Archenar Ambush - The Dark Lord Enters

(( The following was written by Derek, and he has my eternal gratitude for helping me bypass my writer's block to get this done. ))

“I’m telling you, another minute and I would have had at least ten more.”  Selus grumbled into the com system of the Wanderer.  He and his lover had just finished a patrol in the Archenar asteroid field, and he could picture Aittera grinning at him from the cockpit of the Devious Hope. Her modified freighter was flying next to his as they came about in an exit trajectory.   They’d been in a pretty severe dogfight against one of the Imperial attack wings, and she’d managed to outscore him before their enemy bugged out.


“Of course you would have, just like Alderaan right?” He could hear the baiting tone of her voice and the grin. He knew she was just trying to get his blood going for when they made it back to dock and got into each other arms, and, as always, he rose to it.


“Hey, if it wasn’t for me, Alderaan would have turned out a lot different.  And before you mention it, yes, sometimes I do still feel the sting from that sniper on Belsavis.”  Selus was grinning as wide as he knew she was now.  


Suddenly, the alarm klaxon went off. “Missiles incoming, I thought we were done with these…” He was rocked as they impacted his aft shields.  He put The Wanderer into a Z axis spin, hitting his thrusters as he rolled it into a loop.  From the corner of his eye he saw Aittera do the same, following his lead as they both swept around to face their attackers head on.  It appeared that the fighters they fought before were an advanced scouting party, because now there was another attack wing coming at them with a Terminus Class destroyer starting to move into the field.  “We’re going to have to do a fighting withdrawal, there’s no way we’re going to take that Destroyer, even with as much firepower as the Hope and Wanderer have.”


She didn’t respond, already in battle mode as the first laser strikes lanced out from the Hope toward the closest incoming fighter, scoring a direct hit and putting her up by another confirmed kill.  Not wanting to be outdone he started firing the moment he got a lock on one of the enemy fighters, scoring a hit of his own and continuing to fire as they both shot through the swarm of fighters before doing another Z-Axis roll to put the enemy squad back in front of them.


With what seemed to be a practiced precision, they moved in tandem as they locked onto another two fighters and loosed missiles.  Then the warning klaxon sounded again as the Destroyer joined the fight, loosing a turbolaser barrage at them. Selus felt the Wanderer shake from the impact, but worst of all, he saw the explosion out of the corner of his eye.   The Hope had taken a direct hit to her shield generator.  


“Aittera get out of here, you just lost aft shields. Another shot by that Destroyer and you’re done!”  Selus yelled over his com.  Launching a new barrage of missiles at the last of the enemy squadron, he watched the final fighter explode and he punched his thrusters, taking him right through the debris field.  He turned and saw Aittera in the Hope following as they climbed out of the asteroid field.


As they both prepared to jump to hyperspace his com came alive with Aittera’s voice, “I hope you know if we’d stayed, I still would have ended up ahead by-” The com cut out mid sentence as she teased him, and the energy that washed over her ship was unmistakable. The Hope began to drift; the Destroyer had hit her with an Ion blast, and without her shields it had left her dead in space. 


Trying to give her time to get to her escape pod so he could pick her up, Selus put the Wanderer into another spin, bringing him to bear on the Destroyer as he switched all weapon power to shields. He wasn’t going to do much to it, but he hoped the improved shielding would let him distract it.  He began to roll and spin, not giving the gunners on the capital ship a chance to lock into him as he kept an eye on his sensors, watching the Hope for signs that Aittera had launched her escape pod.


Just as he was starting to worry, he saw the indicator flash for the escape pod to launch right before the Hope impacted with a large asteroid.  Smart girl, he thought to himself. She was using the explosion to cover her escape.  


“Bug out already would you, I need you to come back and pick me up planetside.”  Aittera’s voice came over his com, and he wasn’t going to argue or push his luck.  He brought the ship around, transferring shield power aft as he made his preparations for the short hyperspace jump.  


“Be careful; don’t take risks. Find a spot to hide on the planet and send me coordinates over the secure channel.”  He took one last second to tell her something that she already knew, then quickly added, “I love you.”  Before the stars around him went solid and he entered hyperspace.


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On the bridge of the Destroyer, the large Darth in Sith armor watched the freighter enter hyperspace before he gave orders to his attaché without even looking at her. “Launch the recovery shuttles, I want the escape pod from that second ship brought on board. ”


“Yes, Lord Ragious, at once.”  She saluted him with a hand across her chest before she scurried off to carry out his orders, leaving him to reach out with the force to find his target, so that he could direct the recovery shuttles once he did.

Kel'ri's Journal

"So...yeh. Busy with trying to get this charity off the ground and that guy in my bed. Would something on this boat please break so I have something to fix!!!"