![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weetuskenraiderIt had never been as busy in Tahiri's head as it was right now. Sweat was pouring off her, trickling down the back of her neck from inside her helmet, soaking the undertunic -- the one Ben had given her -- that she wore beneath her flight suit, and if she didn't have gloves on she'd never be able to keep a grip on her X-Wing's controls by now. She could hear the comm chatter from her pilots, sense everything fleet-wide through the Jedi battle meld; she felt the shock when Barefoot Seven's flagging shields finally failed and her fighter was slagged by a barrage of plasma fire from an oncoming Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper. She swore to herself -- that was three of her pilots vaped now, and Twelve was so badly damaged she'd had to order him to break off. One of Tahiri's own laser cannons was giving way from the heat of constant fire and minutes from being useless, and the shadow bomb she sent hurtling toward a frigate analog was her last one.
A warning sang through the meld and Tahiri saw the oncoming attack through another Jedi's eyes, getting ready to spit plasma fire.
"Three, Leader. Break hard left, now!" It would've sounded more panicked if not for the encouraging presence she sensed through the meld; Tahiri kicked at her rudder pedals and swung around to take a shot just as Barefoot Three got clear. She knew who to thank for the quick morale boost, and Tahiri grinned and sent a quick mental thanks toward Jaina on the surface of Ebaq 9. Twin Suns had been shot up pretty bad, but they'd landed safely.
The comm board showed the three battle groups of Garm Bel Iblis's fleet converging on a Yuuzhan Vong squadron -- the way the fleet was maneuvering, it had to be Luke calling the shots. Then shock crackled through the Jedi meld, and Tahiri saw that the Yuuzhan Vong ships engaging Bel Iblis's fleet were scattering. It wasn't even a tactical retreat; it was chaos.
That didn't make any sense. The Yuuzhan Vong never retreated.
Somewhere on the bridge of the Ralroost, Jacen realized what was going on, and when he did so did every other Jedi in the meld. The Yuuzhan Vong weren't running away. They were running to something.
Tahiri's hands twitched on her control stick. "Jaina."
Anxiety rippled through the meld before it was damped down, and that had to be Jacen; the surge of anger that just barely preceded the Smugglers' Alliance fleet's sudden attack on the Yuuzhan Vong ships must have been Leia on the Millennium Falcon. But what could they do against the capital ships? Most of the smugglers' craft weren't built for this kind of combat and didn't carry the kind of munitions to engage in head-to-head action. And yet there they were, led by Han, doing their best to keep the Yuuzhan Vong from reaching Ebaq 9.
She wanted to go and help, but all Tahiri had at her disposal were seven relatively inexperienced X-Wing pilots with maybe five proton torpedoes left between them, and she knew she didn't have the skills or experience to launch some kind of crazy maneuver. Every now and then, amid the bursts of laser and plasma fire and the evasive maneuvers and the shrieking of her astromech -- she had to keep reminding herself not to get offended by it -- she sensed a stab of fear that she knew came from Jaina on the surface of Ebaq 9.
If Anakin were here . . .
But he wasn't, she reminded herself again, and it was that kind of reckless charge, going in to rescue Jaina, that had gotten him killed. And he'd ordered her to put the mission before his own life.
That, like a punch to the gut, suddenly made much more sense to her now than it ever had before. Enough thinking like that, Veila!
"Barefoots, Leader," she said into the comm in response to a suggestion from the meld, and swung her snubfighter into a sharp arc toward the moon; through her canopy she could see several other squadrons doing the same. "They're going after the Blood Sacrifice. Let's try and keep the skips off them."
Tahiri gritted her teeth and continued to bark orders to her pilots, sticking with the engagement despite Warmaster Tsavong Lah's taunting invitations for all Jedi to come to the surface of the moon to be hunted, despite the fear she could sense from Jaina through the meld. When she realized that Jacen had gone alone to the moon in response to Tsavong Lah's call a sick feeling twisted her stomach: this could be the twin sacrifice the Yuuzhan Vong had wanted so badly. And there were voxyn down there.
She'd barely begun to comply with the order from Luke telling the Jedi to prepare for a landing on Ebaq 9 when the Blood Sacrifice succumbed to the concentrated fire from the New Republic ships, at the same time that a fireball erupted from the side of the moon. Tahiri bit back panic and reached out in the meld to find Jaina -- she was there, still alive, still fighting. Something weird and complicated rippled through the meld from Luke, and Tahiri didn't have time to decipher it, but there was relief there, and she knew there was no need to land now. Whatever had caused that explosion had catastrophically depressurized the moon, taking most if not all of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors with it.
Blowing out a long breath, Tahiri turned her attention back to the waning battle. The Yuuzhan Vong never fled, and she knew they wouldn't respond to the repeated calls to surrender. But the attempts made her feel better, at least . . . and eventually, she was never really sure how much later, the only blips on the comm board were friendlies.
Tahiri didn't leave until over a week after the battle. Luke had wanted to mount a rescue mission to retrieve Twin Suns and the other survivors, and she'd volunteered immediately, but the explosion that had taken out the Yuuzhan Vong troops had left Ebaq 9 a superheated and irradiated mess that they couldn't get into safely. Still, she refused to leave until they were all back, and it didn't remotely surprise her that Jaina chose to be the last one out.
Once she'd gotten the chance to give Jaina the hug that she'd told the other Jaina she'd be giving whether she liked it or not, it was time to say goodbyes. Her XO had seen to getting her surviving pilots reassigned to new squadrons, under more experienced leaders who'd give them the kind of training and structure that Tahiri wasn't equipped to do. She felt pretty accomplished, all things considered, but she wasn't cut out for this in the long term, not like Jaina was.
Boarding the shuttle to head back to Fandom, Tahiri realized she was okay with that.
[OOC: And for the last time on this canon catchup, we do the alphabet soup dance of NFI, NFB, OOC-AOK. Battle details and the aftermath adapted from Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams, although in the actual canon narrative Tahiri doesn't appear. I'm starting to go with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
momslilassassin's theory that maybe she took a break and went for a soda or something, but dude, like I was gonna leave that hanging.]
A warning sang through the meld and Tahiri saw the oncoming attack through another Jedi's eyes, getting ready to spit plasma fire.
"Three, Leader. Break hard left, now!" It would've sounded more panicked if not for the encouraging presence she sensed through the meld; Tahiri kicked at her rudder pedals and swung around to take a shot just as Barefoot Three got clear. She knew who to thank for the quick morale boost, and Tahiri grinned and sent a quick mental thanks toward Jaina on the surface of Ebaq 9. Twin Suns had been shot up pretty bad, but they'd landed safely.
The comm board showed the three battle groups of Garm Bel Iblis's fleet converging on a Yuuzhan Vong squadron -- the way the fleet was maneuvering, it had to be Luke calling the shots. Then shock crackled through the Jedi meld, and Tahiri saw that the Yuuzhan Vong ships engaging Bel Iblis's fleet were scattering. It wasn't even a tactical retreat; it was chaos.
That didn't make any sense. The Yuuzhan Vong never retreated.
Somewhere on the bridge of the Ralroost, Jacen realized what was going on, and when he did so did every other Jedi in the meld. The Yuuzhan Vong weren't running away. They were running to something.
Tahiri's hands twitched on her control stick. "Jaina."
Anxiety rippled through the meld before it was damped down, and that had to be Jacen; the surge of anger that just barely preceded the Smugglers' Alliance fleet's sudden attack on the Yuuzhan Vong ships must have been Leia on the Millennium Falcon. But what could they do against the capital ships? Most of the smugglers' craft weren't built for this kind of combat and didn't carry the kind of munitions to engage in head-to-head action. And yet there they were, led by Han, doing their best to keep the Yuuzhan Vong from reaching Ebaq 9.
She wanted to go and help, but all Tahiri had at her disposal were seven relatively inexperienced X-Wing pilots with maybe five proton torpedoes left between them, and she knew she didn't have the skills or experience to launch some kind of crazy maneuver. Every now and then, amid the bursts of laser and plasma fire and the evasive maneuvers and the shrieking of her astromech -- she had to keep reminding herself not to get offended by it -- she sensed a stab of fear that she knew came from Jaina on the surface of Ebaq 9.
If Anakin were here . . .
But he wasn't, she reminded herself again, and it was that kind of reckless charge, going in to rescue Jaina, that had gotten him killed. And he'd ordered her to put the mission before his own life.
That, like a punch to the gut, suddenly made much more sense to her now than it ever had before. Enough thinking like that, Veila!
"Barefoots, Leader," she said into the comm in response to a suggestion from the meld, and swung her snubfighter into a sharp arc toward the moon; through her canopy she could see several other squadrons doing the same. "They're going after the Blood Sacrifice. Let's try and keep the skips off them."
Tahiri gritted her teeth and continued to bark orders to her pilots, sticking with the engagement despite Warmaster Tsavong Lah's taunting invitations for all Jedi to come to the surface of the moon to be hunted, despite the fear she could sense from Jaina through the meld. When she realized that Jacen had gone alone to the moon in response to Tsavong Lah's call a sick feeling twisted her stomach: this could be the twin sacrifice the Yuuzhan Vong had wanted so badly. And there were voxyn down there.
She'd barely begun to comply with the order from Luke telling the Jedi to prepare for a landing on Ebaq 9 when the Blood Sacrifice succumbed to the concentrated fire from the New Republic ships, at the same time that a fireball erupted from the side of the moon. Tahiri bit back panic and reached out in the meld to find Jaina -- she was there, still alive, still fighting. Something weird and complicated rippled through the meld from Luke, and Tahiri didn't have time to decipher it, but there was relief there, and she knew there was no need to land now. Whatever had caused that explosion had catastrophically depressurized the moon, taking most if not all of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors with it.
Blowing out a long breath, Tahiri turned her attention back to the waning battle. The Yuuzhan Vong never fled, and she knew they wouldn't respond to the repeated calls to surrender. But the attempts made her feel better, at least . . . and eventually, she was never really sure how much later, the only blips on the comm board were friendlies.
***
Tahiri didn't leave until over a week after the battle. Luke had wanted to mount a rescue mission to retrieve Twin Suns and the other survivors, and she'd volunteered immediately, but the explosion that had taken out the Yuuzhan Vong troops had left Ebaq 9 a superheated and irradiated mess that they couldn't get into safely. Still, she refused to leave until they were all back, and it didn't remotely surprise her that Jaina chose to be the last one out.
Once she'd gotten the chance to give Jaina the hug that she'd told the other Jaina she'd be giving whether she liked it or not, it was time to say goodbyes. Her XO had seen to getting her surviving pilots reassigned to new squadrons, under more experienced leaders who'd give them the kind of training and structure that Tahiri wasn't equipped to do. She felt pretty accomplished, all things considered, but she wasn't cut out for this in the long term, not like Jaina was.
Boarding the shuttle to head back to Fandom, Tahiri realized she was okay with that.
[OOC: And for the last time on this canon catchup, we do the alphabet soup dance of NFI, NFB, OOC-AOK. Battle details and the aftermath adapted from Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams, although in the actual canon narrative Tahiri doesn't appear. I'm starting to go with
momslilassassin's theory that maybe she took a break and went for a soda or something, but dude, like I was gonna leave that hanging.]
