Shattered Stars (TCW)

Chapter 6 -- On Dorin

As the war goes on, Jedi and clone forces are stretched thinly across the galaxy. Even small forces are needed to help win every battle. Taska Rokanh and her Captain Ace are called in to serve in land and space battles alike in quick succession, scrambling for more troops, ships, and droids as they do.

“We’re going to reinforce General Skywalker and Commander Tano over Dorin,” Taska said as Ace stepped onto the bridge, finished overseeing their latest restocking. “I assume we’re just going to use formation 5, but we’ll have to coordinate with the others once we get there. They’re already in the thick of it, and comms have been spotty besides.”

Ace frowned. “That doesn’t seem right. I thought we just boosted our signal a few rotations ago.”

“It’s probably a problem on their end,” she dismissed. “Anyway, we need to get the men prepped and jump to hyperspace right away. It’s a good thing we’re not very far away.”

“Yes, sir. Is there anything else?”

“No, just make sure Greaser is extra thorough on his final checks,” she said, referring to the senior pilot. “If Skywalker’s calling for reinforcements, as I understand, we need to be operating at our best.”

“Understood. I’ll get to it right away sir,” he turned and began delegating tasks to the others.

* * *

As they came out of hyperspace, Greaser made his way to the flight control center. “Seven is having some trouble with navs,” he said to the two clones already there. “I would recalibrate it myself, but I think a droid would make quicker work of it. Got any to spare?”

“Mechs are spread pretty thin—what is going on?” One of them exclaimed. The ship jolted.

Looking over the flight bay, the ray shields had been deactivated.

“Greaser? Greaser, come in!” the general’s voice almost immediately came over the comms. “Control center, do you read me?”

“We’re here, General,” Greaser responded for all of them.

“What is going on,” she demanded. “Last I checked, takeoff does not entail deactivating the ray shields!”

“I know, General! It wasn’t us!”

The three watched in horror as the few pilots who hadn’t entered their cockpits yet were sucked into the vacuum of space, their unmanned ships not far behind.

“Something very bad is happening,” she said in a low voice. “How many ships are online?”

“Dawn 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are operational,” one of the operators responded. “Check in, Dawn Squad.”
Only the five pilots responded.

“Dusk Squad?” Eight pilots responded affirmatively. “Nebula Squad?” Three pilots checked in.

“Do any of you have any idea what happened?” the general asked, expanding the comms to encompass the flight squadrons as well.

“No, sir,” a shiny, Eighteen, responded. “I was getting ready to take off when it happened. Do you want us to continue with our objective?”

“Yes, all squads,” she said. “Join with Skywalker’s forces as soon as possible. The rest of us will figure out what happened here. General Rokanh out.”