Ask The Nuances of War

[Alyrra Adasca]

En route to Genassa || Somewhere between Arkania and Genassa
Mid Rim
22:00 Galactic Standard Time

Alyrra did not know what system they were in when the attack came; but when it did, it came hard. Her captain had made every plea, raised every signal, and the hull of her ship was carrying the emblems of both the New Republic and Arkania. There was no question the attackers were striking at an unarmed diplomatic vessel. Lyra similarly did not know why they were attacking. Her mission was merely to travel to Genassa to negotiate a new trade deal with agri-world.

Why would renegades want to stop that?

"I'm sorry ma'm," her captain said, sweat beading his brow. He was about to suggest the unthinkable, and there was nothing she could do to deter him. "We need to surrender. If the hull takes much more damage, their cannons could pierce our armor and decompress the entire cabin."

Lyra's mind raced for solutions. Outside the main cockpit viewport was a small squadron of circular, saucer-like ships loomed just beyond reach. In all likelihood, they were pirates from Ord Mantell. Whether or not they knew what prize they had captured was unknown to her, but they were about to find out. "Very well, captain," Lyra said, resigning herself to what she must do. Which, of course, was anything but give up. "Raise the lead vessel and indicate our willingness to surrender. But take it slow. Can we put out a distress call?"

Another volley of shots barely missed the hull. They would not have much more time to deliberate. "I'm not sure who would be out this far that could help us," her captain informed her truthfully. "The nearest Free Worlds system is Orinda. I could try Ithor. It's closer, but—"

"It's Jedi."

The New Republic — Lyra herself — had spoken out loudly against the Jedi. They were not allies, and not like to rescue a Senator who failed to come to their aid in the last Senate session. She wasn't sure she liked the political optics of being saved by the Jedi either; but her crew's lives mattered more than her pride. "Try them both," she instructed. "Use a coded transmission just in case."

Her captain nodded his understanding and set to work. A shadow crossed over the viewport as the largest of the enemy vessels accepted their surrender and repositioned itself over their docking ring. Lyra had no hope her last minute call for help would make it in time, or fall on friendly ears. So she braced herself for what was to come and prepared to be boarded.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

“A distress signal?” Tazlen grimaced instantly. He was in a standard starfighter doing routine patrols in Jedi airspace. The operatives were working to decode the transmission but standard protocol was to investigate proactively. Tazlen wasn’t a fan of this practice, but it aligned with the Jedi way of doing things - help first, ask questions later.

Within moments, he zoomed into the scene and his jaw dropped. The single diplomatic vessel was under fire from multiple ships and stalled out in space. The Jedi pulled up his comms and contacted the base back on the planet, “I’m gonna need backup here,” He said urgently, “Looks like a Republic vessel. Non combat. About four attackers circling it - may be that gang that caused us issues a few weeks ago,” Tazlen observed what was happening, “I think they plan on boar-”

And that was when the assailants began to continue firing on the Republic ship with no intention of boarding.

“Fuck!” Tazlen snapped as he charged towards the smaller ships. It was a suicidal move, but the diplomatic ship wouldn’t hold for long with the hits it was taking. He hoped to be enough of a nuisance to keep the heat off the ship until backup arrived. He unleashed his own stream of cannonfire,

@Malon

 

[Alyrra Adasca]

The blast hit the hull hard enough to send Lyra face first into a console. Then her stomach dropped out from under her as gravity caught her ship and began to pull her towards the nearby planet's atmosphere. She tried to steady herself, tried to push herself up from the console she had fallen into, but gravity and pain kept her rooted in place.

"Senator!" called her captain. "You must strap yourself in if you are to survive the impact."

He frantically hauled her up and tossed her into a seat before fiddling with the safety belt. She tried to fight with him, but she was still dazed, and he was stronger. "You need to do the same," she pleaded with him as the belts snapped into place. "Captain, that is an—"

Turbulence seized the small craft as it shot like a meteor through the planet's upper atmosphere. Through the front viewport, Lyra could faintly see an ocean of trees, a forest world stretching out before her, just before the canopy rose up and a sudden jolt made everything go black.

When she awoke a few moments later, she was still in her seat, but the back half of the ship had been torn away. As she unbuckled and peeled her bleeding self from the seat, she spotted the other half in a nearby tree. There was no sign of her ship's captain. He was likely dead.

Lyra stumbled from the wreckage, unsure of what her next move should be. There was no way her comms would work after the crash. Her legs were jelly and would not carry her far. Blood stained her clothing and her skin, but she could not tell where she was bleeding from or how severe the injuries were. All she knew was what she could see overhead: a battle, lasers lancing out between craft in the upper atmosphere, and two saucer-shaped ships descending towards her crash site.

"Fuck," she cursed.

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

“Are you sending anyone in!? I can’t take these on just by myself!” Taz cried out into his channels. He managed to shoot two of the pirate crafts down, but it wasn’t enough. He saw the Republic ship begin to slant towards the planet, “The ship’s going down!” Tazlen almost got clipped on one of his wings as the saucers engaged him in combat. He cursed himself and swooped towards the surface of the planet after the two ships that were hellbent on staying on the Republic ship.

Thankfully, as soon as they breached into the atmosphere, Tazlen could see multiple Jedi starfighters streaking across the sky. He zoomed right past them as they flew up to engage the attackers, leaving him to pursue the crashed ship. Tazlen landed nearby, the tail of his own craft on fire. He coughed and sputtered, feeling the intense heat as he hastily worked to put out the fire. After a moment he finally climbed out of the starfighter, making his way over to the downed ship.

"Hello?" Taz called out for any survivors, igniting his blade to cut into the hull of the ship if needed. He heard someone mutter a curse not too far away, walking around to spot a face he recognized from Holonet.

"Oh," He stated flatly at the sight of her, perhaps a tad louder than intended. This bitch. His face didn't betray anything as he quickly jogged over to her.

"Are you all right, Senator?" He asked urgently, giving her a once over. She appeared to not be dying at least, "Are there others in the ship?"

@Malon

 

[Alyrra Adasca]

Lyra had not missed the flatness of the Jedi's tone. Dazed and bleeding as she were, she had not been rendered deaf by the crash, nor fully taken leave of her senses. She knew the Jedi were not fond of her, and she was not fond of them if she was completely honest. But, like her or dislike her, this Jedi had come to her rescue, and she supposed she could be thankful for that much at least.

"I'm alright," she lied, as if the obvious blood stains on her skin and clothes weren't clearly visible to the young Jedi man. "My crew is not. I've not been able to find the captain. A human man about your height. Brown hair. Gold eyes. Have you seen him?"

She only asked out of the obligation she felt towards the man who had saved her life by strapping her to her seat. And perhaps to his family. She knew he was dead. It was only a matter of finding his body, if there was indeed anything left of it.

Lyra looked up then and got her first real look at the Jedi. He was clearly Annfyn, or at least part judging by his pointed ears. His face was the picture of duty and concern. His friends on the other hand... "Your friends seem to be having a little trouble up there," she noted, nodding above the canopy where the remaining Jedi crafts danced with a swarm of saucer ships. "Perhaps we should—"

An explosion ripped through the air, bringing a sharp ringing in her ears with it as she ducked down, covering them against the shockwave. She didn't get a good look at what had exploded, only that it had landed in the woods and set distant trees ablaze.

Why were these pirates so damn persistent?

@Sreeya

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen shook his head at her question. In fact, he highly doubted anyone was left alive. They were either dead or unconscious, because his sharp ears would pick it up otherwise. He was already looking towards the sky, concern flashing across his face, “So it appears..” He said with distaste in his tone. His eyes flicked back to the Senator, “They appear rather persistent. Do you know why-”

He didn’t get the rest of his sentence out as a massive explosion erupted. Out of habit, Tazlen shielded her against any potential debris coming this way. His eyes almost watered from the noise, a fatal flaw of having sharp hearing. Tazlen drew back from the Senator again, “I have to get you to cover,” He told her urgently, “I’ll have to come back for your crew later.”

Not giving her much of a chance to argue, Tazlen motioned for her to start running. They barely managed a few steps before one of the saucer ships loomed low enough to start firing at them. The Jedi whirled around just in time to deflect a bolt that was clearly aimed for Alyrra with his saber. He held off a few, but he knew this was unsustainable. Thankfully a Jedi ship swooped in to start firing on the saucer to give them a temporary reprieve.

“No time,” Tazlen said quickly as he ran over and casually hoisted the Senator up and tossed her over his shoulder. He would ignore any complaining or whining, needing an arm free to fend off any bolts. Tazlen kept alert for incoming attacks as he gathered the Force and began to take massive leaps to cover distance and throw off any attacks. He continued that till they arrived at an outpost, the towers there enough to fire back at any ships that hovered too low.

Tazlen gently set Alyrra down, breathing heavily from exertion, “Sorry about that..” He muttered, smiling sheepishly. He glanced back the way they came. It was pure chaos and way too dangerous to go back just yet, "What the hell did you do up there?" Tazlen blurted out before he could stop himself.

@Malon

 

[Alyrra Adasca]

Lyra felt like a freshly shaken drink by the time the Jedi set her down, her thoughts as jumbled as her organs felt. She remembered wanting to protest leaving her crew behind before her ear drums had practically exploded and she was being whisked away like one of those stolen princesses from the holo-dramas.

By the time she was settled and her ears had stopped ringing, she had only barely heard his apology and instead focused on the question he posed her after. And given how her day had gone so far, the normal niceties of her politician facade had utterly and thoroughly shattered.

"What did I do?" she snapped, breathless at his audacity. "My ship is unarmed and caries all the hallmarks of a diplomatic vessel; and look at me, Master Jedi — an unarmed woman in a soiled dress! There are insects on this planet more a threat than me, and I don't even know what planet we're on!"

This couldn't be her destination. She had been to Genassa more than once in her lifetime to make this very trip and this very deal. This had to be one of the worlds that lay in-between Arkania and Genassa.

She sucked in a deep breath. The sudden fatigue that washed over her also flushed away her anger and she at once felt bad for her outburst. "Sorry," she said. "That was unbecoming of me. You rescued me, I owe you my life." And then a second wave of emotions crashed over her. Loss for her captain and ship, shame for the failure of her mission. Her grandmother would skin her alive for this. "The fact is that I don't what happened up there. I am on a diplomatic mission to Genassa. A simple trade negotiation to secure foodstuffs for Arkania. I wasn't even carrying anything important aboard, save myself."

And what importance was she really? A junior senator from a frozen wasteland? There was hardly anything to be gained for kidnapping her or shooting her out of the sky. Not that she could see, at least.

@Sreeya