I wrote this story long ago for a fiction event in the Dark Jedi Brotherhood club.

 

Salas V

 

Fremoc entered the makeshift briefing room, causing everyone assembled to quiet down and await his briefing, among them where his former battle team, the Night Raptors, his wife, Teu, and son Thomas. It had taken some time to get used to the fact that his right eye remained his primary source of sight. Meanwhile his left eye was cybernetic but looked just like any normal eye should. The difference was, the cybernetic was almost always covered by a cloth, and shut off. Looking over the crowd that was assembled, he looked down at his gauntlet with his datapad built inside it one more time and began his briefing. 

“Alright ladies and gents, word from above says some of our patrols that we sent out to the west have not been reporting in. This mission may get hairy, so be prepared for anything. I will be taking fifteen people on The Stryker. Those of you that wish to come step forward now.” Fremoc knew ahead of time that nearly everyone would step forward, and he was correct. In his mind the Quaestor had already picked out his team. Thomas, as always would be by his side, the Night Raptors, Joseph, Dyrra, and Kano. Most, if not all, were Obelisks, and were the most trusted people he knew. “Alright, Night Raptors, Dyrra, Joseph, Kano, and Thomas. We leave in 5 minutes.”

Everyone began to disperse, except for a very pregnant Teu. Her expression was filled with knowing, and why he was about to tell her not to come. “I know, I will be in the command center with Manji and Taigikori when you guys are back.”

“Thanks for understanding, we’ll be back soon.” Fremoc turned and began to walk out of the room.

“Be careful!” yelled Teu after him.

“I will.”

The Knight moved to The Stryker that was already fueled up and ready to go. He noticed that someone with red hair was already sitting in the co-pilot chair as he looked up into the cockpit. He chuckled to himself as he knew Dyrra was already warming the VCX-820, and walked up the entrance ramp. The lucky twelve sat in the main hold of the ship, making sure all their weapons were sorted and ready for anything. Fremoc walked into the cockpit and sat down in his chair.

“Everything okay with the wife?” asked Dyrra.

“You know how it is, she’s pregnant and all,” replied Fremoc. “Are we ready?”

“Yep, just waiting on you Pepoi.”

“Right then.” Demonic hit the repulsors, and guided them out a safe distance before igniting the engines. The crew lurched back into their seats as the engines sent them in the direction of the lost patrols. It took The Stryker about fifteen minutes to reach the coordinates that the patrol had lost contact with the Clan Summit. Fremoc started to descend the VCX-820 towards to ground, when two flashes of light and plumes of smoke came from the ground in front of them. Red lights, and warning alarms blared as the two missiles locked onto The Stryker, Fremoc, thinking fast, turned the ship to evade the missiles. 

“Frak, this isn’t going to be good,” cursed Fremoc as he brought his ship around. The Knight glanced over at the right side of the ship as the two missiles impacted, ripping off the wing. Fremoc fought the controls, before resigning to the fact that this was the end of his beloved VCX. “Dyrra get to the escaped pods with everyone else.”

“But what about you?” asked the red haired woman as she got up.

“I’ll join you in a minute.” He watched the woman go before setting the auto pilot to try and hold its course. He ran to the back, and seeing everyone was crammed into the two escape pods, he looked into his son’s eyes. “Tell your mom I’m sorry,” the Knight said as he hit the overrides to shut both escape pod doors. Demonic could hear his son’s screams as he ran back into the cockpit. Taking over for the auto pilot, he flipped the ship upside down, so that the escape pods would not have gravity working against them. He hit the escape pod release, sending the team out of the ship and hurtling towards the planet. Now the Knight’s challenge was to crash the ship, without killing himself in the process. 

He began to roll the ship onto its left side, trying to flip it back to the way it was supposed to be. However, time wouldn’t allow it as the ship’s left side slammed into the earth, ripping away the left wing, as it slid across the surface. Falling debris from The Stryker hit Fremoc, and finally the glass broke peppering the Knight’s body with shards of glass. Finally, as if there could have been nothing else gone wrong, the remains of the VCX slammed into a bolder underneath the ground, sending Fremoc out of the cockpit and into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

 

Escape Pods

 

“…I need a LAAT/i gunship for retrieval of Jedi strike team, as well as a medical team to help with an injured man, if he’s still alive.” Pause. “Yes I will hold position until the LAAT/i is on station.” Methyas was talking to the summit as Kano and Gavin where trying to comfort the Quaestor’s son. Dyrra looked at each one of them, before standing and heading off towards the crashed VCX-820. “Dyrra, where are you going? We need to stay here.” yelled Methyas.

“I’m the Ludo Kressh Aedile, and I’m going to find where your drunken Quaestor is,” yelled Dyrra back, shutting the battle team leader up instantly. Where my friend is, and hopefully he’s alive.

 

Crash Site

 

Dyrra had been walking for 30 minutes before she found the remains of the VCX that they had flown in. Metal and glass was littered everywhere on the ground, she looked for an opening to find her friend. But as she walked around The Stryker, she found Fremoc’s body lying meters away from the wreckage. The red headed woman ran to her friend’s side, noticing a puddle of blood forming where he lay. 

“Frak me sideways, Teu is going to kill me,” muttered Dyrra as she rolled Fremoc over onto his back, noticing where all the glass had punctured his body. She put her index and pointer finger on his jugular, finding a weak pulse. “Fremoc, wake up!” yell Dyrra at the top of her lungs. Fremoc didn’t stir or open his eyes, causing  the Aedile to make a fist, and slam it into her friend’s chest. “WAKE UP YOU KARKING NERF HERDER!” she screamed.

Coughing up blood, Fremoc blinked and looked up at Dyrra. “Who’s a nerf,” the fallen Knight coughed spray blood in the air, “herder?” 

Putting Fremoc’s head on her lap, “You are, scaring all of us like that.”

“I did it to save you all…” 

“Fremoc stay with me here, the LAAT/i is coming.” Dyrra grabbed onto his head and looked into his eyes as she kept talking to him. “Fremoc, stay awake!”

“I am. I am…” He could hear the engine whine of the LAAT/i that was coming towards their position. The gunship landed a couple yards away from Dyrra, with Bal and the medical team running over to her. The team put the Quaestor on a stretcher, before loading him onto the gunship, where Kano and Gavin also awaited. The female Dark Jedi stood, her pants from the knees down, where covered in blood as well as her hands.  Her face had been spray from Fremoc’s coughs, causing to look like she was bleeding as well. She walked onto the gunship, where she saw the medics working on removing the glass and putting bacta patches on him.

“Pilot! Take us to the FOB!” yelled Bal, and immediately the gunship roared and headed towards the base. Dyrra sat next to the wounded man, watching the medics take care of him. It didn’t take long, but the LAAT/i gunship returned to the Naga Sadow FOB bringing a severely wounded Fremoc into their medical bay. A spare medic ran to Dyrra and began to check over her, wiping off the blood on her face.

“Get away from me! I can take care of myself,” yelled the angered woman.

“Sorry, ma’am,” replied the medic. She walked off to the refresher to clean up. 

 

Makeshift Medical Bay

 

Fremoc bobbed up and down in the bacta tank as it quickly healed his wounds. Thomas and Teu looked on helplessly as they waited for Fremoc. Dyrra came into the room with clean clothes and saw Teu and immediately thought, Here we go, I’m in for it. Teu, seeing Dyrra, ran over to the Aedile and hugged her husband’s savior before kissing her on the cheek. 

“Dyrra, I can’t thank you enough for finding Fremoc when you did. He could have died…” The pregnant female began to cry.

“Fremoc would do the same for me Teu. As he would with you as well,” said Dyrra taken aback from what had just transpired. “I’ll find out who did this.”

“Not without me,” said a deep voice. Everyone in the room looked around and then turned to the bacta tank. Fremoc had woken from his medically induced slumber. The red artificial eye looking at Dyrra and Teu, his voice in a growl, “You are not going out there without me.”