Chapter 7
(Space)
Bo fired her ship's cannons as they spun around from the fighter's gyroscope motor. While some of the laser bolts hit several of the enemy ships, others missed.
"This is getting old real fast!" She said to herself, then noticed more of the enemy were flying out from one area of the Worldship.
"Great...just great, we got more incoming!" Flicking on the comm set, Bo sent an order to the Hyena Droid Bombers.
"It's time we dealt some damage to that monster of a ship. Get in close and commence a bombing run," she commanded.
Six Droid Bombers followed her as they flew towards their target, while trying avoid the incoming attacks from the enemy. Once they were through the swarms of ships, the Bombers dove in low enough as they got closer.
"Almost there...NOW!"
Bo watched as the fighters released their payload. Scores of bombs dropped into the hanger entrance, which engulfed both the ships flying out of the hangar as well as the Vong pilots inside.
"Good job Bo," said Kota.
"Thanks General, but it's the droids who deserve the praise."
"It was your idea, and it worked. How let's hope our luck can hold out," Kota replied, as he brought the Destroyers and Cruisers closer to begin reigning fire down on the Worldship.
(Yuuzhan Vong Worldship)
From the command deck, Kar felt the ship shake as he saw the enemy attack one of the hangers. Astounded, he watched the attacking fleet began to fire upon their ship. So far their forces had destroyed many of the enemy's smaller ships and three of the larger support vessels, but they had not brought down the rest of the fleet. While formulating the next plan of action, Kar heard an officer approach him.
"What is it?" he snarled.
"Sir, we a report that the Voxyn nest has been destroyed. All of the specimens have been killed, along with the warriors sent to defend it."
Anger started to rise from Kar, and he clenched his fists. "What about the Jeedai, were they killed as well?"
"We don't know. There is no sign of their bodies," the officer replied.
Before the commander could reply, one of the technicians walked up to him and said, "Sir we have received a transmission that Priest Harrar is own his way here."
"What, why is a member of the Priest caste coming here!"
"He was sent by the Warmaster to collect two of the Jeedai. They are to be sacrificed for his victory at Courscant."
Looking at the two, then back at the battle, the commander thought about his next move. "Alright, tell our forces to search for those Jeedai. If their bodies weren't found, then they must be alive."
"What about Nom Anor sir, he's also looking for agh," the officer said, before being choked by Kar.
"I do not care about Nom Anor right now. As far as I can see, he as failed to capture them, and allowed our Voxyn nest to be destroyed!" the commander retorted while strangling the smaller Vong.
"His failure will not be blamed on me. Is that clear!" Kar roared before choking the officer to death, then let go of the lifeless body.
Two of guards grabbed the fallen Vong and dragged him away. Kar turned back towards the battle while the technician sent the order to find the Jeedai.
On the other side of the ship, the group continued to follow Chewbacca's lead, with the Battle Droids acting as security around the Jedi. They were continuing their trek when Chewie held up his hand, telling them to stop. Up ahead were 30 Yuuzhan Vong warriors, surrounding the entrance to another area.
"We've got company," Jaina whispered. She knelt down and she pulled out her lightsaber, but before she could activate it Ahsoka came beside her.
"You've done plenty so far. Now it's our turn," Ahsoka said quietly. Then she and Starkiller stepped forward, walking in full view of the warriors.
Seeing the two new strangers was a surprise for the Vong. But as soon as they saw both activate their lightsabers, they knew at once who was challenging them.
"Jeedai, prepare to die," one of the warriors cried as he charged forward, followed by the others.
Reaching out with the Force, Ahsoka and Starkiller were able to push them back. Their combined power hurled some of the Vong away, while others continued to come forward.
The first of the warriors brought their staffs into contact with the sabers, which sparked against the Jedi weapons. Normally this would have shocked the two, but they quickly put that aside as they pushed forward against the enemy.
Using their two blades, both Force users were able to block then strike at the Vong for a bit, but the numerous enemies were starting to make it difficult. Suddenly they heard a sound behind them, and instinctively they jumped out of the way. They hit the ground as an explosion knocked back the Vong, and when the smoke cleared, they looked back to see Rex reloading the rocket launcher.
Rex continued to fire at the Vong warriors while Chewbacca and the Battle Droids covered him by firing his long gun and their blaster rifles. The bolts bounced off the Vong's armor, but a few shots hit them in head, knocking them down.
Seeing this made the enemy focus on the two new opponents, while the others continued to fight against Starkiller and Ahsoka. Then they saw new opponents appear as the Magnaguards jumped over the two as they brought their staffs into contact with them.
The sight of these mechanical warriors enraged the Yuuzhan Vong as they clashed with the droids. The electrical energy in the guard's staffs brightened as they struck against the living serpent-like weapons which sizzled upon impact.
Reacting to this, one of the warriors swung its staff hard enough and cleaved two of the guards' heads off. But instead of falling down, the body's continued to fight which surprised the warriors.
"This cannot be, it must be some kind of Jeedai trick," the Vong cried in shock as they continued to spar with the droids.
Watching this going on, Jaina, Tenel, Tesar and Lowbacca grabbed their own blasters and joined the others. They the fired upon the Vong with their rescuers.
The barrage of laser fire was working, but soon they saw a few of the enemy retaliate by launching small, circular looking objects at the Jedi. Jaina told everyone duck as the attack came. While some were able to avoid it, Chewbacca, Lowbacca and Rex took damage, and the three felt themselves being slashed and cut by the mysterious objects.
"Thanks for the warning kid!" responded Rex, who added an extender to his blasters while wincing in pain, then took aim and fired back.
"They're thud bugs, small circular insects that hurt like hell," Jaina yelled as she saw them come back. Raising her blasters, the young woman was able to shoot a few down. The Battle Droids were able to shoot down the rest, then turned back as they fired on the Vong before the warriors could unleash more thud bugs.
While they others kept the enemy busy, Ahsoka, Starkiller and the Magnaguards were still holding their own. But soon they found themselves getting cuts and slashes of their own, and they realized they couldn't keep this up forever.
Deciding to pull the same trick as before, Starkiller pushed the Vong back then shouted, "Lift them up now."
Both raised their hands as the remaining warriors were lifted up above them. Then bolts of Force Lighting shot from Starkiller's hands like serpents of rage. Seeing this, everyone started firing at the floating Vong, while Rex firing another rocket.
A massive explosion then came as everyone was thrown back by the blast. A cloud of dark smoke appeared from up above, and the remains of Vong rained down. Broken pieces of armor and charred flesh landed around the area.
Slowly getting back up, everyone groaned as they looked at what remained of the enemy. "Let's not do that again," said Tesar, a male Barbel, as he helped Chewie with his wounds.
"I agree," Starkiller added, as he aided Ahsoka then Rex.
"I was wondering, how are those droids able to fight if their heads were taken off?" Alema Rar, a female Twi'lek of the group asked, looking at the Magna Guards.
"It's cause they have a second backup system located in their chests, which act as a third eye for them," Rex responded as he pointed to one of the guards. Everyone saw the red circle which glowed brightly.
"So, is there an escape plan or are we just going to keep fighting the Vong?" Tahiri, a young girl who stood next to Anakin asked.
"We do have an escape plan. One of our comrades gave us a com link to contact her," Ahsoka stated, and she asked Chewbacca to show it to everyone.
"Wait! What about Jacen?" Anakin said, making the others look at him. "He's our brother, and we got separated earlier before we made it to the arena."
"I'm sure he's okay Anakin, and maybe he's looking for the queen," Tenel Ka said, looking at him.
"So if we find the Queen, then we find Jacen, yes?" Ahsoka asked, looking at everyone, who nodded at her.
"Then we can go home together," Jaina added with a smile.
(Space)
Flying at high speeds, Padme continued to fire upon the enemy ships. "This doesn't make sense, why aren't our lasers hitting them?" she pondered aloud. R4 replied, stating that his scanners indicated that the area of space around the enemy was different for some reason.
"The space around them, but how can that be?" she wondered, then decided to test this by firing again. Like before, the laser bolts seemed to miss the fighters. But Padme saw that they were sucked into what looked like a miniature black hole of some kind.
"Bantha Poojo, that's how they do it!" she said as she opened the channel.
"Everyone, the enemy ships have some kind of means of altering the area of space around their vessels, which is why our attacks keep missing. They go into some kind of black hole."
The response was mixed as the others were shocked by this. "That's hard to believe Padme!." Bo replied, as she and her bombers were taking on the assault cruisers.
"So how do we destroy them if our laser bolts get pulled into these black holes?" asked Juno.
"I'm not sure my dear, but so far the Buzz Droids are the best means of taking down those ships," Kota added.
"General, have we received word from Rex or Ahsoka?" Padme asked.
"Not yet, but they should have found the team by now, I don't know what's keeping them."
"General I'm sorry to interrupt, but our sensors have detected more Yuuzhan Vong ships are heading this way," one of the technician droids told him from its console.
"Oh great, that's all we need. Starkiller, what are you and the others doing down there," the Jedi said to himself.
(Yuuzhan Vong Worldship)
The group continued their search for Jacen, and as before, they had several run-ins with the Vong. They were able to deal with them, but it soon felt like this was a never ending fight. And they were down to three Droid Commandos and 4 Magna Guards.
Finally, they made it to what looked like a hanger that was empty, and everyone stopped to rest for a bit. Around the area were enemy starfighters and a larger looking ship in the center. Hearing someone coming, everyone hid as they saw four Vong enter the area. One of the Vong was someone that Jaina, Anakin and the others knew well.
"It's Nom Anor!" Jaina hissed in anger.
"He's a high ranking member of the Vong's leadership and a pain in the galaxy," Anakin added.
Looking at him, Chewie growled at the alien as he saw him talking with a female Vong and two warriors who were handling something with chains. Feeling a dark presence in the Force, the Jedi knew that it was a Voxyn, but not just any Voxyn. It was the Queen, who hissed and barked wildly at sensing the Jedi.
Lowering their presence in the Force, the Jedi hoped that the monster would stop. It did after its handlers snapped at it in their own language.
"That was close!" Tesar said quietly, trying to calm herself.
"Looks like we found her, but where's your brother?" Ahsoka asked Jaina ,who was looking around the hanger.
Suddenly, Jaina heard some movement off to her right. It seemed to be coming from one of the overhead tunnels.
"He's up there, and not alone," she answered with a smile.
Turning to the others, she motioned them together.
"Okay listen up," Jaina whispered. "Rex how many rockets do you have left ?"
"I have four," he answered.
"Okay, and I take it you and Chewbacca have some explosives as well."
Both nodded yes.
"Good. Here's what we're going to do: Chewie, activate the com link to let your comrades know where we are," she said first, then continued. "Then give us the explosives so we can float them over the doors and access tunnels. Rex aim your launcher at the big ship and fire it the same moment we set off the bombs. While this goes on, Starkiller, Ahsoka and I will go after the Queen and her handlers."
"I'm sure Jacen will be joining us for this attack,." Tenel added.
"What about Nom Anor?" Anakin asked.
"If we can get him today, that will be another victory for us. But if not then there will be another time. Once the rescue ship arrives, everyone head for it," Jaina responded.
Rex and Chewbacca gave everyone their explosives, then the group moved quietly into their respective areas.