Star Wars : New Jedi

"You're serious." Jan said.

"Yep," Kyle responded as he made sure his Saber and Pistol were secure. "If this ship is being boarded, knowing who is doing it will help."

"I guess..." Jan wasn't too sure, but wasn't willing to object more. "At least take something else with you?"

"No arguments there. I figure I'll grab the Concussion Rifle."

Jan shook her head, exasperated. "Why not grab the rocket launcher instead?"

Kyle looked hurt. "I don't want to damage this ship too much!"

"Concussion Rifle!"

"Won't damage bulkheads! Much."

Jan flopped back in her seat. "Fine. I'll get us ready to leave." She waved him away. "Go have fun."

"I will Jan! Be right back!" Kyle grabbed the gun, his shield belt and a few extra power cells out of the armory locker and closed it behind him. "Could you lower the ramp for me?" The Astute shook again, but it seems with the boarding pod in place, the other side wasn't willing to damage their prize more than necessary.

Once he had enough room to duck out, Kyle jumped off the ramp and landed on the deck, rifle over his back. Vaguely remembering that D deck was up from the Flight deck, he trotted to the nearest exit, only to be intercepted by Chief Saew.

"Captain Katarn! What are you doing?" The man said, holding out one hand to stop Kyle. "It's dangerous!"

"I heard," Kyle said. "So I'm going to help the defending marines."

"You can't! Please, return to your ship!" Saew was obviously concerned for his safety, so Kyle reached out with the Force to convince him otherwise.

"You can let me go, I'm on your side." He said hypnotically, trying to beguile the weaker mind.

"You're on our side..." Saew replied, knowing that Kyle wasn't going to hurt him. "But you still need to be safe."

"I'll be careful," Kyle emphasized the point gently. "You helped me out, so I'll help you."

"You'll help us," Saew could see that was true. He had to help! "What are you going to do?"

"Could you unlock the door to let me out, then lock it behind me to keep your flight deck safe?" Kyle could feel his resistance at putting anyone in danger, and felt that it was a refreshing change of pace from the usual people he had to mind trick into agreeing with him.

"Yes, sir." Saew ran for the door and started to punch in the commands to unlock it, Kyle right behind him. "Good luck, sir."

"Thanks. Force be with you." Kyle slipped through the door and waited for it to close behind him. "Jan?" He said into his comlink. "Can you splice into the local network, and tell me where the boarders are?"

"Not yet," she replied. "I'm still getting the Claw warmed up."

"Right. So," he started to question himself as he unslung his pistol. Without knowing what he was actually facing, it was the best option. "If I were invading boarding parties, where would I be?"

The answer was obvious. Bridge or Engine Room. As he was closer to the back of the ship, he decided to head for the latter, then work his way forward. Making a left he jogged down the empty corridor. Through the force, he could feel all the people around him on the ship, worry and fear mostly with a bit of excitement thrown in.

Focusing on the largest knot of emotion, he felt out the small section of Marines that seemed to be neat the engine room. If he didn't miss his guess, they were barricading themselves around the vital compartment, ready to repel attackers.

They would make a nice anvil to his hammer. He spotted an emergency ladder that would allow him to go up and down the decks, and after clearing it with his pistol ready, he ascended to D deck. "Jan," he communicated back to his ship, "I'm headed for the Engine Room to help defend there, then I'll sweep forward."

That he was implying that he could single-handedly defend the entire ship from all attackers wasn't lost on either of them. "Don't go overboard Kyle. Maybe let the marines do some work too?"

"What? And share the glory? Come on Jan, by the time I get there, they will probably be all done and sipping caf."

Jan laughed. "I mean it Kyle. Be careful."

"You too." He closed the channel, then popped his head up out the access hatch. Trusting in all his senses, he saw that the area was clear. Then the Force warned him, and he ducked back down, just as a half-dozen droids ran past the next intersection, blasters in hand.

"Um.... Jan?"

"Kyle?"

"You're not going to believe this, but apparently we're being attacked by old Trade Federation Droidekas."

"You're right. I don't believe you."

"Let me slag the lot of them, and I'll grab one's head for you to slice into it's memory."

"You do that, Kyle. I'm almost done here."

Kyle hopped out of the hatch and closed it silently behind him. Droidekas rarely came in small groups, so he readied his concussion rifle. He would have gone for his lightsaber, but he felt that was inviting trouble if he had a long distance to cover.

Quickly reaching the corner, he felt the ship shudder again. "All hand, we have a second boarding pod, Starboard side, Deck B! All hands to primary defensive positions!" The voice over the intercom was calm and collected in the face of such an assault. He met Kyle's approval, sight unseen.

He quickly glanced around the corner, and saw that a small-ish group of about a dozen Droidekas were gathered around, discussion their plans.

"Frontal Assault!" one with a radio antenna suggested. "Overcome the barricades! The rest agreed. Kyle shook his head. The stupidity of the Trade Federation driods was legendary, even decades later. They were only a threat because there were so damned many of them that even stupidity could be overcome.

He swung out from the corner, aimed for the center of the droideka group and fired off a shot from his rifle.

A Concussion Rifle was considered a 'sonic' weapon, and was one of scant few that couldn't be blocked by a lightsaber, or deflected by the force. It could either fire a single drilling shot of concentrated sound, enough to punch through heavy armor or shields with little problem or could be set to detonate in a concussive explosion on contact with anything denser than air.

Using the later firing option, Kyle aimed to do as much damage as he could, and he wasn't disappointed as their primitive electronic brains barely had time to register that they were under attack before they were blow apart by the blast.

"Alert!" One of them transmitted vocally and by radio. It had been protected from the blast by distance and the bodies of its fellows, though not enough that it had avoided being knocked down. Surrounded by the damaged thin limbs and shattered torsos of the rest of its squad, the Droideka tried to raise itself up to examine who or what had attacked them.

It saw a lightsaber. "JEDI!" It screeched just before Kyle chopped its head off, killing its power and falling down lifelessly.

"Wow," Kyle said as he attached the head to a belt loop for Jan to look at later. "Dark Troopers you are not." With the force, he couldn't locate any droids, but he could sense people's reactions to them. "Jan, dealt with the first group, headed for the next."

"Alright Kyle."

...

( Engine Room )

Lieutenant Harjko was the head of the Marines on the Astute and when the reports of boarding pods came in, he was stuck near the rear of the ship. This wasn't something they had drilled for, instead focusing on boarding actions against disable pirates, or freighters.

Or defending the airlocks or flight deck from intruders. Not fall back positions such as this. He had ordered the majority of his hundred plus men to defend the Bridge and Engine room, with smaller groups securing major weapons from roving foes.

And now here he was, fighting damned droids! Most of them were the standard ones employed by the Trade Federation, thin and spindly in nature, but each with a Blaster as powerful as his own. Scattered amongst them were the larger, heavier versions whose name escaped him, armored and mounting a Blaster cannon in the right arm. And behind them was two of the heavy mobile platforms, the ones with shields of their own and twin repeaters in each arm.

While they were about evenly matched in terms of numbers, the weight of weapons was on the attacker, while defenders held fortified positions. "Keep firing!" he commanded, spraying down the corridor blindly. He may have hit something, he may not have. It didn't matter.

One of his Privates was hit by return fire, falling over dead as the blaster bolt clipped the side of his head, the helmet offering no protection. He pulled the body away from the barricade, and called up for a medic. Maybe he was wrong, and his man wasn't dead, just seriously wounded.

"Surrender and you will be spared!" An electronic voice spoke out through a lull in the fighting. "Surrender!"

"Never!" He yelled out and popped his head up just long enough to squeeze off a shot in the direction of the voice before the return fire caused him to duck again.

"Are we going to hold, sir?" Sergeant Morow asked as he took a spot beside the officer. "We're pinned down!"

"They have to come through here to get to the engine, so yes. We will hold!" Harjko replied, courage in his voice that wasn't in his heart. "The Captain will make sure we don't get any more pods, then we can concentrate our forces."

"If you say so, sir." The Sergeant didn't seem to agree, but what else was there to do?

Just then, an explosion came from the direction of the assaulting droids. "See?" Harjko said. "Reinforcements!" He popped up for a quick look and any thoughts of ducking back down were thrown away by what he saw.

A blade of blue light carved through the smoke and debris of damaged and destroyed droids. He watched as the man holding it ducked under a blaster shot from one brave droid, only to cut it down with a blaster shot of his own. One of the heavy droideka thought to simply bullrush the man, only to be cut in twain.

In less than a blink, the two walking tanks had reoriented on the blade, shining impossibly bright in his eyes, and set to unleash a storm of bolts no one could dodge.

They were met by a hail of lightning, their shields dying quickly under the energies that cascaded over them, and the two droids shaking before dropping down to the ground, powerless and lifeless.

It was over in seconds.

"Hey, you guys alright?" The jedi with the lightsaber said as he casually walked to the barricade. "Guys?"

"It's a Jedi!" One of the men shouted in joy. "We're saved!"

A righteous roar washed over the defenders as Kyle looked them over with annoyance. Lieutenant Harjko stood up, surveying the scene. "Master Jedi?"

"I keep telling people, my name's Kyle. The word 'Master' just gives me creeps." Kyle put away his lightsaber and looked as the men swarmed over the defensive position to stand in awe of him.

"Master Kyle," Harjko was too well trained to not refer to a superior by anything other than their title. "This spot is now secure, but the bridge is under attack and there may be more droids around the ship."

"Great. Just the usual then." Kyle glared at the soldiers around him, who looked like they were about to worship the deck he walked on. "What's your name?"

"Lieutenant Harjko," he replied. "Head of the Marines on this ship, Master Kyle. Thank you again for your help. Can you aid us in securing the ship?"

Kyle grinned. "Skip the Master, please. Just point me in the right direction."

"Sergeant Morow! Get your platoon in shape and follow Master Kyle! The rest of you, stay with me to keep the engines secure!" He snapped out the orders quickly. "Morow, guide the Master to wherever the enemy is reported, and support him."

"Yes sir!" Any lingering doubts had long vanished. With a Jedi in their midst, nothing could go wrong now!"

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