Light in the Darkness
Chapter Five
The gentle blue skies over Alderaan had become a dull gray, polluted from the massive plumes of smoke dominating the air. The invaders had raised most of the lush forest spanning the planet and had begun the bombardment of the capital city.
The command ship of the fleet hovered ominously in the atmosphere as several frigates began the orbital bombardment of the city.
Senator Bail Organa stared up at the capital-class ship in horror as a wave of bombers launched from the depths of its hangar bay. He spun towards two of the palace guards barking orders, "Where are those blasted Republic reinforcements?!" he snapped.
"They're not coming," called a voice from the corner of the room. Bail spun towards the direction of the cool voice. "And why not Serra?" he demanded of the lithe Jedi Knight leaning against the far wall on the other side of the room.
"Master Yoda has informed that the Republic has decided it best not defend Alderaan but to make preparations to contain the recent threat here," she said dryly.
Bail gave her a look of utmost incredulity, "The Republic is abandoning Alderaan…" he muttered gripping the rail of the veranda for support. Serra walked towards Bail her hands on her lightsaber hilts. "I suggest you mobilize any military forces located on Alderaan immediately, it's your only chance," she said staring at the many black dots speeding for the city.
Bail turned towards the remaining guard in the corner. "Scramble the palace militia and any fighter available on the planet. This is an emergency we must stop the city from being destroyed," he cried.
The guard ducked out of the room unholstering his blaster pistol as a precaution and set off at a trot barking inaudible orders down the corridor. Serra strode over to Bail placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I will try to protect the city at all costs," she muttered to him.
"Thank you," replied Bail graciously, "but there's nothing more you or I can do for Alderaan. This world will fall not thanks to the Republic," he growled bitterly.
Serra watched another cruiser depart from the hangar of the command ship and tear towards the palace. She departed from the chambers, slightly bracing herself as the first wave of bombers hit the city. Bail watched flames rise all around his beloved city and knew at once the end for Alderaan was near.
He watched the sleek, ruby red cruiser enter the Royal Hangar undeterred by any fighters or defense drones. Serra entered the hangar as the doors blocking her path snapped open giving her a clear view of the landing ramp descending on the crimson cruiser. A group of armored men raced down the ramp armed with a varied arsenal of weapons. Serra glanced over their armor distinctly recognizing the making from the Temple Archives. "Mandalorians," she muttered in shock. She snapped back to the situation at hand as the brunt of the group spotted her and opened fire with their repeating blaster rifles.
Serra activated her dual green lightsabers and swatted away the blaster bolts like child's play, entering the Soresu form instinctively. The Mandalorians were briefly taken aback by the presence of a Jedi Knight and opened fire with a renewed vigor. Serra swatted away bolts with some difficulty now as the heavy repeating carbines were brought out. She redirected a spray of blaster bolts back at their owner leaving several smoking holes in the durasteel plates.
Serra being currently preoccupied with fending off blaster fire couldn't notice the metallic sphere roll across the floor blinking dim red light. Serra felt the danger too late and hurled the thermal detonator back at the Mandalorians. The detonator exploded throwing flames everywhere instantly killing the Mandalorians and tossed Serra through the air like a ragdoll to strike the wall behind her.
The flames began to subside and a pair of jet-black boots clacked down the cruiser's landing ramp passing through the flames uninhibited. A mountain of a man hidden beneath his black cowl stalked across the hangar kicking aside the fallen and charred corpses of the Mandalorians under his charge. Serra rose retrieving her lightsabers and stared at the dark presence of this colossal man. She glared at him immersing herself in the Force before activating her emerald-green blades and somersaulting through the air to lash out at his chin with a booted foot.
The tall man caught her foot in his hand and threw her effortlessly across the hangar. Serra rolled with the impact and fueled her charge with the Force sprinting across the hangar at an extreme speed and slashed with both lightsabers in a crisscrossing arc for the man's chest. The man snatched a long lightsaber hilt off of his waist and ignited both ends of the saber twirling it in a defensive form to ward off her attacks. He quickly countered striking at her left flank and then curved the trajectory of the other side of his lightsaber up towards her cheek. Serra parried the blow and narrowly avoided the other side of the lightsaber swinging for her cheek and felt a few locks of hair burn away as the blade passed her face.
She scowled at the man and blasted him off of his feet with the Force sending him tumbling towards the landing ramp. He rose again and charged swinging his double-ended lightsaber in all directions driving Serra back in a vicious onslaught. Such raw power. The man smiled darkly as if she had voiced her thoughts and suddenly the hilt of his blades snapped in two while their sabers locked. He attacked now with a lightsaber in each hand completely switching from his previous form, the Makashi, to a more aggressive lightsaber form, the Ataru. Serra was completely unaware and immediately leapt to the defensive forms as she fended off his first wave of attacks. She switched to the Shien form, her favorite in lightsaber dueling and slashed the cape of his cloak in half with a lazy flick of her wrist and jabbed through his guard to glance over the armor protecting the man's chest.
"Who are you?" asked Serra, not losing concentration or focus from the fight.
"Your murderer," he hissed with venom as he brought his left lightsaber around to slice a deep gash into her right leg. Serra cried out in pain and dropped to her knees. She desperately blocked another blow from his right lightsaber and lashed out with another concussive blast with the Force. The man chuckled darkly and redirected it back at her the full brunt of the blast slamming into her chest ridding her lungs of any air.
Serra gasped for air slumped against the wall and watched the man approach with both crimson lightsabers in hand to deliver her an unwelcome execution. A single blaster bolt flew from the now-open hangar doors leaving a smoking hole in the black chestplate protecting the man. The Sith Lord gasped in surprise spinning on Bail with disbelief. "Bail no!" cried Serra, "Get away from here now!"
The Sith snarled with fury and snatched hold of him with the Force in an iron grip pulling him towards him. "Tell me Senator Organa, are you ready to die?" jeered the Sith Lord. Bail glowered at the man and spat in his face.
The Sith Lord's arrogant smile subsided and he tossed Bail away like an unwanted toy returning his attention on Serra. She attacked crossing her blades and spun through the air like a corkscrew driving both blades into the meat of his right shoulder and his hip and skewered the man to the hull of his own ship. The Sith cried out in pain and Serra ripped her blades free bringing them to bear to finish the Dark Lord. Bail stirred watching the battle unfold and suddenly Serra screamed in agony sent flying across the hangar once more enveloped in a prison of violet lightning.
The Sith Lord laughed mercilessly and let another blast of the lightning fly from his gloved fingertips. Serra twitched and writhed on the floor pitifully. Bail looked away unable to watch any longer as the intensity of her cries and the lightning increased. The Sith Lord lifted her limp form into the air and dragged her back towards him clenching his fist barely choking the air from her lungs. Serra clutched at her throat weakly and kicked at the man with all her might. The Sith Lord tightened his grip and with the sickening sound of crushing bones dropped her corpse.
The Sith Lord turned facing Bail. "Now then, Senator I believe we have several things to discuss," he said with a bout of mirthless laughter. Bail's cries echoed through the palace as lightning flashed from the man's fingertips yet again.
Anakin stood in the Temple Gardens watching several birds fly overhead. Shaak joined him placing a hand on his shoulder, "There's a surprise for you in the hangar. Obi-wan turned towards her, "Who's here?!"
"You'll see," she said with a smile.
Anakin rose from beside Obi-wan and they all set off back inside the Temple towards the hangar on the upper floors. A Jedi starfighter was just setting down and an astromech droid was nestled in behind the cockpit.
Anakin stared at the fighter in disbelief, "It can't be…" he stammered.
Shaak smiled as the cockpit opened and the familiar form of Kit Fisto leapt down to greet them. "You're dead," said Obi-wan in shock. "No, I survived Palpatine's attack, just barely. I chose not to reveal myself hearing whispers about Skywalker's planned execution. I can't believe Master Yoda would do something like this," replied Kit.
"The Order has fallen since the start of the Clone Wars," said Shaak sadly.
Kit nodded in agreement, "I can't believe the Council actually approved the motion of his execution," he said in disbelief.
"Well it's done now," said Anakin, "We have to deal with something else beside the Council entirely. Alderaan is under attack and judging by the Holonet reports a few hours ago the Republic won't be aiding them."
"What?!" asked Shaak turning towards Obi-wan and Anakin.
Obi-wan nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid so. The Senate has decided to contain the threat at Alderaan making sure that they cannot do any more harm."
"That doesn't make any sense," replied Kit, "We have hundreds of Venator-class warships at our disposal."
"The Grand Army has been decommissioned," said Anakin, "The Clone Wars have been quelled and their purpose has been fulfilled."
Shaak spoke suddenly, "We need to gather more people to aid us. We can liberate Alderaan and any other worlds in danger."
Obi-wan nodded, "I have sent out several encrypted messages to Jedi Masters in the area. Several Jedi are already plotting the course to Tython. We should have a sizable force by the time they all arrive."
Anakin stared at up into the cloudless skies eager for the arrival of more Jedi and felt a slight tremor in the force and his comm system beeped out a shrill warning from the Temple's radar detecting the arrival of multiple warships. Several Corellian warships entered the atmosphere and some older Acclamator frigates fell in behind the fleet seeking to land all around the ancient Temple.
"Whose ships are those?" asked Anakin incredulously.
Obi-wan stared at the mark of the Jedi tattooed on the hulls of the warships, "General Kota," he muttered.
Anakin watched the ramps descend and a Jedi Master descended the ramp with his lightsaber clipped to his hip and his whitening hair tied back in a short ponytail. A Jedi Knight followed him her hair snow-white as well, but not from age.
"An Echani," said Shaak in surprise.
The Jedi Knight surveyed her surroundings cautiously still unsure of the world. Obi-wan and Kit hurried to meet Kota and his apprentice. Ashoka appeared as the font doors to the Temple swung open. Kota's soldiers instantly began dragging in cases of ammunition and supplies.
Kota greeted Kit and Obi-wan with warm smiles. "Kit I'm glad to see you survived the battle against Palpatine after all. Master Kenobi it's great to see you as well."
"I'm actually glad that the Clone Wars are over after all. Never trusted the blasted soldiers in the first place," he said darkly.
"They were loyal," said Ashoka reaching them but already irritated by Kota's comment.
"Loyal to Palpatine, they would have shot you in the back without hesitation if he gave the order," said Kota staring down at her. Ashoka turned away unsure of his words, "Now, back to the business at hand. What's our plan to liberate Alderaan?" continued Kota.
"Right now, the planet is in a state of orbital bombardment and they believe no assistance is coming. We can attack from behind taking out several frigates that unload bomber squadrons frequently. Our main target however is the command ship. I'm certain that the threat Satele warned me of is onboard," replied Anakin.
"Satele?" asked Kota.
"A vision presented to me by Grand Master Shan during the times of the Old Republic," said Anakin.
"Ah," said Kota with slight interest.
Several more frigates dropped out of hyperspace and entered the atmosphere heading for the Temple. They landed at the ruins of the buildings across the canyon and several shuttles flew towards the Temple, landing near the river. Anakin saw Master Aayla Secura accompanied by Master Luminara and her former apprentice, now appointed to the rank of Jedi Knight heading towards their congregating group. "How many people are coming?!" asked Obi-wan slightly worried.
"I believe this is it for now," said Kit staring at Aayla.
Anakin counted all of the ships, "We have a fairly sizable fleet. Your Corellian warships alone are enough to cause trouble, along with Luminara's own modified Corellian corvette and Aayla's frigates," said Anakin finally.
"Plenty of Jedi too," barked Kota with a rough laugh, "My men will take down any opposing forces as well. Our task is to secure the palace."
"We have to hurry," said Ashoka shutting down her comm, "Senator Organa has been taken hostage."
Kota nodded, "We better be off then," he replied. He barked several orders at his men and the roar of engines warming up filled the air. His militia scrambled back on board their ships and Kota raced up the closing ramp of his command ship. Anakin raced up the landing ramp of their Corellian corvette after Ashoka, already hurrying to the cockpit. Aayla greeted Kit briefly before returning to her own frigates and Shaak headed after Obi-wan into the corvette. R6 autopiloted Kit's starfighter down to him and he leapt into the cockpit flying off after Kota's departing fleet. Ashoka opened up the communication channel and keyed in the hyperspace sequence, "To Alderaan!" cried everyone at once. The battle cries of Kota's militia dominating the channel.
A/N: That's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed. More action this time and less romance. Next time there are sexy scenes I will take into consideration the amount of detail I put into them due to the feedback provided by several people despite the feedback of others asking for more detail.
Next chapter there will be plenty more action and a little bit of romance maybe. More than just AniObi. Just wait and see ^-^
Anywho, I updated so quickly due to the recent reviews today so review some more for another quick update. I will try to update tomorrow if I can, but I doubt I will be able to until Tuesday.
Review, favorite, follow! You all know the drill (: