"Where are you going! There's no lagrange point in this direction, and the shields can't take another hit like that!" Captain Typho growled. Only his natural stoicism keeping his voice from revealing the rising level of panic he was feeling.
Glancing at the sensor display, I let out a small sigh of relief at seeing us finally exit the missile range of the two security platforms we'd blazed past as we left orbit.
They'd fired more than a hundred and twenty concussion-missiles at us in four great converging salvos, because I'd threaded the needle to avoid the majority of the effective turbolaser fire.
It was a holocaust of ordinance only my ability to precisely predict their trajectories had allowed us to evade. Even then, the shields had taken one near-direct hit, and been caught within the blast of a second warhead.
Those two detonations had been enough to reduce the skiff's shields to the point they were barely strong enough to handle basic hazards to navigation.
Fortunately, there was a bright side to our recent near-death experience. Since it was "impossible" for a Senatorial shuttle to survive a full weapons-free release by not one but two advanced orbital weapons-platforms, the eight Munificent-class Star Frigates which had suddenly jumped in-system as we were leaving the atmosphere hadn't made any move to pursue us.
They'd simply fanned out to cover the other seven areas of the star system representing viable jump-points, and released their swarming complements of vulture-droids in spherical dispersion patterns to preclude even the faint possibility of our slipping past one of them.
The two native Lucrehulks which had been in orbit had already launched their own vulture-droids in pursuit of us, but the vessels themselves were far too slow to play any meaningful role in the chase.
"Artoo, I need everything you can squeeze from the sub-light engines" I called back over my shoulder. Still guiding the ship toward the one portion of the star system not being covered by any of the warships.
Looking at a secondary viewing screen where she was buckled in at the rear of the cockpit, Padme's worried voice echoed Typho's, as she spoke up.
"Knight Skywalker, I don't claim to be an expert pilot, but I know enough about flying to know you need a lagrange point to engage the hyperdrive.
You're flying us into the system's asteroid belt. Which represents countless mass-shadows precluding the existence of such a jump-point. Is there any particular reason you're trapping us in a system full of hostile warships, or have you suddenly lost the will to live?"
Shaking my head at their lack of faith, I pointed at the blinking comm-array and said mildly "You might want to get that, Captain. It's liable to be important."
Glaring at me, Gregar touched a button. Causing an image of my mentor's head and shoulders to appear. Her lined face looked as serene as ever, as she remarked "I trust this frenzied all-encompassing effort to annihilate the three, excuse me, four of you isn't justified by any carnage on the surface?"
"Just a couple hundred thousand credits worth of shorted-out generators and power conduits, Master.
I think they're expressing their unhappiness with our having gotten away not only with proof that Senators Dod and Clovis are engaged in treasonous collusion with the ruler of Geonosis, but a holo-recording showing the saboteur of Tynna quite welcome down there.
In command of Neimoidian legionnaires and Colicoid droidekas, no less. The recordings make it clear she's there on behalf of Poggle the Lesser, with the knowledge of Senator Dod, and the Neimoidian Defense Legion.
Ventress explicitly taunted me with the fact her force was coordinating with both the Neimoidians aboard the security platforms, and the ships in-system" I answered with a calm which was only possible due to the Force's serene song.
All the calm unconcern fled my teacher's face in an instant. "Anakin, these are IG.BC ships.
If you escape with proof the Senator of Scipio is committing treason, hardly anyone in the entire Republic is going to view the recorded telemetry we've got on eight IG.BC warships trying to stop you as anything but a desperate attempt on the part of the IG.BC as a whole to cover up what Rush Clovis is doing with the ruler of Geonosis.
No one is going to believe a rogue element in the IG.BC could suborn this many ships without the knowledge of the Chairman and their board of directors.
Blood of the Force, this is a twelfth of the InterGalactic Banking Clan's primary Default Asset Acquisitions fleet. They'll do anything to stop your getting away with those recordings!"
I nodded grimly as I watched vulture-droids continue to hurtle our way. Flinging the shuttle into a tight spin to the right as I avoided fire from the nearest trio of droid fighters. Buying time for the shields to regenerate with my best evasive maneuvers.
"Is everything ready on your end?" I asked hurriedly. Not allowing the pressure I was feeling to show on my face, or be heard in my voice.
"Seraph's been fit to bursting these last few hours, but she's finally finished converting all this ingested rock and metal to surplus ordinance.
You know what you're proposing is entirely mad, yes? This entirely theoretical proposition is going to require split-second timing, and even then, we may end up annihilating ourselves" Dark Woman answered levelly. Holding up a hand when she saw I was about to reply.
"I know, it's not as if we've another choice. Not with this level of coverage of the lagrange points. I'm sending you the data with the coordinates where I deployed the mining-charges.
Once you pass the fifty thousand kilometer mark, I'll go to rapid-fire with her lava-cannons and blast whatever sizable chunks survive the detonation of the charges.
If you can survive the jump, I'm sure your Force Bond with Seraph will allow her to follow you. That's a very, very big if, however." Her voice making it clear she had some reservations about my plan despite our lack of options.
"Would one of you mind telling us just what mad proposition you're gambling all our lives on?" Padme asked. Her voice surprisingly calm and collected under the circumstances. I glanced back over my shoulder. Flashing her as reassuring a smile as I could manage while I did so.
"It's a pretty simple plan, actually. If the mass shadows of the asteroid belt are what's preventing the existence of a viable jump-point, then what if we just got rid of the asteroids? Not all of them, of course.
My mentor's spent most of the last day seeding a small corridor with charges used to break up the rocks in an area where the average asteroid is on the smaller side, and Seraph's going to blast any chunks the collective shock-wave doesn't send flying out of the designated corridor.
The temporarily empty space created will be far too small and too full of low mass-shadows for a nav-computer to plot a viable jump, but the Force will allow me to make a jump no machine could ever manage. Seraph is no mere starship.
She's a living vessel with a profound link to me. Seraph can follow me anywhere, if given the chance, so all my Master has to do is jump in our wake." I explained with the thrill I always got amid life-threatening danger.
"You're utterly mad!" Gregar exclaimed in a near-shriek. He was glaring daggers at me from the co-pilot's seat, and I could feel his outrage over my taking such a risk with Padme's life.
"If you have a better idea, Captain, I'm open to suggestions. I don't think our pursuers are going to be open to a diplomatic solution, however. If we give ourselves up, I guarantee we'll all be killed attempting to escape" I replied with all the calm confidence I could push into my voice.
"We do seem to be short on alternatives" Padme allowed in a reflective tone. I was incredibly impressed by how she'd crushed the tendrils of fear which had been snaking their way into her mind. Now, she was looking at me with calm consideration, and finished by remarking.
"I hope for all our sakes you're as good a pilot as you think you are, Jedi Skywalker."
"I hope so, too" I thought, but pointedly did not say.
We crossed the fifty thousand kilometer mark, and the space ahead of us blossomed into a corona of fire. The cockpit view-screen instantly damping what was transmitted, as hundreds of charges went off at once. Vaporizing some floating rocks, and sending many others tumbling out of the affected area.
Immediately, Seraph shimmered into existence. A cloaking-device I had acquired for her under questionable circumstances in a certain Museum of Failures belonging to a dead man no longer concealing her elongated blue-green teardrop shape from others' view or sensors.
The under-slung maws of a half-dozen lava-cannons capable of spelling a frigate's end if allowed to fight her way spitting balls of highly reactive white fire with the speed and force of rail-guns.
Normally, her rate and total volume of fire would be considerably less to avoid straining her physiology, but Seraph was nothing if not loyal. She might not be capable of comprehending all the details, but Dark Woman would have communicated the only point my beautiful predator would care about.
Her master had need of everything she could give, so she would give until there was no longer need, or she died. It hurt me to put her through this, but this was the very last of last resorts. If I hadn't been trained by one of the most pragmatically paranoid Jedi presently living, we wouldn't even have this option.
The near-solid streak of burning white orbs were spat at any obstructions which dared bar our way. Slamming into the few chunks of metal and rock the charges hadn't done for, and either vaporizing them, or turning them into scattered fragments so small their shadows would be meaningless.
"Artoo, kill the safety on the hyperdrive please" I called over my shoulder. Turning back to watch, as my fiery angel continue to pour destruction into the space ahead of us. Her cannons more one slashing blade of sheer destructive fury than simple ballistic weaponry.
A loud beep, followed by a prolonged whirring told me the hyper-competent droid had fulfilled my request. Doing in under a minute what it would have taken me ten times as long to accomplish.
I closed my eyes and blotted out Gregar's growl of protest as he noticed me doing so. Allowing my awareness of the Force to blossom outward as far as I possibly could, my hands began to fly over the navigation console.
I hesitated a moment as what I perceived as a dark blot on my consciousness momentarily fouled where and when we needed to be. Sighing in relief a moment later, as that blot abruptly vanished.
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