Heyo!
I'm back with another chapter, finally. this spring has been chaotic (like usual) but I made it and I have another very action-heavy chapter. We have space battles, gunfights, flying limbs, and... well... I shouldn't spoil that. lol
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Without further ado, I give you chapter 15...
Luke felt like he was slowly suffocating within the confines of his space suit. The body glove squeezed too tight. The oxygen blew into his face too hard, while the flashing lights of his heads-up display were just a little too bright. He felt, more than heard, an explosion and his stomach dropped. The AT-TE shuddered once, followed by a second and third time. A heavily modulated voice pulled Luke from his thoughts.
"Thirty seconds to drop," announced the pilot.
Luke clutched his lightsaber and locked eyes with Ahsoka. All around him, rebel soldiers in zero gravity suits did last-minute checks on their blasters. His lightsaber felt more like a child's toy in his hand than an actual weapon of war. Ahsoka turned to a circular door in the ceiling and released the lock.
"Popping the hatch!"
The hatch flew open, propelled by the rush of escaping air. Luke swallowed his nerves and followed after her. He had done many insane things since joining the rebellion, but they had always been from the cockpit of a starfighter. His record on two feet was far less impressive.
The undercarriage of the landing ship loomed over them. Between the clamping arms and the forward turret of the AT-TE, he could see the gray hull of The Ravager swelling up to meet them. He sensed the stormtroopers racing across her topside armor to meet them, seconds before the first blaster bolts smashed against the ship's front armor. Ashoka unclipped both of her lightsabers and stepped forward. She was cool and confident. Ahsoka showed no emotion as she squared her body up with the right front edge of the AT-TE. She snapped both lightsabers to life and swatted away a pair of lasers.
"Just follow Ahsoka's lead. She learned from the best." urged Obi-Wan's voice.
Luke craned his neck to see the rattling hydraulic lines and armor plates before turning to Ahsoka. He activated his green lightsaber and marched to the left side of the gun. He swallowed once and brought his blade up.
Up.
Down.
Right. Right.
Left.
Up. Up. Down.
The blaster bolts came quickly and all at once. The Star Destroyer was alive, and they were the targets.
The Chief listened as Admiral Hood hastily laid out the details of the mission. A delicate war zone was hardly Blue Team's specialty. Yet, that's exactly what they were in. Around him, the rest of Blue Team was finishing last-minute preparations for the mission. Pointed glances flew across the deployment bay. Chief felt each set of eyes settle on the back of his helmet. When he looked over his shoulder, their discomfort was plain on their featureless helmets.
"It's become increasingly clear to me that the Empire knows about this infection. Darth Vader does as well, but I know he won't give us the full truth. There are avenues around him, but it will take time we do not have," Admiral Hood explained. "Your mission is to fill in the gaps. Capture the being in charge of this operation, and get Roland into their computer system."
"And we're certain he is on this ship?" the Chief asked.
An explosion violently rocked the ship. The Chief could picture Admiral Hood's stoic face on the other side of the mic. The silence was as loud now as it had been on board the Cairo all those years ago.
"No, but someone is. The Shadow of Intent has been tracking a steady stream of narrow beam transmissions from the Annihilator," Admiral Hood said. "Someone onboard is doing a lot of talking, and I want a word with them. Find the senior officer aboard and bring him back to the Infinity with Roland's information."
"Yes, sir."
Sweat poured down Luke's body. His faceplate fogged and cleared in time with his breathing. Luke batted away blaster bolt after blaster bolt, trusting both Ahsoka and the Force to cover his ever-changing blind spots. The maintenance trench flashed with a dazzling arrangement of green and red lasers. Explosions punctuated flashing streams of red and green light. Stormtroopers poured out of hatches, threatening to blast the boarding party into the void. Two X-Wings streaked by, tracing a line of explosions across the hull. Fire and metal spewed from the holes, cleaving through anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way.
"We're almost there. Let's go!" Ahsoka shouted.
Ahsoka pushed down and out with the Force, propelling herself over a set of durasteel barriers. Her twin lightsabers appeared to be everywhere, all at once, as she cut through the nearest squad of stormtroopers.
"All units, forward!" Rex echoed.
Luke ran after Ahsoka, watching as lifeless bodies and seared limbs floated off into space. He pushed himself off of a cooling pipe. His lightsaber swung from left to right, taking one trooper's head and spinning the other off to the side. An angry yellow and orange line showed where it had cut three ribs and seared the organs underneath.
Behind them, a mix of rebel soldiers and Commando Droids raced forward. Their blasters screamed into the void as they traded blaster shots with the Imperial defenders. Rex could see the seam that Ahsoka had found. The X-Wings had blown up two defense towers. The resulting explosions had completely ripped apart the two squadrons of stormtroopers sent to reinforce the trench.
The AT-TEs, with their droid and human crews, lumbered forward. Their mass drivers hammered away wherever their gunners saw the heaviest concentrations of blaster fire. Rex threw himself behind a durasteel wall, next to another rebel soldier. His body ached and his lungs burned.
"I'm getting too old for this," he grunted.
He twisted his body back over the top of the wall and continued firing. He hit the first stormtrooper in the chest. The person staggered back and drifted into space, while his partner ducked back into the doorway. He shifted his aim and caught another clutching what appeared to be a thermal detonator.
Rex glanced upward as a UNSC Pelican and two Phantoms streaked overhead.
"Took you long enough," he thought to himself.
The deployment bay of the pelican swung open. The Chief stared out into the star-studded void with enforced detachment. He forced himself to ignore the apocalyptic Flood infection running unchecked, the unholy alliance ripping this galaxy apart, or how many people had already died for this frozen rock. The lead Executor came and went, with its hull ablaze and cannons roaring. As he looked closer, the Chief could make out the green and white flashes of swinging lightsabers.
"I hope we're right about this," Linda muttered.
The Chief looked over to see her gaze fixed on the firefight below. He nodded once and turned back toward the doorway. The Ravager came and went. Open space, with its endless night, came and went next. Finally, there were more lasers and another string of warships. The Pelican swung violently from side to side, before throwing itself into a steep descent. Both Spartans braced themselves against their respective walls.
"Right or wrong doesn't matter. Just don't fail," he answered.
The scarred hull of another warship filled their view. A hale of vibrant green lasers screamed past the pelican. Below them, a single sheet of metal resolved into a maze of maintenance trenches, battery towers, and layered plates. The walls soon enveloped them as the pelican dropped into one such trench. The engines whined as the pilot eased back on the throttle. There would be no stopping this time around.
"Demon, we will find this fleetmaster. Get your parasite into their battlenet," bellowed a voice in the Chief's helmet.
He allowed a small smirk as he pulled the charging handle on his battle rifle. Like most Sanghelli, the Arbiter had a long memory.
"Blue Team, move out!" the Chief barked.
He lept off of the ramp. His magnetized boots pulled him to the armored hull. He stepped twice to absorb the shock to his legs and brought his rifle up. His head snapped from left to right, looking for any signs of company. Fredrick, Linda, and Kelly jumped after him. Their weapons leveled as they circled back to back. Further to the left and right, two Phantoms also slowed before rolling off of either side of the Executor. Someone particularly observant might have noticed that both deployment bay doors on each Phantom were open as they made the pass.
The Chief motioned his team forward and marched down the trench. A blue point in the center of his HUD marked their entry point. His motion detector chirped. Looking up, he saw a humanoid shimmer further ahead on the trench wall. In the flickering and confusion of battle, soldiers often dismissed it as the flash of a plasma weapon or a trick of the eye, but the Chief knew better. Even now, it made his skin crawl.
His motion tracker chirped again. A white and black shape darted out of the airlock, followed by a second and third one. The Chief snapped his rifle to the first person. Four shots rang out. A three-round burst tore through the leader's chest, while a single round from Linda's rifle took the head off the second man. The activation of an energy sword in the third trooper's back tossed them high into the air. The fourth stormtrooper twisted out of a similar fate, only to be kicked against a cooling pipe and then shot by a third Sanghelli on the trench wall. As Blue Team got within shouting distance, a burst of plasma shot through the now open hatch.
"Hurry, before they seal the door," The Arbiter commanded.
"We'll rendezvous in the VIP hangar," the Chief said.
"And if you run into difficulties?"
Fred scoffed, "Didn't you hear? Spartans never die."
"So I've heard."
The Sanghelli strike team leaped down the airlock, followed by Blue Team.
Darth Vader stared out at the battle, disgusted by his weakness. He watched as Admiral Piett directed the flow of TIE fighters and the deployment of Death Squadron's ships. It was all according to the plan Vader had personally developed. That fact did little to comfort him. He scowled and pinned his hands at his side. Obi-Wan's voice drifted into Vader's ear.
"You certainly know how to pick your battles."
Vader scowled as he took a measured breath. He felt the pressure building in his head. The pain was coming back.
"I must say, it is different not seeing you amidst the chaos."
Darth Vader turned and marched to the holotable. Under the cover of the UNSC's MAC guns, the Alliance fleet raced for the Imperial formation. An hour ago, the Imperial fleet learned that trying to split the Alliance formation was a suicide mission. The Infinity's quad MAC guns had delivered the message with an air of savagery as they ripped the bridge tower off of the lead Imperial-Class Star Destroyer.
The Imperial response was quick and predictable. The spear-like noses of their warships twisted to the left, while sensors and AI across the fleet registered the same spike in acceleration. Five minutes later, they brought those same Star Destroyers back on track for Rothana's surface. The goal was simple. Offset themselves from the fleet. Leverage the higher volume of fire that came with a broadside engagement while staying out of the way of their MAC guns. Both sides knew the slipspace capable ships would have little interest in striking out on their own, while the Interdictors holding Vader's ships in place were small and easy to keep out of reach. However, this did not stop X-Wings and Y-Bombers from trying, while fighters of all kinds brawled with their Imperial counterparts for the space between. The chatter over comms told Darth Vader it was as merciless and disorientating as the other orbital dogfights he'd been a part of. The Force quivered with warnings that this one would be exceptionally bloody.
BA-BOOM!
The Executor's bridge violently shook. Darth Vader put a hand out to steady himself against the holotable, yet another reminder of his physical weakness.
"Status!" Barked Admiral Piett.
"Two concussion missiles hit three decks up…" The Captain paused as he leaned over a display. "Shields absorbed the hit. No apparent casualties. No apparent damage."
Darth Vader pushed himself back away from the holotable. The Executor and Shadow of Intent were closing with the leading pair of Imperial Executor-Class warships. The two forces charged forward out of the darkness. There would be no self-preservation or regard for their mortality as the two titans clashed. No matter how much strategy or pre-planning happened, a fight like this always boiled down to extreme violence. This was the military equivalent of a Tatooine brawl. It did not matter what values you walked in with. There was only mutilation and slaughter to follow.
Luke dropped down into the passageway and froze. Everything felt wrong. Within the tunnel of blaster scoring and bodies, something was wrong. He took two steps forward and stared at the sealed blast doors. Behind him, a squad of rebel soldiers leaped into the passage. Twelve of their Commando Droid counterparts followed behind with a clunk and the whine of servos. The other boarding team was moving to another hatch under Commander Appo's direction. Luke touched the button on his comlink.
"Team 1, under the skin," he absently muttered.
"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.
"Fruit of a cursed tree… They have come to kill you."
Luke turned to Ahsoka. Something didn't feel right. She was a Jedi in white robes. Yet, in his mind, he saw the clearest vision of her driving her lightsaber through his back. He realized a half-second too late that he was staring.
"Nothing. Let's get the doors open," Luke said as he shook his head.
Ahsoka fell in directly behind Luke. She had felt a ripple. It was barely noticeable to her, but a single ripple in a violent storm of hatred, anger, and fear. Yet, to Luke, it had been so much more. She knew that stare. Such looks had forewarned the worst atrocities she ever witnessed.
"Team 2 under the skin," chirped a voice from her wrist.
"Understood," Ahsoka swapped channels, "Baseplate, all teams inside."
The walls groaned, the deck shuttered, and their entire world tilted to the right. Lights flickered as the mechanical hum of the ship skipped a beat.
"We made it just in time," Rex muttered.
Inside his helmet, his eyes traced an uneasy line up one wall, across the ceiling, and down the other side. While he trusted Ahsoka with his life, he held far less trust in imperial engineering. Rebels and droids alike regarded the walls with similar distrust.
"Did you feel it?" Obi-Wan asked.
His voice was quiet, a sound easily drowned out in the din of battle. Darth Vader was silent. His eyes remained fixed on the kaleidoscope of lasers and explosions. The Executor rocked and groaned with every missile strike and laser impact. Vibrant beams of pink plasma shot across the viewports as the Shadow of Intent and her escorts exacted their toll on the Imperial line. Through the chaos, he could sense more than see fighters twisting around each other in desperate attempts to cut through the line and get to the weaker ships further back.
"Would he be so much of a fool?" Vader muttered, "He is not above mindless slaughter, but why leave such a battle to chance?"
"This battle was never about you two," Obi-Wan said.
His voice was quiet, almost inaudible to anyone else.
Vader scoffed, "It is always about him."
"Are you so arrogant to think you are the only one affected by these recent experiences?"
Darth Vader was silent. His mind tugged, turned, and picked apart the words of his former master. Finally, he turned to the faint blue outline next to him.
"It has already happened," Obi-Wan said.
For several seconds, the only sound heard was the distant chatter of the watchstanders on the bridge, and the mechanical drone of the engines. The Executor's turbolasers reverberated through the deck and up Darth Vader's legs.
"And Luke?" Vader quizzed.
Obi-Wan was silent for a minute. His body flickered into view for the briefest of moments. The silent gesture was one Vader appreciated. Abandonment was something he was far too used to by this point.
BOOM! Creee…
The Executor shuddered. The deck slipped to the left as metal groaned. Admiral Piett shouted something from across the bridge, but to Vader, it might as well have been from another planet. He punched the talk button on the holotable. It all made sense now.
"Commander Rex and Commander Appo, channel four now," he barked.
Darth Vader keyed up the channel and waited for two pings. The Force told him who was listening.
"There is a trap. I can sense it," he announced, "Use all the force necessary to ensure Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano remain in the Rothana System."
Silence hung over the comm link. He didn't need the Force to tell him both men had been stunned into silence.
"Sir?" Commander Appo finally croaked out.
"Who is the trap for?" Rex demanded.
A moment of silence…
"Me."
Vader closed the channel. He looked up to see Obi-Wan staring at him from across the table.
"That is certainly one way to go about it."
Darth Vader stepped back from the table. His face was a shade of pale that would have only fueled his self-disgust if he could see it. Instead, he felt the fear that settled in his gut. How had he not seen it? Was he still so blind? The Emperor was not the one conducting this battle. He may still live, but something far worse had already dethroned him.
(The Library: Halo Ring)
The slaughter of Admiral Thrawn's first wave had been swift and all-consuming. The entire complex came alive. Green, mutilated bodies charged out of every hatch and doorway, while smaller Flood spores gushed out of the ventilation intakes and exhaust outlets. Missiles plucked shuttles and landing craft out of the sky with yet-to-be-seen precision. Precision laser fire and whipping tentacles instantly ripped apart the few squads that hit the stone roof. Inferno Squad accounted for three of the eight survivors plucked from the frozen void below.
Of course, Grand Admiral Thrawn did not earn his title by repeating mistakes. Snow continued to flash to steam across the mountain pass as TIE bombers traced lines of fire across the landscape, while carefully applied orbital strikes brought down cliff faces, smashed library walls, and churned the rubble. Smoke billowed out of the twisted and broken library remains, like a hellish cauldron. Thermal imaging from imperial probes showed an angry sea fire rolling under the veil.
The sound of the bridge door pulled his attention from the viewscreen. However, Thrawn didn't bother to turn. He knew who it was and why she was there. The pounding of her boots and slush spraying across the floor told him as much.
"This was a trap," Commander Versio announced. "It's unlikely that the object was ever there."
Admiral Thrawn watched as a pillar of stone and metal bracing crumbled into the smoke. A ball of fire rolled out of the heavy blackness.
"A trap, to be sure, but the object is still there," he said.
His voice was flat and dispassionate.
"We didn't see any signs of it," she pressed.
Admiral Thrawn turned and marched to the holotable. He inserted his code cylinder and pressed two buttons. The holo map of the surrounding mountains transformed into a three-dimensional map of the library.
"You entered here," Admiral Thrawn pointed to a spot on the side of the building, "You hit resistance at the outer wall, then continued up the outer corridors to the upper structures."
"Yes, Admiral."
"This was the only survivable path charted by your ID-10 droid?" he pressed.
Commander Versio nodded.
"Based on the initial mission brief copied from ID-10. It found the potential for unacceptable resistance at all internal access points and downward lifts," Admiral Thrawn observed, "They did not care about the shield generator or the potential for orbital bombardment. They cared about keeping you out of the inner passages and structures."
Commander Versio's knuckles turned white as she clutched her helmet.
"Maybe it didn't know–"
"It knew," Admiral Thrawn cut in gravely, "It also knew that orbital bombardment would not destroy the object."
Versio was silent as she sifted through her memory. Shadows and blood blended with blaster fire and screaming—far too much of which was her own. She didn't like what Thrawn's words implied. Yet, he was not wrong.
"Why is this damned object so important?" she demanded.
The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop them. They were driven by fear and anger. Admiral Thrawn was turning the place to glass while speaking of another landing.
Admiral Thrawn ignored her and pressed another button. This time, Admiral Thrawn replaced the library with a rectangular metal object adorned with eerily familiar glyphs. As the images swapped, he quietly motioned the Chimera's captain over.
"Do you know what this ring is?" Admiral Thrawn began.
"You called this place a prison," the captain answered.
"Briefing said a 'weapon'," Versio added.
Admiral Thrawn nodded once. Neither person was wrong, and he hated it. This was the problem with this ring. It is why the Chiss condemned it to obscurity all of those years ago. To address one problem was to allow the other free rein in the galaxy.
"It is both. This 'Flood'... This thing… A race far older and more powerful than any of us imprisoned it," Admiral Thrawn explained, "The world they were imprisoned on was also a weapon. I first discovered this ring while a part of the Chiss Ascendancy. After one too many bloody expeditions, we determined that the ring, 'Halo' as it was called, was a weapon capable of sterilizing an area at least 25,000 light-years wide in every direction."
Commander Versio regarded the holotable, trying to swallow her sense of shock and horror. The Death Star had been a money pit and a vulgar display of galactic power. Yet, in a twisted way, it had its purpose. One could not say that about Halo.
"'Halo' appeared to be monitored by a small flying droid. When I was last here, twenty-five years ago, it showed signs of degradation and was consuming itself in a logic loop," he continued, "but through its nonsensical ravings, we discovered the existence of 'The Index', an activation key for The Ring."
"And that index is in the library complex," the captain picked up.
There was a touch of understanding underneath the concern in his voice.
"Then why not leave? They don't appear space-faring on their own, and we're about to bury this index under a layer of glass," Commander Versio pressed. "The ring will be as safe as it was before the expedition's arrival."
Admiral Thrawn let out a quiet sigh.
"If only it were so simple, Commander. The Flood already flung themselves out into the galaxy. Like you, I pray we can smother these incursions, but I fear we are reaching a point of no return," Admiral Thrawn said.
His voice was cold and flat. Yet in his face, Commander Versio saw something else. The light had faded in his eyes. His eyebrows turned ever-so-slightly upward. She saw it buried under generations of stoicism and the calluses born from a million slights. She saw the same fear that twisted her gut and chewed at her sanity pulsing inside of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
"Sir, do you mean to activate this 'Halo'?" gasped the Captain.
Admiral Thrawn turned to him with a set jaw.
"I wish to retain the option. Whether the Emperor will desire such an action, I cannot say," he answered crisply.
Commander Versio stood off to the side. The mere existence of the Index would raise hell within the Imperial ranks. Even in a galaxy of apocalyptic superweapons, the ring was a threat like none other. She thought of her father, Grand Admiral Versio. He was a genuine believer in the Death Star project–an imperial zealot. The Emperor was his god and he would see that all either bent the knee or burned for their defiance. It did not matter how many had to suffer or who had to be thrown into harm's way, so long as the Emperor's will was done.
And what happens when destroying one planet is insufficient penance?
Commander Versio pushed the thought aside. She knew the answer and all of its sickening implications. Yet, there were far more immediate things to consider now.