"Power's been disrupted!" Cody yelled as he tried to assess the damage done to their ship. Plasma fire had managed to strike a power line, and several of the Titan's systems were down, including its shields, engines, and point-defense guns. "We're sitting mynocks out here!"

Anakin stared out the viewport at the scores of warships clashing just beyond them, eyes narrowing as he watched a handful of Vong ships break through their lines on a direct course with them. "Those ships are coming right at us," he said, and turned to Obi-Wan to gauge the man's reaction. Anakin had to admit their situation was strange: if the warships wanted to destroy them, now was the perfect chance.

Behind the Jedi, Cody was fast at work trying to restore their systems. He looked to the officer closest to him and gestured to the bridge's holotable. "Are communications still up?" he asked the officer. When he received a nod from the man, Cody quickly hailed Admiral Coburn. Moments later a display of the admiral appeared before him, but the image was garbled due to interference from electromagnetic static. "Admiral," Cody began, "The Titan's in disarray. It's up to you to get that worldship out of the fight."

If Coburn had any reaction to Cody's words, he never showed it. His stern expression remained on his face while he took in Cody's words, then pointed to something off screen. "I'll have the Third Fleet focus on that beast's escort ships. Once it's isolated, we'll pound it to cinders."

Cody nodded to the admiral. "Good luck." Communications cut out a moment later when a plasma round struck several levels below the bridge. Cody fell against the holotable.

Anakin shouted from the other side of the bridge. "They're getting closer!"

Obi-Wan turned to Cody, who was just returning to his feet. "It appears the enemy's looking to board us."

Cody tilted his head at Obi-Wan. "For what purpose?"

It was then Anakin chimed in. "They probably figured out we're leading the attack. Taking our ship as a trophy would certainly boost the enemy's morale."

Obi-Wan glanced over at Anakin, words of agreement being shared between them without the need to speak. Obi-Wan simply nodded, then turned his eyes back to Cody. "We'll need to prepare defenses."

"Our troops are on the surface," Cody replied. "I only have a small security detail left."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, and he raised a hand to his beard as he tried to conjure a solution to their dilemma. If the enemy were to board, Cody's troops would be outnumbered and outgunned. They had the advantage of tight corridors, but the enemy was skilled at close-quarters, and Cody didn't have the numbers to best them. With this knowledge, there seemed only one right course of action. Obi-Wan was about to speak when the Titan's engines roared. Its systems had come back online.

Cody looked to his officers, saw their terminals lighting with green, and watched point-defense guns take aim at the enemy. "We've got our fists back," he said. "It's time to swing."

Anakin's voice filled the room before Cody's orders could be followed. "We can't stop them from boarding at this point," he said. "But we could still use that to our advantage."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, both uncertain yet interested in what Anakin had to say. "What's your plan?"

"Abandon ship," Anakin admitted, and the pair shared a glance that said Anakin already knew what Obi-Wan had been thinking before power was restored. "Officers will use the escape pods, troopers will take the gunships."

"And us?" Obi-Wan asked.

"That's the fun part," Anakin smirked, when he pointed to Cody. "We take the ship's autopilot into the atmosphere, where both ships will make a controlled crash toward the surface."

"That's the problem," Obi-Wan said, "a controlled crash. There's no certainty the enemy will go down in the wreck."

Anakin put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder, eyes glinting beneath the lights of the bridge as he smirked out the corner of his mouth. "You and I will make sure they don't escape."

Obi-Wan's shoulders sank. "I have a feeling I know where you're going with this, and I don't like it."

Anakin held his hands out to his sides, cocking his head as if to ask whether Obi-Wan had a screw loose. "When have my plans ever backfired?"

"Plenty of times," Obi-Wan remarked. "But fine, we'll do this your way. I want to see this battle end as decisively as everyone else."

Cody crossed his arms. "Wouldn't call losing our capital ship decisive."

"Victory's a victory," Anakin stated. "As long as our people live through it, we're fine."

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows. "You think that way only because we're not footing the bill for these ships." The ship rumbled, and Obi-Wan was knocked from his position when plasma fire shelled the bow of the Titan.

Cody shouted to those on the bridge while pointing to the exit. "Sound the evacuation alarm! We're getting out of here."

Obi-Wan was helped to his feet by Anakin while the officers sent out the signal, and the two Jedi watched as Cody waited for the bridge to clear out. They saw Cody glance back at them one last time before following after the others, and Obi-Wan knew the ship would soon be empty, save for the enemy that was pulling up alongside them.

#

The doors to the Titan's interior opened to silence, and Yuuzhan Vong entered in phalanx formation, only to find they had nothing waiting for them. The ranks divided, and they awaited the arrival of their supreme commander, who strolled in moments later with a look of infuriated shock.

"Where are their warriors?" Rendis growled. "I was expecting a battle, yet I'm met with cowardice." Enraged by the lack of courage his enemies had, his eyes scanned the corridor as he thought of his next move. He then pointed toward the branching hallways ahead. "Search the ship. Bring anyone you find aboard my vessel to be skinned." Rendis waved a pair of fingers toward the turbolift at the end of the hall, and his personal guard followed close him behind in tight formation. He and his men took the lift up to the bridge, where its door slid open to reveal an empty hall with another set of doors ahead sealing them off from the rest of the bridge. Irked by the lack of resistance, Rendis ordered his men to breach the next set of doors. His hopes were that some form of resistance awaited beyond; it would be an easy victory, but a victory over his adversaries was all he wanted. As he approached the next set of doors, however, his body was suddenly sent crashing against the wall when the ship violently shifted its mass.

"What was that?!" Rendis snapped as his guardsmen.

"Ship's on the move," one of his men reported.

"With ours still attached to it?" Rendis asked. It was not unheard of for enemy ships to try evading a boarding party by firing their engines in opposition to their opponent, but Rendis had expected the countermeasures of his own ship to keep them stable in orbit over Bothawui. Rendis had little time to think about the sudden shift of the vessel, however, as his men breached the doorway ahead of them moments later.

The doors slid open to reveal a pair of men standing at the far end of the bridge, next to the wide viewport. Rendis recognized their look, robes and all. Sorcerers. "So," he uttered, "I shall meet sorcerers in battle after all." He pulled his amphistaff from his hip, grinning with his large, serrated teeth as he stared down his adversaries. "My question is: why only two?"

The Jedi shared a glance between themselves before turning to Rendis. Anakin brushed a hand through his hair before calling his lightsaber into his grip. "Thought we'd give you a fair fight." Then, in unison, the Jedi threw their hands forward and called upon the Force. The tried to throw the Yuuzhan Vong back, but Rendis and his men continued to stand motionless before them, unfazed.

Rendis sneered at the Jedi. "Your powers are useless against us," he said, and on gesturing to his men, a second amphistaff was tossed to him.

Obi-Wan grimaced as he ignited his lightsaber. "I suppose we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Rendis lowered his stance, amphistaffs loose as a whip in each hand as he prowled before the Jedi, trusting them to make the first move. He knew they were capable of great feats, but they had not scorched worlds as he had, destroyed half a galaxy as he had. The scars on his body were a testament to his resilience, the reality that no one could ever truly kill him. So when the Jedi finally did strike, he was less than surprised. As he had expected, the overconfident one with long hair proved to be the more impatient of the two. Anakin leaped through the air, coming down mere feet from him. Rendis lashed out with the amphistaff in his left hand, batting away Anakin's swing before directing the one in his right to parry Obi-Wan's strike. Rendis swung his amphistaffs as if they were whips, striking at the pair's feet and shoulders in the hopes he'd land a hit. All it would take was a single bite from his serpents to kill them.

Anakin and Obi-Wan slid away from the strikes of their opponent, each deflecting an amphistaff while trying to find a weak point in Rendis's form. Anakin beat back strike after strike, and began noticing a pattern in the enemy's movement. Rendis was swinging in tandem, one blow after the other, always a strike from above his head moving diagonally down to the left, then right. Anakin figured it out, and on the next swing, grabbed hold of an amphistaff by its neck. He could hear the serpent hissing, frantically snapping its jaws at him, but his grip held firm. He then lunged forward, thrusting his lightsaber toward Rendis's shoulder. He struck home, but his blade barely pierced Rendis's armor. Anakin was forced to release his grip on the amphistaff when Rendis swung his second serpent toward him, but an opening was given for Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan swiped beneath Rendis's arms, his blade carving out a chunk of the vonduun armor around the supreme commander's torso. Obi-Wan was now behind Rendis, and ducked beneath the blow of an amphistaff as his opponent tried to redirect attention toward him. Obi-Wan was too familiar with the strikes of his enemy, and easily parried each swing as it came.

Rendis was forced between the Jedi, between a rock and a hard place, and he quickly found himself being squeezed by pressure on both sides of him. He batted away the strikes of his opponents, but the Jedi were drawing closer to him, and he knew his attacks had become predictable. He watched Anakin come about to swing for his head, and felt heat draw near when he shifted his grip on his staffs at the last moment. The amphistaffs tightened up, straightening to form spears as he moved to block Anakin's strike. His amphistaff collided with the lightsaber, and he sent a foot to Anakin's chest before bringing his staffs to his backside, where he defended against a blow from Obi-Wan. He shoved back against the Jedi, and thrusted the sharp tail end of an amphistaff backwards, where he pierced flesh and heard a subsequent groan. He ripped his staff free of Obi-Wan, hearing the successive collapse of the Jedi against the floor.

Anakin watched with wide eyes as Obi-Wan crashed onto the floorboards of the bridge, a wound in his abdomen. Anakin saw the look of shock in his old master's eyes, the agony seeping from his lips, and Anakin lost all control of himself. He leaped to Rendis, his arms moving faster and faster as he lashed out with all the bottled up rage he held. He swung hard and quick, knocking Rendis back step by step, slowly overwhelming his opponent with his lightning fast strikes. He could see the look of desperation in Rendis's eyes; his opponent could barely keep up. Anakin managed to push Rendis back several feet, when he noticed Obi-Wan holding out his lightsaber. Anakin knew what it meant, and using the Force, ignited his friend's saber. He then called it to his grip, ensuring it would fly right through Rendis.

Rendis heard the lightsaber ignite behind him, saw Anakin outstretching his hand, and knew what was about to happen. He pushed off the floor, leaping backwards through the air before he could be impaled from behind. He landed closer to his men, watching Anakin taunt him from afar with two lightsabers. Rendis tried to rise to full height, but the ship rumbled again, this time much more violently, and he was nearly sent onto the floor. He looked out the viewport, and soon realized what was happening.

The Titan's autopilot had navigated the pair of ships into Bothawui's orbit. Its shields had been deactivated, which meant the ship was about to fly through the atmosphere in a ball of fire.

Anakin glanced back at the viewport, and seeing rays of fire shoot up on all sides, smiled. "Looks like our plan worked."

Enraged, Rendis pointed to Anakin. "Kill him!" he shouted to his warriors. His guardsmen stepped further into the room, opening fire with their carbines. Rendis then stepped toward the terminals near the bridge's central holotable in an effort to prevent the ships from burning up in-atmosphere.

Anakin deflected the rounds flying toward him, all while looking to Obi-Wan who still laid helpless on the floor. "Obi-Wan!" he shouted, "Blow the engines!" He watched his former master reveal a detonator from his robes and press the switch. The ship quaked as explosions from outside threatened to tear at their eardrums.

Rendis looked at the terminals in horror. He knew what the Jedi were doing. "They've blown the engines," he uttered, and turned back to his men. "We're leaving, now!"

#

Commander Blast stood atop the outer wall of Drev'starn, rallying his troops for the Yuuzhan Vong's siege. He could already see horkthrowers on the hills to the west, the thousands of gathering infantry on the plains beyond, and knew time was short. His snipers of the 212th were already positioned along the wall, lying in wait for the enemy to arrive, with the airborne troopers huddled behind the walls with Captain Aang and those of the 117th. To him, is seemed everything was in order. He was about to contact General Cody about reinforcements when he saw a most peculiar sight in the sky. Two ships, intertwined by boarding ramps and tractor beams, were falling through the atmosphere on a collision course with the surface. He could see the enemy warship strapped to the side of the Titan, and thought of only one right course of action.

Blast turned to his gunners aboard the wall's cannons. "Raise your guns," he ordered, and pointed to the sky. "Fire on that ship!"

A dozen AV-9s tilted their cannons skyward, locking in coordinates before unloading. When they finally fired, the walls of the city shook. Heavy rounds flew high and true, slamming into the hull of the enemy warship with expert precision. Another volley fired, tearing deep wounds in the vessel before a third ripped into the warship's engines. One more salvo, and the vessel could be seen breaking apart.

"Good aim, boys," Blast remarked. "Let's hope those aboard the Titan make it out alright."

#

Rendis smashed the bridge's terminals when he learned planetary gunfire had destroyed his ship. His eyes locked with Anakin, and he raised his stiffened amphistaffs. "We all burn together then," he uttered before leaping into the fray.

Anakin called upon the Force as his enemies laid into him, and caught many of their projectiles in midflight. He threw his hands forward, sending them back to the enemy just as Rendis joined the fight. While Vong troops crumbled under their own fire, Anakin raised his sabers to clash with Rendis, but was nearly knocked back by the full force of his opponent, a being that towered over him. Anakin and Rendis traded blows, each barely avoiding the blades of the other, when Anakin noticed Obi-Wan steadily rising. He wanted to help his former master, but the duel at hand prevented it, and he kept his attention on Rendis. Their weapons glided across one another like skates on ice, the two of them equally matched in ferocity as they pushed and shoved against one another, when suddenly the floorboards beneath Rendis were pulled upward, causing him to lose his footing. Anakin then threw his leg forward, kicking Rendis in the side of the chest before glancing back at Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan had managed to use the Force to rip up the floorboards and provide Anakin leverage in his duel, and though hurt, Obi-Wan was far from defeated. He outstretched his hand to Anakin, and his former padawan tossed him his lightsaber. He grabbed his saber just as the Vong guardsmen turned their attention to him. Obi-Wan deflected their projectiles, backing away to Anakin's side all the while. When the pair were finally back to back, they summoned the Force to uplift the floorboards beneath the guardsmen and throw them back into the hallway near the turbolift. They watched as Vong were sent flipping through the air, metal slamming against their bodies until they were all on the floor.

The bridge suddenly shook, and the main viewport shattered as flames engulfed the outside of the ship. Smoke and debris began to fill the room, burning everyone's lungs and making their eyes water from the sting of heat.

Obi-Wan felt a hand on his shoulder, and followed close behind Anakin as they moved to the secondary bridge, one designated for starfighter operations. The Jedi entered the bridge to find its viewports smoking, but still intact. Obi-Wan felt stinging pain in his side, and placed a hand over his wound while he looked at Anakin. "I think it's time we called Cody for pickup."

Anakin nodded. "I agree."

Obi-Wan had just activated his comlink when Rendis came flying into the room, thrusting his amphistaffs toward the Jedi with a thirst for blood. Obi-Wan stumbled away from the supreme commander, letting Anakin take on the brunt of Rendis's violence while he made contact with Cody.

Anakin and Rendis locked blades, their faces close enough Anakin could smell the toxic breath of his opponent. He tried to push back against Rendis, but he found his opponent's physical strength to be far beyond his own. Anakin looked in appearance as if he were half the size of Rendis, which would've made their deadlock quite the surprise to an average onlooker.

Rendis appeared to be enjoying himself. "Your flesh will be torn away, sorcerer, piece by piece."

Anakin gnashed his teeth as he stared into the empty eyes of his enemy. "You should never have invaded our galaxy." A moment later he felt pressure lift off his blade, and found Obi-Wan standing right beside him, their blades locked with Rendis's amphistaffs.

"No," Rendis laughed at the Jedi. "It is you who should never have resisted." He shoved both of them away, raising his staffs to pierce their hearts, when he heard the roar of engines drawing near to them from outside. He looked out the viewport to find a Republic gunship drawing near, its side door opening to reveal a handful of clones inside.

Onboard the gunship, General Cody pointed to the interior of the bridge. "Let him have it!" he shouted, and raised his blaster to the viewport. He and half a dozen others fired into the bridge, lasers shredding the viewport before flying freely about the chamber. He finetuned his aim while his men continued the barrage, and squeezed his trigger just as Rendis was raising his amphistaffs to defend himself. Cody managed to nail Rendis twice in the chest and a third time in the shoulder, but his blaster fire did little good. The vonduun armor of the Yuuzhan Vong was too thick to penetrate from that distance.

Inside the bridge, Anakin and Obi-Wan kept their heads low to the floor while the clones fired over them, but the battle took a turn when Vong soldiers came around the corner. Warriors that had become stranded aboard the Titan when their warship was destroyed, the Yuuzhan Vong had nothing left but to try and claim glory in their final moments. They leaped toward the Jedi, spear and shield in hand as they crashed against their enemy.

Obi-Wan batted away a shield before twirling about, severing a Vong head in the process, and overturned several floorboards which knocked a pair off their feet. He then locked blades with another, but the duel was short lived. Obi-Wan easily slid his saber around the Vong's amphistaff and plunged it through the warrior's throat. Obi-Wan stepped past the fallen bodies to find Anakin battling three warriors at once.

Anakin lopped off a Vong's head to his front before ducking beneath a spear and ramming his blade through the thigh of another. He spun around to tear an arm clean off a third before kicking away the opponent at his back, and finally plunged his saber through the throat of his final adversary. He looked to Obi-Wan, his eyes devoid of feeling as laser fire flew past them to cut down a dozen other Vong. All around them raged fires that threatened to engulf what little of the bridge remained.

"Master Skywalker, Master Kenobi!" Cody yelled from the gunship, waving them over to him while his men kept the enemy distracted. "Come on!"

Anakin turned to the gunship, about to leap for it when he heard an amphistaff come flying through the air. He turned to see Obi-Wan stumble to the floor, the cloth on his shoulder ripped away by the amphistaff that had managed only to graze him.

But grazing was enough. Obi-Wan doubled over in agony as pain enveloped his body. The amphistaff had nicked him with its teeth, and a little venom was all it took to fill his body with bone-chilling afflictions.

Anakin looked up to see Rendis charging through the smoke and fire, an amphistaff in hand as he prepared to finish off Obi-Wan. Anakin got between them just as Rendis prepared for a final blow, but the supreme commander had strength on his side.

"He's already dead," Rendis laughed, hissing through his teeth as he pressed his weapon against Anakin's saber. "You just don't know it yet."

Anakin wanted to throw Rendis back, to send him crashing against the wall with the Force, but he knew all too well the ineffectiveness of his plan. He was fuming, enraged, but most importantly, terrified. His mind filled with fears of what would happen if his old friend died. What if Obi-Wan was already doomed? The two men were brothers, having survived everything that had ever been thrown at them, until now, when the nick of a spear sealed one's fate. Anakin shoved against Rendis with all his might, but it wasn't enough.

It was in Anakin's most desperate moment he realized something. He saw the fractures they had caused in Rendis's armor, and on looking at the plating, he began to think. The Yuuzhan Vong were immune to the Force, and though the explanation for such a thing was unknown, Anakin could only guess the story was different for their pets. With his left hand, he pointed his fingers to the vonduun armor around Rendis's chest, and using what strength he had left in him, called upon the Force once again. He began to squeeze, and heard a crack. He squeezed even harder, and felt Rendis pull back, followed by a roar of agony.

Anakin had crushed Rendis's armor, its fractures tearing into the commander's skin as it broke around his body. Rendis glanced down at himself, realizing what Anakin had done, and was about to retaliate when Anakin made his move. Seeing a chink in Rendis's armor, Anakin sent his lightsaber forward, plunging it through the hole and into his opponent. He pierced Rendis's chest, felt the supreme commander grab his wrist, but by then it was too late. Anakin watched as Rendis fell to his knees. Anakin looked upon Rendis with cold, hate-filled eyes, the kind that seemed to turn red when enough anger was behind them.

"This…" Rendis gurgled out, black blood slipping from his lips. "This is not the end for me."

Anakin ripped his saber free of Rendis, and watched the supreme commander topple onto the floor, dead. He then turned to Obi-Wan, who was on his hands and knees, his lightsaber lying beside him. Anakin outstretched his hands, using the Force to push against Obi-Wan's body and send him toward the gunship outside. Obi-Wan's body went limp as he flew through the air, only to be caught by Cody before he could freefall to Bothawui's surface. Anakin picked up Obi-Wan's lightsaber as he ran toward the gunship, hearing the crackling of thud bugs race around him as Vong fired on his position. Anakin reached the edge of the bridge and leaped into the air. He outstretched his hands, grabbing ahold of the edge of the gunship just as it began pulling away from the plummeting Titan. The clones inside helped pull him aboard, and there he fell back against the wall of the ship, his eyes glued to Obi-Wan.

"He needs a medic," Anakin said, but his words felt lifeless. There was no backing to them, no urgency, like he already knew what would happen. His breathing was heavy, his heart pounding. There was so much to celebrate, yet all he could think about was the dying friend before him.

Cody nodded to Anakin. "He'll be taken care of."

Anakin said nothing; he just looked on as Obi-Wan groaned in agony, gripping his shoulder tightly as venom infiltrated his nervous system. Anakin felt darkness engulf them as the gunship's side door sealed, and they rose through the atmosphere in silence while the Titan made its final, fiery voyage to Bothawui's surface.