Star Wars: The Rogue Knight

Planet Shili

Ehosiq sector

Expansion Region

I was racing over a field of thick, red grass which stretched as far as the eyes could see. My speeder's engine w.h.i.n.ed in protest as I pushed it far beyond the speeds for which it was rated. Only my iron grip over the Force allowed the straining machine to continue moving at the breathtaking pace I was pushing it. The vehicle was moving at nearly four hundred kilometers per hour but it was far from enough. I could sense it in my bones and no matter how hot the rage I felt was getting, it did not change the facts. Barring a miracle I was going to be too late!

I could almost see how my wife was fighting for her life more than two hundred clicks away. Even from here I could sense the men and women attacking her. From time to time one of their Force signatures winked away but it was a drop in the bucket. There was at least a platoon of Republic commandos and a strike team of Jedi. To make matters worse, the kriffing sons of banthas were there for me but instead were attacking my wife and her apprentice!

Half hour. It was all it took me to get there. It felt like eternity. I experienced every single bruise, the smallest of cuts that Ashara received. Her fury when Selit Roak, the kid she had taken under her wing was cut down. The impact of blaster bolts splashing on her shields and the ones scarring her armor.

She was weakening. Laser swords and cortosis forged blades were keeping her in the center of a lethal whirlwind as she did her best to keep the weapons away from her. But now and then an attack slipped through her defenses. One nicked her left shoulder, another – her right t.h.i.g.h.

I was only five minutes away when my heart was torn away from my c.h.e.s.t. Ashara made one mistake and three lightsaber blades pierced her c.h.e.s.t. I sensed the Force trembling as all the energy she used to keep up with the people murdering her dissipated.

For one last moment the connection we shared for years flared to life and I could hear her saying "Goodbye Vael. I..."

I felt her soft hands touching my face and a brush of a feathery kiss over my dry lips. A ghostly outline of angelic face smiled at me sadly and disappeared in a thousand moths of bluish light.

My screams of unrelenting rage sent the wildlife running in panic for dozens of kilometers around me.

When I reached the small house which used to be my wife's family ancestral home, it was burning fiercely. I could see Republic troopers tending to their wounded and a female Jedi kneeling next to a prone form which I instantly recognized as my wife's body.

With a furious below I jumped from my speeder. My lightsaber flew into my outstreched hand and roaring to life. With a wave of the Force I sent my ride flying at a group of surprised commandos. The energy field that I maintained to keep the speeder in one piece evaporated and the machine blew up taking the shocked troops with it.

I landed between a pair of commandos who were struggling to rise up their weapons. The one to the right few back bisected by my blade. The other one grasped his trachea as I used the Force to pulverize it. He gurgled and fell to his knees, drowning in his own blood.

The female Jedi, a white haired Echani woman, stood up and looked at me with shock and fear etched on her horrified face. A torrent of lightning blew her away from my wife's body which she was busy desecrating.

My head turned to the right where a commando was pointing a carbine at my head. He opened fire as I was rising my sword to deflect his attack. Azure bolt of energy raced straight at me…

=RK=

Republic cruiser Tranquility

Near Rodia

Outer Rim

My eyes snapped open and starred at the barrel of a blaster. It fired from point blank range and almost blinded me when its red bolt dissipated over my active shield. Funny. I did not remember activating it.

I clamped my left hand around the weapon's barrel and twisted it away despite the metal fingers gripping it from the other side. I glared at the scorched droid which tried to end me. An echo from the fury I felt during my dream of the past empowered me. Fury fueled power coursed through my whole being coloring the worlds with crimson hues. The commando droid struggled with me for possession of the rifle but that abruptly ended when my attention got back to the machine. It shuddered as its torso was squashed by fingers made by the Force itself.

I threw the pile of scrap behind me and stood up on unsteady legs. The explosion almost did me in. Those were not frag grenades the droid used to blew itself. Oh, no. Thermal detonators. If it was not for me subconscious activating my energy shield as well as throwing that wall of Force between me and the explosion I would have cooked in my armor. At best.

As it was I was only knocked out for couple of minutes if the clock inside my still active HUD was correct. The silver lining was that the detonation had dealt with the remaining droids with the notable exception of that one which tried to shoot me in the head. I could not feel others of their kind around.

I wasted another minute to retrieve my lightsaber which was in the back of the corridor under some debris. At least it was intact.

=RK=

When I got to the detention center I found pandemonium. More than a dozen dead clones and all but one of the Senate commandos were littering the floors. They had taken twice their number of commando droids down but that was small comfort. I headed to the only living being in this facility – Commander Green who was slumped on the deck in front of Gunray's open cell. I retrieved a med pack from the small of my back and used it to hastily patch up the man. Then I opened my senses and ran towards the main hangar.

I could feel Ahsoka and Shaak Ti fighting with a Dark side user. Ventress. But I ignored their struggle. The Neimoidian was near to the frigate with which we came aboard! I could not let the bastard escape yet he was too far away to reach before he boarded the smaller ship!

My thoughts raced frantically until a crazy idea occurred to me. I sealed my armor and headed towards my new destination.

=RK=

Nute Gunray was dragged through the cruiser by that rude captain who was in the employ of Dooku. He did not like the human but at least the traitor was getting him away!

The Viceroy was thankful to all Deities that might exist that the Sith that captured him and was about to interrogate him was not shown himself. It was very good thing that Ventress was distracting the Jedi. That little Togruta was insane!

They were few meters away from the frigate's docking ramp. If it was not for the need for a brief detour to open the hangar doors they would have been on board by now.

The pair gawked when an escape pod screamed through the opening in the belly of the Venator and skidded to a screeching halt nearby. Its airlock was torn away and a figure in black jumped out. Captain Argyus grabbed the neimoidian by the neck and used him as a live shield against the unexpected visitor.

=RK=

'I couldn't believe that worked!' I thought when I exited the escape pod and faced the traitor and the prisoner.

Using it to sling around the cruiser and to enter the hangar while the escape attempt was nearly successful had actually worked! It was good enough that after that memory of Darth Vael I had enough control over the Force to steer the small pod on the needed course.

"Viceroy. It is not polite to snub our hospitality in such a way. We were just getting to the interesting part." I snarled. Dreaming of my wife's murder while briefly unconscious had my control over my fury wavering. My Mask was close to cracking and that way laid only madness.

"You want him alive. So we are going to board this ship and leave peacefully." The commando tried to appear tough.

I smiled at the fool.

"That ship already left. There are three Separatist frigates on the way and the reinforcements from the planet won't reach us before them. With this cruiser crippled the only reason they are not blowing us away is Ventress and Gunray. You are not leaving." I shook my head.

"Then surrender and I may yet show you mercy!" sneered Gunray. "Or I can pay you! You're a mercenary, right? What do you want? Credits? A ship? Weapons? I know! Women too!" Gunray nodded frantically.

"Women?" I hissed. The two women I loved in this existence were long dead. Did he really thought he could buy me with whores?! I saw red. My fury needed an outlet and those two fools just volunteered.

Before either of them could react I threw my lightsaber at them. I gently willed its activation button to press down and its blade activated mid-flight. It speared them both.

The feeling of their shock and despair as they comprehended that this was the end of their path was like a sweet wine for my senses. But I had no time to enjoy the destruction of two minor enemies.

Feeling them die made my fury abate for a moment – just long enough that I could rein it in and place it under my control instead of the other way around.

"Captain, do you copy?" I spoke in the comm unit build in my helmet.

"Who is this?"

"Delkatar Veil. I'm with the Jedi. I have an idea of how to even the odds a bit but I need everyone who knows how to pilot a small craft in the hangar yesterday."

"I'll give the order. We need all the help we can get. The main reactor is scrammed. We are on auxiliary power and won't last long against these odds. The only reinforcements that will reach us on time are a squadron of fighters escorting a wing of bombers. Then an Acclamator a few minutes later. The rest of the task force won't make it here before its all over."

"So what's new?! Just get me these pilots. And turn the ship so the lower hanger is hidden from the Sep's view."

=RK=

Munificent class frigate Revenge

Near Rodia

Outer Rim

General Grievous glared at the crippled Venator on which his target waited: Gunray, that worthless worm. Hopefully he'll get himself killed this time. However, the Viceroy was not what interested him. That Sith spawn that cut off his limbs was said to be on board that ship! But he could not just blast it into little pieces! Not with Dooku's precious apprentice there. If he did so the Sith would have what was left of his guts for dinner. Another failure so soon after the debacle with the Malevolence wouldn't be tolerated. The General seethed quietly.

His Task force was racing towards its prey. All fighters were already launched as a screen covering the two scores of boarding craft. With any luck he'd have the man who humiliated him so easily!

"Uh, sir. A frigate class ship just appeared behind the cruiser. Now its launching fighters."

"Blast them all! Fire!"

Grievous watched as his droid fighters and the turbolasers which would b.a.r.e fired on the approaching red frigate. To his surprise, the Torrent fighters were using the shadow of the small ship as a cover from the heavy barrage.

The frigate was speeding up, obviously hopping to somehow survive the onslaught long enough to escape into hyperspace after covering the small craft. He knew that it was very likely that Gunray was on board that ship so he ordered a Munificent to physically block its flight.

If he could he would have grinned. The frigate's shields were straining and the craft was unlikely to survive passing through his formation. And with the speed it had gained it was too late to try breaking off. That left only the Republic fighters as a threat but they'd be dealt with by his own after the boarding sh.i.p.s were all over the Venator.

=RK=

I grinned. The frigate I was controlling was holding a bit better than expected. The shields were tatters but I had dumped all power either in them or the overloading engines. In front of me the closest Munificent, which was the on the right flank of the enemy Task force was becoming huge. The small fleet's commander had maneuvered its sh.i.p.s to prevent the frigate from jumping into hyperspace. Physical objects on the way tended to do that.

The frigate shook as a stray turbo-laser bolt slipped through a gap in its failing shields but it was too late to stop it. I watched with a smile as the armored nose of the CIS ship raced towards me. Even if the collision did not take out the Munificent, it would shatter its shields and permit the Torrents to salvo their concussion missiles in its fragile bridge.

All I could see was the bulk of the enemy frigate rushing towards me then everything went dark.