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No Retreat 2001 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-seven years after Episode IV – A New
Hope
The converted YT1500 settled onto the landing pad, next
to the X-Wing. Within two minutes, it’s pilot had
locked down the systems and was exiting via the ramp. Trude De’Athe waited patiently for the magnetic grapple
to rise from the floor and secure the ship. She then activated the locking
mechanism by remote and set the lock out code. Not bad for a blind girl, or
so she thought. Onboard the bridge of the VSDII, Captain Khan patiently waited for the next excuse that
Nias Derril would offer him. He waited
whilst his communications officer fed in the channel to his command chair. “Yes Nias, what
seems to be the problem now?” The voice on the other end of the channel seemed tinny
and was beset by static. “We have a major
problem here. Your radiation shielding has about two hours of life left in
it. I’m going to have to ask you to abandon the ship until I can get a team
in to lock it down. To top it all, it’s playing havoc with the onboard
communications.” Khan sighed, and steepled his hands together, considering
his options. “Very well. Have your teams stand by whilst I make
arrangements. How soon can it be fixed?” The voice at the other end of the channel crackled
through the static. “How long is a
piece of string? It’s fixed when it’s fixed, but I wouldn’t make any plans
for the next day or two.” There was more distortion on the line and Khan looked
towards his communications officer. The man seemed puzzled, unable to
compensate for the distortion and this caused Khan some annoyance. “All right, I’ll
start evacuating my crew now.” He nodded to the communications officer again,
who was still frowning, and the man activated the general alert. Khan made to
talk to Ballard when the communications officer caught his eye. He walked
over to the station. “What’s the
problem?” The youngster, who was barely twenty years old, had a concerned
expression and was obviously trying to work something out. “Sir, I’m not
sure. I tried to contact out star fighter patrols, to warn them not to return
and to dock at the repair facility but there was no response, only static. I
then tried to contact the repair facility and received static again.
Something is not right here Sir; I can understand shipboard facilities being
affected but not external ones. What should I do?” Khan thought for a moment. “Organise a
repeated multi channel sweep, I want every communications frequency checked
and double checked. Leave no micron unturned. I have a bad feeling about
this.” He turned to Ballard and motioned him over to a corner of the bridge. “Command troop
section A to dress in radiation armour and order them to wait in docking bay
two. Make sure they use a pressure bubble so that they don’t have to use
their air supplies. Use high frequency radio transponders and don’t use the standard sub ether
transponders. Tell them they may have a long wait, possibly hours. Use the
alpha signal as the activator and then get off ship yourself.” Ballard understood the terminology and left to issue the
appropriate commands. Khan turned around to the communications officer. “Anything yet?” The officer nodded slowly, earpiece in hand. “Could be sir,
but I’m not sure where it’s coming from. I have a large amount of focused
static on thirty channels, but there is definitely
three completely clear channels and I’m picking up a carrier wave.” Khan
nodded, realising in an instant what must be about to happen and wishing that
his ship were in a more combat ready condition. “How many people
are off ship?” The communications officer checked his readouts. “All except the
command staff, Nias Derril’s team and a few missing troopers.” Khan nodded to
the ensign and moved over to his position. “Right, everyone
else except Ballard should evacuate the bridge. Prepare to meet resistance
upon leaving. Use my command shuttle to escape, it has the required armour.”
His men looked dumbfounded. “Now gentle beings, we haven’t much time.” His
crew obeyed. "You do
realise we will encounter resistance, Commander, even if most of the crew are
off the destroyer." said the officer as he re-checked the pattern of
their small attack force. He pressed an icon on the screen to tighten the
fighter formation. "I expect
it," said Commander Brotus, turning to face the man. "I won't
expect our contact's plan to go smoothly and I expect her minions actions are
creating a bit of a stir, since they can't figure what's going on at the
moment." Brotus looked out at the tunnel of hyperspace and sighed
heavily. If this theft was going to work, he needed to be sure that men under
his command were willing to do their part. This small show of thought
disturbed him.
"Captain," he said, turning back to the man. "I will
command the fleet from here." Nias Derril carefully reinserted the cut out to the back
up generator and sighed with relief. His hands were shaking with the effort
to control the withdrawal and he wondered whether Raven would keep her side
of the bargain and supply what he needed. He closed his eyes and focused his
mind on the job at hand. Opening them he motioned to his crew, using the
prearranged command, and they headed for the docking ring. Nias sat down
heavily on the floor next to the base of the reactor shield and considered
his options. Raven had told him to create a distraction large enough to get
the crew off the ship, but she had also told him not to return to the Constance. This worried Nias, he
didn’t want to be around to explain to Khan why he had faked a possible
disaster, and he didn’t understand why she would want him off the Constance. He knew she wanted the
ship, but he didn’t know what for and it worried him. Years of corporate management and Galactic Alliance red
tape had dulled his ability to detect trouble, but now his conscience was
screaming at him. He moved over to a terminal and gave himself access. He had
a hunch that he was getting himself involved in something that he really
shouldn’t. He brought up the schematics to the ship and checked out the power
coupling from the secondary reactor. He brought the sensors up to full power
and linked into the remote sensor drones that hung throughout the asteroid
field. If there was going to be a boarding team he wanted to know whom they were.
Minutes later he saw the spike in the sensor readout, reading the information
he suddenly realised what must be happening. He ran for the turbolift. Blake calmly inserted the last molecule thin blade into
its cradle and closed the cover on the weapon. The new Krill gleamed darkly
up at him. It’s opaque disk like shape concealing the eight cutting blades
that could spring out at a moments notice. It was a weapon designed to kill
or maim. There was no stun setting. He activated its memory and imprinted his
DNA. Good, now only he and members of his family would be able to use it.
Just as it should be. He’d made some modifications on the original design,
destroyed so many years ago. The force could be used to guide small repulsors
and a deflector generator could be used to disburse blaster bolts. Its
molecule thin cutting edges allowed it to slice repeatedly into the hardest
of substances as if they were Bantha Curd. He commanded the blades to extend
and they did so, except where his hand held the disk. He threw it into the
air and the last two blades extended gracefully. It hung there, rotating
slowly. Blake mentally altered the controls and the disk sped up until its
blades were invisible to the eye. There was a slight whine as it sliced the
molecules in the air and Blake saw the telltale ring of flame starting to
appear where the disk ripped apart the oxygen molecules. He made some fine
adjustment and the flame abated as the disk slowed a little. He called it
back to him and the blades closed into the shell. By the time he had it in
his hand it looked like a child’s play thing. He mounted it in its new
holster. There was a knock at the door. “Enter.” A young Padawan Jedi entered,
his face nervous. There was a sense of fear about him. Blake sent him calm
through the force. “Master De’Athe,
we are about to exit the gravity well of Cawbate and I was just about to
initiate the micro-jump when I lost contact with the beacon on the Constance. We are now unable to
communicate with the Constance and it appears they are being jammed. Miss
De’Athe said we should contact you.” Blake nodded and followed the young Padawan out of the
room; he straightened his tunic in an unconscious gesture, which he noticed
the Padawan imitated. He smiled to himself remembering his days at the
academy. His mind jumped rapidly back to the present. Blake entered the bridge area of the ship and saw his
niece Trude at the controls for the sensor suite. She acknowledged him with a
nod and started to outline the situation. “A massive Ki-Ki
force has just exited hyperspace on the edge of the asteroid field. I
estimate sixty fighter scale craft and two warship analogues. I’ll be able to
get a tighter fix as we get closer.” Blake nodded, coming up beside her and
checking the readout. He was impressed by the way she was able to read the
instrumentation, just by using her other senses and the Force. It helped that
they had converted all the controls to allow sub-dermal feedback, but her
accuracy was astounding. “Look out for a
pincer action. I suspect there may be more ships approaching from the other
side of the field.” Trude nodded and refocused the scanners. Sure enough,
there were another thirty fighters and a dreadnought analogue approaching
from below the field. “What should we do?”
Blake thought for a moment and made a decision. “We have to
defend them, it’s our mandate. Besides, Nera is onboard Nias’s ship.” He
reached out in the Force and found his wife’s mind. “Nera, there is
a Ki-Ki force on it’s way to your location. Warn
them.” The thought came back to him across the ether. “Understood. How
many?” Blake checked the readouts again. “Sixty fighters
and two warships as of yet but prepare for a pincer action. Be careful, and
find out what they want, if you can, before taking any action. I don’t want
to lose you.” She acknowledged him and the communication ended. Blake
turned to Trude. “I’m not too worried, they have thirty fighters and two destroyers to
go up against. It’s pretty evenly matched.” His voice betrayed the worry in
his thoughts. There was a moment of confusion as the captain of the
Ki-Ki warship checked his readings.
"Commander," he said after a short pause, "half of
their defences are pointed away from us." "They're
expecting a pincer movement," Brotus smiled. "Clever, but expected.
I suppose they think that this is too small a force to take on a Star
Destroyer. That should make our job a little easier." Nias burst on to the bridge and saw Khan waiting
impassively. He saw the readout from the sensors visible on the main bridge
monitor, and he realised that Kahn already knew. He saw him standing there,
apparently unconcerned and wanted to scream at him to react. As he got
nearer, and walked around the consoles, he saw the look of determination on
the Captain’s face and the blaster raised in his
direction. He fought to calm himself, and walked slowly towards him. “Khan, Raven
owns me. She said that she wanted to distract you whilst she arranged for an
accident with the main drive and hijacked your ship.” Khan raised the blaster higher so that it covered Nias’s
chest. The distance between them had closed to less than a metre. “Give me one
reason why I shouldn’t just kill you on the spot?” Nias
didn’t think he reacted, slamming his palm outwards with as much force as he
could muster, knocking the gun from Khans hand. Khan reacted by trying to
dodge backwards realising he had trapped himself, but Nias’s cybernetic
implants gave him the advantage and he grabbed the Captain by the collar. “We haven’t time
for this, I need the communications unlock codes so that I can warn my
people.” Khan just smiled, obviously uncaring. “Go to hell,
traitor.” Nias’s anger surged and the pain from the withdrawal sent
an adrenaline surge to his brain. He screamed. “I won’t have anybody else die because of
me, do you hear?” He hurled Khan across the console, slamming him into the
wall. Jumping to the communications panel he started entering a series of
memorised key codes. They should have given him access within a couple of
minutes, but time kept ticking by, and the sweat started to slip down his
forehead. He heard the groan as Khan got back to his feet. He couldn’t afford
to take his mind of the job at hand though. He heard Khan as he pulled himself
across the consoles, but ignored him as he tried another series of codes. “Alpha, two five
nine.” The hoarse whisper came from behind him. He entered the code and the
communications lockout cleared. A few seconds later and the tight beam
transmitters from the Deliverance
were being aimed at the Constance.
Nias ramped up the power and locked in the codes. There was a crackle and the
carrier cleared. “Come in Constance this is Nias Derril on
board the Deliverance. Be
advised, code red, go to emergency defence status.
Incoming hostiles are suspected Ki-Ki forces. Use radio communications until
ordered otherwise.” He looked around at Khan and saw the blood trickling down
his face. “I’ll get the Captain out but I want you to give the Deliverance covering fire.” There was a pause, and then at the other end of the line
he heard Nera’s voice. “We know Nias.
Blake scanned them outside the belt. He’s on his way back now.” Damn, thought
Nias, he’ll get himself killed. The J-series twin seated X-wing was at full power as it
approached the asteroid field. In its modified cockpit, Blake’s sensors
showed the warships, slowly following the small fighters as they entered the
field. He didn’t pause as he shot past them and into the asteroids. Reducing
his shield strength he powered up the cannon. One of the nearby fighters took
a pot shot at him as he swept past, but it was no match for the bobbing and
weaving X-wing. The force guided his path, allowing him to anticipate the
smaller debris and dodge the larger planetoids. He felt a jolt as one of the
pursuing fighters got off a lucky shot, but he was already at maximum range
and there was no damage. Onboard the Constance,
Nera was arguing with the TIE Interceptor commander. “No, trying to
defend the Deliverance would
be futile. Her automated gun turrets will offer as much protection as she
needs to escape the attack. We must get your ships stowed and out of harms
way.” The commander shook her head and her face was defiant. “I have my
orders ma’am, we are to defend the ship at all
costs.” Nera could see she wasn’t going to get anywhere and she
reluctantly capitulated. “Very well, may
the Force be with you.” The X-Wing shot out of the asteroids towards the Constance. Blake switched to radio
wave. “Come in Constance, this is Sabre one. Request permission to
dock.” There was the static of space and then Nera’s voice replied. “Permission
denied Blake, there are thirty TIE Interceptors evacuating the bay as we
speak. Nias and Khan are trapped aboard the Deliverance. There might be others on board as well. Jamming
has dropped so we’re sending over a converted drop ship with the TIE’s.
Suggest you tag along; they have a rather belligerent attitude.” Blake chuckled despite himself. “I’m on it.” He
flipped the X-Wing and pulled in alongside the Interceptors. His sensors
showed him that they had modified shielding on a par with his ships. He
throttled down and matched their speed. “Good day folks.
I hear we’re on guard duty.” There was a brief hiss of static as the lead TIE pulled
in beside him. “Cut the chatter
Jedi. This is not your concern. Get out of our way.” Blake sighed and pulled the X-wing in closer, looking
across at the other fighter he responded. “Sorry TIE
leader, but you’d only slow me down.” He kicked in the boost on his engines,
hurtling towards the secondary docking bay of the Deliverance. His scanners started to go frantic and his RT-7
astromech began chattering excitedly. He checked the readout. “Negative Artee, I’m going in for Nias. I want to know what’s going
on and I know he has the answers.” The first wave of attack fighters came in three groups of
ten, one peeled off towards the Constance
whilst the other two engaged the TIE Interceptors. The drop ship
managed to get into the bay, but the cost was high. The Ki-Ki forces attacked
with a ferocity that the pilots were unprepared for, within seconds the TIE
group had been halved in size. The remaining fighters were making a run for
it. Nera looked on from the ISDII and despaired at the foolishness that had
cost so many lives. She turned to the bridge, noticing the way that it’s new crew were integrating with it’s old one. She
moved over to Commander Dotrine, once Second Officer on the Deliverance, and now commander of
the Constance. “They are not answering hails. Prepare for
incoming hostiles, they are opening fire, respond at will.” The
commander passed on the message that would activate the robotic gun
emplacements and within seconds the attacking fighters had been devastated. “Bring us in closer, we have to cover the Deliverance. And watch out for any other Ki-Ki ships coming in
on a pincer attack!" Blake jumped from the cockpit of his X-wing, landing
lightly on the deck. The first thing that he saw was the group of twenty
assault troopers all training their blaster rifles on his location. He was
about to introduce himself when he was interrupted. “He’s on our
side. Stand down.” Blake turned to see Nias supporting Khan as they limped
across the deck. Khan’s voice held a strength his body no longer showed.
Blake ran over to help them. Khan snarled at him. “Move away from
me Jedi, I have no need of your help.” Blake stood back looking at Nias. Nias just shook his
head. They set the Captain down next to his men. One of them brought out a
med kit and started administering first aid. Blake turned to Nias. “How did that
happen?” Nias looked away and wouldn’t meet Blake’s eyes. “We had a minor
disagreement.” Blake suspected that there was more to the situation than met
the eye. He turned back to Khan. “We have to get
you and your men out of here. A Ki-Ki attack force is outside and they are
soon going to get reinforcements.” Khan smiled weakly, but there was a spark of defiance in
his eyes. “I won’t let
them take my ship, I’d rather die first.” Blake understood the sentiment but he wasn’t about to let
anybody commit suicide. “Your ship has
no crew, is still badly damaged and there is a drop ship on it’s way to pick you up. You’re not exactly in a win, win
situation here.” Khan smiled at the last comment. “That ship has
my first officer and my command staff on board, as well as thirty troopers.
The automated gun emplacements will hold off any fighter attacks and at the
same time I can perform a holding action until reinforcements arrive or we
destroy our attackers. I don’t think I’m going anywhere.” As if to accentuate his point, there was the roar of
engines as the massive drop ship pierced the atmospheric shielding. It
rotated around until it was facing the group and then settled abruptly to the
deck. Khan frowned as the landing gear groaned under the sudden assault. Nias
moved up beside Blake. “How’s the
battle going outside?” Blake turned to Nias. Something wasn’t right with the man
and there was a thin film of sweat covering him. “Last time I
saw, we were holding our own, but that was before the two warships arrived.
Your guess is now as good as mine.” He looked back towards the drop ship and
saw the ramp slowly extending outwards. They all waited as a couple of dozen
troopers descended the ramp and took up positions either side. Blake noticed
Khan frown again and his hand moved to his blaster. He turned to look at the
ship, just in time to see a body roll down the ramp, landing at the feet of
the troopers below. His immediate reaction was to reach for his lightsabre,
but it wasn’t there. He turned rapidly and found Nias grinning at him. Nias held the lightsabre in one hand whilst he held his
blaster in the other. Khan immediately drew his blaster and it was expertly
shot out of his hand by one of the troopers near the ramp. Nias chuckled and
Blake saw an almost manic gleam in his eyes. “I suggest you
gentlemen disarm yourselves. I have a feeling that our new master will shoot
you all on site if you don’t.” Khan nodded to his men and they dropped their blasters.
Blake just stared at Nias, not believing what he was hearing. “Why?” Nias looked at Blake, and the Jedi saw sadness in his
eyes. “It’s out of my
control I’m afraid. They’re first people arrived in the system just minutes
before the Deliverance. At
least Jan got away.” Nias sounded resigned but he was shaking badly. Blake
felt angry and betrayed. He turned as he heard more footsteps on the ramp. A
man walked down the ramp, his manner that of a warrior, his clothing that of
a high-ranking officer. He stood at the bottom, toeing the body that lay
there and when he looked up there was feverishness about his manner. Nias
walked over to him cautiously, bowed and handed him Blake’s lightsabre. “What's
this?" Commander Brotus said with a frown. "A
lightsabre. It belongs to a Jedi." Nias turned to look at Blake. Brotus lifted his eyebrows with surprise. "A Jedi
Knight? How fortunate." Khan growled. “What have you
done with my men?” The man looked towards Khan and smiled. “Ah, you must be
Captain Khan, Raven told me all about you. I am
Brotus, commander of the Prime Lord's First Squadron. I don't usually work
with these cloak-and-dagger types but this,” he looked around at the bay,
indicating the destroyer. "This was far too big a prize to pass up
on." Khan went to move forward, but he stopped when the
troopers levelled their blasters, which were topped with humming vibro-bayonets. Wrist shields hummed to life and created
discs of reflective energy. They stepped forward to cover their commander. “They're
dead," Brotus answered simply. There was no mocking in his tone, just
the cold calculation of a pure military mind. "They put up quite a
fight.” Blake could see Khan struggling with his temper. He tried
to project calm at the man, but he just gave Blake a venomous stare. The
commander followed his stare and met Blake’s eyes. Blake stared impassively
back. His concentration focused beyond. “So. A Jedi
Knight. My Prime Lord will be interested as to what you are doing here.
Problem is, I hear that your kind are troublesome.”
He handed the lightsabre to one of the troopers and issued a series of
commands. “Execute the
troops, the ship thief and the Jedi, but bring me the Captain.” The deck of the Constance
trembled with the vibration of an explosion and Nera turned quickly to
Commander Dotrine. He looked as alarmed as her and rushed to the command
console. “Report, all
decks. Updates and damage assessments.” A series of figures came up on his
screen and voices chattered over the com unit. His expression changed to
anger. “I don’t care
where they came from, if they get to the reactor, we’ll lose shields and
guns. We’ve already lost half of the gantry superstructure. Set the guns to
automatic tracking and divert some of the non-essential staff to escape
craft. Only the fastest, understand?” There was affirmation from the speaker
and the commander closed the channel, turning to the bridge crew. “Prepare to drop the repulsor field and
divert power to the engines. Plot a course between those two warships and
bring shields up to double strength. Prepare for ramming speed.” The crew
obeyed, whilst the commander turned to Nera. “Ma’am, I’m
sorry, but the Deliverance is
a lost cause. My job is to make sure that we survive and my first loyalty is
towards the crew. If you wish to leave I can provide you with a modified
Z-98, but I’m afraid that’s all I can spare.” Nera nodded but stood her
ground. She appeared to be concentrating hard. “It would appear
that this ships owner has betrayed us all commander. I’m with you for the
foreseeable future. Besides, I have it on good authority that there is help
on its way.” Trude De’Athe piloted the heavy freighter through the
asteroid field as if it didn’t exist. She was as close to being one with the
Force as any Jedi had ever been. Her senses picked up the movement of the
giant Imperial Class Star Destroyer as it moved away from the small planetoid
it had been shielded behind. “Master Zeboden,
please adjust the tracking on the turrets so that they target incoming
fighters only.” She felt, rather than heard, Zebodens agreement. A total of
twelve Jedi, and twelve Padawan learners, were using their specialist Force
abilities to avoid impact. Small to medium sized asteroids were being gentle
guided away from the ship, whilst incoming fighters were being dispatched
with deadly accuracy. “They are down
to twenty fighters, the Constance is making a run for it. The Deliverance is being boarded by more troops near the command
bridge.” Zebodens voice was ominous and Nera couldn’t help thinking that they
had already lost this battle. She put away that thought and brought the ship
around next to the Constance. “Maintain a defensive
stance and take over the piloting. I’m taking out the Sabre.” Everything
happened at once. Blake, thirty feet from the ramp, released the Krill
sending it at the trooper holding his lightsabre. Nias drew his blaster,
uncertainly taking cover behind one of the supports for the Drop ship. A
firefight began immediately. Khan’s men took cover behind nearby packing
crates whilst Brotus motioned for his men to attack and activated his own
wrist shield. They threw their helmets off and Blake realised that they were
all Ki-Ki. He ran towards them. Some stepped forward with their bayonets
humming at full power whilst the others rained fire on him. Using his lightsabre to deflect blaster bolts back
against them, he was able to edge nearer to the one called Brotus, but the
Ki-Ki commander was already shouting back up the ramp for reinforcements.
Blake released the Krill, throwing it at the commander, but amazingly he
deflected it with his wrist shield. It embedded itself in the ramp. Two-dozen more soldiers appeared on the ramp, all wearing
Ki-Ki battle armour, and they took up defensive positions near the base of
the ramp. Blake quickly saw that they were outnumbered and he knew Khan would
fight to the bitter end. He had only one choice. As Khans men became embroiled in hand-to-hand combat with
Brotus’s troops, Blake leapt backwards and grabbed some cover. Bringing out
his comm unit he started issuing commands. Brotus watched as the Jedi made an impossibly high leap
that took him over a nearby storage crate. This situation was starting to get
out of hand. He issued orders to his men and they all started over towards
Khans troopers. Something beeped at his side and he snatched at the comlink
on his belt, angered and impatient. “Yes.” The reply was quick and efficient and Brotus nodded as he
realised that his plans had come to a successful conclusion. He issued more
orders and then did the unthinkable; he called his men back to the drop ship. Blake concentrated hard as he focused on the Krill. It
shot out of the ramp just as the troops started re-boarding. He leapt back
over the crates, intercepting the Krill in mid air. Landing lightly he ran
rapidly for the ramp, but it closed tightly behind the retreating troops.
Blake felt a tremor in the Force and realised something was about to happen.
The lights dimmed slightly and a klaxon started to sound. Khan started
yelling at him, but he couldn’t hear him over the alert klaxon. Then all hell
broke loose. Khan watched as the atmospheric shielding dropped on the
docking bay and Blake was sucked outwards in the explosive decompression. He
felt his ears popping and his nose start to bleed as his troops pulled him
into the relative safety of a nearby service duct. He heard his ears popping
and his eyes started to see only red. The last thing he saw was the X-wing,
fighting against the blast, engines online. Then the magnetic seal closed and
he felt the pain. Further down the docking bay, Nias Derril had long since
taken cover in one of the service ducts and was rapidly trying to reconfigure
one of the small spider like service droids that used these narrow spaces as
transit ways. His hands slipped on the small tool he was using and the droid
emitted a light squeal. He wiped his palms on his trousers and tried again.
There was a warble, followed by a high trill. Nias was satisfies and he sent
it running off, hoping fervently that it would do its job correctly. He
reached for the service door and snapped his hand back rapidly as he burnt it
on the cold handle. He pulled out his hand pad and quickly plugged it in to
the terminal next to the door. A small image of the docking bay came up on
the screen. He watched as the X-wing fighter opened up on the unarmed, but
not un-armoured drop ship. One of the legs had already given way and the
other was about to collapse completely. Nias noticed that the fighter still
had its cockpit open and that Blake was nowhere to be seen. Neither for that matter was Khan. Nias felt a sinking feeling as the drop
ship collapsed onto the decking and its nose embedded itself into the
superstructure of a nearby cargo crane. The fighter continued to blast at the
rear section of the ship and there was a rewarding explosion that blew off
half the engine section. Then the fighter stopped and settled back to the
decking. The lights around the entrance to the massive bay came back on, and
Nias notice the electrostatic atmospheric shield spark up. Brotus waited for the minimum amount of air to enter the
bay beyond then cracked the seal on the emergency hatch. Two off his soldiers
had survived the explosion, and only because they had been with him as he
watched from the cockpit. There was a hiss as the air was forced to equalise.
He dived onwards, rolling with the impact on the decking. Nothing happened.
The two soldiers followed him and still nothing happened. He stood cautiously
and noted that the fighter craft had powered down it’s
engines and was pointing away from the drop ship. He nodded with satisfaction
as he realised that the Jedi must have been sucked out into the vacuum of
space. A hatch popped open, not far from his location, and the ship thief
climbed out into the docking bay. Brotus considered killing him there and
then, but he held himself back, a restraint that he had not often observed.
The man called Nias looked him up and down, a strange smile on his face, and
then drew his blaster. He took out the soldier next to Brotus but the other
retaliated with a strike from his wrist shield, the energy disc flaring with
the impact, and the ship thief dropped to the deck, wounded. Brotus drew his
dagger from its scabbard and motioned for the remaining soldier to wait for
him. He walked the ten metres to where the thief was lying on the decking. “This was not
the plan. This was not the agreement. We were to encounter minimal resistance
and I find Jedi! That lack of information will cost you your life.” Nias looked back at the Ki-Ki commander and smiled
thinly. Brotus realised that his attention was on something behind him. He
turned around slowly. Blake shot backwards out of the docking area and towards
the emptiness of space. He felt the tightness of his skin as the vacuum of
space stretched it. Calling the force to him he projected a thin barrier
around himself. The sucking sensation stopped, but the air in his lungs would
run out soon. He had only minutes of consciousness left and he knew he had to
work fast. He relaxed into the Force and stretched out his mind to the
controls on the X-wing, intending to stop it from attacking the unarmed drop
ship and call it to him. However, although he was able to shut it down, his
strength failed him at the last moment. The last thing he saw before
unconsciousness was the blackness of space disappearing around him. The small transport moved slowly through the electrostatic
field of the docking bay. Brotus
watched as a figure exited from the top hatch, and stood defiantly upon its
outer skin. His frustration rose as he saw the Jedi smiling down at him. The
soldier next to him opened fire, but Brotus was not having any body else
dispatch the most recent thorn in his side. He swung around and brutally
stabbed his knife into the soldier’s windpipe. The surprise on the soldiers
face was total as he dropped to the deck. Brotus removed his vibrosword from its sheath and watched as the Jedi leapt
off the transport before it landed. He marvelled that any human being could
survive a drop of nearly twenty metres, but he’d heard stories that these
Jedi were supposed to have amazing powers. Blake watched Brotus dispatch his remaining guard. It was
an enigma to him that any race could act with so much ferocity and brutality.
Then he remembered the teachings of Darth Vader and how close he had come to
turning to the dark side forever. He shivered. The guard dropped to the
ground and Brotus drew his vibrosword. Blake saw a
hatch open half way down the docking bay and several troopers and a white
suited figure emerged. Khan. He couldn’t let the captain get his hands on
Brotus; he would try to exact his revenge and that would be a merciless
killing. He leapt from the transport and ran towards the Ki-Ki commander. “Surrender
Brotus, you might try to steal this ship but you can’t possibly believe we’ll
let you keep it.” Brotus simply smiled back at Blake. “I already have
this ship. My crew are now boarding through the airlocks on the command
decks. Within minutes there will be another contingent of Prime Warriors
entering the docking bay. It should be you that surrenders.” Blake read Brotus’s mind and knew the truth in his words.
He contacted Trude through the Force. “Don’t shutdown
the engines. Open the bottom ramp and wait for my signal.” He received her
acknowledgement and smiled back at Brotus. He noticed Khan motioning his men
to the transport and they barely made a sound as they moved up the ramp. Khan
stood at the bottom, waiting for Blake. Blake understood Khan’s need to be
the last off the ship, but he wished he would put that aside and just get on
the Sabre. “Put down the
sword and surrender Commander, I want to take Nias out of here.” Brotus
grimaced and took an unexpected swing at Blake with the sword. For all his
apparent dignified manner and well-cut uniform his speed was incredible and
Blake barely dodged the man. He reminded himself that he wasn’t fighting any
ordinary soldier but a Ki-Ki warrior who had earned his rank, not bought it
or inherited it. He activated his lightsabre and tried to move around towards
where Nias lay on the deck but Brotus swung at him again. He sliced into
Blake’s tunic, just drawing blood. Blake cursed, but managed to avoid using
the lightsabre. Then things got a little more difficult. At the far end of
the docking bay, fifty or more soldiers ran around the corner and started to
open fire on the transport and Blake. Khan was felled in a second and Blake
found himself left with a choice. Save Nias or save the Captain. The Constance rammed
into the larger of the two Ki-Ki ships, tearing off superstructure and
opening its hull to space. On board the bridge of the destroyer, Nera held on
tightly to the console, her Jedi strength enabling her to stand whilst others
fell. Commander Dotrine pulled himself back to his feet and read the damage
reports. “Good, the
shields protected most of the essential systems. We’ve lost a lot of plating
and most of the docking superstructure though, but she’s hyperspace worthy.”
He turned to where the con officer was regaining his seat. “Flank speed
Mister Caisin. All power to the rear shields.” The Constance
pulled away from the damaged warship, taking superstructure and shield
generators with it. The second warship was concentrating its fire on the Star
Destroyer, but it seemed too eager to stay with the Deliverance to offer any immediate threat. Zeboden chose that
moment to turn around the freighter. Blake saw Nias shaking his head behind Brotus. He reached
into Nias’s mind and saw the truth, felt the pain and the regret at what had
happened. There was something else as well but Brotus chose that time to
attack again. Blake knew what had to be done. He brought around the
lightsabre, slicing through the incoming sword. He rolled under the sword
arm, towards his ship and came up on the other side facing Brotus. The Ki-Ki
commander seemed uncaring of the fact that his sword had just been sliced in
to two pieces; instead he drew his blaster and leapt at Blake. The Jedi knew
he had no choice. He took an initial swing, but Brotus bought up his wrist
shield and deflected the blow. The contact was bright and sparks rained on
the two men. Brotus leapt forwards with his blaster ready for a
point-blank shot but was totally unprepared for the speed and accuracy of the
Jedi. Blake swung up his lightsabre and took the commanders weapon arm off at
the elbow. There was a scream as the blade carried onwards, slicing
off Brotus’s ear and burning his face. The commander’s momentum carried him
past Blake and on to the floor. Blake took one last look at Nias and the
approaching soldiers, and then ran for his ship. Deactivating his lightsabre,
he scooped up the body of Khan and lifted him up the ramp. He felt the deck
beneath him shift slightly as the craft took off. It wasn’t over yet. The Sabre
leapt into space, narrowly avoiding the brace of Ki-Ki fighters that were
approaching the docking bay. Blake entered the cockpit and sat down next to
Trude. She seemed lost in the Force, and he was surprised as she spoke to
him. “You had to
leave him didn’t you?” Blake nodded to himself. “Yes, but don’t
worry, I have a feeling that he’ll be alive for a while longer. They have no
idea how to fix a Victory Class Star Destroyer.” He checked the scanners.
Trude responded. “What makes you
think that it’ll need fixing?” Blake looked out the window at the approaching
heavy freighter. “Oh, I have an
idea that they’ll have trouble raising the shields.” Master Zeboden opened the door to the docking bay and
made sure the freighter was onboard. Then he nodded to Maarsquith. The Wookie
growled his agreement and pressed a series of buttons on his panel. There was
a slight vibration as, one by one, ten proton torpedoes leapt towards the Deliverance. They watched
impassively as they impacted on the command tower and the shield generators. “Let them fix
that.” Blake De’Athe sat quietly, meditating on what he had
glimpsed in Nias’s mind. There had been anguish, confusion and a lot of
anger, but there had also been hope. Hope that he would die before he would
have to betray his friends again. Blake knew he couldn’t allow that, no
matter what Nias had done. He opened his eyes and looked at the pieces of the Krill
that lay on the floor in front of him. Using the Force he aligned the eight
small crystals along with the beam emitter. Then he manually closed the
cover. He stood to his feet slowly and used the Force to raise the Krill in
front of him. A brief command and the repulsor was activated, the small
saucer like shape started spinning rapidly. Blake relaxed further into the
Force, seeing the small switch that would activate the blades, turning them
on. There was a crackle of energy and eight blades of light surrounded the
disk. The door to the chamber opened behind him and he felt Nera enter. “What is it?” Blake turned towards his wife and gave her a thin smile. “A new weapon
for a new breed of Jedi. I call it a Laser Krill,
it’s a rotating molecule thin blade, with a laser cutting edge.” He
deactivated the lasers and blades calling it to him, placing it in its
holster. When he looked up he saw the look on his wife’s face and felt the
coldness that had enveloped her. “What’s wrong?” She
looked him straight in the eyes. “There are no
Jedi texts on creating a weapon of that sort. How did you make it?” Blake
stared her down, feeling her relinquish he waited for her to look away. Then
he spoke. “There were
certain Dark Jedi texts that I used to create the original Krill. I simply
adapted them.” She looked him up and down properly for the first time
and noticed the burn scars along his wrists and hands. He saw her do so and
felt her acceptance at his explanation. She had other things on her mind
though. “What about
Nias?” Blake turned to look out of the window within the
meditation chamber before answering. “He has put
certain plans into action that will make him invaluable to whoever is now
controlling the Deliverance.
However, it will only be a matter of time before he’s put to death or dies
from withdrawal.” Nera seemed shocked but Nias nodded. “The reaction was
getting worse and I suspect he’s addicted to a DL6 or a DL7. His chances of
getting any onboard that ship are slim. Add to this the fact that he knows
too much about whomever arranged the theft, and his
chances seem thinner by the second.” He turned to Nera. “I need to know what
he knows and I need to know soon. Something is building within the Force and
Nias is linked to it somehow. I need to get that information at any cost, or
make sure that Nias doesn’t give it to anybody else.” Brotus stared at nothing. They were just stories, surely. The man had leaped impossible distances; his blade had
sliced through the toughened, folded metal of his vibrosword. No one. No one can do that. No wonder the Minds feared
them. He felt hands on him but he batted them away with a
snarl. The hands were persistent and he had to bat at them more. As he lifted
his right arm to slap the leering face of a medic he noticed that something
was missing. That can't be right. There was a huge explosion. Something heaved under him
and men started shouting. For some reason, the sound was muted but he
couldn't figure out why. "Get me to
my feet," he demanded. "But,
commander..." "Get me to
my feet, damn your eyes!" The hands that had assailed him now lifted him up. Weak
and disorientated, he looked around the deck. The warship had obviously
docked and the remaining ships had unloaded their troops and technicians. An
alarm still sounded far off and shouts echoed across the bay and down smoking
halls. Officers bawled, using the brightness of their vibroswords
to rally men and headed in different pre-determined directions. Every now and
then a blaster shot would join the noise. "Commander,
the medics..." "Is the
ship secure?" "Yes,
commander, but the shields and bridge are damaged and some of the mechanicals
are putting up a fight. We can rejoin the fleet but we will need time for
some repair." "Bring me
the ship thief." The command was direct and tinged with fury. The men had
already tried to aid their commander and to try again would bring
retribution. Nias was dragged, still wounded, to where Brotus stood.
He was dropped unceremoniously to his knees and a blaster was placed into his
back. He looked up at Brotus, his face defiant and yet wary of the
commander's next move. "I thought
you said I was a dead man," Nias said in a deep voice. He seemed
detached in his manner, not at all afraid. "Oh, not
yet," Brotus said. He looked down on the ship thief. "Whether that
now happens, is up to you. First, you're going to tell my technicians how to
get this ship underway and worthy. And then, you're going to tell me all
about this Jedi Knight." "What's the
interest in him?" Nias said with a touch of concern. Brotus thrust his cauterised stump in Nias's face. "I want my
arm back." No
Retreat 2001 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-seven
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – More revelations concerning the actions of Nias Derril and Blake De’Athe during the Ki-Ki/Setnin War.
As the stakes are raised, Commander Brotus of the Ki-Ki invasion feet becomes
personally involved as this Louis Turfrey tale twists in a new direction, leading
onto more stories.
Cast of Characters
Trude De’Athe
Captain
Mendip Kahn Nias
Derril First
Officer Ballard Commander
Brotus Jedi
Master Blake De’Athe Jedi Nera De’Athe
Commander
Brin Dotrine Jedi
Master Zeboden Flight
Officer Roth Caisin Jedi
Maarsquith RT-7
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