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Darkness Falls - The Story

Chapter 11

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Wriiten by Michael Butler


The creatures kept advancing on Kyle, forcing him back against the bulkhead. His lightsaber was just out of reach on the console top. He tried to use the force to pull it towards him, but his powers still eluded him. It must be these creatures, Kyle mused, the Dark Man had mentioned something about their force properties hadn't he. The nearest of the creatures swiped at him, only just missing. Then Kyle heard a familiar laugh, "And so now it ends..."

Mohc stood on the bridge, watching Kyle's predicament. He laughed into the intercom, "and so now it ends here Katarn. My final trap is sprung, there is no where to run this time. And now without your precious force my soldiers will finish you. Goodbye Katarn it hasn't been a pl..."
"General", came the interrupting shout from behind him, "We have Rebel ships in sector two."
"What!", exclaimed Mohc as he turned to look out the viewport.

"The New Republic fleet came out of hyperspace at the far end of the shipyard. Keeping the Darkness Falls between them and the rest of the Imperial ships. On the flagship, the CRS Freedom, Admiral Traken swung his chair to look out of the viewport. A couple of the Star Destroyers were starting to move towards his fleet, but it would take them a few minutes to get into an attack position.
"All ships prepare to attack. Lock torpedoes onto that Super Star Destroyers docking cradle. Let's try and keep it from engaging us.", he ordered. Acknowledgements came in over the intercom as the ships moved into position. The three dreadnaughts that were accompanying the Freedom, fired salvoes of torpedoes towards the Darkness Falls.

Kyle dodged another swipe from one of the creatures, he struck out with his foot but failed to make contact with anything but air. Suddenly the ship shook violently, knocking Kyle and the creatures off their feet. "What the...", he shouted, "Something just hit us."
"Scrambling to his feet, Kyle grabbed his saber from the floor where it had just tumbled. With three swift strokes he decapitated the creatures as they tried to get to their feet. As they died screaming, Kyle felt the Force returning to him.

"General!", said the tactical officer, "We have inbound torpedoes!"
"Get us out of the docking cradle!", yelled Mohc.
"Too late!" another officer cried.
The torpedoes impacted against the side of the ship and on the docking cradle itself, shaking the Super Star Destroyer. There was a cry of pain as officers fell into the crew pit, landing on unfortunate crewers.
"Get us out of here", Mohc screamed over the noise of the alarms.
An officer checked his screen and then turned and shook his head at Mohc,
"The docking clamps have been damaged. We're not going any where sir."
"Damn", swore Mohc. "Get the turbolasers on line. I don't want anything getting near us.".
"Aye sir"
"And get the crews to their fighters." added Mohc.
"I'll try sir, but there is still heavy fighting in the docking ring area."
"Power up our Dark Trooper reserves. We've got to get our ships out.".

Kyle made his way out onto the corridor and headed back towards the engineering substation to finish the job he had started. The sound of distant blaster fire could be heard as he moved cautiously down the corridor. The corridor where he stood was littered with debris from earlier battles. Bending down, he picked up a blaster carbine from a fallen stormtrooper. Checking to make sure it still had power, Kyle continued on his way.

"Blue Six, Watch yourself. There's a fighter coming up on you fast", warned Blue Leader as he manoeuvred his own A-Wing to avoid the heavy turbo-laser fire coming from the Darkness Falls.
He watched as Blue Six banked his fighter left, avoiding the laser fire coming from the pursuing Tie Fighter, only to fly into one of the Star Destroyer's deadly blasts.
"Blue Leader to Freedom", he said into the intercom, "We are getting annihilated out here. "

Admiral Traken studied the Freedom's tactical display. Things weren't going to plan. The Imperial Star Destroyers had taken up a position between the Freedom and the Darkness Falls, preventing his capital ships from getting close enough to attack. That left just his starfighters to take the fight to the enemy.
"They are obviously trying to protect their super-weapon, until it has chance to escape", a voice said. Traken looked up and saw Jan Ors standing looking out of the viewing port. He nodded, "Three Star Destroyers do make a good protective wall. I'm afraid we are rather reliant on your man to help us out."
"I'm not even sure Kyle is on the ship", said Jan. "I'm not even sure if he's still alive. I was supposed to meet him on Elba. I arrived at the system just in time to see the planet explode."
"Hmm, It is a rather big assumption that he is on that Super Star Destroyer", Traken commented.
"Yeah, I know. But if I know Kyle he'll be in the thick of it."

Kyle dived for cover behind a computer console, avoiding the fire from a Dark Trooper's assault cannon. He'd made it to the substation only to have his sabotage attempt interrupted by the arrival of a Dark Trooper. The wall behind him exploded, showering him with metal fragments. Kyle jumped up and ran across the room, firing his blaster as he went. The shots bounced harmlessly off the trooper's shielding. The trooper returned fire and Kyle dived to the floor. The familiar whirring sound of the trooper grew closer. Kyle lay still, playing dead hoping the trooper wouldn't fire. The trooper hovered above him as if studying him. It raised it's weapon to fire, but with lighting speed Kyle scrambled up and used the force to push the trooper. Such was the strength of the attack that the Dark Trooper was hurled across the room, into a cluster of power generating units. Kyle immediately raised his blaster and fired at one of the units. It exploded, causing a chain reaction, one after another the volatile units exploded and the dark trooper along with them.
Picking up the trooper's assault cannon from where it had fallen, Kyle fired it's complement of rockets into the power transfer lines. "Time to leave", Kyle said. He ran out of the room and down the corridor, behind him the substation exploded.

Mohc stood on the bridge, watching the battle raging outside. He watched with a small amount of satisfaction as his turbo-lasers cut down yet another of the attacking starfighters.
"How long before we can undock?" he asked.
"Two minutes to undocking. Seven minutes until we are far enough out to jump," replied an officer.
"Good", smiled the General, things were finally going his way again... then all hell broke lose on the bridge as control panels exploded.
Mohc turned in surprise, "What's going on now!".
"We are losing power to all systems. We've got reports coming in of explosions all over the ship."
"Katarn!", screamed Mohc.

On the bridge of the Freedom, Jan stood watching the battle taking place.
"Come on, Kyle don't let me down now." she said. Suddenly, the guns of the Darkness Falls stopped. "What's going on?", she asked.
"We are reading power losses all over the ship" came the reply from one of the bridge officers.
"It's got to be Kyle," said Jan turning to Traken.
The Admiral was too busy giving orders to reply, "All wings, concentrate your fire power on the Super Star Destroyer. Move the rest of the fleet towards those Star Destroyers, time to end this."

Aboard the Darkness Falls, technicians rushed about the bridge trying to put the console fires out.
"Enemy fighters coming in", shouted a young officer with more than a hint of panic in his voice.
"Transfer all available power to shields", Mohc ordered, "and get us out of here."

Kyle made it to the docking bay, bodies were strewn all over. It looked like a small war had been fought here. Most of the ships that remained were damaged and didn't look very space worthy. At the far end of the bay was a Lambda shuttle which looked relatively unscathed. Kyle made his way towards it.
As he approached a figure appeared down the ramp, Kane.

"So we meet again," said Kane. "because of you I have lost everything. And for that Jedi, you will die."
He raised his hands and lighting shot from his fingers, it connected with Kyle, knocking him to the floor.
Kyle staggered to his feet, "Where did you learn that trick?" he asked.
"You didn't think the Dark Man was the only person to know about the force properties of Mohc's Krimzun creatures. " replied Kane. "Where do you think he got his men from. Who do you think was funding him."
"Hedging your bets?"
"Black Sun always intended to supplant Mohc eventually. He liked his Empire too much. However thanks to you, he betrayed us before we had chance to act."
"And now Katarn, you WILL die."

"This is Gold Leader", came the voice over the Freedom's communication system, "We are starting our attack run now." The first of the three B-Wing's dived towards the Super Star Destroyer, launching three proton torpedoes at the shield generators.

"Three minutes to the hyperspace point", said the bridge officer.
The bridge was rocked as the torpedoes impacted. "Shields out".

The second of the B-Wings launched it's payload of heavy rockets, aimed towards the bridge of the Darkness Falls.
"One minute to impact", the bridge officer informed Mohc.
"Give the evacuation order and get to your escape pods," ordered Mohc. "A good soldier knows when to fight and when not to fight." The remaining troops departed quickly from the bridge, leaving only Mohc. He took one last look around his shattered command before he too headed out.
The bridge exploded as the rockets struck, the ship lurched violently and started on a downward spiral towards the Crow's Nest station.

Lightning again flew from Kane's fingers, but this time Kyle was ready. He leapt into the air and somersaulted over Kane. As he landed, he grabbed his lightsaber off his belt and ignited it. He turned quickly to strike at Kane, but the alien vanished.
"Impressive", said a voice from close to the shuttle. Kyle looked, but could only make out a shimmering outline. He lunged towards it, slashing with his blade. A blast of energy struck Kyle, knocking off his feet again.
"Impressive", mocked Kyle as he struggled to his feet. "but so typical of your kind."
"What do you mean, my kind" said Kane from behind him. Kyle turned and saw Kane now standing behind him.
"Cowardly attacks, and then sloping off to hide under your rock again"
"I'm no coward!" said Kane angrily. "Now die!" Lighting again shot from him, more powerful this time as his anger fuelled his dark powers. Kyle reacted, he brought his lightsaber up in-front of him, blocking most of the energy discharge and reflecting some of it back towards Kane.
The furred alien didn't react quickly enough as his own attack struck him. He cried out in extreme pain. The smell of burning fur filled the air. The anger and hatred grew stronger and using all his remaining strength he fired off a large ball of destructive energy.
The fireball flew towards Kyle, who lowered his lightsaber and closed his eyes. The ball moved closer and closer. Using all his concentration, Kyle used the force to deflect the ball back, back towards Kane.
He watched as the energy enveloped Kane, slowly the Black Sun pirate started to disintegrate, until there was nothing left. Kyle turned and sprinted towards the shuttle.

Mohc climbed into his escape pod and hit the launch button. The pod sprang from the ship moments before the bridge module exploded. He looked out of the viewing port, the Imperial ships where heading out of the system with most of the New Republic fleet pursuing. He reached over to the control panel to engage his escape vessel's hyperspace jump. He was just about to push the button when he heard a noise from behind him. He turned and saw a shape emerging from the shadows, one of his own genetic soldiers. It advanced on him.

The shuttle escaped from the ship just as the Darkness Falls collided with the Crow's Nest installation. A tremendous explosion erupted as the Super Star Destroyer smashed through the base's super structure. The shuttle raced away towards the New Republic command ship, staying ahead of the shock wave caused by the implosion of the Star Destroyer's massive hyperspace engines.

Kyle landed the shuttle in the docking bay of the Freedom. He was greeted by Jan Ors and Admiral Traken at the bottom of the ramp.
"Welcome aboard the Freedom" said Traken offering his hand, "I think the New Republic owes you a debt of gratitude."
Kyle took the hand and shook it. "Thank you, Admiral."
"Looking a little worse for wear", Jan smiled.
Kyle felt his ribs gently, "Seems like everybody's a Dark Jedi these days."
"A few days in the medbay will sort you out.".
A officer walked up to Traken and handed him a datapad. He read the screen and then handed it back to the officer who scurried off.
"Trouble?" inquired Kyle.
"There was, but it's sorted now." said the Admiral, "Seems that one of the escape pods we picked up contained one of those creatures. Our boys had a little trouble dealing with it. It's dead now though. "
"Good, hopefully the rest of them were destroyed with Mohc's base and command ship."
"Speaking of Mohc," the Admiral added, "the escape pod that contained the creature also had a very mutilated body. The med. boys reckon it was Mohc."
"Killed by his own creation. Maybe there is justice in the universe after all.", as he and Jan headed towards the medical bay.

Deep beneath the surface of the planet Hadley, deep below the deserted Imperial base, something stirred. The creature blinked in the darkness, he raised it's lizard like head and smelt the air. No prey today it thought. It scrambled away back to it's nest, maybe it would find some prey tomorrow.
The End?


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