Battle Royal

Anja Gallandro stepped out of the shower, slipped on a white, silk robe, then grabbed a thick towel to dry off her long, dark hair.  The sleek silk garment clung to Anja's sensual curves as she left the disheveled bedroom and padded across the apartment to the open balcony doors.

Anja found Jacen sitting on the balcony deck, legs crossed beneath him, the morning breeze ruffling his short, brown hair. The rising, golden sun made the sea to the east gleam like polished jade.  Jacen's hands lay open upon his knees, he regarded the Fountain Palace to the south grimly, his mouth set, his eyes hard.  Anja draped her slim arms around Jacen's neck, she placed a soft kiss on his right cheek.  Jacen didn't respond at first, he continued to watch the Palace, his body rigid with tension.  Sighing, seeming to come to a decision, Jacen tilted his head up to meet Anja's concerned gaze.  The young man kissed Anja tenderly, he slipped his right hand into Anja's damp robe to fondle her left breast.  Anja giggled and backed away from Jacen, covering her bare breast with her robe again.

"What are you doing out here?" inquired Anja from the balcony doorway, safe from Jacen's groping fingers.

"Meditating, thinking," replied Jacen while rising to his feet.  He wore a loose, sand-colored tunic, matching breeches, and dark brown boots.  A light, brown surcoat hung from Jacen's shoulders, hiding his lightsaber from casual view.

"About what?" smiled Anja tentatively.

"Shuttles have been leaving the capital since dawn, I think that Brakiss's forces are about to attack Hapes," said Jacen abruptly.

"You're trying to change the subject," retorted Anja with a smirk.

Jacen glanced at the Fountain Palace, then returned his gaze to Anja.  "I've been close to Tenel Ka for a long time, I was thinking about her, about a life with her."

Anja lowered her face, strands of honey fell across her down-cast eyes.  "Did you make a decision?"

"I did."

Anja raised her eyes, she steeled her heart for his decision.

Jacen approached Anja and gently took her arms.  He brought his face close to hers, "I decided to stay with you."

Anja's eyes grew moist, she sniffled and looked up at the young Jedi Knight.  "Why?"

Pain crossed briefly over Jacen's face.  "Tenel is a queen now.  She has a responsibility to her people, to her world, to the entire Consortium.  I'm a Jedi, I have a responsibility to the galaxy, and to the Force.  I still have much to learn, and I can't do it in a palace."

"But you can learn with me," smiled Anja.

Jacen nodded and grinned.  "Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

Anja clasped Jacen's waist and hugged him fiercely.  Jacen held the slender, young woman and pressed his left cheek upon her wet, silky hair.  The roar of ascending shuttlecraft reverberated around the two lovers as they embraced within the glow of the rising sun.

***

"We've searched the capital for days without any success," said Anja before she took a large bite from a frosted sweet roll. "I think that we should move our search to the outer estates.  Some of the rebel houses still maintain their manors here, I bet that Mara Jade is being held in one of them if she's still on Hapes."

"Sounds logical," nodded Jacen from his seat at the dining table across from Anja.

"So we'll start at the northern estates along the coast and work our way down," declared Anja, de-activating the map of the capital on her data-pad.

"Let's get started, the danger to Mistress Jade will increase once the shooting starts up there," remarked Jacen as he rose.

***

Tenel Ka and Jaina Solo held hands tightly, their bodies trembling as they maintained a massive shield around the royal fleet.  Azure lightning snapped and licked at the enormous Force-generated globe, tendrils of shadow undulated through space, blotting out the stars, cloaking the defending ships in a heavy blanket of darkness.

Brakiss stood upon the bridge of his own warship, face pale, teeth bared in a vicious grimace of anger.  He let the Dark Side flow through him, his body shuddered while fire filled his veins, his powerful chest heaving from the effort necessary to control the massive Force-Storm.  After maintaining the tempest for nearly half an hour, Brakiss finally had to dispel the crackling storm, any longer and the holocaust would escape his control and destroy both fleets, and perhaps Hapes as well.

"Master Brakiss?" inquired the warship's captain hesitantly.

"Order all ships to attack!" snapped Brakiss between gasps for air.

The woman nodded and rushed to give the order.  Brakiss straightened and clasped his white-gloved hands behind his back.  The Dark Jedi hid his frustration, his bright, golden eyes pierced the void separating him from the Queen Mother. Pondering how he would humiliate Tenel Ka after her fleet was destroyed, a cruel smile formed upon the blonde man's handsome face.

***

Mara Jade clung to a wall, catching her breath, every muscle throbbing.  She had made it to the ground floor of the mansion, encountering no one along the way.  The manor was strangely dark and silent, it seemed abandoned as Mara slowly advanced down a long passage, her brain still numb from the bounty hunter's inhibitor webbing.  Mara emerged into the entry foyer, and discovered IG-88 standing at the foot of a winding staircase.

The assassin droid regarded Mara with his glowing, red eye ports.  He spun his torso to face Mara, then raised his blaster arms, spitting a cloud of blaster bolts at the weak Jedi.

Stumbling, Mara dove back into the passageway.  Ruby bolts smashed into the walls and floor, leaving smoking, black holes around the mouth of the passage.  Mara lay prone on the soft, carpeted floor.  She creased her brow and tried to summon the Force with all of her might, but nothing happened, she couldn't even feel the Force around her.

Mara staggered to her feet and fled down the passage, the hiss of IG-88's leg servos prodding her into motion.  Mara ignored the open doorway that led back down to the basement, she thrust out her arms and dove through the window at the far end of the passageway.  Glass ripped into Mara's palms as she passed through the window and hit the lawn, rolling down a gentle slope that leveled out a short distance from the mansion.  Holding her bleeding hands close to her stomach, Mara stumbled across the mansion grounds, wheezing for breath, her breasts pumping beneath her tight, black skin-suit. Blaster bolts snapped around Mara, throwing dirt and burning clumps of grass into the air.

A spear of agony impaled the back of Mara's right thigh.  Mara cried out and lost her footing, she collapsed onto the lawn, the toes of her black boots digging into the soft ground.

Mara tried to rise, but her right leg would not take her weight, the entire limb would flare with hot pain every time she tried. The hiss of IG-88's servos became louder, Mara rolled onto her back and watched helplessly as the tall, thin droid marched towards her, blaster arms leveled upon her.  IG-88 stopped a few feet away from Mara and aimed his blasters at the woman's chest.  Mara closed her eyes and cried out to the Force with every ounce of willpower that she possessed.

IG-88 was still, then his entire body began to shudder.  Squawks of distress came from the droid as metal limbs began to deform and twist.  Bright, blue sparks snapped from IG-88's joints, his blaster limbs dropped, then broke apart into their component elements.  IG-88 released an electronic scream just before his eye ports flared and his cylindrical head exploded in a small cloud of blue fire and glowing metal.

Mara's head fell back onto the ground, she let oblivion take the pain of her wounds away.

***

The bridge tilted drunkenly to starboard.  Tenel Ka and Jaina clung to the edges of the view port, alarmed as the shock of hull strikes vibrated through the deck.  They kept their eyes focused on the fierce battle raging out in space, dozens of Hapan Battle Dragons exchanging turbo-laser fire above Hapes's bright surface.  Jaina smiled grimly when a Hapan defense platform launched a swarm of proton-torpedoes at a cluster of rebel Battle Dragons, damaging several of them and reducing one to a flaming, dead hulk.  The numerically-matched foes fought without quarter, the burned-out hulls of many Battle Dragons hung above Hapes, slowly descending into their homeworld's atmosphere where they would be consumed until nothing remained.

Brakiss was thrown off his feet.  He slammed into the deck hard as the rebel Hapes Nova cruiser shuddered from a vicious broadside.  The bridge lights flickered, stations in the crew pit exploded and vented acrid smoke.  The screams of injured officers echoed across the hot compartment.

The Dark Jedi climbed back to his feet and snarled out a view port.  Between the royal Battle Dragons and the orbital platforms defending Hapes, his ships were being cut to pieces.  An easy victory had been denied by Tenel Ka and her friend Jaina Solo, the bounty hunter had obviously failed to neutralize them.

In a swirl of white robes, Brakiss marched out of the burning bridge, ignoring the cries of the people behind him.

***

Through the pall of oily, black smoke emanating from IG-88's body emerged Reaver Fett.  The scarlet-armored bounty hunter cradled his blaster rifle with both arms, his black and red visor looking down at Mara Jade's limp form.  Reaver's razor-spurs chimed as he approached the senseless woman and knelt at her side.  He pressed a fingertip against the side of Mara's throat, she lived.  Reaver touched a series of buttons on a panel attached to his left arm.  He looked up into the bright, blue sky, he could see the bursts of turbo-laser fire dying away, the battle had ended one way or another.  Reaver slipped his arms underneath Mara when the thunder of powerful repulsor-lifts shook the estate grounds.  

A Pursuer-class patrol ship hovered above the lawn, then gently descended onto the grass.  Reaver Fett stood up with Mara clasped to his armored chest, he carried the unconscious woman easily to the descending boarding ramp.  Once Reaver was inside, the ramp cycled shut with a hiss of thick smoke.  The Pursuer ascended back into the air.  The ship blasted its fiery red thrusters and roared up into the heavens, quickly fading from sight.

***

Jacen and Anja Gallandro were just leaving a mansion to the north when the young Jedi Knight noticed the after-burners of the departing patrol ship.  Jacen's forehead creased, then his brown eyes widened with realization.

"Mistress Jade!  She's on that ship!"

Anja squinted at the departing vessel.  "Pursuer-class, there aren't too many operating in the Consortium."

"We have to get after it!"

"We need to find Jaina, she knows where Mara Jade's ship is, we can use it to follow her."

Jacen started running back towards the capital and the Palace, Anja raced to keep up with him.

***

As night fell, fireworks blossomed above the capital city.  Jaina Solo watched with a smile while Tenel Ka walked onto a wide balcony of the Fountain Palace, resplendent in a gleaming coral crown and a shimmering, silver gown.  The huge crowd in front of the Palace roared with adoration for their young Queen Mother.  Tenel Ka waved to her people and the thunder of their joy shook the Palace walls.

Jaina was dressed simply in dark brown Jedi robes and boots.  She had tied her brown hair back with a strip of leather, she watched Tenel Ka for a moment more, then turned away and began walking quietly down a long, arched hallway.  She looked up in surprise when her brother and Anja Gallandro burst out from a side passage.

"What's wrong?" asked Jaina when she detected her brother's distress.

"I found Mistress Jade, she's been captured by a bounty hunter!" gasped Jacen, drawing to a halt before Jaina.

"Do you know where they're going?" demanded Jaina.

"No, but we saw their ship, Anja thinks she can track it."

"I can splice into the Consortium data-nets and find out which Pursuer-class ships have been operating in this system. Once I find out the Pursuer's I.D. code, I can track it pretty much anywhere in the domain of the Holo-Net," said Anja.

"Good idea," nodded Jaina.  "Let's go to the Jade Sabre and get after that bounty hunter!"

Jacen drew close to his sister and lowered his lips to her right ear.  "What should we tell Tenel Ka?"

Jaina threw a look over her shoulder, then met her brother's gaze, "I said good-bye to her before her address, I think we should leave quietly, she has a lot of work to do, healing the rifts between the throne and the noble houses, helping the people who suffered during the civil war, we shouldn't distract her."

"You're right," sighed Jacen.  "I hope she'll be okay."

"She will, that is a fact," smiled Jaina.

*****