Beyond - Legends The Lands of the Dead (Post-NJO AU: Anakin Solo, Jacen, Jaina, L/M,H/L,many more) New fic 4/16!

Spike: An excellent start, YK. Especially the tales of, and the instructions left by, Malig.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it I hope that was sufficiently creepy

And now I'm wondering just what became of 'Merryl"? I have a feeling we may have seen her before, already...

Interesting... I think I know who you're suggesting it is, but feel free to expound on it if you want

Thanks for reading and replying






jagsredlady: It has started! This is good news indeed!

Aww, I'm glad you're excited Thanks for the beta

I shall watch your progress with great interest.

... You're the Sith Lord!

You're too sweet.



I'm pretty too

Thanks so much for reading and your reply






corran: Just thought of something. Malig's visit to Guthree puts him in about the same shape a certain Lost character was in after time traveling. it leads further credence to my Malig=Ben theory.

lol! Awesome Yeah, Malig is very Ben-like in a lot of ways. Ben would make a great Sith Lord. He's a good inspiration for a villain.

Anyway, Like Ben, you'll eventually find out why Malig was in bad shape when he visited Guthree, where he got the ship, how he knew to find this farmer, etc.

When I was rereading the post I thought the empty coffin seemed LOST-ish, like when Jack finds his dad's casket in season 1.

No sign of a smoke monster yet in this fic though







TSF: Thanks for the PM!

My pleasure Thanks for reading yet another one of my painfully long stories

Great start...very cool and creepy!

Thanks! It seemed like the best place to pick off after the end of the last fic and the mystery of Malig's identity.

I love the planning you & backstory you've put into this fic. I frequently feel as though I'm missing some inside clue, but that's good, because it's so much fun to discover what I was missing and have that "ah-ha!" moment.

Hehe. Unfortunately the fact that this goes a chapter a week makes it hard to remember things sometimes. As long as you got that this stranger claiming to be "Adas" was actually Malig and Thrawn and Parck were looking for the Raithians, then you didn't really miss anything. The rest is supposed to be a mystery and connect to things Malig told Jacen back in chapter 35 and 37 of Exodus.

The fact that he may be able to see the future and raise the dead means he might be telling the truth about everything

Looking forward to more.

Thanks so much, and thanks for reading and replying as well






Cyn: What the deuce?



So he's got a Nubian ship, it's five years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker but interestingly enough the year of Padme Naberries birth, and he's ?injured?.
Also exhibit's creepy T-virus Raise-The-Dead ability...
And Jacen recognizes him.

Yep, sounds about right

Though we don't know that Jacen recognized him, only that seeing his face made everything clear for Jacen, whatever that means

Malig is...I dunno. But I'm going to figure it out.
I swear.

I'm actually fairly sure someone will stumble onto it before I reveal it There was a fairly big clue back in chapter 35 or 37 of Exodus that a couple people caught but haven't been able to put together yet.






Wedge: Cool. Interesting how Zahn did something similar, opening his books with a Star Destroyer passing by. Haven't read Outbound Flight, so I don't know how that one opened up.

I have an extra copy of the hardcover Outbound Flight I got from BAMM still in the package. If you want it, PM me and it's yours

Yeah, the EU seems to go back and forth between 'was it the YV, or not?'. Although considering how much time has passed in universe, unless DR is going to suddenly pull something out of th

 

All of those little details aren't random, btw. The fact that Malig is injured, that he has a "Nubian" ship, the year, that he asked Guthree to call him "Adas"? they're all part of Malig's backstory that will be filled in later.

*shakes head*

Oh, I have learned, my friend. Nothing from you is EVER random.

Ever.

 

can't wait to see where this goes next. looks like the Sith is really orchestrating alot of things

 

YK:I think Zahn was just opening the door to possibilities of threats in the UR back in VotF with Stent's "A thousands different threats that would chill your blood" or something like that. I find it interesting that Stackpole seemed to imply it was not the Vong when he and Zahn are good buddies, yet Zahn implied heavily it was the Vong in OF Go figure.

Or maybe they were one of the 'thousands of threats'? And yeah, go figure.


That was creepy

Yes... so much trouble was caused by Londo's reply to Morden...


Yeah, Kosh seems more Malig-ish

Now I have another idea for a parody cover. Thanks.


Wasn't there a Veronica?

Ehh, yes and no. This is going to take a little explaining...

Chances are, you're thinking of Alexia Ashford (her great-granddaughter I think). She and her twin brother, Alfred (who is reeeeealy "special") were created with Veronica's DNA. Veronica was some sort of revered figure in the Ashford family (not sure what she did though) Both of the twins worked for Umbrella for a time, and like 99% of Umbrella employees, were power-hungry psychopaths.

Maybe SWU Jacen worked with Umbrella during his 5 year sojourn?


And yeah, Wesker is right where he needs to be

Wesker =

[image=http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r213/CloneCmdrWedge/gifs/animation_wesker7.gif]


Yep, you're exactly right Is he telling half-truths or does he really have Plagueis' power?

From what was described there, no, not literally. But...things can change and/or improve in 50 years...


Don't know them. But I miss Vrook

I know...who am I going to pick on?


Next chapter is really, really long.

Must be really important than.


The good news is that we'll be finding out what the Jedi have been up to since fleeing into the Unknown Regions and we'll see Jaina, Jag, Anakin, Artoo,

Sounds good so far.


and a new droid I think you'll like.

Please tell me it's like a certain assassin droid from KotOR...

 

Telanna: *shakes head*
Oh, I have learned, my friend. Nothing from you is EVER random.
Ever.

Hehe I just meant they were details you might want to file away for later





Sil: can't wait to see where this goes next. looks like the Sith is really orchestrating alot of things

Yeah, we'll find out the extent of Malig's reach in this fic since he claims to have no official standing amongst the Raithians and it appears very few know he even exists... All will be explained though.

Thanks so much for reading and replying





Wedge: Or maybe they were one of the 'thousands of threats'? And yeah, go figure.

Yeah, probably

Yes... so much trouble was caused by Londo's reply to Morden...

He looks at him rather dreamily... I thought they were going to start making out in that elevator.

Now I have another idea for a parody cover. Thanks.

I'm sure you'll have to explain it to me

Ehh, yes and no. This is going to take a little explaining...
Chances are, you're thinking of Alexia Ashford (her great-granddaughter I think). She and her twin brother, Alfred (who is reeeeealy "special") were created with Veronica's DNA. Veronica was some sort of revered figure in the Ashford family (not sure what she did though) Both of the twins worked for Umbrella for a time, and like 99% of Umbrella employees, were power-hungry psychopaths.

Ahh, thanks. I never played the "Code:Veronica" game so I wasn't sure.

Maybe SWU Jacen worked with Umbrella during his 5 year sojourn?

He seemed to work with everyone else, why not?

That's hilarious! I love the way he looks up

From what was described there, no, not literally. But...things can change and/or improve in 50 years...

Good point

I know...who am I going to pick on?

I really hope they get on KotoR3. As cool as Force Unleashed looks, I think I'd rather have a proper sequel to KotoR

Must be really important than.

Well, it's the opener, of sorts

Please tell me it's like a certain assassin droid from KotOR...

I wish! Hopefully you won't be too disappointed though





New post tomorrow!

 

I was wondering, will this series be the last you write in your alternate universe, or will it spawn another series even greater then this one?

On the LOST front:It looks like Emile De Ravin won't be returning fulltime next season, but the producers are trying to get her fulltime for season 6. Looks like we won't be seeing much Claire next season.

 

*bounces up and down excitedly* At last! I have time actually sit down and read. And not a moment too soon.

 

Can't wait! So excited!

 

corran: I was wondering, will this series be the last you write in your alternate universe, or will it spawn another series even greater then this one?

Hard to say. I don't have any plans to write any other fics after the 4th one in this series, but I guess you never know. Maybe people will want to read about a galaxy controlled by the Raithians after all the good guys are killed?

Seriously though, the ending I have planned is probably where I want to leave it. I'm sure there will be potential for spinoffs though, whether I write them or not. I think it would be interesting to let some of the other writers here take over after the end, if any one is interested in playing in this AU.

As for Lost, I did hear that rumor. I'm not really sure what to make of it. She's supposed to be a guest star for season 5, so I'm sure we'll be seeing here in a few episodes. Emile looked pregnant to me in the last few episodes though, so I'm wondering if that was a factor.

There was also a rumor after last year's finale that one of the actresses was a bit of a diva who no one wanted to work with any more and most people assumed it was her. Given her extremely reduced role on the show the past two seasons, I'm wondering if there's some truth to that one too.





flowerbee: *bounces up and down excitedly* At last! I have time actually sit down and read. And not a moment too soon.

Great to see you! Glad you're so excited and you have a chance to read Hope you like the new fic

Thanks for reading and replying






GrandMasterKatarn: Can't wait! So excited!

Thanks for the enthusiasm, it's much appreciated Hope you'll enjoy the new post.







New post up in a few. Special thanks to jagsredlady for coming up with a callsign for Jag when I couldn't think of a good one, and also kudos to her for coming half-way to canon

 

Chapter 1: The Battle of Telex

The Emperor was right.

And when Grand Admiral Thrawn returned from his "mapping" duties deep in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, he was absolutely convinced of this fact. The threat that Emperor Palpatine feared was real, and Thrawn found his evidence in the form of a ship.

A stealth craft like no other he'd ever seen, made of alien technology so complex that it baffled even the brightest Imperial engineers and technicians who'd been sent along on their voyage. It was then that the Chiss mastermind made his decision.

He returned to Ascendancy Space and the more than two hundred sectors he and Voss Parck had mapped in the Unknown Regions and began to fortify systems beyond the Outer Rim, creating a defensive ring to protect not only the Empire from the threats lurking in the darkness that surrounds the most distant stars, but to ensure the safety of his own people. Imperial outposts and orbital ship yards were constructed, the best and brightest soldiers and pilots cloned to bolster their forces, and the Empire of the Hand was born in secrecy.

One such garrison was established on the planet Telex.

It has little in the way of resources, save a few minerals that can be harvested from its rocky surface. Its value, as with most things that appeal to Thrawn, is strategic— the planet revolves within the vacuum at the junction of two hyperspace routes in Chiss space and makes up a boundary between the Outer Rim and Csilla.

It was an obvious choice to establish an outpost there and leave a patrolling flotilla of Star Destroyers and cruisers to prevent it from becoming an invasion corridor for their enemies, fearing that one day, these dark forces would come to take it.

And today is the day Grand Admiral Thrawn has been waiting for.

Telex hangs suspended in the star-speckled void, a luminescent sphere of tan and orange spatters now buried beneath a mesh of dark wedges drifting in its orbit. Between these massive shapes is a web of particle beams and nova-like bursts of energy that flare so brightly it seems the dimming stars might never reclaim their former brilliance, and space itself will be scorched in the blaze.

It is a battle more than thirty years in the making, like the two dozen others the two sides have fought in the last five months. Imperial and CEDF warships hold steady, creating a defensive screen against the invaders creeping forward. It is a fleet of black metal plating and hulking ion drives that burn scarlet.

This is the threat that the Emperor feared more than anything.

They are called the Raithians.

Starfighters begin to spill from the warships in waves, just visible in the conflagration by tails of blue efflux and the cascades of laser fire streaking in all directions while Raithian troop carriers push through the planet's atmosphere to the battle already raging on Telex's surface. Batteries erupt in dashes of red and blue as cannon bolts blossom against flickering deflector shields and tangles of turbolaser fire tear through ship hulls in thick bands of green light, sending jets of rolling plasma and fountains of smoking debris arcing across the starfield.

The Emperor was right.

But he and Thrawn never imagined that when this war arrived, that it would be the Jed Knights the Imperial forces are protecting.





"Our clawcraft escort is ahead. Making an opening for us."

"Copy."

"Our orders are not to engage, Sticks."

Jaina Solo frowned in concentration as her tiny hands flexed around the control joysticks. "I'm aware," she replied, adjusting the mic of her headset communicator. The gold band wrapped around her long brunette hair like a crown was the only piece of equipment worn by the Jedi pilots. For years Jaina had worn flight suits like a second skin, and was still getting used to flying in something as loose fitting as the light brown robes wrapped around her slight form. "But we have to go through this mess anyway. We might as well see if we can help a little."

"And you're sure angling for the worst of it is the best way to go about that?"

There was no fear in Jagged Fel's voice, only the measured calm and focus she'd come to recognize from him in battle, muffled by a thin hiss of static through her comm. He wasn't expecting a response, she decided, and the question didn't deserve one to begin with.

The Jedi Knight put her Eta-7 Jedi Interceptor into a gentle dive towards an Imperial cruiser, the twin drives whining as she pulled back on the yoke and banked across the trench of its dull-gray surface and then twisted over the warship's bow, soaring down in another graceful fall towards the carnage ahead. Her brown eyes flicked at the rear viewscreen to ensure her wingmates were still with her and she spotted both— her brother Anakin in the burgundy interceptor he'd had since before the war began and Jag piloting a black and silver model he'd been given to replace the Chiss clawcraft he lost at Ossus.

She was impressed with the seeming ease and confidence with which the CEDF Commander piloted the Kuat-engineered starfighter. They'd certainly been designed with Jedi in mind, a gift from the Galactic Alliance at Cal Omas' directive following the Yuuzhan Vong War, replicating Kuat System's Actis as a way of recapturing the mythic heroism of the Old Jedi Order through symbolism, in hopes of inspiring worlds.

But now Cal Omas was dead, and everything the Jedi had been fighting for during the war with the Yuuzhan Vong destroyed.

Jaina thought ruefully of the irony that the Jedi were now using these weapons against the Galactic Alliance and her allies.

It had been six months. Six months since her twin brother Jacen Solo had betrayed them all, joining their enemies in hunting down the Jedi Knights and in all likelihood, becoming the apprentice of a Sith Lord named Darth Malig. The physical traumas of her encounter with Jacen— her broken leg, cracked ribs, and sprained elbow— had all healed. But every time it crossed her mind, the crushing emotional pain was as raw as the moment he'd confronted her on the Rapture.

All her life she'd shared a bond with Jacen that defied description, the connection that only twins strong in the Force could ever experience. She'd known him better than anyone before the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, and even afterwards, when he'd gone into his hermitage on Zonama Sekot for three years, that bond had remained.

But now it was gone, tainted and destroyed by Jacen's betrayal.

She tried to trace it back to the beginning, to understand where her twin had gone so terribly wrong.

Had it started when her uncle Luke was arrested after an incriminating holovid was brought to the Senate, depicting a conversation between the Jedi Master, Lando Calrissian, and Talon Karrde about blackmailing senators into voting Cal Omas into the Chief of State's Office during the formation of the Alliance? It had led to Luke's imprisonment and cost Omas his reelection, putting the government firmly in the hands of his rival Fyor Rodan.

But she knew that had all been set up by their enemies now.

In reality, it had started on the day Callista Ming arrived on Denon in a stealth craft of alien technology, warning the galaxy that there was a ferocious empire deep in the Unknown Regions coming to conquer them like the Yuuzhan Vong had. Callista had gone mad during that war, falling to the dark side and becoming determined to wipe out the Yuuzhan Vong with the virus Alpha Red. She'd disappeared for three years before arriving on Denon.

Despite the strange ship, most people did not believe her until the Vagaari attacked Kuat, and then Thyferra. That made everyone panic.

Until the Raithians arrived, of course. Heroes from the Unknown Regions summoned for aid by Fyor Rodan to beat back the race of pirates and slavers that was threatening their way of life.

And the Alliance welcomed them with open arms, praising their new saviors and moving quickly to make the Raithian Empire an official member of the Galactic Alliance.

By then. Jacen had come out of his hermitage to marry Queen Mother Tenel Ka as a way of bringing Hapes into the Alliance to bolster their forces. Had that done it? Had Jacen been pushed into a union out of duty and not love?

It was all a trap of course. Eventually the Jedi would learn that the Vaagari were the slaves of the Raithians sent to work the galaxy into a state of fear and squirm their way into the Alliance. That Rodan had helped them. And that the Raithians themselves were actually controlled by a pair of Sith Lords. One, the leader of the Raithian forces named Rénin, and the other was a being Jaina had yet to meet named Darth Malig.

It wasn't long before Gavin Darklighter was murdered, and Sien Sovv soon followed. Both war heroes apparently slain by lightsabers. The Jedi had been framed, and coupled with Luke Skywalker's "crimes," Rodan made his case that the Jedi Order was actively attempting to take control of the government. He ordered the arrest of every Jedi in the galaxy, capturing half of the council and dozens of Knights while the rest went into hiding and tried to regroup without their leader.

And Callista... she had been a part of it all along, doing her part to stir the Alliance into a frenzy and jump at the Vagaari attack, not seeing the Raithians for what they were. They'd learned that the hard way.

Callista had led Jacen, Anakin, and Tahiri into a trap. Jaina's youngest brother and Tahiri had managed to escape alive, but not Jacen. She didn't know what happened to her twin brother after that, but whatever it was, it had changed him. When she next saw him, it was on the Rapture when he had tried to capture her. Jacen had told her he'd killed General Rénin and that he wanted to bring her back to meet someone. She could only assume that it was this Darth Malig, and that her twin was now the Dark Lord's apprentice.

But that wasn't the worst of what Jacen had done. He'd lured a group of Jedi and the rest of their family into a trap on Denon in their attempt to rescue Luke and the other Jedi Council members. Tahiri Veila was killed there, and Jysella Horn was presumed dead. Elsewhere, former Admiral and secret Jedi ally, Ackbar, was murdered by Raithian forces.

The survivors of the rescue team had fled to Halo— an ysalamiri-protected spacestation constructed by Tendrando Arms to shield the Jedi Knights from the Raithians' other agent, Faybol, who had the frightening ability to sense all Force-users across the galaxy. Jaina had arrived on Halo shortly after, having barely survived her encounter with Jacen and was left even more horrified by the news of what had occurred on Denon.

The Jedi had taken Halo into Chiss space to negotiate for Thrawn and the Empire of the Hand's protection, which had quickly been granted. Not long after, when the first of the Raithian fleets followed them into the Unknown Regions at Fyor Rodan and the Galactic Alliance's behest, the Chiss Ascendancy had soon joined Jedi, convinced after months, maybe even years of dithering on the issue, that it was a threat that had to be stopped with force.

For five months the Raithians had encroached farther into Chiss territory, with the CEDF, Empire of the Hand, and Jedi doing their best to hold off the growing tide. But major battles seemed to be outnumbering smaller skirmishes with roving flotillas, and each conflict had become bloodier than the one that preceded it— Telex was no different.

Jaina looked out the ring of transparisteel that capped her fighter's expansive canopy and saw a pall of interlacing turbolaser fire, glowing missile propellant, and fiery explosions spreading through the heart of the battle. She knew that they had to make a stand at Telex, but it was also clear it was going to cost them a great deal.

Her thoughts were broken by the crackle of her subspace comm.

"Incoming message," Jag reported. "It's being transmitted to the entire fleet, I'm going to put it on."

The young pilot's voice was quickly replaced by a human's more gravelly and marked by the accent Jaina had come to recognize as Raithian.

"—Admiral Vox aboard the Raider. We have captured the Millennium Falcon and her crew. Surrender the Jedi now and we will withdraw from—"

"Just turn it off, Jag," Jaina interrupted, forgetting to use his call sign. It was the last thing she wanted to hear right now.

"Copy."

"Maybe we should go after them," Anakin suggested. "Artoo says the Raider isn't far."

"Neg that, Little Brother. We have our orders."

She could feel Anakin's resistance to ignoring their father's capture mirrored in her own apprehension, as every natural instinct tugged at her to set a course for the Raithian capital ship. Years of flying with Rogue Squadron and fighting the Yuuzhan Vong had taught Jaina that sometimes doing her duty meant following orders that felt completely unnatural and hoping that the people in charge could see some larger picture that escaped her.

But she'd never dreamed that the person she'd be putting that kind of blind faith in would be Grand Admiral Thrawn.

It'd been seven months since she learned that the famed Chiss strategist was still alive, having been mortally wounded by Rukh's blade at Bilbringi and spending the years since in a state of suspended animation. Thrawn insisted that the wound would soon kill him and there was nothing even the best Chiss healers could do to prevent his death, so he'd put himself in stasis. After seeing the threat of the Raithians for himself deep in the Unknown Regions, he'd known he had to be alive to help destroy the enemy when they finally brought their invading fleet to Chiss and Known Space, and laid in suspended animation, waiting for that day.

How the Grand Admiral had survived Rukh's blade at Bilbringi so many years ago, Jaina didn't know, but she trusted Jag when he told her that it was true.

That didn't mean she completely trusted Thrawn, however, and she was concerned the Chiss who had tried to kidnap her more than once as a child might try to betray them all if he saw a strategic advantage.

"Dad could be in trouble," Anakin insisted, his fighter beginning to stray. "I'm going."

"Negative. We're supposed to be lending support on the ground, Little Brother."

"But I don't..."

He stopped himself, but Jaina could feel his words— I don't want to lose someone else.

The memory of Tahiri stung Jaina more than she would have liked when they were this close to the battle. She would never forget the look on her family's faces when she explained to them that it had been Jacen who had set them up, that her brother had fallen to the dark side and betrayed them all. Anakin's response most of all...

The young Jedi had been devastated by the death of his girlfriend— his best friend. He seemed to soak in what Jaina had told him, sitting quietly and staring at nothingness until finally agreeing that they should flee into the Unknown Regions and seek the help of Thrawn's forces and the Chiss.

And then I'm going to find Jacen... And I'm going to kill him.

He'd never mentioned it again.

Anakin was changing. He'd never been very talkative, but now spoke only of their battles with the Raithians and their immediate survival. Despite his reticence, beneath the cool determination and focus, Jaina felt bitterness within her little brother that she'd never sensed before, and knew that revenge was never far from his mind.

"Anakin..."

Before Jaina could begin to construct an argument or simply berate him, Anakin relented.

"Copy, Sticks." The maroon-plated interceptor glided back in behind her.

"There's our vanguard," Jag reported, again bringing Jaina's attention back to their mission.

Silently chiding herself for her lack of focus, Jaina glanced down at her tactical display and tried to make sense of the swarms of blue and red triangles converging in a kaleidoscopic blur. She could feel dozens of lives winking out in the Force every second an instant before her astromech could relay the data and a dot or chevron would vanish from the display.

"Tweeter, see if you can chart a course through this nightmare with our escort."

The domed droid fastened in the dorsal socket of Jaina's yellow and silver plated starfighter warbled something noncommittal, forcing her to turn to her primary display.

[I WILL SEE WHAT I CAN DO]

Tweeter was a capable enough droid she'd salvaged from the engineers on Halo, but was often hampered by pessimism. Jaina couldn't determine whether it was a glitch in the astromech's programming or perhaps a natural behavioral development in response to whatever damage had landed him in the maintenance bay to begin with.

The droid's black dome swiveled around a moment later, status display blinking as he beeped and whistled.

[TOO MUCH SENSOR INTERFERENCE TO ENSURE ACCURACY. SUGGEST IMPROVISING]

Jaina frowned at the display but could hardly fault Tweeter— the sheer amount of energy dispersal consuming the space around Telex would wreak havoc on any droid's sensors.

"All right," she replied as they reached the half-squadron of Nssis-class clawcraft waiting to guide them to the surface, and they rose and wheeled to fall into a perfect defensive ring around the three Jedi Interceptors as Jaina made her approach. Glancing back through the metal ring of her forward viewport, Jaina saw that the battle had become more chaotic, with turbolasers vaporizing whole squadrons caught in their path and tearing through the hulls of massive warships.

Tweeter began to trill and shriek wildly and Jaina checked her displays to see two dozen Raithian warbirds already rising to meet them.

"Okay," she said into her comm. "We just want to get through the screen so don't waste time trying to shoot any of them down. Let's just go in hot and fast through this and get to the surface."

Jag keyed his mic in affirmation and a click followed from Anakin's a moment later. The swarm of warbirds soaring through the tangles of energy was just visible in Jaina's viewport, metal specks wreathed by blue drive glows.

Covered in gleaming gray and black plating, the Raithian fighters were incredibly nimble, with twin ion drives and blade-like forward wings mounted with heavy laser cannons. Their cockpits were made of a stunted cylinder capped by a transparisteel canopy while a pair of dorsal wings was set at angles towards one another, forming a triangle at the rear of the fuselage and maximizing maneuverability.

Jaina had learned from experience that the warbirds were tough kills, even after months of dogfighting and the Force to augment her abilities.

Taking a deep breath and falling into that state of near total detachment and icy-calm that had kept her alive through so many blistering starfighter skirmishes, Jaina opened her throttles and jammed down on the control pedals, pushing the yoke forward and forcing her interceptor into a dive just as the first of the cannon bolts shot past her canopy.

Space erupted in cascades of streaking red dashes while Jaina's Eta-7 burst forward, her ion driving flaring white. She felt the first of the clawcraft off to her starboard explode beneath the barrage and the pilot's scream echoing in the Force. Looking up through the canopy, she spotted another of the Chiss fighters' prongs shatter like rotted timber and its ball-shaped cockpit pulverized by hammering energy volleys that ruptured its forward viewport and beat its armor into a sphere of shooting flames.

Cannonade struck Jaina's starboard wing and forward mandible, rattling her cockpit and sending Tweeter screeching desperately for her to do something. Hoping her deflector shields would hold, Jaina pushed the craft harder, rocketing through the firestorm and putting her interceptor into a tight barrel roll. The torrents of laser fire outside transformed into dazzling whorls of energy and streaking durasteel, as bolts of scarlet energy glanced past the spiraling ship.

Jaina kept her S-foils closed but thumbed the firing studs on her flight controls, sending bursts of green fire from the long barrels of the lateral laser cannons mounted to the insides of the interceptor's forward mandibles to clear a path. In another instant, she was past the wave of fighters and exhaled loudly, checking her rear viewscreen to ensure that Jag and Anakin had made it through the assault. The two Jedi craft were just juking and spinning through the last of it but Jaina's blood went cold when she noticed they were alone.

"Jag, our escort..."

"They're all gone... All of them."

The CEDF Commander was never shaken, but Jaina could tell from the pitch of Jag's voice that he was as close as he came at the realization that their entire escort had been demolished in a single pass. There was no time to mourn the loss of the Chiss pilots— Jaina just hoped Thrawn knew what he was doing.

"What's your status, Little Brother?"

"Fine. Took a few hits, but my shields are holding."

"Good, just try—"

Jaina broke off as her control board began to beep frantically before a flash so bright seemed to scorch all of space to white and she was certain she would have been blinded if her fighter's blast tinting hadn't darkened. The turbolaser passed her nose by only a few dozen meters, crashing against the hull plating of one of the Empire of the Hand's Star Destroyer's.

"We're now in range of the enemy warships, by the way," Jag reported.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Iceman," Jaina replied, remembering to use his call sign for the first time. "Let's try and get some cover."

"Lead the way."

Space between the massive capital ships was a net of interlocking particle beams and trails of glowing missile propellant that ended in flashes of light and ribbons of smoke. Jaina rolled her fighter towards a Chiss Star Destroyer to her starboard, dodging bursts of antifighter flak flying in every direction to come down along its hull. The CEDF fleet was plated in glossy black alloy with smooth curves that ended in serrated spines along its edges. Jag and Anakin fell in line behind her, blasting across the surface of the monstrous Chiss vessel while it hurled megamasers across the void and its mounted metacannons pumped charric beams and munitions into a Raithian warship twice its size.

[THIS IS GOING TO BE A DISASTER]

Jaina was just banking away from the Star Destroyer's coning spire when a lancing turbolaser punched through the Ascendancy capital ship's deflector shields and erupted into a blossom of boiling plasma right in front of her ship.

She jerked the yoke and kicked her thrusters, throwing the interceptor into a roll away from the explosion while Anakin spiraled right through the inferno. Tongues of orange flame lashed out to lick the wings of her tumbling fighter, darkening its armor.

A gasp of relief escaped her lips as she spotted Anakin's interceptor shooting out of the fire, no worse for wear. She was just about to issue him a warning when they came over the top of the warship's banks of massive ion drives, and a Raithian vessel ahead of them cracked in two beneath the barrage of turbolasers and flaring missiles. The resulting explosion sent cascades of flaming debris in every direction and thick columns of billowing smoke choking in the vacuum as the cruiser split apart and began its plunge towards the planet below.

As Jaina dodged the debris cloud raining down on them, the Chiss warship above pummeling the broken cruiser was not as fortunate. Great slabs of superheated metal glowing pink with long tails of carbon-black smoke sprayed against its belly and tore through the vessel's particle shields. The series of explosions that followed breached the thick plating of the hull and vented streams of frozen vapor and pressure-ruptured Chiss bodies into the cold of space.

"Okay, this was a bad idea," Jaina admitted into her mic.

[IF MY PROGRAMMING ALLOWED ME TO HATE I'M CERTAIN IT'S WHAT I WOULD BE FEELING FOR YOU]

"Pipe down," she snarled. "Just find me some way out of this."

Tweeter grumbled something about it being hopeless and Jaina looked down to her tactical display to see it had dissolved into white static as the energy field overwhelmed her sensors.

"Son of a Sith..." Her fingers danced over the array of buttons and glide switches on her dash in an effort to clear the haze from her sensors as she soared through contrails of debris and blast shrapnel towards the streaking fusillade and swarming drive glows ahead.

"Warbirds coming back around," Jag reported.

"Damn, I was hoping we lost them."

'"If it makes you feel any better, I only see eight of them now."

Eight wasn't bad. Eight was doable. But not when they were on her tail with a clear shot at her drives and no way for her to fire back.

"What do you think, Tweeter? Can we make it out of this alive?"

[NOT WITH YOU IN THE COCKPIT]

Making a mental note that she would have to give Tweeter a complete overhaul and a memory wipe when she returned to Halo, Jaina managed to bring her sensors online just in time to hear the blare of the targeting alarms echoing off the transparisteel.

Anakin's voice crackled over the comm in warning.

"Jaina—"

"I see it."

The Jedi Knight began jinking and juking just as the warbird behind her was sending volleys of laser fire over her canopy and past her wings. She spun and rolled in an attempt to get free of her tail when a second Raithian fighter got within range of her interceptor and added his salvos to the effort. A quick glance at the rear viewscreen showed Jag and Anakin being similarly harassed and engaging in a series of seemingly futile evasive maneuvers.

Ordinarily, Jaina might have given the order to break formation, to try and get some space between them and their enemies and hopefully be able to come around and pick off the other's tail, but there simply was no such space. The battle around Telex left no breathing room, no pocket of calm for them to regroup or make such a maneuver without being vaporized in a turbolaser blast or torn asunder by antifighter flak.

One of the warbirds behind her stitched a line of energy bolts across her stern that jostled her fighter and sent Jaina forward violently when the rear stabilizer's hiccupped, her crash webbing pulling taut around her torso. She was slammed back against the headrest hard enough that she saw twice as many warships outside her canopy, before a few rapid blinks swept the illusion away.

"A little warning would have been nice," she growled at the astromech in the socket next to her.

[YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN]

But Tweeter's protests were suddenly replaced by the droid's wild shrieking. Jaina glanced back at her primary display in a panic.

[SCATTER ROCKETS]

She found herself staring at the words on the screen a moment longer than she should have as a chill settled into her bones. Not all warbird squadrons seemed to carry the nasty projectiles, but Jaina had tangled with enough of them over the past few months to know it was bad news. Instead of detonating against a target, Raithian scatter-rockets were equipped with built in sensors which simply detected a craft near enough to be caught in its blast radius and exploded, spewing plasma and hot shrapnel against its target with little precision.

Jaina snapped out of her trance and smashed her feet into the control pedals, pulling back on the one stick and jerking the other to the right to send her fighter rising and corkscrewing through the streams of cannonade in an effort to avoid the flaring projectiles on her tail. The first scatter-rocket passed beneath her and detonated, its payload of debris narrowly missing her belly, while the other glanced off to the right, cooking a stream of glowing propellant before it blew apart, spraying a mist of debris across Anakin's hull.

The burgundy interceptor tried to roll free of the shower of flaming shrapnel but looked as though it was about to tumble into one of the Imperial cruisers hurling turbolasers into the Raithian fleet. Somehow, Anakin managed to bring the craft under control, but when Jaina looked over her shoulder at his fighter she saw that the hull plating was pitted and scorched with melt circles.

"Anakin—"

"I'm fine, but I lost my shields."

"That's going to be a problem."

"Artoo is trying to bring them back up."

"That's going to take more time than we have—"

Her point was emphasized as a cannon blast torched a blackened furrow across her portside wing. She was going to have to find some way of destroying their pursuers if they were going to make it to Telex's surface alive.

"I'm going to hail the Creschok and see if Captain Corssa can divert another wing of clawcraft," Jag commed.

"Negative," Jaina said shaking her head. "I've got an idea. See that Raithian warship to starboard? Sensors designate it as the Immolator? I'm going to make a run on it, see if we can lose them in the trenches."

It was Anakin who responded. "We almost got vaped running along a Chiss cruiser— how is it going to be any better when the ship is the one firing at us?

"Have to agree with Little Brother on this one, Sticks."

"Just trust me, okay?" Jaina pleaded as another strike glanced off her rear deflector shields. "And lock your S-foils in attack position. I don't want our fighters overheating when we start firing back."

There was a short pause before Jag relented. "Copy."

Anakin simply keyed his mic.

The panels of Jaina's radiator wings snapped open, venting the excess heat off her engines and giving her access to the cache of proton torpedoes and shadow bombs that folded out beneath. It was only one of several modifications to the original Actis-class Clone Wars model that had been made to the Eta-7, including the addition of low-powered particle and deflector shields, a detachable cockpit module for ejection, and an onboard JI-14 hyperdrive.

"I'm going in," Jaina announced, kicking her thrusters and shooting towards the Immolator

[CAN YOU DROP ME OFF FIRST?]

The massive Raithian warship grew in her canopy viewport, blotting out the stars as the vessel's batteries began to target the three fighters angling towards it, sending torrents of laser fire sizzling past the twisting Jedi craft. Jaina opened up her throttles fully, the dual engines roaring in the cockpit as she dodged cannon bolts sweeping across the void from her new target and the warbirds following closely behind in pursuit.

With a sharp dive and another barrel roll, she was past the net of red iridescence and stripes of turbolaser fire, reaching the obsidian surface of the Immolator and leveling out just above the ship's shields, but all her maneuvering had only made it easier for the squadron of warbirds on their tails to close the distance. She could feel in the Force that Anakin and Jag had reached the warship's hull as well and were banking along its curves and defensive trenches behind her.

They were now too close for the Immolator's gunners or auto-turrets to have any real chance of hitting them, swiveling a moment too slow behind Jaina's streaking interceptor and discharging particle beams behind the cooking tail of her ion drives. Occasionally a battery would erupt just meters in front of her nose in a gunner's attempt to anticipate her movements, but it was virtually impossible to target a starfighter moving so fast by chance.

As she crested a bank of weapon emplacements along the warship's starboard, Jaina came out on its topside and brought the towering superstructure above its aft decks into view. The angled spire of dark metal housed the ships bridge and was ringed by defense turrets, none of which dared firing on Jaina or her companions at this angle as they would only risk pounding their own shields with laser fire.

Behind her Anakin and Jag broke away from her and opened up their own weapons on the Immolator's batteries as they passed by, pumping volleys of emerald light across the hull. The CEDF Commander managed to land three salvos across a turbolaser emplacement and the cannon vanished in a shower of bright sparks and flame.

Keeping her focus on the command superstructure, Jaina continued to dodge the warbird's strikes raking her hull as two of them closed in on her fighter and she blasted past the obsidian monolith. The Jedi then jerked the yoke hard to her right and whipped around the rear of the superstructure, kicking her throttles again until she reached the tower's next edge and made another right, giving herself shelter on the portside of the warship and leaving her pursuers blinded by the edifice itself.

As soon as she had the protection of the superstructure between herself and her enemies, Jaina brought her interceptor into a violently sharp rise, pulling her control sticks all the way back and crushing her boots against the pedals, knowing the warbirds would be rocketing around the superstructure to find her. Nearing the apex of the bridge, she then released the pedals and pushed the yoke forward, making a vertical loop so sharp that her Eta-7 never left the protection of the superstructure's portside, and then pushed everything forward again, forcing the fighter into a dangerous dive that made the stabilizers shriek in protest and the fighter's duralloy frame groan as if it was going to come apart at the seams.

She could just barely hear Tweeter emitting a series of frenzied warbling and sharp beeps.

[I AM NOT FIXING THAT WHEN WE GET HOME]

The ships lightless skin was rushing up in Jaina's viewport as she dove, when the two warbirds came flashing in front of her bow at a ninety-degree angle, convinced she'd continued around the superstructure and they were still chasing her ion tail. Jaina brought herself out of her dive, her cockpit rattling from the stress she was putting the little fighter under, and she fell in behind her attackers. Their own alarms were probably blaring as their sensors finally caught her trick, but there was no time for them to maneuver out of it.

She glanced down at her targeting computer once before squeezing the firing studs on her controls and her lateral laser cannons erupted with strobing bursts of energy and obliterated the first warbird in a cloud of molton debris. The second was already rounding the corner back to the front of the superstructure and Jaina pushed her throttles, a slight grin crossing her pink lips at the turn of events as she centered the fleeing fighter in her targeting reticle.

Again her cannons began chugging, chewing through the warbirds rear armor before its drives and stabilizers blew out in a flare of orange and tendrils of smoke that sent it spiraling out of control and crashing into the Immolator's shields.

"Still convinced we're going to die?" Jaina smirked, looking over her left at the astormech stuffed into the dorsal socket.

Tweeter just made a frowning noise and gave her a raspberry.

[I DON'T THINK I LIKE THIS SIDE OF YOU]

Across the hull Jaina spotted Jag's fighter bank so tightly along the curve of the Immolator's topside that one of his pursuers crashed into the hull. A second had the misfortune of flying straight through the wide band of a turbolaser attempting to take down the son of Soontir Fel, vaporizing the warbird instantly.

Anakin was just making his approach on the superstructure and Jaina lined one of his chasers between her forward mandibles and pulled the triggers, sending a flurry of blasts into the streaking craft's side and belly before it transformed into an incandescent ball of wreckage and nose-dived into the base of the tower.

"Nice shooting, Sticks," Jag commed, the slightest hint of relief in his voice revealing to Jaina that he believed they finally had the warbirds on the run.

Her brother came darting around the superstructure in the next moment in the same direction that Jaina had just traveled, his laser cannons flashing with rapid bursts of massless energy that shredded through an oncoming Raithian fighter. She and Jag mopped up the remaining two warbirds, pounding their armor until they joined their comrades in the unforgiving void.

"All right, nice job, boys," Jaina smiled. "Now to get out of here."

"Going to be tough making a run from this warship with its cannons pointed at our tails," Jag was quick to point out.

"Don't worry—"

"Iceman's right," Anakin interrupted. "I'm going to make a run on the bridge, see if we can take this thing out."

"Anakin, that's crazy—"

"I can do it, just see if you can get the shields down, okay? Or at least make them work."

Jaina opened her mouth to argue but the maroon-plated fighter was already whirling around from the Immolator's bow and torching a swath of efflux towards the superstructure.

"Stang," Jaina growled, before looping around to follow her brother and wondering when he'd become so stubborn. "Target the base of the superstructure, Tweeter. My brother's an idiot."

[THE FAMILY RESEMBLANCE IS STRIKING]

"You're scrap when this is over."

[SUGGEST ION CANNONS]

"Thanks for the tip."

Jaina's thumbs had already moved to the secondary firing controls as she chased after Anakin and the Immolator's superstructure again swelled in her viewport. When she was in range, the Jedi's jaw clenched and she pressed down on the triggers, stitching bursts of green plasma across the great metal tower jutting out from the obsidian beast. The ion blasts crackled against the warship's shields, disrupting the Immolator's electrical systems as Jaina's cannons continued to thump and Jag fell in to their attack prong and added his salvos to the onslaught.

When the Raithian vessel's shields began to flicker Anakin unloaded a string of proton torpedoes that went sailing into the bridge with long trails of white propellant and smashed against the deflector shields like a permacrete wall. But what couldn't be seen, what couldn't be picked up by sensors, were the two torpedo casings Anakin was guiding with the Force. The guidance package and propellant fuel had been removed from the housing, replaced with as much baradium and detonite as could be packed into the head of the weapon.

Anakin had always been a good pilot but in the last few months he had become scary-good, handicapped only by a blood-chilling fearlessness that was probably keeping their parents up at night. The young Jedi hurled the shadow bombs with the Force, sending the projectiles rocketing faster than a propellant charge could have hoped, and they crashed into the Immolator's bridge in a series of ever-expanding explosions that blossomed in boiling clusters, enveloping the superstructure's summit and spewing flame and bright ejecta across the warship.

As the explosions cooked into a thick column of billowing smoke the Immolator suddenly dropped, making a slow tumble into a nose-dive, and plunging down towards Telex. The three Jedi fighters scattered, dodging the raining debris and spinning flotsam crashing down after the dead ship.

"Nice shooting," Jaina said coldly.

She knew she didn't have time to worry about Anakin's recklessness and turned to her tactical displays to see they still had the lattice of turbolasers and swarms of enemy starfighters to get through before they could reach Telex's surface— they were less than halfway through the core of the battle.

"Form up on me," Jaina said into her mic. "Let's try this again."

"Wait," Anakin interrupted. "Artoo says that's the Raider right over there."

"Anakin—"

"I'm going."

"Anakin!"

"Look, we've already made one detour," he replied, beginning to pull away. "This won't take long. We're just going to go to the Raider and make sure Dad's okay."

"Anakin, our orders are to go to the surface and help the ground forces—"

"Fine, you two go ahead, I'll meet you down there."

With that, the young Jedi Knight's drives flared and he began blazing through the tangled vortex of energy and nova-like blasts towards the giant wedge of dark metal looming ahead.

It took all of Jaina's restraint not to slam her fist into the control board. "Of all the stupid, ronto-headed—"

Jag's voice crackled over the comm to interrupt her. "I suppose there's no chance we're going to just let him go and carry out our mission?"

"No," Jaina admitted. "But when we get to the surface you can hold him down while I beat the Sith out of him."

As soon as the word came off her lips, Jaina immediately regretted it as her thoughts hurtled back to Jacen and the fact he actually was a Sith...

"C'mon," she said, before kicking her thrusters and torching efflux after her brother.

"Little Brother, slow down, we—"

A scarlet particle beam came lancing up from below and ripped through Anakin's portside wing, the radiator panels tumbling away in a cloud of shrapnel.

"Anakin..."

There was no response as the burgundy interceptor's drives flickered and it was suddenly plunging towards Telex, ensnared by the planet's gravity.

 

First, and I wasn't even trying

I loved the interaction Jaina had with her astromech droid. I can almost feel her pain

The battle scenes were excellent, and I hope Thrawn will make an appearance soon. The Raithians better watch out, though. The Chiss have a...habit...of constructing biological weapons that just might end the war...

Of course, some moronic Jedi usually gets in the way and ruins it, so maybe not

All in all, a great scene setter, and we're back into the story with a bang! Keep up the excellent start, dude

 

Second, but I was.

Its value, as with most things that appeal to Thrawn, is strategic? the planet revolves within the vacuum at the junction of two hyperspace routes in Chiss space and makes up a boundary between the Outer Rim and Csilla.
Yup - that's Thrawn alright. I still haven't read SQ, so I'm still a bit short on knowledge of the Chiss etc., but between Zahn's trilogy and Outbound Flight I have enough of a grasp on his character. Marvellous character, too. Good old Zahn.

Telex hangs suspended in the star-speckled void, a luminescent sphere of tan and orange spatters now buried beneath a mesh of dark wedges drifting in its orbit.
Great image.

But he and Thrawn never imagined that when this war arrived, that it would be the Jed Knights the Imperial forces are protecting.
LOL There's a certain glorious irony in that. History makes fools of us all.

"And you're sure angling for the worst of it is the best way to go about that?"
Of course - this is Jaina, dummy.

Good bit of backstory there to give us the context. Thanks.

That didn't mean she completely trusted Thrawn, however, and she was concerned the Chiss who had tried to kidnap her more than once as a child might try to betray them all if he saw a strategic advantage.
No doubt she's right. However you can't help admiring Thrawn.

Poor Anakin.

Tweeter was a capable enough droid she'd salvaged from the engineers on Halo, but was often hampered by pessimism
Cool. [face-dancing] A droid with the necessary personality defect. Perfect.

Jaina had learned from experience that the warbirds were tough kills
I like that name "warbirds". Here in NZ, in a place near us called Wanaka, they have an air show every year called "Warbirds over Wanaka". The show features vintage aircraft like Hurricanes, a Spitfire, Messerschmidts and Mosquitoes etc - all the old fighters in other words. It's magnificent and kind of beautiful. Bit of useless trivia for you, but "warbirds" has quite an evocative sense for me.

[THIS IS GOING TO BE A DISASTER]
Oh boy, he IS a little ray of sunshine, isn't he!

As Jaina dodged the debris cloud raining down on them, the Chiss warship above pummeling the broken cruiser was not as fortunate. Great slabs of superheated metal glowing pink with long tails of carbon-black smoke sprayed against its belly and tore through the vessel's particle shields. The series of explosions that followed breached the thick plating of the hull and vented streams of frozen vapor and pressure-ruptured Chiss bodies into the cold of space.
Oh dear - not good. Just when you think you've nailed one, it bites back.

Great battle manoeuvres there by Jaina.

"Target the base of the superstructure, Tweeter. My brother's an idiot."

[THE FAMILY RESEMBLANCE IS STRIKING]


Anakin had always been a good pilot but in the last few months he had become scary-good, handicapped only by a blood-chilling fearlessness that was probably keeping their parents up at night. The young Jedi hurled the shadow bombs with the Force, sending the projectiles rocketing faster than a propellant charge could have hoped, and they crashed into the Immolator's bridge in a series of ever-expanding explosions that blossomed in boiling clusters, enveloping the superstructure's summit and spewing flame and bright ejecta across the warship.
Woohoo, Anakin. Although, as you say, his frame of mind is cause for concern. Not that Han and Leia have ever had a time when their kids weren't worrying them!!!

You know - I almost think Anakin purposely detroyed that ship so he could get close enough to the Falcon. Sneaky lad.

Oh no! He's hit. Great ending though.

Marvellous chapter, Yoda. I'm quite exhausted now! Loved the vivid images and the way you meshed in the prologue with the present.

 

Third! Great Chapter! I've said it be for and I'll say it again, you write the best space battle chapters. So vivid and beautiful. Looks like Anakin's turning a little Sithy. I wonder what Thrawn has planned for the Falcon on the the Raider? I'm sure it's brillant, I wouldn't expect anything less from Thrawn. Looks like Tweeter is just like a certain protocal droid. I have to say this is going to be an awesome story!

 

At the end of that I pictured Qui-Gon's voice from AOTC

"Anakin, ANAKIN! NOOOOO!!!"

 

Awesome space fighting. Anakin's in a pickle. Can't wait for more.

 

I LOVE Tweeter. He's hilarious.

Anakin Why does he NEVER listen? As Tweeter said, [THE FAMILY RESEMBLANCE IS STRIKING] plus, he reminds me of Anakin Skywalker's reckless rescue-turns-into-capture-and-becomes-a-Jedi-rescue-mission-that-ends-in-death stratagem. I hope Anakin gets both his arms replaced from this reckless way of thinking.

 

Absolutely terrific space battle. You have an amazing talent for writing those scenes.

With the way Anakin is behaving, I'd be willing to bet when the time comes, he battles Jacen with some Sith-inspired power of his own. I hope not, though.

Wonderful descriptions. That is an awesome strength of yours. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next chapter.

 

Great!!!

Must say that I love that little droid
And your characterization of Anakin.

Keep up the Great Work!!!

 

Let me just say, that if you kill Anakin..... Loved Jaina here . that's the way I want her to be: clear headed, focused, deadly, daring...etc...love her. Anakin was just as good. (just a little more nutty, but he's younger, so it works). Oh, Tweeter's banter was funy too.

Is Thrawn alive? Weaving his work into the story is intriguing.

Exellent action, description, writing, dialogue, pacing! The usual!

 

Is your Tweeter supposed to remind me of Kreacher from Harry Potter?



Cause he does...

Tweeter versus Artoo in an astromech death match...I'd buy tickets for it. Or they could just insult one another. Yet another thing I'd pay to see.

And Jag's call sign as "Iceman" . Can I be his RIO? I'd watch his six anytime...

Okay, on a more serious note. Anakin bothers me. It's like he's trying to get himself killed to be with Tahiri, only he dosen't know that Tahiri isn't dead...Man, when she finds out he's gonna get one huge smack upside the head. That's if she doesn't take her lightsabre to him first for going all Dark.

Dummy.

Nice paralell with the opening scene from ROTS. Anakin from ROTS seems to be coming round again in Anakin from TLOD. Even more so, since we know he's going to lead the 501st into battle.

But you wouldn't have him punk out and go totally Sith, now would you?

Great post Wes! Can't wait for more.

Cyn

 

LOL I loved Tweeter and I thought the interaction between Tweeter and Jaina was great!

I am still wondering if Anakin wont ultimately end up being the one who turns to the darkside - he is so angry and reckless!

Great chapter Yoda

Looking forward to the next

 

Ur!! At last it has come to pass, and has appeared òåðòüÿ a part of Legacy of the Sith. First two chapters have very much liked me.
Trawn - one of my favourite heroes, the present genius, and certainly it was necessary to revive it. Funny - former enemies now will battle on one party (in sense, Trawn and Jedi). The good fellow that you keep Trawn such what it was at Zahn, and that the some people like to spoil characters..
Jaina - That it experiences because of treachery of the brother was pleasant. In an original Legacy, as is known, it it is too indifferent to it concerns, and I could not believe in it never.
Anakin... As always shaking. And Jag too. And still - I adore space battles and I adore, when the book begins with them. Here... The first impression of a thing excellent. We shall look, that will be further...

 

Jaina's droid is hilarious. Did he get some of Artoo's parts?

(Makes popcorn and settles in for another epic story)

 

Spike: First, and I wasn't even trying

That's how you know you've achieved greatness

I loved the interaction Jaina had with her astromech droid. I can almost feel her pain

Thanks, I had fun writing that. Droids can be more trouble than they'e worth

The battle scenes were excellent, and I hope Thrawn will make an appearance soon.

Fear not, we'll be seeing Thrawn in a few chapters, and be watching his battle plan play out even sooner than that...

The Raithians better watch out, though. The Chiss have a...habit...of constructing biological weapons that just might end the war...

Yeah, no kidding. Everything seems to be a Bothan ar'krai with them

Of course, some moronic Jedi usually gets in the way and ruins it, so maybe not

Well, there are plenty of moronic Jedi around in this story to ruin things

All in all, a great scene setter, and we're back into the story with a bang! Keep up the excellent start, dude

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it We'll be getting more from the battle later.

Thanks for reading and replying!





Tahi: Second, but I was.

Nicely done

Yup - that's Thrawn alright. I still haven't read SQ, so I'm still a bit short on knowledge of the Chiss etc., but between Zahn's trilogy and Outbound Flight I have enough of a grasp on his character. Marvellous character, too. Good old Zahn.

Thrawn's not actually in Survivor's Quest (though you should check it out, much better book than OF, IMO). But yeah, Thrawn's great. Almost more interesting dead than he was alive when we find out all this stuff about him

Great image.

Thanks!

LOL There's a certain glorious irony in that. History makes fools of us all.

Yeah. I wonder how Palpy feels about this

Of course - this is Jaina, dummy.

It's that Solo blood. Gotta do things the hard way

Good bit of backstory there to give us the context. Thanks.

I hate doing those huge info dumps. I would have liked to have spaced it out better but I just couldn't get it reworked.

No doubt she's right. However you can't help admiring Thrawn.

He's one of those characters that you're never really sure whether he's a hero or a villain, and I like that a lot.

Poor Anakin.

Yeah

Cool. [face-dancing] A droid with the necessary personality defect. Perfect.

What would Star Wars be without malfunctioning neurotic droids?

I like that name "warbirds". Here in NZ, in a place near us called Wanaka, they have an air show every year called "Warbirds over Wanaka". The show features vintage aircraft like Hurricanes, a Spitfire, Messerschmidts and Mosquitoes etc - all the old fighters in other words. It's magnificent and kind of beautiful. Bit of useless trivia for you, but "warbirds" has quite an evocative sense for me.

Awesome I love air shows. I got to meet Chuck Yager a few years ago at one here in the states and that was a big thrill for me.

There was a specific reason why I chose "warbirds" as the name of the Raithian fighters which I can't discuss at the moment, but if either one of us remembers this discussion towards the end of the story, I'd love to tell you why

Oh boy, he IS a little ray of sunshine, isn't he!

I think next time I'll come up with a deliriously happy droid

Oh dear - not good. Just when you think you've nailed one, it bites back.

Yeah, those are some big ships packed tightly together. When one breaks up, there's going to be a lot of shooting debris.

Great battle manoeuvres there by Jaina.

She's in her element here.

Woohoo, Anakin. Although, as you say, his frame of mind is cause for concern. Not that Han and Leia have ever had a time when their kids weren't worrying them!!!

It's a wonder those two don't look worse after the two decades of st

 

Special thanks to jagsredlady for coming up with a callsign for Jag when I couldn't think of a good one, and also kudos to her for coming half-way to canon

LOL, I was very surprised to find out after reading Invincible that Troy and I seemed to be on the same wavelength. But in my case, I was not mocking Jag.


On to the story:

And today is the day Grand Admiral Thrawn has been waiting for.

I?m all intrigued about how Thrawn plays into the story.

Telex hangs suspended in the star-speckled void, a luminescent sphere of tan and orange spatters now buried beneath a mesh of dark wedges drifting in its orbit. Between these massive shapes is a web of particle beams and nova-like bursts of energy that flare so brightly it seems the dimming stars might never reclaim their former brilliance, and space itself will be scorched in the blaze.

That sounds breathtaking. Have I told you recently just how beautiful your prose is?

And we start off with another of your trademark exciting action scenes. Great way to get a reader drawn in to the story right from the first, just like the movies.


?Our orders are not to engage, Sticks."

Jaina Solo frowned in concentration as her tiny hands flexed around the control joysticks. "I'm aware," she replied, adjusting the mic of her headset communicator.
...
"But we have to go through this mess anyway. We might as well see if we can help a little."

"And you're sure angling for the worst of it is the best way to go about that?"

There was no fear in Jagged Fel's voice, only the measured calm and focus she'd come to recognize from him in battle, muffled by a thin hiss of static through her comm.

Spot-on Jaina and Jag characterizations. You?ve got it down to the subtlest little things. Great to see that because, lately, particularly in Jag's case, characterization has suffered quite a bit (especially in fanfic).


She was impressed with the seeming ease and confidence with which the CEDF Commander piloted the Kuat-engineered starfighter. They'd certainly been designed with Jedi in mind

That?s my Jag There is nothing he can?t fly.

Anakin was changing. He'd never been very talkative, but now spoke only of their battles with the Raithians and their immediate survival. Despite his reticence, beneath the cool determination and focus, Jaina felt bitterness within her little brother that she'd never sensed before, and knew that revenge was never far from his mind.

I have a bad feeling about this.


Tweeter?s fantastic, loved the humor he brought into the battle?s tense situation. Some of my favorite parts:

"Okay, this was a bad idea," Jaina admitted into her mic.
[IF MY PROGRAMMING ALLOWED ME TO HATE I'M CERTAIN IT'S WHAT I WOULD BE FEELING FOR YOU]

"What do you think, Tweeter? Can we make it out of this alive?"
[NOT WITH YOU IN THE COCKPIT]

"I'm going in," Jaina announced, kicking her thrusters and shooting towards the Immolator
[CAN YOU DROP ME OFF FIRST?]

"Target the base of the superstructure, Tweeter. My brother's an idiot."
[THE FAMILY RESEMBLANCE IS STRIKING]

These had me rolling. Loved the interaction between Jaina and her droid, Tweeter is a riot. . Is he by any chance related to Mr. Threep? Or perhaps Artoo. He might be a combination of both, but entirely your own original and a fantastic one at that. Kudos!


This chapter had everything: fast-paced action and suspense, humor, intrigue and mystery, and lots of beautiful imagery one could get lost in. In other words, Star Wars at its best. This truly is the AU story that all Star Wars fans want to replace the EU with.

Fantastic job! I can?t wait for more.