Jaina Solo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksofthejedi) wrote2014-05-01 03:03 pm
sticksofthejedi) wrote2014-05-01 03:03 pm
Entry tags:
Memory 88
Memory: Solo kids rediscover battle melds while defending Dubrillion.
Received: Day 342, evening
Form: Rose-shaped chocolate.
Summary: The Solo kids take experimental starfighters into battle defending a planet against an unknown invader -- and when the experimental technology fails, they decide to take even bigger risks by joining minds and drawing the enemy into an asteroid field skirmish.
--
It's a hard scramble at Dubrillion when Han and the Falcon comes back from Sernpidal with refugees in tow and news that Chewbacca is dead. There's an armada coming from an unknown new enemy, and while Lando's got plenty of starfighters on hand, especially with his asteroid belt running game "Lando's Folly," he's lacking qualified pilots. After all, the game attracts mostly smugglers who won't stick around after news of an incoming hostile armada. Lando's favored plan is to bunker down on the planet, but it's hard to see it as viable -- word is the enemy actually finished off the battle at Sernpidal by dropping an entire damn moon on the planet. They just need to hold out three days for the star destroyer Rejuvenator to arrive. The destroyer may be able to bring a small task force along, as well.
The twins try to comfort Anakin because Han's pretty unfairly blaming Anakin for Chewie's death -- Chewie stayed behind on the planet to save Anakin, and instead of going back for the wookie like Han wanted, Anakin took the four seconds they had left to escape. Jaina ends up hugging Anakin through a good cry.
The three Solo kids volunteer to take up some of Lando's fighters to help with the defense. Their parents try arguing, but it's too desperate a situation -- and they did just get done proving their skills in Lando's Folly the other day. They'll be flying the same modified TIE fighters with off-ship relayed shielding. Each are rigged with a single laser cannon and one bank of torpedoes -- underarmed, but well protected. But they're theoretically limited to staying near the planet, or they lose the advantage of the shields.
When the enemy shows up, it's in overwhelming numbers. The ships are strange -- this is the first time the kids are engaging the Yuuzhan Vong, and they don't know who they are yet but it's certainly strange fighting enemy ships that basically look like asteroids. For a while, the kids are just flying patrol in the planet's atmosphere listening to distressing comm chatter while the enemy overruns the outer system defenses. Inevitably, enemy ships start breaking through to the planet and start runs against groundside targets. Jaina leads the other two to defend, but the planetside defenses mostly handle it -- so she starts trying to catch enemies before they get in range of the cannons. The projected shields are a huge boon, being able to focus on dishing out damage without worrying about evasion . . . until the ship responsible for feeding them power gets targeted and refocuses the defenses on themselves. The TIE fighters are back to their ordinary, unshielded states. Jaina tells her brothers not to get hit, and they carry on fighting.
Eventually the enemy is driven back from the atmosphere, and Jaina decides to take her brothers away from the planet and into the main battle -- they'd been told to stay where they were because otherwise they'd lose shields, and the shields are gone anyway. They get to the main battle in time to rescue the Falcon and some starfighters; Han and Leia berate them and counter Jaina's no-shields reasoning with a need for everyone to retreat anyway; so Jaina says they'll make it a fighting retreat. It goes well, for a while, until the three fighters get swarmed.
Jaina finally orders they break back, but Anakin suggests something else: Lando's Folly. No vocal confirmation -- they just dive into the asteroids, even though this time they don't have repulser shields as a safeguard against the rocks. It's a lot more wild this time, too, because the swarm follows them right in to carry on the fight. Jacen starts calling for Jaina to take them back out, but Anakin's up to something, awareness falling deeper into the Force. He reaches out to his siblings, and they find themselves falling into a telepathic bond, awareness expanding with new perspectives. It feels like they aren't reacting anymore, just anticipating everything, flying in a unified precision that only keeps improving. It's a constant dance around asteroids and sweeping through enemies that can no longer keep up, until finally the bond starts to falter -- Anakin is the focal point of the battle meld, and they've never done this before. It's too much information for him to continue processing, and the focus is finally lost. Jaina immediately orders they vector out; Anakin clips one asteroid on the way out and has to make a hyperspace jump to get out of a tight spot, but they all make it.
The twins land on Dubrillion first, while the Falcon goes to recover Anakin. They get swarmed in celebration, learning the swarm of enemies following them into the belt disrupted the enemy's attack formation enough the planet's defenses were able to turn the fight around. The Solo kids' asteroid belt fight had been broadcast to people planetside, the same way their official competetive runs in Lando's Folly had been. But seeing the damage to the city, the twins feel it's a bitter victory. Jacen admits maybe he's been wrong to argue with Anakin about their philosophical differences using the Force (feeling a bit defeated since Anakin made the big Force technique discover instead of him), and she just mentions he's been thinking about a link like that for a while, and they'd talked about the possibilities offered by an all-Jedi squadron that could act in perfect harmony. She gives him a punch on the shoulder and notes she's glad her brothers might finally be done with their stupid argument.
"For more than a year now I've watched both of you limit yourselves."
It takes a long time for Han and Leia to find Anakin, but the twins are able to reassure themselves in the fact that generally their parents are able to get everyone out of things fairly well. Lando's recovered a crash-landed enemy fighter, and though the pilot is dead, there's a system on the living ship that has a message playing on it. Threepio is eventually able to translate it. "The movement of the Praetorite Vong is under way. Your part, for now, is done. Good work."
Rejuvenator finally arrives, bringing a task force including six shiny new gunships with it as Luke plans to borrow a ship from Lando to infiltrate an ice planet he suspects is related to these new invaders.
This is clearly far from over.
Received: Day 342, evening
Form: Rose-shaped chocolate.
Summary: The Solo kids take experimental starfighters into battle defending a planet against an unknown invader -- and when the experimental technology fails, they decide to take even bigger risks by joining minds and drawing the enemy into an asteroid field skirmish.
--
It's a hard scramble at Dubrillion when Han and the Falcon comes back from Sernpidal with refugees in tow and news that Chewbacca is dead. There's an armada coming from an unknown new enemy, and while Lando's got plenty of starfighters on hand, especially with his asteroid belt running game "Lando's Folly," he's lacking qualified pilots. After all, the game attracts mostly smugglers who won't stick around after news of an incoming hostile armada. Lando's favored plan is to bunker down on the planet, but it's hard to see it as viable -- word is the enemy actually finished off the battle at Sernpidal by dropping an entire damn moon on the planet. They just need to hold out three days for the star destroyer Rejuvenator to arrive. The destroyer may be able to bring a small task force along, as well.
The twins try to comfort Anakin because Han's pretty unfairly blaming Anakin for Chewie's death -- Chewie stayed behind on the planet to save Anakin, and instead of going back for the wookie like Han wanted, Anakin took the four seconds they had left to escape. Jaina ends up hugging Anakin through a good cry.
The three Solo kids volunteer to take up some of Lando's fighters to help with the defense. Their parents try arguing, but it's too desperate a situation -- and they did just get done proving their skills in Lando's Folly the other day. They'll be flying the same modified TIE fighters with off-ship relayed shielding. Each are rigged with a single laser cannon and one bank of torpedoes -- underarmed, but well protected. But they're theoretically limited to staying near the planet, or they lose the advantage of the shields.
When the enemy shows up, it's in overwhelming numbers. The ships are strange -- this is the first time the kids are engaging the Yuuzhan Vong, and they don't know who they are yet but it's certainly strange fighting enemy ships that basically look like asteroids. For a while, the kids are just flying patrol in the planet's atmosphere listening to distressing comm chatter while the enemy overruns the outer system defenses. Inevitably, enemy ships start breaking through to the planet and start runs against groundside targets. Jaina leads the other two to defend, but the planetside defenses mostly handle it -- so she starts trying to catch enemies before they get in range of the cannons. The projected shields are a huge boon, being able to focus on dishing out damage without worrying about evasion . . . until the ship responsible for feeding them power gets targeted and refocuses the defenses on themselves. The TIE fighters are back to their ordinary, unshielded states. Jaina tells her brothers not to get hit, and they carry on fighting.
Eventually the enemy is driven back from the atmosphere, and Jaina decides to take her brothers away from the planet and into the main battle -- they'd been told to stay where they were because otherwise they'd lose shields, and the shields are gone anyway. They get to the main battle in time to rescue the Falcon and some starfighters; Han and Leia berate them and counter Jaina's no-shields reasoning with a need for everyone to retreat anyway; so Jaina says they'll make it a fighting retreat. It goes well, for a while, until the three fighters get swarmed.
Jaina finally orders they break back, but Anakin suggests something else: Lando's Folly. No vocal confirmation -- they just dive into the asteroids, even though this time they don't have repulser shields as a safeguard against the rocks. It's a lot more wild this time, too, because the swarm follows them right in to carry on the fight. Jacen starts calling for Jaina to take them back out, but Anakin's up to something, awareness falling deeper into the Force. He reaches out to his siblings, and they find themselves falling into a telepathic bond, awareness expanding with new perspectives. It feels like they aren't reacting anymore, just anticipating everything, flying in a unified precision that only keeps improving. It's a constant dance around asteroids and sweeping through enemies that can no longer keep up, until finally the bond starts to falter -- Anakin is the focal point of the battle meld, and they've never done this before. It's too much information for him to continue processing, and the focus is finally lost. Jaina immediately orders they vector out; Anakin clips one asteroid on the way out and has to make a hyperspace jump to get out of a tight spot, but they all make it.
The twins land on Dubrillion first, while the Falcon goes to recover Anakin. They get swarmed in celebration, learning the swarm of enemies following them into the belt disrupted the enemy's attack formation enough the planet's defenses were able to turn the fight around. The Solo kids' asteroid belt fight had been broadcast to people planetside, the same way their official competetive runs in Lando's Folly had been. But seeing the damage to the city, the twins feel it's a bitter victory. Jacen admits maybe he's been wrong to argue with Anakin about their philosophical differences using the Force (feeling a bit defeated since Anakin made the big Force technique discover instead of him), and she just mentions he's been thinking about a link like that for a while, and they'd talked about the possibilities offered by an all-Jedi squadron that could act in perfect harmony. She gives him a punch on the shoulder and notes she's glad her brothers might finally be done with their stupid argument.
"For more than a year now I've watched both of you limit yourselves."
It takes a long time for Han and Leia to find Anakin, but the twins are able to reassure themselves in the fact that generally their parents are able to get everyone out of things fairly well. Lando's recovered a crash-landed enemy fighter, and though the pilot is dead, there's a system on the living ship that has a message playing on it. Threepio is eventually able to translate it. "The movement of the Praetorite Vong is under way. Your part, for now, is done. Good work."
Rejuvenator finally arrives, bringing a task force including six shiny new gunships with it as Luke plans to borrow a ship from Lando to infiltrate an ice planet he suspects is related to these new invaders.
This is clearly far from over.