Chapter 7: Ambush
(Over a Month Later)
"SD double-check those navigation systems we don't want to end up warping into a star while we escape," Jaden shouted as he lay on his back under the command console of the ship trying to bypass the encryption codes. It had been a long month and they were finally on their way to Jabiim, which wasn't good at all. Jaden had believed he had another good plan when he thought to take the saboteurs ship and fly it down to the planet, but unfortunately, that wasn't going to be.
Aurra Sing was a high-level assassin and Bounty Hunter so her ship reflected that, as soon as Jaden saw her ship she fell in love with it, a sleek black Baudo-class star yacht with a customised cloaking system that managed to scramble her signature on the radar but from what Jaden could tell it couldn't be used too long otherwise it would burn out the system. It uses the Hyperdrive engines in a way that Jaden had to admit was ingenious, before entering Hyperspace the Hyperdrive creates a warp bubble around the ship which would be directed by the Hyperdrive to propel it into Hyperspace. However this cloaking system manages to maintain that state without actually going into Hyperspace, Aurra could've piloted her ship right up to the senate building and no one would've noticed unless they looked out the window, it was perfect for someone like Jaden.
Though this is where the problem lay, her ship had to be towed in from where it was docked on the shell of the Defender because when a Clone Trooper tried to access it the panel shocked and killed him. Jaden wouldn't be surprised if there were all sorts booby traps around the ship and so for the past month he and SD8 and been sweeping through the entire system looking for and disabling all the traps onboard, it had taken a while as he was doing this in addition to his training. What Jaden was trying to do now was break through the encryption on the command console, if he did this then he wouldn't worry about the booby traps he'd have full command privileges and would be able to disable them with the press of a button, though this was unfortunately much harder than it sounded.
Like everything else on this ship, Aurra's system had a high level of encryption protecting it from people like Jaden, it was even more protected than the database he cracked into on Coruscant but unlike there he didn't have the benefit of having his slicer kit with him. He had to bypass the encryption by hand and from scratch which he wasn't even sure he could do and yet he was making progress, something that surprised him as he was working beyond his ability at the moment.
When he mentioned this to Satele she had said that there was a force ability that presented itself in the way of having an intuitive understanding of mechanical and electrical systems. Mecha-deru was seen as a dark side ability but Satele assured him that this wasn't due to its nature but due to the origins of the ability, she also seemed rather excited that Jaden had such natural talent in the force.
*Bzzzt*
"Kriff!" Jaden said as he shook his hand, he'd tripped a wire and caused it to send a rather considerable shock into his hand, luckily he'd improved greatly in his usage of tutaminis and was able to dissipate the shock before it harmed his body. He continued his task of rewiring the control panel hoping it would give him access to secondary functions, from there he could try and get into the main systems through engine control, the two systems were linked together as the engines powered the ship.
'Once I get this ship up and running I am out of here!' He thought to himself with a smirk on his face, though if he was being honest with himself he had enjoyed his time with Commander Delts and even to some extent Admiral Novak, once Jaden had shown a willingness to learn and become a competent commander both men had taken a liking to him, especially since he'd stopped the saboteur from causing even more damage.
"SD run the charge through the tertiary relays on my mark!" Jaden instructed.
"Beep Boop."
"Mark!" He shouted and SD8 sent a charge through the system while Jaden connected the rewired systems and the lights to the ship powered on signifying that it had worked and he'd managed to access the engine systems.
Jaden lay down as he sighed with relief "Finally..." he breathed out as he wiped the sweat off his head and then pulled himself from under the panel. He'd gotten through with the hard part, cracking into the command system from the engines was going to be a lot easier based on how this system worked.
Jaden sat down in the captain's chair and started typing on the panel and attempting to create a backdoor in the command systems 'This ship is almost mine.' He thought to himself with a grin as flashes of code started appearing on a holographic screen in front of him.
*ALARM*
*All Hands To Battle Stations*
Jaden whipped his head around in panic "No! No! No! it's too early kriff!" Jaden cursed as he turned back around and started typing with increased ferocity trying to get it done faster.
"General Katarn be advised incursion into Jabiim is occurring momentarily, be prepared drop ships are readying themselves now." Commander Delts said through the comms.
"Damn it!"
———————————————————
Admiral Novak stood on the bridge of the ship with his hands behind his back, the alarms were still blaring as everyone ran to get in their positions, all eight ships were about to drop out of Hyperspace. The Defender was leading two more Venator-class cruisers and five Acclamator-class assault ships. From the reports the Admiral had been getting the entire fleet battle above Jabiim had been a horrid affair, a game of tag where the losing side retreats only to attack one again before the other side can start securing a supply line down to the planet. The ground forces on Jabiim were taking heavy losses as of late so Admiral Novak needed to reinforce the current fleet and punch through the enemy lines so they could send reinforcements down to the planet.
"Admiral, the Endurance and the Steadfast are ready and have the troops loaded in the Gunships." One of his officers stated as he saluted the Admiral.
Admiral Novak wasn't feeling hopeful about their situation, for some reason, he had a pit forming in his stomach and he couldn't help but feel this wasn't the right course of action. The plan was to get in close and push the enemy fleet back while sending the gunships down to the planet, worst-case scenario if they had to retreat at least a fresh company of men would be reinforcing the planet. But the issue with this plan lay in the fact that the gunships would be sitting ducks for the separatists and they could very easily wipe them all out if the fleet wasn't able to cover them.
"Lieutenant..." Admiral Novak said in a flat tone.
"Yes sir!" The Lieutenant replied as he stood up from his station.
"How many Clones are unable to be ferried down to the planet in the first wave of gunships?" He asked.
"Just over half sir." The Lieutenant replied.
Admiral Novak stroked his chin which had slowly been growing coarse grey hairs on it while he thought about the situation "I want the remaining clones and equipment in the escape pods." Admiral Novak commanded.
"The escape pods sir?" The Lieutenant asked with slight confusion in his voice.
"Yes now do it!" He boomed making the Lieutenant launch into action and begin relaying his orders. Hopefully, Novak was wrong and his bad feeling was simply his paranoia and nothing more than that.
"Sir we are about to exit Hyperspace!" The flight officer called out from his panel.
"All hands battle stations!" Admiral Novak called throughout the ship.
The swirling vortex of the hyperspace lane they were using slowly opened up and at tremendous speeds, all eight ships exited hyperspace and flew right into the debris of a Venator-class cruiser "Deflector shields to full!" Admiral Novak shouted as they collided with the debris knocking the people on the bridge off balance. However, once the deflectors were active they pushed away the remaining debris, Admiral Novak looked out to the scene in front of him and clenched his fist, it was like seeing a graveyard of both Separatist and Republic ships.
"Send out an open hail and start scanning for survivors!" Novak ordered.
"Right away sir!" One of the officers responded.
"Keep weapons hot I don't want any surprises." He ordered as he kept an eye out across the large space.
"Once we get close enough to the planet open the hangar bay doors and start sending the ships down," Novak ordered.
"Sir what about the men in the escape pods?" The Lieutenant from earlier asked.
For a moment Novak didn't respond, while this was all a bleak sight all evidence suggested that both fleets annihilated each other, and yet he still couldn't get rid of that sick feeling in his stomach "Have you picked up anything on long-range scanners, any separatist ships? Any ships at all?" Novak asked.
But the Lieutenant shook his head "Long-range scanners are empty sir there is no one here in at least 100 parsecs." He responded.
Novak straightened up with a frown still on his face "Carry on Lieutenant." He simply said.
"But sir what about-"
"Carry on Lieutenant!" He said more forcefully this time silencing the officer back down into his seat as he continued his task of searching for survivors.
The small fleet started to approach the planet and were still undisturbed, even the officers on the bridge were starting to get nervous, they'd all come here expecting a fight and yet there was nothing, no separatists were here to greet them nothing.
"Sir we have achieved Geostationary orbit around Jabiim." The flight officer relayed, Novak nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Open hanger bay doors and start moving ground forces," Admiral Novak ordered.
All three Venator-class cruisers started opening up their hangar bay doors down the middle and soon after gunships full of clones started flying out the middle and towards the planet. Novak kept a watchful eye as he did, he looked down at Jabiim and noticed the rather harsh electrical storm making its way across the northern hemisphere of the planet.
"Admiral I've finished my scan of the debris, unfortunately, there were no survivors..." the lieutenant said in a morose tone.
However, Novak was getting an increasingly bad feeling as he watched the storm. In his entire life, he'd never seen something that looked so unnatural, the storm was filled with clouds that were too dark and the lightning that sparked between them was green "Lieutenant scan that storm cloud in the northern hemisphere," Novak ordered.
"Yes sir." The Lieutenant replied before tapping on the panel and doing just that, a holographic screen appeared on the window with a zoomed-in picture of the storm.
"There do you see it!" Novak shouted catching the attention of the others on the bridge.
"No sir I'm sorry I don't see anything," the Lieutenant replied.
Admiral Novak was sure he saw something, he looked again intently before taking a deep breath and giving up, perhaps he'd let his paranoia get the best of him. He was just about to order the Lieutenant to dismiss the screen when something flashed red in the cloud "There it is!" He said with a high degree of certainty. Only this time more and more flashes of red kept occurring in the cloud plain for all of the officers to see.
"What is tha-"
*BOOM*
All the officers standing were knocked off their feet as the ship rocked and sent them careening to the floor including the Admiral. Novak quickly realised what had happened, this whole thing was a trap and they walked right into it. The separatists destroyed the republic fleet though they must've taken heavy losses themselves, seeing the fleet coming on their long-range sensors they flew into the atmosphere of the planet and started releasing plasma from their engine core, mixing with the clouds it formed an artificial storm hiding the remaining ships and giving them a chance to get a good blow when the cruisers deflectors were down.
"Damage report!" Admiral Novak shouted as he stood up from the ground touching his hand to his head and feeling the blood pouring down.
"Damage report!!!" He shouted once again.
"We've lost power to long-range sensors, aft turbo lasers and we have hull breaches on sections 12-30," one of the officers replied as he dragged himself back up to his seat.
*BOOM*
The whole ship was rocked again making them all stumble as another volley of lasers hit the ship "Get the damn deflectors online!" Novak shouted.
"But sir what about the rest of the gunships," One of the officers asked.
"Order them to halt, the rest of them are on their own." He said grimly.
"Now what are you waiting for fire the damn turbo lasers at those ships!!!" He shouted.
"Yes sir!" They all replied.
All eight ships started firing down at the hidden separatist fleet in the atmosphere of the planet, the assault vessels were in much better condition as they hadn't deactivated their deflectors so they immediately began firing on the planet. All eight ships were heavily armed, once the separatists gave away their position they soon lost the advantage and would soon all be destroyed. The storm had managed to dissipate somewhat giving a blurred image of what ships were firing on them.
"Only five Munificent-class cruisers? They must've lost their dreadnoughts in the battle." Novak muttered to himself, though it didn't matter, this was good as it meant they could still secure this space and have air superiority in this battle.
"Sir enemies are incoming on short-range scanners!" The Lieutenant stated in a panic.
"How did they show on long-range beforehand?!" Novak practically shouted at the lieutenant.
"They must've been hiding in a nebula or a neighbouring star's orbit, the electric and gravimetric disturbances would shield them from our scans and once those ships knocked out our scanners they started moving!" The Lieutenant stated the most likely theory.
"Damn!" Novak shouted.
"Defensive pattern Delta-04, I want our engines defended at all costs!" Novak shouted.
"Right away sir!" They all shouted, the orders were relayed to the other ships and three of the five Acclamator-class assault vessels moved to the back of the Venator-class cruisers where they would defend the engines. The other two would station themselves at each side of the three cruisers where they could better defend them.
"Separatist ships are incoming!"
"Close hanger bay doors and reroute all available power to the weapons!" Novak commanded.
"But sir what about the star fighters!" One of the officers asked.
"To hell with them, they will only be scrap at the moment and we will need to save everything we can!" The Admiral replied.
Coming out of Hyperspace ten separatist ships appeared, four Providence-class dreadnoughts and six Munificent-class cruisers. They all looked undamaged and fully powered which didn't look good for the republic fleet.
"Drop all escape pods to the planet!" Novak commanded.
"Sir?"
"Do as I say, Lieutenant, the gunships are unlikely to make it but the escape pods might, they are designed to crash and will travel a lot faster," Novak reasoned.
"We will have to retreat soon or we will end up joining the men in this graveyard, but we can't afford not to reinforce the planet, so they will have to make do with this," Novak said in a morose tone.
"Dropping now sir!" The officer replied as the escape pods from all three ships were launched to the planet. Novak knew they would be dooming themselves should anything happen to this ship but these kinds of sacrifices had to be made during war.
"Now fire all weapons!!!" He shouted.
———————————————————-
The alarm was blaring and it only made Jaden more nervous as his fingers moved as fast as they could trying to get into the main system, he'd almost been knocked out of his chair twice now meaning that the battle was starting he needed to get the hell out of here.
"SD any progress?!" He asked in a slight panic.
"Beep Boop Beep."
"I would do it myself but as you can see I am a bit busy!" Jaden snapped back.
"And here... we... go!" He shouted as all the systems came online and the main console unlocked.
Jaden couldn't help but laugh "I am truly the greatest!" He said aloud as he sat back in his seat. As he looked through the windscreen he saw the hanger doors begin to close "Kriff!" He shouted before going back to the console.
"SD start the engines we are leaving now!" Jaden instructed.
The little droid ran on its small feet towards the left-hand console and plugged himself in, though it was taking too long for Jaden's liking "What's the holdup SD." He asked impatiently as saw the doors slowly close.
"Beep Beep Beep."
"Don't run pre-engine checks we don't have time! Start the engines now!" He shouted at the small droid and as he did the engine flared to life, pulling up on the controls the ship lifted off the ground, Jaden then pushed the thrusters forward and the ship shot off out of the docking bay, he turned it on its side barely managing to get out of the hanger bay before it closed.
"Wooooo!" He shouted as he managed to get out and was now flying away from the republic fleet.
However, his celebrations didn't last too long when he felt a disturbance in the force. He force jumped out of his seat and flipped backwards just in time to evade a shot that would've ended his life instantly, looking behind him while he was still midair he was surprised when he saw Aurra Sing now on the ship. He unclipped his lightsaber and ignited it before deflecting another shot sent by the assassin, landing in front of her he swung his lightsaber aiming to disarm her but she leapt back while firing.
Jaden smirked as he easily deflected all the shots, he'd been disappointed how difficult he found deflecting blaster bolts when he fought against her the first time so he'd dedicated a couple of weeks to getting used to doing it in the simulation room. Needless to say, he had improved and it was a lot easier now, though he still struggled with multiple groups of people.
Jaden rushed towards her deflecting each shot while Aurra tried to stay out of his range "I thought you went to Coruscant in an escape pod." Jaden commented as he deflected a blast back at her that she deftly dodged.
She let out a light giggle before scowling at him "You think I'd let you republic dogs steal my beautiful ship, not a chance!" She said loudly before shooting at his hand. Jaden had to move his lightsaber up or be disarmed, this allowed Aurra to close in on him, she slid right underneath him before pushing herself up feet first and kicking Jaden across the cockpit. The lightsaber deactivated as it was flung out of his hand, Jaden quickly rolled backwards before jumping out of the way of more blaster fire.
"Alright, no more playing fair..." Jaden muttered to himself before standing up from behind the console he was hiding and reaching out towards Aurra, with a gesture of his hand her weapon was pulled out of her grasp and flung to the floor.
She scowled before reaching for her vibrio-blade, when Jaden tried to do it again he found something was blocking him and she smirked at him "You think you're the only one who can use the force, sorry to burst your bubble," she said before rushing towards him.
However, as she got close she was soon flung back across the cockpit and pinned to the wall as Jaden's hand reached out towards her "You might be able to block me normally but not when I'm like this..." Jaden said in a deep tone.
He let his anger and rage fuel his abilities and he felt her defences crush beneath his power as he held her at his mercy. He decided to dismiss Satele's advice and in secret, he learnt how to channel the dark side, he had to admit the power was intoxicating, this woman that had given him so many problems when they'd fought was now at his mercy and just a simple gesture away from having her life extinguished.
Jaden breathed as he tried to maintain control, but with the dark emotions flooding his mind, he found it difficult. He pulled his hand back before slamming Aurra into the wall again knocking her out, he then reached out to a nearby chair and in an instant stripped it of its metal that he quickly bent around her body forming a rudimentary restraint.
Finally letting go he seemed to very quickly go back to normal, as if everything he was feeling was just a dream. He knew it was weird but he decided now was not the time to think about it as he retook his seat.
*BOOM*
The whole ship shook and Jaden was forced forward "SD what was that!" He shouted.
"Beep Boop"
"A booby trap! But we disabled them all!" Jaden shouted back.
"Boop Boop Beep!"
"Now is not the time to say I told you so about the pre-engine checks!" Jaden shouted as he tried hard to regain control of his ship, but engines were stuttering and he was heading down to the planet having been caught in its well.
"SD try and reroute power! Give me anything!" He shouted desperately as he tried re-engaging the engines but to no effect.
"Kriff! Kriff!" He shouted as he was getting closer and closer to the planet's upper atmosphere.
"Hang on SD!"
"HANG ON!!!"
(AN: So a different perspective this time around, tbh it just made sense with the story, and now Jaden is heading towards the planet. I skipped a lot of the training cause while it can be cool to include it, I've already done a chapter on it and doing more seemed pointless, I don't really like fics that do training that takes like 5 chapters it gets a bit boring. Anyway hope you liked the chapter.
Also shout out to Lastresort for the ship idea, I probably would've gave Jaden a boring ship if he hadn't suggested one.
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