Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Star Sanctity ❯ Chapter VI ( Chapter 6 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Star Sanctity




Star Sanctity
Chapter VI
by: the Lioness
I do not own any CCS or SW material. This story is purely for entertainment, no money is made.
Sakura's chronometer blared. Groaning, she quickly got up and got dressed. She liked to get up earlier and have time to actually enjoy breakfast instead of rushing through it, besides as Commander she had to be the first of the squad at either the simulator room or in the docking bay. She had quickly learned that being Commander brought on a whole lot of other changes as well, it meant that she had to punish the members in her squad who misbehaved or didn't do as they were meant to do during a battle or practice, a duty which nearly cost her her fragile friendships with Quaret, Saho, and Prong. Fluer had remained extremely friendly to her, but she had died in a recent battle.
Other then the four other surviving members of Green squad she had gotten seven pilots who had been part of a squad on board the Destroyer which had taken heavy loses during an earlier battle. Those pilots had given her a rough time at first, testing her as they despised being under a pilot who had just come from the Academy, especially a "untrained" girl. They had quickly calmed down when Fluer had told them she had been promoted by Lord Darkim, though they seemed immensely surprised.
Lord Darkim. She shivered as she remembered how the man had killed Admiral Dsren after the Rebel attack in which Fluer had died in. She and her squad, minus two fighters, had just climbed out of their Fighters when she had turned around to see the Admiral talking to the Dark Lord. Then, without even touching the Admiral, Darkim had choked the man to death. She had stood frozen in shock until Darkim had looked in her direction at which she had instantly spun around and given a few orders to her squad before dismissing them and leaving the docking bay herself. The Dark Lord made her feel uneasy.
Exiting her room she walked over to the cafeteria and quickly got her breakfast. Sitting down at an empty table she nodded her head at one of the other Fighter Commanders. That was another thing that made her uneasy, she was the youngest Commander on board the ship and the only female and the others weren't making it any easier for her to adjust. She always felt out of place at meetings all the Fighter Commanders had to attend to make reports on their squads.
Getting up she put her tray away before heading towards the docking bay. As the Destroyer was momentarily in orbit above the water world of Shi Kanmi, she had been able to get permission to take her squad out for a practice run instead of using the simulators. Entering the Super Star Destroyer's enormous docking bay she quickly walked over to the racks containing her squad's Fighters. Climbing onto the rack she went around to the back of her Fighter and started looking it over for, although the techs checked the ships each time they came back in, she liked to reassure herself that her fighter was in top condition. She was after all, the one whose life depended on the fact that it was in perfect condition.
Several minutes later she got off the rack and was just checking her chronometer when she felt a funny prickling sensation in the back of her mind. Recognizing it she could feel her muscles stiffen. She had felt the sensation several times before in the past, and every time she turned around she always found Lord Darkim somewhere nearby, watching her, or so it seemed. Feeling her whole body tense with fear and curiosity she slowly turned around and, just as she had expected, saw Darkim standing at the entrance of the docking bay, looking in her direction. Then, as she watched in surprise, the Dark Lord started walking towards her.
She was just wondering what to do when, suddenly, deafening sirens went off. Recognizing the sound she turned around and looked to see her squad members running towards her. Climbing up the rack to her Fighter, Sakura felt her heart start to beat faster in her chest, the sirens indicated a Rebel attack nearby.

The Shi Kanmi waterworld hosted Imperial shipyards. In the days of the Old Republic, the Shi Kanmi had a thriving shipbuilding industry. With the change in government, the shipyards and the planet had fallen to Imperial command. Imperial rule ran heavy on the Shi Kanmi as they were forced to produce the ships for the Emperor's war machine. It was well-known that the Shi Kanmi hated the Imperials for taking their freedom. Many Shi Kanmi had joined the Rebel Alliance, and that fraction of the Rebellion had made itself felt today.

The fighting was fierce, the rebels were using X-wings, A-wings, and B-wings. They had targeted the Destroyer, swarming around the huge ship like so many gnats. At first Sakura did quite well. She protected the shipyards better than anyone and her leadership skills kept everyone in her squad alive. Then suddenly in the mist of all the battles, a new ship slid silently out of hyperspace. It was white with blazing silver and green stripes on the wings, nose, sides, belly, and tail. It was larger than the other wing ships and looked more advanced. Whoever was piloting the ship was extremely good and the other wing ships did much better it arrived.
Sakura was getting frustrated. The new ship that had arrived was foiling all her plans and no one else in the Fleet could seem to take him out. Black 2 had tried but had gotten killed. That had to be one heck of a pilot to take out Black 2 so easily, but Sakura shoved all that out of her mind as she concentrated. She was going to try to lure the new pilot away from the others so at least they had a chance. She dove straight down underneath the new ship's white belly and shot at it from underneath. The shield held. Sakura had expected it to, she only wanted to get the pilot's attention. She had it.
Racing her Fighter away from the others Sakura suddenly turned around and fired her laser beam just as the other pilot fired his. The two beams collided and caused a small explosion. This guy's good, Sakura thought, slightly nervous. She twisted her ship as another beam quickly followed the first one. Sakura then shot straight toward the ship, swerving at the last second when a third beam shot towards her while letting loose a hail of energy beams at the same time. Crackles of green light appeared when Sakura's shots hit the white ship's energy shields. Then Sakura shot forward again, luring the wing ship farther and farther away from the others. She shut off all communications and focused on piloting her ship. She did a series of twist to avoid more laser beams. She than shot a continual stream of beams toward the ship, but suddenly it was gone. Then, to add injury to the insult, several of the Rebel Alliance's capitol ships dropped out of hyperspace. They fired repeatedly at the shipyards, and slipped back out again. The squads of rebel snub fighters had then broken off, fleeing into hyperspace.
It shouldn't have done much damage to the yards, the quick barrage of firepower. Except for the fact that the rebels had sent in an undercover commando team to take down the shipyard shields. Defenseless, thousands of Imperial lives had been lost.
Darkim was furious.
The rebels were getting bolder. They were attacking military sites, surgically targeting buildings, complexes, and shipyards. The Emperor's bloody tactics were alienating neutral worlds. To add to the fire, Imperial military personnel, with all their training and knowledge of procedures, were starting to turn traitor in droves. The unnecessary purges were revolting to these more honorable men. The added influx of well-trained personnel was growing the insignificant rebellion into a monster the Dark Lord could fear.
When Darkim saw Sakura's performance, he was a little happier. She had done a lot of maneuvers that were almost impossible, even for such a quick ship like the Fighter. She was definitely valuable.

Sakura crashed to her bunk. She had just left the Squad Commander debriefing. They did well, all things considered. 'Out numbered. Why do I always end up in battles outnumbered? Those rebels are cowards. Didn't even stick around. Just vaped what they could and left. Only that that white ship was good. Then that stupid brass- coming down out of his secure bridge to tell us we could have done better. It was us in those little shieldless ships, not him from his comfy bridge chair. Actually, with Darkim, the bridge probably isn't that safe right now.' Sakura rubbed her temples.
Sakura mused on the thought. Maybe that's why he choked Admiral Dsren- that man's screw-up had cost a lot of pilot's lives. Maybe Darkim was just tying an officer's survival with that of his men.
Then there was the other issue. Black 2 had been killed by that mysterious pilot. Black 2 was Darkim's wingman. Lord Darkim had not been out in his ship, but his wingman would occasionally go out together as an element to 'keep in practice'. That mysterious pilot was extremely good, being Darkim's wingman was reserved for the best two pilots in the whole Imperial Fleet. Sometime in the next few days Lord Darkim would pick a replacement.
Every pilot on the Destroyer was waiting with baited breath. Everyone except Sakura. There was no way, she hadn't been out of the Academy three months yet and she was a girl- she wasn't concerned.

Sitting in the cafeteria Sakura ate her dinner as fast as she could manage, if she didn't hurry the others would be in the simulator room before her and that would look bad. Still chewing the last of her food she got to her feet and put the tray with the empty dishes away. Rushing down the hall she checked her chronometer. Seeing the time she breathed a sigh of relief, she should be the first one in the simulator room.
Entering the room she missed a step as she saw Spidra standing next to one of the simulators. Looking at the person who was suppose to be missing she noticed that she was wearing the uniform of a commander instead of the uniform Fighters wore.
"Kinomoto," Spidra said as an unpleasant smile spread across her face.
"What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, keeping the sudden nervousness she felt out of her voice.
Something was about to happen, something big. She didn't know how she knew, she just knew. Forcing a neutral expression on her face she looked at Spidra expectantly.
"I've come to replace you as commander of your squad," Spidra replied just as Saho, Prong, Quaret and the other pilots of the squad entered the room. She gave no explanation on where she had been after their first real battle.
They all froze in their tracks as they heard Spidra's statement. Quaret's eyes quickly flashed between Sakura and Spidra, remembering what had happened the last time those two had met.
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked, astonished.
"I'm here to take your place," Spidra stated joyfully as she extended her arm. "Give me your rank plaque."
Looking down at Spidra's uniform Sakura saw that Spidra had everything but the rank plaque. Feeling her anger rise Sakura was tempted not to do as the Spidra said, after all Spidra couldn't order her around, she wasn't a superior officer, indeed, if anything, Spidra was inferior to her. Perhaps Spidra just wanted to make a fool of her, there was no way for her to know if Spidra had really been ordered to replace her or not.
Slowly she felt her heart sink as she realized that she could tell Spidra had been ordered to do this, how else would she have gotten hold of a commander's uniform? But why? Hadshe done something wrong? Confusion and boiling rage rushed through her, confusion as to why this was happening and rage because Spidra was making her look bad before her entire squad. Reluctantly she reach up and undid the rank plaque hanging on the left side of her chest. As she handed it to Spidra she saw that her hand was trembling with anger.
Taking the rank plaque, Spidra's smile grew as she pinned it to her own tunic before she looked past Sakura to her new squad.
"Get ready for the simulation," Spidra ordered harshly.
Instantly the squad members rushed to their normal simulators casting looks at Sakura. Saho, Prong, and Quaret's looks were confused and slightly sympathetic, the looks of the others were gleeful and Sakura knew that if they got the chance they would repay her for the when she had punished them after a failure.
"Who gave you your orders?" Sakura suddenly demanded before she could stop herself.
Even the fact that she was now inferior to Spidra couldn't stop the rage boiling inside of her, ready to explode. She wanted to know what she had done to be replaced, she wanted to know who had ordered it. She was surprised to find that her anger went beyond being embarrassed before her squad, she was also angry that her power had been taken from her. Feeling confusion and revulsion at the realization she struggled to keep her face straight.
"I am now a superior officer and you will address me as such in the future," Spidra replied. "Admiral Koas ordered me to replace you, he also said you are to report to Lord Darkim."
Looking up at Spidra with ill concealed astonishment Sakura caught the joyful smile on the other woman's face. Lord Darkim? What had she done wrong? Instantly her mind went over the events of the last few days, looking for a mistake big enough for the Dark Lord to de-promote her and call her to his presence.
"Lord Darkim waits in his quarters," Spidra added before she turned her back to Sakura.
Feeling her anger rise at Spidra's behavior, Sakura clenched her fists as she exited the room and headed for the Dark Lord's quarters. Entering the area where only the highest officers had their quarters, Sakura noticed the looks those officers were giving her. Approaching the doors to Darkim's quarters she hesitated and slowed down, what was she to do? Knock? Stopping before the door she looked down the hall and was about to raise her hand to knock on the door when it suddenly opened.
"Come in Kinomoto," Darkim's deep, rich, voice ordered.
Swallowing Sakura entered the room. Nervously she walked forward and stopped before a strange pod-like structure, looking at the seated form of Imperial Dark Lord before she respectfully lowered her eyes.
Studying the girl, Darkim smiled unseen behind his mask. The girl's nervousness at being summoned by him was crystal clear to him through the Force, as was her anger at the way she had been replaced by another commander. This was exactly the result he had hoped for, the more often the girl got angry the easier her anger would come to her. Probing the Force sensitive individual's undefended mind he marveled once more at the potential the girl held. Indeed, once trained the girl would be almost as powerful as he himself was, almost, but not quite.
"You know the outcome of the recent battle?" Darkim asked, wanting to see if the girl would physically betray her nervousness.
"Yes my lord," Sakura replied and was thankful to hear her voice was steady.
"Then you know I need a replacement for Black 2," Darkim said and waited a couple of seconds, watching as Sakura nodded her head. "You."
Sakura's head snapped up at the single word.
"What?!" she exclaimed before she could stop herself.
Had she heard correctly? The Dark Lord wanted her to be his wingman? But she was a girl and she wasn't that good, was she? No, there were others on board the Destroyer who were far better pilots then she was, then why had the Sygnif Lord chosen her? Did it have anything to do with the way Darkim had always been watching her?
As the questions flashed across her mind like lightening she realized she was staring at Darkim with her mouth open in shock. Quickly she closed his mouth and lowered her eyes.
"You will be the new Black 2," Darkim repeated, amused with her reaction.
Hearing Darkim say it again Sakura couldn't help but feel a wave of joy wash through her. This was better then she'd ever dreamt, she was going to be Lord Sygnif Darkim's wingman! Wait until Spidra heard this! The corners of her mouth rose as she thought of what she could do to Spidra. Realizing what she was thinking she quickly shoved the thoughts aside, what was coming over her? She'd never felt like this before.
Feeling the girl's instinctive lust for revenge Darkim smiled again, despite the girl's upbringing she was definitely going to be quite powerful. Reaching over he pressed a button on the control panel next to him. Instantly the door to his room opened and a trooper entered.
"Show Black 2 to her quarters," Darkim ordered.
Watching Sakura salute before she left Darkim leaned back in his chair. He had been tempted to tell the girl everything about her powers now, but he knew that it was best to do one thing at a time. At least now he'd have Sakura close to him on a regular basis, the next step was to start explaining the Force to her, and then to start Sakura's training. But he wouldn't move to the next phase for a couple of days, the girl needed to get used to being Black 2 first.

Black 2's quarters were huge. Sakura had a living room with a desk, couch, low table, and two lounging chairs. She had a bedroom, whose bed was much larger than the bunk she had been sleeping in. She even had a fair sized bathroom, with a real hydroshower. There even was a completely empty room off to one side.

Kinomoto sat off to one side, eating her breakfast in the large pilot cafeteria. She didn't really want to eat with the commanders right now- she had gotten enough strange looks as it was. Last night, Troopers had gone to her old quarters to collect her gear. The rumors had spread fast, and half the pilots in the room were surprised to see her alive after visiting Lord Darkim last night.
Apparently, Lord Darkim hadn't bothered to tell anyone about his new wingman.
Squad Commander Spidra was busy dumping her tray, her new squad following him to morning simulation. Spidra had been surprised to see Kinomoto this morning. Well, Kinomoto would just have to give her another nasty surprise. Sakura smiled wickedly, and assumed a look of pleasant friendliness. She leaned forward, elbows on the table, chin on hand, and arms concealing her new rank pin.
"Good morning, Spidra." No title, no 'Commander', Spidra was sure to notice.
Spidra spun. Her face flashed rage and seemingly three more pairs of arms seemed to appear where none had been before. She stalked back to Kinomoto waving all her arms, her squad following cautiously. "You should learn your place Kinomoto. I warned you last night…"
Sakura tuned her out. Her anger rose. This creature was an idiot! Didn't she notice that she still wore her commander uniform? Sakura grabbed her rage- focus. Focus. Sakura smiled. Use the opportunity…
Spidra was incensed at Kinomoto's reaction. "You need to learn respect of your superior officers, report for level 2 discipline." The squad behind him grinned in anticipation, except Saho, Prong, and Quaret. Kinomoto wasn't this stupid, what was she up to?
Sakura raised her eyebrows as she dropped her arms. "I don't think so."
Spidra, still glaring at her face, didn't see Sakura's new rank plaque. Saho and Quaret flinched in shock as Spidra grated out "Why you little…" Spidra raised all her four arms that were on the left side of her body, but Quaret leaned forward and grabbed one.
"Don't hit her." Quaret's voice was an urgent whisper, his eyes glued to Sakura's chest. Spidra ripped her arm free and followed Quaret's eyes.
Spidra's eyes got big, she swallowed. Kinomoto took on a bored tone. "I am now a superior officer and you will address me as such in the future. I accept your recommendation on discipline. See to it. Oh, and make sure you keep all your arms in check." Sakura made a little dismissive gesture with one hand.
Spidra stomped out of the cafeteria, squad following. She would get even.
Prong, Saho and Quaret held back. Prong whispered "He did it again? He promoted you?" Sakura nodded. The three exchanged glances, then they took off after the rest of their squad.
Sakura watched them go. She had never done anything so ruthless in her entire life. She hadn't really meant to, all she wanted to do was give Spidra a rude shock. But Spidra had been so stupid, Sakura couldn't have stopped her if she had tried. Maybe the idiot would learn something before she got her whole squad killed.

End Notes: okay, that wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. I'm kind of in a rush, I'm moving next week and I have to pack. Because I'm moving I won't be able to get the next chapter out for a couple of weeks, though I'll try. I noticed that people seem to like Rigg and Scath, I'm sorry that I made them get killed, but it's for a reason. And I also am kind of sorry for Sakura seeming to get a little eviler but I kind of wanted that effect, it's kind of like she's starting to get less innocent and darker, if anyone's noticed. If no one noticed, then I'm not doing my job. Oh, by the way, does anyone have any ideas on who the pilot in the white ship is *hint, hint*, Please Review. Thanks.
Thank yous to TaTa, Manda-chan, Negai, Empress Sarah-sama, and Zephyr for reviewing Chapter V.
Note to Tata: Syaoran is coming…and you don't really have to watch Star Wars to understand, it's just some technical stuff, like X-wings (type of spaceship).

-the Lioness
June 25, 2001