Chapter VI
Anorax threw his robe behind him and
seated himself in the command chair of the Shadow. He had been recently informed of the fleet’s arrival at Peliar
Zel.
“Delarus, report,” Anorax said
sternly.
“Yes, my lord,” Delarus said, stepping
forward. “Our power generator has been
repaired, but the axial superlaser is still off-line. We have begun orbital
bombardment, and they have only small defenses, Z-95s in fact, to throw at us. It’s time for them to learn a painful lesson
in tactics, and our skilled pilots will be pleased to teach them one.”
“Excellent. Have they sent word to their ‘saviors’, the Angosian Order?”
“Yes, sir, they have. But their forces should have arrived by
now.”
Anorax smiled, gleaming with
confidence.
“Yes, Captain, they should
have, but they are obviously not in any condition to protect their
systems. How pathetic, they’ve nothing
to throw at us.”
A console buzzed, picking up the
conversation Anorax had just finished.
“Sir, the planet is transmitting their
terms of surrender,” the young lieutenant Candell at the console said. “How should we respond?”
“Simple,” Anorax said, rising to tap
the lieutenant’s console, deleting the transmission. “Target all civilian facilities, leave not a stone unscathed.”
“As you wish,” Delarus said, turning
to issue the commands.
Violently, something inside Anorax
twitched. He felt something coming, a
new contingency to their plan. The
Angosians would arrive, and a showdown would begin.
“Sir, there’s a new ship alert,”
Lieutenant Candell said, obviously startled by the news and confirming Anorax’s
premonition. “A full squadron of
Starchasers, Blastboats, and an unidentified capital ship.”
“Unidentified?” Delarus said, turning his full attention to
the battle display. He saw the fighters
with their properly assigned identification tags but one blip had no tag,
glowing white was the unidentified ship, coming in fast.
“I’ll add the recording of the ship to
our analysis of the Angosian attack style,” Candell said, one step ahead of his
superiors, which was not truly appreciated.
“Yes,” Delarus said, “please do.” And he watched the display silently as one
by one, the fighters were quickly snuffed out by the unknown ship.
He never gave much thought to the fact
that his Dark Lord was just sitting silent, almost meditating.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Come on,” Darus snickered, “Where’s
the challenge?”
As the last of the TIEs were
vaporized, their flashes lit up the screen.
But the Admiral was more concerned with what remained.
“What are the planetary defenses?” the
Admiral asked.
“Only a few Z-95s remaining,” Jared
replied, “The Imperials are bombarding the civilian facilities.”
“What are we up against?”
“One Sovereign- and two Imperial-
Class Star Destroyers, they’re probably scrambling their full compliment of
fighters.”
“We have to stop those
Destroyers,” Cid said.
“Agreed,” D’Tan interjected. He
turned to issue commands. “Thorn Group,
split your fighters into two ship elements and attack the two Imperial-
Classes. Do not engage fighters unless
necessary. Your main task is to stop
the Destroyers, but watch your backs.”
“Acknowledged, D’Tan,” the group leader responded.
“We’ll take the Shadow,” said Danar.
“Let’s hope this works,” Jared said.
“Sir, I’ve broken the Imperial
transmission code, should I switch to it?” Max said, who had almost been
ignored in the heat of battle.
“No,” the Admiral said, “It wouldn’t
do any good.”
“Belay that, Max,” Jared said, “Go
ahead, I’m going to get under the Imperial’s skin.”
----------------------------------------------
Delarus watched the display, as the
Starchasers broke formation and headed towards the two other Destroyers. As for the unknown ship, it was heading
straight toward them.
Delarus decided to risk breaking the
Dark Lord’s concentration.
“My lord,” Delarus said, pausing for
Anorax to awaken.
“Yes, Captain, I know,” Anorax said,
catching Delarus by surprise. “Have the destroyers simply detain the
Starchasers. Release whatever fighters
are necessary, we have plenty to spare.”
“Yes, my lord,” Delarus said, “And as
for the unidentified craft?”
“Take special care in destroying it.
It carries their Star Lance crew and their precious Admiral. I shall enjoy watching it fall.”
“Yes, my lord,” Delarus said,
pondering how Anorax knew the crew of the ship. But it was probably the Force and he would definitely leave that
alone.
“Lieutenant,” Delarus ordered, “Send
orders for the destroyers to detain their attackers and have our gunners focus
on the destruction of the unknown ship.
Release our intercept--”
“Just try it, you pompous Imp! Hit us
if you can, Captain!” a voice said,
cutting through the intercom, as the ship pulled a close fly-by, strafing the
bridge.
It was Jared and his rag-tag
bunch. Anorax had been right.
“Change our transmission code!”
Delarus exclaimed.
“Can’t do that, Captain. We’re tapped
into your systems,” Jared said, with a little chuckle.
“Lockout systems, now!” Delarus
ordered.
“Lockout complete, only 23% systems
copied.”
Delarus turned, only now taking note
of Anorax, who had risen from his chair, a hardened look of anger fixed on his
face, gazing out the forward viewport.
Delarus saw Anorax’s eye flash red,
and saw a Starchaser on the display just...vanish, with instant
destruction. Must be the Force’s doing,
as he remembered what happened to his predecessor, Captain Malor.
“Sir,” the tactical commander said,
“That ship is amazing. Such a large
ship, with such maneuvering, shielding and--”
“If you wish to admire the ship,”
Anorax said coldly, “You can get a better view if you step outside.”
“You think that was good, check this
out!” Jared said over the com.
The huge ship corkscrewed down towards
the topside of the Shadow, launched it warheads, and pulled up at the last
moment. All they left behind were huge
holes and a bright trail of fire, fueled by the escaping oxygen. Anorax and Delarus were both furious, the Shadow’s
shields were easily penetrated by these new warheads.
The ship disappeared under the Shadow
and the report came in as one of the destroyers reported its abandonment of
ship, as it plummeted down towards the planet, burning up before it hit the
planet’s ocean.
There was a huge lurch by the Shadow
as the lights and displays dimmed. A
message came through from engineering.
“Sir,” the engineer said, “We’re
losing engines, if we’re to go to hyperspace, we have to go now.”
------------------------------
“So, Anorax, how’s it feel to have your
fleet destroyed?” Jared said, tauntingly over the intercom.
Jared glanced over at the Admiral, who
was snickering at his comment.
But the humor soon vanished as a huge
wave of energy turbulence swept over the ship, tearing it’s hull.
“Blast!” Admiral Danar said, as he and
Jared scrambled for the controls.
“Force storm!” D’Tan exclaimed, “This
is real bad.”
“Gee, ya think?” Cid jeered, trying to
keep the systems on line and the ship together.
A voice came over the intercom, from
on board the Shadow.
“My lord, if we’re to withdraw, we’re
to do it now,” said someone who sounded like an officer.
The storm quickly vanished, as the
response came.
“Do it.”