Chapter 18 ongoing feuds
Preston was happy to see his ‘family’ on arriving back at the Academy. Ten was literally jumping up and down and on his exiting the ship, rushed to hug him up. With an arm around her shoulder, he led her back to Jordeen, Corissa, and Freya. He greeted Corissa with a bow and Namaste hands, but Jordeen just hugged him flat out, kissing his cheek. Daphne hung back a little, trying to understand the reationships, but nodded politely. Red got himself down and joined the group, releasing a long winded statement that only Freya understood, and started his way down the ramp towards the tram.
“We’re glad you’re back,” Jordeen said.
“I’m glad to be back,” Preston said.
“Did you bring me anything?” Ten asked.
Preston seemed taken aback.
“I am so sorry. It didn’t even occur to me,” Preston ssid.
“Is that a custom?”
“Yes. Whenever you go away, you bring your daughter something,” Ten said.
“She’s your daughter?” Daphne asked, trying to do the math.
“Yes,” Ten and Jordeen both said.
“No,” Corrissa and Preston both said.
“I am really confused,” Daphne said.
“What’s to be confused about,” Ten asked.
“They found me on the streets, took me in, which means Preston and Corissa are my parents.”
“It’s a bit of a story. Why don’t we get comfortable first? We can talk about it over dinner,” Preston offered, trying to direct them down the ramp towards the tram. Red waited at the bottom of the ramp, patiently, pretending to not be listening to the conversation spinning out of control.
“Freya, when we get down, if you would, prepare a room for Daphne, please,” Preston said.
“Of course, Professor,” Freya said, at the same time Corissa had an ephinay.
“Oh, dear God. You slept with her,” Corissa said.
“That doesn’t follow. Being a good host doesn’t necessarily mean I slept with someone,” Preston asked.
“She tried to kill you!” Corissa said.
“If I recall, the first time we met in person, you pulled a weapon on me,” Preston said.
“Nice,” Ten said, appreciatively.
“It was a sauldering iron,” Corissa said.
“But, you didn’t know that I knew that,” Preston said.
“There is no need for either of you to be defensive. There is enough love to go around,” Jordeen said.
“Says the love slave,” Corissa said.
“You have a sex Droid, a love slave, and a girlfriend, and an eight year old daughter all living in the same house?” Dahne asked.
“I am almost ten,” Ten corrected.
“It sounds bad when you say it like that, Daphne,” Preston said.
“I think I need to leave,” Daphne said.
“We agreed, I would take you back in the morning,” Preston said.
“I want to go now,” Daphne said.
“I think we should all leave now,” Ten said, her tone changing.
“We will, first thing in the morning,” Corissa said.
“Ten and I will get an apartment in town.”
“No, this is my home, but we can’t stay here right now,” Ten insisted.
“Something bad is coming.”
“Again?” Jordeen asked.
“What do you mean again?” Preston asked.
“We had a bit of a scare about 12 hours ago. It just didn’t manifest,” Jordeen said.
“I want to leave now because you’re clearly still involved with someone who is not over you,” Daphne said.
“That is one perspective. There’s also the fact that someone told me I wasn’t involved with someone,” Preston said.
“I said I wanted time to think,” Corissa said.
“No, your boundaries were more precise than that,” Preston said.
“Maybe we should discuss this over a hot tea,” Jordeen offered.
“There’s nothing to discuss,” Daphne and Corissa both said.
“Okay, I am like really freaking out right now and I think we need to hide,” Ten said.
“Even if you are done with her, how do you explain a sex Droid and slave?” Daphne continued on, ignoring the menacing gaze Corissa was providing.
“If there is a compulsory context for being intimate, wouldn’t the onus of declaring such boundaries have been on you before we became intimate, especially considering you had already met Freya and Jordeen before we departed on our mission,” Preston said.
“Where were you raised? An inbred colony of clones? It is an automatic conclusion that you’re not in a relationship when you start the next relationship,” Daphne said.
“There is also unspoken rule that Jedi’s don’t have sex,” Corissa offered.
“I was drunk!” Daphne snapped at her.
“You took advantage of her when she was drunk?!” Corissa demanded, suddenly on Daphnes side.
“She said she wasn’t that drunk,” Preston said.
“In fact, Daphne, you were the one who was insistent on coupling. Your ultimatum was very clear, sex or street fighting.”
“You blacked mailed him into intimacy?!” Corissa asked.
“You do know he was raised in a cave and that he is socially impaired?”
Ten screamed, covering her ears and squatted. Corissa, Jordeen, and Preston all knealt down to attend to her, each trying to soothe her by convincing her that they were just talking loud, not arguing or fighting. Daphne puzzled over why the child was screaming. That was when Preston sensed the disturbance. He stood, turned around, and drew his Lightsaber, looking for a threat that he still couldn’t see. His sense of time slowed as incoming missiles took out the Tie Defender, the drop ship, and the tram systems connecting both ends of the Second Sister. They were affectively pinned on the mountain. The ship that fired the missiles arrived shortly after, coming to an instantaneous halt over the landing pad. Hatches opened and Droids decended in droves.
“Corissa, get Ten to safety,” Preston instructed. Corissa took Ten by the arm, preparing to run.
“No,” Ten resisted. She pointed.
Corissa turned to see a Droid coming up from her intended exit. She drew her blaster.
Red shut the blaster door, sealing itself and the Blood Hunter inside the Tram Bay. Freya opened a hidden locker in the floor near the tram bay doors and retrieved two storm trooper assault rifles and started firing at the nearest Droid. She took up a defensive position near Ten, revealing a second upgrade: she was shielded. Preston and Daphne had ignited their Lightsabers and were busy deflecting blaster bolts back in the direction of their origin. Corissa’s attacks were inaffective. She spied another assault rifle in the floor locker and several grenades. She went for them. Jordeen held Ten close, shielding her with her own body.
“We’re not going to last long up here,” Corissa yelled, firing with her new blaster.
“More ships are coming!” Ten announced.
Ten more droids hit the circumference of the landing pad just as two ships emerged from the clouds. The first, an X-wing, opened fire on the hovering Droid ship, the second slowed to hover over the landing pad, just long enough to drop Troopers, via repelling rockets. The drop ship took heavy fire from the Droid ship, but it held until the last of the troopers had hit the deck and had properly orientated. Four of the troopers joined the party they came to rescue, while the others made a direct attack on the closest of Droids.
“You must be Preston,” one of the Troopers said.
“We’re here to extract you and your friends.”
“Fairly good timing,” Daphne said.
“You’re surprised?” Preston asked.
“You aren’t?’ Daphne said.
“You still have a lot to learn about the Force,” Preston said.
“I don’t see the Force getting us out of this?!” Corissa snapped.
“You don’t believe in the Force?” Daphne asked surprised.
“Focus,” Preston said, deflecting another bolt from hitting Daphne. His blade pulsed a red burst the length of the blade, reflecting a flash of anger. Using the Force, Preston picked up the nearest Droid intending to throw it over the side. Jet packs emerged from its back and activated, resisting being hurled. Prestron struggled to throw, its jetpacks revving to full power. At the height of it’s thrusting, Preston let go and it shots itself into a companion Droid. Preston charged the nearest Droid to finish it off.
“Sir,” the storm trooper yelled.
“Stay with your group. We got this.”
In the distance the canyon was glowing with missile strikes that had been meant for the drop ship. The Xwing did another straffing pass, taking out one of the Droids, but had to steer away from the Droid ship sweeping into protect its own. The x-wings weaponry seemed ineefective against the enemy ship.
Preston ignored the trooper following him as he took on the closest of Droids. The Droids made a bee line towards him, forcing other Troopers to rally around Preston. The Droids were fighting with a vigorousness they had not displayed previously. Daphne broke free from the group to aid Preston and his Troopers. The x-wing returned, cutting down several of the Droids with a straffing run before heading back towards the Droid ship. The Droid ship was orientating on the fighter as the drop ship came up over the Ridge and opened up. Together the X-wing and the drop ship finally broke through its armor, sending it spiraling towards the desert side of the Third Sister.
The Droids increased their ferocity and determination, but between the Jedi, the Troopers, and a hovering X-wing, they were not prepared for this level of commitment. The dropship landed as soon as the last Droid was dispatched. The doorway leading down to the tram opened. Troopers turned their weapons, but Preston stopped them from firing. Red rolled triumphantly up the ramp.
“Let’s go, folks,” a Trooper said, pushing Preston towards the dropship.
“Aren’t you guys the bad guys?” Ten had to asked.
A Trooper looked down at her.
“We just saved your ass.”
“You could still be bad guys,” Ten argued.
“That was so yesterday. Today, we are the good guys, now get on the ship, before it becomes bad guy day again,” the Trooper said.
“Its okay, Ten,” Corissa said.
“Sorry, Red,” a Trooper said.
“No room for Droids.”
“We’re taking Freya,” Preston insisted.
“Red, you and the others are on guard duty till we return.”
“Who is in charge of this rescue?” Corissa asked, climbing up into the drop ship.
A trooper pointed. Nolasco was piloting the drop ship. He waved.
“Everyone on? Strap in, we’re not done fighting yet,” he said.
“We’re not?” Jordeen asked.
Peston nodded to Corissa to take care of Ten, while he pushed forward to the front.
“Thank you,” Preston said.
“Yeah, well, thank me when it’s over,” Nolasco said.
“There’s a ship in orbit we have to get past.”
The escort fighter took the lead as they pushed through the atmosphere towards space. In the back ground, Jordeen was laughing hysterically. Preston was holding onto the back of Nolasco’s chair, and Daphne was holding onto his arm. She looked back to see why anyone would be laughing, but her view of Jordeen was obstructed by the Troopers. When she turned back, the atmosphere colored sky was below them. A larger Droid ship loomed between them and a frieghter ship. The Droid ship analysed their vector. It turned on the freighter and opened fire.
“Captain Nolasco?” the escort X-wing pilot asked.
“I see it. Go ahead and engage the enemy,” Nolasco said, throttling up.
“What, we’re attacking, too?” the copilot asked.
“If we loose our ride out of here, we’re screwed,” Nolasco said.
“I’m just saying, we just put a lot of effort into picking up the package to go and risk getting blown up,” the copilot said.
“They want him alive, we’ll be alright,” Nolasco said, and then muttered a prayer that his assumption was accurate.
To their surprise, the Droid mother ship did a kamikaze run directly into their freighter, blowing itself and the freighter up.
“What the hell?” Daphne said.
“Why would it do that?” the X-wing pilot asked.
“It knew it was loosing,” Nolasco said.
“But still,” the copilot said.
“It was buying more time,” Preston said.
Nolasco looked to Preston.
“Yeah,” he agreed, turning the ship around.
“Buying more time for what?” the copilot asked.
Preston pointed. Two more mother ships dropped out of hyperspace and immediately altered course to intercept, one taking a higher orbit, and the other going low, coordinating their attempt to box the drop ship in.
“Damn,” the copilot said.
“I see it,” preparing to do a power dive into the atmosphere.
“Maintain this altitude,” Preston instructed.
“Head towards the Corellian Corvette.”
“What Corvette?”
As if on cue, a Corvette dropped out of hyperspace.
“I hope they’re friendly,” the copilot said.
“They are,” Preston said.
“It’s Lestelle.”
The Corvette opened fire on the closest droid ship. Both droid ships returned fire towards the Corvettee. Nolasco throttled up.
“You’re going in too fast,” the copilot said.
“I got it, let go of the controls,” Nolasco said.
“Escort one, as soon as we’re on the Corvette, you are free to disengage. See you back at base.”
“Thank you, Captain. Nice flying with you again,” escort one echoed.
One of the Droid ships exploded, sending debris in all direction. The larger half of the ship spun off like a broken top. Droids abandoned the ship, thrusting towards the Corvette with jet packs that had been concealed in their backs. The drop ship fired forward thrusters, bringing them to a complete stop diretly below the Corvette, and then fired thrusters sending them up into the bay. The door was closing even as Nolasco sat the craft down on the deck.
“Pretty slick,” copilot said.
Preston was the first one off the drop ship. There were several people waiting to meet him, but he went first to Lestelle. He hugged her. Daphne, who was right behind Preston, frowned, as if there was suddenly more competition and unfinished business.
“I am glad to see you, too. The Captain wants to see you on the Bridge,” Lestelle said.
“Okay. Nolasco, Corissa, with me,” Preston asked.
“With you,” Nolasco said.
“Freya, you stay with Ten. If any of the Droids get on, your job is to protect her. Lestelle, would you see that she is put in a pressure suit, just in case we get vented,” Preston said.
“Of course,” Lestelle said.
“I want to stay with Preston,” Ten protested.
“Ten,” Preston corrected.
“Follow Jordeen and Lestelle’s direction.”
“Ten, do what he says,” Corrisa also corrected her as she followed him out of the landing bay.
The officers led Preston towards the bridge. Nolasco, Daphne and Corissa followed. On the Bridge, Captain Dolers introduced himself. Favelle, who Nolasco knew but had not formerly met, introduced himself next.
“So nice to meet you, Mr. Waycaster,” Favelle said to Preston, shaking his hand enthusiastically.
“Well, thank you,” Preston said.
“I share the sentiment as well.”
“We’re still in a firefight and you guys are going to exchange cilivilites?” Corissa asked.
“We always have time to be polite, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Waycaster?” Favelle asked.
“I do. And please, call me Preston, I insist,” Preston said.
“Do you guys even know what we’re up against?” Nolasco asked.
“Bloodhunters,” Favelle said.
“I knew it. I told you that one tried to steal my kidneys,” Preston said, looking to Daphne for confirmation that he had called it.
“You met one of these before and didn’t say anything?” Nolasco asked.
“Yeah. Was I supposed to report it?” Preston asked.
“Everytime you kill one of these guys, they escalate, calling for reinforcements,” Nolasco said.
“They are the Emperor’s last revenge. They will capture you and torture you indefinitely.”
“Why would the Emperor want to torture me?” Preston asked.
“That is the golden question of the day, Preston,” Favelle said.
“Shouldn’t we be like going into hyperdrive by now?” Daphne asked.
“Hyperdrive is off line,” Captain Dolers said.
“But no worries. We can outrun the Droid ship with our ion drives. They won’t catch us. Hyperdrive will be back online in about thirty two minutes. You look concerned, Mr. Waycaster. I assure you, we will get you out of here.”
“Can you outrun a Star Destroyer?” Preston asked.
Captain Dolers laughed.
“Of course, not,” and then, all serious, he asked, “Why do you ask?”
Alarms went off on the Bridge and tactical announced a new ship in the area. Star Destroyer Deterrent dropped out of hyperspace and immediagely launched two squadrons of fighters. Doler activated a holographic tactical display and started issuing orders, which sounded like they were going to do a power drive into the atmosphere and drop life pods.
“Now, hold on a minute,” Preston said.
“That’s suicide for your crew, and all you will do is delay the inevitable, my capture.”
“My job is to get you to safety, Mr. Waycaster. I can no longer do that in orbit, but if I get you back on the surface, you have a fighting chance to evade capture,” Dolers said, nodding to his men to get him and Favelle to a life pod.
“No,” Preston said.
“No one is going to die because of me. Put me in a life pod and allow the Star Destroyer to catch me. They’ll let you go.”
“You don’t know that,” Nolasco said.
“There’s got to be another option,” Corissa said.
“We don’t have time to discuss it,” Doler said.
“The window to put you unscathed on the ground is closing.”
“Let them capture us,” Preston said.
“What?” almost everyone reacted.
“No, listen to me. Hold off capture for as long as possible. Corissa, go help get that hyperdrive on line. Jurry rig it, if you have to. Go. Trust me,” Preston said. Corissa nodded, departing for the engine room.
“Captain, I need a place to meditate, undisturbed for about fourteen minutes. Let them catch up to us, even to the point of boarding us. Delay as long as possible, making it look like we are resisting, but fall back, don’t get your crew killed.”
“They’ll just vent us into space,” Daphne said.
“No, they want me alive, I am sure of that,” Preston said. The look he was getting from everyone suggested they thought he was crazy, or naïve, or at the least that they weren’t buying his statement.
“Look. You were going to sacrifice your crew anyway, right? I’m telling you that I can save us, and since I have no intentions of abandoning ship, what do you have to loose at this point? I will make it possible to escape, but you have to be ready when I say go, cause the window is going to be really small.”
“They’re asking us to shut down our engines and prepare to be boarded, Captain,” the helm announced.
“Stall them,” Preston said.
“Do as he says,” Favelle said.
“Very well. All hands, prepare to be boarded,” Dolers nnounced.
“The next good hit, make it appear as if we lost our weapons. We might want them when time comes.”
“Daphne, Nolasco, suit up, I got a mission for you both,” Preston said.
♫♪►
Corissa found her way to the engine room where she began inspecting the damage, tryng to stay out of the official crew’s way. It was practically impossible, given the tight spaces of the Corvettes’ design. The ships engineer witnessed her bumping into one of his personel and approached her.
“This section is off limits to passengers,” he said.
“I’m here to help,” Corissa offered.
“I don’t have time for you, get out,” he said.
“Let’s try this again. I was told to come help you get the hyperdrive back on line,” Corissa said.
“There is no help short of a space dock,” he argued, angry.
“We can bypass the safety features and buy us at least three or four jumps,” Corissa explained.
“And risk stranding us interstellar space?” he asked.
“As opposed to staying here and dying, yes,” Corissa said.
The engineer considered. The ship rocked with another volley of surface hits that must have ruptured oxygen generator.
“Tools and gloves are over there. Jack, help her with whatever she needs,” he said.
“I will start rerouting power.”
Corissa began sorting tools, clipping things she anticipated needing to her belt. She held a particular tool up close and was drawn into a feeling she just couldn’t shake, as if she had done this before.
♫♪►
The lifepod had broken into several pieces, leaving Corissa exposed to the elements. She moved and cried out. The pain in her leg was almost unbearable. She released the harness and fell to the ground. The pain was so intense she passed out. When she came to, she found herself lying face down in wet grass. The perfumed air carried visible pollen, and perhaps bits of thin spider web like strings. The strings sparked in the hazy light leaking through the clouds. She turned herself over and passed out again. The next time she awoke, she felt flushed with fever. She didn’t move. She could see her leg, twisted at an inhuman angle. She cried, thinking she had lost the leg, not realizing yet that she had probably lost her life as it was just a matter of time before she succumb to shock and loss of blood. She tried to ignore the angel. It was difficult, as he was glowing with a blue aura, which alone was enough to convince her that she was hallucinating. The fact that he approached, sat next to her in a lotus position, and smiled pleasantly was additional evidence that she was loosing it.
“May I heal you?” Preston asked, presently.
“Can you heal me?” Corissa asked.
“If you allow it,” Preston said.
“Please, by all means,” Corissa said.
Preston straightened her leg. She winced as if expecting excruciating pain, but she felt only the gentlest of pressure. He stood and offered her a hand to help her to her feet. She stood, putting most of her weight on him at first, gingerly testing her leg.
“Am I dreaming?” Corissa asked.
“Always,” Preston said. He smiled at her.
Corissa glowered at him.
“Why do you keep smiling at me?”
“You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever met,” Preston said.
“How old are you?” Corissa demanded.
Preston simply smiled.
“Old enough to recognize my feelings. Come on. If you’re to be rescued, we have to get you up there.”
Corissa looked at the mountan she had to climb.
“I don’t think I can do it.”
“I know you can do it,” Preston said.
“Can’t I just stay here with you?” Corisa asked.
“I’m not really here,” Preston said.
“I don’t understand. You’re a hologram?” Corissa asked.
“I will answer questions, if you will move in that direction,” Preston said.
“If I Ieave the lifepod, they won’t find me,” Corissa said.
“If you stay, they definitely won’t find you,” Preston said.
“You’re destiny lies elsewhere.”
“What is my destiny?” Corissa asked.
Preston reached out to take her hand, but he passed through her.
“What are you? A ghost? A Jedi?” Corissa asked.
“I don’t have much time left. It’s crucial that you follow me,” Preston said.
Corissa nodded and went with him, moving towards the mountain. As the incline steepened, she took hold of plants, and roots, and occasionally had to sit and catch her breath. On one stop, she looked out over the terrain and thought she saw the entire landscape full of swaying plants, even though there was no breeze.
“It’s beautiful here,” Corissa said.
Preston smiled at her in agreement. He sat on the rock next to her. He could see she needed more oxygen, and with a thought he created a buble of air around her, increasing the oxygen within the bubble. He also increased the temperature to increase her comfort, not that she was complaining. Outside that bubble, the air was awash with visible pollen. She felt euphoric. There were stars adrift around her. Between the recent shock, the increased oxygen, the sudden warmth, and the way Preston kept staring at her, she was feeling a bit giddy, and surprisingly amorous. She squashed the latter emotion with a vengeance.
“Really, how old are you?”
“Is age really that important?” he asked her.
“It depends on what planet you’re on, I suppose,” Corissa said.
“No, really, how old are you?”
Preston shrugged.
“15?” Corissa asked.
“Temporally speaking, from your perspective, I’ve not been born yet,” Preston said.
“Space-time is really funny. The speed of causality is not a constant and it isn’t compulsory for the sequencing of events to maintain a specific order. Apparent order is merely a perspective of convience.”
“I don’t understand what you just said.”
“When we finally meet in person, the age disparity that you believe you see now will be even greater, but most likely, you won’t remember any of this because it doesn’t make sense to your rational mind,” Preston offered.
“So, I am halluincating,” she rationalized. She wanted to just rest her head on his shoulder.
“I wish I could touch you. At the least, you should get a hug for helping me.”
“I wish I could touch you, too,” Preston said.
“We need to keep moving.”
“I don’t want to go back,” Corissa said.
“You need to stay focus,” Preston said.
“You don’t understand. This is too difficult. What awaits me back there is even more difficult,” Corissa said, pausing to touch a flower.
Preston frowned. He hadn’t expected her to not want to go back. If she stayed, she would die, which wasn’t a bad thing per say, as she would simply return to the Force, but his instructions had been very clear. He had to get her to the top of mountain. He needed to distract her mentally while engaging her physically.
“Hypotheticlly, how would one person sabotage a Star Destroyer?” Preston asked, motioning for her to follow.
“It can’t be done,” Corissa said, getting back to her feet.
“Okay, but imagine it could happen. Imagine you were writing a holonovel and your hero somehow managed to sneak on board a Star Destroyer undetected. What would be the first thing he would need to do in order to temporarily shut down their hyperdrive and weapons array, preferably without getting anyone killed,” Preston said.
“Well, I suppose, if a person could make it to auxillary control, they could theoretically short out the main system bus, which would shutdown the power grid,” Corissa speculated, her brain working to solve the problem. As she thought about the specific details, she rattled off an impromptu procedure that would overload the circuits, a well as circumvent the safety overrides that would prevent such an occurance from happening in the first place. As she rambled on, her helper led her quietly up the mountain, listening intently.
♫♪►
Auxillary control had one door and a guard outside it. The two operators had no reason to suspect anyone was behind them, much less turn around, as they would have heard the door open. It was a spaceous, triangular room, with a high arch, and a beam overhead. Preston lifted them with the Force. They each let out a cry, but instinctively clinged to the beam overhead. Though they would probably not break a leg if they let go, their fear of being hurt kept them from letting go. Preston put a finger to his lips, asking them to keep the noise down. They actually complied.
Satisfied, Preston began turning things on, rotating knobs to full right, and pushing levers full up, as fast as he could. Several touch screens asked for