Chapter 17: Victory
Jareth Stryder was done. He was physically exhausted, two of his blasters had burned out their firing crystals, and he was completely out of torpedoes. Fortunatly, he had bought the remainder of Dark Squadron and Shadow Squadron time to escape. He was surrounded by TIEs on all sides, and knew one of them was going to punch his ticket.
He had fought amazingly. He closed his eyes, aimed at the nearest TIE and prepared to go beyond…
When TIEs started exploding around him, his astromech Clicker started to beep and whoop in excitement. "Wha?" he asked, looking out the cockpit glass.
X-wings from Rogue Squadron had came up out of the atmosphere and joined the space battle. "We got your back, Dark 1!" he heard Leia Skywalker yell through the comm. "Help is on its way soonest!"
Jareth spun his B-wing towards open space. "Thanks Rogues. Help? I thought you were the help!"
Suddenly the space before him was filled with an immense spherical vessel. Surrounding it was Mon Calamari battlecruisers and Rebel ships of nearly every size. "The fleet!" Jareth said excitedly.
Admiral Ackbar had returned, and he had brought friends!
----
Chi'anna looked mildly annoyed at the computer screen. Apparently, her planned descent onto the planet had been cancelled due to an unforeseen circumstance… Veers had said that the shield would be down in moments, and yet, the shield was still up.
At least Vader was on his way back from the surface.
Alarms started to sound all through the ship, and she turned to face Admiral Piett. "What is it, Admiral?"
"My lady, Rebel ships have jumped out of hyperspace on the other side of the planet. Our ships in that sector are under attack." The Admiral reported. "It will take us three minutes to get over there to assist."
Chi felt the force rumble through her tiny body. This had been a trap the entire time. Her anger was growing, and she wanted to kill something…
"I'll be in my room." She said as she turned away from the Admiral. "I have someone I need to torture some more."
----
Luke Organa received the reports that the last of the transports had escaped, and then he saw the Falcon take to the sky off in the distance. At least the Jedi had escaped. His master and parents were aboard the last transport, heading off to join the main fleet… which if he wasn't mistaken should be arriving right about now.
He turned to walk aboard the Ebon Hawk, and saw a strange looking red droid waiting besides T3 and Artoo. "Uhm… who might you be?"
The droid looked at him with sinister looking red eyes, and sounded bored when he answered. "Hypothesis: I might be a labor droid. I might be a cook droid, or I might be a garbage disposal droid. Since I am none of those things, let us just assume that I am at your service… Master."
Luke looked at T3 for a moment. "Care to explain?"
T3 started to whistle and hoot an explanation, and Luke didn't get a word of it, but the red droid spoke up again. "Translation: He says that I am HK-47, servant to Revan and the Jedi Exile, and now a servant to you… Master." It was obvious from the way he said the last word that he found it… distasteful.
"HK-47? What are you, some kind of translator droid?" Luke asked.
"Answer: Something like that…Master."
Luke smiled a small half smile. "Riiight.. ok, lets get going. I have a meeting at Cloud City." He walked aboard the Ebon Hawk, while behind him, the three droids started beeping to each other. If he could have translated himself, he would have overheard an interesting conversation.
HK-47: "QUESTION: THIS IS THE HUMAN I HAVE TO PROTECT? A SPOILED RICH PRINCE?"
T3-M4: "YES. REVAN'S ORDERS WERE SPECIFIC. YOU ARE TO PROTECT THE PRINCE FROM THE LOST WORLD AT ALL COSTS."
HK-47: "ANNOYED EXPRESSION: I HATE SPOILED MEATBAGS. THEY ARE WORSE THAN NORMAL MEATBAGS."
ARTOO DETOO: "MEATBAGS? MASTER ORGANA IS NOT A MEATBAG."
HK-47: APPEASEMENT: I APOLOGIZE, DIMINUTIVE ONE. BEING A SPOILED PRINCELING IS LIKE ATTEMPTING TO IMPROVE WHICH IS FUNDAMENTALLY BROKEN: I AM OF COURSE REFERRING TO THE CONDITION OF BEING ORGANIC.
T3-M4: JUST DO YOUR JOB AND KEEP THE PRINCE SAFE.
HK-47: QUESTION: CAN I NOT JUST FREEZE HIM IN CARBONITE? HE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE AND IN PERFECT SAFETY.
ARTOO DETOO AND T3-M4: NO!
HK-47: STATEMENT: I WAS JUST SAYING. IT IS AN OPTION WE SHOULD CONSIDER AT A FUTURE DATE.
----
Justicar Chrom'Well aboard the Warsphere Chosen smiled as he watched the Star Destroyers begin their slow turn to face them. "Ready all mass drivers. Charge the M.A.C. I want a heavy round. Let's teach the Empire what they have unleashed when they attacked the Kentarians!"
Before him, the gun crews read off checklists as the Kentarians most powerful weapon was charging. "M.A.C. at 87 and rising." Shiplord Can'Yon stated proudly. "Optimum firing power in 5 seconds."
Justicar Chrom'Well smiled as he pointed at the Star Destroyer ahead of the Chosen. "Target that one. I want a clean hit. Tear it apart."
Below, the Magnetic Accelerator Cannon was being loaded with a heavy round. Two hundred tons of hardened Kentarium metal in the shape of a bullet was hefted onto magnetic repulsors and loaded into the firing chamber.
"M.A.C. at one hundred percent, Justicar." Can'Yon said with a smile. "We are prepared to fire."
"FIRE!" Chrom'Well roared.
The M.A.C. propelled the heavy round at roughly 50 miles a second. No shield in the universe could stop a mass that heavy traveling that fast.
The Star Destroyer Devastator was hulled from engines to tip. The heavy round tore through the vessel in less than a second, shattering the Star Destroyer with a single devastating blow.
"Load another round. Begin charge time." Chrom'Well said.
"M.A.C. recharge rate at 3. Total recharge time will be 5 minutes." His gunnery crew reported.
----
"By the gods." Admiral Piett said softly.
He had watched the huge spherical vessel fire that incredible weapon at the Devastator on his monitor stations. Not even the Executor would be able to stand up to that firepower. The only thing the Empire had that could match it was a Torpedo sphere… which looked remarkably like the spherical vessel.
Behind him, Lord Darth Vader arrived onto the bridge. "Report, Admiral."
"My lord. The Rebels have returned with a huge fleet. They have acquired a new type of weapon not in our records. They destroyed the Devastator with a single shot!"
Vader looked at the readouts. "Where is Admiral Zaarin and Batch? Why are their ships gone?"
"They received reports of attacks on their research facilities, my lord. They went to protect their investments. Under Grand Admiral Zaarin's direct orders."
Vader clenched his hands into fists. "Prepare to move the Fleet. The Rebels were too prepared. And this new weapon complicates things. Set your course for Coruscant."
"Yes, my lord." Piett said quickly, giving the proper orders to his crew.
Vader turned to leave the bridge, and then paused. "Admiral… where is Chi'anna?"
Piett turned to face his dark master. "She retired to her room. She said something about… torture."
Vader nodded slowly. "I understand." Then his cloak bellowed behind him as he stalked off of the bridge.
----
The former Admiral Ozzel screamed for what seemed the final time as Chi'anna used the Force to shatter his teeth. "CODES! NOW!" she screamed, her temper flaring.
Through blood-stained remains of teeth, Admiral Ozzel finally broke. He started to recite his secret records codes for Admiral status, and the information she sought. "Its in record file Eyes Only…." He said through harsh breaths. "Under Micah One."
Chi stared at the dying human for a moment. "Is that all?"
"No… also check data under… the Epsilon project… password is… New Soldier."
Chi'anna smiled pleasantly. "You have pleased me, Ozzel… now sleep. And never wake again." She waved her hand before his eyes, and mercifully ended his life.
Behind her, Darth Vader entered her chamber. She could feel his rage, and turned to face him. "Yes, my lord?" she asked, bowing before him.
Darth Vader faced the corpse of Admiral Ozzel. "Dead." He said slowly.
"I got what I wanted out of him." Chi said softly. "So I ended his pain."
Vader looked down at the small child for a moment, and said. "You were more merciful than I would have been."
----
The Imperial fleet jumped system a few moments later. They had lost four Star Destroyers total in the battle. Two to Dark Squadron, one to Shadow, and the last to the M.A.C. on the Kentarians ship.
The Rebel fleet would consider the Battle of Raxus Prime a victory.
In one direction, a ship that looked remarkably like a mechanical hawk with four wings flew towards Corellia. The Moldy Crow, personal vessel of Kyle Katarn, carried its pilot and Davin Felth to their mission to find Garm Bel Iblis.
In another, the Millennium Falcon, escorted by a heavily modified 'airspeeder'… now considered a spacespeeder, and an X-wing from Rogue Squadron headed to the swamp planet of Dagobah. Once again, the Jedi would be reunited with their Grand Master.
And in a third direction, the ancient vessel the Ebon Hawk headed towards the cloud world of Bespin, there to meet with a contact with the Rebellion on Cloud City. Luke Organa, with his eclectic droid companions had no idea how soon everything would fall apart.
For in a few days… The Imperial Civil War would begin.