Jedi Council Forums - E pluribus unum - L/M Hi-mush action/drama

Jedi Council Forums » Fan Fiction » Beyond the Saga »

Locked Topic | Read Only Topic | Previous Active Topic | Next Active Topic

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 » - ~~Previous~~ | Next | Reload

Author	Topic: E pluribus unum - L/M Hi-mush action/drama
cupid7 Registered: Aug '04	Date Posted: 7/6/06 12:14pm Subject: E pluribus unum - L/M Hi-mush action/drama - Date Edited: 7/24/07 4:11pm (53 edits total) Edited By: cupid7
	Title: E pluribus unum Author: Cupid7 Characters: Luke, Mara, Han, Leia, Pellaeon, OCs Timeframe: Beyond the Saga; begins during Battle of Endor Genre: Alternate Universe, action/romance Summary: The Battle of Endor leaves the Empire in tatters. To set the galaxy right, Mara must keep the pieces together and reach an accord with the Rebel Alliance. To succeed, she must grow within and resolve conflicted feelings toward the Alliance's greatest warrior. Disclaimer: Main characters are copyrighted and the property of Lucasfilm. No money is being made from this work. * * * E pluribus unum for GRF Chapter 1. Endor: End of the Old Order “It’s the end of the Rebellion, Jade! When we – us, the Imperial Fleet – when we emerged from the blind side of Endor, the trap closed. They were caught between the Fleet and the Battle Station. Now they’re going to be pounded into wreckage and cinders. Look at them! Look at the holodisplay. Those red points of light are Rebel ships. Look at them wink out! Doomed fools! The speaker was Commander Dirk Stasn. He was standing, Jade was sitting, by the tactical display on the bridge of the Star Destroyer Chimaera. “Not so foolish,” Jade said. “My Master’s plan was very clever. The Rebels’ intelligence took seriously the disinformation he had someone plant with the Bothans, that construction was only half-complete, and so they attacked. What they failed to discern was that the Battle Station was, in fact, operational.” Why was she so hard to impress? And – if it was even true – how did she know about the Bothans? “Well, of course the Emperor is a brilliant tactician,” Dirk said. “What I’m saying is that in two hours their fleet will cease to exist! There won’t be any survivors! This is total victory! This is a day to remember. What more could possibly make this day sweeter for the Emperor?” Without a doubt, Jade was the most beautiful woman Stasn had ever kissed. Ten points for those emerald green eyes. Twenty points for the red-gold hair, which was now in a long braid down her spine. Forty points for her dancer’s body, with perfect long, smooth muscles. Round up to a hundred for the catlike way she carried herself. Even her voice was a mellifluous alto. She looked slinky, even in a black flightsuit. “The answer to your question is that Luke Skywalker was captured alive after stumbling into an Imperial camp guarding the shield generator on Endor’s moon.” “Skywalker?” “Yes. Skywalker. The Hero of the Rebellion. The one who beat us at Yavin. The one who galvanized a third rate criminal revolt and drew a thousand Imperial systems into the Alliance.” “Yes, yes, I know who Skywalker is, an over-rated X-wing pilot. I just didn’t know he’d been captured. “I wish the Emperor had executed him immediately. I don’t know why Skywalker was even taken alive in the first place,” Jade said. “If he was dead, we’d lose the intelligence we’d otherwise be able to extract,” Stasn said. “Dubious. He flies. He’s their best pilot. But he’s low rank. He doesn’t make contributions at the level of military or diplomatic strategy. We wouldn’t learn anything from him.” “All right, capture him to demoralize the enemy,” Dirk said. ‘Low rank’ stung. Skywalker was a Commander, like Dirk. Is that how she thought of him now? Did she forget to whom she was talking? Dirk had been a Royal Guard. The best of the best. “Killing him would do the same,” Jade said. “Then to ransom, blackmail, or in some other way coerce concessions from the Rebels.” “Not probable. That scenario requires a certain level of trust in the coercer to follow through, which the Rebels haven’t displayed. It might have made sense around the time of Vader’s Cloud City escapade. There was a spike then in the level of espionage and back channel moves and Skywalker was the highest value gamepiece.” Stasn flailed for the correct answer. “To convert his sympathy to the Imperial cause? Every man has his price.” Jade shook her head. “His relation with Solo and Organa is too...Well, no, he wouldn’t betray his friends. Not in that way.” “Well what, then? And what do you mean ‘not in that way’? What way?” Jade ignored his latter questions. “The Rebellion is the past,” she said. “The Emperor wants Skywalker for something in the future. I think he wants to convert him to the Dark Side of the Force.” “You’re not making a scrap of sense. ‘Dark Side of the Force’...What is that supposed to mean? And anyway, the Emperor won’t bother with a pipsqueak like Skywalker.” “Skywalker’s before him now.” “How do you know that?” Stasn asked. “How could you possibly know that Skywalker’s before the Emperor now? We’ve been together here for the last hour and nothing’s come over your comlink.” Jade answered with a toss of her head. Stang, that was eerie! What a strange girl. What was she? A Court dancer, yes, but clearly much more than a dancer. Some sort of personal servant to Emperor Palpatine, her ‘Master’. A concubine? No, obviously not, not with a bedside manner like that. A frigid concubine, hah! Most likely a courier or some sort of administrative aide. During the period Dirk was at Court, Jade had half the time been absent, running errands for the Emperor. She was a good pilot, and sometimes ferried the Emperor on state visits, the less formal ones where he didn’t arrive by Star Destroyer. Her knowledge of politics was well beyond Dirk’s. A bodyguard or intelligence agent as well? No, when Dirk had taught her some self-defense techniques he found that her combat skills were pretty rudimentary. Still, on one occasion she had done an absolutely perfect reverse crescent kick that nearly took his head off, delivered with such speed that the move was complete within his response dead time. But that was probably her dance training showing through. Could she shoot? No, not very well. He had taken her shooting, and her blaster bolts had been all over the place. Except on the last shot of the day, when she put a bolt through the eye of a target from a distance of one kilometer. Probably just luck. * * * Skywalker. Jade hated him. Jade hadn’t brought to the conversation one additional fate for Skywalker that had always been a possibility, but was so nauseating as to be unthinkable. Jade hoped to Hoth her Master wasn’t planning to use Skywalker in some kind of breeding program with a Force-sensitive female. With Jade. She suppressed that thought. “I don’t fully understand what’s meant by converting to the Dark Side,” Jade told Dirk. “I heard the Emperor and Vader discuss it, but neither would explain it to me. The upshot is that he comes onto our side.” “But that’s what I just said,” Dirk snapped. Jade stared at him. Dirk continued, “What I don’t get is how Skywalker just walked into an Imperial camp by accident. Are you sure that’s how he was captured?” “Yes. I agree it’s perplexing. I wondered whether the Emperor coerced his surrender by a Force manipulation, but discarded that as unlikely – why wait till now? Most probably Skywalker surrendered with an ulterior purpose.” Jade thought back on another time Skywalker had surrendered – at Jabba the Hutt’s palace. After the ‘surrender’ Skywalker had not only freed his friends, but killed Jabba and taken down Jabba’s entire operation. Jade had been there. She had been assigned to kill Skywalker, and had come close to succeeding. Skywalker was her only failure in a string of successful missions. That failure had been costly. Skywalker had led a dozen operations since. Pirate raids, really, but each had cost the Empire ships and valuable resources and brought more systems into the Alliance. After each of the first few raids, Jade had asked the Emperor if she could make a new try on Skywalker’s life. The answer was always no. The Emperor and Vader seemed to want Skywalker taken alive. Jade then started offering to capture him. The Emperor’s answer was still no. Did he think the mission too difficult? No. Jade was the Emperor’s Hand. No mission was too difficult. Did he think she would kill him after capturing him? No. The Emperor’s Hand executed every assignment precisely as specified, including in-progress changes the Emperor would communicate to her via the Force. “My squadron’s going to deploy in a few minutes. Would you like to fly wing for me?” Dirk asked? So she could admire him? Dirk was the closest thing to a lover in Jade’s life. His dimensions were two meters vertical and 100 kilos of bone and muscle. Jade’s fellow dancers at Court – her cover identity was a Court dancer – thought he was very handsome. Jade and Dirk had made love once, but the pounding and bleeding had left her little interested in a second session, which anyway was made infeasible. Her Master had been furious when he found out, which he’d uncovered easily by reading her mind with the Force. More than furious. Raging almost beyond sanity. Jade’s pleading had saved Dirk’s life, unbeknownst to Dirk, but made her own punishment all the more agonizing. Her Master blasted her with blue energy bolts from his fingertips. He had only used the Sith lightning on her once before, when she had failed Skywalker’s assassination. This mysterious Force energy fired every nociceptor in her body. Jade had felt pain many times before, even excruciating pain, but the Sith lightning pain was the only thing that had ever made her scream. That, and her abduction from home as a child. Dirk’s punishment had been promotion to Lieutenant and a transfer to the Chimaera. Jade swiveled around and looked at him. “Why?” “The Rebs are panicked, and it’s a shooting gallery out there. I, for one, am planning to line my cockpit with little X-wing emblems for all the kills I make today. This would be a good learning opportunity for you. You’ll be safe hunting with me, and you could sharpen your ship-to-ship combat skills.” “By the look of things, skill at ship-to-ship combat is not going to have much of a premium after today.” Why was everything a sport with Dirk? Jade had taken many lives in the service of her Master, but only with deliberation, to gain a specific strategic advantage. Killing was never done for sport. “We don’t know that,” said Dirk. “Believe me, a battle isn’t over until the last shot is fired.” Jade just stared at him. Stasn put on his most earnest expression and tried a different tack. “We lost one TIE in my wing. I have a replacement spacecraft, but not a replacement pilot. We need you, Jade. I need you.” Jade stood, took Stasn’s hand, and looked into his eyes. “Dirk, my duty’s here. I’m monitoring the battle for the Emperor. There’s just no possibility that I can go do something else.” She let that sink in for a moment. “Thanks for thinking of me. I know you’ll do fine in battle.” The Emperor. Jade felt a snap in her brain, then a dull pain. At the same time she saw Skywalker thrashing under a blue web of Sith lightning. The Emperor was communicating through the Force. She was seeing the Emperor’s visual field. She felt someone yank her backwards, picking her up. Vader! Feelings of rage and fear. Falling. Jade reached out and caught Dirk with both hands. Falling down a long blue tunnel. Falling into the reactor core of the Battle Station. An explosion of blue light. Blackness. And death. The dull cerebral pain reached an intolerable pressure. Jade felt Dirk pick her up, and she lost what little consciousness remained. * * * Jade sensed light. She awoke, but was not awake. Her left visual field was filled with a regular array of red dots. Her right visual field was filled with blue dots. The two arrays joined at a boundary down the middle. She wondered momentarily if she was dead, but discarded that thought. One blue dot turned yellow. If not death, then what? A cluster of dots around the yellow one turned green and orange. Then the nearest neighbors to the green and orange dots turned colors, then the second shell of neighbors. The multicolored pattern spread outward, always changing. Red dots appeared on the blue side, and purple dots. Now a yellow dot appeared on the field of red, and a new pattern of evolution began on the left. Patterns of coordinated changes would appear transiently, oscillating between two or three colors, then be resorbed into the constantly changing arrays. Soon an enormous complexity of dots spanned her entire mind’s eye. No longer did a boundary divide red and blue fields. She had seen this before, somewhere in the real world. She knew what it was. A cellular automaton simulation. “Jade!” She opened her eyes and blinked quickly to clear her vision. Dirk’s face was there, still with the earnest expression that had been Jade’s last visual imprint, but now showing profound worry. Something must have gone badly wrong. “Jade, you’re...” started Dirk. “I’m fine. The Emperor’s dead, isn’t he?” She looked at the chrono on her wrist. Five hours twenty since she passed out. She glanced around and saw she was in a sickbay, probably still on the Chimaera. Jade sat up and started pulling microsensors off her head. “Yes, he...” “Where’s Vader?” “I don’t know.” “Where’s Skywalker?” “Don’t know that either.” “Vader and Skywalker killed the Emperor. We have to find them as soon as possible. And I have to get to Coruscant.” Jade slid off the table. “Whoa, Ma’am!” Dirk reached his palm toward her chest to push her back onto the table. “You’re not going anywhere until the MediDroid...” Jade touched his hand, then eased into a wristlock that was gentle enough to look accidental. As she walked past him she shifted her grip to a conventional hand hold, and pulled him after her. “Dirk, the Emperor gave me a set of instructions on what to do if he died.” That was a lie. “I can only execute them from Coruscant, because they involve the Moffs. I’m taking Palpatine’s shuttle. Brief me on what’s happened while we walk to the launch bay.” Stasn kept up with Jade, seeming stunned by this revelation of her status within the Emperor’s inner circle. “The Battle Station is gone. A third of the fleet is gone.” “The Battle Station is captured, or destroyed?” “Destroyed.” “How?” “A commando group bombed the shield generator on Endor’s moon, possibly with local aid.” ”Local aid? The dominant species is subhuman with paleolithic technology.” “I’m just telling you what I heard, Jade. Spears and clubs prevailing against a Stormtrooper detachment sounded pretty ridiculous to me, too,” said Stasn. “Not so ridiculous. Stormtroopers aren’t trained to deal with projectile and hand-to-hand weapons of that type.” Local aid. The Ewoks. It was a masterful move. Skywalker. No, Leia Organa. Jade had observed Princess Leia at Court, before she had turned to the Rebellion. Leia was a natural diplomat, just the type who could coopt a population of barely sentient tree-dwellers. “Anyway, with the shield gone, the Rebs penetrated the Battle Station with small craft. They sent a proton torpedo into a reactor, just like at Yavin, only it was much easier for them this time with the construction half complete.” “Were Skywalker and Vader on the Battle Station when it blew?” “Probably, but can’t confirm. A shuttle left the Battle Station for the moon, just before the explosion. That could have been them.” “Not ‘could have’ – was. Go on.” “Taking out the Battle Station freed up half the Rebel fleet, and suddenly we were outgunned. The Fleet commanders tried standing up to them for a few minutes, but it was obvious what the outcome would be. Then an admiral named Pellaeon seized command and ordered a withdrawal. That was about four hours ago. There are still a few ships coming in from hyperspace at the rendezvous point, but their van engaged our rear guard pretty effectively. A lot of our ships were damaged, and most of the stragglers ended up being taken, scuttled, or destroyed by hostile fire.” Stasn was silent a moment as he wiped one eye. They were at the launch bay. He looked down at her boots. “It’s bad, Jade. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” “What’s going to happen is we move the treasury and as much financial machinery as we can off Coruscant within the next 72 hours. Then we try and govern an empire with the capital planet under siege.” “Won’t that just be postponing the inevitable?” Dirk looked and sounded like someone who had never known failure before. Jade dropped his hand, stepped back, and punched him. Not hard, just under the nose. Just enough to draw a great deal of surprise. She faced him square with her arms akimbo. “I’ve never heard a Royal Guard mewl before,” she said. “We’re not dead yet, Dirk. Don’t ever think that. We’re not even close to dead.” “You’re right. I’m... sorry. What should I do?” “Find Skywalker and Vader.” Jade stepped forward and held both Dirk’s hands. “So much for your shooting gallery, Flyboy. This will be a good opportunity for you to sharpen your blockade running skills.” She scanned his mind. He’d flown with his squadron. He hadn’t stayed with her. She didn’t kiss him. “I’ve got to go,” she said as she walked up the ramp of the shuttle. “Shouldn’t you request permission from the Admiral to use the shuttle?” Dirk asked. He blotted a trickle of blood on his sleeve. “Pellaeon won’t live long enough to care,” Jade answered back, and the hatch closed behind her. Almost as she said it, she knew she was wrong. Pellaeon’s presence of mind had saved the Fleet and perhaps the Empire. Retreat would no longer be punished automatically with death. Leadership and initiative would have more value than obedience. The galaxy had changed irrevocably. Jade taxied out the guideway and left the Chimaera behind her. When she was a safe distance from any ships she made the first jump into hyperspace. The stars turned to starlines on the display. In a different circumstance, she would have been taking Palpatine back to Coruscant now, in triumph. The presence she had felt occupying one corner of her mind for so many years was now silent. Skywalker had won. She had lost. Jade was truly alone. She folded her arms on the controls, put her head on her arms, and cried. “I’m so sorry my Master!...” she said to the silence of space. Finally Jade stopped crying and looked at the starlines again. She realized she hadn’t cried since she was twelve. “I hate you, Luke Skywalker. I hate everything about you.” -----signature----- E pluribus unum - Luke & Mara high-mush action/drama http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24311001/p1/?0 Every encounter is an opportunity to learn. Every person is a teacher.
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Arwen_Djo Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 7/6/06 12:48pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Wow. Just wow. Keep going, please. -----signature----- To err is human, to ARR is pirate. Proud padawan to SilSolo and Jaya_Solo I Will Glory in my Redeemer, who carries me on eagles wings...
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jade_Pilot Registered: Dec '05	Date Posted: 7/6/06 12:55pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Very interesting! I'm looking forward to see where this goes! Well done. -----signature----- "It is in giving that we receive." ~ St. Francis of Assisi
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Feng_Huang Registered: Apr '05	Date Posted: 7/6/06 1:31pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Good start, I'd like to see where you take this fic. BTW, I too would like to see the story beyond ROTJ, sometimes books are not enough -----signature----- "Then my father is truly dead. But I carry his name, and he will live inside of me for as long as I'm still here. If you want to destroy him, you'll have to destroy me with him Daddy gave me a name, by Starr
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Liz Title: Former CR Lincoln NE, USA Registered: Apr '00	Date Posted: 7/6/06 1:48pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	I'm hooked. I'll be watching to see where you'll be taking this fic. -----signature----- Current Fic: Lightswords of Fury: Special Edition - L/M Romance http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24270936/ Chapter 19 posted on 7/21/08 Coming SOON: Mara Jade of Chandrila Grove Coming SOON to SAGA Fanfic
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jade_eyes Registered: Aug '04	Date Posted: 7/6/06 1:50pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance - Date Edited: 7/7/06 12:37pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Jade_eyes
	Hey: Like your user name. Checked out your profile for other stuff you might have written, but it looks like you're new to writing--which I never could guess from the excellence of this first chapter. You got Mara as Hand perfectly. Dirk's estimation of her point by point is one I agree with--those eyes, that hair, that figure, that voice. Then I add 100 more points for her strength of will, indomitable spirit, and tangy tongue. Action and romance--wonderful combo. If you're starting a PM list, I need to be on it. This is too fantastic!!! Dirk didn't give Mara the ride of her life? Well, Luke will. Whee!!!! -----signature----- I dedicate every num yummy love ballad to Mara/Luke as I completely melt Insatiable mush addict ginchy & IJJ: yours especially Certified Squee! maniac
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
frankieskywalker Registered: Apr '06	Date Posted: 7/6/06 4:21pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	wow can i be added to the pm list if there is one -----signature----- and so the plot bunnies attack a whole in his heart http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=24122906&brd=10477 my second fic Your sightless eyes have seen too much http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24195526/p1/?0
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
divapilot Registered: Nov '05	Date Posted: 7/6/06 5:41pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Retreat would no longer be punished automatically with death. Leadership and initiative would have more value than obedience. The galaxy had changed irrevocably. I liked this very much. You have a way with imagery that let me see this unfold in my mind. Good work! Love how you have Mara's take-charge attitude down pat. -----signature----- Never tell me the odds. AKL Happy new year!
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi-2B Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 7/7/06 6:56am Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Great beginning, cupid7, and welcome to the world of fanfic writing! I liked your description of Mara after the Emperor died, and how Dirk was confused on Mara's skills and knowledge. Looking forward to the next chapter! -----signature----- It was on her fifteenth day in the darkness of the Nirauan cave when Mara Jade awoke to discover a rescuer had finally arrived. It was not, however, any of the potential rescuers she would have expected. It was Luke. ~~And the rest is history~~
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
tasujad Registered: Jun '05	Date Posted: 7/10/06 2:47am Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	well that was interesting beginning (staying close to the cannon but using AU so far) Will wait to see where this is going -----signature----- The force is ALWAYS with me * *well almost always - i hope
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
cupid7 Registered: Aug '04	Date Posted: 7/10/06 12:54pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Arwen_Djo Thanks, for the first reply to the first post of the first fic of a new author, and thanks for help in your PMs Jade_Pilot Thanks! Feng_Huang I too would like to see the story beyond ROTJ, sometimes books are not enough. Oh yeah, wouldn’t it be great to see an Episode VII, especially with Mara as a character? Jedi_Liz Glad you liked it, thanks. (And glad to have a Nebraskan on board. My dad’s family is from Thurston.) Jade_eyes Checked out your profile for other stuff you might have written, but it looks like you're new to writing. Yes, indeed, first fic. I got some great help early in the writing from Jedi-2B, who continues to offer gentle advice on improvements. But don’t blame her for my mistakes! Action and romance--wonderful combo... Dirk didn't give Mara the ride of her life? Well, Luke will.Whee!!!! Yes, there will be action. There will be romance. (I’m Cupid, after all.) There will be both action and romance simultaneously. (Now I sound like a patent lawyer.) Luke will indeed give Mara the ride of her life, but not (explicitly) the type you’re thinking of, which I gather is banned under the TF.net Terms of Service. frankieskywalker Thanks! I’m more than happy to do PM notifications. I might mention here that E pluribus unum is a Zahn-length novel. To keep the posts reasonable length, but also get the fic out over a reasonable timeframe, like 6 - 8 months, I will do two posts per week. Look for them Mon and Thurs around noon in the Pacific time zone. divapilot Retreat would no longer be punished automatically with death. Leadership and initiative would have more value than obedience. The galaxy had changed irrevocably. I liked this very much. You have a way with imagery that let me see this unfold in my mind. Good work! Thanks, divapilot. Leadership versus obedience...A perpetual conflict. World-transforming leaders often have a disobedient streak -- think of Jesus. But others without a history of disobedience sometimes see what needs to be done and take up leadership spontaneously. The lieutenants and non-coms on the beaches at Normandy come to mind, who saw that the only way out was forward and led their men into a hurricane of lead. Or Todd Beamer -- “Let’s roll!” Mara has been meticulously obedient up to the Emperor’s death (okay, with the odd lapse). Can she become a leader? Jedi-2B Great beginning, cupid7, and welcome to the world of fanfic writing! I liked your description of Mara after the Emperor died, and how Dirk was confused on Mara's skills and knowledge. Looking forward to the next chapter! Thanks as always, Jedi-2B. My welcome feels very warm! Poor Mara, stuck with the Boyfriend from Hell... tasujad well that was interesting beginning (staying close to the cannon but using AU so far). Will wait to see where this is going. Thanks. I don’t have any disrespect for canon. I just couldn’t write the story I wanted, except in the AU. I use canon characters where I can, sometimes with minor modification. Where does the story go... Today we introduce two very significant OCs. Mara will be back on Thursday! -----signature----- E pluribus unum - Luke & Mara high-mush action/drama http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24311001/p1/?0 Every encounter is an opportunity to learn. Every person is a teacher.
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
cupid7 Registered: Aug '04	Date Posted: 7/10/06 2:40pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance
	Chapter 2. The Relentless incident The New Republic frigate Tatooine had for the last twenty minutes been within range of the Imperial Star Destroyer Relentless, a colossus with 100 times the Tatooine’s firepower. The Tatooine’s forward shields had absorbed too much laser fire already, and were almost gone. The Tatooine’s sister frigate, the Omak, had lost shield power and been vaporized three minutes earlier. The Tatooine had been given orders to provide cover – escape time – for the New Republic Star Cruiser Yavin. The new executive officer (the previous having been killed 8 minutes before), Lieutenant Commander Nos Senstra, was on a comlink arguing with Captain Zarker for what he was dismissing as a bizarre endgame strategy. “Captain, throughout the engagement Relentless has kept her port side turned toward us and to the Omak. I’m certain they have a problem, Captain. There’s one starboard-ventral shield that always goes out, because the four neighboring shields set up a magnetic coriolis vortex that crashes its control system. I know. I actually served on the Relentless before my planet joined the Alliance...” At that moment a direct hit by a proton torpedo brought the Tatooine’s forward shields below critical. A following volley of turbolaser blasts melted the bridge, incinerating its occupants. Navigation control of the Tatooine passed automatically to Engineering, and command passed to Senstra. Nos had been in the launch bay, imploring Zarker by intercom to let her take the last remaining A-wing in a sortie against the Relentless. Nos felt a ripple through the ship, then silence on the comm. She glanced at the ship monitor in the bay and saw immediately what had happened. She called Engineering. “Lieutenant Wallis, this is Lieutenant Commander Senstra. The bridge is gone and I’m assuming command. Come to trajectory 011 by 038. Random wobble, random velocity above 0.1 c.” “Ma’am?” queried Lt. Wallis. “That course will put us –” “Don’t question me!” Senstra detested vacillation and insubordination. She had been very unimpressed with the junior officers she had met since moving from the Imperial Fleet to the Alliance. She tried the junior engineering officer. “Lieutenant Cornwell, enter the trajectory.” “Yes, ma’am, but could you please repeat those vector numbers?” “No. Ensign Pitcairn, bring us to the new trajectory.” “Aye, Commander.” At last. “Mr Wallis and Mr Cornwell, you are relieved of command. You will report to turbolaser battery 4. The crew there are dead and the operability of the battery is uncertain. You will restore its operational capability and signal me when it is ready to resume fire.” The Tatooine set its new course. The intact rear shields now pointed to the Relentless. The unshielded forward hull was safely occluded from the Relentless’s fire. For the moment. Nos probed Pitcairn. She needed him unquestioningly on her side. “Ensign, you obviously understand the importance of swift and precise execution of orders. Have you ever had command of a ship before – any ship?” “A small freighter, ma’am,” answered Pitcairn. “I did some bush flying in the Outer Rim.” “That’s the same background as Luke Skywalker when he fought at Yavin. You may be called upon to do great things today, Ensign.” And/or make great sacrifices. “You’ll have my best, Commander.” Senstra knew Pitcairn would do anything she asked. “Ensign, the Tatooine is now on a collision course with a fairly large asteroid, a Magnitude IV, with impact in 90 seconds. In the last 4 seconds you’ll dart around to its blind side, and then enter a pseudo-orbital trajectory. From that point on you’re playing peek-a-boo. Keep the asteroid between the Tatooine and that Star Destroyer. Meanwhile, the moment we’re out of sight, I will drop off in an A-wing onto the asteroid’s surface. I will wait there, dark. I will continue to command the Tatooine from the A-wing. We don’t want them to know I’m there, so we’ll use laser line-of-sight comms only. Tertiary, not binary code, with frequency doubling on 488 and 550 nanometers to take it out of viz range. That should keep our conversation private. Once the Star Destroyer passes, you will re-engage, on my command. He will reorient to fire with his port batteries. I will at that moment attack a weak point on his starboard side. Is all that understood.?” “Aye aye, Commander... Change course in 10 seconds.” Nos sat in the A-wing cockpit. She felt the Tatooine begin its darting maneuver. Pitcairn said, “We’re in the Imps blind zone in 4 seconds.” She saw the asteroid through the launch bay door. “In the blind zone,” announced Pitcairn. “I’m away,” said Nos as the A-wing shot out the bay. She switched to line-of-sight comms. She had 12 seconds to find a hiding spot before the Relentless reached the asteroid. She found one in 8, a craggy crater with overhanging walls, then shut power. A streak overhead indicated the Relentless’s passage. The commander evidently saw the Tatooine’s deception, as he turned the great ship to a 10 kilometer orbit-like trajectory around the asteroid, probably following an ion fragment trail from the Tatooine’s sub-light drive. Nos accelerated directly towards the Relentless, and within two seconds could make out the hangar bay by eye. She continued to within 200 meters and locked the autotracker. The A-wing autos would now duplicate every motion of the Star Destroyer. She could see crewmen inside the bay running for their lives. “In position,” said Nos into the comm link. At no time had she felt any repulsive force on her craft. Her guess about the shield generator had been shrewd. Nos fired all four lasers point blank. A TIE fighter in the bay exploded. The vacuum of space cleared the smoke and flotsam rapidly, and what remained of the hangar was clearly unusable. “Tatooine, I’ve wrecked their flight deck. No TIEs can launch or land.” She didn’t know if the Tatooine was within line-of-sight, so she put the message on repeat. “Read you Commander. That should give them something to think about.” Nos heard cheers in the background. Understandable. This had been the Tatooine’s only taste of victory all day. But giddiness was not acceptable during battle. “You will refer to me as ‘A-wing’, Ensign,” she said coldly. “Don’t give the Imps information on who’s flying.” “Aye, ma’am.” Pitcairn’s voice had dropped 50 degrees in temperature, as expected. Nos had saved herself. She was off the doomed Tatooine, and her daring attack on the Relentless would preclude accusations of desertion. But perhaps there was more she could do. Something was not right about the Relentless’s shields, something more basic than the starboard-ventral generators subject to the coriolis glitch. She remembered that when shield power notches down, the shield fields first move from the skin of the fuselage to a point about 20 meters out. Nos moved the A-wing toward the ship. She came within 20 meters and felt no resistance. Yes, she definitely was inside a zero-field zone within which shields had no effect and small spacecraft and people could move freely. So could rounds from energy weapons. She fired a diagonal shot that destroyed the shield generator for the next section up the hull, then moved into that space, hugging the skin of the great warship. Under the generator had been crews’ quarters, but it was unlikely that any crew would be asleep there. Nos was like a bee in a trouser leg. She could not leave the Relentless without exposing herself to lethal fire, but the Relentless could not shake her, as long as she stayed in the zero-field area and below the line of fire of its turbolasers. This was now a death dance. One or the other craft would be destroyed. Nos walked her A-wing along the Relentless’s surface from the ventral area toward the bridge, destroying shield generators as she went. Finally she reached the equator, the midline between the lightly gunned ventral and the heavily gunned dorsal areas of the Star Destroyer. The equator was ringed with turbolasers. She moved into a blind spot between two of them, where the angle of fire would be too acute for either to aim at her. She took out both turbos, then fired another diagonal shot to disable the next shield generator on the route to the bridge. Nos moved into the new safe zone. Her next move would expose her to fire from the ship’s superstructure. She needed to find a new blind spot. Find a blind spot or create one. Nos recalled that 30 meters astern of the shield generator in front of her was the MedUnit. With no heavy machinery or reinforced bulkheads to contain damage, a proton torpedo in the MedUnit would make a nice refuge hole. Nos fired, and the proton torpedo opened a large crater in the fuselage. “A-wing, three TIEs on the way to you, arrival in 20 seconds.” At that moment Nos saw the Relentless and the asteroid bathed in a huge flash of light. What in Hoth..? “Acknowledged. Pitcairn, find out what that flash was.” Nos moved into the crater and took out the nearest turbolasers, then returned to the ventral side. The TIE pilots had likely been recalled from an engagement and would have reduced levels of energy and ordnance. Also incomplete knowledge of which shields were and were not functional. Nos lodged her craft in the zero-field layer just under the edge of an active shield. The field protected her like a bedsheet from incoming TIEs, but with a slight lateral movement she could access a 90 degree radial field of fire. The first TIE came in along the normal ship channel. Stupid. She blasted that one easily. The second TIE came at an oblique angle to the ship channel, with some evasive wobble, making him only somewhat less of a target. Nos fired all four of her lasers on stutter, covering a spread of trajectories. One shot nicked a wing of the TIE. The spacecraft could no longer navigate, and it crashed into the Star Destroyer, dorsal amidship. The last TIE moved slowly and deliberately, hugging the shield field. Nos sensed that its path was being managed by an observer on the Relentless. She dropped back into the crater and ensconced herself behind a crag of wreckage on the side the TIE would be coming from. He appeared over the rim of the crater, stupidly following a beeline to the crater from his previous position, and Nos despatched him with a single shot. “This is A-wing. Targets destroyed.” Nos realized that from the extreme edge of the crater she had a clear shot at the bridge. Game over. “A-wing, the Relentless has ceased firing and has disengaged from us.” “Maintain your distance and fire, Ensign. Do not, repeat, do not allow him to disengage. Any info on that flash?” “Aye, ma’am. Message just coming in now... Rogue squadron got the Death Star!! The flash we saw was the Death Star blowing up... The Imp fleet is starting to pull back... Admiral Akbar is ordering our side to reverse the retreat and pursue the Imps.” Nos was in position and sent a percussion missile into the bridge of the Relentless. She wondered for a moment how many former friends were still on the Relentless, and if any had been on the bridge. Securing credit for the kill replaced that thought. “Ensign, I want that Star Destroyer. I want it before the Yavin gets back. If the Imperials are in full retreat, he’ll be jumping to hyperspace in about 3 minutes. That’s how long we have to take out his hyperspace drive. Concentrate your fire 300 meters forward of the drive, 120 meters dorsal to the starboard equator.” Those coordinates were for a nexus in the power channel that connected a major reactor with the hyperdrive. The reactor itself was too heavily shielded to bother attacking. An auxiliary reactor for hyperdrive back-up was on the port ventral side, again with a relatively accessible power channel. Nos would take that out. “Aye, ma’am.” The frigate and the A-wing set about their destruction of the behemoth. Nos walked her craft along the underbelly of the Star Destroyer to the target area, methodically destroying a shield generator at each step. At one point a squad of space troopers appeared carrying heavy blasters, but she cut them to ribbons with stuttered laser fire. The atmosphere inside the Relentless must be approaching desperation. When Nos reached the vicinity of the power channel, she burned two holes in the fuselage with laser fire, then lodged her last two percussion missiles in them. She backed her A-wing away a safe distance, then detonated both missiles simultaneously by manual remote. The crater that opened up was with certainty big enough that the power channel was cut. A moment later Nos saw the flash from a large explosion on the starboard side. Pitcairn had evidently been successful. The Relentless was now cut off from the Imperial Fleet. “A-wing, I think we’ve knocked out their hyperspace capability. And there’s a message coming through from the Imp commander.” “Ensign, cease fire, and prepare a volly of 12 proton torpedos, to launch on my command, to hit coordinates I’m putting over the comm now. Give me 5 seconds, then patch the Imperial through. Keep a separate channel for us to talk. Nos removed her helmet and comlink. No need for the enemy to know from visual that she was communicating from the A-wing. The Relentless’s commander came on. “New Republic frigate, this is Commander Nor’dam Damrek, captain of I. S. Relentless.” Damrek. Nos had been through the Imperial Academy with him. He had been a quiet student. A good musician. He’d led the Academy’s orchestra, but sometimes seemed more interested in music than in military science. An intimate, sort of. At least he thought so. She had gotten to know him better on the Relentless. Damrek had a good intellect, but he had seemed too close to the enlisted crew and didn’t command well. “Noru, it’s Nos! Commanding a Star Destroyer – I see your career’s been going quite a bit better than mine since we last met!” “Nos, what an irony! I’m afraid I’m only in command because all the senior officers were on the bridge when your A-wing vaped it. I’m sorry we had to meet again like this.” “Such is war, Noru. I’ve missed you. What can I do for you?” “ I’d like to discuss terms of surrender.” “I’d be overjoyed to accept that. But tell me first how your crew are doing.” “We have a lot of injured, and our MedUnit’s out. We can’t navigate, and have only limited power for life support.” “All right, I’m first going to send over a medical team.” “I’m afraid our launch bay isn’t operative, Nos.“ “I see. Then we’ll put up an air tunnel and burn a hatchway through your fuselage. There use to be a big storage hold on Level 8, about 300 meters forward of turbo battery 5. Is that still there, and is that a good place to burn through?” “Yes, and yes, Nos. In fact, that’s what I was going to suggest.” “I’m scrambling the medics now. We’ll launch in about 1 minute. In the mean time, I’d like you to drop your shields. All of them. Please understand, Noru, this is just a precautionary measure. We need our A-wing back.” “I understand, Nos.” There was a pause, then, “Shields are coming down.” Nos piloted the A-wing out the channel she had followed in. “Thanks, Noru. I can’t wait to see you again. I have a bottle of Corellian brandy in my cabin we can open and share. And I have a secret to tell you. About you and me.” “We’ll have a lot to catch up on.” Nos spoke on the private channel. “Ensign, tell me when their shields are completely down.” “Aya aye, A-wing...60%...40%...30...20...10...5... Shields down.” “Fire torpedoes.” Chapter 3. Dazed and Confused The speeder’s horn blared as the craft shot along the guideway. Placashan jumped back. He stumbled a few steps, then fell to his knees. “Oh, Sithspawn!” he shouted to the sky. His face fell into his hands and he wept. Beings on the walkway stopped, stared a moment, then moved on. They don’t recognize me. A vagabond, not a Grand Moff. A Grand Moff wouldn’t be crying on his knees. A Grand Moff wouldn’t be walking alone. A Grand Moff would have a retinue of aides and bodyguards. “Oh Nella, where are you now? I miss you so!” he said out loud. “Where are they all? Where is Alderaan? Where is my planet?” He stood up and stumbled forward. Why am I feeling this now? Why not three years ago? ‘Yes, my Master; no, my Master; a necessary sacrifice, my Master; I understand, my Master; of course I remain your loyal aide.’ Placashan felt dizzy, tried to walk, and fell again. A gray arm gripped him powerfully around the shoulders and lifted him up. He faced a chest full of medals. He looked into the face. Pellaeon, he recognized him. The admiral who had taken charge at Endor. Pellaeon’s eyes were analytical, neither accepting nor condemning. “A coalition of Moffs is meeting in three hours to form a Cabinet, Minister.” “You tracked me down?” “We met by accident. I have an errand at the Palace before the meeting,” Pellaeon said. Placashan looked around. He had walked to Imperial Square. “I can’t go. I won’t go. I won’t be part of –” “Go to your office. Sleep for ninety minutes. That will restore you. Spend the remaining time making yourself look as good as possible. Wash your face, change your clothes. I’ll send an aide to collect you.” The itinerary was spoken in command voice. Pellaeon let him go. “I... I will. Thank you. I don’t know what came over me,” Placashan said. “Something no man should suffer,” Pellaeon said, and he walked away. -----signature----- E pluribus unum - Luke & Mara high-mush action/drama http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24311001/p1/?0 Every encounter is an opportunity to learn. Every person is a teacher.
	Locked Topic \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
frankieskywalker Registered: Apr '06	Date Posted: 7/10/06 3:02pm Subject: RE: E pluribus unum - AU L/M H/L OCs Action, Romance. Updated 7/10
	i like pellaeon nice two chapters for the price of one yayayayay