All That Remains: Ashes and Temples

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"jI'm rreadjing you, Commodorre."

Sparks flashed on Novgorod's bridge, raining from a conduit above too overwhelmed to resist a surge. A few faint embers dripped down on the Cizerack's shoulder, and he brushed them off with distant irritation.

"You'rre showjing all ahead forrwarrd." He stated the obvious, doing his best to keep the concern out of his voice. "That's a lot of fjirrepowerr to engage frrontal djirrect."

It wasn't so much questioning orders. He'd been given none recently. He was now stating the fact, and one that he didn't like.

An X-Wing cut hard across Novgorod's vector, followed by an A-wing practically sitting in it's engine wash. Flashes of weapons fire flared as the ships blurred out of view. How they hadn't collided was a miracle.

Cirr leaned forward, elbows-to knees as he licked his dry lips.

"What do we do?"

If this was her call, he was all in. Dancing on the razor blade like this, hesitation was a killer.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"We're going to cut off the snake's head, Captain."

It was a simple phrase, but spoken with resolute determination.

A volley of fire raked across the front shields, and the graceful Lupine ship rocked, though remained undaunted.

"Cirr, form up behind, and maintain your locks- "

[Meiers Brecklin]

The Marianas fell from hyperspace with a silent clap of thunder that none could hear. The massive hulk of the Hornet-class fighter carrier was like a monolith, shadowing over so many ships.

On the bridge, Meiers Brecklin stood over the comings and goings of his subordinates like some ever-watchful guardian. He hated the circumstances that now brought him here; the circumstances and most importantly, the revelations that had thrust a knife into his chest and cut out a part of himself that was so vital and sacred. It was a part of him that was as family. And here he was, reacting in the capacity of his position, but also in the capacity of a man wounded so grievously. His friendship had been torn to shreds. Now, in its' place, was anger. A smoldering anger that manifested in the presence of his ship and swarm of fighters now. A presence that was brought about by a simple received message that contained so much deceit and treachery.

"Mr. Vantac, open a ship-to-ship with Dauntless. I want to talk to Thrule."

[Marlon Kori]

In the chaos of Dauntless' bridge, Kori managed to bring about a semblance of order. Those injured had been taken out, replaced with men and women able to take over. The thrum of activity had been quieted from frantic action to more measured pacing. Helped along with words of encouragement, each of the bridge crew threw themselves into their duties. To his credit, Kori held the rope of command in a firm grip, unwilling to allow it to fray anymore than it had. He doggedly clutched on, willing everything and everyone to become as calm as possible. It wasn't his first battle, though it was certainly his first battle against friends. Never in his life had he thought to find himself on opposite sides as Samus.

And when the Marianas dropped from hyperspace, a fresh wave of uncertainty washed over all on the bridge.

"Sir, we're getting a line from Marianas Actual... "

Wiping the blood from a gash over his left eye, he gave a stern, thin-lipped grimace at the sight before them. There was only one of two ways this could now go. He turned to the General.

"General Brecklin for you, Sir."

[Darth Decepis]

The Dark Lord sat back in his command chair, pale fingers lacing together in his lap in protective embrace of the Korriban Urn. Had the dark side betrayed him now, so close to it's ultimate fruition? Surely not. No, even this setback would not stop him. He watched the war wage beyond Korri at the viewscreen before turning slightly to regard his executive.

"Let him speak."

Strange that he could not sense the intentions of his old compatriot when he should have. Had Loklorien somehow confounded his vision?

[Meiers Brecklin]

The translucent blue of established holo-communications blinked into life, and Meiers Brecklin found himself staring at a man that he could barely recognize, His silence spoke volumes of what his eyes told him. What he had read. What he had hoped was untrue.

"Dan... "

Was that truly Dan that now stared back at him? The Alliance General, so entrenched in his own role and so set in his ways, Brecklin very nearly could not accept the reality of what stared back at him.

"Unknown cruiser approaching at intercept on Dauntless, General!"

He ignored the words of his deck officer for the moment.

"Dan... " he faltered for only a moment longer before finding steel snapping into place, strengthening his resolve.

"Dan, I'm ordering you to stand down."

[Darth Decepis]

"No."

A whisper of a word in reply. To Brecklin, he was still General Dan Thrule, but the time for the facade was nearly ended.

"No."

He could see clearly that the arrival of Brecklin's ship presented a grave threat. With the added volume of fighter support thrown in support of Loklorien's petty resistance, it changed the balance of the engagement. It was no longer clear that he could accomplish his goals conventionally. But the Dark Side was anything but conventional.

He smiled.

"No, no, no, my old friend, you will not stop me."

The wellspring opened, and Decepis no longer had a need for his ruses. While estranged friends may have betrayed him, he still had his fleet. His ship.

"I will take my revenge against the Jedi, and there is nothing you can do to stop it!"

Yellow eyes turned ahead, ignoring Brecklin's presence.

"Full speed ahead. Towards the planet."

He would no longer waste his time on petty betrayals and one insignificant failure of an apprentice. Darth Decepis would complete the Grand Plan set forth a thousand years before. He would destroy the Jedi Order.

[Meiers Brecklin]

"Unknown ship coming abreast of us, General! She's going to pass us!"

Dan's outburst had been enough mentally wound him, but Brecklin only showed the pain with a grimace. He'd known Dan for so long, and had fought beside the man for so many years... to see the mask of such deep-rooted deceit. If cut through bone, but the hurt would have to wait. The betrayal was biting, and would be met with force.

"Give me a line to that ship!"

"No time, Sir! Looks like Dauntless is pushing forward. She's going to come through the ranks!"

There were times that dwelling on what to do next was acceptable and necessary. When you had to think through your movements and do your best to second guess your opponent.

Now was not one of those times.

"I want all forward batteries on Dauntless, Ms. Kaieetarree," One last look out to the cruiser that belonged to a man he'd thought he knew.

Then.

"Open fire."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

* * *

"Marianas is opening fire!"

"Stay the line, Kes."

From her perch on the forward viewscreen walkway, s'Il kept a hand on the rail as her other wiped away the holo-terminal. Her eye was ahead, staring out at Dauntless with grim determination, and she found herself tensing. There was a point of light, still within those angry, roiling tendrils of the Force, held tightly aboard Dan's ship. A scowl, and the Lupine let her thoughts shoot out ahead, bridging the divide between the two ships as they closed the distance between. It was unmistakable and heartbreaking all at once, but if nothing was done, then she would have failed everything and everyone.

They overtook Brecklin's ship, easing past as the enormous carrier erupted in a shower of lancing turbolaser fire.

"Are the cutters ready?"

"Waiting on the word, Ma'am."

A grim face as her eyes narrowed.

"Activate them."

[Marlon Kori]

* * *

For a brief moment Marlon felt a sliver of panic to form in the pit of his stomach. He stood just behind and to the side of Dan, watching the myriad points of light emanate from General Brecklin's ship. Silent, angry streaks of turbolaser fire from the carrier's forward batteries was a sight to behold. To see it from the receiving end was...

The brilliance of it all obfuscated s'Il's bizarre ship, but he knew that she was coming. For now though all concentration was placed on the incoming fire that would be merciless when it struck.

He licked suddenly dry lips as his own shoulders squared. Whatever course Dan had set them upon had to be the right one. He'd known the man for far too long to lose faith now. Bolstered, he gave a snarl as one hand went out to give a rough shove to a frozen crewer.

"Stations, now! Everyone prepare for impact! Helm, raise what you can of our shields, I don't care it's just a shred of them... I want as much as I can have!"

"Defensive power plants are coming back, but not fast enough Sir!"

"I don't care! Get what you can out of them and direct everything we have to front deflectors!"

One hand gripped the back of Dan's chair as his lips twisted into a deep grimace.

"I hope your ship can take a beating Sir," he growled low as his body tensed in anticipation.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Direct hit on dorsal hull section two!"

The triage report came in a rush, and Cirrsseeto waved at the air in a wordless dispelling. Shooting the gap was dangerous, and they weren't making it out of this run unscathed. Lashes of defensive batteries between the support ships created a deadly crossfire that Novogorod danced through, keeping her acceleration as hot as possible.

"Maybe the batterrjies wjill keep those fjighterrs off us forr a mjinute. Just hold herr togetherr forr a ljittle longerr!"

Cirrsseeto could see from the corona of ionized energy at Dauntless's hind quarter that they were accelerating forward in a hurry. It put Commodore s'Ilancy in a dangerous position, but it also meant that Dan was choosing to expose himself for a focused attack. Captain Quez quickly assessed the situation on his holo readout. The continuous screen of deflector energy of Dauntless was pooling to the forward hull.

"Thjis jis jit! Gunnerr, load a full sprread of prroton torrpedoes jin the rrearr tubes!"

Another hit shook the ship hard, blacking out the lights for a second before auxiliary circuits engaged.

"Captain, that's it for our shields, they're done."

Grim-faced, Cirr looked at the trailing edge of Dauntless peel away. They were clear.

"So arre thejirrs."

At any moment, this could be over. But not before he was finished.

"Fjirre."

[Marlon Kori]

"Novgorod firing, Sir!"

The words were barely out before Dauntless shook with violent force. With the order to concentrate their defensive effort to the front, the small corvette had slipped past to leave them with a parting salvo that raked across once-pristine hull plates. It was a surprisingly staggering blow, and one the seemed to stutter the cruiser's movement.

"Signal the Far Eyes! I want them on that corvette!"

The shouted words were acknowledged in a hail of other barked calls, and Kori stared ahead, grim-faced. He did not like the view before him, and as his grip on the General's chair tightened in the face of those ever-lancing turbolaser lines, his entire body seemed to cave in.

The first barrage hit, splashing angrily upon the flagging front deflectors before caving them in completely to dig angry furrows through Dauntless' tender skin.

The lights above flashed, explosions sending those still trying to hold themselves on their feet to the deck. Seconds later - amid a raining shower of sparks - the blood red lights of their auxiliary power banks spooled to life.

On his back, Kori managed to roll to his side. He swiped at a newly-opened gash on his forehead with the back of his hand as he levered himself up. The din of chaos reigned supreme all around.

"Far Eyes are silent! They've cut comms!"

"Someone find a medic!"

He blinked in mild disorientation, trying to sift through the cacophony of sounds and words.

"The Commodore's ship is closing!"

"Praetor Squad falling into formation!"

"We've got multiple hull breaches! Rear left thruster banks shutting down!"

"Medic! I need a medic!"

It all became one great auditory sea of desperation as he struggled to his knees, and clamping his eyes shut to try and make sense of the madness, there was a hand. It reached out to him. It called him. It begged him. His breath caught in his throat, and Marlon Kori felt hands grabbing his arms, trying to wrestle him the rest of the way to his feet.

Even as his eyes flashed open, the hand was still there. He shook away those that'd helped him up, but they remained dogged in their steady grip.

"Easy Sir."

Unseeing eyes became panicked as he blinked furiously, trying to clear away the blackness.

Everything fell away in that moment.

"I can't see... "

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The point of light that she had seen quivered in doubt and panic, and the Lupine doubled her resolve. Her will grew taut, hardening like some unbreakable lance of the strongest cast beskar. She steadied herself, thoughts streaking out to assail the Sith's defenses in a barrage of unrelenting strikes. A thousand cuts; none meant to kill, but all meant to cut away the dark and roiling tentacles of evil. It had become a dance, and s'Il let her mind dance with unseen grace as it relentlessly attacked.

And just as she, the ship she captained surged forward. The wingtips burst forth with a brilliant red light, energy barriers containing the fiery plasma that hungered for matter to destroy. Like angry blades they pulsated with anticipation as Khera'Va'ss'io closed the distance.

"Banking to port!"

Kes' voice cut through the air on the bridge as he pulled the control throttles to the side, and in response the old Lupine ship dove low, one wing coming up on a trajectory that would allow the plasma blades to rake along Dauntless' underbelly...

[Darth Decepis]

The entire ship shuddered with terrible force, too terrible to be a turbolaser or even a missile strike. It felt like a collision. The entire main power bank faltered and died, uneven surges blowing out consoles left and right as Dauntless gasped in her mortal wound.

The Dark Lord sank into his chair, witnessing the carnage. The air stank of chemical smoke and ozone mingling with the sweetness of blood and the acridity of burned flesh. Hateful eyes moved to viewscreen, and the cresting view of Ossus, so close to his reach.

"Auxillary power is restored, but we have engines only. Sir, we can't even shoot back!"

He had moved into the sense of the Dark Side, so fully that he neither knew nor cared who'd spoken. There was still a path, so long as his passion and hatred could light it.

"Marlon."

His executive had been stricken blind. No matter. He could still fulfill his purpose here.

"Prepare to set for self destruct."

[Marlon Kori]

They had dragged him from the bridge, and he had let them. He felt lost and helpless, like a child suddenly cast into a terrifying, imaginary world. Unable to see, Kori threw his head back even as one of the medics and a junior officer supported him.

"Easy now Sir," the medic's voice was gruff and strained, "We're going to the infirmary."

It felt as though all he could do was breath, and hope that his vision would return.

"I... I still can't see."

"Not surprising, Sir. Hopefully we can fix that."

Hopefully. Not a welcome thought.

"I have to go back to the bridge, I have- "

"Sorry Sir, not gonna happen. You ain't good to anyone if you can't see."

The three rounded a corner as Dauntless shuddered again in the throes of inevitable death.

And then he saw the hand again. It reached for him, calling to him and beckoning him.

* * *

"Sorry General, the Commander's been taken from the bridge by one of the medics."

The crewer that'd spoken moved haltingly, her expression pinched in pain as she cradled a broken arm. She ducked beneath an I-beam that had come crashing down from above and buried one end of itself into the decking. Dauntless shook again, and she moved to stand to the side of the General as he sat. Where once assured conviction had filled her thoughts, now doubt had begun to show in her eyes as she witnessed the destruction around her. And the General... his hunched form didn't look quite right.

"S-Sir?"

[Darth Decepis]

He was losing his hold on his subjects. Too many distractions. Too many setbacks. And now Marlon, intentional or not, had betrayed him in leaving his post.

The Dark Lord simmered, gnarled grip drawing upon the urn once again. The deception would hold for now.

"Set course for the planet and the Jedi landing. Prepare to force descent."

It was the last weapon he held, but a potent one still. If he could not destroy the Jedi through force of arms, then he would use the mass of his ship to do that deed. It would cost him his crew - these useful things he'd spent so long cultivating. But he could survive and find others to do his bidding.

Yes...he could survive. And the Jedi would still fall.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It had been like the greatest of thunderclaps, with a shuddering to follow that reverberated through bone. It rumbled through the entirety of the ship, as though each deckplate and girder had become a conduit for the death rattle that Dauntless had expelled in the wake of such a crippling blow. The initial resistance had been minimal, as the focused plasma had cut easily into and through the durasteel skin of General Dan Thrule's ship, furrowing a mortal trench deep into what had once been the whole flesh of a powerful starship.

The ancient Lupine ship leveled out as he broke free, leaving a stricken enemy behind to hemorrhage debris and bodies.

Bodies of men and women that she had once known. Once talked with. Lived among. Shared meals. For so long she had been a part of the farce, and let herself burrow deeper into the folds of her old Master's lies. But their lives were not the only ones lost; the assault on Ossus had yielded terrible results, with a loss of life that one could call a true tragedy. Brother against brother. Even the Levantine, with her systems barely functioning, the support cruisers pocked and scarred, some in nothing but pieces.

All for one man's hate.

"Looks like Dauntless is angling on her Z... " KHER stood like a sentinel, his systems racing as he analyzed the data his systems were feeding him.

"It may be that he intends to crash the ship."

Grimly she stared ahead, her thoughts sharpening once more. With a gesture of her hand s'Il re-established a line to the Dauntless.

"We tried it once your way, Husband. Are you game for a rematch?"

She allowed only a small bit of silence before finishing.

"Dan, I'm laughing at your 'Unlimited Power'."

[Darth Decepis]

The Dark Lord was unmoved by his former apprentice's baiting. Her words from a lie of a past life meant as little to him as the insignificant creatures fighting and dying in the gulf between them.

"I need not defeat you, my wayward apprentice. Not when I can still hurt you."

Murmurs from the helm station met Decepis's ears.

"Course set, General.". He responded with a weary yet resolute nod.

"I have shown you, again and again, that I will take from you everything you hold dear. Now watch me take away your belonging. Watch me take away him. There is nothing you can do to stop me. This temple that was, never will be. It will serve only an order of ashes."

The Dark Lord nodded off screen to his helm. Dauntless began to yaw into low orbit, drawn inexorably into the gravitational slip that would send it hurtling towards Sanctuary.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Pull us around, Kes," she snapped, both hands moving to grip the forward railing as her broken gaze remained ahead. Thrule had ignored her lure, instead focusing on the planet itself. Unfortunate, but not impossible to work around.

The graceful Lupine ship tipped on a wing as he came about in a swooping arc, and the massive engines roared, flaring at the middle of the turn to push against the emptiness of space with ferocious power. He was like a voracious predator, closing the distance between himself and the limping prey that he had injured. Only, that prey still held a danger within its' hull that intended to grasp the fledgling Jedi in its' hand and crush them. It was something that could not be allowed to happen, and s'Il felt the muscles in her shoulder tense, her entire posture hunching over slightly as her eyes continued to watch the crippled Dauntless begin her descent. It would be a barely controlled descent, but one that would be the most devastating.

"Get me a ship to ship; Novgorod."

Barely two seconds passed before Cirr's hologram blinked into existence at her side, and KHER's voice answered in clipped fashion.

"Line up."

"Captain Quez, target those engines and put them out."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"We'rre comjing about now. Stand by."

Cirrsseeto snapped his fingers, but the helmsman was already setting course.

"Adjusting hyperbolic vector, stand b-"

The entire ship rocked. Captain Quez pitched out of his seat to the deck as the lights flickered out. The only illumination on the bridge came from running lamps and computer screens, joined briefly by a violent sparking of electronic circuits or a quick flare of a fire from an overload.

"Captain, we just took a direct turbolaser hit to compartment 2B! Power plant energizer is out! We're down to maneuvering thrusters only!"

Engineering's prognosis was bad. Tactical's was worse.

"Sir, we've got a bulkhead breach into 2D, it's the -"

"Magazjine! jI know!"

Cirr was up on his feet, snatching the commset from it's overhead carriage. He shrieked into the handset with urgency

"Starrboarrd torrpedo rroom! Get the hell out of therre! Blow the hatch and djitch yourr payload, now!!"

There was a serene fatalism in expecting to die at any second from a cascading secondary explosion. If it happened now, he might not even feel it. If he didn't get a satisfactory response to his call in the next few seconds, the best option he had would be to order an all hands evacuation. Fortunately, the response was quick.

"Torpredo room to bridge. The compartment's been sealed and vented."

With his eyes fixed to a carbon-scored burn in the ceiling, Cirr clicked to reply.

"Djid we get everryone out of therre?"

It took too long for any good answer to come.

"Negative sir. We had two people still in the magazine when it sealed. They're gone."

Cirr's hands tightened around the commset. He squeezed his eyes shut tight for a moment.

"jI underrstand. Quez out."

The Captain's knees gave, and he dropped back into his seat.

"Send to the Commodorre. We'rre out of the fjight."