Darksaber

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Ackbar wheeled on the bridge, rocking back in dismay and confusion to see that space had filled with ships. Imperial ships. The reinforcements had indeed arrived.

  Admiral Daala's reinforcements.

  Colonel Cronus returned to Yavin 4 with twenty of his crimson Star Destroyers. The remainder of his fleet had been sent off to continue harassing the secondary list of targets, but Cronus had accomplished his primary mission.

  When the Victory'-class ships arrived, though, Cronus was forced to reassess the situation. Vice Admiral Pellaeon's seventeen Star Destroyers were nowhere to be seen. Admiral Daala's Knight Hammer hung in orbit, and she fired upon a group of Rebel battleships that should not have been in the system at all, a giant organic-looking Mon Calamari Star Cruiser and four Corellian gunships: a significant fighting force, though nothing comparable to the Super Star Destroyer alone.

  Colonel Cronus smiled. With the addition of his twenty smaller Star Destroyers, they would make short work of the Rebels and leave only a few burned hulks cooling in space, where the heavy gravity of the planet Yavin would suck them down inside its swirling gas clouds.

  He went through his entire chain of contemplation in only a second and immediately broadcast orders to his fleet. "All ships engage," he said. "Let's get rid of some more targets."

  The Victory'-class battleships attacked with no forewarning and with full deadly force. They took out one of the Corellian gunships on their first pass and caused significant damage to the Calamarian Star Cruiser's shields. But the Rebel battleship rapidly came out of its stunned hesitation, and its powerful weapons began lancing out across the Victory'-class Star Destroyers.

  Cronus wished he had brought his entire fleet with him, though he was certain twenty of his ships would be sufficient. He flexed his arm muscles and leaned forward. "Attrition," he said. "Take out the other Corellian gunships first." He designated five of his Victory'-class Star Destroyers to concentrate firepower on the remaining three smaller ships, while Cronus took the 13X and fourteen warships against the Calamarian Star Cruiser.

  Daala's Knight Hammer continued spewing turbolaser bolts through the frenzy, damaging one of Cronus's own ships. He hissed in anger, but didn't dare open a channel to criticize her. The Calamarian cruiser fired a storm of retaliatory bolts, while the remaining Corellian gunships spread out, launching themselves into the fray ... where they were doomed.

  Cronus's head spun in the free-for-all, and he forced himself to concentrate on his primary target, while his other Star Destroyers fought their designated ships. Turbolaser fire shot fast and loose around them in space. He received a message from one of his squadrons. "A second Corellian gunship destroyed, Colonel,” the voice said. "Another crippled close to you."

  Cronus double-checked the location of the crippled gunship and recoiled in sudden alarm. The cylindrical armored craft oozed flames from a dozen fatal wounds, but its engines still blazed at full power. A few of the gunwales continued to launch bolts of energy in all directions, but the gunship itself--though only a quarter the size of the 13X--lurched forward in a last-ditch effort. It was doomed, its hull rupturing, its life-support spilling into space, its engines aflame from within ... but somehow, the captain drove forward to ram Colonel Cronus's flagship.

  "Evasive action!" Cronus called. The 13X spun about its central axis and veered to the left, but the wounded Corellian gunship had already picked up speed, moving much faster than Cronus could get out of the way.

  "Increase--” he shouted, and then squeezed his eyes shut in a wordless scream as the gunship rammed the 13X from behind, crashing into the Victory's bank of engine exhaust ports and then exploding in a fireball that turned the bridge compartment around him into a searing white void.

  "Keep firing," Ackbar shouted. "Status report."

  One of the Calamarian tactical officers reported. "Three Victory-class ships destroyed, Admiral, but only one of our Corellian gunships remains."

  The Victory'-class fleet fired and fired on the Galactic Voyager, and Admiral Daala's Knight Hammer shot at them with even greater power from the opposite side.

  On the bridge, Han gripped Leia's hand. They looked into each other's eyes and then stared out at the overwhelming tide of battle. Ackbar continued to hold his command together, while Kyp Durron leaned forward, his face hopeless except for a flickering core of unfocused determination.

  "Shields failing, Admiral," the Calamarian officer said. "Approximately ten seconds remaining."

  The Victory'-class Star Destroyers and the Knight Hammer closed in from both sides, unrelenting in their attack.

  Admiral Ackbar's ship sat practically defenseless, without shields, in the midst of the deadly enemy fleet.

  CHAPTER 56

  Vice Admiral Pellaeon had no idea what had happened to him.

  One moment he and his seventeen Star Destroyers were in orbit around the fourth moon of Yavin, engaged in their assault. They had encountered resistance, but nothing they couldn't obliterate with another sortie or two.

  And then they found themselves hurled across space as if a giant hand had slapped them aside. Pellaeon had been thrown over the bridge railing to sprawl on his back atop a command station, extremely lucky that he hadn't snapped his spine.

  His crew had been tossed about like debris in a storm system. Several uniformed soldiers lay unconscious, possibly dead. Others sat blinking and bloodied. The shocked crew picked themselves up as ripples of astonishment echoed in whispered conversations, rising to a gabble of confusion and embarrassing fear.

  Automatic alarms roiled through the Firestorm. The communications channels buzzed with activity as the other sixteen Star Destroyers demanded to know what had occurred--but Pellaeon could give them no answers.

  He climbed back to his feet, smoothed his vice admiral's uniform, and staggered as his vision became blurred with black specks, like static from a jammed transmission. "Status report," he called.

  Pellaeon coughed and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. His crew grumbled and glanced at each other in confusion and dizzy perplexity. "To your posts," Pellaeon said, raising his voice. More blood came from his lips, but his commanding tone snapped the personnel out of their torpor. "I said I want a status report! What happened to us? Tell me where we are."

  "Stabilizing, sir," the navigator said. The stars outside the viewports of the Firestorm's bridge tower spun around like a whirlpool. Pellaeon, already disoriented, found the effect nauseating, but gradually the Star Destroyer regained its firm position. He clutched the bridge rail for support. Ahead of him the brightest star was a brilliant yellow dot, far away. He had the sinking premonition that this distant star might be the sun of the Yavin system.

  "Sir," the navigator said, "I've managed to cross-check our position. We've been thrown far outside the solar system in a matter of seconds."

  "Our hyperdrive is also damaged," the helmsman added. "We can effect repairs in a few hours, but we can't make any jumps-- especially not in-system--because the navicomputer has been wiped."

  Pellaeon gripped the bridge rail, forcing himself not to slump with dismay. "Check the status of all our remaining Star Destroyers,” Pellaeon said. "I want full repairs on our hyperdrives as soon as possible. For now, proceed back to the Yavin system at full sublight power."

  "But sir, that'll take weeks!" the helmsman said.

  Pellaeon looked at him, cold and calm: "In the meantime," he said, "we'll calculate micro jumps--by hand if necessary, even without the navicomputer. We must get back to Yavin 4!"

  His crew heard the determination in the vice admiral's voice and snapped to their duties. They tried to regain their composure and bring the Imperial Star Destroyers back to peak performance.

  The fleet began to move, lumbering across the impossible gulf of space. He couldn't imagine what Admiral Daala would think when she arrived in the system and found that his entire fleet had vanished. He trembled, already imagining her fury, disheartened by his own incompetence ... though when
Jedi Knights were involved, logical prediction was often irrelevant.

  He gazed out the bridge window again, fixating upon the suddenly distant yellow sun of the Yavin system. He kneaded his hands together in anxiety and frustration. His eyes burned with shame.

  No doubt the battle would be completely over by the time his fleet finally returned.

  CHAPTER 57

  The Knight Hammer's fully loaded TIE bomber bay was like a trap waiting to be sprung--and as Callista landed her hijacked, damaged ship among the other deadly bombers, she vowed to trigger the destructive energy just waiting here for her. All the pilots had been evacuated because of Callista's warning of a leaking engine core, but investigators would come soon. She had to hurry.

  Squadrons of unmanned TIE fighters and bombers sat in rows on the gleaming metal deck. The ships had been powered up and ready to launch, but for some reason Daala must have decided to keep them aboard the Super Star Destroyer. Callista guessed that the Admiral had opted to continue the battle from a safe distance rather than unnecessarily risking her bombers. Daala was convinced she would win anyway, and she could just as easily continue the onslaught from orbit.

  Just as Callista settled in and the bay doors closed, she heard additional alarms pounding through the Knight Hammer--announcements that a new Rebel fleet had arrived, and that the Super Star Destroyer was engaging in space combat. Good, she thought. That might delay the Imperials from interfering here for a few more minutes.

  Callista's injured bomber sat in a cleared area recently used for repair and maintenance of ships. The damaged bomber had flown well enough: the TIE pilot she'd killed had completed field repairs admirably.

  She dropped lightly to the deck, crouching low and scanning around to make sure no one had waited to see her, no "helpful" rescue party or medics--but the bay was empty. Breathing fast and hard, Callista set to work. She heard the thrum of battle echo through the hull of the Knight Hammer. She hesitated a moment, telling herself she didn't care--but she had to find out what was going on.

  She raced over to a wallscreen and requested a current battle display, surprised to see the Millennium Falcon disappearing into Admiral Ackbar's flagship, the Galactic Voyager. The stakes were now raised. Ackbar's Calamarian Star Cruiser bore heavy weaponry, but not even the combined New Republic ships could stand against a Super Star Destroyer.

  Admiral Daala fired, pummeling Ackbar's shields, and the Star Cruiser backed off. Callista knew she had to hurry, but just before she turned away, she saw another fleet of Victory'-class Star Destroyers appear out of hyperspace and join the trouncing of Ackbar's fleet. The New Republic rescuers would be cut to ribbons in no time--if Callista didn't move soon.

  She code-locked the bay's access door from the outer corridors to ensure her privacy. The protection wouldn't last long if an Imperial slicer tried to break in, but she just needed to hinder any interference.

  Callista sprinted back to her damaged TIE bomber and opened the armament reserves, where she assessed the cargo of concussion missiles behind their launcher systems. Rushing back to the wall, she studied the simple schematic of the Knight Hammer. It wasn't very detailed, designed mainly to aid new recruits lost aboard so vast a vessel - but Callista recognized that her greatest hopes had been fulfilled. The TIE bomber bays were far to the rear of the Knight Hammer, separated by thick bulkheads from the immense engine and propulsion systems.

  Callista fixed her gray eyes on the armored wall at the far end of the bay and pointed the leftover missiles from the TIE bomber directly toward it. She set their timers for automatic launch. It should be enough for a breach. And that would be just the beginning.

  Then she raced to the next TIE bomber and opened up its launcher, fiddling with the full rack of concussion missiles. Her breath came fast, her thoughts pounded loud and heavy in her head. So many explosives, and so little time! she thought with a smirk.

  Long ago, she had attempted a similar thing to stop the Emperor's automated death machine, the Eye of Palpatine, from destroying former Jedi colonies. Her spirit had been trapped inside a computer, where she had hung in limbo for decades. Her sacrifice had indeed diverted and delayed the Dreadnaught in its mission, until Luke Skywalker had finished the job and rescued her at the same time.

  Luke. She forced the thought away, concentrating on her mission.

  Right now Callista was all alone--and she liked it better that way, because then she needed to worry about no one but herself. She didn't have to argue with Luke about the best way to salvage a mission. The risks and the costs were hers alone.

  She wished desperately that she had found her Force powers again, that she and Luke could have made a life together as two powerful Jedi. She loved him very much ... but this was more important right now. All the new Jedi Knights would be killed if Daala's Knight Hammer was not stopped. And she would stop it herself.

  Callista had a second chance. She had tried to save the children of the Jedi so many years before, and now that the new Jedi were so desperately few, she had to make a terrible choice. A personal choice. But since she had none of her powers anyway, the loss of Callista would not be such a terrible wound to the New Republic . Would it?

  She could strike a great blow against the Empire. Nothing else mattered.

  Callista raced from bomber to bomber setting each store of missiles on target, diverting a few to strike the fuel tanks of other bombers in the bay so that the explosion would be perpetuated, a chain reaction, building and building.

  The Knight Hammer would fall.

  With all the charges set, Callista locked the access door behind her and raced along the harshly lit corridor, finding an empty transport tube that shot her along the inner hull, racing away from where the deadly explosions would occur.

  The Knight Hammer and the Victory'-class Star Destroyers closed in on Ackbar's flagship. The Calamarian Star Cruiser's defenses were failing, and its destruction was imminent. Callista prayed that she had set the timers to go off soon enough.

  The Knight Hammer veered away from the jungle moon and lumbered out into space, pursuing Ackbar's retreating ship toward the gas giant Yavin, but the huge planet offered no safety whatsoever.

  Callista knew she had no hope for her own escape. She accepted that. If her plan succeeded, the Knight Hammer would be destroyed - and if her attempt failed, she would stay and fight to the death, making another attempt and another, doing everything she could to stop the brutal Imperials.

  In either case, she vowed to make her way to the bridge deck of the Super Star Destroyer. At the last, she wanted to face Admiral Daala, look the destructive renegade in her emerald eyes, and strike the admiral down with her own two hands.

  Callista gripped her lightsaber as the transport tube shot her kilometer after kilometer along the length of the black warship. She'd just begun rising toward the bridge tower when all the charges blew--

  Missile after missile shot into the armored retaining wall behind the Knight Hammer's powerful bank of engines. As the first wave of explosions breached the containment wall, other timers went off and more missiles flew, erupting through the blast craters or streaking sideways to detonate the fuel tanks of other TIE bombers ... which in turn blew up in an increasing concussion front that doubled and redoubled its destructive power.

  Eight kilometers long and heavily armored, the Knight Hammer was far too immense to be destroyed by even such a spectacular explosion-- but Callista's intent had been to rip out the core of the engines, to hobble the Super Star Destroyer and leave it hanging dead in space.

  Lights went black around Callista. The transport tube lurched to a halt, and alarms began shrieking at bone-jarring volume. Callista laughed with the ecstasy of adrenaline, then popped the evacuation hatch. Breathing hard, she hauled herself out into the dark access tunnel.

  Callista flicked on her lightsaber, and by the topaz glow of its blade she found an emergency exit port that took her out into the chaotic corridors of the giant ship. In a defensive crouch
, Callista flung sweat from her close-cropped blond hair, and with the greatest possible speed she made her way to the bridge decks.

  She had an appointment with Daala.

  The Knight Hammer began to drift, dead in space.

  CHAPTER 58

  Admiral Daala watched the last of the battle unfold toward its inevitable conclusion, and she stood back and smiled with thin, pale lips.

  Seeing themselves hopelessly outgunned, the meager Rebel fleet attempted to escape--but the Knight Hammer and the Victory'-class Star Destroyers flew after it toward the huge orange ball of Yavin, pummeling the Calamarian Star Cruiser's shields. According to her readings, the Rebel defenses had practically been exhausted. It would be only moments until the battlecruiser was crushed between Imperial jaws of steel.

  A dark-haired young lieutenant rushed up to her. His face had been scrubbed so clean that a flush of pink still stood out, enhanced by his excitement. His words came in a breathless rush.

  "Admiral, good news from the sensor station!"

  She allowed a smile, reveling in the continued satisfaction. "I'm always willing to accept good news. What is it, Lieutenant?"

  The lieutenant beamed. "We've located Vice Admiral Pellaeon's fleet."

  She whirled, suddenly focusing her attention. "Where?"

  "They're on the edge of the Yavin system, Admiral, making their way here as fast as they can. We've established communication."

  "What happened to them?" she said. "Did they suffer engine problems? All at once?"

  The lieutenant shook his head. "No, Admiral--it is very strange." He looked away as if embarrassed. "The Jedi Knights physically hurled them out of the system with their sorcery. The vice admiral is unable to increase his speed, and it may be days before they can reach the battle."