CHAOS OF WAR
"You're shaking, Sev."
"No, I'm not!" Sev Nep retorted, his voice cracking through his helmet's intercom. "I just... don't handle well under pressure."
Arek Cobalt sighed. Having just jumped off the Forge Seeker with the rest of his squad as soon as it had reached ground level, he had to admit that he was feeling a bit nervous too.
"Any sign of the others?" he asked Sev.
The Sullustan trooper looked around the corner of the building they were hiding behind and then quickly turned back, panting. "Nope. Just a bunch of Glorians."
"We must've lost them in the chaos of things," Arek said. "Looks like we're on our own."
Sev gulped. "Great. That makes me so relieved."
Arek tugged on his comrade's arm. "Come on. Let's get a move on before they find us."
"They probably will anyway," Sev muttered, throwing a frantic look back at the marching Glorian invaders.
* * *
The streets of Coruscant were in chaos.
People of all sorts of species fled from swarms of Glorian soldiers. Alliance and Imperial troopers pushed against the invaders only to be forced back. Even the few dozen of Jedi that had been stationed on Coruscant were unable to stall the relentless soldiers.
General Hawk was witnessing all of this from the window of his sleeping chambers, still dressed in his pajamas.
What lovely thing to wake up to, he thought bitterly. As he hurriedly dressed himself, he answered a comlink call from Captain Avreet.
"We're getting trampled on here!" the Mon Calamari said, his connection breaking up at points. "Some back up would be nice-"
"I'm on my way," Hawk said as he donned his helmet. "Just hang in there!"
"That won't be easy, sir. Our front line defenses have been breached."
"Hang on! I'll send in reinforcements-"
"It's... been an honor serving you sir." Avreet's voice was quiet, drowned out by the calamity of battle.
"What are you talking about?" Hawk demanded. "Avreet? Avreet!"
The comlink went dead.
Hawk let out a heavy sigh. Such was the cost of war, he thought.
Switching to a new channel, he said, "Captain Spike, this is Hawk. Send in all of our tanks. All of them!"
* * *
"You've got one on your tail!"
Jaina Solo banked her starfighter to the left, narrowly avoiding a tracking missile directed at her. At that moment, her wing-mate Kral Nevil flew in and destroyed the missile. Before she could thank the Quarren, Jaina noticed about five Glorian fighters straight for her. She dived her X-wing down, flying under the Glorians, and flipped around to shoot down two of them from behind. The three remaining fighters departed and then regrouped, coming up behind her.
"Sithspit," she muttered under her breath.
"Watch your language, young lady."
Startled by the voice, which didn't sound like anyone on her squadron, Jaina looked up to see a heavily modified YT-1300 Corellian freighter, its bottom turret firing at the three Glorian fighters, eliminating them.
"Dad?" Jaina said tentatively.
"Who were you expecting- Lando?" Han Solo replied. "Now get back out there before your mother accidentally shoots you."
"Mom's manning the turret?"
"You aren't the only Solo lady who likes blowing things up."
His sentence was punctuated with the demise of another Glorian starfighter.
Jaina smiled. "I'll remember that." To Kral and the rest of her squad-mates, she said, "Form up, Rogues. Let's show them we mean business."
* * *
"How long until we reach Coruscant?"
Seated in one of the "pits" by the bridge's main deck, the Errant Venture's astrogator- a male Gran- said, "Give it another ten minutes, boss. We're nearly there."
Booster Terrik grunted. "Hope the planet's still there by that time. Any word from Karrde?"
"He and the Wild Karrde will meet us when we come out of hyperspace," said a Togruta communications officer. "He says to then deploy Twin Suns Squadron as soon as we do."
"I wouldn't have much choice since this ship's been stripped down of her weapons," Booster growled.
Just as the Gran astrogator had said, after ten minuted had passed, the Errant Venture exited hyperspace, entering the Coruscant system. Its namesake capital was surrounded by perhaps thousands of Glorian ships.
"All right, Twin Suns," Booster said over the intercom. "Deploy from Docking Bay Fifteen. Star Wings, from Docking Bay Ten. Oh, and Corran?"
"Yeah, Pops?" his son-in-law replied.
"Don't go off being stupid," he growled. "I may have given you permission to marry my daughter, but not to make her a widow!"
He could almost "hear" Corran grinning on the other end. "Understood, Pops."
"And stop calling me 'Pops'! It makes me feel old!"
"Dishonesty is not the Jedi way."
Booster snarled as he ended the connection. "Does he want me to kill him?"
He could tell that the Togruta officer was stifling a laugh. "Can't really blame him, boss. He's a Jedi; they pretty much always go asking for trouble."
* * *
"We're detecting several arrivals entering the Coruscant system," Captain Ziniku reported to General Starka. "From what we can tell, they're mostly originating from Mandalore, Nal Hutta, and Bastion, with some additional forces from Hapes and Etti IV."
Starka scoffed. "The Alliance's reinforcements, no doubt. They will do nothing to improve their situation."
Ziniku looked up at him curiously. "Are you sure? From the looks of it, these reinforcements, coupled with the Alliance's fleet, might meet us in numbers."
Starka grinned. "Numbers, perhaps. But far from it in regards of power."
"You no doubt refer to the capital ships' primary turbolaser cannons," Ziniku said. "However, it takes a severe toll to the ships' power-"
"Oh, I'm not talking about that," Starka said. "I am referring to something far greater."
The captain stared at him, realization crossing his emerald eyes. "You don't mean...?"
Starka nodded.
"But it lacks the need of transportation. How can it-?"
"You should work on your suspension of disbelief," Starka said. "The Magnificence's power is supreme."
The Supreme Commander chuckled as he watched the first wave of the enemy's reinforcements exit hyperspace.
"He shall always find a way."
No comments:
Post a Comment