Chapter IV:
Fight or flight
Mira felt her heart beating in her chest as the Moldy Crow raced towards the midst of the battle. Handling the main gun, she was ready to give the Remnant the fight of their lives, but for now, at the tense moments of the approach, she had nothing else to do then to watch the giant warships tearing each other apart in the distance. The Pillar of Destruction fought like a beast, spitting deadly projectiles at its foes from all possible directions. The Chimaera's shields flickered, but held, while both Victory's hull became exposed to the deadly blaze of lasers.
It was strange. The Pillar of Destruction could easily destroy one of the vessels before its mighty hull would break into a heap of burning metal, yet its captain chose to concentrate fire on all three targets, negating the chance for a valiant defeat. Then, as an explosion erupted from the Chimaera's armoured belly, she realized what they were doing. The Pillar of Destruction went for the tractor beams. They were going to evacuate.
By the time the second ship's tractor beam was reduced to ash, dozens of escape pods and shuttles launched off from the doomed destroyer. Modern and obsolete TIE fighters danced around them, painting fire and lasers into the darkness of space.
Mira watched a black shuttle burst into flames, then she realized they nearly reached firing range. From then, it took only a mere second for Thrawn to dispatch a group of fighters to intercept them. Mira turned the gun towards the obsolete, yet effective beasts, expecting at least a dozen of them on their way.
"Uhm… Shouldn't there be more than four?" she asked in the intercom, as she gazed over the incoming threat.
"I guess they are busy," Kyle shrugged, keeping the ship on course.
"Or we are doing exactly what Thrawn expects us to do," she answered. They should have run for it when they had the chance. Yet, she had to admit, it felt good to do some damage for a change.
"If that would be the case, you seriously think we were still breathing?" Kyle asked through the microphone.
"Yeah, for a few minutes or so," she nodded, although they had very little time left for chatter.
Despite their small numbers, the TIE fighters meant business. As they reached firing range, Mira immediately pulled the trigger, blasting one the fighters into fiery pieces. The rest of them returned fire immediately, although none of their shots reached their target, thanks to Kyle's quick turn to the left.
As they green shots ran past them, Mira blasted another fighter into two, damaging a third one through the explosion. The pilot steered his craft away from the battlefield, but she turned the gun fast enough to intercept it.
"Why did you do that?" Kyle asked, knowing that the returning fighter posed little threat to them.
"They deserve it," Mira darted.
Green lasers shook the ship, as the last fighter finished his attack run, making minor damage to their shields. It took only a second for Mira to aim with the gun, and blast the fighter into two. The craft's right wing flew off into the darkness of space, the rest of it collided with Chimaera's side in the distance.
"They are gone," Mira nodded with a confident smile on her face. "What's the situation with the Interdictor?"
"It's not alone…" Kyle answered.
Mira froze as she saw the TIE fighters lunge from the other side of the cruiser. She could handle four of them, but there was no way they could take down twelve.
"Damn the bastard!" Mira raised her voice, as she prepared to open fire.
"Hang on tight! I have an idea," Kyle stated, keeping the Moldy Crow firmly on its course towards certain doom.
"What are you thinking?" she asked, hoping that this time he would have an actual plan in mind.
"I'm putting all power to the aft deflectors," the man stated. "Once we passed them, try to keep them on our back."
"You mean, keep them off?"
"On! Keep them at our back!" Kyle raised her voice, as the fighters reached them.
The twelve pilots opened seemingly as one. Katarn tried to evade all incoming fire with a quick turn to the side, but it did little good against the trained pilot's deadly routine. Only half of the lasers missed their target, the rest collided with their shield, shaking every part of the old ship.
"Few more shots and we are done for," Mira stated, as the enemy craft made U turn behind them. The fighters caught up with them like flies, ready to finish the job.
"I know, focus on the ones that stray away."
"Your funeral," Mira stated as she rolled her eyes. If Kyle was wrong, both of them would die, and he knew that very well.
After another bold turn, they were closing in on their target fast. The only difference was that this time the fighters were behind them instead of their front. As the pilots started to shoot at them once again, Kyle tried to do everything in order to avoid their lasers. As the reckless manoeuvres went on, Mira did as she was ordered to do, and focused fire on the stray fighters instead of the ones that meant the real danger.
They suffered a hit for every destroyed fighter. The Moldy Crow shook vehemently through the rain of fire, making her hold on to the chair ever tighter. As she finished off the last stray fighter with a precise shot to its cockpit, the shields ceased to exist from the incoming lasers.
"Kyle!" Mira raised her voice.
"Hold on tight," he stated as he launched all of their rockets at the Interdictor.
Once the warheads were on their way, the Moldy Crow took a sudden turn from their prey, dodging all incoming fire from the back. The rockets went through the Interdictor's shields within an instant, blowing its hull into molten pieces. By the time Mira could say "wow", the hail of fire reached the TIE fighters, obliterating them within a fraction of a second.
"Where did you get those rockets?" she asked, once she made sure there were no fighters chasing them.
"Let that be my secret," Kyle laughed from the cockpit. "The engines are ready. We will be in hyperspace in…" He fell silent, and Mira felt something strange in the Force as well. "A new ship is coming in… Wait, that's Kylo. What is he doing here?"
"And Rey," Mira stated, trying to recover from the shock.
"They just slipped to the other side. They can't see us, but... To be honest, I don't think I can walk away from this one."
"Me neither," she shook her head. "That bastard almost gutted me like a fish."
"Then it's decided," he answered, turning the shieldless ship towards the Chimaera.
"So what do we do? We are just going to ram them?"
"I've got a better idea."
Kylo Ren arrived moments after the devastating battle. His personal shuttle was nothing compared to the Pillar of Destruction, yet he was confident about his chances of survival. If Thrawn truly treasured their alliance, he would make sure that his ship arrives in one piece to the Chimaera. If he wasn't, he would be already dead by now.
He took a glance at the Pillar of Destruction's burning wreckage from the cockpit, then he steered the shuttle towards the dark-grey star destroyer, standing viciously over the remains of superior foe. There was little reason to hail them, everything should unfold aboard the giant, where they could take the next step towards their ultimate goal.
Kylo took a deep breath, then looked at Rey, who spent most of the journey unconsciously on the floor. At first, he thought it would be imperative to keep her awake, but after she started to nag him, the knight immediately recognized the value in keeping her silent until they parted ways.
In most cases, he had little reason to feel sympathy towards his foes, yet some forgotten part of him felt compassion for the young girl. If it were up to him, Rey would be dead by now, however Thrawn's plan required her something far worse than death. Even so, it had to be done in order to serve the greater good. Kylo knew that, and thus, he continued his journey towards the Chimaera's wide hangar bay.
Something flickered on the sensors, he choose to ignore it. He kept the shuttle on course, getting inside the enormous ship, and landing it between two obsolete TIE fighters on the freshly cleaned floor. As the landing was completed, he dropped the landing pad, and continued to march out of the shuttle with the unconscious Rey on his shoulder.
He was surprised to see Thrawn on the outer side of the shuttle. The Chiss wasn't known for his impatience, yet he wanted to see him as soon as he possibly could do so. Something must have happened since their last contact. At first, Kylo thought about the battle, but the Pillar of Destruction wouldn't mean a setback for them. Not for Thrawn.
"Well then, we have our secret weapon," The Chiss stated, looking at Rey with an expressionless face.
"Not much of a weapon at this point," Kylo shrugged, and put the girl to his hands from his shoulder. It was more comfortable to hold her in this manner.
"She is alive, and at our hands; for now, that's all what matters. She could make a far superior body for Tenebrae than anyone else. That makes her the perfect choice for our experiment," he answered, and started off towards the ship's interior.
Kylo followed him with firm steps.
"Assuming we can separate him from his current body," Kylo stated. It was one thing to kidnap Rey from the Jedi, but the murder of the Supreme Leader was another, far more dangerous task. And it was one surely to be handled by him.
"One thing at a time, Mr. Ben Solo, one thing at a time," he answered coldly.
Kylo remained silent. Once the Chimaera reaches its new destination, they would be separated again, and he doubted the Chiss would tell him how he could overcome someone as powerful as Snoke.
By the time they reached the bridge, the knight still held his suspicions firmly in his mind. Thrawn stopped in the middle of the wide, narrow room. The obsolete chamber proved to be similar then what he was used to aboard the Finalizer. The personnel did everything they could to repair the damage they suffered during the fight, and, aside from the wreckages in front of them, everything seemed normal.
"Shouldn't have fought us this openly," Kylo shook his head.
"Quite the contrary. They attempted to invade us, and we pushed them back," he answered, taking a confident glance on the Pillar of Destruction's wreckage.
"Do you have a mere idea about how many of these ships are still out there?"
"One less," Thrawn stated.
"It seems, you had your own share of losses," Kylo shrugged, glancing towards what left the Interdictor cruiser. It must have been a miracle to shoot out the Star Destroyer before it could escape from the system.
"Actually, that was done by our new guests," he answered.
"Guests?" he asked with a curious expression under his helmet.
"Corporal, could you switch the outer cameras? Towards the aft, if possible," the Chiss ordered. The corporal obeyed without hesitation, the image showed only a portion of the Chimaera's hull. Another vessel blocked the view, a dark, small freighter, one that Kylo knew far better than he wished to.
"Katarn… We have to shoot him down, before they sabotage the ship!" Kylo raised her voice. They had to know about his presence aboard the Chimaera, otherwise they wouldn't mask their presence in the Force.
Thrawn shook his head gently in protest.
"Kyle is not alone. Judging by the ship's accuracy, another Jedi should be on board, one with far superior shooting skills than Katarn. The Pillar of Destruction had Jedi Knight Mira Wess on board. Her escape is the most likely explanation," Thrawn explained, caressing the wound on his neck.
"One more reason to shoot them," Kylo stated.
"And pass up two new recruits?" Thrawn frowned. "There is no guarantee that the experiment would succeed with Rey. In that case, we would require someone else to be Tenebrae's new host. Knowing their tenacity, capturing the Jedi alive would be highly unlikely. Unless our fight takes place exactly where we want it, in the exact manner we chose so."
"How do you wish to ensure that?" Kylo asked. By now, it became extremely uncomfortable to hold Rey in his hand. He persisted to hold her nonetheless.
"By using their own compassion against them."
Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
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