A Link in the Chain [Star Wars SI]

[Rictus]

Chapter 1


"Strap in. We're jumping to hyperspace in five."

As the helmsman's voice came over the intercom, I sat myself against a wall and focused my eyes on the deck, well away from the nearby viewport. I was taking in my first slow breath as the ship lurched below me.

Immediately, nausea swept over me. I gulped down the feeling as best I could and kept up my breathing.

As it was starting to pass, a pair of boots entered my field of vision.

"Transition still bothering you?"

Not trusting myself to speak at the moment without vomiting, I nodded.

"Ah, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Hyperspace is always a bit screwy for the Force-strong," The boots took a few steps back before their owner seated themselves opposite of me, "At least yours goes away after a few minutes. I've heard of some poor bastards that get bedridden the whole time they're in transit."

Small blessing, that. Being strong in the Force had its downsides. Some especially lucky people never got this particular side effect, though most others managed to train it out of themselves. I wasn't that lucky yet.

The man across from me was the ship's captain, Xipher. No last name, or if he had one I haven't been able to pry it out of anyone. While he looked human, Xipher was actually a Near-Human. With his elfin ears and claw-tipped fingers, he might have some Sephi blood, though he was a bit too bulky to be a full-blooded Sephi. He was tall with a heavy frame, though how much was muscle and how much was age was difficult to tell. His wrinkled pale face was framed by a bushy white beard and his long hair was pulled up into a tall ponytail, giving him a sort of ghostly appearance.

I'm not sure of his exact age, but he was old enough to have great-grandkids running around.

That wasn't an exaggeration. He actually did have great-grandkids running around.

His ship, the Moon Eye, was as much his house as his transportation. Four generations of his family lived in the Gozanti cruiser, though none of them had his less human features. His daughter Galena was the pilot and her husband Kaeler was the main engineer. The rest of the family, somewhere around twenty others, ranged from two years old to fifty. The adults fulfilled other jobs around the vessel while the children scrambled underfoot. It was…hectic, but livable.

Eventually, the nausea passed. Xipher always seemed to know the exact moment, like he was timing it. Probably came from being Force Sensitive himself.

Standing up, he held out a hand, "Alright Strider, you know the drill by now. We're gonna be in hyperspace for a few hours, so you need to get training. Adacap's orders."

Pushing down the last of my queasiness, I grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled myself up.

Training. Yay.

====================================================================================================

I've been with Xipher and his family for about four months, but not out of choice. Despite how nice they were to me, they were not good people. At least, not the adults, who knew full well what they did. On the exterior of the Moon Eye, a length of flaming chain was emblazoned on the side of the ship.

The Blazing Chain were roving pirates, wandering the Unknown Regions in autonomous fleets that could number anywhere from a handful of ramshackle vessels to dozens of warships, plundered over the centuries. They raided merchant ships, planets…anyone or anything that crossed their paths.

At their inception, they hadn't been any better or worse than any other pirate band, albeit with a higher than average number of Force Sensitives among their number. That changed when remnants of Exar Kun's Sith Brotherhood fled into the Unknown Regions following the defeat of their master. While the most of the Sith were killed, some of the weaker ones ended up joining the Blazing Chain.

Since then, the number of Force Sensitives grew. By now, nearly eighty percent of all Blazing Chain members were Force Sensitive. To put that in perspective, that meant that every eight out of ten people you met on the fleet were Force Sensitive. There were a few thousand people spread across just this fleet.

Besides the ones that were born in the fleets, the Blazing Chain accepted all comers, so long as they had something to contribute to the whole. Failed Jedi, fleeing Sith, or even just random Force Sensitives they found along the way.

That's how I got here.

Somehow, I ended up floating out in the blackness of space in a derelict ship, sealed into a dark cargo hold with just enough air to keep me alive. How I got to that point, I'm not sure, though I didn't have much opportunity to think about it at the time as I was falling in and out of consciousness every few minutes thanks to dwindling air levels. If I had stayed trapped long enough, I would have simply died in my sleep.

Fortunately, the Arcblade Fleet had been close enough that the Adacap had been able to sense me. After they cut me out of the cargo hold, I had been kept in the medbay of the Stormcaller, the ancient and heavily-modified Praetorian-class frigate that served as the fleet's flagship. I spent three days being poked and prodded by medics and droids before I was finally let out.

When I was deemed healthy again, I had been marched before the Adacap, who offered me a place in the Blazing Chain. What hadn't been said was that I'd probably be tossed out the nearest airlock if I said no.

Obviously, I said yes due to having an aversion to spacewalking without a suit. The fiery chain they tattooed around my left bicep still hurt like hell.

While they had been ecstatic to find a Force-strong individual, they had no idea how to actually train one. Most of the Force Sensitives among the Blazing Chain were barely that, just strong enough to do a few minor tricks or have better than average "luck." The Adacaps were usually the only exceptions and even they gave themselves less than even odds of taking on the average Jedi in a slugging match.

Most of what the Chain used were self-taught tricks that were passed down the generations with training methods meant to accommodate people that didn't have a lot of power. They weren't researchers like the Jedi or Sith, though they've mooched some stuff from them every now and again from rogue members of both organizations or stole from those they've managed to kill. But given that they wandered the Unknown Regions, that was rare.

The Adacap's solution was to throw me at the oldest person in the fleet, that being Xipher, and see what stuck. So far, I've nearly managed to blow a hole in the cargo hold of the Moon Eye with a Force Push. Xipher and I now wear space suits when training and none of his family was allowed to be present during a session. Just in case I actually punctured the hull, we also kept the cargo hold and the hallway outside of it sealed off from the rest of the ship.

At my insistence, we've been keeping a record of what did and did not work for individuals of my power level for future reference.

==========================================================

"Ready?" Xipher asked, his voice distorted by his helmet's speakers.

"As ready as I can be," I grumbled, sending a glance at the holorecorder set on top of a nearby crate, "Time to make myself look like an idiot for future generations."

Xipher hefted his rifle and aimed at the target on the far end of the cargo hold. There was another target arranged perpendicular to the first. The point of the exercise was to use telekinesis to direct the flight of the blaster bolt to hit the second target. To avoid damage to the ship if I failed, the weapon was set on stun.

I breathed in and out, preparing myself.

The rifle lit up, sending a blue bolt of plasma down range.

I reached out with the Force, wrapping a shell of telekinetic force around the projectile and pulling it to one side…only to have it splash against the first target. Too slow.

I let out a sigh of frustration.

"Come on now, you did better that time," Xipher encouraged with a smile on his face, "You managed to move it half an inch off target. Given another month, you'll probably get halfway to the other target. That's better progress than my great-granddaughter."

"Being compared favorably to a six year old does not fill me with confidence."

"Being negative about it isn't helping," He admonished, "While throwing around Force Waves is useful, it's not the best solution in ship corridors. We don't need you accidentally cracking a ship in half because you couldn't control your own strength."

"I think you're overestimating how strong I am," I commented uselessly.

The main issue with having a lot of power was that it didn't do finesse very well. Big displays of power like throwing empty cargo crates around the hold had been easy. Small stuff? Not so much. Unfortunately, most of what the Blazing Chain had wassmall stuff.

"You won't get any better by standing around sassing me all day," Xipher barked, "Now, again!"

I groaned.

 

[TheLurker]

Who are these fellas? Also, a spacepirate sounds like fun. So, what are his morals like? Will he develop into an actual reaver or is he just a paladin in disguise?

Click to shrink...

The blazing chain are one of the more obscure force groups in the star wars setting, they focus mainly around the rather unique ability of telekinetically controlling blaster shots after they've already fired them.

 

[Raging Dragon]

I am interested. Will watch this fic some more.

 

[Baron Steakpuncher]

Giving it a watch

 

[Rictus]

Chapter 2


The helmet of the envirosuit sealed over my head with a hiss, forming the vacuum seals and isolating me from the world around me. I took my first breath of the stale recycled air. The ship had the same taste, so it wasn't much of a difference, though it was more concentrated in the suit.

You never really learn how claustrophobic you are until you can feel your own breath in your face, then suddenly everything feels so much more closed in. The first time I put one on, I had a panic attack that nearly tore the Moon Eye apart. Deck plating had been ripped up, bulkheads had buckled, lights were crushed. The entire ship had groaned as my fear had taken over.

It had taken Xipher and three of his sons to calm me down before I ruptured the hull or breached the ship's reactor.

It's been three months since then and I've managed to adapt. I wasn't comfortable in them, but I wasn't going to have another freak out anytime soon.

Though it had made the right noises, I still double checked the systems. A lot of the envirosuits were centuries old, kept in working order through patch jobs. But no matter how much technical ingenuity you had, some things just failed with age, often unexpectedly. More than one person had been lost because their suit reported a complete seal, when in truth it hadn't. But there was only so much that could be done. The Arcblade Fleet was one of the largest groups in the Blazing Chain, but it wasn't exactly swimming in resources.

"Everything all set?"

I glanced up to see yellow eyes.

That was the main oddity of the Blazing Chain. They acknowledged the differences between Light and Dark…they just didn't care. They were extremely pragmatic in their approach to the Force. To them, it was a just tool that they used to enable their way of life, with both Light and Dark being equally useful. Whichever side an individual used was completely up to them.

Falling to the Dark wasn't something that was shunned and in some cases was even encouraged if it provided an advantage. At worst, darksiders were considered flight risks, but so long as they didn't do anything to endanger their fleet, the most that was done was to keep an eye on them. If that changed at any time, they were dealt with swiftly and harshly.

The man in front of me was Vald, Xipher's oldest grandson. He was built like a tank and towered nearly half a foot over me, having inherited his grandfather's Sephi height. His pitch-black hair was shorn nearly to the scalp, leaving just a thin layer of stubble on his scalp. Like his grandfather, his skin was the unnatural pale that came from living most of his life on a ship. He was dressed in an envirosuit of his own, over top of which was a black greatcoat. His helmet was tucked under his arm.

Most members of the fleet that fell didn't have enough of a connection to the Force to manifest more than a few of the physical side effects. For many, yellow eyes were the extent. Vald was slightly stronger than usual, so he not only had the yellow eyes, but also the advanced aging. Instead of the mid-thirties that he was, he appeared to be nearly ten years older.

Vald was vicious and cruel, often being far more brutal than necessary during a raid as he sated his bloodlust. While I haven't been on one yet, I've heard stories. However, he was perfectly friendly to anyone that was "one of ours," meaning that he saved all the rage and violence for enemies of the fleet.

Well, not all the violence. For some reason or another, he occasionally dragged me and some of his siblings off to the cantinas on one of the colony ships, where he would immediately start a bar brawl. Usually, it was about five minutes of us sitting back drinking whatever alcohol was available while Vald knocked out unfortunate bastards with one punch from those sledgehammers he called fists. He's gotten enough of a rep that the only ones that stick around after he walks in the door are the ones that are just as fight-happy as him.

I nodded, "Just checking seals. Did you manage to scrounge up a blaster for me?"

He lifted up one of his massive hands, fingers curled around a holstered pistol that looked positively tiny in his grasp, "We didn't have much to spare, but I found this in a couch in the meeting room. It's probably one of gramps' old sidearms that he's "lost" around the ship over the years, but it still works. I even got you a fresh power pack."

"You're a saint, Vald," I said only half-sarcastically as I hooked the holster onto my belt.

"Eh," He shrugged, "I can trust you to not accidentally kill us all with it."

I decided to be the figuratively bigger man and not reply to the crack at my lack of control.

It didn't deter Vald though, as he still laughed and clapped me on the back, nearly staggering me, "So, you all ready for your blooding?"

I'd been with the fleet for four months, during which I hadn't been on a raid due to being considered too dangerous to deploy. During the last few, I was shipped off to a colony ship with the kids to wait them out. Embarrassing, but ultimately necessary. The Adacap didn't want me endangering our own side.

While I hadn't quite mastered anything, Xipher deemed me safe enough to join in the raids about a week ago. I wasn't sure how to feel about it. There was a lot of nasty stuff out here in the Unknown Regions. Some of them deserved what would be done to them, some didn't.

"Any idea what we're hitting?" I asked, neatly evading the question.

"We got word about a Vagaari convoy with some minor noble on board. Vagaari being Vagaari, we're not taking prisoners. They wouldn't pay a ransom anyway," Vald smiled, "But with that noble, there gonna be some decent loot. Vain bastards don't go anywhere without their stuff."

Vagaari…Vagaari…

The name was familiar. I think it was from Outbound Flight, but I hadn't reread that book in years. All I remember was that they weren't one of the friendly factions.

"Is that going to cause problems for us? Killing a noble?" I'm not sure how much "us" it was. I still didn't really feel like I belonged yet.

"Maybe, but the Adacap thinks the risk is worth it," Vald shrugged, "But we need the supplies. If nothing else, we can sell the loot at a shadow port. Now come on, we need to get to the pod."

"Alright, I'm coming," I replied before shrugging on my own greatcoat.

They were the closest thing that the Blazing Chain had to a uniform. Made from armorweave, they acted as light armor. Though they couldn't tank a shot from a heavy weapon, they could dissipate the energy from a direct hit, allowing the wearer to survive with a bruise and the wind punched out of them. The cut varied from person to person, but most preferred some form of long coat to protect their legs despite the added weight.

As we walked out into the corridor, Vald smirked, "You know you're gonna get more offers after this, right?"

I groaned. One thing that the Blazing Chain respected was strength, a holdover from their Sith roots. With the raw power I had and the fact that such power could be passed down bloodlines, I quickly found out that I was considered interesting. After the first…incident, I practically secluded myself on the Moon Eye, even though I was free to move from ship to ship when I wasn't training. Even here, I wasn't free from it as Xipher was not so subtly pushing all three of his unattached granddaughters towards me.

It made dinner an awkward affair.

"I can understand waiting for a while to settle in and maybe getting a ship of your own," Vald remarked as he ducked under a doorway, "But you can't wait forever."

"I'll…think about it," And if said thinking took a few more years, well…that's just how it would go.

The Gozanti wasn't that big, so we reached the hatch to get down to the boarding pod pretty quickly. Vald hopped down first, with me entering more cautiously. Inside the pod, all of the adult crew were assembled, minus Galena and her husband, numbering twelve including Vald. With everyone wearing envirosuits, it was hard to tell who was who, though gender was obvious in the tight-fitting suits. That said, it was easy to tell who was related to Xipher by blood. Every single one of them was taller than me by at least a few inches.

It was eerie how quiet they were all being though.

Xipher's voice came out of the tallest figure's helmet, "Is your comm not working? We've been calling for five minutes."

I blinked.

Vald shook his head, "Nah, I found him in the dorms."

"Alright, hold still a second," That was about all the warning I got before one of the Near-Human's hands smacked the side of my helmet, "That should do it."

Just as he said, the voices of the others started filtering in.

"Alright, we're all here, so settle in," Xipher barked. At his command, everyone sat down. Vald claimed a seat to my left and one of the women took up the other side.

Once everyone was settled, he continued, "In ten minutes, the attack on the convoy starts and we'll be joining the Stormcaller in hitting the lead ship. They'll use their ion cannons to disable the ship before we board."

Vald nudged me, "That means that we're gonna have to work fast. If the Adacap gets to the noble first, we'll only get what we can loot off the grunts."

Nevermind that we'd have to pay a tribute anyways…

"There's only thirteen of us, so we're going to be sticking together," Xipher's helmet turned towards me, "Strider, we'll be using you to make a foothold. Knock them away from our entry point so we can deploy. After that, stay back, but stay ready. And remember what I've said about controlling your strength."

My face burned slightly at the reminder that I was the reason everyone was wearing envirosuits for this raid, but I nodded in response.

"Now," Xipher crossed his arms over his chest, "I want you all coming home when this is done. No getting too greedy or running off from the group. That means you, Vald."

"I don't know what you're talking about, gramps. Honest."

 

[matthew badger]

Heh, the way that you imply his strength in your writing through the crewmates words is pretty interesting and realistic, the constant mentioning of it that builds in scope as it continues really helps sell that he's a loose canon that could obliterate large environments, without feeling contrived.

I look forward to seeing where this goes.

 

[YeahOkayCool]

Oh hey, you're posting this to SV too! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

[splinterAVE11]

Boab hemith 'ere enjoyed this 'n' wull tune in regularly clap yersel' oan th' back

 

[Rictus]

Chapter 3


Breathe in. Observe the process. Breathe out.

I pushed away the sensation of the metal floor pressing against me as I focused on something else.

Breathe in. Observe the process.

It started with air being pulled into my mouth. The wind of movement rolled over my tongue as it was drawn into my esophagus. My lungs expanded. Muscles moved my ribcage. Oxygen was infused into my blood. Blood was pumped through my veins by my heart, thundering in my chest.

Breathe out.

Old blood released old air. Old air was pushed out of my lungs. My lungs deflated. The muscles around my ribcage contracted. Old air travelled up my throat. The wind of movement rolled over my tongue again. Old air was pushed out of my mouth.

Breathe in. Observe the process.

Over and over again. With each repetition, my racing heart slowed down incrementally.

Breathe out.

The clack clack clack from Vald loading shells into his scattergun sounded so far away instead of right beside me. Spoken conversations through the comms were murmurs to my ears.

Breath in. Observe the process.

When I was still taking martial arts classes, we had been taught to meditate using the focused method. Basically, you choose something to focus all of your attention onto, shutting out everything else. I could have chosen an object or thought to focus on.

Breathe out.

However, I needed control of myself more than anything else. Focusing on my own breathing seemed appropriate, though there was a meditation technique practiced by Buddhists called "mindfulness of breathing." I didn't know how to do it, just that it existed.

Breath in. Observe the process.

I had more power than I knew how to fully control and it was exacerbated by fear. Losing control could kill me and thirteen other people.

Breathe out.

Breathe in. Observe t-

They were here. I could feel the moment the Vagaari ships dropped out of hyperspace.

Hundreds of screams of terror and rage rang out from ragged throats.

Only moments later did I realize my own voice echoed among them.

Vald's huge hand shook me awake. Above us, the lights flickered ominously before quickly returning to normal.

The other figures in the pod had blasters trained on me, startled by the noise. With the envirosuit helmet on his head, I couldn't see Vald's expression.

"Hey," He shook me again, "You still with us?"

I blinked as control seeped back in. Shaking my head to chase away the last of the disorientation, I asked, "What the fuck was that?"

Without waiting for an answer, I pushed myself up off the floor and rushed to the nearest viewport, where I got my first look at our targets.

There were ten vessels in the convoy: one cruiser, three frigates, and six corvettes. Most of the ships in the Arcblade fleet were all straight lines and hard angles, like most conventional ships of the galaxy. The ten Vagaari ships before us, on the other hand, appeared more organic, with more curves. The closest approximation I could think of were Mon Calamari vessels.

The hull of each ship was covered in transparent bubbles, though we were still too far away to see what was inside of them.

"The Vagaari aren't the worst threat here in the Unknown Regions, but they're definitely one of the more twisted," Xipher's voice piped up from my left.

Before I could ask him to elaborate, a light pressure started pushing down on me. Not enough to debilitate, but enough to just notice.

Xipher's head turned away to look somewhere off into space, "Damn. No time to explain," He sighed, "That was the Ashbringer turning on her gravity well generator. The attack has begun," Pausing, he clapped a hand on my shoulder, "When we get closer, you'll see. Just…try to block it out and remember that there isn't anything we can do."

Beneath our feet, the Moon Eye shuddered as her engines flared. Looking back to the viewport, the stars shifted as the ship shot forward, though she was outpaced by smaller attack craft. Corvettes and starfighters, all bearing the fiery emblem of the Blazing Chain, shot past us. The Stormcaller lumbered next to us, close enough that I could see people moving about on the bridge of the ancient capital ship.

For a moment, I thought saw the blue haired head of the Adacap shift to look straight at me. But it was gone as the frigate's guns flashed, sending bolts of blue across the black expanse between us and the Vagaari convoy.

As the first splashed against the hull of the largest ship, a dozen screams fell silent. Lights flickered across the enemy ship. But a single salvo wasn't enough to disable the cruiser, so the Stormcaller continued the barrage.

Darkness was lit up with light as the battle began in earnest. Red and blue flew out from our ships, returned by green from the Vagaari. Their fire splashed uselessly against our shields, while our starfighters nimbly swerved and rolled around them. Side benefit of having all of our starfighter pilots being Force Sensitive was that they were damn hard to shoot down.

But ours…I watched turbolaser bolts and torpedoes slam into their hulls and detonate or burn through the metal. More screams died out.

Either the Vagaari didn't have a chance to raise shields…or they didn't have them in the first place.

I barely managed to grab onto the back of a crash seat as the Moon Eye suddenly spun into a dive. Green lights flashed by the viewport. We must have just avoided a barrage.

Tearing my eyes away from the viewport, I hastily seated myself and strapped in. If we were going to blow up, I didn't want to see it coming anyways. This way, at least I wouldn't be bouncing around the cabin.

Xipher had thrown himself into the control seat of the boarding pod, waiting for the right moment. Well, calling it a "pod" was a misnomer. The Blazing Chain didn't have the capacity to produce something like that. Instead, it was actually an excavation drill with starfighter engines strapped to it and a reinforced superstructure. When the time came, it would be launched from the Moon Eye like a torpedo.

The Near-Human was watching the display like a hawk, hands grasping the controls but not pressing anything. His voice suddenly barked on the comms, "Galena, the cruiser's disabled! Let 'er rip!"

Vald started laughing his head off, "Here's where the fun begins!"

I didn't know who shouted "Brace yourselves!" but I hung on for dear life as the pod's engines roared to life, drowning out all other sound. Everything started shaking as stars and ships shot past what little I could see in the opposite viewport.

My heart thundered in my chest while my teeth chattered as milliseconds took an eternity to pass.

Just before impact, everything slowed down as one of the bubbles on the Vagaari ship quickly shot by the viewport. I briefly saw a deathly still human face, expression frozen into one of terror. Bloody claw marks marred the clear dome.

And then we hit.

I was thrown against my crash harness, blowing the air from my lungs. Judging from the pain in my chest, I was probably going to have a bruise.

Someone, I'm not sure who, unhooked my harness and pushed me forward. Stumbling, I regained my balance just as the boarding ramp opened up. Beyond, four squat figures stood, holding blasters.

Breathe in. Observe the process.

I raised my right hand.

Breathe out.

The bulkhead directly in front of me dented inwards, as though it had just been punched by a giant. The deck plating rattled and groaned as it curled up like tin foil, revealing the wiring beneath. Lights shattered, raining transparisteel down on the corridor.

As for the soldiers? They ceased to exist. All that was left were chaotic red patterns splattered on the walls and ceiling.

As I stood there, staring numbly at what I'd done, a hand clapped down on my shoulder.

"Good job," Vald congratulated. I couldn't see the bloodthirsty grin on his face because of his helmet, but I knew it was there, "Now, it's my turn."

Laughing like a madman, the giant charged out of the boarding pod. His scattergun barked once, twice, thrice. The others filed out after him, their own blaster fire joining the growing chaos.

Breathe in. Observe the process.

"Oi Vald, watch the goods!" That was Daci, one of the younger granddaughters, "I can't trade what you rip up with that monster gun of yours!"

The one I knew to be Xipher stopped shooting and waved to me, "Come on, Strider!"

I pulled my pistol from my holster and entered the Vagaari ship.

Breathe out.

The screams were quiet now.

 

[Baron Steakpuncher]

Ah all my memories of Outbound flight are coming back.

 

[YeahOkayCool]

Oh yeah, I forgot how fucked-up the Vagaari were. Transparent blisters on the sides of their ships full of living hostages, rather than shields. Memorably twisted.

Nicely done.

 

[Rictus]

Chapter 4


The screams had stopped, but I could still hear them.

Blaster bolts whizzed by my head as I stepped out into the hall. One was so close to my face that I was left seeing spots as it raced across my vision. My hand seemed sluggish as I raised it to return fire. A bolt of red slowly emerged from the weapon, arcing across the air towards the Vagaari I didn't remember aiming at.

Around me, the others had taken cover behind the upturned deck plating, moving as though the air was made of molasses. Vald's scattergun flashed, sending the slug flying lazily downrange. The smoke from the weapon's chemical propellent danced in swirls in the air. Xipher caught a blaster bolt with his bare hand, his fingers cradling the glowing green energy before sending it back towards the soldier who fired it.

Fingers clawing, scratching, breaking, bleedin-

A hand wrapped around my free wrist and pulled. As soon as my shoulder collided with the deck plating, everything suddenly sped up. I was left blinking dumbly at the ceiling as every sensation came flooding back in, stunning me with just how loud everything was. The blaster fire in the corridor was so overpowering that I almost missed the voice of my savior.

"-ey! Hey! Wake the hell up! Force, he picked a bad time to space out."

That was…Jadik, I think. Xipher's youngest son. Or second oldest grandson. Fuck, that man's family was too big. Even after four months, I could barely remember who was who.

"-rst time on a Vagaari ship. It was expected due to his stronger connection to the Force. As I recall, you weren't much better on your first raid," Xipher replied calmly, as though he wasn't currently in a pitched firefight. He paused, "Ah, he's conscious again. Get him up. We're almost done with this group, but we'll need to move soon."

The same hands that had pulled me out of danger roughly rolled me over onto my stomach, keeping me below the line of the impromptu barricades that I had accidentally made earlier. My arms shook for a moment as I tried to put them under me, though I still managed to push myself up onto my knees. Once I was moving, the disorientation started fading quickly.

I peered over the edge of the barricade and gaped at the carnage that littered the corridor. I shouldn't have been surprised though. Blazing Chains didn't miss unless there were Jedi involved. Things like "line of sight" and "cover" were easily surmountable issues.

It was easy to tell who had killed what. Vald's scattergun left huge holes in the corpses and blood splattered on the walls behind them. The rest were cleaner kills, with neat holes burned into their heads or chests by blasters. There were nearly twenty dead on just this one side.

My one kill was exactly where I last saw it, lying still in the middle of the hallway. For some reason, it had removed its cloak just before it was killed. Maybe to get it out of the way?

Before I could even begin internalizing anything, I saw something ahead move and started to raise my blaster, but I didn't need to bother. Xipher's rifle fired a bolt down the hallway, where it abruptly turned at a ninety-degree angle and darted around the corner. A surprised cry sounded off before an arm slumped into view.

Like I said, the Blazing Chain didn't miss. Ever.

Xipher held position for a moment, waiting for something else to make itself known. Everyone seemed to hold their breath. When nothing appeared, he lowered his weapon.

"We're done here," He announced, "You've got a minute to loot, then we're moving!"

Almost as one, the six crew around me heaved themselves over the barricade, each racing for the Vagaari they killed. Behind us, the rest were doing the same on their side. I pulled myself over with significantly less grace than they did.

As I did, my foot caught on a loose deck plate, causing me to stumble. A gloved hand brushed the bulkhead to my left as I tried to regain my footing.

I scream, but no one hears me. Why won't they save me?

I was frozen in place as terror flooded through my mind. Just to the right of my hand, an androgynous face formed in the scorched metal beneath my fingers. It could have been human or it could have been something else. I stared at the abyss and the abyss stared back with blank lifeless eyes.

Will you save me?

Oh God, was it talking to me? Could it see me? When I didn't reply, its mouth deformed into a snarl and opened to reveal teeth sharpened to points. A scream erupted from its lips, startling me into action.

RELEASE ME!

I jerked away from the wall like it was on fire, my breath restarting in ragged gasps. My heart pounded uselessly in my chest. Soon, it was all I could hear.

A hand hit my shoulder and the scream stopped. I jumped and spun on my heel.

"Hey, you alright?" Xipher asked, his helmet tipped to one side.

"I-…n-," I looked back at the wall, only to find that the face had disappeared. But the echo of its voice still rang in my ears, "I don't…"

Xipher slung his rifle over his shoulder and used both hands to grab the sides of my helmet, forcing me to look only at him, "Strider, whatever you're seeing, it's not real."

From where his fingers contact my head, sensations poured in.

Frustration. Anger. Concern.

"Block them out," He ordered sternly, snapping my attention back to him, "They're just leftover emotions. Control them like you control yours."

They seemed pretty aware for "leftover emotions." But…

Breathe in. Observe the process.

My panic and frustration started to fade as I shoved the excess into the ether. Wait, was that how Jedi…

No, I needed to focus on the meditation. I shoved that thought aside as well.

Breathe out.

I repeated the process a few more times until my breathing had returned to normal. I could still hear the barest echo of the screams, but they were drowned out by the sounds of movement around me.

"You good?"

I nodded, "For now."

"Best we can hope for right now, I guess," Xipher grumbled before sighing, "Just…keep doing what you're doing. Not the best advice, but it seems to be working for you."

"So…leftover emotions?" I asked after a moment.

"I'll tell you in detail when we're not in a rush. But for now, let's just say there's a pretty good reason why we never keep Vagaari ships," The Near-Human lightly pushed me away, "Now go check your kill and do it fast. We need to get moving soon."

Around me, the others bustled about, patting down corpses quickly and efficiently. Blasters and knives were hooked onto belts and harnesses while loose prizes were stuffed into pockets.

As I approached my single intact kill, I got my first good look at a Vagaari. Besides the single hole burned into its chest, the corpse was entirely intact. It was an ugly thing and the only "human" part of "humanoid" was its general shape. Laid out like it was, I could see that it was shorter than I expected, stretching only four and a half feet from its feet to its head. Its skin was a pale tan and it was completely hairless. In place of hair, it had a cluster of stubby, flat tendrils protruding from the top of its head. On either side of its head above its temples were a pair of small ears, well above where a human's would be, and a small nose was placed in the center of its face.

But the thing that creeped me out the worst was its mouth. Or mouths, rather. It had two, one on each side below the cheek, each with its own separate jaw.

"Well, lucky you!" Vald's voice filtered into my helmet comm. He sounded entirely too pleased with himself, "Looks like you got a commander."

I glanced over at Vald's easily identifiable bulk and eyed the body he was currently looting. I suppose it was dressed better than some of the others. For some reason, the Vagaari at my feet had a strange wood-looking thing attached to its back, stretching up past its head.

"You gonna loot it or not? If not, lemme know, alright? I could always use more stuff," Vald remarked.

Right. My fingers felt a little numb as I quickly removed the creature's outer robe and tunic, not feeling comfortable with completely stripping the corpse. They looked valuable, so I could probably trade it for something back in the fleet. As I rolled the garments up and stuffed them into my messenger bag, my eye caught the cloak that it had dropped just as I had killed it. It looked like some animal hide, kind of like a wolf, though there was a blue collar around its "neck."

I reached out to pick it up. As my fingers brushed the fur, rage flooded my senses.

I pulled back, "How the hell can clothes be angry?"

Seriously. What the fuck?

I decided to err on the side of caution and left the angry cloak alone in favor of searching the Vagaari's belt. Aside from its blaster and a knife, there was a pouch that clinked when I moved it. I didn't need any explanation for that, so I stuffed the pouch in my bag. The weapons I clipped to my own belt.

There wasn't much else, so I stood up. Everyone else had finished and was waiting for me.

Xipher brushed past, "This will be our only stop until the end of the battle, so I hope you got what you needed. We're hitting the hangar so the rest of the boarding parties can land," He turned to me, "Strider, when we get to the hangar…go nuts. Just make sure not to breach the hull."

I nodded, not bothering to reply verbally. As the others filtered past, I took up a spot at the back of the group.

When Vald went by, he clapped a hand on my shoulder. A sense of cheer went through me, picking me up a bit, "Five confirmed kills. Not bad for a first raid, though you haven't beaten me yet," the darksider shrugged, "But the day's young and there are plenty more opportunities," I could sense his grin as he pumped a new shell into the chamber of his scattergun, "May the best man win."

I smiled back, though I wasn't sure how much was me, "I intend to."

Vald laughed as he started running forward, "That's the spirit!"

"Wha-Hey!" I shouted as I sprinted to catch up.

Ahead of us, the others were laughing and ribbing each other as they ran. Their combined happiness drowned out the terror and anger around us.

 

[YeahOkayCool]

Very creepy and evocative. It really can't be stressed enough how vile and cruel the Vagaari are to their "inferiors." If ever there was a group that deserved to get smacked down hard by the Jedi, it's those twisted fucks.

I'm also really liking what I'm seeing so far in the little snippets here-and-there about Blazing Chain culture. With their fleet-based society and cheerfully pragmatic DIY attitude to most things, they're almost like the Quarians from Mass Effect. Or at least, ruthless piratical Quarians that terrorize the spacelanes. And quite honestly this faction of the Blazing Chain doesn't sound that terrible as far as space pirates go. Even Vald, an avowed dark-sider and Token Evil Teammate if ever there was one, seems reasonable-- even supportive and understanding! It probably helps that their only real code of conduct for Force-sensitives is "play nice and don't endanger the fleet, or we'll toss you out the nearest airlock." Dark-siders understand raw power as a punishment, and that kind of social code probably selects for dark-siders who know how to keep things under control.

Also, Strider should probably get some sort of melee weapon if they're going to be fighting in restrictive ship corridors and suchlike.

 

[Yla]

Is there a specific reason you're writing this as an SI?
Right now, there is a single paragraph and a word that makes this an extra-universal SI, and (this may be a matter of personal taste, admittedly) I think it detracts more than it adds to the story.

Your narration has a rather unusual pace; you have decompressed descriptions and meditation breathing, and then lots of action in the sentences inbetween. I would have had trouble describing it beyond that, but YeahOkayCool's word choice of "creepy" works. That's not a bad thing.

Watched.

 

[LokiTheDarkGod]

I have to wonder what the Blazing Chain do with the surviving 'shields' do they rescue them leave them or put them out of their misery?

 

[Nereus24]

I think they mercy kill the "shields". Most off them are nothing more than rabid animals after a while in the "shield pods".

 

[Rictus]

Chapter 5


As we ran, the Vagaari ship shook beneath our feet. The Stormcaller was likely pummeling the vessel with more ion fire to keep the ship's engineers scrambling while they waited for us to secure the landing zone. I was only kind of surprised to see the lights staying on, though they did flicker with each hit. They probably had their own system separate from the guns and engines so that the crew could see to work even if the main power went out.

I was careful not to touch the walls again, but it didn't help with the pervading sense of hopelessness that seemed to radiate from the ship's superstructure.

I'd seen someone in one of the bubbles on the exterior of the ship. But once I was inside, there weren't any doors or hatches leading to them. They had been alive, clawing at their prison with a desperation that still echoed after their death.

I only had a few pieces, but I had enough to make a concrete picture. The Vagaari were slavers and particularly cruel ones at that. Any doubts that I had about what we were doing had vanished in an instant upon that realization.

It didn't automatically make the Blazing Chain into "good guys," but at least we were better than them.

Any further thoughts were halted by a sudden hail of blaster fire coming from further down the hallway. Unlike before, neither side had any cover to hide behind. The crew of the Moon Eye halted and parted like the Red Sea as they crammed themselves against the walls. Some raised their hands to try and catch the bolts while others returned fire.

Not wanting to touch the walls again, I had stayed in place. Calling on the Force, I placed a wall of swirling, opaque telekinetic force in front of me. It wasn't anything complicated, just an application of raw power with only the barest amount of shaping. Dozens of blaster bolts splashed uselessly against it faster than I could count them.

One of the women at the front was too slow on the defense and took a bolt directly to the chest, throwing her off her feet and bowling over the man that had been kneeling behind her. The ones behind them were quickly forced onto the defensive.

To my right, Vald growled, righteous anger radiating off him. However, he was pinned to the wall like the rest of the crew.

Seeing this, I slowly moved forward until I was at the front. With a mental nudge and more power, I extended my telekinetic wall to cover the entirety of the front line. While the others wouldn't be able to fire through it, it gave them time to pull the fallen woman back and reform the defensive line.

Xipher was on my left. He quickly figured out what I was about to do and nodded. Wordlessly, the others got ready around me. Vald's gleeful anticipation was almost palpable, though the rage was not far behind it.

Gathering more power, I launched the wall down the narrow hallway as a massive Force Wave. The power roared down the corridor, drowning out all sound in that moment with howling winds. Deck plating and bulkheads were crumpled and ripped away wholesale to be carried along the storm as deadly projectiles.

In the distance, the Vagaari's defensive line scattered as several tried to get out of the way. But with nowhere to hide, they were tossed about like ragdolls.

Some died instantly on impact, their bodies ripped apart by the flying debris or the raw pressure. The image of an armored soldier being bisected shoulder to hip by a jagged deck plate was likely going to stick with me for a few days, if not longer.

The ones that had tried to run managed to merely be disoriented or injured. Several were missing limbs while others had them bent at unnatural angles.

Cheers sprang up from the Moon Eye's crew as they surged forward to finish the survivors. Vald led the pack, roaring like a beast rather than a man. A few of the others echoed him, but not to the same extent. They ignored the ruined state of the corridor, using their Force-given grace to nimbly make their way across the intact parts to reach their helpless victims.

Xipher and another stayed back to check on the fallen woman. Not wanting to join in on the bloodshed ahead, I joined them, though we quickly ascertained that she was fine and didn't need medical attention. The bolt had hit her armorweave coat, scorching the material but otherwise leaving her unharmed, if severely winded and bruised. After being given a moment to catch her breath and a hand up, she was ready to get back in the fighting.

As we moved forward, I numbly counted the dead. My kills were obvious, as they were the most mangled. Eight more had been added to my tally.

I paused next to one. The helmet of an armored soldier had been shattered like glass by the Force Wave, revealing an all-too human face. I looked around at the others and realized that the ones that had tried to run had been dressed in a similar manner to the one I had looted earlier.

I started walking again. At this point, the horrors were starting to lose their edge.

The Vagaari were slavers. It made sense that they would employ slave soldiers.

"Why fight when they can force others to do it for them?" the woman remarked, disgust evident in her voice, "They enjoy the power they have over their slaves, with any monetary benefit they get from the trade just being a bonus. They're like the Hutts, but worse," If she had her helmet off, I suspected that she would have spat on the ground, "At least the slugs don't pretend to be anything other than what they are."

Ah, I must have said that observation out loud then. I nodded to the remains of an actual Vagaari. Judging from the massive hole in its chest, it was one that Vald had gotten to, "Yet there one is. And more from earlier."

She snorted, "Lesser Vagaari. Even the most thoroughly indoctrinated still need minders to direct them, though they'll leave that "duty" to the lowest castes. But they'll only fight when they're forced to. You did see them try to run, right?"

I shrugged, acknowledging the point. However, I quickly found myself in an awkward moment. I tried to remember the woman's name, but my mind was too scattered to cooperate.

"Helena," She helpfully supplied, immediately guessing my problem.

I tried not to let my embarrassment at being caught out be too obvious as I finally made the connection. Helena was the second youngest of Xipher's children…from his third wife. Helena was actually younger than Vald by a few years, despite being his aunt. Sephi, and apparently half-blooded Sephi, could live for several centuries, so the man had simply outlived two human wives.

"Sorry," I muttered half-heartedly.

When I wasn't training with Xipher or Vald, I was usually in the cockpit with Galena learning how to pilot the Moon Eye. Every member of the Blazing Chain knew at least the basics of flying a ship, in case of emergency if nothing else, and I was no exception, though my continued "hyperspace sickness" made progress in that department slow. Outside of that, I hadn't interacted a lot with the rest beyond the occasional greeting in the hallways. I think the only real reason I remembered Helena was because Galena was her twin sister.

I could feel her mild irritation in the Force, but she allowed the matter to drop in favor of more pressing things. However, I was probably going to get an earful later if her sister was anything to go by.

======================================================================

We fought our way through two more squads of Vagaari and their slave soldiers before we finally found a maintenance hatch. With most of the power systems down, turbolifts wouldn't have been working. Fortunately, the maintenance tunnels had been built with human-sized workers in mind, though it was tight and uncomfortable for the taller-than-average members of our crew.

Vald was in front with his scattergun. From my place in the middle, I heard the occasional boom, followed by a thump a few seconds later.

I didn't look down into the gaps of the tunnel, but I couldn't miss the bloodstains on the walls and circuitry around us.

Finally, our trek ended. One by one, we dropped out of the tunnel, two levels down from our pod. Just on the other side of the door was the landing zone we needed to take.

My heart started pounding in my chest again.

"Strider," Xipher's voice drew my focus.

I turned my helmet to him to let him know I was paying attention, not quite trusting my voice at the moment.

"We took a bit longer than I thought we would getting here," He started. The patriarch hummed for a moment, "Clearing the hanger the old-fashioned way is going to take too long. We need it now."

Ah. I knew what he wanted.

"So we need you to go in there," The elder Near-Human pointed at the door, "And unleash. Destroy anything and everything, but don't bust a hole in the ship." He checked the power cell in his rifle before continuing, "We'll help, but we'll wait for you to get started first."

I nodded.

The crew parted, taking cover on either side of the blast door. At my signal, Xipher opened it.

The hangar was in disarray. Workers were moving to and fro, frantically making patch repairs on the few heavily-damaged fighters that had managed to make it back from the battle outside. Vagaari overseers screamed what I assumed to be increasingly angry curses as they lashed out with whips at any who dared to trip in this moment.

With all the chaos, few noticed just one more human hurrying to the center of the cavernous room. By the time anyone noticed something was wrong, I was already in position.

I pulled. And I dared to hold it for a split-second.

In that moment, everything went silent and slowed to a crawl. I met the eyes of a Vagaari as they slowly turned towards me, the weapon in its hand following as it realized who I was.

Blood pounded in my ears as the moment went on for eternity. What is an eternity if not a second viewed from another perspective?

I imagined the power as a ball being compressed further and further until the ball finally…popped under the pressure.

In that moment, I unleashed all that pent-up pressure.

I felt myself scream, but the sound was drowned out by the maelstrom I let loose. The plating beneath my feet wasn't just torn up. It was cratered as the Force Repulse touched down. From the initial point of contact, it expanded outwards.

The ones closest to me were outright disintegrated. The next ranks were killed by the pressure before their bodies were flung back. The rest weren't so lucky.

Loose objects were picked up by the edges of the telekinetic wave. Hydrospanners and other power tools were flung back at their owners before heavier objects began to move. Like a storm, the deeper in you went, the stronger it got.

Workers, soldiers, and overseers were crushed by the very starfighters they had been scrambling to repair and refuel. Fuel cannisters, grav sleds, and other heavy objects were whipped around the hangar like toys.

But then it was over just as quickly as it had come. Exhaustion hit me like a hammer and I dropped to the ground. Around me, the broken remains of countless people were pressed against the walls underneath cairns of durasteel.

A blast door slid open with a painful groan just before the Moon Eye crew filtered in cautiously, inspecting the wreckage for survivors.

I couldn't do more than sit on the floor and try to catch my breath. That…That had been the biggest display of power I've managed and I hadn't been ready for how much it would take out of me.

I was soon joined by Xipher and Vald.

The older man's helmet scanned the hangar, likely eyeing the ruined floor, "Hmm. Hope Rawle and his boys can still land on that."

"We'll find out either way in a minute," Vald shrugged. He turned to me, probably with a smirk on his face, "Looks like I'm gonna have to work hard to stay ahead, eh? Good thing there's still plenty more fun on the ship."

I didn't particularly want to imagine the blood-thirsty grin that was likely on his face. Thankfully, the helmet covered it up. However, it couldn't hide the sense of eager anticipation radiating off him.

From the hangar, we had a clear view of the Stormcaller, holding position next to the cruiser. From her own hangar, three dots lifted off, steadily getting bigger as they got closer. It barely took two minutes for the trio of shuttles to pass into our landing zone and set down. Thankfully, they didn't have any trouble landing on the warped deck.

Unlike our ramshackle boarding craft, these were proper shuttles capable of carrying dozens of passengers. The ramp of the center one opened with a hiss as the pressurized interior of the shuttle was exposed to that of the Vagaari ship.

The figure that walked down the ramp first was far different from any of us, despite being dressed exactly the same. The only major difference in his outfit was the lack of a helmet, exposing the face of a man in his mid-forties. While his features were average, his bright blue hair and eyes drew the eye.

For a moment, the man's gaze turned towards me before shifting behind me. I turned to see what he was looking at.

As his men filed out of their ships, another blast door had opened to reveal reinforcements.

I heard rapid footsteps just before a familiar sound echoed and I turned back just in time.

Psshew.

The man ran forward a few steps before crossing the hangar in a single Force-empowered leap, blue-bladed lightsaber in hand.

Adacap Rawle had joined the battle.

 

[YeahOkayCool]

Gathering more power, I launched the wall down the narrow hallway as a massive Force Wave. The power roared down the corridor, drowning out all sound in that moment with howling winds. Deck plating and bulkheads were crumpled and ripped away wholesale to be carried along the storm as deadly projectiles.

In the distance, the Vagaari's defensive line scattered as several tried to get out of the way. But with nowhere to hide, they were tossed about like ragdolls.

Some died instantly on impact, their bodies ripped apart by the flying debris or the raw pressure. The image of an armored soldier being bisected shoulder to hip by a jagged deck plate was likely going to stick with me for a few days, if not longer.

The ones that had tried to run managed to merely be disoriented or injured. Several were missing limbs while others had them bent at unnatural angles.

— — —


In that moment, I unleashed all that pent-up pressure.

I felt myself scream, but the sound was drowned out by the maelstrom I let loose. The plating beneath my feet wasn't just torn up. It was cratered as the Force Repulse touched down. From the initial point of contact, it expanded outwards.

The ones closest to me were outright disintegrated. The next ranks were killed by the pressure before their bodies were flung back. The rest weren't so lucky.

Loose objects were picked up by the edges of the telekinetic wave. Hydrospanners and other power tools were flung back at their owners before heavier objects began to move. Like a storm, the deeper in you went, the stronger it got.

Workers, soldiers, and overseers were crushed by the very starfighters they had been scrambling to repair and refuel. Fuel cannisters, grav sleds, and other heavy objects were whipped around the hangar like toys.

But then it was over just as quickly as it had come. Exhaustion hit me like a hammer and I dropped to the ground. Around me, the broken remains of countless people were pressed against the walls underneath cairns of durasteel.

Click to shrink...

VALD: "Gramps never told you what happened to your father."

STRIDER: "Wait, what? He told me you found me locked in an abandoned ship."

VALD: "Yeah, and your father's name... was Galen Marek."

STRIDER: "Huh. That actually explains a lot, I guess."

 

[Rictus]

VALD: "Gramps never told you what happened to your father."

STRIDER: "Wait, what? He told me you found me locked in an abandoned ship."

VALD: "Yeah, and your father's name... was Galen Marek."

STRIDER: "Huh. That actually explains a lot, I guess."

Click to shrink...

That's actually not a bad comparison, at least so far as style goes. Strider (for the moment) uses the Force a lot like Galen does (at least so far as the games encourage you to), namely as a massive hammer to messily crush multiple opponents at once.

The problem is, he's got roughly the same raw strength as Nadia Grell and about the same level of control that she had before her apprenticeship to the Barsen'thor.

 

[Bulledar]

If you want to make him similar to starkiller I think it would be cool if he had the ability to use dark side abilities and not be influenced like Galen did in the game after Turning to the light

 

[MadGreenSon]

If you want to make him similar to starkiller I think it would be cool if he had the ability to use dark side abilities and not be influenced like Galen did in the game after Turning to the light

Click to shrink...

If you want to get technical, most "Dark Side powers" can be used without using the Dark Side, but more often than not doing so requires far more time, effort, and practice to master than just using the Dark Side. It's mostly the truly freaky or eldritch stuff that can't be done except with the Dark Side.

Even then, there may be a way around that since the Force itself has no limits, it's just the people using the Force that do.

 

[Bulledar]

If you want to get technical, most "Dark Side powers" can be used without using the Dark Side, but more often than not doing so requires far more time, effort, and practice to master than just using the Dark Side. It's mostly the truly freaky or eldritch stuff that can't be done except with the Dark Side.

Even then, there may be a way around that since the Force itself has no limits, it's just the people using the Force that do.

Click to shrink...

I guess that makes sense but what I was referring to was his ability to transition from one to the other without the drop in power that is normally expected. because there are force abilities that are inherited from parent to child like Galens inherent connection to the light side that allows him to tutch the dark side without the corruption.

 

[MadGreenSon]

I guess that makes sense but what I was referring to was his ability to transition from one to the other without the drop in power that is normally expected. because there are force abilities that are inherited from parent to child like Galens inherent connection to the light side that allows him to tutch the dark side without the corruption.

Click to shrink...

Part of that was just video game mechanics too, to be fair. Whether it was Dark Side or not though, 'ol Starkiller really only knew how to use the Force like a hammer, so it's not surprising that he kept going with that method even after abandoning the Dark Side.

 

[Bulledar]

Part of that was just video game mechanics too, to be fair. Whether it was Dark Side or not though, 'ol Starkiller really only knew how to use the Force like a hammer, so it's not surprising that he kept going with that method even after abandoning the Dark Side.

Click to shrink...

Yes but they also made it a part of his character in the comics and with the maulkiller DLC

 

[Rictus]

Chapter 6


For a split second, all I saw was a blue-black blur.

The Adacap tore through the reinforcements before I could stand up again, a fight measured in seconds rather than minutes. Severed limbs and bisected corpses were left in his wake as he sliced through several at a time with broad sweeping strikes, the super-heated plasma ignoring all armor or attempts to block it. As the bodies hit the ground, the places where the weapon had struck smoked and glowed an angry orange.

Few had a chance to scream and only one managed to fire their weapon, though the shot was harmlessly deflected away with a twirl of the blue blade.

As the last fell, the hangar descended into relative silence, broken by the whine of the shuttle engines behind us and the hum of the lightsaber in the Adacap's hand. It took me a moment to realize that no one else had moved during that display.

He watched the hallway beyond the blast door for a moment, saber ready. I couldn't sense anyone approaching, but then I was having a hard time sensing anything thanks to the ship's atmosphere. Finally, he extinguished the blade and turned back towards the shuttles.

"Dorn, secure the hangar," The Adacap barked out, "Besh and Cresh, head for Engineering and destroy the hyperdrive, then do a sweep for engineers. Aurek, with me."

At his words, the men and women filing out of the shuttles snapped into action, splitting off into squads. Seven moved for the blast doors, hooking datapads into access ports to lock the Vagaari out and setting up traps. Nineteen grouped up and set off through the blast door on the far side of the hangar. The last eight formed up near the Adacap.

The blue-haired man looked towards us and suddenly I felt very self-conscious about the fact that I was still on the ground. His boots echoed on the wrecked floor as he approached, though it was soon drowned out by the others behind him.

I slowly stood up, my legs shaking slightly under me and threatening to buckle. Vald put a hand on my shoulder to steady me, which I gave him a nod in thanks. For some reason, it just felt rude to be on the floor right now.

Adacap Rawle was not an imposing man. If not for his odd-colored hair, you would have never looked twice at him. Everything about him was just…average. Average height, average build, a face that didn't stick out in a crowd…

Yet when he spoke, men and women jumped to follow him. The gleaming lightsaber helped too.

"Showing off again, Rawle?" Xipher grumbled like the old man that he was.

"Lay off, old man," The Adacap grinned, "It's been too long since I went on a raid personally. I needed to stretch."

"It's only been two months, brat."

"Two months too long," Rawle immediately shot back.

I looked back and forth between the two, noticing that neither were using titles. Then again, Xipher was old enough to have known at least three of the Adacap's predecessors, so he probably didn't really give a damn. I'm not really up to date on the Arcblade Fleet's history, so it might actually be more than three.

Blue eyes turned towards me, "So, how'd the New Blood do? Were you right about your assumption?"

"Bit of a bad reaction to the Vagaari "air" and his Pushes still wreck hallways," Xipher shrugged, "Rough around the edges, but workable and safe enough for the future."

"Bastard beat the first raid record!" Vald interjected with a laugh, shaking me a bit.

The Adacap glanced at Vald, "What was it again?"

"Mine. I had fifty-two," The large man declared proudly, "This guy here offed around a hundred and fifty! It was awesome!"

A…A hundred and fifty? There hadn't been that many people in the hanger, right?

Instead of feeling sick or panicked at the number of dead…I felt nothing but vague satisfaction. The screams that still echoed softly throughout the ship and stained the hull had silenced any doubts I may have had.

"Is that so? I saw the explosion from the shuttle, but I didn't know the number," Rawle looked around the hangar speculatively before turning to me, "I guess we can't call you New Blood anymore."

"Guess not," I muttered.

He clapped a hand on my open shoulder, "So, think you can do it again?"

I nodded wordlessly.

"Good, then you're up front," He smiled, showing a few teeth as he let go and shifted his attention to the others, "Xipher, you and your crew are with me. We're heading for the bridge," He looked at me one final time, "Clear us a path and maybe I'll let you have first crack at the captain."

As everyone started moving, Vald nudged me, likely grinning like a loon under his helmet, "Lucky you. I'm usually the one running wolvkil-bait."

I eyed the obscenely high-caliber scattergun in his hands as I processed that statement, "…The hell's a wolvkil?"

The large man chuckled, "Oh, I'm not ruining that surprise. I didn't get told on my first raid, so I'm not telling you on yours."

"How old were you on yours?" I asked as we moved up to the front of the formation.

"Ten. Snuck into the pod so I wouldn't get left behind with the other kids," His glee radiated through the Force as he reminisced, "It was a hell of a good time."

I'll bet it was.

Wait.

"What was that record again?"

=====================================================================

From the hangar, things proceeded almost mechanically. Every now and then, we were stopped by a group of entrenched attackers. Instead of repeating his performance, Rawle hung back, content to watch and let me do the heavy lifting.

It was almost like clockwork. Heavy Force Pushes bowled over the soldiers and obstacles, leaving any survivors of the initial blast helpless against the blaster fire from the others. Rinse and repeat.

Most of the groups we found were made up of more of the slave soldiers, though occasionally there was a Vagaari overseer. I picked up a shock whip from one of them. Due to its bulk, I only grabbed the one. I didn't think I'd ever use it myself, but I'd see if someone was interested in it back in the fleet. If not, it would be a trophy.

Some of our number were joking with each other as they looted the dead. I kept quiet as I picked up a few more blasters and pouches of coins.

I hadn't seen anything that could be considered an officer yet. Maybe the Vagaari didn't have something like that. Still, it worried me a bit.

The persistent muted screams tainting the ship kept me from sensing anything beyond myself and the others, leaving me to rely on the others to warn me of approaching enemies.

"We're getting close to the bridge. Should be two more corridors away," Rawle said at last as we approached a large blast door, "They'll be desperate at this point."

The lights overhead flickered as the ship beneath us shuddered again.

The Adacap paused, "That must have been Besh and Cresh. Good." We had stopped to hear what he had to say, so he nodded at the door ahead, "Proceed."

The huge door slid open…to reveal no less than twenty Vagaari, their strangely angry fur cloaks in hand.

"Oh kriff," Xipher was the first to shout as he raised his rifle, "OPEN FIRE!"

That was when things became chaotic as several things happened at once. All twenty Vagaari threw their garments at us. Rawle surged forward, lightsaber ignited again. Xipher, Vald, and the others fired their weapons. I raised a hand for a Force Push.

The cloak sailing towards me glowed blue for a moment before it abruptly transformed from an inanimate object into a flying mass of snarling fangs.

The thing crashed into me, knocking us both to the ground and sending my blaster clattering across the ground. Spittle splashed against my helmet as its teeth sought to rip out my throat. Its claws scraped at me, catching on the fibers of my armorweave coat.

I hissed as one of its talons slipped under my coat and tore a hole through my envirosuit and opened a deep cut in my side. Pushing on its neck to keep its snapping jaws away from me with my right hand, I slipped my vibro-knife out of my left sleeve and jammed the blade in the spot where I thought a major blood vessel was.

But it didn't stop, ignoring the weapon as though it were nothing more than an annoyance.

I stabbed at it again and again, more and more frantically as this thing just wouldn't fucking die already!

The thing jerked, ripping the knife out of my hand. Its head lunged forward, past my right arm, and its jaw latched around my helmet. Transparisteel cracked as its fangs dug in. All I could see was the inside of its throat.

I scrambled around for something, anything, to get this thing the hell off me.

Something metal slapped into my flailing hand. I didn't stop to think about what I was holding.

I just swung.

Around the creature's jaws, I saw a flash of light before it suddenly stopped moving. I tried to dislodge its fangs from my helmet but found them stuck fast. Instead, I disengaged the seals and removed the whole thing.

Cast off the yoke of your Masters.

Everything rushed in as I breathed, the smell of burning fur and meat filling my nose.

Revel in the strength they would deny you.

I rolled to my feet as a second beast came for me. My weapon flashed up, easily burning through flesh. The halves of the creature tumbled to the ground on either side of me. A simple, elegant movement. Just like my Master had taught me.

The creatures' handlers were arrayed before me. They thought themselves Masters.

They were nothing. They cowered, quivering with fright.

I leaped towards them, my blade sweeping through their ranks. Their panic spiked as I cut them down.

I drank it in, as my new Master had taugh-

"Strider."

I blinked. Everything had gone quiet. Only my breathing broke it, coming in great gasps from exertion.

No, that wasn't right. There was also a hum.

The Adacap was standing in front of me, his hand outstretched, "If you wouldn't mind?"

I looked down, only to be met by the sight of a blue-bladed lightsaber, grasped in my left hand. I stared at it, still trying to comprehend how it had gotten there.

Rawle coughed politely, reminding me that, yes, I was still holding it and that we really needed to get moving.

I handed it over delicately, as I was not quite sure where the off-switch was on it.

After the Adacap took it back, he looked it over for a moment. I could feel him doing something with the Force, but I couldn't tell what.

"Interesting," He muttered as he extinguished the blade and clipped the hilt back onto his belt.

And that was it. That was all he said before turning and walking away.

I finally looked around. All twenty of the Vagaari were dead at my feet, sliced to pieces, the cuts still smoldering. Behind me, the other creatures were in various states of dismemberment. Some of the other Chains had jagged cuts and bite marks from their own opponents.

Vald joined me. He looked around at the bodies and asked, "Where the hell did that come from? That was great!"

"…I have no idea," I replied.

We stood in silence for a few minutes as the others patched up their wounds. I slipped my own med-kit out of my bag and started disinfecting and bandaging my own injuries. I'd taken a few more hits than I thought.

"So," I started, "Wolvkils?"

"Wolvkils," The darksider nodded sagely, "Did you have fun? I know I did."

"I hate you so much."

Vald clapped me on the back, "Welcome to life in the Blazing Chain. Get used to it."

He sounded entirely too pleased with himself.

Six people had to stay back on account of broken limbs or torn muscles, two from the Moon Eye's crew. Galena was one of them, as her left leg was twisted at an unnatural angle and torn up with claw and bite marks. The rest of us converged on the bridge. As we reached the final blast door, Xipher stopped everyone with a raised hand. Even the Adacap paused.

The Near-Human cocked his head to one side as he listened. Then he barked out a command, "Strider, make a shield around everyone. I need to concentrate for a moment."

I did as he asked, drawing on the Force and shaping it into a semi-transparent dome around us. Making it large scale like this was actually easier for me than making a human-sized shield. As I did, Xipher knelt on the ground and went still.

Buzzing echoed from the vents as thousands of flying black and yellow bugs came pouring out, slamming themselves uselessly against the dome. Seconds ticked by as they kept at it with no indication that they'd be able to get through.

Finally, Xipher was ready, "Drop it."

As the barrier fell, the bugs raced towards us. But Xipher's hands lashed out to either side, unleashing flashes of lightning. Arcs of electricity surged through the swarm, killing and jumping to the next.

When the last fell, I stared at Xipher. Did he…?

He shrugged, "Useful trick I picked up a century ago. Great for dealing with schostri and jumpstarting speeders."

He did. He used goddamn Sith Lightning…as a glorified bug zapper.

"Keep moving," Rawle ordered, getting our attention, "The captain will be the only one left. The last to die."

Two of Rawle's men flanked the door, ready to open it. The Adacap, Xipher, Vald, and I stood before it. Our blue-haired leader nodded, and the blast door slid open.

Another wolvkil leaped forward, but Rawle stepped forward, ignited his lightsaber, and bisected it with a quick slash. The two halves landed with meaty thumps and suddenly I missed having my helmet.

Alone on the bridge, stood a Vagaari, dressed far more richly than his fellows. He was holding something small and thin in his hand.

Without thinking, I raised a hand and slammed it down. Bones crunched as the alien was crushed under tons of pressure, cratering the deck beneath him. Whatever was in his hand clattered to the floor.

Nobody moved. Blood started pooling under the captain's mouths from his ruptured organs.

"Huh, you didn't paste him this time," Vald observed after a moment.

The Adacap nodded towards the body, "Well, I did say you would have first crack. It's your kill, so go ahead."

One step at a time, I walked towards the body. I slowly knelt next to it, confirming that he was actually dead. Beside broken fingers, I saw it.

I had thought he had been holding a detonator or something similar, but it turned out to be a small, thin gold crystal about as long as my thumb. I reached out a hand to touch it.

As soon as my fingers brushed its surface, a glow emanated from its depths, startling me. As soon as I pulled my hand away, it went away.

Cautiously, I picked it up. As it sat in my hand, it glowed once again, a little brighter this time.

"May I see that?" Rawle must have approached while I was examining it.

"Sure," I said as I passed it over.

Again, as soon as my fingers left it, the glowing stopped. The Adacap raised an eyebrow, turning the crystal over in his hand. I felt him do something with the Force again.

"How curious," He muttered before handing it back. Again, the glow returned. Upon seeing that, he chuckled, "It seems it doesn't like me."

"I don't even know what it is," I commented.

"Neither do I," The Adacap admitted, "It might be…" He stopped himself and looked at me, "Nevermind. But it's responding to you, so I would keep it close for now."

Turning to the others, he raised his voice, "The ship is ours! Pillage to your hearts' content! Just remember my share."

As the cheers went up, I took one last look at the crystal before slipping it into a pocket on my harness.

Before I could join the others, Rawle stopped me, "When we leave, you will be joining us on the Stormcaller. There are several things we need to discuss."