldn't let himself lose it every time he lost a friend in battle, and frankly he knew that he stood to lose even more friends today. Nejim slowly shunned the pain away; he'd have to mourn later. He'd worry about the enemies before him first. It was a continuous and difficult task.

Nejim realized that he had his eyes and hands shut so he opened them. Reckless. He looked up in time to see Kass and Giani breaking off from another attack run on the Cruiser. The nova bright explosions from their torpedoes glowing behind them. However, the damn thing's shields were still operational. Though Nejim could swear he saw a strange waver pass over the shields, as if he could feel it waver. He boosted his acceleration, past redline, and his Varia raced toward the Cruiser in its highspeed mode. The Varia of Raska Hara a split second behind him.

The Yavins hoped the added edge of speed would give them something of a chance to make a dent in the tough shields with all that firepower blasting away at them. Hopefully the Yavins could at least hit the thing up close and fade away fast avoiding the things guns. The incredibly high speeds of their attack runs made course correction almost impossible though. And the Yavins would be rather vulnerable as they broke off. Nejim's heart fluttered as he remembered how close he had come to death on his last attack run. And he was about to do it again. Tier bleeped in joy as they closed the distance, oddly excited, Nejim would have to get it checked out again. Buggy droid.

Nejim and Raska closed, almost too fast. Soon Nejim was fighting hard to keep control of his fighter as it raced over the hull of the enemy ship. That was the plan, skim the hull and drop of your payload, and don't get fried Simple… SIMPLE…

The pulse of the enemy cannons where making him crazy as they flashed past. Those enemy cannons could refire incredibly fast, he thought, his mind almost frantic. Luckily there were not as many of them as there were turbolaser turrets on conventional warships. Though a turbolasers' refire delay tended to be much slower than this, so perhaps that was why the enemy didn't need that many turrets.

In a matter of seconds Nejim closed on his target, the enemy ship's bridge pylon, or at least they hoped it was the bridge. They'd hammering that spot for the last few minutes, if it wasn't the bridge that was surely a lot of wasted effort.

Nejim's focus was broken as he heard a scream, more like a roar over the comm. system. He looked back fear seizing him. Raska's fighter was spiraling off at a crazy angle, sparks flying everywhere. Madness and Anger almost found purchase.

(THE TARGET), Tier blasted at Nejim loudly, bringing him back into focus. In that odd moment recovering from shock he found he was incredibly calm and centered. He saw the spot ahead, and knew, felt, where he needed to place his shot. He fired as he pulled up, "climbing" rapidly away from the Cruiser Analog. The proton torpedoes flew to their target and struck true, the two torpedoes explosion was massive. Nejim could feel the vibrations rattling his ship. Shields Down! Tier beeped in surprise. "By the emperor, finally!" Nejim heard over the comm.. He looked around for her, and almost missed seeing the proton torpedoes flying past him. Kasseopia and Giani's fighters passed him hammering into the enemy ship.

"Goood shot Yavvvin 5. Did me proud." Raska hissed over the comm. She was still hissing. Nejim could tell she was laughing.

"Raska your alive!" Nejim sighed heavily. He checked the scanners, Raska's fighter was drifting away from the fight at high speed, though powered down.

"Alwayzz young one, though this one Iz badly damaged." She hissed again. "Would make another run. But thiz ship haz no power." She laughed again.

"You've done well Raska, rest and let us have at it. We'll get it for Kak'besi." With that said, he again steeled himself, as he brought the Varia on line for another attack run. Nejim could see the blue arcs of electricity jetting over the face of the shields where his torp hit. This must have meant that the enemy ships shields were weakened in that area, down he remembered. He yelled in delight as he saw Giani's torpedoes explode. Then incredibly, the flare of the explosion finally passed through the shields spilling over the hull of the Cruiser analog.

"We might crack this egg yet." Kasseopia yelled over the comm. system.

It seemed that they weren't getting anywhere here. For the last few minutes it was nothing but intense maneuvering as each side tried to score hits on each other. It was getting old, fast.

Tanem did a quick course change lining up on the tail of one of the erratically moving enemy ships and dove after it. He had been forced to take a brief respite from the battle when this rear shields had collapsed from damage. The ace on his tail had been very good, the best one here Tanem figured, the one with the Gold, White, and Silver coloring. A ship with a silver stripe passing down the middle of its fuselage. He looked back and saw that still Hanik followed him, making sure to stay tight on his tail. That silly girl, he thought. Now that he had come close to taking any form of damage, she would stay there lodged to his tail until she felt he was out of danger. Which will only be when this tassle ends. One way or the other. Hanik Seese was fiercely loyal and fiercely protective of Tanem. Protective to a point where she'd even disobey orders. She was always like that, Ever since that day…

An enemy ship flittered in his target lock. Tanem found that the thing was very hard to get a bead on. Almost like a fuzz that hurt his eyes when he looked at them. Must be fatigue. Shots came from under him; Hanik doing her best to heard the ship into his target lock. He smiled, I don't deserve her.

Tanem fired a proton torpedo and watched it race towards the enemy, and then miss as the enemy leapt to one side. The explosion from the torp covered its escape, when the flare subsided it had pulled out of his targeting range. "Damn things are getting annoying." Tanem said to himself, but blushed a bit when he heard the others reply likewise. He must have been talking out loud. He pulled back on his stick, looping around to once again join the melee.

Tanem looked to port and smiled, he marveled at the way Esel Palv went to work. Esel was currently engaged with one of the enemy fighters. Though from the looks of his piloting he was playing some sort of game. It was like one of the piloting stunt shows Tanem managed to watch in his youth. It was beautiful flying surely, but Tanem could see it was more than that. Esel was using his skills as a smoke screen, carefully luring the enemy into the guns of one of the other Yavins. His old friend surely knew how to put on a show. He was again reminded of his pilot's incredible talents.

"Could use assistance here Sir." shrieked Elajul's voice, bringing Tanem back to focus. "Silverback here is proving more than I can handle."

"Copy that. Hold tight," Tanem replied.

Systems went down and sparks arced, while warning lights and alarms flared within Vila Marik's cockpit. "Peace, tone down the alarms please," Vila asked of her R10 Unit. Her voice almost in a matter of fact tone. The particular SwarmShark she was engaging with had finally managed nibble her shields to nothingness. Her Varia sported carbon scoring and melted durasteel along its fuselage from a head to head pass. The fighter was damaged but still operable. Still the shields were down and she was particularly vulnerable, especially if her opponent looped around fast enough for a kill shot. Even so she was still stoically calm, as most Verillu were, even during dire circumstances. Her kind were hardly affected by the probability of death. They did however fear failing their comrades. Her companion R10 unit, Peace, was trying to bring some of the more critical functions back on line.

(DAMAGE MODERATE, REPAIRABLE),Peace informed her. Vila checked her detection systems, she would have a few moments, and her opponent had shied away because of another Yavin's cross shot.

As she pulled the Varia around in a ponderous loop a synthetic voice spoke to Vila over the comm. "Vila Marik your reaction's have slowed by a significant percent. Is assistance required." Her robotic wingmate asked, rather speedily. It couldn't be helped though, her wingmate being a droid. Everything must seem slow to something that can run multiple tasks per second or minute. Vila didn't have trouble keeping up with Tybolt though, which was why he didn't hold back as much. "None needed, I am recovering," she replied calmly, "Moderate damage incurred though. I should be fine."

"Inaccurate assessment, aggressor unit is inbound to your position." Tybolt replied again. Vila had already put her Varia though an evasive pattern before he responded though.

"I am aware of the enemy," she said as blue bolts of energy flashed past her starship. It was true; Verillu had a knack for special awareness, being aquatic creatures and... warriors. She checked her status, at least her shields were coming back online.

"I shall supply fire support to your position." Tybolt insisted.

Vila shifted the Varia through another climb roll ratio trying to lose her tail. Smiling all the while, as she had checked her sensors. Tybolt was holding a conversation with her, while currently engaged in a ferocious battle with one enemy, while also trying to get in position to provide cover fire to her as well. It was even funnier because she knew he might be able to pull it off.

Bright beams of energy arced back and forth, blossom like explosions lit up the cool blackness of space. There was beautiful opera of battle that the Yavins had gotten themselves into. A complicated dance that was as beautiful as any Elajul had participated in. Though in reality it was also a cruel joke, beauty and death together.

Even so, Elajul couldn't really enjoy the mirth behind such thoughts as she usually would have.

Currently she was on the wrong end of the joke. Elajul was not in a particularly good situation. Her shields were near critical failure. Her astromech droid was gone. The Varia's various systems, including its weapons, were failing. And she seemed to have acquired the particular ire of the Silverbacked Starfighter. It's ire was painful, and deadly and yet….

The weird blue beams raced past her Varia, occasionally impacting against her shields or setting of in close proximity. A delicious feeling of fear energized her hands. She used the foot pedals and adjusted the wing veniers, shifting the aft end of the fighter around in an attempt at a powerslide. Elajul felt the G's tug at her from behind, the starfield spun in a dazzling array. Suddenly new alarms flared, adding to the staccato of the alarms Elajul hadn't been able to shut off. Her Varia's left wing vernier suddenly failed during her slingshot maneuver. Elajul froze; the momentary flounder had obviously put her into a killshot. But it failed to come. Silverbacks shots only sailed over her fuselage. Is he playing with me… a predator to prey?

Next Up: A meeting of wills and the final conclusion to this "skirmish"! Who will be next to fall in battle! Tanem prepared to duel with the enemy Ace. Kass' team struggles to dostop the enemy behemoth. And Abahn rushes to save his friends.

I liked this chapter. I added a few parts from the original writing of this story. I'm finding it a bit easier to write battles these days. But maybe that is because I can see the pictures in my head. I hope I can illustrate a picture well enough for you guys. Let me know if I am not providing needed detail. Let me know.

As I said this was a merge of chapters 8 and 9. Three chapters on one little battle is a bit much. Hopefully this will lessen the fatigue of the reader.