Author's Note: Sorry about the long delay, folks. Again, personal things got in the way. And on that note, I can't guarantee a new chapter this weekend, either, at least not until Sunday. But I hope you readers enjoy this chapter!
Aboard the Chiss Star Destroyer Jetsop, the ship's sole One Sith member, Vekta, saw from his computer monitor that the YT-2600 christened as the Solo Quest II, an old-fashioned X-wing, and four StealthX fighters were all heading toward the Destroyer. As he could see according to the Chiss' wartime information databanks, all six vessels were registered as Jedi ships, with the Quest belonging to none other than Jacen Solo, a Jedi with whom Lord Krayt had a special interest, Vekta knew.
And as it was with most Jedi of such skill, the Quest and her Jedi fighter escort were managing to blow away the clawcraft fighters that were pursuing them at around every half-minute or so. With that kind of kill streak on their side, Vekta deduced, it would not be long before the six Jedi ships reached the Jetsop.
The Sith infiltrator inwardly cursed himself. In the time that it had taken the Chiss reinforcement fleet to reach the Calamari system, Vekta had forgotten to have the Force-cloak for his presence up in time for the Jetsop's drop out of hyperspace. Now, because of his forgetfulness, he had, as he had felt, attracted the attention of at least one of the Jedi in this system, and they were coming for him.
So, without turning away from his station as one of the Destroyer's sensor officers, Vekta sent an empathic notion into the mind of the ship's commander, Captain Puutaj.
"All forward weapon batteries," Puutaj spoke up from his command chair, "open fire on the following coordinates."
Just to make sure that none of the Jetsop's turbolaser operators had a problem with an order that would direct fire to an area that still had several clawcraft in its vicinity, Vekta sent a calming notion into the minds of those operators.
But it wasn't to calm their alertness in the battle; it was to calm their anxiety and moral fortitude against killing fellow Chiss.
So, only mere seconds after Puutaj gave the order, the Jetsop's forward turbolasers opened fire on the six approaching Jedi craft and the Chiss fighters that they were dogfighting.
. . .
Jacen banked the Quest hard to port to avoid one of the turbolaser strikes that was fired by the Chiss Destroyer that he and the five other Jedi in the system were heading toward. In his stead, one of the clawcraft that was trying to blow the YT-2600 out of the sky had taken the full brunt of the giant laser and was vanquished instantly.
As the Jedi Knight continued to dodge more of the incoming turbolaser barrage, he allowed more of the clawcraft pursuers that he had picked up to meet the same fate as that first one.
Looks like whoever this Sith is, Master Durron, Jacen conveyed through the Jedi battle-meld, they're in a position to have the Chiss fire upon even their own just to destroy us.
Keep your head in the fight, Jacen! Kyp returned.
A glancing hit off the Quest's starboard inadvertently served to heighten the Jedi Master's point, prompting Jacen to dive several meters.
Got it, he said before fully returning his concentration to just surviving.
Several more clawcraft that fired at the Quest's rear continued to go up in brief flames around it every fifteen seconds or so; indeed, it seemed as if the Chiss Destroyer's turbolasers were actually helping the Jedi eliminate more of their enemies instead of aiding them, Jacen mused. At one point, he even pulled back when there was a sizable gap behind the Quest before barrel-rolling off to starboard so that more of the clawcraft acted like shields for him against the turbolasers.
Even amidst all the dodging and weaving, Jacen couldn't help but think that if there was any power in the universe aside from the Sith that could get even the likes of the Chiss to fire on their own just to eliminate a few enemies, he feared to meet that force.
Eventually, however, the remaining clawcraft that were chasing the YT-2600 and the five Jedi fighters reached their right minds and broke away to engage in dogfights with other Galactic Alliance ships. Unfortunately, that meant that the six Jedi vessels no longer had even their enemies to act as inadvertent shields against the barrage, and that obviously put more pressure on them to do their best to dodge the turbolasers as they continued toward the Chiss Destroyer.
Once they were within a few thousand kilometers, however, one of the StealthX fighters didn't react quickly enough and was vaporized by one of the turbolasers.
Avinoam! Jacen heard Kyp shout through the meld.
Mourn him later, Kyp! Jacen returned. Stay on the job!
I don't need you to tell me that, Master Solo! Kyp replied more mean-spiritedly than he perhaps intended.
Jacen ignored the actual Jedi Master's condescension and heeded his own advice in keeping his concentration on making their way to the Destroyer. As he felt the other surviving Jedi also calm down in light of Jedi Knight Avinoam Arelis' loss, it turned out that added concentration was needed as the capital ship's rate of fire increased rapidly.
To offset that increased rate, Kyp let loose a shadow bomb that, with a simple Force-shove, rocketed the nearly invisible projectile over toward one of the Destroyer's turbolaser cannons, and just above its line of fire. Within seconds, that cannon was reduced to shrapnel along the capital ship's hull, and seconds after that, the three StealthXs also let loose their own shadow bombs toward some of the other cannons along the Destroyer.
Soon, the rate of fire had decreased, even if the Chiss' tenacity to destroy them had not. Still, it was just enough for all five Jedi vessels to reach right below the remaining turbolaser cannons' line of fire before Jacen fired off a series of lasers that destroyed the Destroyer's shield generator for its portside hangar bay.
And, as predicted, all five Jedi ships had entered the bay mere moments before its blast door closed over the gap that sealed the breach against the vacuum of space.
Hurriedly, the five Jedi cycled their ships down, unstrapped themselves from their seats, and quickly departed their vessels before the Destroyer's security forces rushed into the bay to confront them.
. . .
Vekta grimaced before he reported, "Captain, all five of the surviving Jedi vessels have successfully boarded the Jetsop!"
"Then deploy the security forces to terminate them!" Puutaj nearly exclaimed.
"Yes, sir!" Vekta dutifully replied before he obeyed.
With a few quick taps of the buttons on his console, he had alerted the security forces of a maximum-level threat in the Jetsop's portside hangar bay. But once he was done with that, Vekta threw off his headset, stood up from his seat, and stormed for the bridge's exit.
There was no way he was going to let the Jedi get him.
"Lieutenant Vekta, where do you think you're going?" Puutaj asked as he swiveled around in his chair.
"Keep your mind on the battle, Captain," Vekta replied without turning away from the exit. "Same with the rest of you." Naturally, he had put the Force behind his words so that there would be no dissent from anyone on the bridge.
Indeed, there was none, as Puutaj and his remaining subordinates returned their attention to the battle ahead as if nothing else had happened.
. . .
In spite of the Chiss' charric bolts being more difficult to deflect than the lasers of blasters more commonly used throughout the galaxy, the five Jedi aboard the Jetsop compensated for that with some additional Force-strength behind their lightsaber swings. As such, they were reduced to having to form a slow-moving circle with their bodies as Chiss troops fired upon them from around the corners of various intersections down the corridor they were walking.
"Master Durron!" one of the Jedi Knights with them—female Bothan Kolir Hu'lya—asked between charric deflections. "Do you sense the Sith here?"
A few moments of his own deflections later, Kyp said, "He's about five levels above us! Jacen, can you use your Fallanassi illusions to make our tour of this ship a little bit more expedient?" The Jedi Master's tone carried none of the bitterness or grief that Jacen knew that he was still feeling over Avinoam's death.
"They won't hold like before!" Jacen said without taking his eyes off of the Chiss who fired upon him. "But I'll try! I mean, I'll do what I can!"
Mere seconds later, several Jedi of varying species wielding varying colors of lightsaber blades appeared amidst the Chiss who were firing on the actual Jedi. However, like fuzzy holograms without the signature blue tint that went with them, the White Current illusions that Jacen erected were popping in and out, much to the short-lived confusion of the troops who were confronted by them.
Of course, the five Jedi were all smart enough to use the wavering illusions as visual obstacles against the Chiss as they loosened their formation just enough to hurry their pace for a nearby turbolift.
When they were only a few meters away from the 'lift, one of Jacen's illusions dissipated completely, and the blue-skinned troop that was confronted by it had fired off three shots toward Kolir.
While the first shot missed her entirely, she was only able to deflect the second one to the deck before the last one hit her straight in the heart; she died before she landed next to the deflected bolt a bare second earlier.
"Kolir!" one of the other Knights—male Falleen Thann Mithric—screamed.
The same Chiss who killed Kolir fired upon Thann, only for Kyp to step in and deflect it right back between that troop's eyes. The four surviving Jedi then tightened their formation again as Jacen allowed his illusions to dissipate completely just before they finally reached the 'lift.
The last Jedi with them—male human Doran Sarkin-Tainer—was the one to cut through the 'lift doors with his 'saber before he jumped in to bound up five levels toward the one that Kyp said that the Sith was on. Thann followed afterwards, his grief for Kolir placed on the back-burner of his mind for the moment, before Jacen bounded up after him. Kyp, being the Jedi Master, brought up the rear, but not before leaving behind a thermal detonator that fried a few Chiss that got too close to the Jedi's former position.
When Kyp rolled in through the 'lift doors that Doran had cut down and was the last Jedi on his feet, he joined in with the surviving Knights in once again deflecting more charric bolts back at the Chiss troops who were on this level. And without having to tell them anything aloud, he gradually guided them down one of the corridors to where he felt the Sith to be.
Several dead Ascendancy soldiers later, the four Jedi came upon an intersection with five Chiss, with four of them firing upon them and the other staring back from behind his quartet of fellows with obvious fear and anger in his expression. The non-firing Chiss quickly turned back and ran out of sight around the next intersection.
Jacen, illusions again! Kyp ordered through the battle-meld.
This time, Jacen varied it up by having other Chiss troops appear around the actual ones; but instead of bearing their species' signature firearms, they wielded active red lightsabers.
The Jedi wasted no time in using the new wavering illusions to quicken their pace, and those Chiss whose bolts they didn't deflect were Force-flung into unconsciousness against the bulkheads behind them. Kyp and the Knights could feel their quarry hurrying away from them, as if he was heading towards an escape pod.
But then a notion in the meld that almost caused them to stumble rang out: if the Sith really wanted to leave this ship, he had plenty of time at this point to have boarded an escape pod and launched himself away.
Of course, it was Kyp who clamped down on that thought; now was not the time to deliberate on why this Sith was doing what he was doing. All that mattered was to catch him or kill him before he did whatever he intended against the GA fleet in the Calamari system.
With that at least reluctantly agreed upon by all four Jedi, they soon took advantage of the decreased rate of fire around them and each put on a burst of Force-speed. In quick succession, they each lethally dispatched the Chiss troops who remained standing in their way before rounding the corner to where they felt the Sith to be.
And there he stood alone, tall and proudly, with a knowing grin on his face..
"Surprise," the Jedi's quarry said.
With a wave of each hand, one toward the Jedi and the other behind him, the Chiss Sith used the Force to close the blast-doors that effectively sealed them in.
Kyp smirked. "Oh, you just made a big mistake there, fella. You can't possibly think you can take all of-"
He was cut off when the corridor started seeping gas in from various corners. Naturally, the Sith had a rebreather over his nose and mouth before the aerosol reached him.
And before any of the Jedi could reach for their own rebreathers, their quarry used the Force to pull them out of their hands before he leaped up and slashed them all to pieces with one swift swipe of his crimson-bladed lightsaber.
Still, even as Jacen, Thann, and Doran began coughing against the gas, Kyp had used the Force quickly enough to create an air-bubble around him. He then Force-sped toward the Chiss, his lightsaber ready to strike him down.
However, the Sith reacted quickly enough to block off Kyp's attack before he twirled out of the way and grabbed his free hand upon the Jedi's weapon-wielding arm by the elbow. This forced Kyp's lightsaber into the bulkhead in front of him, but he still bonked his head up against the Sith's nose behind him, staggering him back a few steps. Two seconds later, Kyp had his lightsaber out and clashing against the recovered Chiss' blade as he began forcing him back toward the still-coughing Knights.
As for them, Jacen had been the one to Force-blow some of the gas away to create enough room for oxygen for himself, Thann, and Doran before creating an air bubble of his own around all of them. Still feeling drowsy from almost falling unconscious, however, Jacen's speech was slurred as he said to his fellow Knights, "Hang on. I've never tried this before."
He grabbed onto each of them, closed his eyes, and tried not to fall asleep as he concentrated on what he could remember from his time with the Aing-Tii monks.
The next thing Jacen saw when he opened his eyes, the world around himself, Thann, and Doran was plunged into an ethereal whiteness that dimmed the rest of the physical plane. Simultaneously, they were all being moved backwards, away from the duel between Kyp and the Sith, toward the blast-door behind them. None of the three Knights questioned what was going on aloud or moved from their current position as they phased through the door, their vision momentarily obscured by complete darkness, before they emerged out the other side to where a battalion of Chiss troops was waiting for them.
At that moment, the world around them returned to its normal hue, and they were still together on the deck as the battalion looked down upon them with confusion and fear.
"Uh..." Jacen said before he exclaimed, "Ewoks!"
Suddenly, Ewoks manifested themselves, once again cutting in and out before like Jacen's other illusions, but this time, they had force behind them as they swarmed over the Chiss troops. Picking up on what Jacen was doing, Thann and Doran added in their own Force-blows to keep the soldiers on the defensive even as they started to fire among each other.
As the three downed Jedi kept their potential executioners at bay, only Jacen turned his head to see that the blast-door behind them had opened back up.
Standing there was Kyp Durron, the Chiss Sith's rebreather now over his own nose and mouth, while the Sith himself was unconscious and held by the back of his collar by the Jedi Master.
"Ewoks, Jacen?" Kyp asked after a moment. "Really?"
Jacen only offered a small chuckle even as Thann and Doran looked over their own shoulders briefly to find that Kyp had emerged victoriously.
"C'mon, let's get outta here," Kyp said. He then levitated their unconscious quarry up into the air before charging in toward the troops that were being menaced by the illusory Ewoks.
