Off Course
Spike hurried off the bridge of Harmony, making his way through the umbilical cord that connected his ship to the Swiftsure. Beside him walked Tarhal, the Wookie loping along with long strides, easily keeping pace with Spike, despite the size difference between the pair.
Spikes height was actually becoming quite an issue for him, and he now had to duck low just to get through the corridors of his ship without carving out large furloughs with his sharp scales. He seemed to have grown more in the past few months than he had in the thirty years prior to the war, and if he had a spare moment, would have been very interested to see if he could actually pinpoint why this was. At the moment though, the war took priority, and Spike was willing to put personal discovery aside for now.
The pair eventually reached the blast door to the bridge, the soldiers posted to the door ushering them past after glancing down at their Lightsabers, and allowing Spike and Tarhal to enter the nerve centre of the entire fleet that Revan now had at his command.
“Spike, Tarhal, I’m glad you’re here,” Revan nodded from the planning table he and the rest of the fleets commanders were gathered around.
“Looks like you had a fun time on Eres,” Malak quipped, glancing at Spikes head.
“That’s certainly one way of looking at it,” Spike shot back with a smirk. “And you look like you’ve got a new look too. The bald tattooed looked really suits you.”
“Says the one without any sort of hair,” Malak quipped.
“If you two are quite finished,” Revan cut in. “There is a war on you know, kind of important.”
“Yes, sorry,” Spike nodded, following Tarhal to stand beside Revan and look over the projection of Taris. “So, this is our target then.”
“Yes, Taris,” Revan nodded. “We lost the planet shortly after the Jebble-Vanquo-Tarnith line fell, and by all reports, it’s one of the key points in the Mandalore’s war machine, up there with Duxn and Mandalore. If we can take this away from them, we’ll be one step closer to winning.”
“It’s long overdue,” Spike nodded. “How recent is this information?”
“We have a few scout ships in the system, what you’re seeing is real-time,” one of the captains in the room replied quickly.
“Plus our operatives on the surface are sending detailed reports of the ground to orbit defences,” another man added.
“Yes, the republic has managed to keep some quite good tabs on Taris,” Revan summarised. “All that remains now is to plan the assault and take the planet back.”
“Oh is that all?” Tarhal chuckled, his growls resounding round the bridge. “You make it sound so easy.”
“I think it’s going to be a bit harder than just waltz in and start laying down the hurt,” Spike agreed. “I mean, just look at their fleet. It’s almost as big as ours, and they’ll be on the defensive. Not to mention that they have orbital defences, which we don’t, and we can’t fire directly at them in case we hit the planet.”
“Yes we can,” Revan replied simply. “This planet has to be taken, sooner rather than later.”
“But civilian casualties have to be considered,” Spike shook his head.
“They will be, and they will be kept to a minimum if possible,” Revan assured him. “But that doesn’t mean zero, however unfortunate that may be.”
“I guess that’s acceptable,” Spike nodded. “So, I assume you have a plan? You are a plan guy after all.”
“A simple two prong attack,” Revan began. “The first prong will consist of our heavy ships, and they’ll hammer the Mandalorians at long range, hopefully drawing them away from the planet. The second prong will be made up of our fast ships, they’ll swoop in and try and disgorge as many troops onto the surface as they can. Once the troops are groundside, they’ll have to make their way to the orbital defences and take them down.”
“Or repurpose them for our own use,” Malak cut in.
“Either or,” Revan nodded. “Once that’s done, the fleet can mop up, and we can land some heavier armour and more troops on the planet and actually take the world back.”
“That’s not going to be the easiest attack plan,” the captain who had spoken before piped up. “Unless we clear out the fleet first, we won’t be able to get many drop ships through, and that’s including the speculation that the Mandalorians will allow themselves to be drawn away.”
“From what I’ve seen of the Mandalorians, they may be disciplined, but they love a good fight,” Revan replied. “They’ll move if we bait the trap well enough, and have the second prong jump in after the bait is taken.”
“It might work,” the Captain sounded uncertain, but nodded slowly.
“Excellent,” Revan turned to face Tarhal and Spike. “Are you two fit for combat?”
“Of course,” Tarhal grinned.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Spike added.
“Good. Spike, you know the commander of the Special Forces don’t you?” Revan asked.
“Who, Cortez? Yeah, I know him very well.”
“Good, helps to have the commanders know each other,” Revan nodded. “I want you in the first wave of dropships, along with you Tarhal and the Special Forces. We’re only going to get one shot at landing on the planet, after that the Mandalorians won’t make the same mistake again. Think you can handle it?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time we were outnumbered by the Mandalorians would it Spike?” Tarhal clapped a hand onto Spikes back, grinning up at the Dragon.
“No, let’s just hope that we don’t have to defend any cannons for very long this time,” Spike smirked back. “We’ll pull through Revan, we’re both part of Nexu clan, that still counts for something, even if we had a couple of traitors.”
“Very good then,” Revan turned back to face the rest of the officers. “Meeting adjourned, get everything ready, I want to jump to Hyperspace within the next six hours.”
The various officers nodded, before walking towards the doors off of the bridge and heading for their own ships or work stations. Spike and Tarhal turned to follow the men, before Revan placed a hand on them, turning them both back around.
“Oh, there is one more thing, something that specifically affects the pair of you,” Revan looked between them both. “In light of our recent successes, our movement has been officially endorsed by the Supreme Chancellor himself.”
“I thought we were already endorsed by the Republic,” Spike pointed out.
“We were, but only by high command,” Malak replied.
“Exactly, we could lead, but we couldn’t hold actual ranks due to being Jedi,” Revan explained.
“And now?” Tarhal asked.
“Now that the Chancellor has supported us personally, we can both lead, and hold ranks, and all the privileges that come with it,” Revan looked at Malak quickly, before back at Spike and Tarhal. “The Jedi are now more than just knights and padawans, each of us are generals in the army of the Republic.”
“General? That’s pretty high up,” Tarhal noted.
“As is the point,” Revan pointed out. “Red tape now peels away from before us, and allows this war to run much more smoothly.”
“Things do seem to work out better when the Republic Army and the Jedi fight as one, rather than simply fighting alongside each other,” Spike agreed.
“Precisely the idea behind it,” Malak agreed. “I doubt that the Great Sith War would have been as successful if the Jedi had fought as they have in this war.”
“The Great Sith War was a travesty, one that should never have been allowed to happen, and that became far larger than it ever should have,” Spike growled, glaring at Malak. “The enemy sacked Coruscant, they killed millions, caused trillions of credits of damage across the entire Republic and beyond. I lost friends in that war, Jedi and soldiers alike, not even including the months I spent on Maryx. Don’t you ever even presume to say that the war was successful, or that anything good came from it.”
With that, Spike turned and swept from the room, his tail swinging from side to side as he made his way back towards Harmony, leaving Revan and Malak in shock, before they turned to face Tarhal.
“What was that?” Revan asked in disbelief.
“What? Spikes outburst?” Tarhal asked.
“Yeah, his outburst,” Revan nodded. “He always seems to try to be so…I would say calm, but I’ve seen him fight. Collected is a better word. That was…unexpected.”
“I’ll say,” Malak nodded. “All I said was that…”
“The war was successful,” Tarhal finished, his rough growls echoing around the quiet bridge. “You don’t know about the war, neither of you do. It was hard, in many ways harder than this war. He took Coruscant hard, he almost died many times during the war, and almost all the scars on him are from that war. And I’m guessing he hasn’t told you about Maryx Minor?”
“What happened on Maryx?” Revan asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.
“I don’t feel it’s my place to say,” Tarhal shook his head. “That, and I don’t know fully, he’s never told anyone the full story, and anyone save for him who may have known it is dead. All I know is that place was dark, and it woke something up inside of him. If you want to know more, you’ll have to convince him to tell you, but please, be careful about it. I don’t want to find out which of you is stronger.”
With that, Tarhal turned away from Revan and Malak, heading after Spike and leaving the two Knights alone on the bridge, same for the few crew that were seated at their stations.
“It appears our Dragon has a few more issues than he cares to admit to,” Revan noted once Tarhal was out of earshot.
“Yeah, and he had quite a few when we first met him, not to mention his mental state,” Malak agreed.
“He’s mentally unstable, but to a degree of accuracy I’ve never seen or heard of before,” Revan sighed. “He means well, but when he loses control, when he allows this, what was it again, Degradation?”
“Desolation,” Malak corrected.
“Exactly. When he allows that part of his mind to the front, he’s not the Jedi we know, he’s an animal, plain and simple.”
“But an animal can be useful,” Malak pointed out.
“Of course he can,” Revan nodded. “I’ve seen both Spike and ‘Desolation’ in action, and I know which one I’d rather face, but Spike is clever, and he does have a certain mind for strategy and bold tactics. He seems very at home leading small forces.”
“The special forces for example?” Malak asked with a small smile.
“Quite so,” Revan nodded. “While he leads a small unit of men behind enemy lines, we can lead the armies, and run the war as it needs to be run. As Spike, he’s too soft to make those decisions.”
“And as Desolation I don’t think he care much for collateral damage,” Malak smirked. “We can see how he handles himself on Taris when we arrive.”
“The reason he’s in the first wave,” Revan pointed out. “I’ll see to the preparations, return to your flagship and prepare to move out.”
“Gladly,” Malak turned, heading after Spike and Tarhal towards his own ship, while Revan walked over towards one of the bridge crew.
“Order a fleet-wide broadcast, inform all captains that we are to come to operational status and jump to Hyperspace. I want Taris under siege by the end of the day.”
***
Spike watched from the bridge of Harmony as dropships bearing the markings of the 1st Special Forces Battalion hurried towards the large ships that would be ferrying the Special Forces through Hyperspace. As soon as the ships decelerated, getting as close to the planet as was possible, the dropships would once again be launched and would rush towards the planet, using speed and surprise, as well as the ships themselves, to shield their approach. It was risky, and if anything went wrong, the casualties could be huge, but if the plan worked, they could take out the planets defences without an orbital bombardment that would cost hundreds, if not thousands, of civilian lives.
The only unit of Special Forces who were not currently being ferried on to the carriers was Wolf Squad, the unit becoming something of an honour guard for Spike after they protected him on Eres III. Cortez had insisted that they stay with him rather than with the main forces, and Spike hadn’t had any cause to reject the offer.
Slowly, the last of the Special Forces ships docked with the carrier, and Spike turned towards his command throne, sitting down before looking at Lowell.
“Ensign, how fares the rest of the fleet?”
“The rest of the fleet is reporting ready, we’re just waiting on…” Lowell began, before placing a hand over his right ear, pressing the headset closer to it. Nodding softly, he let his hand fall, before turning back to Spike. “Revan reports that the first wave of the fleet is to move in, led by the Swiftsure and General Malak’s flagship. We are to follow the fleet five minutes after the jump and attempt to get as close as possible.”
“Signal acknowledgement to Revan and order the second wave to form up on Harmony’s six o’clock. For now, you have the bridge and the ship, I’m going down to the hanger bay. As soon as the dropship leaves the hanger, you are to turn the ship around and jump from the system. Harmony isn’t strong enough to last against a planetary assault.”
“Aye sir, I won’t let anything happen to the ship,” Lowell nodded, standing up from his seat and moving towards the back of the bridge, taking Spike’s place in the command throne. “Stay alive Spike.”
Spike nodded, heading down through the ship towards the hanger. It wasn’t long before Spike reached the hanger, catching sight of Sergeant Loup, Private Hagman and the rest of Wolf Squad, the men checking over their weapons, tightening the straps on their armour, and stowing any extra gear in the dropship they had brought with them.
Compared to the large profile of the lightly armed shuttle before it, the Special Forces ship was squat, well-armed and well-armoured, painted in a deep black colour so as to better blend in with the void, further increasing the chances that they’d get through the atmosphere.
“Loup, how stands the squad?” Spike asked.
“We’re ready to leave as soon as the order is given,” he replied. “We’ll load up in the shuttle when we enter Hyperspace.”
“Should be any second now,” Spike nodded.
All hands, this is Acting Captain Lowell. Our five minutes is up, preparing ti jump to Hyperspace, secure all flaps and drag-fins.
“Load up,” Loup ordered, turning towards the dropship and clambering inside, quickly sitting down and pulling the heavy metal restraining bar down, anchoring him to the chair.
Spike followed as the rest of the squad copied Loups movements, and in short order, the squad was secured, Spike being left standing and gasping onto the sides of the ship to provide himself with an anchor point in lieu of a proper chair. He could already feel the ship moving through Hyperspace, and knew that this wouldn’t be a long journey.
“Steel yourselves,” Loup called out, looking at his troops through his helmets visor. “We’ve done this before, we’ll do it again.”
Exiting Hyperspace in 3…2…1…entering real space now! Opening the hanger bay doors! Captain Spike, it’s now or never!
The ship lurched forward as Harmony dropped out of Hyperspace, and Spike quickly raised his voice as he heard the hanger doors grind open.
“Pilot! Take us out now!” Spike bellowed, before bracing his arms as the ship shot out of the hanger, leaving Harmony behind.
He was now effectively blind to the rest of the force, relying solely on what he picked up over the radio. The ship shuddered violently, but continued to streak forward the inertia dampeners inside helping to keep Spike anchored to the floor, even in the zero-gravity environment of space. Over tha radio, Spike heard the other dropship pilots, each trading information with each other, painting a vision of the battle raging outside in Spikes mind.
Incoming fighters! Brace for portside impact!
Half the bloody fleet’s still here! Why didn’t they take the bait?!
We have to pull back, the Mandalorians are too strong.
At this, Spike activated his own comm unit, opening a broadcast to all of the other dropships.
“Belay that order. We don’t get another chance at this. Push through no matter the cost.”
But sir, the flak from the planet is too strong, we’ll never make it.
He’s right Spike, Cortez added over the comm. If we push on, we could…
“We need to punch through,” Spike insisted.
But we won’t be able to, not like this, Cortez pleaded. Please Spike.
Spike growled, before nodding slightly and raising his voice to talk to the pilot. “Pilot, are there any ships ahead of us?”
“No sir, but….flak’s getting heavier,” the man grunted, throwing the ship to the side. “Don’t know how much…longer we can survive this.”
“Let me worry about that,” Spike muttered, extending his hands to the side and laying them on the walls of the ship. “Cortez, order the retreat for any dropships that can get back to their carriers. If they can’t, they’ll just have to push forward with me.”
Spike, you can’t…
“That’s an order!” Spike barked. “I’ll see you planet side, don’t be too long.”
With that, Spike cut the communicator off, closing his eyes and allowing magic to flow through the palms of his hands, into the metal beneath them, flowing across the hull of the dropship until he could feel it all. For a brief moment, Spike was no longer a Dragon, no longer a single entity, he was two creatures, the Dragon and the Dropship.
His eyes became the cameras on the external hull, allowing him to drink in the spectacle of the battle raging in the void. His heart fused with the mighty fission reactor that powered the engines, pumping power around the craft as his heart sought to supply his body with blood. He could feel the freezing cold against the hull as if it was against his own skin, and every laser that managed to hit blistered against the hull, sending waves of pain through Spike, before being cut off.
Suddenly, reality returned to Spike, and the moment of clarity faded away as a green shield engulfed the ship, lasers slamming into it, only to be repulsed, some of their energy being reabsorbed to help power the shield even more.
“Ugh, General?” the pilot asked in confusion. “What’s going on?”
“Just…keep…flying,” Spike managed through gritted teeth.
The pilot nodded, pushing the engines harder, forcing the ship to move faster than it was comfortable with. Spike could feel the engines whine in protest, threatening to give out under the intense pressure as the ship punched through the upper atmosphere, streaking towards the ground through the flak like an angry comet, hurled by the gods.
“We’re coming in too hot, brace!” the pilot shouted, before the ship slammed into the ground, skidding along one of the many walkways of Taris, eliciting an ear-splitting screech as metal scraped against concrete.
As the ship slammed down, Spike was thrown forward, his concentration broken and his mind returning to its rightful body. Slowly, the ship came to a halt, and Spike forced himself back to his feet, turning to look at the pilots seat at the front of the ship.
There was nothing left, save for twisted metal and broken slabs of concrete, mixed with the sharp smell of blood, Spikes nose easily picking out the smell through all of the other scents that now permeated the craft. Behind him, Loup and the rest of Wolf Squad were quickly unstrapping themselves from their seats, checking weapons before rushing out of the ship, forming a cordon around it as Loup approached Spike, laying a hand on his back.
“Come on General, we need to get moving. I don’t want to be here when the Mandalorians find this crash-site.”
“No, that we don’t,” Spike nodded, breaking himself out of the trance-like state he had been in and following Loup outside. “Wait one moment.”
Turning back to the ship, he raised a palm, reaching out for the ship with the force, quickly finding it and wrapping it in the invisible tendrils of energy that seemed to surge from his claws. With a quick shove, the ship moved forward once more, overbalancing from the edge it was teetering on and falling forward. A few moments later, Spike heard a crash as the ship slammed into whatever lay below, before he turned back to Loup.
“There, hopefully they’ll think that we got out there and start looking on that level first, should give us some breathing room.”
“I hope you’re right,” Loup nodded, before powering up his blaster and turning away from Spike, setting off at a run towards a series of apartment blocks. “Come on Wolf Squad, we need to lay low and make plans.”
Spike nodded as well, following Loup and Wolf Squad as he reactivated his comm, scanning the frequencies for any news of the battle above, flipping through news channels and non-encrypted channels.
…and in other news…
…vode’an…
…to all Republic forces, this is Revan. Pull back to rally point sigma, I repeat, pull back to rally point sigma. We’ve lost momentum, pull back.
Spikes heart sank as he heard those words, but he reasoned that he should have been surprised. With the devastation that was wrought on the second wave, it was always going to be pretty likely that the first wave would have failed as well.
To any and all Revanchists on the planet of Taris, come in, a voice sounded across the comm unit. This is Jedi Padawan Grath transmitting across frequency fifteen dash two two five one. This is an encrypted channel, so if you’re listening to this, you should be friendly. Please reply. Over.
“Padawan Grath, this is Knight Spike, here with Wolf Squad, Special Forces. What’s your situation? Over.”
Spike, it’s good to hear from a friendly voice, Grath replied with a sigh of relief. I’m here with a three squads of Special Forces. We have a few injured, but nothing major.
“Are you in charge Padawan?” Spike asked, making sure to keep his voice quiet as he followed Loup.
Negative, Jedi Knight Tarhal holds command here, but he’s out cold at the moment. I’m transmitting coordinates to you now Spike, we’ve managed to find a disused sewer outlet to bunker down in on sub-level four. I’ll await for your arrival.
“Very good Grath, we’ll be with you shortly,” Spike assured him, before transmitting the coordinates across to Loup. “Sergeant, we have a new destination and a possible plan. We head for these coordinates.”
With that, Spike took the lead, heading towards an access ladder and beginning the long climb down. He could fly, but the others would have to use jetpacks, and that would mean noise, noise they really didn’t want to make, lest they attract the gaze of the Mandalorians.
Glancing up at the squad as they came down after him, Spike realised how few people had probably managed to punch through the defences in orbit, and how daunting their task now seemed.
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preparing ti jump to Hyperspace
Spike being left standing and gasping onto the sides of the ship
Over tha radio, Spike heard
Spikes heart sank as he heard those words, but he reasoned that he should have been surprised
1. To.
2. Grasping.
3. The.
4. I think you mean; Shouldn't have been surprised.
4535841
Thank you as always.
Woot, update! I Love this story!
Well shit's going down.
I love you, updating your wonderful stories xD
Looks like Spike's body decided that he needs to be bigger if he wants to get through this war in one piece. And it looks like Spike is getting better with his magic.
Epic chapter as usual. I can't wait to see Spike full grown owning mandalorians/siths.
I also finished playing KOTOR 1 and I'm halfway KOTOR 2. I must say, having these games as backstory gives me many new horrifying especulations about what will happen to Spike (and even Revan). I can't wait to see how Spike is going to react to Revan when they get to the KOTOR 1 storyline.
4536941
That would be Act 3. I have some things planned, but I'm not going to be doing most of the events in my story. Otherwise it would just turn into KOTOR with Spike, which I am hoping to avoid.
Glad you're enjoying it though.
4536961 I know. I'm glad you are going to just pick some basic lore for the game to add to your story instead of repeating the game's full stories.
I know you'll do a fantastic job with your story.
I can't really comment much about my theories without spoiling for everyone else.
4537009
PM me. It's interesting to see what people think I'm going to do next.
As usual a great chapter.
I have never played KOTOR 1 or 2, I hope that it wont make much of a difference later as far as understanding the story.
4537735
No, I'm going to make sure to cover things and make sure that everything is explained at some point in the story.
Im curious, when will equestria be seen again?
4540364
Act 5. Although I am debating adding in a little caviate fairly soon, so depends how I feel I can implement it. Suffice to say, we won't actually see Equestria until Act 5 though.
Why did thus take so long
4542133
Exams.
last one is on Wednesday, so writing should speed up after then.
But really I think the gryphons should take over equestria and spike comes and Liberates so to say them
4535841
4535849
Also, "Spike's" heart
4592419
Thanks.
4592419 Hah, always the few that I miss
I'm a little confused.. Is Spike still walking bipedal, or is he walking quadrupedal?
5071237
....im not even sure if his saber is too small for his fucking hands
And thus Spike lands on Taris.