Chapter 2: An Explosive Welcome
"What was THAT?" exclaimed Admiral Ehren Varick as he looked out into the smoke that choked the doorway, squeezing his staff in surprise.
"Sounds like they took your advice and got prepared," one of the captains said dryly, drawing his blaster.
A dozen infantry units started filing out of the TIE boarding craft, shooting as they went. The defenders returned fire in earnest, pummeling the infantry with bullets but were unable to pierce their black quantum-crystalline Mandalorian armor. A few seconds later a string of explosions were heard from the tripped frag grenades. One of the troopers hailed him on the comlink as screams from the surprised attackers drifted through the doorway.
"Sir! They're human, not covenant!"
Ehren sighed in relief; they probably wouldn't have to fight after all. You couldn't negotiate with the covenant, but you could negotiate with humans as long as you didn't royally piss them off, and he sincerely hoped he hadn't.
"Cease fire! Do not discharge another shot until I say otherwise!"
Grabbing his staff the Admiral stepped into the human ship and assessed the damage. His forward party, Commander Brinks, was unconscious and probably had a few broken bones. That was probably from the first explosion he'd heard. A handful of his infantry had been knocked off their feet from the grenades. However none of them seemed to be seriously hurt, and those still standing were patiently bracing themselves against the bullets pounding against them. It didn't look like the defenders had taken any casualties aside from losing the turret, blaster marks pocketed the barriers the defenders were using for cover.
"Truce! I call for a truce!" shouted Ehren over his external speakers. Most of the defenders complied, only a large brute of a guy in sickly green armor seemed to disagree with the admiral. He threw a plasma grenade at Ehren before the he had a chance to react, the bluish flame sticking to his midsection. Crap this is gonna hurt, thought Ehren as he braced himself. The resulting explosion would've killed him if he hadn't been wearing the quantum armor. As it was the grenade only doubled him over.
"Sir?" questioned one of the soldiers as Ehren tried to regain the ability to breath.
"I… think I… was just… kicked… by… a wookie…" he managed to gasp out.
"Get the Admiral back inside, we'll deal with this—"
"No need… I'm… okay now," said Ehren as he stood up and faced the amazed defenders. "So, you still want to resist right after I declare a truce, huh? Unless you want my boys to start aiming to kill then I suggest you put down your weapons and tell me exactly who's in charge here. Then we may be able to start negotiations."
The person in the green armor stepped forward. The two meter tall giant lowered his weapon and seemed to confer with someone else silently on a comlink. Nodding, he looked at the Admiral and dropped his weapon. The rest of the defenders filed suit.
"I'm leading the defense of this ship. My commanding officer is the captain of this ship. If you want to hold negotiations you'll have to talk with her on this ship."
"Correction, we're going to hold the negotiations on my ship," Ehren said as he stared down the defender. "If you have a problem with that than I suggest you deal with it—you have no choice but to listen to me."
The reply was instant; the leader of the defenders swiped up his rifle and started firing. The defenders also picked up their weapons and started firing. Ehren's troopers raised their weapons but instead of firing looked to the Admiral for orders. So, it's come to this. Ehren thought as he started to concentrate his will upon the defender's weapons.
Suddenly all the defender's weapons were torn from their grasp, Ehren flung the weapons into the boarding craft and turned to the defenders. He didn't use the force often; it was his last resort in a situation like this. Like all Mandalorians he had an extreme dislike for the Jedi, which was totally understandable because it was the Jedi who had almost wiped them out. However he also had no trouble using the force when in battle, it gave him a decisive edge when going head-to-head with an enemy. Ehren was the only Mandalorian to have the force and serve among the Jedi, but that was before the
Clone Wars. He was forced to turn his back on his Jedi brothers and join his brethren in the fight against the Old Republic. All ties he had shared with the Jedi had been severed in that last battle where the Mandalorians had almost been destroyed.
"As I said," Ehren Varick said slowly as he returned to the present. "We will be having the negotiations on my ship."
"So I see," the giant said, regaining his composure after being taken off guard by the Admiral's telekinetic ability.
"Bring down your captain, yourself, and a few other people you believe should have a say in what goes on," the Admiral ordered as he used the force to retrieve his staff.
"Yes Sir," the man said as he eyed the staff. "Nice stick."
With out a word the Admiral thumbed the ignition and with a familiar snap-hiss one end spurted an orange lightsaber. Ehren neatly sliced through one of the titanium plates.
"Thanks," Ehren grunted, turning off the staff-style lightsaber and walking into the boarding craft. His comlink chimed as he walked through the door. "Admiral Varick."
"Umm, Sir, we've ran into a problem."
"What kind of problem."
"There's a virus in our main computer."
"A virus?"
"Well we think it's a virus. It has a personality and she gets kind of huffy if you call her a virus."
"She?"
"Yeah, we're kind of confused as well. However we know she was beamed from the captured ship."
Of course. "I'll deal with this later, Captain."
"Yes, Admiral, bridge out."
These humans were becoming more of a problem than they were worth. He had to give them credit though; it wasn't easy to input a virus onto his ship. It was another issue to bring up at the meeting. He'd have to send someone to the kitchens to get food for the meeting as well. Hope they like nerf steak. The Admiral wandered towards his quarters so he could start making preparations for his guests.