Into the Chaos

Into the Chaos -- Author's note.

Welcome to the nineth chapter of my story 'Into the Chaos'. A Sci-fi story that just happens to take place in the Unknown Regions of the Star Wars universe just after the Great Galactic War, almost 4000 years before the events of the movies.

To those not really into star wars lore, the events in this novel happens about 2600 years before Darth Bane instigated the Rule of Two, limiting the Sith to a One Master, One Apprentice system. In other words, there were thousands of Sith in this time period. Some were immensely powerful (Like Darth Malgus), while other were not.

As I said, this is the nineth chapter and if you haven't read the previous ones, I recommend that you do that first.

OftenRomantic have suggested that I add a list of the ships to the chapter, but it's simply too 'clunky' to start off with. Instead, I will put the list as either a seperate chapter (With a lot more into on the ships) OR as an artwork. Either way, it will take a few days to get done.

AND

THANK YOU

for the comments. As I've said before, they really do inspire me to continue writing.

And btw, yes I WILL get back to A Long Time from Home II, but my mind have gone Into the Chaos and I'm having a hard time focussing on that at the moment,despite having 3 new chapters almost ready (ALMOST :) )

Disclaimer

: I do not own or hold any rights to any Star Wars licenses, including the star ships used in this story.

Some warnings

:

This is an erotic sci-fi adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 9 -- Combat at Nodia

Dreadnought Majestic

"The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy,

so that he cannot fathom our real intent."

From the Holy Book of War

Tetra 7 system

Despite using the Force to find a safe route out of the Labyrinth nebula, it still took a week to get out, but besides that the trip was uneventful.

On the bright side, the sight that filled my eyes as we dropped out of hyperspace, was a magnificent one. The two smaller suns danced around their primary, like children dancing around a parent. That's where the similarity stopped, because as they did so, the larger gravity field of the primary drew strands of burning material from them, gradually absorbing the smaller suns.

It might take thousands of years, but the smaller suns were doomed, caught in a deadly dance that ultimately would lead to their demise.

In a strange way, it was a cosmic paradox. A scene of both creation and destruction. The larger star flourished, absorbing the life force of its smaller counterparts, while they, in turn, withered away, their light gradually fading into the abyss. The dance would continue, until one day, the smaller stars would be no more, entirely consumed by the voracious appetite of the larger sun, leaving only a single, massive sun at the centre of a now solitary system.

In a more practical way, the suns' positions, and the energy exchange between them, temporarily blocked the outgoing routes on the other side of the suns and with that the route towards Centauri 21 and the Debra system.

Not that it mattered, since we were heading in the other direction, going back to Epsilon Eta before finding the way to Nodia.

On the positive side, we had been careful coming into the system, so there weren't any problems except for the waiting time.

"Lieutenant Karnos, how long until this show is over?"

At the scanner station, Karnos checked the display, "A week according to the computer, sir."

"Welcome back to the Chaos." Mumbled Captain Iska, making me nod slightly. Such delays were frequent in this area of space and there was rarely anything one could do about it. She looked at Tavune. "Comm, signal that we're going to normal watches."

"Yes, sir."

Iska looked at me. "I'll turn the fleet, so we can hyper to Epsilon Eta as soon as we have the route."

"Excellent. I'll go check the route." I said and walked into my office.

That the navigation computers only knew of two hyperspace routes in the system didn't mean that there weren't more than that, as it only meant that the data wasn't available, so I sat down in a chair, closed my eyes, and used the Force to find those routes.

To my surprise, there were no less than two more, with one of them going towards the galactic north and I followed the flow. To my surprise the route ended in a system only four jumps away from Chiss territory. Granted, it was an extremely long jump that was entirely inside a nebula all the way, skirting a lot of hazards on the way, and wasn't one I would choose unless someone pointed a blaster at my head, but at least it was there.

The second route led into a region of space known as the Tempered Wastes. There weren't many star systems in that direction, but those that were there were extremely large and going that way meant skipping the edge of several gravity wells, which was never a good idea as there was a fair chance that it might pull you out of hyperspace.

Another point against that route was that Rakata Prime was supposed to be somewhere in the Tempered Wastes, which fitted with the two old battlegroups we had found. It was also far from anywhere else, so I backtracked and tried the last route.

That one was the one we had been on when we were hit by the gravity wave and, as I already knew, it led back to Epsilon Eta, the system with the asteroid base that we had taken more than a year ago and where we had encountered the three prison-ships.

The Epsilon Eta system proved to have no less than three hyperspace routes leading away from The Chaos and into the Outer Rim.

I was at the edge of my ability now but tested the routes anyway. The first led to an average solar system, with a huge asteroid belt. The second led to another unremarkable solar system, consisting of a white dwarf star and several planets, and the third proved to be so long that I had to give up following it.

Withdrawing from the Force, I took a deep breath, called the star map up on my screen and carefully plotted the routes on it before I leaned back in the seat and studied it. One of the disadvantages with using the force to find hyperspace routes the way I had done, was that the names of the planets and systems didn't just magically show up in my mind, so I had to use a star map to get the system names.

This time it was a pleasant surprise, and I was smiling to myself when I asked the computer to call Master Mechanic Waydar to my office.

I was still sitting in my chair when the giant of a man entered. "Hello, sir. You wanted to see me."

"Yes. I was thinking about the chat we had about Nodia Prime and the prisoners there. Are they all military prisoners?"

He pondered that for a moment, before answering. "Most of the former imperials are low-ranking Navy or troopers, sir." He grimaced as he sighed. "Not to mention that most of the republic prisoners are from planets that have been devastated. Just like the rest of us, sir."

I nodded at that. According to the people I had talked with there were two possibilities for getting away, if you were a republic prisoner of war: Either the Republic asked for the prisoners' freedom in an exchange, or the Navy did. Both possibilities demanded that someone in the Republic or its Navy had a reason to believe that they were alive, and with the Sith's reputation of killing captured military personnel, most of them had been written off as 'Killed in Action' years ago. With their home planets wrecked, there were even fewer people to ask for their return and most of the prisoners became slaves after a while.

"And those who're not military people?"

Waydar shrugged. "Most of them were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I've talked with several people who just happened to be at a station, when the Empire took it. They had protested a little too much to the Imperial Officers and were taken away, eventually ending up at Nodia Prime."

"Very well. So, how well protected is it?"

He lit up in a smile. "Not that protected, sir. Now that the mines are close to depleted, it isn't worth much to the Empire. The system does have two orbital installations, but one of them is a mining facility, and there's only a small battlegroup led by a cruiser defending the system. At least that is what I overheard from the guards."

"How big is the garrison?"

"A couple of hundred men." Waydar said and then shrugged. "Most of the Imperial personnel were slowly being transferred to the orbital installations. As I'm sure you know, you don't need that many guards when you control the space around a planet. Especially not when the planet is so hostile, that it's almost impossible to survive outside the prison camp."

I looked into the air, as I thought it over. I doubted that there were that many prisoners left, considering the deal the Empire had made with the Zygerrians. No matter what, it was better than sitting on our hands here.

"Is there a chance that the Zygerrian would break the contract with the Empire, if none of their ships returned from the first pick-up?"

Waydar considered it for a moment and then shrugged. "I doubt it, sir. You don't just break a contract with the Empire, though I guess they can demand that they send an escort." He sighed. "There's a good chance that the slaves have already been picked up despite the long travel time from Nodia to Zygerria."

I nodded in the direction of the wall screen. "Take a look."

He did as I asked.

"One day from here to the Epsilon Eta system and another two days to the system we have identified as the Nodia system." His eyes widened at that, making me say, "Yes, we're that close. I'll inform the rest of the Battlegroup that we'll go to the Nodia system to take a look and see if there's any prisoners to be rescued."

He looked at me with eyes that slowly started to fill with tears. Then he bowed. "Thank you, sir."

"No need to thank me. I'm just doing what I promised. And besides, we don't know if there's anyone there or if there are, how to free them yet."

That made him smile. "For now, I'm just thanking you for doing the effort, sir."

I accepted that with a nod, just as the intercom chimed and Yaki's voice said. "Do you have a moment, sir?"

Waydar smiled and said, "I'll go now." and walked out.

I waited until the door had closed behind him. "What's up, Commander?"

"Sir, the guards have informed me that Marie Munmaki wants to have a word with you."

"I'll go talk with her." Glancing at the Panther droids, I added. "Have two guards meet me there. I don't think our unexpected visitors are that used to droids... Especially not the animal style of droids."

"Yes, sir." She chuckled and disappeared as the intercom switched off.

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"What is going on, sir?" Marie Munmaki asked after the guards had brought her out of the cell.

I signalled the guards to walk a few steps away and when they did that I asked. "I assume that this has something to do with your ability?"

The young woman nodded. "Yes. When we talked last time, I couldn't find a way any hyper routes. I can now, but how is that possible?"

"For the simple reason that there weren't any hyper routes the last time." I said with a smile. "Please follow me...I have something to show you."

She followed me wordlessly to the lift, glancing at the bodyguards as they followed us. "Excuse me, but are those the same guards as last time?"

I shook my head. "No, this is another shift, so other guards."

"Ah."

The lift took us to one of the upper decks from where we could go through the blast-door in the thick armor layer that separated the inner hull from the outer one and go into the passageway on the other side.

Like several other passageways on the ship, this one had several recreational areas with sofas and tables where the crew or passengers could sit and enjoy the view through the large transparisteel windows in the outer armor.

Due to the lack of people on the ship, the area was deserted and a moment later we were sitting in two chairs, with her looking out of the window with an awed expression on her face, as she watched the mortal dance of the three stars.

I waited for a long moment and then softly said. "Yes, it's a beautiful sight."

She nodded without taking her eyes off it. "What is it? I mean, I've read about systems with two stars, but three?!"

"Well, it happens." I said with a chuckle. "Though the two smaller stars will disappear in a few thousand years."

"What?"

Looking at the stars, I explained how the dance would eventually draw all material from the two smaller stars, adding to the larger sun as it slowly consumed them.

"Awful thought." Marie mumbled. "Nature is beautiful, but rarely gentle." Her eyes shifted to something else. "Wow, what is that?!"

I looked in the direction she indicated and saw the cruiser Hawk, which was maintaining its place in the formation next to Majestic. "That would be Hawk. The ship that stopped Razor's Edge from drifting in space and got everybody out of it, before it collapsed."

"Was Razor's Edge really in that bad a shape?"

"Yes. Everybody on the bridge and engine room were dead, the reactor was in a complete shut-down, the hull was full of holes and so fragile that when another ship tried to hold Razor's Edge with a tractor beam, one of the engines simply fell off." I recounted. "To be honest it was a miracle that anyone was alive inside that wreck."

She nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off the cruiser. "May I ask what kind of ship that is?"

"It's a cruiser."

"So, it's what? Three hundred metres in length?"

That made me smile a little. Size and distance were extremely hard to judge in space, where there was nothing to compare an object to. "You mean like the Hammerhead-class cruiser?"

Marie nodded. "Yes, I've read about that one. It's huge... Much longer than Razor's edge."

"Yes, it's longer than Razor's Edge. As far as I remember, Razor's Edge was around two hundred metres in length and according to our engineers, equipped with an extra layer of armor and armed with four turbo-lasers and ten laser cannons, and had a complement of six Star Saber XC-01 starfighters."

That made her look at me, with surprise on her face. "You examined it!?"

"Yes. I study every ship we come across and learn something new every time."

"And what do you think of Razor's Edge?"

"For a converted freighter with antiquated starfighters, it's not bad." I said honestly. "From what the engineers told me, your people have done a good job."

"But it's not up to your standards." She determined with a smile.

I nodded at the window, where one of the Drakes was coming into view. "Take a look at the ship over there." She turned her head to watch the ship. "That is

Hunter

. Two-hundred and fifty metres in length, it's equipped with capital-ship grade armor and armed with six turbo-lasers and seven dual laser cannons and has a larger complement of starfighters than the Razor's Edge." I shrugged lightly. "I don't bet, but if I did, I would put my money on the

Hunter

if it went up against your converted freighter."

"You're kidding me?"

I shook my head. "No."

Still stunned, Marie looked out of the window again, to stare at the Drake, which was manoeuvring to take its place in the formation. It also told me that Iska had turned the entire battlegroup in anticipation of receiving a hyper route from Jandar San. A move that would save time later.

"Is that why you have no interest in getting us home as soon as possible?" Marie suddenly asked. "We're too... backwards to be of any concern?"

"No, I just have other obligations I need to see fulfilled first." I smiled a little, "but you're right on one point. I really have no interest in your system and I'm not a bad guy, which your people should be eternally grateful for, because I'm pretty sure that I could take your entire solar system with three ships." She looked alarmed, so I continued. "However, as I said, we have no interest in doing that. We want to free people, not enslave them."

She was silent for a moment. "Is that where you're going now?"

"Yes. There's a chance that some of our people are prisoners on a planet not too far away from here, so that is where we're going."

She nodded. "I need to ask if there's any chance that I might see Sean and Benny again. I miss them a lot."

"I'll see what I can do... just be aware that so far they're not likely to be willing to follow you back to your home. Yes, you have treated them more than fairly, but they're still slaves there and can be sold if anything happens to you."

"I know." She said with a sigh, just as my ear-piece activated and Iska said. "We have the route, Commodore."

"I'll be right there, Captain." I answered as I stood and looked at Marie. "I'm sorry, but duty calls. We'll talk more some other day."

She stood as well. "It was a pleasure talking with you, sir."

Looking at the two guards, I told them to escort her back to the cell and when they had disappeared into the lift along with Marie, I took another lift to the bridge.

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We entered hyperspace as planned, but when I asked Tavune for the check-up on the ships, he frowned. "I think we're missing a ship, sir. The Chariot isn't responding."

I arched my eyebrows. Chariot was a Foray-Class blockade runner we had found in the Snare system and used to replace the damaged one that had been with us since Centauri 21 where Captain Meistrin had named it. Now it was commanded by Captain Nun'ovur'noca (Novur), who had proven to be an excellent captain.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir." He checked again. "They might have experienced some technical difficulties, but in any event, they're not on the same route as us."

The hyperspace communicator only worked if the ships entered hyperspace at roughly the same time and at exactly the same route, and if the Chariot wasn't answering, it either wasn't here or had a problem with the communicator. Either way, it was impossible to turn around now, so we would have to wait until we reached the Epsilon System before we could send people back to look for the Foray-Class blockade runner.

Before I had the chance to do anything Tavune called again. "Sir, Commander Crapen is calling. It's flagged as a private call, sir."

"Transfer it to my office." I said and walked the short distance to the office.

"Hello, Commander Crapen." I said as she showed up on the screen, the face under the short black hair looking worried.

"Hello, sir. Unfortunately, I have to report that our group is missing a ship, sir." She stated calmly. "For some reason, Chariot didn't make it."

"Yes, we noticed that during check-up. Could you send me the scan from the departure, please?"

She nodded and gestured to someone out of sight and a moment later, the scan data showed up on the other screen.

I looked at it for a few seconds. Chariot was pointing in a slightly different direction than the rest of the fleet, meaning that a hyperspace jump would take them somewhere else, but otherwise the system was empty.

"And you haven't heard from them during our jump?"