Chapter 12

The Apprentice

Alana scanned the screen of the computer terminal, reading the scrolls of information on the warship she was on, a holographic image of the vessel appeared in front of her detailing all of the armaments including weapons that she had never heard of before. The ship was called a Star Destroyer, Imperial II-class and was originally armed with 8 turbolaser batteries situated around the flank of the ships command tower with over 36 smaller turbolaser cannons, 20 ion cannons and 10 tractor beam emitters strategically placed around its durasteel hull armour, the ships hanger was capable of carrying a full wing of 72 starfighters, with 8 Lambda shuttles, 15 small troop transports, 5 gunships and a dozen vehicle and walker barges. The newer hybrid design had a layer of adamantium armour over the durasteel with four lance batteries replacing the front turbolasers.

"Amazing" Alana breathed as she read over the data; she had been on the Vigilance for just over two weeks and had thoroughly explored the interior of the Star Destroyer, but this was the first time she had actually seen an exterior view of the Alliance Cruiser.

She had been given a choice by Halos after she left the medbay, she could go back home or stay onboard the Vigilance for a while. She didn't have a home to go back to, the Dark Eldar had taken her parents away from her, killed her mother right in front of her eyes, she could still remember her mother leading her away from the pained and terrified screams that still haunted her nightmares, eventually being caught by the Dark Eldar who killed her mother with one, swift strike of his venom covered blade. If it wasn't for Gabriel's intervention she would have been next and she was thankful that he was there.

The Jedi master had explained to her in great detail that she was force-sensitive, telling her what the force was and asking her if she would like to be trained as a Jedi, she still wasn't sure but Gabriel let her take her time and think about it, teaching her a few basics on the force including self defence and the ability to communicate with him through the force if she needed any help or just someone to talk too. She decided know was such a time.

Gabriel?

Yes Gabriel replied after a moment.

What does it mean to be a Jedi?

Well a Jedi's meaning is the way of the force, you cannot become a Jedi for selfish reasons like looking for fame, fortune, vengeance or power but for the pure thought that you wish to do good and to follow the will of the force, to be the shield for the helpless and the innocent, to be the sword against the wicked, those who wish only destruction or those who try to manipulate the force through fear and death, to become a healer to the sick and dying or to become a diplomat to find common ground between two sides. These are the ways of the Jedi, a healer, a negotiator, a protector and in some cases a warrior

Is the position of apprentice still open? Alana thought to him after a moment of consideration.

Of course

Then I agree to be your apprentice

Good, just one thing

Yes master

Don't call me master…I hate titles

Okay, Alana sent back, smiled wryly at the comment

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Admiral Joseph Halos walked through the dimly lit corridors of the Emperors Fire, Captain Florn and Inquisitor Vallace following as they walked towards the Magi's quarters and entered, their two stormtrooper guards talking up positions by the Tech-Guard at the huge twin doors.

"Ah Admiral" Durin greeted as Halos entered "Inquisitor Vallace, Captain Florn, I have something to show you" the Magi pushed a datachip into the holoprojector and pushed several runes, a holographic image of a gun emplacement appeared.

"This is a new type of heavy weapon turret, a hybrid of Alliance and Imperium technologies with the range and accuracy of a turbolaser and the strength of a lance battery" the Magi explained "It took a while for your scientists and my Techpriests to agree on a name but they eventually named it the turbolance battery"

The three simply starred at the image in amazement before Halos finally managed to answer "This is very impressive Magi" he said as he walked around the image of the gun battery, studying its structure "When can the prototype be ready?"

"In roughly three to four days" the Magi replied "We plan on testing it by building a number of them on the Emperors Fire, once they prove successful we can modify your own warships with them, once completed with these weapons your warships will be a match for any others of their class within the Imperium navy"

"Which reminds me" Florn started as he too began circling the hologram with his Admiral "How is the modifications to the Emperors Fire progressing? Has the holonet and hyperdrive been giving anymore trouble?"

"None since our first test run" Durin replied "Your technicians were surprisingly thorough in finding and fixing the problems between the two technologies Captain Florn, the holonet is now working perfectly and the hyperdrive is also working extremely well and we plan on replicating these two devices to the rest of the fleet to see if they will work with a larger force"

The comlink on the Magi's armour began to bleep and grimacing at the sound he took it out and flipped it on "Yes?"

"My lord your presence is required on the bridge"

"I'm on my way up now" the Magi said, turning of the comlink "As you can see the holonet works fine but I am afraid we must cut this meeting short"

The two Alliance officers nodded and left but Inquisitor Vallace stayed behind, measuring the Magi with a cool and controlled gaze.

"Yes Inquisitor?" Durin asked.

"I need to make contact with my superiors on Terra" she said calmly "There is a certain important piece of Alliance technology that I think they should know about"

The Magi nodded "I see and what might this be? May I remind you that any trading between the Imperium and Alliance cannot happen without agreement between myself and the Admiral"

"Yes" the Inquisitor answered "But what if I tell you that this certain technology can help in taking a significant step to returning the Imperium to its former glory, with the Emperor once again at its head?"

The Magi considered the Inquisitors words very carefully wondering what this invaluable piece of technology could be, something very powerful if it could do what the Inquisitor proclaimed it could do.

"What is this piece of technology?"

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As Gabriel entered the training room he was still deep in thought about the days events so far, he had an apprentice and he wasn't sure about where to begin her training, there was also the small problem of whether or not the Imperium would allow one of their own to be trained as a Jedi, he would have to have a talk with Inquisitor Vallace and hope for the best.

The training room was in fact a large chamber, on the white durasteel walls were cabinets and store rooms full of training equipment from training droids of several designs to weapons and safety equipment, the chamber itself was vast with black safety mats covering the durasteel floor, near the back there was also a shooting range. To Gabriel's surprise when he entered he saw Ishta Taldeer sparing with one of the Alliance soldiers, showing of her superior speed and finesse by dancing elegantly around her opponents punches and kicks before dropping to the ground and lashing out with her right leg tripping him up, the man fell to the ground with a grunt signalling an end to the match.

The Eldar woman fell into a defensive stance and with a smile of triumph signalled for her next opponent, the other four Alliance soldiers looked a little worse for ware telling Sabbath that she had beaten them a couple of times over.

"That can't be the best you can do" she exclaimed in disbelief as no one else came forward "An Eldar infant could do better"

"How about a Jedi master" Gabriel called as he approached, this could be just what he needed to get his mind off recent events, as his people said Venting frustration is good for the soul.

She studied the Jedi as he approached and eventually nodded.

"Good" Gabriel said with a mischievous grin "So will it be hand to hand or anything goes"

In response Ishta raised her hand and her witchblade power sword flew into her outstretched fingers, the sword spun in her hand several times before she fell into a fighting stance, holding the double-edged sword under her right arm with both slender hands gripping the handle.

Gabriel's grin widened and with a thought his lightsabre floated off his belt and landed softly into his right hand, he thumbed it on, the green blade appearing with a Snap-hiss and almost by instinct fell into the defensive Soresu or Form III combat stance, one of his favourite techniques that was favoured by many Jedi for its defensive traits, the favoured style of great Jedi like Obi-wan Kenobi, Luminara Udali and Barriss Offee.

Ishta struck first, jumping high into the air and using a somersault to gain more velocity attacked with a downward slice, Gabriel side stepped the bold move and countered with a flurry of quick strokes, surprisingly Ishta recovered in time to parry every hit before jumping backwards.

With his lightsabre spinning in his hand Gabriel gathered the force around him and propelled himself forward, leaving a light trail of dust in his wake he swung with his lightsabre, the Eldar female showed her speed by ducking the strike and back flipped, putting more space between herself and the Jedi.

The next few minutes was a game of cut and dodge, each combatant attacking and dodging, trying to find a weakness in the others defensive strategy or waiting for exhaustion to create an opening. A small crowd was beginning to gather around the two fighters with soldiers, crew members and pilots watching with great interest.

Ishta was baffled by what was happening, how could a mere human keep pace with her, her race was faster and smarter than the humans but here was a human who was matching her move for move, proving to be just as quick and agile as she was, proving that he could think on his feet and come up with a new way to counter her strikes. Every time she tried to finish the match this Jedi knight would sidestep her, dodge her attacks or keep her on the defensive with a flurry of his own attacks.

She had to find an opening and fast, the wounds she had suffered at the hands of her savage dark kin were still healing, although the bacta had healed them greatly she was beginning to feel the exhaustion and slight pain that usually came when overexerting ones self over recovery.

She searched and found what she was looking for, he wasn't defending himself as well on the left as he was on the right, if she could just make the smallest opening…there, she dropped to the ground and lashed out with everything she had at the small opening on his left leg, her aim was perfect, hitting the Jedi and taking away his balance, he fell to the mat. Smiling Ishta jumped on top of him and pointed her blade just a few inches away from his throat.

"I win" she said triumphantly, proving that an Eldar can beat a human in combat like this any day, but she suddenly felt something metallic tap against her stomach and looking down saw the lightsabre, un-ignited held against her abdomen.

"Draw" the Jedi said, that same mischievous grin on his face that he had at the start of the match.

Ishta let a feral growl escape her lips before she relaxed her witchblade and rolled off the human, she rose to her feet, sheathed her sword and stalked away towards the exit fuming over being so careless, he planned that move, he let her see that he wasn't defending his left side as well as his right, for some reason she knew he had planned their match to end in a draw.

As she got a safe distance away from the training chamber she allowed a small smile to cross her lips, this human, Gabriel Sabbath was quite interesting.

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Magi Durin stood on the bridge of the Emperors Fire, his heavily augmented face set in a worried expression "You are sure?"

"Yes sir" the Imperium captain replied over the new holonet frequency "We have lost contact with our third colony in just as many months; our scouts saw them and their en route to Helios Prime, a splinter fleet of Tyranids, looks like survivors of Hive Fleet Kraken"

"How many?"

"At least four hive-ships, a hundred cruisers surrounded by around a thousand smaller creatures" the navy captain replied, his weathered face expressing both fear and concern "A fleet must be gathered"

"And gathered a fleet shall" Durin agreed "I have four Battleships, twenty Cruisers and a hundred support craft…we will have to leave the four extra cruisers at Scorpios…how many can you spare?" he didn't bother to tell the captain that six of those twenty cruisers were the Alliance Star Destroyers.

"Around three Retribution Battleships, six Dictator Cruisers and around a hundred escorts" the captain replied "We could probably gather more but it will take time"

"Time that we do not have" the Magi spat "I will take this fleet and strike the Tyranids at this point" he pointed to a small area on the newly installed holomap between Helios Prime and the last colony to lose contact "Send as many ships as you can to that location"

The Captain nodded, made the sign of an aquila and vanished the Magi turned to his aide "Get me Admiral Halos"

It wasn't long before Durin was standing in front of the holographic image of the Alliance Admiral "Admiral we have a large fleet of Tyranids en route to Helios, we have been asked to stop them and buy time for reinforcements to arrive"

Halos nodded, his face set in determination, he had read up on the Tyranids thanks to the data Durin had sent him and knew what those monsters were capable off once they reached Helios, even with the planets heavy defences if one ship managed to land on the forge world then thousands of innocent lives would be put at risk.

"What can we do to help?"

Well what do you guys think of that? I did a little fan service here with the fight, someone asked me to write something like that a while ago, hope the brawl didn't disappoint. What might this piece of technology be? and can the Tyranid hive-fleet be stopped in its tracks before it reaches another colony…send me reviews on what you think and May the Force Be With You!

Question: - What are the capabilities and weapons of Tyranid ships? What are their ship classes called?