Chapter Twenty Two

Harry might not have learned many spells from his mom, but he had learned a few illusion and shield spells to go with the number of cloaking type spells, and his transfiguration/conjuration ability. Watching him work now, Lily knew that her son was better at transfiguration then his father had ever been. And all that without words or wand waving, she thought. Harry gestured with his full hand forward, like the Jedi seemed to do for when they used their Force powers, but that was all.

He and Alecto were both crouched in one doorway down the hall from the living quarters for the clan, with two of the other older boys alongside them on the opposite side. Quinlan was kneeling between them, his lightsaber's hilt in one hand as he rested it on the floor of the hallway, his eyes closes as he prepared himself for the fight to come.

Behind them were other students, all crouching with Lily hovering in the air above them. Several dozen small metal shields around the size of a buckler that Harry had conjured into being rested on the ground before them. Occasionally one of them would move as the students all crouched in the doorways, staring from the shields to the far end of the hallway intently. Aayla was in the forefront of this group, looking worriedly between the shields, Harry and Quinlan. Harry, Alecto, and Quinlan were the offense, the rest of the children were the defense.

But it was the corridor forward of Quinlan that had made Lily realize that her son had already surpassed his father. Because it was lined from one end to another with large Jack-in-the-Boxes, small defensive barriers, wires strewn from one side of the corridor to another, and other items of that nature. A few of them weren't real but for the most part they were very real, and they were going to be an issue for anyone attacking them.

The communicator on Quinlan's belt beeped, and he opened his eyes coming out of his pre-battle trance to take it in one hand. "Master?"

"Quinlan, I sense they have opened up another avenue of assault. We and the others are all tied down where we are however and cannot get away. Can you hold long enough for us to deal with the groups we're already facing?"

Quinlan smiled sardonically standing up and looking at the defenses Harry had emplaced, his lightsaber activating as he strode forward. "We'll still be here when you arrive master, just don't expect to recognize the hall from what it had looked like before, Harry's been… creative."

At the end of the hallway the first few cultists came into view, only to stop and stare at the cavalcade of odd colors and the sheer difference between the rest of the ship and this area. "What the kriffing hells?"

That was as far as the speaker, a Devaronian, got before he got into range of one of the little traps that Harry had devised. His feet tripped a wire and the Jack-in-the-Box alongside the hall beside him launched itself out with punishing force sending him careening backwards with a broken jaw. The other man beside him fell decapitated by Quinlan, who stood there coldly. He brought his blade up into a defensive position, his teeth clenched and eyes cold. "Come on then!"

The remaining cultists swiftly brought up their weapons, and Quinlan to their surprise dodged backwards, hiding in among the conjured up defenses. Some of those defenses were blown apart by the blaster fire, but the rest, the rock blocks and the distended metal partitions somehow grown out of the metal walls of the corridor, stopped the bolts. Some of those things which were blown apart instead exploded, sending smelly gas, glue or other things of that nature all over the nearest attackers. Some of them exploded with more fell intent, bits and pieces of shrapnel scything through the attackers.

Even the ground beneath the attackers turned against them. Pieces of the flooring in the hallway had been removed, covered with Illusions from Quinlan. Other places were full of glue or replaced by sponges, which sucked the feet of anyone who stepped into them down, making them easy targets for Quinlan.

Quinlan took up position directly in the center of the overlarge corridor, a zone free of Harry's traps to allow him to fight back. His lightsaber flashed blocking any bolt that came toward him or the younglings behind him, showing a speed and skill Quinlan would have been hard pressed to show before this. He had given himself to the Force more than he ever had before, sinking deeper into his Battle Precognition to deal with the number of attackers. "Now!"

Alecto, the two other boys and Harry all swung halfway out of their protective doorways. The three others students brought up their blasters, firing down towards the attackers. Thanks to their own force powers their bolts passed on every side of Quinlan without hitting him, heading unerringly down the corridor towards the attackers. Harry had to be slightly more careful, but he began to lob Stupefy spells at the ceiling and walls, where the attacks splashed around Quinlan, taking out several attackers who had moved forward to try and use the debris from Harry's traps as cover. The spell lost a lot of its potency when it was bounced like that, but it was still enough to slow down their attackers or make them groggy enough for the remainder of his surprises or Quinlan himself to take out.

The size of the corridor quickly began to tell against Quinlan, more and more blaster bolts getting past him as dozens of attackers began to pile in on the far end of the corridor, hosing him and his position down with a maelstrom of fire. It was all Quinlan could do now to protect himself, and his robes began to be perforated by the blaster bolts even so.

"Now," Lily said softly to it her students. "Groups one and two first please. Group four be ready to back up two, group three be ready to back up group one."

Behind her the students nodded, some fearful some irritated and angry at this intrusion into their home, others simply fiercely protective of their home and friends. As one the two groups named five students raised their hands concentrating in that strange Force derived ability to work together the Jedi had, something which no wizard could have done. The shields were heavy, too heavy for any one of them to lift, but with five of them working they came up easily and quickly, zooming forward and beginning to move around Quinlan deflecting further blaster bolts.

Quinlan took the time to move back, shaking his head. He had faced worse odds before he just knew it, he just couldn't think of when right now. Although it is much easier when they come at you from only one direction, the sheer number of bolts tends to offset that..

He nearly lost his footing as the ship was rocked by an explosion somewhere else in its innards, and he scowled, ducking behind one of the real defensive partitions that Harry had created to pull out his communicator. "Master, what was that!?"

He frowned as Harry and Alecto both raced towards him, ducking and dodging incoming fire as they came, rolling into the defensive position directly across from him just as his master began to answer. "Knight To'neen and Knight Laitha have been overwhelmed." Tholme said crisply. "The attackers have blown the reactor, the ship will retain gravity and life support on emergency power, but we are not going anywhere without repairs."

Quinlan put his communicator back on his belt, shaking his head as he muttered to himself, unheard over the sound of the battle around him. "My master thinking like an optimist, I never thought to see the day. After all, to go anywhere we have to survive first after all."

However, Tholme knew something that Quinlan could not, busy as he was with the battle and his own inexperience. Tholme had felt help arriving. He could tell two of them were Master Yoda and his own lady T'ra Saa. Both of them had a distinct presence in the Force to his senses, if for very different reasons.

There was a third distinct presence there too sparkling in the Force unlike any he had ever felt before. Even as Master Tholme began to push the people facing him backwards along with Knight Zarno, he could feel his lady reaching out with her Force powers towards him, and responded, their powers merging almost as if they were fingers caressing one another over a distance. Come quickly! The youngling's are in danger, he sent back, his thoughts infused with a sense of urgency.

OOOOOOO

Master Yoda frowned as he paced the deck of the Consular class ship he was on. "Master?" Asked the young knight he had brought along to do the piloting. "What should we do?"

"Get in close you will," Yoda said coolly. "Board the Explorer, I will. Destroy those two other pirate ships you will after I disembark. Tactics upon that moment, up to you they are."

The young knight, a human named Spicer, nodded his head. "As you will Master Yoda."

The ships continued on their way, withthe Delta 6starfighterthat master Giiett had brought along pulling in behind the other ship using its bulk to hide itself for a moment before they broke past the two pirate ships which hadn't grappled with the Explorer yet. Master Fay's unarmed yacht did the same, though Giiett broke off, rocketing towards the two pirate vessels, his weapons blasting. "May the Force be with you Master Yoda, I will clean up out here."

With Giiett providing cover fire and with four of their six ships having locked themselves to the Explorer, the pirates couldn't stop the Consular or the yacht from entering the blasted open hanger bay. Yoda jumped out first followed by the far taller form of T'ra Saa behind him and the Consular turned, blasting back out of the hanger bay as Fay's yacht closed in behind them.

Master Yoda barely spent a nod towards master Tholme before racing on. "Younglings in danger are they, go to their aid I will!" Go to the aid of Master Illaviel and the others you two will."

With that he was off, his small, shoto style lightsaber flashing a brilliant green. None of his normal aged appearance was on display now as he bounded forward jumping this way and that using the Force as naturally as breathing to aid his speed and agility, his lightsaber flashing, parrying the few bolts licking his way even as he decapitated other cultists as he passed. By the time he exited the docking bay, ten cultists had fallen to his blade, and six more had been killed by their own blaster bolts returning to them, with barely 20 seconds having passed before he was out of sight, pushing his small body faster and faster hoping to get there in time.

The Neti master shook her head as she joined Tholme, their styles weaving together into a perfect harmonious whole as they moved forward, cutting down the remaining cultists as they went. "And that is why he is the Grand Master of the Order."

"One of many reasons," Tholme replied, shaking his head. "I trust you are well?"

"I am," she said simply, and that was enough for them for now.