Episode II - Full Stop - Part 7

The Absolute came out of hyperspace with the planetoid in sight. As soon as they did, Sarcune gave the order for Wings Alpha and Beta to launch. Three V-19 Torrents, two Y-wings and Solay in her new TIE dropped out of the Star Destroyer’s bay door and slid into escort positions around The Absolute. The ships moved in unison towards the planetoid.

“Status report,” said Captain Sarcune. “Any hostiles detected?”

“None yet sir, but there is a massive power surge coming from the planetoid.” Said the scan-tech officer.

“A weapon of some kind?” asked Sarcune. Before he could get a direct answer, the thought was interrupted.

“Contact!” shouted the communications officer. “Alpha Wing reports contact!”

“Confirmed!” said the scan-tech officer. “Massive contact on our starboard!”

“Starboard batteries, lock and fire! Route energy to starboard deflectors!” commanded Sarcune.

“Starboard batteries have no lock! Contact lost!”

The report was punctuated by numerous impacts against the starboard deflectors as blaster fire pummeled The Absolute.

“Contact! Leeward!” shouted the scan-tech. “We lost starboard contact! Incoming fire!”

“Reroute deflector shields!” shouted Sarcune. Too late. Blaster fire from the droid command ship slammed into The Absolute. Explosions erupted from her, and the bridge was rocked by the force.

“Leeward batteries heavily damaged!”

“Contact! It’s behind us now, going for the engines!”

“Raise deflectors to full, and route all available power to them. Reroute power from all batteries, and cease fire until we have a positive lock. Put me in contact with all Wings in flight!” Sarcune’s brow furrowed. Another barrage struck the Absolute, hitting the rear, shaking the Imperial Star Destroyer to its core.

Outside The Absolute, Solay Vardis had seen the strange droid command ship as it seemed to appear, disappear and reappear, firing each time. She watched helplessly as The Absolute was pummeled on all sides by one, single ship, jumping position impossibly fast. Two of the V-19 Torrents had been destroyed in the first barrage, and one of the Y-wings in the second. Three fighters – three men – lost in moments. Wings Alpha and Beta had broken formation on her order at first contact, but they could not zero on the command ship, and even as she heard the call from The Absolute, another threat loomed – The droid command ship had launched fighters of its own. Solay could barely answer the hail as she maneuvered into firing position – A droid fighter had locked onto her remaining wingman in his Y-wing. She pulled the trigger on the control stick, and green fire spit from the bottom of her TIE fighter’s bubble-like cockpit, tearing through the droid fighter. Another droid fighter swept in from above her and to replace the one she destroyed, hounding the Y-wing pilot, but seemingly ignoring her. She didn’t have time to think about it as she ripped into it with blazing jade-colored energy. Her TIE fighter screamed with her in triumph as they fought for their lives.

***

Lieutenant Bondi ran back into the main room, where Booker was trying to make sense of the new readouts on the computer displays. “Talk to me!” said Bondi.

“It’s incredible, sir,” said Booker. “These calculations…From what I can make out, a droid command ship is slingshotting around this planetoid, somehow able to essentially pivot in hyperspace, stop, fire, and move again. It’s incredible. No nav computer I’ve ever heard of can do these kinds of precise calculations through hyperspace in such a relatively small area.”

“It’s true,” said BX-22, walking in through the room behind Bondi. “Dr. Capra had attempted to create a computer capable of processing the calculations he devised, but it was taking too long. Which is why Dr. Renfro was brought in. His…unorthodox methods…were exactly what was needed to put Anvil Station, and its counterpart above, The Hammer, into action.”

“Sir,” interrupted Booker, “From what I can see, that droid ship is attacking an Imperial Star Destroyer. It’s gotta be The Absolute!”

“It’s Capra,” said Bondi. “Capra is the computer, somehow. He is doing the calculations!”

“Yes, and no,” said BX-22. “It is indeed his mind that is running the numbers – He came up with the formulas, after all. But he is not directing the Hammer. That is left to the her Captain, XN-Zero. He is unique as well. Quite formidable.”

“A command droid,” said Bondi. “So, that ship relies on Capra for their calculations. What happens if we end Capra?”

“I was afraid you might suggest that,” said BX-22, shaking its mechanical head. “As I stated before, that is something I cannot allow.” From the ceiling, two sentry-droids dropped to the floor, igniting their electro-rods which crackled with power. “My orders are to keep Dr. Capra alive, and that is what I intend to do.”

***

Reidus Kain pushed the accelerator on his V-19 Torrent to the max, dropping the foils into attack position and pushing the machine to its limit. Above him, The Absolute was under fire from all sides, seemingly by a single ship! At regular, rapid intervals, the droid ship pressed its relentless attack, disappearing and reappearing before anyone could get a lock. Kain, however, focused on the Vulture droid fighters. As he approached, he locked on two and fired his missiles. The explosive projectiles found their mark, but Kain couldn’t enjoy the victory. Three Vultures bore down on him. He twisted the stick and dove towards the surface of the planetoid. The droids pursued, and Kain rolled out of the way of their blaster fire. When he reached the rocky surface, he spun the ship so that the cockpit barely skimmed the planetoid, while the Torrent’s foils pointed towards space, in this way hugging the ground to confuse the droid’s sensor-lock. Kain’s perspective gave him the impression of the planetoid surface whizzing past above his head.

“Dolan, you copy?” asked Kain. He was using the private channel to Dolan’s helmet, which was not being jammed by their mechanical adversaries.

“I copy,” said Fen Dolan. “We’re ready and willing.”

“I’ve got three on my tail,” said Kain. “On my mark…” Kain flew directly towards the wreck of the Bold Born. He could see the open hatch he was flying for on top of the crashed frigate. As he manipulated his fighter-craft and flew past, he called out, “Now!” Blaster fire erupted behind him through the hatch, creating a wall of death. The vulture droids flew through it, and one took a direct hit to the control pod, spinning and crashing to the planetoid’s surface in a fiery crash. Unfortunately, the fire had little effect on the other two.

“Get back!” shouted Fen to the men with him. The bridge crew of the Bold Born withdrew into the frigate as Fen closed the hatch. He looked out one last time to see one of the Vulture’s spinning to investigate them. Fen slammed shut the square egress port and dove back into the interior of the dead ship. They’d done what they could, little as it was.

Kain now only had one Vulture to deal with. He twisted the Torrent again and pulled away from the planetoid, then twisted back around the way he’d come. The Vulture followed. Kain slowed, allowing the droid-fighter to close in. He routed power to rear deflectors, and accelerated. The Vulture pushed to match his speed. Kain stopped trying to dodge its fire, and proceeded in a straight line, which manipulated the Vulture into doing the same. At the last second, Kain pulled back on the stick and twisted away from the planetoid, narrowly missing the Vulture poking around the corpse of the Bold Born, looking for meat. The Vulture pursuing Kain couldn’t react in time, and the two droids twisted together in a metallic mess, tumbling off the side of the downed frigate and exploding on the planetoid’s surface.

“You alright, Commander?” asked Dolan over the comms.

“I’m fine. Just introducing our new ‘friends’ to each other,” said Kain. “I’m going back up. The Absolute is in a bad way. Let’s hope Bondi and his boys can pull off a save, or we may never leave this rock.”

***

Lietenant Bondi and his comm-tech Booker fought for their lives, blasting away at the sentry droids, which dodged and leapt out of range with amazing agility, steadily moving closer. Bondi knew that either the droids would outmaneuver or outlast their blaster ammo at this rate.

“Cord! Trank! We need backup down here!” called Bondi over the comms. “Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, sir,” answered Cord. “Hold tight and take cover if you can!”

The door of the elevator corridor exploded inward, sending steel slamming into the opposite wall, narrowly missing BX-22, who stood watching the fight. Cord burst through the still-smoldering doorway and trained his heavy blaster rifle on the closest droid, unleashing a rapid burst of energy bolts. The droid turned to face him, but it was too late. The red blasts shredded the droid’s torso. The bifurcated machine fell to the ground, still twitching. Cord ran up to the fallen droid and aimed his rifle directly at the ‘head’, opening fire and turning it into blackened scrap.

“Look out!” called Booker. The other sentry had leapt up to the ceiling, and was preparing to drop down on Cord. Cord looked up, but couldn’t raise his blaster rifle quickly enough. The sentry plunged its vibro-rod through the marine’s shoulder, pinning him to the ground. It stood triumphant over the fallen marine, but it was long enough for Booker and Bondi to zero their sights. They overwhelmed the sentry with blaster fire, sending it staggering, leaving behind the electro-rod, still stuck in the downed marine. Their barrage wasn’t enough to disable to armored droid. It spun, and prepared to leap towards Bondi and Booker, but was blown sideways by a powerful burst from Trank’s specialized shot-blaster. Bondi and Booker finished off the sentry with multiple shots to the head.

Trank moved in to check on Cord, who was squirming on the ground, reaching for his impaled shoulder. Booker followed Bondi over to BX-22, who was cowering near the bacta-tank which held Dr. Capra.

“Please,” said BX-22. “Don’t kill Dr. Capra. It is my mandate to keep him alive. He is but a tool, and unwilling, in part. I know this to be true.” The pulsing of the power source continued to pound rapidly, like an adrenalized heart.

“Is there any other way to stop the droid ship up there attacking us?” asked Bondi.

“No,” said BX-22, shaking its head “There is not. You could disconnect Dr. Capra from the transmission device which would stop the Hammer from jumping, but it is tied to life support. He would die soon after doing so.”

“Thanks.” Bondi raised his blaster and shot BX-22 in the head. The medical droid crumpled to the floor. Bondi turned to Booker. “Can you disconnect the man from the transmitter?”

“I believe so, yes.” Booker said. He turned and moved quickly back to the control panel.

Bondi moved over to Cord and Trank. “How is he?”

Trank looked up. “He’s in a bad way, but I think he’ll make it, if we can get him medical attention ASAP.”

“I’m fine,” groaned Cord. “Just a scratch.”

“That’s the spirit, marine,” grunted Bondi.

The pulsing of the power supply suddenly slowed. The lights became brighter as power was no longer being drained by the transmission of energy and calculations to the droid ship.

“I got it!” said Booker.

“Good work,” said Bondi. “I’m going to help Trank move Cord to the medical bay up top. Try to raise The Absolute or the Bold Born…whoever is up there.”