Galactic Conquest II: Rebel Rebound

[RC-1162]

Jake flipped a switch and the canopy struggled against its battle damage to open. After a few seconds of strained whirring, it had opened far enough for Jake to comfortably get out. The Stormtrooper waiting outside motioned with his rifle, though he couldn’t see Jake clearly.

 

“Get out with your hands up.” He ordered.

 

Jake was making motions as to shut down several systems to stall and by himself some time to think. But as he fiddled around near the floor of the cockpit, his eye fell on the newly constructed lightsaber of his lying in the temporary storage pocket. He had placed it there when he got into the ship so that it wouldn’t interfere when he was flying the ship if it was attached to his belt. As he stared at it, he heard an echoic voice in his head:

 

“Use it, Jake,” the voice instructed. “I will help you. Pick it up.”

 

Jake slid his hand into the pocket and eased his weapon out of it. He frowned in concentration as he tried to figure out whose voice it was. It sounded incredibly familiar.

 

“Do not resist your instincts, Jake,” the voice said, and Jake nodded, though he doubted that the voice saw it.

 

Suddenly, he was filled with an urge to propel himself out of the cockpit as hard as he could with his feet. He didn’t resist. A second later, he gasped in the frigid winds of Rhen Var as he streaked out of the cockpit and landed gracefully on the hangar floor. He ignited his lightsaber and the sun-yellow blade flashed its way into existence. It had a very good balance and Jake felt as if it was an extended part of his body. He followed the nudges in the Force and brought his saber up in a ready stance.

 

By this time, the Stormtroopers had realized that this was no mere kid and was a danger to them and opened fire. Jake, now one with the Force, let it guide his hand and blocked all the bolts aimed at him. He jumped again and landed in front of one trooper. He sliced the blade diagonally upward, starting from his right. The blade sizzled as it superheated the frigid air with its high-energy blade. Jake found his mark and the trooper fell over with a smoking gash in his torso. Jake turned to the other two troopers and threw his lightsaber, guiding it with the Force. The spinning blade took off the heads of the remaining troopers in a smooth, clean sweep. Jake called his lightsaber back to himself and deactivated it. At the same time, he felt his grasp of the Force slowly slipping. He let it go, since there weren’t any more Imperials he had to deal with, and turned back to his ship to assess the damage.

 

It looked worse from the outside. The rear section of the craft was black with carbon scoring and a thick plume of black smoke rose up into the icy winds from his two destroyed engines. Rapid-cooled steam dripped from exposed overheated wires and coolant pipes. His fuel tank was leaking steadily and a reddish pool of fuel formed on the ground under the ship, vaguely forming an image of the ship bleeding its life out on the frozen hangar floor. He knew there was no possibility of him getting into space with the condition his craft was in now. The hull was breached in the rear section. In an atmosphere, it would be inconsequential, but in space, the vacuum would rip the weakened hull apart. He climbed back into the cockpit with a mountain climber’s disposition and retrieved his ration kit. He took his IFF code datapad and pulled a small latch set in the corner of the console. The R2 unit assigned to his ship popped out of his nook and was deposited on the ground by two strong mechanical arms. It beeped a question at Jake, who was now back on the ground.

 

“If you just asked why we’re not using the X-Wing, I guess you can see why for yourself.” Jake said. The R2 beeped again and rolled behind the now on-the-move Jake. The young boy made his way into the vast hangar bay and looked around. He was greeted by the sight of three TIE fighters. He sighed and made his way to a Fighter. He pushed up the R2 unit on the embarking ramp and shoved it behind the pilot’s seat, after which, he took a few minutes to familiarize himself with the controls, then began working on the IFF system of the craft.

 

IFF, or Identification Friend or Foe, codes were heavily encrypted codes that enabled factions to identify vessels as enemies or allies which helped avoid incidents of friendly-fire and spy work by the opposition. Each fighter craft of a particular faction had an IFF code databank that relayed its information to the flagship or ground base. Each pilot was also given an IFF emergency code, which was used when commandeering a different vehicle or starfighter and was deployed in the heat of battle so that their own guns wouldn’t target them. These codes was a notch under impossible to crack, but easy as sneezing to change, if you had basic knowledge of computer programming and engineering, and these skills were what Jake had in plenty.

 

He located the IFF databank and opened it up. He plugged a few leads to the TIE’s target acquisition system’s computer screen and proceeded to override the original codes and program in his emergency ones. Ten minutes later, he was bringing the TIE’s engines up to its signature high-pitched whine. He flipped the switch and the TIE’s repulsor engines fired up, raising it a few meters into the air. He increased the speed experimentally and the TIE responded. Once in the air, he gunned it to its top speed, which was not very much, but it would do until he could get to Dodonna’s flagship. The only problem now was that because of his IFF changes, the TIEs and Rebels might target him. The only thing to do was to warn the rest of the fighter force. He glanced down at his datapad and keyed it to show the five different back-up frequencies the Rebels used in case of a channel compromise. He tried the first three without any avail. The fourth one, however, filled his cockpit with the somewhat comforting cacophony of battle chatter. He toggled his comm switch.

 

“All units, this is Green Nine. My X-Wing had been gunned down and I have taken a TIE Fighter to get back to base. My IFF system has been engaged, so for the love of life, don’t shoot me!”

 

“Green Nine, this is Admiral Dodonna, head back to the flagship and take another X-Wing, if you really want to get back in the fight.”

 

“Copy that, Admiral,” said Jake, “Returning to base.”

 

He would have, if he had gotten the chance. His IFF system was his enemy indirectly. A trio of patrolling TIE Fighters spotted his signature as hostile, and opened fire.

 

“Aw, man!” said Jake aloud. “Don’t these guys ever lay off?”

[igyman]

Another great one, RC. I tried my best, but I couldn't find anything I don't like in this one either. Keep it up.

[RC-1162]

heh, thanks a lot for the quick reply, igyman. appreciate it.

[Diego Varen]

I agree with igyman, when I will say that this is another good Chapter. Never underestimate a kid.

[Niner_777]

Great chapter. That was a good piece of writing.

[RC-1162]

thanks all! next chapter with be, as always, up soon!

[JediAthos]

I'm very impressed with the writing in your story RC. I wish that I could add some of the things you do well, such as description, to my own writing I look forward to reading more!

[RC-1162]

thanks, Athos! i'm halfway through my next chapter and it might come out tomorrow

[Jae Onasi]

Heh, most of the time I comment that people aren't being descriptive enough. Yours does not have that problem at all. I feel like I'm in the middle of everything right along with Jake. You could try to make the fighter sequences a little longer--it cut out a little fast for my taste.

Occasionally, you describe a little too much--I don't need that many tech details of the retro-rockets vs. foils. When you were describing all the x-wings leaving the hanger, I loved 'hearing' the roar, but it would have been sufficient to tell me 'the sound pushed back the ground crews' or something like that. The extra details of the ground crews going behind sound baffles and the other ones still hearing everything even through earphone doesn't advance the story and actually distracted me from the moment of seeing the X-wings leave. That being said, I thought it was a cool image, and I see Jake's not going to have a dull moment.

[RC-1162]

he's not indeed. thanks, Jae, i just used the sound bit as a kind of distraction for Jake himself, to get his mind off the upcoming battle and focus on the less important everyday things goings on around him. and the retros vs foils, well, i've always wanted to write an instance where some aerofoils pop off a ship, and i got the opportunity

Thanks for the comments, Jae. really appreciate it

[RC-1162]

Jake twisted his TIE around in the icy atmosphere to the little ship’s limits. He juked and dived, barrel rolled and climbed, but the TIEs behind him were ever resilient and stuck to his tail. He was about to give up and call for help through his comm, when:

 

BOOM!

 

The mini shock-waves of the exploding TIE shook Jake’s stolen fighter hard and the young Jedi struggled to maintain control over the ship. He hadn’t realized how close the TIEs were until now. They had to be really close up to make his ship shake like that. He wondered why they hadn’t fired yet. They had stopped shooting at him a few seconds after the initial volley and were intent on chasing him around from then onwards.

 

The X-Wing fired again and another one of the two remaining TIEs blew up. The third realized that this was not his victory and rocketed away from the stolen TIE fighter and its X-Wing backup.

 

The X-Wing pilot didn’t say anything over the comm as they flew into the thick of the dogfight again. Jake took advantage of his ship and began blasting at the other TIEs that sped around in the winds. Since he had given the heads up over the comm, no rebel shots came his way. He hit a TIE with a well aimed shot, when a familiar voice crackled over the comm:

 

“Can we get to the ship now?” said the voice. “I hate flying.”

 

“Master Obi Wan!” said Jake. “You're back?”

 

“And already saving you from trouble,” came the reply.

 

Jake rolled his eyes and nudged his craft upwards.

 

“I need a proper ship,” he said. “Let’s go back.”

************************************************************************

By the time Jake had taken Obi Wan’s relinquished X-Wing and rejoined the intense fight in the skies of Rhen Var, the battle was almost won by the Rebels. The TIEs had lost a significant amount of their TIE reserves and the remaining were beginning to flee, with a couple of X-Wings sharp on their tails.

 

“Red Squadron, follow me to the shipyard,” Red Leader ordered through the comm. It took a few minutes for Jake to realize that he was now under Red Squad, so by the time he turned to follow Red Lead’s X-Wing, it was almost out of sight. Jake gunned his engines and caught up with the group, which had also taken losses.

 

“Maintain visual scanning,” Red Lead ordered. “Anti-aircraft turret emplacements active and a couple of missile launchers visible too, watch your backs and don’t do anything stupid.”

 

Jake followed the group, till he heard Red Lead shout a curse and an order through the comm.

 

“Chubba! TIEs, coming in hard at nine! Scatter!”

 

The remaining ships of Red Squadron spilt up like a poppy scattering its seeds and a mini-dogfight of their own began in the vicinity of the main TIE factory. Jake called upon the Force again and again, but the mysterious power suddenly seemed elusive of him again. It was as slippery as a Mon Calamari eel, causing Jake to loose his grip on it every time a TIE fired at him or shot up in front of him suddenly. He had had enough of it and went right for the hangar doors. There were a bunch of TIE Fighters inside and almost all of the available space was being crowded with flight crews, TIE Pilots and Stormtroopers. Jake pulled the trigger on his stick and beams of red lasers spewed from his wingtips, but they just vanished in a red puff of electricity just before the open hangar doors. Jake was perplexed, but Red Leader soon answered his dilemma.

 

“Green Nine, scout the area and knock out the shield generator if you want to get a clear shot into the hangar. It is shielded from the outside, so you won’t be able to get anything into it.”

 

“Copy, Red Lead,” acknowledged Jake. “But what does an Imperial shield generator look like?”

 

“Pretty much the same as a rebel counterpart,” came the reply.

 

“Which is?” pressed Jake.

 

“You don’t know at all? Okay. It looks like around four or five semicircles attached to the ground at its straight base and with a rod going through their centers. Take it out.”

 

Jake didn’t know whether Red Lead was joking or not, but they had a lot to lose in this battle and Red Lead wouldn’t send Jake to his doom just like that. Jake nodded to himself and pulled his fighter into the sky. He cruised at the slowest speed he could manage and called up his ground scanner. After a few minutes of staring at the display screen, he found it. It wasn’t exactly a series of semi-circles, but when viewed from above, 2D appearing items always looked like a line. He prepared his proton torpedoes and dived. The generator wasn’t unguarded. As he made his approach, a series of turbolaser batteries opened fire at his juking fighter. He might as well have put a bunch of flashy, blinky lights on his fighter craft and painted a bulls-eye on his nose cone, because the turbolaser gunners were either too addicted to caffeine, or they just liked the light show. Jake aimed his targeting recticle and took them out one by on without even using the Force. He was now within optimum firing range and tabbed his proton torpedoes to standby. He locked on to the generator and depressed the triangular red button on his control stick.

A pair of pink scintillating orbs rushed out of the torpedo tube and headed down the target lock to the generator. Jake pulled his stick diagonally to the left and raised his ship hastily in an unorthodox climb. He took a glance back; just in time to witness the spectacle.

 

BOOM!

 

“This is Red Leader, their shields are down! Repeat, their shields are down!”

 

“Get moving, Red Lead, knock out those TIEs,”

 

“Copy that, General. Red Squad, engage!”

 

“Wait a minute! No way!”

 

“What is it, Red Three?”

 

“I’m picking up five scout walkers in the hangar, moving outside.”

 

“Keep proton torpedoes on ready and fire once you get a target lock.”

 

“Incoming TIEs!”

 

“Where the heck did they come from?”

 

“Who cares? Blast them or be blasted.”

 

The comm charade kept going on and off, occasionally punctuated by a shout of joy or a filthy curse in Huttese. Jake gunned his engines to their maximum to get back to the fight. He was once again placed on his same attack vector as before, heading straight for the open hangar doors. He used his missile targeting system and got a lock on the leading two scout walkers as they came out. The red triangle went down again, urging the deadly torpedoes resting in the starfighter’s ordnance bay to move. They moved.

 

Two scout walkers blew up simultaneously. When the smoke and debris cleared, only two pairs of blackened chicken legs were left. Jake pulled up again and headed to the TIE Fighter showdown a bit higher to provide assistance. The other three walkers didn’t waste time, though. The gunners gave Jake the feeling that if he were in command of the Imperials on Rhen Var, he would have placed the gunners of the scout walkers in the turbolasers guarding the generator. The gunners were dead serious with their work, and sometimes, literally. Three alone had taken out four X-Wing fighters. Jake shuddered at the thought of what a whole force could do. He fired his cannons at the thick of the flight of TIEs indiscriminately, mentally chiding them for being so foolishly close. Several of the onrushing TIEs exploded, and the rest of the X-Wing pilots caught up on the idea. Red lasers flashed in the icy sky, ionizing the air and destroying TIEs occasionally. But word does get around. The TIEs started employing the same tactic against them.

 

“Damn core-rats,” mumbled Red Lead. “Not a hint of imagination. Squad, spread out.”

 

All the X-Wings in the combat fanned out and spread apart wide. The two factions were now racing at each other, exchanging deadly cannon blasts and curses, unheard to the other, though.

 

“Red Lead, the walkers are causing trouble. We can’t get a clear shot into the hangars and they’ve picked off two more X-Wings.”

 

That meant only two fighters were now engaging the ground forces and the grounded TIEs. Red Squad was down to 6 men, counting in Jake, and backup would come too late for the duet fighting the AT-STs.

 

“I’ll help them out,” offered Jake. “Permission to engage, commander?”

 

“Permission granted. The faster you take out that hangar, the faster we win this battle. Get going, soldier.”

 

Jake’s X-Wing broke off and left the formation heading towards the charging TIEs. The others were almost at the TIEs now. Jake took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. It worked, and for the second time, he felt himself fully manifested to the Force. Letting it guide his hand, he nudged his X-Wing close to the ground and lined up his sights. He depressed the trigger the moment he was in range. The walker in the center was not expecting the assault and exploded without managing a return shot. Jake quickly tabbed his proton torpedo stand-by and aimed again. This time, however, he didn’t aim using the computer. He dumb-fired the missiles in a straight line and monitored their movement with the Force. They appeared to be going wide to the walkers, so they were ignored. At the last second, though, Jake slapped the nose cones of both the missiles and their direction changed drastically. Twin explosions vibrated through the air and one of the remaining pilots let out a whoop.

 

“Red Seven and Twelve, take out that hangar,” said Jake. “I’m out of protons.”

 

The pair of pilots were happy to oblige, and fed the gigantic entrance with their entire payload, aiming for vital systems and grounded TIEs. In five minutes, the three X-Wings rose into the air triumphantly, leaving behind them, the smoldering wreckage of the former Imperial TIE plant.

 

“This is Admiral Dodonna, head back to base, all forces. Well done, I’ll see to it that you get a few days off,”

 

The comm relayed the pilots’ thanks and after-battle jokes. Jake was almost ecstatic and did a victory roll upon exiting the planet’s atmosphere. Maybe he was cut out to be a Jedi after all.

[RC-1162]

there are two booms in there, don't get confused

enjoy, and please leave feedback.

[Diego Varen]

An explosive Chapter, I must say. Great, looking foward to more. So are you writing this again, or will you be concentrating on HK?

[igyman]

It took you some time, but the quality is as great as always.

[RC-1162]

thanks guys, check out the HK fic, i updated that too.

[Niner_777]

Great chapter, RC. You are very talented at writing space combat.

[RC-1162]

thanks, i prefer flight combat to hand-to-hand. it's much cooler . and it also helps that the first SW game i got was Rogue Squadron. in planning through the next chapter, and it might be a little delayed, so dont worry.

[RC-1162]

Jake ducked another side-swipe and stepped backward. His connection to the Force had strengthened much more with the helpful tips Obi Wan had taught him. He cleared his mind of all thought and focused on Obi Wan’s shimmering blue wand of energy. He swirled his yellow beam and heard it hum and buzz in the relatively silent, ancient training room. Obi Wan lunged; but Jake saw it coming and sidestepped, slapping Obi Wan’s blade out of he way. He then twisted around to build power into his arm and let loose a vicious backhand. Obi wan barely ducked in time, though, he didn’t waste the advantage. Jake’s wayward swing left his torso unguarded, and Obi Wan brought his saber down in a vertical chop. Jake, unable to bring his saber up in time, grabbed Obi Wan’s wrist instead. The Jedi Master wasn’t expecting that, and Jake pressed his opening. He lifted Obi Wan’s saber out of the way and braced his sword arm for a swing at Obi Wan’s waistline.

 

The warning came too late. Jake found himself falling. The entire thing might have taken just a second to an outsider, but to him, time was mired in a thick sludge. He hit the ground with a slowly resonating thud. When he looked up, however, he understood what had happened. Obi Wan had taught him to stretch time and had told him that he was to use this technique if he was falling; be it from a great height or from a gentle trip-up. His subconscious had reacted instinctively and he had used the technique in response to Obi Wan’s Force Push. Obi Wan’s blade was dropping down on him and picking up speed. Jake rolled to the side as real time was restored. He jumped up and switched his Lightsaber Form by changing his stance. He shifted from Shien to Makashi and waited for Obi wan to attack.

 

Jake made a mental to himself to always use this form. When Obi Wan’s attack came, Jake was effectively repelling him and launching his own attacks. All of his cuts, swipes and feints slid perfectly into each other and he was moving his lightsaber around in a fluid motion. Obi Wan was not the best in Makashi, but had taught Jake everything he knew about the Form and the youth was becoming quite adept at it. Obi wan was still the Jedi Master though. Jake twisted his lightsaber down at Obi Wan’s knees in a feint, then jerked his blade up at the Master’s torso, again a feint. He then swirled around, but when he had completed the full rotation, Obi Wan wasn’t there. He heard the hum of a lightsaber blade behind him and his thigh muscles suddenly cramped up.

 

They thumbed off their blades and Jake was trying to stretch out his painful muscles. Their lightsabers were set at a lower power setting to avoid any serious injuries, but the touch of the blade still caused the muscles to spasm and cramp uncontrollably.

 

“You did well, Jake,” congratulated Obi Wan. “This was your first real sparring match and you held your own for quite some time. Well done!”

 

“Thank you, Master,” said Jake, panting and bending over to touch his toes so as to stretch his thigh muscles.

 

They spent a few minutes in silence, restoring fluids and their breaths. After he had finished his bottle of water, though, Jake had a sudden doubt as to why the Force was so picky in the Battle of Rhen Var. The battle had taken place a full three days ago and Dodonna, true to his word, had given the pilots who were in the air that day a few days off. Obi Wan and Jake were back on Dantooine, proceeding with Jake’s training.

 

“Master,” began Jake. “I’d like to ask you something about the Force.”

 

“Certainly.”

 

“Does the Force have a mind of its own or something? Because when I was flying in that battle, I was only able to become attuned to it twice, no more.”

 

Obi Wan chuckled and began his explanation.

 

“The Force doesn’t have a mind of its own, no.” said Obi Wan. “The Force doesn’t need to think, only to reply to a call by a Force-user. Perhaps you didn’t cry out hard enough, or you were distracted when you called upon it.”

 

“No, I can be sure was wasn’t that distracted,” said Jake. “It would have come to me at least a bit, I’m sure.”

 

“No, young Jake,” said a voice next to him and both of them turned; to witness the Jedi Master Revan’s Force-spirit. “Your mind was not properly focused and you had not received enough training on the usage of the Force. Master Obi Wan has instructed you better now and you will find it easier. But in the battle, your two attunements with the Force was because of my help.”

 

Jake raised his left eyebrow.

 

“I was watching over you to make sure nothing happened to you, and to see that you did not feel any anger or hatred against your adversaries.”

 

“But I didn’t feel you around,” said Jake, clearly bewildered now. “Were you strengthening my concentration? Or were you there?”

 

“Yes, I was there,” said Revan patiently. “I was with you when you were using your blade. You remember the voice in your head? That was me.”

 

Jake understood everything now. The time when he had to pull his X-Wing out of it’s death plunge, Revan had grabbed the throttle through the Force and aided Jake, in addition to helping him use his lightsaber and also his double attunements with the Force.

 

“Thank you very much, Master” said Jake, meaning every word.

 

“You're welcome, young one,” said Revan with a slight smile and disappeared.

 

“That was really nice of him,” said Jake softly.

 

“Oh, that it was,” said Obi Wan, motioning to Jake to follow him back to the Rebel base.

************************************************************************

“Corellia has been secured and the Imperials aren’t exploiting the geothermal energy of Rhen Var,” said Dodonna. “If I didn’t know better, I’d have said we’re doing very well, but just as usual, something has come up.”

 

Jake groaned and Obi Wan shook his head.

 

“Again?” the Jedi Master asked.

 

“The Imperial forces have launched a twin-pronged attack on Celesti and Bardua, both on the opposite side of the Galaxy from each other. I’d like you to lead the forces against the Imperials above Celesti while I take the other force over to Bardua.”

 

“When will the fun ever stop?” said Jake with an amused tone to his voice.

[RC-1162]

well, my mind wasnt totally attuned to the Force and i'm not sure if this chapter was that good, so please leave comments.

 

also, if anyone can guess where Jake's last one-liner comes from, a cookie for you

[Diego Varen]

It was an okay Chapter. I have no idea where the last line comes from.

[Niner_777]

It was good, RC. It was just a little pause in the action to sum up a few points.

[RC-1162]

thanks, Niner. hopefully i can make the next chapters a little more action packed.

[igyman]

Nice chapter, can't wait to see that battle.

[Renegade Puma]

Good stuff RC I dig, I dig. As always a pleasure to read your space combat writing and Ideas. Keep up the great work man.

[RC-1162]

heh, thanks man. i thought this died for a while . sorry guys, but i'll have to put my writing on hold for the time being, because i forgot to take my planning book when i left for canada and without that, the chapters will be hopeless, but don't worry, i have a shortie fic in development to compensate