Myrkr, Later Wednesday Fandom Time
Jul. 10th, 2013 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonelikemesinceWith the rest of the ship's Yuuzhan Vong crew put off in the shuttle and a hyperspace course set for Myrkr, Anakin's team finally had a chance to rest up, repair the droids, and heal a bit -- when they weren't taking turns to guard against (or, if you were the Barabels, try to hunt) the voxyn loose in the ducts, anyway. Anakin was more than a little bit furious with himself for not having taken into account that the ship's structure might pose that kind of problem. His entire team was alive, though. So they were still doing okay.
Then they dropped out of hyperspace to find a Yuuzhan Vong worldship and half a dozen capital ships orbiting the planet. Through the lambent in his lightsaber Anakin could sense the presumed voxyn queen on board, which meant the cloning facility was likely to be on the worldship, but complicating matters he could also sense the much clearer Force presence of Jedi. As Ganner put it, that sent their plan of just destroying the entire thing with a baradium missile right out the lock.
Besides, after Jacen's accusations Anakin was even more determined to prove him wrong.
"That is very brave, of course," remarked Alema, and he really wished she would stop hanging all over him. "But if we forgo our best plan, we stand to lose more Jedi than we would save."
"Alema, I think Anakin knows what's at stake here," Jacen called from the back of the bridge.
Anakin suppressed a flare of irritation. "I can handle this, Jacen. And there's no need to remind me about the dark side. I understand the consequences of killing our own."
"Anakin, I only meant --"
He wasn't in the mood to hear another apology. "Shouldn't you be at your battle station? Shouldn't everyone?"
Lando had warned him about this, told him that he'd have to face choices where every option felt wrong. But the Force had always steered him in the right direction before. This wasn't different from any other situation he'd ever faced and gotten out of alive, he told himself. It was just bigger.
Even when they realized they were being led into a trap, that wasn't any different. He was used to that. Even when the enemy commander informed them that the hostages at Talfaglio were forfeit if it came to a firefight, Anakin had to trust that Luke and the others were prepared for action, because it certainly would come down to that. Sacrificing the baradium missile to take out one of the Yuuzhan Vong cruisers made things a little more complicated, but --
"What now?" asked Ganner. "Plan D?"
Basically, yes. Anakin winced, but he was already trying to figure out how to use the cargo pods to simultaneously stage a decoy attack and get them off the ship. One of them would have to stay behind to draw off the other ships, of course, and then find some way to escape. It was . . . not a fool-proof plan, not by a long shot. He knew that as soon as he started explaining it to the others.
"I must be the one to stay with the ship," Ulaha spoke up, and a chill ran down his spine.
Jaina felt the same as Anakin, which he could tell through the meld before she even spoke. "No offense, Ulaha, but you're hardly up to something like this."
"Perhaps not, but I am a pilot. And the Exquisite Death is hardly a starfighter." Ulaha had analyzed the plan, and the results were displayed on the datapad she handed to Anakin. "As stated, your plan has a twenty-one percent success probability, with a casualty projection in excess of ninety percent. Without me to burden you on the ground, your success probability rises to almost fifty percent."
No. He'd tried so hard not to lose any of his team, and he didn't want to start now. Ulaha had barely had time to recover from the breaking, and as it was she was still incredibly weak. If the ship was boarded, they'd inevitably interrogate her about the whereabouts of the others, and there was no way she'd survive that the way one of the others might. Through the meld, he could already sense her determination to fly the ship until they were forced to shoot it down. He couldn't ask her to do it -- it would be exactly what Jacen accused him of, sacrificing people for the sake of the mission -- but if they didn't succeed even more Jedi would die, and by their ever-lowering standards 50 percent was practically outstanding.
The rest of the team made it to the worldship alive, but the farewell song Ulaha sent them through the meld just before they felt her life blink out in the Force was going to linger with Anakin for a long time.
[OOC: NFI/NFB/TBC/etc., dialogue from Star by Star by Troy Denning, ad nauseam.
Content warning for NPC character death, which is going to be a continuing trend from here on out.]
Then they dropped out of hyperspace to find a Yuuzhan Vong worldship and half a dozen capital ships orbiting the planet. Through the lambent in his lightsaber Anakin could sense the presumed voxyn queen on board, which meant the cloning facility was likely to be on the worldship, but complicating matters he could also sense the much clearer Force presence of Jedi. As Ganner put it, that sent their plan of just destroying the entire thing with a baradium missile right out the lock.
Besides, after Jacen's accusations Anakin was even more determined to prove him wrong.
"That is very brave, of course," remarked Alema, and he really wished she would stop hanging all over him. "But if we forgo our best plan, we stand to lose more Jedi than we would save."
"Alema, I think Anakin knows what's at stake here," Jacen called from the back of the bridge.
Anakin suppressed a flare of irritation. "I can handle this, Jacen. And there's no need to remind me about the dark side. I understand the consequences of killing our own."
"Anakin, I only meant --"
He wasn't in the mood to hear another apology. "Shouldn't you be at your battle station? Shouldn't everyone?"
Lando had warned him about this, told him that he'd have to face choices where every option felt wrong. But the Force had always steered him in the right direction before. This wasn't different from any other situation he'd ever faced and gotten out of alive, he told himself. It was just bigger.
Even when they realized they were being led into a trap, that wasn't any different. He was used to that. Even when the enemy commander informed them that the hostages at Talfaglio were forfeit if it came to a firefight, Anakin had to trust that Luke and the others were prepared for action, because it certainly would come down to that. Sacrificing the baradium missile to take out one of the Yuuzhan Vong cruisers made things a little more complicated, but --
"What now?" asked Ganner. "Plan D?"
Basically, yes. Anakin winced, but he was already trying to figure out how to use the cargo pods to simultaneously stage a decoy attack and get them off the ship. One of them would have to stay behind to draw off the other ships, of course, and then find some way to escape. It was . . . not a fool-proof plan, not by a long shot. He knew that as soon as he started explaining it to the others.
"I must be the one to stay with the ship," Ulaha spoke up, and a chill ran down his spine.
Jaina felt the same as Anakin, which he could tell through the meld before she even spoke. "No offense, Ulaha, but you're hardly up to something like this."
"Perhaps not, but I am a pilot. And the Exquisite Death is hardly a starfighter." Ulaha had analyzed the plan, and the results were displayed on the datapad she handed to Anakin. "As stated, your plan has a twenty-one percent success probability, with a casualty projection in excess of ninety percent. Without me to burden you on the ground, your success probability rises to almost fifty percent."
No. He'd tried so hard not to lose any of his team, and he didn't want to start now. Ulaha had barely had time to recover from the breaking, and as it was she was still incredibly weak. If the ship was boarded, they'd inevitably interrogate her about the whereabouts of the others, and there was no way she'd survive that the way one of the others might. Through the meld, he could already sense her determination to fly the ship until they were forced to shoot it down. He couldn't ask her to do it -- it would be exactly what Jacen accused him of, sacrificing people for the sake of the mission -- but if they didn't succeed even more Jedi would die, and by their ever-lowering standards 50 percent was practically outstanding.
The rest of the team made it to the worldship alive, but the farewell song Ulaha sent them through the meld just before they felt her life blink out in the Force was going to linger with Anakin for a long time.
[OOC: NFI/NFB/TBC/etc., dialogue from Star by Star by Troy Denning, ad nauseam.
Content warning for NPC character death, which is going to be a continuing trend from here on out.]
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Date: 2013-07-11 01:49 am (UTC)