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Legends of Darkover	By : SWOTBWOT Category: Star Wars (All) > Crossovers Views: 3427 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Star Trek, or Darkover. I am not making any money off this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Legends of Darkover
- 2-Chapter 2
- 3-Chapter 3
- 4-Chapter 4
- 5-Chapter 5
- 6-Chapter 6
- 7-Chapter 7
- 8-Chapter 8
- 9-9
- 10-10
- 11-11
- 12-12
- 13-13
- 14-14
- 15-15
- 16-16
- 17-17
- 18-18
- 19-19
- 20-20
- 21-21
- 22-22
- 23-23
- 24-24
- 25-25
- 26-26
- 27-27
- 28-28
- 29-29 & The End
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter 9-Battle

-oOo-
“You have the con,” the Captain barked to Uhura as he strode into the turbolift with Qui-gon.

“Aye-aye, Captain. Good luck.”
Lord Ardais gave her a dubious look as she took the Captain's chair. “You're in command of this ship during the assault? Zandru's Hells! What are you going to do, talk them to death?”

“No. We're swopping recipes,” replied Uhura. At his incredulous expression she added, “Two parts phaser, three parts photon torpedoes, shake and bake.”
Lord Ardais quirked an eyebrow and drew out his matrix. “I suppose I shall have to assist you if they become violent,” he replied acidly.

When the turbolift arrived Qui-gon said into his comlink, “Time to launch, Padawan. May the Force be with you.”
“What he said,” added the Captain over Qui-gon's shoulder.

The two men ran down the corridor towards the transporter room. It was so crowded that the assault teams were lined up in the hallway outside. The floor of the transporter room was covered with bombs of various sizes, and relays of engineering crewmen were passing them up to the transporter pads while Scotty beamed them inside various sections of the Raptor. “We've finished the bridge and weapons emplacements, Captain,” reported Scotty from his console, “or what we guess to be their positions, and are doing the engine room, poor girl. I'd have liked to see her before she went up. The hanger bays are next.”
“Good,” said the Captain. Kirk entered the hallway for one last instruction. “Everyone listen up,” he half-yelled. “Engine and bridge room teams, set your phasers on kill. Understand? When you go in, hose the place down. It’s all hostile except for the two prisoners and they’re locked up. Switch to stun only if you're afraid of hitting your own teammates. Spock, have your team review the faces of the prisoners. Your phasers are to be set on stun to avoid accidentally shooting the prisoners. Switch to kill only if a battle situation develops.”

“And don't give me any damned work to do, you hear?” McCoy added. “Especially you, Jim. I know your innards better than I do my personal quarters.”
“We'll try not to, Bones. Assault team for the bridge, enter the transporter room and turn on your life support belts.”

-oOo-
“Battlestations!” Tyranus screamed over the ship's intercom, his Force barrier coming up by well-trained reflex. Then the explosion hit.

The next second the room was no longer recognizable. The bridge's center consoles were ripped off their bases, chairs and men flung aside. The carpet went up in a flash of fire, and sparks and electric showers were coming out of all the damaged consoles positioned around the perimeter. Instantly, Tyranus saw that no one who'd been in the center of the bridge had survived. Chief of Navigation Fadres had been driven against his console with such force that his head and legs had been torn from his body. Most of the burned and bloodied crew were either unconscious or too dazed and injured to move. Slowly, moans and cries began to come from the living wreckage.
“Evacuate!” Tyranus shouted. The glitter of a second transporter beam caught his eye, and with one glance skywards to see if the transparisteel windows were still holding, he Force jumped over the front railing and down into the open atrium of the floor below as the second blast hit. Even down here on the atrium, though out of direct line of the blast, the deafening sound traveled down the ship's corridors with a cruel echo, and crew members around him were thrown to the deck as the shock wave hit. Some grabbed their heads as they attempted to hear through shattered eardrums. Droids were slammed into walls.

Tyranus hit emergency siren's wall switch, spat out his bloodied tooth pads, and tried to open a link to Lord Plagueis on his wristcom. The wristcom didn't work. Nor did the siren sound. Tyranus hurried along the wall until he found an imbedded comlink that ought to be working and found it too, was dead.
This hinted at something more than explosive damage. Tyranus ran into the lift and plummeted down from the command tower, heading for level A. He heard the distant noise of a third explosion, and thanked the Gods of the Sith for Force barriers. The lift was blown violently downwards under a rush of air before the emergency brakes caught its plunge, and the door opened with a hard gust when he reached the correct floor.

Once there, he tried the nearest comlink. This too, was silent. A hand knocked his own aside as Inculcare inserted a probe into the comlink's hookup and began to enter data.
“The bridge has been destroyed by explosion!” Tyranus barked at him. “We're under attack by the Federation vessel!”

Inculcare gave him a look that said 'typical,' but said nothing as he programmed.
“What are you doing?” Tyranus asked in annoyance.

“Creating a communications patch via my command codes. Yours must have been easy enough to sabotage. My probe indicates that 'Viognier Grand Cru de Chateau Malreaux' was obviously not a very robust passphrase, since it was used to bring the communications system down. There, the ship's comlinks should work now,” said Inculcare. “I'm heading for the bridge to assess damage. Make your report to Plagueis.”
Tyranus yearned to kill the High Inquisitor, but the Raptor came first. His wristcom, he noted with Inculcare-tinged disgust, was working again.

“Interruptions are unwel--”
“We're under attack by the Federation ship! Three explosions have destroyed the bridge. They have an unknown method for sneaking explosives on board.”

“Activate the secondary control center with available crew and defend yourself,” replied Lord Plagueis laconically. “I will oversee operations.”
“My lord, we've been betrayed!” Tyranus blurted. “They removed our cloak and deactivated our shields. Our communications systems were temporarily sabotaged. They know who we are and where we're from.” He was running for the lift again even as he spoke, heading for level B.

“It is likely that the Darkovan telepaths discovered us when the Muur landed, and they alerted the Federation ship. As to their methods, we will discover these in time.”
The walls of the elevator lit up with Lord Plagueis' face. When Tyranus emerged, every corridor and section bore the face of Plagueis. He felt queasy. He hadn't known Lord Plagueis had built this capacity into the Raptor.

He opened his wristcom into ship-wide frequency. “The Raptor is under assault. All available starfighters launch immediately to destroy the Federation ship we have been monitoring. It must be obliterated. All defense crews, man your stations and fire at the enemy. I repeat, the Raptor is under attack. All shifts of bridge crew head for room B-3. The main bridge is not to be used. Medics should be prepared to receive casualties.”
Tyranus was too preoccupied to notice the tiny spybug. It buzzed close and hovered over the back of his wrist. Stabbing with its tiny proboscis, it injected its neurotoxin.

The lightsaber was ripped from his belt as his Force-sense alerted him and he slashed a layer of skin off his own wrist, melting the spybug into a speck of solder as he swept it aside.   An ugly, scouring burn was left in its wake. Tyranus concentrated, thanking the Gods of the Sith that he was already on serious painkillers for his tooth problem. The mental stink of poison was fading. He'd reacted in time. This method of assassination by mechanical insect seemed familiar and he would have wondered who was trying to kill him, the Federation or one of his colleagues, but he could not hesitate. He ran to the secondary control center to activate the ship's overrides.
-oOo-

When Kirk materialized with his five crewmen, they swept the room with phaser rifles.

However, the carpet fire had spread so fast that they could barely see to aim in the murky smoke. Freeman was directing fire towards any circuitry that still seemed active.
Kirk cased the room, trying not to trip over shattered equipment or the dead and injured. Part of James T. Kirk felt like apologizing for being such a bastard, but that emotion faded when one of the Raptor's crew saw him and fumbled a small blaster off his belt. The Captain cut him down.

“Direct all fire towards wounded personnel,” said Kirk. It was not an order he had ever given before.
“Sir?” asked Freeman in surprise.

“Do it,” replied Kirk sharply. If the wounded were rescued and patched up, they'd only attack again. The Captain didn't want any survivors to return to their home galaxy. He glanced down over the railing next to the atrium. A single man was hurrying along the corridor toward the bridge's stairs. He was dressed much like the Jedi, and was holding a red lightsaber, but he certainly wasn't Obi-wan or Qui-gon. Kirk yanked his head back. “Sith on the floor below. Hurry up!” he yelled as the crew continued destroying men and equipment.
“Intruders are on the bridge, all nearby personnel report to Darth Inculcare to repel the assailants,” said a deep voice said from somewhere. Kirk's head whipped around. He tracked the sound to one of the few undamaged viewscreens and shot the cowled, elongated head right off it. For good measure he shot out the other screens. “Hello to you too, Lord Plagueis. Team, gather around, it's time to go. Scotty, beam us out.”

Scotty had good timing, Kirk's team vanished just as Darth Inculcare came charging up the stairs.
“Congratulations, Mr. Scott,” said the Captain as he rematerialized. “You did—Mr. Sulu? Why is your team still here?”

“I canceled his orders,” said Scotty. “Sensors indicate the engine room is unsafe even with life support belts. I was a wee bit too enthusiastic with the bombs and we've cracked the exterior housing of their engines. They're leaking and could blow at any moment, and the enemy either doesn't know this—not surprising if his bridge is destroyed—or he's too ignorant to turn them off.”
“I see. Your action was correct, Scotty,” said Kirk. He was thinking fast. Spock was still over there with his team, as were the two captives and possibly Obi-wan if he'd boarded. “Keep monitoring their engines. The rest of you head to your normal battle stations.”

“Mr. Spock?” said Kirk into his communicator. “We have--”
“--a complication,” Spock finished for him.

-oOo-
The moment Inculcare left, Catriona woke Danilo. She'd been trying to learn how to revive her cousin before the High Inquisitor had even gone. Danilo's cells had been temporarily overloaded with energy and their impulses scrambled. After experimenting on the boy's little finger, she found the trick to reversing the stun was only a matter of resetting the electric signals inside the cells.

When Danilo sat up, Catriona's eyes opened. “We need to go. Pull that tube out of your arm.”
He held up his bound wrists mutely. Catriona clicked her tongue at herself and studied the cuffs. Their controls were a mystery to her, though the Aillard gift made it easy to sense all the parts inside the bindings. “These Sith put much work into such a simple item. Your bonds must have a hundred different pieces. Well, if I stun you by accident, I know how to revive you.” Her laran activated what she guessed must be the clasps, and the cuffs fell off.

“Success,” Danilo breathed. He pulled the nutrient tube out of his arms, but left a little tape on to close the wound. “Can you open the doors?”
“I can find out.” She began to run her hands over the doors.

“Wait.” Danilo extended his laran, trying to sense if anyone was on the other side.
Both of them jumped when a voice said, “Darth Gladius, head for the Interrogation Center. The prisoners are awake and attempting to escape.”

They turned. All the walls were lit with the face of Lord Plagueis. Catriona gave a wordless cry and struck the doors with her flattened palms, blowing circuitry. The face vanished. The doors slid open and she gave another cry, clutching at her chest.
“Careful! You almost overloaded your channels,” said Danilo. “You'll have to avoid such efforts until I can clear them.”

Lord Plagueis' face was all over the outside hallway. “The prisoners have opened the doors to the Interrogation Center. Make haste!”
Danilo and Catriona glanced at each other in dismay and fled as fast as they could.

“Stun the escapees! Stun them!” Lord Plagueis shouted. His thin hand reached out and clutched the air, making an impotent fist.
-oOo-

Obi-wan Kenobi was preoccupied as he got up to speed for Folding Space—he was planning to drop out of Fold at the same high velocity--so he didn't notice the gauge telling him the Wizard had more weight and inertial drag than he should be expecting.
He dropped out behind the Raptor and sped towards the bow of the great ship, hurtling alongside the Raptor's hanger bays. There was noticeable damage from the bombs Scotty had beamed inside them, and a wash of droid astromechs and dead bodies were drifting out into space. He fired his laser cannon. Great flashes of energy flared outwards each time he scored a hit, along with chunks of blown hull.

Hangers zipped by so fast the Raptor was almost a blur. Finishing his run, Obi-wan made no attempt to loop around, not wanting the Raptor's emplacement batteries to have a chance at him, and anyway, the g-forces of a hard loop might tear the Wizard apart. Instead, he Folded again and flew past the other side of the Raptor. Bright explosive clouds came roaring out as his laser cannon did penetrating damage.
A gurgle came from the Wizard's cargo area. “Zandru's Hells, you're going fast.” Regis was peeking over the top divider, his eyes huge. He'd never imagined anything like this when he stowed away. He was growing dizzy from the speed.

“I wondered why the ship felt odd. Hang on, we're hitting them with another pass.”
Regis had enough sense not to interrupt Obi-wan with more talk. A distraction might send the Wizard angling into the side of Raptor and they'd be dead before they knew it. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing his stomach to settle. He was never sure how many passes Obi-wan made because he didn't want to vomit inside the Wizard, but when Obi-wan said, “That's all we can do,” Regis opened his eyes again.

“We've drained our laser cannon to the red, and there's too much floating debris to risk another pass. I think we've hit about a third of the bays, which is about the best we can do at such high speeds.”
“They're launching ships!” Regis exclaimed. “How can they do that if the pilots are dead?”

“Most are droid pilots. Unfortunately, the Enterprise is on her own at this point. Hopefully there won't be too many starfighters for her to deal with. I doubt Mr. Scott had time to carefully mine every single bay.”
A wing of starfighters was beginning to speed in their direction. “Hang on. Folding Space is a little tricky when you're aiming for a small area.”

Obi-wan picked out a suitable bay and gave a mental twist in its direction. They landed in pitch-black darkness, which was not what the Jedi apprentice expected.

“This is a strange place to dock,” said Regis. “Are we in a hanger?”
“It's—I don't know where this is,” Obi-wan replied, trying not to sound mortified. He thought he'd mastered Folding. Just then the Wizard gave a lurch, tipping ignominiously over on its side. Obi-wan switched on the ship's lights. Rank after rank of battle droids lined the Wizard. They'd landed amidst a cluster of them.

“Droid warehouse,” said Obi-wan, trying to keep his voice from squeaking. “We need to leave before they've woken up.” He climbed out of the Wizard as Regis popped the cargo latches. Walk, Obi-wan ordered. Their predator circuits might be alerted by panicked fleeing. The rows of droids with their narrow heads and elongated bodies gave the intruders a thrill of fear. Eerily, the machines did not move.
Oh, yes. My master deactivated their circuits. I forgot.

I wish you'd remembered that earlier, thought Regis. My stomach is cowering inside my toes.
After casing a side corridor for enemies, the two escaped.

“What in a thousand blazing suns?” said Obi-wan. Lord Plagueis' face was plastered all over the walls. True, the Muun seemed too preoccupied to notice them, but this was not good. First the battle droids, now this. They were really having bad luck today.
Time to run, Obi-wan sent silently to Regis. You must join the crew of the Enterprise so you can return safely. Here's my blaster. Do you know how to use it?

Yes .
Good. I will not ask how you know despite your Compact. Obi-wan activated his lightsaber as he sprinted ahead.

When they passed a turbolift, Regis threw himself inside it, letting Obi-wan run off on his own. He couldn't return to the Enterprise just yet. The dread he felt at leaving the Jedi was strong, and it took a moment for him to summon up his nerve. But he'd given the word of a Hastur that he'd rescue Danilo and Catriona, and that oath was not breakable. He could feel the two captives on the floor above him, tantalizingly close. This gave him a spate of maniacal courage.
-oOo-

When Spock and Qui-gon's team beamed into the corridor outside the Interrogation Center, a drab-clad trooper almost collided with them. Lieutenant Miller sent him to the floor with a phaser shot. “Block both ends of the hallway,” Spock ordered his team. They split off in wary pairs.
To their surprise, multiple images of a cowled figure were decorating the hallway. “Stun the escapees!” the figure was bellowing.

“What the hell's this?” said Lieutenant Miller.
“Lord Plagueis,” said Qui-gon as he opened the Interrogation Center's doors. “We have mere seconds before discovery. I'm afraid I do not sense the presence of anyone inside the Center.” He threw open cells with the Force. Spock was working furiously with his tricorder to see if he could interfere with the screens under Plagueis' control.

“They're all empty!” Qui-gon called to Spock after a long moment.
“I presume Lord Plagueis' message refers to them,” replied Spock. His communicator chirped as he flipped it open. “--a complication,” he said to the Captain. “The prisoners have escaped ahead of us. Permission to pursue.”

Kirk replied, “Scotty says he went too hard on their engines and they might blow any second. Even if they don't—and Scotty's watching them--I told you not to go chasing all over the enemy ship for the captives, Spock. We'll take casualties that way.”
“It seems we have little choice, Captain, as Dom Regis is not available to tell them to stay put.”

“Damn. We're beaming over to join you. Don't move until we get there. Did the transporter drop you in the right spot?”
“Affirmative.”

Kirk's team shimmered into place seconds later. “Can you find them with Force-sense?” he asked Qui-gon urgently.
“I'm afraid not,” Qui-gon replied. “Their minds are unknown to me, although I can sense where

the Sith are. I detect four presences, one of which is close by.”

“Uhura,” said Kirk through his communicator. “Where's Regis Hastur? We need him. Have you found him?”
“I'm sorry, Captain. According to our sensors, he's no longer on the Enterprise. We've done a count of all life-forms on the ship and he's not here.”

“What?” exclaimed Kirk. “How can he have beamed off? He doesn't know how to work the transporter. Unless he--” the Captain broke off, thinking.
“He could have read a mind for coordinates,” suggested Spock.

“I have another notion,” said Qui-gon, “if my Force sense does not deceive me. Padawan,” he said into his comlink. “I believe you have boarded. Do you have Regis Hastur with you?”
“Yes, but pardon me, Master, there is a complication.”

Kirk shut his eyes for a second. He was already getting tired of that word.
“Which is?” Qui-gon prompted.

“Had, not have.”
-oOo-

When Tyranus entered the backup command post, he found that he and Lord Plagueis' preoccupied-looking image were the only persons there. Tyranus tore from console to console, trying to locate the one which operated the Raptor's shields. The haphazard layout was not one he was familiar with, and he scarcely knew what the consoles did, anyway. Sith lords gave orders, for Forces' sake. It was the specialists who twiddled the funny little knobs. Though Tyranus could find his way around the controls of a starfighter well enough, the Raptor's operations center was far more advanced than anything he was used to.
Reactivating those shields was of highest priority, for he had no idea why the Enterprise hadn't blown them to shrapnel by now. Frantic bridge crew from gamma shift began to spill in after him, a few as confused as he by the unusual layout.

“Shield us, activate all weapons systems, and prepare for emergency maneuvers!” Tyranus yelled hopefully as seats began to be filled.
“Weapons systems are not responding, my lord,” said Gunnery Commander Horia.

Tyranus tried not to grimace. Someone had been very thorough. On the screen, Lord Plagueis woke from his musings. “I have command overrides in place that supersede any programmed sabotage,” the Muun told Tyranus. “These will be operative in a moment. Intruders have just appeared on the damaged bridge and I presume it is their presence that prevents any firing on the Raptor from this Enterprise. They do not wish to kill their own personnel. Darth Inculcare along with a squad of troopers has been sent to deal with them. Attack the Enterprise once systems are operative.”
“Yes, my lord,” replied Tyranus.

“Lord Tyranus?” said Ensign Loell. “Reports say there have been explosions in the engine room. Damage has not yet been assessed.”
“Hanger bays are reporting a series of explosions,” said Fleet Colonel Makezsh. “Casualties are numerous, and many craft and droids are damaged.”

“Contact Captain Skyms,” said Tyranus. A viewscreen lit up with a bull-like face. “Captain, launch all ships immediately. I repeat, launch all ships immediately. You must get them out of the hangers before they are destroyed.”
“Orders received, however my wingleaders are reporting that their controls are unresponsive. All starfighters are grounded.”

Tyranus was about to say something when he saw Darth Xiphos' face appear on a secondary viewscreen, addressing Lord Plagueis. “The battle droids in B-2 Storage do not respond to my commands,” Xiphos reported.

Sith lords did not lose their cool, especially ones like Darth Tyranus. By the Dark Side, he was a Count of Serenno, a man who had chosen a life of adventure and all the hardships that came with it. However, Counts of Serenno could also mentally review the contents of their personal escape craft if need be.
Muun, it seemed, reacted another way. Tyranus saw a rim of yellow-ivory enamel inside Plagueis' mouth, jagged as a broken elephant's tusk. The Dark Lord's expression was absolutely feral.

“All my system overrides are in place and activated, now. Begin your assault, Darth Tyranus.”
“Launch all starfighters!” Tyranus said with deep satisfaction to Captain Skyms. Maybe he wouldn't need that escape craft after all.

-oOo-

“Lieutenant Uhura?” said Chekov. “Sensors indicate starfighters leaving bays. The count so far is forty-seven.”

“All right,” said Uhura, noticing the close grouping of the three clusters. The turbolift doors opened as Sulu came boiling out. “Back already, Mr. Sulu?”
“Mission was aborted,” Sulu explained. “What do we have here?”

“Forty-seven ships mustering for attack,” Uhura said.
“Gack. Keep the Captain's chair. I think both you and I prefer me on the weapons console at the moment.”

“Correct. Lock phasers on a target,” said Uhura as Sulu replaced Ensign Haines.
“I can get a cluster of six, Lieutenant.”

“Fire,” ordered Uhura. She was thinking that the forty-seven starfighters must be nearly all the Raptor could launch. Obi-wan and Scotty had chopped down their numbers by almost half.
The bolt shot into the cluster and blew the six starfighters to pieces. A moment later, the other starfighters scattered wide. There went their chance to blow up the enemy in clusters. “Forty-one left, Lieutenant.”

“Target and fire if we can get more than one ship. Mr. Chekov, prepare for evasive action. Try to stay within transporter range of the Raptor, Mr. Chekov. Mr. Scott?” Uhura asked, “do you have any really large bombs left? If so, have one ready to be transported into the Raptor's engine room.”
“I have the necessary device, Lieutenant, although the Raptor's engines may take care of that for us.”

Uhura tried not to wince. Scotty had already warned her about the engines. Coolly, Sulu picked off two pairs while Chekov programmed. A low muttering of curses came from Dyan Ardais. He was holding his matrix in his hand, staring into its depths. She'd forgotten he was standing by her chair.
“Machines, machines,” Dom Ardais was saying in frustration. “They're all machines! Give me a live person! Ah, finally.”

A ship opened fire—and blasted one of its own. A second later, the same ship struck another starfighter, then a third.
Uhura glanced to her left. “Is that you?” she asked.

Dyan Ardais replied with a lurid, evil grin.
-oOo-

On the makeshift bridge where he'd patched together the equally makeshift assault on the Enterprise, Darth Tyranus swore at the errant ship. “Wingleader Orus, what are you doing? Cease fire immediately. Answer!”
“Lord Tyranus, Orus appears to have gone rogue,” said Skyms from his starfighter “Permission to destroy his ship.”

“Permission granted.”
“Wingleader Nexwol,” said Skyms, “fire on Skyms and assume command of his remaining starfighters.”

Orus obliged, destroying the traitor--and kept on going. Orus destroyed another starfighter, then another.
Skyms gave an amazed curse.

“What!?” Tyranus howled. “What in Force's name is happening? Lord Plagueis, we have a problem.”
-oOo-

“Damn damn damn,” said Kirk. “We split in two parties. Spock and Qui-gon, you look for Regis, mine goes after Catriona and Danilo. Qui-gon, can you sense Regis with the Force?”
“Yes. He's moving towards us. He must be among the battery emplacements.”

“I'm assuming that Regis can tell where Catriona and Danilo are. We're all moving forward on A-level, you sweeping the left-hand corridors, mine taking the right. Head--”
“Intruder alert in the Interrogation Center,” said Lord Plagueis. With every part of the ship to survey and distracted by Tyranus, the bridge, the starfighter assault, plus the escapees, it had taken Plagueis a long time to notice what was going on at the Interrogation Center.

“A dozen unknown--” Plagueis broke off awkwardly, unusual for him. “Qui-gon Jinn is here! Darth Xiphos, head immediately for the Interrogation Center with any available troopers!”
Qui-gon replied with a gesture he'd punished Obi-wan severely for making many years ago. Anything to rattle Lord Plagueis.

The screens cut out, and Spock looked up from his tricorder. “The signal interference I've generated with my tricorder will hide us, but the jamming does not extend more than four corridors in any direction.”
“Okay,” said the Captain. “Let's move out. Wait! No, Spock and Qui-gon you go ahead, my team wait. I've got an idea.” He called Uhura again. “Put Dyan Ardais on.”

“Here,” replied Lord Ardais.
“Danilo and Catriona have run off. Can you find them with your laran?”

“Possibly, if I have the time to concentrate,” said Dyan, sounding distracted. “But there is a complication.”
/Fuck,/ thought the Captain. “What?”

“We're under attack by enemy ships,” replied Dyan, “and I need my laran to help fend then off.”
“Uhura?” Kirk prompted. He could hear her voice in the background saying urgently, “Fire, Mr. Sulu.”

It took all of Kirk's patience to keep his mouth shut and not interrupt.
“Sorry, Captain,” Uhura was saying. “Twenty-one ships are heading towards us and we're firing and taking evasive action. We need Lord Ardais at the moment.”

“Continue,” said Kirk. /Fuck again,/ he thought with a grimace. “Scotty? Can you find Regis by his pattern? He's already been in your transporter once.”
“I've got him locked in, Captain,” replied Scotty.

“Thank God. Return him to the Enterprise.”
Hesitantly, Scotty replied. “Captain? I'm afraid I have some bad news.”

Kirk did not yell. Starship captains were beyond mundane things like temper and frustration, or ought to be. “What?”
“The Raptor's shields are back up. I can't return any one of you until you sabotage them again.”

/Shit,/ thought the Captain. /Everything's going south./
-oOo-

If Kirk had known, Lord Plagueis was thinking much the same thing, or the Muun equivalent thereof.
Even a Sith of Plagueis' capacity was feeling the strain. He had a fire raging on his bridge, escaped captives, rogue wingleaders, and two sets of invaders.

But both Plagueis and Kirk knew an important rule of tactics. In the midst of chaos, he who recovered faster would win.
-oOo-
- 8
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Legends of Darkover