//------------------------------// // Rescue // Story: The Dragon and the Force // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// “So, Mr Vaughn, tell me more about this venture of yours that requires so much labour that you must come here from, where was it again?” Herank asked, sipping a clear liquid from a crystal glass. “Montressa, lady Kalia, Montressa.” Norik smiled. “In the southern outer rim. We are currently working on a new type of disrupter technology that should outperform all current models at half the power. But we need labourers to make the weapons and some live test subjects.” “How are these weapons different from the current market?” Herank asked. “Trade secret.” Solaris said before Norik could. “Of course. Now, I believe…” Herank started. “LADY KALIA!” A guard yelled, running into the room and cutting into the conversation. “You have ten seconds to explain your presence here, and have a good explanation, or you can become acquainted with the void.” Herank said, not raising her voice at all, and placing her finished glass down on a small table beside her. “I am sorry, lady Kalia.” The guard panted. “But the slave, the one that Mr Vaughn gave you, he’s gone.” “What?” Herank asked sharply. “It seems he managed to get free from his shackles and incapacitated the Doctor, before escaping through the air vents.” The guard said. “Fetch my guard, send them here. The rest of you are to search for the slave. Capture if possible, kill if not.” She ordered, the guard quickly turning and leaving, before pulling a hatch back on her chair and withdrawing a large pistol, pointing it at Norik. “So, you sought to sabotage my station?” “Lady Kalia, I swear I had no intention to sabotage your station.” Norik said, raising his hands to show that he was unarmed. “I’ll ask you again, why did you come here?” She asked, and upon seeing Norik’s facial expression not change, launched into another spiel. “Interesting culture, the Mandalorians. They make some amazing weapons, take this for example. A Mandalorian Ripper, energy based slugthrower that passes through all forms of personal shields. The only way to protect yourself from this would be a Jedi laser sword.” “How convenient.” Solaris said simply, standing up and using the force to draw her Lightsaber into her hand, igniting the blade and walking towards Herank. “My name is Jedi master Solaris. Behind me is Jedi master Norik and Jedi padawan Tarhal. The dragon currently roaming the station is my Padawan, and you will answer for the crimes you committed at Jax.” “Jedi?!” Herank said, her pistol wavering as she pointed it at Solaris. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot.” “No you won’t.” Solaris said, before bringing the Lightsaber through the weapon, neatly bisecting it. “Guards are coming.” Tarhal growled from the door, igniting his own blade and grasping the haft in both hands. “Seal the door.” Norik ordered. “We can get out through the back way and meet up in the hanger with Spike.” “Already on it master.” Tarhal said, before kicking a control panel and using the force to pull the door down into the slot in the floor. “Sealed!” “Good.” Solaris said, not taking her eyes off Herank. “Please lead us back to the hanger.” “You’re mad if you think you’ll get more than three steps before the guns take you down.” Herank snarled. “You let me worry about that.” Solaris smiled, before gesturing with her free hand. “Tarhal, Norik, please bring up the rear.” With a growl, Herank began walking towards the other door, opening it with a swipe of her hand on the biometric reader. Quickly following her down the corridor, the three Jedi could hear the door finally break as the guards swarmed into the room. “Cover!” Norik yelled, bringing his Lightsaber up to block the incoming blaster shots. The guards poured into the corridor, firing their blasters as they sought to gain ground on the Jedi. Growling, Tarhal caught one of the blaster bolts, deflecting it back nearly perfectly along its flight path, where it impacted just above the firers head. Norik however was not going to stand by and take fire, and began to advance, blocking shot after shot as he advanced forward. Bringing his weapon up, he slashed down, slicing limbs from bodies as he went, taking care to not inflict any lethal wounds. As he continued to cut the guards down, the remainder of them began to waver as the aged Jedi continued to cut them down. “We almost at the hanger!” Solaris yelled, keeping an arm around Herank’s neck. “I wonder how long it will take for your precious Padawan to die. Five minutes? Ten? You can’t escape, so what do I care if you cut down a couple of my guard?” She laughed. “Spike won’t die, you can count on that.” Solaris snarled, before pushing a door open with the force. “Do you think Spike has finished his part?” Norik growled, lashing out with a brutal kick and snapping a guard’s leg, his knee popping out of its socket and drawing a loud scream from the man, joining the wails of the other injured. “Only one way to find out.” Solaris said, before pushing Herank through the door, sending her sprawling onto the hanger floor, before following her in, subconsciously flinching as she waited for the hanger defences to kick in. “Looks like the dragon came through.” Norik yelled, before pushing a cluster of guards back out of the door and sealing it shut. “Tarhal, take Herank and secure her in the ship and prep for take-off, we will hold the hanger and wait for Spike. *** Spike sprinted down the corridor, scrambling to keep his footing as more shots bounced around him, thank god that these guys were such poor shots. Turning, Spike swiped with his hands, ripping one of the guards out of his cover and sending him crashing into another, bringing them both to the floor. Spike knew they would be back on their feet shortly, but for now it was two less guns on him. Continuing sprinting, Spike finally saw a corridor that he recognised, and pounded down it, conscious of the guards behind him. Using the force again, Spike forced a water pipe to buckle above him, allowing water to spill out onto the floor. Continuing to move, he took a deep breath, before blowing fire onto the pipe, superheating the metal and the water inside it. Screams echoed from behind him, and Spike winced. It still felt wrong hurting people, and he was worried that if it came down to it he may hesitate to directly hurt or possibly kill another, but he would have to cross that when he came to it. Making sure to keep hold of the small chip in his hand, Spike skidded around a corner, and saw the hanger, and in it, his master and Norik, Lightsabers ignited and deflecting shots as Tarhal dragged Herank into the ship. “Master!” Spike yelled as he ran forward, pushing another guard over who was trying desperately to set up a large cannon. “Spike!” Solaris shouted back, looking over to him. “Catch!” She reached down to her belt, and hurled Spikes Lightsaber to him. Running forward, Spike jumped up and grabbed hold of the haft by the perpendicular handle, igniting it and landing next to his master, deflecting a shot away from himself. Spinning his weapon around, he brought the blade forward, deflecting a shot perfectly back along its flight path, catching the guard who had fired it in the chest. The woman fell with a grunt, and lay still. “I…I” Spike began, but had no time to think of what he had done as more guards continued to flood into the room. “Tarhal?” Norik yelled, pulling a guard towards him and lashing out with his fist, denting the helmet, before slashing with his Lightsaber. “One minute, plasma drives are spinning up!” Came the reply from the ship. “You heard him, hold the line damn it.” Solaris growled, looking at Spike. “Come one Spike.” “I killed her.” Spike said hollowly, blocking another shot. “And she was trying to kill you.” Solaris shot back. Spike nodded, spinning to block another shot and exposing his back to the door he had come through. As he turned, he felt a curious heat in his back, and stumbled slightly. It felt like someone had kicked him hard, and he turned, fully expecting to see one of the guards bearing down on him. Instead, he saw nothing, just more guards aiming to fire at him. Moving backwards, keeping his back towards the ship, Spike slowly made his way towards the ramp, Solaris and Norik following closely behind. “Tarhal?” Spike growled, switching to Shyriiwook for ease, he knew that when Tarhal got flustered, he sometimes had difficulty with basic. “Time?” “Engines ready, weapons primed and shields charging, get on.” Came the hurried reply. Funny, it somehow seemed choked. “Ship’s ready!” Spike yelled. “Get on then.” Solaris ordered. “We’ll finish off out here.” Nodding, Spike quickly darted inside the ship, only to find a sight that chilled his bones. Herank was up, the chain that had been attached to her wrists now wrapped firmly around Tarhal’s neck. The Wookies eyes were full of fear as the chain was pulled tighter by the vengeful slaver behind him, sinking deep into his flesh, not yet drawing blood. “Weapon down, or he dies.” She snarled. “He dies, you die.” Spike snarled back. “Such temper from a Jedi.” She laughed maniacally. “Spike?” Tarhal asked nervously. “Sorry about this.” Spike said, before shoving the pair of them back with the force, sending them crashing into the cockpit chair. Tarhal roared with pain as he hit the chair, but it had the desired effect of getting Herank off him. With a snarl, Spike pulled her towards him, fully intending to kill her. “No Spike!” Tarhal yelled, realising what Spike was about to do. That yell managed to break Spike out of the trance like state he was in, and threw off his aim just a bit. Instead of cutting through her chest in a near perfect example of the pulling slash, his Lightsaber cut into and through her arm, severing the limb and drawing a scream from the woman. “You’re lucky he’s here.” Spike whispered as he caught the falling woman and laid her on the floor. “No one hurts my friends.” Spike was still kneeling over the shocked woman when Norik and Solaris came bursting in. “Take off Tarhal! Spike, secure the…prisoner?” Solaris said, tapering off as she saw Herank. “What happened?” Norik asked as Tarhal ran towards the controls, sealing the hatch and moving the ship. “She escaped and tried to kill Tarhal, I had to act.” Spike said, breathing heavily as his actions caught up with him. “We will talk more when this is all over.” Solaris promised, before picking the body up and taking her to the rear where a small room served as a medical ward. “Spike, get on the comm to the Captain. Tell him the time is now.” Norik ordered. Nodding, Spike ran over to the radio control panel, punching in a frequency code, before turning back to face the others. Placing his back against the wall, he slid down it, and put his face in his hands, contemplating what was going to happen next. Tarhal on the other hand was concentrating on flying the ship, dodging the few ships that were floating around the station. Luckily, it seemed that no one had seen fit to tell the system monitors that there was a possible escape attempt going on, and they hadn’t tried to shoot them yet. The station however would not stay silent forever. “Incoming.” Tarhal grunted as he threw the ship to the side just in time to dodge a shot from one of the turbolaser emplacements. “Looks like the cats out of the bag.” Norik said, leaning down to Tarhal’s ear. “Get to the system jump point and look for the Arahmin” “Will do.” Tarhal nodded. “Incoming ships.” Spike said softly, looking at the screen just above him. “Here we go!” Tarhal roared. As the Eagle sped through the void, pursued by the red bolts of light from the cityscape and the few systems monitors that had identified what the station was firing at, all four of the Jedi felt something coming, and prepared for the arrival. Suddenly, a trio of Republic battleships jumped into the system, flanked by frigates and destroyers of all kinds. Instantly, Tarhal steered the Eagle towards the lead ship, flipping a switch to bring the s-foils into landing position again. “Arahmin, this is Eagle we are approaching the docking bay, we have wounded on board, please standby with a medical team.” Tarhal said, flipping another couple of switches. “Eagle, we are currently hard pressed with medical staff, proceed with landi...Left side, left side! System monitor inbound.” The radio cut off as an explosion was heard rocking through the ship. “I guess we can land.” Norik said, looking over at Solaris who had just walked back in. “She’s stable. Come on.” As soon as Tarhal touched the ground, Solaris punched the airlock release button and jumped out of the ship, followed swiftly by Spike. Sprinting across the hanger, Spike caught sight of the Cyclone, and beside his masters fighter, his own. “Suit up now!” Solaris bellowed, before jumping up, landing just behind her cockpit. Nodding, Spike grabbed the suit from the wall and yanked it on, taking care not to rip it, before grabbing the helmet and shoving it on his head, pressurising the air inside his suit. Jumping into his fighter, Spike flipped a switch, sliding the canopy back over his cockpit and gunning the engine. Steeling himself, Spike watched as Solaris soared out of the ship, followed closely by a whole host of other fighters, one of which he recognised as the one belonging to Loas, before taking off and following the out into the maelstrom of battle.