Heyo! I am back with the next chapter. Hope y'all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)
(Halo Ring: Library Complex)
Drip…
Drip…
Drip…
Commander Versio ignored the blood splashing across her left shoulder plate as she stared out into the room. On the platform above her, a lower torso wearing Imperial Navy-issue black slacks was adding its own fluids to the mess that painted the room. She didn't care to look at the vomit-green flesh that shone through holes in the pants, or see the cauterized hole that contained its broiled and oozing organs.
In reality, this was little more than a continuation of the hell Admiral Thrawn had cast them into. Through the green tint of her night vision, Versio could see the blood smearing the walls and pooling on the floor. If she wanted to look closer, which she really didn't… Versio swallowed a gag… she could see pieces of ripped flesh and body parts separated from their owners. It was as though a wave of bodies had smashed against the grey metal walls before washing back out with the tide.
A distant howl cut through the space. Darting shadows pulled Versio's attention from a smashed skull. Her motion tracker beeped. There were three red dots twenty meters ahead.
"Anything?" Demanded Hask.
"Three contacts forward, back side of the room." She dropped to a knee and pointed her blaster at the once-moving shadows. "Go right to the ramp and across the catwalk."
Agent Hask hit her right shoulder plate and took off. Agent Meeko followed on his heel - One tap and off into the dark. Versio shot up to her feet and took off after them. Her motion tracker beeped again. A door hissed open somewhere down below her. A sliver of pale white light invaded the darkness. More shadows ambled in and out of sight. There was a chime, a hiss, and the light was gone.
Commander Versio pushed back the dread creeping into her mind. They were there, watching… waiting… The blaster felt heavy in her arms, her armor felt flimsy, and the air scrubbers in her helmet were powerless against the musty sweet smell that hung over the room.
"We're being hunted," Hask muttered.
"More like driven," Meeko argued. His blaster snapped around to the left. "They could have gotten us when we left the gondola."
The trio stepped out onto the catwalk. It was a long narrow walkway that stretched over an abyss of green and black murk. Their footsteps echoed off of the distant walls.
"Open door, front," Hask announced.
In front of them, the left wall materialized out of the haze. In the center, the doorway loomed over them.
"Witness now the open grave."
Commander Versio shivered while Hask and Meeko both shuffled awkwardly. Clearly, she wasn't the only one hearing voices.
"Watch your corners. Keep moving. We're exposed out here," Commander Versio ordered.
They heard it long before they saw it. A sound, deep and guttural, carried through the vents and echoed down the passage. Then a door chimed. Two distant green lights parted in front of them, and blaster bolts cut down the passage.
Streaks of red cut through the group. One went high. The next two went right and left. One sliced through the space Versio's head had been a split second prior. She threw herself against the right-hand wall.
"Their aim's getting better!" She yelled over the scream of her own blaster.
Three creatures lumbered down the passage. Their feet shuffled across the ground, constrained by the broken armor plating that encased their swollen and malformed muscles. Each one clutched an E-11 blaster in one arm. A set of branch-like tentacles replaced the other arms. The rest of their bodies were twisted and rotted beyond recognition.
A stream of baster bolts held the three at bay. The constant impacts, while not immediately fatal, were enough to stunt their aim and prevent the sure-footed strides needed to close the distance.
"This isn't working," Hask said through gritted teeth.
"I've got it," Called Meeko.
Meeko knew his equipment belt inside out. It was a minor detail that he appreciated in firefights. Of course, it had always been the minor details he was good with. Meeko knew he could reach his grenades while continuing to shoot. He also knew exactly what flash bangs, droid poppers, and thermal detonators all felt like. He could set their fuses in the same way someone might type without looking at the keypad.
Click… tick… tick… tick… BOOM!
A bone-crushing shockwave flooded the passage with light and searing heat. The sudden flash replaced their night vision with polarizing lenses. The Flood forms instantly became ash and bone fragments inside a circle of scorched metal.
The lights faded, and silence washed over the room. Darkness swallowed the team. One by one Inferno Squad clicked back on their night vision. Versio's green-tinted sight returned, and she took in their hollow victory. They survived, but they had won nothing.
The blast still hung in the air, while the smell of scorched metal replaced the rot and decay they had become accustomed to. Yet nothing else followed. There were no mutilated giants lumbering out of the darkness. Their motion trackers didn't show any spores slinking into the shadows.
And so they pressed on. Long passageways with high ceilings and diamond-shaped doors charted a path through the darkness. Glyphs they couldn't understand marked the intersections, while damaged droids and scattered bodies reached out from the darkness.
"There are more droids up here," Commander Versio noted.
She stepped over a half-melted Flood form and between smashed remains of two flying droids.
"Three more at the top of the ramp," Meeko said.
According to the path ID-10 had charted, the squad was almost at the top of a series of narrow ramps circling up the perimeter of the library complex. Once at the top, it was a quick jaunt to the north pillar, and then another icy climb up the ramps to the top.
There were much faster routes through the center of the complex. ID-10 found that it would be impossible to force their way through the middle of the library. Every route was caved in, barricaded, or too choked with lifeforms.
The door at the top of the next ramp chimed and snapped open. A stormtrooper helmet rolled between Versio's feet. The thump it made as it bounced off Hask's leg announced that it wasn't hollow.
"Whatever Thrawn is after, better be worth it," Hask groaned.
Meeko looked over his blaster sights and nodded.
"What is this object supposed to do, exactly?" He asked.
Versio offered a shrug. "Kill these things, apparently."
Silence reigned as they swept the small room. Commander Versio went right, Hask up the center, and Meeko on the left. Between them were two rows of three waist high metal blocks.
First set? Clear.
Second set? Clear.
Third set–
Tentacles shot out like whips. Blaster fire punctuated a startled yelp. A Flood spore filled Versio's vision as it propelled off the wall. She spun and twisted between the second and third metal blocks.
The Flood spore missed her face, clinging to the wall. Two shots from her E-11 caused it to explode into a fine mist. She shifted her aim. Two more forms flew around the corner and exploded, followed by a third and fourth one on top of the metal block between her and the door.
Agent Hask watched two spores spring out of the darkness. One caught a blaster bolt mid air from Meeko and exploded. The second one wrapped its tentacles around the man's arm. The sound of cracking plasteel armor was missed over the blaster fire. Meeko's pained cries and the sound of slicing flesh went unheard. Agent Hask was only vaguely aware of the combat knife desperately slicing away at the spore as he shot down three other forms. Each one exploded into mist, coating the blocks and himself in a film of green tissue and fluid.
One final blaster shot punctuated the chaos. Versio and Hask turned to find Meeko clutching his right arm. Blood leaked out from between his fingers as he squeezed the injured arm tight against his body. The two other squad members glanced at each other before turning back to him.
"I'll be fine. Just…" Meeko gasped, "Just got to wrap it up."
Green fluid swirled with the blood in a thick goo that seeped between the cracked armor plates. Meeko heaved his arm onto the metal block and produced a med pack.
"Hask, help him. We don't have time for this," Versio ordered.
Hask nodded and relieved Meeko of the med pack. While Meeko worked to undo the armored gauntlet, Hask dug around for what they needed—cleaning agent, sterile gauze, a wrap, and bacta shots.
"So, now they want to fight," Hask grumbled.
Agent Versio didn't answer as she stared down her blaster sights. Meeko hissed with pain as Hask poured the sterilizing agent across the wound.
"The narrow passages would make ambushes easier," Meeko answered through gritted teeth.
He pulled a rot-green tentacle from his arm. Meeko tossed it into the darkness with a disgusted flick.
"'Witness now the open grave…'" Versio muttered.
"What?"
Versio's head snapped up, alarm radiating out through her expressionless armor. She jammed a finger into the side of her helmet.
"Baseplate, Inferno Squad. Come in," she said.
Screaming static was the only response.
"Baseplate, Inferno Squad. Can anyone hear me?" she pressed. The slight quiver in her voice stirred a feeling of self-contempt.
"Base–Broken–Again–"
The voice was barely audible, strangled by the whine of feedback.
"Baseplate, Inferno Squad. We're walking into a trap… Repeat: This mission is a trap!" Commander Versio shouted.
The comm-link squelched again. Both Meeko and Hask stared at her, their hands absently finishing the bandage on Meeko's arm.
"Baseplate–Admiral Thrawn! Come in!" her words poured out, driven by terror, "They know we're coming. They want us to bring down the shields. Abort the mission!"
Commander Versio paced the small room. Her mind was pulling her in a million directions all at once. How could they have been this stupid? How could they have come this far and not realized the truth? Emotions ranging from contempt to terror and black humor all raced through her mind. Versio wanted to run and hide. She wanted to bring the shields down out of spite. She wanted to greet Thrawn's shuttle with the artifact in hand.
(ISD Chimaera)
Admiral Thrawn stared at the holotable with professional detachment. Around him, the bridge hummed with activity. They were hard at work, beating against the library's shields. With each salvo, the officers would assess the damage (or lack thereof), make adjustments, and go again. Outside, TIE fighters circled the strike group in wide, lazy circles. Their sensors were fixed outward, looking for the faintest hints of an attack.
Admiral Thrawn did not fear such a thing. Deep down, in the recesses of his mind, he knew better. He knew how the Flood fought. That battle group was gone. They were lost to him. No, the actual attack would come from the surface just as it had twice before. His fighter pickets were simply a formality–a reminder to the other officers not to be complacent.
"So often, it is not the enemy you see that is the most dangerous. It is the unexpected one that is the most deadly."
Admiral Thrawn had beaten this into his officer corps for years, yet so few seemed to get it. The squelch of the comm link snapped him back to the present.
"...Inferno… Can you… me?"
Admiral Thrawn scowled. After hours of silence, he should have been glad to hear from them, but that tone… He punched the talk button.
"Inferno Squad, Baseplate. Say again. You're coming in broken and unreadable," he answered.
Static invaded the speakers again. Admiral Thrawn turned to the Chimera's captain, who spun to face the comms officer.
"Trying to boost the signal. If they've gone deep, we may not hear them," the comms officer said.
"If they were deep, we wouldn't get anything to begin with," the captain barked.
"Yes, sir."
Admiral Thrawn nodded once, and the officer turned back to the line of technicians working the controls. A few seconds later, there was more static.
"...walking… Trap!" The room seemed to darken. "Repeat… Trap!"
The Captain seemed to pale. Admiral Thrawn could feel every eye in the room turn to him. Thrawn's only response was a humorless laugh. It was always a zero-sum game with this place. There was no victory to be found all those years ago as they slaughtered his Chiss crew, and there was no victory now. He had but one question left to answer.
"Admiral, we're able to get a rough fix on Inferno Squad's position. They're closing in on the top of the complex," the captain reported as he keyed up a holomap of the structure. A red dot pulsed, marking where they believed the team to be. "It's possible that the Flood was waiting for them. We expected an ambush near the top."
Admiral Thrawn ignored the captain. Emperor Palpatine was a madman. The Imperial military knew it–Thrawn more than most. If Palpatine got the artifact, Thrawn might as well eat his own blaster. The end would be much more bearable that way. However, the alternative was even worse. A galaxy without the artifact was condemned to fate worse than death. The answer was an easy, even if maddening, one to make.
"Captain, what is my order regarding all craft on the surface of the ring?" Admiral Thrawn asked.
His voice was calm, as though he was asking about tonight's dinner.
"Any craft that enters the atmosphere is not to rejoin the fleet without express authorization from you," he answered quickly.
"And if they attempt to?"
"Shoot them down."
Admiral Thrawn nodded once.
"And if we lose communication with any ship in the fleet?" he pursued.
The Captain gulped.
"Destroy it… to include the life pods," he answered.
"And what about boarding action?"
"Order remote destruction of the life pods and scuttle the ship," the captain answered.
Admiral Thrawn turned back to the holotable.
"Put the battalions on standby. It won't be long now," he ordered.
Commander Versio stared across the platform with suspicion. The clouds took on a bluish tint as the rising sun tried to peek through. Three pillars arched into the clouds. Blowing snow hid their finer details, a fact Versio could hardly care about.
"Commander, we need to decide now," Agent Hask announced. "Are we aborting the mission?"
Commander Versio didn't respond. The sound of a door snapping open in the distance caught her attention. She pulled her binoculars off of her belt and peered through the snow and gloom. She watched as a stream of spores and humanoid forms forced their way through the door. The spores immediately raced forward. Behind them, the others fanned out for the barriers and other bits of cover. They were in a hurry to cover as much of the platform as possible, as fast as possible.
Textbook infantry tactics… Aggressive, but textbook…
"Ma'am."
Commander Versio registered Hask's unease before the words.
"We have our orders," she decided.
"Yes, ma'am."
Versio, Hask, and Meeko pivoted to the right and broke into a sprint. Angry red lasers cut across the platform. The distances involved were over three times what they had been inside. Yet, each bolt streaked right through the middle of the squad. Hask stumbled as the ground burst at his feet. Commander Versio twisted as one went over her shoulder, and another nearly took her head off. One landed behind Meeko, while another one scarred his right shoulder plate.
No one in Inferno Squad bothered to shoot back as they ran for the nearest ramp. Shooting back would take time. It would slow them down and burn through their precious few energy packs. Right now, the only thing keeping them alive was forward motion.
"We'll take them at the ramp," Commander Versio called out. "Meeko, get to the projector. You know what to do."
"Yes, ma'am."
The ramp faded out of the blowing snow. Lines of glyphs and glowing blue lines traced a spiraling line up the pillar. Commander Versio shortened her stride, Agent Hask followed her lead, and Meeko shot into the lead. The scream of blaster fire was always a step behind him as he sprinted up the ramp. Pulsing blue lights lead him up into the featureless void of the clouds.
"BOOM!"
The pillar rocked violently. There was a flash of orange and two more explosions. Meeko stumbled into the wall and jammed a finger into the talk button on his helmet.
"Commander–"
"Climb, Meeko! Climb!" Versio shouted back.
The modulated sound of more blaster shots accented her voice. Meeko gritted his teeth, raised his blaster, and bounded up the last few steps. The shield projector appeared like a phantom in the mist. The blue lights that had led him up the pillar slipped across the platform and converged on a waist-height pyramid of metal, with a rounded base.
Meeko froze, taken aback by the calm. Below him, Versio and Hask were still fighting a pitched battle for the ramp. However, their fight was lost to the moaning of the wind. Up here, there was no complex. There was no ground and no sky. The same clouds that swallowed the battle below him hid the rest of the library complex.
Meeko gulped and hurried over to the projector. Inferno Squad had come with a dozen charges, on top of their usual load out of thermal detonators and breaching charges. Given the density of the metal and their limited understanding of the shielding system, he fully intended to use all of them. One by one, Meeko placed the charges. He made vertical lines down each of the four sides of the projector, before sticking four to the base itself and the last two on the pulsing blue line at his feet.
The last charge gave a reassuring chirp. Meeko double-checked the detonator connection, scooped up his blaster, and sprinted down the ramp. As soon as he was sure he the blast wouldn't instantly atomize him, Meeko keyed his commlink.
"Commander, charges are set. Your call," he announced.
"Do it, now!"
Meeko threw himself against the wall and squeezed the trigger.
"BA-BOOM!"
The pillar rocked. Meeko felt his stomach drop, his own body momentarily convinced that he was in a freefall. His eyes snapped shut as his sight went from grey to white, before resolving into fiery rolls of orange and red. The ringing in Meeko's ears drowned out the last of the explosions. Slabs of metal rained down around him. They pelted his armor and skidded across the icy ramp.
Two turns further down the ramp, the explosion had broken the rhythm of the battle. The explosion left everyone and everything stumbling. The blaster shots slowed and grenades were left untouched as the pillar threatened to topple from the blast.
"Inferno… Baseplate… Down… Beginning assault…" crackled a voice.
As ice and metal rained down on them, Commander Versio felt something else. The ground shuddered. It wasn't a violent whipping motion like what Meeko's charges had caused. This one was far deeper, muffled by kilometers of rock and metal. Yet, it was no less violent and savage in its intent. Versio and Hask both took an unconscious step backward up the ramp. It felt as though the entire ring was trying to tear itself apart from within. Somewhere deep in her mind, Versio saw a thousand doors simultaneously ripping open. The walls seemed to burst at the seams by some force she could scarcely comprehend.
A voice, ancient and terrible, rang out through the chaos, "The path lays open. The future now determined shall not be denied!"
(PRO Autumn: Naboo System)
Captain Sha was witnessing the death of a world. He was keenly aware of this as he clutched his mug of coffee. According to ONI sources, 4.5 billion people called this place home. Soon, 4.5 billion people would call this place their grave. Sha forced a sip of coffee down his throat. It settled in his stomach like a heavy black sludge, causing him to wince.
"The Flood are now in the village of Nosorra," Amy reported. "An Imperial armored column moving east was ambushed in the village square."
Captain Sha turned to the holotable.
"Show me."
A 3-D map of Naboo appeared. Amy zoomed into the northern hemisphere, revealing roads, rivers, and other features of the land as she went. A red circle suddenly appeared at the point where three such roads intersected.
"Five hundred miles from the orbital dock's crash site," she said.
"That's a wide debris field," Sha noted.
"So far as I can tell, nothing crashed that far north."
He nodded as he stared at the map. Theed was only twenty miles north. The primary Imperial garrison was ten miles to the south.
"The empire maintains an infantry complement in Theed, doesn't it?" he quizzed.
"They do… A couple platoons supported by local security," Amy confirmed.
"Any chance of airlifting reinforcements?"
"Sure, if the Naboo Imperial Barracks still existed," she shrugged, "There are other Imperial pockets throughout the planet, but I have yet to work out how they would mount an effective defense."
"We did it at Voi," Captain Sha countered. "We also had far fewer people."
Amy scoffed, "That was a much smaller infestation. We also had a whole Covenant fleet parked in orbit, and a trigger-happy Sanghelli Fleetmaster. None of that is in play here."
Amy's voice was cold and harsh. Like Sha, she knew of the impending slaughter. Unlike him, she had already assessed all 387,892 scenarios. Each one had contained a variation of the same ending.
"Some clever little fucks," Sha muttered. "Communications?"
"Wide open. The Empire had tasked a four-ship battle group to respond," Amy said. "They're about three days out."
Captain Sha pinched the bridge of his nose. Christ, they're fucked.
"Five hours, Amy… It took them five hours to overrun the entire defense cluster," he groaned.
The only response was silence. Amy either didn't know how to or didn't care to answer him, while every other officer on the bridge hid in their work to avoid the existential horror unfolding outside. Captain Sha stared at his mug and then back at the map.
"What about fire control solutions?" he asked.
He may not have many weapons, but he refused to believe that they were completely powerless.
"Mapped and continuously updating."
The gears turned in Sha's head. The native Gungans could go to hell, but he couldn't bear to see another human world destroyed in front of him.
"These green bastards are massing somewhere," he reasoned. "Do we know where it is?"
Amy appeared on the holotable, arms folded across her chest.
"I know what you're thinking," she announced.
Her voice was stern and disapproving.
"It's gotten quite old watching worlds get burned out from under me," he growled.
"And so your solution is to burn what precious munitions we have on an aerial campaign that we don't have the material, proper equipment, or support to wage," she argued.
"Better than just orbiting up here."
"And when the Empire discovers that we have prowlers hiding at strategic points in the galaxy?" she asked.
Captain Sha offered a dismissive shrug. He was gazing at the map of Naboo, trying to work out the Flood's plan. How would they advance? Sha wasn't about to land his precious few Marines on the surface, but surely a few well-placed explosions would do something.
"What about when we die down there? We don't have archers or orbital munitions. We would have to venture well within AA range to hit anything." By now Amy was just a couple of octaves below shouting. "If we die, we take all of our information with us. No one will know what is happening. No one will know what to shoot at. This entire mission will be for naught!"
"If they escape the planet, they will cause even more destruction," Sha snapped back.
Captain Sha could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. His heart raced with desperation.
"They're already off-world! How do you think they got here?!" Amy shouted.
Captain Sha recoiled as though someone had slapped him. The coffee mug threatened to drop from his hand. In his mind, he could hear the screams of the past. Blood-stained memories bubbled to the surface. Yet, for all of his pain, Amy was right. They were alone, light years deep in a galaxy they didn't understand, and witnessing the rise of hell itself. Once again, he would watch as everyone died around him.
(ISD Executor: Rothana System)
Admiral Piett stared at the holotable. His anxiety was rapidly turning to confusion as he stared at the blue-tinted diagram of the battle. In front of him, the forward viewports sparkled with distant explosions. The muffled roar of the Executor's engines mixed with the rhythmic thump of her turbolasers. It was a familiar sound that settled in Admiral Piett's gut. This was real. This was life or death.
"This isn't right." Admiral Piett muttered.
"What?" demanded Executor's captain.
Admiral Piett shook his head and marched to the viewports. The trap at Yaga Minor had been a precise, surgical strike. The deployment of every fighter and every stormtrooper had been intentional. Every bomb and missile was delivered with a unified purpose. His ships arrived at the exact points where he wanted them to, while the battery fire from the imperial stations blended seamlessly with the turbolaser fire from his own warships. Death Squadron and the Rebel Fleet would have faced a hopeless defeat if they had acted alone..
This was something else. The wedge shape the Star Destroyers had deployed with… The way the fighters had launched… It was all too predictable. The steps to the attack were flawless, but they were so basic. This attack was bigger and far more intimidating. It was also far more survivable.
A swarm of TIEs swooped down across the command tower and disappeared beneath the green net of turbolasers. Admiral Piett looked beyond them. His eyes fixed on something tucked behind the cloak of open space. He set his jaw, spun around, and immediately locked eyes with the comms officer.
"Inform the Home One that this isn't one of Admiral Thrawn's attacks. Another admiral has replaced him," Admiral Piett barked.
"Yes, sir."
Darth Vader stood at the back of the room. He saw everything and said nothing. The galaxy was closing in around him, threatening to bury all that he had fought to achieve. His vision narrowed again. Millions of invisible insects crawled across his skin. Vader clenched his jaw. The Flood was alive, and it was beating on the very fabric of the universe like a drum.
" You can't do this alone," offered Obi-Wan's voice.
"I'm aware of that," he muttered.
"Are you?"
Darth Vader saw a flicker of blue and white next to the holotable. In the faint glow, he could make out Obi-Wan's face. He had one eyebrow arched and a hand intently stroking his beard. The next second, he was gone. Vader said nothing and marched to the table.
"Admiral Piett!" Darth Vader called out. His voice, while no longer modulated, was no less commanding. "Prepare four AT-TEs for exospheric boarding. Ahsoka and Luke will lead an assault on the flagship."
Admiral Piett spun on his right heel and marched back to the table.
"Sir? Were we not trying to break out of Rothana?" he asked.
"We are, and will do so. That ship has something I need—information," Darth Vader announced.
"What of the other ships?" he asked.
"They will follow suit. Of this, I am sure," Vader explained, "Put me through to the Infinity and Shadow of Intent."
(UNSC Infinity)
Admiral Hood watched the battle unfold with a stone face. After the impression Thrawn had made at Yaga Minor, Admiral Hood was unimpressed. Regardless of what Piett said, Hood had expected a proper counterattack. He had expected precise movements, clever tactics, and savage attacks. What he got were good movements executing an attack that any first-tour officer could dream up.
Pop-hiss
Admiral Hood turned to find Agent Dare already halfway across the bridge. Her steps were fast and stiff. She held her hands clenched at her sides, and her eyes zeroed on him. Admiral Hood felt his stomach twist in a knot.
"Agent Dare–"
"I just received a transmission from the PRO Autumn. They found the Flood," Agent Dare announced.
Admiral Hood tilted his chin upward, as though gesturing for the stars to surrender an answer to her statement.
"And the Halo Ring?"
"Nothing yet."
Admiral Hood took a deep breath and turned for the holotable. Captain Lasky was already there, talking to the holographic forms of Roland and the Arbiter. As he marched down the center aisle, all four turned to face him. Already, Hood had reasoned out the problem. Flood on the Halo Ring was a problem. The Halo Ring with no Flood was also a problem, but the Flood but no Halo Ring…
"How bad is it?" Admiral Hood asked quietly.
"It's hard to assess, given the delay in information. However, given what Captain Sha said, it is worse than High Charity, or it soon will be," Dare said in the same tone.
"Any chance that–"
"Captain Sha isn't one to exaggerate, sir," Agent Dare said.
Admiral Hood nodded once and stepped up to the table.
"Gentlemen, before I begin, where are we on getting out of here?" he began.
"We will assist Death Squadron in covering the inner flank of the evacuation. The Executors will create some problems, but I am confident that we can hold them off," The Arbiter announced.
"UNSC and rebel ships are falling in behind the Infinity. If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to clear a lane for the FTL capable ships evacuating Rothana," Captain Lasky added, "The Venators are spreading out to provide cover against incoming TIE bombers. X-Wings and Y-Wings are going after the Interdictors."
Admiral Hood raised an eyebrow.
"Will they have the firepower?"
"According to both Admiral Ackbar and Admiral Piett, that is more than enough," Lasky answered.
Off to the side, Agent Dare silently nodded her head in agreement.
Admiral Hood wordlessly accepted the answer. The plan followed an evacuation template the Alliance had worked out several rotations ago. So far, there were no surprises.
"There is one problem," The Arbiter spoke up. His voice was both grave and deeply suspicious at the same time. "Vader wishes to send boarding teams to the flagship."
Admiral Hood felt a chill run up his spine. Suspicious nipped at the edges of his mind. He understood the reason for the Arbiter's choice of tone.
"Did he say why?"
"'Answers,'" Captain Lasky cut in, "Everyone received the same one-word reason."
Admiral Hood felt his mouth go dry. This was it. This was everything that he feared.
"I'm afraid that is far from our only problem…"
(ISD Resolute)
Commander Appo would have much preferred to be on the Executor, where the shields were newer and the durasteel plating was thicker. Of course, he would have also preferred Lord Vader leading the mission. He could have also done without Ahsoka, Rex, Dr. Aphra, and the excruciating gauntlet of memories these old Venators brought back.
That war is over. Fight this one…
Commander Appo said nothing as he marched across the hangar. Everything around him was in a state of controlled chaos. The decks rocked with increasing violence as Imperial lasers splashed across the topside shields. Rebel soldiers and crewmembers ran around shuttling fuel, ammunition, and vehicles.
Halfway across the hangar, he realized just how ridiculous the scene was. In the center, four AT-TEs were being loaded for transport. The ships that would ferry them hovered precariously overhead. The port and starboard clamps reached down like the legs of giant, predatory birds.
Further to the left, Clone War-era droids marched across the hanger. Most were B-2s and Commando units. One was a brutal (if expendable) hammer, able to take and deliver savage abuse, while the latter was a much more intelligent unit capable of crude voice imitation and complex motion. Of course, their armor was far from wimpy, as well.
"...They can still produce the voice of a helmeted trooper well enough," Dr. Aphra was explaining. "However, anything beyond that is out."
"And why is that?" Appo demanded with crossed arms.
Aphra stepped to the side so she could see him. Though, she really didn't care to look at another of Vader's goons. The one on the bridge was annoying enough already.
"Stormtroopers sound similar, but not strictly the same. I have enough voice samples to create a convincing soundboard. However, it won't defeat voice authentication like it could thirty years ago," she answered with a shrug. "It's a known issue."
Commander Appo's eyes narrowed.
"Known to who?"
Aphra put a hand on her hip and turned to him with a look of indignation.
"I'm sorry. You are…"
"The one overseeing your execution if these droids don't perform," he answered.
"Ooh… so scary… Just like the last three times one of you nerf herders threatened me," she spat.
Her eyes filled with hate. However, beyond that, Appo could see something else… fear, maybe? He hoped for her sake that it was still fear. Dr. Aphra whipped around and pushed between Ahsoka and Luke.
"As long as we understand each other," he called after her.
Commander Appo let the statement hang in the air as he stared at the rest of the crowd. Ahsoka and Rex stood shoulder to shoulder, as though worried the other might vanish forever. Luke stood off to the side. His eyes darted between the hangar doors and the X-Wing tucked in the back corner. Every muffled explosion caused him to jerk as though caught in a live wire.
Across from him, Luke listened with a mix of anger and repulsion. He knew from his own experiences that Darth Vader commanded some truly monstrous individuals. However, seeing him side-by-side with Ahsoka put into stark relief just how far his father had fallen.
Watching Appo made Luke truly wonder if the man even needed a chip to make him slaughter the Jedi. The hatred radiating in the Force was plainly visible in his weather-beaten face. His eyebrows sat in an angry v-shape. His mouth was fixed into a look of disgust, while his hands were balled at his sides. As Appo's eyes traced the room, Luke could easily imagine the thoughts of murder and torture cycling through his mind.
Boom!
The ship rocked and groaned as a pair of proton torpedos smashed into the shields directly over the hangar door. Luke jumped and shuffled backward, his eyes fixed on the ceiling.
"Now's not the time for fear, kid. That comes later," Appo announced.
Luke shifted his gaze back to the Commander. He found the man's expression, much like his disposition, unchanged.
"I know," Luke gulped, "I've been in a battle before."
Commander Appo ignored him and turned to the others.
"Tano… Commander Rex, I heard about the late promotion," he began with a single nod.
Rex shook his head.
"They demoted me," he muttered.
Luke recoiled. Everything he felt in Appo threatened to explode. Instead, the clone simply shrugged.
"Hardly relevant when we're all committing treason," he said.
The two continued to talk. However, Luke was no longer listening. The room seemed to cool. Luke could not suppress a shiver as a set of invisible fingers traced a line up his spine. Ever since Korriban, the disturbances were getting worse. Luke often found himself stopped in his tracks by a sense of impending doom. Not even sleep stopped the disturbances from racing through his senses. Earlier today, he was pulled from his sleep by the feeling of insects on his skin and the voices. Now usually came the voice…
"The path lies open. The future now determined shall not be denied!"