Story:Dark Revelations

From New Republic Navy Wiki

STAR WARS

DARK REVELATIONS

By LongShot

Mother sat before her computer console, poring over file after file of intelligence reports and analysis both from the New Republic and captured Imperial documents. She had spent the past two months trying to determine what was so important in Paradise Station’s computer core that the Empire was willing to make attack after attack to try and retrieve it. The attacks had stopped since the last one, and Mother was beginning to believe that the Empire had gotten all the information that they wanted from the core. It still wasn’t too late to find out what the Imps had and counter it. What really had Mother worried was the fact that Terkuss still hadn’t been heard from and that LongShot still insisted that the Imperial High Inquisitor Tremayne had him and was twisting him into a Dark Jedi. Every moment they wasted was another moment for Tremayne to turn his horrid depredations on their fellow pilot and friend. LongShot had been particularly hard-hit by the whole situation, as Terkuss was his closest friend in the whole galaxy. Since the last attack, he had thrown himself into his training, working tirelessly to hone his newfound Jedi skills. The rest of the squadron had been working hard on building up more defenses, including using massive heavy lifters to push Paradise Station into the nearby asteroid belt for greater protection. Getting used to flying in the belt was nerve-wracking at best, but the pilots had adapted well and were now as comfortable as they were going to get flying among the deadly hunks of rock.

Mother took another sip of her tea, then felt her blood run cold from the document she had just read. The order was from the days of the Empire, shortly before the Battle of Endor and was from Darth Vader himself. It detailed a plan of the Emperor’s for a final, crippling blow to the Alliance should Coruscant ever be captured from the Empire.

“Commander!” she called shakily into her comlink, “I need you and Durrron in the CinC right away!”

LongShot’s confusion was evident in the reply, but he was smart enough to sense the urgency in Mother’s voice and go without argument.

“Be there in a moment, Mother, sit tight.” Was all he said.

In the training area, LongShot closed down his lightsaber, breathing heavily as he smiled at his sparring partner. Game returned the grin as his signature dual-bladed weapon deactivated.

“Not bad, Commander, you left a couple openings, but they wouldn’t have happened if I had been using a regular saber.”

LongShot picked up another saber and clipped it to his belt before putting his shirt back on. “I’m just glad we were using practice sabers.”

Game headed for the shower area while Durrron and LongShot headed up to the Command in Control center at a brisk walk.

“I wonder what’s got Mother so worked up.” LongShot wondered aloud.

Durrron shrugged, “What is her sense telling you? You need to remember to use the Force to help tell you about the universe around you. You wouldn’t walk into an unfamiliar room blindfolded with your ears plugged would you?”

LongShot chuckled, “No, I guess I wouldn’t.”

“Neither should you ignore what the Force is trying to tell you. It is a part of you, Jayce, just like your eyes and ears.” Durrron instructed.

LongShot focused for a moment then caught his breath sharply from the vivid nature of Mother’s sense. The image that came to mind was of people and aliens lying dead in great heaps and a shroud of darkness overshadowing them. He pulled his mind away from the contact and shivered.

“We need to hurry, Durrron, this is bad.”

Durrron picked up the pace.

A few hours later, the whole of the Silver Saints were gathered in the main briefing room, waiting for LongShot to tell them what mission was so critical that they had to launch as soon as possible.

“If this is an exercise, I’m going to shoot someone.” Lando groused, still looking sleepy.

LockUp elbowed him in the ribs, “Nip it, Lando, I think the old man really has something big on his mind this time.”

Lenex, the newest pilot in the NRN sat quietly, almost as if he were resting, but his eyes were sharp and attentive. Game had his feet propped on the seat in front of him, a look of confidence on his face as he joked quietly with the Gungan, Blast. The rest of the pilots made their way into the briefing room and the lights went dim as LongShot got to the podium.

For a moment he looked out at the gathered warriors, knowing that the fate of the New Republic could very easily be resting on their shoulders for this mission. Taking a deep breath, he began to speak.

“Alright, Saints, this is the big one; maybe even more than the first Death Star. We found what it was that the Empire was looking for in the Core and we believe that they already have their hands on it. First hologram, please.” An image of Coruscant blossomed before the pilots, four points on the globe highlighted in red.

“Between the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Hoth, Darth Vader made a proposal to Emperor Palpatine regarding a final solution for the Alliance should they ever take Coruscant. The project was called Operation: Dark Overthrow and it is designed to literally tear Coruscant apart.”

There was a rumble of disbelief and outrage before the hologram turned to an image of a giant reactor.

“Dark Overthrow utilizes four Death Star scale reactors set equidistant around the equator and at the poles. These reactors are set to go into chain reaction and explode once a set of simple criteria are met by whoever is in command of the Empire at the time. First, the Imperial Commander must set the reactors to charge for a minimum of three months. It has already been two months since the attack that got the data from us and we can only assume that they are charging the reactors as we speak. Second, all four reactors must have the chain reaction order given at the same time. After that happens, there is a one hour countdown sequence before the reactors explode.”

The holograms showed all four reactors explode, tearing the planet to pieces before the image faded and was replaced by the image of an Imperial Research Facility nestled deep in an asteroid belt; with a Golan 3, an ISD2 and four Dreadnought cruisers as defense.

“This is Imperial Research Station Zeta 365 in the Bodega system. We have been tracing transmissions from it for the past two months, but we never put two and two together until we found Dark Overthrow.”

The hologram changed to show a grainy image of a peculiar looking TIE Fighter.

“The station is also guarded by a new variant of the TIE Interceptor known as the TIE Avenger. Intelligence just got this image of one taken by an Ithorian herdship in the Anoat system, they were flying escort for a Star Destroyer in the system. The readouts tell us that this is one deadly fighter. She has all the maneuverability and speed of the Interceptor with two fixed quad batteries, a concussion missile launcher with eight missiles, and the standard four laser cannons mounted on the wings. The quads are on slightly extended pods on the midline of the solar panels. The pilot pod is also elongated, making a smaller profile, and it is believed that she has a hyperdrive pod to the rear of the cockpit, though the Ithorians couldn’t verify that for certain.”

Lando let out a low whistle, “Wow, Boss. When can we get some of those?”

There was a spattering of chuckles and LongShot let it slide, he didn’t have to remind these people how deadly the situation was going to be by the time the ball got rolling.

“You’ll get the chance to see them up close and personal, Lando, we are going to be hitting Station 365 as soon as we can get launched. Archangel will be going with us, as will Atlantis and Far Orbit. Nova Squadron, Republic’s Raiders, and Aces High will be going in with their ships as well. Now here’s how it’s going down: Raiders and Aces High will be flying cover in the A-Wings while Nova makes the assualt with B-Wings. We get to play escort in the X-Wings and I will be aboard the Alderaan’s Rage for added firepower.” He looked out at the assembled pilots as they looked at the battle plan on the hologram. A few minutes later, all the notes were taken and all eyes turned back to LongShot.

“I don’t have to tell you how hard this is going to be, people. We are facing some very stiff opposition, and some of us may not make it back. I can promise you though, that the New Republic will survive this, and we will not allow the Empire to destroy everything that we have fought and died for. We are facing a threat the likes we have not seen since the destruction of Alderaan. We cannot permit this to continue. Strike hard and strike true, Gentlebeings, and may the Force be with us all.”

The pilots began to file out of the room, talking quietly among themselves as they did. Mother and Durrron stayed behind to go over final details with LongShot.

“We’ll be onboard the Atlantis until we reach the system, right?” Mother asked.

LongShot nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be about twelve hours in transit, so I want the gang to be well-rested and loose by the time we get there.”

Durrron smiled, “That shouldn’t be a problem. LockUp is already talking about getting up a big Sabaac game once he gets there.”

Mother chuckled, “I hope he doesn’t beat them too bad, we’ll need them to have their egos intact by the time we get ready to fly.”

LongShot tried to smile but found he couldn’t. In his mind was a growing sense of doom and he couldn’t for the life of him, figure out why.

The group around the Sabaac table laughed uproariously as LockUp scraped up another handful of credits, his cigarillo clenched in his teeth as he talked. They had rested most of the time, but now they were getting close to the launch point, and no one could sleep or even relax. Pre-combat jitters and just plain nerves were beginning to rev up so they were trying to burn off the excess energy before the hammer dropped.

In one of the inner holds, LongShot stood in a darkened room with his lightsaber in his hands, practicing his focus and letting the Force guide his hands as he fought the tiny remote that he couldn’t see.

All of the pilots were dealing with the stress in their own way, trying not to think of the challenge that they would be facing in the next hours. Ionforce lay on his bunk staring at the ceiling; feeling the growing sense of darkness in the back of his mind. The sense was darker and more corrupt than any he had ever encountered since the death of the Emperor. A bone-jarring jolt threw him to the floor, knocking the wind out of him. Clearing his head over the sounds of the blaring klaxons, Ion got to his feet and threw on his flight suit before running down the hallway toward the hanger bays.

“What’s going on up there?” he shouted into the comlink, now hearing the sounds of the turbolaser batteries firing and the sounds of muffled explosions through the hull.

The bridge responded, the Mon Calamari Captain Viragos’ voice tense, “It’s a trap, Captain! The Imperials were waiting for us! We have two Interdictor Cruisers holding us in realspace and the other ships are blocking our escape! Far Orbit is on the outer edge and can probably escape, but they have launched the Raiders to run cover. Nova is getting ready to launch and try to clear a path to the research station. I’ve already spoken with Commander Jorrel and he is getting Silver Saints off the ground as we speak.”

Ion swore, rounding the corner to the hanger bay and seeing LongShot scramble up the ramp of his battered YT-2400 with his artoo unit close behind.

Good luck, Jayce, may the Force be with you. Ion touched his cousin’s mind briefly. He sensed the confidence and felt the smile in return, then LongShot’s attention was back to preparing his old smuggler’s ship for space. Throwing on his helmet, Ion climbed up the ramp of his A-Wing, Faith, and streaked out toward open space and the battle raging beyond.

Deceptor shot past two Interceptors, obliterating one and using a flare to send the other one spinning into the side of the Mon Cal cruiser. Firefox was right behind him, his fighter ‘s cannons sending another TIE Fighter to a fiery cataclysm. Firefox spun his fighter around, latching onto another TIE. Deceptor tried to match the maneuver and nearly slammed into an Imperial fighter that streaked past him. The fighter had oblong pods on the side, already winking fire. TIE Avenger!

“Firefox! You’ve picked up a tail!” Deceptor cried, trying desperately to catch the fighter before it got to Firefox.

Firefox started juking and weaving, forgetting about his next victim and concentrating on survival, “The fire’s too heavy! I can’t avoid it!”

With deadly precision, the TIE Avenger fired its twelve lasers, each bolt tearing through the hull of the X-Wing. Deceptor heard Firefox’s last agonized scream, then watched the fighter explode violently before he sent his own barrage of fire after the distracted Imperial, howling for revenge at the top of his lungs. The Avenger took a quad shot to the starboard wing and flipped end over end before exploding.

“We’ve lost Firefox, boss!” Deceptor forced himself to go cold, to not think about the loss of his fellow pilot. To the port, the YT-2400 rolled on its side, quad lasers lancing out from the dorsal and ventral turrets and sending two more Interceptors on to meet their makers.

“I saw it! Deceptor, hook onto my six and keep your eyes peeled for more of those Avengers! If they find the B-Wings they’ll tear them apart!”

Deceptor did as he was told struggling to keep up with the unusually fast and maneuverable freighter.

Elsewhere, Mother and LockUp were busy trying to carve a path for the B-Wings with Denaris and Blast following close behind. The A-Wings of Republics Raiders shot by overhead in an Ackbar Slash, driving the incoming TIE Interceptors in on themselves and scattering them. LockUp almost didn’t see the TIE Avengers until it was too late.

“Avengers inbound!” he shouted, switching his shields to double front and whirling to face the oncoming fighters. The Avengers were already firing, sending LockUp and Mother spiraling up and out of the line of heavy fire. Denaris didn’t make the climb, shouting in desperation before his fighter was torn to pieces by the murderous hail of laser fire.

Mother brought her fighter out of it’s climb, pushing it onto it’s back and rolling to set up a clear shot on the new Imperial fighter. Gritting her teeth and fighting back the rage that was building inside her, she squeezed the trigger and blew the Avenger apart. LockUp pulled around and put his fighter into a screaming dive, lasers slicing through the other fighter.

“Denaris is gone, LongShot!” Mother shouted into her comlink, “We can’t hold them much longer!”

Lando’s voice came over the comlink, “I can’t see Olin anywhere!”

LongShot swept the Rage into a punishing turn, looking back to see one of the Interdictor cruisers exploding as the Atlantis bored through with Archangel right behind. They had a clear path to make the jump to lightspeed now, and the Imperial Ships were trying to do as much damage as they could before the other ships could escape. Far Orbit was nowhere to be seen, but LongShot presumed that they had already made the jump to lightspeed rather than think about the other alternative.

“Silver Saints,” he called into the comlink, his voice laced with sorrow, “we have to retreat. All craft retreat. Standard pursuit protocol.”

“LongShot, this is Stargazer,” the voice was that of the man in temporary command of Nova Squadron since Razzberry was still recovering after Darius’ daring rescue of him from the Guardian. “We’re making the jump to lightspeed now, we couldn’t hit that research station at all.”

“Understood, Stargazer, get clear.”

The Rage shuddered as a barrage of laser bolts rained across its side. LongShot threw the freighter into a climb, checking where his adversary was. The Avenger was making another pass, pounding at the heavy shielding on the hull of this unusual craft. With a self-satisfied smirk, LongShot activated one of his little toys on his control panel: a jamming generator. Temporarily unable to fire or use its sensors, the Avenger was little trouble for the Rage to pick off.

Durrron’s voice came into LongShot’s speakers, “Commander, we’ve got trouble.”

Before the words were out of Durrron’s mouth, LongShot could feel the sense of gathering doom. His instincts screamed at him to flee from this darkness, to hide as if it were the horrid image from a twisted nightmare. Then an image appeared in space that made his blood freeze in his veins. The five-kilometer long body of a Super Star Destroyer loomed ahead of them. Thankfully, the capital ships were far enough out to where they could escape without much more damage. The fighters, on the other hand, would be every man for himself.

“ALL FIGHTERS, SCATTER!” Ionforce’s voice screamed as the first wave of TIE Fighters from the Guardian arrived on the scene.

LongShot watched Nova Squadron’s B-Wings jump into hyperspace, none the worse for wear. AG the wookie led the Raiders in a spearhead right through the thick of the TIEs to open space beyond. Ionforce and Aces High had pulled away from their pursuers by sheer speed and were fighting to get to the hyperspace point. Most of the Saints were out of harm’s way, but there were a few in distinct trouble.

You abandoned me! The voice slammed into LongShot’s head like a turbolaser blast. The rage and pain behind the accusation took his breath away.

Terkuss, I didn’t abandon you! I want to find you and bring you home! LongShot pleaded.

Home and family are platitudes for the weak-minded, Jayce, I have found the one thing that matters: Power.

LongShot reeled, Tremayne had succeeded in turning Terkuss; he could hear the hatred and the lust for power in the other man’s thoughts.

We can make this right, Terkuss, don’t let the Dark Side control you!

There was a hollow, bitter laugh, The Dark Side is all that matters now, Jayce, and it is all the power I will ever need. Once Coruscant is made to pay for the death of the Emperor and Darth Vader, the New Order will be reestablished and peace will reign again. Any who oppose us will be destroyed, including you.

LongShot felt the tears in his eyes, but strengthened his resolve. I will not let you do that, Terkuss, you know that I will stop you any way that I can.

Terkuss’ voice returned, You have tried and failed my friend. The generators will be ready in a week, and Coruscant will cease to be. The Rebellion will be crushed and the Jedi will be destroyed once again. Only the Empire will remain.

LongShot fought the tightness in his throat, quelling the hatred for Tremayne that was threatening to engulf him. Then I will die, Terkuss, but I will stop you and your master any way that I can.

The connection with Terkuss faded, and a new voice chilled LongShot’s mind with its simple pronouncement. Your friend is mine, Jedi.

LongShot focussed all of his willpower into the scream of defense that threw the Dark Side out of his mind. NO!

Focussing on where he was, he could hear Blast calling to him, “Yousa dere, Bass? Weesa gotta go! Dosa TIEs wants to mash us!”

LongShot whipped the Rage around, blasting two Avengers into dust as they tried to block the freighter’s path. Two more descended on them from above, blowing a hole in LongShot’s shields and taking out Blast’s engines

LongShot began to turn his ship around, trying to fight his way back to the stricken pilot and his fighter.

“GO!” Blast shouted, “No time! No time!” Almost as if to punctuate the statement, the two TIE Avengers closed on the crippled X-Wing and ripped it apart like a pair of wild dogs, sending parts flying in all directions.

Setting his jaw in rage, the anger swelling in his heart, LongShot blasted the fighters and raced for the hyperspace point. With a savage yank he pulled on the levers and watched the starlines fade into streaks and then the mottled purple of hyperspace. It was only then that he allowed himself to weep for the four pilots who had lost their lives and the one friend who had lost his soul.

Standing in the hanger bay of Paradise Station, the Silver Saints prepared to lay their fallen comrades to rest. The coffins were lined up on repulsor sleds that would send them to the surface of Nkhlon on their final voyage before they were burned up in the intense rays of the sun. The pilots were gathered in their dress uniforms, stony and silent as they each savored their own memories of the four brave souls that had given their all to save the galaxy.

“We can’t let them die in vain,” LongShot said quietly, looking each surviving pilot in the face, “the generators will be online in a week, and we cannot permit this atrocity to happen again. These four gave their lives to make sure that it doesn’t happen; the least we can do is carry that vision through to the end. Durrron will be leaving us to be the Executive Officer of the Knights of Alderaan, we can only hope that they will be able to join with us in stopping this thing before it is given a chance to happen.”

LongShot turned to the caskets standing at attention, “Honors…up!”

The gathered pilots saluted, watching silently as the caskets floated out of the hanger and into space. They held the salutes until they were out of sight, then slowly lowered them and filtered out of the hangers, talking quietly amongst themselves.

LongShot stayed behind, gazing out at the stars and seeing the face of the man he had called friend. Silently he swore that he would find a way to bring him back, no matter what it took. A sense behind him caused him to turn, and he beheld the pale blue face of Terkuss’ daughter, Sapphyre. She looked up at LongShot, her face oddly serene.

“My people have a saying, Commander; ‘One can force a man to change, but his heart will always light the way to the truth.’ My father is still in there, and I know that we will get him back. His heart can do nothing else.”

LongShot smiled, “Somehow I believe that, Sapphyre. For the first time, I believe that.”

Together they watched the stars, each thinking of the danger ahead and the one soul they would each die to reclaim.

Don’t miss the exciting conclusion to the Silver Saints story! Coming Soon!