Ossus- The Bridge of the Chimera II

As the space battle continued to rage with measured ferocity outside, Grand Admiral Thrawn stroked his chin thoughtfully, staring down at the display below him. A holographic image projected by a table. Every inch of the table projected a bit of the overlaying image, creating an extremely accurate projection, as every bit of sensory data recieved was fed into one of the thousands of holoprojector hardpoints in the table's surface.

This projection displayed clearly what was going to be the only challenge for the overpowering invaders that day; the battle for Orilcia. While the Rogue Jedi Order had been effectively caught with nothing to defend them, with Ossan soldiers locked in cells by OsSec pawns of Thrawn all over the world, the Jedi of Orilcia had somehow freed their defenders. While on the rest of the planet, AT-MT walkers lay dormant in their hangers, Orilcia had launched an active defense.

But a futile one. The OsSec 'defenders' who had put up a mockery of a false defense to satisfy holocameras had been ordered to stand down, retreating to Chiss Imperium battlecamps in the burning wreckage of the cities. Now, with the defenders freed too late, Orilcia was assaulted from within and without; while walkers and smaller speeder craft repelled an invincible rush of man and armor on the outskirts of the city, the three-thousand soldiers within battled ten thousand better trained and equipped Chiss warriors.

Odds which made it impossible to lose; Thrawn liked that. It made that feared Chiss face of his smile sadistically as he stared down at the tactical representation of the battle below.

"They cannot beat us, can they, Captain Shinek?" Mitth'raw'nuruodo asked the tall male Chiss, with a slight smile.

'No, sir.' The severe officer responded. 'I calculate a point-five percent chance of victory for the Ossan defenders.' Jash'ine'kellum's word was to be trusted; as the leading army and paramilitary advisor in the Chiss Imperium, Thrawn trusted only his protege, Captain Heirel's word more than Shinek's.

"Then, I ask something which may sound unwise to you."

'Your commands are never unwise, Admiral; merely misunderstood, on occasion.'

"Yes. When we inevitably break the line defending the perimeter of Orilcia, stop the walkers and assault vehicles at the edge of the city. Let no one out; let nothing in."

Shinek appeared skeptical, but responded, 'Yes, sir. It will be approximately one hour until we break the line.' Silence followed, and after a moment, Shinek added abruptly, 'This will cause our soldiers on the ground in Orilcia to fight the Ossan defenders without armor help.'

"I know."

'This, 'Searthen Jiren' is down there. We do not know what the Jedi are capable of.'

"That," Thrawn said, his smile broadening with a malicious glee, "Is precisely why it must be done as I have said."

<font color=gray>Ossus - Ossan Defense Force</font>

<font color=gray>The arrival of the Ossan defenders brought hope, but not enough. Soon the soldiers were being over run. They had no choice but to retreat and retreat and retreat until they could retreat no longer.

Arrix Stryker was one of the few unwounded men. Many of the soldiers had wounds in their shoulders, stomachs, legs. Almost every part of their bodies. It was total chaos.

This isn't a battle, this is anarchy, Arrix thought to himself. The Ossan forces were nearing the boundries of Orilcia, hoping to seek refuge there. Of course, they couldn't hold it for long, but the soldiers were true Ossan soldiers. They would hold their city for as long as they could call it their own.</font>

"What now, sir? What do we do when we get to Orilcia?"

<font color=gray>Sir. The soldiers insisted on calling him that, though technically he was not part of the Ossan military. He soon gave up asking them to stop and just let them call him the name.</font>

"We stand an fight, soldier. There's nothing else we can do. We're out numbered 5 to 1. We have no resources, and no way to escape. But we'll damn well hold that city until we can't hold it no longer!"

"Yes, sir!"

<font color=gray>Ossus - Orilcia

Arrix looked around. It was an ugly sight. Everywhere you looked there was a wounded man, and none of the wounds were light. The problem was the majority of the medics were injured as well so not many people got treatment right away.

Arrix looked away. He couldn't bare to look any longer. The Navy was utterly defeated. The Defense Force had no chance of survival. The bottom line was that they were all doomed. Only a miracle could save them now.</font>

A miracle which would come, in time, from a man named N'iktal Jiren.

Gash rushed down the street, a momentary lapse in the constant spray of fire. The street was covered, as the rest of Ossus was, in dust and ash, and seemed to be some kind of safe haven from the ground war errupting across Orilcia. The shots still rang in the distance, an orchestral rumble of war. Gash clutched his blue lightsaber in hand, glancing back over his soldier. To his left and right on the street, stood the hulks of buildings--ahead, though, on the left, was a small tower untouched by the Chiss rocket assault. The viewports were shattered, yet the superstructure remained intact.

Gash ran towards it, leaping and somersaulting in the window, landing on the cold durasteel floor inside. The store was abandoned, apparently an older weapons store, the owners of which had foolishly sought shelter elsewhere. It was drab and plain, but served well as cover. Glancing out the viewport he'd come in, the squad of Chiss rushed into view. Not the group who'd originally persued him.

But Gash had been running from that original group...

The block errupted in laserfire, the Chiss patrol taking cover in a cut-away building across the street. With the clicking sound of boots and rifles being loaded, at least three more squads rushed into view, and took cover in adjoining buildings. Gash noted the red blaster fire coming from his side of the street- from a building which seemed to be next to his, but which was obscured by his limited lateral view from the viewport.

Gash bent, picking up a small rock of duracrete from the ground next to him. As he bent, a blast of laserfire struck the small building in which he stood, spraying pebbles of broken duracrete and durasteel about. Pulling his head back up, he aimed at the building across from him. Half the wall had been cut away in a triangular shape, allowing Chiss to take cover while firing.

The Jedi Master hurled the rock, honing it in and accelerating it with the Force. As it struck the jagged edge where the wall had been cut away, the Chiss just inches away, he heated it with the Force, channeling power into the rock as much as he could. The slightly- flamable duracrete mixture errupted in the heat in a fraction of a second, spraying sharp slices of rock about. Two of the seven soldiers in that building fell, clutching slice wounds to their nearby faces.

Effective enough.

Gash rushed to the left wall, pushing his ignited lightsaber into the durasteel and beginning to melt it. He cut a stout hole, wide enough to crawl through. Glancing back one more time at the twenty or more Chiss soldiers firing at him and the soldiers gathered on his side of the street, about fifty meters away, and leapt, rolling, through the hole.

He came up in a crouch, glancing around at the Ossan soldiers gathered in the small, broken down half of the building. The wall facing the street was cut away in a similar fashion to the Chiss' shelter, with a downward-triangle cut into the rock.

About ten soldiers were scattered about within the small room, the durasteel floor tapering into stairs leading downstairs to Gash's left. Some of the soldiers fired into the large hole in the wall, most of whom leapt back into the cover of the wall and pointed their blasters at Gash.

One man with a bloodied bandage around his leg, sitting in the sheltered corner of the room, stopped mid-sentence and stared at Gash. The blue blaster fire continued to pour into the wall to Gash's right, the Chiss not letting up their assault despite a lack of targets. The man in the corner, his tanned skin labeling him an Asthentian, took the cigarra out of his mouth long enough to salute Gash.

'Sir.'

The other soldiers, four human, one Rodian, two wookiees, and two Twi'Leks, all saluted from their seated or crouching positions. 'Sir!' They echoed. The young Asthentian in the corner spoke again.

'You're a little late, Master Jiren.'

"Yes."

'A lot late. I'd offer you command of this squad, but you've been removed from the navy. You know that, right?'

Gash sighed. "Yes. I am here to place myself under your command, Mister..."

'N'iktal Jiren. Captain N'iktal Jiren of the Ossan Royal Guards. Which, incidentally, don't exist anymore. Technically, neither does this army we're supposedly fighting in.'

"Very patriotic of you."

'I don't give a damn. We're fighting for an order that betrayed us, in an army that doesn't exist. You know your damn Chief of OsSec threw us all in jail? If Arrix hadn't showed up, we'd all be dead. Or worse.'

Gash stared for a moment, absorbing the shock of OsSec's betrayal. He covered his surprise, saving that question for another time.

Gash shrugged. "You fight, or you die. And you stand a better chance with a Jedi Master. If not, I can kill you, and assume command."

'You always were a caring uncle.'

"My family is expansive. I've never even met you."

'That's what I mean.' N'iktal tossed a small, round device to the Rodian. 'Throw that at them. Buy us a few more minutes.'

'Yes, sir.'

"And me?" Gash asked dubiously.

'Well, Master, get settled in. Welcome to the headquarters of the remnant of the Rogue Jedi Order Army.'

Leaving the room flanked by his guards and the Captain, Dakkon was suprised by Vessanas resolve on this matter. But he knew that it was his responsability to protect Hapes and the external cluster, regardless of what the his wife had to do with it. He turned to the Captain.

"Rustle up my navy liason officer for Hapan Central Intelligence. I'll be waiting for him in my Command centre. And have the entire fleet mobilised."

"But sir! The Queen Mother has forbidden it!"

"<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> I<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Command Hapes Military, I am responable to the people of the Consortium to protect them. Have them readied, and keep it quiet. Have the Admirals assemble in the command centre also."

The Captain broke off and left to follow out his orders. Moving to his study, Dakkon pondered the circumstances in which he found himself.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Ana will have my head no matter what, but we will all die if we are caught naping. I AM doing the right thing.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> 15 minutes later......<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


A tall man in military uniform strode into Dakkons study, just before Dakkon was to leave for his command Centre. He came to attention silently and stode awaiting his orders.

"Arkady? You are early, and we were to meet the Defence Command Centre."

"Yes sir, but i have more information from our agent. He has uncovered that there is a relation between the attacks on Ossus now, and the betrayal. But the rest of the message was too garbled to transcribe."

Dakkon furrowed his brow, this was disconcerting, and opened more questions that it closed answers.

"Excellent, well done. Now, for my orders.

I need you to send in some operatives, to keep track on the battle in Ossus, and to get onto the ground, and organise extraction for our Agents in there. I want to keep him on the ground as long as possible, but if they are uncovered, have them escape."

"Of course sir, i was about to suggest that myself. We have modified freightors ready. They have cloaking, both visual and radar, extremely power, but extremely discrete communications systems, and are all extremely faster."

"Excellent, dispatch them immediatly. And come with me to meet my Admirals."

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Later, at the command centre.<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

12 Admirals and Generals were arrayed around a system display of the Hapes System. All were concerned, having just received the same breifing as the Hapan Royalty received earlier.

"Organise our fleet, have them ready for anything, Troops mobilised on Ships and Forts. Lasers all powered, you know what i mean. And i want it done by later tonight. Am i understood?"

There were collective grumbles around the table. He knew they could do it, as did they. Within 20 minutes, every soldier and Crewer in Hapes had been mobilised.

Yzan looked at the clawcraft with a look of awe on his face.The ship was simply perfect in everyway.It had a streamlined frame and powerful-looking engines.It had the Tie fighter ball cockpit but instead of the traditional solar panels, it had several obstructions coming out from the back and wrapping around in front...almost like a claw gripping a rock.

He looked around carefully as he crouched down in the shadow of the fighter.Several Chiss pilots had jumped out of them a few minutes earlier and had run off to assist their comrades.

Leaving their fighters unguarded.

Yzan crawled carefully inside and looked at the controls.
They were basic enough, much like a D-type starfighter.He started the engines an powered up the ship's formidible weaponry.
Several Chiss soldiers came running, firing their unusual weapons.Unfortunate for them, their shots bounced harmly off the ship's sheilds.

He fired several shots at them, taking down three.The sole survivor dove for cover behind a fallen piller.Yzan nodded to himself and rose the ship several meters off the ground.

As he flew through the city he noticed a rather unusual scene.

A man with a lightsaber was busily fighting off waves of Chiss warriors.

Odd.

How could one man fight off hundreds of blue-skinned soldiers?

It was near impossible.

Yzan shrugged, it was not his problem.His main task now was to get back to N'zoth and inform the Council of Castes about this threat.

He burst through the atmosphere and frowned as he saw several odd-looking Star Destroyers in orbit.

No doubt the ones that had launched those troop transports.

Chiss clawcraft came at him, firing.One thing that they didn't know was Yzan had been a starfighter pilot before being honorably discharged from the Yevethan Military.He had been regarded as one of the best, he had even taught at the Flight Academy during his civilian time.

Yzan almost felt sorry for them.

Almost.

He dove and twisted his fighter.The Chiss followed and fired as well, but Yzan's ship was no longer their.He had pulled up and out of his steep dive and twisted around to settle directly behind the attacking clawcraft.He fired three times, destroying one of the fighters.

The survivors dove again and Yzan responded by firing proton torpedoes at them.

An interesting thing happened next.

The first torpedo hit one of the fighters and that fighter exploded.
The 2nd fighter twisted around and went full speed toward the Star Destroyers.

The torpedo followed.

The fleeing Chiss fighter dove and twisted again.

The torpedo followed.

The fighter seemed to agree and made full speed for the SD.
Right as the torpedo hit the fighter, the fighter hit the Star Destroyer in a brilliant explosion.

He didn't see what happened next, becuase he was already in hyperspace.

The Rodian soldier tossed the thermal detonator through the open wall, ducking quickly back behind the small remnant of that wall for cover. The ground rumbled lightly as it struck the Chiss soldiers' cover, out of Gash's sight. The other Ossan defenders placed their blasters over the open wall, firing in response to the constant wail of the enemy fire.

Gash glanced over to them, then let his eyes slide back to N'iktal. The man, still sitting on the other side of the half-open room, had the navy leg of his Rogue Jedi Order uniform rolled up, the bacta bandage across his knee soaked in crimson blood. He took another puff on the cigarra, seemingly unconcerned by the battle around him. Sounds of a fight on the opposite side of the short duracrete building came from the door on Gash's left, a port just ahead of the stairwell leading downstairs.

"Headquarters?" Gash asked, crouching down to take cover. "We're in worse trouble than I'd thought."

'You're a quick one. Too bad you don't move so fast getting back to your city when it's under assault from an alien race so well trained we've been thwarted in a matter of minutes.'

That stung. Gash shut his eyes for a moment, looking away. "You've got a lot of lip, kid." Gash paused as a laser blast was flung through the open wall in front of him, blazing across the room. "We'll get acquainted later. Show me to the... 'headquarters'."

'Aye aye.'

N'iktal had lead Gash down that stairwell, into a small, duracrete basement. The duracrete walls were uncovered, and while large, the room was dominated by a large table with a makeshift flimsiplast map on it. All around the table were about a hundred soldiers, most, if not all, were wounded. Only three or four stood at the table, holding comlinks; four or five of the wounded soldiers sitting around the basement also held comlinks.

On the map were a variety of metallic trinkets and rock fragments, assumedly representing the various soldiers the Rogue Jedi Order and Chiss had in battle. The room occasionally shook with the shock of a thermal detonator exploding above ground.

As Gash strode in, conversation stopped. Those soldiers who could, stood and saluted. N'iktal Jiren stepped around his uncle, walking to the table. "As you were, men."

They nodded, sitting, and conversation slowly resumed, subdued. Gash stepped to opposite side of the table as the three who stood watching the map. The commanders switched off their commlinks. 'Admiral Jiren.'

"Gash Jiren. I am no more an Admiral than anyone, anymore."

'Yes, sir.' The human commander in the center said. Two of the commanders were human, one was a reptillian Krick. 'I am Commander Shiek Maner.'

'Commander Venn Tainlet.' The other human said.

'Captain Laren Yyvess.'[/b] Added the Krick.[/b]

"Okay, then. What do we have?"

The human in the center began speaking. 'Obviously, everything we know is sketchy. There were about nine-hundred of us who avoided being captured by the OsSec traitors in Orilcia. Eight hundred or so survived the bombing. Two thousand were freed from the Triahel Detention Center by Arrix Stryker. When we fleed from the detention center, we were scattered. There could be as many as four hundred soldiers still alive and fighting.'

"In total, how many, now?"

'Around two thousand five hundred. They're spread out through the city, engaging the Chiss in small pockets. The Chiss headquarters are at the Ossan Parliament Palace. Most of our men are entrenched in buildings, with ample cover. Fighting is literally everywhere, but comm reports say the four most heated engagements are here,' He pointed to the west of the Ossan Parliament, 'Here,' To the southwest, 'Here,' Far to the south, 'And here.' To the east.

"I'm sorry, Commander, but I've been running from the enemy for about an hour. Where are we?"

'Here,' He said, pointing to a point roughly south-east of the Ossan Parliament Palace. 'We're still getting communications in from isolated patrols. On the outskirts of the city, Arrix Stryker is leading the defense.'

'Commander?' Spoke up a Twi'Lek in the basement's corner, holding a portable commlink system. 'Arrix Stryker reports successful retreat from the defensive line. But the walkers and speeders seem to have... they've stopped, sir. Arrix will return to headquarters, ETA ten minutes.'

'Stopped?' Shiek asked, glancing back at the Twi'Lek. 'Thank you.' His gaze returned to Gash. 'Arrix reported the defensive line being broken about an hour ago.'

"The walkers have stopped?" Gash repeated, ignoring the Commander. "They could crush this city with those walkers, even as my fleet stops their's from bombarding it--" He stopped, eyes flickering to the Commander again. "What about my fleet? Who is commanding it... where--"

'Captain Tellien,' N'iktal spoke up. 'Or, General Tellien. He's commanding the entire thing, and as far as we know, he's got orders to hold the world.'

"Is he being commanded from the ground?"

'Not possible. The inner core of the military and about half the senate went underground, or at least retreated, thirty minutes into the orbittal battle.'

Gash sighed, glancing down at the table, a variety of thoughts and strategies running through his mind. "Can we contact them from here?"

'No,' Said Shiek 'Our comms aren't powerful enough. If you can get to here,' He pointed to the battle to the west of the Ossan Parliament Palace, 'You can contact them using whatever communications systems are in that building. It's still intact.'

"Good. I don't know what orders those idiots gave them, but if OsSec was corrupted by the Chiss forces, I'll bet they've got people in the senate, as well. Which would explain how I was ousted.

"Mobilize me a squad. We're going to enter the fire fight."

<font color=gray>Ossus - Orilcia

Why would they stop?, Arrix Stryker thought to himself. The defensive lines had been broken, yet the walkers stopped at the boundaries of the city. A soldier came running up to him.</font>

"Sir! Headquarters report that Admiral Jiren is with them."

"Excellent! Tell the men to double their pace."

<font color=gray>This brought a smile to Arrix's face. With Searthen Jiren here they may have a chance to survive.

Suddenly a blaster bolt took a man in the head. Another took one in the shoulder. Blaster bolts started pouring down from all directions.</font>

"Take cover!"

<font color=gray>Arrix dove behind some durasteel blown off from the missile attack. Laser bolts bounced all around him. He took out his comm link and switched it on.</font>

"Arrix to Headquarters! Arrix to Headquarters! We've been ambushed! Under heavy fire! Send backup!"

<font color=gray>Arrix switched the comm link off and held his blaster over the durasteel, firing point blank and using the force to guide the bolts.</font>

<font color=gray>The explosion of a thermal detonator knocked Enth'ari'xanon off his feet. He quickly got back up and continued firing, his blaster's blue bolts kicking up dirt where they landed. He eventually got an Ossan in the head. The Grand Admiral Thrawn had underestimated the Ossan's skill in combat, though it hardly mattered.

I guess when you see everything you've learned to know and love getting stripped away from you, you realize you have nothing to lose, and take risks that pay off, Tharix thought to himself. The ambush was set up perfectly. About thirty Chiss hiding amongst the wreckage of the second stories of destroyed buildings. It wasn't that dangerous either, seeing as most of the buildings had around ten stories, and the Chiss explosions destroyed the topmost parts.

The man next to Tharix fell to a blaster in his chest, but Tharix payed no heed to the Chiss. He didn't really know him anyway. Another explosion occured not far from Tharix, it didn't knock him off his feet but the heat was enourmous.

Tharix felt a ripple and ducked as a blaster bolt flew past where he had been standing seconds before. Tharix was force sensative, but he didn't know it. He couldn't explain the strange things that happened to him. Sensing things before they happened. One time he got so mad a chair fell over.

Tharix didn't mind, though. As long as it saved his life, he was okay with it. He continued firing, hoping to kill another Ossan.</font>

The N'zoth Sector Fleet responded swftly to an unidentified Chiss Clawcraft entering the system.1 Armadia-class Thrustship,12 Tie Defenders, and 3 Vibre Assault Cruisers appeared seemingly out of nowhere.They contacted him over the comm.

"Unidentified starfighter.Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded"......

_____________

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Council of Castes Chamber-2 hours later<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

"I am <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> telling<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> you the threat is real.We need to mobilize and send a strike force!"

Viceroy Jian Paret and the 12 Members of the Council of Castes stared at Yzan Spret,unimpressed.The Viceroy spoke first.

"Mr Spret.Do you hear what you are saying? you are saying a long-dead Grand Admiral has suddenly come back and is attacking Ossus?"

"That is precisely what I am saying"

Jian sighed patiently.

"Yzan....."

"I am not crazy, I am telling you the truth!"

Jian held a hand before any of the Councilors could speak.

"That is all for today.We will send a Assault Cruiser to varify your claims."

Yzan bowed respectfully.He knew what he saw,Thrawn was out there.

"Thank you, Councilors and Viceroy"

"Dismissed"

Yzan turned and walked out.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Corran hadd been hiding for a very long time in the city. Well not really hiding just removing himself from the center of activity so that he wouldn't be caught and he wouldn't have to kill anybody either. It was relatively easy for somebody with his mental powers. But when the firefight began he knew that his pacifism was over. Immeaditly ahead he saw a group of soldiers firing on a group of OsSec defenders who were outnumbered at least 2 to 1. Igniting his lightsaber he jumped in front of one OsSec defender who was about to get shot. Deflecting the blaster bolts away from him and the defenders he slowly worked his way towards the soldiers and killed 4 of them while the OsSec defenders shot the rest. Then yelling at the defenders to follow him he sprinted off to another firefight that was going on a couple hundred meters away. The defenders hesitated a second at taking orders from somebody who didn't officially outrank them but then they decided on a course of action and followed him. This happened many more times and by then Corran had about 15 defenders with him while a large number of others had chosen to ignore him either because they had been corrupted or they just though his plan of action was not the best. Corran had been working his way towards the Ossus Parliment buildings. Things were steadily getting harder as he went up ahead he saw a lightfight but for some reason the force kept on telling him to go right. Corran was pretty sure he was near the south west of the parliment buildings. After a few minutes of walking what he thought was north he soon realized why the force had been telling him to go here. Up ahead was the largest firefight of them all there appeared to be almost 3 sides to this battle. 2 of them were in OsSec uniforms but neither seemed to acknowledge the others prescence they just continued shooting towards the invaders and dying. Corran immeaditly ran over to the nearest contingent of OsSec defenders. There was very few of them only about 10 remaining but they were doing a good job at holding there own against the invaders. Corran immeaditly spread his men throughout the defenders to help them and then ran towards the man who appeared to be in charge of this group. When the man saw him and then saw the lightsaber he wore he gave a shout of joy.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->
"A jedi! Glad to have you here. We're members of OsSec still loyal to Admiral Jiren. Those Defenders over there."he said pointing at the much larger seperate contingent of OsSec defenders "Are the corrupted ones."
"Well it's nice to have a ally" Corran said "Do you know if you're going to get reinforcements because you sure as hell need them."
"I don't know hopefully though. This is one of the biggest battles going on and if we win this we're very close to the parliment buildings and the Chiss base so probably." said the commander

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Corran nodded then he drew his blaster pistol and moved to help the defenders hold the invaders at bay.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->