Spike eased back on the hyperspace lever, dropping out of Hyperspace on the edge of the system overlooking the planet of Empress Teta. Behind him, Green Wing appeared, forming up behind him and waiting for Red Wing and the small transport carrying Sunrider, Cay and Tott, all of which jumped in mere seconds after Spike had arrived.
“Everyone ok?” Sunrider asked over the comm.
“Red Wing checked in.” Solaris replied.
“Green Wing standing by.” Spike confirmed, checking the lights that indicated his
“Prepare to move in on my signal.” Sunrider said. “Cay, Tott and I will head on ahead and meet our contacts with the beast riders. Be ready to move on my go.”
With that, Spike watched as the transport moved out ahead of the rest of the small fleet, moving towards the planet and hopefully staying out of sight, else this was going to be one hell of a short mission.
***
“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…S” Loas said excitedly over the comm.
“Let me guess, space.” Spike deadpanned.
“Ah man, that’s sixteen times in a row.” Loas whined.
“He always does this.” Came the voice of Green four over the comm. “And when I say always, I mean every time we’re not in combat.”
“Oh, lighten up and let him have his little jokes.” Solaris radioed over. “Spike, anything on the long range scanners?”
“Negative.” Spike replied, glancing down at one of the small screens on his control board. “So far I’ve got no movement on the planet. Looks like they don’t know we’re up here. No word from Sunrider or the others either.”
“Keep your eyes open.” Solaris ordered. “We may only have a few fighters, but it’s still possible that they could see us.”
“Master Jedi?” Came the voice of one of Red Wing. “I believe I am picking something up from the surface. Cleaning it up and transmitting it now.”
The radio was filled with static for a second, before it cleared and became a tangible voice.
“Master Solaris come in, do you copy? Over.” Came the voice of Sunrider.
“I copy Sunrider. What is happening with your beastie friends?” Solaris asked.
“We’ve made contact with the beast riders, and the transports are being prepared now. It’s now or never for your force.”
“Roger, moving to engage the Iron Citadel and create you your diversion.” Solaris said, before switching the comm to transmit to the other fighters. “Green Wing, form up on Red Wing and follow us in, watch our six and stay frosty down there.”
Gunning her ships engines, Solaris shot forward, followed closely by the rest of Red Wing. Waiting for a split second, Spike followed his master, quickly approaching the planet.
“How long can we go until they see us?” Spike wandered out loud.
“Until we get pinged by the ground sensors.” Loas replied with a slight chuckle.
“Sound helps them ping us, keep it to a minimum.” Solaris ordered.
Approaching to the planet, Spikes ship began to shudder heavily, and he had to fight to keep the craft in formation with the rest of Green Wing. Finally, the fourteen fighters breeched the atmosphere, dropping until they were just barely above the ground, keeping as low as they could without risking crashing and burning. One thing he could say about Solaris, other than her skill in being a pilot, was her knowledge of exactly what her craft, and those with her, would be able to do, and how low they would have to be to avoid most of the sensors that would be trying to pick them up.
Cresting a hill, Spike finally caught sight of Cinnagar, marvelling at the sprawling city. Even after living on Coruscant for months, he still couldn’t get his head around the size of the cities here. By most standards, Cinnagar wasn’t all that large only covering about half of the planet, but it was still bigger than anything in Equestria.
“Eye’s on the Iron Citadel.” Loas said.
“Se…” Spike began, before catching sight of a pulsing red light on his cockpit board. “Master, I’ve been pinged, sensors tripped!”
“Same here!” Green two shouted, confirming Spikes worries.
“I’ve got alarms sounding in the city.” One of Red Wing said urgently.
“Stay tight and watch out for CX-133s. Remember, we’re a diversion, not an attack force. If we get seen, it means we’re doing our job.” Solaris grunted.
The cities defence guns spat death as the two wings roared over the city’s boundaries, the turbo lasers lashing out to try and swat the fighters before they could get any further. Luckily for Red and Green wings, they had had the element of surprise on their side, and the defence batteries were manned by organics, not droids, meaning by the time they had got to their stations, they had already lost the best angles of fire and their opportunity to shoot down the attackers had already passed.
“Iron citadel in sight!” Spike roared.
“Take out the defences before they can scramble fighters! This is going to be hard enough without dealing with both!” Solaris shouted back.
Nodding, Spike pushed his craft into a climb, angling upwards to take out the vulnerable underside of the turret emplacements where they couldn’t target him. His wing followed him, and as one fired into the gun, blowing it off its mooring and sending it crashing to the city below in a rain of debris. Spike pushed the thoughts of the operators he had just killed from his mind and gunned the engines of his fighter, streaking away from the building before he turned to make another attack run.
“Green One, take point.” Spike ordered, watching as Loas moved in front of him, his craft spitting out lasers and missiles at the citadel, the ordnance smashing against the wall of the Citadel, dislodging more chunks of masonry.
“Nice one Green one.” One of the other pilots said. “Wait, what’s…”
The radio was suddenly cut off as he pilots craft was suddenly engulfed in flames, smashing into the ground below and detonated.
“ARTHUR!” Loas screamed, nearly deafening Spike as the voice was channelled directly into his ear. “Chaos fighters!”
Spike watched as the enemy fighter streaked past, its engines howling as the pilot pushed his craft to its limits, before banking and turning again.
“Red Leader! We’ve got fighters, Green four is down, I repeat Green four is down!” Spike yelled, letting fly with his own lasers as he got behind the fighter.
In his peripheral vision, Spike could see the rest of Green Wing breaking off, no longer able to stay in a proper formation as they each gave chase to one of the enemy. As Spike watched, Green One fired a missile, before rolling and spitting out a flurry of shots, nailing two of the enemy in as many seconds. Whatever boasts Loas did give, he may actually be able to back them up.
Tearing his eyes away from the spectacle of Loas, Spike searched for his quarry again, before figuring out where it was. He sensed it before he saw it, and flung his craft to the left just as a stream of lasers passed through the space he had occupied a second before.
Growling, Spike dived and rolled his craft, trying to get the chaos fighter off his tail, but every time he managed to, another one would instantly be on him, firing more lasers and slowly draining his shields.
“Green Wing this is Green Leader requesting assistance.” Spike grunted as he was slammed back into his seat. Flying in gravity was a lot harder than in space that was for sure.
“Copy Green Leader, coming up on your six.” Came another voice, Green five if he remembered correctly.
Spike watched as Green Five broke off from his pursuit and rocketed towards the chaos fighter on Spikes tail, but couldn’t watch for long, as another blast of laser fire struck his craft, finally shorting out the shields.
“Shields down!” Spike roared.
“Get out of here Spike!” Solaris roared back over the comm.
Spike tried to follow Solaris’s order, pulling back on the control stick and starting to climb rapidly, but it was not enough, and that damn fighter was still on his tail. Spike jinked to the left and pressed the Stinger’s overtaxed engines to the limit, trying vainly to evade his pursuer. Green death streaked by his canopy and his gut clenched involuntarily, anticipating the hard strike that threw his fighter into an uncontrollable spin.
Spike struggled with the controls as his fighter billowed smoke, plunging into a dive as he fought for control.
“Green Leader is hit!” Green Five roared.
Grunting as he approached the ground, Spike hauled back on the controls, trying anything he could to stop the nose dive he was doing, using the force to try and stabilise the craft slightly. Gesturing with his claw, Spike forced the flaps on his right wing to invert, finally stopping the spin and managing to level the craft off just slightly.
Bracing his body, Spike was flung out through the canopy as his fighter smashed into the ground.
“Spike!” Solaris bellowed.
***
Spike groaned as he propped himself up against wall. His fighter was a burning wreck, halfway buried in the walkway he had smashed into. If he hadn’t been thrown out of the craft when he had, he doubted he would have been able to get out. Shaking slightly, Spike looked down at his left leg, and the shards of glass and metal sticking out of it. With a grunt of pain, he pulled one of the larger pieces of metal out of him, chucking it to the floor before shakily getting to his feet, steadying himself against the wall as he tried to keep the weight off his leg. Somehow, his chest plate had survived remarkably well, and Spike thanked the god of small mercies for that. Of course, this had to be the time his back started to act up again, his growing wings rippling underneath his skin and sending another jolt of pain through him, but in the scheme of things, his other injuries hurt more.
“Master?” He asked shakily, putting his hand up to his ear, only to bring it away slick with blood and small parts of broken communicator. “Shit.” He cursed weakly, drawing his Lightsaber. He didn’t know what was happening with the others, the buildings all around him were blocking out his view of the Iron Citadel, but he knew that if he ever wanted to get off this planet, he would need to get there and find out what was happening.
Limping forward, Spike rounded a corner, before catching sight of a pair of droids, both patrolling the street together, and walking towards the location of his crash site. They were ugly things, one being a tall grey humanoid, clutching a sword in one hand and an odd energy caster weapon in the other, while the second droid was on all fours as if it was sniffing the ground for something.
Grunting, Spike clutched his side as he grabbed hold of one of his Lightsabers, the one he had taken to calling Dusk in memory of the mare it took after, holding it by the side handle. As he rounded the corner, both droids stopped, and to Spike immense surprise, the one that had been on all fours stood up, revealing itself to be identical to the other one.
“Target identified. Jedi. Age, young. Species, not on record. Weapon, two Lightsabers, design not on record. Possible survivor of crash. Injured. Units MX-5 and MX-6 moving to engage.” The first droid spoke, before the pair of them began to advance towards Spike readying there weapons.
Igniting his Lightsaber, Spike took his hand away from his side, revealing the blood seeping from there and grabbed his second weapon, Elusive, igniting them and straightening himself up, preparing to fight the two droids. Even in this state, he could take them.
Suddenly, one of the droids blurred into motion, brandishing its sword at Spike while the other one readied its weapon, firing a burst of plasma at Spike, one that only just missed Spike, before the first droid was on him, bringing its sword down towards him and smashing him with the flat side of the blade, sending him flying.
Ok, maybe he couldn’t take the droids easily.
Pushing himself back up, Spike groaned in pain, but began to limp towards the war droid, moving faster than he would have liked as his side and leg screamed in pain, although on reflection, that could have just been his blood filled ear. The droid began to lope towards him, brandishing its sword again. Roaring in a mixture of pain and fear, Spike brought Dusk down on the droids blade, cutting it in two while forcing its arm away from its body. At the same time, he brought Elusive spinning around, using the handle as a fulcrum to maximise the power as he decapitated the droid. Who said mechanics didn’t come in handy every now and again?
As the droid fell to the ground, Spike stumbled slightly, luckily for him, as he avoided the blast from the other droid that had begun to move forward as well, firing its weapon as it advanced. Standing back up, Spike twisted his blades so that they facing backwards along his forearm and prepared to fend off the attacks. Each shot he blocked sent shivers down his arms, making his side erupt into more pain, and slowly but surely, he found himself being driven to his knees.
Lashing out at Spike with its foot, the droid kicked Spike hard in his face, stunning the young drake and sending him sprawling across the floor, his Lightsabers skidding from his hands.
“Jedi target disarmed. Preparing to…” The droid began, but got no further as it was suddenly lifted from its feet.
“Not quite disarmed.” Spike grunted, getting back to his feet one claw outstretched towards the now floating droid.
“Alert, alert, unit immobilised, send backup.” The droid said, its voice rising slightly.
“Too late for that.” Spike panted, before taking a deep breath and roaring, covering the droid in flames.
The droid seemed to scream as the fire washed over it, quickly heating it until its entire body was a brilliant white, before becoming completely molten and slipping from Spikes grasp, beginning to congeal in a boiling pool. Sticking his hands out, Spike used the force to retrieve his Lightsabers, reattaching them to his belt.
Making sure to avoid the pool of metal, Spike moved forward again, determined to keep moving until he could at least see the battle going on above his head. What he wouldn’t give for a communicator at this point, anything so that he would be able to find out what was going on. The lack of battle noises un-nerved him more than anything else. He was either too deep in the built up urban environment, or…they had left without him.
Pushing the thought from his mind, Spike rounded another corner, only to find himself face to face with five humans wearing long red robes, topped with brown leather armour and wielding spears and blasters. Behind them were yet more of the droids, and Spikes heart fell as he saw them. In his current state, he had struggled with two of them, let alone over double that and the same in Tetan Shock Troopers.
“It’s the Jedi!” One shouted, brandishing his spear.
“Don’t move.” Another growled, pointing his blaster at Spike.
Panting heavily, Spike began to raise his arms, before thrusting them forward, hitting the front soldiers with a blast of telekinesis. Unfortunately, with his injuries as they were, he couldn’t muster much more than a simple shove. Nevertheless, it gave him enough time to draw his weapons, holding the blades along his arm to help himself on the defence.
Sure enough, the soldiers and the droids were quick to recover, raining down a flurry of shots on him. Working quickly, Spike lashed out with blades, slashing one of the soldiers across the chest in an X pattern, before spinning and unleashing a gout of flame at another one of the soldiers, causing him to drop to the ground, screaming as his flesh melted from his body.
Turning away from the macabre spectacle, Spike began to retreat back down the street as the weight of fire increased, the Krath war droids taking point, advancing on Spike quicker than he could retreat. He continued to block the shots, his moves becoming more erratic and wider, before one of the droids spoke up.
“Jedi tactics assimilated. Injuries on left side. Left leg. Left side of cranium. Concentrate fire.”
The result was instantaneous, and the droids instantly altered their target areas, aiming for his leg and side. He managed to block a few more shots, before finally one of his assailants found their mark, the shot hitting his injured leg, knocking it out from underneath him and sending him toppling to the floor, again.
“Retrieve his Lightsabers.” One of the soldiers ordered, the order quickly being carried out by a pair of the droids who stepped on his wrists, causing him to cry out in pain and instinctively relinquish the grip on his weapons, allowing the droids to pick them up.
“Well well well. One of the Jedi trying to rescue their brother eh?” Sneered one of the soldiers, pushing Spike with a foot so he was lying on his back, panting heavily, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. “I must say, when the two droids reported a Jedi on the loose in the lower city, I had expected more.”
“Let me up…and I’ll show…” Spike began, before the soldier prodded his side, drawing a cry of pain from Spike.
“No no, my little Jedi.” He laughed. “I’m not stupid enough to fall for that. You are such a disappointment. I’m sure your master despises having to train someone as weak as you. And let’s not even start with your family. What, your family gave you up so they wouldn’t have to look at you anymore? Pathetic.”
“Get. Off. Me!” Spike roared, ripping his arms out from underneath the heels of the droids, throwing a shockwave out that knocked the soldiers flying, sending them crashing into the walls around him.
Spike was not done with that one soldier however, and while the others were still stumbling about, he pulled the offending soldier over, immobilising him with the force and holding him at his eye level.
“Never. Insult. Twilight!” He screamed, bringing his fist round and slamming it into the side of the man’s head, denting it and making the man go limp.
Panting, Spike looked around at the two remaining soldiers and the five droids. The soldiers looked terrified as Spike advanced on them, gritting his teeth as he tried to stop himself from crying out in pain. The droids however had no such emotion, and charged forward, their swords brandished as they bore down on him.
Using the force to augment his speed, Spike jinked, well, stumbled, to the side, avoiding the first of the charging droids and grabbing it with the force, slamming it into the floor and crushing it under its own weight. Spinning round, Spike screamed in agony as he brought his arm up, catching a sword blow that was aimed for his neck in his arm, the blade digging deep and sticking. The droid tried to pull back, but it couldn’t extract the weapon.
Unleashing a stream of flame, Spike hit the droid straight on, burning its head away in short order. Collapsing to the ground, Spike pulled the sword from his arm with a grunt, before facing the five remaining targets. He roared as looked at them, trying to scare them, but they were neither scared nor stupid, the soldiers having seen what happened in close quarters and the droids assimilating his tactics.
Forming a gun line, the remaining troops unleashed a flurry of shots at him. The first shot to hit him slammed into his shoulder, spinning him around. The next into his leg, forcing him to come to a halt as he was spun the opposite way, facing away from the enemy, before a final shot slammed into his back, sending him flying. He was dimly aware that those shots should have killed him, but that wasn’t going to be much more of a problem as he heard the droids approaching him.
His left leg was useless at the moment, his left side and his head felt like Big Mac had done a tap dance on them and his right arm felt like it had been cut in half. He was covered in blood, both his own and the enemies. He was finished.
Determined to at least look his killers in the eye, Spike forced himself to roll over, no longer even able to muster the strength to cry out as pain coursed through his body. One of the droids stood over him, raising its weapon until the barrel was just inches from his forehead.
“Neutralising targ...” The droid growled.
The droid never finished, a yellow Lightsaber erupting from its chest, before being drawn back, returning to the hand of the Jedi who had thrown it. Sunrider leaped forward, Cay and Tott by her side as the trio slashed at the remaining droids, before rushing to Spikes side.
“He’s alive!” Cay roared.
“Master Solaris, we have your Padawan, he’s alive.” Tott radioed. “Mission was a failure, fall back to rally point.”
“Hold on Spike, we’re going to get you out of here.” Sunrider said, lifting Spike onto her shoulders and breaking into a run, the other two hot on her heels.
As they rounded a bend, Spike dimly caught sight of a transporter, surrounded by a few individuals he assumed were the beast riders, before he finally allowed himself the mercy of passing out.