Hello everyone. So, here is a sitrep on where we are with this story: I know what I've set up, I know how all of this ties into the end of act one, and I know how act one sets up for the meat of this story. I also know the vibe I want for this section: this creeping mystery with a hint of dramatic irony, but a dramatic irony offset by all the things we don't know. I say all of that to say this: I don't really know what to do for the middle of act one. In short, I know point A, I know point B, and I've pretty much figured out how to get from B to C to D and so on, but I don't know how to get from A to B. That combined with a recent passing wave of depression has had me feeling pretty shitty about this story in general. Basically, with this chapter I'm going to be trying to save this part of the story and reignite my passion for it, because I don't want to abandon a story or even just put it on hiatus for a little bit, but it also feels like I'm running myself into a brick wall and for what? For views? Obviously, that's not why I write - believe me, I know I'm writing niches within niches in terms of general interest - but it feels really disheartening to hit a slump with a story and have no nice view number or feedback to lift me back up. I'm not blaming you guys or anything, believe me, I appreciate anyone who cares enough about this crap to have read this much of an author's note. I just want to be honest to you and provide an explanation for if, at the end of this chapter, I feel the need to say "Look, I just don't think I can do this right now" and put the story on hiatus or whatever. Anyway, far too much from me aside, I'm going to try and throw myself into this chapter and hopefully it works out.
Secrets of the Outer Rim II.
Act I.
The Edge of the Galaxy.
Chapter V.
The Battle Beyond the Stars.
It happened faster than I'd even like to explain. The leader of the band of alien warriors broke through the door, gave his roar, and then his six henchmen wasted no time utterly mopping the floor with us. A few swings of their axes and a few explosive shells from their blaster cannons was enough to incapacitate the stormtroopers and throw Arrya and I to the ground. I remember groaning in pain, totally incapable of telling how many of the stormtroopers were dead and how many were simply hocked unconscious, and I remember hearing two sets of footsteps approaching where Arrya and I were laying, defenseless. The first, the heavy, rhythmic steps of the leader of this septuplet, the other a sharp, metallic clang of the feet of a droid. I looked up to see the two of them looking down on me. One, the leader, was a large, brutish create, with a black chest and face, that black fur with golden ends covering most of the rest of his body, heavy feet, strong hands, and a proud, bearded head. He wore a bandolier loaded with shells for the blaster cannon he had strapped to his back, an elaborate loin cloth seemed to be about as close as he would get to modesty, and he had various armored plates affixed to his hulking frame. Two particularly large plates, one on either shoulder, only seemed to make his silhouette more intimidating. This is especially the case when paired with the massive axe he held.
The other figure, the droid, had sleek black armored plating, held a heavy-duty sniper rifle in his mechanical hands, but had a head almost like an old-timey protocol droid. One of those ancient models with a processor so primitive that, so as to load a serviceable amount of languages onto it, all personality and tone was lost, reducing the droid to simply stating the mode of speech before riddling off whatever translation was necessary. I didn't get the chance to get much more of a look at him because I saw my vision fading out just as the leader barked out a command to his men. For a brief moment I figured this was it for us, our execution, but instead, I felt two of his men grab us - Arrya and I - and begin dragging us towards the bridge. That was when my eyes finally gave out, leaving me with just the sensation of sliding against the metal floor combined with the dull, throbbing pain left over from getting thrown across the room earlier.
Another Star Destroyer hallway just like this, also going to the bridge. A different bridge though, on a different ship...the ship that Schweva was attacking.
I came to for a moment, back in this hallway, in this bridge, getting dragged to an uncertain fate. My eyes didn't have it in them to stay open though, quickly falling closed again, nothing to see but the passing pattern of lights between the two aliens I could see.
The other Star Destroyer again, the other hallway. I was walking now...except it wasn't me, it was Schweva. This was her now, I was seeing her. I was still getting dragged but she was walking. She wasn't just walking though; she was wielding a lightsaber. Blue with a black center, a black core she would say, insisting on the proper terminology. What was she using it for though? Blaster bolts. She was blocking blaster bolts. She was in a battle, against stormtroopers. The stormtroopers were protecting the bridge, because she was boarding this Star Destroyer. She wanted to capture the bridge and these stormtroopers were in the way.
I came to again. It was distracting, disorienting, because when I lost consciousness, I was seeing Schweva and what she was doing, but when I regained consciousness, I was catching more glimpses of my doomed existence. In the visions, the stormtroopers were enemies, a foe in between Schweva and her goal, but in reality, the stormtroopers were still my allies, and those that survived the initial boarding were being gathered up by these boarders. Whatever they intended for us, they intended for whatever surviving stormtroopers as well. Considering that these pirates - or whatever they really were - didn't seem to mind much about all the stormtroopers they killed, I doubted they had a particularly pleasant fate for us that did survive. None of those particularly bodes well for the two of us who aren't even supposed to be on this ship right now. We were supposed to have returned from Mandalore by now, instead a single missile backpack has led to all this.
Another blaster bolt backed as I was Schweva again. I was seeing Schweva anyway. None of this was real though - at least not my real - this was just a vision, a vision of Schweva, of her present I think, not just some possibility of what might happen to her, but rather exactly what she is doing right now. Having blocked the bolt with the lightsaber in her right hand, Schweva then raised her left hand, gloved limb entering few as she fired electricity from her fingertips. Force Lightning it was called, a powerful technique, one that her mistress was fond of as well, and that factory only made Schweva want to learn it even better. Satisfied with the murder and destruction to her left, she switched from the lightning to pulling a panel off the wall, using it to crush two stormtroopers against the complementary panel on the other side. She then pulled the whole thing towards her - two panels wrapped around a pair of stormtroopers - and threw it directly ahead of her, knocking a few other stormtroopers to the ground. Schweva continued without missing a beat, stepping over the twisted metal contraption of her own making and taking the effort to chop up the stormtroopers beneath it while she was at it. The number between her and the bridge was decreasing rapidly.
I felt my body getting jostled as my head hit a metal surface just behind me. I groaned at the feeling of my rear lekku striking a counter behind me. The counter of a computer on the bridge. The bridge. So that's where they were dragging us to. I tried to open my eyes to get a look at what was going on around me but just groaned again at the agony. The lights. The way they threw me had my head facing the harsh lighting of the bridge. I knew in my head that the lighting wasn't really that harsh, Imperials for whatever reason tended to like their ships being somewhat dim, but my mind didn't seem overly concerned with that fact. In my present state, all that mattered was that the lights were bright and that hurt. So, vision denied to me, I had to depend on my other senses...my other senses...my other...
The blue and black blade finished cutting through the blast doors, leaving the bridge open and vulnerable to me. No...to Schweva. I've lost it again, I passed out, and now I'm seeing her again. That fact was made abundantly clear to me when Schweva grabbed the horrified Imperial officer, pulled him towards her, and then cut through him. Satisfied with that, she summoned her other weapon to her hand, the one with the thick emitter. Its purpose was finally revealed to me as Schweva ignited it to reveal a matching blue and black whip. Not stopping for a moment, even as the whip was still appearing, she disposed of the two stormtroopers that had been guarding their deceased commander. She thought for a moment that she would have to dispose of the others, but then she looked over her shoulder at the sound of rushing footsteps to see her troops had finally caught up with her. Black and purple armored Grand Ducal Marines arrived and Schweva gave a nod. With that, they began systematically executing the remaining staff on the bridge, including surrendering pilots. For someone like me? I would consider that an atrocity, a war crime, but Schweva? The only feeling I could sense coming from her was one of a distasteful necessity. Just as I was beginning to wonder whether or not I was right to see some greater good in the Grand Duchy of Taaszon when compared to the Empire, Schweva got on her commlink.
"Alright Admiral, we've cleared the ship. I'll signal you as soon as we are clear. Waste no time in opening fire, we've already gone on long enough." Schweva commanded, clearly dissatisfied with how this has gone. She had intended to handle the star destroyers from the safety of a command deck, but instead, she ended up having to lead a boarding party as the Grand Duchy's plan was derailed.
"Understood my lord, the ships are entering position." the Admiral responded, and I finally got a clear look out of the viewports of the star destroyer, seeing three thing, sleek black vessels defined by the presence of three prominent fins at the rear of the aircraft, one at the top, then two pointing downwards on either side, continuing the triangular prism shape of the rear of the ship. This triangular section was fronted by a hangar flanked by a pair of massive frontal guns. Far from mere turbolaser batteries, these were the kind of heavy cannons that could cripple a capital ship with relative ease. At the same time, considering these ships were smaller than star destroyers to begin with, the presence of such large cannons didn't fill me with optimism for the crew-strength of these vessels. This hangar and guns section was fronted with a split nose, containing both ventral and dorsal components, both of which combined to form the appearance of a pincer, conveniently just open enough to allow access to and from the hangar - as well as cannon fire - while also protecting it from above and below.
I got back another moment of consciousness, this time deciding to roll my head to the side before opening my eyes. My lekku and montrals felt like dead weight right now, making my job harder, especially with my head throbbing and my brain begging for the return of the unconscious if for no reason than the numbness provides a form of temporary relief. I took the opportunity to catch a glimpse of Arrya thrown next to me. I was faintly aware of other Imperials, including the captain and several stormtroopers, being deposited elsewhere on the bridge. I was also faintly aware that the leader was here, along with his protocol droid sniper of a companion, and four of his warriors. The other two, I suppose, were scouring the ship for anyone else they want. I was also aware of the fact that my eyes were slipping down again, back into the realm of unconsciousness, but I was powerless to stop it this time.
By the time I returned to Schweva, she was now in a shuttle of some sort, returning to her vessel. True to her word, as soon as she tapped the commlink in her ear to give the signal, her Admiral opened fire and the three ships wasted no time destroying the star destroyer in a fury of purple laser fire. The secondary turbolaser batteries of the ships now took the opportunity to search for any escaping ships or escape pods that might be carrying stragglers. This, combined with the earlier execution, made something clear: the Grand Duchy was serious about remaining a secret, no matter how much of an open secret it was. To this end, they strictly adhered to a policy of no survivors whenever possible, no matter how "distasteful" it may be. Schweva tended to emphasize the necessity aspect of it all though, because she felt that if she was going to be tasked with missions of ultimately little meaningfulness, she might as well execute them to the best of her abilities. She didn't think she was inflicting much of a blow to the Empire at all, but her master instructed her to do this, so she was going to do this. Speaking of her master. Once the barrage died down, Schweva set about producing her holoprojector and reporting to Lady Attam.
"My mistress, it is done." Schweva reported with a bow, taking up the body of the shuttle to do this, her troops following in accompanying shuttles, none in this one. This space would be reserved for the master and the apprentice. Even the shuttle pilots were on the other side of a sound-proofed door.
"Very well my apprentice, how did it go?"
"All five of the star destroyers were destroyed. We faced complications on the final vessel, but we were able to persevere, and it was eliminated without survivors or information escaping." Schweva reported. Complications being her way of describing whatever caused her to have to disembark from her ship and lead a boarding party. It certainly wasn't for her faction's lack of firepower.
"Excellent work. My spies are already reporting on the Empire undergoing a crisis. Ships are disappearing from their positions, reports aren't coming in, and planets are left scrambling to figure out what is going on with the star destroyers they were expecting. You may have only destroyed five ships, but you have caused countless others to reroute. Not only that, but now every Imperial ship captain will be left wondering whether or not their ship is next. We will keep these raids going at different times, with different commanders, and in different numbers. We will not allow the Empire the comfort of predicting our next move." Phanza smirked to herself, satisfied with how this strategy was playing out. Her apprentice, however, was less impressed.
"It is as you wish, my mistress." Schweva responded with barely an attempt at enthusiasm.
"Indeed, it is," was Phanza's clipped response, a reminder of who had the power here, and one that left Schweva with no choice but to bite her tongue, not wishing to question her master any further. A moment passed before the blue-skinned woman spoke again.
"I meant no offense, mistress." she tried to walk back her remarks.
"Your intention matters not, my apprentice. What matters is that despite everything I have done and despite my promises that there is a grander plan in motion here, you continue to doubt my abilities." Phanza responded, instantly jumping down Schweva's throat over the mere idea that the apprentice could question the master. I suppose that this is far from a utopian society after all.
"That's not what I wanted to do!" Schweva attempted to explain herself.
"Then don't do it." Phanza responded "I can promise you that I have not forgotten about the Shahak'Tur and I am doing what I can to deal with it. At the same time, don't you forget that the Empire is still our main enemy. The Shahak'Tur have stolen a homeworld away from us, but when it comes to that, I think we are both well aware of the fact that the Empire bears the weight of original sin."
"Of course mistress, I understand." Schweva relented, left with no choice but to accept her master's guidance. A silence descended over the call for a moment before Phanza sighed and decided to change the subject, aware of another aspect of her apprentice's condition.
"But there is something else, isn't there?" Phanza asked, voicing her suspicions.
"...yes. I feel a presence mistress, even now. I feel as if someone is here even though I know they are not. I am completely alone in this shuttle, yet I feel the presence of another Force user." Schweva explained, instantly catching my interest. So that meant that Schweva was aware of my presence, at least while I was seeing these visions. Did that mean that she was receiving visions to? If so, what did she see? Did she see me with the Empire? Perhaps she has, and perhaps that means if we do ever track down Schweva, perhaps all that awaits me is the end of her lightsaber.
"How long have you felt this?" Phanza asked.
"Since Taaszon." Schweva answered.
"Interesting. Perhaps you are just processing your reaction to seeing your home again, or perhaps..." Phanza trailed off, bringing her hand to her chin.
"Perhaps what, mistress?" Schweva asked, not having often seen her master simply trail off like that.
"I have a theory, my apprentice, but allow me some time. For now, return home with your fleet, they will be needed elsewhere soon enough." Phanza ordered, ending the message, but giving herself something new to research. At the same time, Schweva was left alone and wondering what this could possibly be about.
"Of course, mistress," Schweva accepted, not entirely pleased with how this conversation has gone, but also feeling like it was more positive than it could have been. As the blue-skinned woman rose to her feet and sighed, I felt myself getting jostled, and the vision faded away.
"Zaverra...Zaverra!" Arrya whisper-yelled near me, the human woman trying to wake me up.
"What?" I asked as I came to, figuring that she was trying to figure out a plan to get us out of here. These guys are massive and heavily armed, but as far as we know, it's just the seven of them and the droid, so maybe there was a way we could still get out of this. Between the Grand Duchy and the Shahak'Tur, it was hard to tell who exactly our fight was with, but one thing that I'm absolutely sure about is that it's not with these guys.
"Listen, we need to get out of here, I need you to - " Arrya began before we were caught.
"Cease your scheming human, I can hear you." the leader revealed, turning to face us. So, he could speak Galactic Basic, and in a booming voice that implied not only authority and strength, but a certain type of intelligence. That was the concerning part, usually such raw strength tends to be paired with a low intelligence - I mean, you don't exactly see many rancor scientists, now do you? - but the leader of this bunch seemed like he was capable of more than just brute strength.
"You can speak our language?" Arrya asked, not having expected this.
"Indeed. The droid learned our ways and taught us yours." the leader revealed, kneeling in front of us and threateningly resting the head of his axe between us, making it clear what could easily happen if we tried anyway. I looked over the axe to see the droid in question, the old model protocol droid armed with a sniper rifle, and it was quickly becoming apparent that there was more to this droid than merely translating or shooting.
"So, what do you want with us?" she asked, leaving me not entirely sure if she was trying to negotiate or simply buying time. If she was buying time for me to do something, then I don't know what she's expecting me to do, right now every option seems to end in me getting cleaved in half or blasted by the droid. Perhaps I was just assuming an unreasonable level of skill, but something was telling me that the droid could draw quicker than I could even hope to.
"Information. We know you have encountered the Shahak'Tur, tell us where, and tell us why." he demanded, bearing his sharp teeth in the process. He was being hostile towards us, but what he said implied that he was fighting them as well.
"The Shahak'Tur? You the aliens then? That's what you call them? The ones with the scaly black and red armor?" Agent Cerses asked, still not quite possessing all the information I had on the aliens, and even I only knew a fraction of what Schweva knew. In fact, these creatures seemed to know them quite well as well, and I wondered just how much they knew in comparison to us.
"The one in the same." the leader confirmed.
"I know one world where they are attacking us. Let us go and I'll reveal everything we know." Arrya proposed, making her play.
"No." he flatly refused "You will tell us what you know, and we will all go to this world together. If you are telling the truth, you and your ship will be allowed to go. If not...then your friends die one by one until you give me some proper information."
"Fine," Arrya accepted, realizing that this wasn't going to get any better "The aliens are attacking us on a planet called Zletino, we are trying to contain them, but we don't have experience fighting them. Our numbers are the only thing allowing us to hold the line."
"Good," the leader responded before rising to his feet, turning to his companions, the five - including the droid - who were already here - as well as the two others who just wandered in, ushering in another group of captured Imperials. He pointed to those two and barked out some orders in his native language, then, as they were turning and leaving, he faced the rest of his men and relayed their orders. Once he was finished, he pounded the bottom of his axe to the floor, the resounding thud being the signal for his men to work. Soon enough, their ship detached, and the droid jumped us to hyperspace, two ships traveling side by side to Zletino. It was at this point that I realized that they intended on keeping us tied up and vulnerable until we arrived, so I decided to even the odds.
"Zletino is a restricted world due to the conflict. You'll need to release us so we can transmit proper clearance codes." I bluffed, coming up with a believable reason as to why we'll need to be untied and released before getting to the planet. We were still going to be surrounded by four warriors, the leader of the bunch, and his killer protocol droid, but being released would be at least a marginal improvement to our situation. Arrya seemed to agree, because in the corner of my eye, I could see her nodding her head, approving of my course of action.
"Or you can tell me the codes and I'll transmit them myself." the leader countered.
"No offense, but you don't exactly sound like an Imperial officer." Arrya pointed out, joining in on the game of bluffs.
"Maybe so..." the leader admitted, but then he turned to the droid "HK?"
"Synthesized Imitation: Understood, transmitting codes now." the droid spoke for the first time, beginning in a chilling yet distinct mechanical voice, but then switching to a near-perfect reproduction of Arrya Cerses' voice, something he was able to produce from just a few statements she made. Even Arrya seemed alarmed at that ability. Considering that she was an ISB agent herself, she could definitely appreciate how difficult it was to produce a believable approximation of someone else's voice, and even being attached to Grand Moff Kordoth for so long hasn't made her forget how useful such an ability would be.
"You're not getting out of this human. If you value the lives of your comrades, the next thing out of your mouth will be the clearance codes." the leader demanded. I think I may have only made things worse, because I had no idea as to whether or not there actually were any real access codes, and I doubted that these guys were going to take us bluffing kindly. I was trying to buy us time, maybe give us an opening to get out of here, but I seem to have only put us into a life-or-death scenario even faster than we were already getting to one.
"What difference does it make? When you show up to the Imperial blockade above Zletino without the clearance codes, they'll just blow us all up anyway." Arrya, however, was going for the high risk, high reward gamble, which really seemed to be our only option at this point anyway. The alien leader stared her down, much larger face and deadly sharp teeth bearing down on the much smaller woman, but the ISB Agent wasn't deterred in the slightest, meeting the alien stare for stare. There was a slightly concerning aspect to all this, mainly that, if Arrya was telling the truth at this point, we very well might be eliminated in a round of friendly fire before we can even do anything about it.
"Your bluffs are as unbelievable as they are childish. You expect me to believe that the Empire would so willingly fire on their own ships?" he bit back, but this only served to give Arrya the opening that she did it.
"In a sector this important, everything is scheduled to precision, so when the Empire sees the unscheduled arrival of a star destroyer paired with a ship they don't recognize, of course they're going to demand an answer. What do you really think you're the first ones to infiltrate an Imperial vessel?" Arrya asked, actually making the scenario seem somewhat believable, giving us our chance.
"Fine. You will be untied but do not mistake your necessity for freedom. That will only come if and when you guide us to the Shahak'Tur." the leader accepted, but not without a stern warning, making it clear that he was only loosening our leash as much as strictly necessary. That being said, I appreciated even this freedom, so, once Arrya and I were untied, I accepted the leader ushering us over towards the front of the bridge, where we stood between him and the droid that he called HK. So, the blue streaks of hyperspace colored the sky in front of the four of us - a mechanical menace, an Imperial secret agent, a petty mercenary turned Imperial conscript, and the leader of the band of alien warriors - all of us on route to a planet that has always been described to me as a brutal warzone. The Shahak'Tur blindly pouring into one of the few access points they have into the rest of the galaxy, and the Empire desperately trying to plug that gap against an enemy they didn't really know how to fight effectively. The fact that the Shahak'Tur are such an unknown is what makes this all so hard - we have no ideas what their numbers are or where they are coming from - any one of those problems would be massively difficult to deal with, but we have to deal with both of them.
"You know you don't need to be hostile to us, right? We have the same enemy." I pointed out, aware of the fact that, in many ways, they could serve the same purpose for us as Schweva could. Of course, if we managed to get that working, I have no idea what would happen to me when it comes to the Inquisitors, but one life-threatening crisis at a time I suppose.
"No, we do not. You do not know the Shahak'Tur like we do. This is our fight, and we will have our justice." he replied, gruffly refusing any idea of working together. Apparently, it was personal for them, and apparently the struggle being personal is all the excuse they need to be stupid about this. I may not know the full extent of the Shahak'Tri numbers, but I know they're too big for a group of seven alien warriors to defeat them.
"Enlighten us then." Arrya countered, also fishing for information while we could.
"My kind have been locked in conflict with the vile creatures for thousands of years. They conquered us, we conquered them, and now they have conquered us again. My people sit destitute, subjugated by our eternal enemies, and left to rot. Me and my warriors are the ones who are willing to fight, and that will give us the ability to win." he explained, making it clear that this was an ancient struggle, and that these seven were the ones continuing the fight even after the rest of their species, for all intents and purposes, seems to have been defeated. It does seem to mirror some of the stories from the Clone Wars, such as on Ryloth or Onderon, when common rebels were able to fight the separatists with some degree of success. Now, to be fair, it is easy to imagine many of those rebel cells were covertly supported by the Republic - not that their Imperial successors would ever confirm such a potentially dangerous, rebellion-inspiring thing for fear of it being replicated against them - but the point remains. These warriors are far from the only small resistance cell in the galaxy, they just seem to have a slightly different target compared to everyone else.
"Tell us about your kind." Arrya dug.
"No." he flatly refused.
"If we're helping you, we at least deserve to know who you are." she persisted.
"Everything I have told you has been at my discretion. You deserve nothing." the leader responded before he seemed to sigh, exhaling heavily "If you must know, I am Esztreochtz, leader of the Free Jagahn'Or."
"See was that so hard? I'm Agent Arrya Cerses, ISB, and this is Zaverra Ashtso." Arrya responded, receiving only a grunt in turn. So, we were untied but that only applied to the two of us, the rest of the Imperials were hostages, ones that Esztreochtz and his men could easily execute if we tried anything funny. So yeah, we were untied, but the situation wasn't any less tense right now. All we could do is stand here uncomfortably and hope that things go better for us once we get to Zletino. With any luck, once we get there, the Jagahn'Or will stick to their word, allowing us to make it out of there while they and the Shahak'Tur go destroy each other. I'm under no illusions that Zletino is a meat-grinder, and I cannot fathom why these seven would want to get involved in it.
Unfortunately for us, we didn't get much choice in the matter, as the Jagahn'Or insisted on getting visual confirmation of the Shahak'Tur before releasing us. Well, they got their visual confirmation alright, when a Shahak'Tur artillery barrage knocked the Thunderous out of the sky, the Jagahn'Or ship following it down not long after. So, Esztreochtz and his warriors - droid included - rushed off to face their enemy, leaving Arrya and I with a group of tied-up Imperials in a grounded star destroyer right in the middle of the warzone. Now, obviously getting out of here was our main priority, so Arrya was trying to get the Saboteur - and enough ships for the rest of the Imperials stranded here - up and running after the crash landing. That left me and the group of surviving stormtroopers gathered together in a foxhole in front of the star destroyer, left to try and protect it from any Imperial advances.
Zletino was a temperate world, with varied terrain made up of plains, forests, hills, and even mountains where there had once been some minor Imperial mining duties. The planet had never been particularly populated or valuable, but it was a reasonably comfortable world that didn't exactly trouble the few that did live out here. All of that has changed though, now whole swathes of Zletino have been reduced to blackened, barren wastes, endless as far as the eye could see. No part of the ground was left completely flat, littered with craters, with rubble, and with the remains of men and vehicles alike. Heavy clouds hung over us too, as if the very heavens of this planet had nothing but despair for what was going on here...no star wanted to shine on this eternal scar on the surface of a planet. So, with not even the terrain safe to the ravages of war, the Empire and the Shahak'Tur alike clung to their trenches, only exiting when their enemy had been reduced so much that they couldn't provide any semblance of resistance. Between those rare charges there was only the constant, unending barrages of artillery and spacecraft alike, both hoping to influence the battle where troops could not. Indeed, the lines in the atmosphere where almost identical to the lines on the ground, as both sides threw their ships at each other in a desperate attempt to gain air superiority over no man's land. It was a hellish scene, and we had the misfortune of landing right in the middle of it all.
The Imperials were some distance behind us, the Shahak'Tur were some distance ahead of us, and for the first time in ages on this planet, the artillery fire seemed to cease. Both sides were trying to figure out what to make of the crashed star destroyer between them - will they fire artillery onto it until it is reduced to nothing more than yet another feature of the landscape - or will it change the dynamic which has so long defined this planetary struggle? Well, there seemed to be somewhat of an answer to do when the sound of war cries came out at the Shahak'Tur lines. So, the Jagahn'Or had finally made it to their trenches, and they were wreaking havoc. Alarms blared out across their lines; ships turned from their Imperial counterparts to face this new threat amongst their own ranks, and the sound of a whistle pierced through the air behind us. The Imperials were taking advantage of the chaos and charging the Shahak'Tur lines. They were going to try and use this chaos in an attempt to turn the tide. Once we realized what was going on, one of the stormtroopers turned to me.
"Those are our men going on the attack. We have to join them." the stormtrooper announced.
"No soldier, stay down. Agent Cerses instructed us to protect this ship until we get airborne. This isn't our fight!" I responded, trying to explain myself over the sound of encroaching violence breaking out all around us.
"If we help press the attack, we have a much larger chance of pushing the Shahak'Tur away from the ship and away from Agent Cerses." he countered, the other troopers giving it a moment of consideration before standing up and joining him. The lead trooper looked at me for a moment longer, as if he was still deciding between trying to convince me or leaving without me, and that's what I realized what my options were. I could either stay here alone in a foxhole and hope the attack works out for them, or I could be a part of the attack and at least make sure that my destiny will be the same as these troops. I also figured that staying here alone and shooting at the enemy might reveal to the Shahak'Tur that there are still survivors onboard the Thunderous, so maybe rather than making the ship a target, I could defend it by moving the fight as far away from it as possible. Recognizing the lack of good options, I nodded, accepting that, for better or worse, I was with these troopers.
We went over the top and rushed towards the Shahak'Tur trenches, blasters in hand and surrounded by other Imperials alongside us. AT-ST walkers supported the advance while low flying TIE fighters provided suppressive fire on the trenches, trying to prevent the enemy from stopping our advance. Of course, the Shahak'Tur did have some answers, such as heavy repeating blasters cutting down infantry with automatic red laser fire, and the rocket emplacements that were firing upon the TIE fighters and the walkers, destroying many of them.
"We've got ships ready to launch but we won't get far with all those rockets and artillery out there. Got any ideas?" Arrya asked over the commlink, revealing how things were going on her end. So, it seems we were right to join this charge, because we're going to need to knock out a few key targets behind the Shahak'Tur lines if we want to get out of here. The ironic thing is that if we had crashed a mile or two back from where we were, this probably wouldn't have been a problem, as the artillery is designed to batter the Imperials lines especially, but we had the misfortune of landing right in the middle of it all, right where the Shahak'Tur could hit us. I thought for a moment that it might have been somewhat intentional on the part of the Jagahn'Or, as it gets Esztreochtz and his warriors close to the enemy lines and allows them to immediately press their attack. Agreement or not, it's obvious that he doesn't particularly care what happens to us, so while he wasn't going to violate his word, he didn't particularly care about giving us a viable means to escape. We could make that ourselves though, and as we arrived in the trench, I set about doing just that.
I saw the black crested helmet of a Shahak'Tri soldier pop up at the edge of the trench. I slid to the ground on pure instinct, making his shot sail hopelessly over me, and then my slide caused me to effectively kick him in the chest and land on him, knocking him down and out in the front. Scrambling now that I was among enemy lines, I quickly rattled off three shots of my blaster pistol into his companion. For good measure I left another blaster bolt in the one I landed on before turning to my left. I saw a number of stormtroopers leap into the trench on that side, so, satisfied with that, I went right, quickly finding the corpse of a Shahak'Tur commander. One of those leader-types wearing the helmet with the exaggerated, decorative crest. I saw him cleaved through the chest by a massive axe, and I quickly realized what happened here: the Jagahn'Or arrived in the trench, cleaved their way through, and pressed forward while Shahak'Tri troops were rushing to the front to contain the Imperial attack. It was complete and utter chaos in every sense of the word, and the arrival of more and more Imperials flowing into the trenches was only going to make things worse. Realizing I would need something heavy to this, I stumbled over to a fallen Imperial and picked up his blaster rifle. I checked the condition, loaded a few charged ammunition packs into my belt, and headed off towards the back of the trench lines, knowing the artillery was my main target.
The conflict on Zletino has been going on for some time, and the fact that the Empire and the Shahak'Tur seem relatively evenly matched on this planet has resulted in some interesting developments, if only from a purely military perspective. First of all, the trench lines were far from just a single dug-out whole in the ground, they were whole labyrinthian networks of padded dirt secured with metal plates, with strategic placements of heavy guns, rocket launchers, artillery pieces, bunkers, and other such hard points that served to add strength in depth all across the lines. The Imperial trenches were just as intricate and just as tactically minded. The fact of the matter is that neither side had particularly advanced tactics to use against the other and neither side knew enough about the surrounding galaxy to outflank their enemy, and the fleets just above meant that trying to outflank on the planet would just result in the lines of battle getting lengthened. All of this meant that neither side was particularly effective on the attack, so both sides were concentrated on defense. However, the Shahak'Tur wanted to claim this world as soon as possible while the Empire wanted to push them off of the planet immediately, so both sides needed to attack in spite of that. This is why Zletino is such a meat-grinder, because both sides know that attacking is completely and utterly illogical, but both sides know that they don't have a choice in the matter.
The trench eventually gave way to an opening at the rear of the Shahak'Tur compound. I almost ran straight into it but stopped myself as red lasers passed mere inches in front of me. Taking cover at the edge of the trench, I took a glance at what was ahead of me. So, I was at a right corner, and along this wall there was a small bunker acting as a defensive hardpoint, while behind the bunker, there were two of the alien howitzers. There were three or four Shahak'Tur troopers taking cover by either the cannons or the pile of spent shell casings near them, while another one was positioned at the corner of another trench in such a way where he could shoot at me while I couldn't hit him. The cover from the howitzers also disadvantaged me, since I didn't really have a good angle on them. I could hear the sounds of stormtroopers charging the trenches elsewhere, but none of them seemed particularly close to me. The Imperials had a different goal to me, their goal was to occupy the first trench lines fully - so that they could adopt that trench as one of their own should the advance peter out - while my goal was to knock out the artillery and the AA specifically. So that meant I was on my own, and if I wanted to push through this, I needed a better position. That's easier said than done though.
I took a deep breath, built up my confidence, and ran for the bunker. I used the blaster rifle I gathered from a fallen Imperial to pepper the Shahak'Tur with shots, making sure none of them felt safe to pop up and take a shot at me. I reached the bunker, gave off six or seven shots in any direction, and then dashed for the inside of the bunker. At least, that's what I intended to do, because instead, two things happened in quick succession. The first was that, as soon as I passed the heavy, armored threshold of the bunker - demonstrating the kind of walls necessary to maintain a bunker in these conditions - I was instantly knocked to the ground by a Shahak'Tur warrior. I managed to roll over onto my front just in time to see a black and red armored Shahak'Tur - an ordinary soldier, judging by the standard, flat curve of a crest on her helmet - aiming a blaster right at me. She was slight and she was shaking, suggesting inexperience, but she had her gun trained right at me, so experience didn't quite seem to matter. Just as I thought I was about to die, the second thing happened. The sound of a missile whistling through the air, getting closer and closer - something both I and the Shahak'Tri girl above me noticed - before finally exploding just above us. A deafening blast, the horrible sound of metal getting blown apart, and then the sound of a blaster rifle going off all hit in rapid succession before it all went black.
Okay, so, I've been trying to write this week, but it's felt like pulling teeth to write this and, quite frankly, I think it shows. I was planning on ending this chapter on a really important scene for act one and the story as a whole, but quite frankly, I don't think I'm invested enough in this story to write it right now. I don't think I'm in the right place to write any more of this story, right now. I hate putting stories on hiatus, I really do, but I think I have to do it. Now, in fairness, I also put Secrets of the Outer Rim on a hiatus, and I was able to return to it and finish it, so I think it is safe to say that this is not the end. At the same time, I don't really know when I'll get back to this. What motivated me to start writing this story to begin with is that I felt really passionate about Star Wars when I was playing through Lego Star Wars and when I was watching the first few episodes of Kenobi, but with Kenobi having ended and me not caring much about Andor, I just feel kind of deflated when it comes to Star Wars. I want to make this story the best it can be, and I think in order to do that I need to be passionate and excited about Star Wars again. Hopefully that day comes sooner rather than later. If you're interested, I will still be updating Life at the Speed of Formula One over on AO3.
Otherwise, that's all for now, but this is not a final goodbye.
