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Meanwhile, aboard the Iron Hand...
Deke's turret trails just a few clicks shy of its target as he
struggles to maintain a lock. "Ram 'em, I say. Gnats is all they are."
His jaw sets in an expression of concentration, and his finger flexes
over the firing stud.
"That just might work, Deke. Only four of them...one on each shield
arc...I think they can take the damage." Cooper says, closing the hole
in the shields over the hangar bay, and bringing the shields to full
strength, "Let's see how good you guys fixed up this ship, eh?" he
says, bringing the engines to full power, and pushing the
Dreadnaught's bow downward, attemping to break free from the A-Wings
encircleing of the vessel, leaving it to the A-Wing pilots to get out
of his way.
"For J'ra!" the J'rathi known as Frinr says into the commlink as it
swings the turret around for the nearest Awing, drawing a lead and
firing, sending screaming arcs of red death out into space, hopefully
towards the black A-Wing.
"We got another bogey," Deke hisses, unleashing a few unaimed blasts
of his own. The fighters are ignored at present as he regards the
shuttle. "Orders?"
"Things just got a little busy out here," Cooper sends on the commlink
to the team on the starliner, glances down at a sensor readout, then
says to the crew on the Dreadnaught and the X-Wing pilots, "Destroy
that shuttle! Ignore the fighters!" he yells over the comms, setting
the Dreadnaught's course towards the Lambda shuttle, and activates the
tractor beam, attemping to lock it onto the Shuttle, and hold it in
place.
Meanwhile, aboard the Vendetta...
For a moment, Kenobi is struck dumb and silent. His eyes are wide and
his mouth has fallen open. When he finally regains some sense of
reason in his addled thoughts, he snaps his gaze toward Valin: "Get
them back to the Iron Hand. Use a force pike to cut through the blast
doors. I'll..." The Jedi Master returns his attention to the crowd of
Sith Lords, "...delay them."
Valin shakes his head, his own face a mask of horror as he steps up
beside Obi-Wan, "You cannot hold them long enough alone, Obi-Wan.
Cryyalla..Nee'luk. I am an old Jedi...with little purpose in this new
galaxy, perhaps we can give you enough time to save the new." He
adjusts his stance, the calm never fully returning to his face, "Go."
And watches the Vader's approach.
Nee'luk begins to backpedal slowly, his sabers still out and senses
alert. It is one of these latter that he extends, attempting to sweep
the minds of the various incarnations of Darth Vader. The Knight is
seeking illusion; seeking to find if any of these are true
Force-wielding clones of the Dark Lord. Even while he does this, he
nods to Cryyalla, speaking. "We must go. Cut through the hatchway."
Cryyalla roars something definately negative in shyriiwook at the
departing shuttle, sliding a bit as she comes to a stop. Breathing
deeply, she stands, watching it fly... as thirty Lord Darth Vaders
make their way out of the pair of remaining shuttles.
Unlike Valin and Obi-Wan, she does not stand to fight, and unlike
Nee'Luk, she doesn't bother trying to sense them out as she turns,
running toward the blast doors, paw waving the pair of rebels onward
with her. She plunges her vibrant 'saber into the doorway as she comes
to it, liquefying the metal at that point.
Aegis looks out over the crowd of Sith Lords, his eyes wide in
disbelief, then amazement as Kenobi and Valin step forward. Sadness
clouds his eyes as he realizes that the two elder Jedi are about to
sacrifice themselves. "It was an honor," he utters before turning and
following the black furred Wookiee to the blast doors.
Javak squeezes the trigger, sending a concussion grenade rocketing
towards the Sith Lords. He then proceeds to gulp, and run after the
retreating Wookiee, massive feet thundering on the deck.
"You have something that belongs to me," the first Vader intones
toward Nee'luk through the hissing of his rebreather. He raises his
gauntleted left hand and gathers his will to try and snatch the
lightsaber that belonged to his prior incarnation. Twenty-eight other
Vaders raise their left hands to join the effort. The thirtieth Vader
concerns himself with Javak's ill-advised grenade launch, using Force
telekinesis to try and fling the grenade back at the intruders. That
concentration of will makes it all too clear to the Jedi: These are
not illusions, but thirty identical clones of Darth Vader, strong in
the Force.
Nee'luk simply releases the saber, turning back towards Cryyalla and
sprinting forth. He, too, jams his saber into the hatch, seeking to
make a semicircular cut to match the Wookiee's, and in doing so make
the process go faster.
Obi-Wan Kenobi hears the foomp! of Javak's grenade launch, and his jaw
clenches as he watches the explosive projectile arcing through the air
toward the Sith Lords ... and then comes back toward them, impelled by
the Vaders. "Liability," comes drily from his mouth as he gathers his
own will, brings his left hand up and tries once more to use his Force
telekinesis to deflect the incoming grenade.
The old Jedi's effort deflects the grenade, shifting its course so
that it spins off toward the pile of crates where one of the Crimson
Guards is just coming around, trying to pull himself up from the
stupor caused by his earlier impact. The grenade goes off a few feet
from him, catching him in its concussive bubble. He's down for the
count.
Meanwhile, outside the Vendetta...
It takes Sidd only a moment to gain his bearing as he undocks from the
Iron Hand though in that time, it seems, he misses the Shuttle leaving
the liner. For the moment, the Fighter Pilot ignores the other
fighters and searches for the target he was ordered to destroy.
The black forms of the A-wings easily roll out of the way of the
larger ship's gunfire, now moving in to skim along the Dreadnaught's
hull. In perfect synchronized movements, 3 of the A-wings retain a V
formation, while the 4th angles off to intercept Sidd's X-wing.
Frinr doesn't reply vocally as blood pumps fasther through its veins.
The J'rathi turns the turret, drawning down on the shuttle, firing
again, the turbo lasers cranking out another arc of blaster fire.
"Eat... flashy lights!" Deke snarls as he brings his gun emplacement
to bear upon the lone shuttle. His eyes flash wickedly as he depresses
the trigger rapidly, an almost manic grin gracing his dried lips.
Sidd may not have noticed the shuttle, but he notices to A-Wing
heading for him. The Fighter Pilot promptly turns his X-Wing to engage
the fighter upon him, intent on attacking first.
"Take it out!" Cooper says, reinforcing his previous orders. He
continues his course towards the shuttle, and tries once more to lock
the Dreadnaught's tractor beams on her.
The shuttle's pilot obviously knows a few tricks of his own, as he
rolls the Y-shaped shuttle out of the way of all the blasts, and even
managing to get out of range of the tractor beam as it blasts out
towards space at full speed. The single A-wing that is barreling
towards Sidd looses a pair of concussion missiles after dipping to
avoid the other craft's lasers, while the 3 other A-wings skim the
surface of the Dreadnaught, loosing six concussion missiles towards
the bridge of the larger craft.
Frinr continues firing at the shuttle, "Find those shuttles along the
hull. They have been out of sight too long." The J'rathi squeezes the
trigger on the gun emplacement, "And find out why the guns are not all
firing."
"Frick!" Cooper says, once more trying to lock the tractor beam on the
shuttle, regardless of weather it's still in range. With the A-Wings
skimming it, Cooper grunts, "Hold on!" he yells, as he hits the
Dreadnaught's manuvering thrusters, attemping to smite one or more of
the A-wings from space with the Dreadnaught's shields, transfering any
extra power to that section of shielding.
Sidd attempts to move his fighter out of the way of the Concussion
missles fired at him, but unfortunately he isn't fast enough and they
collide with the X-Wing, knocking out both his generators and proton
torpedoes. Though he isn't out just yet and the Fighter Pilot targets
the A-Wing once more and fires his lasers.
Undaunted, Deke continues to launch barrage after barrage at the
shuttle, a steady stream of blasts lancing forth from his turret.
"This guy's inhuman. We got missiles or somethin'? Use 'em already!"
At the edge of the dreadnaught's weapons range, the shuttle dodges one
blast to land in the path of a second volley of turbolaser fire. The
small vessel's shields collapse under the onslaught of focused energy,
and a second bolt obliterates one of the craft's wings, sending the
craft spinning off into space, engines obviously dead. Sidd's A-wing
easily dodges out of the way of the X-wing's laser blasts, returning
fire with its own twin-linked lasers, peppering blasts towards the
T-65's fuselage while the other trio of A-wings smoothly arc around
and perform another long strafing run on the Dreadnaught's shields,
combining concussion missiles with laserfire.
Frinr swings its turret around, aiming for the Awing that is firing on
Sidd, "Commander, That Incom fighter will not make it." the clear
skinned one replying softly through the commlink as it squeezes the
trigger.
"Sidd, jump! Get out of here! You're damaged!" Cooper says over the
commlink. He sets the Dreadnaught's course directly for the now
damaged shuttle, engines at full speed. He activates the tractors beam
again, but the shuttle's out of range. Instead, he switches it to
repulse, and aims it the missiles, trying to deflect one of them away
from the Dreadnaught. If there's more than one tractor beam, he tries
to use those to deflect other missiles.
Sidd curses to himself as his fighter dies from the A-Wing's laser
onslaught. In response, the pilot hits the eject with a gloved fist,
firing him from his fighter into the space around it.
"Did you see -THAT-!?!" The gambler roars emphatically over the comm
channels. "And you dared to mock the godliness that is Deke." The
excitement of the moment coupled with an overdose of adrenaline have
claimed this young Tatooinian. Nostrils flared and hair matted with
sweat, he gasps for breath while returning his attentions to the trio
of fighters still peppering the Dreadnought. Again laser fire arcs
outward to meet them.
Meanwhile, aboard the Vendetta...
Valin doesn't bother with anything fancy, vague, or elaborate. To
distract the Vaders he chooses the direct method. Flexing his legs
slightly, the Jedi attempts to launch himself over, and into the mass
of Vaders, saber flashing below him. A risky, if not suicidal move,
but the Jedi takes it still.
The Twi'leki Jedi continues carving with his remaining lightsaber,
slicing as fast as he can to allow a path to freedom to be opened.
VaderPrime, the one holding two lightsabers, hisses through his
rebreather as he watches the leaping Jedi. To his companions, Vader
says: "Leave him to me." The other Vaders nearby back up to give
VaderPrime some room.
Cryyalla strains her wookiee muscles, ivory teeth gritting together as
she pulls her lightsaber on an arc to meet Nee'Luk's own, dragging the
blade through the resisting blast plating as it hisses and spits.
The blast doors give under the fiery strain of the dual lightsabers,
whooshing open.
Nee'luk, when the opportunity comes, bolts to freedom, beckoning for
his compatriots to follow. He does not look back, and there is no
pause in his movements as he flees. Fear, perhaps normally alien to
the Jedi, is now in his mind.
Aegis watches the concussion grenade get batted around before
detonating away from the retreating group. "Hold your fire," he
advises Javak before looking to the pair of Jedi rapidly carving their
way through the blast doors. He blows a sigh of relief as the blast
doors whoosh open. "Let's go," he states, ducking through with hs
rifle at ready, sparing one last glance to the valorous pair covering
their exit.
A string of swear words emerges from Javak's mouth, as his grenade is
deflected. After a moment, he glances at the rifle, and seems to
decide that there isn't much he can do to help with it. He then runs,
once again greating a terrible racket as he flees.
Obi-Wan Kenobi glances back once as the other Jedi finish cutting
through the blast doors. "Go," is all he says. And then he stalks off
toward the crowd of Sith Lords to join Valin in the futile fight.
Valin slides forward, saber tip flicking out towards one of the
encircling Vaders before coming back towards VaderPrime, the blade a
light yellow blur as it cuts a path horizontally towards his opponents
chest dipping down at the last moment as the Jedi moves forward and to
the side, the lightsaber sweeping at VaderPrime's leg.
~There is no death; there is only the Force. And may it be with you,~
Cryyalla sends with a sorrowful tint to the pair of Jedi sacrificing
themselves to give her and the others time to escape. That is all
before she follows Nee'Luk, rushing through the newly-opened set of
blast doors.
VaderPrime brings his saber blade down to easily intercept Valin's
saffron energy blade. The dark lord's visor gleams darkly as he leans
closer to the Jedi, rebreather hissing. Besides his own reflection,
Valin can see one of the other Vaders behind him, stabbing outward
with a crimson lightsaber, aiming for the Jedi's undefended back.
As he sees the sneak attack in progress, Kenobi shouts: "No!" And
launches himself with the Force, trying to bring himself down between
Valin and the other Vader, using his blade to try and knock the
crimson saber aside. Kenobi manages to land between Valin and the
other Vader while deflecting the Sith Lord's sneak attack.
Meanwhile, outside the Vendetta...
The single A-wing that took out Sidd's T-65 slides gracefully through
the expanding cloud of debris, rolling away from the turbolasers to
rejoin the trio of A-wings attacking the dreadnaught. As one of the
pairs of concussion missiles is pushed out towards space, the other
four slam into the dreadnaught's hull. The dreadnaught itself begins
heading towards the Spaceliner, and the shuttle beyond it. From the
Spaceliner, a few light green blasts eminate towards the Dreadnaught,
doing minimal damage. And then panels all over the liner begin sliding
apart, revealing hidden heavy turbolaser cannons that slide upwards
and pan to release ranging blasts towards the Dreadnaught. In all, ten
turbolaser cannons reveal themselves and begin firing upon the Rebels.
Frinr swings the turret it is in towards the starliner, "Commander,
the shuttle our friends are on just detached." Careful aim is taken at
the starliner, "Get your pilot and get us out of here." Clear fingers
squeeze the trigger, aiming at the ship that is not what it seemed.
Cooper curses, attemping to lock onto Sidd's escape pod with the
tractor beam, and pull it into the hangar bay as the Dreadnaught heads
for the shuttle carrying Imperials. The first round of fire from the
Starliner misses, however, those missiles, aside from two, didn't.
"Our shields are down to fifty percent! Damcon, get on them!" he says,
attempting to close the distance between them and the shuttle,
"Gunnery, if you're still out of the shuttle's range, shoot at
anything shooting at us!" Cooper clenches his teeth together, sneering
at the chart of vessels on his sensor display.
Deke curses as his attack -just- misses its intended targets. "Better
part of valor," he adds, another burst of energy erupting from his
emplacement to hopefully knock an A-wing out of the battle.
Meanwhile, aboard the Vendetta...
Valin swings around, moving himself into a rough back to back position
with Obi-Wan, two hands are returned to his lightsaber, sending it
slashing out in an arc at the closest Vader, his face composed as he
recites in a firm voice, in the midst of battle, "There is no emotion;
there is peace." His mask is back in place, apart from the faintest of
smiles.
"There is no Force," VaderPrime intones through his hissing rebreather,
in a mockery of the Jedi Code, "there is only death." He uses one
lightsaber to try and block Valin's attack, while jamming the other
toward the Jedi's stomach.
Valin's lightsaber sinks lightly into the side of the Vader's armor
before the crimson blade punctures his abdomen. The Jedi sinks to his
knees, the last words of the Jedi code hissed quietly, "There is no
ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force." The last sentence barely
audible. The lightsaber piercing the Jedi is pulled back, Valin
toppling forward slightly, then only a clatter, his deactivated
lightsaber falls to the decking, robes collapsing into a soft bundle,
empty.
Kenobi finds himself between two Vaders in close proximity, his only
ally left now dead and vanished. He draws a deep breath and closes his
eyes, gathering his will and raising his lightsaber in both hands so
it is held before his face, parallel to his body. The other
twenty-eight Vaders move into a circle around the twins with Kenobi in
the middle, giving the Jedi nowhere to run - even if he wanted to.
"This moment," VaderPrime begins, while the other Vader finishes, "is
long overdue." Simultaneously, they swing their crimson sabers at the
defenseless Obi-Wan Kenobi. The old Jedi vanishes, his deactivated
lightsaber clunking on the deckplates as his brown and beige robes
billow softly downward, empty. Both Vaders stomp tentatively on the
empty clothes left by the dead Jedi. Satisfied, other Vaders move in,
collect the lightsabers, and then they walk back up the ramps of their
shuttles.
Meanwhile, outside the Vendetta...
Strangely enough, the Spaceliner's turbolasers completely avoid
shooting at the escaping shuttle. They don't, however, cease their
assault on the Dreadnaught. Now that the range is found, the gunners
on the Imperial capital ship fire a full volley from all of the ten
heavy turbolasers, while the 4 A-wings now begin skimming along the
surface of the Dreadnaught, raking the weakening shields with
laserfire as they go. From the spaceliner, comes a crisp Imperial
accent. "You are beaten, Rebels. Surrender now and you -will- live."
The Jedi Cryyalla takes a seat in one of the bridge chairs, strapping
herself in quickly, the foot-long tube that is her lightsaber still in
her paw. Breathing deeply as if finishing a marathon, and snapping her
eyes shut, brow furrowed in an attempt to bring her screaming nerves
back under her control, Cryyalla attempts to send one final message to
the Dreadnaught's bridge before the shuttle jumps. ~Leave,~ is the
message she sends, quite succinct and to the point.
Aegis frowns as he reaches for the hyperspace lever. "They're not
targeting us," he observes, pondering the implications. Shaking his
head as he realizes they have no time to discuss it, he grabs the
hyperspace levers and pulls them, sending the shuttle rocketing into
the familiar blue and white swirl of hyperspace.
Frinr continues firing at the starliner not starliner. "This was a
trap human allies. If nothing else is destroyed, that queship must go.
Something is not right about it. Destroy it with everything we have
left and then we must go."
Javak grunts, as he stares out the viewport at the strines.. He then
looks over at Cryyalla. "Are they leavin'?"
"Yeah, well, we don't have anything left!" Cooper yells over the
commlink, the ship rocking as the shields go down, weapons fire now
impacting the Dreadnaught's hull. "They're away," he says as the Rebel
shuttles jumps, "And so are we." he looks towards the navigation
officer, "Jump!" he says to the navigation officer.
Deke bites his lip as the Dreadnought is buffeted under heavy fire.
"I'm all for gettin' my cowardly arse outta here right the frick now."
Just the same, the gambler redirects his fire, now blasting away at
the starliner for all he's worth.
Sidd continues to drift towards the Iron Hand in his escape pod as it
is tractored towards it, hopefully reaching the hangar bay before the
Dreadnaught jumps.
Cryyalla doesn't meet Javak's gaze as she nods. Well, it's mostly a
nod, but more of a rock back and forth. Her breathing comes quickly,
still, and her eyes are still closed. Her left paw loosens and regrips
on her lightsaber hilt. Otherwise, the black-furred wookiee is silent.
With the shuttle safely in hyperspace, Aegis turns from the controls
to face the Wookiee. "How'd we walk right into that? How could
-THIRTY- Vader clones escape the notice of four Jedi?" he asks in
frustration.
As the navigation officer triggers the hyperdrive, there is a very
familiar but nasty sound: The sound of a hyperdrive failing to engage.
The Dreadnaught continues gliding in space, while the Spaceliner takes
all of the Dreadnaught's shots on the shields, and continues pounding
back with all its turrets. Meanwhile, the A-wings split up as they see
the Dreadnaught's shields collapse. One pair of A-wings speed towards
the ship's engines, while the other two head towards Deke's turret,
releasing Concussion missiles as they near it.
Frinr flips a switch, keeping the turret firing on its current target
as it quickly unstraps from the netting, "I'm going..." the J'rathi
says into the commlink, then climbs down from the gun emplacement and
runs for engineering.
"Shit!" Cooper yells as the hyperdrive fails to initiate. Soon after,
the ship lurches violently as concussion missiles tear into the
vessel's unprotected hull. Unsecured objects clatter to the floor, the
lights blink, threatening to go out. The Dreadnaught's speed has
slowed, too. Relief washes over Cooper's face as an indicator on the
J'rathi display on front of him, and a voice is heard over the
commlink, "Hyperdrive back online. Try not to break it again."
Imemdiately, Cooper looks towards the navigation officer, again
yelling, "Jump!" this time, however, the stars in the viewport turn
into white streaks then the blue haze of hyperspace.
Within the Iron Hand's Hangar Bay, Sidd crawls out of his escape pod.
Though upon the feeling of the Dreadnaught entering hyperspace, the
Fighter Pilot lets out a sigh of relief and collapses against what
remains of his X-Wing.
Javak nods, slowly, as he stares out at the swirls of Hyperspace.
"Where to?" He asks, before reaching out a hand. "Slick, calm down.
They's said they was a great evil... Didn't none of 'em say they knew
fer sure what it was."
Deke follows the arc of an approaching A-wing, laser blasts trailing
in its wake. He grits his teeth in annoyance, and as it and another
fighter form to assault his own turret, he rips out of his netting
with a curse to throw himself out and avoid the unpleasantry of
concussion missiles exploding in his face.
Cryyalla's eyes snap open, and she attempts to stand, leaning for
Aegis, staring straight into the man's own optical orbs. Apparently,
though, she's forgotten about the crash harness she's strapped herself
in with, and doesn't get very far in her attempt, plopping back down
into her seat. The wookiee doesn't try again, but continues to stare
at 'Gis, readjusting her grip on her lightsaber hilt in silence. |
