Chapter 15

Pantora – The Helios

Mace pushed out with the Force, sending the latest barrage of explosives hurtling away from the cruiser. Fire and smoke plumed in the air, climbing back along the air currents to wash over him and singe his robes. The resulting shockwave sent the ship crabbing sideways, towards one of the other skyscrapers nearby. A shrill alarm screamed from the ship's speakers as klaxons blared, and suddenly the hull tilted as the ship tried to ride out the shockwave. The hull he and Fay were standing on! They had made their way up here to try and defend the ship as it tried to climb back up into the atmosphere, fighting against both gravity, and the sheets of light rain that had begun upon their entry below the cloud layer. Another rocket raced towards them, only visible at the last possible moment. He reached out, pulling it aside with effort. It went streaking past him, detonating beneath them and pushing the ship up a little with the quake.

"You might want to be a bit gentler, Mace.", Fay was standing nearby, using the Force to spin the explosives aside with a series of calm motions. It was almost beautiful, and he had to resist stopping and staring at her almost dance-like movements. "The buildings can't take much more damage. Neither can the ship, for that matter."

Mace wiped moisture him his brow, thankful that he didn't have hair to catch the water. "I'm afraid that I'm not quite as skilled as you. Using the Force against projectiles take a bit more effort for me, Fay. You do it effortlessly."

"Oh, please. You are far better than you think, kid. And don't flatter me. I'll get a big ego.", Fay smiled, pushing away the next barrage easily into the sky above. She was far older than Mace, and had been in the Temple for far longer. No one remembered how long exactly, but it was rumoured she had even seen the great conflict of Torath, over 300 years before. She smiled at his expression. "You radioed this in, right? Who did you say answered? Corius or something…"

"His name is Caloc. Stass' padawan. Skilled with a blade even before he started training with her. You can trust that he'll be here soon.", Mace ignited his blade and sliced a blaster bolt from the air. Apparently, the terrorists had decided explosives weren't working. "And he had better be bringing help."

Caloc's fingers flew over the cockpit's controls. The main drives fired up and he soon found himself slipping down the runway behind a massive shuttle of local security forces being deployed by the platform security teams. Twisting the stick, he spun the fighter and dove towards the surface.

"This is Ruping-Beta.", he said, using the abbreviated name for his fighter as he began sliding the headset over his head, "I'm heading into the attack zone to try and help Master Windu."

"Understood. We just lost another cruiser.", Fisto's voice crackled in his ear. Thank goodness the Nautolaun had made it. With Fisto running the defence operation on the ground, Caloc was certain the rest of the crash sites would be surrounded soon, "That means that the Helios is the only one left. Sorry about the comms blackout. The Resurrection will be temporarily out of contact while we deal with this down here."

"That's fine.", Caloc's finger gripped the control lever tightly, "The Helios is where, exactly?"

Fisto's voice hissed for a second, "Have you heard of the Department of Geothermal Activity?"

"Nope! I'll be there soon!", Caloc answered, seeing it light up on his screen's targeting computer. Hitting the comm switch off, he turned to the droid nestled in the wing, "Deesix, can you scan for lifesigns in that area?"

A series of beeps answered him, akin to some like 'less than there should be'. The answer was not what he wanted to hear. Groaning silently, he twisted the stick again and spun through the final layer of clouds. The city opened up beneath him, but he only saw it for a second before his cockpit was covered in the streaks of water vapour. Even in that small glimpse, all he could see was chaos. Smoke had billowed up from the wreckage of the downed cruisers. He looked down at the targeting computer, and could see the Helios peeking out from between the skyscrapers and tilted his wing towards it.

"Deesix, ready the weapons."

Another beep squealed over the comm, then a chatter, and then another short beep.

"Thank you very much.", he grinned, "Time to give these guys a surprise…"

He trailed off as an explosion burst beside him. A trail of smoke led to one of the huge buildings. Two huge towers stood beside each other, climbing into the sky from the main complex. A bright green symbol on the outside indicated the Geothermal Activity Department. Gritting his teeth, he squeezed the trigger. Two heavy bolts of green lasers peeled away from the cannons and slammed into the flat roof of one of the towers. He kept the trigger down as bolt after bolt slashed into the concrete, and he knew that the enemies he didn't hit would be peppered with shrapnel. A huge chunk of the walls peeled away from the structure's lower walls, dropping towards the frigate below. He could only watch as it suddenly stopped and was pushed away from the ship.

His comm crackled, "Perhaps you should try not to crush us with rubble, padawan."

"Sorry, Master Windu.", he rolled his eyes at the criticism, "I'll be more careful with the next tower. I'll even be delicate, as some people have previously suggested."

The comm clicked off and he stripped the headpiece from his forehead. Spinning the fighter around, he clicked open the cockpit, pulling the hood of his cloak over his head to stop the rain from soaking him. Sliding out of the pilot seat, he leapt over the wing and dove towards the roof.

Captain Heron Durge of Clan Sear watched the slim fighter pull away from his tower. He had just watched the pilot fire upon his brother's command across from his roof. A deep growl escaped his throat and he began shouting loudly at the men nearby. "I want those mortars taking down that cruiser. Lauchers, aim for the starfighter. Sniper's, see if you get lucky. Avenge my brother. Avenge Rufus."

"That is by far the worst battle cry I have ever heard.", a voice interrupted, childish and scornful, "I mean, who even is Rufus? He sounds like a rodent."

Heron turned slowly. A figure stood in the centre of the roof. He stared at the figure behind him. He was young, he noticed, no older than his own child back on Quarzite. A collection of pouches sat on his belt, and a thick cylinder dangled from a clip on his right hip. But he had appeared from nowhere. "You are a boy.", the Kage frowned, "Why are you here?"

"To talk.", the boy answered, fingering two round spheres in his palm. A nervous habit, perhaps. "But since I doubt you want to do this civilly, I came prepared to fight you as well."

"Then you came to die by my hand, boy.", Durge growled at the interloper, "Besides, you do not even carry a weapon."

"That you can see.", the boy grinned, holding up the two spheres he had been holding. Durge frowned at them. Were they explosives? He watched as the boy crushed them in his hands, and was shocked as a plume of smoke exploded around him. It expanded rapidly, encompassing the entire roof, flooding Heron's eyesight in grey. The Kage's hand fell to his blaster's grip. He could hear the splash of his men's boots as they hurried towards their commander, bustling around in the smoke.

The boy's voice echoed around him, bouncing around the rain and smoke. "I have one question for you, commander. How many men do you think I can take out before you see me?"

The smoke continuing to billow about around the roof, Heron pulled his blaster from the hip holster. All he could see was the thick grey cloud of smog that surrounded him, and the dozen shadowy forms that were the men and women of his team. All he could hear was the splash of boots as either he, or his soldiers turned. None of them could rely on their eyes or their ears. "Come out, boy. There is more of us than you."

A noise off to his right caught his attention, where there were no soldiers. He used his left hand to drag his vibroblade from its scabbard. A bolt of electricity shot down the blade, crackling in the air. A quiet whoosh came from the right, and he spun to see the smoke curling around where one of his men had been standing a moment before. Another quiet sound, and Heron spun again. This time he saw the feet of another man disappear into the grey. He glanced over at his second in command and made a series of gestures. The girl, extremely young at just twenty-eight, hurried away, disappearing in the smoke.

Mace watched as three more dark figures went hurtling from the cloud that clung to the tower's surface, only to swing back in on cables strapped to their belts and hang limply. He smiled. Fay was sitting beside him, watching the spectacle above. As soon as the smoke had covered the building, the attacks had also stopped.

"You were right.", she murmured quietly, "He does have talent. Unless I am mistaken, some of those men seem to be wearing the garb of Kage warriors. Many his age would struggle against them."

"He held his own against me in a duel during the trials.", Mace said, smiling at the memory. "I was impressed. How long do you think this spectacle will take?"

Fay frowned at that, "I do not know the boy. But if your word is anything to go by, I would say about six minutes."

"That should be enough time for the ship to move elsewhere.", Mace picked up his commlink and radioed the bridge. "Captain. Let's get this ship out of harms way."

Caloc spun and cracked his lightsabre hilt across another of the men's faces, clipping a cable pack to his belt and kicking him over the side. He had counted fifteen men on the rooftop when he had landed. Now there would be only two; the commander, and his second in command. From memory, she had been the young woman, clad similarly to the Duros on the platform in that strange shimmering material.

Carefully, he reached into his belt pouch and pulled out a thin, short knife. It was a blade that he used for carving wooden figurines. Every now and then, when he could, the young Jedi would pull out a chunk of wood and do his best to carve it into the semblance of something or someone that he admired. Now, he flicked the knife until its blade rested in his fingers. Time to see if all that time with the throwing blades on Coruscant had been worth it.

Pushing out with the Force, he shoved the smoke away from him. The roof, now clear of the obscuring fog, was unexpectantly… empty. A piercing beep caught his attention, and he glanced around. There were six round spheres blinking rapidly around him. Thermal detonators!

Instinctively, he threw the carving blade. It clicked into the detonator shell, jamming the timer slightly. It would delay that single detonator's explosive charge by a few milliseconds. It was a useless move, and he had wasted precious time doing it. He took off at a run, using the Force to push himself off the roof and up into the air. He leapt across the gap to the next domed roof. This skyscraper, opposite the now flaming or equally damaged Geothermal Department skyscrapers, was the first of what he could only assume was a set of housing blocks for miners working for the department itself. A shot rang out, and he gasped as the red laser slashed against his right sleeve. If not for the billowing effect of the fabric, it would have probably slashed into the shoulder beneath the cloth.

Spinning, he tossed his lightsabre to his left hand. He flicked the long narrow switch on the hilt and the glowing blue blade expanded from the weapon with an ear-shattering hiss-snap. Steam hissed where the water made contact. Three more bolts zipped towards him, and he swept his weapon across his chest, deflecting them harmlessly away. Where were they coming from? Lunging to the left, he spotted the next red bolt zipping towards him. It was coming from below the rooftop he had just been on. Grabbing his scopes from behind his belt, he peered through them at the building. Dangling upside down from one of the lines he had secured to the defeated assassins was a hooded, robed girl. Her legs were tangled in the cable to keep her steady. She held a sniper, it's barrel aimed right at him. And as another another shot rang out, he ducked back. The bolt slammed into the strange, golden plume that topped the housing block. Shrapnel cracked from the blast, a piece of stone the size of his fist slamming into his back. Bones crackled painfully in his shoulder, and he grasped it instinctively.

"Caloc!", a shout came to him through his commlink. "Are you alright, kid?"

Spinning his arm in the air to pop the limb back into place, he grinned. "Of course, Master Fay. Just need to deal with this sniper first, then I'll catch whoever was in charge of this assault."

A dark mumble echoed over the speaker, before Fay answered with; "Understood. The cruiser Helios is in the clear and is going to finish landing, so we will try to be there soon."

Switching off the commlink, the padawan took off down the rooftops, leaping over the alleyways that separated them. He startled a young Nautolaun hanging up her washing, and shot an apology over his shoulder before leaping over the side of the balcony. He fell a few metres before slamming onto a speeder where a young boy was talking empathetically to the girl in the window. Both looked up at him as he landed, and he gave them a pained smile.

"Girl troubles?", he asked the boy, who nodded slowly. A shot rang out and slashed a piece of rockcrete from the wall. Caloc winced as the shard sliced into the flesh of his leg. "Yeah, I know what that's like."

Leaping off the speeder, he landed in a tumble on the nearest balcony. Kneeling down, he traced of a sign, reading the words. "Hmm. 'Apartment 41A. Do not enter!' Sounds good."

Another shot whizzed past his head, and he instinctively ducked. His hand slapped his comm. "Where are you, Deesix?"

A series of beeps answered him.

"Great, I need you to get to pick me up. I'm on the north side of the courtyard. Apartment 41A. Get here quickly."

Another series of beeps, more cautious then the last.

"I know that's where the sniper is aiming. She's aiming at me!", he let out a groan. That droid was going to be the end of him, "I'm trying to lose her, but if you wouldn't mind getting down here. I need my tools."

Hope you enjoyed.

Phillip.