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Breakaway - SW Blade
It was another routine day aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Intrepid. The crewmembers went about their work with the normal routine efficiency, the pilots made ready to go on patrol, and the officers received their orders from Emperors Hammer command on Aurora. What started out as a normal day soon turned into something not very normal, one where friendships would be broken, alliances shattered, and enemies discovered. It was the Day of the Schism.
“All right Cobra squadron, here is our assignment for the day. First flight will enter the next system in our Phantoms to check everything out. Second and third flight will be in reserve just in case we run into trouble. Any questions?” Captain Blade asked his squadron. As usual with his group of well trained pilots there were none. One hand raised up into the air, everybody turned and looked over at Lieutenant Nova Killer, the jokester of the squadron. “Yes, what’s your question?”
“Uhh, sir, will it be alright if I bring my Twi’lek porn collection?” he asked. “You know, for something to do on this milk run?”
That got a laugh from all the pilots in t he room. Nova was famous for his jokes, he had even pulled one on Blade once. Just before a mission briefing, he had inserted a porn tape into the overhead projector. When Blade activated it, instead of camera footage of the target, all saw four Twi’leks in various positions. Blade was taken off guard, something that happened very rarely.
“Leave the porn at home, I have a feeling about today. Look, be extra careful out there. Something big is about to happen, I can feel it,” Blade had just attained the rank of Dark Jedi Knight. He had earned it in the Last Great Jedi War and was more intone to the Force as he had ever been in his life. He could feel something was going to happen, he just couldn’t lock down what.
With that the pilots filed out of the room, each heading for different places. Nova headed for the simulators, Kettch went to the galley, and the others split their own ways. All but Commander Vessicant, the longest surviving member of Cobra squadron, and a Dark Jedi Knight as well, He looked at Blade, perhaps also sensing a great event was about to happen. They parted without saying a word, but there was a moment of unspoken communication between them.
Cobra Squadron entered the next system and did its reconnaissance. The mission went off without any kind of a hitch, from entry to exit. Blade ordered his fighters back to the Intrepid, to refuel and debrief. They began boarding the mighty Destroyer, each landing in there assigned birth. Blade was the last to land as was his custom, he would never dock before he made sure all his pilots were there first.
“Intrepid command, Cobra one. All fighters docked and mission complete,” He reported .
“Roger Cobra One, good well done. Please report to the briefing room as soon as you dock,” The voice on the radio wasn’t the normal flight controller, it was that of the Commodore, Rear Admiral Wil Striker. For Wil to be addressing him, something must be wrong.
Blade leapt from his fighter and headed for the pilot briefing room. He began to feel a sense of dread and began to feel afraid at what he might find. The door to the room opened, in it sat not Cobra squadron, but all pilots who were members of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. They were surrounded by at least three full squads of Stormtroopers. As soon as he entered, he was disarmed, they grabbed his blaster and his lightsaber.
“Hey! What do you think you are doing?” He yelled.
“What I told them to do,” a voice at the front of the room answered.
Blade looked up and was shocked to see Darksaber, the Battlegroup commander of the Aggressor Strike Force seated there. Since the Intrepid had become the flagship of the ASF, Darksaber had been living there. It was not unusual to see him but the last few weeks he had been gone to Aurora.
“As soon as the last few get here I will begin. I don’t want to have to go thru this again,” as he waited Wil and the Intrepids Wing Commander, Tissaya Argat entered the room and were disarmed as well. Wil stood by, patiently handing his lightsaber over, but Tiss threw hers, using the force to propel it a little harder. Actually hard enough that she knocked over two Troopers with it. Tiss was a very spirited person and she was easy to rile.
Blade suppressed a laugh at the action going on at the back of the room. He turned his attention to the front, waiting for Darksaber to start.
“At exactly 0800 this morning Aurora Standard time, this message was delivered to the Fleet Commander,” he stepped back and touched a button on the projector. An image came to life in the air, it was Grand Master Firefox.
“Greetings Grand Admiral Ronin. I have come before you today to ask for an audience with you. …” the message continued and told of the supposed excesses of the Executive officer and other breaches of conduct. It ended with “…if you will not handle this situation then we are prepared to take drastic steps to see that it is righted.” No other explanation was offered on what those steps might be.
Blade sat back, stunned. Most of the men and women in the room, with the exception of the Troopers and Darksaber were members of the Brotherhood. He suddenly understood the whole thing. They were separated from the rest in case some of them were involved in the plot Firefox hinted at.
“Now do you see what is going on? Grand Admiral Ronin has ordered the fleet to condition red. All leaves are cancelled and all pilots are recalled. The only problem is with the pilots whoi are also a member of the Brotherhood. What do we do with you? Can you be trusted?” Darksaber was voicing the opinion of the Command Staff.
Blade raised his hand up, signaling for attention. He has been on the Intrepid over a year and was first and foremost a pilot.
“Sir, I believe that we need a little time to let this sink in. This has caused an uproar all thru the fleet and we need more information,” he sat back down.
“We don’t have time. This ship is heading for Eos, along with the rest of the fleet. I need all the pilots I can get, but I will not put disloyal pilots in cockpits,” Darksaber finished.
Blade could see the logic in that but he also didn’t like. He was a pilot, loyal to his friends more than anything else. He felt happier in his cockpit more than anywhere else, he knew that. He also knew that he had friends in the Brotherhood he knew would be leaving. That was unavoidable; it would rip the Emperors Hammer apart if it got out of hand. This was the first step in the response to the communication that was received that morning.
The dark Jedi were filed out of the room and placed under house arrest. They would each be questioned and either released for duty or shipped to a penal colony somewhere. Blade wanted to get his out of the way as soon as possible.
Cobra squadrons Dark Jedi had been cleared by the High Court and Intel. They had been assigned to regular duties, far away from the battle with the Rogue Jedi. They were not to be put into the position of having to make a choice of fighting friends. This was a wise move on the part of High Command.
Blade was flying in the lead, the mission was to look over a New Republic base and get back with the information. It was a pretty standard mission, but this one was different. He felt that his squadron has been shoved off to the side because of the percentage of Dark Jedi. But he would deal with it and so would his pilots.
After making a final pass over the Intrepid, Blade turned and looked at his first flight. They were all in formation and ready to head out. He signaled his group and they headed out to the target zone. The other two flights would remain a safe distance behind to provide backup if the TIE Phantoms got into trouble. Flight twos flight leader, Commander Kettch radioed that they were all ready and on station. Commander Vessicant also signaled his squads readiness, but he had a slight hesitation in his voice, something Blade picked up on. He switched to the private com channel used by the command staff of the squad.
“Vess, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing I can talk about in the open. I need to talk after this mission though,” he seemed distant since the rogues broke away.
“All right, but if anything happens I need you to be focused on the mission ok?” Blade was hoping that Vess would be able to. He had always been a strong member of the squad but in the last few weeks he had changed slightly. The command staff of the Intrepid would never notice this change but Blade did.
The Phantoms headed into the system and began to make their runs on the area. Blade and his wing, Nova, had the most difficult run. They would be going to the run the Platform, while the other pair would inspect the cargo containers and any other capitol ships in the area.
Blade activated his beam system, jamming the platforms sensor and hiding the ships. He kept looking at his threat display making sure the enemy patrols were not painting them as targets. He turned his attention back towards the platform, paying close attention the gun emplacements.
The platform grew in size until he could almost see into the veiwports. It was at this time that the job got to be hard; at this range the enemy didn’t need sensors to spot them. They only had to look out of the window.
Red spears of energy began to fly towards them as they were spotted by the enemy. Blades threat board lit up as fighters began to pour out of the hanger and off of their patrol routes. He signaled Nova that it was time to go and turned away at maximum velocity. Nova began to weave behind Blades ship, causing a distraction for the pursuing ships. Blade checked on his other two ships and saw that they were well on their way out of the system to rejoin the Intrepid.
Both groups got out with no immediate pursuit. After they pulled ahead of the enemy ships, the fighters lost them and they blended into the starscape. After a few minutes they began a standard search pattern, giving them a bigger head start.
When they rejoined the rest of Cobra, Blade noticed a ship was missing. He did a quick com check and saw that Commander Vessicants ship was gone.
After docking he ran to the combat operations room. He needed to see Tiss and find out what had happened to Vess. As he entered he saw that the room was in an uproar, techs were running from here to there and seemed to be in utter chaos. Blade found Wil leaned over a techs station, peering intently at the screen. He had a scowl on his face Blade had only seen one time before. It was when a few of his commanders had gotten in trouble on a shore leave and he had gone to bail them out of the local jail. It was something Blade had never wanted to see again.
“Whats happeneing chief?” Blade asked.
“It seems we have had a mass defection of people. From techs to pilots, just after the mission started they all hijacked a transport and bugged out,” Wil was trying to find the exit vector of that transport at that very moment.
“Why didn’t the security patrol stop them?”
“It seems some of them were involved and they had fighter support to block any attempts. We were reluctant to fire on people that are like family to us. You should know that,” Wil stared intently at Blade. “One of those that fled was Vessicant.”
Blade felt a chill run up his spine at that news. He had known that something was wrong but couldn’t pin it down. Now he had his answer.
Blade excused himself and went to his office. As he entered, he noticed a blinking light on his com station indicating a message. He reached over and played it.
Vessicants holo stared out at him. He could tell that he had recorded this from his fighter by the surroundings and his flightsuit. It took Blade a second to get over his shock and he began to hear the words.
“Blade, I know that by now you know I have left the squadron. I have decided to rejoin the Kraths who left from my house. I feel that this is something I must do,” he paused here for a few seconds, “I was going to tell you that I was unhappy with life since the break, but I never had the chance to. I am sorry if you feel betrayed, that was never my intention. To put your mind at ease, you were not the reason I defected. I came to see the light after running into a few of my fellow Kraths by chance that last time we had shore leave and they showed me what was wrong with the Emperors Hammer. I cannot live under the corruption that lies at the top. I wish you well and please don’t think badly of me. Cobra Nine out.”
With that the recording ended. He knew that he would have to show it to Intel and they would dissect it and try to make something of it that wasn’t in keeping with what Blade knew of Vess. Vess had been a loyal pilot and friend for a long time and he was respected widely, not just by Blade but by every member of the Squadron. He had a choice to make and he had done it. Blade hoped he never had to make that same choice, because either one would tear him up.
“Good luck Vess, may the Darkside protect you,” Blade took the recording out of the player and headed to the bridge.
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