KOTOR III: Invasion, Chapter 3
It had been one month already in flight. With the strict schedule
that Arracus had set, there was little time for leaves when they entered port.
They had just left Nzara, a very remote, desolate planet, which had only been
welcomed into the republic a few hundred years ago. Hulas Edgeland, the
pilot, was used to the long days and weeks of space travel, but was in no way
as at ease as Arracus. From his command days he had seen many extremely long
passing periods flying his capital ship around to various parts of the galaxy.
Although the Ebon Hawk hadn't nearly as many things to take care of as did a
Capital Ship, he was accustomed to.
Mareth had the hardest time. He was by now completely on edge, his
lightsaber practice as well as his meditation was severely hampered during
the trip. There was no improvement in his knowledge of the force.
"Arracus to the bridge." the PA sounded.
Arracus awoke from his meditation and grabbed his cloak as he walked to
the bridge.
"Yes?" he said.
"We got some trouble...pirates. Just picked them up on the scanners.
Headed this way." said Edgeland without a hint of worry in his voice. "I've
dealt with these guys many times, I can outrun 'em."
"Are you confident in that ability?" Responded Arracus.
Just then a small red light started to flash upon the console. "Their
sending us a message" said Edgeland as he hit the play button.
"This is private space, leave this zone immediately or be prepared to be
boarded" the message pronounced.
"They always try to sound like you’re the one who's doing something
wrong." Edgeland spoke out of experience.
"Those are converted intersolar freighters, they could house a lot of
men." Arracus said. "Take evasive action."
The Ebon Hawk, with Edgeland at the controls, immediately dove into what
Edgeland would call 'evasive maneuvers.' From the outside, it looked as
thought the Ebon Hawk had turned into some kind of space butterfly. Its
movements were erratic and random. Just like the butterflies on
Dantooine, the Ebon Hawk looked out of control. But that was exactly what
Edgleland wanted because as soon as he had started, the pirate ship had opened
fire on the Hawk, firing its green lasers too late at the spots that she had
just visited.
Mareth entered the room and spoke "what's this?"
"Pirates" responded Arracus. "Edgeland is doing his best to get us-"
Just then one lone turret connected with the Ebon Hawk, immediately
throwing her to right. "Crap. Where hit." Edgeland said with worry in his
voice. "I'm loosing power to the engines. The blast must have been the
ruptured Engine coolant. We wont be able to fly much longer with out it."
"Can we jump?" Mareth injected.
"No, with out the coolant the hyper drive will melt the aft hull."
Edgeland responded.
"Continue to evading." Arracus pronounced over the sound of the
alarms. "Mareth come with me." Mareth and Arracus walked back to the center
rotunda. Arracus could see that Mareth already new his plan and that he
couldn't wait if it meant getting off this ship for just a few seconds. "We
don't have much time. Put on your exterior spacesuit."
"We're going outside, right!?" Mareth said, with the excitement in his
voice rising.
"Yes." Within minuets they were both dressed in there spacesuits and
had put on their magnetic boots. "Follow me and make sure you have a solid
foothold before you start attacking."
"Yes, master."
Arracus climbed slowly up the hatch in the center of the ship followed
by Mareth at his heels, clumsily. When they got outside and sealed the hatch
they could see the pirate ship out in the distance, about three minuets from
them. To the aft of the ship there was a great nebula or green and white
dust, birthing huge massive stars. An entire galaxy's worth of stars dotted
the horizon of the Ebon Hawk's hull.
Just then the pirate ships sent two laser blast right across the Hawk,
disrupting the peace and calm that had come over the two Jedi as they walked
around the ship. As the Pirate ship closed in the turret on the Ebon Hawk
fired up and began sending a volley of lasers toward the approaching ship.
"They will try to board us" spoke Arracus over the suit's PA, "when
they get close jump onto the hull and start looking for a hatch."
The pirates came in close, the turrets had now ceased firing, Arracus
could see that the ship had been through a rough time recently and had many
scares across her hull of laser grazing. Although there were unusual types of
lasers. Instead of a burn mark, which was typical of lasers, there were
scratch marks that looked as though it was hit by some sort of metallic object.
The ship had approached within feet of the Ebon Hawk when Arracus said
"Jump!" Both the Jedi leaped not upward, but instead knelt down in a stance
similar to that of a sprinter and pushed off with their feet, sending them
forward to the pirates.
They landed with a hard pound of metal on metal. Then quickly got up
and began their search for a hatch. While Arracus was skewering the hull
Edgeland came over his PA and with a worried voice said "I hope you guys can
do something quickly, because they've already started knocking on the door!"
Arracus responded with a stern argument assuring Edgeland to have faith and
hold out as long as possible.
"Master, Here!" Mareth responded with glee. "I've found the hatch!"
Arracus ran over the Mareth as fast as his suit could take him.
"Alright, get you lightsaber out we're going to bore through this into the
airlock." With two completely silent glows Mareth's blue and Arracus's Yellow
lightsabers burst out of their hilts and then were plunged into the ships
hatch.
It only took seconds before the hatch was weak enough to remove. But
as they did so the hatch blew off the hull of the ship and shot straight
upward toward Mareth's head. He quickly dodged it, for Arracus had warned him
before that if the Airlock was pressurized then the hatch could blow off.
The two of them jumped down into the airlock and Arracus hit the
back-up hatch, which sealed the exposed space above their heads off. After
the area had pressurized again, both Jedi took off their spacesuits in what
were very cramped quarters.
"Ready?" Arracus asked Mareth, "I expect they know we're here so when
I open this door get ready for a fight. Remember, these are lonesome pirates,
and they will be equipped with blasters, and no skills. So we must move
quickly and ruthlessly through them to get to the bridge. Just like the
simulator."
"Understood." Said Mareth, visually shaking.
Arracus hit the airlock door button and the door opened up in a matter
of milliseconds. Mareth, who had already drawn his lightsaber, flew across the
corridor to the wall opposite the airlock. He was anticipating scores of
enemies but when he jumped back to the floor he looked around in amazement.
There was no one there. He turned to his master and before he could talk- "I
was counting on this" Arracus said, taking out his lightsaber. "they don't
know we're hear but they are trying to surround us. This way."
They ran to the left of the airlock door and around the corner to a
larger room filled with tall men all dressed in the same uniform. The Uniform
Arracus had seen before, it was that of a Sith soldier. Twenty of them were
in the room gathered around a large rectangular carpet in which kneeled the
obvious dark Jedi controlling the ship.
Arracus prepared for a fight.
posted by Rakatan Historian @ 4:55 PM
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