The Weakest Link (Canon)
Panory
The Omake Dragon
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Twist my arm why don't ya?
The Weakest Link
Lieutenant Tyro Torwin was the rising star of the Arcblade Fleet. People called him a genius in his youth, and while that may have been true, it was supplemented with more hard work than had probably been necessary for what the fleet usually raided and decades of experience. Unless the Jedi decided to deal with the Blazing Chain raiders, he'd probably never have the need to use half the force tricks he'd picked up over the years.
Still, Tyro knew he wasn't a leader. He'd never make the cut as Adacap. And while a younger man might have chaffed at not receiving recognition as the best, Tyro's ambition had been tempered by time and age. He knew he could probably beat Adacap Zekk's face in, but she was a better leader than he'd ever be. He was content to keep raiding as her second in command until age made him too slow to dodge a blaster bolt, and his son would have to deal with a legacy he'd be nowhere near. Still, that comparison would propel little Tosh to one day surpass his old man.
The ship shook, and Tyro was snapped out of his thoughts by a blaring alarm and Adacap Zekk's voice shouting over the intercom. "We got hostiles, a whole damn fleet of them, and they caught us by surprise. Engines got shot in that opening volley. If you aren't firing back at them, get ready to repel boarders!" Tyro sprinted to his quarters to grab a spare blaster and a lot of ammunition. The less practical side of his mind reminded him of his son, probably playing with the other young boys who knows where on the ship.
Bursting into the room, Tyro cursed as he picked up his raiding gear when he saw his son nowhere to be found. He'd just have to hope Tosh had found a safe place to hide, and fight all the harder to keep intruders off the ship.
Turning a corner on his way to one of the ship's hangers, Tyro raised his blaster and fired at the approaching pirate. His bolt was deflected with a wave of the enemy's hand, and Tyro raised his off hand and reached out with the Force. He didn't particularly care why the Blackshackle Fleet would try to attack them, and at the moment he didn't really care. The blaster bot that had been brushed aside stopped completely before rocketing back to hit the Blackshackle pirate, who collapsed limply on the floor.
Tyro didn't spare the corpse a second glance, instead hurrying to the hanger. The blast doors opened to reveal roughly a dozen raiders guarding the ships, likely to prevent escapes. Taking advantage of their confusion, Tyro rolled behind a stack of shipping containers that had yet to be unpacked from the last raid. Never thought he'd be grateful the young pirates of the Arcblade Fleet had such a reputation for "doing it later".
Fire rained down on his position, some bolts curving around to try and hit him or turning abruptly at sharp angles, though he casually brushed them aside with the Force when they got too close. There weren't many, since most Blazing Chain pirates focused more on getting better manipulation instead of sensing, which led to firing blind when there wasn't line of sight.
It was a critical flaw of the Blazing Chain style, one which Tyro had decided to correct at some point in his life. Leaning up behind those boxes, Tyro closed his eyes and reached out with the force. He could sense the life of each Blackshackle raider, each blaster bolt, and as always most disconcertingly, himself. Tyro added twelve more blaster bolts to the chaos on random directions. The Force stopped each one simultaneously, before they launched towards their individual target in unpredictable zig zag patterns.
Tyro stood calmly, looking at the dozen odd corpses that had guarded the hanger. Tyro mused that the fact that none of his shots had been deflected meant the twelve had likely been novices. Just then the door burst open and Adacap Zekk rushed in, followed by more blaster fire than any one practitioner of the Blazing Chain could possible deflect. Rather than fire back at her attackers, Zekk shot the control panel, shutting the door and essentially locking it to buy her some time.
"Heh, should have figured they wouldn't be able to take you down so easily." said Zekk as she limped towards him. "We need to get out of her. I know I'm asking a lot, but I'm not in any condition to keep conscious, let alone fly a ship out of here."
"If even you're talking about running, I take it the fleet is doomed?" asked Tyro as he draped one of Zekk's arms over his shoulders and helped her into one of the ships designed the fit more than a single pilot.
"Yeah. Sorry, I tried to get Tosh out with me, he and his friends were on the bridge watching the maintenance on the weapon systems. You know how boys are at that age, any excuse to fire a blaster. Meant we weren't at full capacity when these Blackshackle bastards attacked though."
"You're rambling Zekk. Just get some rest. Can't have you dying on me." interjected Tyro.
"Fine, I'll trust you not to crash us into some planet and get a little rest. Leave something behind for those Blackshackle bastards though, would you?" asked Zekk as he set her down in the co-pilot's seat, though he doubted she'd be doing much piloting.
"You're the Adacap." Tyro said simply as he removed a full clip from his bandolier and tossed it in front of the door. It had taken a lot of trial and error, and what catastrophic errors they had been, to learn this next trick, and even then it was more an art than a science. Still, if all went according to plan, the clip would rupture the next time someone moved it, firing blaster bolts in every direction. That would be a nasty surprise for the Blackshackle raiders.
Tyro climbed into the pilot's seat and rushed through the safety checks they were always supposed to do. Zekk was already asleep by the time Tyro took off, which was probably for the best considering how bad her leg had looked. It wasn't easy flying through the chaos, but the fact that they were in a stolen Blackshackle ship kept the other Blackshackles from attacking them, and the dogfighting had been mostly settled. By now it would have progressed to boarding, where the Arcblade pirates would be slaughtered to the man and their valuables repossessed. Tyro and Zekk would need to warn the other fleets. A Blazing Chains fleet cannibalizing the others was bad news, and it was even worse when they won, since it meant they'd have twice as many ships when they inevitably attacked the next fleet. With that in mind, Tyro punched in the coordinates of the Stronglink fleet, and their ship made the jump.
XXX
Tyro watched impassively as the last Blackshackle fleet ship was destroyed by the third ever Blazing Chains Alliance. It had honestly taken all these fleets working together to even have a chance at victory, since the Blackshackles had been one of the largest even before they took the Arcblade fleet. Still, Adacap Zonsoe's mad crusade had been stopped. Still, the civil war had aged Tyro beyond his years, made him even more tired than ever.
"I'm thinking of leaving the fleet. Retiring." said Tyro.
"Well I won't stop you, but I will bitch about it. It'll be damn hard to rebuild the fleet by my lonesome." said Zekk. While they were the only two surviving Arcblade raiders, and every last one of their ships had been destroyed, so long as the Adacap lived, so did the fleet. "Any idea of what you're going to do?"
"I don't know, maybe teach. I've picked up a thing or two about the Blazing Chain style. Maybe I'll head to Coruscant and teach Jedi. Force knows they need it. Apparently the morons block blaster bolts." laughed Tyro.
"Well I wish you the best of luck." said Zekk. While the two were close friends, Tyro could hear the resentment in her voice, and he couldn't blame her. This was a selfish decision made by an old man to run away from bad memories, and they both knew it.
"I won't forget my roots. Any money I make is getting sent right to you. You better use it to rebuild the fleet, instead of to go and get drunk like always." The two laughed at that. They both knew Zekk didn't drink.
"Take care you old bastard." said Zekk, giving Tyro a big hug. Tyro Torwin closed his eyes and returned it.
AN: I can't stop, send help. A bit of backstory for Tyro, since a concept as cool as our force wielding pirate civil war veteran teacher needs to be someone we can't forget about. So here he is being an absolute badass. And who knows what tricks Tyro might teach Ciaran if she gets advanced enough.
