Disclaimers: See Part 1
The Fallen Beginning
by
AJ Marks
Part 11
"Why are you still here?" Ri-Jun asked, as he and Petra were lead towards a small room for investigations.
"Don't worry, everyone's safe. We were worried about you, especially Ame. She wouldn't board the shuttle unless one of us went back to check on her 'knight'." Petra said with a bit of a smile. The entire scene at the loading bay had been quite amusing to him and it allowed him to go back to see what was happening. He had arrived just in time to see Ri-Jun kill the Lord Beasta.
"They've left the planet?" Ri-Jun asked.
"Yes, and I'm to be notified the moment that they arrive aboard the Gneis," Petra replied to the question.
"Good, let's make this quick," Ri-Jun replied.
"Gentleman," The head guard said speaking up as they entered the room. "Would you mind telling me what happened out there just know?"
"There was an assassination attempt on King Wedge's life. Ri-Jun here stopped him." Petra said matter of fact like.
"Those weapons are unlike anything I've ever seen, what are they?" The guard asked.
"There called a lightsaber, and as you have seen, in the right hands very dangerous." Ri-Jun said. "As for the other parts, let's just leave it be, there are some things that one should not talk about."
"Such as the lightning, and the way there seemed to be an energy around you while you were fighting?" The guard asked not really expecting an answer anymore. It was becoming clear that something strange had happened and he had been one of the ones to witness the event.
"Yes," Ri-Jun said.
"Well, it seems like I can't hold you here, but I would like a written report as soon as possible." The guard said knowing that this was a foreign security force, doing their duty. He would ask around but he already knew that what he was hearing was the truth. People had come screaming down the hallways babbling about some crazy man with a laser sword cutting men in two. This man in front of him, who won had seemed to be defensive most of the fight until some of his men had been killed.
"When I get back to Alderaan I'll send you an official report," Petra told the guard who seemed satisfied with the result.
Petra's communicator went off and he looked down and activated the devise. It was the captain of the Gneis stating that the royal family had arrived aboard without any incident. Petra requested another shuttle to pick up him and Ri-Jun so they could begin their journey home.
They waited in silence for the shuttle after they left the interrogation room. Petra had done all that he could to get them out of there quickly, he was ready to head home and be rid of all of this. He was not naive enough to believe that arriving back home would solve all of their problems, but he would feel safer than he did here. With a war brewing he wanted to be back behind the military of Alderaan.
"Did you learn anything from the fight?" Petra asked Ri-Jun as they sat waiting for the shuttle to touch down and they could begin boarding.
"Yes, and no," Ri-Jun replied not sure if he should tell the man anything about the fight just yet. "He was responsible for the attacks on Wedge, but he seemed to have no motive for it. There has to be another person behind it all, but who and why is a harder question to answer."
"I feel that it will only get harder to answer as war approaches. I fear that even if we do find out who is behind it, it will come too late." Petra told Ri-Jun who could only node his head in acknowledgement of the statement. War could already be happening in some part of the space. There were two neat sides that had formed, so it was only a matter of time before the flash point had been reached, if it had not already reached it.
The shuttle doors opened allowing for Petra and Ri-Jun to board it. The doors closed again and the shuttle lifted off the ground and headed towards the orbiting Alderaan military ship that had the other on board. The entire operation went smoothly as the shuttle landed without any problems and the captain of the ship order a course home. The ship turned a bit and headed toward the hyperspace point and entered hyperspace headed towards Alderaan.
A man in dark robes approached the small building located in a more desolate part of Coruscant. The buildings were older and the people who lived here were the thugs and poor. A person dressed in robes was either foolish, or very strong. This man was not approached by anyone, as they all remembered what happened tot he last group of would-be robbers who had tried. The man had killed them quickly and without compassion, they now recognized the man. People scrambled out of his way running inside buildings to get away from the man.
He walked calmly into the building and on up the stairs to his meeting with the mysterious man who he called master. The room was dark, like it always was whenever he meet with his master. He had come straight from the spaceport where he had seen his predecessor die at the hands of a skilled warrior. He would have to train harder to be able to defeat this one.
"Report my apprentice," The voice of Lord Dugous said as Lord Taurus approached him and bowed down in front of him. This one knows his place, Lord Dugous thought to himself as Lord Taurus rose up to give his report.
"Lord Beasta is dead," Lord Taurus said without any emotion of the man's death. He noticed that Lord Dugous was not surprised at the news and then continued his report. "Lord Beasta attacked the group at the spaceport and almost succeeded in his attempt. He had killed two of the guards and injured another one and was about to cut down Wedge Organa when Ri-Jun interfered and blocked his blade centimeters from the man's face."
"That must have been frustrating for Lord Beasta, to come so close and failed when his target was in his sight." Lord Dugous said in a cruel voice mocking the dead man.
"Yes it was," Lord Taurus said. "He allowed himself to be consumed by his anger that he no longer was able to think straight. He attacked Ri-Jun viciously but the Ri-Jun's skill was more than a match for his abilities. They parried several times before Lord Dugous got clumsy and allowed Ri-Jun to get a clean hit on him."
"Then his failure is now complete," Lord Dugous said looking at Lord Taurus for a second thinking about what to do now. The upcoming war was unstoppable as there had been reports of skirmishes between the two sides. He would still have to eliminate Ri-Jun and Wedge Organa, they were the key figures to bringing about his plans, to rule the universe.
"What are your orders my master?" Lord Taurus asked.
"It will be difficult to approach either Ri-Jun Aldi or Wedge Organa, but we must to assure that my plans become reality." Lord Dugous said.
"Master, I think I have a plan," Lord Taurus said. "It would solve most of our problems."
"Proceed!" Lord Dugous said after listening to Lord Taurus' plan.
"Yes, my master." Lord Taurus said bowing again and leaving the room.
Soon, soon I will have you right where I want you, Lord Dugous thought to himself as he watched Lord Taurus leave the room. The plan had been brilliant, even he had to admit that and if it succeeded then the two biggest threats to his plans would have been eliminated leaving him to rule the universe. A cruel smile came to his face at the thought a laugh escaped his lips.
A small green-blue planet slowly orbited triple suns in a small system. Several small ships orbited around the small planet as they made their runs to and from their destinations. There was one orbiting station that was there for protection against pirates, but none had been seen operating in the area for several years. The station was still manned and boasted several of the latest turbolasers and several squadrons of the latest fighters, the C-wing-35. A small versatile craft with twin lasers and a slot for a few missiles. They kept a constant eye out for any intruders as the situation in the galaxy had become tenser lately.
A large group of ships appeared out of hyperspace close to the planet but still outside its gravity signature. These ships were obviously warships, and their intentions became quiet clear as fighters streaked out of the hangers and quickly engaged the combat patrol nearby.
The ships began firing on the station right away, and it took the station a few precious moments before it began to return fire. Space lit up as lasers criss-crossed each other and fighters began to explode. The remaining fighters on the station began to leave the hangers as the invaders closed the distance between the combatants. Damage began to be taken by both sides as strong shields still bore the brunt of the firepower. The station had stronger shields because of it did not need additional power to move itself and its lasers were just a bit stronger.
The dim flash of lasers impacting on shields could be seen by all around as the smaller ships began to flee the area and escape the battle. It would only be a matter of time before the stations shields began to fail and the hull was compromised. The sheer numbers of invaders would make sure of that. One of the ships shields failed first and the hull was quickly compromised. The reactor on the ship went critical and exploded throwing debris all over the battlefield.
The invaders kept on firing, as it was not much longer before the stations shields did fail and the hull was compromised. The following explosion was larger than any ship blowing up. The last of the defending fighters were overwhelmed and destroyed leaving the planet defenseless in less than half an hour.
The ships then took aim on the large cities on the planets surface. A rain of turbolasers came down as the buildings were leveled in the mighty blasts. Thousands died in the explosions as the invaders finished leveling the cities and then just as quickly left leaving only destruction and devastation in their wake.
The survivors climbed through the rubble to try to make sense of what had just happened. There were few who survived the collapse of the buildings and even less who knew what had happened. Communication with the planet had just stopped and they were now isolated from the rest of the galaxy.
Wedge, his wife, Regina, his daughter, Ame and their guards, including Ri-Jun and Petra made their way to the palace on Alderaan. The trip had been uneventful and they had arrived without any more trouble. Alderaan's military was on high alert as they galaxy teeter towards full-scale war. All incoming ships were stopped and questioned. So far there had been no merchants who complained about the questions, as they understood the importance of a safe market.
Wedge listened as an advisor brought him up to date with the reports of what was happening around the area, and the readiness of the military. So far the military had responded well, and was at high alert. The stockpiles of supplies in case war came were high. The citizen's morale was also doing very well and there were no reports of riots or anti-war demonstrations yet, but it would be bound to happen.
The chief investigator, Reg, came up to give his report and welcome home the royal family along with Ri-Jun. He knew that Ri-Jun would be important. He was pleased when he heard that Petra had hired the man to be the personal guard for Ame and Regina. Reg's interrogation of the survivors had not yielded any more clues about who was behind the kidnapping. The only name that they had gotten was Lord Beasta, who was now dead. The investigation seemed to be at a stalemate, with no clues left to take.
Wedge was barely in the door when he was met with several of his advisors, all of whom were wearing grim faces. His military advisor also had a grim mask on his face as Wedge wondered what had happed in such a short time to make these men have such faces.
"What happened?" Petra asked before Wedge could cay anything.
"We've received a message from Garner 5, they said that they were under attack and were requesting military support, then we lost all contact with them." The military advisor said waiting for Wedge's orders.
"Send a couple of cruisers immediately," Wedge said.
"Yes sir," The military advisor said leaving the room to carry out his orders.
"Wonder what's going on over there?" Regina said from where she was standing with Ame. Everyone seemed to wonder the same question as her, just she was the only one who seemed to be vocal about it.
"I guess we'll find out soon," Tillis said taking a seat in the room.
"Hopefully there is nothing wrong," Wedge said as he looked around the room to his advisors and his guests.
"I've got a bad feeling about it, like a dam has already burst." Ri-Jun said to the others. "I'm very afraid that the war has already started and that there is nothing we can do to stop it now."
Everyone sat around in silence after Ri-Jun's statement. They all seemed to since what Ri-Jun was saying was right, but they hoped that he would be wrong. It was a strange feeling that they all felt, the hopelessness of not being in control of something so important.
"I guess we'll just have to wait," Tillis said from where he was sitting. "Where is the kitchen, I'm starved?"
Petra could only shake his head at Tillis' statement as he pointed the way and told him where it was. Ame decided that now would be a good time to announce she was also hungry as well. Ri-Jun decided that a snack could do him some good, as well as a nap. They left Petra and Wedge there with his advisors to begin to iron out some of the details of what to do in case war did happen, if it was not already occurring.
Two cruisers emerged from hyperspace near a small blue green world. They cautiously approached the world not knowing what was going on. They only knew that they had received a message for help, and that their king had dispatched them to find out what was going on. The space around the planet was full of charred and twisted debris from a battle. The defense station that used to orbit the planet could not be seen on the scanners confirming that the planet had been attacked.
Hails to the planet's surface went unheeded at the moment. A closer scan of the planet's surface showed why. Most of the large cities had been leveled with fire from orbiting spacecraft. This was considered an atrocity of the worst kind that anyone could do. A quick scan of the debris showed that most of it belonged to the defenders, but some of it did not. Including some markings from a large ship that had been destroyed in the battle. The aft section of the ship remained intact and was easily identified as a Sessesorian warship. The question now became why, instead of who. The Sessosians generally kept to themselves, although they were warlike, they usually did not attack without provocation from the other group. Garner 5 did not have the military to do any type of attack on anyone, let alone the Sessesorians.
There finally came a reply to their hailing to the surface. It became clear that Garner 5 never stood a chance to defend itself. The Sessesorians had come at them with a large force utterly destroying their military. After their defenses were destroyed they leveled almost all of their cities leaving hundreds of thousands dead in their wake. No one seemed to know why they chose to attack them, they had lived in peace for almost two hundred years.
The commander of the fleet promised support from Alderaan and her military in case anything like this happened again. The survivors needed help to dig out any survivors and to rebuild their government, which had been decimated by the attack.
When news finally reached Wedge he was shocked at what he heard. The Sussesorians had given him the impression that they were behind whoever attacked Ossus, and that they might be their enemies already in a war that was quickly forming sides.
Petra looked at Wedge and wondered what he was going to do.
"Do you have any suggestions Petra?" Wedge asked not having any real ideas on what to do during a war. He did have a group of advisors who were very intelligent in this area, and he would have been a fool to ignore them and their ideas.
"You just don't go in and destroy someone's defenses and cities without a plan." Petra said thinking about what had happened. "Unless you are either trying for a distraction, or coming back to invade the planet."
"Do you think that I should send any ships to Garner 5?" Wedge asked looking at all of his advisors wondering what their answer would be.
"As you know, we don't like war your majesty, but it seems as if the way of the galaxy is against us in this one, we have enough ships to protect both us and Garner 5." One of the advisors said in reply. Wedge looked around and noticed that the rest seemed to confirm this statement.
"Very well, send what you think is best for military support, and arrange for help to be sent as well to help them rebuild from the terrible attack." Wedge said dismissing them. They got up and went about their assignments with military precision leaving on only him and Petra still at the table.
"Well, looks like war is upon us. We will need to find out our allies are real quick Wedge," Petra told him as Wedge nodded his head.
"We have the Ossusians for sure, and whoever is allied to them as well, this will be a balanced war, hard and long fought I believe sparing no one." Wedge said voicing his thoughts.
"I'd like to help," A voice said from behind them. They turned to see Ri-Jun standing in the doorway to the room. "I think that my special abilities make me qualified to help in special situations."
"Your abilities are impressive, and I think that we can use your help," Petra said having seen the man in action in person. If they had several of them, this war would not last as long. The thought rolled around in his mind for a few seconds. "I have an idea," he stated to the two of them who looked on with interest.
"What type of idea?" Wedge asked not really sure if he wanted to know about it or not.
"Could you train other to do what you do?" Petra asked Ri-Jun waiting for his answer.
"I can't train just anyone, they have to be Force sensitive already, but I don't see why not." Ri-Jun answered back.
"A highly trained group like you could be more effective than ten squadrons of trained soldiers." Petra said out loud.
"I could do that, I would need a base of operation and a way to recruit people," Ri-Jun said to the others.
"We can iron out the details later, right now we have a some preparations to begin." Wedge said not referring to Ri-Jun but the situation on Garner 5. The other two agreed and they left the room in search of the others.
Petra had tried to talk Wedge out of confronting the Sussesorians about what had happened on Garner 5 and wait until more evidence was available. Wedge had told him that the sooner they confronted the Sessesorians the greater the chance that war could still be avoided. Petra doubted that and let Wedge do what he thought was best while he went and grabbed them both a drink.
In the kitchen he found Ri-Jun, Tillis, Regina, Ame and Jessica. Jessica looked up and noticed that Petra's face was a bit cool and she figured that he and Wedge had probably had some sort of disagreement.
"What's wrong?" She asked giving him a bump with her hip.
"Wedge is bound and determined to confront the Sussesorians about Garner 5," Petra said grinding his teeth as he said it.
"He knows the stakes and he knows what he's doing," Jessica said placing a hand on his shoulder and forcing him to make eye contact. She watched as Petra's anger slowly evaporated under her stare. "There, that's better," She said with a smile and received an echoing one from Petra.
"I'm glad you decided to come," Petra said as he took a kiss from her lips, which went much deeper than either had anticipated.
"Ahem," Ri-Jun said breaking the two of them out of their embrace. "If you two are going to take that to the next level, how about doing that in private, okay." He said to the two of them.
Petra and Jessica just looked down slightly embarrassed but had to join in when everyone else started to laugh. Petra then noticed that Ri-Jun was holding Ame, who looked quite content in the man's arms. He had to chuckle at what Ame continued to call Ri-Jun, her knight. Petra knew that the little girl liked old stories about a knight rescuing a girl in distress, but now it appeared that she had her own knight. Ri-Jun seemed to be comfortable with the young girl and her antics.
Wedge walked in a couple of minutes later looking quite frustrated and Petra knew that the discussion with the Sessesorians did not go well. Wedge grabbed a drink and sat down with blowing out a frustrated breath.
"Those damn infernal beings. They are bound and determined to bring fire to the entire universe." He ground out forgetting for a second that his daughter was still in the room, until he noticed the sharp glare from his wife.
"Damn infernal beings." Ame's voice broke through as Wedge shrunk form his wife's glare telling him with her eyes what she thought.
"I don't think you should be saying that Ame." Ri-Jun said to the girl in her arms.
"Why not?" She asked, curiosity dancing in her eyes.
"I didn't mean to say that, I wasn't thinking about what I was doing." Wedge told his daughter. "It was wrong of me to say that."
"Here I'll take her on up to her playroom." Regina said taking the child from Ri-Jun.
"I'll come and check up on you later, okay little one?" Ri-Jun said as he gave her over to her mom.
"Alright knight!" Ame replied with delight.
They watched as the two made their way out of the room. Once they were gone Jessica finally broke into laughter, she had been holding it in ever since Ame had repeated her dad's words. Ri-Jun and Tillis followed as finally Petra and Wedge joined in.
"Well my friend, it looks like your sleeping on the sofa tonight!" Petra said giving his friend a pat on the shoulder.
"Thanks a lot for the support." Wedge said with a smile, he knew that Regina was upset with him for talking like he did in front of Ame, he was just so frustrated that he was not thinking about it.
"So, what's wrong?" Ri-Jun said bringing the group back to the center of the conversation.
"It appears that our Sessesorian friends do not wish to discuss anything. They have felt that they have given into to the weak peaceful ways for too long. It also seems that they view anyone like Ri-Jun as a threat to their security," Wedge said looking right at Ri-Jun. "They openly applauded the attack on Ossus, and wish that others would do the same." Wedge finished knowing that they were now in a bit of trouble. If they continued on the course of creating a group of Force using individuals to help in the war, then they would definitely be fighting the Sessesorians real soon.
"The decision is yours your highness." Ri-Jun said. "I will only go where I am welcome."
"I believe in my heart that they will attack us with or without you here, and I for one will welcome your help." Wedge said leaving no room for discussion about the subject. "I still would like for you to train some people how to use those abilities."
"I think that I can do that." Ri-Jun said.
"Good, it would allow us to spread out forces even more, as I think I can safely say that one of you is worth several of our guards." Petra said thinking about the attack in the spaceport when Lord Beasta attacked them. He went through the first three guards without any problem, and if Ri-Jun had not been there then nothing would have stopped him from killing Wedge.
That thought did not settle to well with Petra, he had to have someone better to help protect the king and his family. Ri-Jun would help, he had already bonded with Ame and is seemed that she would follow his lead. That was good in case something really happened, like an invasion of their planet.
Two Alderaan cruisers were slowly orbiting around the planet Garner 5 keeping patrol out for the help groups that were on the way to the planet to help out the survivors. The reports coming up were of serious devastation on the cities. So far several ships of volunteers had come to the planet and another couple of lesser warships had arrived to help in the protection of the planet. The military advisors assumed that an invasion of the planet would be coming at any moment. They just did not know how many ships would be on their way.
The captain of the small defense force paced on the bridge of his cruiser. He was getting nervous as the time went on, the longer it went the more anxious he got. He did not like waiting around for an attack to occur.
He did not have to wait much longer as several Sessesorian warships dropped out of hyperspace close to the planet. A formation of six vessels came out, three were destroyers, the rest were ground transports, and the intention was clear as to what the course of action would be. This was an invasion fleet meant to destroy and enslave everyone on the planet.
"Sessesorian fleet, you are not welcome here, if you continue it will be seen as a declaration of war with Alderaan." The captain said saying what he had been told. If the Sessesorian fleet did not leave then they were to assume that war would be declared and Alderaan would fully be brought into the galaxy's war.
The Sessesorian fleet did not bother to reply, instead they opened fire on the Alderaan ships patrolling the planet. The captain knowing his answer ordered his ships to respond with deadly force before sending a quick message back to Alderaan to let them knew what had happened and to get ready for war.
The Sessesorian warships were outgunned from the beginning. They fought to the end leaving the transports defenseless as they continued their path towards the planet. The Alderaan captain sent several messages to the transports to turn around or risk being destroyed. The fleet did not bother to slow down as they headed towards their objective. The captain gave the order to disable the ships, and if any landing shuttles were launched they were to be destroyed at once. He sent a message to the Sessesorian fleet hoping that they would not try to land anyone on the planet.
Despite all of the warnings that the captain gave them, the Sessesorians still tried to send down landing shuttles to the planet's surface. The Alderaan warships made quick work of the shuttles and disable the transports. They then dragged the ships away from the planet in case they tried anything else.
Wedge looked to Petra as the two men sat at the table. The word had just come in, the Sessesorians had just tried to attack Garner 5 even though it was under the protection of Alderaan military forces. There had been a battle over the planet in which three Sessesorian destroyers had been destroyed along with a transport and several landing shuttles. Two transports had been taken captive and were awaiting interrogation by local military officials.
"We'll, there is no longer any more debate of the subject men, we are now at war." Wedge told his advisors.
"It looks like the reason you went to Coruscant failed." One advisor noted with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
"I went for peace, and left with the galaxy in total war, unbelievable." Wedge said out loud, if someone had told him that before he left he would have laughed at him, now it was a reality that was staring him in the face. Alderaan had not been at war for a long time, but they had kept their military up to the rest of the galaxy just in case, and now they needed it more than ever.
We should let the Ossusians know about this, they will be on our side." Petra said stating an oblivious fact but Wedge nodded his head in agreement. "Well people we have work to do, lets get to it."
The group broke up and each went to carry out their assigned duties to help get the planet ready for war.
End of The Fallen Beginning
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