Thank you for the opportunity to explore this conflict on a large scale through Fiction. Good luck with all the grading, Gentlemen!

Extraction:
GJWXII Phase 1 Fiction

Battlelord Ric "Tater" Hunter (Sith) / Battle Team Tacitus Athanasius of House Excidium of Clan Scholae Palatinae
Pin# 3160

“This is the ISN Sidious calling all ships. We are in need of assistance. We have sustained heavy damage and are under heavy fire. Please respond.”
“Looks like you are going to get your excitement for the day, Mal,” Ric told his copilot as he set course for the beleaguered Victory Star Destroyer. Ric checked the tactical display and watched as another wave of suicide tugs swept in towards the Sidious. At this rate the ship wouldn't last long, he had to push his small ship to its limits to get there before it went up.
“Sidious, this is the Holdout. We are inbound to your position at this time, over,” Mal angled the deflectors and put as much power as he could towards the engines. Ric knew that his friend lived for times like these. His Chiss blood screamed for action, sometimes at the cost of common sense.
“What the....” Ric watched as the Iron Fleet moved off and disengaged from the battle. The Grandmaster had abandoned them to their fate, not that he expected anything different of course. Pravus had destroyed his former home while he had been asleep.
“Looks like they are pulling back to Arx,” Mal confirmed. “You want me to get on the guns?”
“Yeah, I can handle the ship, but we need to buy sometime to get as many as we can off that Ship,” Mal left his seat and went aft to the upper gun mount. It wasn't long before Ric could hear the thump of the dual laser cannons. He watched as a small number of the closer fighter escorts veered or just disappeared from the scopes. Malodin'Blade was a lot of things, but Ric knew that he was very good with blasters.
The Ghtroc 720 freighter jolted sideways from a hit. Ric glanced at the damage control board and watched as almost a third of the green lights turned to red. So far no essential system had been knocked out but if they kept taking damage like that, it was bound to happen.
“Mal, I am going to need you back down here. We are taking damage and I need a hand to deal with it,” Ric flipped the ship on its back to avoid a flaming Z-95 headhunter that had rocketed towards them. It passed by and flew on before exploding in a huge ball of fire.
“Send the droid! I am having too much fun up here,” Mal replied.
The Holdout approached the stricken capitol ship and was shocked at the large amount of damage that had been inflicted on it. Half of the upper decks and the bridge were a flaming, twisted wreck and the other half was just gone. The ship was beginning to spin on its axis from venting and escape pods were shooting out from all sides. Ric watched as enemy fighters chased them down to destroy as many as they could. With a flash of anger, he slammed to throttles to full and armed his small load of concussion missiles.
The Holdout shot forward towards a flight of Incom T70 fighters, moving in a way that a freighter really shouldn't. Ric was not just a man learned in the Force, he was also a former Elite Squadron pilot and commander. His skill in the cockpit was legendary in some parts of the galaxy. He brought the ship around and let loose a salvo of missiles, disrupting the attacking squadron. Malodin let loose with the laser cannons, further disrupting the attack.
“Hold on, I'm going to bring us around and see if we can board the Sidious,” Ric had found a suitable place to dock that was intact. “Sidious, I am preparing to dock at aft section of deck fourteen. I can take some survivors from there.”
As soon as the docking ring had sealed, Ric ran to the hatch to help load as many as he could. The scene that greeted him sent memories cascading through his mind. In an instant, he was back on board the Vigilance at Endor. He had just landed his damaged Interceptor in the hanger as the Death Star exploded. The crew had all paused, not believing that the station was gone and had been overcome by panic. That was the scene that greeted him here.
Men and women began to fill the hold of the small freighter until there was no more room. Ric returned to the controls of the ship and unlocked from the damaged destroyer. Another small rescue ship moved in to take his place as he guided the severely overloaded craft towards the ISN Thrawn.
As he pulled away, the ship that had just taken his place was hit by a kamikaze tug and exploded, destroying the airlock and creating a breach in the ship. Ric watched as crew members who had been waiting for rescue were sucked out into space. He pushed the engines as fast as he was able to, trying to evade the enemy fighters and tugs that lay between him and the Thrawn.
“Holdout, this is Rancor Five. We are coming up on your port side. We'll cover you as long as we are able to,” Ric looked at the tactical display and saw seven green IFF signals circling his ship.
“Copy that Five. Where's One?”
“He's gone sir.”
“Copy Five. You are now One. Form up and move out.”
As the small group of ships moved through the battlefield, Ric could see the damage wrought by the Collectives attacks. There was wreckage, death and destruction everywhere. His mind once again flashed back the final battle over Endor.
He vowed to himself that he would never again sit idle on the sidelines and do nothing. Now he would help take the fight to the Collective and then on the Grandmaster who had let it happen. Once his clan had been avenged, then he could rest.

Main Hangar Bay
The Remembrance of Seher
Retreating from the Collective

The light emanating from the wall mounted console reflected off the tinted eye of R2-B9 as its interfacing arm spun back and forth. The little jet black droid beeped as he went about his normal maintenance upon the Endor’s Triumph.

The owner and captain of this jet black GX1 Short Hauler was always away from the helm. While the ship was in hyperspace he spent most of his time in meditation in his captain’s quarters, which Talis had converted into his own little meditation chamber. Its walls were covered in vines he bought from a florist on Florrum. He had ferns in the corner and he had various flowers throughout. He even had a small fountain that recirculated water.

The space was tranquil, you could even say it was serene, but all good things must come to an end.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The reverberations from the continual onslaught shook the shuttle and snapped the Jedi knight from his meditation. He jumped to his feet and grabbed his phase II clone trooper pilot helmet and popped it on his head. The Gray Jedi stepped up to the door and smacked the control panel, with a hiss of air the door rushed open. Talis stepped out and immediately went to his left. He heard Beenine behind him as the energetic little droid loudly protested the shaking of the ship.

“Beenine,” Talis barked back to the R-series astromech, “Get comms up and tell me what is going on!”

“BREEEEP WOOOOOOO!” Beenine replied back.

“What do you mean the Remembrance of Seher has been critically damaged?” The blind Miralukan took a deep breath and reached out, searching for emotions that emanate from all living things.

Like a tidal wave of feelings: fear, sorrow, anger and rage flooded back to the young Odanite. A somber look came over his face as he felt power start to surge from elsewhere on the ship. He knew that feeling from his past, from New Tython. He knew what must be done, The Remembrance of Seher was dead and the only thing to do now was get as many souls off the ship as possible.

“Beenine, hail the bridge.”

“BREEP BROOP BROOP!”

“What do you mean the bridge isn't answering?” Talis thought for a second before speaking again. “Beenine, hail all nearby vessels and all communications bandwidths. Hack into the intercoms or the emergency announcement system, I need you to give an evacuation order to all personnel, the reactor is beginning to go.”

Talis ran to the rear of his ship and pushed a button on the panel that opened his entryway hatch. The smell of death was almost overwhelming as the tainted atmosphere washed over him. A flashback of New Tython tried to fight its way back up but the astute Knight pushed it back down and gathered his wits. Suddenly the normal “to battlestations” alarm cut out and a woman's voice came over the ship wide intercom.

“This is a ship wide emergency evacuation order for all personnel. Reactor one has begun to meltdown. I repeat, this is a ship wide emergency evacuation order for all personnel. Reactor one has begun to meltdown, abandon ship.”

The monotone voice continued on a loop as yells and screams could be heard from the other side of the hangar, in between the intercom systems announcement. A small group had congregated around the door and seemed to be struggling getting the bulkhead open. It appeared to be jammed.

Talis did not even register that he was running until he was almost right on top of the group of mechanics working furiously to get the door to open. It was no use. It looked like some debris had wedged itself on the other side and it was not getting opened the conventional way.

Talis reached down to his hip where his lightsaber was and brought it forth, igniting the blade. He slowly pushed the amethyst beam into the giant durasteel door and began twisting it back and forth.

A yelp on the other side followed by some curses told the Marauder that his plan was working. He felt a little give but made sure to keep himself steady so that he didn’t impale anyone on the other side of the door.

Talis reached deep within himself and then began pulling in power from the world around him. He felt a surge of energy enter his body and give him a familiar feeling of unmatched strength. He began to push the blade in an oval shape to cut a doorway through the bulkhead.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

“I wonder if they realize they have won, the ship is dead.” One the mechanics was looking up at the ceiling of the docking bay as he spoke.

“They won’t stop until we detonate like a grenade,” Talis snapped. “We already have one reactor melting down, pray we don’t have two.”

As if on cue the emergency evacuation order paused.

“This is a ship wide emergency evacuation order for all personnel. Reactors one and two have begun to meltdown, I repeat, this is a ship wide emergency evacuation order for all personnel. Reactors one and two have begun to melt down, abandon ship.”

“And now we need to cut faster.” Talis took a deep breath and pushed the blade as fast and as forcibly around to make a large enough doorway to get people through. After a few more tense moments and a lot of exertion and pushing himself to the limit, the durasteel chunk dropped. A void appeared where there was once hardened metal. The Odanite lifted his hand and felt as if an extension of his body grasped the large chunk of steel. He pulled hard but it barely moved.

Talis bent over and took some deep breaths before he attempted again and failed. He had tired himself out by relying on the Force so much to cut the door that he forgot to save the energy required to get the lump of steel out of the way.

The reinforced bulkheads were multiple layers thick to avoid someone boarding through the cargo bay and assaulting the ship. They could seal the boarding party in the cargo bay and it was the perfect prison. Now those doors that were supposed to give the crew some safety were becoming the doors to their death sentence.

“Hey Master Jedi.” A younger mechanic stepped forward and pointed at his belt. “Is that a Denton charge?”

Talis smacked himself on the forehead of his helmet before grabbing the charge off his belt and placing it properly as to eject the large hunk of steel out of the way. The exhausted Jedi Knight yelled his instructions to the people on the other side of the bulkhead to move back a safe distance.

He felt them breath a big sigh of relief as everyone retreated from the door. Hope had refilled their minds. It made the Miralukan gain a step back from his fatigue as he set the timer. He took cover and counted down to himself before the denton charge detonated.

The blast that reverberated the entire area ejected the hunk of steel some 50 meters down the hallway and into a pillar where it lodged itself for the rest of the life of the ship. Some of the mechanics began yelling down the newly opened doorway to freedom and droves of people came through that three foot wide four foot tall oval in the bulkhead. Shuttles were packed to the brim and all the life pods were loaded and jettisoned. Anyone with fighter experience took what fighters they could get in the air and got underway.

All except one ship that was crammed with all manner of folk waiting for its drained captain to return to it. Talis was just barely able to squeeze onto his ship and shut the door. He reached over and pushed the button on the doors console and hailed the bridge.

“BOOP BREEP BRAAAP WHIRRRRRR!”

“I know Beenine, we are cutting it a little close for comfort but I promise I will pay you back little buddy. Just get us off this dying behemoth!”

The comm cut out and the engines could be heard spooling up. The ship lurched into the air and spun around before it made a hasty exit from the rear of the Remembrance of Seher and plotted a course for home. They had all had a horrible day. To this day, Talis had never seen any spaceship detonate but he did feel it when the two reactors finally went critical mass. A multitude of dazzling waves of energy bombarded him and the ship.

This was the second time in recent history that their enemies had sunk one of their naval vessels.

Prompt #3
En Route to the *Hyperion*

Deception

Chaos is a meaningless word when the emergency klaxons begin to blare. With smoke billowing through the corridors visibility drops to zero, and yet all is calm throughout the ship as emergency training kicks in. No shouting or panic pollutes the air; the crews speak softly to themselves as they ready escape pods and begin loading the important passengers to safety.

This is the view presented to Syntari Bastiayn, Knight of Clan Naga Sadow's House Marka Ragnos, as she stood at the viewport of a shuttle preparing to board Clan ship she didn't care to catch the name of. Though she had no true idea of the carnage aboard the Clan vessel she could feel the suffering of those aboard, and quietly relished the panic of the crew members clinging tightly to emergency protocol. She had her orders: intercept and rescue were the words from on high, and yet something nagged at her. Flashing back to her conversation with Sanguinius Entar she recalled his words, mulling over his instructions like a feline toying with its pray the way she had seen many a Dark Jedi play with their enemies.

*"This is just a rescue mission," Sanguinius had said. "Simple. In and out, rescue as many people as you can. It's unlikely they'll have many, seeing as the distress beacon has been active for so many days, but..." He shrugged, hands spread in a gesture begging for understanding.

"It would be foolish of you to expect much," Syntari said.

"I know. Nonetheless, the war has stretched us thin and--"

"Say no more." She rose to her feet, fluid in her grace. "It will be done.*

"Ma'am?"

Her moonstone eyes slid to the petty officer hovering at her shoulder. She had almost forgotten the man who had welcomed her aboard and who had since refused to leave her alone. What was his name?

"Yes?"

His tongue wet his cracked lips in a gesture her stomach revolted against. From one foot to the other he shifted as she stared him down.

"W-we...that is...we're..."

His fear quickened her heartbeat, arousing her sensing as it oozed against her skin. Her velvet purr of a voice when she answered him sent shivers down his spine that Syntari relished.

"Yes?"

Shame leadened his tongue. "We're, ah, approaching the docking bay," her escort said. From the depths of her drawn hood he saw the Umbaran's eyes spark gold; had he known the Force's embrace he would have felt its cry of her pleasure. This Sadowan was beyond fear, beyond terror. His dislike of her was instinctual. He looked away from the black-robed Knight who stared at the Sadowan vessel with predatory vigilance.

"You are dismissed," she said the moment the shuttle doors opened into the docking bay. With Nexu-like grace she vanished from the shuttle; her escort caught a vague outline of her through the smoke before she disappeared altogether.

--

Silence on a starship is a word that does not exist. It cannot. Noise permeats every corner of Brotherhood ships in particular, yet this ship rang with silence. The red light of activated klaxons would have blinded Syntari if not for her hood yet mysteriously no obnoxious blare destroyed her eardrums as she walked the corridors. The Force had whispered to her of danger here the moment she had brushed one long-fingered hand against pristine durasteel, noting the lack of blaster scoring in the bodiless hallways she roamed. The farther in she ventured the worse the weight in her stomach grew until hesitancy heavyed her limbs and she could go no farther. Guided by instinct she took her time pivoting, eyes and Force senses scanning the hallway. The smoke shifted around a vaguelly humanoid form she recognized only from reports; the sun shone on the dread coiling in her stomach, dragging it into the light of day as she faced the Technocratic Soldier she had heard so much about.

"At last the silence makes sense," she murmured. Of course the Collective would be here, on what was supposedly a Clan vessel, infiltrating the sanctity of a Naga Sadow rescue mission in order to trick her. No, no, that wasn't it. There was more to--

Blaster fire distracted her, a lucky miss affording her enough time to drsw her weapon. A quick nudge to the Force brought her lightsaber to her hand that she activated with a *snap hiss* and the smell of ozone. His featureless face startled her into movement she had not planned yet; spurned by the inherent disgust settling like ash in her mouth Syntari lunged. Her enemy's excitement soured any emotions she could have fed from as the Soldier ran at her with wild abandon, blaster bolts spraying down the hallway. Syntari's lightsaber flashed amethyst and a moment later a faceless head rolled to her feet.

*This was supposed to be a rescue mission. Simple. Flawlessly executed. There is a rat in Naga Sadow, it seems...*

The pounding of booted feet on durasteel caught her attention. Effortlessly the Knight batted several blaster bolts back at the Technocratic Soldiers who sought her death and three fell, more falling victim to reckless fire from their own Factionmates as the Soldiers rushed her with abandon. Lazily Syntari flicked a finger and used the Force to send the bodiless head into the feet of her enemies, tangling one into the other as mayhem erupted. It was nothing for her to blend into the shadows and smoke to make an escape down an abandoned hallway.

"Force be with me," she murmured. Ahead of her the sound of approaching Soldiers sent her instincts into overdrive. With screeches of delight, designed she knew to frighten her, the Soldiers threw grenades and fired with no regard to her or themselves. Some of her enemies died at the hands of her comrades; Syntari herself hissed as a bolt shot through her shoulder even as she felled two Soldiers with a whoosh of her lightsaber.

The Knight wondered how long she would be able to push forward, to keep fighting before her energy gave out. They came too quickly for her tricks of the mind to take effect and at only a Knight's skill level she was soon burning from blaster bolts that escaped her defenses. Soresu had not been her lightsaber form of choice; it like so many others had been forced upon her, and she suffered for it now. Despite the defensiveness of the form her stance lacked, and she found herself falling back into Vaapad's familiar steps only to be grazed by blaster fire for her trouble.

At last silence descended. Through chaos she had created peace, and at last she could plan her escape.

*Odd...those Soldiers don't just disappear...not when I'm still alive...*

"Self destruct in sixty seconds. Warning: self destruct activated," the ship announced.

"Karking hell," she muttered.

---

Sanguinius Entar studied the report on his desk with the look of a man who had seen the end and hoped for a clean death.

"I can't explain it, Sang. There was no one on that ship."

"Not a soul?"

"No one that needed rescuing, in any case."

"Just the Collective."

Sang lowered his head and massaged his temples with a world-weary sigh. "And the ship?"

"Destroyed."

Syntari detached herself from the corner where she had been standing and leaned down towards his ear. "Now ask me how the Collective got their hands on a ship that looked just like the *Hyperion* and faked a distress call," she murmured. Her low purr echoed in his mind long after the wraith of a Knight had vanished, leaving him to wonder precisely that.

*Perhaps...we bit off more than we could chew with this one..."

End

I have provided a link to my current snapshot below.

https://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/members/14865/snapshots/451/831