Chapter 22 - Infiltration

The Jade Shadow corkscrewed through a formation of Corellian gunships at full throttle startling both the commander of the formation and Ben Skywalker, but Mara Jade merely flew on with a demeanor somewhere close to barely controlled anger.

"Echo group," Mara announced to the fighter group she had been assigned. "Jade reporting in. Form up on my flanks and announce readiness.

"Ben, keep track of the squadrons and orders from Corran."

Ben scrambled to look up the sensor pattern of the ships forming up around the Jade Shadow and check off in his mind their status as the six squadron leaders reported readiness. Each squadron report was identical, all twelve fighters ready for combat, and Mara redirected them into a conical pattern centred on the Jade Shadow and Squawking Mynock as they raced toward the enemy fleet at top combat speed.

"Prep torpedoes or missiles for the first volley," Mara ordered. "Lock a target, fire, lock and fire. Get off as many as you can before we close to laser range. Set shields to double front for the first pass."

Ben looked over the display before him and a cold shock went through his heart.

"Mom, there won't be room to maneuver with that much debris," Ben blurt out with a panic. "Our formation is too tight!"

At fourteen kilometres from target, pink and blue flares of projectiles launched from the fighters around them streaming toward the enemy formations. Ben watched in a mixture of awe and horror as the light of over two hundred torpedoes filled the sky, and the distance indicator rapidly dropped by the second.

"Mom!"

Mara glanced back at Ben with an irritated look but turned her attention back to the battle without a word. When the first volley of torpedoes landed on target, she finally clicked her PTT button.

"Echo, break into flights of four and engage at will. Two on the bombers, two on their backs. Mynock, lock lasers and follow me through."

As Echo group broke into their formations and the Bogan ships began scrambling from the incoming torpedoes, Mara switched to her linked quad cannons and began firing at the enemy fighters, maintaining her dead run toward the middle of the scattering formation with the Squawking Mynock hot on her tail. Together they blasted enemy ships apart using the confusion among the enemy ranks to their advantage. As the debris field grew, Mara finally launched a pair of torpedoes that exploded in the middle of the debris, creating a path for her and the Mynock to pass through.

"How many did we get?" Mara asked, already spinning the ship around in a tight loop in pursuit of a pair of interceptors that were harassing one of her squadron leaders.

"About a hundred and fifty and counting," Ben said as the computer calculated the battle stats faster than he could keep track of. He looked at another figure and blanched. "We lost two dozen fighters."

"Good kill ratio," Mara muttered, barely loud enough for Ben to hear. The ship twisted through another corkscrewed evasion of enemy fire and the linked quad cannons kept firing in unison as they blasted more enemy fighters apart. "Tell them to reform into four squadrons. Send squad one and two to make their first pass on those two Star Destroyers that are nicely lined up, and have squads three and four cover their backs. Signal Lanos to join us on support."

Ben issued the orders and watched as the small figures of the ships fell into positon on his display screen, half wondering if his mom knew what she was doing. These weren't just pieces on a game board – these were people!

"Squadrons have reformed," Ben reported. "One and Two are commencing their attacks."

Ben watched as another beam of light shot out from the Obsidian towards Centerpoint station and silently wished that the Force was with them.

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The Mandalorian invention of a cloaking device that did not disrupt the user's field of vision was a welcome addition to both the ships and the traditional armour of the warrior people. Jacen, in his time infiltrating the Mandalorian clan while searching for his aunt and uncle and since, had been able to acquire a couple of such devices – one for his ship, a personal one for his armour, and a spare personal unit. The radiation that allowed the field to work was typically quite dangerous to exposed living tissue, which allowed the Mandalorians a level of assurance that their technology would not be abused by other species – their suits of armour completely shielded the user from the harmful effects of most forms of radiation. Using modifications based on the Mandalorian armour, Eriana had spent the last year adjusting the design of her own Jensaarai armour suit to protect her against the radiation so she could finally use Jacen's spare cloak.

"This is so neat," Eriana said for what Jacen guessed was the fifteenth time since they had begun their infiltration. As they walked past crew members of the Bogan ship, nobody seemed cognisant of two armoured intruders in their midst.

"Want to see something really funny?" Jacen finally asked. Knowing their armour was sound proof and that acoustic dampers prevented the sounds of their footsteps from travelling, he was not worried about being heard. He sped up slightly to walk behind two Rodians who were having an animated conversation and flicked one of their ears with his finger.

"Hey!" the Rodian shouted. "What was that for?"

"What was what for?" the other Rodian demanded. "I did nothing."

"Well done," Eriana said with a laugh as the two Rodians bickered and moved along. "I need to use this thing more often."

"Think of all the pranks you could pull while invisible," Jacen said. "It really opens up the possibilities."

They finally reached the third power reactor and waited for the hall to temporarily clear of passing crew members before Jacen placed a hand on the control panel and concentrated. He punched in the keys as guided by the Force, and the door slid open. Together they entered the expansive room that encircled the kilometre long reactor and avoided bumping into the white-robed technicians monitoring the power flow at consoles around the room. Jacen decoupled an explosive pack from his armour sleeve, primed it, and used the Force to elevate it up to the top of the narrow mid-point of the reactor situated between two connected spheres. He gently pushed the explosive into place so the adhesive would hold, then turned his attention to Eriana.

Her glowing form, as highlighted by the same-polarization cloaking field as his own, was crouched under the main power distribution console planting an explosive, when a pair of technicians walked right up to her, trapping her between their legs.

"Here's that flutter I was talking about," one of the technicians said, pointing to the console directly above Eriana. "Look at the power draw for the port sensor array. It's way above the starboard."

"Get out of there," Jacen hissed. "They're going to bump into you."

He watched as she gently closed the console and crawled forward slightly as the second technician stepped right into her path.

"I can't move," Eriana whispered, despite her soundproof helmet preventing her from being heard by anyone but Jacen.

"Did you notice this?" the second technician asked, pointing to another console, and narrowly avoiding hitting her helmet with his shin. "They're running a diagnosis on the fleet movements on the starboard side."

"Yes, but the variances are still out of line."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Jacen asked.

"Mind trick them," Eriana snapped.

"These guys are way too focused on their work. Hang on. I have an idea."

Jacen activated the outside speaker with the flick of his tongue and took a step closer to the two technicians so he was almost touching them.

"I want to drink your blood," Jacen whispered and took a couple steps back to watch.

"What did you say?" Both technicians exclaimed at the same time, jumping back from each other. Eriana quickly crawled out between the space between them and rose to her feet as the two technicians began to push each other around.

"Nice distraction," Eriana said. "Creepy, but it worked. One more reactor to go."

"Let's make it quick."

Together they followed another technician out of the reactor control room and found a tram to speed them through the ship. About two kilometres later they debarked from the tram and made their way to the next reactor control room in line. This time the hallway was deserted, so they immediately opened the door to find a tattooed Chagrian and three other Bogan warriors, each holding two lightsaber hilts.

"There be Jedi here," the Chagrian said and eight lightsabers were lit.

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"Sir, the interdictor field has dropped."

General Cooper looked up at the technician who spoke and over to his new mechanical shadow, a droid he suspected was in fact an assassin droid.

"Looks like your owner is coming back sooner than expected," Cooper said to the droid. He turned his attention to his technicians scattered around the bridge of his flagship, the Pirhana-Class ship known simply as Flash. "Any signal from our leader."

"Coming in now," the communication's tech said. The woman turned around with her eyes wide. "Sir! Corellia is under attack! We're receiving orders with our leader's command code to assist."

What is she up to? Cooper asked himself, stroking his goatee. It took him a moment in his thoughts to realise that HK-47 had moved to his side, poking him in the back with a blaster rifle.

"I know, droid," Cooper said irritably. "Perform a long-range scan. What is the status?"

Moments ticked by in silence as the sensor team analysed their reports, feeding what Cooper wanted into the tactical display in front of him. He saw a sizeable Bogan fleet advancing on a much smaller Corellian fleet and began organizing his strategy.

"Communications: indicate to the fleet strategy style nine," Cooper said. "Warm up the battle meld computers and link all ships together. Full military encryption over subspace, and all weapons and shields hot. Signal the Hunter IV to stay here and gather intelligence on enemy fleet movements during the assault."

The technicians went to work relaying the orders and HK-47 took another step closer to the admiral.

"Warning: Fight well, meatbag," HK-47 said. "Or I'll follow my orders."

Cooper looked at the droid with a moment's hesitation until the communications officer spoke up.

"Fleet reporting ready, sir."

"Plot a jump right in the middle of their fleet," Cooper said dangerously. "Let's see what those battle meld computers can do."

As one, the entire group of over seven hundred ships jumped into hyperspace for the half minute it took to drop them right in the middle of the enemy formation. Immediately all of the Black Vornskr ships opened fire, their plasma energy weapons ripping through the shields of over a hundred enemy ships at once and gutting them with the slower proton torpedoes.

Under Cooper's orders, each of the ten flights of seventy five ships broke off; some jumping to hyperspace in perfect unison with the help of the battle meld system to retreat from the engagement zone while others turned their attention to the next set of targets. As the Bogan ships began scrambling to get weapons locks on the new ships, another volley of plasma and proton torpedoes began ripping through the enemy ranks, depleting shield power and causing marginal damage to the hulls. Before the first return shots could be fired off, those ships turned and jumped to hyperspace, disappearing from their enemy's target solutions.

And the other group that had jumped away came back at another angle, pounding the same weakened ships with a volley of their finest weaponry. Five command ships exploded, and another fifty followed with two more passes of the fast ships as they darted in and out of hyperspace all around their targets.

Cooper watched the battle meld system work with intense satisfaction. Designed to guide the efforts of the entire fleet by tracking the level of damage to various targets and take advantage of both the combined computing power of all the available Pirhanas and their extremely fast hyperdrive power up sequence to swarm around the best targets, it allowed each ship the ability to operate independently while keeping it coordinated with it's flight group and the overall fleet efforts to perform with devastating results. Despite being the primary architect of the software, he was still impressed with how well it performed as it began identifying another opportunity for the available assets in the war zone.

"Corellian fleet," Cooper broadcasted after the sixth microjump brought his ship to relative safety as they reoriented for their next strafing run. "Your ships are better suited for tackling the fighter groups. We'll take care of the capital ships."

"Acknowledged, Vornskr fleet," someone responded. "Glad to see you helping us out."

"We expect to be well compensated," Cooper said nonchalantly. "Please follow out your orders. Cooper out."

After another four micro jumps Cooper noticed that the fleets were beginning to notice the pattern of attacks and were adjusting their defensive strategy, as he had expected them to, so he ordered groups one through seven to split off into pairs and pick targets at random with the same strategy while groups eight through ten resorted to high speed strafing runs through the fleet without hyperspace jumps, just to keep the enemy guessing.

Another flash of green light caught Cooper's attention, but it took him a moment to realize that the target was no longer Centerpoint Station. They were firing on Corellia.

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Jacen and Eriana deactivated their cloaking fields and Eriana drew a lightsaber. As Eriana ignited her lightsaber, Jacen pressed a button on each of his wrists that made the armoured plates that consisted of his gauntlets disassemble themselves and retract under his forearm armour, exposing his hands from the insulating effects of the armour.

"Would anyone like to leave before we get started?" Jacen asked, enjoying the menacing tone of his voice through the Mandalorian helmet as he cracked his knuckles together. "Last chance."

"Draw your lightsaber, Jedi dog," the Chagrian taunted Jacen. "I promise I'll make this a fair battle."

"Forgive me if I don't believe," Jacen replied and flexed his fingers together. "In your promises, or a fair fight."

Jacen grabbed the last explosive pack mounted on his forearm and threw it at the Chagrian with the speed of a blaster bolt and Eriana lashed out with her lightsaber to bisect the pack. The pack exploded and Jacen took it over, directing and enhancing the explosive energy forward to slam into the four targets. The three lackeys were blown off their feet, tumbled several metres backwards and slammed into control consoles, but the Chagrian was only pushed back a few metres from the blow against his defense. Jacen took the fire from the explosion and created a blazing cyclonic vortex fed by the Force. He directed the blaze toward the Chagrian, encompassing the Bogan with the fire until a push of resistance scattered the flames into tiny tendrils of flame around him.

"Is that the best you can do, Jedi?"

Jacen collected the tendrils of flame and sent them upwards toward the reactor, collecting them together into a ball that he punched through the reactor casing.

"Nope," Jacen replied with a predator's grin. "I'm just getting started."

As the ball travelled through the reactor and all the instruments around him began glowing red, Jacen collected the enormous power in the reactor together and channeled it back down at the Chagrian, slamming it into his opponent's Force constructed shield with enough power to dent the deck plating under his feet. Jacen split the column of fire roaring through the air from above into two giant streams. He began shadow boxing, pummeling the Chagrian with the two fiery fists in tandem with his own movements, speeding up until he reached a Vaapad flurry of attack speed, scorching the Chagrain with blows that got past his defenses. As his defenses faltered, Jacen delivered a final blow, knocking his opponent ten metres into the air where he tumbled back to the deck plating with a sickening crunch. Jacen redirected the power of the reactor back toward the reactor, destroying it with its own blaze and sending the fire out away from him. When the power died out, Jacen noticed that Eriana had collected the Chagrian and was carrying the still-smoking body over her shoulder.

"He's out cold," Eriana said. "He seems to think he's pretty important, so maybe we can get some information from him."

"Do you think we caused enough damage to the reactor?" Jacen asked, looking up at the gaping hole that had punched all the way through the superstructure into space. Virtually the entire middle third of the reactor had been obliterated, and any residual fire was being sucked the hole. Jacen activated his gauntlets and magnetic boots despite knowing he had a while before enough air would be sucked out to put him at risk.

"It'll do."

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The thick blast of green light sailed past the Jade Shadow about five hundred kilometres away, but it still filled the screen.

"That wasn't shot at Centerpoint!" Mara exclaimed.

"No," Ben said. "They attacked Coronet city! It's been obliterated!"

Mara swore and blasted another fighter apart with her turbolasers before spinning the ship around. She noticed the Squawking Mynock was still on her tail, and then glanced at the sensor readout on the Obsidian."

"Echo group, all other fighters, this is the Jade Shadow. All ships, form up on me. We're attacking that Obsidian. Repeat, all fighters attack the Obsidian. Their shields are down."

"Mom, Jacen's still on board."

"I know," Mara said darkly. "That's his problem, not mine."

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