All That Remains: Ashes and Temples

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Fire from the hip, Kes!"

Her barked command rang out in a clear voice. She could feel the hate even before Dauntless opened fire. She could feel the malevolent intention of Decepis' will projected by so many minds. It was like a siren's wail that sang through her own bones. She had once been so intimate with his dark thoughts and desires. So close to the poison of his words and will. It was unmistakable, and she knew when he would strike.

There was nothing now but instinct and survival.

[Kes Akiena]

It was less than a second that passed between her order and his jump to action.

"Main turbolaser banks coming around... "

The ships' weapons responded seamlessly as the redhead opened fire without waiting for the targeting computer to catch up. And honestly, it wouldn't have really mattered. Task Force 42 took up enough space that he could track along his previous shots.

And that was exactly what he did, finding the soft spot on one of the smaller frigates in the General's fleet, turbolaser blasts splashing angrily through shielding to tear into the soft hull beneath.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Aboard Levantine

* * *

Samus Dage wasted little time as he turned to the gunnery station. With a hand still firmly planted on Knight Hicchoru's shoulder, he barked an order that he never though he'd give. It was surreal, but everything that this day had offered had been so far beyond normal that he was beginning to wonder if he was simply dreaming. The holo of the General... he'd recognized Dan beneath the surprising appearance of age-lines; far deeper than what he had always known. It was as if Dan Thrule had aged hundreds of years.

Dage's voice cracked through the stunned silence on the bridge.

"Gunny, I want you to find the closest target and open fire!"

"Working on it now, sir!"

His crew were capable, and Gunnery Sergeant Jakes had been a personal pick, brought over from Dauntless when he'd finally accepted promotion. It wasn't surprising that the man was calculating a firing solution the moment the Commodore's ship opened fire.

"Line to the Mynock, Sir!"

It was a bit of luck, to pull up a solution to one of Dan's recon cruisers. They held a hell of an arsenal, all wrapped up in a slim, matte black hull to avoid detection. Dage knew more than a few of the Mynock's crewers. He'd shared drinks with them, and even shared the bunk of the exotic communications officer aboard; more than a few times.

Such a damn shame. The brief onslaught of memories caused him to grip the Jedi's shoulder just a bit tighter as he gave the order.

"Send them our regards, Gunny."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The General's anger was made manifest into violence. Novgorod shook like she was in the jaws of a giant beast, and more than a few crew at the fringes of bridge stations fell to the deck.

"Double aft scrrens, now!" Captain Quez fell back into his seat, a keen eye fixed on the battle readiness readings of his frigate. There was committing to the fight, and then there was dealing with the consequences. The moment he'd broken formation, he'd turned from an ally of General Thrule to his most opportune target. At this range, survival meant withdrawal

"Helm to thrree fjive..."

Cirr grit his teeth. He needed the sharp instincts of his crew.

"...helm, get us the hell away frrom those guns, howeverr you decjide to do jit!"

Novgorod's engines flared as she picked up speed. Another raking volley of turbolaser fire attempted to track her movement, only landing a couple of hits before the agile frigate barrel-rolled away from the line of fire. Keppler made a direct advance towards Commodore s'Ilancy's line of battle, and was not so lucky. Numerous direct hits broke her deflector screen, and the next few splashed into exposed hull.

"Torrpedoes on the Mynock! Full sprread!"

"Tubes three and four hot!" came the acknowledgement from the gunny, as a pair of diamond boron missiles dumb fired. At their range, and with the missiles blast radius, even a near miss counted as a hit. The high yield weapons clapped violently against the frigate's shielding, momentarily interrupting it's unimpeded attack on Keppler. The stricken defector took the opportunity, speeding out of close bombardment. Keppler's own guns opened up in suppressive action, striking the bow of the Mynock at the same time that the stricken frigate Levantine gave her broadsides. Concentrated fire pierced the frigate's bow, buckling heavy hull plating as a secondary explosion blew apart her forward turbolaser blister.

This wasn't the end of the fight. It was only the beginning.

"Sound the rrally. Valkyrrjie squadrron forrm on vector." Cirrsseeto commanded as the din of stricken shielding began to wane.

"Get me a channel to..."

He'd seen the ship before, back when it was a secret to the galaxy. He didn't even know her name.

"...the Commodorre."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A wave of her hand, and the translucent blue of Dan's holo vanished like ashes spread to the winds.

"Keep our shields set forward for now! Cycle our turbolaser banks but be sure to allow Levantine time to recharge her defenses. We have to be her shields until then."

"Consider it done!"

The winged body of the ancient Lupine ship angled to afford a larger target, absorbing the incoming fire. His shields flared with each volley, but held. The bridge shook, but like a sentinal Khera'Va'ss'io remained stalwart and unmoving. Kes opened fire on the line of ships targeting Keppler as the smaller frigate joined in the assault against Mynock, providing cover to the stricken ship.

The Commodore remained standing on the forward observation catwalk, one hand on a rail as her ship rocked after another volley of fire. KHER's mechanical voice sounded over the din.

Incoming comm from Novgorod, Ma'am.

"Tubes 1 and 2 loaded and primed!"

The Lupine half-turned, lifting a hand to point at the distant point ahead of them that was Dauntless.

"I want that ship crippled."

"Yes Ma'am."

Turning back to stare out at the unfolding battle in its' infancy, s'Il watched as the pair of torpedoes surged out like angry claws, cutting through the black of space towards Dauntless.

"Open the channel."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

A hologram appeared before s'Ilancy of a man she knew well. In the time she'd known him, Cirrsseeto Quez had aged more than the years afforded him. The youthful first mate of the freighter Layla had become the reluctant veteran, the vanguard of the Alliance's toughest fights. He carried every bit of the grim weight with him. Cirrsseeto wore an even expression, one that spoke to all of the emotions it was holding back like a dam, unbreaking.

"Thjis jis Captajin Cirrsseeto Quez of the Novgorrod.


Rrequestjing perrmjissjion to jojin the ljine."

There were no illusions here. No promise of tomorrow. This very well could be his last day, but Cirrsseeto saw the line being drawn in history. He knew which side of it he wanted to end up on. Whether that meant on his feet, or carried to rest.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

There was no time for heartfelt welcomes. No time for warm greetings and missives and reminiscing. There was time for nothing but the necessary. Staring at Cirr's features, s'Il only allowed herself an unseen moment to take in the age he had taken on. It was a thing that she had half-suspected the day she'd signed the initial paperwork that would begin the process of his promotion. No longer was he that young man she'd first met on Cathar so very long ago.

So too was she, no longer the same woman that he had met that same day.

Like him, the years had given rise to a harder look. Or perhaps it was the circumstances now, that made each of them appear so much more severe.

The Lupine blinked, and gave a deliberate nod.

"Permission granted, Captain."

[Kes Akiena]

He cut in immediately after, watching the numbers tick down as the torpedoes closed their distance to Dauntless.

"Seven seconds to impact!"

Kes knew that they'd crash into the deflectors, but he also knew that there was more to this little act that she'd ordered. On instinct he kept an eye on tubes 3 and 4, and as they both flashed green, sent two more torpedoes to follow the first ones.

"Three and four away, Commodore! Same line, same angle!"

She half turned from the holo of Captain Quez, and lifting two fingers, gave the air a quick swirl of her hand.

The silent command was understood, and the redhead sent his eyes to the holoscreen nearly in his lap. His fingers danced over it, pulling up a very familiar screen.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Captain Quez, I want firing solutions on Dauntless, and only Dauntless, do you understand? Levantine will provide what cover they can."

There was no time for explanations, and s'Il pivoted on her heel to cast a look to Kes, just as he fed the information to her position on the catwalk. A holo terminal popped to life to her left, opposite Cirr's hazy blue form.

"Concentrate all of your fire on General Thrule," she reiterated to Cirr, "Don't worry about their shields... "

She navigated through the spiderweb of documents that Kes had pulled up and sent over. A series of back doors and hidden digital corridors. All so very well known.

"I will take care of that."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"You'll have those solutjions." Cirrsseeto nodded resolutely, giving a quarter turn behind him, and raising a hand with fingers splayed to the gunnery station. It was an unspoken sign for a full spread.

Returning his attention to the Commodore, Captain Quez raised his ears slightly.

"See you on the otherr sjide." He didn't smile. Stopped short of it. Maybe there would be time for that later. Cutting the holo feed, Cirr fell back into his seat, drumming up his holographic readouts as the helmsman began to feed the fire again.

"Brrjing us about. Evasjion patterrn Dorrn. Deflectjion to 150/50 bjias."

Buffing his shielding to gird against the expected bombardment strikes from the heavy cruiser, Cirrsseeto was nonetheless concerned about attacks from the rear. Dauntless, after all, carried nearly a dozen squadrons of fighters. If they were allowed an open shot to their aft quarter, they could take the engines. If Novgorod lost her engines, she lost her greatest asset to staying alive.

Like a school of skipperfish, the marauder corvette and her A-Wing escorts blazed the ether, engines flaring mightily behind them as they picked up the pace to mark the return through no-man's space. The stars between lit with angry bursts of red fire as turbolaser batteries tracked to align on the charging enemy.

"Get me a lock!" Cirrsseeto shouted, leaned forward in his seat. The ship lurched as the first shots with enough luck struck their target.

"Solution set!" came the tense reply from gunnery. "Spread away!"

Novgorod peeled off her vector, taking a shot to the belly, but not before she stitched a six torpedo burst in a line toward the Mon Calamari ship. The contrails of the warheads streaked in like arrows, slipping past the counter-battery fire from the bow gun stations.

They didn't have time to stop and look. They had to run. Novgorod raced across the enemy bow, picking up speed even as enemy fighters began to harry their retreat for a second pass. A pair of X-Wings lined up on their vector, taking shots at an escorting A-wing, tearing it apart. The rest of the escorts drew back in a frenzied attempt to shake the fighters loose.

Only time would tell.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She was like a woman possessed, fingers dancing unnaturally over the readout in front of her. The initial volley from Novgorod had splashed against Dauntless' shields, but she was determined to allow the old girl's second attempt a shot at the beast.

"Kes-"

"Already patching you through... "

She didn't need to say anything beyond that, as the translucent blue image of Dan in his own command chair appeared at her side.

"Strange," her voice held the tone of a person split between two points of interest.

A finger came down on the ethereal mark, ending much of her husband's bravado.

Dauntless found herself suddenly without shields.

"... that a man with such confidence can find himself undone by the most trivial of matters."

[Darth Decepis]

Darth Decepis remained unmoved by his failed apprentice's boasts, an arrogant smirk on his features as he leaned back in his chair.

"Your words are as feeble as they are..."

A sudden flash at the tactical station terminal appeared in time with a warning klaxon, cutting off the Dark Lord's reply as his crew rushed to attend to something new.

"What is it?"

[Marlon Kori]

Kori stood over the terminal, perching himself over the officer sitting in the chair while watching the unthinkable. His features screwed into a look of disbelief; an expression that remained as he whirled around on one heel to look at the General. His mouth opened, and for only a moment nothing came out. His voice was quick to return, however.

"General, our shields are dropping!"

Another voice cut in, from the terminal beside him. There was no mistaking the suddenly panicked tone of the officer's raised voice.

"Enemy torpedoes at 30 klicks!"

[Darth Decepis]

The Dark Lord's prideful smirk turned to a pointedly displeased expression as he fixed Kori with an irritated turn of his head.

"Raise them, you fool!"

[Marlon Kori]

Turning back to the terminal, Marlon reached past the young ensign to carry out the order himself.

And yet each command he gave, each order he punched in, nothing could stop the downward spiral of Dauntless' shields into nothing.

"I can't!"

"Fifteen Klicks!"

[Darth Decepis]

Through his pride and power and self assuredness, the Dark Lord of the Sith could not deny the truth in the force. He'd drawn his apprentice close to corrupt her and make her his own, but had the distance between her and him been reciprocated. Had she found an exposed truth that arrogance concealed.

Decepis rose in his seat, an unguarded look of doubt crossing his features. Behind him, crewers frantically worked their stations.

"Where's the override? Give the override code!"

He closed his eyes.

All too late.

[Marlon Kori]

"Brace for impact!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than Dauntless bucked beneath their feet, the deck pitching and even tossing a few crewers from their seats. Kori held on doggedly to the back of the chair belonging to a technician, gritting his teeth and doing his best to ride the shuddering wave of destruction that rocked the General's ship. Another volley slammed into the unprotected hull, sending a fresh jolt through his bones as he continued to fight against gravity. Klaxons and sirens sounded as the bridge lights flickered before returning to their usual brightness.

"Multiple hull breaches, Sir!"

"I've got casualty calls coming in, Commander!"

"Decks 17 through 19 open to vacuum! Blast doors have them shut off!"

There were more frantic cries echoing across the bridge, each vying for supremacy over the other, and Marlon turned an angry look to Dan as Dauntless once more regained her feet, dawning realization fueling a growing rage inside his gut.

"She dropped our shields!"

[Darth Decepis]

"Get them back up!" Decepis hissed, struggling back to his seat.

"Have the task force close up flanks, focus your fire on Commodore s'Ilancy's ship!"

Wounded but not out of the fight, Dauntless slowed her charge, allowing the smaller ships at her wings to surge ahead and intensify their fire. Numerous direct hits splashed across the shields of the strange new ship, as the defenders of Ossus entered into a full shooting engagement.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Reading numerous direct hits. Commscan showing hull breaches and energy fluctuations in Dauntless's power grid.

Cirrsseeto nodded to the news as everyone on the bridge pitched slightly - the inertial dampeners doing their best to keep up with the hard maneuvers keeping them out of enemy firing arcs.

"Prreparre to come about forr anotherr torrpedo rrun."

"Captain, the General's lines are drawing up and ahead, screening the flagship. Looks like they're focusing fire on Commodore s'Ilancy while Dauntless falls back."

Cirrsseeto watched the lines of battle as they began to shift.

"We don't have the tjime to take one on the chjin."

From where he could see it, they had two options. One was to trade blows back and forth along the line of engagement. The numbers didn't favor them, even without Dauntless in play. The second option would be to divide the line and send a fast attack around the flank. Enough hits on Dauntless when here shields were down...might do enough good to turn the tide.

"Anjy worrd frrom the Commodorre?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She knew the move he would make; it had been one he often favored. The Lupine had watched him for so long, that she felt prescient even if she did not have the Force to rely on. As it was now, her own abilities simply helped. Her knowledge was what she fell upon in this moment. This moment of truth.

"Sensors show the line reforming," Kes spoke a few seconds after she already knew.

"We're going through them," she growled angrily. "Cripple the Dauntless, and we cripple the rest."

She knew what was happening; could feel those familiar dark eddies and currents pulsating out, radiating from Dan's flagship like a writhing, unrelenting nightmare bent on holding all in its' grasp.

"Prime the plasma cutters, and shore up our forward shields."

"Yes Ma'am."

Both hands went to the railing then, and she partially leaned on it, gaze on the battlefield before them. Even as the first volleys of fire splashed across the shields, s'Il maintained an air of quiet calm. One would've thought that she was simply staring out at an empty starfield, admiring its' beauty with a thin-lipped, narrow-eyed expression.

"Get me Cirr."