Chapter 9: Debris Field Rescue
POV: Kael Vorn
The Twilight dropped from hyperspace into a graveyard.
Twisted Republic cruiser hulls drifted in the vacuum like the bones of slaughtered giants, their armor plating torn open to reveal gutted interiors. Emergency lights flickered sporadically across the debris field, casting phantom shadows that danced between the wreckage. No communications. No life support readings. No movement except the slow tumble of dead metal through space.
The devastation was total.
"By the Force..." Ahsoka's breath caught in her throat. "There were thousands of men on those ships."
Her voice cracked on the last word. Through the Twilight's viewport, Kael could see her reflection—eyes wide with horror, montrals trembling as the scope of the tragedy sank in. An entire task force reduced to scrap metal and silence.
[LIFE SIGN DETECTION: NEGATIVE]
[ENERGY SIGNATURES: MINIMAL]
[DEBRIS ANALYSIS: ION CANNON DISCHARGE CONFIRMED]
Anakin's jaw set in grim determination as R2-D2 chirped frantic sensor readings from his navigation socket. The astromech's dome swiveled frantically, photoreceptors tracking across the destruction with mechanical distress.
"Plo's here somewhere. He has to be. Canon says he survives, and I can't have changed that much, can I?"
Kael closed his eyes and extended his Force Sense as far as it would reach, pushing past the immediate horror to search for any spark of life among the wreckage. The void pressed against his consciousness like a physical weight—cold, empty, filled with the psychic echoes of men who had died too quickly to understand what was happening.
But there, faint as a candle flame guttering in a hurricane, he felt something familiar. A presence he recognized from the Temple's halls, steady and compassionate even in extremis.
"Plo's alive," Kael gasped, his eyes snapping open. "Bearing three-one-five, eleven kilometers."
Anakin's head whipped around. "You're sure?"
"I can feel him. He's... hurt, but alive. There are others with him."
"R2, plot a course through the debris field. Maximum stealth." Anakin's hands flew over the controls, bringing the freighter's engines online with barely a whisper of thrust. "If Plo's out there, we're getting him back."
They navigated through the graveyard with agonizing care, Kael's Battle Analysis highlighting safe paths between twisted hull fragments and floating corpses. The new ability worked in tandem with his Force Sense, creating a three-dimensional map of dangers and opportunities that scrolled across his consciousness in real-time.
[BATTLE ANALYSIS: APPRENTICE RANK]
[OPTIMAL PATH CALCULATED]
[COLLISION PROBABILITY: 12%]
"Left two degrees," Kael called out, watching asteroid-sized chunks of armor plating drift past the viewport. "There's a clear channel between those hull sections."
The Force signature grew stronger as they approached, accompanied by the faint electronic pulse of an emergency beacon. But just as they were closing in on the source, Kael's danger sense exploded with proximity warnings.
"Contact! Multiple hostiles emerging from the wreckage!"
Separatist scavenger droids burst from concealment within a gutted cruiser's hull, their cutting tools sparking with electrical discharge. They moved with insectile coordination, programmed to eliminate any survivors who might carry intelligence back to Republic forces.
"I've got the helm!" Anakin shouted, throwing the Twilight into evasive maneuvers. "Ahsoka, Kael—man the guns!"
Kael scrambled to the dorsal gun turret while Ahsoka took the ventral position. The targeting display lit up with multiple contacts, but his enhanced perception overlaid additional information that the ship's computers couldn't provide.
[WEAK POINT ANALYSIS: CENTRAL PROCESSOR HOUSING]
[OPTIMAL TARGETING SOLUTION: CALCULATED]
[AMMUNITION EFFICIENCY: 78%]
"Aim for the central processor housing!" Kael called over the comm. "The cylindrical section behind their cutting arms!"
His first shots found their mark with unnatural precision, green laser bolts punching through droid armor to detonate power cores in brilliant flashes. Ahsoka's targeting was equally effective, her shots guided by Force-enhanced reflexes and perfect timing.
"How are you doing that?" Ahsoka's voice carried a mixture of admiration and suspicion. "Your accuracy is impossible."
"Because I have an alien computer in my head calculating optimal firing solutions in real-time."
"Trust me!" Kael shouted instead, lining up another shot. "Just keep firing!"
They carved through the droid swarm with surgical efficiency, leaving behind a trail of sparking debris. As the last hostile vanished in a cloud of superheated metal, the Twilight closed on an escape pod broadcasting Republic identification codes.
The pod's hull was scarred with impact damage, its emergency beacon flickering weakly in the vacuum. But it was intact, and more importantly, the life signs within were strong.
"Bringing them aboard," Anakin announced, extending the freighter's docking tube. "Medical bay, now."
The escape pod's hatch cycled open with a hiss of equalizing atmosphere, revealing three figures huddled in the cramped interior. Plo Koon sat with perfect Jedi composure despite his battered condition, his breathing mask intact and his presence in the Force radiating calm authority. Beside him, Commander Wolffe leaned heavily against the bulkhead, his armor scorched black and one eye covered with emergency medical patches. Clone troopers Boost and Sinker completed the group—Boost cradling a clearly broken arm while Sinker remained unconscious, his breathing shallow and labored.
"Master!" Ahsoka threw herself at Plo Koon with typical Padawan enthusiasm, her relief overwhelming any pretense of Jedi detachment. The Kel Dor caught her gently, one hand stroking her montrals in a gesture both paternal and protective.
"I am well, little 'Soka. Thanks to these brave men."
His respirator wheezed with each breath, the sound somehow conveying both gratitude and sorrow. Kael immediately dropped to his knees beside Sinker, silver-gray energy already flowing from his palms as he activated Force Healing.
The technique was still weak—Initiate rank could manage cuts and bruises, but Sinker's injuries ran deeper. Internal bleeding, possible concussion, his life force flickering like a guttering flame. Kael poured everything he had into the healing, feeling his own strength drain as silver light surrounded the injured clone.
Gradually, Sinker's breathing steadied. His pulse strengthened. The worst of the internal trauma sealed itself under the healing energy's influence. It wasn't perfect—the clone would need proper medical attention—but it was enough to stabilize him.
[FORCE HEALING: 47/600 USES]
[EMERGENCY APPLICATION SUCCESSFUL]
[PATIENT STABILIZED]
Wolffe stared at Kael with his remaining eye, something like wonder replacing the professional wariness that most clones showed toward civilians.
"You're the gray one," he said quietly. "The rumors are true."
Kael managed a tired smile as the healing energy faded from his hands. "Rumors usually are."
[COMPANION BOND POTENTIAL DETECTED: COMMANDER WOLFFE]
[COMPATIBILITY: 63%]
[CLONE LOYALTY PROTOCOLS: OVERRIDDEN BY PERSONAL GRATITUDE]
As Republic medical droids took over Sinker's care, Plo pulled the Jedi aside for a private briefing. His voice carried the weight of absolute certainty as he described the weapon that had destroyed his fleet.
"Ion cannon of immense power, mounted on a massive warship. It disabled our entire fleet in seconds—every system, every ship, simultaneously. General Grievous commands it personally."
Anakin's face darkened with the promise of violence. "We need to report this to the Council immediately. A weapon like that could destroy our entire navy."
But Kael's Codex was screaming warnings, danger indicators cascading through his consciousness faster than he could process them. The Malevolence hunted escape pods methodically, its sensors designed to detect the faintest energy signatures. They weren't safe—not yet, not until they reached Republic space.
"The ship tracks survivors. It's coming for us right now."
He tried to voice the warning clearly, but the curse activated as soon as he attempted to reference his canonical knowledge.
"The giant toaster tracks breakfast survivors!"
Everyone stared at him. Ahsoka's expression mixed concern with exasperation, while Anakin looked like he was seriously considering a psychiatric evaluation. But Plo Koon's respirator wheezed thoughtfully, the ancient Jedi's perception cutting through the gibberish to find meaning underneath.
"Your warnings are... cryptic," the Kel Dor observed. "But your instincts have been sound. Anakin, set course for Republic space. Maximum stealth. Something tells me we're not yet clear of danger."
[PLO KOON TRUST LEVEL: INCREASED]
[COMPANION BOND POTENTIAL: 72%]
[INTUITIVE UNDERSTANDING: EXCEPTIONAL]
The Twilight limped toward Republic space, running silent with all non-essential systems powered down. Ahsoka sat beside Plo in the main cabin, holding his hand like a child seeking reassurance from a beloved parent. The contact seemed to restore both of them—her fear easing in his presence, his strength renewed by her obvious relief.
Kael monitored the sensors obsessively, watching for the energy signature that would herald their doom. The Codex tracked their progress with mechanical precision, calculating escape vectors and probability matrices with the cold efficiency of a computer that had never learned to hope.
Footsteps approached from behind—Commander Wolffe, moving carefully on legs still shaky from the pod's life support failures. He offered Kael a flask that smelled like industrial solvent mixed with liquid courage.
"You saved Sinker," the clone said quietly. "He's got two kids back on Kamino—well, pod-brothers, anyway. Younger batches. He talks about them all the time."
Kael accepted the drink, feeling the rotgut burn away some of the exhaustion that weighed on his bones. "That's what family does."
Wolffe's scarred face showed surprise at the word 'family' applied to clones—most civilians saw them as equipment, useful but ultimately disposable. For the first time since the war began, Kael saw something flicker in the man's eyes that might have been hope.
"Maybe he's more than just a number. Maybe they all are."
In the distance, stars wheeled in their eternal dance, indifferent to the small dramas of war and loss that played out in their light. The Twilight carried its precious cargo toward safety, while somewhere behind them, the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy prepared to resume its hunt.
They had saved Plo Koon. They had preserved one bright light against the coming darkness.
It was a start.
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