Star Wars: Darklight
by AB
Chapter 12
Battle of Balmora
"You dare betray your Master? You are Darth Invictus, my apprentice." Darth Invictus answered not, instead he threw one of the two lightsabers at his Master and launched an attack with the other.
"I will not let you have the child. My daughter will not end up in your fucked up experiments!" Sith Lord and apprentice exchanged lightsaber blow after lightsaber blow. They were in Darth Invictus' house. Furniture and items being thrown every which way, torn apart and burned as the two men fought.
Darth Invictus looked behind him. "Run! Take Kaa'ara and run!" He told a frightened woman with a baby on her bosom. "Run woman! I'll hold him off, leave!" The woman seemed to hesitate for a moment before she darted out the back.
"No! You were my apprentice! You were meant to give me the child! DIE!" The battle continued, Master and apprentice exchanging blows and Force-abilities, pivoting and jumping back, forth, left and right.
Darth Invictus Jumped in the air to try and land on his Master. He was pushed back as if by an invisible hand weighting a ton had slapped him. He fell on the wall and down on the floor. He cleared away just as a knife from the kitchen was force-pushed on the patch of floor he lay.
Darth Invictus let out a battle cry unleashing a Force-wave. Everything pushed everything away from him omni-directionally. Crashing furniture and items on each other. Before his Master could recover he started pummeling the man with item after item after item. Using the Force, he kept pushing items his Master's way until one of them escaped his counter use of Force-push and hit him on the head.
Darth Invictus knew it'd be a mistake to try and kill him now. His Master was not knocked out, just merely dazed and the distance between them was too great. He dashed out the back and found his wife and baby daughter preparing for launch. He jumped up the ramp and off they went.
"I will find you my apprentice. I will find a new apprentice, train him in the Dark Side of the Force and I will find you and the Guiney pig of a daughter. I will." Darth Mortus swore as he dusted his garments.
"General Tern. The fleet orbiting Balmora have jumped away. Only two cruisers and some auxiliary ship remain behind." The Long range specialist informed him. General Gavor had wanted him to join the battle from the cruiser's bridge but Tern had had other ideas. He wanted to be in the fray up close and personal. Tern looked out of the Jedi-Fighter craft's cockpit window as if calculating something in his mind.
"Men of the Coalition… it is time, time to fight the Sith head on. The enemy have taken the bait and are heading to Moraband where they think a full scale attack against the Sith Order is taking place. Our men attacking Moraband know they will not be coming back. They are making the last sacrifice. Let us not have their death be in vain. Even without the fleet, Balmora has strong defenses and troops on the ground but we cannot lose. For those men dying now in Moraband we cannot lose. We have a battle plan, stick to it, look to the man or woman next to you, keep each other safe and may the Force be with us this day. Coalition fleet… ATTACK!" Tern gave the order. The fleet jumped out of Hyperspace and into war.
"Hold formation Red team, Gold team attack their flanks. C team… blast those orbital defenses out of my sky!" Tern ordered and rolled out of the way when a cross-tie came his way. He pushed the flight-lever almost instantly bringing his J-wing on a half circle, fired two shots destroying the cross-tie's wing. He turned round again barreling to avoid another tie's shots.
"Red leader you have two bogeys on your tail" One of his wingmen told him flying behind him.
"Their arses are mine! Dibs!" Tern shouted giggling.
"I have never in my life seen anyone giggle in the middle of a dog fight!" Red 2 shouted.
"Get used to it! I was created to be… something bad so I'll laugh and enjoy my fucking life… oh yes and slaughter the Sith." The others of Red team could almost see Tern grin.
"They keep coming like there's no end to them!" An hour later and not much had changed. The orbital base and the two cruisers were still operational if damaged and they could not even get near the orbital dry-docks. Their real target in Balmora aside from defeating the Sith forces.
"Did not expect anything better boss." Red three replied. Red four exploded behind them.
Not far away one of their cruisers' engines exploded.
"We are dead in the water. We can't maneuver. We need cover." The cruiser's captain requested through the coms.
"Alpha Squadron provide cover to Cruiser Alderaan."
"These mines are not polite General. We have yet to go anywhere near the damn dry-docks!" Alpha leader replied.
"Fuck. Time is running out. Okay. Listen up. Everyone focus on destroying the orbital bases and the two cruisers. Red team cover the cruiser. Alpha squadron you're with me."
"Boss… " Red two started saying.
"No arguing, time to help this along. Their cruisers are severely damaged and the orbital bases are out of shields. End them!" Tern stopped him.
"Aye aye boss. You heard the man. Blast them." Tern rolled his fighter around and headed to the mine field surrounding the dry-docks.
"Okay, stay behind and cover me while I Force a way through for us." Tern told Alpha squadron who scrambled behind him.
"Okay Tern, you can do this." Tern whispered to himself, turned off the radio and the targeting computer and closed his eyes opening his mind to the Force.
"General, those mines will explode if you get near them, will explode if you enter their gravitational sphere and will explode if you try to hack them." Alpha leader told him.
"I know Alpha Leader. I have no intention of doing either of those things." Tern replied and activated the Force-sync in his fighter. "Let's see what this puppy can do." He let go a Force-wave directionally towards the mines.
One of the mines exploded from the impact. Two others collided exploding.
"Okay… good start now let's see how about this… " Tern mumbled and making a 360 flip he dove in the mine field. "GENERAL!" Alpha Leader screamed worried he'd hit a mine.
Tern started sending off wave after push after wave of Force abilities on his front and sides.
"The dry-docks are full of automated turrets, General. Get too close to them and they'll start shooting at you. Damn it he has his coms turned off. Alpha squadron follow him in." Alpha Leader ordered his squadron just as one of the two Sith cruisers exploded giving off a shock wave.
Tern turned on his coms. "Alpha squadron I've cleared a way through the mine field for you. Attack the dry-doc… OHHH FUCKKK!" Tern yelled coming under fire from the automated turrets on the dry-docks.
"Well I tried telling you… " Alpha Leader replied back blasting a turret.
"Black squadron bombers, the way is clear. Aid Alpha squadron in bombing the Life-Eradicators being built in the dry-docks." Tern ordered Black squadron.
"General Tern, we're getting reports from the surface of the planet." General Gavor spoke. "Balmoran have risen up against the Sith and are fighting them in the cities, in the streets, wherever they can. They are requesting air support."
"As soon as we're done with the battle up here… and Darth Solus." Tern replied while blowing a turret up.
"Tern, a few bombers will not do much difference against three fully operational Life-Eradicator cruisers but they will save lots of lives down in the surface." Gavor argued.
"Ugh… you're right. Okay as soon as we've blew up the three being built in the dry-docks." Tern fired a Force-wave destroying three turrets.
"The last cruiser is down. Their orbital bases are destroyed but our squadron is severely depleted." Beta team Leader reported.
"Everyone, concentrate your firepower on the Life-Eradicators. Cruisers destroy as many mines as you can on your way here." General Gavor told the fleet. Two hours had gone by since their attack began.
"I can feel him… he's getting closer." Tern fired his turbolasers on one of the Life-Eradicator cruiser expecting to see explosions on its hull instead the shots were deflected by a shield.
"Fuck! They are shielded." Tern cussed through the coms.
"Well yes, you don't know much about ship building in the void of space do you?" General Gavor answered back.
Tern ignored him and fired a photon-torpedo at the cruiser. It exploded on the shield without damaging it much.
Ten minutes later and with the fleet firing on them the shields still held strong.
"I have an idea. I was raised in the Corellian dry docks my father was a worker there. The shield emitters are the first to be installed in the hull after the hull is created by robots to secure the ship from cosmic radiation and small sized cometoids. Then the crews go in and start working. When the ship is finished and after it becomes fully operational does artificial gravity come online. It helps greatly to not have gravity while building the ship no matter what its size." General Gavor told the fleet with Tern listening in.
"How does this help us? We can't penetrate their shields." Tern complained.
"We don't have to. The dry docks are within the gravity well of the planet to make them safer for the working crews and to lessen the fear of asteroids no matter how small damaging them. Destroy the couplings holding the ships attached to the dry-docks and then we fire at them, push them into the planet's atmosphere. The ships' shields will stop our fire yes, but they'll also help propel the cruisers away from the sources of what's firing at them. Once the cruisers de-orbit the planet's gravity will do the rest. Just as it would with any other object descending on it. The shields can stand against our firepower but they can't withstand an atmospheric entry in a wrong angle followed by a very high speed collision with the ground."
Tern thought about it for under a second before a grin formed on his lips.
"General… you are a fucking genius. Bomber squadrons destroy those couplings. Fighter squadrons return to the cruiser hangars. Everyone else take positions. When the couplings are destroyed pummel the cruisers with everything you have and keep firing at them until they've entered the atmosphere." Tern ordered the fleet.
Tern headed for one of the couplings and fired at it.
"Motherfucker! These things have shields."
"They won't be all that powerful, keep firing at them until the shields break." General Gavor asserted.
Tern fired a photon torpedo at the coupling followed by multiple laser shots. The photon torpedo impacted the shields but the laser shots found their target damaging the coupling. Ceta squadron bombed another coupling. It went up in flames.
"One down eleven to go!" Ceta Leader stated.
"Make that ten Ceta Leader! Red team do something about those damn turrets, they're shredding us!" A-wing Squadron Leader called out.
"On it Habo, cool your jets, you just keep proving I'm the better pilot." Red two, usually the Leader replied blasting a turret.
"You wish, Red two, you wish but we can solve this later in the training course. For now, can you please protect my furry arse?" Habo Roval, Ceta Leader laughed.
"You got it Habo, now make sure that furry arse of yours makes it back to base safely ok? I have things I want to do to it." Red two commented.
"Boys! For the love of fucking Force stop grossing the rest of us out!" Red five quipped making the other two snort as they fired at their targets.
Another coupling went up in flames with Tern destroying his minutes later.
"Half of them are destroyed keep it up guys." Delta squadron bombers Leader voiced fifteen minutes later.
"We're not doing this fast enough… Cruisers and auxiliary ships, target the Life-Eradicators. None of the three have all four couplings. Start blasting them." Tern ordered.
"Coalition fleet, concentrate your fire on one cruiser, then move on to the second one. The couplings have anti-shock. Stress them and they'll explode easier when fired upon. Fighter and bomber squadrons concentrate on the couplings and turrets." General Gavor commanded.
Twenty minutes later two of the cruisers liberated from the dry-docks, only two couplings were left. One of the two cruisers was fast descending into the planet's outer atmosphere.
The first cruiser became a burning fireball, the second cruiser was well on its way on de-orbiting and the third's cruiser's couplings were all destroyed when Tern felt the disturbance in the Force.
"They're here." In sync with Tern's words three Life-Eradicators jumped out of Hyperspace.
"General Gavor… continue with your mission objective." Tern told the General and turned his fighter around.
"Where are you going Tern?"
"Hopefully… to end this before you all become dead." Tern fired his thrusters full speed.
"Tern wait!" Gavor shouted as the second cruiser fireballed in the upper atmosphere. A glow appeared on the planet's surface as the first cruiser impacted the ground.
"General Gavor, the third cruiser is de-orbiting."
"Keep away from their main weapon's radius." Tern voiced reaching the Life-Eradicator cruisers.
"Hello Tern, I've come to kill you." Darth Solus' voice sounded through the inter-ship com.
"Darth Drakus, a moment please." Darth Novus found Darth Drakus outside his office chamber.
"Yes?" Darth Drakus was not one of many words.
"Is there somewhere we can discuss… things?" Darth Novus indicated Darth Drakus' office.
"Sure." They entered the room and the door locked behind them. "What is it?"
Darth Novus locked eyes with him. "I want us to overthrow Darth Insidious. She will bring ruin not just to the Sith Order but the Galaxy as well." Darth Drakus remained emotionless.
"Why would we do that?"
"Did you know she disregarded this Conclave's directive to not fire the Life-Eradicator weapon on Tython or any of the other Jedi worlds?"
"No, I was not. How are you?"
"I have my sources, reliable unwilling ones." Darth Novus knew Darth Drakus was interested. He was not dead or being attacked.
"I see. Was she not supposed to defeat the Jedi there and secure the Sith'ari's submission?"
"I do not know what her plans are but they are not this. I do know Tern who was supposed to be the Sith'ari denied her and she ordered his death." Darth Drakus lost all pretense of a calm, emotionless demeanor.
"She what?"
"Yes, Darth Solus was supposed to be heading to Tython to vanquish all life on the planet, instead as per her revised orders he is heading to Balmora where the rebels are attacking to kill him." Darth Novus knew Darth Insidious would never publically or privately admit to her apprentice disobeying her orders. She would punish him in private but would never admit it. Admitting it would make her look weak and looking weak in Sith society meant certain death.
"What do you have in mind then? Storm her room and kill her?"
"No, nothing as rash or… idiotic as that. She'd kill us instead. Even combined we are no match for her… yet. We can however start amassing power and allies of ourselves. I do not know why but she is taking frequent trips back and forth to an unknown destination somewhere in the Jedi-controlled space." Darth Novus said emphasizing the mysteriousness of their Leader's travels into their enemy's space.
"Like the good old times, scheming against our superiors." Darth Drakus commented. "What do you want out of this? Her place in the Conclave?"
"No, I wish not for more of this kind of power. I wish… " Darth Novus hesitated for a moment, this next thing could actually get him killed. "I wish to end the Force wars."
Darth Drakus suppressed the urge to draw his lightsaber. Instead he intertwined his fingers on his lap. "How? The Jedi and the Sith have been fighting each other since before anyone can remember."
"Yes, yes. We hate them, they abhor us… it never ends but perhaps it can."
"How will it end now when it has not before? Luke Skywalker and his father failed, others before and after failed… "
"Tern is the key to this. I do not know how but I know he is. He was created by Darth Vitus with knowledge from his Master. He is Dark Side incarnate and yet… he fights for the Light Side."
"We shall see. For now, I suppose we better start on our Leader. Darth Solus has become quite powerful, do you think he…?" Darth Novus interrupted him.
"No, he covets power even more than she does. No. We have to find a way to kill him before we kill her."
"Perhaps Cyra and Tern will kill him off for us."
"Perhaps but I hold little hope."
"If they lose this fight they die."
"Yes."
"I surrender, I'll join you." Tern responded stopping his fighter right in front of Darth Solus' cruiser.
"I think I'll pass. Gun control… remove these pests from my sky. Start with the failed Sith'ari in front of us. Fire main weapon when ready." Darth Solus told his crew who started powering up the main weapon.
"Korriban and Fall of Lothal, fire at will, take out the rebel scum." The two other cruisers started slowly turning, facing the dry-docks.
"You can't destroy us on your own and this pathetic little fleet can't either. Die." Darth Solus fired the cruiser's main weapon straight at Tern.
The black cloudy laser made of Dark Side energy enveloped Tern's fighter.
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