Chapter 4
It took more than an hour for Anhiel to make her way back towards the shuttle. It seemed that the number of people in the port had increased drastically after her arrival. She was sure she had not wandered that far after disembarking. Carefully, the jedi weaved her way through the crowds, staying on the perimeter as much as she could manage. But she still had some ways to go before reaching their particular pad. The energy in the air had changed. Where before there had been curious tourists meandering the shops, there was now concern, increasing to fear bordering on panic. Anhiel keyed on her communicator, establishing a link with the shuttle. “Captain, what is going on? I am having trouble making it back to the shuttle.” “Ma’am, we are not sure. Several transports have recently landed, and they appear to be offloading wounded. All flights have been grounded for the time being.”
“Wounded?” She paused, reaching out through the force. Yes, she could sense the wounded and the rising anxiety of those around her. But there was something else, just on the edge of her senses and it was coming quickly. “Prepare to lift off as soon as I arrive. We must return to the fleet.” Something was coming and she could not be stuck planet side when it arrived. The captain begins to respond, repeating his final sentence but it is not heard as the comlink is cut on the other end. Anhiel stops moving, looking around above her for another route. “There, a maintenance catwalk” she thinks as she begins to crouch. She leaps, the force launching her several meters into the air and allowing her to land on a balcony. Again she jumps, reaching a hand out to the railing that was approaching and using her momentum to clear it before landing heavily on the metal walkway. She steadies herself a moment before sprinting in the direction of the landing pad.
Rend stands nervously on the bridge of the Shadow Redeemer. Something was bothering him as was often the case with the young padawan. He looks around attempting to breathe steadily, slowing his heart rate and his thoughts. “Rend, are you alright?” The soft voice from behind him makes him jump and the young man turns quickly to see Specialist Veruna dressed in a uniform and clutching a data pad. “Am I that obvious?” Sun smiles lightly, “You haven’t moved from that spot for quite some time. I was worried you might be stuck.” The padawan laughs nervously, “I have just been pondering why she left me here with all of this? ” waving vaguely to the various ongoings in the bridge. “And to make me a Jedi commander? I know nothing about these types of things. She can’t possibly expect me to be of any use here.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair as he often does. Sun offers a look of reassurance, “I am sure she has her reasons. Commander is the customary rank given to Padawans that serve. Besides, everyone starts somewhere. A lot can be learned through observation alone.” Rend nods lightly, “I suppose you are correct but I am still not at ease with…” The sentence is cut off by the shout of a young woman sitting in front of a console nearby. “Commander, ships exiting hyperspace.”
Planet side, Anhiel keys the comlink on once more, this time attempting to establish a connection with her flagship as she approaches the landing pad. The only response she receives is static as she hastens her pace, bolting up the ramp onto the shuttle as it begins to close. “Get me a link to the Shadow Redeemer” she barks as she enters the cockpit. “We are unable to establish a link Ma’am. Multiple ships have dropped out of hyperspace near the planet and communications are offline. I suspect they are using a jammer.”
“Then get us out of here. We must get back to the fleet.” The captain nods, turning to the controls and beginning to lift the shuttle off the pad. Nearby, various fighters can be seen lifting off as well vectoring in the direction of the new arrivals. Anhiel studies the data on the screen in front of her. The unknown force had jumped much closer to the planet than she had ever seen anyone try before. Her own forces were much further away and she would have to move close to the invaders in order to reach them. “The last attack was reported hundreds of lightyears away. This is far more aggressive than I had expected.” The thought is finished with a curse as the shuttle rises through the atmosphere. Fighters streamed from the enemy ships and began engaging the small division of fighters sent from the planet. The admiral’s forces were positioned poorly and it would take too long for them to reposition to do anything for the planet, placing them at a massive disadvantage. The invaders were too well placed already. Additional ships begin to exit hyperspace, the last of which is a massive silver capital ship. The model is not familiar to Anhiel and it is markedly larger than her Centurion class ship.
The task force is now largely outnumbered, positioned poorly relative to the unknown fleet, and too far to engage immediately. “Captain, prepare to jump to the emergency rendezvous as soon as possible.” The captain responds while moving to plot the necessary course, “But we are still not able to contact the rest of the fleet, Admiral.” “Do not worry about that, just get us out of here.” The shuttle rocked, the sound of metal groaning echoes within as alarms begin to blare. Immediately it banks to the right, turning away from the flight of fighters that had moved in on them. They are much faster than the shuttle and continue to gain ground as they fire on the unarmed vessel. The captain dives them back towards the planet as they would be worse than an easy target in space. He exclaims loudly “The port has some autocannons, I saw them on the way in. If we can just get there it may buy us enough time to find an alternate route.” His words fall on deaf ears as the Admiral sits quietly in the seat nearby, her eyes closed and expression somber. Her mind reaches out from the ship as she projects a single repeating thought in the direction of her own fleet. “Retreat…Retreat…Retreat”. A loud explosion rocks the shuttle and it begins to heavily trail smoke as it reaches the envelope of the auto turrets around the port. They begin to fire on the enemy fighters, causing them to scatter for the moment while the shuttle hurdles forward, steadily losing altitude. Everyone braces as the ship continues to plummet, clipping a tower on the edge of the port which sends the ship into a spiral. It crashes in a field on the edge of the port, gouging out the ground for over a hundred meters before coming to a rest.
Far away, the task force begins to move. The bridge of the Shadow Redeemer is alive with action as commands are communicated to the rest of the ships in the fleet. Their position puts them just outside of the effective range of jamming. A young communications specialist can be heard over the action, “I am still not able to raise the Admiral or the shuttle.” Rend’s face saddens as he sits in a nearby chair racking his thoughts while the older Commander responds, “We continue as planned, if we approach on this vector we should be able minimize the impact of their greater numbers.” He gestures upon a line on the map before him. The Padawan sits up straight as if startled, something pressed upon his consciousness almost unnoticed due to his racing thoughts and commotion around him. He stands, raising a hand to silence everyone. “Quiet, please.” His voice is soft, nerves and second thoughts preventing the volume he intended. Sun looks up from the console she was reviewing having heard Rend faintly. Something was not right, she could sense it but could not focus on the thought that sat just outside of her reach. After a moment, she straightens as she calls out loudly, “Silence on deck!”. The personnel present on the bridge halt in their tasks, looking around for who called out. Their eyes eventually rest on the young Padawan now standing with his eyes closed as he opens his mind. A few long moments pass before he speaks nervously “We must… retreat”. The silence continues for a short period before the older commander responds, “We can’t retreat, we don’t know where the admiral is. And what about the people on the planet?” Rend shakes his head, anxiety rising in him as he is well outside of his comfort zone. “Act with purpose” he thinks to himself. Hardening his resolve the Padawan responds with an authority he is sure he has never shown before. “That is an order from the High Admiral. We are to retreat. Now.” The older man begins to respond, his disagreement on the end of his tongue before he is cut off by Rend. “Would you question the order if my master, your High Admiral were standing before you now?” The commander shakes his head, irritation clear on his face, “Of course not.” Rend’s face solidifies as he pushes himself to exude confidence he did not necessarily feel within, “Then you should not question it coming from me. I felt her command through the force. I do not know her reasoning but I do not dare question it. And neither should you.” The pair appraise each other for many moments, Rend doing his best impersonation of his Master’s normal demeanor before the Commander nods, straightening and saluting crisply. “You heard him, prepare to jump to the emergency rendezvous.” Rend lets out a long breath turning to look out the viewport, sweat dripping down neck as his heart races. Sun approaches him from behind as he gazes outwards, laying her left hand on his right shoulder gently. “I am sure she will be alright. She has been through much worse.” Rend glances towards her, nodding once in acknowledgement and thanks for her comfort before facing forward again.
The shuttle sits tilted to the right, smoke and dust rising from it for several minutes before the ramp begins to open, two soldiers climbing their way out of the wreck carefully. Inside, the captain shakes the unconscious woman beside him, attempting to keep his voice free of panic. “Admiral….Admiral! Wake up! We need to move.” While the soldiers outside survey the area a small shuttle lands nearby, another model unfamiliar to those present. They move into cover, the one closest to the ramp calling into the ship, “We have company!” Quietly they watch four figures descend from the transport, clad in matching armor with a light gold hue, their bodies fully covered in the smooth metal. They carry tall shields and black staffs, blue blades extending from the ends as they approach the wreck. The two soldiers hunker down, nodding slightly to each other in solidarity as one pulls out a grenade. The unspoken words hang in the space between them, “Protect the Admiral no matter the cost.”
They begin to move, lifting their blaster rifles but stop at the sound of a clash of metal on metal. The figure closest to them slams into the wreckage, falling in a heap onto the ground as the blue blade is extinguished. An unknown combatant falls onto the enemy bringing up the rear, having lept from the trees nearby. He brings a single blue saber down as he lands, batting away the shield that was hastily raised to protect against the attack before battering his opponent with multiple heavy attacks. Blaster fire can be heard as the Admiral’s guards open fire on the two remaining enemies as a lone grenade flies through the air. The pair of enemies turn to face their attackers, kneeling behind their shields as the grenade explodes. The closer of the two is knocked to the ground by the force, his partner moves to cover him with a shield while he recovers. Blaster fire continues to streak towards the armor clad opponents but is ineffective against the thick metal shields. Once his partner recovers, the front combatant begins to rush the two soldiers in cover.
A few meters away a head inside a heavy helmet, recently relieved of its body, lands on the soft ground with a dull noise. It is followed shortly by the remainder of the body as a man clad in brown robes with eyes wrapped in brown leather steps over the lifeless form. His blue saber thrums evenly as he takes several leaping strides to the next closest opponent, the one who had just recovered from the grenade blast. The opponent's back was turned as he began to move to assist his comrade. A blue blade appears from his chest before it is quickly withdrawn and he falls to the ground. Athin looks for the final enemy that is up seeing him as he leaps over the raised ground and wing the soldiers were using for cover. The Miraluka snarls before leaping forward. It only takes a few seconds for him to cover the 20-30 meters between him and the final enemy, but he is too late. One soldier is knocked to the ground by the massive shield while the other is speared in the abdomen by the blue blade extending from the staff. As the enemy turns to the soldier on the ground, he begins to rise into the air before being slammed to the ground, flat on his back before a blue saber descends upon him.
Athin breathes heavily, looking towards the fallen allied soldier. His aura is extinguished and is beyond the help of healing. He faces the remaining soldier voicing a single question, “Where is Master Anhiel?” The question was more of a formality as the Miraluka could see her distinct aura within the ship and could feel her presence in the force. The soldier responds as he rises, “Inside the ship, Sir. She was knocked unconscious when we crashed.” Athin nodded, “My ship is nearby, let’s get her and get out of here before another shuttle comes to investigate.” He then points to the motionless body of the first enemy to fall, “And bring him, he is still alive.” The captain looks out of the awkwardly opened ramp, surveying the area before speaking. “Someone help me with the Admiral, she is still unconscious.” Athin waved towards the enemy again, “Help him with that. I will see to the Admiral.” After a minute or so, Athin appeared from the shuttle, Anhiel cradled in his arms as he extricated himself from the wreck. He leads the way back through the trees to his ship while continuing to carry the woman. She looks small in his arms, but her weight is significant between the dense muscles of her body and the armor she wears. The captain and the other soldier loosely carry the armor-clad enemy behind him. They arrive at a Defender class ship, common among Jedi, and board quickly. Athin calls to the captain, “I am not much of a pilot. You get us out of here while I tend to Master Anhiel.” The captain nods briskly while dropping the prisoner onto the deck unceremoniously, leaving his comrade to restrain the individual. “Yes sir. Right away.” Athin turns and strides to his quarters as this class of vessel did not have much in the way of medical facilities. He laid the Jedi master on the bed, placing a hand on her forehead. Healing was not his forte but he could tell she would be ok. As the ship rose smoothly from the ground, he moved to remove the armor plating she wore. Resting in it would only do more damage than the crash had already done. The ship shot away from the city, staying low to the ground until it rose rapidly into the atmosphere upon reaching a safe distance from the invading forces. A minute later, the ship disappeared as it entered hyperspace.