Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 48 – Black & White
The two hatches of the airlock opened revealing the outside hatch of the flagship.
"Explosives," the Captain ordered, as three of him men moved forward and placed aforementioned explosives on the exterior airlock door. "Ready…Now!"
The explosives detonated and four of the shield carriers rushed toward the breach. After the sound of the explosives there was the instant sound of barraging blaster fire. One of the shield carriers got tagged in the side by an enemy soldier who had been behind cover just on the other side of the door before he was taken out by one of the other three.
"Shields in place, move!" ordered the Captain.
The two jedi were right behind the Captain as they pushed into the ship, ahead of them over the wall of shields were over a dozen soldiers behind various bulkhead contours firing towards their shield wall. They easily outnumbered the defenders but the narrow corridor levelled that advantage.
"Shield wall, push!" ordered the Captain. One step at a time the layers of guards started edging forwards behind cover.
"Grenade," one of the soldiers called before a small spherical object came flying at them. Harry casually raised a hand, stopping it as it got to within one meter of flying over the shield wall, and threw it back so that it landed in the middle of the corridor between the defenders. "Watch out!"
The blast created enough smoke to blind them for a couple of seconds and threw those taking cover against the bulkheads into the walls then out.
Harry and Hermione both took advantage of the situation and leapt over their shield line and dashed amongst them. Swinging their blades the duo either killed or disabled all those directly in front of them before swinging their blades in wider arks to cut through the weapons of those slightly father away.
The guards reacted quickly and rushed forward, taking out the remainder until there were none left in the corridor.
"We have a beachhead," remarked Harry.
"Indeed," nodded the Captain, before turning to some of his men. "Reinforce this position, the rest of us are going to proceed to our objectives."
"Yes Sir."
Many levels below a hatch in the hull plating is penetrated by a lightsaber. It's swung around in a circle before the hatch is flung out of its position to roll away down the hall.
A few moments later a figure wearing dark grey robes and a hood jumped through the hole. The figure looked around him to check the cost was clear before moving off down a corridor and seeming to disappear.
A few seconds later a pair of soldiers rounded a corner.
"I told you I heard something, that's the top of the hatch."
"Well who would cut the top off…" He was cut off midsentence as both of the soldiers were simultaneously impaled by green blades which just as quickly disappeared before the soldiers dropped to the ground.
"Push forward," called Harry as he battled his way down a corridor, a line of guardsmen covered by their shields were pushing up steadily behind him as he cut his way through the ranks of soldiers.
Pausing as he cut down the last of the soldiers around him he raised his comlink.
"Hermione, what's your situation?"
#Reasonable resistance on the starboard side but nothing we cannot handle. Captain, what's your status?#
#Heavier resistance down the centre line,# he replied. #Our progress has slowed.#
"I will head to you Captain. Hermione, you push on while half my unit does the same on the port side of the ship."
#Agreed.#
#See you shortly.#
As the comlink was terminated he turned to his unit.
"Half of you keep going, the other half of us are going to support your Captain, we'll rendezvous on the bridge."
"Yes Sir," the guardsmen saluted before pushing forward. Harry turned towards one of the corridors that led across the ship but paused and turned his head sharply to the right down an empty corridor.
He had seen or felt…something. Like something out of the corned of your eyes or on the edge of your hearing. He paused and focused for a moment…He felt nothing.
"Something wrong Sir?"
"…Nothing, let's go."
Less than twenty seconds after the group left a wisp of smoke from where his lightsaber had cut into the wall changed direction sharply as if something has passed by and created a draft. It was over as soon as it started.
On the Jedi Taskforce flagship Jedi Master Oppo was focusing deeply on the Force. Some of the crew were a little unnerved by the way the serpentine master had 'sat' and curled his tail around himself in the middle of the bridge and now appeared to be sleeping.
"Admiral," Oppo announced. "I believe we are about to be outmanoeuvred, call the frigates back to cover our dorsal flank."
"Sir?" asked the Admiral confused. "We are pressing them on our ventral flank and their ships are being forced lower into the atmosphere. How can they outmanoeuvre us?"
"Please follow my instructions admiral, time is of the essence. The battle is about to turn against us."
"Yes Sir," the Admiral replied sceptically. He knew that jedi knew things but he was sceptical that Trench had anything else to throw at them other than more damaged ships. "Frigates fall back to our flanks immediately."
#Admiral, we are pushing them. Why…#
"Just do it Captain!" the admiral replied angrily.
#Yes Sir.#
The admiral watched annoyed as their frigates climbed back into sky past the command ship and took their position on the edges of the fleet.
"Frigates in position…Sir," the admiral reported with some annoyance.
"Good," Oppo replied calmly. "Incoming."
"Sir!" shouted one of the lieutenants. "Enemy ships jumping in; Sikurdian Privateers, fifteen ships on each flank. Our frigates are turning to engage."
The Admiral did not say a word but then again he did not have to as Master Oppo already knew.
"This is not the time for anger Admiral, although our frigates are now engaging the new ships the battle has still turned against us."
"Sir," called the Lieutenant, "The enemy's front line is pressing their attack now that our frigates are not attacking their lines, we're holding but we're surrounded on three sides."
"I hope the Padawans complete their mission quickly," Oppo said, more to himself than to anyone else.
"Grenade!" one of the soldiers shouted as another was thrown their way.
Harry casually threw it back towards them as they stood in front of the bridge doors. Some attempted to dive out of the way but the last of them got caught in the blast.
"Central passageway cleared," Harry reported.
#We're holding off a large contingent of soldiers this side Harry,# Hermione replied. #We'll keep them tied down while you capture Trench.#
"Affirmative," he accepted. "Unit Two?"
#Same over here Sir. Not as many enemies but we are at a stalemate.#
"Can you hold out?" asked the Captain raising his own comlink.
#I believe so Sir.#
"Hang in their guardsman; we'll come to you once we capture the target."
#Yes Sir.#
Deactivating their comlinks the pair and the unit behind them prepared to enter the bridge.
"Ready?" asked Harry.
"Ready," replied the Captain.
Activating two of his lightsabers Harry plunged both into the door and began pulling them around into a large circle.
"Three, two, one!" called Harry as he finished and threw the Force at the door. His cut piece flew out the other side of the door, taking three guards on the other side with it. There were only a handful of guards on the bridge and they were rapidly killed or captured. In the centre of the bridge in a large chair sat the imposing alien form of their Harch admiral
"Admiral Trench," he began walking up to the man, "In the name of the Supreme Chancellor I hereby arrest you for crimes against the Republic and its Forces."
"Hello Jedi…I must say that I am impressed by your strategy. Few would dare try to fly right into the very heart of an enemy fleet and leave their ships perilously docked in the middle of a battle. You are a most brave individual especially for one so young."
"I try," Harry replied neutrally.
"Might I ask the name of the jedi who managed to penetrate my fleet and make it all the way to my bridge with nothing but a couple of bomber squadrons, three fighters and one Consular-Class Cruiser?"
"Jedi Padawan Harry Potter," he replied, briefly raising his sword to be vertical in front of his face in salute.
"A jedi padawan indeed, you must be most skilled to be put in charge of this attack."
"Sir, he's stalling," announced the Captain looking at one of the consoles, "Our ships are surrounded."
"Order them to surrender," ordered Harry, raising his blade to point at Trench.
"How could I possibly do that," asked Trench innocently. "You have destroyed my communications systems."
Harry looked down in thought and paced a couple of times before an idea occurred to him.
"How many of the guns are still working?"
"Less than ten percent Sir," came the reply. "They are currently targeting our fighters, bombers and the Raven."
"Target the enemy ships surrounding us and open fire, let's cause a little confusion."
"Yes Sir," nodded the Captain typing the command into the console.
"What are you doing?" demanded Trench.
"Causing trouble," Harry replied. "When we start firing on them your ships are either going to have to do nothing and get hit, fire back or run. That should improve our fleet's chances...Mischief managed."
#Black Leader,# came his Master's annoyed voice. #I take it you are responsible for the Flagship changing sides?#
#Affirmative Black Four,# he replied. #We thought our guys could use some help.#
"It's too late jedi," barked Trench. "Your fleet is being crushed; they have been outflanked and can't escape."
"I would not bet on that," remarked the guard captain.
"And why not?" asked Trench sceptically.
"They have friends."
#This Captain Wulf Yularen,# came the voice over the comms. #Permission to join the fight?#
"Granted Captain," Oppo replied, uncoiling himself and moving over to the comms station. "I'm glad you decided to join us."
#Some of the Dug Privateers were less than keen after our last engagement Sir. I managed to convince them that you were our best chance for victory.#
"Very good Captain," nodded Oppo to the holo-image. "Attack the centre of the enemy's ventral flank, if we surround the main fleet on both sides their privateers might break and run. That should give us the advantage we need."
#Yes Sir.#
"It's the remains of initial Judicial Fleet," announced the Captain. "They are coming up from the surface and joining the attack."
A cheer went up from the guards as they did so before weapons fire began rocking the ship.
"Report!" ordered Harry.
"It's the ships we are now targeting about half of them are breaking formation and running but some are turning to fire on us."
"Let's get out of here!" ordered Harry, grabbing Trench and pushing him towards the exit as the squad formed up around him. Just as they headed for their entrance one of the other two doors slid open, out of one Hermione came backing up as she redirected blaster fire, two of her guards followed her onto the bridge but both were stuck down before the door could close.
"Hermione, are you alright?" he asked as the other padawan closed the door and fried the control panel.
"Fine, but we are cut off that way, I just tried to contact the other squad and got no response, I think they are gone. We need to leave now."
"You heard her," barked the Captain as they opened the door and started running down the corridor; Hermione at the head, the guards and Trench in the middle and Harry at the rear.
"Black Leader to Black Squadron, we have the target, we're falling back to the Raven now."
#Affirmative Black Leader,# replied Plo. #Make haste the Alliance Fleet is turning on you.#
They encountered no real resistance other than the odd couple of soldiers until they made it to the corridor that led to the Raven's docking port. Instead of encountering the guards left to protect the ship they encountered a wall of soldiers filling the corridor.
"Down," shouted Hermione as they rounded the corner but not fast enough as three of the guards were instantly downed before those behind them could raise their shields.
"This does not look good," remarked Hermione as the pair of jedi shoved Trench against the wall behind their shields as they started deflecting spells. "If they are at the ship then they can get aboard."
"They can't fly it," replied Harry.
"They don't need to," she reminded him. "One grenade in the wrong place and the ship blows u-"
Both jedi paused at the same moment as something hit the edge of their senses. Spinning at the same time and raising their blades, Hermione got hit in the chest by a formerly invisible boot sending her careening into the front line of their guards knocking the shield carriers over. At the same time Harry raised his blade just in time as a green blade came down against his and then moved his 'iron' arm instinctively to block the other end of the double blade he was facing.
In that second their hopes for survival had tumbled, whereas before there had been over a dozen of them as soon as the shield wall went down the enemy troops had no problems targeting them, six of them were taken out almost instantly and Hermione and Trench only escaped as there were bodies in front of them.
Harry now had his back to the action as he faced this towering figure. He was over six and a half feet, equipped with a green double bladed lightsaber and wearing robes that were so close to black that it made no difference.
"Padawan Potter of Earth," he announced. "For crimes against the Light Side of the Force, you are hereby sentenced to death." He then brought his blades away and swung again, Harry again blocked and was just aware enough of his surroundings to hear Hermione get up behind him and begin covering his back from the blocking blaster bolts sent their way with her wand and lightsaber.
"Who are…" Harry attempted but was stopped as a brief explosion rocked the ship and the starboard side began to roll.
#Look out!# shouted Coleman as Aayla's fighter almost got taken out by the docked form of the Raven.
"The flagships engines have been hit," she replied, as she pulled her fighter around. The flagship had listed over where its port side engines had been taken out so that what used to be the top of the ship was now at the ten o'clock position and the Raven that was still docked with it instead of being at the three o'clock position was now at five. This meant that the remaining engines that had been the flagship up in the atmosphere that had been pointed down where now pointed off at an angle, this resulted in the ship starting to slowly drop from the reduction in engine power but also starting to drift sideways because of the uneven engine thrust.
#Lookout, she's listing,# called Coleman.
#Stay with her,# instructed Plo as the ship slowly dropped out of the bottom left hand side of the fleet.
"Come on," urged Aayla. "Get out of there."
#Look at the Raven!# shouted Coleman.
Looking Aayla saw that the Raven which had previously been orientated the same way as the flagship was now listing at a greater angle. The force of the atmosphere and the wrenching as the flagship went over must have torn the docking seal open as Aayla could now see straight into the corridors of both ships. Only one of the docking clamps seemed to have survived the motion and the Raven was currently hanging and swinging from it like its life depended on it.
On-board there was chaos as the perfectly level corridors either turned on their side, like the one Harry's force and their lightsaber wielding attacker were standing in, or turned into steep slides like the one the soldiers were shooting out off, but worse than the angle was the raging gale within the ship from where the seal had been broken letting the pressurised air out. The second the seal went there was a massive pressurisation failure as the air pressure equalised. The pull had dragged those soldiers not in the sliding corridor into it and last the guards saw of the soldiers was when the last couple attempted to hang on to the bulkhead which marked the transition between the two corridors before succumbing to gravity and sliding down the corridor in the direction of the Raven.
"Go go go!" Harry shouted as he turned back in time to see his opponent getting up from where he stumbled as the ship rocked. He did not appear to be in any rush as he stood quite calmly and started walking back towards them.
Harry, Hermione and the others retreated to the junction of the corridor before looking down; the corridor/slide was over forty feet with a nasty opening at the bottom of it. If they had time the group could have climbed down the bulkheads and jumped down into the Raven but they did not have time for that before they hit the ground and if they were to slide they would likely get torn away from the ship before they could make it down into the Raven.
"Jump over!" Hermione shouted, coming to the same conclusion as Harry. "Head for the escape pods, hopefully some of them are still working. Get yourselves and Trench out of here, we'll hold him off."
"Yes Ma'am," replied the Captain, jumping over the gap. "You heard her! Move!"
The others started jumping, taking Trench with them as Harry and Hermione turned back to face their unknown assailant in the narrow corridor. Harry switched to his shotos and moved in front while Hermione took both his main and her main; Harry was faster than Hermione and so was closer but in this formation Hermione could use the longer blades to strike around him when time allowed.
Their opponent approached and slowly started striking at them, seemingly in no rush as they plummeted towards the ground.
"I suggest you give up now, I will make your death quick," he instructed.
"Exactly what Light Side crime has he committed?" demanded Hermione, swinging around Harry and sending a kick at their opponent who almost casually side stepped before raising his blade to counter her following thrust.
"He is guilty of using Dark Side techniques openly and stating that not only would he use them to inflict pain on the being he tortured with it before but stating that he would do so again."
"The only person Harry has used Electric Judgment on is Wormtail and he was virtually Sith," she countered.
"Whether the being was Sith, Jedi or saint is immaterial," he countered throwing them both back right to the edge of the corridor slide. "He used the technique and has expressed no regret for doing so. Padawan Granger, if you leave now I will allow you to live, you have not thus far been tainted by the Dark Side."
"You think I'm going to abandon my best friend to fight for his life against a psychotic enemy? Go to Hell," she swore, surprising Harry.
"Very well, you shall share his fate."
"Look escape pods!" called Coleman. "…They're heading for our forces; they must be the attack force."
#This the Incursion Force,# came over the comms. #We are evacuating the flagship in escape pods, please hold your fire.#
#This is Black Two, is the crew of the Raven clear?#
#Negative Black Two, they are engaged fighting another jedi on-board the flagship.#
"Another jedi?" exclaimed Coleman.
In one of the escape pods bays a single pod remains.
A trio of guards manhandle Admiral Trench through the bay door.
"One pod," sighed one in relief. "Quick everyone in."
Before the others could move Trench made his move; Swinging his muscular arms around he knocked out one of the guards before throwing his weight into the other two who got slammed against the bulkhead before falling unconscious into the entrance to the pod.
Acting quickly Trench pushed the remaining guard into the pod before programming it remotely and, after stealing one of the guards blasters, destroyed the internal control panel. The pod would launch then the engines would shut down so that it plummeted towards the surface. If any of the guard's bodies survived with any luck the Republic would think his body was destroyed in the crash while he made his escape.
Launching the pod he about faced and moved towards the next pod bay.
"Better luck next time jedi."
Harry and Hermione were not doing overly well, together they were better than their opponent but the corridor was narrow and they could not fight completely together.
#Harry, Hermione for Force sake get out of there, you've got less than a minute before you hit ground.#
"Harry, we have to leave!" shouted Hermione. "If we can get to-"
She was cut off by a horrible wrenching sound as the last of the docking clamps holding the Raven to the flagship gave way. The Raven tumbled over, colliding once with the side of the ship before falling in parallel with them. They were already at terminal velocity.
"It's too late, you're trapped, your ship is gone and there won't be any escape pods near enough."
"You're trapped with us remember," Harry countered.
"Then I die at peace knowing I helped remove a Dark Jedi from the galaxy."
"That's what you think," Harry replied. "Hermione apparate now!"
#Aayla,# called Coleman. #Get out from underneath the ships, we don't want you caught between them and the ground.#
"They can still get out!" she shouted back.
#Yes they can,# he replied. #But we are not going to risk your life in the process; our padawans would not want us to. Look down on them from above like us.#
"There is plenty of time for me to move!"
#Aayla,# interjected Plo. #Directly in the path of the two ships is a major fuel pipeline from the Narrows. When the ships hit there is going to be a massive explosion that you will not be able to escape. Above the flagship like we are you'll be clear.#
"Fine!" she snapped, piloting her fighter a couple of hundred meters above the flagship.
In another part of the ship Trench was running down a corridor towards another set of escape pods when he sighted the cut open hatch.
"Hello…" he said curiously.
A couple of minutes later the small skiff that had been docked to the underside of the flagship separated from the hull and moved away.
Harry and Hermione appeared outside the ship; they had grabbed a hold of each other just before.
"There's the Raven!" Harry bellowed, as they got wiped around by the wind shear.
They had appeared below the flagship and their ship was tumbling over and over just below and partially underneath the larger vessel.
"Aim for main dining room! It's the largest open space!" Hermione replied.
Just as they went to apparate Harry felt a pull on his armour. Turning he saw their assailant had got a hold of him, likely just as they apparated and he had been pulled with them. Harry went to shout out a warning to Hermione but she was already apparating and transporting both of them with her.
The trio appeared in the main dining room of the ship. The ship was spinning around them like they were on a weightless rollercoaster. They were all falling at the same speed so they were floating as if they were in space.
There was a cry of pain from Hermione, turning he see what was left of the dining table had slammed at high speed into her hips. The impact had likely broken them. They had no skelegro but with luck the break would be clean.
Firstly they were about to crash if he could not get up to the cockpit.
And secondly their attacker was in the room with them.
Harry got Forced Pushed in the back sending him flying into the opposite bulkhead. Spinning he raised his blade just in time to stop the slash that would have taken off his head.
"Your death will help restore balance to the Force, accept it," instructed their attacker.
"Not today!" Hermione shouted though obviously in pain from the other side of the room. A fraction of a second later the man went flying back towards her as she Force Pulled him away from her friend. "Now Harry!"
Taking the opportunity Harry spun himself around and aimed at the cockpit door. Using as much Force energy as he could gather he kicked off from the wall and went flying into the cockpit at full speed.
He grabbed a hold of the back of the Captain's Chair and quickly read the console. The very first reading he read told him there was no time for a conventional escape.
Height: 1000 feet…And descending fast.
There was no time for the engines to get up to power; there was only one thing he could do.
He hit the hyperdrive just as they passed 300 feet.
Harry heard a yell and spun around in time to see his opponent coming towards him; igniting his lightsaber he braced himself just as the ship jumped into hyperspace.
"NNOOO!" screamed Aayla as the flagship hit the ground and a fraction of a second later the fuel on board and the fuel from the pipeline ignited and created a massive explosion hundreds of feet high before reducing to a raging inferno where the ship had crashed.
Reaching down their link Aayla looked for Harry…she felt nothing…he was gone…Her padawan was gone.
Looking over to the fighters hovering beside her she saw Coleman with his eyes closed, trying to hold back his emotions and Plo with his head bowed respectfully.
They couldn't be gone…they couldn't.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Merry Christmas everyone. Sorry for the wait, have been writing more of my HP/LOTR fic, going to have to think about posting that soon but I knew I had to get one chapter ready for Christmas. Enjoy.