Chapter 5

Location: Space, near the planet Kintan in the Si'Klaata Cluster

"This is torture." Complained Ben Skywalker.

"Uh-huh" the unsympathetic female voice in his flight helmet replied.

"I'm serious, this has got to be some ancient form of Sith Torture: Sit in a StealthX for three days and then be expected to win a space battle in two minutes against 900 ships." He bemoaned.

But Seha was having none of it: "Listening to you is torture."

Oh, you guessed it: This was ... flirting. Bad Flirting! But it was on par with two twenty year olds that grew up in a monasterial society. Not that they were a "thing". But they were Mission partners and this had become a bit of a ritual for them. Right on the verge of action, Ben would get restless and start complaining, Seha, in turn, would emasculate him with her affected apathy and sharp tounge. But he obviously liked it rough; He had dated a frakin Sith Girl after all. Besides, It wasn't so bad. Yes, they had spent three days in long range CommsBlackout, lying in wait for Pirates. However, to pass the time, they would take turns meditating, catch up on reading, and watch some holodramas.

For Ben, though, this time he really wished he was back on Shedu Maad. His Dad, Aunt Leia and Uncle Han were finally coming back, and he heard the Calrissians would be there too; Lando and Uncle Han together always meant good times. He would just have to suck it up. He would be there soon enough.

It was a necessary pain with "worth it" rewards. In the Si'Klata cluster, as well as many other places in the Galaxy, individual slaves and entire slave species were living free after "The great Slave Uprising" that had occurred almost 3 years before. Now these species had created their own governments, industry, and trade deals with the rest of the galaxy.

However these endeavours were burgeoning and of prime interest to Pirates that wanted easy strikes. These worlds just didn't have the resources and experience to have sophisticated and protected trade routes in place. That's why they were here. Master Kyle Katarn was leading a task force, comprised of young knights, that was spread out in various parts of the mid and outer-rim with the intent of catching these pirate in the act and laying a "not forgotten too soon" beating on them. Technically it was "illegal" for the Jedi to take this kind of action. The Senate had declared the GA and all its member systems neutral when it came to Jedi and Sith affairs, and Jedi missions in GA territories where supposed to be approved by GA officials.

But individual Systems in the outer rim would, from time to time, reach out to the Jedi for assistance. The Systems were usually not affluent ones and were unable to handle the problem on their own. The Galactic Alliance would turn a blind eye to these incursions. In fact Chief Wynn Dorvan was rumoured to have procured a GA security surveillance recording of such a Jedi Raid and would indulge his dark humour by listening to the Pirate saying in shock and horror when discovering Jedi resistance:

"What the?Bloa! It's the Kriffing Jedi! Jedi aren't supposed to be here! Your Breaking The Karking law!."

The truth was, the Jedi filled a void and many in the Upper Echelons of Coruscant appreciated the Jedi's quiet help. They may be going through a rough patch but everyone knew: the Jedi needed to serve the "Republic" and the "Republic" would always need the Jedi. Their relationship would heal with time. And by the efforts of Kyle Katarn's teams.

"Ok Ben, wakey wakey! Here they come" Seha crackled through the ship to ship link. "They're learning, 2 corvettes this time, and I'm counting... 10,11...12 fighters." Her voice confident with a hint of excitement.

"I see them. My turn for fighters?" Ben inquired.

"My turn for Corvettes." She confirmed.

They had been lying in wait, as usual, at the closest general hyperlane drop out point. Convoys of Nikto and Klatooinian trade ships had been coming in and out of Hyperpace on a regular basis and it was just a matter of time before Pirates crashed the Party.

"You got the honours" Ben said as the Pirates closed in on the slow and all but helpless convoy.

Without hesitation Seha broke Comms Blackout and announced her well practiced: "Unidentified Raiders! This is Jedi strike team Nine. If you do not reverse course and power down weapons immediately we will be forced to fire on you! This is your only warning!"

I don't weIt was a bit of a pain to announce your presence after going to such lengths to remain hidden. It was, however, the Jedi way: No attacks without warning and provocation. But it was balanced out by the effect Seha's "Announcement of Doom" would have on the would be aggressors: They would either flee with their tail between their legs or if they were ordered to stay and fight, they were so psyched out by the unplanned Jedi that their gunners and pilots couldn't hit the broad side of a Hutt's Butt.

He heard Seha over their linked channel: "let me guess Ben: Hutt's Butt?"

Ben got a little startled himself: "Whoa! Totally Astral! You can force read my mind!"

There was a crackling sigh and then she replied: "No Ben, you just let out that same dorky giggle you always do when you say "Hutt's butt"."

At which Ben's only reply was more of the same dorky giggles.

"Look alive! These guys aren't runners" Seha cautioned. She hadn't finished her warning when white flashes started crackling around. Ion Charges!

"That's cute." Ben taunted mostly to himself. The pirates couldn't see them so they where firing out charges blindly.

"I'm Hit!" Seha called out in Ben's ears. Ok, maybe not so blind. The charges wouldn't do much damage but they would scramble her main systems temporarily and worst of all: Light her up on enemy sensors.

"Can you fly?" He asked, his voice betraying his increased heart rate.

"I can fly... barely, and no weapons." She answered.

Ben didn't hesitate: "Ok you head for the convoy for cover and try your best to evade. I'll give them something else to focus on." With that he opened fired on the closest raider.

The poor soul didn't even see it coming. With two groups of "Zwap. Zwap" from the Xwing's quad blasters, the pirate craft was glowing space dust. The other fighters flew past him as he headed for the first corvette. Seeing he had targeted them, they opened up on him with everything they had but to no avail.

As the hail of deadly light blasted toward him he fell into the force. In turn, guided by the force, he juked and jinked, like a buzz gnat dodging rain drops. Not by accident, he was headed for the corvette with an ever adaptive trajectory that put his targeted corvette solidly in between him and the second cruiser which tried in vein to manoeuvre its way to get a clear shot at him. Through the force, in that moment he was aware of all variables seen and unseen.

Time slowed to a crawl and in his mind he could feel the corvette hurtling like a planet killer toward him. He could see the second capital ship trying to clear the first. He could feel Seha regaining more speed and control of her craft, but also having to evade incoming fire as she weaved in and out of the various ships in the trade convoy until she regained weapon systems. He could also sense that only two ships had gone after Seha, thinking her to be an easy kill.

That's when he sensed the other nine ships turning sharply to begin another run at him. He had to bring that Corvette down quick and loud. Unfortunately there wouldn't be any survivors to interrogate from this Ship. Seconds before colliding into the first corvette, he launched a shadow bomb from his StealthX. And with the speed and accuracy only attainable through force, he hurled that baradium packed warhead toward the command centre of the looming giant.

At the same time he pulled up and away from the doomed capital ship just as the missile exploded in a bright, multicoloured blossom. Unlike turbo lasers or missiles, Jedi Shadow bombs were a one shot one kill kind of ordnance. Shields were irrelevant. If a Shadow bomb hit a vital System, at best the ship was disabled. At worst...

The force of the impact had almost killed the corvette's momentum and sent it off in a tangent, trailing a non interrupted stream of gasses, flame, and debris. The second cruiser, not expecting the sudden and violent demise of it's companion, struggled to avoid plowing into the first.

Ben let out a :"Bloah!" As he saw, with his neck twisted as far back as it would go, the other ship miss the crippled hulk by an arms length.

Returning his attention forward he was faced with the nine remaining fighters that had turned around and went for another "Shot at the Sabaac Pot". This time though the force could only help so much. It could only defy the laws of physics so much.

With the surviving corvette behind and to his left, it was free to open up fire without fear of striking the oncoming raiders now starting to open up fire in front of him. He couldn't dodge both hail storms flawlessly so he chose to put most of his efforts in avoiding the heavier turbo laser fire coming from the Pirate's capital ship. The flashes of hits began to splash in front of him. Those splashes turned into crashes and bangs as the shots began to chew away at the shield and burn into the hull. He stayed calm through the barrage, increasing power to forward shields and swerving when he could.

That's when a fighter drifted into his helmets targeting reticle. Without his full attention, he fired. The fighter in his sights was damaged by the barrage of impacts penetrating it's shields. But the ship was merely wounded. The greater damage was caused by the pilot of the hit craft overreacting and diving down to avoid the anticipated kill shots. This clumsy maneuverer sent him crashing right into the raider that was in position right underneath him. Both vessels collided in a brilliant example of pyrotechnics. And then, the other ships passed him again, headed to join up in formation around their remaining corvette.

By the time be was able to turn around to make another pass, the remaining 7 fighters were now looking all secure and smug on either side of their capital ship.

"At least I only have to dodge blasts coming in from one direction." he thought as he flew in toward what was left of the pirate fleet.

He was going to go for the jugular and take out the Corvette when the plan died stillborn in his mind. The shadow bomb's launching port was damaged by that last strafing pass. It couldn't fire until it could be cleared of debris or whatever was obstructing it.

"Not good! Not Good!" he chided himself.

Just then the corvette, ever-looming in front of him went up in a ball of fire and blinding light, damaging some of the remaining fighters and sending the rest fleeing in no particular direction.

"Threat Neutralized." Ben heard Seha say over his Helmet.

Obviously she had regained control of all ships systems, taken out her bogies, and then snuck around behind the action so she could shove a shadow bomb up the corvettes tail pipe. In a faux stern voice he said:

"Nice Seha! You sure took your sweet time there. I got to land somewhere and change my shorts now!"

This prompted some not as dorky giggles from her end. She replied: "Ben, with me... it's always worth the wait."

As it turned out the first corvette, although disabled and adrift had lived through Ben's attack. There would be survivors after all. The convoy's single Klatooinian light Security skiff would not have lasted two minutes with the Pirates, but would be more than enough to save the crew of the doomed pirate ship and hold them in custody.

The understanding the Jedi had with the Klatooinians, was that they would hold them until Master Katarn could send someone to interrogate them. Afterwards, the Klatooinian courts would choose their fate. While watching the glow of the transport's drives slowly drift away toward the planet, he heard the long range Comms Crackle to life.

"Right on time Master" Ben opened up the exchange. "We will have some more Pirates for team one to.."

... "Ben!" Master Katarn cut him off : "You need to get back to Shedu Maad right now! Something... Something bad has happened."

Ben's mind froze in a way it never did in the heat of Combat anymore and only one word completely dominated his minds focus:

"DAD!"