Thanks for the reviews... i was concerned about the bastilla/revan thing being to short as well... while this chapter won't explore it, I'm going to go in much deeper detail... i was tired when i finished it and just wanted to throw it up... Anywho, enjoy this one... trying my hand at some action writing.
Chapter 4: Escalation
3 days of pure hell…
Sending men and woman to their deaths…
Watching as the lifeless bodies piled up…
Fear…
Anger…
Vengeance…
Pain…
So much pain…
Revan took a deep breath… and almost threw up at the stench. He would of… save he'd already vented the contents of his stomach over the past 3 hours as he trekked across the battlefield, searching for any remnants of soldiers…
The smell… he could handle the smell. It wasn't that which made him throw up… It was the emotions.
They hung thick as a fog over the entire surface of the planet. Oppressive emotions… emotions of the darkside. A force sensitive who was untrained would likely go mad in the area… several soldiers were reported too of during and after the battle. Even trained Jedi could have trouble keeping the emotions in check... Potential problems for the future…
From the start, the battle had been a disaster. Due to political bickering, it had taken 12 days to convince the Senate to pass the bill…
In fact, as he had left, reports had filtered in that the battle had begun. It was a 12 hour hyperspace journey from Coruscant to Ordo. 12 hours…
The republic commander on site had been a political appointee… some senators son…
And a complete MORON….
He had lead from the front thankfully, and so was taken out of action early enough that his subordinates, who were not incompetent, were able to salvage the battle enough to drag it into a draw... though it was barely a draw as the republic forces fought a losing battle…
Despite the fact that the republic began with overwhelming force…
Despite the fact the mandalorians should have been brutally crushed…
Only his arrival had saved the day, bringing the Leviathan, the biggest heaviest ship to ever be made as far as anyone knew, and several escorts. This would of seemed to pretty much even the odds in the battle.
Of course, it was far from that. The arrival of Revan tipped the favor to the republic, and badly…
All the other ex-Jedi's had come to Ordo 5 days previously save Revan and Malak. They had been sent to the surface to guard against a land incursion, with Joe being placed in command.
And man… man had that ground incursion come.
Before the political general had been killed, hundreds of transports had been able to slip by, dropping troops, battle droids, and everything else to the ground. Common military logic states that you need a 3 to 1 advantage in strength if you're the attacker. With the Mandalorians against the Republic, they could get by with having ½ as many men… if that.
The force they dropped on planet was EQUAL in numbers to the number of republic soldiers stationed on the ground. Only the Jedi, whose ranks had swelled from 50 to over 300 over the course of the 2 weeks, had kept it from being a total defeat. As it was, over 150 Jedi died. And of the remaining Jedi, 50-60 were still unaccounted for; though hopes were high they were alive. Worst of all, the republic had a 98 casualty rate in its men… 70 fatality rate. The mandalorians were wiped out anywhere they showed themselves… but at a huge cost. Only the bringing down of additional troops as the battle progressed allowed the final eradication of them.
In space they fared little better. The Mandalorians had brought in roughly 60 capital ships. They faced well over 120 Republic ships. While on ground the Mandalorians had a huge advantage, in space that advantage wasn't as large… it was more like 3 mandalorian ships were 4 Republic ships…
Of course, in the first 3 hours before the political general died 46 republic ships were lost, and 19 more died over the next 9 hours in exchange for a mere 14 mandalorian ships…
Revan had salvaged the battle best as he could. Over the next 63 hours they had kept up a battle... 63 hours straight. As time went on and the Mandalorians realized they were losing, they quickly killed the single interdictor cruiser Revan had left and fled the battle…
43 mandalorian ships dead…
28 republic ships still operational… and of that only 10-15 were actually combat ready.
The only reason the mandalorians had retreated was that pretty much every one of there ships were no longer combat operational…
It had been ferocious…atrocious
Revan eventually gave up searching on foot…
In this place of death, he wouldn't need to be that near really to sense a particular life. For right now, he wasn't really searching for soldiers… he was searching for Jedi. There were still 20 Jedi missing… including Joe and Joanna… Revan was beginning to worry. What could be so bad as to cause them to not be able to contact him after all this time…
So now he was flying in a fighter over the landscape, searching for them… anytime he sensed a flicker of life he would log the location and medical teams would be summoned to it. Other Jedi were also given ships and were searching the planet.
It would take months to find there bodies if they were dead… there were so many bodies that there just weren't resources to find them.
Ahead, a presence… a faint one… but one which knew the force. And another one beside it. They were very tired minds… clearly they lacked the strength to call for aid.
They were in a facility, and Revan sensed other beings down there with them…
There were some republic soldiers, a few at least… but most of all, just what he was hoping for…
Some mandalorians.
Revan already had the canopy popped before it had even landed and was climbing out as he used the force to shut down the engines. He was running towards the door as fast as his force-enhanced legs would take him. As he reached the doors he activated his 2 lightsabers and quickly sliced through the locked down door, proceed down towards the activity…
The facility had been an Orbital Defense Gun… but it had been reduced to scrap. Thankfully, the crew was kept down low and under the ground safely…
That's where the republic and Jedi had taken refuge. He felt anguish come off the 2 Jedi as a Republic soldier fell, leaving 3 soldiers with the Jedi versus over 20 mandalorians…
"Hang on brethren, I am coming," he sent to them through the force, unable to know if they received it.
He willed himself faster…
He was fading fast… Joanna had no doubt of it now. He still stood at the front, barely under cover, using his saber to try to deflect as many shots back as he could… but he… Joe, moved sluggishly. He was bleeding from many places, was scarred with many blaster shots… but was to tired to access the force to heal himself, just like herself. The 3 remaining republic soldiers were trying there best to keep a barrage of fire up, but the mandalorians would pick them off 1 by 1 until all that remained were the Jedi…
She felt the fatigue pulling at her limbs as she vainly felt for a pulse of Idanian… she couldn't even use the force… she was too tired.
"he's gone…" she said, anguish in her heart. She felt Joe feeling the same emotion… Idanian had befriended them. He had been the commander of this Orbital Gun, and had shown his loyalty to his men to the last… placing them before orders… He had earned there respect through his actions… he had been a friend. But a stray blaster bolt had snuffed him out, just like the hundreds of other soldiers at this Facility…
Soon they would join them.
"Hang on brethren, I am coming!"
Joanna shook at that voice… A Jedi was coming to help them… perhaps they would not fall.
She saw Joe do the same. He laughed, then proceeded to yell out at the Mandalorians, "Uh oh… you boys are gonna get it now…" he said mockingly as he blocked another blast.
And she immediately cursed Joe…
The mandalorians were not stupid… they would know reinforcements were coming. They knew they would be trapped…
So instead of this long, drawn out battle they'd have to end it fast…
"Whoever you are, hurry…" she willed silently…
And of course, within 10 seconds the mandalorians were up and charging…
Revan felt one of the Jedi trying to broadcast a thought, but the persons mind was so fatigued that he couldn't understand it. However, there was a sense of urgency to it, and as much as possible Revan increased his speed. The elevators were broken so he was stuck using the stairs, and they were over 80 levels beneath the surface… a lot of running…
He covered the distance quickly as he could, jumping down whole sets of staircases.
And then a horrible pain reached out to his heart and squeezed it… a Jedi had fallen.
The second they started charging Joe had immediately rose from cover, using his saber to block the bolts, reflecting them best as he could. The first 2 mandalorians went down to a combo of blasterfire and his returned bolts… Joe couldn't tell. However, with less then 20 meters to cover, they covered it rapidly, stopping at around 8 meters were the corridor spread out enough to allow 6 of them to stand side by side. They immediately opened fire.
Joe felt Joanna move up to help him, even as he desperately tried to block there shots. 4 of them rushed forward, vibroswords in hand as more filled in the rank of blaster firers. A simple swipe took the first mandalorian out of commission, but it overextended his blade. He brought it back to block a blaster bolt, but was a fraction to late.
Searing pain exploded in his right side. He took a moment to shunt aside the pain, which took a lot of concentration even as he parried the next vibrosword swing…
Just in time to take a bolter shot in the chest.
Pain exploded there, and this time he couldn't find the energy to shift it aside.
He felt Joanna suddenly cry out in anguish… not of physical pain, but of mental pain…
A sudden warm stickiness could be felt in his chest. He looked down…
A vibrosword was sticking out of him… But he couldn't feel a thing… He watched in fascination as the blade slowly pulled itself out of him. He slashed out with his saber, finding it impossibly heavy, striking off the head of his killer.
This drained the last of his strength. Dropping his saber to the ground, he fell down to his knees, and then fell the rest of the long way to the ground…
It all went dark.
She saw the sword puncture into Joe, and felt anguish burrow into her heart. She watched, with a detachment that was very Jedi like, as he calmly killed the mandalorian, before dropping to the ground.
Letting out a scream of rage, and suddenly feeling extremely powerful, she charged at the mandalorians, blocking there laserbolts. As she closed to striking distance with the first mandalorian, she pushed out at him with force strength she no longer knew she had. Instantly the 2 remaining mandalorians went flying away, clattering into there companians behind them. The other opened fire, and at this close range, she wondered how Joe had ever managed to block them all for so long. She struggled to block them, knowing that to advance would mean she'd die, but she couldn't hold here forever. She reached out at Joe with the force…
And her new found power was gone… gone with the rage that was no longer there, replaced by despair…
He felt the second Jedi's rage grow, and felt as they pulled in Dark side energies, flinging them at the mandalorians. And just as quickly, he felt it fade, replaced with despair, a person ready to die…
Not if he could help it. He dropped to the level they were on, bursting through the door. Ahead, he could see where the mandalorians stood. He let out a loud yell to attract there attention as he brought out his 2 lightsabers. He easily reflected there bolts, and he saw 4 mandalorians pull there blades, readying for combat…
He fell one of his blaster toting foes with over 20 returned blaster bolts… he did have to admit, as horrible as they were, they took a lot to put down. He reached the first mandalorian shortly after that, knocked his blade aside and running him through as he went onto the next one. Parrying the slash with his left, smaller saber, he chopped the head off oh him as he used the force to knock 4 others down.
He paused to stasis lock 5 others as the mandalorians strived to recover from this assault from the rear.
He now knew who the jedi were now… Joanna stood off to the side, fighting with 2 of the mandalorians while the republic soldiers shot it out with a single mandalorian…
Which meant he knew exactly who was on the ground… still alive but dead for sure soon. He pushed the emotion he felt aside.
Leaving 12 mandalorians to him.
No problem.
He threw his shorter left lightsaber at the 4 he had knocked down, using the force to control it and rip through them even as he blocked the blaster shots of the others. They're screams of agony ripped loudly through the corridor. He closed to the 3 that were un-stasised and alive. One of them wore special armor… obviously a leader. They all brought out there swords and moved to encircle him…
"Like that would help," he said to himself, grinning madly.
The one on the left struck out. He easily blocked it, but didn't follow up. He sensed that the other 2 expected that, and would have been on him.
Instead, he went to the one on his right, double tapping his sword with his sabers, as he elbowed him in the helmet hard. The man instinctively brought his hands up, and Revan simply finished him off by slicing him in ½ at the waist as he turned to the remaining 2. He sensed his stasis beginning to wear off at the same time. Jerking towards the 2 mandalorians in front of him as a feint, he immediately dropped back as he turned and threw his lightsaber, beheading every one of them neatly.
Of course, the other 2 were fast, instantly closing. He turned, blocked with his single saber quickly as he reached out to catch his remaining saber.
Catching it, he ran the second mandalorian through, leaving the leader.
The mandalorian leader raised his sword in a ½ salute. He felt Joanna finish off her opponents. She turned to the republic soldiers… make that soldier now, who was shooting it out with a mandalorian and moved to finish him.
"Surrender…" offered Revan simply
The mandalorian responded in the cold metallic voice, "There is no honor in that… come Jedi, you have skill… Let us fight."
Revan shook his head inwardly, as he instantly charged in. Easily pushing the saber aside, he cut the man in literally a dozen places… but none fatal.
"Your men killed a good friend of mine… I hope you realize you deserve worst," he said softly as the mandalorian slowly fell to the ground, breathing heavily. "It's a good thing that Joanna is busy stalking your last man, or she'd come over here and do somenastycrap to you… As it is, I'll simply run you through."
He shut off his short lightsaber as he stood over the mandalorian.
He rammed his main one right through his heart as hard as he could.
The sheer joy of it ran through him… the bastard was dead… he deserved worst…
No… no that was wrong. Killing was a last resort. No one deserves what he just did to that man…
Or did they?
Revan turned away, disturbed by his own thoughts, going over to Joe quickly. Joanna was returning as well with the last Republic soldier, having slain their last foe.
He was unconscious… he would die, there was no doubt… Revan slowly sent the force through and into him, doing his best to ease the pain…
Joe's eyes suddenly shot open. He slowly smiled. "Re… Revan, you came," he said quietly.
"Of course I did… I'm sorry Joe…"
He shook his head, the move evidently paining him. "Do… Don't be. You… you did what you…" he paused as he coughed, blood slowly spurting up. "had too…" He saw Joanna behind Revan. He looked at her. Revan stepped back, allowing Joanna to come closer. "I'm… I'm sorry Joanna… I must… confess something…" he said, his breathing laborious, his punctured lungs bubbling as he struggled to bring air into them." I… I…" he was struggling with the words…
"I know Joe… I love you too…" said Joanna softly as tears creeped from her eyes. Joe nodded once, before closing his eyes, becoming one with the force…