Trychon worked furiously on getting the ship airborne again. He'd needed to set down briefly to let Raezyr onboard, and he was sure he'd set a personal record for shortest landing period. Now that his brother was safely in the ship, he could really put the Jet Razor through her paces again.
He'd have loved to have taken his time and a few more shots at the Jedi, but the space battle didn't seem to be going very well, and that meant that they could have company very soon. The blue-skinned Jedi who was still fighting would have been a hard target under the best of circumstances, and he couldn't see where the other had gone. He'd been forced to settle for a short strafing run and a few quick shots on the landed fighters. With any luck, he hoped they'd freeze. Slowly.
Raezyr appeared at his side as the ship accelerated towards the far side of the planet.
"What are you doing?" Raezyr gasped, as he pulled off his helm. "We have to engage the Republic to get the rest of the crew out!"
"Too little to late, bro." Trychon pointed to the long range sensors. "It'd likely be over by the time we break atmo. We have to run."
"But..." Raezyr wanted to debate the point, but he saw the look on his brother's face as the shields failed on his prized possession, the Sith Stalker. The ships were nearing the edge of the gravity well, and it was going to be very close.
"How long until we're clear? Can they catch us?"
"Only if they have another fleet waiting on the other side of the planet."
"I'm going to go take a hot sani-steam."
-----------------------
Moklam couldn't hide his smile as he sat in his command chair, watching the final enemy ships being tractored into his docking bay. One small shuttle had tried to make a last minute dash to escape, and had in fact made it to hyperspace. Unfortunately for them, there had been an explosion of some sort right as they entered hyperspace. Without knowing what exactly had exploded, their fate was up in the air, but it didn't look good. The rest of the pirates surrendered without further issue. He would look forward to taking them back to Coruscant for punishment. He could never erase his errors and the taint on his career that the pirates and Sith had created. He had now done the next best thing though and that was to bring them, or at least some of them, to justice. A victory counted as a victory.
Though he was troubled by the lack of response from the Jedi, they were technically not in his chain of command. One ship had escaped to the far side of the planet as they had rounded up the pirates, and he could only hope that the Jedi survived the encounter, as one or both Sith clearly had. Still, it wasn't his responsibility to bring in the Sith, as the Jedi had reminded him countless times. Only if it coincided with the rest of the battle, which it only had briefly.
His Lieutenant cleared her throat to get his attention before him the early battle reports. He thanked her with a nod and perused the numbers. Minimal damage to both capital ships, expectable losses to his fighter squadron strength, and that was despite the brief incursion with the Sith.
Yes, things were going quite well for him now. The Republic Navy was very 'What have you done for me lately,' and with limited incursions lately, this would prove very handy for him.
-----------------------
Not long after, a shuttle craft set down on the deck of the landing bay inside the pirate base. Several Republic Commandos rushed down the loading ramp, reported to a superior officer, then marched off down a corridor.
Two Jedi, wrapped in emergency thermal blankets walked down the loading ramp a moment later and took stock of their surroundings. Everything was in disarray. Stacks of crates which had probably stood neatly stacked not long ago now lay strewn about. Gear had been dumped on the floor in the pirates haste to escape their impending capture.
Val had been impressed with his companion. She had taken a brutal beating from the Sith warrior she had faced, but most of the damage had been superficial. He had not only assaulted her physically, but mentally as well, and he was proud that she had not broken, even when it looked like the end was inevitable. She truly had recovered from her near fall to the Dark Side and was now stronger for it.
As far as her physical well being, he could feel the Force flowing through the Nautolan, using the power of the Light to heal and repair her wounds, supplemented by the bacta patches. Still, he knew he'd probably have to insist she spend some time in a tank in the med-bay for good measure.
The Chiss was brought back to the present as a young Twi'lekki commando walked over to them. "Master Jedi, I think there's something you might want to look at," he informed them.
"What is da situation, Lieutenant?" Nal Talla asked as they followed him to whatever it was he wanted to show them.
"There was minimal resistance from the few criminals who had been left in the base, ma'am," the soldier informed her. "Our ground forces sustained no loss of life and only one trooper was injured. Enemy forces sustained two killed and three captured.
"There was however, one body dead before we landed," he added. "Her body is right over here." He turned the corner, rounding a shuttle where three body bags were laid out in preparation to be loaded. He indicated the one closest to the ship.
Val knelt down and unzipped the bag. Somehow he knew what he was going to see even before he laid the flap of the bag open. The blond hair was disheveled, the skin was pale, cold and clammy and the blue eyes were now milky and glazed over, but both Jedi immediately recognized Anya Tachi.
"She matched the description of one of the Sith scum bags you were looking for," the lieutenant said. "We weren't sure though, since she was dee oh ay."
"Yes, dat's her," Nal confirmed. "Tank you, Lieutenant." The young man saluted and walked away.
Nal looked at the puncture wound in Anya's abdomen, and her thoughts were taken back to her friend Nylan. She thought it was ironic that their death wounds looked eerily similar.
It surprised her a bit to realize that she no longer felt the smoldering anger when she thought of her friend's death, but instead a sense of longing for the company of her friend. Maybe she was finally ready to let it go, especially now that Nylan's killer was no more.
"I guess we should send her remains back to Dantooine to be buried," Val said aloud.
"I tink she still has some distant relatives back on Corellia," Nal reminded her friend. "Despite what she became, dey might like a chance to make deir peace wit her."
Val looked up at the Nautolan's thoughtful face. I bet she makes a great Jedi Master someday, he thought to himself.
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