//------------------------------// // The Dark Lords of the Sith // Story: The Dragon and the Force // by FenrisianBrony //------------------------------// Spike smiled as Harmony jumped back into Hyperspace, watching his screen to check all of his fleet had also made the jump, before letting out a sigh of relief. Yet another raid had gone off without severe casualties on their side, the Sith freighters they had targeted now stripped of anything useful and left to burn, their navicomputers locked onto the systems star. Even if the Sith did manage to board them again, they wouldn’t be able to save the ships. Spike and the other Special Forces has been at this for weeks now, raiding up and down the path of the Sith advance, making sure that getting supplies to the front lines was extremely difficult and costly for their enemies. This was clearly having the desired effect, as the Sith assault had slowed to a crawl, more and more ships and soldiers being pulled away from the front in an effort to put an end to the raids. Spike could just picture Revan trying to counter the raids, trying to work out a discernible plan that Spike was following. If Revan hadn’t known who he was fighting at the beginning of the war, he surely knew now. “Well done everybody, if we keep this up we may buy enough time for the main Republic fleet to regroup and push these bastards back from where they came,” Spike called out to the bridge crew. “Helms…” “Sir, call coming in, priority one security clearance,” one of the bridge crew called out, looking round at Spike. “Shall I patch it through to your quarters?” “No, put it through on the bridge,” Spike shook his head, getting up and standing by the holo-desk. “Aye aye, sir,” the man nodded, pressing a few buttons, the hologram bursting into life, putting Spike face to face with the Republic’s Supreme Commander. “Commander Tao-ni,” Spike nodded. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” “There’s no time for chit-chat now I’m afraid, general,” Tao-ni shook his head. “You and your men are doing a great job stalling the Sith advance, but we’ve just got news of a splinter fleet breaking off from the main force. They are heading for Telos IV, and I can’t risk breaking a part of our own fleet off to intercept them.” “What about the Coruscant Home Fleet?” Spike asked. “The Sith haven’t gotten anywhere near there yet, surely you can afford to take some ships from there?” “In normal times yes, but we don’t have time on our side this time,” Tao-ni shook his head. “With current estimations of the Sith splinter fleet’s speed, the planet will be under Sith occupation long before the Home Fleet can get there. The only ships fast enough to reach there in time are yours, General. I’m reassigning you to guard Telos IV, we cannot allow that planet to fall or the Sith will be able to put a chokehold on the Hydian Way. I’m dispatching what assets I have but you’ll have to hold them off until they get there.” “Understood, commander, I won’t let the planet fall,” Spike nodded. “I know you won’t. Tao-ni, out.” “Alright you heard the Supreme Commander,” Spike called as the hologram died, turning to face the bridge crew. “Signal all ships in the squadron to drop out of Hyperspace and relay the message to all other Special Forces in our quadrant. We make for Telos at full speed.” *** The Special Forces did not take long to reach Telos airspace, quickly falling into formation around the planet, their black-hulled ships almost invisible against the darkness of space. That is not to say they were invisible, far from it in fact, the majority of attacks being aimed at the emissions the ships gave out rather than their physical form, but it did help to unnerve opponents, and it served them well against fighters and bombers. Spike and the other commanders who had managed to get to the planet in time were gathered around the planning table in Harmony, watching as two separate fleets approached Telos. The faster of the two seemed to be much smaller, but was already closing in on the planet, while the bulk of the force was still trailing behind that, looking like it would not get to the planet for hours after the first one arrived. “Well then? Ideas, I want to hear them, captains,” Spike looked around at his officers. “Wait here, deploy all our forces in a defensive cordon around the planet and wait for the Sith to come to us,” one man spoke up. “We will have the advantage of the home field and Telos’s few defensive guns which should give us the advantage we need to hold them off until we are reinforced.” “I disagree, Captain Mansuero” Katara shook her head. “The Sith outnumber us massively when their fleets are combined, and they will get around any defence we mount and simply move onto the planet without securing the orbitals first. If we allow both fleets to merge then we can kiss Telos and the Hydian Way goodbye.” “What do you suggest then?” Spike looked at him. “If we can force the large fleet to engage us outside of the Telos system, we will have much more flexibility to engage them with,” Katara began. “A small force left here, combined with Telos’s defences, could hold off the smaller fleet, while the rest of our ships could delay the main Sith force. We wouldn’t be able to defeat them, but we could slow them down enough to make a difference.” “That will never work,” Mansuero insisted. “The larger force will not be slowed by anything less than our entire strength. If we split our own forces then we only invite destruction.” “Not if we do not engage them directly,” Katara pressed. “if we stick to using torpedoes and our long guns then we can force the larger fleet to follow us and not allow them to jump to Hyperspace. We are not trained for a defensive action of this nature, so let us use what we all know and hit them hard and fast and then retreat and do it again.” “I’ve heard enough,” Spike spoke up again. “Katara is right, allowing the Sith to regroup is folly and spells disaster for the planet. A small force, led by Captain Mansuero will remain at Telos to engage the smaller Sith vanguard when they arrive, while I will lead the rest of our forces to engage the main Sith force at this point.” He indicated a point on the star map. “If we move quickly we can redirect some of this asteroid belt right into the Hyperspace lane and force the Sith fleet to slow back into realspace for us to engage. If we use this nebula to our advantage, we should be able to engage them for at least an hour before they regain their path and jump again, maybe more if we are successful in our attacks.” “What I wouldn’t give for some interdictor tech,” one of the captains, Saol if Spike remembered correctly, sighed. “It would make things far easier, but we work with what we have,” Spike agreed. “If there is nothing else then I want you all back to your ships. Captain Mansuero, deploy your squadrons as you see fit, everyone else, all haste to the asteroid belt. We have one shot to move them before the Sith fleet is past us.” *** Spike held his breath as the seconds ticked on, more and more time passing by with no sign of the Sith fleet. They had made good progress out of the system, quickly pulling some of the larger asteroids out of the belt with the Hammerheads tractor beams and placing them directly in the Hyperspace lane, before retreating to the nebula. While they were hidden from enemy sensors, which would be useful when the Sith fleet finally did arrive, it also meant their own sensors were down, and Spike had no way of knowing what was going on outside of the gaseous cloud. Every minute that passed made his nerves rise more and more. If he had miscalculated, if they hadn’t managed to stop the Sith fleet, then he had not only left some of his own men willingly behind to take the fire, he had abandoned an entire planet to the Sith. “What’s taking so long?” Spike hissed. “It should only be a few more minutes, master,” Katara reasoned, sweart covering her own brow. “Oh I hope you’re right, Katara, I really do,” Spike muttered, watching the space before him before grinning. “Jackpot.” A single Sith ship appeared from Hyperspace, slowing down a few thousand kilometres away from the asteroids, followed quickly by another, and another. In total five ships exited Hyperspace, each one a massive Interdictor-class Cruiser. Spike couldn’t help but marvel at the vessels. The only one he had known to be constructed properly by the Mandalorian Wars had been the Leviathan, Saul Karath’s ship, and while the Sith were reportedly using far more of these ships now than the Republic themselves had ever built, it was the first time Spike had seen one for himself. “Wait, the rest of the fleet will be coming soon,” Spike ordered, keeping his voice down as a force of habit. The silence continued for a minute, the ships milling around, not moving past the asteroids, as if they were content to simply wait. After yet another minute, Spike began to get even more paranoid. “Order one ship out of the nebula, quietly,” he ordered, looking at the radio operator. “I want to know when the hell the rest of this fleet is going to arrive.” The man nodded, quickly relaying instructions, getting a quick reply in response, before going pale and turning to Spike. “S-Sir, they say the fleet just…vanished. There isn’t one on approach anymore.” “Bullshit, it’s a system glitch, check again,” Spike ordered, clenching his fists tight. “He did, sir, three more times. All scans come back showing the same thing. The fleet we chased no longer exists…and sir, the fleet on route to Telos, it’s larger than we thought.” Realisation shot through Spike as he slammed his hand down on his command thrones arm. “Get us back to Telos, now! Every ship is to make for the planet at top speed, burn the engines to a crisp if you have to, divert all power away from non-essential systems! Do it!” “Sir, something’s holding us here, the Hyperdrives are ready but won’t engage,” one of the bridge crew called out. “All ships are reporting the same problem, it’s an artificial gravity well!” “Fuck! No!” Spike bellowed. “All ships, forward! We’ll blast these bastards out of the sky and make for Telos!” Spike felt the engines of Harmony kick in, and he could already feel the ship moving into position to fire her main gun. This would be the largest target she had ever fired upon, and it would be a true test of her power. The gun fired at the nearest ship, the shell accelerating to a fraction of the speed of light before it slammed into the nose of the cruiser, passing right through the shields and exploding. The front of the ship was consumed in the fireball, and for a moment Spike thought they had killed it, before it began to turn, the ships presenting their sides to the Special Forces, before firing as one. Hundreds, if not thousands of turbolaser shots sliced into the nebula, the Republic shields flaring under the ruthless assault. Spike didn’t know what the damage to his fleet was, intent on getting to grips with the Sith. “I want the main gun reloaded and recharged, now!” Spike bellowed. “All ships…” Spike Spike growled as the voice penetrated his head, turning his gaze towards the central ship and letting out a reptilian hiss. “Revan.” “Master?” Katara asked. “It’s him, it’s his flagship. We can still turn this situation around,” Spike grinned savagely. “Order second squadron to form up behind me and move to close assault range, we are boarding that vessel. All other ships engage and destroy the Sith fleet, boarding actions are permitted. As soon as ships are able they are to jump system and make speed to Telos.” “We’re boarding Revan’s flagship?” Katara asked, her voice wavering slightly as shots hammered into Harmony’s shields. “Intensify forward shielding, drain power from the main gun if we have to, forget my order to reload, just get me to that ship,” Spike ordered, before looking at Katara. “Don’t you see? We have a chance to end all of this, without Revan who’s going to fight this war? Malak? That man couldn’t fight his way out of a one way system without instructions. We have the strongest soldiers in the Republic with us, the Sith can’t stand up to us, even on their home turf. We can end this war today.” “I hope you know what you’re doing, master,” Katara nodded, following Spike towards the hanger bay at a sprint, the pair forming up with the soldiers as Harmony came to a halt beside Revan’s ship. The umbilical cord extending from Harmony seemed to take forever to reach Revan’s ship, the plasma torches on the end beginning to burn through the hull. Finally, after what must have been five minutes, the breached hull fell away, Spike leaping through the gap, his Lightsabers activated and his blaster cannon firing wildly. “Revan!” he bellowed loudly as the republic forces clashed with the Sith, the Mandalorian-esk armour standing out in stark contrast to the gunmetal grey and full face visored helmets of the Sith. “I know you’re here! Fight me!” “Master, what’s our target,” Katara asked, her own Lightsaber active and deflecting blaster shot. “Revan is,” Spike snarled. “But we also need to take out the gravity well generator. We sabotage that and Revan will have to come to us.” Not waiting for anyone to acknowledge what he said, Spike set off again, sprinting down the corridors of the ship as he desperately downloaded schematics from the holonet of this ships layout, steering him and his men in the right direction towards the gravity well generators. The resistance along the way was fierce, more than one of Spikes soldiers falling to never rise again, but Spike was relentless, smashing through their ranks just like he had done with the Mandalorians in the last war, and the Krath in the war before then. Finally, Spike emerged into the cavernous room that held the gravity well generators, the three massive orb like structures towering over everything else in the room. The last technicians were already fleeing, Spike momentarily debating taking a shot at them, before refraining, turning to his men. “Set demolition charges and thermal detonators. If you’re not doing that I want you on look out, no one gets close to this room without…” Spike trailed off as he felt something approaching, turning and switching his Lightsabers into guard positions, Katara beside him, recognising Spikes stance and preparing for the worst. “He’s coming,” Spike hissed. “Malak too, they’re both here.” “Can we defeat them both?” Katara asked, fear creeping into her voice. “We can try,” Spike nodded, before the doors to the generator room slid open, Revan and Malak stepping through. Revan was the first one Spike focussed on, the mask of the Mandalorian woman still covering his face, while heavy black robes covered the rest of his body, a small gap down the middle showing that he was also wearing body armour beneath that. His Lightsaber was also different, gone was the hilt he had coveted as a Jedi, this hilt was longer, sleeker, and had two wicked blades flanking the main emitter. Malak on the other hand was still the same massive man he had been before turning to the Dark Side, casting aside his old red robes for tight, form-fitting red armour. Like Revan he also carried a newly crafted Lightsaber, but what drew Spike’s eye the most was his jaw, or rather lack of a jaw. The lower part of his face was now covered completely with a metal prosthesis, armouring the lower part of his face and upper neck. “Revan,” Spike growled. “Spike, so good of you to join us,” Revan replied, his voice taking on a cruel tinge. “And you brought your little padawan as well. So quaint.” “And you brought your loyal attack dog,” Spike snapped, glaring a Malak and sneering. “Did something happen to your face, little man?” “The same thing that happened to you, Spike,” Malak’s voice now had a distinctive robotic tone to it as he spoke. “And the same thing I will make sure happens to your apprentice.” “Lay a hand on her and I’ll kill you slowly,” Spike growled, crouching slightly to lower his centre of gravity, preparing himself for the fight ahead. “How could you do this, Revan? To betray the Republic?” “The Republic is a stagnant beast,” Revan shook his head. “It is riddled with corruption and ineffectual rulers. They do not deserve the mantle of leadership in the galaxy, only the strong do. My Empire will ensure that the strong safeguard this galaxy.” “The strong?” Spike snorted. “I thought your assault had been slowed to a crawl by my fleet alone.” “It is true that your attacks have been a…hindrance to my plans,” Revan nodded. “But you will not succeed. Telos will fall, Admiral Karath has already provided us with the security codes to bypass your fleets, and with the planet under our control, you will no longer have access to the archives hidden within.” “The archives?” Katara asked, holding her Lightsaber tightly, the blade held out before her. “The archives of the Telos academy,” Spike elaborated. “We moved some of the Jedi knowledge there after Ossus fell in the Great Sith War.” “And now that knowledge will fall like the planet,” Revan cut it. “Now, Spike, Katara, I give you one chance. Join me, stand beside me and help me put an end to this war. The Dark Side has power you would not believe.” “Oh I believe it, Revan,” Spike growled. “But I would rather die than bow to you again.” “And is your padawan likewise blinded by the lies of the jedi?” “I’ll never follow you,” Katara spat. “A pity, you both could have made fine allies,” Revan sighed, before he and Malak jumped forward, using the force to cross the gap between them and clashing with the pair. Revan sliced down at Spike, hoping to power through Spikes guard through surprise, while Malak hit the ground before Katara like a comet, hacking and slashing at Katara, forcing her to backpedal away from the hellishly powerful assaults. Spike on the other hand had the power advantage over Revan, his attacks forcing the man to retreat, and yet he could never find an opening, every time he thought he had an opportunity, Revan shut it off quickly. “Stand still!” Spike roared, unleashing a gout of flame at Revan, the man dodging out of the way, before launching a barrage of lightning at Spike. Spike grunted as he crossed his sabres before the storm, the Lighting slamming into them, lashing out at his bionics and sending alert messages and lights blaring across Spikes vision. Revan didn’t let up, and Spike let out a roar, before channelling his own magic from his claw, lightning jumping out and clashing with Revan’s. “That’s it, Spike, feel the power of the dark side,” Revan pushed harder, Spike feeling his lightning getting more powerful. “Give into it, I can show you…” “This is magic you idiot,” Spike snarled, pouring more of his power into his hand, glancing over at Malak and Katara, the pair still duelling, Katara keeping one step ahead of Malak as she used the force to jump away from him. It was almost comical, watching the massive form of Malak leaping after Katara, but it was also deadly. “Magic doesn’t take sides,” Spike turned his attention back to Revan. “You’re weak to think that it can be more powerful because you decide it is. Passion is not the be all and end all!” With a roar, Spike flexed his arm, channelling everything he had into the magical blast, flinging Revan across the room. Turning his attention to Malak, Spike flung Elusive, his Lightsaber knocking Malak's aside a second before it would have cut Katara in half. Before Malak could recover, Spike dived at him, taking to the air and delivering a kick into his stomach, knocking him back. “Blow the generators!” Spike roared, grabbing Katara and covering her with his wings. A moment later an explosion ripped through the superstructure of the ship, the three generators simply ceasing to be. A few pieces of shrapnel slammed into Spikes wings, but he kept Katara covered, before diving out of the way as the ceiling collapsed, separating Revan and Malak from Spike and the rest of the Republic troops. “No! Fucking hell!” Spike roared, getting up and glaring at the destroyed ceiling. “Revan! This isn’t over!” “Master! We need to go!” Katara bellowed, tugging on his arm. “The fleet is saying that the other ships have either been destroyed or disabled, the interdiction field’s gone, we can get to Telos now.” “Tell the other ships to jump system,” Spike growled quietly. “This was a distraction, and we don’t have enough men to take this ship by force. Everyone back to Harmony, Revan get’s to see another day.”