Unfortunate Consequences

[StarlessMoon]

“Support squad to SRF now!”

 

The signal on the command channel wasn’t properly formatted for command channel traffic, and the Ship Repair Facility was considerably within the perimeter to need heavy weapons support, given the fighting still on the perimeter of the spaceport itself.

 

Normally Vai would have asked for clarification, but as the channel cut off she distinctly heard the sound of two lightsabers coming together, making the haste with which the signal was given understandable.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #1: Protocol is the first casualty of enemy contact.

 

So instead she was running towards the repair facility, since at this particular moment she was the entire support weapons squad.

 

Entering the main building she saw the remains of the command post, along with the remains of the men who had been staffing it. The Lieutenant’s body slumped over the table, his head somewhere else and unseen. The Captain was nowhere to be seen.

 

At the far side of the room she saw the unit’s assigned Padawan Jedi and the Sith still fighting. The Jedi, Vai couldn’t remember her name from this morning’s briefing, was in retreat. She was limping and apparently wounded. The Sith was pressing her, beating down her guard with the brute force from his two-handed grip.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #2: Jedi attract Sith. Avoid both when possible.

 

The Jedi tried to leap away but was too slow, and the Sith caught her with a Force blast, sending her on an uncontrolled flight off the catwalk they’d been fighting on, and into a wall thirty meters away.

 

Vai said a quick prayer to the Seven Sisters and, taking advantage of the separation between them, pressed the trigger for her assault cannon. The barrels spun and a dozen whining blaster bolts shot across the hundred meters that separated Vai from the Sith.

 

Alerted by whatever preternatural senses Sith have, he spun and deflected the bolts. He was doing his best to reflect them back at Vai, but Vai was already on the move and the heavy impact of the assault cannon bolts were much harder to deal with than normal blaster fire.

 

The Sith backed away from the barrage and prepared to leap at the new combatant, ignoring the incapacitated Jedi for now. The trail of an oncoming rocket changed his mind, and instead he leapt from the catwalk to land behind a heavy lifter. The rocket struck above and behind him, sending the catwalk crashing to the floor below.

 

The incessant assault cannon having finally stopped, the Sith stepped out into the open and looked around. His opponent was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Hiding, Republic?” he chided, flashing his yellow eyes about trying to catch any motion in the large, open building. Vai failed to respond so he moved quickly across the room, sweeping his lightsaber in front of himself as he strode.

 

Tracking the Sith by the hum of his weapon, Vai moved to the base of some stairs leading to another catwalk. Vai began climbing the stairs, careful to make enough noise that he could hear no matter where in the room he was. As she did so she swept her finger across the power panel, boosting the weapon’s output to a level that was bad for the battery and barrel life, figuring neither of those was likely to be a concern.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #3: All equipment is expendable. Soldiers are not.

 

The Sith stepped around an engine booster which had completely hidden him and began to walk towards her menacingly. She quickly moved up the stairs while firing the weapon, forcing the Sith to dodge as he moved forward. Angered, he coiled his legs and leapt towards the catwalk.

 

As his feet left the ground Vai reached to the front of her assault cannon and moved the focusing crystal back a few millimeters, ignoring the warning light this set off on the readout panel. Skipping only a few shots during the pause she quickly sighted and began firing at her target, now on a fixed ballistic path.

 

The Sith parried the bolts as he streaked towards the catwalk, but despite his skill the now-unfocussed bolts expanded as the covered the distance between them and could not be cleanly blocked. Tendrils of loose plasma not intercepted by his blade lashed at his hands, burning and blistering them through his gloves, and seared his unarmored face.

 

Hurt but far from wounded his rage grew as he slammed into the surface of the catwalk and sent a powerful wave of force along its surface, slamming the tools and shelving towards the Republic soldier like a storm of metal. Blaster bolts slammed randomly around the room giving him some confidence that his attack may have struck home

 

He strode to he pile where the metal had crashed into the catwalk rail and swept it away with a gesture. There was nothing beneath it. He glanced quickly around and saw her running across the open part of the repair bay.

 

He gathered himself and leaped at her again, only to see her spin around and loose another barrage of unfocussed cannon bolts at her. He parried wildly but could not deflect the entire disintegrating barrage of bolts while controlling his jump, and the small bursts of plasma knocked him off course.

 

He landed badly and quickly shuffled behind a stack of crates, all too aware of the spatter of plasma burns that now covered much of his hands and face, and had left pits in his armor. The blaster fire stopped when he was no longer seen.

 

“When I catch you, Republic, your end will be a painful one!” He taunted from behind cover.

 

Vai slowly fed cryo-cooling fluid into the jacket surrounding the barrel of the assault cannon, which was in real danger of overheating despite her efforts to only fire when she had a target.

 

She paused a moment to take something out of her pack before answering. “When.” She said, quickly shifting her position to nearby cover in a low dash.

 

The Sith smiled, now knowing where she was and that she was nearby. He was also somewhat thankful he wouldn’t have to jump to close the distance between them, as that maneuver was getting costly.

 

Calling on the Force he bolted out from his cover, kicked off of a nearby piece of equipment and slid to where the answering call came from, saber ready to strike.

 

He just had time to cover his face and turn away as the mine Vai had planted was detonated by his proximity.

 

The explosion was partially muffled by the boxes to which the charge had been attached, and his breastplate caught most of the direct blast. It still lifted him off his feet and threw him some distance. He crashed into the wall and almost lost his grip on his lightsaber. The jarring impact to his left elbow caused him to lose all feeling in that hand.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #4: Sometimes it’s worth reminding your enemy that you’re still around.

 

Infuriated, he swept away the debris around him with a wave of force, using his anger to fuel his power. He saw the soldier step around an engine casing a few dozen meters away and sent a large crate hurtling towards her, kicking off the wall with his foot so that he could follow in the box’s path.

 

The box disintegrated on impact with the engine casing, but it had absorbed any shots she had fired at him. He landed beside where she had taken cover to avoid the box and launched a quick swinging strike at her, since she was too close to be able to employ the assault cannon.

 

She raised the cannon to block his strike, which was equally fine with him as she would be deprived of her weapon, at which point she could be quickly disposed of. When Sith’s lightsaber blade contacted the barrel support strut however, it stopped.

 

He had a instant to observe the glow of the cortosis-reinforced material before Vai swept the barrel in an arc, propelled by a combination of the cannon’s harness support servos and her own muscles. The large blunt end of the barrel caught the Sith on the side of his jaw with an audible crack and sent him spinning back away from the fight.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #5: Never let surprise opportunities pass.

 

Despite the pain and stars in his eyes, the Sith had the presence of mind to scramble ungracefully behind a nearby grav-lifter. His rage burned within him as his mind fed him tortures he’d like to inflict on this presumptuous Republic soldier.

 

With his left arm disabled she very likely had an advantage over him in power, even discounting the assistance that the assault cannon’s servo-harness was providing. The weight of the weapon meant that power was clumsy though, and he could move far faster than she could, even as injured as he was.

 

Through clenched teeth he spoke, savoring the waves of pain even that small movement caused and relishing the power it provided. “The Republic is training its officers better. A pity for you that it won’t matter.”

 

Standing where she had been when she hit him, she laughed.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #6: Angry people make poor decisions.

 

His anger surging within him he bounded at her, sweeping another blow at her, just similar enough his last stroke to get her to respond the same way. She didn’t disappoint him, blocking his stroke with the barrel strut and bringing the barrel back across to bludgeon him on the other side of his face.

 

He leaned back just out of range of the weapon and began moving his saber for a thrust under the harness that would cut its way into her heart.

 

He had only a fraction of an instant to realize that in avoiding the swing of the weapon he had placed his head directly in front of the barrel as Vai pulled the firing trigger and splattered his head in a bloody arc behind him.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #7: If your enemy wants to think you’re stupid, let them.

 

The Sith’s body fell lifeless and his lightsaber skittered away. Vai took a moment to catch her breath and thank the Seven Sisters for helping her live another day.

 

She looked down at the Sith’s corpse and held out the sergeant’s stripes on her arm. “Not an officer. I work for a living.”

 

She keyed into the command channels she wasn’t supposed to use and reported the command post destroyed and what causalities she knew about

 

The battlefield promotion to the Lieutenant’s job was only slightly more welcome than the order that she should go check on the Jedi’s condition before searching for other survivors.

 

Vai’s Rule of Combat #8: Promotion is an unfortunate consequence of survival.