A Young Girl's War Between the Stars [Youjo Senki/Star Wars]

85

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars85

Botajef system. 35 BBY/965 GSC.

“Mand’alor on deck!”

I returned the salutes sent my way before moving over to the center of the bridge. “Captain. May I?” I asked, and Aylin smiled, gesturing towards her chair.

“Please,” she agreed, and I took the preferred seat.

“Sitrep,” I ordered, as the holographic fishbowl display turned on, giving me a full view of the system—or at least, what the passive sensors could see.

The call-outs began in order of importance, starting with sensors. “Our sensors have confirmed long range observations from our stealth asset within the system. The TradeFed have taken the orbital shipyard and are currently engaged in a ground battle to take the planet-side shipyard. The enemy fleet consists of thirty-six -class frigates, eighteen -class destroyers, and one -class battleship. They’ve got droid fighters deployed doing patrols. I read… six hundred droid fighters deployed on patrol around the planet.”

, I mused, looking at the representations of ships on the hologram.

“The appears to be acting as the control ship for their ground forces,” the comms officer reported next. “They’re beaming out a lot of data back and forth that I can’t make heads or tails of. No change in transmissions between fleet elements since we dropped out of hyperspace.”

Nodding, I listened to the other reports coming in. All sectors on the reported battle ready. Our other fleet elements likewise were reporting their readiness. The was tucked away behind the Botajef’s moon and it seemed as though the enemy hadn’t spotted us yet, while the other elements of the fleet were a bit further—having dropped out of hyperspace in the shadow of the planet from the enemy fleet, close enough to the inner asteroid belt that at that range, they shouldn’t be picked up by the enemy’s fighter patrols.

Considering the map and the way the enemy fleet was deployed, I hummed quietly in thought as I went over our options. Master Dooku’s instructions were clear: take the Second Confederate Fleet and break the siege of Botajef by TradeFed forces. I was to reclaim the orbital and planet-side shipyards and drive the TradeFed away with as little damage as possible in the process, while limiting local casualties. He didn’t care how I achieved those goals.

My eyes settled on the largest enemy ship as transport ships ferried more droid troops down to the surface. Thanks to my scambot’s actions, we had the schematics and stats for them from HKD. They were huge capital freighters that had been converted into droid troop carriers and support ships, given the ‘battleship’ designation more for their mass than their combat potential. But even completely unarmed and stripped down, they could serve a purpose…

Lucrehulk

Of course, my new mobile base was well-defended—as any prize worth taking was. Between the droid fighters on patrol and the frigates and destroyers screening it, we were going to have a hard time taking it in a straight up fight. In fact, this would be the first fleet action our new ships had seen, so I wasn’t entirely certain of the best way to go about this.

The tactic of playing to our strengths was obvious. The railguns were built to engage at range—well, outside of range of the enemy’s own weapons. Far enough that by the time their fighters got to within range to engage our own, the enemy ships should be crippled or destroyed.

We had thirteen -class battleships, with the being one of those. Additionally, we had four -class cruiser-carriers, and twenty-four -class corvettes. Along with that we had a few support ships, ships meant to deploy troops on the ground, and the fighter wings of all of those larger ships.

A synchronized alpha strike by our battleships and corvettes should theoretically take out a large portion of the enemy fleet. At least, based on the specs we got from testing our captured -class. The problem was, what came after. It would be hard to predict how the enemy ships would respond, outside of the general assumption that they would attempt to deploy the rest of their fighters and close range. If the had fighters, it may deploy its own fighters, and I’d seen the numbers on those—, based on numbers alone.

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Feeling the tension of the bridge crew, I reminded myself that I was here and as not just the commanding office, but as their Mand’alor, I had to look like I knew what I was doing. I had no experience conducting large scale fleet operations, outside of the occasional video game in my first life—but an RTS was the same thing as real naval engagements! I was out of my depth here, outside of the most basic, common sense things or tactics that applied universally—such as trying to out-range your enemy, or launching a sneak attack.

delegate

Shutting off the holo display, I stood. Capt. Keen straightened up as I looked to her. “Meet me in my office in half an hour, and bring the CO of our marine detachment. Call the captains of the other ships and let them know we’ll be conducting a strategy meeting over holocall at that time.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, before thumping a fist to her chest in salute.

Louder, I said, “Forward the telemetry feed from our sensors to my office.”

“Aye, ma’am,” came the reply from the sensor officer.

I nodded and left the bridge, heading up to our private deck and following my senses to find my Padawans. I had told them to avoid training for today because I wanted them fresh if we needed to deploy for something, so I wasn’t too surprised when I found them in the private flight simulators I’d had moved up and installed for them. They sensed me enter the room and quickly paused their sims, before stepping out and sending me expectant looks. I smiled and, for some reason, they shivered and I felt a brief thrill of fear from them.

“Are we having fun?” I asked, and the girls exchanged a look.

“Yes?” Allaya tried, and Asajj nodded.

“Good, good,” I nodded along. “I know you must be getting bored with simulators, so for today, I’ve arranged a little training exercise.” The girls flinched at that and I chuckled. “Go gear up. Vac suits and full armor, and bring your rifles. Meet me in my office in ten minutes.”

““Yes, Master!”” the pair chorused, before hurrying out of the training room.

They left and I hurried to my office and into my private quarters. As I went, I pulled my personal holocom out and made a quick call. Receiving an answering beep, I smiled. “Arthree, please come up to the office. We’re going to need you for a mission very soon.”

The droid gave an affirmative beep and disconnected the call, and I pocketed the device. Opening my armor locker, I quickly pulled on my gear and sealed my helmet into place. Running the standard integrity checks, I made sure it was sealed properly before selecting my loadout.

My usual lightsabers were already on my belt and ready, of course. The Darksaber, because if I was going to do this in front of an audience, I may as well be while I did it. My RSKF-44 hand cannon. Several grenades and explosive charges, since we would be breaching the ship and it was really just faster to blast than try to cut through most doors. And finally, my rifle—newly upgraded with sorcery, beskar, and songsteel to make it stronger and capable of channeling more Force.

Letting the rifle hang from its sling against my chest, I headed back into the office and activated the holo projector, setting it for tank mode. Then, I brought up the sensor readings of the enemy’s positions relative to our fleet and began running the math for targeting solutions and timing on firing for each of our individual ships.

Once I was finished with that, I brought up the schematics. Unfortunately, due to just how modular the ship was made to be, there was no way to tell exactly what the internal layout looked like until we were inside. The general schematics for the base model would hopefully be enough. Studying the layout, I marked out three targets: the bridge, the engine room, and an empty space I suspected to be where they housed the droid control unit.

I quickly made my decision as the door to the office opened and my Padawans walked in. “I’m sending this to your holocoms,” I told them, before sending over the schematics.

The girls studied the hologram before Asajj asked, “Why do we need the schematics for a ship?”

I sent her an amused look, then realized she couldn’t see it under my helmet. “Because today’s training is in, followed by, with a side of .”

The girls shared a brief look as rolled off of them, before they both turned and for the door. I grabbed them both by the collar, to their protests.

“You can’t just space us! Master, what have we done to deserve that?!”

“Master, think of what my mother and father will say when they learn you threw me out an airlock!”

“Oh relax,” I sighed, putting them on their feet to either side of me, but not letting go. “Why do you think I told you to make sure you wore your vac suits and your armor? And did you think I had you start wearing a vac suit under your robes like me as ? Your suits are sealed and made specifically for traversing vacuum. You’ll be fine. I’ll be right there to help you navigate across the distance—along with some volunteers from our marine detachment.”

“…You’re really going with us?”

“…You’re really not just tossing us into space and flying away?”

I rolled my eyes, before smacking them both in the back of their helmets. “ I’m going with you. , I’m not just leaving you stranded and floating in space today.”

There was a pause, followed by, ““Today?!””

“We’ll do your space survival and recovery training at a later date,” I promised, earning a thrill of dread from both girls. Feeling people approaching out in the hall, I said, “Now, be quiet and pay attention. The meeting is about to start.”

I opened the door with the Force just as I felt Aylin about to knock. The woman felt ruefully amused, though I couldn’t tell that just by looking—most because her face was hidden by her helmet. She had taken a few minutes to change from her uniform into her armor, it seemed.

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Frowning, I nodded to her and the man who followed after—an Mando with a buzzed hair cut and wearing a first lieutenant’s rank insignia and a serious look on his face. Letting go of my Padawans, I moved towards my quarters and motioned for Aylin to follow. “Captain, a word if you would?”

The woman nodded and followed me inside, closing the door behind us. I reached up and removed my helmet and a moment later, she did the same. Meeting the older woman’s eyes, I asked, “What are you doing?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Permission to speak freely?”

My eye twitched. I wanted to deny the request, but things were complicated enough without rank getting in the way. So, I nodded. “Granted. Drop the formalities. ”

“What’s it look like?” She sent me an amused look. “I you. I’ve read your service record—most of us have, in fact. Lt. Thorne already put together a group of volunteers in anticipation of the coming mission, ready to launch when you give the order. You’re going to order us to board the , at the same time our ships attack the main fleet. You’re probably going to use this as a training exercise for your Padawans and have them both split off with a marine escort each, to go secure the engine room and droid control core, while you assault the bridge alone. I ordered a detachment prepared to accompany you as well, which I’ll be leading myself. My XO will handle the while I’m gone.”

For a moment, I simply stared.

I wanted to argue that as the captain, she should stay back on the ship where it was safe… but I knew that the immediate counter to that was that , I shouldn’t even be out here. And unfortunately, these were Mandalorians. Common sense went out the window at times, especially where fighting was involved. The captain deciding to join an assault and lead from the front wasn’t out of the ordinary for them at all.

“Fine,” I grunted, pulling my helmet back on. “You’ll be in my back pocket the entire time.”

“Right where I want to be. The most dangerous part of the mission, likely to face the heaviest resistance,” she smiled, before pulling her own helmet back on. “This is going to be fun!”

“Force save me from ,” I muttered as I opened the door and we returned to the office. Lt. Thorne pretended nothing was amiss, but I could feel the man’s amusement. Rolling my eyes, I made my way to the holocom controls and found we had already been joined on a call in progress and they were just waiting on us to acknowledge. Hitting the button to do so, several color holograms popped up, broadcast from the other -class ships—the ranking captains present.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” I nodded to the assembled men and women.

““Mand’alor!”” the answering salute was immediate and universal.

I returned the gesture and brought up the telemetry from our sensors, showing the battlefield before us—the planet of Botajef, its moon, and out to the asteroid field where the other ships in our fleet lurked.

“You can see the situation we’re facing for yourselves. We can’t lose the orbital shipyard and if at all possible, I want that captured, not destroyed. My plan is simple: long range bombardment from the enemy’s starboard north side, so that inertia carries any potential missed fire or debris away from the station. While you’re setting up for the bombardment, I’ll take a team and set up on some asteroids, which we will then push in motion towards the enemy fleet. Once we’re close enough, we’ll leave the asteroids and board the ship. The asteroids passing between the and the planet will signal the start of the operation, at which point you will open fire and engage the enemy, concentrating fire on the destroyers in order to take them out first. As soon as the first strike hits, my teams will breach the and move to capture the bridge and hopefully the enemy leader, the engine room, and the droid control center. With the droids shut down, the enemy’s surface operation will grind to a halt and with their fleet commander captured, we will order their surrender. If negotiation fails at that point, . You have half an hour to give me alternatives, or we launch half an hour after that. Begin.”

I smiled under my helmet as the other captains quickly launched into debate, suggesting both alternatives and modifications to the initial plan, nodding along as I listened.

Was I still bitter about the defeats and losses of my second life? Absolutely not.

But I learned my lesson. And this time, any such dragging us down would very quickly find that term becoming quite literal, at the end of a lightsaber.

Staring out into the black as space spun wildly around them, Asajj clung to the rope tied around her waist, nailed into the asteroid with a piton as if her life depended on it. Because it did. It definitely did!

What kind of idiot Master thought nailing themselves to a bunch of asteroids and using a ship to shove those at the planet in the distance, and then jump off when they got close to the enemy was a good idea?!

Asajj loved her Master, she really did, but there were times where well-earned fear surpassed that, . Because her Master was insane!

Allaya squeezed her hand a bit tighter and she glanced over, finding the other girl just laying back, seemingly enjoying the ride. It was hard to tell with their helmets on. Her sense of the Force wasn’t as sharp as their Master’s, but it didn’t like the redhead was in the middle of a panic attack.

Allaya leaned over and thumped her helmet against Asajj’s, pressing them together. Her voice came through a moment later, since this was the only way they could communicate verbally at the moment as their Master didn’t even want them using point to point laser just in case it reflected and one of the enemy ships detected it. “Just close your eyes and relax. Stop looking at it and the dizzy feeling will go away.”

“Easy for you to say!” Asajj hissed back.

The redhead’s tone turned annoyed. “You think I’m not about to puke my guts out?! The only thing keeping me from doing exactly that is that and because there’s no way I can take my helmet off!”

Asajj let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Slowly, the world stopped spinning and she stopped feeling like she was going to be thrown off the asteroid and into space. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I… ,” the redhead admitted, and Asajj could how much it hurt her pride to admit that.

“This is ,” Asajj complained.

She felt Allaya nod. “Oh yeah! Easily makes the top ten dumbest ideas Master’s ever had!”

Something thumped her boot and Asajj cracked one eye open, finding their Master standing above them, doing the same to Allaya. Once she felt their attention, she signaled. ‘Up. Make ready.’

Asajj forced herself to stand as Allaya did likewise. A moment later, their Master unhooked the D-rings connecting their ropes to the anchors and instead snapped them to her belt. She started walking and the girls followed, moving out of the crater they had been laying in. Focusing on the ground helped to keep the dizzy feeling from returning, so Asajj stared at her feet practically the entire time. Until finally, they crested the lip of the deep crater, and Asajj bumped into their Master’s back.

Tanya turned around and signed again. ‘Make ready. Count down. Five. Jump.’

Asajj nodded, catching Allaya doing the same out of the side of her vision. Then, their Master turned away and looked up, watching the sky. Asajj made the mistake of doing so as well and gasped at what she saw.

In the distance, the planet of Botajef crested the horizon of the asteroid—all blue oceans, green and brown land, and white fluffy clouds. It was beautiful, at this range, but also… lonely? It made her feel smaller, somehow.

Then, the asteroid continued its rotation and structures came into view, highlighted by her helmet’s cameras. The glint of fighters zipping around in the dark. The forms of ships hovering ominously before them. And behind those, looming like a small moon, a ship that dwarfed them all—circular, with a small opening in the front, and a hollow center with a spherical module taking up much of the middle space formed by the ring of the outer hull structure.

Their Master held up her hand in a clenched fist. Asajj felt her heart—, she reminded herself—hammering in her chest as her body trembled and muscles clenched. And then, washed over them. Calm, certainty, and determination. It was only for a moment, but it was enough to overpower the fear she felt.

‘Five.’

‘Four.’

‘Three.’

‘Two.’

Tanya reached down and grabbed both of their hands, and Asajj felt the Force encompassing all of them. She didn’t need to ask when it was time to jump, or how hard she needed to, or at what angle. She just .

They jumped, leaving the asteroid behind—and as they did, Asajj started a countdown timer. They flew through space towards the large ship, moving further and further from the asteroid. Looking around, Asajj spotted other Mandalorians jumping off of other asteroids on the same trajectory.

Nearly there, they moved as one, flipping over so the enemy ship was . Then, again at their Master’s direction, Asajj knew just what to do as they neared at a velocity that would splatter them all against the hull. Letting go of her Master’s hand, she pointed both hands downwards and used the Force to push against the ship. Only, instead of moving the massive ship, the Force moved her—slowing her until she touched down lightly against the hull and the magnetic clamps on her boots locked in place, the reading on her helmet’s HUD turning green. A check showed Allaya was likewise secure.

A group of ten Mandos, including the captain, landed around them using jetpacks to do much the same. As soon as they were down, Tanya reached down and unhooked the D-rings from Asajj’s and Allaya’s armor and secured them in her cloak pockets. Thumping their shoulders to get their attention, she quickly signed again.

‘On mission. Stay safe. Go.’

Asajj nodded and she and Allaya turned and looked around, finding the other two units of Mandos nearby. Their Master’s group took off across the ship, hurrying towards the central sphere. Meanwhile, Asajj turned left to hurry towards one group of Mandos while Allaya went right.

The time for thinking, uncertainty, or fear was over. Asajj steeled herself and hurried to meet the Mandos she would be working with. She knew the plan for getting in and what she needed to do—and what her Master expected of her. All she needed to do now was act.

Soon enough, she stood with the gathered Mandos and waited as three of them went about securing magnetic clamps and lines to the hull. Once that was done, one of them signaled it was finished to Asajj and she nodded, pulling out her lightsabers but not turning them on. She waited, watching. The countdown ticked closer and closed to zero, until finally, it blinked red in the corner of her vision.

In the near distance, the sky lit up with flashes as multiple enemy ships simply engines destroyed and exploding, annihilating the ships in whole. Others, where the engines weren’t destroyed outright, turned into floating debris clouds and large chunks, flying towards other ships.

Asajj lit both her lightsabers and let go, grabbing them with the Force and moving them out to where the Mandos indicated. Setting them at an angle, she pushed them into the hull, then began to rotate them around her position, careful of the tethers holding the soon to be removed section of hull to the rest of the ship. Glancing over, in the distance, she saw her Master and Allaya doing the same with their own teams.

The reasoning there was fairly simple, according to her Master. With the destruction of the enemy ships and the start of the operation, the enemy may actually lock down the and they might even have guards stationed to deal with an airlock breach. They have guards stationed to deal with a breach from the middle of a corridor, however.

Atmosphere rushed out around the cuts and Asajj felt the moment she finished cutting, as the entire section under her feet jerked and launched upwards several feet, before catching on the anchor lines. She stumbled but quickly righted herself, shutting off her lightsabers and collecting them as she rushed around the side and down, following the Mandos inside. Once they were all in, she reached out and grabbed the section of hull with the Force, pulling it down and holding it back in place as three Mandos broke out patch kits and slapped them against the gaps in the hull, quickly spot-welding them in place.

Alarms still blared through the ship, red lights flashing in the corridor, but the atmosphere had stopped leaking. Pulling up her HUD’s map from the files on her holocom, she checked their position against the engine room as the group moved out. Getting her rifle ready, she moved out ahead of the group, running at Force speed to get some distance and ensure the path ahead was clear.

Turning the only corner between them and the engine room, she came across a squad of droids. Asajj , running faster as she snapped up her rifle and launched herself at the wall to her right as they lifted their blasters and opened fire. A green bolt of plasma streaked from her rifle and hit the first B1 battle droid center mass. The heads were just sensor units for this model, her Master had explained, so only a shot to the chest would actually guarantee a kill.

The droid exploded and the bolt over-penetrated, punching into the droid behind it as Asajj fired again and again, kicking off the wall, to the ceiling, and over to the opposite wall—always staying a step ahead of the droids’ fire. By the time she touched down on the floor again, the squad of droids had been reduced to little more than scrap.

Breathing a bit deeper, she turned and spotted the Mandos coming up behind her, running fast. The reason why became obvious a moment later, as the rear elements paused at the corner to fire down the hallway—apparently, the enemy had sent reinforcements to try to stop them from taking the engine room.

Hurrying to the door, Asajj attempted to open it, only to find it locked and the bulkhead door sealed. Checking the schematics, she turned and activated her lightsaber, cutting a man-sized door into the wall and ripping the panel out, revealing an elevator shaft that opened directly into the engine room.

Shaking her head, she ripped the elevator doors open with the Force and took a moment to use her lightsaber to turn the removed wall section into an impromptu floor across the elevator shaft for the Mandos, before hurrying inside. Once in, she found the only living crew she’d felt or seen so far, doing something at the engine control panel. Using the Force, she jerked the human away from the panel and pinned him against the wall as the Mandos poured into the room and secured the entrances. She took a moment to use her lightsaber to spot weld both the blast doors and the elevator doors shut once they were all in, then turned to the human struggling against the wall as the Mandos worked to figure out what had been done.

Reaching out with the Force as her Master had instructed, Asajj demanded, “Tell us how to fix what you did.”

She felt the man try to resist, but leaned on the technique and, a moment later, he stopped thrashing and gave up. “You’ll need to use my access code to disable the shutdown sequence. It’s—”

Asajj listened and waited as one of the Mandos entered the code and stopped the shutdown. Finally, the engineer called, “We’re all good.”

Nodding, Asajj ordered, “Sleep.”

The man went unconscious and she sighed, dropping him to the floor. A moment later, a quiet, hysterical laugh escaped her lips, before she collapsed to the ground herself. One of the Mandos made his way over and knelt beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright. You did good. Just breathe. Deep breaths.”

Asajj nodded and did as she was instructed, tuning out the sounds of metal fists pounding on the blast door and blasters occasionally firing at it. The constant clanking of metal on metal was a distraction though, and she wished they would just already.

“Stupid clankers,” she muttered.

Several of the Mandos laughed or snorted at that. “So young, and already inventing new slurs.”

“Yup, she’s a Mando.”

“”

“The boss is gonna be so proud!”

The man kneeling next to her rolled his eyes. “Button it up,” he chastised them, but she could hear the smile in his voice. When they fell silent, he keyed up on the radio. “Assault One, Assault Two. Engine Room secure. One prisoner. No injuries. But we’ve got clankers hammering at the door, so we’d appreciate it if Assault Three could hurry up!”

A moment later, Allaya herself answered. “ Give me a… Got it! Shut that thing down!”

Seconds later, the clanking outside stopped and Asajj sagged with relief leaning back against the blast door as she felt her eyes getting heavy. A hand roughly shook her shoulder. “Hey! Adrenaline crash is a bitch, but this is no time for a nap. Focus up. You can nap later. On your feet, soldier.”

Suppressing the urge to groan, she forced herself to her feet. “Fine. What next?”

“Next? We sit right here behind this big bitch’s shields and wait for the all clear. Once we get that, they’ll send people over to relieve us and take over, and we’ll head back to the . You can nap when you get home.”

“The only kind of ‘sleeping’ I’m going to be doing is the kind, sarnt,” one of the men chimed in, earning some chuckles and agreement from the others.

Asajj rolled her eyes. She would settle for a hot meal, a real shower, and a cool bed to pile up in for the next twelve hours, while she tried to forget what hurtling through space without the benefit of a ship was like.