"They were needed back at the Palace!" Tan'ya explained, mind racing to find an excuse.
"My Mother decided she wanted to go on a daytrip, and we're a little short staffed, so I sent some men back to escort her. After all, I can't think of anywhere I'd be safer than aboard one of our defense ships!"
...
Tan'ya could feel Colonel Seith cringe at that last part in the force, and realized she'd pushed the act a little too far.
"Right." Prifrath nodded after a long awkward silence, then something caught his gaze in the distance. In his mind's eye, Tan'ya saw the docking clamps that had affixed all three ships to the ground, and felt a hint of annoyance in his mind. Usually the clamps wouldn't be used unless there was a risk of theft, with a ship being in place for an extended stay. "If you'll just give me a moment your Highness, I need to make a call to verify something."
He took out his Holocom and selected a number from his contacts.
Suddenly there was a ringing sound, as Dratfat's com device started ringing from a pouch in the Colonel's belt. Reaching out, the colonel yanked Tan'ya away by the back of her collar with one hand and whipped out his stunner with the other, clearing the line of fire for his men.
Prifrath's eyes widened fearfully and he threw himself backwards only to trip on the ramp of the ship. He'd barely put his hand on his blaster when he was struck by a dozen overlapping stunner rings.
"Move! Move! Move!" Seith yelled. "Take the bridge!"
Tan'ya paused just long enough to retrieve the code cylinder from Prifrath's belt before she followed behind her Guard as they poured into the ship. They'd only made it past the first intersection when a blaring alarm went off and all the bulkheads started to close. They rushed past them as fast they could. They just barely made it to the elevator emergency access ladder, where they climbed up towards the bridge level.
"It's closing!" The man at the top of the shaft yelled back after prying open the shafts doors. "It's closing, we're not gonna make it!"
Utilizing the Force, Tan'ya jumped off the ladder to the other side of the shaft, and leapt off it up past the men above her. She threw herself in a dive over the shoulder of the man who was holding the elevator door open. She was just in time to see the bulkhead to the bridge mere inches from closing, the mechanical teeth about to seal it in place.
Reaching out, she seized the descending plate of durasteel and Tan'ya winced at the weight and power of its machinery. So far her teaching with the Force under Sifo had emphasized learning fine control over raw power, but feeling the powerful hiss of hydraulics pushing the door down, Tan'ya grit her teeth and pushed it back up as hard as she could, forgetting about any kind of control at all. After a moment of exertion there was a scream of straining metal and finally a pop as the pistons burst and the weight lessened as oily fluids oozed out of the joints in the doorframe. Slowly, the door started to rise inch by painful inch as suddenly the Force yelled a warning out at Tan'ya.
One of the bridge crew had gotten down on his belly, and was pointing his side arm at Tan'ya beneath the gap in the door. If Tan'ya dropped the door they'd be sealed out and swarmed by droids, but if she stayed where she was she might be shot!
The Neimoidian seeing his target was a child hesitated, for just a moment too long.
The guard at the mouth of the shaft saved Tan'ya, scrambling out into the corridor to block any blaster shots and opening fire on the prone Nemoidian with his deck sweeper. At that distance, the energy particles had dispersed enough that they didn't knock him out, but it frightened him enough that he jerked back with a curse and ducked away out of sight.
More and more of Tan'ya's guards filled the corridor leading up to a bridge, when they all heard the whine of machinery coming to life. Behind them a piece of wall folded down below the deck, and a rack of droids was revealed. Tan'ya seized the lowering wall with the Force as well, and wrenched it back up, blocking off the rack of battle droids. She was so careless as she did that she accidentally crumpled the metal, causing it to bend and fold out of shape. Inside the compartment there was the pounding of metal on metal as the droids started to try and force their way out.
With her attention divided, the door to the bridge started to lower again and Tan'ya focused on it, forcing it back up. Finally, she was able to get the door up to head height, and crumpled the piece of frame next to it to pinch it in place.
Finally Tan'ya dropped her arms. "Get your men onto the bridge!" Tan'ya said to Seith. "Before they set up a chokepoint, hurry!"
Seith probably already intended to do that, and he and his men charged into the bridge. The first man through the door was riddled with flashing red blaster bolts, and dropped to the floor in an instant. The man behind threw himself through the gap, firing wildly with his stunner, missing but making enough room for someone to get in behind him. More and more of Tan'ya's guards packed through the gap, one or two of them getting hit, but in the confines of the bridge no one had any real cover, and the deck sweeper's were easier to hit with.
In the end they took the bridge with just three casualties. One dead and two wounded. The battle droids from the rest of the ship were converging on the bridge as Tan'ya inserted the code cylinder into the command console and shut them off.
With that done, Tan'ya then sent a message to the engineers, demanding their surrender and threatening them with the droids if they didn't comply. There was a small delay, before finally the bewildered engineers laid down their arms and surrendered.
At last with all three ships secured, the prisoners were transported down to the tarmac where they were taken away to be held in jail. The last Neimoidian to be removed from the ship was Sugrath, who seemed hopelessly despondent as he was packed into the back of a speeder, his gaze full of disbelief as he locked eyes with Tan'ya and was driven away.
Tan'ya sympathized. She knew how crippling it was to be stuck under the thumb of incompetent leadership. She remembered that feeling of frustrated helplessness when the battle was lost before it even started because of poor decisions further up the chain.
Finally, her remaining House Guards gathered back together on the tarmac in front of her, the injured and the dead having been taken to the city hospital and the morgue. The man slain turned out to be the Serenoan who'd shared his stainer with Tan'ya on the drive in. His name was Timerick of Tafo. Only a Corporal and he had proven himself brave beyond belief to charge through the open door like that, but someone had to go first in such a situation. No doubt he had known he was certain to die.
"Your sacrifice is not in vain." Tan'ya murmured, feeling solemn. This was the first man under her command to die in a long time. From her breast pocket, she took out the piece of stainer wrapped in her handkerchief and held it in her hand as she turned to face her men. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.
At the sight of her with the stainer, one of the Serenoans cried out, "Victory is Serenno!"
"Victory for the Princess!" Another voice took up the cry. "For the Rider Count!"
"Tan'ya the Countess!"
Someone else took up the cry. "Tan'ya the Countess! Tan'ya of Serenno!"
All the Serennoans started cheering, and Colonel Seith even seemed to smile at the moment. Amidst all the cheering, Tan'ya heard people shouting their own names and the names of their villages. She even heard one of the Coruscanti guards get caught up in the moment and give a traditional war cry of, "For the Republic!" Though only other Coruscanti took it up.
After a moment Tan'ya held out her hand to signal silence, and slowly they all fell quiet, waiting for what she had to say. "Timerick of Tafo." She said softly, and put the stainer in her mouth. It tasted slightly of liquorice as she chewed on it, and spread it across her gums and teeth. "Among the first Serenoan's to taste victory in battle for generations."
"Timerick of Tafo." Another man repeated.
"Victory for Tafo."
"Victory for Tafo." The words were echoed through the assembled.
Now they had all three ships. Tan'ya smiled, bitterly as she thought of how much more smoothly that operation could have gone if they just had a little more time to plan and prepare. Corporal Timerick would be here to share victory with them.
When her Father arrived on Serenno, Tan'ya would finally be able to ask him what they needed these damned ships for anyway.
...
Don't forget to throw some power stones ;)
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