Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.
Phase 21: Skyfall
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Part 8
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KDY HQ
Kuat
The only reason Ahsoka was in the building when everything went to the Sith was in order to get away from Veil's insane family. It even worked for a bit until the building shook and the shrill screams of alarms did their best to deafen the Togruta. She ran towards the conference room while cursing in a very un-Jedi like fashion. Even as she approached the entrance, the Force stirred, then shook in glee and a huge signature, similar in magnitude to Veil and Zash erupted less than a hundred metres from her. The raw power of whoever just arrived was more than enough for Ahsoka to know she would stand no chance against them. That didn't slow her down however – she had a Sith nominally on her side to deal with the monstrously powerful… was that a Jedi or something else who just arrived. All she had to do was snatch Kuat and get her and preferably herself somewhere safe.
It might not have been the Jedi thing to do, however what she saw when she finally reached the entrance convinced Ahsoka that discretion was certainly the better part of valour this day. She saw and more importantly, sensed, Zash and the newcomer using the Force to tear apart the solid floor and ceiling as they made their way deeper in the building. At least Kuat was near – just a few metres away, surrounded by a few stunned guards. Ahsoka glanced at what was left of the conference room and grimaced when she saw a fire-team of power armoured soldiers tearing through the few remaining security guards. There was Force Adept too, a young woman wielding a lightsabre with a practised ease, yet even from such a close distance the Jedi couldn't sense the stranger.
Ahsoka pulled the still stunned Kuat with the Force then grabbed her and dragged her down the corridor using telekinesis to seal the door behind them all the while the floor shook as Zash and her opponent tore through the building as if it was made of sand.
Ear-piercing scream of tearing metal came from behind and Ahsoka didn't need to look behind to know that the odd Force Adept was at her heels and that wasn't good. Not at all – even when enhancing herself with the Force, she doubted that she could move fast enough while dragging her charge. The good news was that she could sense approaching people nearby and the only ones who would be coming towards the chaos would be either more security… or more enemy combatants.
With no real option left, Ahsoka pushed herself to move even faster and ignored Onara's scream of protest as her feet dragged over the floor. She could finally sense the other Force Adept's approach and she was coming closer and closer. The other woman was almost upon them, however Ahsoka knew she wouldn't be caught before reaching the end of the corridor and she could already hear the approaching feet just behind the corner. Seeing no other choice, she shoved Onara towards the coming people the moment they reached the end of the way.
"Get her out of here!" Ahsoka ordered and wasting no time, turned around to face the one who chased them. She drew and activated her lightsabre just in time too, because the other woman didn't even slow down. A brief, furious exchange of blows followed that saw Ahsoka being pushed back until her back hit the wall. Then the attacker vaulted back just in time to avoid multiple bursts of blaster fire that nearly got her too. Ahsoka spared a moment to glance at the source of the shots and felt relief at seeing KDY security. A pair of strapping lads had Kuat in their hands and were already pulling her away with half of the small quick reaction force moving back to cover the VIP. The rest carefully moved forward, obviously ready to provide assistance.
Ahsoka gave them a brief reassuring smile and returned her full attention to the woman who attacked her. She had short brown hair, angry dark eyes, quite pretty for a human too. Her build was slim and muscular, not too far off Ahsoka's own. The more notable thing that the Jedi saw were the four armoured figures sprinting down the corridor towards her – more enemy soldiers.
"Pull back!" Ahsoka ordered and jumped towards the friendly troops. Another glance confirmed what she saw earlier – the KDY people had regular blasters and light armour – exactly the type of gear that was of little to no help against heavy armoured troopers. They at least had a couple of grenades apiece. Using those would be tricky with enemy Force user against them, however it was their best chance. At the very least they had to buy Kuat more time to get away.
"Grenades on my mark!" Ahsoka ordered and thanked the Force that her tone and bearing, not to mention lightsabre were enough to make the troops listen. "Mark!" She snapped when she sensed the enemy clustering on the other side of the junction.
The other Force user had the same idea, obviously and four grenades came soaring towards the wall just as the security guards bounced their own off it. Ahsoka acted immediately and did her best to send all explosives towards the enemy. What happened, however, was something quite different. Ten grenades froze and shook in mid-air as the Force Adepts struggled for control before they slowly began making their way towards Ahsoka. Whoever that human was, she was skilled and as strong if not stronger than her. Ahsoka put everything she had into her telekinetic grasp to no avail.
"Back!" She shouted. With no recourse left, she formed a telekinetic barrier just like Zash taught her and jumped back. She averted her eyes just in time to avoid being blinded by the flash of concussion grenades. She landed nimbly on her feet and stumbled back when the combined blast-wave hit and sent her falling on her ass.
Ahsoka blinked to clear her eyes and scrambled up. All she could hear was a piercing whine and what she saw made her grimace. The Kuati guards were torn apart by shrapnel and only now that she saw their mangled bodies she felt the stinging pain of multiple lacerations soon followed by searing pain in her abdomen. She spared a moment to look down and sure enough, there was a bloody gash in her front.
That was all the time Ahsoka got before the enemy cleared the corner led by the lightsabre wielding woman. The four soldiers wasted no time in opening fire at her and fortunately the Jedi still had her blade securely grasped in her right hand. She acted on Force boosted instinct and began deflecting the incoming fire while falling back. Every time she managed to sent a shot back to the sender, the human woman deflected it her way making her struggle all the harder. The other woman had the gall to smirk at her and raise a hand her way. Ahsoka felt an attack coming, yet there was little she could do. Despite Zash's teachings she was yet to master properly multitasking using the Force. Now that she was wounded and in combat? All she could do was to will the Force to protect her. It was somewhat effective too – Ahsoka felt a barrier beginning to form around her then the attack came. The Force pulsed around the woman and then something flashed between them. Ahsoka knew that her incomplete barrier did something, she could perceive a brief struggle between the strange attack and her defence before she felt energy engulfing and slowing her down. A moment later a shot slipped through her guard and grazed her left arm. Ahsoka shouted in pain when the blaster bolt seared her biceps, then a second one took a chunk of her right leg and she collapsed expecting to be shot dead. Instead, the other Force Adept roughly shoved her away from the other incoming shots before the enemy soldiers ceased firing. Ahsoka slammed into a wall with enough strength to see stars and when her sight cleared she had her hands bound and a lightsaber pointed at her face.
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Part 9
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Landing pad
KDY HQ
Kuat
Even knowing that strike was coming and concentrating on protecting himself from it still did a number on Master Perrion. He had a concussion, a nasty one for sure, possibly some internal bleeding too, though it still beat being dead.
The way it felt having your jaw pulverized to such an extent that bone fragments sloshed within a meat-sack that used to be your chin wasn't something that Perrion wanted to think about, much less experience. Even as Force energy channelled to heal him mended his wounds, as much as it could given the time constrains and situation, that infernal sensation drove him to the edge of insanity. The agony and the way his head pounded were something else and made it hard to concentrate. It was just experience and sheer stubbornness that kept him going. When his former Padawan offered a brief distraction, he was on the way to succumbing to the incoming firepower before he could reinforce his defences.
The only ray of light was the fact that more and more of the enemy soldiers were either landing on the platform or missing it and continuing their descent to the ground, kilometres below thus less and less people could shoot at him. It helped that an increasing number of them had to cover his backup and Padawan too. For a moment he left a weak barrier and the protections built into his armour to keep him intact and channelled all the pain he was feeling through the Force. He knew very well that emotions could be used to fuel it, though doing so was perilous at the best of times. However, Perrion was far past such concerns. Veil was right here, in front of him, yet possibly out of reach. At least Zash was either dead or out of commission for the foreseeable future and the other bloody Sith wasn't exactly intact.
Bursts of blaster fire ate into Perrion's defences even as he buried himself in the Force. He sent a mental warning to Denii as he made a long, thin blade of concentrated and focused telekinetic energy manifest then used his mind to drive it through the heart of the building towering above them all. That feat took almost everything he had left and even as the power slipped through his fingers, he slammed a fist into the platform channelled it into that single strike. Almost a metre of solid durasteel cracked like an eggshell and his corner of the landing pad tore off and plunged into the abyss just as the KDY building began sliding and breaking towards him with its bearing columns cut clean through.
Perrion activated his beacon signalling that it was time to get the hell out and used what little concentration he had left to guide his descent and hopefully keep himself alive long enough to receive medical attention.
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When she got the warning from her Master, Jedi Knight Denii Strum had mere moments to plan and act. She braced and surrounded herself with the Force just as a deafening crack and a shudder came from all around her. Without thinking things through, she pushed her captive forward and threw her with the Force towards the enemy soldiers on the landing pad.
"Jump!" Denii shouted in the same moment and followed her own order.
To their credit, a few of the enemy soldiers did shoot their way despite the doom coming down on all their heads. The few shots that came her way she deflected and she was sure her people would be all right due to the shielded armours they wore. She certainly hoped they would be all right, because she relied on them to get her out of this mess her Master engineered.
Denii dived through the air, deactivated her blade and put her arms and legs straight to decrease air resistance and built speed faster. Soon a pair of the troopers came falling right next to her even if they jumped a bit later and grabbed her before activating the rocket packs on their backs. Now it remained to be seen if they could get away before the whole building crashed on top of them or the whole Kuati navy came calling with murder in their eyes.
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This I didn't see coming. For a long moment I stared at the building coming down barely paying attention to Snips being unceremoniously thrown my way or the pulse of the Force from Perrion's direction. Then reality reassessed itself with the help of Aria's surprised exclamation deep within my mind.
"Grab the Colonel and run!" I managed to croak before a coughing fit made me sway on my feet.
Even if my grav-harness was still operational, its control systems were as fried as the rest of my armour, something that put me into a bind. I turned my back to the collapsing space-scraper and finally consciously noted that Perrion was busy making himself scarce. I nodded at myself, which was a mistake given the agony that exploded at and around my neck and tore a chunk of the platform, then used telekinesis to get myself away.
There was just one little problem – I most certainly wasn't outrunning the collapsing building. The same building that had most of the battalion I borrowed from the Defender, possibly Onara Kuat too, inside.
Kriff this day and whatever it rode onto.
I looked at everything below and saw a lot of vehicles of all stripes trying to get away along with the shrinking figures of marines doing the same gliding thanks to their repulsor packs. With no good options left I jumped off the metal chunk I rode onto and headed to the closest air-car making an escape. While in free-fall, I enveloped myself into a sheathe of energy that should allow me to not kill myself when I struck my target. I could vaguely sense Perrion somewhere below, with Ahsoka to the right. Hopefully the bloody bastard would become a bloody stain on the streets below before the collapsing building buried him once and for all.
A familiar presence made itself known in my head, which was enough to disrupt my concentration. I shoved it aside and focused on not dying when I reached my destination. Then the presence pocked me harder, got my attention and my focus wavered. I saw an open top air-car rising to meet me. There was a flash of red hair and slumped form at the driver's seat and that had to be Zash and then there was no more time for thinking. I focused on my safety harness and managed to more or less re-establish it properly before I hit he air-car. What followed was a bloody strong impact that I was sure broke a rib or ten. I clutched the first thing I could as I bled velocity and kinetic energy in a corona of released power. Even then, the sudden impact and its side effects were enough to make Zash lose control of the vehicle. The air-car entered uncontrolled spin and all I could do was hang to the back door for a dear life with every jolt sending stabbing pulses of blinding agony through my front, more than enough to make me roar in pain. When Zash finally managed to regain control, I crawled fully to the back-seat and strapped myself with the seat belt. She gave me a brief pained look and headed up and to the left. It took me a moment to determine that we were gong after Snips instead of Perrion, who I was no longer able to sense properly. There was hoping the bastard was considered for once and died.