LordDarthYoda - I think Aurine had watched one too many Holomovies. Turns out being that heroic Jedi leading the charge isn't exactly the easiest (or most prudent) thing to do. Poor Emerald Dream, it only seems to pop up when I'm about to crash it/destroy it/bury it under a ton of rubble.

Mr. Insane - Thanks! I think the thing about this fight that I've tried to convey is that it's massive. So even if Tiplee/Aurine wanted to find that Mando shooting at the Emerald Dream, its not a given that they could find him/her, or even get to there.

7doom - I think you'll be hating me for a couple more chapters...

SpeechBubbleMe - I kinda was brainstorming that one for a while. I walk to work, so I use that time to think of things that I might want to use in the story later (problem is I forget some of the best stuff before I write it down)

A/N - So this was originally supposed to be a longer chapter, but the place where it ends off just happened to be the most convenient place to end a chapter, so I do apologize for that. I would have added more but there's some sort of Super Bowl going on that's distracting me... Part three will be a fair length as well as part four. (As well as part five...maybe?)

Anyways, all reviews, follows, and favourites are deeply appreciated as always.

Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 57: The Battle for Ubrora, Part Two

"Lieutenant, no battle plan survives contact With the enemy. I suggest that if your troops are not in firing range right now that you ADVANCE UNTIL THEY ARE!"

-Message from General Pravin Ecalt transmitted to Lieutenant Hiram Paltic, ten minutes after the start of the Battle for Ubrora.

Ravar Ecalt was learning that he did not enjoy being in a space battle. In fact he thought that he might be space sick.

The Kuati Victory had started out the battle on the front foot, opening up on the Reprisal with an impressive amount of turbolasers. But the Reprisal had weathered the storm with apparent ease and replied with turbolasers of it's own. The Kuati Victory had shuddered upon receiving that first volley, but had appeared to have dealt with it fairly well. From the schematics that Ravar had studied, he knew that the Reprisal, being a Lucrehulk class ship, didn't have the strongest armament in terms of lasers– however it did carry an almost absurd number of droid fighters. And those would be reaching the Kuati Victory very soon.

From what Ravar could gleam from listening to the barely controlled chaos on the bridge and from what he could see out the viewport, the battle had started going badly as soon as the gaggle of droid fighters had made their way out to the Kuati Victory. While his pieced together auxiliaries made up of inexperienced mercenaries tried to combat the perfect discipline of the droid fighters, the Victory and its fleet was having a hard time defending itself from the droids.

The droid fighters were quick and agile, and without any starfighters of their own to combat them, they were simply too hard to hit and too numerous. Ravar's mercenaries were trying, but with their mismatched and often outdated weaponry, they were having trouble making an impact. The other problem was that the Victory was having trouble defending itself with its own weapons, because the Kuati gunners didn't want to hit the ships that were (theoretically) protecting her.

It was a situation that wasn't going to last.

The Kuati Victory shook violently, which caused Ravar to reach out and steady himself on a nearby railing. He turned his attention to the bridge where things were certainly getting more and more tense.

"What just hit us?" barked Captain Kuat.

"Droid fighter," replied someone from the command pit.

"Droid fighter lasers aren't that powerful! And our shields are still up!" exclaimed Captain Kuat in disbelief.

Lieutenant Torical turned in her chair slightly, "It crashed into us, Captain. We have reports of several droid fighters intentionally crashing into us."

The ship shook again with another impact. "Well someone STOP them from RAMMING US, PLEASE!" The fiery Kuati captain almost lost her balance as another volley of fire from the Reprisal smacked into the Kuati Victory. "Damage report!"

"Port side shields are holding but weakening. Minor external damage to the dorsal hull. Small leaks on decks 24 through 28. Repair teams have been dispatched."

"Good. Damage on the Reprisal?"

The same officer shrugged helplessly, "Minimal, I'm afraid."

The Kuati Captain looked exasperated, "What are the Ubroran fighters doing? They have the Reprisal all to themselves!"

"They're engaging the Reprisal, but they are having difficulty making a mark onto the enemy ship."

Yet another explosion rocked the ship, this one even stronger than the first two, and this time, Ravar's old, nonathletic body could not stay upright and he slunk to his knees. It took him a moment to regain his footing and by that point, klaxons were beginning to wail.

It had been a long time since Ravar Ecalt had wondered if he was going to die in the immediate future. But it wasn't a new experience for him. Once, when he'd been visiting one of his factories, one of the reactors had gone critical. He'd been told that it was only going to be a matter of minutes before it exploded and it would level most of the city and surrounding area. Without a way to escape, he'd called his wife and told her that he loved her. He had been sure that was the end. A miracle had saved him that day. He wasn't sure if another one was going to be in the offing. But he was very happy he'd told his wife and children in person how much he'd loved her as well as made sure that his will was in working order.

Captain Kuat stood tall, "All weapons, focus on the Reprisal. This ship is tough enough to survive the droid fighters. Or it better be. Because if it isn't I will haunt the engineers that made this ship through all seven hells!"

The diminutive Kuati pointed at someone in the command pit, "Lieutenant Danit communicate with our auxiliaries. Tell them to protect our starboard side."

"Our...starboard side?"

"Yes the one that isn't facing the Reprisal! Now do it!"

Ravar didn't really understand the strategy, but outside of asking if this prototype ship had escape pods, he felt that he should probably remain as a quiet observer of the battle. He glanced out the viewport. The Arrow was still out there, untouched by the battle. He had thought that the Arrow would have still been a part of the battle plan, but with things so chaotic, he supposed there wasn't time or resources that could be devoted to his little flight of fancy.

That was too bad, he had thought it was at least worth a try...

Someone managed to get the klaxons that were echoing around the ship to stop. But the Kuati Victory kept being rattled by the Reprisal and the droid fighters. Damage reports kept filtering back to Captain Kuat, who seemed to be increasingly fiery. Ravar took that as a bad sign.

"Port shields are down to 14 percent!"

"Roll the ship!" ordered Captain Kuat.

The helmsman looked up at the captain in confusion, "What?"

"Roll the ship so that the starboard side of the ship is facing Reprisal! Don't give them our weak side for them to shoot at!" Captain Kuat found a new target to yell at, "And tell those Force forsaken mercenaries to guard our port side! Tell them there is a bonus if we survive this battle!"

Those were going to be very rich mercenaries if they survived, thought Ravar. He had promised them a bonus if they liberated Ubrora, and each and every credit would be worth it if he could be reunited with his son.

Captain Kuat turned and marched over to him. Ravar assumed that she'd be asking for permission to withdraw from the fight. He'd deny it, for whatever it was worth. This was her ship, he was just renting it. Ravar was sure he'd get his money back. Unfortunately he had lots of money, he did not have another youngest son.

Ravar folded his hands behind his back, "Yes, Captain?"

"How confident are you in the Arrow?"

"I don't know, Captain. It's an idea rooted in tradition as far as military history goes..."

Captain Kuat stopped his rambling with a firm hand on his shoulder, "Mr. Ecalt. I'm about to bet the lives of several thousand Kuatis on this ...ship and its plan. I want to know that this isn't some lark for you. That this ship has some sort of merit to it."

"I..." he stammered.

Usually in business, one did not have to make split second decisions. Mergers and acquisitions were usually only done after thorough vetting. Products were only put into production after thousands and thousands of hours of market research. Ravar Ecalt, though a successful businessman, had made very few snap decisions in his life. He didn't like making quick decisions. He was a calm, patient man that considered all the dat before making a decision. But here he didn't have that luxury.

Was he willing to gamble thousands of lives on what was, quiete frankly an untested idea? If it was own life in the balance he would have done it without hesitation. But he had come to know many of the Kuati officers during the few days he had spent on Kuati Victory. These were good people, by and large. Was he willing to bet their lives on his little plan?

"I think it will work, Captain Kuat. The Arrow may at the very least put the pressure back on the Reprisal."

The Kuati Captain nodded sharply, "Let's hope so. Because you know what I said about haunting the engineers if I die here?"

Ravar nodded, "Yes."

The petite Kuati poked him hard in the chest, "That goes double for you and your family if this doesn't work." The Captain of the Kuati Pride turned sharply and walked back to the command pit and barked out the order, "Tractor beam control, it's time. Unleash the Arrow."

Jedi Knight Tiplee wasn't going to let the battle come to her, she was going to bring herself to the battle. Watching the blasterfire coming toward her and the speeder she was currently occupying, she decided it was time to make her escape. She jumped up onto the hood of the speeder, feeling the wind whipping against her. She took a moment to steady herself and then bent her knees deeply. Then springing like a Altalian Leopard, she uncoiled herself and leapt high into the air and towards the droid army.

While the remaining speeders continued to stay on the outside of the battle and fire at the now partially encircled droid army, Tiplee charged into the thick of battle, heading towards the nearest battle tank. She covered the ground quickly. A little known fact about Rishati was that they were deadly fast sprinters. It could only be used for short distances, but over that short distance, she would be far faster than a human would be.

But her speed almost did her in, as the battle tank she had been rushing toward was lanced by fire from the Emerald Dream as it streaked across the battlefield like some technological bird of prey. The battle tank took two direct hits from the turret and simply exploded.

This battle is chaos, thought Tiplee. She couldn't tell how the battle was going, and there was probably few people who could with any sort of certainty. All she controlled was her actions. Tiplee would have loved to have found one of the eight or so Mandalorians there were flitting around the battlefield, engage them in single combat at strike them down. Unfortunately, the Mandalorians seemed quite content to avoid her and wreck havoc on the Ubroran troops instead.

For a moment, she regretted jumping off her speeder, as now that she was on foot, she had lost a lot of her mobility. Unfortunately, if she tried to track one of the several Mandalorians, they would probably see her coming and use their jetpacks to get away. Overall, the Mandalorians remained a tactical puzzle that she, nor anyone else could resolve at the moment.

But she was not above trying.

"Coren Vox!" she shouted, using the Force to amplify the power of her voice, "Fight me you coward!" She swung her lightsaber around for dramatic effect, "I am Jedi Knight Tiplee. I challenge you!"

If this was a Holomovie, this would be the point where the villainous Coren Vox would come over and accept her challenge. Then the two of them would scrap it out one on one while the battle dramatically raged all around them.

This was not a Holomovie.

Not a single Mandalorian, Coren Vox or otherwise, paid even the slightest attention to her. That meant to get their attention she'd have to do something to get their attention. And that meant destroying or disabling a whole lot of droids.

Tiplee spotted a squad of spindly battle droids that was trying to advance towards the front lines. The Rishati smiled grimly and sprinted towards the droids, lightsaber held high.

The last thing that squad of battle droids processed was a red blur wielding a blue lightsaber.

Aurine Brynar was in the thick of battle and carving through droids as fast as she could. Time was an abstract concept now. There was only the present, only this battle.

She had lost track of the full picture of the battle. She had no idea if the Ubrorans were winning or losing. There was no time to even think about such things.

With a deafening roar, the Emerald Dream made another pass through the heart of the droid army. It was a rare sound that could be heard over the cacophony of battle, but the Emerald Dream was flying low enough and its engines were powerful enough to be heard. From what she could tell, the two Padawans were doing good work. Every time they dove through the battlefield, explosions seemed to follow, and it seemed to Aurine that the number of tanks that belonged to the droid army was dwindling.

The only problem was that Coren Vox was not stupid. Aurine was sure that the Mandalorian was focusing all his efforts into taking down the Dream.

Aurine returned her attention to deflecting blasterfire. She kept herself low to the ground, trying to minimize her profile. Then, spotting an opportunity, she found a group of battle droids that had somehow been isolated from their companions and took a big, Force-enhanced bound towards them. She didn't quite make it to them in the first leap – she had underestimated how much the battle had taken out of her already. By her second leap she was there and her lightsaber was shearing through battle droids like it was the only purpose it had ever been built for.

Moments later, the droids were gone, and only she was left standing.

Aurine plotted her next move, and heard the telltale signs of the Emerald Dream coming around for another pass. She turned and looked, as the ship's turret raked the droid army, taking what had been functioning droids and droidekas and turning them into pieces of droids and droidekas. Before the ship got too low to the ground, Sascha banked the ship on it's side and began pulling away from the thick of the fighting.

Then, a bolt of lightening crossed the battlefield and struck the Emerald dream right near where the hull and engines met. As the explosion rocked the ship and it wobbled in the air as her Padawan fought with the controls. For a moment, she thought that the ship might be able to survive the direct hit, but suddenly smoke burst from the rear of the ship and it lost altitude.

The Emerald Dream lurched over the forest, wounded, trailing smoke, away from the battle.

And then it was gone.

The cockpit of the Emerald Dream was pandemonium. Klaxons were sounding and smoke gradually was wafting into the air. In the pilot's chair, Sascha Whitestar still wasn't quite sure what had hit the Dream, probably a missile from what of the Mandalorians, but whatever had made contact had done a number to the ship. Sascha fought against the controls, his arms straining against gravity, against his dying ship. If he could just keep the ship above the treeline, he thought that he might be able to guide the Dream to a safe landing somewhere flat.

Suddenly, somewhere in the aft of the ship, there was a small explosion and the nose of the ship pointed downward. This time, there was nothing he could do to flatten out the ship's trajectory, "Nara!" he shouted, "We're going down!"

The Emerald Dream, now obviously mortally wounded, sunk into the treeline and was battered by the top layers of the treetops. The ship had enough speed that it simply smashed through the trees without a care in the world. The sound that it made in the cockpit was something else though – it was like listening to a thousand tree branches shatter so close to you that you could almost taste the tree bark.

Sascha, in a last ditch effort to stop a catastrophe from occurring, activated the repulsors, hoping that they could propel the ship upwards in an attempt to slow their descent. It worked for about two seconds, and then the the repulsorlifts too failed and the nose of the ship pointed down to the ground.

Sascha didn't even have a moment to contemplate his own mortality before the ship struck the surface.

The nose of the Emerald Dream hit first the ground with a resounding crash. In the pilot's chair, Sascha lurched forward as the ship's internal compensators failed. His head smacked the dashboard and then he only knew darkness.