Chapter 102: 102. Chapter

Inside the Dark Seeker.

A strong pulsation of invisible energy burst out of the meditation chamber, its waves traveled far and wide completely covering the entire battlefield in seconds, the planet too was blanketed by the unfathomable strings connecting each soul, everything now were tied to a single entity through the invisible reach of the force.

The entity was the one inside the meditation chamber, currently sitting on the floor, lost in deep concentration.

 

-From the perspective of Grievous.-

The tall form of the mighty cyborg was standing imposingly on the bridge of his huge battleship. He watched with unhidden glee as the republic’s military lines were getting closer to the brink of collapse. The red beams of death were just about to pick off another venator class cruiser, it was mere seconds away from complete annihilation. 

-Hahaha...

This turns out to be easier than any of us could have anticipated. Another one of their ships is about to go down, while our losses on this side are minimal. They lose three ships while we lose one, pathetic.

I narrowed my eyes, seeing that the finishing strike was still delayed. It seems I have to word out every insignificant detail for these useless droids.

-What are you waiting for? Finish them before their shields stabilize. 

One of the B1-s spoke up in an annoyingly cheerful voice. 

-Aaa.... General, we can’t shoot right now. It turns out our main cannons are about to overheat. We need some time to cool them down, otherwise they might lose some of their effectiveness, and we will have to do the routine maintenance checks more often. It is the standard protocol...

I was carefully listening to the words of this brainless and utterly stupid existence of a droid. I felt my mental energy being drained with every word until I couldn’t listen to it anymore and snapped. In a single momentum, I grabbed the head of the cursed thing and crushed it in my hand. The metal body of the B1 fell lifelessly to the ground, only releasing a pathetic sizzling sound.

I turned towards the other droids, my eyes glaring at them with barely contained madness as I worded the following sentence.

-Any other suggestions? 

The only answer came from a nearby droid in a monotonous tone.

-Postponing cooling procedure, reiterating fire to the target.

I nodded with satisfaction, seeing that the next droid in rank seemed to value its life more than the earlier one. I put my arms behind my back as I stepped over the motionless body of the ex-captain. I was waiting to witness my well-deserved fireworks.

-Firing main cannons in three, tw-... 

A tremendous explosion shook the mainframe of my ship... I instinctively grabbed the metal floor with my magnetic claws, securing myself in a stable position.

Before the shaking from the explosion could disappear, another one followed it, then one more. At this time, I was about to burst with anger. Harnessing the accumulated frustration, I shouted over the screams of bending steel and the following sounds of newer explosions. 

-REPORT, WHAT THE HELL IS CAUSING THESE EXPLOSIONS!

There was no answer, and I shouted once again.

-RIGHT NOW, OR I SWORE THAT NEITHER OF YOU WILL HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE SHIP GOING DOWN.

One of the droids stepped in front of me while trying to stabilize itself as the ship never ceased to stop its violent shaking.

Seeing the particular droids, which were a familiar one, yes, this had been the one who reported the gathering starfighters some times earlier. 

-Roger-roger, based on the scanners data General, I came to the conclusion that the explosions could only be caused by the bombers and starfighters our radar systems picked up earlier.  

My eyes widened with shock, hearing the absurd answer... how could that be possible? There is no way a bunch of fighters could get that close on their own. At that moment I saw a republic starfighter fly over the bridge, its shadow passing right over me. There was no denying to this reality anymore.

The uncertainty of the situation only caused me to become even more angry, I turned back to the droid with uncontained anger lashing out.

-What is the meaning of this? How could a bunch of fighters get this close to my ship?!

The droid seemed confused by my question, and seeing its contemplative form, I forced myself to contain my boiling anger. 

The droid, sensing that I had calmed down, continued its explanation.

-Oh-oh... General, it’s because of your order. 

I narrowed my eyes even further and asked in an icy voice. There was a terrible suspicion creeping up on my mechanical spine.

-What order? 

-Errh... General, you stated that we shall ignore the incoming starfighters and bombers. So naturally, I transmitted your orders to the fleet. Now that I think of it, it must be the reason why they were able to get this far. Just as you intended, sir. Oh? 

I ignited all four of the sabers I kept on my body, and before the two-legged trash pile could realize it, I had already cut up its body into about twenty different portions. Then, with the same momentum, I stepped in front of the primary controls, and shouted into the voice transmitter with an infuriated voice. 

-All units, destroy the bombers that managed to assault the flagship, IMMEDIATELY! ARGH!!!

There was another even larger explosion, shaking the entire ship, just when I was about to stand up from the controls... I barely managed to stand by the violent quakes. I turned to the other droid who seemed to be more reasonable than the rest, and asked. 

-Give me a damage report, now!

The droid calmly pushed a few buttons on the console in front of it, and stated. 

-Damage report, three of our main turbo laser cannons and many smaller guns were destroyed or incapacitated, a communication tower damaged, two pulse-jets have suffered moderate damage, and lastly the main shield generator received a critical amount of damage, overheating and exploding just now. Based on the sensors data. The explosion of the main shield generator ripped out a sizable chunk of the ship’s body. I am afraid that the shield generator is in an unrepairable state right now.

I was about to flatten the faceplate of this cursed droid as well, but realizing how much functional this particular one was then the others I interacted today, I searched for a different way to release my anger. Luckily, the solution just walked up to me on its own.

-General, we have created a new damage report based on the gathered data...

I turned around and looked at the foolish thing.

-I have already received an analysis.

With that, I crushed in its faceplate with one of my right fists and walked back to the main controls. Waiting to see the cheeky republic fighters being picked up one by one... 

In the meantime, I also shouted at a nearby B1 to clear out the garbage. It was getting hard to walk between so much accumulated trash.

In the midst of his rage, Grievous has completely forgotten about the venator ship that he originally intended to destroy, just like the rest of his fleet, which was completely focused on mobilization against the handful of republic fighters. 

Thanks to this distraction the venator that was about to be overwhelmed managed to cool its shield generators back under critical temperature, since the enemy fleet were currently otherwise occupied, they also stopped shooting at the republic fleet, which seeing the opportunity started to reorganize its falling apart defensive line.

Soon three more Venator class republic battleships arrived with a small distance hyperspace jump, reinforcing the defensive line and bolstering their morale. 

In a few minutes of time, the republic forces started to pick off a few of the confused enemy ships, then they received an unexpected report from the fighters. The flagship’s shield generator was down. It was time for revenge.

 

-From the perspective of Net Myrec- 

A gigantic explosion expanded behind the Y-wing bomber. Net's face was covered with sweat as her hands held onto the control stick, with so much strength that she was starting to believe that she wouldn’t be able to let go of it even if she wanted to... It seemed to melt into her sweaty palms. 

Loud sounds of cheers were coming through the radio as the others shouted with plain excitement. 

-Nice one Netty, you managed to blow up their main shield generator! 

Appeared the voice belonging to one of the pilots they flew with.

-Yes, good job Net!

Shouted another one. She didn’t recognize his voice either... it was not surprising since most of the time they were flying with randomly selected pilots. The reason for that was simple, if a bit gross. Well yeah, most died in action and needed a replacement. I wasn’t willing to be replaced like that, not yet or ever!

-Indeed! 

Sounded like the first familiar voice. It was Jack’s... He continued his speech after a few breaths of pause. 

-Now I believe guys, that this explosion was our call to back off, I have been informed that the reinforcement arrived. 

Hearing that statement immediately filled me with a wave of relief. I could feel the tears appear on the edges of my eyes once again.

The others’ conversation was not over yet though, as other cheerful voices joined in. 

-Ahaha! I never thought that we would actually pull this off!

-Yes, neither did I. I can’t understand why they didn’t attack us at all!

-Exactly, it seems the plan worked perfectly; they were too focused on destroying large ships, and didn’t notice two squads of small fighters sneaking up on them!

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-Hahaha! Of course it worked. They were just droi-ZZZzsZZZ. 

A series of red beams flew by my ship and blasted into the other Y-wing, flying next to me. The ship immediately turned into a ball of plasma, which expanded and ripped it into thousands of pieces. 

I instinctively grabbed onto the control stick even stronger than before thanks to the waves of plasma explosion which reached my ship. I accidentally pulled it towards me. Thanks to that, the ship sharply turned upwards in a wild spinning motion that was making me sick, but I didn’t complain, just shivered when I saw another series of red beams cross the exact place where I was just a second ago... 

In the abrupt change of direction I had momentarily lost control over the ship, I was panicking and trying to stabilize it while redirecting some energies to the shields from the propulsion system, letting the ship stabilize by itself somewhat. 

Why doing so, I was forced to listen to the complete chaos that was happening through the radio. 

-Shoot them, shoot them! 

-Two is on my left. I need cover immediately! 

-I am on it, keep it up!

-It’s too la-! AARGH! ZZZZzzzz….

-It’s on me!? Guys-… Argh!!! ZZZZzzzZZZZ!

-I got one of them! 

-Disengage, disengage, there is a swarm of vulture droids heading our way, do not engage! Repeat! 

-He is right, we must evacuate right now, prepare for short distance emergency hyperspace jump!

-There is no time, they are all over us!? 

-Stay in formation and follow my lead! 

-No, I ca-... zzzZZZZZZZ...

-Fighter four is down! 

-Stay in formation, and jump, we have no other chance!

 

At that time, I miraculously managed to gain back control, and immediately turned my ship towards the allied forces, directing the energy back towards the propulsion system and waiting for the board computer to calculate the necessary data for the jump. 

Meanwhile, I saw a bunch of vulture droids, heading towards my new position both in the rearview and on the radar. I quickly understood that there is no chance that the computer will finish analyzing the information. The rest of our squad members accelerated away in front of my eyes. They had more time to find a safe route while I was trying to gain back control of the damn ship!

I noticed the red killing beams heading towards me from the edge of my eyes. I felt my awareness skyrocket to completely new heights as the world seemed to slow down around me. Suddenly, everything became alive around me, every sensation, sounds... I felt the drops of sweat dribbling down my face; I heard my heart beating in my chest, felt every pulse of blood pushed in my veins, the screaming sound of the preparing hyper-drive, the blood red plasma crawling closer and closer. The computer screen showing the process of calculation. It was ninety percent done, but I had no more time.

I reached out my right hand. It felt heavy, heavier than it ever felt before. I lifted it through my sheer will, and it seemed that my muscles were screaming with pain from the otherwise simple action. 

I could feel as a series of small blood veins burst in my eyes, from the inhuman effort of which I finally grabbed the hyperspace accelerator and pushed it to maximum. 

It either worked out, or I will crash into something faster than light itself!

The ship accelerated forward, following the rest of my squad. The deadly plasma left behind missed the tail of my ship. It took less than a second before I exited hyperspace. Finding myself in front of a quickly closing bridge of a venator battleship!

-FUCK!

I screamed, as I once again pulled back the control stick, this time intentionally. Barely avoiding collision... I could see the deathly pale expressions of the people inside the bridge, all screaming with terror, trying to cover their faces. 

I entered into another struggle with gaining back my control over the ship, and when I finally succeeded, I was left both mentally and physically drained. 

I slumped against my backseat, letting the ship fly on its own at a slow speed. I was so exhausted I had to struggle to stay conscious. Then I saw a shadow pass over my ship, forcing me to open my eyes and look at the familiar ship’s form. 

Then I heard the voice of Jack and also saw his face waving at me from his cockpit. 

-Now, that is what I call a close call girl! Are you all right? We thought that we lost you over there, at least for a sec, but damn girl, you had some spider like reflexes for sure. Anyway, congrats on your first mission, oh… and I believe, a promotion is in order.

I couldn’t help but smile, hearing the voice of this stupid bastard. Eventually, I managed to push out a few words...

-Oh, just… shut… the fuck… up...

 

-From the perspective of Adi Gallia-

 

A group of republic soldiers led by the jedi master, Adi Gallia, were still holding their ground against the seemingly endless droid assault in front of the bridge. In the stretched out battle of endurance, their choices have been limited in driving off the invading separatist forces.

Now things seemed to take a dire turn. They had been trapped against the only entrance to the bridge, while the droids have never ceased to continue their relentless assault.

One of the soldiers shouted in pain as a laser beam barely missed him and, in passing, still managed to scratch his arm. He was currently trying to put out the fire on his right sleeve that arose in the wake of the super-heated plasma beam. Small billows of smoke were constantly rising from his sleeve, the ignited material containing the sparks was stubbornly opposing his efforts to be put out.

-Damn it! How many of these fuckers are still there? Did they sneak a complete droid factory on this shitty ship or what!? 

-Shut up and just shoot, they will eventually run out of units! 

The earlier soldier grunted with annoyance.

-Hah, based on what I see here, I will sooner run out of energy cells! 

Another older soldier shouted back at him.

-That wouldn’t be the case if you actually have learned to aim with that weapon of yours, instead of just shooting blindly! You bastard almost hit the jedi just now!

The younger soldier became visibly distressed by the mention of the unfortunate accident. 

-Oh, just shut up, it was just an accident! Stop bringing it up all the fucking time!

Some of the soldiers laughed, hearing the groaning young lad, as another soldier joined the discussion with a witty remark.

-Wouldn’t you bring it up too if I were the one who almost blew off your damn cucumber like head?

The young rodian boy with a distinct green skin seemed confused, as he asked.

-Cucumber? What the fuck are you talking about?

In the meantime, Adi was focused on channeling the force with a deep concentration, as she danced between the incoming lasers, dodging, deflecting, or reflecting them back on the incoming droids in a seemingly endless cycle of fluid movements.

She had long since exhausted her personal reserves. Her movements were becoming slower as fatigue started to set in. Making her limbs become even heavier. She did not know how long she needed to keep this intense defensive stance up, but one thing she knew, she could not keep up with this space much longer.

Her mind seemed to become a line of single, monotonous thoughts that represented an action as well.

Deflect, dodge, dodge, move, deflect, twirl, deflect, reflect, dodge, move, cucumber, deflect, dodge...  wait? Cucumber? What cucum-?

The internal surprise had created a small lapse of attention in the fluid cycle of continuous motion, and in that moment, a red laser beam managed to strike her on the left shoulder.

She screamed from the intense pain that assaulted her entire body. She felt as if all of her remaining strength had left her body immediately. She dropped onto her back, falling to the ground, still groaning and squirming in pain.

Alas, even in this situation, she couldn’t help but think about it, about the reason she ended up like this, that damned word... cucumber, was it? How did this even enter her mind at this absurd moment?

In this state of blurry consciousness and pulsing pain, she heard the soldiers behind her curse violently. 

-Damn it, the jedi is down, cucumber boy go and pull her behind cover now! Cover the kid!

With that, an intense burst of blue laser beams started to fly over my body while I lay on the floor with the cold realization. Ah... of course, I should have known that it was all because of them... these idiots they couldn’t stop spouting nonsense. 

At least that was what I thought, until I saw a younger boy’s face appear, hovering over me. He asked me if I was still alive, and when I nodded with a flabbergasted expression. He started to pull me behind the barely usable cover we had…

I hissed with pain as the fool started to pull me by my shoulder… Couldn’t he see that I was injured there? OUCH?! Why?!

I was ashamed as tears started to flood my eyes. With all my willpower I couldn’t hold them back… This kid was an idiot!

In the meantime, aside from grinding my teeth in pain, I also decided to let the earlier matter drop... Seeing the actual face of this bastard… This guy really looked like a cucumber... How did I not notice it before? 

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