Borleias

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

No ships had left the planet. Hou-Jo was trying desperately to think of actions to take. He looked at the ETA. A little over 2 hours left. Hou-Jo wanted to board his ship and aid Hale, but he had to stay on the planet until he knew everyone was away or safe. He stood, unable to do anything else. Deep down he knew that he had done everything he could, but somehow he felt he could do more.

 

He paced the room he was in. A week ago he had almost destroyed the Dojo, now he was trying to save it. He dwelled on the irony. Maybe the Force had a sense of humor, or maybe it was allowing Hou-Jo to redeem himself. Either way, losing the Dojo wasn't an option to him. He searched through the computer, hoping maybe the Dojo had some defenses...

[Zero]

Dhan-Jaroe felt something in the force, something, or someone, telling him to stay.

 

"Take Ben'a and his ship to the Rendezvous point."

 

He turned around and headed back into the control room.

 

"Hou-Jo, I have died for this order in vain, on several occasions, and don't like the idea of throwing another life away for it. This is for the Jedi, not the Order. The Jedi need an overhaul if we are to survive. What do you need me to do?"

[Tarrian Skywalker]

Never mind my ruling, I have been informed that they want to fight this out IC to win. Sorry for any confusion my almost ruling may have caused, carry on.

Edited January 24, 2005 by Guest

[Guest]

OOC: I know that his post was illegal, but we're kind of a few posts deep into this now, and havin' fun. How about letting us play it out - it's not like we're going to let it hit... This sort of stop kills the flow of RP...

[Rythen Karr]

Rythen worked fast, snipping wires, and splicing them into other wires, connecting them into new recepticles and pulling out key circuit boards and discarding them.

 

The entire job had taken a grand total of about 10 minutes, but Rythen was confident it would work. He knew it would because it had to.

 

Amidst the makeshit repairs and stopgap solutions, he had formulated, and executed a plan. He had killed the power for a short amount of time by breaking the main power circuits using the emergency circuit breaker, which was usually used only when the reactor had become critical. He then set about rerouting most of the discretionary power, plus much of the power which should already be in use, to the thrusters which were on the port side of the planetoid missile. He flipped the circuit breaker again, reinstating the power and starting the engines. The current engine statistics would be that the port thrusters at 250% performance, while Starboard were at 30%.

 

The desired effect immediately took place as the remains of the planetoid began to ponderously turn. At the current rate of turn, it would miss Borleias by a rather large distance. Also, at the current rate of power consumption, the cooling system would overload and the engines would short circuit, leaving momentum, and hopefully the gravity of the sun to finish the job on the chunk of rock and metal.

[Barga]

(OOC: I realise that destroying a planet is illegal. But who said anything about destroying it?)

 

IC: *The SEED technicians monitor the Jedi landing on the planetoid with detached interest; not surprise, anger, or fear, just a dispassionate interest in the Jedi's actions. It is almost as if they have been expecting it.*

 

'The Jedi are attempting to divert Sanity's End.'

 

'Did we expect anything less?'

 

'Of course not. The explosives were placed?'

 

'Yes.'

 

'Then let's finish this.'

 

*One of the technicians pulls out a small device with a flip-switch covered by a red plasteel guard. He pulls the small trigger-guard up and pushes the button. He is rewarded by a faint flash of light, several thousand kilometres away at the moon's North Pole. The explosives destroy the remnants of ATLAS utterly. The fate of the Jedi below, however, remains to be seen...*

 

'Did they divert the moon enough?'

 

'Unsure... it will take some time to calculate the new trajectory. Sanity's End is still heading in the direction of Borealis, however... if she passes close enough, the Jedi planet's own gravity will doom her.'

 

*Sanity's End continues to drift towards Borealis... the fate of the planet still undecided...*

[Ish Ka Bibl]

Like extensions of himself, Ish used the force to feel for any other Jedi force energies. Instantly, two could be felt....that of masters Hou-Jo and Akturus.

 

Contacting each through the force he asked.

 

Is there anything you would have me do masters

 

Still sitting in his Lamborari GS7, the anxiety was beginning to eat at the jedi.

[Talon]

Talon was deep in meditation. He was searching himself, looking into the deep rivets of his mind. It was an attempt to figure out who he really was, but it was all in vain. He did, however, feel his own connections to the Force strengthen. It was no longer a whisper in the wind, but becoming a true wind. And with the wind came more power. And with the power came more sight. And it was in the deep trance, sitting on the dais in the middle of a garden on Borleias, he saw it. It was a megolithic sphere, cracked and broken and all but destroyed. And it was heading here. He could feel the malice. The mal-intent. It wanted to end his life, along with all the rest of the Jedi- not to mention the accumulated population outside of the Jedi Dojo. So much pain and death just to annihilate a small group of Force users.

 

As Talon was meditating, he felt a presence... He opened his eyes. A man was watching him. He was familiar... Dhan-Jaroe...

 

First he made a proposition to leave, but then, as if acting on another instinct, he reconsidered.

 

"Take Ben'a and his ship to the Rendezvous point."

 

And then he was gone, and Talon was alone. But he did not move. He stayed right where he was. Foolish? Perhaps... Fatal? Probably... But if Master Hale Akturus failed, and the other Jedi could not stop the onslaught... Talon would still be there. He had faith...

[ObliviousKnight]

"Look, Dine, they're trying to divert the moon. I think... it's going to be close, but they'll send it into the sun." Then sensors registered a series of explosions that disabled the thrusters. Armiena gulped. "It's going to be very close... unless I help."

 

As Armiena brought the Stellar Princess out of the hangar, she went to her mental drawing board. She was a fairly skilled mechanic, and knew how sophisticated power systems operated. Detonating the moon's thrusters probably put a lot of strain on the reactors all over the moon, and weakened their shields. With a push and a nudge in the right spot... the correct amount of pressure on the reactor shields, they would probably go critical, detonate, and provide an incredible amount of jolt. Enough jolt to knock the moon off course considerably.

 

"Dine... run this calculation. If I were to... destabilize the port reactors and cause them to overload and explode... would that make enough jolt to cause the moon to go off course sufficiently?"

 

R5-D9 paused on his copiloting duties, running the possibilities through his robotic brain along with the ship's computer. Finally, the astromech hooted in the affirmative.

 

"Thank the Force. Dine... this is going to sound crazy. I'm going to cause a chain reaction that will cause the port reactors to explode."

 

Distressed whistling followed her statement.

 

"Yeah, I know. It sounds crazy... but, 'size matters not' when you have the Force on your side." She quoted the old proverb. "I figure... that if I were to crack the shields on the port reactors, they would overload, right?" More distressed wharbling followed. "Good. That's my intention. Cause a massive chain reaction to take out all of the port reactors, and make a big enough jolt to push it off course. Is that possible?"

 

R5-D9 whistled positively.

 

"Nice to know I can be useful. Let's go. Set us a course for the surface... port side--their port, that is. And, Dine?" R5-D9 whistled a query. "If I don't make it... get my body to the Graveyard, if you can. I want to at least have a decent burial." Reassurances followed her request, probably to reassure her that nothing would happen to her... and if something did, she would at least have the minor luxury of an honorable burial.

 

"The second we land on the surface, I'm going to leave things to you, Dine. Don't interrupt me for any reason." The Princess started to buck as it entered what little atmosphere the moon had left. Armiena held her controls tightly, evading flying debris from the shattered engines. Almost there.... she pulled a stomach-arousing dive, and an equally jarring landing.

 

"Dine, where are the port reactors?" A number of coordinates came up on the console, where the power signatures on the port side were strongest... almost certainly reactors. Much to her relief, the reactors on the other side of the moon were a sufficient distance away, so they wouldn't be affected by the chain reaction.

 

D9 hooted triumphantly as he brought up the blueprints for the reactors as well--apparently the droid performed a sensor focus on those coordinates as well. "Dine, thank you so much... I'm going to need that visualization." She studied them. The reactors were fairly standard... though rather huge.

 

Armiena plunged into meditation right away, not even taking the time to undo her restraints. She gathered her power for a single massive telekinetic push, hopefully enough to blast through a reactor shield and cause the desired chain reaction.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

OOC: Ish, I gave you something to do.

 

IC: Hou-Jo looked at Dhan-Jaroe, "Get the evacuation force to Haruun Kal."

Hou-Jo went back to the control panel. He spoke into the intercom again, "All Jedi Knights, padawans and hopefuls, leave the surface of Borleias immediately. I repeat, everyone leave immediately. All adepts, track anything leaving the system. Everyone follow Dhan-Jaroe to the rendeavouz. May the Force be with you."

 

Hou-Jo looked at Dhan-Jaroe, "May the Force be with you. I may not make it to Haruun Kal. You and Ish Ka Bibl are to take things in my stead. Good luck."

 

Hou-Jo ran to his ship and got inside. The ship roared to life and sped away from the Dojo. He was headed straight for Sanity's End.

[Guest]

Hale Akturus clenches his teeth as he and Rythen Karr fall. Moments before the explosion had rocked the control room, the Jedi Master had sensed a great disturbance in the Force; through his mind's eye, Akturus had seen the imminent explosion. Pulling his apprentice along, Akturus had used the Force to pull free a nearby ventilation shaft - a ventilation shaft leading deep down to the very heart of the planetoid. Now, as master and apprentice fall, a wave of fire follows them, superheating the huge ventilation shaft, which had a diameter of about eight feet. As he falls, Akturus, ignoring the fire nipping at his heals, wonders whether Sanity's End had been knocked about significantly enough to steer it away from the planet. After a few moments, the Jedi Master's thoughts turn to surviving, and he closes his eyes and reaches out with the Force. The two Jedi were fast approaching the bottom of the ventilation shaft; below them, a huge blade spun around. Below that, near the very heart of the planetoid, was a water processing facility. Suddenly, everything around the two Jedi seems to slow to a crawl - Akturus was using the Force to alter the state of the reality around the pair. After a few moments pass, the pair fall through that huge spinning blade, both relatively unscathed. Akturus lands first, his apprentice, second - the pair were on a metal catwalk leading to the water processing facility.

 

Akturus sighs.

 

"Worry not, my apprentice, this sort of thing doesn't happen everyday."

Akturus looks around.

 

"More like two or three times a week."

The two Jedi take off for the water processing facility, as fire pours out of the ventilation shaft above.

 

"We need to get out of here. If the planetoid hasn't been completely knocked off course yet perhaps we can call to our fellow Jedi and together use the Force to finish the job."

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo's ship flew in on an attack run on the Sanity's End. He launched several energy bombs into the front end of it, pushing the tip into the new direction, possibly throwing off the newly plotted trajectory. He launched one concussion missile as well, creating a large explosive force. He came to close to the Sanity's End, and was being drawn in. The stabilizer foils allowed him to change his direction quickly enough, but it took some brute engine power to pull himself away. He flew away from it's range, his ship moderately damaged by the attack. He instructed his astromech droid to make any repairs it could to the ship...

[Rythen Karr]

Rythen shot to his feet almost immediately. Zabrak's were known to be able to take a lot of damage with little to no pain.

 

"Then let's get going, we haven't much time"

 

Both Master and Apprentice made their way back to their ship, going as fast as they could. Within minutes, they had reached the vessel and had boarded.

 

A few moments later, the ship had lifted off.

[Avararda Dinn]

Mass chaos reigned all around Avararda. Everyone seemed to be doing everything and nothing, all at the same time. As he looked up at the sky, he saw a huge meteor. It didn't take the Force to know that if it hit him, he'd be a little more than hurt. A Force message popped up into his mind, and he answered it immediatly. May the Force be with all of you. This is Avararda, I'm headed off to Haruun Kal. And it was true. No heroics today. He found Shanti and helped her onto Avararda's ship, The Canine. There, he ignited the ships thruster engines and took off for Haruun Kal.

[Zero]

((any jedi that does not make it off in the event of a collision, will either be on Armiena's or Ben'a's ship, which is under Talon's command. If you don't get off in time, you will lose your ships))

 

Dhan-Jaroe used the force to guide his ship to the outside of the Dojo.

 

"Talon, take Ben'a's ship and get as many jedi out of here as you can."

 

Dhan-Jaroe got into his ship as well and waited there, waited to make sure no presence wasn't left in the Dojo.

[Talon]

However much Talon wanted to remain and give support to the Jedi, Dhan-Jaroe was persistent. Perhaps they were afraid of a little excitement... In any event, he did not want to disregard direct orders, so immediately he took off from the dais, collected his things on his way out, and headed to the hangar. Immediately he moved to Ben'a's elegant freighter. As there was no sign of Ben'a, he moved directly to the pilot's chair, powered up, and waited for other evacuees to board. After several long moments of waiting and boarding, the ramp shut, and Talon took off... headed towards space.

[ObliviousKnight]

(EDITED: For OOC PM's. Nothing serious.)

 

Deep in her trance, Armiena felt her fellow Jedi's emotions swirling about her in a confused storm of fear, hope, and desperation... or she was simply confusing her emotions and that of her fellow Jedi. She was so deep in meditation that she couldn't distinguish them.

 

She had picked out one reactor core to attack--one that was dangerously close to one of the explosive charges that was detonated to destroy the engines. Its shield probably ready to give away under the stress of the still-activated core. Even still, she was dealing with heavy armor-rated durasteel--arguably the strongest alloy available at a reasonable price.

 

It's too big... too thick... can't break through...

 

Oh, yes you can, Armiena. The boundaries exist only in your mind--throw them out. They're of no use to you, especially in such a dire situation. For people like you, limits are boundaries that you impose on yourself.

 

She vaguely felt the moon shudder under Hou-Jo's attack. There was no way he was going to turn this hunk of battered rock with mere firepower.

 

You will succeed... because you must.

 

She was practically writhing in her seat with effort, but she didn't notice or care. She had to turn this moon.

 

-------------------------

 

R5-D9, sitting next to Armiena on the droid's bare patch of durasteel, observed his master with concern. She was shaking uncontrollably--clearly she was not well. Yet his master ordered the unit to not interrupt her... no matter what happened.

 

The R5 unit calculated the amount of time Borleias had left to live; approximately two hours. The point of no return was even closer. If the droid's master was going to do something, it would have to be quick.

 

-------------------------

 

Do it... do it now!

 

Armiena heaved against the reactor shield with as much power as she could summon, and as much as the Force lent her for the occasion. Her throat was being ripped raw from her desperate scream of effort... the shield began to give way.... and then, finally, a hunk of durasteel broke loose from it, plunging directly into the reactor core, upsetting the precarious balance of energy inside.

 

The consequences were immediate and catastrophic. The fragile core, penetrated, immediately let loose a gout of radiation that melted its cracked shield almost instantly, and evaporated its coolant in no time flat.

 

It overloaded, and would explode violently in just a couple of minutes. And if her droid's calculations were correct, it would be the start of a massive chain reaction that would result in the destruction of most of the power cores on the port side.

 

The cumulative explosions might provide enough force to push the moon off course and save Borleias.

 

-------------------------

 

"Dine!" Armiena managed to whisper with her torn throat. "The reactors are going critical--we need to get off this moon: Now!"

 

Hou-Jo, get away from the moon. Its portside reactors are about to explode.

 

Armiena kicked in the sublights, gunning them for all the power they could possibly provide. Debris was pummeling the ship's shields, and she glanced at it with half her attention, and regretted it immediately...

 

"Dine... hit the back-up." One of the miracles of Mon Cal engineering: back-ups for almost every subsystem imaginable. The shields instantly greened up nicely, and she managed to escape the debris field without any hull damage.

 

And behind her... in a fantastic explosion that shook Sanity's End kilometers beneath its surface, one of its power cores exploded, pushing it further off course. It disturbed the power cores closest to it, shattering their blast shields as though they were made of low quality droid plating. It took little time for them to overload and explode. The destructive cycle repeated itself over and over, vaporizing vast portions of the moon, and pushing it away from Borleias with the force of the explosions, until the tremors on the moon's surface were insufficient to disturb any more reactors.

 

In essence, she just destroyed multiple reactors, all with one incredibly draining push with the Force. A feat that any self-respecting Rebel would envy. As soon as she got to safety, she was going to have D9 check her for radiation exposure--just to be safe.

 

"H...how much d--did it p... push th, th, the moon, Dine?" Armiena was now starting to shake with exhaustion and adrenaline letdown.

 

Calculations appeared on the control boards... in the end, the moon was pushed off course a few more degrees--not an incredible change, but it might be enough to safe Borleias. It was still too early too tell. And even if it didn't, it would buy the people planetside at least a few more minutes to evacuate. That could save thousands more, at the least.

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

((OOC: man do I hate being left out of the loop. Here I am showing up and finding out I am about to die.))

 

As soon as Scorp felt that something was wrong he went to his ship. Then after reading some quick reports he began to pick up civilains before he took of into space with all the civilians he could carry. With so many people on board it was hard to rememeber where to go. But first he would try to use the force to help change the directory of the moon/rock/astroiad whatever. Naturally he failed but perhpas if he could get a bunch of jedi to help he would suceed.

[Barga]

(OOC: A couple of points; one, it is impossible for a ship of any size to divert a moon with energy bombs, or any other sort of ordnance it may have. Two, Sanity's End has no reactors or power cores; the ATLAS system drew energy directly from the core of the planet, and after this last jump the core was tapped out. That said, I'm not sure how to proceed after Obsidian's post...)

 

IC: 'Have the jedi succeeded in diverting the moon?'

 

'I see only one concrete way of them shifting her enough to absolutely guarantee safety.'

 

'A telekinetic push of that magnitude could kill many of them.'

 

*The lead technician merely smiles in response.*

[Guest]

((Devin's account...sorry...Ignore))

Edited January 25, 2005 by Guest

[Ary the Grey]

((I'M GONNA KEEELL YOU DEVIN!!!))

 

Aryian departs the planet, a hot Ion trail following, his presence being wanted elsewhere...

[Ish Ka Bibl]

Ish decides to head out in his ship and take up orbit around Borleais. His transponder is fixed on the dojo to pick up any signals should anyone planet-side need evac.

[Guest]

As the battered freighter piloted by Rythen Karr blasts away from the hurtling planetoid, Hale Akturus releases his apprentice's mind from his grasp - the Jedi Master was not on the ship, but still on the planetoid, alone. His face a mask of determination, Akturus makes his way back to the control room that had been ravaged by an explosion only a short time ago. The control room's floor, walls, and ceiling are black; a blackness reflecting, no doubt, the very heart of Jidai Geki. After casting his tattered cloak aside, Akturus drops to his knees and closes his eyes. The Jedi Master remains this way for a few long minutes. As the times passes, Akturus reflects on his life to this point - thoughts of BLCKCLONE, Andon Colos, and Rythen Karr calm the Jedi Master. The Jedi Master remains this way until the very sound of his heart beating echoes throughout the charred control room. Reaching out with the Force, Akturus channels his mind's energies away from the charred control room, away from the hurtling planetoid, out to the mind's of the SEED agents watching from their ship in the near distance.

 

I have you now.

 

The haunting words echo throughout the Force - not the words of Akturus, but of some other Jedi, now long gone. Akturus, drawing on both his own life-energy, and the life-energies of the SEED agents, reaches out with the Force and attempts to ”œgrab”

[Ary the Grey]

Another fallen Jedi...

 

Aryian, still in-system, recieves a high amount of the pain and release that Hale let go (himself being a Jedi Knight and highly receptive to these things), his ship careening into open space, his body floating in the crash webbing unconsciously.

 

Small thoughts passed through his memory...why...why do others hate the good...the good the Jedi stand for...and so often die to protect...

 

It did not make much sense to him anymore, anything. He felt the warm glow of Ben'a's energy fade to a smolder, and then...nothing...

 

His mind still in a deep abyss, somehow he manages to hit a lever on his console, rocketing the ship deep into hyperspace, navicomputer still not set.

 

He was no longer Jedi, or fought for their cause. Recently, though he had kept them well hidden from even his longtime friend and then master, Ben'a Solo, he had an epiphany about why the force works the way it does, and in his state of force dreaminess realizes that neither side is correct to fight and kill each other, if only to promote their ways and thoughts.

 

((Continued in Space thread))

[Zero]

Dhan-Jaroe's ship went into hyperspace and left the system.

[Talon]

It was strange indeed, flying from one planets gravity well just to be consumed by another. For right as the manta-like freighter broke the atmosphere of Borleias, the hulking mass of SEED filled the viewports. The mere thought of it made Talon's head spin. Which way was up or down? At any rate, Talon spun the ship into a roll. It briefly passed through the upper atmosphere of the dying moon, and then it had passed, and they were in free space. Talon hardly noticed, however, as his thoughts and feelings had been diverted. From Borleias itself, a gasp in the Force was felt... It felt as if a mighty rushing wind suddenly filled a vacuum, and then was gone. Hale Akturus was gone, but so was the SEED moon.

 

Talon looked down and checked the sensors. A good many of the other Jedi had scrambled from the planet and were now headed spaceward. As he had been 'away' for a good while, there was much he was unsure about- including the current location of the Jedi Temple. He opened a comm with the other Jedi, waiting to see what the plan was.

[ObliviousKnight]

((OOC: Ooops... teaches me to research what's going on. And Geki, you are one sick sithspawn.))

 

Armiena felt the death of Master Akturus... but the jolt of grief at losing a fellow Jedi was nothing compared to the relief at seeing Sanity's End tear off its flight path. Her jaw nearly hit the control boards as she watched Sanity's End plunge into the heart of Borleias' star, slowly vaporizing as it inserted itself into the star.

 

"You did it... Borleias will live."

 

This calls for something special.

 

From her cabin, she retrieved an incredibly rare--and even more expensive--bottle of Alderaanian wine. She had bought it years ago at an auction of Alderaanian goods, and nearly bankrupted her merchant business in the process. But it was worth it, she decided, even if only to have another relic of Alderaan's past. Until now, she never had a proper excuse to open it. Toasting his name sounded like a sufficient excuse.

 

As she uncorked the bottle, R5-D9 withdrew a small medical probe and inserted it into Armiena's leg. He reported--very happily--that Armiena had not been exposed to radiation.

 

"Good, that's always nice to hear." Armiena filled her crystal glass--also of Alderaanian manufacture.

 

"To Jedi Master Hale Akturus, world-savior, and the bravest man that I've never had the pleasure of meeting." It was a solemn moment as she lifted her glass, and drank to his honor.

 

The comm board signalled. Moment over.

 

"Jedi vessel, the evacuation point and location of the other Jedi Temple is on Haruun Kal. See you there. And thanks for getting Camsie off the planet." She fed him a string of coordinates. Armiena enjoyed one final sip of the Alderaanian vintage before the pulled the hyperspace level, leaving Borleias behind.

[Talon]

To Haruun Kal it is, then...

 

Talon plugged in the coordinates the Jedi Armiena had been so kind to give him. He took one last look at Borleias and the death site of the late Hale Akturus, and then took the Millenium Skyray into hyperspace.

[Hou-Jo Poleb]

Hou-Jo lost control of his ship temporarily. He wasn't near enough to the Sanity's End, but he still felt the aftertase of Hale's brute power. If the strain of that weren't enough, he felt the tremor in the Force left in his wake. Hou-Jo scrambled over his controls to gain control of the ship, but he only made it hurtle worse. The droid immediately turned the ship on autopilot, leaving Hou-Jo needlessly operate the controls for a few more seconds. He wasn't breathing; from shock. He gasped loudly and slumped forward, "No," he muttered, "no!" Tears came from Hou-Jo's eyes. "I failed... I couldn't save him."

 

His HUD was beeping, a comm was open from the Dojo. Hou-Jo slowly turned his communicator on, transmitting on all chanels. His voice cracked over the microphone, "Everyone go to the rendevouz point on Haruun Kal."

 

Hou-Jo turned off the comm. He fell back into his chair and mourned. He was immediately interupted as Talon's ship went into hyperspace. He gathered himself; this was not the time. He was a Jedi, he must ensure the safety of everyone else. His ship entered hyperspace...

[Rythen Karr]

Rythen's hands tightened on the controls. Gone, Hale was gone, and it was all his fault. He was the one who was piloting the ship. If he hadn't been fooled by that stupid Jedi Mind trick, maybe he could have helped. Maybe Hale wouldn't have had to die.

 

If he had been at his Master's side, things would have ended differently. He may have only known his master for a short time, but he had forged a deep bond with him, probably a bond through the Force, from what he knew of it. But the shock of his master's death had manifested in a physical way, making his stomach lurch.

 

Quickly slapping the autopilot button, Rythen raced towards the back of the ship, pulling off his helmet as he reached the refresher unit, falling to his knees, he proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach. Pain and grief mixing as he became sick.

 

After what seemed like an eternity of sitting in the corner, grieving, he heard the alarm, letting him know that they were about to land. Dragging himself to his feet, he walked over to the sink, and splashed some cold water on his face, and removing the space suit which he wore, to reveal his slightly crumpled tunic and pants which he normally wore.

 

Deep down, he knew it wasn't his fault. But right now, the shock of everything was too fresh, too much, and the logic had no way to penetrate the pain. As the freighter landed, Rythen emerged from the landing ramp. On his back, he carried the three cases which Hale had carried onto the ship earlier. He lugged the cases to his own ship, the Thunderbolt, stowing them in the cargo compartment. Hopping into the cramped cockpit of the ship, he raised it onto it's repulsorlifts.

 

He glanced back at the battered freighter,

4....3....2....1.

 

All of a sudden the ship erupted in a gout of flames, the small explosived from the armoury that Rythen had planted in the ship's reactor going off, and causing a chain reaction which caused the grand funeral pyre for Hale which stood on the landing pad.

 

Tilting the 'Bolt backwards, Rythen poured on the throttle, which caused the small ship to lurch forward at an incredible speed. Going fast always helped Rythen feel better. As the small patrol fighter cleared the gravity well of Borleias, he punched in the coordinates of he only place left for him now.

 

After the few moments it took the navicomputer to calculate a proper route, Rythen pulled the lever and kicked the ship into hyperspace. The swirling miasma taking over him.