Altiris Knights:Civil War

Book 1:Chapter 7:Battle of Jorna Octagon

The Alliance fleet came out of lightspeed over the Jorna Octagon, and a small shuttle exited the flagship's hangar and flew toward the battle station. "Mask us" ordered Judeor, and the ship became invisible, both on scanners and to the naked eye.

A/N:This detail might be familiar to many. I got the idea from one of the Clone Wars episodes, where Anakin and Admiral Yularen attacked Admiral Trench's flagship with that invisible ship, whatever it was.

They landed on one of the eight platforms that formed the Jorna Octagon, and rushed into the airlock. "Alright, let's get this over with" said Kirtan. They rushed to the platfotm's bridge. A squad of Legion soldiers spotted them. The Commandos opened fire, taking out the soldiers. Then, they spotted two Legion Knights. Kylara and a few of the Commandos went after them, while Kirtan, Akala, Judeor, and the rest continued on. They saw four more Knights. One of them took down two Commandos with lightning, but Kirtan killed him with a wave of metal and earth attacks. The other three attacked, but Akala bypassed one of their defenses and killed one of them with her energy whip. Kirtan and Judeor took down another with a combination of metal, earth and air. The Commandoes shot the last one. "Rookies" one of them scoffed, as they continued on. They eventually reached the bridge, Kylara was there, alone, facing off against Exeroz and a squad of elite Legion war droids. She had already killed two Legion Knights. Exeroz overpowered her, and one of the war droids killed her with its sword. Kirtan attacked the droid, turning it into scrap metal within seconds. The Commandos opened fire, while Akala and Judeor attacked Exeroz and the other three Knights. Exeroz and Judeor battled one on one, as Akala fended off the other three.

Judeor seized Exeroz in an air grip and hurled him against a wall. He rushed to him, and knocked his weapon out of his hand. A war droid blocked his death blow and pushed him back. Judeor sent out a torrent of lightning, electrocuting the droid. Four more came at him, but he knocked them back with another air wave. He turned his attention back to Exeroz, who was already on his feet, his energy staff aimed for his neck. Judeor sidestepped his thrust and delivered an elbow strike to his temple, and an elbow slam in his sternum, along with a leaping downward kick to his forehead. He countered Exeroz's air wave and sent out a torrent of lightning, which Exeroz blocked with his weapon. The two Knights battled each other, their saber staffs collided again and again, while the battles raged on around them.

Meanwhile, Lorya, Celina, Itreal and Lurana defended the flagship, cutting down the enemy soldiers.

Lorya's inability to wield the magic flowing through her was causing her problems. Her foes were both mind wielders, and they were slowing her down greatly. She could not land any of her shots. One of them seized her in a mental grip and held her in place, while the other hammered down on her mental defenses. She knew her foe would eventually break through, and end her.

Itreal attacked his two foes again, sending waves of mental attacks at them. He managed to pin one of them in place and quickly slashed him across the neck with his sword. He turned his attention to the other, evading a volley of blaster fire. He closed the distance and knocked his foe's weapon out of his hands and kicked him in the gut, and stabbed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mirias pulling his sword out of Celina's corpse and attack Lurana. He rushed to her side, distracting Lokia. Before she could attack him, he froze her in place and delivered the killing blow, and attacked Mirias, as Oteara and Lurana battled each other.

Both lightning wielders were powerful with their element and skilled with the blades, though Lurana had a very slight advantage in each category. She struck her foe on the chin with her pike and grazed her neck with a swing. She launched a torrent of lightning at her, which Oteara deflected and then countered.

Itreal and Mirias fought, neither able to gain ground. Then, Itreal spotted an opening and went for it, but then realized his mistake and tried to pull back. It was too late. Mirias slashed at him with an ice dagger, and sent out a water wave, cutting through his weak earth wall, and knocking him to the floor. Itreal retaliated, but Mirias shrugged off his mental attacks and drove his sword into his gut. By that time, Lurana finished off Oteara, and Lorya managed to take down one of her adversaries, and was fighting another. Itreal tried to get up, but the effort was too much. He passed out.

Akala knocked down two of the Knights, and Kirtan took out the other. They and the five remaining Commandos held off the war droids, while Judeor slowly drove Exeroz back. Finally, he forced him on his knees, and lowered his blade to his neck. "Surrender. It's over" he said, prodding his saber staff forward, drawing blood. "Not yet" said Exeroz, and unleashed a powerful air wave, sending him back. He retrieved his weapon and rose to his feet. "Another time, old friend" he said, as he conjured an air ball around him and slashed through the window, as the droids and air went out of the platform, threatening to drag them out into the vacuum of space. He himself was perfectly safe thanks to his air wielding, but Kirtan, Akala and the Commandos were not. Judeor cursed and encased them and himself in air balls, as the droids were dragged out. He strained, holding on to them with magic, preventing them from being pulled out as well. "Akala, Kirtan, close the opening! I can't hold it much longer!" he yelled. They nodded and the metal squished, as they blocked off the opening, and Judeor let them drop on the floor, utterly exhausted. "Well, I suppose we better continue our mission" said Kirtan. They nodded. His comm beeped. "We are sustaining heavy losses. But so are they. Hurry, we don't have much time" came in Grand Admiral Gaerval's voice. "Yes, grand admiral. We captured the first platform" said Kirtan. "Good. Take the rest, and point the guns away from our worlds." "We shall do what we can, grand admiral" Kirtan said, and the call cut off. Akala rushed to the controls of the massive gun, and pressed a few buttons, and the gun slowly rotated, pointing away from the Alliance systems. They rushed back to the ship and repeated the process on the entire Jorna Octagon. Three Commandos, Akala, Kirtan and Judeor then returned back to the fleet. To their horror, they saw the remains of the Alliance fleet floating in space, only three cruisers and a few support ships, along with less than a hundred star fighters. Lorya and Lurana rushed to them. Itreal had been placed in a healing chamber. Most of  the High Command had been killed, along with many Altiris Knights lost. But the Legion fleet had been nearly wiped out, Lynaxa and Exeroz on the run.