Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Star Sanctity ❯ Chapter V ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Star Sanctity




Star Sanctity
Chapter V
by: the Lioness
I do no own any CCS or SW material. Period.
The morning shone bright and sunny on the Trooper Academy the next morning. Late last night Blue Squadron had shown up in their Fighters and had gotten the nasty surprise of Phantom Squadron pouncing on their tails after the long flight. Green Squadron sat around eating breakfast with the Blues. The banter was flying back and forth between the two squads, on who had been more surprised.
"Ha, I bet if we look at the computer readouts, half your guys froze for the first second." A Blue was defending their performance.
"Yeah, but at least we knew that it was a war game." That was Prong, he had always been a little defensive about anyone knocking the Greens.
Sakura's mind wandered, she had returned the copy of the Rebel Manual to Commander Tenduo that morning. Commander Scath had been in Tenduo's room, they had been discussing last night's exercise. Kinomoto had been surprised when she had been told to pull up a chair, Scath and Tenduo had proceeded to go over the computer readouts with Sakura. Scath had given Sakura a brief lesson on how to interpret the readings, how they pinpointed a pilot's weaknesses. Scath had hinted that Sakura would need to start motivating the squad members to improve. "They won't be in the Academy forever. Squad leaders coach their teammates constantly. It's their job." Scath had then stated what some of the members of Green Squadron needed to work on, and what Sakura should do about it.
"Yeah, well, we ain't Troopies. Least I don't need to write home to my dad with that news." Everyone laughed. Sakura snapped back to the present, and checked her chronometer.
"But we may end up staying here if we don't get to our ships, come on guys." The two squads parted ways, each headed for their Fighters.
Sakura smiled as she marched back to her craft. She wasn't going to be a Trooper. She was a pilot, and she, if she had anything to do with it, she was going to be the best pilot in the whole Imperial Fleet. 'Father, mother, I wish you could see me now. I think you'd be proud,' Sakura thought as she climbed the rack to her Fighter.
The next morning, back at Evalin, the air was filled with a light fog as a thin mist settled on the ground. As Green Squadron marched from the barracks to the classroom building, Sakura could hear the mournful wails of the jungle beasts.
A distinct 'WHUMP' was heard in the morning gloom. The squad paused, another 'WHUMP' sounded, closer this time, and sirens began to wail. The shrieking clamor spread across the Academy, tearing at their ears. The orange glow of fire began to burn against the foggy sky, down near the repair sheds.
Commander Scath' com-link beeped a signal, and he suddenly looked grim. "Get to your ships boys and girls! It's a rebel attack!"
Green Squadron began hurling themselves across the parade ground as the barracks they had just exited exploded into flames. The concussion wave of the explosion pushing them onward towards the racks of Fighters. Sakura was barely aware of tossing her flightsuit on, clambering up the rack to her Fighter, and punching the warm-up sequence.
'This is real!' Her mind screamed with adrenaline, Sakura swallowed hard. 'Calm it, focus, stick together, just like yesterday.'
Commander Scath' voice cracked on the comm. "Same groups as yesterday. Stick together. Time to show what you've learned."
Suddenly, they were ready, ships surging into the sky. Arching upward, Scath cracked "We have to get the bombers, chase 'em out of the system. They'll be protected by X-wings, most likely. Ah, here they come. Trust your sensors."
Scanners showed ships approaching fast, the foggy mist obscuring vision. Sakura's mind whirled, her ship clinging close to the Commander's. The X-wing squad appeared, surrounding the bombing craft. The X-wings spotted the Fighters, and dove for the squad, lasers blazing. Sakura barrel rolled under the Commander, twisting her ship around. 'We've got to get out of this soup. I can't see a single thing.' Sakura thought furiously.
Two of the Fighters exploded into flames. Sakura felt momentarily stunned. This was it. This was real. No mistakes, or you'd never make it back. Sakura checked the screen. Quaret's wingmates were gone. "Quaret, with us." Sakura fumed, 'Idiot fool never watched anyone's back.'
The X-wings were arching back. Scath snapped "Scatter Play 4." The three groups of Fighters bunched up and charged in different directions, intending to circle around the back of the X-wings. The X-wings stayed together, lunging at Commander Scath ship. Sakura had a sudden sinking feeling, 'They know he's the Commander. I've got to cover-' Sakura had sprang ahead, hoping to pull off the attack, but it was too late. Commander Scath ship went up in a muted ball of flame. Sakura had instinctively shot at the leading X-wing. Flipping around, she continued to 'tag' that ship, till it flamed into shards.
The other elements of the squad had caught up, picking out the orange ships and hitting them hard. Shields held, as each Fighter hit a different ship. Sakura smacked the all-squad comm. "Try to target one ship per element, we need to get through their shields."
Sakura tried the all comm channel, it should connect her with Academy Command. Recruits were not suppose to even call the Academy base, but this was different. No response. 'With the bombing runs, the communications tower could be slagged by now. We're on our own.' Sakura didn't like the thought, she felt worse than blind in this mist.
A flurry of twisting dives and rolls followed, while each squad tried to vape the other. Sakura had a hard time orienting herself in the gray soup, and rest of her squad kept drifting apart. Neither side could see through thick mist of the clouds, but the well-seasoned X-wing pilots were more accustomed to relying on their scanners. Sakura felt like screaming in frustration when she lost another Fighter. Quaret wasn't sticking close, either.
An idea flashed across his mind- "Quaret, I want you to go after the bomber." A quick check of the remaining ships, "Rigg, Fluer, I'm with you. Saho, follow us, we're covering Quaret." Sakura hoped this would work. 'If he can't watch his wingman's back, I don't want him to have the respons-' Sakura shoved her ship down, laser's flying over his head. Rigg's ship twisted, returning fire. Sakura spun around, joining her friend, and the X-wing blazed apart.
The two elements continued to hound the X-wings, while the X-wings harried them back. Quaret became single-minded in nailing the Bomber, the rest of Green Squadron became hard-pressed to keep his tail clear when the X-wings figured out Sakura's tactic. Quaret got another round of hits into its hide. It suddenly arched for space, sides streaming smoke.
"Greens- follow. We got to chase them all the way out of the system." Sakura was elated, they were going to win this thing…
Breaking free from the clouds and hurling ever upward, the Fighters and X-wings braided the paths of their ships like a Nanterra weaving. Lasers highlighting the curves and turns, the two battling squads popped up into the blackness of space. Sakura suddenly realized that the skies above Evalin were thick with Rebel ships. Only a scattering of Fighters graced the battlefield. Two of the Alliance's capitol ships glided through the maelstrom, gunning at the remaining Fighters. Looping around, Sakura centered on another X-wing and hit it with his lasers. Rigg and Fluer were following right behind, each hitting the ship in turn. It flamed apart.
Sakura hit the all comm button- he needed to know who was in charge of the Imperial force up here. "Green 2 reporting. Green 2 reporting."
Silence.
"Blue 3. Blue 3."
"Red 7. Red 7."
A bare handful of Fighters rose out of the clouds below. "Green 5. Gre-" The leading Fighter exploded as an X-wing leapt out of the clouds, spitting fire.
"Green 2, this is Red 3. They took out our Commander first. Got any ideas?"
Kinomoto looked at her screen as she lunged left, almost feeling the hot breath of the blast that flicked past her cockpit. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and doomed.
'Well, this was not a good day for the Empire.' Sakura accepted her fate. Months of training calmed her mind, she would fight to the end. She always had.
She calmly flipped the all comm switch again. "This is Green 2. I want Blue and Green to work together to take out the returning bombers on the solar north half. Red, with us. I want to cover the south half while we can. Watch your tails, avoid the large ships."
Sakura flipped the squad comm. "Okay, Quaret, pick a group and stick with it. Nobody fights alone up here. Saho, you okay?"
Saho's ship took a turning dive, avoiding the hungry shots from his trailing X-wing. "Get this off my tail!" Prong obliged, tracing fire over the X-wings cockpit till it burst.
Green Squad fought on. Looping curve, to twisting roll, they scrambled across Evalin's skies. Sakura scored a hit on a returning bomber, slicing through its hull as her ship screamed past. Barreling around and curving unDsreneath a group of charging X-wings, her squad pulled up under their bellies, fire flashing at exposed undersides. Two X-wings disintegrated in the airless void as Green Squadron tore through the remaining formation.
'Two down, eighty to go.' Sakura twisted around, sending her ship in a tight upward spiral as returning fire flew past his hull. 'I guess Uncle was right, this is going to get me killed.'
Suddenly, a huge eight kilometer long white spear dropped out of hyperspace. Behind Sakura, the chasing fire stopped. X-wings tore off, heading for their capital ships before turning around again, drawing a line of defense.
The Destroyer had arrived.

Looking out the huge viewport on the Destroyer's bridge, Darkim took in the battle scene almost instantly.
"Lord Darkim," Admiral Dsren said as he approached. "We are unable to contact the Academy, their communications tower must have been hit."
"Get our Fighters out there," Darkim ordered. "And have the techs prepare my fighter."
"As you wish my Lord," Admiral Dsren replied as he rushed to carry out his orders while wondering how Darkim could have known that they would be needed here.

A smile played on Sakura's face as she recognized the ship that had appeared out of hyperspace. Quickly she turned her attention back to her piloting, just in time to avoid fire from an approaching X-wing.
"I've got a tail," Sakura said as she pulled her Fighter into a spiral dive.
"I've got him," Prong stated seconds before the X-wing firing on Sakura exploded into a brilliant ball of flames.
"Thanks," Sakura replied as she watched more Fighter fighters appear out of the Destroyer's docking bays. "All right, we're going to pull back, make it look like we're retreating. Red, Blue, when I give the signal you guys turn back and attack the X-wings from the left; Orange, Yellow, we'll turn back and attack them from the right. If we do this correctly we'll be blocking their escape from one side and the Destroyer's Fighters will block their escape on the other side."
"Let's get them!" Rigg's voice said over the com, his excitement evident.
In her own Fighter, Sakura couldn't help but smile as well, the odds were now definitely in their favor. But then she remembered something Commander Scath had told her: excitement often made a pilot reckless.
"Keep focused," she ordered. "Begin retreat now."
Instantly all the Academy Fighter fighters began turning around and heading back to Evalin. For a moment the X-wings remained where they were, frozen in space, before they pursued the fleeing Fighters.

Looking at the retreating Academy Fighter Darkim's eyes narrowed, he had activated his com unit just in time to hear the leader give the retreat order. When all the Fighters had turned he had instantly known that most of the leaders were dead as there were supposed to be five squads at the Academy at all times, not one.
Leaning forward he opened a com channel and was about to order the Fighters back when their leader spoke again.
"Split now."
Seeing the Fighters break into two groups Darkim instantly knew what was happening.
"Block the Rebel's path," he ordered as he reached out with the Force.
Sweeping the battle scene he quickly felt the disturbance in the Force created by an untrained Force sensitive individual. He smiled behind his mask, he had found someone with the Force, that could prove handy.

"Rigg," Sakura said as she saw her friend flying alone. "Where's your wingman?"
"X-wing got him," Rigg replied as he peeled off from the group to follow a lone X-wing.
"Rigg get back here," Sakura ordered. "Prong, cover him."
"I can't," Prong replied and Sakura looked at her radar to see Prong and Saho busy with another X-wing. Seeing everyone was busy Sakura quickly peeled away from the group, heading after Rigg.
"You should have told me your wingman got destroyed," she said as she neared her friend's Fighter.
"It happened seconds before you asked about it," Rigg replied and then gave a startled cry as a second X-wing appeared on his tail. "Sakura, help!"
Feeling her heart start to pound faster in her chest Sakura watched helplessly as the X-wing started to chase her friend. She was still too far away to fire at the Rebel attacking his friend. Then, as she watched, the X-wing spat red laser right at Rigg before Rigg's Fighter disappeared in a brilliant red flower of flame.
"Nooooooo!" Sakura cried out as a boiling rage that she had never felt rushed through her veins.
Narrowing her eyes he gripped the controls tightly as the X-wing that had just killed her friend turned around and headed towards her. Before she realized what she was doing she found herself speeding towards the X-wing. Part of her screamed at her brain, telling her to turn away, saying that she'd only get herself killed going head-on with an X-wing. But her brain wasn't listening to that part of Sakura, it was only listening to her blossoming anger, to her need for revenge. Then, at the last moment, she turned her Fighter to the left and the X-wing overshot her. The next minute she found herself on the X-wings tail and quickly fired, pleased to see the ship explode.

Watching as yet another X-wing was destroyed from his fire, Darkim froze as he felt a strong ripple in the Force. Grasping for it, he found that it came from the Force sensitive individual that he had sensed before. Tracing the disturbance back to its owner he was pleased to see that it was the person flying the Academy Fighter that was leading the others. So, this individual was both an outstanding pilot and a leader, this was perfect, very rarely would any one get to meet a person with Force sensitive abilities combined with excellent piloting and leadership skills. This individual would prove to be very valuable indeed.

Calming down Sakura looked at the radar and was pleased to see the last X-wing jump into hyperspace. They had done it! They had driven the Rebels away! But at what cost? Turning her Fighter around she felt her heart sink as she saw that of the four Academy Fighter squadrons that had started the fight only two squadrons were left.
"Let's head back," she ordered as she looked at the Super Star Destroyer hanging in space and the Fighters around it. She suddenly realized some of the Fighters, the ones which were completely black, were the legendary Black Squadron. The legend seemed almost true.
If it hadn't appeared when it did they would all have died here. Following the others back she forced back the tears that threatened to overtake her, Rigg was dead! The one true friend she had known since she had joined the Fleet was dead!
As she landed her Fighter in it's rack she thought about the rage she had felt after Rigg's death. She hadn't known that she was capable of hating someone as much as she had hated that X-wing pilot and to be frank she was rather scared of it. The pleasure she had felt upon the pilot's death was also something that greatly disturbed her. How could she take so much pleasure in someone's death? Shaking her head she took off her breathing mask and got out of her Fighter fighter.

Darkim felt surprise at the immense curiosity he had on meeting the Force individual. He steered his customized Fighter towards the surface, secretly pleased that the communications tower at the Academy had been taken out by the Rebels. He now had an excuse to land.
Sygnif Darkim gently landed his ship, not even a wobble betrayed the fact that the ship had connected to the ground. Effortlessly lifting himself out of the cockpit, he proceed on with his task.

Kinomoto stood on the walkway under the rack that held her Fighter. She felt like she was trembling. 'Rigg. I'm so sorry. Everything went crazy. I tried to get that X-wing off your tail, I did.' Leaning against the strut of the Fighter's rack, Kinomoto stared at the bright shinning sky, the warm beautiful day. The mist had burned off, the warm breezes blowing away the last trace of smoke. 'Rigg, I still don't know what I did next. It's like I could see where everyone was. Must be like what Commander Scath said about situational awareness of your squad. I should ask him- Shoot. He's dead too.' Kinomoto looked up at her squad's Fighters, huge gaps in the ranks where ships had not returned.
Saho was walking up, glancing at the empty places above. "Kinomoto. Thank the Empire you held together. Heard we lost the entire Green squad." Saho looked at Rigg's blank space. "I'm sorry." Saho swallowed. "At least the Destroyer showed up. I don't think we would have made it without Sygnif Darkim's men and the Black Squadron." The remainder of Green Squadron came walking up. Quaret, Fluer, and Prong- they could hardly be called a squad anymore.
"Not your fault Saho- the rebels killed him. We'll get even…" Sakura heard her own words, they felt like someone else had said them.
"Yeah. It's personal now." Saho looked angry.
Quaret cut in, "Did you see those strange Fighters? I think they're the ships the Black Squadron get-I think they were Fighter Advances- Lord Darkim leads the Black Squadron, do you think he was out there?"
Saho replied offhandedly, "I dunno. I heard he does that sometimes…" Saho's voice trailed off, Sakura noticing simultaneously that all the color had drained from Saho's face and that very distinct mechanical breathing could be heard behind her.
Sakura turned on one heel. A huge black form stood about ten paces away. A scull-like mask and helmet covered its towering head, black armor and cape cloaked its body. A chill stilled the wind as the Dark Lord's form seemed to reject the light of the sun above. Sakura forced a salute, not knowing what else to do. Was this who he thought it was? It had to be Lord Darkim.
"What is your name?" Mechanical voice cracked in the space between them.
"Sakura Kinomoto, my lord." Sakura, at the moment, was extremely proud that her voice came out clearly.
There were few moments in his life were Sygnif Darkim was thankful for his mask. This was one of them. 'It's a girl? The Force sensitive individual was a GIRL?' Darkim was immensely surprised. How could such a mere wisp of a girl command her squad so well? Her hair was long and golden-brown, braided in two braids wrapped around her head, giving her a pure air. Her eyes were blazing emerald greens that were wide and innocent. Surely such a girl, especially a girl like her, couldn't be the right one. And yet she was strong in the Force. So strong. Her ripple in the Force was almost a resonant wave. Strong enough even to make him nervous. This definitely needed studying. Clamping down hard on all his mind's thoughts, Darkim turned to the Academy officer behind him.
"I need replacement pilots for my ship. Have Commander Kinomoto and her squad transferred." Turning, Darkim continued, "Now, Lieutenant, we need to discuss why, exactly, this rebel raid was so successful." He strode off, Darkim would have plenty of time to talk to the girl later. It was hard to concentrate on the Lieutenant's babbling however, thoughts of 'it's a GIRL' kept interfering.
Darkim walked on to the office buildings of the Academy, officers in tow. 'But she has much potential and commanding a squad with such leadership and authority especially since she is a girl, is a hard task, perhaps she isn't what she seems on the surface. Anyway, appearances can be deceiving. And she can change her name.'
One of the lower officers had held back for just a moment, to give Kinomoto's squad further instructions.
"You have two hours to gather your personal effects. Return to the shuttle landing pad at the end of that time." The officer then scurried after the retreating form of Lord Darkim.
"Speak of the Sith." Saho nervously whispered. "Did I hear that right? We got transferred to the Destroyer?"
"Sounds like it." Quaret was equally stunned.
"I don't believe this Kinomoto- the Dark Lord spoke to you." Prong looked at Sakura in awe.
"I wouldn't really call that a conversation." Sakura replied ruefully.
"No, but, he did promote you." Fluer looked just as impressed. "That's got to mean something, Commander."
"Come on, we have to get our stuff" Sakura wanted to end the discussion. She felt funny- she had gotten the distinct impression that the Sygnif Lord had looked her up and down, a little amused, before asking her name. And then he had been extremely surprise. Not directly at Sakura, just something about her. Sakura brushed it off. She doubted that the Dark Lord really cared one way or another about a simple Fighter pilot.
The trainees- no, pilots- turned to the remainder of the barracks. The rebel bombing had taken out the half the building.
"Do you think our stuff's okay?" Quaret looked at the wreckage hopefully.
"Yeah, our rooms are on the side still standing. Let's see what we can salvage."
"Damn terrorists." Prong looked furious.
Sakura's mind was a blur with all that had to be done before she left. 'Get Rigg's home address, I need to write his parents. His family deserves that much.' Sakura trudged to her room, throwing everything she owned into a bag. Everything in her life was shifting.

End Notes: Well, things are finally speeding up. Syaoran is going to show up soon. Doesn't Sygnif Darkim seem familiar? Please review.
Thanks to Negai, H2O Angel, Manda-chan, Syoki, and Empress Sarah-sama for reviewing Chapter IV.
-the Lioness
June 23, 2001