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Flight of the Rinsome 2003 short story by Louis Turfrey Nineteen
years before Episode IV – A New Hope Commodor space – ten hours before departure
General
Tolin looked over the ship for the hundredth time that week and smiled at
what he saw. He had begged, bribed and coerced as many people as he could
into providing the funds that had financed the project that now stood nearly
completed in front of him. The biggest ship ever constructed in this region
of space, the Worldship Rinsome, lay beyond the view port of the shuttles
cockpit. Its massive disk like structure, an adaptation of a design used for
low gravity gas-mining stations, reflected the distant light of the Commodor
sun. The space yard that surrounded it dwarfed the ship in size, yet was
unmarked on any star map. The dull metallic ablative armouring of the immense
spacecraft was just being applied and would soon be complete. Unlike its low
gravity cousins that externalised the living spaces, on the Rinsome they had
been moved to the interior of the ship. Where massive mining machinery might
have worked, there was now a hyperdrive system, hydroponics bay and among the
largest shield generators in the galaxy. In every meaning of the word, this
craft was a floating city, and one with a sting in the tail. Fifty
turbolasers circled the rim of the disk whilst ten massive planetary scale
ion cannon and twice as many tractor beams circled the main entrance to the
inside of the craft, known as the Iris. This ship had a purpose. “Rotate for
entry into the Iris, ensign.” The young officer offered his confirmation and the view
of the massive, ten kilometre wide craft altered as the shuttle rotated about
its axis to approach the massive kilometre wide Iris, one kilometre wide, at
the top of the ship. As they passed the entry point there was a slight
increase in downward speed as the ship entered the artificial gravity well. “Steady as she
goes youngster, I don’t want to damage the deck plates before our launch
date.” The ensign modified the descent rate and folded in the
four-repulsor wings on the shuttle. Its ungainly bulk touched down so lightly
that there was no sound inside the cockpit. The general placed a hand on the
ensign’s shoulder. “That’s the way
to do it. I’ll make a pilot of you yet.” The ensign looked around and grinned. “Sorry for the
hiccup Dad, I brought the vanes in too early.” The general smiled at his youngest son, now eighteen
years old, and waited for him to lock down the controls. “No problem.
Nobody else would have noticed it, but you know how space sick your old man
gets.” The young officer nodded and stood up next to his father
in the small cockpit. Immediately his manner became professional, as he
opened the airlock door. “Shall we sir?”
There was a twinkle in his eye as the general sighed and exited the small
craft. The inside of the large landing area was awash with
activity. Not only did it serve as a launching and landing point for all
ships, but it also provided access to most of the storage areas and transport
conduits. The interior gleamed where new metal plating and cross beams had
recently been affixed to brace and strengthen the massive space. A group of individuals moved across the landing area
towards the two officers. One man, his face more grim than the rest, wearing
dark blue fatigues, reached forward his hand in greeting. “Welcome
general. It’s been a long time since we last spoke. Are you well?” The general looked the man up and down only just
recognising him. “De’Athe. By the
Force, we thought you had been slain.” He gripped his hand warmly and a wide
smile spread across his face. The De’Athe nodded, but did not smile back.
Instead he introduced the rest of his party. “My Jedi friends,
Dek Rev, Janna Hollis and Omro Scrum.” The General gave them a solemn look as they nodded when
their name was spoken. “I am pleased
that you managed to evade the obliteration of the Jedi Order.
Our chances of success are greatly enhanced by your presence.” But still the general frowned; he knew
there should be others, one other in particular. “What of
Seranomi?” At the mention of her name, first pain then sadness
flicked across the face of the expelled former Jedi. “She did not
make the transport.” “And what of
your son?” Notami’s face became a mask of sorrow. “I no longer
have a son.” Admiral Treadle revelled in the power of the Star
Destroyer, and the information he had been given by his many spies. A rebellion was forming against the
Galactic Empire, one that needed to be stamped out ruthlessly and quickly. Treadle was eager to do just that. “Captain Valour,
inform the Senate of our discovery and ready the fleet for departure.” He smiled a wicked smile. “We have them.” The three massive ships, each over seven hundred metres
long, moved in a tight formation as they readied for hyperspace. Then, one by
one, they jumped into the depths of hyperspace, heading for the Commodor
System. General Tolin sat opposite Notami De’Athe and looked him
up and down slowly, trying to gauge his mood. “So are you
going to tell me what happened or will I have to resort to the Force?” The Jedi smiled, knowing full well that the general was
not Force gifted in any way whatsoever. In fact, he was difficult to read in
the Force, often dropping out of Notami’s own perceptions. “We were ambushed, on Corellia. I have no
idea who betrayed us, but you know full well the paranoia the Senate spread
about the Jedi during the Clone Wars. There were ten of them, dressed in
black and commanded by a man in black armour. He had darkness and a rage that
I have never felt, or ever want to feel again. We fought hard. We were separated, and I saw them cut
Seranomi down as she fought to stop them taking my son. The others struggled
to pull me to the ship as I fought to go after the one who held my boy. His
eyes bore in to me, and I swear he felt the hatred I was pushing at him. Then
he was gone, and the rest of his dark side warriors were bearing down on us.
We barely made it away. It took a week
to lose them.” The General nodded but examined Notami closer. His eyes
seemed to reach into his soul and it was all De’Athe could do to stop himself
from bursting into tears in front of the man. “It’s hard isn’t
it?” Notami nodded, unusually his self-control seemed to be
eluding him and he felt the pressure of emotion. He didn’t trust himself to
speak. “No need.” The
General rose to his feet. “I’ll send in my son in a few minutes, give you
time to compose yourself. He’ll guide you to quarters more befitting of your
status.” Notami nodded again. The General paused at the door,
turning back before pressing the stud to open it. “The walls in
your quarters are soundproofed. A man
could scream as much as he wanted and nobody would hear.” Then he had left the room and Notami was left alone in
reflection. He looked down at his hands and noticed how much they were
shaking from the effort to remain calm. He looked inwards, trusting years of
knowledge of the Force to help centre him. His outward control regained, he
waited for the Generals son to arrive and longed for days past as a Jedi and
a father. Commodor space – two hours before
departure The
large transport exited hyperspace on the edge of the system and signalled for
the approach coordinates that would allow access to the giant Rinsome. Within
fifteen minutes, the massive entry door was in sight and the craft was
descending into the docking area. Electrical discharges ripped from one end
of the craft to the other as it struggled towards the floor of the massive
hanger. Scant seconds after entry, it landed hard, nearly jarring those who
awaited its arrival off their feet. As the
doors opened and thick black smoke spewed out onto the landing deck. Refugee
children started falling out of all exits, some being pulled along by their
colleagues, others being carried on makeshift stretchers. Notami De’Athe and
the other Jedi ran forward, searching through the younger children,
administering aid through the Force where they could until the medical teams
arrived. A bloodied and cut teenager gently laid a young lifeless child on
the floor next to Notami, his face showing the deep levels of pain and shock
that Notami himself felt. He placed a hand on the young adepts shoulder and
used the Force to calm him. He could feel the youngster falling towards the
dark side and he sent him a short sharp shock through the Force, one of his
own memories. The youngster went pale and nodded, pulling himself together
quickly. It was then a matter of minutes before the injured were taken to the
medical facilities and the fire aboard the damaged shuttle was extinguished. The
young Jedi, a look of determination on his face, thumped the table in the
meeting room and pushed his chair backwards. “I won’t stand and listen to those who
won’t believe that the Force exists. The shuttle was pulled from hyperspace.
I swear I don’t know how, but we don’t have time to sit and worry about it.
If we hadn’t had a fast secondary backup unit, we might never have made it at
all. We have to stop running from these people and start fighting back. Those
ships were easily a tenth the size of this ship.” Notami nodded and looked
across at his compatriots standing around the conference table, then back at
the young Jedi. “Gremial, I understand your anger as much
as anyone else here. I feel the loss
that exists in your heart. However, you must realise that this craft must
depart at the allotted time, and as such it has to arrive in time to allow
the boarding of the rest of the refugees. If not, ten thousand innocent
people could be slaughtered.” Notami
looked down in sorrow. “And we have
lost enough of our brethren as it is.” The
younger Jedi looked momentarily stricken. “Yes master, but ten thousand? But we were
told that just a thousand would be boarding. I don’t understand?” The
older Jedi gave a weary smile and leaned forward in a conspiratorial gesture. “Do you believe our newly anointed Emperor,
with his grand plans for a benevolent and secure Empire would have allowed
ten thousand of the finest and richest people in the galaxy to escape his
clutches, especially when a number of them are Force sensitive?” He leaned back into his seat. “I think not.” The
young Jedi nodded in agreement. Realisation of the bigger picture slowly
crawled across his features. “Then we have no choice but to sit and
wait in the hope that we don’t tip our hand too early.” He straightened up
suddenly. “Master, permission to join the outer patrols. I know what these ships look like and I may
be able to help avoid any false identification.” Notami
thought for a moment then slowly nodded his head, but placed a restraining
hand on the young man as he exited the room. “Remember the dark side. Do not act with anger, and always remember
that you are one with the Force.” The
young Jedi nodded, feeling to his core the wisdom of De’Athe’s words. “Yes, I feel that this is the right path.”
Notami
nodded and released the young Jedi’s arm. The whole mission would rest on the
abilities of this young man, and only Notami new it. He sighed to himself;
sometimes seeing through the Force could be a curse. Gremial left the room.
Notami turned to the rest of the gathering. “We have little time and the darkness that
taints the Force grows stronger. We cannot allow those that are relying upon
us to fall victim to those who would use and destroy them. Suggestions?” Tolin
had been sitting quietly and chose that moment to speak. “There must be a sacrifice. One big enough
to make them believe they have the upper hand. Then we make our move with
pinpoint accuracy.” Notami
knew just what they needed, and had made a contingency plan just in case. “Leave that to me. I have arranged a
diversion that will bring us protection. And hopefully some time.” Edge of Setnin Space – eleven hours ago “Amber Krayt, this is task force leader,
prepare for hyperspace.” The
thirty fighters and two light cruisers formed into a delta formation and
settled gently into the belly of the large transport ship. Giant durasteel
doors closed slowly overhead and a series of low-level tractor beams
activated to hold the ships in place. From
his vantage place, high above the planet Nogard, Governor Allafson looked
upon the fleet of five transports and felt some satisfaction. He listened as
all the individual attack groups confirmed their holding patterns and then
picked up the small communication resting on his desk. “Gentle beings, I thank you in advance for
what you are doing today. May the Force go with us. Engage hyperdrives.” One by
one the ships winked out of existence, and as each one left Setnin space he
felt some pride at what he was about to do. He turned around to his second
officer and nodded. The sleek looking arrow shaped craft that was his
personal cruiser powered up her engines and leapt into the void. Commodor space – fifteen minutes before departure “Silver Leader to Silver two, tighten up
your formation, this isn’t a simulation.” Gremial
grimaced, and brought hi craft in line with the others. “My apologies Silver Leader, it won’t
happen again.” There
was a chuckle as the commander of the seven modified Z-95’s brought his own
ship in tighter. “Considering you’ve never flown a fighter
before, you’re doing fine.” The
pilot known as Silver two smiled to himself, and then his eyes caught sight
of his scanners. “Silver Leader, I have three bogies
exiting hyperspace at three thousand clicks, point three five; we have
incoming.” Silver
leader cursed openly. He checked his
scanner and opened his eyes wide in shock. “Hell, they’re big. Notify all squadrons
to converge on this point and feed our sensor data back to the Rinsome. This
is going to be tough.” “General, they have some sort of mass
projector on the centre ship. It’s
creating an artificial gravity well. We’ll have to move to the edge of the
sector before we can enter hyperspace.” The
General nodded as his son and aide passed on the information. “Bring engines and shields online, ignore
the guns and use the inertial dampening fields to reinforce the structure.
Launch all fighters. Tell them to ignore
the other ships and go for the centre vessel.” General Tolin frowned as he
looked at the system diagnostics. It would be hours before the Ion cannon
would be ready and that would be far too late. He hoped that De’Athe and his
other former Jedi knew what they were doing. “Sir, they’re launching fighters from the
other two ships. I’ve never seen the configuration before. Bearing down on us
fast, but they don’t appear to have shields.” Silver
leader nodded and opened the com to all squadrons. “Red and Gold squadron, cover our flanks
with your hunters. Green squadron, make your attack run. We’ll cover your
bombers from the rear. All other squadrons pick your targets and cause as
much confusion as you can. Hold on to your sticks, this is going to be
bumpy.” One by
one, the veteran pilots pulled their craft into their attack patterns.
Gremial marvelled at the precision of their flying. He pulled in tighter to
Silver leader, letting his own shields form an overlap on his wing commander.
Two banks of three fighters pulled themselves away from the main enemy group
and headed in their direction. Their rate of turn indicated that they could
easily outmanoeuvre the Z-95’s. “Wait till they are in mid-range and open
fire. Let’s hope our shields give us a big enough advantage.” Governor
Allafson tapped his feet in impatience as his ships ploughed through
hyperspace towards the Commodor System. Fifteen minutes remained. He hoped
they would make it on time. The last thing the crew of the Rinsome needed was
to enter their endeavour without military support. Something nagged at the
back of his mind, and he could feel a tingling at the nape of his neck, one
that he never usually ignored. He turned to his second officer. “Sound general quarters and arm all weapons.” He glanced back at the swirl of
hyperspace. “I have a bad feeling
about this.” General
Tolin cursed as the fastest of the three attacking ships started to gain on
his own craft. Read-outs showed power fluctuations as the massive Rinsome
shifted its shields to deflect the incoming weapons fire. His son moved
closer to him. “If we don’t enter hyperspace within the
next ten minutes we’ll miss the rendezvous with the refugees.” His
father nodded. “And if we don’t take out that mass
generator we’ll be here for weeks.” He looked over at Notami, deep in
concentration at the bridges main view port. “I hope he knows what he’s
doing.” Notami
sat deep in the Force directing his mind outwards through the ether. He felt
each living being within the defending craft, knew each mans fear and
elation. Emotions washed over him as he pushed his thoughts towards their
pursuers. He felt his grasp on the force tighten as the other former Jedi on
the Rinsome joined with him in his search, pushing their own energies towards
him, lending him their strength. He felt the mass generator, it’s cold
implacable weight and furious energies bent the space around it. He tested
it, finding its shape, its boundaries, its strength and its weaknesses. Gremial
felt a surge in the Force push past him and noticed the energy output from
the giant ship in front of him falter on his scanners. “This is Silver Two to Silver Leader. I
have a small resonance fluctuation in the power output from the shields. If
we punch through we may be able to make a surface run.” Silver
Leader looked at his scanners and gave a grunt. “Wonder where that came from? Okay, Three
and Four wait here; we’ll make an attack run.” The two Z-95’s pulled up and
over into a steep dive and made straight towards the Interdictor. Silver
Leader opened the com to his wingman. “Kid, those shields are still too strong.
Shields up double front, follow behind. We’ll only get one chance at
this. I hope to hell you’re as good a
pilot as I think you are.” Gremial
felt a change in the Force emanating from his commanders cockpit. “Understood Sir, it’s been a pleasure
flying with you. May the Force be with us.” Silver
Leader didn’t answer, he flicked his shields up to double front and powered
away from his wingman. Notami
hurled the Force like a battering ram at the shields of the Interdictor. At
the last moment Silver Leaders Z-95 impacted upon the weakened outer area and
exploded in a ball of incandescent flame. The second fighter punched through
the debris and the small craft shuddered as its shields collapsed. Unable to
do more than spin his now badly damaged craft, Gremial launched his two
proton torpedoes at the rapidly approaching shield generator. Then he relaxed
into the Force as the explosions tore into the surface of the outer dome. The
last thing he saw was the dome in front of him collapsing inwards. Notami
reeled as the death of the young Jedi seared into his soul. Tolin was at his
side in moments. Notami looked up at the General. “The shields are down.” Tolin
looked across at his son who was scanning the attacking ships. He looked up
and nodded. Tolin helped Notami to his feet and activated his throat mike. “All ships. Attack the mass
generators. Take them offline.” Within
minutes the Interdictor was floundering, her mass generators inactive. Tolin
examined the screens in front of him and frowned. They had lost many craft and a lot of good
pilots. Pilots that he would find hard to replace. “These other two craft have managed to put
themselves between us and our hyperspace launch point. We need to bring our
remaining fighters onboard before we leave. If we do, there’ll be a hole in
our shields big enough for them to fire through. If we don’t, a lot of brave
men will die.” Notami,
now fully recovered, smiled at the general. “My friend, if my calculations are correct
the answer to our problems should be exiting hyperspace any minute now.” As he
spoke, Tolin noticed more than twenty orange spots appear on the main
tactical display. His son looked towards Notami. “We have been contacted by Governor
Allafson. He requests permission to
engage the enemy.” Notami
looked towards the General. “May I?” Tolin
nodded a dumbfounded expression on his face. Notami looked towards the young
man at the tactical display and nodded. “Tell my father-in-law, permission
granted.” Flight of the Rinsome 2003 short story by Louis Turfrey Nineteen
years before Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – Continuing the story of
the Rinsome
project and the tales of the group known as the Wanderers during
the events of the later hours of Revenge of the Sith. Forced into exile by Palpatine’s proclamation of a Galactic Empire and outlawed as Jedi, the remaining Setnin Jedi must muster their forces and
prepare to retreat in order to preserve the Jedi order. Led still by Notami De’Athe, they
fight to survive just long enough to evade capture and execution and
effectively depart the galaxy, leaving only Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master
Yoda to prepare for the fight against the darkness of the Sith. Cast
of Characters Notami
De’Athe Governor
Allafson Admiral
Treadle Captain
Valour Gremial General
Tolin Dek
Rev Janna
Hollis Omro
Scrum |