Star Wars: The Rogue Knight

Republic cruiser Tranquility

Rodia

Outer Rim

I fell on my hands and knees panting. My sight was covered by black spots which were slowly dissipating. I took a deep breath as the darkness that enveloped me when the Consular frigate slammed in the Munificent bled away. I could see a distorted image of the deck plating which was few centimeters from my forehead. I g.r.o.a.n.e.d. While pulling off such a stunt wasn't exactly trivial, yet it had never left me so exhausted before. Controlling a ship through the Force and guiding it to kamikaze an enemy frigate was an unexpectedly draining experience. Yeah, doing the same tricks as in this era took much more power than back in the day. For a moment I wondered what was wrong with the Force, but shrugged those thoughts away. Perhaps I would have the time to ponder that question once the war was over.

I willed my trembling body to move and stood up with a gasp. All my muscles ached as if I had tried to physically move the kriffing frigate!

I was stumbling as I made my way to the only remaining fighter on the deck. The way the Tranquility was shuddering as it was bombarded or boarding sh.i.p.s slammed into its hull did not make my life any easier.

=RK=

The Torrent's power-plant roared to life while I was busy strapping myself in its seat. My mind was using the Force to manipulate its controls while I made myself ready for more combat. I checked the seals of my armor and its oxygen supply before plugging in the line to the fighter's air-tank. The familiar sound of the star-fighter's engines coming to life was reassuring.

The borrowed machine rose up and glided over the deck as I guided it to the hangar exit. I forced the engines to full military trust and the Torrent darted into the void. I emerged into a storm of turbo-laser fire as the two operational CIS frigates pounded the failing shields of the Tranquility. The secondary fusion reactors could do only so much with the primary power source out.

My fighter banked over the superstructure of the Venator and I got my first good look of the battle. If you could call it that. There were only seven Republic star-fighters trying to hold a full wings of vultures. The only good news was that the first group of reinforcements were couple of minutes away. A full wing of twelve bombers with their escorts.

I plunged straight into the chaos. My Torrent swung in a reckless maneuver as I pushed it to the limits of its maneuverability. I flew left pulling a turn that would have squashed me if it was not for the inertial dampeners and flew behind a pair of vultures which were strafing the armored bulk of the cruiser. The droid fighters flew closer to the hull of the Republic capital ship in an effort to escape destruction.

The laser cannons of my Torrent came to life and discharged lines of green death. Pulses of coherent light racked over the engines of the right vulture and it went up in a short conflagration of vaporizing metal and burning fuel. Its buddy headed for the command towers of the cruiser in attempt to either ram the bridge or evade my fire by flying around the pylons supporting the command deck. The vulture did not get far because its right wing pod was shaved off by a long stream of fire. I released the trigger and watched in satisfaction as the enemy exploded.

=RK=

Ranger Three, the ranking surviving Clone pilot was cursing quietly. He did not know whose idea was to send Tranquility for this mission. Not with understrength and green crew. The first boarding attempt was bad enough with two force users cutting a swath through Green Company who had come aboard as additional security. He and his mates had cheered when one of those kriffing hut spawn were shot and cut to pieces by that mysterious Jedi and few of his clone brethren.

That however had been a short lived joy. Soon three Munificents and a whole bunch of fighters and boarding sh.i.p.s rained all over the cruiser that was home for Ranger squadron.

On the bright side, thanks to the crazy idea of Veil, the Jedi, one of the Sep frigates was mission killed and it looked like that the Tranquility might last until the backup arrived. However that would have been academic for him and his men. Or so he thought. Another Torrent had flew from the bow hangar and was tearing apart the clankers.

A minute ago Ranger Two thought that he was a goner. He had four of the vultures on his tail and despite his best efforts the droids were coming closer and closer to rendering him in squishy space debris. He could not do much. Not when the remains of his squadron were fighting for their own lives.

However it was not his time to die. Two of the pursuing vultures were blown out of his space by a pair of concussion missiles. Then a third was shredded by a short burst of devilishly accurate laser fire. The last machine tried to nail Ranger Two before it was destroyed but the droid fighter was shattered before being able to kill the clone pilot.

"This is Delkatar Veil. We need to keep distracting them for few more minutes and then the bombers will be all over them. Don't get yourselves killed boys! "

With those words the Jedi had darted away in pursuit of another clanker.

=RK=

Engineering

Republic Cruiser Tranquility

Near Rodia

Outer Rim

The reactor chambers of the cruiser were on fire. The lightning was off and Jedi Master Ti could see only thanks to the orange illumination hurled by the dancing flames. She had a gas mask on her face which helped her deal with the toxic fumes filling the engineering room without her having to expend Force energy to deal with whatever poison was in the air. She was holding a defensive position over the prone form of Padawan Tano who had the misfortune to pass too close to a mine placed by Ventress. The warning through the Force came too late for the young woman to escape unscratched. Ahsoka was stunned by the detonation and then hurled at nearby wall by a powerful telekinetic push. To make it even worse, the assassin had cut the huge coolant pipes passing under the ceiling and hurled them at the younger Togruta. Tano was stunned and pinned down with a broken leg.

Ventress was stalking towards the Jedi Master with a mocking smile on her black lips.

"You won't be able to save her, Jedi. She'll die as she should."

Shaak Ti huffed. What's with Sith and monologues, anyway?!

"I recognize your style, assassin. It's Dooku's. But you use it in an unrefined and crude way. I'll demonstrate."

The Jedi Master surged forward without a warning. It was a little known fact but Shaak Ti was possible the best blade-mistress the Jedi Order had. She, not unlike Dooku, was a master of Makashi.

Her attack surprised Ventress. Asajj was put on the defensive under its ferocity. Shaak Ti used a short, economic motion to deflect the left handed lightsaber of her opponent and then she parried the right one before kicking Ventress in the stomach with a Force empowered strike. The assassin was thrown back and struck the armor covered the crippled reactor with a dull "thud". The Jedi master did not let the Sith recover and was upon her enemy. She pulled Ventress with the Force and sidestepped the flying force user. Shaak Ti's blazing blade flashed in azure ark and slashed through the saber hilt of Asajj's left hand weapon. It coughed few sparks and died.

Before the assassin could land she was pulled from the back. This time she could twist mid-flight and parried a deadly strike with a desperate sweep of her remaining weapon. But that did not prevent her from hitting the reactor housing for a second time. Hard. She stumbled to her feet with a groan and used a desperation fueled surge of Force to jump towards the ceiling. No matter how she loathed the thought, Ventress knew that she should retreat. The short but intense combat against the two Jedi had taken its toll upon her. She was unscratched if you discount her bruised ribs but she had to use too much of the Force in order to keep up with the two Togruta females. Her muscles were screaming with exhaustion. With a vile curse, Asajj bounced from the ceiling and darted towards and open air-vent.

She threw her remaining mines back in the engine room as a parting gift for the kriffing Jedi and made good her escape.

Shaak Ti used a sheet of torn out plating to cover herself. It wasn't a moment too soon. Dual explosions rocked the compartment, raining flame and shrapnel over her makeshift shelter. Sensing that Ventress was no longer and immediate treat she ran towards the Padawan and raised the pipe pinning down the girl with a wave of her hand. The Force produced telekinesis was quite handy tool for any Jedi.

=RK

A Torrent was torn apart after it was bracketed by six vultures and the flack cannons of the pair of operational CIS frigates. Another destroyed a droid fighter before being unfortunate enough to pass in front of a turbo-laser bolt, ceasing to exist. I sent a pair of missiles at two enemy machines converging on my position and then flew straight at another duo. I used the superior agility of my fighter and the limited premonition granted me by the Force to spin my Torrent in a mad ballet that avoided all fire sent my way. My cannons smashed the incoming vultures in piles of floating scrap and I banked right in the last moment to avoid the pieces of enemy sh.i.p.s which were still holding the same vector.

I snarled when two full squadrons of enemy fighters decided to pay me attention. The engines of my machine vibrated and w.h.i.n.ed in protest as I pushed them beyond their design parameters. I headed straight at the crippled CIS frigate and led my pursuers in a deadly game as I flew through its superstructures as the vultures unleashed everything they got at me. Light blossomed all around me as laser bolts were hurled near my c.o.c.kpit. Too near for comfort. And many more were blasting at the armor belt of the stricken Munificent.

I could feel how one and then another of my pursuers were not maneuverable enough (despite their machine reflexes) to avoid protrusions and weapon emplacements sticking out of he frigate's hull.

Then the clock shown on my HUD blinked green and I smiled and pulled the control stick towards me. My Torrent climbed "up" and the vultures followed... Straight in the sights of the escorts and bombers coming to our aid. My pursuers died smashed by missiles and a storm of laser bolts.

The command Munificent was closing to a point blank range of the Tranquility while the other frigate was maneuvering to present its broadside to the coming bomber strike.

I formed with the escort fighters and we moved on to screen the Y-Wings. All remaining vultures were converging against us. We flew down their throats with flack and fighters throwing hell at us. Second later the bombers followed us in the hurricane of steel and death.