Admiral Hallos lowered his head as he watched the Victory-class Star Destroyer known as Iron Fist float into the space that he had planned to fly straight through. His mind raced for potential backup plans, hoping that whatever he picked would lead to the escape of the Independence, as well as the loss of as few lives as possible. He could attempt to fight the Vic and punch his way through the Imperial formation, but that tactic was never guaranteed, and it would put him in the perfect firing range of the Vengeance.
"Sir, we're just about to enter the effective range of our turbolasers," the weapons-control officer said, the Mon Calamari equivalent of an earpiece being held closely to his head. Even now, the Imperial bombardment had gotten heavier, their shots beginning to bang out small chunks in the shields of the Mon Calamari cruiser.
"Concentrate firepower upon that Victory!" Hallos ordered, his webbed fingers wobbling as they sliced through the air, emphasizing the fact that Iron Fist had to be disabled. "Order Blue Squadron to finish up those bombers as quickly as possible and then target that ship!"
"Yessir!" two officers said at the same time, each focusing on their own unique tasks.
Hallos offset eyes narrowed slightly as he overlooked the battle scene ahead of him. He would survive this engagement, as would his crew. And if they didn't, they would take out at least one of those ships.
"I copy, Flight Control," Keyan Farlander voiced in to his superiors aboard the besieged vessel that he flew around. The bomber in his sights continued to juke and jink randomly, making it extremely difficult to get a laser lock upon the ship. A brief thought entered his mind to quickly switch his firing systems to torpedoes, a tactic that would easily get rid of the bomber that threatened to end the lives of crew aboard the Independence, but reason quickly brought him back to his senses. He had just received the order to finish those bombers off quickly and then engage the nearest Victory-class Star Destroyer. He knew, from experience, how tough a Star Destroyer was to kill from behind the flight stick of a snubfighter. He would need all of the torpedoes that he could get.
Keyan did his best to push away all of the external stimuli that attempted to disrupt his focus, and soon found himself successful. The bomber skidded starboard, a movement that Keyan didn't follow. He instead remained on his regular course. He squeezed the trigger on his flight stick, and then watched as the bomber veered into the course of the four fire-linked blasts. The bomb bay erupted as the unused ordinance stored within it ignited, vaporizing almost the entirety of the vessel. With only a few tell-tale pings against his shield, Keyan's X-wing easily emerged from the rapidly expanding explosion.
"Two, this is Leader," Keyan reported, opening up his comm channel to the entire rebel fleet. "I think that was the last of them, can you confirm?"
"I copy, Blue Leader," Blue Two replied after checking his sensor board. "No more bombers."
"Head for our next objective then, Blue Squadron," Keyan ordered, not wanting to give away the order to engage the Victory-class Star Destroyer identified as Iron Fist to any prying ears. "I hate Star Destroyer runs…" he mumbled after switching off his link with the rest of the fleet. Now only Blue Squadron and the flight control officers aboard the only rebel capital ship in the sector could hear him.
The X-wing squadron flew high, at least a kilometer above the massive turbolaser shots that flew from the Imperial Star Destroyer and the Mon Calamari cruiser. TIE fighters spiraled around the X-wings, firing their green laser cannons towards the rebel starfighters as they passed each other.
"We have to leave you now," a member of the flanking squadron spoke to Blue Squadron as she took out another TIE that had gotten a little too close to her charges. "May the Force be with you."
I certainly hope it is, Keyan thought as he watched a precisely aimed shot hit the shields of his target.
The sound of her footsteps echoed throughout the halls as Mara Jade neared the Emperor's study. The building that she was walking in was a relatively new addition to the Empire: a private retreat on the Emperor's homeworld of Naboo. The circular building was in a very heavily guarded section of the capital city of Theed; a section that had been under martial law since the uprising and subsequent suppression of Queen Apailana's revolt a little under twenty years previously.
The past month had been excruciating for the young Emperor's Hand, being shuttled back and forth from one boringly routine observation missions and a few weeks were spent in the headquarters of Imperial Intelligence simply studying helmet cam footage captured by various dead Stormtroopers. It was punishment for failing to even seriously harm or maim the two Jedi trainees that she had fought on Talay, and that punishment was finally over.
"What is your bidding, my liege?" she asked as she entered the room, slightly bowing before the Sith sitting in a simple throne.
"I have another assignment for you," Palpatine said, his usually sinister voice having even more of an edge upon it. "You are to continue your observations of Lord Vader. Watch him diligently, and inform me of any strange occurrences."
"You believe him to be turning traitor still?" Mara asked, seeking only to confirm her suspicions.
"Yes," the Emperor replied, tapping his claw-like fingers against the throne. "I suggest you begin your investigation on Vjun—the location of one of Lord Vader's private fortresses. I would suggest caution, however. It is extremely unlikely that he will just let you walk in."
"I understand, Master," Mara replied. "Where is Lord Vader, if I may ask?"
"He is aboard the Executor, orbiting the planet Dantooine at the moment."
"I shall not disappoint this time, my lord," Mara replied, bowing once again before turning to leave the throne room.
"Our shields are down!" Keyan panicked as he watched the protective ring around the Independence disappear as a salvo of fire from the Imperial Star Destroyer hit it. The Mon Calamari vessel, now taking broadsides from two of the Star Destroyers—which were nearly stacked on top of one another—struggled to stay alive as the assault continued. Turbolaser shots punched through the reinforced hull, sending debris and any surviving pieces of furniture or cargo out into the vacuum of space. Thankfully, Keyan was unable to see or sense any sentient life that had been ended by the first salvo on the unprotected ship.
He turned his X-wing tightly to port as a TIE fighter headed towards the vessel, temporarily breaking orders as he pursued the Imperial fighter. A sinking feeling in his gut alerted him that this fighter needed to be taken care of, and he went through with it. Thankfully, rebel command had recently decided to be slightly more lenient on cases like this when it came to Force-sensitives, one of the more recent reactions to the rebirth of the Jedi Order.
The TIE fighter skimmed the hull of the rebel capital ship, firing green bolts of energy randomly into it, opening up small holes where atmosphere leaked out. Keyan followed diligently, easily evading the flying debris as it threatened to hit him. A quad-linked burst from his laser cannons missed the juking craft, inadvertently damaging the ship that Keyan sought to protect.
Be calm, Keyan felt as he continued to chase the blue-gray fighter along the structure of the Independencehis X-wing maneuvering every which way to avoid crashing into it. The Jedi closed his eyes once again and let the Force take over. It was then he learned why the Force had urged him to chase after that fighter to begin with: that pilot was good, probably one or two missions short of being able to qualify for a transfer to an interceptor squadron. There was little doubt that this pilot was making an attack run upon the bridge of the vessel, and that without Keyan's interference, he just might succeed.
Fire now! Keyan felt once again, his fingers barely even moving of his own accord as they squeezed the trigger. The quad blast hit the TIE fighter as it rose to avoid one of the ovoid extensions of the Mon Calamari battle ship, sending the flaming and dying vessel flying safely away from an inadvertent kamikaze run. Satisfied that the ship was safe for the time being, Keyan quickly returned to battle against the Star Destroyers.
With the flick of a switch on his flight stick, Keyan quickly switched to torpedoes as Iron Fist loomed out towards him. "ForKay, try to get a lock on the command bridge," Keyan ordered his astromech droid, who promptly hooted a response that more than likely meant that the orange-striped R3 droid was working on it. "Blue Squadron, report in," Keyan ordered as he noticed that none of his wingmates were following him.
Nine of the eleven other pilots reported in, but of them only six were capable of joining their leader on the attack run, having been forced to eject due to the constant pressure from the enemy fighters. "We're locked onto the command bridge as well, Commander," one of the survivors—a female Duros—reported in, relaying the information her R5 unit had just given her.
"Launch on my mark," Keyan ordered as the remnants of Blue Squadron finally managed to form up once again. TIE fighters screamed around them, trying to prevent the rebel squadron from their attempt to destroy their carrier. A few Y-wings and one or two of the new A-wings could be seen as they engaged the TIEs, trying to protect one of the Independence's last hopes for survival as they approached their target.
"Fire," Keyan ordered as he reached the optimum distance, letting loose two of the six proton torpedoes stored in the two magazines on the underside of his X-wing. They were followed by ten more torpedoes, each trailing blue fire as they raced towards the Victory-class Star Destroyer.
The first few torpedoes exploded against the already weakened shields of Iron Fist, fire blossoming outwards of the interior of the shields for a few seconds before they fell entirely. The remaining four torps headed towards the command deck of the ship, exploding along various points.
"We're leaking atmosphere!" Captain Zsinj could hear one of his subordinates yell through the ringing in his ears. The explosion of two proton torpedoes just meters below the bridge had severely damaged the ship that commanded, and even now oxygen was slowly leaking out of the ship.
"Abandon the bridge!" Zsinj ordered his crew, who quickly raced out of their crewpits and headed towards the safety of the innards of the ship. "Make sure we won't crash into the planet," he added, forcing a frightened helm officer to stay in position for a few more seconds as his commanding officer fled to safety.
The helmsman's fingers quickly skirted over the console in front of him, his digits slick with sweat and the air around him getting increasingly thin as the air continued to leak out of the ship. A few errant strikes forced him to abandon the new coordinates several times as his mistakes could have proved costly.
A slight cracking noise alerted him that his time was nearing an end as an errant piece of debris pierced the main viewport of the Star Destroyer. His panic brought on a slight adrenaline rush as he struggled to do his final duty. The capital ship seemed to turn even slower than the officer thought it could as its engines flared to life, carrying it away from the other ships in the Imperial fleet.
Satisfied that his job was done, the Imperial officer quickly said a prayer to the patron deity of his religion before bolting towards the door. It must have worked, because as soon as he reached safety, the viewport shattered.
Thank the Force that's gone, Admiral Hallos thought as his flipper-like fingers dug into his command chair. Yet their shields were down and there was still another Star Destroyer firing upon them, each shot taking out chunks of the vessel in which he captained. Damage reports streamed in, but he didn't wish to see them. It would only be a matter of time before the gunners on the Imperial ship would hit something vital.
"Sir, we've just lost our engines," an officer reported, his voice finally betraying his resignation.
"Fill and launch escape pods," Hallos ordered as the Vengeance continued to rain death upon the Mon Calamari vessel. "And get me the captain of that Star Destroyer," he added, hoping that he could stall for enough time to a majority of his crew to escape.
"Lord—Jerec," he courteously said to the Dark Jedi commander of the ship that had disabled his own. "I must admit that it was a good battle."
"Spare me the pleasantries, rebel scum," the Miraluka replied, "give me sufficient reason why I shouldn't destroy you're pathetic attempt at a capital ship right now. I assume that there are very important rebels onboard that would make very nice peace offerings; a gift that would make your death quick."
"Yes sir, we do," Hallos added, silently hoping that he wouldn't accidentally give away Keyan Farlander's presence in one of the many X-wings that flew lazily around the Independence. "Some very important VIPs."
Jerec remained silent, but Hallos could feel a heavy weight press into his chest as the Dark Jedi begin probing him. The pressure in his chest moved towards his mind, a splitting headache beginning to form as information was starting to be ripped from his brain.
"Destroy them!" he heard Jerec yell before the turbolaser battery pounded the command bridge into slag.
Keyan watched from the canopy of his X-wing as the escape pods quickly jettisoned from the dying ship that had served as his home for several years. He didn't have much time to worry about friends—or Lynia—before the shooting began once again. TIEs swarmed towards the escape pods, attempting to make sure that nobody made it off of the ship alive.
He quickly kicked his throttle into attack speed and headed to save as many people as he could, the rest of Blue Squadron following closely behind. It was odd, Keyan thought as he vaporized a TIE fighter, that the escape pod that he was currently escorting was the one that contained the woman that he loved. An extremely brief thought entered his mind: the perfect way to make sure that those he cared about would be perfectly safe from the Empire, a way in which his Force powers could be amplified. Anger. Fear. Hatred. He could use all three of those basic emotions and easily save them. He could bring destruction to the Empire.
That train of thought stopped almost as soon as it began. Keyan had been down that dark path before, a path that had began when an Imperial orbital bombardment had killed most of his family and seriously wounded his sister. Thankfully that philosophy had ended months before the Battle of Yavin.
It was minutes later when a well-aimed shot managed to pierce the shields of his X-wing after it had broken the atmosphere of the planet that had proved so detrimental to their escape. The Independence was gone, what was once a great ship reduced to a large of amount of metallic debris that would eventually burn up as it entered the atmosphere. A few escape pods littered the ground, their stunned occupants frantically racing towards the nearest settlement on the marginally occupied planet. The Imperials weren't far behind.