Star Wars: The Forces of Deception pt.3 - The Conclusion

A relatively simple trick would be to do this (this will work VERY well against a bluescreen, and might work on location):

Keep your camera locked in place on a tripod and film an establishing shot of the blank scene. Then, film your stunt. Then, do a split screen effect where everything above your flying actor is footage from the establishing shot (this type of split screen will work particularly well in Axogon with its geometry animation feature). If you have people at a higher level than your stunt man, do the same sort of thing, but instead of split screening the whole frame, simply make a mask over the wires holding him up (ex: animate a box that covers the wires), color the box blue, and use the blue to create a transparency that shows the establishing shot behind it. It should be fairly easy to do.
-Lokmer

 

Thanks for the ideas, everyone! We will probably not do big wire stunts, just small things like extended jumps and quick mid-air Jet Li-style no-one-could-ever-do-that-if-they-wanted-to flying kicks and stuff.

 

<Well...I'm back! After many months absent.
Its time I returned to write, Here we go...>

Tobin and Joni both lashed out at Skara. But the former Jedi apprentice easily ducked Tobin's attack and parred Joni's. As he went down he did a sweep kick that took Joni off of his feet and put his back right on the floor. Tobin blocked Skara's counterattack and met his sabre with his, blow for blow.

He's pouring all of his hate and anger out at us! Tobin thought as he dueled with Skara Joni and I have to not let out emotions get out of control. We have to remain calm

Skarra took a wild swing at Tobin, but the Mon Cal apprentice used the Force to leap into the air and over his opponent. He flipped and landed right next to Joni, who was on his feet again. Join and Tobin both
noticed the look of on Skarra's face as he turned to face them. It was one of pure anger.

He's getting fustrated and angrier. Joni!
We must use this to our advantage.

Joni replied through the Force along with a nod

Let's do it.

As this went on so did the battle on the other end of the room. Joruus C'Boath watched with suprise as the three Jedi pooled their skills with the lightsabre and we deflecting his lightning blasts. Slowly they were moving up the walkway toward him.

Damn these Jedi!! Time to show them this is not the only power at my command!

Liam maintained his concentration with Mara and Woshirra, despite his worry about Tobin and Joni fighting Skarra. He wanted to try and get through to his former apprentice one last time, but he knew that C'Boath was a deadly menace that had to be dealt with first. Suddenly he noticed C'Boath hold back the dark side lightning for a moment.

What is he up too?

Mara and Woshirra wondered the same thing, then it hit them, literarly. With a wave of his hand C'Boath used the dark side to push Mara, Liam and Woshirra down the steps as if they had been hit by a large gust of wind. The trio hit the stone floor hard. As they started to get back on their feet, C'Boath let out a laugh that sent a chill down their spines. Liam felt the anger at the man who had corrupted his apprentice sizzle
as he spoke to them

"You pathetic Jedi think you are a match for Joruus C'Boath?! HA HA HA HA!! Your feeble Force skills are no match for the powers that I posess!!"

"Get ready to be dissapointed!" yelled Liam as he charged C'Boath again.

"LIAM! NO!" screamed Mara

C'Boath just laughed again as Liam brought his blue blade up over his head. He never got close to C'Boath. A medium sized statue of Palpatine himself flew from the other side of the room and into the air, and struck Liam in the side. He fell of the steps and off to the right, holding his side as he lay on the floor.

Mara felt his pain through the Force. She held her anger at C'Boath in check as she thought of her next move. She held her lightsabre up and started toward C'Boath again. A smile crept over his face as he held
out a hand and unleashed more dark side lightning in Mara's direction. She just barely blocked it with her lightsabre as she sent a mental command to Woshirra

NOW!

Woshirra charged C'Boath but never took more than a few steps. He was knocked back by a storage box which flew from anothe part of the room. He Forced Pushed Mara down to
the floor again with one hand and shot more dark side lightning in Woshirra's direction with his other hand. Woshirra had recovered from the previous attack long enough to roll out of the way in the nick of time. The lightning only hit the floor, leaving a huge scorch mark.

Sithspawn! C'boath is playing a smart game plan, Mara thought to herself as she got up again.He is keeping us off balance. Not letting us get close to him. His mastery of the Dark Side is amazing. Palpatine taught him well. Hmm.....if two of us can keep his attention long enough to let one of us get up close and personal before he can react. We can turn the tide in our favor

She blocked some more lightning when she heard Liam speak to her through the Force.

Mara, I heard what you were thinking. You and Woshirra kee

 

Just wanted to take a moment and ask if there are any people still reading the story here.
If so post if you can, we'd like to hear from you.

 

The metal grating on the floor of the corridor in The Black Raven was rended with a shower of sparks as the razor sharp K'kli tail arced through it. Jacinda Keller-Hunter scrambled out of the way of the knifelike appendage, her fingers clawing at the grating in an attempt to pull herself back to her feet.

*SKREEETCH*

The razored tail arced through the air over head as it collided with the wall beside her. The K'kli followed Jacinda at her pace as she managed to scramble back to her feet. It's claws raked the walls as it walked, quickening it's pace behind her just enough to keep up.

As Jacinda pushed herself off a wall down another cramped corridor, she knew the creature was toying with her, and that it would only be a matter of time before it tired of the game...

 

"Lando?" Han asked into the comlink one last time before looking down at one of the last remaining sensor panels in the cockpit of The Nimrod. Whole sections had the ship were gone! He activated the communicator again. "Chewie!?!"

The starfield and battle outside had begun to shift, as the small ship's forward momentum kept it going, but it began to spin on a central axis. Han tried to steady the battleship, but the controls did not respond. The husk of a Star Destroyer was drifting closer and closer, and there wasn't a thing that could be done to stop it.

The Wookie's roar filled the cockpit as the red alert alarm began flashing. Han's eyes widened in fear as he looked over at the display.

Hull Breach. Reactor Core Meltdown Imminent.

"Chewie, she's gonna blow!!!" Han yelled as he slapped his hand down on a switch on a cockpit terminal. A small round hatch slid opened on the floor between the pilot's and co-pilot's chair. Han activated the comm system throughout the ship, or at least what was left of it. "Everyone get to your escape pods now!!!!"

 

General Charlon Rohan watched the Tidal's power fluctuation readout blink, just before he saw the ship turn a complete black on the screen. 

Which to the Old grizzled veteran of the Clone Wars meant exactly johas-splizzt. 

Given his strafighter screen was being eaten up by K'kli war machines it was amazing he had time to observe this little fact as another Swarm blast just arced across the bridge's shields.

"Analysis?" He asked the Dodonna turning on it's voice again. "Ally: The Tidal."

The voice of the brain of the tactical computer echoed back as he saw the power core eject from the huge chamber...something the Admiral would never have ordered in his competancy...seeing the massive flames the General knew instinctly that Kendrick was either dead or incapitated beyond command.

'A good maneuver but the Admiral would have gone down turbolasers blazing. Taking as many ships in the explosion as he could...'

"The four K'kli Battle cruisers of the attack on the Tidal are now breaking off from their current posistion towards the shipyards sir.  Fighter Swarms of 37 fighters, 38 fighters, 36 fighters, and 39 fighters are acommpanying them....transports and other war machines occupied." The Dodonna's readout said.

"How many Command Warships remain... including Solos and Antilles...." General Rohan asked, removing the last Alderaanian ciggarra from his vest pocket and lighting it.

Charlon staring into the void watching the warships approach while sending his orders to the ships under his command....multi-tasking had always been a talent of the old Chandrillan.

"Three Admirals and One General command Ships remain, including Rogue Squadron sir.  The Nimrod has been fatally disabled and I predict it's destruction in 16 seconds." the words of the computer rang out as the Ghost acknowledged that a great deal of the Republic's senior admirality and officers of the rebbellion....had been annhilated before his eyes. That was a handful of the commanders before.

"General....Prodjected arrival time of the Cruisers and fighters is less than a standardminute!" Captain Ackbar called from his consel.

The Ghost looked to the tactical computer as the Dodonna's heavy cannons finished off the last of the K'kli Ki transports.  They'd lost 12% of their primary shields facing the powefully armed carriers and their fighter escort. Now the Ghost had but the ragtag armada he'd had assembled to defend the shipyards and a form that outgunned him three to one...

'If a Corellian mentions something about the odds right now, I swear I will execute him dead where he stands.' Rohan smirked as he breathed in deeply.

"To surviving Republic vessels: This is General Charlon Rohan of the Mothma-class Star Cruiser Mothma.  The Flagship Tidal has been disabled, proceed to lock your battle systems into the Mothma's Central Combat Computer and follow the instructions therein recieved.  We need to close the gap on exterminating these insects." The Ghost blew out cigarra and grinned like a madman as his message was transmitted over Republic lines.

'I know your weakness now you repulsive little arachnids.'

"General what in the Fiery Seas of Abraxanna's Hell are doing?!" Captain Ackbar said in exasperation, interupting the General's thought.

"Turn the Mothma directly in front of the Shipyards at point 5.60BX...no support ships...we're going to make a nice big target for those K'kli cruisers.  Instruct the fighters around the shipyards to breakup into three fighter groups.  Use two dual linked proton torpedoes and then a laser blast on each ship before moving on. WORK AS A TEAM.  We're the last line of defense these poor shavits have and if we fall here...Coruscants likely next" the Ghost stared as Ackbar did....but not at the screen Rohan was.

Finally realizing he didn't have much time or choice, Ackbar immediately went to enact the General's plan. The Cruisers barreling in on the Mothma as the largest threat before their real target....the more than a million inhabitants of the Corellian shipyards.

"Dodonna...." the Ghost whispered to the Computer. 

 

Colonel Halaphan Solas was chief station commander of the Corellian Shipyards during wartime and it was most definately wartime.

The shipyard he'd worked on as a simple security officer for most of his life as it was constructed, he'd been rejected for failing the loyalty tests to get in the Imperial Academy...and low mathmatics grades.

However he hadn't stayed stupid...when the station had been halfway completed he'd started studying in the Corellian Security Force's Naval Division Academy and taking minor classes in starfighter tactics as part "historical simulations". A cover for Corellian training during the Empire's banning of most civilian defense fleets.

Colonel Solas had known they would need a war commander-had believed someday Corellia would assert it's independance....he had thought the enemy would have been the Empire.  Not this insanity.

It was then that he recieved a holo-transmisson from the Mothma, the most ugly vessel God had ever born witness to in this sweet galaxy.

Apparently also the new commander of this station's continued survival. A spiffy Imperial looking man was on the other end of the holocom directed at him, dressed in a Republic Commander's uniform.

"Good evening Colonel Solas I am Commander Benedict Lo'kki of the Republic expeditionar...." the Republican was cut off by some words that Colonel Halaphan wouldn't say in front of his children.

"My point Colonel Halaphan Solas is that the commander of your defense force...General Charlon Rohan wishes you to cause an emissons leak of particle-7 gas....a recommendation of mine in your auxillary generator, causing it's explosian.  Then I would ask you to power down your weapons in Station Grid BX and keep them powered down once you have trained them on point 7:60BX." The Commander sighed as if he was requesting the Colonel to loan him three credits for a pack of cigarettes.

'Like that wasn't outrageous already.'

"That's insane...your asking us to leave the entire center of the shipyards ungaurded but for starfighters!" The Colonel stared at the Commander.

"Oh yes you will kindly order any starfighters from your defense force who would move in this area to retreat as quickly as possible." Lo'kki added blinking.

The Station Commander just let his jaw drop at the Republican.

"And if I don't?" The Corellian could barely pull back his tongue before he released the string of obscenties on his tongue.

"Then you and everyone you know...likely your family and friends as well as co-workers will die the most painful death imaginable at the hands of the Swarm." Commander Lo'kki certainly didn't mince words now did he?

"The Ghost's plan I assure you is the last best chance this station has against the firepower of those four Battlecruisers let alone their starfighters." Lo'kki added as the Colonel shook his head and agreed, gesturing for them to make it so.

"I sure hope you Republican types know what your doing...." Solas sighed as Lo'kki gave a ice cold reply.

"If we don't then I suspect in Hell you will be able to inform me of my folly."

 

"Yeah!!!" Roshivva yelled excitedly as Darth Malice tumbled over the railing into the hole beyond. Tarra glanced at her, not entirely comfortable with the girl's excitement at the death of her enemy. She put her hand to Roshivva's arm as the girl rushed forward to peer over the edge.

"Caution, Roshivva," Tarra warned as she stepped forward to peer over the railing. "Caution."

Roshivva disregarded her Master's warning and ran to the railing, peering down the hole. She gasped when she saw the sunken eyes looking back up at her from the darkness.

Darth Malice held onto the bottom railing with one hand, his feet dangling in the pit below. One lightsaber hung still hung from his belt. The other continued to tumble towards the bottom of the chasm, it's red blade spinning end over end, a glint of it still visible in the darkness from the tunnel above. Malice stared up at the Jedi who'd pushed him over the edge. He knew they would not wait long before they--

"Cut the railing!!!" Roshivva screamed as she pushed herself away from the guardrail and arced her lightsaber back around.

Tarra caught a glimpse of the Sith Lord's hands on the bottom railing, and knew the source of Roshivva's action. She brought her own lightsaber back over her head, and arced it down towards the railing, sending a shower of sparks down the hole as she and her apprentice cut their way down all the guardrails effortlessly.

Darth Malice sensed the intent before the Jedi had the conscious thought to cut him from his grasp. With unimaginable speed he brought his legs up between the wall of the hole and himself. Planting his feet between his hands, he pushed away, releasing his grip as the pair of lightsabers cut a swath through the guardrail he'd held. He streaked across the hole like a missile, twisting in midair so that his near horizontal form faced the bottom of the shaft. His black gloved hands reached and grasped the top railing on the other side of the hole. His body swung down and slammed against the wall of the hole, but he gave no indication of any pain. Instead he brought his feet up to the ground, and pushed again, this time holding onto the railing. His body pivoted around his hands to land on the ground on the other side of the hole, his single lightsaber lit and ready before his feet touched down.

Tarra saw the speed with which the Sith Lord moved, and felt an odd mixture of fear and admiration. He had the grace of a gymnast; she'd not seen a Jedi with physical skill to match hers before. It was then that she realized that Roshivva didn't afford the Sith Lord the same respect.

"Before he regains his balance!" Roshivva yelled, running to the hole in the guardrail she'd made with her teacher. When the first foot reached the edge of the hole, she pushed herself high in the air, sailing over the hole in one leap, her lightsaber lit and poised as she touched down.

"Roshivva, NO!!!" Tarra yelled as she saw her student stumble when she reached the other side. She was no match for the Sith Lord alone. Tarra began running around the hole, in the hopes Roshivva could hold out until she could reach them.

Roshivva's landing wasn't completely solid, and she found herself off balance as the Sith Lord lunged towards her. She heard her Master's yell, but her attention was drawn back to the skeletal Dark Lord who's single crimson lightsaber bore down on her like a bird of prey. Still off balance, Roshivva parried the overhand blow, and stepped back away from Darth Malice. A second blow followed the first, which she parried as well, though with less ease. She saw Tarra's lightsaber in the distance over Darth Malice's shoulder, but her master was at least two dozen steps away... an eternity.

Darth Malice sensed the Jedi behind him, and his decision was made. "This ends. Now."

Roshivva blocked the Sith Lord's lightsaber parry, but instead of drawing it back for another attack, Darth Malice instead recklessly slid his lightsaber along hers. A shower of sparks erupted his blade neared the hilt of the young Jedi's. Roshivva tried to pull away, but couldn'

 

Flight Officer Kai Renton; squadron leader of Star's Nova watched as he, Baldur, and Tubber split off from the rest of the squadron to engauge in what Kai could best describe as a wild Nek fight between the Twin Ion Engine X-Wing Mark II's and the freighter sized war machines with their farm boy sizzling radiation guns. It on some levels felt like a betrayal of everyone else on his squadrons...casting them to the beasts. On another he knew that it was probably their only chance for survival ...perhaps even just by dumping him. His hands and body were already exausted by this constant flying and fighting.

'No....I'm not going to die here...by your hands...you ******* creatures' Kai whispered to himself, promising with all his heart to avenge his mother's death and stop any
further slaughter. The young pilot pulled upwards in a high ascent, spinning the supremely maneuverable war machine away from the three bursts of fiery green energy comming from the K'kli fighters. Each one like a minature capital ship with rapid fire capicity and a starfighters speed.  The Incom-Sienner ship still was just too maneuverable to die just yet.

'Now if this baby didn't sound like a TIE Ugly...' he mummured.  The trademark screach of the Imperial starfighters inside the X-Wing Mark II's and it was a sound Kai didn't like one bit...even if it did provide him with some extra.....The cockpit then surged with electricity and sparks. Kai felt his shields knocked down to 25% by a direct hit.  The tiny lighting bolts seared his flesh and filled him with immense pain. Kai didn't crash though and saw Tubber and Baldur strike the fighter tailing him with there torpedoes in a coordinated shot that gave Kai a bitter smile as he did a half circle and unloaded four quad laser
blasts on the damaged vessel. Shooting over the K'kli Ki just a microsecond before it exploded behind him.

"If we keep wasting missles on the K'kli fighters WN-1 then we'll not have
enough to take down those battle cruisers comming in...or any transports that may make their way in..." Baldur's voice crackled spoke on the warcomm. Eager to take out as many of the things as he could.

"General's orders...this radiation if it gets through the new shields will
do as much damage as a torpedo in less than a coruscant minute...." Kai then
cursed "Three more vessels comming up starboard!" Though technically out in space every way was starboard, Kai's mind was not on semantics...They could each kill three, four, or even five of these ships (and they were taking far more causalities than that) and they still couldn't overwhelm the K'kli reinforcements that were comming in.

"Forward run, feint downward, and fire torpedoes the momment you pass them!"
Kai shouted to his ships as he was forced to ignore the rest of his squadron as he saw their groups engauge fighters out side his port.  The Drall Baron, the only native of Corellia Prime in this entire squadron.... died on his screen crashing into one of the K'kli Ki machines when he cut too early right...and there nothing Kai could do could save him.

'Some commander I am.' Kai shook his head.

The feint went off beutifully as the K'kli didn't care how much damage they took to get to their objective, they just took it as plowed even further to try and get at their targets. Kai used to believe that bugs and arachnids didn't feel pain when his father told him they could have arms severed off and not care at all.  Now Kai knew they probably did feel pain and...just enjoyed it. Straffing them again as the torpedo's droid brains sought out the exoskelatons of the living monstrocities.  Kai fired three blasts over and took grim satisfaction as the only remaining K'kli vessel exploded into
another group of enemy war machines.

"Thanks White Nova leader. We were having trouble with that group." a strong
older piolet's voice spoke on the comlink, though he probably was in his late twenties/early thirties tops.

"Your welcome." Kai spoke as he saw the designation for the fighter giving
the salute.

'Rogue-1'

'Wedge Antilles.' Kai stared in disb

 

Unity Station, please abort the E Section self destruct!!

Commander Kaalen ViNeas' voice cracked around the command section of Unity Station. Many shifted in their seats as they heard the Republic soldier's voice sound through the speakers. The fear was tangible. More than one brow furrowed uncomfortably as the thought came to mind: We're not only killing the K'kli, but our kinsmen, as well as offworlders here to protect us.

Darret Retar, Vice President of the Corellian Consortium glanced at one of the speakers coldly. If the fate of those in E Section bothered him, he wasn't showing it, just as he apparently wasn't bothered by the glances he received by dozens of pairs of eyes around the Command Centre.

"Do your jobs people," Retar ordered tonelessly.

Unity Station, we have thousands of innocents who are going to die in four minutes! ViNeas' voice crackled loudly over the speakers. You can't sacrifice all these people without a chance.

Retar sighed. While his next course of action was not the preferred on, he had no choice. "Communications officer," he said at length, glancing over to the console bank. He looked around the room, knowing that everyone was anxiously expecting his next order. He knew many expected him to aquiesce to the Republic Soldier's plea for a stay of execution for the thousands on board E Section.

"Yes, sir?" the officer replied as the room went silent. Would he have to tell E Section that the destruct was being called off, or would he have to tell them that their death warrents had been signed for certain.

"Communications officer," Retar repeated as the room silenced. "Discontinue all communications from E Section from our speakers..."

 

The chittering and scuttling K'kli surrounded Luke Skywalker in the dim emerald light that filled the dank engine room of the Wrathbringer. His eyes darted back and forth as he swung his icy blue lightsaber around in a threatening show of force. The K'kli respected the show, which glinted coldly from each facet of every one of their honeycombed eyes, and held their distance from him.

"Finellen!" Luke called out, having lost sight of where his apprentice had vanished to, over near the several story high engine generator. He had been able to catch a glimpse of the young man's lightsaber, but now it was obscured by a group of K'kli several layers high; they were climbing over each other between him and his apprentice, and whatever it is that they were guarding on the other side of the room. Luke could sense something reminiscent of the K'kli, but different. Stronger, darker... more encompassing. No doubt his apprentice, seemingly in the thrall of the Dark Side, felt it also, but to what end the Arena force that Finellen had carried with him, would compell the young man over there escaped Luke'simagination.

Luke breathed in deeply as the wall of K'kli rose; his options were growing more and more limited as the K'kli brought up their barrier of living, twisting, armoured flesh. With no warning, Luke bent his legs slightly and sent himself hurtling up through the air, scant meters over the twisting K'kli and their razor sharp poisoned tails.

As Luke rolled in mid air, he caught a glimpse of his apprentice across the room. What he saw chilled him to the bone.

The K'kli had parted on either side of Finellen, like the mythical body of water Lord Mosaic had supposedly parted on Tatooine, closing back up meters behind him. His apprentice's lightsaber was still lit as he walked slowly towards a much larger K'kli protruding from a large cluster of the tan organic material that had been wrapped around the cylindrical power core. The creature's large, spiked tail weaved and bobbed around in the air, a long clear bulbous tube filled with a thick, gummy liquid gurgling around inside it from her massive body all the way to the sharp, pointed spike. The way Luke saw Finellen walking towards her, he knew that his guard was not up to her in the slightest.

Finellen!!! Luke tried to pour his thoughts into his apprentice's mind, but it seemed to be of no avail, like trying to yell over the din of a million bees.

Luke Skywalker landed on his feet with his lightsaber at the ready on the other side K'kli wall. He surely needed it, for as one, the K'kli turned around to face him, and the other K'kli in the room spun to surround him. This time, though, they did not respect the biting power of his lightsaber, as the massive wall of writhing chitinous flesh poured down on top of him...

 

The Ghost sent his intiatives while the Dodonna combat computer gave out recommendation after recommendation for dealing with the K'kli Ki.  General Rohan had to admire the machine as it was making the best use of it's programming and
learning fast.  It would never be Jan's equal...unless it lived like a human
being for seventy years, but the Dodonna was proving itself a godsend to the tattered fleet. Rohan then saw the K'kli Ki battle cruisers comming into range.

"Side guns and rear weapons power diverted to our shields sir...full charge on our forward batteries....As you instructed.  Engine room is standing by to engauge the backup shields....anti-radiation contantiment
crews....Battlecruisers comming into range in 3 seconds!" Captain Alak Ackbar stopped in the middle of his sentence seeing the read out. The Mon Calamari officers's nervousness was palable...he was sweating like a fi....

'Nevermind that.' General Rohan sighed as he smoked the last of his Alderaanian cigarras and gave a single order to the Captain of the vessel.

"Fire."

The beams of red, blue, and white energy streamed from the heavy turbolasers, light turbolasers, and ion batteries of the Mothma star cruiser at the center of the small armada of Invader Cruisers. Ships with enough
firepower on each to reduce an Imperial Star Destroyer to scittering slag. The long range guns of the Mothma sailed across the shields of the center vessel and not a single hit missed or bothered with the other vessels.  The K'kli knew that combined they could tear the Mothma to ribbons in a minute or...all to to get at the center of the shipyards...and the millions that was their goal...

'Over my dead body...' Charlon thought ironically.

Each of the oval black vessels was a shining egg covered with thousands of hexagonal exits...a honeycomb of death to whatever walked there way.  Even with all there batteries locked onto a single ship that had been in combat with some heavy cruisers the Mothma only do perhaps some meaningful hull damage by the time the remaining three undamaged ships and whatever return fire
destroyed them all...

'God I wish I had a glass of whiskey right now...' The Ghost breathed heavily, the K'kli ki cruisers comming into range with their own weapons....and letting loose their barrage.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Captain Ackbar shouted to the crew over the ship's comm, the Ghost grabbing his chair and Alak grabbing onto the counsel in front of him.

The viewscreen of the Mothma became green with energy as the ship shuddered
and rocked with the capital cruisers focusing their energy on the Mon Cal vessel
with reckless abandon.  A console behind him caught fire as lights above him exploded ...their systems overloaded on the experimental ship.  The rocking didn't stop while the General watched the shield perchantages tick down in free fall.

"Hoowwww long until they reach the coordinates I ggaaave you?" the General
spoke while the ship shuddered madly. The command chamber was a bright red from emergency alarms, a R2 unit going to put out the destroyed system that was burning behind him with god knows how many more in the shuddering war machine.

"Eight seconnnndds!" Captain Ackbar called back to his commander. "Shields down to Seventy Five percent....Sixty Percent!"

As the ship continued to shudder and rumble General Clarion bit into his cigarra and prayed to the Force to see them through this.

'We're going to make it....' he whispered knowing the figures and knowing they didn't mean a damn thing with chance and the twice damned Swarm.

"KEEP FIRING!" Charlon Rohan shouted waving his cigarra in his fist, his shades looking in the red like the soulless black of a devil from Hell to the inexperienced crew around him.

"Five seconds!" Ackbar screached into the command bridge's giant hall.

The Ghost wasted no time and  hit the comm button on his chair, shouting at the top of his lungs a hideous scream-snarl.

"Shipyards! CHARGE YOUR GUNS AND FIRE!"

Five seconds passed and the Mothma's shields lowered to barely above twenty percent while four war machines con

 

"Distance to the edge of the battlefield?" Commander Nea asked nervously, leaning against the railing splittingThe Tidal's bridge. He looked around the darkened command centre nervously; most of the crew were injured or dead, though there really was nothing anyone could do now anyways. With the power core gone, the ship relied on backup reserves, and those had been depleted long ago. The faint light that made the control panels even visible came from the twinkling starfield beyond.

"My guess would be ten thousand meters, sir," the young Lieutenant standing near the window replied, peering outside at the starfield intently.

Nea looked over at the dead control and sensor panels; they didn't even have the power to tell him what ships were nearby, or even how fast they were moving out of the battlezone. They were dead in the water and blind as the proverbial Denebian bat. He winced as he clenched his hands around the railing and looked at the bloodied and burned hand of Admiral Frowan Kendrick that jutted out from underneath the rubble in the centre of the bridge. We're not walking out of this one too easily.

"Sir!!!" the Lieutenant yelled out excitedly. "I can't see any more ships or cannon fire. I think we've cleared the battlefield!!"

A cheer went up on the bridge of the crippled ship; it was a fairly thin cheer, with only a half dozen bridge officers and enlisted left alive to make it, but the energy in the air was electric.

Commander Nea breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps what was left of the engineering crew, who weren't trapped in the engine room when it opened to the vacuum of space to release the dying power core generators, would be able to restore at least partial power to the ship. It was already becoming cold, and the air was growing stale.

Suddenly, Nea noticed a shadow drawing across the bridge of the Republic's flagship. His eyes widened as he looked through the window of the burned and blackened ship; he could see his own reflection in one of the facets of the K'kli Battle Cruiser that drew over the Tidal, the multifaceted surface of the K'kli ship hovering scant meters over the hull of the dead ship...

 

Up!

This must be getting close to its first birthday soon.

 

I had wanted to do something to commemorate the beginning of What If: Skywalker Captured, but I didn't get around to it... it's anniversary was April 24th, I believe. This thread's birthday will be a year old on June 30th... what I thought would be a 200 post, two month thread has turned into something a lot longer and more extensive.

Believe it or not, this thing's almost finished. I haven't updated it since last Sunday or Monday, but there's an FoD archive thread about seven pages down. In it I'm posting the story again from the beginning. If you'd like to check out how the story began, it's a great place to start.

We'll be posting again soon...

Geoff

 

"Try again."

"It's no good sir," Lieutenant Karrack shouted over the din of the fearful Corellians who struggled to keep away from the gaping holes forming in the floor of the E-Section tunnel. "Unity Station has severed communications with us, and they're blocking all communications with the outside. I can't even raise The Tidal."

"Blast!!" Commander Kaalen ViNeas cursed, slamming his fist against the wall. His rage was distracted by the K'kli leaping from the hole near his feet. A spray of blaster fire from ViNeas' and Karrack's rifles reduced the intruding K'kli to a burned and bubbling corpse, and the other K'kli in the maintenance tunnel below them backed away with their chattering clicks. "At least we're in the tunnel on the surface."

"Why's that?" Karrack asked, curious that his commander could find anything to find solace in.

"Because," ViNeas explained as he opened fire randomly into one of the holes, "If we were in any section below us, we'd be fighting these things from the maintenance tunnels below us and above us..."

 

"They're coming at us from all sides!!!" Ayleeya Vlenus yelled over the screams of the Corellians and clicking of the K'kli. The insectoid monsrosities were pouring in through holes in the floor, ceiling and walls, and leaving with limp and poisoned prey in their razored clutches. Ayleeya's lightsaber hummed as it arced around, severing a K'kli's head from it's body as it scrambled awkwardly through the hole in the wall behind her.

"We can't keep this up forever," Leia Organa yelled in reply, using her father's crimson lightsaber to keep a trio of K'kli at bay, away from the handful of children huddling in fear behind her back.

"No, we can't!!" Ayleeya shouted sarcastically. "We've got less than four minutes until this hunk of steel is stardust!!!"

"Can you raise Unity Station?" Leia asked, splitting an over-anxious K'kli in half.

"Um, I'm kinda busy at the moment," Ayleeya replied, doing a backflip over a lunging K'kli, her lightsaber arcing back up underneath her, splitting the monster from tail to head. She landed on her feet, and thrust her lightsaber through the wall of the corridor. A high pitched squeal followed instantaneously, and Ayleeya pulled up and away; the squeal promptly stopped. Ayleeya slapped her hand against the wall communicator beside her. "Unity Station, this is Republic Ambassador Vlenus, please acknowledge?"

Her request was replied with silence.

"If only we could shut off the auto-destruct from here!" Leia shouted as she drilled a hole through the skull of an onrushing K'kli. Behind her the children screamed. She spun around to see a freshly rent hole in the wall, and a kicking pair of feet slipping through it; there was one less child than there had been moments earlier.

Ayleeya slapped the communicator again. "Is there anyone on board that can reply to this? Any Unity security personel? Any Republic soldiers left?"

Ayleeya's request was followed with silence again. She spun around, relieving two K'kli torsos of the burden of their lower half. She cursed as four K'kli dropped from a hole in the ceiling and lunged towards her. Ayleeya spun around like a top, her lightsaber travelling up and down in a blur. The K'kli couldn't scramble out of the way in time as the Jedi swung her way through them, and their parts spread all over the floor and walls.

"I bet Luke's just having a grand old time," Leia muttered to herself, trying to put herself back into the mindset she held seven scant years ago, when even in the direst of circumstances she could muster a joke or a quip. She made the joke, but somehow it wasn't just the same... not when the countdown timer read Three Minutes to E-Section Self Destruct.

 

The disturbing irony that the Nimrod escape pods were little bigger than coffins was not wasted on Han Solo as he slid from the hole in the floor of the cockpit into his pod. As his feet touched the bottom of the pod, it sealed itself, and a red button lit, and began flashing. Han quickly punched the button, and through the plastisteel plate that made up the top front of the pod, he saw the hatch seal to the cockpit.

Suddenly, the escape pod was ejected from the dying battleship, and he found himself hurtling away from the cockpit of the ship into space. Into the battle zone.

Han stared back up to The Nimrod. A massive hole was ripped through the ship... through the fires he could see the starfield on the other side of the ship. He strained his eyes to make out any other released escape pods, but in the chaos of the battle for Corellia, he couldn't make any out.

Suddenly The Nimrod exploded in a massive red and orange fireball. Han felt a lump form in his throat, and felt a fear growing in his belly; he had no idea if Chewie made it off the ship alive. As the flames died down and the space The Nimrod had occupied suddenly became vacant again, Han realized that it had been a good ship, taken too soon. It also crossed his mind how glad he was that The Falcon was still being repaired back at Coruscant... as long as the K'kli hadn't reached there too.

Han shook his head; no time to ponder that now. "Of course," he muttered sardonically. "I got nothing but time on my hands right now anyways."

It was at that point, when Han saw the K'kli Starfighter racing through space in his general direction that he remembered their despicable habit of ramming helpless escape pods, and he realized that he might not have had that much time left to him after all...

 

Yoah, peace, out, wazzup?

I should've done this a while ago. Read it, I mean. Awesome job, as usual. You guys are getting too predictable.

If any of you ever have any extra time on your hands, please check http://chocake.tripod.com/cyoa/a.htmlthis out.

 

Kai spun around and around in a spiral; plunging ever closer to the impenetrable planetary shield of Corellia. The three Swarm fighters behind him blasting at him repeatably.  The scars from their energy were fluctating his shields all across the X-Wing mark II.  Kai's controls were Sienner made and thus pieces of garbage under real time combat conditions.  His maneuverability
was unaffected but his shields fizzled and as a blast shattered the last of them.

"Baldur....I can't shake them....Tubber...." Kai hissed under the spinning sensation of the fighter.  The young pilot had destroyed a total of seven of the vessels so far and that feet was nothing short of remarkable, yet his wingmen had been backhanded by the reinforcements of the Swarm fighters that
had broken through the blockade and barely surviving...perhaps not for long. Baldur was likely just as occupied as he was, Tubber would be where his friend was fighting.

"Which makes means I'm kriffed." Kai spoke while Spectre blasted his extinquisher of anti radiation foam on the particles eating away at his left wing.  The danger lights broke out all over his ship once he moved into perfect firing range of his foes. An additional alarm informed him that he was a kilometer away from the planetary shield and moving at phenomeneol speed....

'It was a miracle I spun away a meter and a half over it.' Kai thought checking his gauge with a brief eye motion just doing exactly that.

Kai pulled out his dive as the explosian of two of the Invaders signalled the other ships had been too eager to attack him and thus were now fried atmosphere.  Spectre warbled a warning before Kai ducked low under the third's radiation beams.

"I know I know! I missed the third one!" Flight officer Renton spoke, slowing his speed to a crawl and ducking the ship down before getting a good look of the thing passing over him in the boom of his controls registering the Swarm Ship's narrow miss of Kai's X-Wing.

"Match it's speed Specs!" Kai screamed as he trusted his astromech to handle his velocity while he cut loose with as many quad lasers as he could on the Invader fighter.

"How many missles we got left Specs?" Kai shouted to his droid as he didn't take his attention of the battle even to check his machine's figures.

Specs warbled three beeps which signaled numerical three.  Kai was already picking up some binary...three missles wasn't going to cover it against these things.  They were extremely heavily armored and their sheilds were strong too.

Kai saw the explosians comming from the dying embers the four K'kli battle cruisers. The shields on the enemy fighter ahead of him collapsing before it spun around and Kai went under it.

'The General did it...now we just need to cope with about a thousand K'kli Ki fighters ...' Kai cursed, realizing maneuvering in this sea of dogfighting was almost impossible.  Modular units containing machine parts, turbolaser gases, and foodstuffs mixed with the defense force made this an obstacle course nightmare. More pilots were dying due to friendly fire and debris than laser blasts!

Passing by Baldur's Mark II as another K'kli ki was destroyed by his Sullustan friend, Kai smirked at the warrior's next words "Forgive me White Nova-1. We had some trouble with this one."

Baldur's X-Wing finished off with lasers another of the ships that Tubber had softed up with his own depleted missles.  Kai knew Tubber was loyal to him but more than anything admired the coordination the two already had. Each one knew his assigned combat roll instinctively, Tubber heavy hitting and Baldur drawing fire and hit and feints to destroy the weakened ships. While Kai charged down at the K'kli Ki fighter he'd been dodging seconds before, blasting it and sending it spiralling into a nearby modular unit, Kai knew that to be a good squadron leader he'd have to foster this kinduv coordination. Renton then pulled up from the resulting explosian of the Swarm ship's crash that covered his X-Wing in harmless flames.

"I detect another group of K'kli Ki hunter ships comming off towards the

 

tongue.gif

 

Moving this puppy up top. I need to get a posting again!

 

Good day all.

Well, a long time has passed since I made a story post here last, and I don't think the time is going to be doing anything but growing larger.

Working on this story, with Purp, Hagel, Jeff 42, Charlemagne, Darth Vacuous and those numerous other individuals that helped get the thread moving when it was What If: Skywalker Captured was a great joy and priveledge to me. I'd like to pass out a warm thank you to those aforementioned individuals, as well as all the readers who posted their "Kudos!", and encouraged and egged us on.

Sadly, though, the time for me to write Star Wars stories in my life has passed. I can summon up neither the enthusiasm nor excitement to even ponder the next post. So, if this story is going to be finished, it won't be with me "at the helm" or even involved in any fashion.

Therefore, I'd like to thank you all for your support and encouragement since I started writing fan fiction in February of 1999, and this story in particular (in it's original incarnation) that I started in April of the same year. It's been a fantastic springboard for me, teaching me a lot about plotting, characterization, setups and payoffs and helping me rediscover my love of writing in the first place.

But, while I'm "logging off" here, my writing "career" may just be beginning. At present I'm working on a movie script, with two others on the backburner, to be tackled when the current one is finished. Perhaps you all might see my writing ventures in some commercially successful (or unsuccessful) venue, at some point in the future. Who knows? Wouldn't be much of a life if I didn't at least try, huh?

So, thank you all for everything, and thanks to my co-writers for bearing with me and going along with me, and sometimes arguing with me when it was necessary (-- Purp and Darth Vacuous, this means you... I shall miss those arguments).

Goodbye, and may the... well, you know the rest.

Geoff Morton
July 30, 2000

 

Well Geof I'm not going to say I'm not dissapointed that this thread has lost it's founder (though I'm very glad to hear about your sucess) however I think it's positively crimminal to let such a long and involved piece of work go unfinished.

Therefore I'm going to keep up my end of the work and do my best to continue this wonderful piece of work.

The same I hope can be said of the other orginal authors who've added their wonderful insights into all these pieces....

However I think a call for new authors is in order and I will do my best to maintain your thoughts for the vision of the future.

Amen