Star Wars: The Rogue Knight

Cruiser Tranquility

Near Rodia

Outer Rim

Shaak Ti used two pieces of metal torn out by the assassin's mines to brace the broken leg of the younger woman. She was helping Ahsoka to reach the med bay when their way was blocked by a group of Super Battle droids. The Jedi activated their lightsabers and Master Ti jumped at the attacking machines. Behind her, the wounded Padawan could not do much besides holding her ground and deflecting the multiple shots heading her way.

The Jedi Master soared over the blaster bolts, turned in the air in such a way that she was able to use the ceiling as a spring board to launch herself at the droids and jumped at the center of their formation. She sent wave of unseen force in front of her, which hit the unfortunate machines like a heavy freighter. The droid which was in the center of her attack crumbled like a tin can on which a giant had stepped on. The four robots closest to it were slammed in the ground with such a force that their legs snapped by the impact and multiple internal systems were damaged by the concussion. Then she was upon the surprised droids and her blade was a blur of color that left glowing pieces behind.

Ahsoka was doing her best to stay un-shot while the older Togruta woman was slicing and dicing the SB droids into piles of glowing scarp. She wondered how long, if ever, would take her to reach a similar level. The Jedi Master was amazing! Skywalker's apprentice dealt with three droids by sending back their blaster bolts while Master Ti had demolished the rest of the enemy force.

=RK=

One of these days I should stop getting myself in such sticky situations. I was on point, leading twenty eight fighters and twelve bombers against about a hundred vultures which had arrayed themselves in a defensive screen between us and the closest Separatist's frigate.

Missiles raced in front of our charging Torrent's and quarter of the enemies were smitten down by concussion explosions. Then they were upon us and there was no more time for thinking. Only the endless hours of training and steel discipline held the clones together as we mixed with the droid fighters. A vulture was splintered by my cannons. A Torrent disintegrated under the relentless fire of no less than eight clankers. The bombers blasted away a whole wing of droid fighters which tried to meet them head on. None of the Y-Wings suffered something more than a mildly depleted shields in that exchange.

While I was chasing a vulture, I saw three Clone fighters mixing with nine of their CIS counterparts. They wiped each outer in an orgy of laser blasts and concussion missiles. My cannons carved up the enemy I was pursuing and I went after a droid fighter that was giving hell to one of the few surviving star-fighters of the Tranquility's compliment. I nailed the machine with a lucky strike that immolated its fuel reserves but it was a moment too late. Three crimson laser bolts slammed in the engine of the clone Torrent and the Republic fighter fell apart as its power-plant exploded.

I watched helplessly as a bomber was torn to pieces by four vultures before it was their turn to die as missiles consigned them to the endless void. I blasted a target of opportunity and flew behind the attacking bombers in order to provide them with some small amount of cover.

The immediate space was filled with dying fighters and blast of flack cannons. None of that phased the bomber pilots and they released their payloads at point blank range of the Munificent. The light purple, almost pink proton torpedoes blazed for few moments before slamming in the armored underside of the frigate. The star ship visibly shook as a long row of explosions blossomed all over its flank.

I had the impression that the Frigate stood frozen in place for a long moment before something inside it gave away and a massive internal explosion broke its back. Its forward section was sent spinning downwards relative to its previous course, while its aft continued moving on its old vector thanks to the engines which were active for the next five or six seconds. Then they flicked off and on few times before detonating and shattering the aft part of the Munificent.

I could hear the clones cheering on the comm. I chuckled at their enthusiasm.

"Great work men! Only one more to go. Bombers form up for another attack run. I want half the fighters with me on as escorts. The rest of you clean up this space from clankers!"

"Yes, sir!" came the thunderous response.

Those fellas were much livelier than the average clones I've met so far. I kind of liked their attitude.

For a short while it looked like that we had the upper hand. Vulture droids were being destroyed left and right and the bomber run at the last enemy frigate was well on its way. There were not enough droid fighters left to blunt the attack, much less stop it. Then as you might guess everything went wrong.

Two more Munificents jumped out of hyperspace and started disgorging waves of vultures.

"All escorting fighters, form on me. We are going to intercept our new friends. Bomber wing take out that ship!" I ordered and banked left towards the forming waves of enemy fighters.

Behind us the Y-Starfighters continued forward and ran a gauntlet of flack fire and the vultures from the initial Task Force who were enterprising enough to jump at them despite the remaining Republic fighters with which they were dog-fighting. Four of the bombers were smashed by enemy fire but the remaining strike craft blew away the aft section of the frigate leaving it dead in space. The crippled ship drifted out of control.

At the same time I was leading fourteen Torrents against the first wave of fresh droid fighters. There were more than two hundred of the buggers. The shadow of Vael that was lurking in my subconsciousness was whispering that the smart thing would be to cut my losses and jump to hyperspace. That however meant leaving Ahsoka and Shaak Ti to certain death. After the losses they suffered it was a sure thing that the CIS forces would blast apart the Venator and get away before more Republic sh.i.p.s came to the party.

The cannons of the fresh frigates rotated, paused for a second and unloaded everything they got at the crippled Tranquility. The shields of the Republic cruiser somehow held up to that moment but after the first barrage they were no more. Turbo-laser fire struck the helpless Venator and small suns were born over its upper hull as the energy bolts discharged their fury on the armor belt. Turrets were blown clear away. Spikes of light and fire shattered armor plates. Few heavy shots impacted at boarding sh.i.p.s still embedded in the hull and their immolation tore out huge chunks from the metal skin of the cruiser. Its command towers received sic direct hits and disappeared in the hearts of crimson tinted explosions.

For me that was a side note. I was too busy fighting for my life to pay proper attention to Tranquility's final hour. The missiles we shot at the approaching armada found their marks but the thirty vultures they blew away were a drop in the ocean compared to the number of enemies hurling themselves at us. My Torrent shook by near misses. Its engines screamed in protest as I overloaded them in an attempt to get every bit of speed they could grant me. My finger was firmly pressed on the cannon's trigger and I did not let go. A vulture was turned into a flaming wreck, then another. Clone fighters ceased to exist under the guns of dozens vultures.

I shot two more missiles without waiting for a positive lock. One slammed into a droid fighter flying straight at me. The other missed but forced a vulture to get out of its way.

There were only four more killing machines between me and the end of the swarm. The first was immolated by laser light like a moth. The next died speared by my last missile. My Torrent weaved around the blasts of the third when we both scored hits. The vulture was sliced into three flaming parts by my cannons but not before blasting my right wing into oblivion. My fighter spun madly while I fought with its heavy controls. I snarled when red laser bolts flew my way. The first wave of droids fighters were dispersing and sweeping around in broad turns. Then it disappeared in a fireball when a missile struck it next to its robot brain.

I could see on my scanners that only two other Republic fighters had survived our insane charge. Granted, we took out more than a quarter of the enemies and broke their attack run on our bombers but that was all to heavy price to pay. The remaining five Torrents and the Y-Wings were forming up and flying at the dissipating vulture formation but that would be all to late for us. The second wave of droid fighters was almost upon us.

=RK=

Shaak Ti managed to get Ahsoka to the med bay, where one of the clones was now busy with patching the Padawan's leg. There she found the remnants of Green Company which was smashed by a Dark Jedi and waves of battle droids and commandos. Only seven men were combat effective and just three of them weren't wounded. She grimaced. The mission had gone to hell and if what she sensed through the Force was correct, their situation was going to become even worse.

A minute and eleven SB droids later she was proven right. The captain ordered them to abandon ship before the comm-link was cut and the cruiser started shaking under heavy bombardment.

Shaak Ti and Ahsoka managed to levitate ten of the wounded to the nearest escape pods while thirteen more were brought by the remaining troopers and the medics. That's when the corridor through which they came was smashed by enemy fire and they were cut off from the med bay by sealing armored doors. Master Ti stumbled when she felt the wounded still in the med bay winking out as the ship was shaken by another hit.

"To the escape pods! Now!" she shouted and hurried with moving in the wounded they managed to rescue.

When they launched from Tranquility, the Jedi Master was appalled by the damage that the cruiser suffered. Seconds after they left a creeping barrage of turbo-laser fire smashed the part of the ship they were moments ago.

She looked out through the small window and saw the remains of crippled or destroyed CIS sh.i.p.s and hundreds of enemy fighters chasing after the few Republic fighters and bombers that were still active.

Ahsoka, who was piloting the pod had to maneuver it around floating and smoldering debris from space sh.i.p.s and vultures shooting at anything moving that did not have CIS IFF.

=RK=

I regained some semblance of control over my damaged fighter. The pair of clone piloted fighters and me had precious few seconds until the two armadas of vultures would be upon us. I desperately looked for a way out of this deathtrap. My sight fell on the two frigates behind the second wave of enemy fighters. It was insane. With no real chance to reach them. The only other alternative I had left was to do a blind hyperspace jump.

A glance at the panel showing me the status of the hyperdrive told me that there was no way out. My Hyperdrive engine was down. Whether it was busted even before I flew out of the Tranquility or the hit that blew of my wing was to blame was irrelevant.

"Boys, follow me in. We are heading straight for the hangar of the nearest Munificent. Our current position is untenable."

"Affirmative, sir. Who wants to live forever?" joked one of the clones.

"I do. Preferably." chuckled the other.

We flew against the swarm of vultures between us and the enemy frigates. Behind us dozens more droid fighters were rushing to dispose of us. The Force literally screamed a deafening warning that almost stunned me.