Spike shrieked through the void in an erie almost silence, the only sound reaching him coming from his own breath, recycled through his helmet as a soft hissing sound each time he drew in more air. It was strange that he could hear anything at all, he mused as he rocketed forward, spinning to avoid a flurry of laser blasts that he was not sure were aimed at him or just happening to cross his path in the chaos of battle.
Normally, Spike’s flights through open space had been silent affairs, surviving due to his draconic nature but unable to escape simple science. The silence had been deafening, but somehow, the breath alone was worse. Each second brought a fresh sound, as each second brought a new series of death to his eyes; ships exploding, escape pods launching from doomed vessels. The numbers of the dead who now lay in the void forever more was staggering, and for each one, Spike could only hear his own breath, the sound seeming to accentuate the passing of so many lives.
Each breath brought him closer to the looming Star Forge, a gaping maw opening before him, a large hanger bay with the telltale flashes of blaster discharges and lightsaber deflections all too clear even from here. The Ebon Hawk and a score of single man attack craft dotted the hanger, alongside a Basilisk war-droid, the sentient weapon laying down its own covering fire. For the droid to be fighting still, it must have been a fierce fight indeed, Spike letting out a roar as he drew his own lightsaber, igniting the blade as he passed through the integrity fields and leapt from his mount, his droid joining Seu’s, Spike barely noting it as he dived into the fray.
Two jedi lay dead, one riddled with blaster bolts, another with a deep lightsaber wound through her chest. Besides them, two Jedi dueled with a pair of Sith, while others worked to cut down Sith War Droids as they flooded into the hangar. Nor were the temple Jedi alone, other individuals who could only have been the crew of the Ebon Hawk fighting alongside them. Some of them were unknown to Spike, a young Twi’lek fighting beside a huge Wookie, the girls twin blaster pistols singing out, accompanied by the crack boom of the Wookies giant bowcaster. Besides them, a human Jedi clad in the brown robes of a Grey Jedi fought beside a T3 astromech droid, fighting in a defensive stance to cover the droid as it sliced into a computer console. Spike dimly was aware he should have recognised the man, sure he had seen him about the temple in years gone past, but instead his mind was taken up almost entirely by the battle...and three individuals who fought against the Sith.
The first he didn’t know personally, but her very existence was a surprise, a young woman, barely old enough to no longer be called a girl, her features marking her unmistakably as a member of a dead species; Cathar. The species death had been a rallying cry for the Revanchists during the Mandalorian Wars, to see one here was shocking to say the least, even more so when Spike looked at her companion, his heart sinking as old memories rose.
Canderous Ordo, barely changed from his time in the Mandalorian Wars. Spike had only seen his face once, but that had been enough to remember it forever, his face a lancing memory of Desolation and the horrors he had inflicted on Ranox. Canderous fought side by side with Seu, one wearing ancient armour studded with bone, Cancerous still wearing what looked to be Neo-crusader armour, albeit without a helmet, both warriors seemingly untouchable as they moved around blaster bolts, firing perfectly accurate shots back in reply. Not for the first time, Spike remembered exactly why the Republic had almost fallen to such warriors.
And yet, for all the memories Canderous dredged up, it was the last figure that caught Spike’s gaze the most. It wasn’t a man, though it shared their form. Brown armour plating covered a skeletal exoskeleton, a devastating and heavily modified Charric disruptor in its metal hands, while gleaming red eyes seemed to light up more with each kill, satisfaction radiating from the droid in a way Spike would normally have said was impossible. But then again, Spike had crossed paths with HK-47 before, he knew what the droid was capable of.
Spike took in everything in the time it took him to leap from his droid to impacting on the floor, the moment he touched down all thoughts of who he now fought alongside were banished from his mind. Lightsaber in one hand, a heavy blaster in the other, Spike dived into combat, hitting the Sith line like a cannon shot. They had been holding before, not advancing, not falling back, in perfect equilibrium with the forces assailing the station. Spike’s arrival tipped that balance, the intense fighting lasting for a further ten minutes and claiming the life of a final Jedi, before finally, the Sith broke, the survivors withdrawing back into the station, a heavy blast door sliding shut behind them, barring the way for any who wished to follow them.
As calm overtook them, Spike and the others looked at each other. The mood was icy cold, barely any better than when they had been fighting for their lives. Clearly there was no love lost between any party; a war criminal, a pair of Mandalorians, an assassin droid and a bunch of sanctimonious peacekeepers. It sounded like the set up to a bad joke. If they hadn’t been in the middle of a raging war to decide the fate of the galaxy, Spike would have laughed. As it was, he simply waited as one of the Jedi stepped forward, looking at Spike with a critical glare before finally speaking.
“I didn’t believe Master Vandar when he said to expect you,” the woman’s voice was icy, Spike fixing her with a glare, rendered utterly emotionless by his helmet.
“Believe it,” Spike retorted dismissively. “Where’s Carth?”
“He’s gone on ahead, alongside Kandar,” the Grey Jedi answered, dusting his robes down as he approached Spike, a name finally coming to Spike to match with the face; Jolee Bindo. Solaris had spoken highly of the passionate Jedi, his defiance of the Council to aid the Ukatis system before the Exar Kun war was one of his greatest acts, at least if his old master was to be believed. “Some other Jedi have as well, we were going to move to reinforce them but the Sith keep pouring into the hangar. We haven’t been able to advance for fear of being cut off.”
“[Statement]. This is an automated factory, the adversaries we face are war droids. [Conclusion]. If we only remain reactionary, we shall remain under constant attack as more of these inferior kill droids are created to throw against us. [Addendum]. This is likely their primary strategy. They do not need to kill us, just hold us while their forces destroy the meatbag fleet.”
Spike let out a growl at this, taking a step towards the War Droid, prepared to scrap him permanently this time, before a hoof held in front of him stopped him, Moonstone appearing and shaking her head, before looking around.
“HK-47 is correct,” she spoke, most of the group taken aback by the sudden talking pony in their midst, HK-47 himself appearing confused, the mind-wipe they had done to it clearly still in effect, leaving the droid confused as to how any would know its name without it being stated. Moonstone didn’t seem to notice or potentially didn’t care about the effect her words had, continuing on. “Sitting here is a fools game, with all the forces we have we should be able to send a party to deactivate the droid foundries and secure this hangar properly.”
“Who put the little pony in charge?” the Twi’lek asked, folding her arms as she spoke, her voice laden with the brash bravado and contempt that could only come from a child.
“Hush now, Mission,” Jolee spoke smoothly. “She,” he looked at Moonstone expectantly, Moonstone nodding at the assumption, Jolee continuing on, “has a valid point. With our forces here we have more than enough strength to split into two parties. Should take the pressure off us here and allow the wounded some respite.”
“I’ll go,” Spike nodded, Seu moving to stand beside him, canderous also following the other Mandalorians, glaring at Spike. Whether he knew who Spike was or had just figured it out from Spikes distinctive appearance, Spike couldn’t say, either way, it likely wouldn’t be an issue, the Mandalorian wouldn’t be stupid enough to try for revenge in the middle of a battle.
“As will I,” the Cathar stepped forward.
“Juhani,” Jolee shook his head. “You may be needed here.”
“There are more than enough Jedi to defend this hangar,” Juhani countered. “If my presence can aid in shutting down the foundry, then we will all have an easier time when we return.”
“I’m going too,” the Wookie stepped forward, its bowcaster held at the ready. “Attacking a droid foundry will need more muscle than defending this hangar.”
“Well looks like I’m coming to then,” the Twi’lek, Mission, moved beside the Wookie. “Not going to let Big Z go off and have all the fun with the newbies.”
“You should take a droid too,” one of the Jedi nodded. “Perhaps the HK...”
“No,” Spike said flatly, looking at HK-47 for a second, a flash of pain from their last fight crossing his mind. “The T3 unit will be more use anyway.”
The droid beeped its compliance, Spike looking around at the party and smiling. From their stances, none of them were unaccustomed to battle, even Mission, despite her age, was clearly ready for a fight, her blasters held in anticipation.
“We’ll move on the foundry then, watch our backs and hold the hangar,” Spike looked to the Jedi who would be remaining. “If Carth and this Kandar succeed at bringing bastila back or cutting her down, we’ll withdraw. Keep in comms contact.”
With that, Spike walked towards the blast door, the T3 unit already moving to the control panel, slicing the controls in a few heartbeats, grinding metal scraping open as if only a few motors had been turned against their master, the door resisting its inexorable opening.
As soon as they moved through, the doors began to slide shut again, Canderous and Seugtai smoothly taking the lead, Canderous lugging a heavy blaster with him, while Seu’s Ripper pistol swept the corridors, watching for any sign of movement. Constant beeps from the astromech droid, T3-M4 as it was proud to call itself, told the party which directions to take, clearly having downloaded a schematic of the immediate areas during its time in the Star Forges computer system.
It was quiet, eerily so, no Sith forces assailing them beyond a few automated turrets, popping up from the floor or dropping down from hidden hatches in the ceiling, destroyed almost instantly by a flurry of blaster fire.
“Didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Canderous finally spoke, glancing at Spike. “Certainly not in my kinds armour. Realised it's better than anything your Republic can produce?”
“Nice to see you too, Canderous,” Spike shot back, a single blast shot destroying a turret in a shower of sparks. “And no, it’s not stolen or repurposed. It’s mine. Seu helped.”
“You’re giving help to the enemy now?” Canderous asked.
“War’s over, Canderous, Spike isn’t an enemy anymore,” Canderous shrugged. “Unless Ordo’s your enemy now, Spike’s part our clan, as is the right of our people.”
“The Beast of Ranox will never...” Canderous began, whatever he was about to say cut off as a blast door at the end of the corridor slid open, a veritable sea of Sentinel War Droids, as well as some strange, spindly droids bearing what looked like a large flamethrower.
Blaster fire filled the air, Spike and the others diving for cover, returning fire as best they could. Juhai was beside Spike, her blue Lightsaber active, catching Spikes eye behind his helmet visor.
“Cover us,” Juhani called, before leaping up, Spike wasting no time in following her, holstering his blaster as he focused all his energy into deflecting the blaster bolts flying towards them, his magic creating a shield to catch the worst of the blaster fire. They were strong shots, each one feeling like an icepick to the brain as it hit the shield, Spike forced to let some through to avoid being crippled by the pain. Not for the first time, he wished he still had his second lightsaber, one was good, and its design made absorbing shots easy, but the tonfa design meant that reflecting them back as Juhani was doing was all but impossible when used alone.
Pushing the thought from his mind, Spike continued to keep pace with Juhani, drawing fire and taking some of the danger away from the others, allowing them to return fire, blaster bolts slamming into the Sentinel Droids and tossing them aside. The spindly droids however seemed to be made of far stronger stuff despite their appearance, Spike watching no less than three blasts from the Wookies bowcaster slam into one with barely a scorch left behind, the flamethrower-like attachment turning to face Spike and Juhani and opening fire.
No flames billowed forth, instead a searing ray of carbinte lashing at Spike, hitting his arm and instantly getting to work. The pain was intense, Spike letting out a roar, before turning his attention to his rapidly freezing arm, preparing to let out a burst of flames, before realising he still wore his helmet. Cursing yet unable to spare a hand to remove it, Spike instead refocused his magic, the shield he had been maintaining dropping, forcing others back into cover as the fire re-intensified, in its place, magic flower into Spikes arm, heating the scales to fight off the freezing ray. The droid intensified its fire, the second unknown droid moving over, taking aim with its own carbonite emitter. Spike barely had time to react as it fired, dropping his lightsaber and thrusting both hands out, pouring all of his effort into his magic, hoping that his scales, Juhani and the others would be able to keep him safe from any other fire.
Spike roared in pain behind his helmet, dropping to one knee as the droids advanced step by step. Whatever they were, they were more powerful than any droid Spike had ever encountered, neither Mandalorian Basilisk or Hk-47 able to bring such firepower to bear. He had no idea where these things had come from, where Malak had got them and if he had more of them, all he could think of was survival, his mind reeling as he looked for any avenue to gain an advantage over them.
“Zaalbar, now!”
Spike barely had time to process the voice before a blur passed him, Mission now standing atop one of the droids. Behind him, the big Wookie, presumably Zaalbar, dived back into cover behind him. Had he just thrown the Twi’lek at the droid? The how didn’t matter, the fact remained that Mission was on the droid, jamming her blaster pistol into the things primary sensor node and pulling the trigger, set to full auto. The droid let out a mechanical scream, energy pulsing out of it as the pistol clicked empty, its tibana gas reserves depleted. Wasting no time and in an almost practice move, Mission removed the pistol, a burn hole gouged in the deep armour. In her other hand was a small, spherical device, its blue casing instantly recognisable as an ion grenade.
The grenade now jammed into the droid, Mission kicked off, skidding away from the droid an instant before the grenade detonated. Ionic energy radiated out from the droid, all systems fried beyond repair, the second of its kind battered by the storm, wavering ever so slightly. Before it could fully recover, Juhani was on it, her Lightsaber passing through the armour where the carbonite emitter met the body. In an instant, the ray faded, Spike falling forward, his arms screaming in agony as the near frozen limbs impacted heavily with the floor, his full weight bearing down on them. A pulse of magic soothed the pain, his lightsaber recovered, but he needn’t have bothered. By the time he rose once more, the last droid was dead, Juhani turning to look at Spike.
“Are you all right?” she asked, her heavily accented voice laden with concern.
“I will be,” Spike nodded, looking around at the devastation. “You’ve fought those things before, judging by how you and Mission knew exactly how to defeat them.”
“We have,” Juhani nodded. “While we were searching the galaxy for the Star Maps, we fought numerous droids of this type. We found more on the planet's surface below, remnants of the Rakatan Empire, steeped in the dark side.”
“Well the experience has clearly done well, I wouldn't want to face many more of those things at once,” Seugtai spoke as he advanced.
“Why were you searching for these...Star Maps?” Spike asked abruptly, before reiterating. “I mean, why you personally. I don’t doubt any of your abilities at all, but if the Star Maps led us here, then they were clearly of vital importance. Why were you all chosen?”
“We weren’t,” Canderous spoke this time. “At least, not by the Republic. We were chosen by Kandar. This is his mission, we’re just along for the ride.”
“His mission?” Spike asked in surprise. “I thought this was Carth’s?”
“No, he’s just a follower like the rest of us. Even Bastila was only ever a second or third in command, not that she ever saw it that way.”
“This Kandar must be important then, and skilled,” Seugtai mused. “Jedi Master?”
Spike would have had to be blind to miss the uneasy looks passing between Mission, Juhani, Canderous and Zaalbar, Juhani eventually speaking.
“I do not believe he is a Master, a Knight maybe. Perhaps once this is done you shall meet him. As long as we all survive.”
“Agreed, we need to move,” Canderous nodded, looking down at T3. “Are we close?”
A few beeps from the droid confirmed that they were, the group advancing again, Seugtai opening up a secure channel to Spike’s helmet, the pair conversing in hushed whispers.
“I don’t like how they all looked when we mentioned Kandar,” Seugtai whispered.
“Agreed. There’s more to that than they’re letting on. Can rule out an agent of Malak I think, but then again, this could be part of his ploy if it is a power grab. Destabilise Malak and rule in his stead. I hate feeling like I’m being used.”
“Don’t have much choice though,” Seu replied. “Good or not, we’re here to destroy this factory and aid Carth, the Republic Fleet needs this done or its history. We can find out more later, but right now...”
“We work with them until we don’t,” Spike finished. “Come on, lets not let them out of our sight.”
Sticking closer together than they had before, Seugtai and Spike followed the others, bursting into a cavernous room, hundreds of chunky cylinders spanning from the floor far below the gantry the group was on to the ceiling far above. Peering over the edge, Spike let out a gasp, his helmet bringing the distant figures into sharp relief.
There were hundreds of droids, possibly thousands of them, both regular Sentinel class droids and dozens of the more powerful Rakatan droids stood in neat ranks on the floor, yet more pouring out of the large tube like foundries. Off in the distance, larger manufacturing plants spat out other forms of war materiel, from suits of armour and blasters through to Sith Fighters. As he watched, Spike even saw a Sith Cruiser slide forth, integrity fields flickering on around it as it moved out into the void beyond, already firing.
Only now did Spike truly understand the power of the Star Forge. Before it had just been a shipyard, but that was too small a word for what this was. No, this was more that, this was an automated factory, given over entirely to producing not just armaments, but the means to use them. Sith ships could be made here to be largely automated, vast numbers of their crew created in droid foundries, boarding parties created from the Rakatan creations to bolster organic forces. With the Star Forge, the Sith Empire would be unstoppable. If the Republic lost today, even if their fleet survived, then the Sith would win through weight of numbers alone. All of their tactics, their seemingly endless fleet, this explained it all.
“We have to shut this down,” Spike murmured, more to himself than to anyone else, already moving towards a central control panel, scores of dead Sith and shattered Sentinel Droids already lining the walkway, the T3 unit interfacing with the controls.”
This is Admiral Dodonna to all Republic Forces. We have confirmation that Bastila Shan has been secured and returned to us, her battle meditation will no longer be aiding the Sith Forces. All capital ships moving into bombardment range of the Star Forge, any personnel onboard are to withdraw to boarding craft and break for the fleet. We cannot wait for you, if you are still on-board when our ships are in position you will be forced to evacuate under fire, I cannot guarantee you safety from our own guns.
Each of the group stopped at this, looking round to ensure the others had all heard what they had.
“Prepare to move back to the hangar bay,” Spike called. “Juhani, lead the way, I’m going to stay behind and deactivate this forge. If the fleet fails to fully destroy the station I want to deny as much of the production capabilities to the enemy as possible.”
“You heard the admiral,” Juhani protested. “We need to leave.”
“You need to,” Spike snapped forcefully. “This Kandar of yours will likely be falling back as well, you all came in one ship so you need to be there when he is to cast off. Seu and I can get out on our own droids, we can get out of here once the job is done, now go!”
Spike didn’t know why he had snapped so violently, Juhani had simply been asking a question, and yet it had felt good to do so. Without a word, Juhani turned and broke into a run back the way they came, Seu moving up beside Spike as he hurried to the console, beginning to work furiously on the ancient interface.
“Was that really necessary?” Moonstone asked, materialising beside the pair. “She was trying to help.”
“Her help would get her killed,” Spike said dismissively.
“And yet not five minutes ago, she saved your life,” Moonstone countered.
Spike paused at that. Moonstone was right, she had. So why now did he feel such contempt for her?
“We need to leave,” Spike’s eyes flew open as realisation hit him full force.
“What about the factory?” Seugtai asked.
“If we had time to destroy it then we should, but this place isn’t mundane,” Spike growled, his mood darkening even as he fought it. “The force is strong here, I assumed it was just Revan, but it's not. This station is powered by the Dark Side, if I remain here much longer...”
“We’re leaving,” Seugtai didn’t wait for Spike to finish talking, grabbing a thermal detonator from his belt. “This won’t destroy all of it, but it will hurt them if it survives the fleet.”
Nodding, Spike moved away, Moonstone disappearing as Seu affixed the detonator to the console, following it up with half a dozen more, expending his full supply before setting a timer. Three minutes.
“Cutting that close, aren’t we?” Spike asked, before following Seu’s finger as he pointed, comprehension spreading over his face.
Their intrusion hadn’t gone unnoticed, dozens of the Rakatan droids clambering up the sides of the mighty chamber, heading directly for where Spike and Seu now stood. The chamber was large, but they were fast, covering the distance quickly. In a few minutes, they’d be overrun.
For a moment, Spike wanted to fight them, feeling his grip tighten on his weapons, his muscles tensing, his wings unfurling, before Seu grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the door. Fighting his own instinct to leap at the foe, Spike followed the Mandalorian, the pair sprinting down the corridor even as the first shots from the droids rang out, these models forgoing the carbonite weapons of the other droids in favour of more conventional, and still high powered, weaponry.
Spike barely paused to look back as they ran, flicking his hand out behind him to close each blast door as they past it, the sound of the droids tearing through growing closer with every passing second. Then, an explosion blossomed behind them, the shockwave washing over both of them and pitching them forward. Barely keeping his footing, Spike continued to run, pausing only to steady Seu before moving at full speed once more.
The station was shaking now, impacts from what could only be Admiral Dodanna’s bombardment ringing throughout the halls. With a certainty that could only come from years of experience in the void, Spike knew that at their current speed, they wouldn’t reach the hangar before the station came apart.
“Weapons away,” Spike roared as he ran, falling back slightly to be behind Seugtai, clipping his lightsaber to his belt, ensuring it was mag-locked in place. Seugtai didn’t argue or ask questions, doing the same with his own weapons an instant before Spike grabbed him, wrapping his arms around the man as he spread his wings, taking to the air and rocketing forward.
His wingspan was huge, far too large to properly unfurl in these small spaces and making the flight perilous. One wrong move and they’d be sprawled across the floor and easy prey for the droids just behind them. Time seemed to slow as Spike poured all his magic inwards, his vision blackening around the edges as all that mattered lay before him, tunnel vision setting in. The strain was immense, Spike feeling his body rebel as the magic pushed it beyond where it should have ever gone to.
With a roar of agony, Spike and Seugtai burst into the hangar bay. The Ebon Hawk and the Jedi’s own craft had all gone, leaving only the two war droids remaining. Half landing, half crashing, Spike sprawled over the desk, twisting to land on his back to cushion Sueugtai, relinquishing him the moment they had slowed and allowing the Mandalorian to jump onto his own war droid.
Spike followed his lead, clambering onto his own mount, his movements sluggish as he worked the controls as fast as he was able. With a confirmation pulse sent, Seugtai shot out of the hangar, Spike’s droid just behind it, operating as much under its own instinct as it did under Spike’s control, shooting the pair into the black of space, dodging Republic ships as they went.
Laser blasts were all around them, pummelling the station with everything they could muster, and mere moments after they had escaped, the station began to fall, caught in the gravity of the star that had fuelled it. Spike didn’t see any of this, his vision finally slipping away, his overtaxed body finally shutting down, Spike drifting into unconsciousness, feeling himself slide off his droid, unable to stop himself from drifting through space as he passed out.