Codename Fulcrum

Chapter 4: Attack on Atollon (part 3)

A while later, Kallus heard the gentle swoosh of the blast doors opening, revealing Governor Pryce. He glanced towards the woman as she strode across the platform. She came to rest at the head of the command deck, crossing her arms behind her back as she gazed out the viewport towards the planet below.

"I want to know everything happening on the surface," Pryce called out, not directing the order at anyone specific, but rather making it clear to all the command staff that she needed to be kept up-to-date on the Grand Admiral's efforts. "Until Grand Admiral Thrawn has captured the remaining rebels or until they are driven back up to space, I want all TIE squadrons to fly the delta-gamma formation."

Minutes later, the communications officer began reading aloud the updates being sent from the ground assault. "AT-DP Walkers deployed..... Squad destroyed, but enemy defenses now marked..... AT-AT's sent in..... The first strike group is inside the rebel's shields..... Grand Admiral Thrawn's Lambda has landed safely, his platoon has begun clearing the tunnels beneath the base..... Suffering heavy losses, but pushing forward..... Thrawn has rebel leaders corne- Comms are jammed."

"Governor, we have ships approaching." The scanning officer called out.

Spinning around to look at the officer who called out, Pryce was able to bite out "Rebel reinforcements?"

"Mandalorian, by the look of them." The officer replied, glancing at his monitor.

"Sabine Wren." Pryce growled. Well, we know who Pryce hates most, Kallus mused. She was definitely NOT happy after Sabine knocked her out at the Skystrike Academy..... "Send fighters to intercept, and move our capital ships to reinforce them."

Once again, fighting ensued all around the Chimaera. They were few in number, but the Fang-class fighters more than made up for it in skill. They darted around space, evading the TIEs laser cannons with grace and ease. Yes, definitely Mandalorians, and quite possibly even what was left of the Protectors of Concord Dawn. Quite skillful. Alexsandr mused.

"Governor, the enemy fighters have deployed a strike team onto the hull of our Interdictor!" Man, the scanning officer was just laying the bad news on. Well, it was bad news for the Empire, but it gave Kallus some slight hope that the rebellion may fight on to live another day.

"Well, repel them! We will not lose to this rabble!" A very irate Governor Pryce strode back towards the viewport. The command staff gave each other sideways glances, obviously not used to emotional outbursts. Even when he was facing defeat, Thrawn always had a cool head. Logic always outweighed any type of feelings on the Chimaera. And it's not like she gave any real order. Of course they were going to try and repel them, what they needed from their commanding officer was a plan on how to proceed.

As seconds creeped on, Kallus thought once again how he would manage to get out of the messy situation he was currently in. Even if he were able to overpower the Death Troopers currently holding him, his victory would be short lived. At least a dozen troopers were standing at attention between him and the blast doors, not to mention that both Pryce and most of the command staff had a sidearm incase of emergency. Maybe I should just die here, in the name of the rebellion, he thought bitterly. Even if, by some miracle I do get off this ship, who's to say the rebels would even take me in. I've done some awful things, I don't think I'll ever really forgive myself. So why should they?

Suddenly, the Chimaera rocked. Kallus couldn't see what caused it, but he could only assume that the second Interdictor was gone.

"Governor, we have a problem."

"I don't want to hear it! Just, stop them. Nothing gets through!" Pryce was agitated and overwhelmed. Good. Let's see just how far we can push it.

Alexsandr chuckled before taunting Pryce. "Thrawn's not going to be happy with you making a mess of his fleet." He used the most demeaning tone he could muster in his current position.

"Throw this traitor out the airlock." Pryce growled in return. Well, that wasn't quite the answer he had expected. Two Stormtroopers approached Kallus on either side, shoving him towards the rear of the bridge and through the blast doors.

Shoving him forward every few steps though he offered no resistance, Kallus and the troopers walked down the corridors of the Star Destroyer. Grabbing his arm roughly, one trooper pushed him towards the lift while the other hit the key, signaling to go down, probably to one of the hangar bays. As the doors swooshed open, the trooper that had grabbed his arm used the end of his blaster to encourage Kallus to step to the rear of the lift, with the troopers positioning themselves near the door.

Alexsandr smirked as the doors closed. Close combat he can do, even with his hands in binders behind his back. He kneed the trooper to the right, sending him forward as he used his right shoulder to slam the trooper to the left into the side of the lift, knocking him unconscious. The first trooper spun around to face him, to which Kallus once again used his shoulder to slam his opponent into the lift. Well, that was relatively easy, he thought grimly before using one of the unconscious troopers code cylinders to unlock the binders.

Well, my only real option is to jettison in an escape pod and hope the rebels pick me up, if there's anyone left to receive my transmission. With that being the best plan he could come up with, as soon as the lift doors opened, Kallus ran towards where the escape pods were kept. Man, am I glad I've spent a lot of time on Star Destroyers, he thought, running through the endless hallways. At least I know where I'm going.

As he continued, the thought crossed his mind that it was odd not a lot of troopers were around. That is, until it dawned on him that they were currently on the surface blowing the rebel base to hell. Rounding the final corner to the pods room, he saw a single trooper guarding it. Easy. The trooper barely had time to respond to the sudden appearance of Kallus as he lowered his shoulder and rammed him up against the wall, knocking the air out of the trooper's lungs. The trooper struggled to get back up, and Kallus laid one well placed punch to his helmet, effectively knocking him out cold.

Opening the blast doors, he jumped in the escape pod closest to the door. Sitting in the pilot's chair, he powered up the pod, making sure to put full power to the shields in case someone on the ISD noticed and decided to open fire, and hit the release. He jettisoned away from the battle before powering down the pod and sending his coordinates on the Fulcrum frequency.

"Please, please work." he muttered aloud. Looking out his viewport, he couldn't see any rebel ships, just some TIEs fighting with the Mandalorian Fangs. Suddenly the rebel fleet- at least what was left of it- came racing from the planet and darted around a Star Destroyer. Relief washed over him as they came rushing towards his position. He couldn't help but smile.

As they approached, the fleet stayed on the same vector, heading towards open space, a few thousand meters above Kallus's pod. One vessel swiftly broke away from the group and headed towards Alexsandr's position. He didn't realize until this moment that his eyes had been watering, so as the ship approached, he couldn't quite tell what or who it was. All that mattered, though, was that it wasn't the Empire.

He sat back heavily in his seat, closing his eyes. A whole new wave of relief washed over him as the familiar jolt and thud of the craft that picked him using its magnetic clamps to lock onto his ship sounded. Allowing himself to breathe fully, he opened the hatch and made his way on board the vessel of his rescuers.