Spike yawned as he watched the stretched out stars whiz past the Bridge as they sped through Hyperspace. It always amazed Spike at the sheer speed that the ship covered as it moved through this realm, the class two-point-oh Hyperdrive making impossibly long journeys capable in only a few hours. The jump to Thresh was not long, and considering the fact that they were already forty six minutes into their jump, it couldn’t be long until they arrived. Spike still didn’t know what he was expecting to find out here.
“Parn, you have the bridge.” Spike said suddenly, getting up from the command chair.
“Aye sir. Lieutenant, take the helm please.” Parn nodded as she got up from her own seat and moved towards the command chair.
Moving out of the room, Spike began to make his way towards the bunk rooms where the army detachment of the 59th were quartered. He wanted them briefed and ready for a search and rescue operation. He hoped that this was just a big misunderstanding, and that there would be a logical explanation for all of this, a busted transmitter or a malfunction on the planets docks, something like that. Then again, it never hurt to be overly prepared. People always mocked those who were ready at all times until their readiness paid off.
“Commander on deck!” A soldier roared as Spike entered the long bunk room, the soldiers that were milling around quickly jumping to their feet.
“At ease. Sergeant Cortez, a word if you please.” Spike said, the soldiers sitting back down and resuming whatever they had been doing before he had come in.
“What is it Spike?” Cortez asked, moving next to Spike as the pair made their way through the bunk.
“We’re heading for the planet known Thresh, trade partner of Ranox and exporter of Blasters. They’ve dropped out of contact with Ranox and we’ve decided to go and investigate it.”
“What are we expecting? Another hunt?” Cortez asked.
“Only on a special occasion.” Spike grinned. “Now, we don’t know what to expect, they aren’t responding to our hails, meaning that this wasn’t just a long range transmitter fault. Now if there is a hostile force, we’ll have to take precautions and may have to leave and wait for reinforcements, but if it’s not, play nice with the locals. You know what a lot of Outer Rim planets think of the Republic, and considering their industry, I’d rather avoid a confrontation with them if nothing has happened.”
“Right, so to confirm, no guns blazing.” Cortex nodded slowly.
“That’s correct. I want all your men standing ready though. As soon as we come out of Hyperspace, I’ll tell you more.”
“All hands, stand by your posts. Returning to real space in sixty seconds and counting.” Came the voice of Parn over the radio.
“Scratch that, come with me to the bridge now, we’ll make our plans when we arrive.” Spike ordered, before breaking into a light jog, ducking through the doors as he reached the Bridge.
“And…mark.” The Helmsman said, pulling back on the lever as they ship suddenly decelerated.
The scene that was presented to them was not pretty. Ships of every size, ranging from small civilian freighters to a squadron of outdated destroyers, floated lifelessly through the space around the planet, their hulls ripped open and exposed to the vacuum. The fact that there were neither fires nor any signs that the ships had any sort of power left in them told Spike that they had been dead for a long time. Even with the large number of dead hulks in space, Spike knew that there weren’t nearly enough ships to make up the entire defence force for a planet, nor were there enough civilian ships to constitute running away and evacuating the planet.
Beyond the scene in space lay the planet of Thresh, the lush green planet broken up by large blotches of grey metal and stone, cities that took up what looked like a little under half the surface of the world, and what looked like fires still smouldering on some of them. Whatever had hit this planet, it had been brutal, but it had been over for a long time.
“Parn, get the fighter squadron leaders up here now, man the scanners and raise the shields.” Spike ordered quickly. “Don’t move the ship until I give the order, I want to be able to jump instantly if we need to.”
“I’ll get my men on standby.” Cortez added as Parn spoke hurriedly into her headset. “We’ll mount up in the shuttles just in case.”
“Good. You do that, I want full recovery gear as well as combat gear. Protection detail on standby to remain with the ship.”
“Sir.” A pair of voices rang out as two people ran into the room, one man and one woman, both wearing the flight suits of the two squadrons of fighters that were on board the ship. Both Purple and Green squadrons were equipped with six Aurek-Class tactical strikefighters, one of, if not the most, advanced fighter in service to anyone anywhere. Spike almost envied them for getting to pilot the machines. Almost, but then again, he had never set foot in a fighter since Empress Teta, and he now actually doubted his ability to get in most conventionally designed machines.
“Good. I want both wings to scout the area, check the hulks and check the system monitor. Scanners haven’t picked any active signals up yet, but I want to know that we don’t have ships hiding and powered down to wait for us.” Spike ordered, quickly dismissing the pilots as they ran back towards the aft hangers.
“Platoons one, two, three and four loaded and standing by for deployment.” Came the voice of Cortez over the Bridge comm. “Do we launch?”
“I told you, wait for my signal.” Spike replied tersely.
“Spike.” Parn called from her station. “What do you think happened here?”
“I don’t know. Whatever happened here was quick and brutal. They were overwhelmed before they knew what was happening.” Spike summarised quickly.
“How could you possibly know that?” Parn asked.
“Look around, little to no signs of residue from weapon discharges, no spent casing of missiles or anything. If they had managed to fight back, there would be something, but from the looks of things this was all done before shields could even be raised.” Spike pointed out.
“So they were attacked by ships as soon as the enemy exited Hyperspace.” Parn said slowly. “That shows…”
“Training, discipline and Ruthlessness.” Spike finished. “This wasn’t pirates or slavers, this was a well organised force, and I doubt that they’d just let another ship jump into this system without having some sort of failsafe in place.”
“Well if they do, they haven’t sprung anything yet. No signals have gone out from this system.” Parn informed him.
“That’s good.” Spike nodded. “Fighter wings, report in.”
“Green wing, sweeping the debris field now sir. Lot of dead bodies out here, but no sign of anything active. All these ships look like they’ve been hit in a pretty bad way, wouldn’t even be worth hauling them back to be refitted, these things are just hunks of scrap.” Came the voice of the man in charge of Green wing.
“Roger Green Wing.” Spike nodded. “Purple wing, status on the system monitor?”
“The station’s been hit hard.” Purple Leader informed him. “Decks one through sixty three have been ripped off, the rest has been trashed. Weapons emplacements are gone, and there are no signs of the shields overloading.”
“Even the station got hit before they were ready.” Muttered Spike. “Alright, bring it in. Cortez, prepare to launch when I get there. Parn, take control and bring us closer to planet. When I’m gone, make sure to keep the crew on standby. Anything comes in to the system I want you to assume hostile and get out of here. Call for reinforcements, then come and pick us up. We’ll hold out on the planet if we need to.”
“You sure you want us to leave you down there?” Parn asked, raising an eyebrow.
“We can hold out on the ground. It wouldn’t be the first time I had to, but if you actually see a fleet jump in, I don’t want you risking the ship.”
“Fine. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Parn smirked, but Spike didn’t see as he was already making his way towards the shuttle bay.
“Any room on board?” Spike asked, climbing into one of the four shuttles that occupied the hanger.
“No seats here sir.” One of the soldiers shook his head.
“Co-pilots free.” The pilot called through from the cockpit.
“Cortez, prepare to take flight.” Spike ordered over the comm. “Parn?”
“Moving into position now. If you’re going to go now, we can’t get any closer without going through re-entry protocols.”
“Brilliant.” Spike nodded, before tapping the pilot on the arm. “Punch it.”
Instantly, Spike was thrown back into his seat as the ship shot forward, passing through the oxygen shields and heading for the planet below. As he was in the cockpit, Spike got a perfect view of everything that happened, and watched as the other shuttles formed up on his ship and the ship he assumed Cortez was aboard. Fire licked at the window as they passed through the atmosphere, the ship shaking violently as it made the transition into atmosphere, but finally, they were through, dropping down towards the cloud layer.
“When we get boots on the ground, I want everyone on alert. There may be booby traps down there, or better yet survivors. I don’t want itchy trigger fingers killing off any potential witnesses.”
A chorus of ‘rogers’ was transmitted back to Spike, who began to unstrap himself from the seat, before getting and walking back down the troop compartment, looking the soldiers directly in the eye as he went. They looked to him as a source of inspiration and leadership, and he knew that the best place to inspire from was right at the front. No use shouting from the back after all, if he wouldn’t face something, then he didn’t expect those under his command to face it.
“Pilot, open the rear hatch.” He ordered, being quickly met by the roar of the wind as the hatch swung open, just moments before the ship hit the ground.
“With me.” Spike called, quickly running from the ship to check where they had landed. Behind him, the Republic soldiers fanned out, spilling from the four shuttles and creating a perimeter around the ships.
“Spike.” Cortez shouted, running over to the Dragon. “We’ve landed just outside a small town, thought we should check it out before moving on to check the city.”
“Good.” Spike nodded, looking around slowly, reaching out with the force for something, but finding nothing but emptiness. It was unnerving. “Have the first, second and third platoon spread out and search the area. Leave the forth platoon with the ships and have medical attention on standby, I want any survivors brought back here and treated immediately.”
“Vipers!” Cortez bellowed. “Forth platoon, set up shop and make a cordon! Prepare medical treatment for any survivors! The rest of you, get into that village and search it, top to bottom!”
Quickly, the men blurred into motion, the forty men of fourth platoon moving further apart to cover the ground around the landing zone, while the other one hundred and twenty members of the 59th ran forward to check the village. Running beside the, Spike reached the village first, skidding to a halt as he reached the outskirts, looking at the burnt remains of the village. Spike looked over the dead bodies that littered the ground, many of them nothing more than burnt skeletons, crawling away from whatever had razed the village. Memories surfaced as Spike looked at one of the bodies, his own handiwork on Coruscant coming back to haunt him. At least they looked like they had put up more of a struggle than the forces in orbit had.
“My god. What happened here?” Cortez breathed softly, crouching down next to one of the bodies. It was tiny, it couldn’t have been more than nine or ten.
“Who could do this?” Spike asked in confusion. “This isn’t the work of pirates or slavers. Only the Sith had this power, and I saw them fall.”
“Could they have come back?” Cortez asked wearily.
“Exar Kun is dead. Ulic is dead, killed by the spacer Hoggon. I don’t sense the Sith presence here either.” Spike shook his head.
“There’s nothing alive here.” Cortez said solemnly, standing up and looking at Spike.
“No evidence either. Fire cleanses everything.” Spike growled softly. “Move the men out. We’ll head for the city, if there’s anything left, it’s more likely to be there. Then we leave, whatever did this was strong, I don’t want to run into them with so little. I’ll contact the Republic when we leave. I’ll meet you at the city.”
“Aye sir.” Cortez nodded, but Spike had already taken to the skies, soaring upwards and circling the air above the shuttles, looking at the planet with a sense of dread.
From orbit, he had thought the fires were small, but now he knew better. Columns of smoke rose above the city in the distance, the fires spreading out across the horizon like the gates to hell itself. Spike opened his mind to the force, and was almost overwhelmed by what he heard, losing altitude fast before he brought himself back under control. He could hear them screaming, all the men and women and children who had burnt here, crying for their mothers, for their gods, for help, until the moment when whatever had come to Thresh had swallowed them, putting them out of their misery. But even with all that, knowing all the suffering that had gone on here, he could not deny that some part of him admired what was going on. The fire reflected in his eyes, calling him closer, beckoning to him to become one with them. He could feel flames licking the inside of his throat, rising up until it was filling his mouth, the feeling filling him with ecstasy, before he forced it down, burying the feeling and powering himself forward, heading for the horizon.
It did not take him long to cross the distance between the shuttles and the city, passing over the head of the soldiers as they made their own way across the rough terrain, quickly leaving them behind him as he landed on the streets of the city, looking around at the burning buildings. The heat in the city would have been unbearable to a human, and he knew that even Cortez wasn’t stupid enough to brave this hell, but Spike was. He could survive this heat and walk through the fires. While fire purified all, it was not always quick, and if Spike was fast, he may find some scrap of evidence before the fire claimed it, something that could tell him what had happened here.
Spike sprinted through the city, slowly flapping his wings as he went, and creating gusts of wing that cleared the smoke from in front of him, giving him a better chance of seeing anything that may have been of use to him. What truly unnerved him about this place, even more than the fires that surrounded him, was the lack of bodies. He hadn’t seen any so far, not even bits of one or the burnt remains of a corpse, even though in the village had been strewed with the dead. Spike desperately wanted to know where everyone had gone, this was a massive city, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, would have called this home at one point. The lack of them was strange.
Skidding to a halt, Spike clutched his head as the wailing intensified, getting louder and threatening to split his head open with its piercing cry. Spike let out a cry of his own as he threw his mental barriers back up, cutting out all the sound as the pain receded from his mind.
Slowly, he got back to his feet, flapping his wings to disperse the smoke that had built up around him, and looking up at the towering structure he was in front of. This was where the scream had intensified, and he would bet his Lightsabers that if anyone or anything was going to be found in this city, it was going to be here.
Quickly, he ran up to the door, placing his hands against the metal surface, and almost instantly retracting his hands from the hot metal. Just because he could survive heat without pain didn’t mean that he overly liked the feeling, and would rather not touch it. Nevertheless, he wanted to search the building, and he had learnt what he needed to, the metal was malleable. Grunting, Spike threw his shoulder against the door, the metal buckling easily and allowing him entrance into the burning interior.
Spike grimaced as the smoke got in his eyes, the strength of the flames making it impossible even for him to clear it from around him, only managing to thin it as he made his way forward. As he moved, he lowered his metal barriers slightly, allowing the screams back in, but more than that, he heard a voice. Someone was weeping in this building, terrified and alone, scared, but very, very much alive. More than that though, Spike knew where the person was.
Running forward, avoiding the worst of the flames, Spike reached a stairwell, the flames licking the underside of the stairs. Gingerly, he tested the strength, being greeted by a series of creaks and groans, but it held, and he began upwards, not having enough space to fly as he made his way up and up and up, until he finally reached the floor where the sobbing was loudest, even without hearing it through the force. Replacing his barriers around his mind, Spike headed out onto the creaking and cracking floor, praying that it supported his massive form for long enough for him to find this one survivor. He doubted he would find another.
After two minutes of frantic searching, Spike finally found himself in front of a massive iron door, a blast room that looked as if it would be able to survive a lot of punishment, and felt the same as he placed his hands upon it, the surface being surprisingly cool when compared with the other things he had touched. It was not cold by any stretch of the imagination, but when compared with the rest of the metal around him, it was positively a block of ice.
“Hello!” He shouted, banging on the door with his fists, hoping to get the attention of whoever was in there.
“Who…who’s there?” A female voice answered, clearly young and terrified.
“I’m a friend!” Spike shouted back, throwing his shoulder against the metal, its surface not even denting.
“That’s what they said!” The girl cried.
“Just stand back!” Spike shouted, summoning his Lightsabers to his hands and igniting the blades. “Trust me, I’m a Jedi!”
Plunging his blades into the metal, Spike was surprised when he felt the amount of resistance the metal offered, but it still gave as Spike pushed the blades in. He hoped the girl had got out of the way, but he hadn’t seen another way. Cutting a circle in the door, Spike deactivated the blades, before using the force to pull the thick piece out and throwing it across the room, breaking one of the support struts and causing a small cave in, but Spike didn’t care, all he cared was that he had made a hole large enough for him to stick his head through, the spines that dotted it scraping against the top of the gap.
“Please, I am a Jedi of the Republic, and this building is falling down.” Spike said quickly, looking around the small metal room, its surface unblemished by smoke, and the little girl who was also similarly unaffected by the fire. “Take my hand, and I will get you out of here.”
The girl looked up at Spike, terror spreading across her face as she looked at Spike. He realised he must look like some sort of devil, his face covered in soot and ash, as his eyes betrayed the animal that lurked within him. He was not the nicest looking Jedi, and no matter what he did, what actions he took, he knew his looks would always hamper him. Even as he watched though, the girls face softened, and she nodded, Spike drawing his head back to allow her to clamber through, the little girl falling to the floor, only just being caught by Spike.
“Hold on, we’ll get out!” Spike grunted, holding onto the girl tightly as she began coughing, the ash and smoke getting into her throat, damaging her developing lungs.
Spike realised she wouldn’t last long, and broke into a sprint, shielding her with his wings to try and protect her as best he could, trying to remember where the stairs were, and wrenching open a door. In an instant, he realised he had made a big mistake, the room beyond being filled with fire, and now it had a new source of oxygen.
Time seemed to slow as the fire shot out towards the pair, death staring the little girl in the face. Spike was a Dragon, he had nothing to fear, but she was human, and she most certainly did. Screaming, Spike stuck his hand out, channelling something from deep within him into his hand. It did not feel like the force, but the fire seemed to change course, washing around them and over them, but never touching them. Spike didn’t care what he did, all he cared was that it had worked, and it had sapped his strength. He could already feel it returning though, and set off again, pushing it from his mind as more important things loomed.
He saw the stairs, and almost whooped for joy, before he watched something burning rain down from above, smashing the staircase to pieces as it passed. Spike looked down at the horrifying scene beneath him, fire licking the side of the building like a liquid, flowing up towards them, intending to swallow the pair whole. Spike was dubious that even he could survive that for long, and he knew the girl couldn’t.
“Hey, hey. What’s your name?” He asked, looking down at the fading girl in his arms.
“Kat…ara.” She spluttered, coughing violently.
“Katara, that’s a good name. Do you trust me?” Spike asked urgently.
She didn’t reply, but nodded weakly. She wasn’t going to last long, and Spike knew it.
“Hold on!” He bellowed, before flapping his wings hard and taking flight, powering himself upwards.
It was a narrow stairwell, and he only just fit through, his wings knocking against the side a few times, forcing him to steady himself with his feet and free hand, his claws digging into the rock and metal as he climbed ever higher. The smoke was getting thicker, and the girl was coughing less and less, a sure fire sign that she wouldn’t last any longer.
“Katara! Head down!” He bellowed, before flapping his wings in one massive downwards stroke, propelling himself towards the roof.
He shielded the girl as best he could as he smashed into the roof. Normally, he would have just bounced back off, making a crater if he was lucky, and getting a conclusion on worse for his troubles. Luckily for Spike though, the building was already weaken by the fire licking at every part of it, and instead of offering a proper resistance, it gave in, allowing Spike to burst into the equally smoke filled outside world. Here however, Spike was not confined with the smoke, and a few flaps of his wings cleared enough room for him to rest for a second.
“See Katara, nothing to…” He grinned, looking down at the girl in his arms and trailing off. “Katara? Katara!” The girl wasn’t coughing any more, she wasn’t doing anything, and from the rise and fall of her chest, it looked as if she was barely breathing. She needed help, but Spike couldn’t give it to her here.
Flapping his wings, Spike flew harder than he had ever flown before, pushing his body to the max as he streaked through the sky.
“Cortez!” He yelled into his comm. “Double time it back to the shuttles!”
“But we’re only half way to the city.” Cortez replied.
“Just do it!” Spike screamed, before switching to the frequency the forth platoon leader was on. “Mount up and prepare for dust off! We have one priority medical case incoming! Parn!” He changed frequency again. “Get the ship ready to move! Plot a course for Ranox and prepare to receive shuttles! I want you to jump as soon as all four are on board!”
“Aye sir! What’s going on?!” Parn shouted back across the radio.
“I found a survivor.”