The Twilight War

[Kuja]

Damn good, Strav.

My one and only complaint: Jango Fett was taken in and trained by a Mandalorian named Jaster Mereel. But since you said you haven't read any of the EU on them, I'll let it go.

[Mark S]

Damn good, Strav.

My one and only complaint: Jango Fett was taken in and trained by a Mandalorian named Jaster Mereel. But since you said you haven't read any of the EU on them, I'll let it go.

Wasn't Jaster Mereel originally supposed to be the real name of Boba Fett?

[Kuja]

Wasn't Jaster Mereel originally supposed to be the real name of Boba Fett?

Yes and no. In recent Dark Horse comics, as well as the game Bounty Hunter, it's revealed tht Jaster Mereel was the senior Madalorian who took in Jango Fett as a kid and taught him everything he knew about fighting. Eventually, he got killed when another Mandalorian betrayed him.

I presume that after Jango's death, Boba took the name and moved to the planet Concord Dawn while growing up.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Jaster Mereel was taken by Fett as a pseudonym on several occasions as a homage to his late father's late mentor.

[Stravo]

And here I thought the Mandalorians had almost no info in teh EU and were the mystery men of SW. Guess I was quite wrong.

[Kuja]

And here I thought the Mandalorians had almost no info in teh EU and were the mystery men of SW. Guess I was quite wrong.

Well, up until AOTC, you would've been right. With Jango given a character and history, info on the Mandalorians exploded.

[Illuminatus Primus]

So Jaster gets substituted for someone else in Stravo's universe. Or he had another commander in Death Watch after Mereel get capped. Easy.

[Setesh]

And here I thought the Mandalorians had almost no info in teh EU and were the mystery men of SW. Guess I was quite wrong.

True until AOTC the only info we had were some snippits mentioning the Mandalore, and their involvment in the Sith War

[Imajor]

[Jadeite]

Was that a Q at the end?

[Stravo]

Was that a Q at the end?

Snapping fingers, flash of light, people vanishing.....

[Ghost Rider]

Was that a Q at the end?

Snapping fingers, flash of light, people vanishing.....

It's Trelane

Or I hope something Q-like at the very least...though the Father, Mother, Son bit was nice.

[Cpt_Frank]

Fuck I haven't visited fanfics for more than a month now AND I MISS EVERYTHING!!!!

this is going to be a long night.

[Stravo]

Fuck I haven't visited fanfics for more than a month now AND I MISS EVERYTHING!!!!

this is going to be a long night.

I was wondering where you where Cpt. Frank.

[Cpt_Frank]

Fuck I haven't visited fanfics for more than a month now AND I MISS EVERYTHING!!!!

this is going to be a long night.

I was wondering where you where Cpt. Frank.

You missed me.... that means someone actually notices me!
Thank you stravo!
(haven't even finished chapter 1 yet)

[Stravo]

Chapter 5: A Discourse of Swords

“In a false quarrel there is no true valour.”
Much Ado About Nothing
Act 5, Scene i



“All systems standing by.”

“Warp drive on standby, all systems show green.”

“Shield grid energized. Phaser banks are fully charged, torpedo banks loaded and charging.”

“Sensors at maximum intensity.”

Kirk sat back in his command chair after hearing the last of the status reports and nodded to himself. His crew was working quickly and efficiently. He could not ask for more from them. Not it was his turn to do what he was sent here to do.

“All ahead, full impulse.”

“Aye sir, full impulse.” Kelso nodded and turned back to his controls.

“Navigator?” Kirk asked.

“All helm systems locked on to center of wormhole. Picking up standard gravimetric and quantum flux all consistent with wormhole activity.” Gary replied without hesitation and smartly locked his nav controls as they started to glide towards the spot in space where two galaxies were linked.

The Enterprise entered the wormhole.

“I’m afraid the passage is rather disconcerting.” Meerlinda commented to Kirk as the space before them on the view screen seemed to shatter like glass and bright blinding light stormed into the bridge. Many covered their eyes as the light illuminated everything and for a moment time seemed to completely stop. Kirk was aware that they were frozen, his eyes were locked in a position that saw the bridge and Meerlinda was in his peripheral vision. He had begun to turn around and see her when everything stopped.

His crew were frozen in mid action, some in mid-sentence, mouths open but not a sound coming out. He stared for a moment as light danced around them, pulsing like a living thing. He heard something like voices distantly speaking, whispering secrets.

He struggled to hear but the light began to roar like waves from the ocean and the pulsing grew faster into a strobe effect and soon his vision was utterly destroyed by the bright flashing strobe and the crashing of the ocean around him but he heard something clearly and distinctly as if he had stepped into the middle of a conversation: “Unclouded his eyes are.” “The force speaks through him?” “The avatar of light from another star, he is. On all this depends, whether he will see what needs to be seen.”

Gary stared straight ahead, unable to move save for hearing the whispering voices around him as if he were in a crowded room but could not quite pick up on any of the conversations going on around him. Then suddenly as it seemed as if a crash of sound exploded around him he heard something. “What are you doing?” “I’m trying to stop you Jim.” “Gary, you can’t do this.” “Don’t argue with me about morality, we’re not in your Academy class anymore…remember what I always told you, Jim. You’d better be good to me.”

Spock was staring into his sensor hood, trying to comprehend the stream of data that was being fed through when everything froze. He continued staring at the frozen displays when he heard the chorus of voices around him, one voice in particular broke through the cascade of sound and light.

“You must let it go.” “I cannot.” “The universe does not revolve around logic.” “I am not doing this for logic, I am doing this because it is the right thing to do.” “So be it, Vulcan.”

Doctor Dehner remained rooted to her spot opposite Meerlinda on the other side of Kirk’s chair. She was staring at the screen, waiting to see the wonders on the other side. She was enveloped by the brilliant lightshow and her thoughts were clouded by the constant hiss of the whispered conversations around her.

One string became all too clear to her as the others seemed to hush.

“What price?” “Surely you did not think what I offered you was free of charge.” “Just name it damn you.” “It’s simple really, a small bauble that you can easily acquire for me.” “You mean for your master.” “We all have masters, Doctor, yours is simpering foolish love, mine is a far harsher master and it demands the blood of a Jedi knight.”

Meerlinda was stunned for a moment. The passage had never had this effect before and she had crossed the wormhole on three prior occasions. She found herself frozen in place, time frozen around her like ice, she was a statue, eyes focused on Jim Kirk with a soft smile on her face.

The Force flowed around her like a raging torrent and visions swept around her in the exploding light show, many of the images too fast to discern, but one image in particular crawled across her view like an insect crawling across amber. It was an image of her standing at the precipice of a great abyss and she had to decide whether to fall into the yawning chasm below. She saw several of the people on this bridge and Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi rushing over to her to stop her.

The image flashed away and then there was a low buzz, a conversation, one that she was having. She was suddenly snapped forward into a small cave, or was it an alcove, it was small quiet dark place lit only by the dim plasma torch in the corner. A small figure shifted slightly in the shadows and voice as old as time itself spoke.

“When you decide to undertake his training you have placed him on the path of death.”

“Never. I would never do that.”

“You have no choice, Jedi Knight. Every action has repercussions. It is the way of things, the way of the Force and the Force has laid before you two choices. When you follow one you place him on the path to his doom, the other saves him but places the galaxy on that same path.”

“But that cannot be.”

“The Force is not a judge it merely acts, Jed Knight. I would have thought you would have learned this by now. We all have our parts to play.” the figure seemed to look over her shoulder, as if peering past her to a distant place. “My part is about to play out, young Farstrider. May the Force be with you.”

The ship lurched forward and the light show vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The ship coasted out of the space behind it with not a sign that it had just traversed untold trillions of light years.

“Whoa.” Kirk breathed.

“That was unexpected.” Meerlinda added calmly.

“Unexpected, that was damn near insane.” Gary grumbled.

“Navigation, check our position. Spock, please begin short range scan.”

“Aye aye sir.”

Number One walked down to his side, placing a hand on his armrest.

“Captain, I recommend we enter a defensive posture until we can fully realize what effect the passage through the wormhole has had.”

Kirk glanced at his cold XO but could not argue with the logic.

“Go to yellow alert, raise shields and have weapons on standby.”

“Captain.” Doctor Dehner began.

“It’s alright, doctor, I fully understand why Captain Kirk is taking these actions and do not take offense to them.” Meerlinda politely cut Dehner off.

Kirk turned slightly in his chair to face Dehner. “Doctor, I will not take chances with the lives of my crew or the safety of my ship. Once we’ve gotten our bearings I will take us down from alert status but until then this is the prudent course of action. Besides, I’m sure you’re right and there is nothing out there.” Kirk added with a soft smile, hoping to settle down the obvious ruffled feathers of the doctor.

“Unknown warship off our starboard bow.” Spock announced.

Kirk turned his seat back to focus on the view screen. A massive warship hung off the starboard bow several thousand kilometers away. It was impressive and Kirk could see that it was indeed designed for war with its sleek frame and menacing shadow.

Number One quickly walked down to Kirk’s command chair, placing a hand firmly on his armrest.

“Captain, suggest we go to battle stations. This entire galaxy, strictly speaking is a war zone.”

Kirk glance dup at his cold XO. He didn’t like her much but he could not argue with her logic.

“Wait a moment Captain. That is a Republic Dreadnought.” Meerlinda interjected.

“I wasn’t aware that your government was going to provide an escort.” Kirk noted, his suspicions raised by the action.

“Nor was I.” Meerlinda replied perplexed.

“Sir, receiving hails from the warship.” Uhura reported.

“On screen, Lieutenant.”

The view screen shimmered for a moment and a green alien with a swaying short snout stood in the center of the screen. He was flanked by two young men dressed in robes almost identical to Meerlinda’s.

“Greetings and salutations from the Republic. I am Captain Leeto, commander of the Republic Dreadnought Valor’ Gaze.”

“Captain.” Kirk nodded. “I am Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. Thank you for your words of welcome. However I must express some concern as it was never relayed to me that we would be given a military escort.”

Sulu watched the exchange on the bridge quietly. He and most of the senior staff were invited to watch the crossing over into the new galaxy. He was uncomfortable watching Kelso at the helm. He yearned to be sitting in that station, piloting the Enterprise through the wormhole.

But instead he stood with a group of staff officers, many of them glorified scientists that were truly interested in the scientific data and knowledge that could be gleaned from this passage.

“Can you imagine the kind of information just waiting for you when you get back to your office?” an astrology chief whispered to him with barely constrained glee. Sulu nodded dully. His eyes remained riveted on Kelso, watching his hands at the controls and wondering what it must be like riding through the gravimetric interference and whirlwind like stellar torsion at the heart of the wormhole.

Lucky Bastard.

“Many apologies, Captain. I am under orders from the Supreme Chancellor to provide escort for you in this space.”

“Why?”

“Allow me Captain, I am Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi and this is my associate Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.” The bearded Jedi indicated the brooding young man with a slight inclination of his head. “We have been dispatched to take you safely out of this space. There has been an unfortunate breech of security and the Separatists are aware of the location of this wormhole.” Obi Wan smiled. “Fortunately we have arrived here before the Separatists.”

The young man stiffened as if he had been stung. His eyes narrowed. Meerlinda felt the warning as well, the force rippled around her as if a great stone had been heaved into a still lake.

“We’re a little late.” Anakin muttered.

“Captain, picking up a strange disturbance in the local space time continuum.” Spock reported.

“Hyperspace emergence.” Meerlinda exclaimed.

“I take it we have company.” Kirk frowned. “Red Alert! All hands to Battle stations!” Kirk ordered tersely.




“Hyperspace emergence in quadrant 37.” a tactical officer announced with some alarm in his voice.

“Give me numbers and disposition immediately. Move the Valor’s Gaze to within a hundred kilometers of the Enterprise and have all gunnery crews begin laying down covering fire for the Federation starship.” Leeto ordered.

“I’m not going to do much good up here. Besides you’re the grand planner not me.” Anakin said with a slight smile.

Obi Wan looked at his old padawan and nodded.

“Get to your fighter and may the force be with you.”

Anakin smiled more broadly and began to race out of the bridge.

“And Anakin.” Obi Wan called after the young Jedi knight. Anakin paused at the doorway and turned his head.

“Try not to do anything foolish out there.” Obi Wan said with a wink.

Anakin nodded and laughed.

“Hey, it’s me.” he replied and disappeared down the corridor.

“We have four, repeat four Trade Federation Battleships moving in a crescent formation.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Leeto replied.

“One Mandalorian heavy cruiser,” Leeto’s snout drooped slightly. “Four Banking Guild corvettes moving in on our flanks.” Leeto shook his head.

“We’re heavily outclassed, Jedi Kenobi.”

“That was the Separatists’ general plan I assume, but we have a rather simple objective, get the Enterprise out of here.” Obi Wan explained calmly as he watched the disposition of Separatist forces on the large tactical display over head.

“We shall do our best. All guns open fire in the name of the Republic!” Leeto exclaimed.

The Valor’s Gaze shook slightly as the massive guns running along her sleek hull began to open fire.





Anakin felt safe and secure in the cockpit of his Jedi starfighter as he launched form the cavernous launch bay of the Valor’s Gaze. He led a squadron of Z-95 headhunters into the fray as the first massive flak bursts erupted in the inky void.

The sound of his ship’s engines were like a soothing hum as he clicked on his communicator.

“All craft follow me in diamond formation. Our job is to make sure that no Separatist droid fighter gets to within weapons range of the Federation starship. We have the edge in firepower and durability, they have raw speed on their side so let’s not waste time in trying to chase them down, try to intercept them BEFORE they pass you. If the fighters blow past us there’s little chance of us catching up to them after that.”

“Roger that Red Leader.”

“Here they come!” another pilot exclaimed.

“Let’s do this.” Anakin ordered and opened up with his weapons suite.

The wall of droid fighters became clear on his cockpit as they approached, in a simple sweep towards the Federation starship behind them. Soon fire blossomed along the entire wall of approaching droid fighters as the squadron poured a deadly fusillade into the enemy group.

“Sir we’ve got another squadron trying to get underneath.”

“I see them,. Red two and six, come with me.”

“Right with you boss.”

Anakin sent his starfighter into a steep dive at an almost 90 degree angle from where he had just been flying right over the next wave of droid fighters. He opened up with his cannons and his angry red fire poured from the nose and beneath the wings of his starfighter. Droid fighters were exploding in clouds of plasma and debris.

“These damned things are so cheap to produce the Trade Federation has no problems throwing them away in these kind of tactics.” Anakin cursed as his fighter zipped straight down the center of the wave, followed quickly by the two Z-95’s escorting him.

“Sir, we’ve got six more squadrons inbound, three are moving to intercept us.”

“Looks like they’ve lost their patience with me.” Anakin smiled and reached out with the Force as he brought his fighter back up to link up with the rest of his squadron.

“Incoming!”

“Where?”

Three balls of light ripped past the Republic squadron and exploded with devastating effectiveness against the waves of approaching droid fighters.

“That’s not one of ours.” One pilot aid in confusion.

“Those shots came from the Enterprise. Some form of matter antimatter torpedo.” Obi Wan’s voice answered their curiosity over the fleet wide link.

“Looks like they’re not totally helpless after all.” Anakin said with a grin. He suddenly spotted three more squadrons racing along the edge of the battlefield in the hopes of avoiding the death trap that the center had become for their droid brethren.

“Come on boys, they did us a favor, let’s return it. On me.”

“Copy Red leader.”

Anakin led the charge as his fighter kicked in its drive at full throttle and raced to intercept the new threat.




“Good shooting, Mr. Kelso. Gary plot a course to parallel the valor’s Gaze, try to keep her between us and the brunt of this heavy fire.”

“Aye sir.”

Kirk glanced down at the tactical display and saw something.

“Warn the Valor’s gaze that the big bruiser there is using the Trade Federation ring ships as a screen and is moving to directly engage her.”

“Why the Valor’s Gaze and not us?” Meerlinda asked curious at the strategy and why she had not seen it.

“My guess is that they think we’ll be totally helpless without.”

“Which means they may not mean to destroy us at all.” Dehner breathed.

“They want to capture us.” Meerlinda concluded.

“Such a move would be disastrous for all sides involved. It would allow the Separatists to gain a wealth of data on the Federation and would most likely sabotage the current alliance between both powers far more thoroughly than if we were simply lost in a war zone.” Spock added from his station.”

“It’s very clear Captain that we must not allow ourselves to fall into Separatists hands.”

Kirk nodded slowly.

“That was never my intention at all, Number One. In fact I intend to get all of us out of here in one piece. Spock, give me a tactical analysis on those Trade Federation ringed vessels.”

“They are battleships.” Meerlinda corrected him.

“They’re not doing a good job of fulfilling their duties of that class, in fact I haven’t seen much in terms of firepower form them at all yet., Our fighters sure are giving them a wide berth.” Kirk noted.

“Most likely because the vast majority of its weapons suites seem to be comprised of anti-starfighter weapons.”

“Really?”

“Their shielding is extremely powerful however, more than enough to withstand an extended bombardment from the Valor’ Gaze.” Spock added.

“Ok, let’s think this through.” Kirk rubbed his chin as he watched the Valor’s Gaze turn to face the immanent threat from the Mandalorian Heavy cruiser that was crawling in under the screen of the Trade Federation battleship.

“Spock, those fighters are launching from the battleship?” Kirk asked as another wave of fighters swarmed towards them.

“Indeed. I am scanning…your suspicions are correct Captain. The Trade Federation ships drop that quadrant of their shields long enough to launch and recover fighters.”

Kirk smiled and glanced back at Spock. Spock looked at his new Captain and arched an eyebrow slightly.

“It was the logical result of your line of questioning.”

“True enough, Mr. Spock. Number One, prepare the ship for emergency warp drive maneuvers.”

“Aye Captain.” she replied hiding her confusion.

Gary smiled boyishly as he cleared his board for emergency warp drive maneuvers.

“Gary we’re going to need you to be extremely precise.” Kirk added.

Gary turned in his chair slightly.

“How precise, sir?”

“Peg me to within a few kilometers of those battleships.”

Kelso whistled softly.

Gary smiled and winked at Kirk.

“I thought you were going to ask me for something hard.”

Dehner glared at the brash young man. His arrogance may be the cause of their deaths. Meerlinda leaned in closely to Kirk.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “You’re ship cannot harm those battleships.”

“No, we can’t, but we can sting her when she’s got her guard down. It might make them think twice about how easy this operation could be for them and it will take pressure off the valor’s Gaze.” Kirk paused for a moment. “The Valor’s Gaze is a dreadnought, correct?”

“Yes, what does that-”

Kirk turned his chair quickly.

“Uhura, send a tight beam transmission to the Valor’s Gaze requesting face to face communication.”

“Aye sir.”

Meerlinda watched him in action. His mind was a storm of thought and possibilities.

“Captain Kirk we’re kind of busy at the moment.” Obi Wan explained as he appeared on the screen.

“I’m well aware of that master Kenobi, but I have a plan. We need to coordinate a strike against the Trade Federation battleships.” Kenobi looked skeptical.

“Captain, the offensive capabilities of your starship precludes a serious threat to the Trade Federation battleships while her shields are up.” he explained calmly.

“Exactly, while her shields are up. They drop their shields in the forward quadrant when deploying fighters.”

“We’re well aware of this weakness in their design but right now we are engaged in heavy fighting with the Mandalorian battle cruiser. We cannot disengage to attack their vulnerable hangar deck.”

“But you’re a dreadnought, you’re not acting out here without support ships, I hope. Support ships that you’re obviously keeping out of sight as a ready reserve or rapid strike team. Well, what I’m proposing is precisely that, a rapid strike.”

“How did you—“”

“Never mind that, whatever ships you have on standby get them ready for a strike on their exposed shield grid. The Enterprise needs to coordinate with your fighters to destroy the current waves they have out there and force them to deploy a new wing of fighters.”

“Please Master Kenobi, time is of the essence.” Meerlinda chimed in.

“I would much prefer that we talk our way out of this.” Dehner commented dryly.

“Time for talk is over with Doc. Besides, there aren’t any comfortable couches for them to lay back on top discuss childhood traumas with you.” Gary interjected wanly.

“That is a backwards Neanderthal’s view of the profession—“

“Doctor, in case you have not noticed we are in a battle for our lives, please allow the Captain to continue his duties or I will be forced to remove you from the bridge.” Number One said coldly with a firm grip on Doctor Dehner’s shoulder.

Dehner began to protest but saw the ice cold expression in Number One’s eyes and knew that any protest would indeed land her in the brig. What was it about the man that got under her skin?

“I’m patching our squadron commander over to you.” Kenobi replied.

“Skywalker here.”

“Commander Skywalker, we need your help. The Enterprise plans to launch a full spread of torpedoes at the incoming wave that you are about to engage, I need your squadron to immediately pounce on their reserve squadron loitering behind them. With those reserves and their current attack wave down we’ll force the Separatists ships to launch a new wave of fighters, bringing their shields down.”

“There’s no way my boys will be able to make an attack run on the battleships even with the shields down. Those things are bristling with anti starfighter weapons.” Anakin protested.

“You won’t need to, leave that to me.”

“Obi Wan?” Anakin asked clearly annoyed with the Captain butting into his attack plans.

“Do it Anakin. His plan seems sound.”

“Roger, Red squadron out.” Anakin replied sullenly.

“Mr. Kelso, full spread, maximum dispersal, proximity charges.”

“Aye aye sir.”

Kirk flicked on the communicator at his armrest.

“Torpedo room, I’m going to need you to reload and recharge all tubes in under 30 seconds.”

“We’ll do it, sir.”

Kirk nodded. There was no hesitation, no attempt to say that such a request was nearly impossible, they were just going to do it. Captain Pike had trained his men well and Kirk meant to see them through this. They deserved as much.

“Gary, set course for the center command ship, bring us into their forward shield arc and at point blank weapons range, we can’t afford to miss. Kelso, unload everything we have into their hangar deck then perform extreme evasive maneuver to get us out of weapons range.”

“Aye aye sir.” Kelso replied and nodded. This Captain Kirk was not the stuffed shirt some said he was. He seemed to have it together, thought well on his feet and most importantly of all, he let the others on the bridge feel as confident as he seemed despite the fact that Kelso was painfully aware that the energy their STARFIGHTERS were throwing around could easily cripple the Enterprise.

“Standby…Master Kenobi we’re going in 30 seconds after the torpedo spread, please time your strike team accordingly, we’re going after the center ship.”

“That places you squarely in the sights of four battleships captain.” Kenobi protested.

“There’ no more time to argue…fire, Mr. Kelso.”

“Torpedoes away!” Kelso exclaimed.

Gary immediately began his calculations, ranging data from the sensors was fed into his nav comp and he primed the warp engines.

“Gary…” Kelso began, his fingers hovering over warp controls as the balls of light that were the torpedoes exploded into a series of massive blasts of bright white light that enveloped the approaching attack wing. The Republic fighters cleared the explosion and lanced down into the loitering reserve like arrows.

“Gary…”

“Don’t wait for me, Lee.” Gary replied coolly as his hands flew over the controls. Coordinates were fed into the computers and checked against ranging data, he compensated for relative ship movements, speed, velocity, mass, all from his head as Lee watched him nervously. If he took the Enterprise to warp without the proper coordinates they would most likely crash into one of those ships.

“Torpedoes room to bridge, 8 out of ten tubes ready.”

“I want all ten torpedo room.”

“You’ll have them sir.”

“Gary…” Lee pressed.

“Lee, I said don’t wait for me.” Gary replied and savagely punched in the last coded string as the countdown clock cleared three more seconds to go.”

“Now Lee.”

“Warp drive aye.”

The Enterprise floated serenely behind the Valor’s Gaze, her ivory hull illuminated by the explosions of energy as the massive Mandalorian battle cruiser, lethal like a knife moved in on the Valor’s Gaze and exchanged deadly emerald energy bolts with the warship. Each explosion on her shields making the Enterprise glow like a small star. Suddenly she vanished from sight.

Almost simultaneously she appeared in front of the center Trade Federation Battleship just as a new wave of fighters was beginning to race out of her hangar bay.

“Fire all weapons!” Kirk ordered.

Kelso pressed down on the phaser control and mashed down all the torpedoes controls simultaneously., The ship rocked backwards slightly as she unleashed all her weapons in one devastating blast. Phasers lanced deep into the hangar bay as ten torpedoes flashed past the fighters, one detonating outside as it clipped one of the fighters and engulfed the hangar bay in fire and plasma.

The Trade Federation battleship seemed to shudder as if slapped by a giant and lights winked on and off along the central globe command module. Fires and explosions raced along the outer ring, sending geysers of molten durasteel into the void around the ship.

“Critical damage to her power core Captain. Her shield grid is failing.” Spock reported.

Kirk had no time to celebrate as the Enterprise shuddered violently.

“Receiving heavy enemy fire from the other battleships.” Gary reported.

“Where are the—”

Another battleship was just finishing disgorging her fighters when a frigate and two corvettes flashed into view and unloaded a steady stream of fire into the exposed bay of the battleship. The red bolts of light lanced deep into the ship and fire and escaping has ruptured out of the back of the warship and it began to slowly drop down out of formation as the central command globe came under fire from the Valor’s Gaze’s support ships.





“It worked!” Leeto exclaimed.

Obi Wan nodded slowly himself surprised that the tactic was pulled off. There was more to this Federation than met the eye and he began to see something in this battle that he did not expect and the wisdom of Palpatine’s desire to have the Federation join in was becoming clear. The same reason that must have driven Yoda and Mace Windu to agree with him.

He was beginning to see now.

“Captain, concentrate all our fire on the remaining Trade Federation battleships.” Obi Wan ordered.

Leeto’s snout twitched for a moment in confusion.

“Master Kenobi, but the Mandalorian cruiser is coming around for another pass.”

“If we do not provide covering fire for the Enterprise now she will be destroyed out there and this mission will be for naught. Do it, Captain.”

“Yes sir.” he replied and nodded to his gunnery chief.

Obi Wan watched the approaching Mandalorian battle cruiser. It was large but sleek, built to be fast and deadly much like the warriors that created it. Through a series of breakthroughs in miniaturization and power cell technology the Mandalorians were able to pack a series of weapons suites on their warships that made them the heaviest armed ships in the galaxy. Much like Mandalorian armor, the warships were bristling with hidden turbolaser emplacements, racked missile launchers and a small hangar bay in the belly of the ship, out of sight of the firing arcs of all Republic ships.

So far the cruiser had not launched any fighters. It was a testament to the fact that the Mandalorians were a dying race, only several hundred left in the galaxy they did not have the manpower to actually take to fighters and many of the ships were crewed by levies from their home system or droid technicians like the rest of the Separatist fleet.

Obi Wan would normally feel pity for such a proud race to be facing extinction at this point but they had taken up arms against the Republic and the Mandalorians had been staunch opponents of the Jedi order wherever they could find them.

Now his ship faced the wrath of a Mandalorian battle cruiser and the commander had seen the shift of fire, knew that the Valor’s Gaze was hamstrung by the need to protect the too fragile Federation craft and was coming in for the kill.

Overall, your average day in the life of a Jedi knight in this war, Obi Wan mused.




“Anyone want to test the Mandalorian cruiser’s anti-fighter defenses?” Anakin asked with a feral grin.

“Do we have a choice red leader?” one pilot asked with an obvious smile in his voice.

“That’s a question I’ve always wanted to answer. We don’t see these things often enough.” another piped up.

“Okay boys, follow me in.” Anakin ordered and brought his fighter around in a tight turn. It was time to save Obi Wan. Again.

“I hope you appreciate me one day.” Anakin muttered as he brought himself in line with the cruiser and activated his missile system.

[2000AD]

first post and is this the reason why SC hasn't been updated in a while?

[2000AD]

After reading, i'm willing to forgive the delay of SC. IMO It's not as good as SC but it's getting there.

[His Divine Shadow]

“This species is remarkably similar to our own, at least the initial contact was, upon further negotiations it turns out that like the Federation this society was a collection of alien species that calls themselves the Galactic Republic. They have close to a million worlds under their control and governance.”

I might not be the first to point this out, but the republic likely has over 1 million worlds, moreover, these member worlds are considered socalled "full-member worlds" all of them have dependancies that raise the total number of populated planets into the range of 50 million or so.

[Stravo]

“This species is remarkably similar to our own, at least the initial contact was, upon further negotiations it turns out that like the Federation this society was a collection of alien species that calls themselves the Galactic Republic. They have close to a million worlds under their control and governance.”

I might not be the first to point this out, but the republic likely has over 1 million worlds, moreover, these member worlds are considered socalled "full-member worlds" all of them have dependancies that raise the total number of populated planets into the range of 50 million or so.

What about the million system quote from ANH novelization?

[His Divine Shadow]

“This species is remarkably similar to our own, at least the initial contact was, upon further negotiations it turns out that like the Federation this society was a collection of alien species that calls themselves the Galactic Republic. They have close to a million worlds under their control and governance.”

I might not be the first to point this out, but the republic likely has over 1 million worlds, moreover, these member worlds are considered socalled "full-member worlds" all of them have dependancies that raise the total number of populated planets into the range of 50 million or so.

What about the million system quote from ANH novelization?

Reference to the full member worlds I guess, I assume thats how they mostly refer to the republic or empire, since the 1 million figure is usually only spoken of in a kind of dramatic manner, while the quotes that speak of the worlds in a technical manner are more specific:
========================
Pg. 5: Even in this sturdy vessel, however, a thorough home constituency tour could last a lifetime in Padme's lightly populated Chommell Sector, which comprises 36 full-member worlds, more than 40,000 settled dependencies, and 300,000,000 barren stars. With more than 1,000 sectors, the galaxy's deceptively fragile harmony depends on efficient dvision of authority within the multi-tierd government, and upon the wisdom of its roving officials.
========================
-Episode II Incredible Cross-Sections

As you can see, here we have the reference to the full-member worlds and dependancies.

Now allowing for some variance in full member worlds from sector to sector(keep in mind, this is a lightly populated sector) and given the number of sectors, the total amount of that can very likely reach around one million worlds, while the dependancies, even using only these stats which are for a lightly inhabited sector will give a total of 40,000,000 dependancies total in the republic.

There is also this quote from the RPG:
========================
One Million Member Worlds and 50 million Colonies, Protectorates and Governorships
========================
-Star Wars The Roleplaying Sourcebook

[Stravo]

Gotcha, I was using the million member world quote from ANH as my guide for the size of the Republic in terms of Kirk's briefing. No matter how you cut it, it certainly gives him and the rest of the Federation a sense to just how vast a galactic civilization they are dealing with when the Feds speak in terms of hundreds of star systems.

[Luke Starkiller]

Great story, I think that you have really nailed Anakin's character too. His last line is perfect.

[Darth Yoshi]

Wow. Great fic so far, Stravo.

[Stravo]

Chapter 6: A Sharp Ring of Steel

“The attempt and not the deed confounds us.”
Macbeth Act 2, Scene ii




The concussion missiles exploded against one of the large heavy turbolaser turrets. The explosion engulfed the turret in fire and the small Jedi Starfighter peeled away from the resulting storm of anti-starfighter fire from the Mandalorian heavy cruiser. The fighter squadron he was leading spilt into a starburst formation, individual fighters pulling away in wildly different directions, attempting to throw off the Mandalorian predictors that were aiming the fire.

The Valor’s Gaze was very close now, the Dreadnought's big guns however were not firing on the rapidly approaching behemoth of a heavy cruiser. It was concentrating all its fire on the remaining Trade Federation battleships. Four had entered the battle, but now two were badly mauled by Kirk’s maneuver, one was on the verge of exploding, bright white plumes of plasma were venting from the cavernous hangar bay while explosions were slowly tearing away at the surface of the great outer ring of the circular warships.

The Enterprise was in the thick of the battle, the remaining Trade Federation ships were closing in like sharks, trying to box in the smaller yet sleeker Federation starship, which was now trading fire with the larger ships, phaser fire lancing out in quick furtive bursts that impacted nearly harmlessly on the shields of the battleships.

Obi Wan held on to a railing as the Valor’s Gaze shook violently.

“Steady Captain, we need to get the Enterprise out of there.”

“Our shields are taking a pummeling, Master Kenobi. We need to divert some fire to protect us.”

Obi Wan shook his head.

“My fellow Jedi knight will handle the Mandalorians. Our job is a simple one, protect the Enterprise.”

“And who will protect us?” Leeto mumbled to himself as his snout twitched nervously.

“Come on Captain, get out of there.” Obi Wan muttered as he watched the Enterprise trade fire with the advancing Trade Federation battleships, each one coming in for the kill like a wolf, the center of the battle line dominated by the burning wrecks of their sister ships.




“That’s it, Mr. Kelso, keep us perpendicular to their line of advance. I want some distance between us.” Kirk ordered. “Gary, I’m going o need another short warp burst coming up.”

“You’re not being too demanding today Captain.” Gary replied with a wan smile.

“Captain, our line of retreat is open I strongly suggest we take it now. We have enough of a lead that we can outrun those battleships and get back under the protection of the Valor’s Gaze?” Number One said in her cold professional one as she stood by his chair.

“We have split their line of attack, their center has been crushed and we have two heavies coming in on the extreme port and starboard. What does that tell you?” Kirk asked. His eyes were locked on the tactical display by Gary’s station, watching the relentless march of red threat dots on his bright white starship.

“That we should immediately retreat. We are not officially at war and any actions we continue to take merely puts this vessel and crew at risk, Captain. I urge you to retreat now while we still can.” Number One pressed.

Kirk glanced over at her.

“I’ve taken it under advisement, but right now we can engage and destroy these two battleships. I don’t intend to let them escape from this position.”

Number One pursed her lips but said nothing. Doctor Dehner began to speak in support of the cold first officer when Meerlinda put a restraining hand on Dehner’s shoulder.

“Leave him be, Doctor. It is not your place to become involved in the working of a warship when engaged in battle.”

Dehner furrowed her brow in frustration.

“Captain, the port side battleship’s captain is far more passive, less aggressive than the starboard ship Captain. Your maneuver has unnerved him.” Meerlinda commented and walked down to stand directly opposite Number One on the other side of Kirk’s command chair.

Kirk nodded without comment.

“Uhura, open a channel to the Valor’s Gaze and try to patch in the Republic support ships.”

“Aye sir.”

Number One said nothing. He had made his decision, Captain Pike would have retreated when the opportunity presented himself. He saw the folly in risking both ship and crew in a battle that did not need to be won. This was not their war yet.

Meerlinda watched him, calm, at peace, as if combat and he were old lovers. Not at all the untried captain she expected.

“Captain, in the name of the Force get out of there!” Obi Wan protested vehemently.

“Master Kenobi, I need another favor from you and your fleet, I want you to concentrate all fire on the port side battleship, forward quarter and bring down that shield, even if only for a moment.”

She could hear Kenobi’s sigh of exasperation.

“Captain, we are under heavy attack on our own and I cannot defend myself until you’re clear.”

“Just trust me on this one and we’ll be rid of four battleships not just two.”

The silence on the other end of the line was tense and finally Kenobi spoke.

“Very well Captain.”

Meerlinda closed her eyes for a moment and thanked the Force. The decision felt right, Kenobi must have felt it too.

“All ships, this is the Enterprise, fire on my mark at the forward quarter of the Port side Battleship, all power we need to bring that shield down even if its for a moment.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Gary, you’re on again.”

Gary smiled and quickly began entering coordinates as the fire outside the Enterprise thickened. Lights on the bridge dimmed slightly as the volleys shook the vessel. Several crew members exchanged troubled glances

Gary winked at one of them.

“We’re in good hands boys and girls.” he said proudly.

Kirk was not so sure. If he was wrong they were all dead.




“Is that human insane?” Leeto asked angrily as he stood by the gunnery chief.

“All batteries are holding fire for one concentrated blast, time on target.” The Valor’s Gaze rocked forward slightly. Leeto glanced around with worry but Obi Wan remained calm, one hand resting on the back of the gunnery chief’s chair the other resting at his hip as he watched the gunnery chief at work programming the next volley.

“I think I know what he’s doing but there’s no guarantee we’ll bring down that shield.”

“With our firepower and the escort ships focused on one quadrant of the shields, I’m fairly confident we can get them to at least fluctuate enough for him to get his salvo in, but my chief concern is why are we engaged in this battle when we should be trying to disengage?”

Obi Wan frowned.

“Because our good starship captain seems to have taken to this battle like a fish to water.”

“He seems to be a natural at this.” Leeto observed.

Obi Wan nodded, the depths of Palpatine and the Council’s urgency to bring in the Federation to this war slowly becoming obvious.






“This is getting ridiculous.” Anakin grunted as he brought his fighter about in an almost impossible hairpin turn and the defensive missile tracking him flashed by and exploded harmlessly behind him.

“Sir, we have a positive hit on their port side generator system, reading random fluctuations of the shield grid in the port lower quarter.”

“Good job, now lets hit them hard there before they bring the back ups on line.”

“Roger that.”

Anakin led his squad down in a hard dive through a veritable cloud of anti-starfighter battery fire and whipped them around to the lower port side of the massive Mandalorian battle cruiser. It was now literally standing off and pounding on the Valor’s Gaze which was desperately rotating along its axis in the hopes of evening out the heavy fire along all her shields before the heavy fire became too much.

Her guns were mainly focused on keeping the Enterprise under cover. But now in the last minute all the guns had stopped and the escort ships were not firing either.

Anakin had no time to wonder as more fire blossomed around him. One of his Z-95 Headhunters was clipped by the blast cloud of a battery and spun madly into the superstructure of the cruiser. Nearly half his squadron was gone

He grit his teeth and opened up with his main guns along the exposed superstructure, chewing up what he could of the exposed hardware before beginning to pull away. Suddenly a small missile turret swung out from under a long communications antenna and fired off four missiles at the passing Jedi starfighter.

“Damnit.” Anakin cursed as he brought his fighter down low, using the superstructure of the cruiser to try and confuse the homing warheads of the missiles.

Mandalorians built their warships like their armor, lots of hidden surprises. Anakin had just stumbled into a very nasty one. His astromech droid chirped something ominous.

“I see it.” Anakin snapped as two more defensive missile turrets tracked and fired on him as he flashed by.

“Eight?!” Anakin exclaimed as he glanced down at another warning alarm.

Without thinking he quickly slipped on his envirohelmet and snapped his life-support system on. The end was very near.

“Let’s give them a nice little surprise.” he said with a feral grin and flipped over the bow of the ship and skimmed along the hull, twisting through the ominous gun towers and missile turrets.

“This is red leader, I’m going down in a few seconds, do what you can on your end guys, concentrate fire on their big guns and missile systems to try and take them out and relieve some pressure from the command ship.”

“Roger that sir…and good luck.”

Anakin did not look back, he could see them in his mind’s eye, eight…make that ten defensive missiles, small and sleek like greyhounds racing after him, bobbing and weaving with him as he moved and closing the distance.

The Jedi starfighter raced up the length of the massive cruiser’s knifelike superstructure towards the recessed bridge built at the base of a mesa like superstructure in the center of the battlecruiser. A ring of anti-starfighter batteries opened up on him but he saw their bursts and where they would explode mere instants before they blossomed and he drove his fighter through the scarce empty spaces between blasts.

“R-7, overload the reactor and activate all remaining munitions, let’s make this into a missile. Ejecting.” Anakin reported and without hesitation pulled the ejection controls over his head. The canopy exploded outward silently as the void immediately greedily devoured all sound and Anakin lost consciousness for a split second as his body was accelerated away from the starfighter at incredible speed, and he snapped back to consciousness as soon as his environmental controls took over.

Anakin did not hesitate and pulled a fire extinguishing unit he pulled with him out of the cockpit and turned his back to the battlecruiser just as his starfighter plunged downward and exploded against the greenish superstructure of the bridge. The starfighter exploded as all its munitions and reactor core gave way and Anakin could not help but smile as the defensive missiles dove in and each struck almost simultaneously at the same spot. Their dogged determination to catch him finally rewarded, much to the bridge crew’s chagrin he was sure. The bridge was engulfed in fire and plasma.

Anakin clicked on the fire suppression unit and it fired a strong jet of whitish mist and propelled Anakin down towards the superstructure. He tumbled towards the bridge and passed the storm of molten metal, twisting his body to avoid some of the sharp leading edges of broken superstructure from his fighter’s impact.

He landed solidly against the bridge tower and quickly moved upwards, climbing towards his goal. As he climbed he watched the battle exploding around him, fighters streaking through clouds of fire and plasma, angry red and green turbolaser fire exchanged between the massive ships. It was beautiful but Anakin didn’t have time to admire the beauty.

He reached what he wanted.

The emergency airlock access port on this level of the bridge module. He checked himself one last time, cleared his mind of doubt and questions and unclipped his lightsaber. He activated it, imagining the all too familiar snap hiss that was now silent in space and drove the saber’s blade hard into the airlock’s outer seal.

The glowing blue blade sank into the seal, metal quickly bubbling away and he pulled hard along the seal, rewarded by the cloud of molten metal that oozed out into the void around him and within moments the airlock hatch came loose. Anakin let the Force flow and whipped his hand backwards.

The door quickly slid away from its molten seals and flipped backwards into the inky darkness behind him. Anakin waited a moment, despite his anxiety to get inside as soon as possible the Force gave him a flash of warning and he waited. Suddenly four battle droids whisked by him, head over heels spinning like tops and disappeared.

He smiled and strode into the airlock.




“Now!” Kirk ordered.

Gary nodded to Kelso who tripped the warp drive just as the volley from the Valor’s Gaze and her support vessels cleared the Enterprise.

The Trade Federation battleship that was far in the lower left corner of the screen was suddenly massive filling the screen in between blinks of an eye. The Enterprise arrived just as the impacts of the Republic’s salvo struck the shields.

The Enterprise’s weapons fired precisely at the moment that the shields were their weakest, flickering under the awesome salvo. Several photon torpedoes managed to flash by the breach in the shields, most of the volley and the phaser blast were caught in the shield’s dying nimbus of light. But several torpedoes was all that was needed to blast the vast open hangar bay and send fragments of fighters, landing craft and droids out into a column of fire and hot gasses.

“Full evasive, right now!”

The bridge crew all reflexively clutched their stations as the ship dipped sharply, the inertial dampers briefly failed. The return fire was murderous as the Constitution class cruiser struggled valiantly to get through the storm of fire from the sea of batteries clustered around the central core of the battleship.

Several blasts clipped the mighty starship as it finally pulled away from the worst of it.

The bridge darkened for a moment and crewmen went flying through the air. Doctor Dehner felt herself flung forward almost as if shoved by a giant and was catapulted past the captain’s chair.

Gary was holding on to one corner of his helm station when he saw the Doctor plunging nearly head first towards the helm. He turned in his chair, reached out and grabbed Dehner before she had a very nasty collision with the unyielding helm station.

Gary pulled her up onto his chair and his lap and swung back into his station as they cleared the last of the flak.

“Captain, we have major damage on the port side nacelle, reading a significant power drop, currently 17% of available power.” Spock reported.

“That was too close, Captain. We need to withdraw.” Number One added as she stood by Uhura checking the damage reports streaming in from all stations.

“You’ll get no argument from me on that point.” Kirk replied, and edge to his voice. He realized that he had gambled with the lives of his crew and he had almost lost. What had gotten into him?
“Mr. Mitchell.” Dehner spoke, distracted for a moment by his gray eyes and boyish smirk. His strong firm body was close to hers and she felt warm and safe. Dehner stiffened as she felt something else as well and slapped Gary.

“That will be enough, Mr. Mitchell.”

Gary smiled softly and rubbed his cheek as he let Dehner up from his lap.

“Always a pleasure Doctor.”

“Belay that and focus on the matter at hand. Mr. Kelso, what do you think?”

Kelso glanced down at his readout and back up at the screen as the last Battleship cleared the burning hulks in the formation and began to close the distance rapidly.

“I think we have enough of a head start that we can outrun them on a straightaway.”

“Do it. Plot a course back to the Valor’s Gaze.”

“Aye sir.”

The Enterprise side slipped to starboard and her impulse engines roared as the starship began to accelerate, racing away from the Trade Federation battleship.

“Captain, attack from starboard, a corvette class vessel.” Spock warned.

“Evasive act-“

The Enterprise shook violently. A banking guild corvette, squat and ugly swung into attack position, a quad mounted weapon firing continually on the starship. Kelso guided the Enterprise through most of the fire. ‘

“He’s hot on our tale.”

“Can you shake him Lee?” Kirk asked clutching the armrests of his command chair. He had forgotten about the smaller ships.

Kelso frowned as he worked the helm, fingers flying across the controls. Sulu watched him and yearned to be ion that chair. His own hands were mimicking what he would be doing if he were on the helm.

“Sir, this is a starship, not a fighter. I don’t know how long I can keep this up.”

“Let me, Captain.” Meerlinda said and rushed off the bridge.

“But where—oh hell.” Kirk muttered as he watched her disappear into the turbolift.

“If we take a direct hit from those weapons I’m not certain we will survive more than one or two hits.” Spock said to Number One who nodded and relayed it to the Captain.





“More fire onto that corvette.” Obi Wan ordered.

“Trying sir, but they’re moving fast, avoiding much of our turbolaser fire. We’re trying to compensate and lead them but the Enterprise is so close that we’re afraid we would destroy or crippled her with a large enough burst.” the gunnery chief replied.

“Captain, move us towards the Enterprise. See if we can’t meet them halfway. Have the support ships disengage from the last battleship and move to support Enterprise.”

“Yes master Kenobi.” Leeto paused for a moment. “If we start moving we will still be under heavy fire from the Mandalorian battlecruiser. I’m not sure we will last long, particularly if they focus fire on our engines.”

Obi Wan nodded and seemed to be looking far away, slowly a smile creepy across his face.

“I think that my fellow Jedi knight has this well in hand.”






The lightsaber flashed down three times and four of the battle droids clattered to the floor in various parts and pieces. Anakin strode down the main corridor with deadly purpose. His lightsaber ignited in one hand he lifted the other as a battle droid rounded the corner and opened fire. Anakin caught the bolts in the palm of his hand, feeling their energy in the Force, taking a firm hold. The angry red bolts collapsed into a swirling crimson ball and he extended forth his hand just when the ball felt as if it were going to burn a hole in his hand and released the energy. The ball snapped down the corridor and struck the battledroid square in the chest sending it down to the floor in a pile of ruined parts.

He stopped as he prepared himself for the next phase.

He raced around the bend to face two droidekas and ten battle droids standing in front of the massive bridge access doors that were currently closed.

“Intruder found.”

“Engage.”

“Roger. Roger.”

He knew that Obi Wan would have preferred stealth over raw force but Anakin was feeling frustrated, frustrated that he had been shot down, frustrated that this mission had taken him away from his other responsibilities, frustrated that he was once again teamed under Obi Wan, never feeling like his own man, frustrated that he had not seen Padme in weeks and he was no longer happy. Anakin did not have patience for stealth now, he just wanted to inflict pain on the enemy, punish them for keeping him away from Padme, punish them for making him a nothing more than a padawan again, punish them for his arm, punish them for making him angry.

In his anger he saw the Droidekas start to fire, their movements like the luxurious pace of glaciers. The arm cannons began to fire and the volley of red bolts moved like leaves on a spring breeze and he whipped his lightsaber around in a circle, intercepting the bolts, redirecting them away with a slight push of the muscles. The bolts changed direction and began raining down on the battle droids standing around the Droidekas.

The battle droids exploded as the droideka bolts struck them. One battle droid’s torsos was blown clean off and its legs continued forward in a charge. Anakin leapt forward in a tight roll, hand extended out took a firm hold of the shattered battle droid’s leg units and used them as a base to flex his arm and push up hard, leaping far over the Droideka’s heads.

He landed behind the Droidekas and turned at his waist, lightsaber flashing outward like a scythe cutting through the Droidekas at the waist from behind where their shield generator did not cover them with their powerful personal shields.

The Droidekas let out a horrid metallic shriek as they came apart at the waist and collapsed with a hard thud on the metal floor.

Anakin surveyed the carnage. Smoking droid parts littered the corridor and blackened walls were testament to the power of the droid blasters. He had not remembered moving that fast before. He was not even out of breath. He could feel the power flowing through him so easily as it should, obeying him. Using the Force was suddenly not a negotiation, not an exercise in meditation and focus. It flowed like water through him.

He turned his attention to the door. He could try to force it open. He smiled softly at the possibility of using the force to pry the blast door opens, relishing what it would feel like to move these giant metal doors with sheer will. But there were times for brute force and times for cunning. Obi Wan had imparted that to him many times.

Anakin preferred things quick and easy but here was one example where a little work paid off in a much better way.

He picked up one of the shattered battle droids and popped open a panel on its head. He accessed a few controls and smiled as he was rewarded with a chirping sound. He took the opened droid head and pressed it against the door access pad. The head chirped and the doors began to slide open with a heavy rumble.

Anakin smiled triumphantly and charged through the doors before they finished cycling open, lightsaber ignited.

The bridge was a mess of shattered controls and some crewmen were moaning, wounded and lying in clusters around crew stations. The Captain, wearing his Mandalorian battle armor was directing the healthy members of the bridge crew from the tangled mess of what remained of the controls. A support beam had crashed down from the ceiling and impaled itself in the center of the command walkway.

On the view port, Anakin could see the Valor’s Gaze pulling away quickly trying to get to a sea of specks trading fire far off in the distance.

“Focus all available batteries on the Dreadnought’s engines and tell that slime of a Trade Federation commander to get his ship into this fight now and stop holding back.” The Mandalorian turned as he continued speaking. “Report on the intrud—“ He did not hesitate as he caught sight of the glowing lightsaber and snapped up a blaster rifle and fired.

Anakin barely got his lightsaber up ion time and deflected the bolts as he stalked towards the captain.

“I’m sorry if I crashed your party.” Anakin said with a smirk as the Mandalorian captain activated his rocket pack and jumped backwards away from Anakin.





“More power to the shields.”

“Captain, anymore power to the shields and I canna guarantee that we can continue at full impulse power.” Scotty replied.

“Do the best you can, Mr. Scott.” Kirk snapped the communicator off and looked back on the screen. The Valor’s gaze was growing on the screen as both the Enterprise and the dreadnought were thundering towards each other.

“Time to intercept?”

“Three minutes.” Gary replied as he watched Lee’s face. Kelso was a tight mask of concentration as the rest of the world was gone, replaced only by his helm station and the screen where a rear view showed the Banking Guild corvette hot on their tale, shrugging off what little phaser power could be brought to bear on the target.

Gary doubted that Lee could keep this up for three minutes. All it would take would be one more direct hit and they were done for.

Spock glanced down as an alarm buzzed at his station.

“Sir, the shuttle bay doors have opened.”

“I didn’t authorize-”

The corvette was suddenly struck by a pair of concussion missiles that exploded against the quad guns tracking and firing on the Enterprise. A Jedi starfighter soared past the corvette pouring a steady stream of fire on the corvette’s main gun.

“Meerlinda.” Kirk breathed.

“Corvette is not breaking pursuit.” Spock reported calmly.

“She may provide the distraction we need to escape.” Number One noted.

Kirk watched, stomach in a knot of anxiety as he watched the tiny starfighter zipping around the corvette like a fly buzzing around a horse. The Corvette was so much larger, the only good point was that the quad mounted gun seemed to be its heaviest weapon, the other blasters were not even coming close to hitting the tiny fighter.

Kirk found himself fervently hoping that the beautiful Jedi knight did not end up paying the ultimate price for his gambit.





“I said more power to the engines.”

“If we do that Master Kenobi we will have to decrease the shield regeneration rate. Right now we’re barely keeping up with the damage as it is.” Leeto protested.

“And the other support ships?”

“They are being cornered by the Trade Federation battleship and other Banking Guild corvette. The Enterprise has been isolated from us. My navigator estimates a little more than two minutes before we can intercept.”

“That’s two minutes too long.” Obi Wan snapped.

Leeto’s snout drooped and he shook his head. “There are no other options available to us Master Kenobi.”

“There are always possibilities, Captain Leeto.” Obi Wan replied and nodded to himself as he came to a decision.

“All available power to the drive systems.”

“Master Kenobi our shields will be brought down in a matter of moments.” Leeto exclaimed.

“There’s a young man on board that ship on whom I trust my very life, he will see us through this.” Obi Wan replied.

Leeto hesitated and finally walked over to his engineering team to relay the order.

“You hear me Anakin, don’t let me down.” Obi Wan muttered to the air.





Anakin blocked the next volley of blasts and suddenly leapt upwards into the rafters where the Mandalorian was prowling about. He slid along one of the support beams, saber humming eagerly as he hunted the armored warrior.

The Mandalorian’s head and left arm whipped out from behind the nest of cables and automated systems and Anakin heard the whoosh of a pneumatic launcher. A shimmering crystal net was quickly spreading out like the wings of a bird, ready to envelop him.

Anakin held his ground and brought his saber down along the center of the net cutting it in two, each side of the net quickly becoming entangled in the beams and support structures around him. One of the stray ends of the net caught his ankle and Anakin’s entire leg went numb.

Anakin grunted in surprise and nearly lost his balance on the beam. He quickly let the Force flow to his limb, reinvigorating the numbed nerves.

The Mandalorian took this moment to launch another attack and drove a right cross into Anakin’s chin sending the young Jedi sprawling down from the beam. Anakin tucked in midair and rolled, landing on his feet with all the grace of a wounded duck. His leg was still numb, the Mandalorian must be using some sort of neural paralyzer that was powerful and fast acting.

Anakin brought his saber up without thinking and parried three quick darts that flashed down to his position from above as the Mandalorian followed this attack with a flying grapple using the rocket pack for added momentum.

“Like it, Jedi scum? Bactran eelfish produce one of the most lethal and fast acting neurotoxins in the galaxy. You only got a small taste but it should be enough to keep you hobbled.” The Mandalorian said in a cold monotone and drove a knee into Anakin’s gut doubling him over and followed up with a chop to the exposed neck.

Anakin fell flat on his stomach as the Mandalorian straightened his right arm and a cold metal blade sprang up from his wrist unit.

“One less Jedi in the galaxy.”

“You speak too soon, Mandalorian!” Anakin hissed and whipped his lightsaber out catching the Mandalorian in the ankle, slicing off his foot. The Mandalorian did not scream or exclaim instead he leapt backwards on his rocket pack bring his maimed leg up to hold it with his free hand as he unleashed a hellish torrent of fire with his free hand.

Anakin rolled backwards, the blaster bolts kicking up molten metal and smoke as they marched along after him. Anakin finally came to a stop at the open doors and brought his saber up just in time to catch the next volley of fire and redirected them back at the flying Mandalorian. The Mandalorian ducked under the redirected volley, one bolt exploded behind him sending him down to the floor where he landed with a thud.

Anakin brought his hand back, felt the wreckage around him with the Force, let it flow around him, his anger simmering just beneath the surface as he felt the numbness traveling up his leg like a lover’s hand and touched the right sized and weighted object. He flung his hand forward as if throwing a stone and half of a droideka rocketed past him. The Mandalorian groaned softly and started to rise when he looked up.

The Droideka wreckage struck him like a freight train and drove him back over the railing into the crew pit below.

Anakin smiled coldly as he felt the rest of the wreckage. There was an awful sound of wrenching metal and suddenly the wrecked droid army rose off the ground as one and began to hover over and around Anakin in a ring of steel.

“The rest of you get out of here now. If I were you I would make my way to the escape pods because there won’t be much chance of this ship escaping.”

The bridge crew exchanged quick glances and suddenly rushed out of the bridge, many carrying or helping the wounded, avoiding the ring of spinning steel around Anakin. Anakin strode forward feeling out with the force.

The Mandalorian popped up and fired a steady stream of fire at him. He did not even lift his saber, he allowed the wreckage of the ruined droids absorb the bolts as he got closer. The Mandalorian stood his ground aiming as best he could between the gaps in Anakin’s ring of steel but there was no way his bolts were getting through. The Mandalorian realized that Anakin was walking normally and there was a terrible purpose in his eyes.

“You think you have beaten me?” the Mandalorian hissed and activated his rocket. The switch clicked but nothing happened. The rocket motor was held in place by an invisible force. The Mandalorian glanced up sharply at the young Jedi knight.

“Next time I would not underestimate the power of the Force.” Anakin replied coldly and the ring of spinning droids tore into the Mandalorian. There was a short scream and then silence. Anakin finally relaxed and the droid wreckage collapsed all around him, many of the wrecks were smeared with blood.

Anakin casually jumped down into the crew pits and searched the various stations before finding the gunnery station. He let the Force guide his fingers as he typed in a string of coordinates and watched with satisfaction as the next several volleys suddenly switched over to a new target.





“Alright, all hands brace for—”

The Corvette behind them was struck amidships by a volley of heavy fire. The ship stopped dead in its tracks as another volley landed before the full effects of the first one were finished being felt. The Corvette exploded into a ring of fire and particles.

“What the?” Gary exclaimed.

“The volley came from the Mandalorian cruiser.” Spock reported.

“What’s happening?” Number One asked in surprise.

“Never mind that, get us in under the Valor’s Gaze and prepare to go to warp at my command.”

“Aye sir.”

Kirk looked at the screen that now switched to a forward view that was dominated by the Valor’s Gaze. The Mandalorian cruiser loomed over the Valor’s Gaze but was now switching fire over to the lone Trade Federation battleship.

“Well, that was unexpected.” Kirk breathed.





Obi Wan could not help but smile.

“Good work, Anakin.”

“Master Kenobi, the Trade Federation battleship and remaining corvette are retreating!” Leeto exclaimed.

“Excellent, Captain. Once the Enterprise is secured prepare a boarding party and we’ll take the Mandalorian cruiser.”

“Yes sir!” Leeto snapped a salute, his snout literally bouncing with barely suppressed joy.

“Commanders, we’re picking up a runaway reaction on board the Mandalorian cruiser.”

“Damn suicide switches.” Leeto cursed. “There’s a reason why we have never been successful in boarding or capturing a Mandalorian warship, Master Kenobi.”

Obi Wan blanched. He looked back at the Mandalorian cruiser on the view port.

“Anakin.” he whispered.




“Sir, the Mandalorian cruiser, I’m picking up a buildup towards detonation.” Spock warned.

“Captain, Jedi Farstrider is hailing us.” Uhura reported.

“Patch her through.”

“Captain, there’s a Jedi knight trapped on board the Mandalorian cruiser.”

Kirk nodded and looked over at the cruiser.

“How long until detonation, Spock.”

“It is difficult to tell, captain but I roughly estimate 30.5 seconds.”

“That’s roughly?” Kirk asked with a soft smile.

“I had to round up, my apologies, Captain.” Spock replied.

“That gives us just enough time.” Kirk replied.





“Well, that was unexpected.” Anakin noted sourly. He watched the countdown for a moment and made up his mind. He dowsed his lightsaber and quickly checked a schematic for the nearest escape pods. He jumped out of the crew pits and began racing out of the bridge down the main corridor and took the nearest emergency ladder, sliding down the edges of the ladder and landing on the next level. He fueled his speed with the Force and soon found himself in the nearest escape pod bay. He touched a screen to call up the pod controls but they refused to open.

“That can’t be.”

He checked the next pod. The controls remained dead. Realization dawned on him. The Mandalorians did not expect to survive if their ship was compromised. The escape pods were no longer available. No chance that cowardice might compromise their honor.

Bastards.

Anakin could feel the growing alarm in the Force. The explosion was going to happen any second now.

“Padme.” he whispered.

Suddenly he felt a lightness in his stomach and the universe was enveloped in glowing white light.

Anakin suddenly found himself on a pad and there was a young technician looking at him with a kind expression.

“Got you out of there sir.” she said and flicked on a control. “Transporter Room to bridge. I have Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker on our pad.”

“Good work, transporter room, have Jedi Skywalker come up to the Bridge as soon as he is able.”

“Aye aye sir.” she replied and looked back at Anakin.

“What is this?” Anakin asked.

“A transporter, sir. We beamed you back from the Mandalorian cruiser, just in time too sir as the ship just went up.”

Anakin blinked and looked down at the pad.

“You DISINTEGRATED me?” Anakin asked in horror.

The technician shrugged meekly.

“We did reintegrate you sir.”

Anakin felt sick.






The Enterprise, Valor’s Gaze and her support ships all left the system, mission accomplished, but a sea of wreckage remained behind as yet another battle in the Clone war was won and lost.