Death of a Jedi

Dusk felt the old combat transport buck as it broke into the atmosphere and descended to the planet below. The turbulence did nothing to disturb him, and did not take his attention away from the viewport he was looking out of. At this height, everything was vague shapes and large lumps, but he still felt as though he could make out the Temple they were heading towards.

The Dark Crusader war effort had been going strong for a little over a year now, and it showed no time of letting up anytime soon. At first, the attack caught the Academies by surprise, the first wave had been one hundred percent successful capturing a total of three hundred academies in less then a week. It had been a huge sweep and resulted in their capture of nearly a third of the Galaxy's resources, but the enemy was quick to learn from their mistake. The next wave had met heavy resistance and been only half as successful capturing a pitiful fifty Temple in the month engagement. And it had only grown harder from that point on.

Six months into the war they had just barely managed to capture half the Galaxy's Academies, and a cease fire had been brokered with the remnants of the Galactic Alliance, which had been acting as a communication hub up to that point, to give both sides time to consolidate their resources. Of course it didn't last, two months later Dusk had ordered a strategic strike on the Alliance Remnant and put an end to what he had thought was his biggest obstacle. And for a time it had proven a wise move as they quickly took half the enemy's territory in a matter of weeks, but he hadn't accounted for how spread out his forces would be after such a huge move.

A few days later massive task forces began mobilizing and in a month managed to take back almost all the territory the Crusader's had gained after removing the Alliance Remnant. A last minute move by Dusk had stopped the advance before any more Temples could be retaken by, what he had come to call, the Jedi/Sith Alliance. It had been two months since then, and there had been little headway on either side as each time the Crusader forces managed to take one Temple, they lost another.

It had infuriated him at first being resisted by those so weak they had to gather in packs to defend themselves, but he had quickly discovered the advantages of a most static war. Commerce had begun to boon once again on both sides of the line, and worlds not near the war zone had started dropping their defenses and growing complacent with the stalled war effort. He had forgotten the true purpose he had started with, the real reason he had agreed to lead this bunch of crazed and broken sycophants, to gain knowledge he would never have access to otherwise. Attacking the Temples on a Crusade was an excellent cover for pillaging their knowledge, and a few specific Temples that he knew had vast stores of knowledge were his true aim in starting this.

Sadly a good portion of them were still well into enemy territory, but with the complacency settling over the Galaxy, the disillusioned people thinking that war would never come to them, these targets were now open to attack. So Dusk had begun pulling ships away from the war to attack specific targets. He knew he could not hold the targets and that such efforts would undoubtedly undo his efforts thus far, but he didn't need to hold them, and he didn't care if the Crusaders won or not. All he wanted was access to that information considered to dark and powerful to see the light of day. He wanted power, and the Crusaders were simply a way to get that power.

And that's what had led him here, to Ziost. His forces had initiated the attack a few hours ago, and reports indicated there were but a few straggling groups of Sith left in the Temple. Dusk would have preferred none, but the Jedi/Sith Alliance would be here soon, responding to the distress call, and he needed to get into this Academies Archives before he lost the planet, and most of his forces.

The ship lurched to the side sending Dusk's aide, Lehel sliding across the floor to the other side of the compartment, a moment later a detonating rocked the ship and drowned out the sound of the engines for a brief instant. The Temple's auto-mated defenses were still active, but mostly destroyed, so the odds of them being shot down were slim, but it was still disconcerting to feel a missile detonate so close to the transport.

A feeling Lehel shared, "I must protest this my Lord," he said righting himself, "it's much too dangerous for you to be in the middle of a battlefield. If we lose you, then what hope do we ever have of purging the Galaxy of these scum?" He practically spit out the last word. Lehel was a true believer in the Dark Crusader cause, he had required no brain-washing or coercing to bring into the fold, he was one of the few to actually start out as crazy as Kael.

Dusk sighed, "I've already explained this Mister Requis. The information I learn here could prove vital to our war effort," the lie slide out smoothly and without the slightest pain of guilt. "The scum will be here any minute now, and I must have this information. That is why I'm going into battle myself, otherwise I wouldn't risk it." And that was true, to an extent, he just left out the simple fact that he would never risk his life for any of them.

"We have recovery teams for this my Lord," Lehel pressed, "and they're actually trained for this. I'm sure they could bring whatever you request."

And risk letting them figure out what it really is? No thanks. "I'm not quite sure what it looks like either Mister Requis," Dusk responded letting the lie flow out all by itself, "but I'll know when I see it."

"I see," Lehel answered doubtfully. The man knew something was wrong, but he wasn't intelligent enough to puzzle it out, and not brave enough to do something about it if he could figure it out.

The transport thudded down and opened the door to the troop compartment. Immediately the sound humming and clashing of lightsabers could be heard along with sporadic blaster fire from people on both sides not actually trained in the Force. The light pouring through the opening was dim and lifeless, the air cold and dry. Ziost was not a friendly world even to those that knew here secrets, and would consume any who came not fully prepared for that fact.

He stepped from the ramp and landed on dry cracked duracrete. Around him were the shattered remnants of what once had been a brilliant obsidian pyramid. One wall of the Temple had been destroyed entirely, and the other three had pock marks from blaster fire. The inside of the Temple was a simple hall with three doors, one on each side and the entrance itself. The hall was lined with small pillars in various states of destruction and a carpet that should have been a vibrant red, and was now stained with the crimson of spilled blood. There were bodies of course, some maimed, some burnt, and still others with the tell tale scars of blaster fire.

Dusk headed toward the doorway on his left, Lehel following reluctantly as he navigated his way over and around the bodies. Dusk had found a layout of the Temple and studied it thoroughly, there were no mentions of any sort of library or archive where information would be stored, but there was a large "hanger" underneath the Temple. Normally this wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but two things made it standout. One, none of the Sith here had any ships, registered or not, in their possession. Two, there seemed to be no way to get to the hanger in question. Both could be coincidence, a hanger built but not used later on, and a fault blueprint, but it was too much of a coincidence for an Academy that supposedly held an ancient and powerful source of darkside power.

The Sith Lord turned into the hall and immediately felt that something was out of place with the area. On the surface it looked entirely normal, a few doors before it curved out of sight, no depressions in the wall or bumps along the floor to indicate traps, and his danger sense was still mostly calm aside from the random fighting going on in the background. And yet something was still off. He moved forward letting his hand slide along the wall waiting for something and unsure what it would be.

At some point Lehel caught up to him, "If you don't mind my asking my Lord. What exactly are you doing?"

Dusk felt the corner of his mouth tug in a slight grin, "Playing hide and seek I suppose." The feeling in his hand suddenly changed, the wall behind it felt less solid then the others, "And I think I just found what I'm looking for." He pulled his hand away, balled it into a fist, and did a five tap.

Behind him a beep issued and a small panel flipped up to reveal a keypad, "Ah, a secret panel," Lehel stated getting closer to the object to study it. "Would you like me to call the slicer my Lord?"

"Don't have time for that," the Sith responded. He splayed his hand against the hollow wall and began putting a small shock into his hand, just enough to magnetize it to the plate in question. Summoning the Force into his body to increase his strength he began pulling on the wall. The first few seconds it didn't move in the slightest, then gradually it began to groan from the strain of the force being applied to it and half a minute later it tore free entirely. He lifted the panel off pointed it back the way they came and fired it off with a powerful Force Push.

Inside the now not so secret room was a simple turbolift with six buttons. "You must teach me that once we're done here," Lehel said stepping into the turbolift to study the new console.

Dusk walked in after him and took a look around, "There are far more useful techniques I can show you. That was nothing more then an experiment," he looked back at the aide to see him reaching for one of the buttons and got a spike of danger sense in the back of his head. "Don't!" He yelled pulling the man's hand back forcibly, "It's booby-trapped."

"How do you know?"

Dusk pointed at the buttons, "Six buttons, two floors. You probably need another code that we don't know." The Sith pulled his lightsaber off his belt, "Luckily I brought the Galaxy's best key." He flipped the blade on, a crimson shaft of light that painted the inside of the turbolift the same color as the floor, and plunged it into the bottom of the turbolift. He pulled the lightsaber through a full rotation then shut it off and kicked the loosely held metal out.

"Perhaps we should wait for an escort," Lehel suggested a second before Dusk jumped through the hold in the floor, "or not."

The Lord plunged into darkness able to see nothing and hearing only the rush of air as he fell through empty space. He could feel Lehel a few meters above him and another, darker presence somewhere below, undoubtedly at the bottom of the shaft. On instinct he straightened out, then felt the floor appear beneath his feet. He bent his knees to absorb the impact and rolled forward and up into an equally dark chamber. Or so he thought, as his eyes finally adjusted he was able to pick out some dim glows from holocrons scattered around the room. He also felt the dark presence, but this time much much closer then before.

Lehel alit on the floor behind him, coming down gracefully with the aid of the Force, "We really should have-"

The man was cut himself off when Dusk raised his hand for silence, "We're not alone in here Mister Requis."

"So you're not," a voice boomed from the darkness. Floor lights suddenly sprang to life giving the room light, but just enough to see where one was heading. Directly ahead of them, half a dozen meters away sat a green skinned Nikto. The alien was bald with green scales framing inset eyes and lining his chin. He wore a black robe with dark gray undertones and sat on a pedestal that looked as if it had once housed an large blade. A short black lightsaber hung from his belt with gold buttons and a bottom that looked like it could be spun separate from the rest of the hilt. "I was beginning to think you people would skip right over me," he continued. His voice had a deep timber and a rasp suggesting prolonged exposure to the dark side.

"You hide in here with your books and trophies, and dare call yourself a Sith?" Dusk replied switching topic to something that might anger the being before him.

"I'd watch my tone if I were you whelp," the Sith responded with a spark of irritation, "I'm a Sith Master. I've seen far more of the dark side then you can ever hope to touch. I've taught hundreds just like you, and not one of them ever proved more then a minor annoyance in the end."

"You are nothing more then an old man who has grown complacent in his power," Dusk smiled, "you try to make me doubt myself, but I can sense your true feelings. You fear my power, and with good reason."

The Nikto stood and pulled his lightsaber off his belt, "I might have let you live if you had just turned around, but no one insults a true Master of the Sith like that and gets away with it." The Sith raised his hand, "I'll show you the true power of the dark side!"

A bolt of blue lightning leapt from the man's hand and raced at Dusk. His pulse quickened, with the prospect of battle, but he kept it under control and focused his attention on the attack. The attack was too close to dodge and if he erected a barrier it might destroy the information he had come for in the first place. The only option was to meet it head on, it wasn't enough to kill him if it hit directly so it gave him time to try a technique he had been working on. The Lord raised his left hand to intercept the attack and shaped a small barrier in the Force around it.

When the Lightning hit it glanced off to the side and up into the ceiling where it bounced harmlessly off the obsidian ceiling. Dusk smiled at the success, "That's not the dark side," an arc of green lightning sparked across his fingers, "this is the dark side," the lightning flew across the room back at the Nikto. Had the sentient not been surprised by the deflection he might have been able to raise his lightsaber in time, but with the wound to his ego he was just a hair too slow and his weapon arm caught the full body of the attack.

Dusk could only guess what the alien was feeling or seeing, but he was sure it wasn't pleasant, the attack was one of the things he had learned directly from Kael. It was not particularly damaging or powerful, but it was excruciatingly painful. The Nikto fell to his knees grasping his left arm with his right, the lightsaber rolling slowly away from the being's distracted attention. "Wuh- What was that?"

"Like it?" Dusk asked with a smile, "It's one of my specialties. You see Force Lightning is both damaging and painful, that why we Sith like it. Some Jedi are able to perform a version of this lightning that kills immediately instead of causing pain, they call it Electronic Judgment. Well this is the exact opposite of that, no damage, purely pain, but I haven't come up with a fancy name for it yet."

"So you didn't actually injure me?" The Nikto asked flexing his hand. Dusk shook his head. "Bad move!" The Sith Master moved in a blur of motion reaching out in the Force to yank his lightsaber back to his palm even as he charged forward swinging a punch with his right hand.

Dusk stepped back to avoid the punch by which time the Sith had his lightsaber in hand and was swinging as it sprung to life. The Lord brought his own blade up and activated it to block the blow then kicked out to catch the alien in the gut and force him back. The Nikto recovered quickly adding his other hand to the hilt and swinging in series of quick strikes aimed to tire the opponent. Dusk quickly changed to Soresu and stepped in closer to make it harder for the Sith to adjust to different swings.

The Master noticed the move and quickly darted back out of range. The man was experienced at least if not particularly good at fighting with blades. Only a mediocre Force-wielder would switch from Shii-Cho to Ataru without resetting their stance. It wasn't a bad switch in theory, putting your opponent off-balance then pressing them hard, but in practice it took too long to switch and drained you quickly. Which was something this man could hardly afford given the one shock he had already taken.

When the Sith didn't re-engage after a moment Dusk stepped in and began a brutal series of overhead strikes and horizontal slashes not giving the Nikto time for anything more then blocking, and each block would weaken the sentient further, something the alien realized far too late. The Master caught one of the attacks and pushed up, his only option if he wanted to be able to attack.

The Sith spun as he pushed and lanced out with a stern kick that landed in empty space. Dusk had realized before he even began his attack that the Nikto would have to counter like this, and had been prepared when he finally did. The Lord had released the grip on his lightsaber the moment he felt himself being pushed back and ducked so that when the Master did kick he was directly under the protruding leg.

With the ease of a practiced hand the man caught the out-stretched leg and pushed up. The move forced the Sith to the ground with such force that it jarred the lightsaber from his hand and sent it sputtering across the floor. Dusk reached out and grabbed his own still lit lightsaber out of the air and in one motion spun and decapitated the fallen Nikto.

The Sith Lord heard clapping coming from behind him and turned to see Lehel slowly applauding, "Impressive as always my Lord."

"Don't insult me Mister Requis," Dusk replied shutting off his lightsaber, "if it weren't for his decent Force ability even you could have taken him. Now stop wasting time and come with me." He turned and walked down the aisle.

He hadn't noticed it at, distracted as he was by the enemy in front of him, but now that he got a good look at the room he realized the size of the vault. It was probably larger then the first floor of the Temple itself, and lined with row after row of Sith artifacts of varying power. If he had to look through the entire room it would take well over a day to find what he was looking for, but he had two things to narrow that search. One was that the object he was looking for was a tome, a large book and not a Holocron or amulet like the majority of Sith artifacts because it predated holocron technology. The other was that it was steeped heavily in the dark side of the Force and would give off far more dark energy then anything else in this room.

Dusk spread his senses searching for a significant pull. He found many of them, some of them so strong that he nearly mistook them for the object of his desire, but none of them had the right feel to be it. Not until his sense reached the perimeter of the room, that was when he felt a true shiver run down his spine and knew he had found it. The object radiated almost pure darkness in the Force, and as he drew near the object the air grew cold. The tome itself was thick and heavy with a standard leather binding and no discernible markings, but it literally radiated darkness, an aura that obscured the edge of the ancient text.

"Is that it?" Lehel asked from behind him. The voice startled him out of his trance although he didn't let it show to his aide lest he see weakness in his leader. It also bothered Dusk that the object had such a hypnotic effect on him, but it spoke volumes for the power it must hold.

The Sith Lord straightened himself out before replying, "Yes Mister Requis, I do believe this is what I'm looking for, at least," he touched the tome feeling the dark touch of it's presence, "it feels right, or wrong as the Jedi would say." He looked around the room at all the treasures to be had, "It's a shame that we can't gather more of these objects, but we have mere minutes before the enemy's fleet will arrive." He snatched the book off the pedestal and tucked it into his robes. He began to turn away but noticed a long hilt with a bulbous, spiked protrusion at one end, it looked old and had no where near the dark power of the other artifacts around him, but it felt as if the blade was calling to him.

The Sith Lord looked to see where Lehel was and saw that his aide was already walking back to the lift, then snatched the blade up and hid it away on a hunch. He caught up with the man quickly, but still managing to keep a calm sure air about him, "Quickly Lehel," he called back hoping the sudden change in name would distract the man from what had occurred, "no time to lose. We have a Galaxy to conquer."

Sarus hit the panel and watched the ramp lower before him. Felt the wind whip at him and the cold clawing through the thin brown robes he wore. He looked out on the horizon and down on the base a hundred meters below, completely unaware of the ship waiting above. The base's activity was just now beginning to wind up, with the small figures of men and women, alien and not, rushing about to begin their daily activities. To them, it was just another day trying to take over the Galaxy.

"I don't suppose I can talk you out of this?"

------------------------------

"It is quite sudden," Kami continued, hands inside his sleeves and an amused expression on his face.

"If I stay much longer," Sarus had replied, "then it will just make it that much harder when I finally must leave."

The two, Master and Knight, were standing on a landing pad in the Nar Shadaa Corellian Sector, the various sentient species moving about them without a care to their activities, and only dark looks at their Jedi appareal. The pair had been dispatched by the Masters Council to deal with a slaving issue that had been cropping up coutesy of Red Nova. Children had been going missing in the area conveniently at the same time that the group's activities had taken a major boost, and it did not take much to put the two together. So they had been sent to negotiate the release of the missing children, which they managed to do without actually talking to any of the Red Nova. They simply woke up the next day with an empty warehouse, and a note informing them how many limbs they would find missing if they tried the stunt again. The mission had taken only two days to complete, at which point they decided to relax and enjoy themselves, rather then go back to the Academy early.

"I must confess," Kami responded, nodding to the ship behind his former pupil, "I didn't expect you to spend your time off securing a ship. Although I suppose it isn't too much of a surprise, considering the lessons I've given you over the years."

The Chiss had smiled, "You did say that I could never truly learn of the Force by staying in one place all my life. I'm just listening to your wisdom."

"So you were paying attention," the Master said with a chuckle. "Still, I expected you to do this at the Academy, so that you could give your friends a proper goodbye."

"You also taught me to listen to the Force Master," Sarus had replied with a note of sadness, "and that's what I'm doing. I had a vision of flying away from this place alone, and in a ship not my own, on a heading I do not recognize. That can only mean one thing."

Kami placed his hand on the Chiss' shoulder, "Do what you feel is right, and don't regret it for a moment. If the Force is leading you to this, then I will not stop you. I have only one last piece of wisdom to give you."

Sarus had tilted his head in confusion, "I had thought my training complete."

"It is, this is something I knew must be said only when you left," the Sentinel replied, "call it a premonition if you will." He took a breath and exhaled slowly, "Of everything I learned in my travels, in all the wisdom gleaned from my old mistakes, there is one realization I have come to. Nothing I ever learned as a Jedi or a Sith, has ever been the answer to the questions I had, but they have both been necessary steps to the answer. It took me years to realize that the mistake I made, was two-fold." He let go and stepped back, his answer ungiven.

"What mistakes did you make?" Sarus had asked. The statement baffled him, it answered nothing.

"I cannot tell you that," Kami answered, "you must discover it for yourself."

------------------------------------------

The Chiss looked back at his co-pilot, a Togorian by the name of D'oni, "We have to get their attention somehow Apprentice."

"If none of the other ways have worked, what makes you think this will?" She replied slowly working her tongue in ways the organ was never intended to function. Basic was a difficult language for her species.

"I think they'll find this one impossible to ignore," he answered with a cocky grin.

"Have you considered that they may not be alive?" She asked, "Even the True Masters are not infallible."

"I doubt they would be taken down that easily," the Chiss replied.

"Even the best Jedi or Sith can be overwhelmed by these kind of numbers," D'oni responded. "Please reconsider."

"The Galaxy needs them Apprentice," Sarus looked back out of the ship, "now more then ever." The Just My Luck was still in the same place, hovering over the base, and cloaked. He'd need every advantage he could get in order for his plan to succeed. "If I don't succeed, then take word to JvS. I have friends there who will want to know what happened."

He could almost feel the Togorian shaking her head in exasperation, but she did not try to talk him out of it any longer, "May the Force be with you."

"And with you." The Force Warrior let go of the ship and fell out of the ship and into the open air above the compound.

The wind whipped past the Chiss as he fell with ever increasing speed. The cool gusts, a stark contrast to the stale air of the Luck, immediately sending him to full alert. He surveyed the rapidly approaching planet, a bleak world showing hard and dry ground that had not seen moisture in months, flat as far as the eye could see. In the center of this land was the Crusader compound, a simple few building surrounded by a high fence with small anti-aircraft towers at each corner. He was falling towards the center building, a squat square affair, colored a dull shade of rust brown. It was the command center for the base, and the one place he needed to land if he hoped to succeed.

Shame I have to use this now, he thought to himself, hate to waste a trick like this on a meaningless facility, but it has to be done. The Warrior pulled his legs in and spun himself so that his legs were aimed at the ground, Here goes nothing! He took a deep breath and held it, pulling the Force around him like a bubble and sealing himself off from the rest of the world in a cacoon of invisible energy, air included.

The bubble hit the roof of the compound like a wrecking ball, smashing through the layer of reinforced duracrete and making a sizable crater in the floor below. The sudden and violent crash stunned and deafened those close to the entrance, but not the man inside. To the man inside there was no shock from the sound or impact, such being thanks to the powerful barrier he had erected from the inside. So when the ball of energy did touch down in the center of the room, there was no hesitation, no momentary lapse of consciousness or judgment, the Chiss simply went to work.

Sarus felt the tip of the bubble touchdown, and immediately released the energy, directing it out in a wave of telekinetic energy that propelled the falling debris like bullets at anything over waist height. The majority of those in the room were thrown back by the Force Wave and as such were helpless to stop the deadly debris from impaling them. Without pause he reached back and grabbed a pair of shotos he had picked up a couple months ago and threw them forward at the two enemies that had been adept enough to stop the sudden onslaught. The first sailed true and plunged through the Aqualish's heart. The second was not so accurate and instead ended up being deflected by a Weequay wielding an Orange lightsaber.

The Weequay leapt the remaining distance, swinging right and left, up and down, flipping and rolling in an advanced version of Ataru while the Chiss ducked and dodged, leaving only centimeters air between his body and the blade so as to better conserve his energy. The Crusader had probably been a young Knight before he had been tricked by the Dark One, just beginning a Mastery of his own weapon. Had it been a year ago, the fight would have been very short lived, with the sentients mind in taters and unable to utilize all he had learned, but with the rise of a new Dark One, that had all changed. The man had his mind fully intact, just altered enough to put his loyalties to the Crusaders, and as such was a competent combatant.

Sarus saw the Crusader reach back and grab the lightsaber with both hand, preparing for a heavy swing, and brought his left arm up to intercept the blow. Normally this would have been a foolish move, but he had come across a couple pieces Beskar recently, and the Mandalorian iron proved to be an even match for the lightsaber, stopping it dead in it's tracks. The Weequay had just enough time to look surprised before the Warrior grabbed his face and sent a jolt of Lightning through it, quite literally frying the man's brain.

The Chiss let go and his opponent's body slide lifelessly to the ground. He took a quick look around and spotted no one else, standing or otherwise in the immediate vacinity, and his danger sense had toned from life threatening danger, to imminent doom, so he figured he was alone for the time being.

He splayed his hands and felt lightning arc out and hit the top of the entrances to the room, collapsing rubble and sealing him in with the bodies. It wouldn't last, once a decent Force user came they would make short work of the obstruction, but he didn't need long for this next step. He noticed a console in center of the room and walked towards it. It was a security console, with a direct interface to the automatic weapon emplacements around the compound.

Sarus reached out and touched the console, using a combination of Ionize and empathy to interface with the machine. It was an imperfect technique, and the coding he got was mostly gibberish to him, but he didn't need to, he simply needed to find the areas heavy with such code, bypass them, and turn them on. It was a process of trial and error as there were many such systems and he had no idea where he was going, but eventually he was rewarded with the words he wanted to hear.

A cold female voice began to ring out over the intercom, "Warning, turrets active. All base personnel please proceed to the nearest..."

-------------------

"...exit. This is NOT a drill." The computer finished.

"Can you please turn that thing off?" Aragorn asked clearly annoyed at the insistent voice, "It's been going for ten minutes straight!"

"Yeah well, how would you feel after hitting a planet at twice the speed of sound," Dray replied still sitting in his command chair despite the fact that it put him at a forty-five degree angle now, "she has a right to complain all she wants." The group had crashed on an unknown planet a couple of hours ago. Thanks to a faulty hyperdrive conductor, they had exited hyperspace at nearly the speed of light, and had spent the few minutes of flight they sustained making sure the ship wouldn't get torn apart from stresses it was never meant to take. Of course, this meant they had no where near enough time to avoid the planet they had ended up barreling towards. They had barely managed to slow enough to survive the crash at all, and the violent stop had destroyed every bit of sensitive equipment on the ship: Engines, Weapons, Shields, Sensors, and Communications. "That's the last time I let you guys take my ship out without proper maintenance."

"Wasn't much we could do Dray," Sarus responded, the Chiss was standing on what normally would have been the sensor equipment, "My ship was too small to fit that many people, and we had to move as soon as possible."

"Complaining will do us no good," Ptolemy spoke up. Against all odds the old man had managed to find a comfortable spot between the crash couch and wall. "We need to call for help, and get back to the Temple. You all heard that message."

"That's what he's doing," Dray jerked a finger at Thing who was currently levitating above the floor in a meditative trance, "but Battle Meditation is a little hazy when it comes to relaying coordinates."

"What about Sarus' Beckon Call?"

The Chiss flipped a crushed remote into the air, "Smashed in the crash landing."

"And there's no chance we can repair the Chikita?"

"I couldn't repair her if I had the Kuat ship yards at my disposal," Dray responded, flicking a switch in idle frustration. "I hate to say it, but it looks like she's totaled."

"Quitting never seemed your strong suit, master," Aragorn commented.

"It's not," he replied, "but neither is denial. I'm gonna miss her," the Knight caressed the panel, "but now isn't the time to mourn. We have work to..."

----------------------------

"....do, did you?" D'oni said as she took in the extent of damage the Force Warrior had done in the last ten minutes. "Tell me again why you need help if you can do all this on your own?"

"Because it took me four months to hone my abilities enough to pull that off, and I doubt it will work again now that they've seen it." The Chiss was in a blood stained chair, monitoring the communications equipment for any replies to the message he had just sent out.

"Do you think this will work?" The Togorian asked, referring to the message he had just sent out.

"I think it'll be hard to ignore a looped message on the emergency channel when it's coming from a Crusader base," he replied after a moment.

"You've done similar things before, what makes you think this will get a response?"

"Self-preservation." Sarus looked up at the Apprentice, "If they're out there, they'll answer just so that the signal will stop. After all, they won't want Crusaders tracing the signal back to them."

"And if there's no one to call?"

"Then we're all pretty much kriffed anyway," he smiled, "but don't tell anyone else. It kills morale." D'oni began to respond, but was interrupted by a beep coming from the console, "Ah, there they are."

The Chiss flipped a switch and the bird-like vistage of a female Fosh appeared on the screen in front of the two, "Whoever you are, this had better be good."

"Ah, Leader Cin," Sarus began, "how gracious of you to answer yourself."

"Master Cloud?" The Fosh was obviously taken aback, "How did you...? Nevermind, I don't really want to know," she rubbed the bridge of her nose hard in irritation. "What I do want to know, is why in Xendor's name you are using a Crusader base to call on our secure line."

"You stopped answering my normal calls," the Warrior replied. "I had to get your attention somehow."

"We stopped answering your calls for a reason Mister Cloud."

"Yeah, and you picked a hell of a time to do so," the Chiss responded with a scoff, "or did you not notice the war going on?"

"Oh we noticed, we just decided it wasn't our concern," the Fosh answered.

"This is everyone's concern Cin. We need to act before it's too late!"

"I have no time for your war mongering Mister Cloud! Now get off this line before you put even more lives in danger!"

"I'm a Force Master of our order Cin," Sarus replied, suddenly much more grim, "if you won't listen to me, then I will call a meeting of every Force and Blade Master we have, as is my right as a Master Ronin!"

The Fosh stared at him, "You're bluffing. You wouldn't dare risk that many lives."

"I risk more if I don't."

The two stared at each other, neither blinking or backing down for what seemed like hours. Finally Cin relented, "Very well Master Cloud, you have your meeting. I trust you remember the technique?"

"Have I ever forgotten such..."

-----------

"...a thing?"

"You forgot to check in for five years," Dray replied, arms crossed.

"No fair!" Sarus called back, "That was a mission!"

"All's fair in war," Dray responded with a smirk. "But in all seriousness, why do you need to do this?"

"I realized something when we were in the Crusader base," the Chiss began. "For all our strength and numbers, we are absolutely nothing as compared to the army we face. We don't have the numbers to fight and what people we do have are not strong enough to make up for what we lack in numbers."

"That doesn't mean you run and hide," Dray replied, "even out numbered and out gunned, we have a responsibility to protect the Galaxy from this threat."

"I know that, but we still need more. More people, more power, and I can get it for us. It may take a while, but I can and will get it."

"But you can't tell me about it?"

"I can't even tell the Council about this my friend," Sarus put his hand on hid friend's shoulder, "you once asked me to trust you. Now I have to ask the same."

Dray nodded, "Fine," he said, "but I expect a full explanation when you get back," he was quick to add.

"You'll be the first to hear it."

The Knight nodded, "OK. But, for the record, I still don't think this is a good idea."

--------------------------

"Black mail seldom is Apprentice," Sarus replied to the Togorian's voiced doubt, "but good idea or not, it's the only one with a shot at working."

The Force Warrior closed his eyes and reached out, finding a place powerful in both the light and dark side of the Force, latching onto it, and then sending his consciousness along that line.

The Chiss opened his eyes, or what passed for them in the state he was in, and saw a dark forest floor, surrounded on all sides by trees that stretched for kilometers, high into the sky. The area he was in was both lush, but tamed, as if the planets around suddenly hit a barrier when going so far off the ground. There was no wild life in sight, though that didn't mean much in this place. After all, the forest floor of Kashyyyk didn't get the name "Shadow Lands" for nothing.

As he looked around he noticed others appearing in the same general area, first a Kel Dor, then a Falleen, and a pair of humans who arrived at nearly the same instant, one of which was female, then finally Cin made her appearance. All were ghostly blue versions of their current selves, a side effect of throwing your Force essence across the Galaxy apparently.

"Everyone here?" Cin asked. The Fosh was dressed in bright, multi-colored robes that managed to be both baggy, but unobstructing.

"There are only five True Masters Cin," the male human replied. He wore dark armor with a light cloak over top and a string of lightsabers at his belt, "Do we really need to do role call?"

"Oh do shut up Forge," the female human responded. She was dressed in a mixture of robes and armor with a breastplate on and a cortosis weave chain mail around the leggings, seemingly under this armor was a blue and white robe. The long hilt of a double-bladed lightsaber hung from her belt, "You know the protocols as well as I."

"I'll complain if I want Tsubasa," the male human replied, "or would you like to come over here and actually back-up your words?"

"Do you think we should stop them Kettch?" The Kel Dor asked looking to the Falleen. This sentient had very basic and typical tan and white robes that draped down to hide just about everything about him short of height and species.

"No Monk," the Falleen replied. The robes he wore, practically a mirror image of the Kel Dor's, but in dark red and black instead of white and tan, "they'll both chicken out before long."

Cin took a seat and waved for attention, "All right, all right, enough. We've got a meeting to attend to thanks to Master Cloud here."

"Thank you Leader Cin," Sarus replied with a slight inclination of the head. "But in all honesty, this is more of a question to the Masters, then a request."

"And that would be?" Monk solicited.

"Why are you not fighting?"

"The Rurouni are not a fighting force, we are a group dedicated to the preservation of knowledge," Kettch replied as if reciting from a script. "And haven't we been over this already?"

Cin sighed, "Yes, but Mister Cloud here demanded the True Masters hear his case."

"We've already debated this at length Mister Cloud," Tsubasa said, "I doubt you have any new arguments to bring to the table."

"And I think you misunderstand me, Master Tsubasa, this is not a debate, this is a life and death scenario. This isn't some intellectual exercise or abstract concept, there are very people out there that don't care about your beliefs, species, or skill. They simply want to kill you, me, and every Force Sensitive in the Galaxy." Sarus answered a little exasperated, "Did you think all the death you feel was merely the Force playing tricks on you, or are you arrogant enough to think they'll honor the fact that you only want to preserve knowledge."

"Watch what you say boy," Forge responded. "There's not a single Academy out there that's not fighting for their lives, ours included, but this is not a group we use to fight, it's what we use to preserve knowledge, and using it for combat is an abuse of the trust we've all given this organization."

"You're not getting it!" Sarus yelled, "You're letting a name get in the way of what's important! Put aside your beliefs for one second and think! What good is this organization going to be if everyone in it is dead? Sometimes you have to fight to protect knowledge, you can't just secret it away and hope the next generation will find it!" The Chiss paced back and forth, "The Rurouni were formed so that there would always be a source of knowledge in the Galaxy, so that wisdom and technique would not be lost like in the Purges of the past, but what good is such knowledge if there's no one to learn it? We are facing the very real threat of extinction here, and you're letting your pride get in the way of what needs to be done!"

"Every Ronin out there is already fighting this battle," Cin replied, "the Rurouni may not be fighting, but all it's members are. What difference does it make if we declare war ourselves when we're already fighting?"

"Because you're leaving the best resource we have against this threat out. Communication, coordination, we have the man-power to fight, but it's scattered and useless right now. If we hope to survive, we have to use everything at our disposal, we have to forget our useless traditions and personal restrictions because that's what they're preying on. I'm not talking about disregarding what makes us different, I'm talking about taking all this useless protocol and bureaucracy out so that we can survive!"

There was silence for a time, as all considered what had been said, and Sarus supposed that was all he could ask for, that they listen to him, consider what he was saying. Kettch, who had remained silent up to this point was the first to speak, and he simply said two words, "I agree."

"Care to elaborate on that?" Cin asked.

"Nothing to elaborate on. He's right, we have a communications network, and it's stupid and selfish not to use it. We didn't start an attack against them, they have attacked us, maybe not in name, but in action they have attacked each and every Ronin out there."

"I find I too am in agreement," Monk commented, "and I think everyone here is thinking along the same lines. In reality, this is no different from what we do, share knowledge, we have a network and yet we do not use it, but we are more then willing to share our ways of dealing death and destruction."

"The Kel Dor's got a point," Tsubasa said, "it really isn't that different, we've just been to blind to see it."

"As does the Falleen," Forge admitted, "we didn't start this, but I'm more then willing to finish it."

The group looked to the Fosh in expectation. "Do you all realize what this means?" Cin asked, "If we commit to this, it's war, every Force Sensitive in the Galaxy will be at war with the Crusaders. If we say yes, then we must win, losing is not an option, because if we lose, it means the death of all the knowledge and wisdom we've gathered over these long centuries."

"And if you don't," Sarus began, "then it will still be the death of all knowledge and wisdom, but it is a death that will last decades."

The forest fell silent as those gathered debated within themselves to decide the fate of themselves and the Galaxy as a whole. It didn't seem like any debate at all to the Force Warrior, but he was wise enough to know that not all traditions were easily broken, and the longer they stood, the harder they were to bring down. He had had more then enough experience with that in the Chiss Ascendency.

"Well if no one has further arguments," Cin said, pausing to see if anyone had anything to add, and when no one did, continued, "then we'll vote on it. Those in favor of declaring war on the Dark Crusader, please raise your hand." All present, including, to the Chiss' surprised, Cin, raised their hands, or what passed for them. "Well Master Cloud," the Fosh said after a moment, "it looks like you have your army."

Ziost once thought to be the home world of the Sith, now a wasteland of snow and ice. At one time it was a planet of lush forests and a tropical climate but as the climate of the planet changed the forests withered and died. At some point there was an ice age that the planet never recovered from.

On this inhospitable planet the Sith temple was rebuilt. The original temple was built by the Sith race after they abandoned Korriban some 7,000 years BBY. In this environment the sith culled the weak from their order. Over the years it had become a repository for Sith knowledge. Ptolemy shifted in his chair and scanned the screen in front of him once again. His fingers flew over the interface and pulled up a list of recent targets attacked by the crusaders. Ptolemy’s brow furrowed as he scanned the reports and descriptions of artifacts that were missing when the temples were retaken. It has not made any sense why the crusaders would take a temple, not even the planet, and then leave a token force loosing the temple when the inevitable response comes. The stale mate that had been in existence for the last year or so was maddening. The crusaders under the will of Dusk were a much better fighting force than they were previously. What they now lacked in numbers they made up for in skill and ferocity.

Ptolemy found the pattern he was looking for, quickly highlighted several items and transferred the information to his data pad and rose from the table. He gathered his data chips and walked to the central desk. There he dumped the hand full of chips on the desk and hastened out of the archives. The JvS Archives were among the most complete that Ptolemy had ever seen. The archives once housed in the Jedi Temple on Corasaunt were much more complete. The tragedy of that was the destruction and revision the records and artifacts there underwent in the civil war. The stroke of luck was when the contents of the archives were salvaged and many of those found their way here to the JvS Archives.

The tap of Ptolemy’s staff on the duracrete floors echoed off of the stone walls as he walked toward the lifts. The archives we many levels below the Enclave and open to both Jedi and Sith. His mind wondered as he walked. With the skills of the healers here in the Enclave his leg had completely healed and for the first time since he left Tatooine there was no need to limp. The process was long and arduous and would have been shorter if he had not insisted they not replace the leg with an implant. Of course the fact that his leg had broken again in the crash of the Chikita had helped some as well. The long days in the infirmary were worth it though. He still carried his staff though he was working on another. This one was scarred from many battles. It has been unfortunate that he allowed situations that could not be ‘resolved’ through the manipulation of the force. The reluctance of Ptolemy to use a lightsaber was well known, even though he still carried the one he retrieved in the JvS battle over a year ago. The Saber was set short and the blade was still a deep red almost crimson. He left it that way to remind him of the lives that were taken and lost by that blade and others like it.

The lift rose with the hum or repulsers and little more sound as Ptolemy studied the container he and 2 others were riding in. A Keldor female in the robes of a Sith Alcolyte regarded him with suspicion while a human Sith Lord ignored him al together. The lift eased to a stop and the Sith and his apprentice got out and the lift again rose into the enclave. Ptolemy leaned against the wall of the lift and allowed his mind to wander back to the mission that eliminated the leader of the crusaders and destroyed one of their outposts. Since then they had discovered the resources available to the crusaders were more vast than even Sarus had been aware of. The speed that Dusk was able to consolidate his power was nothing less than miraculous and Ptolemy may now know why.

The lift doors slid open again and Ptolemy stepped out and headed for the council chambers. The damage of the previous battle for the JvS enclave were still apparent. The rubble had been cleared long ago and repairs had begun but there were still areas that were not completely rebuilt and the areas that were complete the color of the duracrete was lighter where the wall was patched. There were knots of workers dotted along the corridor that Ptolemy nodded to and exchanged pleasantries with as he hurried along coming at last to a large set of double doors. Ptolemy placed his hand upon the doors and they swung open allowing Ptolemy to enter the large circular chamber.

The council was gathered around a holotable that had been installed in the middle of the chamber. Ptolemy walked up to an aide.

‘I have some important information for the council’ Ptolemy began

‘Ptolemy’ Champ said looking over, ‘what do you have?’

‘The Crusaders latest attack,’ Ptolemy said ‘when they have been routed there will be an artifact missing from the temple.’

Champ looked around the table at the enclave’s council and made eye contact with Iron.

‘Explain’ Span Snapped ‘we do not have all day’

‘Span’ Iron said ‘we do not have time to be hasty, what do you have Ptolemy?’

Ptolemy stepped up to the table and placed the data pad on its top, tapped a code into the table. A holo of several books and other items sprang to life over the table slowly spinning and orbiting the table. Layfon and Spanish looked at each other and back at Ptolemy.

‘These artifacts are all from sith temples that have been taken and abandoned by the crusaders.’ Ptolemy said ‘these were all present before the incursions and now they are missing,’ Ptolemy paused to let the information sink in ‘presumably the crusader’s are taking these items. The Gauntlet of Kressh the Younger is among the Artifacts that have been taken as are several tomes and Sith spell books. The Sith Holicron of Freedon Nadd is missing as well.’

‘OK so there are reasons that he is targeting these temples’ Layfon said carefully glancing up at Span, ‘the temple on Ziost has been taken. Do you have an idea what he may be after from there?’

There is a tome that is particularly powerful. It was separated from other artifacts all belonging to a sith lord that I have been unable to identify.’ Ptolemy said ‘As complete as our archives are there is only fleeting references to this sith lord and no real identification. There is this tome, a spell book of minor importance and a pair of bracers that seem to augment each other.’

‘The bracers disappeared several years ago’ Iron said ‘along with an amulet that allows the bearer to shatter the psyche of a person and remold them.’

‘Dray destroyed that amulet on the crusader planet last year’ Span took up the tale ‘and, while we searched for the bracers, we could not find them and we are hoping the bracers were destroyed in the bombardment. The bracers allow the wielder to put the shattered psyches back together in a way that makes the decision to follow seem like the choice of the victim and so his own skills and desire to learn and improve becomes enhanced by the belief in a cause.’

‘If Dusk is in position of the bracers,’ Champ started

‘That would explain the speed in which he was able to consolidate his power’ Layfon finished

‘If he is in possession of those bracers and now the tome…’ Iron said ‘It will take him some time to glean the secrets of the tome and so augment his power.’

“Thank you Ptolemy’ Champ said ‘you have given us another piece of the puzzle.’

Ptolemy turned to leave puzzled by the information he learned from the council. These were not things contained in the archive. Luckily the tome was in the original Sith language. He was going to tell them but with the information that they had already he decided they knew already.

The Council chamber was deathly silent as the doors closed behind Ptolemy.

Bio:
Name: Ptolemy
Height: 1.7 Meters
Weight: 70 Kilos
weapons: 3 meter staff capable of several configurations and a short saber Crimson in color.

Appearance: Ptolemy is average height wearing the robes of an initiate and carrying a intricately carved and inlayed staff that he appears to use as a walking stick. Age is hard to determine as his face shows the wear and tear of a thousand worlds and a life hard lived. Ptolemy has shoulder length white hair and is force sensitive though with no formal training has been able to ‘figure stuff out’ with the help of his father and on his own.

My character will be following along the lines of a force warrior. I wield a staff, 2 Tonfas or side handled baton, that and hand to hand is all i have trained with since i began training at the age of 5. Short and long staff. I now carry a short saber described above.

Ziost wasn't much to look at Aragorn noted. Reminds me of Hoth but with fainter taints of the Dark Side. Aragorn sensed a stronger darkness still dissipating. It was tempting. The Dark Side was this strong around the JvS Enclave when on the Sith side, even more concentrated when around Span and Layfon. It brought back memories that Aragorn had thought he had suppressed but he was mistaken. There is no emotion, there is peace Aragorn began reciting the wisdom of the Jedi Code to focus himself for the task ahead of him.

Aragorn listened through the force to deduce a plan to take back the recently devastated temple by Dusk and his Crusaders. Death and toil was ever prominent in this place. Through the force he scoped out the temple searching for enemies, allies and a way out if necessary. He had prepared a strike team of varying experiences. He had a rookie force warrior, Tolles was his name. Very good at Battle Meditation but was easily distracted. Vedis was his second in command because he had promising saber skills but he becomes caught in battle too easily. The only person who was most reliable was Xalag because of his extensive knowledge of the force and how the Jedi operate, he was least likely to falter but where he was strong in his beliefs, he was lacking in saber skills. He knew Shii-Cho and some Ataru and Djem-So.

I don't understand why the council gave me these rookies. They are so susceptible to being turned. They will sense the power the crusaders have and they will fall. I realize we had to spare our best for other operations, but I can't do this alone.

"Master Aragorn. Do we have a plan for insertion and extraction?" asked Xalag

"Extraction is where I'm having trouble. There is a passage way we can take that avoids most of the Crusaders. It's on the South side where that rivet is in the building. I don't know if it used to be a secret passage or if it was recently made, but it's usable."

"What's our objective? Investigate?" asked Xaga

"Take back the temple was the councils orders, so thats what we will do. We may have to kill all the Crusaders. If they flee, they could regroup and come back but I think Dusk has acquired what he was looking for, so it may not matter. That means none of us can get caught up in the battle. Thats how the Crusaders have worked in the past. Many have fallen because they have to become so focused on the battle to survive and the temptation of the Dark Side is stronger then. Don't let this happen young padawans. I don't want to lose any of you to these monsters."

"We'll do our best, Master." said Vedis

"I've asked you not to call me Master. You know I hate titles. I am a Jedi, just like you." said Aragorn

"Sorry, Mast- I mean Aragorn."

Aragorn chuckled. Every moment he smiled, he savored. These were dark times. Ever since these Crusaders showed up, the force itself seemed to have twisted and tortured. A smile or laugh was a rare thing these days.

"Gather round. I have a plan for this. Vedis will come with me through the front door to distract the Crusaders. Since Dusk is gone and has been for some time, they will not be nearly as strong and it will be easier to eliminate them. Xalag, I want you to take Tolles and get him to a safe place where he can use Battle Meditation. Use that rift in the building on the south side. They may be weak, but we need that to have an edge in combat. It's very important you remain focused, Tolle. You could very well be the key to our victory."

"I'll do my best."

"Good" Aragorn said with a sigh of relief

"What of me?" asked Xalag

"I want you to keep an eye on Tolle. Do not leave his side until I call you."

"I'm on guard duty! Thats elementary stuff, I want to fight." Xalag said with much disdain

"Yes you are on guard duty. In your condition, you will be turned if you fight. The Crusaders will tear you apart by either turning you or killing you. You must protect him. You two are our key to winning this. Your roles are far beyond fighting."

"Alright." Xalag said with reluctance

"May the force be with you" said Aragorn. No more words were exchanged. His mind was racing at a pace he dared not calculate for fear of his head exploding. The group sped through the wasteland, blocking out all the cold and the blistering wind. Aragorn saw Xalag and Tolle split off via his peripheral vision. Aragorn used the force to silence his and Vedis' approach. They slipped past the two front guards and killed them in one smooth motion. A small victory since there was a mix of Crusaders and hired guns. Aragorn quickly scanned the room they were approaching . 3 Crusaders were in the main room with two sub levels that were practically empty. An alarm was set up that would go off when signaled. If we can signal that alarm, we can draw them all out and get it over with...I hope. The Crusaders looked around after hearing foot steps only to be greeted by a white lightsaber through the stomach. One crusader ignited his saber while the other retreated to the alarm. Leave the Crusader that is retreating. Help with the other engaging us Aragorn told Vedis through the force. The Crusader engaged quickly with Ataru. He sensed the difference in the force and went after the weaker first. Vedis was caught off guard but was able to block the first few strikes. Aragorn closed in and diverted attention to himself. Dropping into a Soresu stance, he blocked every strike the Crusader could dish out, even when the Crusader switched to Djem-So, He stood his ground. Vedis saw an opening and took it. He plunged his viridian saber into the crusaders chest, placing his saber inches from Aragorns chest. The Crusader dropped to the ground as the alarm went off. The room flooded with hired guns and 4 more Crusaders. Aragorn could feel a slight tingling rising from his feet. The Battle Meditation was kicking.in He meditated on the increased ability and tapped into it. It was time to go to work.

"Take out the hired guns" yelled Aragorn

Vedis nodded and proceeded to deal with the hired guns. They had little combat skills and had even less strategical skills. They didn't have a formation but that could be because they were in panic. I imagine they were eating something or relaxing, completely unsuspecting of an attack. Either way, Vedis took advantage. He switched to Ataru, easily slashing through the hired guns. There were only 20 of them. The first 10 were easy since they were still panicking. The last half put up a little fight but their aim was so off, they were more likely to hit each other than Vedis.

Aragorn engaged the Crusaders with a sound plan and confident in it's effectiveness. He charged the cluster of 3 and jumped over them, forcing them to pursue him. They did so. Without being so intune with the dark side, they lost coordination and slashed each other. Their screams were music to Aragorns ears. This bothered him. He pushed it aside in his mind and continued to fight. One Crusader was left after the "ambush". Aragorn kept jumping around to confuse the Crusader but to no avail. It seemed, with every death of a Crusader, the dark side energy from their death strengthens them. Three Crusaders remained and killing them made them stronger. Aragorn didn't know what to do. Vedis had just killed off the last hired gun and began to engage the lone Crusader who activated the alarm. The Crusader pulled his saber out and sliced at Vedis. He missed Vedis' head by inches. Vedis began to feel the Battle Meditation take effect. Instantly, his sense were heightened and he seemed to move faster. The Crusader could feel the demoralizing effects of the Battle Meditation. He began to lose his will to fight and swing his saber. It cost him his life. Vedis took great pleasure in killing the Crusader and gloated in his head.

Aragorn caught a glimpse of Vedis' handiwork and became concerned. He had felt a great sense of pride when he eliminated the two Crusaders but he was trained to resist the temptation, Vedis didn't have that strength to resist. Vedis joined Aragorn against the other 3 Crusaders who grew quicker and stronger with the death of their fellow Crusader. Aragorn saw the rapid improvement in not only combat skills but in how strong their influence was in the dark side. He could feel them trying to probe his mind, this worried Aragorn, not for himself, but Vedis. Vedis was already showing signs of faltering. He began to stagger and wouldn't swing his saber at all/ Aragorn pushed the Crusaders away with a force push but it passed over them like nothing. They had regained some of their strength back. Aragorn tapped deeper into the power that Tolle was providing. It gave him the strength to fend off the Crusaders and catch one off guard with a quick style change but he knew he was not getting anywhere with their strength growing per kill. Xalag! I need your help Aragorn called for Xalag but had no reply. He feared the worst. He was distracted for too long and was knicked on the leg by the crimson saber of the Crusaders. He looked up to be greeted by two sabers. They came down at Aragorn but he was able to block the strikes. He pushed one away and used lightning on the other. He couldn't stop himself, he kept sending bolts of electricity through the crusader even after he was dead. Xalag jumped down from the rafters and stopped Aragorn. In a flash, the Crusader had recovered and sped to Xalag and plunged his saber through his chest. Aragorn saw his companion fall and he was filled with rage, a rage he hadn't felt in a long time. He tapped into the dark energy unwillingly and rushed the Crusader in a Vaapad stance. He randomly slashed and threw force pushes and lighting at the Crusader. Distracted from a push, Aragorn closed in and cut the head off of the Crusader. It rolled to the ground as the body hit the ground with a loud thud. Aragorn was frozen. What did I just do...

The Luck dropped out of hyperspace and into orbit around a planet as familiar too him as his long lost home. It was a lush planet full of green plain, sweeping forests, and the occasional rocky plain. It had been scarred from the recent war and now had blackened craters and missing swaths of jungle, but it was still the same place he had trained at for nearly half his life. It was a place he missed terribly, but it represented a confrontation he did not look forward to. "Dropping cloak," the Chiss reported. Normally it would have been odd for him to say such given that he traveled alone most of the time, but it was warranted this time, given the passengers he had on-board this time.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Cin said behind him. "This ship barely holds one person comfortably."

"Didn't really have much choice," Sarus responded as his hands worked the console in front of him, "they know my ship, so they won't fire on me."

"Yes and having the life-support give out would be a vast improvement," the Fosh answered sarcastically. "Not that it was functioning that well when we left." The alien looked at him, "Or was that smell simply your lack of hygiene?"

The Chiss felt his cheeks flush red in irritation, "And I suppose it would have been better to drop in on them with a warship?" He spun in his chair to face the Ronin Leader, "You need to drop this superiority you feel now. You're about to go into a meeting with a Council that has been at war for the better part of a year. They have watched friends and loved ones suffer and die in a conflict they didn't ask for, and they won't appreciate your entitled attitude or arm-chair psychology." He stood face to face with the Fosh, "Unlike you, they understand there is a time for discussion and a time for battle, and they've been making the right choice so that you and yours can continue making the wrong one. Each and every one of them is a better man then you, so I'd appreciate it if you would please knock it the kriff off!"

There was a moment of silence between them as Cin took in what had been said and Sarus stood there heaving and trying to calm himself before he did something he would regret. The Fosh had always been like this, always sarcastically arrogant and passive aggressive. She would insult you for the slightest fault, and even when she gave you a compliment it was with the back of her hand. That didn't mean she was weak though. He had seen her fight more then once and she seldom had to exert herself when she did so she wasn't undeserving of her position. Indeed she was perhaps too strong, too powerful for the generation she had been born into, and this was where he believed her arrogance came from. A person who could never be truly challenged would undoubtedly begin to think her comrades were beneath her.

The comm board chimed, breaking the tense silence and distracting the Force Warrior, "Blastboat Just My Luck, please state your intent."

Sarus went to the console and thumbed the mic on, "This is Force Warrior Sarus Cloud requesting permission to land."

"Jedi Cloud, it is good to hear from you," the voice replied growing warmer, "but I must ask the purpose of your visit."

The Chiss looked back at Cin. The Fosh had grown quiet. She still had that air of superiority around her, but she seemed to at least understand his feeling and was remaining silent for the time being. "I've got a proposition for the Council," he answered, "but I'm afraid I can't say anymore then that."

The line went silent. Most likely the man was checking with a higher-up about his request. "Should I be worried that they haven't answered?" Cin asked.

"No, he's just getting permission," Sarus replied, "they know me well enough to know I wouldn't waste their time." He looked at the Fosh, "As I told you once long ago, I'm a Jedi Shadow, the equivalent of a spy. Anything I bring to them is important, and more often then not it is something I can only report to them."

The speaker crackled, "Sorry about the wait Jedi Cloud, you're cleared to land in the hanger bay. A Knight will be there to escort you to the Council chambers."

"Anyone I know?" The Chiss asked. It was odd for them to send an escort for anyone. He couldn't imagine that changing, especially during a war.

"I really don't know. They just said you'll know when you see him."

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Ptolemy was walking along the corridor, datapad in one hand and a ration in the other, staff tucked under his arm. He was reading the latest battle reports looking for mention of his son, Aragorn and chomping down on a ration that, while nutritious, was something he was hoping he would never have to ingest again. While the major repairs to the Temple had been quick and efficient, and a majority of the damage was now undone, there was still work to be done, and a fully versed cafeteria with fresh ingredients was a low priority one the list of repairs. So for now they were stuck with ration packs. He realized the reasons for this, but couldn't help but wonder how much of a morale boost a hot home cooked meal would supply.

He finished his 'snack' and stuffed the wrapper into his pocket until he could dispose of it properly, then moved onto the report. There were multiple mentions of both Thing and Bazariel, the two leading Generals in the war effort at the moment, and a few mentions of an assault group under Bazariel's command, but nothing of his son. It wasn't necessarily surprising, Aragorn was under Thing's command, and Thing's battle group was still engaged in a conflict at the boarder. The former Knight's quick thinking and tactical ability had risen to prominence a couple months after the outbreak of the war and earned him a promotion to Jedi General, as well as an honorary promotion to Jedi Master, despite lacking the knowledge most needed for such a rank. Many still questioned the necessity of promoting him to Master just to give him command, but his strategic aptitude was undeniable. Now he was widely considered Bazariel's equal in tactics, if not in combat.

Pto's comlink chimed loudly, indicating he was getting a message from a high priority transmission. One of the many modification he had been working on to make life easier for him, the comlink's alarm would raise in decibel level according the to level of prioity he had placed on a transmission. "Ptolemy here," he said into the device.

"Master IronRat wants you to escort a Jedi from the Hanger," a board voice answered.

"Any reason why?" Pto asked a little confused by the sudden order.

"He's the Grand Master and he asked you to, that's why," the voice answered a second before hanging up.

Ptolemy sighed and put the comlink away, "Sometimes I hate this job," he said as he began the long walk to the hanger. The Knight had been unable to go back into battle after they had been rescued from the Chikita because of the injury he sustained, so he was unable to answer the call to arms for a few months. But he had still wanted to help in some way so he had been assigned a research position in the Archives where his intelliect could be put to work while his leg healed. He had planned to rejoin his son as soon as he was able to fight, but by that time the Galactic Alliance had already fallen, and the war effort had turned into a tug of war with all available resources being shunted to the front lines. There had been no ships to fairy him to the front lines, and the space lanes were impossible for normal travel if you weren't equiped with a cloak, and the few ships that tried to leave without them were never seen again. So he had been stuck at the Academy, and stuck in the Archive position which had slowly morphed more into that of an aide, then a researcher.

Ptolemy turned a corner and stepped into a turbolift with a pair of construction workers heading into the basement. After exchanging pleasentires and selecting his level on the panel he stepped back and began preparing himself for the metting. If he was being asked to escort someone it was probably some dignitary or a Master from another Academy, and either way, it was best he be presentable. He was still determined to get back to Aragorn. As soon as a ship docked with the Academy capable of making the journey he would be on it, whether the owner of the ship was aware of it or not. But until such a time came it he intended to do whatever job the Council deemed necessary to the best of his ability.

The Knight said goodbye to the two men and stepped off the turbolift into the hanger. This part of the Temple had taken more damage then any other part save the Great Hall at the entrance to the Academy, and while it was a high priority area the damage had been so extensive that there were still signs of battle along the far wall. That didn't stop ships from docking however. The hanger was still a very busy place, crowded even given the condition of the spaceways. The only ships that were really active though were in system planet-hoppers, and atmospheric shuttles. That didn't stop those pilots stranded here from working on thier ships though. Many used the forced shore-leave to overhaul their engines and shields from the ground up, and such work was messy to say the least.

Ptolemy peered around an engine housing looking for the person he was supposed to escort. The aid hadn't been very clear on who it was he was supposed to be looking for, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out. Any newcomer would look clean. He scanned the hanger for anything out of the ordinary, and ended up missing the person twice because, one, he wasn't clean, and two, he had Jedi robes on, even if they were modified a bit. It took him a few more minutes to realize it was someone he knew. His hair had changed, and his outfit had many new add-ons, but there was only one Chiss he had ever met that was a Jedi as well, "Sarus?"

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Sarus set the Luck down gently, or as gently as it could be set down given how long it had gone without maintenance. Something Cin was quick to comment on, "I've been in ships under fire that didn't jostle that much." She said as she stood and walked back to the living quarters. The Chiss would have argued with her, but he didn't because he actually had taken hits that weren't that rough. And the fact that it hadn't phased him at first wasn't a good sign, it would be best to schedule some maintenance for her before he took off again. He didn't want the hull to depolarize if he had to go through an ion storm.

The Force Warrior flipped a few switches, waited, then kicked the console, and was rewarded with the chime signaling a complete power down, then grabbed his datapad and lightsabers from the emergency compartment and stood. He didn't expect any trouble from anyone inside the Temple, but he had learned quickly at the outset of the war to never go out unarmed. Back along the corridor Cin was waking the rest of the True Masters from their hibernation trance, each coming about slowly before reeling from some unseen force. Maybe I should get the old girl cleaned while I'm at it, he thought to himself as he squeezed by and hit the panel to drop the ramp.

When the door opened he was immediately assaulted by familiar sights, sounds, and smells. The hanger hadn't always been a familiar place to him, but he'd learned to love them when he got the Luck. To any seasoned spacer they represented a welcome relief from the day-to-day monotony of starship travel, and a haven from the brutality of space. The hanger here was no different, although it was a lot busier then normal, but not because of in and outbound flights. Many of the ships lay in different states of assembly, and the people around them weren't happy to be out of them, but eager to back outside. It created an unusual atmosphere.

"I've seen less tension on hyperdrive housings then is in this room," Forge commented grogily.

"Indeed," Kettch said, "it wouldn't be very hard to insight a riot if one were so inclined."

"Let's try to avoid that shall we gentlemen?" Monk replied, chipper.

"What he's trying to say is: 'We'll gut you if you try,'" Tsubasa added with a smile.

Cin came up beside him, eyes rolling, "Compared to these four I almost relish the conversation time I have with you."

"Back-handed as always I see," Sarus rubbed his eyes in exhaustion, "I suggest you and the other True Masters remain silent until we're in the Council room. Forge is right about the tension, it wouldn't take much to set off this entire room, and I doubt even you could overcome this many Force users at once."

Cin looked around and nodded, "I'll inform them then. You go find our escort." The Fosh turned and walked back up the ramp.

Sarus walked down the ramp and stretched, getting the kinks out that always accompanied long hyperspace journeys. He didn't see anyone around that was particularly familiar. Sure he saw some faces that he knew he'd seen at different times throughout the Academy, but none of them were people he knew well enough that the Council would feel comfortable sending them without a description. Maybe he's not here yet. If the entire Temple is this crowded then it could take a while to make it here.

"Sarus?" A familiar voiced called out. The Chiss looked in its direction, but didn't see anyone he knew. So he reached out with the Force, feeling for familiar currents, and was surprised at what he came back with.

"Ptolemy?" Sarus called back, "Is that you old man?"

The Chiss felt something grab his ear and yank, "What did I tell you about respect?" The man said sharply finally coming out from behind the engine housing. It was both the same familiar Initiate he had befriended a year ago, and not him. Something was different but he couldn't quite.....

"You fixed your leg?" The realization finally hit him. How could he have missed that?

The Knight walked up to him and offered a hand that the Chiss gladly shook. "Yeah I got tired of dragging it around," he said with a smile, "you've got some skilled healers here."

"They come in handy at times," Sarus smiled back. "It's good to see again you my friend."

"It's good to see you as well," Ptolemy replied. "I'm still angry at you for leaving without a word to any of us, but that is a discussion for another time. Are you ready? The Council is expecting you."

"Hang on," the Force Warrior turned around and waved the Ronin over, "I've got some friends to introduce to them."

The five Masters came over, each remaining silent as asked, but all still radiating their natural feelings into the Force. It wasn't much of an improvement, but at least if they were silent they'd give off enough intimidation that the more on edge members of the Academy would be too cowd to attack outright. He turned back to Pto to see the Jedi was studying each of them in turn, most likely evaluating how much a threat they were, or that could just be his military mindset talking. "I see," the Knight finally responded, still staring at the Leader of the group, "well I can see that something will be different at the end of today, whether that is good or bad is yet to be seen."

"Yes, well I think it's best if we get moving," Sarus said hoping to get them going before Ptolemy's suspicion sparked a response. "Lead on."

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The seven managed to make their way to the Alliance Council chambers without further incident and only a few glares from members of the Academy. The Council area itself was as it always had been and was one of the few places that had remained relatively untouched by the Crusader invasion. The huge double doors still stood laid with intricate patterns depicting a uniting of two warriors in the Force, and the room beyond was still completely blocked to any outside observers.

"We're here," Pto said, more for the benefit of the True Masters then for Sarus, "the Council is waiting inside." The five men pushed into the room, and when the Chiss made no move to join them he asked, "Is something the matter?"

"No," Sarus replied, "but this isn't a meeting for our ears." Once the final Master entered the chamber the doors swung closed quickly, but silently, "You see Pto, they don't need me to do the introductions, they already know each other very well, all I'd do is get in the way."

The Knight looked at the doors, then back at the Force Warrior, and back at the doors again, "So those were the True Masters, it has been so long since I spoke with them, the positions must have changed." He looked at the Chiss, "Sarus. When did you become a Ronin?"

The Chiss' brow shot up in surprised, "I'm surprised you know that name. Not many do, and I don't recall hearing of you among the other Jedi Force Masters." He eyed the Knight carefully, "So the question is: why do you know it?"

Ptolemy sighed, "That my friend, is a rather long story, and not one for such a public venue. Follow me."

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"It all started long ago, how long I'll leave up to your imagination. I was a young man new to the Force and under the guidance of an old and powerful Jedi Master who, at the time, seemed to possess the wisdom of a hundred lives. In later years I found out that he was one of the more violent and rash Masters the order had, but he had years I didn't, and that was all I needed to believe in him. Such are the delusions of the young and naive, but I digress.

"He began training me in the ways of the Force and the blade and it quickly became apparent to him that I had an innate affinity for the Force. So he took me in again, but this time as a Ronin Apprentice and began to accelerate my training, augmenting it with high-level techniques and difficult concepts. He never told me what it was for of course, he just said it was for the greater good and in my innocence, I believed him. Now I won't say that the training wasn't helpful, the advanced techniques gave me a greater skill with the Force in a year then most of the Knights I knew. It was very effective, but I couldn't help but feel that I had sold my soul for the power I had obtained. It felt dirty, tainted, just plain wrong, but I had faith in my Master, faith that he would never teach me anything that wasn't in my best interest.

"A few years passed and my abilities kept growing until I felt as strong as any Master. Gradually my own Master became less my idol and more my brother and comrade in the Force. I still had the highest respect for the man, but even I could feel the gap in our power closing rapidly, and so could he. He steadily increased the danger of our missions until we were doing things I had seen entire teams of Jedi try and fail at. We grew cocky, infinitely confident in our mastery of the Force. We didn't realize until it was too late that such arrogance would be our downfall.

"We were on a mission to Taris to deal with local Noble who was seeding corruption into the sector, not a particularly dangerous assignment given what we had already been through, and were walking through the upper levels when a young man bumped us. At first we didn't realize anything was wrong, which should have been our first clue that something was wrong, but the boy had managed to lift both our weapons. My Master ran off after him into the crowd moving with a swiftness I had yet to master myself. I did my best to keep up, but the stream of the crowd was working against me and it took me almost a full minute before I caught sight of them again.

"The boy was a local who had picked up a sport the Tarisians called 'parkour', which seems to be a short way of saying they could move like a Jedi around buildings and skylanes without the aide of the Force. Upon coming to the end of the walkway he had jumped off, caught a car, then jumped off three levels down and across a canyon of swift-moving speeders. My Master was still in pursuit, at some point having regained my lightsaber from the lad, and was hoping along the tops of repulsor trucks with the blade lit to deal with whatever obstacle he encountered. He was making good progress and was supremely confident in his skills so he wasn't checking his footing each time he landed and just hopping along instead. What happened next is something I will never forget and something I have yet to see happen again. He slipped, his robe caught on a speeder's not quite closed trunk and yanked his around and into the side of a repulsor truck, and whether by some amount of astoundingly bad luck, or perhaps just chalking it up to the Force actually having a sense of humor, the truck was carrying tibana gas to a local starport and my Master's lightsaber was still lit.

"Needless to say it was a spectacular explosion, incinerated anything in a 300 meter radius, my Master included. It was a shock to me, perhaps one I really did need. I became much more aware of my surroundings and began paying more attention to my Force senses. It made me question everything I had learned, gave me a true introspective look, and what I felt was not that of a Jedi. I began questioning myself, and in my desire to find justification I fell into the same trap I had when my Master had begun teaching me the ways of the Ronin.

"The True Masters heard what had happened, both of my Master's death, and my reputed strength in the Force. So they had me brought before them to test my abilities, see if I was strong enough for Knighthood, and in my despair I was all too ready to find a place for myself. I was brought in front of the True Masters and tested in every conceivable way. I passed with flying colors and was nearly a Knight when they asked me to take an oath to the Rurouni, and that was when I finally realized my mistake. The more they read, the more disgusted I became. What I had once thought to be the greatest coalition of Jedi in the Galaxy turned out to be nothing more then a bunch of stagnant old men hoarding knowledge while preaching patience, expecting protection while arguing against the very people that protected their lives. They were worse then any Jedi or Sith I had met, for at least those two know their purposes and strive for a goal. What I saw before me was neither honorable, nor wise, simply mortals too insecure and paranoid for their own good secreting away techniques to keep themselves from being overthrown or killed.

"So I left, I did not give an explanation, just an assurance that I would not divulge their secrets to one who did not already know of the order. I went back to Tatooine and started a family and from there you know the rest." Ptolemy finished taking a sip of his caf. The two were sitting in a meditation chamber enjoying a small snack as they talked. The room wasn't very large, and wasn't very private as there was still a portion of wall missing, albeit it was covered in construction material so it was still better then just standing around. The room had six walls, tan, with a brown border running parallel to the floor, and six cushions for people to use although the number of people in a single room rarely got that many people at once. The floor was made from Ithorian oak and had miraculously remained intact despite the attack a year earlier. The two men were sitting beside each other on the seats farthest in.

Sarus took a bite from a ration pack and looked at the Knight, "Your story is much like my own. Kami was one of the Ronin, a Jedi Blade Master according to Cin although I suspect he was closer to a Gray. He trained me in the Force, never told me anything about RotF, but did teach me quite a few of their techniques. Whether he simply forgot to say or didn't want me to get involved I never did understand, but once I was out in the Galaxy and using what he taught me, I quickly grabbed their attention. Unlike you though, I saw it as means to an end, a way to make me stronger faster so I could be a more effective Shadow." He leaned back and stared into the ceiling meters above, "But I began to doubt them over the years as they started asking more and giving less. It's gotten worse since the outset of the war, they've been ignoring me almost entirely but still expect me to lend a hand." He shook his head, "But as much as I would like to debate the merit of such a system with you, we do need their help now."

"Well you managed to do the impossible and got those five to actually give help to someone besides themselves," the Knight's eyes unfocused as he remembered his last meeting with them, "but I still can't shake this feeling."

"What feeling?"

"That we're making a deal with the devil."

Sarus finished his ration and flung the wrapper into a corner, "They're not that bad, yet. And not to be too grim here, but do you really think we can win without a boost in both troops and coordination?"

"I do actually," Ptolemy replied, "Dusk is using his troops wastefully. If he keeps wagging war this way then he will lose, it's only a matter of time. No what bothers me isn't the attacks, it's what's missing afterward. Many Academies have reported missing tomes holding darkside energy and even some Sith artifacts. At first I put it down to raiding, but now...."

"What are you saying?" The Chiss asked his full attention now directed at the Knight.

"What if this entire war is just a clever ruse hiding some deeper purpose?" The man suggested, "It wouldn't be the first time in history that people have started a war so that their actions would be masked."

"The real question is if it matters," Sarus responded, "sure those people used the war to mask their actions, but is what they did as bad as what the war itself did to the Galaxy?" The Force Warrior layed down, "I mean sure, the First Clone Wars resulted in the near extinction of the Jedi, but was the Galaxy really worse off then it had been during the war? For most of the citizens in the Galaxy, life didn't change when the Republic became the Empire, and didn't change when the Empire became the Republic again, but their lives did change while those wars were being waged. Our duty as Jedi is first and foremost to protect the citizens of the Galaxy, no matter what it costs us. Dusk's machinations can wait."

"I am not so sure myself," Ptolemy replied. "What he has planned may be far worse for the Galaxy then any war."

A silence descended on them as each considered the other's argument. Sarus knew his own argument held the most water when looked at logically, even events bad for the Jedi didn't always negatively effect populace to any significant level, but war would always destabilize governments and economies so stopping that always came as a priority. Even so, he had to admit, he was getting a bad feeling about Dusk's movements too. He couldn't act without knowledge, but he could at least keep his eye out for anything suspicious. "There's something that bugs me Pto," Sarus began hoping the new line of conversation would alleviate both their grim feeling, "how did you figure out that those were the True Masters if you've never seen those people before?"

"Oh that," he said with a grin, "it was deductive reasoning. You've been gone for over a year so odds are you wouldn't bring back just any Master to meet with the Council, it would have to be a group of Masters very difficult to find or convince. Likewise you said they already knew each other, which meant that the Council is, or had been part of another organization at some point, and most of the Council has only ever been here, it was easy to deduce that it had to be a current group. So secret group, plus long search time, plus familiarity, equals only one answer that I know of: RotF. From there it was no great stretch to assume you were a Ronin as well, otherwise they wouldn't have even looked at you, much less followed you here."

Sarus smiled, "Clever. You would have made an excellent Jedi Shadow."

"I have, in the past." The Knight chuckled, then grew serious, "If only I could do something as helpful now," his fist tightened into a ball, "but I'm stuck on this damnable planet light-years from my son, playing librarian while there's a war being waged."

The Chiss sat up, "I thought you had a ship."

He laughed, but the man's laugh had no mirth to it, "For all the good that does me. With the collapse of the GA, and the lack of Jedi presence in the Galaxy due to the war leaves the space lanes a dangerous place. Pirates are running rampant all over this sector make travel dicey at best, add to that gravity mines on both sides of the conflict that have enough power to total any non-capital class vessel that falls into their vicinity, and the Crusader's random incursions into our territory and you quickly figure out that if you want to go anywhere you need either a warship or a stealth fighter. The Dawn Treader wouldn't last a second, and I can't well help my son if I'm dead now can I?"

"There may be something I can do to fix that," Sarus stood and reached out his hand to Ptolemy, "come on. I've done all I can to help JvS for now." He put on a lop-sided grin, "And I'm a sucker for father-son reunions."

Kelrock waited as the ship was landing, and just stared at the landing ramp, waiting for it to lower. He calmly awaited the entrance. While he knew the shipyard wasn’t heavily defended, he also knew it wouldn’t be defenseless. His team was at his side, this wasn’t a blue milk run. Crusaders were aboard the shipyard. And subtly would be a necessity. Better to kill without setting off the alarm, which would only make things uglier. To his left stood a Jedi Councilor by the name of Hero and to his right stood a Jedi Sentinel by the name of SoulCast. The three would take a shipyard by themselves with no backup, clear the defenses allowing the techs to come in, then hunt down every last crusader on the shipyard. Not a word was spoken between the three, all of which were at a immense skill level, there was a eerie feeling looming about, and they weren’t going in without Baz on the comlink, who was still uploading the floor plans.

Finally they heard a click in there earpiece: “Your clear, and in hanger three, you should probably have about average contacts, not to much to worry about, but enough that you should expect an alarm, so kill fast, then sprint to the exit. If you make it threw before everything goes on lockdown this will be a cakewalk. Ill give you directions from there. Your green. GO!” Instantly the landing ramp shot out and the door opened, the first thing they saw was eight crusaders who were clearly wondering why a landing craft is in there shipyards, or acting like it. But the looks on there face weren’t taking questions, they were killing. Anyone who walked out of the craft.

“Hero take the 3 on the right, Soul, three on the left. Ill go down the middle. BREAK!” The three were off. Taking a sprint Hero ignited his staff and took off in a flurry using Ataru sweeping the first crusader before he could start to lift his saber to block. The next two took a step block and readied themselves. However the second was instantly cut down where he stood, the third went in for a strike as Hero ducked and spun his staff cleaving the crusader in two. He turned to see SoulCast finishing off his three in about the same time. Then the two moved in to help out Kelrock, who clearly got the upper level of security. He was in a Djem-So form, pushing the two back, however was yet to find an opening for a kill. And was forced to keep pressing them until the other two were done, and had them almost pressed against the wall when the councilor and sentinel came in like lighting and ripped the two apart before they understood what happened.

Kelrock touched his ear: “Hanger bay clear, no alarm.” and a few seconds later was answered: “Music to my ears, proceed down the left corridor, that will avoid the other hanger rooms, expect the few people passing by, kill them before they cal shout. That should’ve been the hardest part, proceed to the control room of the hangers, end of the left corridor. Escort a tech. He should be able to disable the defenses a lot faster than explaining it to you three.” Kelrock waved his arm to the left tunnel. They split as he responded: “On it.” The Trio was down the corridor with no enemy in sight. The control room would be as simple as escorting the single tech who was the only one in the same ship as them. He kept a face pace as they ran down, killing the occasional unlucky crusader who popped his head into the hallway. Fortunately they were only two hangers away from the control room, which could’ve been a lot longer and more dangerous. “Almost there, ill go clear the control room, you two cover the tech.”

The guardian used the force to sense how many crusaders were in the control room, fortunately for him, there were only three. Two towards the end and one closer to the door, he started planning out what he was going to do, take the first one out silently- The door opened. A crusader apparently had to go report to someone, whatever the reason, Kelrock instinctively sliced him before he could react and then ran in throwing his saber at the far crusader and throwing an uppercut at the closer crusader, shattering his jaw. Both fell to the ground silently. He walked called his saber back, which fortunately did minimal damage to the console systems. Then backed out the door and motioned for them to come in. The tech instantly went to work. Speaking over his shoulder as he did so: “Uhh. You guys arn’t gonna like the sound of this, I can slice in, and disable everything needed to. But there gonna know where I’m slicing from and your going to have to defend this room until I’m done, and they wont wait patiently.” Kelrock looked at Hero as he tapped his ear: “Baz you get that?”

“Yea, this is gonna be tough, your only shot is bottlenecking them right as they enter the room, you should expect one or two in a few seconds, then after that they will group and attack, in probably clusters of six or seven, this will get ugly fast, hopefully that tech of yours is good enough to get his job done in a couple of minutes, the more roadblocks, the more rag dolls. Good luck, im afraid the three of you might need it this time.” The link went silent.

The three looked at each other and instantly fanned out around the door. Kelrock taking center, giving the staff and dual users more room to use there sabers and still keep the bottleneck. As soon as they were in place the door blasted open, Kelrock barely caught it in midair as he sent it hurly back at the two crusaders, crushing them underneath its weight. “Well, this is gonna be a long two minutes.” Hero smiled as he ignited his staff. Peering down the corridor there seemed to be crusaders flooding from everywhere. In reality it was only two or three from each area, but the effect was intimidating, and would probably ensue panic in any less experienced fighters, the aura was chilling even to the specialists. The first three ran threw the gap and towards Kelrock, completely oblivious of the sentinel and councilor. Right when they cleared the gap the two struck out and killed the three. Now it was a matter of holding the space.

Knowing they would tire, eventually be overwhelmed, they believed they could keep up the bottleneck. 7 crusaders smashed threw the improvised wall made by the former door which was being held up threw the force by the three, instantly they were upon them, hacking and slashing as they were being blocked and parried, the three took very minor injuries from the first wave, it was over in a flash though. The bottleneck was working well enough to make it impossible for the crusaders to fight effectively, they were slashing themselves and reaching out to the three. Killing each other dropping about a third of each wave from friendly sabers. “Ima try to trigger a partial lockdown to avoid them from sending reinforcements, there cant be that many crusaders here, but there’s more than I want to have you all fight at once. So hear me out, Bazerial. Im redirecting tibanna gas into the ventilation around the area they're in, then have them take out the remaining forces once the explosion finishes.” The general responded via Kelrocks comlink. “Dangerous. It will work, but the explosion will take out the corridor, which forces you into hanger one, your cut off from hanger three, im telling that pilot to move to hanger one now. Hes no good cut off from you. Do it, do it now.”

“You heard the man, theres gonna be fireworks coming soon.” Kelrock turned to the slicer. Waves kept coming towards the specilists, but they weren’t in there league, cutting each other and the blaster fire from the techs was being deflected back into the mass of crusaders. “Few more minutes guys, they will be toast in a few minutes.” Kelrock was reassuring his team. “This is gonna cause minor damage to the shipyard, but it wont destroy, and it will still be worth taking.” Just as he finished another eight crusaders busted threw the door. Hero went to work with his staff curling it in a defensive fashion forcing a few of there sabers up as Kelrock sliced them in two. SoulCast was imitating the same tactic with two sabers, using the right to force the block up and left to kill. This motion worked flawless since the start. The simple tactic was tought for desprate situations to hold out for as long as possible killing as many as possible with no hope of reinforcements, safety in obedience.

“LIGHTS OUT!” The slicer yelled. The corridor instantly exploaded from a few token ignited sabers, the tibanna gas was lit by a light saber. It was all over at that point, there were only twelve left on the control rooms side of the rubble. The trio pressed forward, pinning them against the rubble and hopelessly vanquishing them. Kelrocks comlink started going off. “Hanger one, get there now, the pilots in trouble!”

‘You remember the modifications I made to Just my Luck in our last mission together?’ Saraus asked pulling Ptolemy to his feet

‘You did the same to the Chikita as I recall.’ Ptolemy nodded grabbing his staff from against the wall

Sarus nodded ‘Most shield generators can take that modification, Drops your shield strength by close to 40% but they cannot hit what they cannot see’

The Human and the Chiss walked on in silence for a while each lost in their own thoughts. The silence punctuated by short bursts of conversation about how things had bee over the past year and the events leading up to the True Masters travelling with Sarus to the JvS Enclave.

The unlikely pair arrived in the hangar and started toward The Dawn Treader and Ptolemy raised his arm and the ramp started to lower to allow passage in to the ship. At 55 meters long The Dawn Treader was not a small ship. There was room for a small shuttle aft and still could carry 100 metric tnnes of cargo and 10 passengers comfortably the retractable weapons systems and hidden missile launchers did nothing to mar the sleek lines of the Horizon Class Yacht. Like thousands of star yachts that cruised the galaxy, the The Dawn Treader was built around a sturdy frame that was fairly wide at the engines and tapered off until it reached the narrow, triangular cockpit toward the nose of the ship.

When Ptolemy got her on Narr Shada she had been locked and sitting on a landing bay for almost 3 months and no one had been able to breach the security system. For a force sensitive it was a relatively simple thing to bypass the system and find the latch on the inside of the ship that lowered the ramp. Ptolemy had paid 5,000 Credits for the opportunity to take possession and another 15,000 for the ‘back docking fees’ but even at 20,000 credits the ship had been a steal. Of course the T’wilek that had been “selling” the chance to possess the ship had not expected to loose it. Ptolemy was able to “convince” the being that the ship was not worth his life and so The Dawn Treader had a new master.

The Dawn Treader was powered by two Ion Engines mounted on outriggers out side of a second set of outriggers that were Cargo pods. There had been some modifications made over the last year, made in hopes of making the craft solid enough to make the trip coreward and back to his son’s side. The Military grade shielding and heavier armor was a definite improvement over the original specifications but it was not enough to stand the stresses that would tear apart a capital ship. Add to that the tweaking the Ptolemy was able to get done to the Hyperdrive, she would make .5 over light speed. Though there were still some surprises that Ptolemy had installed “just in case”.

‘She is a Beautiful ship’ Sarus said. ‘A little big for my taste,’

‘Yes I know, You like to ride in coffins with engines,’ Ptolemy Chuckled. ‘I have made some modifications since you saw her last.’

‘I can see the Shield Generator has Changed’ Sarus nodded as he ducked up the ramp.

‘An improved auto pilot and Nav computer means I can pilot this thing by myself from the command couch.’ Ptolemy pointed out with some pride ‘Course I will always need the asrtromech droid and the targeting computer can be autonomous if needs be.’

The pair walked through the Common room and down a passage to the engine room. Ptolemy pointed out the maintenance panel for the shield generators. Sarus Sat down, punched up the schematics and whistled.

‘This is Gomer,’ Ptolemy said pointing to the barrel shaped droid plugged in to the Treaders Hyperdrive. He is a droid that came with the Ship. ‘He handles most of the maintenance.’

The droid whistled and beeped in their direction and turned the dome around on the top of the barrel that was his body. The droid disconnected from the Hyperdrive and rolled over to the shield maintenance console and plugged in there.

‘These are Mil grade.’ Sarus said appreciatively ‘even at the 60% power this mod will leave you with, you will still have more shield than a ship this size normally has.’

‘I had the Engines upgraded to handle the extra power demands’ Ptolemy said clapping Sarus on the shoulder. ‘Wouldn’t do to have to shut down the refreshers because I needed more power…’

‘Haha…’ Sarus said, taking the ribbing good naturedly. ‘With five extra people on the Luck I was pushing the power cells and the life support was working harder as well, which reminds me, I need to get maintenance done on The Luck before she deserts me.’

Sarus knelt and popped a floor panel and got to work rerouting some of the systems to reconfigure the shields into a crude, but effective, cloaking device. The small talk continued through out as the friends caught up after a year apart and the next hour flew by with Ptolemy asking questions and Sarus giving round about answers. The conversation turned to what positions Ptolemy had filled over that last few months. The whole conversation was intermixed with whistles and growls from Gomer.

‘Do not get me started,’ Ptolemy exclaimed waving a hand in front of him in a dismissive gesture. ‘My propensity to scour reports was noticed and put to work, Soon I was spending more time in the Archives than I was in training to keep my skills honed. My true skills are wasted here.’

‘Don’t sugar coat it,’ Sarus chuckled, ‘tell me how you really feel!’

‘You do not want to hear it,’ Ptolemy said with disgust ‘no one on this armpit wants to hear it. While keeping me mentally sharp, the time spent in the archives has dulled my combat ability.’

‘You are more of a manipulator anyway,’ Sarus pointed out closing the floor hatch and standing ‘Combat was something you wanted to avoid as I recall’

‘True’ Ptolemy admitted ‘but with Aragorn out on the front lines, if I am to be there by his side I need to be able to fight.’

Silence once again fell like a blanket between the friends and Sarus turned and opened a panel on the wall, made a couple of changes and closed the panel again. Sarus turned back to the maintenance panel for the shields and punched up an updated schematic and nodded. Gomer beeped and groaned causing Sarus to look again he frowned and updated the schematic again and then typed briefly on the key board.

‘You are good to go,’ Sarus said with a satisfied grin ‘how long will it take for you to be ready to go?’

‘I have been living on this ship for the last 6 months,’ Ptolemy said grimly putting his comlink in a pocket of his robe. ‘The council will be informed of my departing when they are done with their current business.’

‘That may take hours,’ Sarus said ‘I need to get maintenance scheduled for The Luck and I will be ready to go.’

“Will your friends not need a ride back to where they came from?’ Ptolemy asked

‘If they do, it will not be me that takes them’ Sarus said ‘Besides, I have never traveled in such luxury.’

It had been close to an hour since the modifications of the The Dawn Treader’s shields were complete. Ptolemy had settled into the command couch and went through a thorough pre flight,

‘Should be enough time for Sarus to tie up the loose ends and get back with his gear.’ Ptolemy said to no one inparticular.

The familiar monotony of the preflight check was soothing to Ptolemy. It meant that he would soon be with his boy again. He had spent to long looking for Aragorn to loose him in a manor such as this. There was a whine of servos as Sarus closed the ramp and sealed the ship up for transit. There had been no reaction from the council to his leaving but they knew he would be meeting up with his son as soon as he was able. Sarus entered the cockpit, settled into the Copilot seat and continued the preflight from that side of the bridge.

‘All Green across the board’ Sarus reported scanning the indicators before him.

‘Take us out Mr Cloud.’ Ptolemy said as he worked the controls on his side retracting landing gear on hover.

Sarus backed the ship from the hanger bay, spun the ship on it’s horizontal axis and accelerated away from JvS. The Dawn Treader accelerated through the atmosphere and into space the blue of the sky slowly turning to black velvet. Ptolemy Spared a moment to look at the starts seeming to swim in the inky blackness that was space. He turned his attention back to the NavPuter and punched in the coordinates Things battle group.

‘Coordinates in,’ Ptolemy said watching the readout on the Navputer as it ran through several scenarios and settled on the best solution. The Console beeped that the course was set and Ptolemy pushed the Drive levers forward and the Black of space dissolved in to the kaleidoscope of Hyperspace.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Lance Geron was not force sensitive, That was both a blessing and a curse. It was through hard work and repeatedly showing the ability he had to interpret intelligence and compile reports that, were not only a little easier to read, were right on in their analysis. This talent allowed him to move out of a combat role and in to more of a supporting role. His passion for the job never waned and he always did everything he could to get information into the right hands. The fact that he was a loner and had no friende made the choice easy. Even on the Aardvark everyone was armed incase of borders or an attack from the inside. Those didn’t happen often but they did and most of them are detected and stopped quickly. If a droid was able to feel emotion, Jax would have been happy that his murder of Commander Geron was not detected.

After gaining access to the Aardvark, An Aging Star Destroyer pressed service a couple of years ago Jax had worked as a protocol droid for close to two months observing and compiling a simulation of Geron. His quick attack and dispatch of the Commander from the intelligence group was necessary to the beginning of facilitating communications and the end of the resistance to his master Dusk Twilight. Over the last year Dusk had made some enhancements to Jax’s frame and systems, namely the addition of ‘PROXY’ Style holo projectors at his joints and across his chest allowed Jax to assume the appearance of anyone he could scan and his upgraded Intelligence and vocalizer he could impersonate anyone almost perfectly.

At first it was the ability to pass information to Dusk that prompted the change Commander Geron. Then there was an unforeseen perk to assuming the position. Unit make up and the decision of who goes to what unit was handled through his office so when people were reassigned or moved around it was actually Jax that made that decision. As a result some of the prime targets listed by Dusk were assigned those that were weak or inexperienced in the force. Aragorn was one and thing was another. Thing rarely left the bridge of the Balance but Aragorn was constantly in the field. This was a fact that made him vulnerable to falling to Dusk. The transmissions from Dusk had indicated that the last raid was successful in more than one capacity and ordered him to perform the duties as long as possible. The Hologram the Jax was projecting over himself grinned because that is what Jax thought a human would do when they got good news.

Thing sat on the bridge of the newest flag ship of the JvS Fleet Aardvark. The planet Zeltros hovered like a huge multi colored ball suspended in space. The planet was a multi colored and blotched as it’s storied past. Possessing a temperate climate, a breathable atmosphere and I propensity to throw a party at the drop of a hat the planet was a popular vacation spot boasting diversions for people of all tastes and socioeconomic groups. Thing chuckled as he considered the defenses of the planet, Not that they were weak because they were not but, the strong ground forces were rarely used or even needed. Over 600 years the planet had been invaded 12 times. Three of them, between 3 and 4 BBY, were almost successful.

Of those three, the first was an invasion by the insectile Hiromi, who succeeded in taking over a large kitchen in the royal palace (arguably because the Zeltrons didn't notice, or didn't care), before being interrupted by a successful invasion by the nearly emotionless Nagai, who were interrupted by a third invasion of the Tofs, their natural enemies, resulting in the Nagai (and the Hiromi) allying with the others on Zeltros (including several notable Alliance and Imperial members) to drive the Tofs back, resulting in one of the largest parties in history, no mean feat by Zeltron standards.

Thing went back to studying the maps and data being displayed on the datapad he was holding. He knew something was not right. The intel that had been digested was not adding up. He looked up irritated as a warning beacon began to flash. There was a ship exiting hyperspace in the sector. The level of tension on the bridge and the ship went through the roof until the Comstation crackled to life.

‘This is The Dawn Treader requesting vector to dock.

‘Hold position Dawn Treader and prepare to transmit access codes’ The com officer said in the microphone on his station. His finger on the emergency alert stud ‘Authenticate “Jango Charley six six” transmit now’

There was a short pause, ‘transmitting codes now’ the comstation crackled again.

The Com Officer watched his screen and relaxed, moving his hand. ‘ Dawn Treader approach vector alpha to hanger bay 4. vector uploading to your Navputer now. Welcome to hell’

That earned a chuckle from those nearby and an amused glance from Dray who had just entered the bridge.

‘Dray! Good to see you!’ Thing jumped up and grabbed Dray’s shoulders ‘I see this is not a social call.’

Dray nodded grimly ‘I wish this was under better circumstances. Is there somewhere private we can talk’

Thing looked at the security officer, ‘Mr F’ten show the pilot and passenger of that ship to my ready room when they land.’

‘Yes sir!’ The Twi'lek said as he saluted.

‘Mr F’ten’ Thing said ‘See to it your self’

‘Yes sir’ the Twi'lek answered a bit confused

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

There was a slight bump as The Dawn Treader docked with The Aardvark. Ptolemy relaxed for a moment and the rose from the command couch and stretched. He walked back to the commons and opened the hatch and asked permission to board.

There was a Violet skinned Twi'lek waiting on them. He was a bit tall for a Twi'lek, dressed in a tan uniform of a crewman, a holstered blaster on his right hip, a lightsaber on his left and the pips of a Sr. Commander on his collar.

‘Gentlemen, I am Commander F’ten, chief of security,’ he said ‘General Thing has requested you join him in his ready room.’

Ptolemy nodded ‘That’s who I need to see anyway…’

The corridors of the star destroyer were grey with little to tell you where you are going. The Twi'lek knew where he was going and soon they were ushered in to Thing’s ready room.

‘The damage that has been done cannot be ignored.’ Dray was saying ‘I think Ara may have been sent into a trap.’

‘What do you mean!?’ Ptolemy asked ‘What Trap?’

‘Aragorn was ordered to take a team to Ziost to take that temple back.’ Thing said grimly ‘I did not send him and no one seems to know who did, I would not have sent such a small and inexperienced team into that situation.’

‘I have intercepted transmissions between what seems to be a droid here to Crusader space.’ Dray said ‘The new comarray on my ship was designed for counter intel and since I am acting as a scout these days… I was in the right place at the right time.’

‘Aragorn left here three days ago to take that Temple back.’ Thing continued ‘The last communication we had was they had landed and were beginning the operation. I was not informed until after the fact.’

‘I was doing research on that temple before I came here.’ Ptolemy said, ‘ I will go and see what is happening on Ziost and bring what is left back here. When did you receive that transmission from Aragorn?’

’36 Hours ago’ Thing said as he looked at his datapad.

Ptolemy leaned back against a wall and closed his eyes. The pain of possibly loosing the son he had just found almost radiating from him. He took a deep breath and reached out with the force. Feeling the ship he was on, recognizing the Treader feeling the ships around him creating a beacon of force. Ptolemy gathered his strength and extended his arm in the direction of Ziost, trusting the Force that it was the right direction and willing a projection of force awareness in that direction. He stood that way for a moment and then straightened.

‘Ara is alive’ Ptolemy said with conviction, ‘I will make haste to get him and bring him back here.’

‘Let me send some men with you.’ Thing started

‘No,’ Ptolemy said quickly, ‘There is no need to send more than you can spare. I will be able to leave more quickly and move faster alone. Seems you have a spy to track down as it is’

Thing nodded ‘May the Force be with you.’

“I will stay with Dray and discover this spy.’ Sarus said. ‘If we can find who or what it is we may be able to work this to our advantage.’

Ptolemy nodded and turned and left the room. The silence was almost deafening as he made his way back to where The Dawn Treader was docked. His mind was already occupied with the trip. I would take about 12 hours to get there and the hours would stretch in to eternity or would seem to. Ptolemy Ducked through the docking hatch and slapped the release that closed the hatch and disengaged the docking clamps. The ship’s speed and vector were matched to The Aardvark so there was no danger unless they moved and with the proximity sensors the Treader would match vector with the larger ship.

Ptolemy stepped onto the bridge and settled in to the command couch performing a quick preflight and punching in the coordinates for the trip to Ziost. Ptolemy key the comsystem.

‘Dawn Treader request vector for departure.’ Ptolemy said in to the comm.

‘Request granted for Priority departure granted.’ A voice came over the speaker ‘Good Luck and may the Force be with you.’

Ptolemy fired the thrusters edging away from the star destroyer. When the ships were far enough apart he accelerated on a course to clear the fleet and make the jump to lightspeed. Ptolemy flew around ships and dodged fighters that were on patrol. Finally clear Ptolemy double checked the coordinates entered in the navputer and pressed the button to set course. In short order the device chimed and Ptolemy pushed the levers for the hyperdrive forward and the inky black of space dissolved into the cacophony of hyperspace.

Ptolemy routed the audio alarm to the common room and walked back and reclined on the sofa there. The common room on the ship was luxuriously appointed Dark woods on the walls, plush flooring and comfortable Bantha hide furniture. Drink dispensers on the walls would dispense any thing from Aitha to a Reactor Core. Reclined on the sofa, Ptolemy closed his eyes and began to meditate.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Ziost was just as desolate a hell hole that was described in the archives only worse. Ptolemy looked out at the icy landscape getting closer bearly visible through the blowing snow. It had been a simple task to zero in on the becon on the landing craft that was used to get the team down on the planet and follow it to the grounded ship. Ptolemy brought The Dawn Treader to a hover and touched down next to the ship. He stepped out into the cold and sealed the ship up leaving the cloak on. That way a mag scan would not show the ship. The hair on the back of Ptolemy’s neck stood on end as he passed through the ships shield and started walking toward the badly damaged temple.

It must have been magnificent once a pyramid a full 4 stories tall. Ptolemy knew from his research that there were two floors in the pyramid that were in use and then the archives in the basement. There were many dark artifacts in the bowels of the temple but that was not why he was here. There was a dark aura around the temple and, truth be known, the planet for that matter. The construct ahead seemed to be cut from solid pieces of obsidian the perimeter of the temple was dotted with the ruins of towers at regular intervals. These were the remains of the defenses that were completely destroyed. Ptolemy reached out as he walked there was only a couple of living beings in the temple and many bodies.

The steps up to the entrance of the were more or less in one piece so Ptolemy placed his staff on the first step with a tap and started up the wide stairs. At the top there was a young Jedi that Ptolemy did not recognize the insignia on his robe indicated that he was from JvS. Ptolemy gently probed the young Jedi and did not like what he felt. The Jedi launched himself from the top step igniting his saber as he jumped. Ptolemy gripped the jedi and slammed him to the ground at the foot of the steps. The jedi struggled to rise screaming at the old man. Ptolemy formed a bubble around the man’s nose and mouth suffocating him, the young Jedi knight struggled for a moment and was still. Ptolemy approached the Jedi and made sure he was out and still alive. He bound the mans arms and feet behind his back before turning up the stairs again.

At the top of the stairs Ptolemy could hear the hum and clash of lightsaber combat. He ran up the last few stairs and walked into a horrific sight. There were dozens of dead some by blaster most by lightsaber in the middle of it Aragorn was engages with another Jedi from JvS. This one Ptolemy recognized as Vedis. The fight had been going on for a while as the cuts in the floor and walls were many and Aragorn seemed to be exausted. Ptolemy didn’t hesitate and launched a push at Vedis. The attack caught him by surprise and knocked him into the wall. Ptolemy held him there as Aragorn slumped to his knees,the pain washing over him like the tears streaming down his face. Ptolemy rendered Vedis unconscious in a similar manor as he did the Jedi outside then knelt in front of Aragorn.

‘Why?’ Aragorn Asked physically shaking ‘Why would they send me out here with a bunch of kids?’

‘Son you were sent into a trap.’ Ptolemy gathered his son into a hug. ‘There is an imposter in the command structure.’

They knelt in the middle of the carnage for a while until the wind could be heard out side.

‘We need to get going.’ Ptolemy said, ‘There is a couple of Jedi that we need to try to help and to do that we need to get moving.’

Aragorn Nodded and got up from the floor. He walked over to where Vedis lay and bound him while Ptolemy walked out side and down the stairs he pulled his beck and call from a pocket of his robe and punched in the access code. The light went from red to green. Ptolemy then levitated the young Jedi to the top of the stairs. Ptolemy placed his hand upon the brow of the Jedi and closed his eyes. He delved deeply into the man’s mind pushing deeper and seeing what damage had been done. Ptolemy placed him in a deep sleep. He could hear the whine of the The Dawn Treader’s engine approaching. He stood and went inside to check on Ara.

Aragorn met him on the way out with Vedis over his shoulder.

‘Looks like our ride is here’ Ara said trying to keep his emotions together.

Ptolemy nodded as ‘The Dawn Treader set down at the foot of the stairs. He touched the head of Vedis and placed the sleep command on him as well.

‘That will keep them both out till they can get to JvS’ Ptolemy said as he Wrapped the other Jedi in a force bubble to levitate him in to the ship.

Once the unconscious Jedi were set and comfortable in the state rooms, Ptolemy and Aragorn prepped ‘ The Dawn Treader for flight. Ptolemy could sense the turmoil with in his son. He could not fathom what he went through there and ending up fighting your own brothers to the death is not a good experience. Add to that the fact that these were people you were supposed to protect and you have an experience that can tear you apart.

“we can work through that when we get back.” Ptolemy thought as they went through a shortened preflight. With all indicators green, he applied power and ‘The Dawn Treader lifted off and they rocketed back to the JvS fleet.

Thing proceeded down the crowded corridor aboard the flagship, where people walked up n down, organized ants in the midst of a galaxy wide war, with no time for second thoughts. Thing walked hastily, with his two fellow jedi following close behind him, ever so alert to their surroundings and the people around them, looking in all corners for any suspicious actions. Looking for predators, hunters. In this case, a hunter. One who could wear any disguise at any time. One whom Dray had been playing hide n seek with for the past two months.

Jax's holographic emitters allowed him to create an image of anyone he wanted, hiding him from all eyes, and allowing him entrance into any place. But as much as he worked to become invisible, he was unable to hide the absence of a life energy. The absence of the Force. And Dray was a master of the living Force. A few months back, the Allied Forces gave Dray the task to hunt down a spy who had been causing mayhem in a defensive compound, in a planet he was flying close to. He tracked the ellusive spy's ship running away from the planet, and so Dray has been chasing him ever since.

The Jedi looked around, probing into the Force, feeling the beings around them, and crossing the information with his eyes, looking for someone he could see, but could not feel. So far, they had sensed nothing, but it would be hard for any Jedi, even for Dray, to analize everyone they saw, since the frenzy of battle had turned the ship into a cluster of people. For now they could only hold their defenses together.

Thing finally arrived at a door wich slid open as he approached it, and signaled his friends to enter, following them, and closing the door behind him. The room before them was dark, with blue background lights giving minimum lighting. In the middle of the room, a table with white backlight enabled for planning and analizing with confort. The room was small, so it was not a major control room in the ship, probably a side room for scientists and researchers to analize information received without urgency. Thing knew the room had no communication systems or cameras, so they could talk here without the walls having ears...

"We're safe here then?" asked Dray, analizing the room looking for suspicious items and tracking devices, a practice he had become accostumed to do since he started chasing the widely reknowned "Dusk's left hand".

"Yes, this room has no external connection whatsoever. No one can hear us."

"Well then, i guess we can breathe a bit now...So, mr Dray Kury So...long time no see my friend. Its good to see you."

"Its good seeing familiar faces too, Sarus. Its been too long. I hope you havent been slacking around, not helping the war. You know, the usual lazy Sarus."

"Me? Slacker? Preposterous. Im not the one who went buy a peachy new super commando ship and crew just for himself"

"You're just jealous." Dray said with a grim.

Thing jumped in and asked "Where is this new ship by the way? You never showed it to any of us, you left for commando work so quickly.."

"Its parked outside. Cloaked of course. Not promising our intruder doesnt know im here thou, anything is possible at this time. Ill show you the ship after we deal with this little problem."

"It has very little about it Dray. He can cripple the whole ship before we even notice it. Its imperative we know what his next step is. So tell us what your knowledge is, and maybe we three can coordinate a defense against this. I want to know what his objectives are, what his capabilities are, and what his methods are. Then i can analize weaknesses to help us out."

Dray approached the table, and leaned on it with both his hands. The other two approached the table as well, and he started saying what was needed to be said.

"You both are familiar with Jax back a year ago and you have the basic idea of what he can do. Now what you dont know is the new protocols Dusk installed in him. He aims better, hes faster, and he has a new platting. I dont think its lightsaber resistant, but i havent had the chance to test it myself unfortunately...either way, he should fall easily in a fight. Provided one thing...that he doesnt attack first. If we become a hinder, a problem to his plans, and he finds a chance, he will kill us. Me, he will attempt on sight to kill, you two he may let go since he hasnt any data on you, and since you arent trained to find him. I however have been chasing him for 2 months and he wants nothing more than to get rid of me. Now, he also has data on the ships we have. the spying was useful for him at least, and now he can maneuver as easily as we can in here."

"Well jeez, you're full of good news" retorted Thing.

"And it gets better too. He carries all time 3 weapons. A blaster, a rifle and last but not least, a disruptor. He hits you with that, even a scrape, and you are out of the fight. Hence why its imperative to catch him before he catches us. Luckily, he knows better than to start a fight in the middle of the crowd, since this is a military vessel with jedi, and he knows very well each one of them cna take him out in an instant. So in the crowd, we will be safer. The most important part is what i told in your quarters Thing. His holographic emitters."

"Yes, and as you said, we need to find him thru the Force. Its gonna be really tough spotting his voidness in the middle of all these people."

"It requires a certain coordination between your eyes and your senses. I know how to spot him easily now, so ill go to the more crowded areas. You two should head out to key structures in the ship. We can radio each other. The first part is finding him. As for how to deal with him, it wont be so easy."

Sarus stood up from the table looking distant, thoughtful, as the three laid in silence. Finally, he spoke.

"This is a highly trained droid. He does not make many mistakes. You're lucky im here Dray, since i know how most spies work. Itll be easier for us to predict his movements, and i already have an idea on what to do when we find him. However, its dangerous dealing with him alone. When we find him it wont take a long time for him to acknowledge our presence as well. So as soon as one of us finds him, or he finds one of us, radio the others and we will rush to the area. Until then keep your defenses high. Once he spots us, he WILL run and try to escape. I dunno how faster he is, but by what you said Dray, its gonna be hard to keep up with him. I know for sure of one thing he has done already."

Thing stood up "Well what is it then?"

"He has most definitly arranged for a quick way out of here. most likely a small ship, something with a hyperdrive that he has coupled to this ship. Wherever he runs thru the ship, his destination will be his escape vessel."

"You are saying he has smuggled a ship into MY starship??" Thing exclamated at the thought, frightening of what the droid had been able to do all this time, as well as what else he could be doing."

"The good part about this is that the ship is too big for him to saboutage it alone. It needs a few men and codes and authorizations to handle the engines, weapons and shields or life support. However, he may have hindered the systems. You should tell your crew in the deck to check all systems thing. He has most likely disabled security systems and other minor things, but important nonetheless.

"That little tin can is gonna get it for messing with my staff and ship."

"Oh you think your pissed? Ive been chasing this metal rod for 2 months now. Hes getting on my nerves a long time now."

"Yes well, Dray the important thing is that we mustnt lose sight of him when he tries to run. And we cant afford to use fire in the middle of the ship, its too dangerous for bystanders."

"Indeed. Its not the first time hes used this as an advantage against me. Bastard always runs to where i cant obliterate him." Dray shrugged his arms and sat on one of the chairs in the room and put his cloak over his head. His eyes were sore and tired from all the travelling, and whatever time and light he could take away to rest his eyes would be good, if nothing else, to keep focused when he was looking for Jax. Sarus and Thing were healthy, but not used to this kind of searching. They were none fully 100% prepared for this task, but they were prepared enough to do it.

"So Sarus, what strategies do we have to catch him, and still keep our heads on our shoulders?"

Sarus leaned on the table with both his hands, looking down, and looked up to Dray from across it, with a grin.

"I have a few."

Jax walked into his quarters, or to be more precise the quarters of the now deceased Lance Geron, and palmed the switch for the door and engaged the security lock to ensure no one could walk in on him by accident. He passively scanned the room making sure no one had sneaked in while he was aware and to be sure no new surveillance devices had been planted. Satisfied he was alone and unwatched he shut down his holo-projectors to conserve energy and turned on the lights.

Lance Geron had been a simple man when he was alive, he had little in the way of distractions save some questionable files on his personal datapad, and had little use for comforts. So his quarters had been barren consisting of only a bed, desk, table, and two chairs. The walls were mostly barren with only one or two pictures of his homeworld and the floor was the same standard durasteel seen throughout the ship. Had Jax been an organic he might have found this annoying and uncomfortable, but as a droid he needed only a terminal to work with and a wall plug to charge his battery stores, so he found the room more then adequate.

The droid took a seat in front of the terminal and powered the machine up to check Lance's messages. Right now he wanted nothing more then to shut down and charge for a few hours, but humans normally required a wind-down time before they could sleep so they often took such time to check their messages and on the off chance that someone was watching his log for activity he needed to keep up appearances. He had heard through the ship's scuttle-butt that Dray Kury-So was on the ship, looking for someone, and there had also been a few sightings of a Chiss walking about the ship as well. Both men were acquaintances of his master Dusk, and Dray had been tracking him for months now, had even come close to catching him a few times so he had had to take measures to avoid where the two would be and keeping tabs on their locations had been a considerable drain on his systems.

He knew he didn't have much time left before one or the other found him, Dray alone had done it several times, and Sarus' time as a Jedi Shadow would only speed how quickly they narrowed him down. By all means he should have been leaving now so he could stay ahead of them, but Dusk's orders had been clear. He was to stay and relay information until he was discovered or received new orders. It was an understandable sentiment, given the value of the position he had infiltrated, but it was also a dangerous game. If he let himself be discovered before running then the odds were very low that he could actually get away.

The assassin droid looked at the short list of messages in Lance's inbox, most of them status updates from various mission assignments, ultimately unimportant, although seeing how successful his manipulations had been gave him a sense of pride he knew he shouldn't let himself indulge in. But today there was another message, an emergency message from Thing himself. It was addressed to everyone above a certain rank so it wasn't a personal communication, but given the list of recipients it was most likely news on a major fleet action. He opened the message and scanned it's content a sensation of elation rising in his core as he finished reading it.

The message contained precise ship movements and attack patterns for the upcoming attack on Ruusan, a move whose outcome would set the course of the war for the next month and a half. If he could get this information to Dusk via the hypercomm then his master might be able to damage or even eliminate Thing's task force from the war which would be a fatal blow to the Alliance's military effort. It struck him that this might have been a clever ruse to flush him out, information so good that he couldn't afford to take the chance that it wasn't real, but it wasn't something he could help. If this information was accurate then it was worth having his cover blown, and even if it wasn't real, this gave him an opportunity to plan and execute an escape that had an actual chance of success.

Jax grabbed his datapad, reactivated his holo-projectors, and opened the door. He needed to get to a hypercomm, now. The attack was scheduled to begin in the next three days, and Dusk would need as much time as he could get. As he walked he began preparing an escape plan, just in case.

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"I hope you two are sure about this." Thing said, back to his two friends, as he looked at the screen showing fleet movements, "I dislike leaving Peppa in charge of the fleet." He turned back to see Dray and Sarus busily comparing the holo-projector to their datapads. The three of them were alone in the command salon of the Aardvark, the ship's captain having loaned it to them for as long as they needed it. The room wasn't spacious or comfortable, the lighting was barely enough to see by and the consoles looked like something straight out of a holo documentary, but it was still effective and was the only place on the ship that could monitor the entire vessel at once. "I mean do you know what happened to the last flag she had?" He asked rhetorically, "They're still trying to get all the debris out of orbit!"

"If you felt that uncomfortable with it then you should have stayed on the Balance," Dray replied irritably. "I don't know why you felt you had to come with us in the first place."

"This is my fleet," the Jedi General answered, "I'm responsible for everything that happens, good or bad. This assassin droid infiltrated my fleet and I see to it that he comes to justice for his actions, but how do we even know we're in the right place?"

"It fits the profile," Sarus responded still consulting his datapad, "it has some success, but not much. Not unusual for a ship in this war, but it also has a tendency to win easy battles and has a ton of pointless victories while maintaining virtually no success in major attacks."

"There are several ships that meet that template," Thing replied, "it's not that hard to win when the win doesn't mean anything. Likewise it's much harder when it counts."

"Yes but this ship meets one other profile," Dray said dropping his datapad and looking at the holo-projector for patterns, "it gives out more orders to Watchman and Marauder class fighters then any other ship in the fleet except for the Balance. It would make more sense to take over this ship then others. The commander here," he consulted his datapad, "Lance Geron, was a promising candidate for task force management when he first started, but a few months ago his plans began a steady decline in efficiency."

"I hope you're right," the General shifted position uncomfortable, "we only isolated this ship's communications, but that really is our battle plan for Ruusan and I really did send it as scheduled so if he's on another ship that entire attack plan will be a bust and we'll have to call it off."

"I know what's at stake Thing," Dray replied in annoyance, "I've been tracking Jax for longer then I care to think. I know that if we're wrong the attack has to be called off and we'll lose a month of planning. I know this because if Jax sees the attack's been canceled then he'll run, cause more problems, and leave me tracking him for another two kriffing months."

"Stressful isn't it?" Sarus asked, "Trying to find someone that constantly eludes you? You get used to it after a while."

"I don't want to get used to it," Dray said turning his anger to the Chiss, "and I'm starting to wonder if bringing you in is a good idea. You don't exactly have a stellar record for catching your assignments."

The Shadow shrugged, "You're right, I take far longer then I should to track my targets. It's not an easy task for anyone, but I've learned from my mistakes, so I can only improve, and with your help we should be able to make short work of Jax." He looked at the screen and frowned, "Thing how long until the first fleet action is scheduled?"

Thing looked at the chronometer on the wall, "The attack won't begin for three days, but the first movements will begin twelve hours from now."

"Does this ship have orders to under radio silence at that time?"

The General shook his head, "No, this ship will be one of those coordinating the battle so it won't be going silent at all."

"You have something?" Dray asked looking over the Chiss' shoulder.

"I'm not sure," Sarus pointed at a part of the screen showing outgoing hypercomms, "We've got a signal going to Balmorra from one Lance Geron. Balmorra is listed as his homeworld so that in itself isn't unusual, but logs indicate he read the mission report less then an hour ago. The ship isn't scheduled to go silent so it's unlikely that it's a farwell message when the battle is so far off, but more importantly Balmorra's hypercomm is within reach of Rhammamol, a library world in Crusader territory."

"That's not much to go on," the Master commented thoughtfully. "It's a string of possibilities, but we've seen dozens of hypercomms to planets that can transmit into Crusader territory."

"But this is the only one placed after the person had read their report."

"It could still just be a coincidence, we'll probably see many more in the following hours, the only remarkable thing about this is how quickly he got there. He would have had to have left as soon as he read the message."

"Then explain this," the Shadow brought up the man's log. It read like clockwork, always exactly on time for his meetings except for one or two slip ups until you got to two days ago at which point the arrival times diverged from the meeting times by a few minutes in several places. Not enough to be remarkable, but an obvious difference when looked at like this. "He starts getting erratic the day we arrive on board the ship and only when his meeting takes him close to the Command Salon."

Dray nodded, "Good enough for me." He turned to the General, "Once we start closing in on him he's gonna make a dash for the hanger bay, I need those doors sealed shut and the bulkheads leading to them locked-down, and I need those people out of the halls, now. I'm not going to lose him again because there are too many innocent people in the way."

Thing nodded, "I can call a combat drill. The hangers will be locked down and the pilots redirected to simulators while others will report to battle stations, but I suspect that will reveal that we know who he is, and if he really does have holo-emitters he could just assume a different appearance."

"Stang!" Dray swore under his breath, "No other way?"

Thing shrugged, "Any other methods would blow your cover just as much as this."

"Then we need to get into position first." The Master looked to Sarus, "As much as I would like first crack at him, you're a more perceptive then I so we'll use you to chase him. Heard him to me, all I need is a few seconds to concentrate and I can put an end to this once and for all."

---------------------------------

Jax walked out of the room and back down the way he had come, careful to avoid physically touching any of Lance's fellow crew members lest they feel the cold hard metal that lay beneath his holographic image. His message had been short and simple, a series of nonsensical sentiments organics often found comforting when about to enter a life or death situation, and attached a heavily encrypted file into the subspace chatter so it would not be detected by anything short of a high-density scanner. It would take a few hours for the receiver to get it all and decode it, but the delay was worth it if he could manage to preserve his cover. He knew full well that this moment was the one in which he was most vulnerable.

The droid brought out his datapad, typed a series of keys, and hit send. Even with the low profile he was keeping he wasn't going to take any chances, he had scheduled a system diagnostic that would temporarily disable the ships defenses as well as it's lock-down protocols. He had also set up an alarm that would trigger on his 'pad if someone did try to engage either system. In the short term it would make his actions a little more suspicious, but if they didn't have suspicions already then it would be passed over as bad timing on his part. And if they did have suspicion already then he'd need the advanced warning if he hoped to get away.

He turned a corner and felt the datapad sound a quiet ding the same one he had set it to give should someone access the system. While it wasn't unusual that someone might be trying to run a drill this close to battle, it was still important to take note of anything like that. If he was planning to capture someone onboard a ship, a drill would be the exact method he would use, it would clear the hallways quickly and lock-down any live-fire system, including the hanger bay. And when he pulled the device out he saw that the drill system was the one thing they had tried to access, but they had made no move to use the intercom. That was the first warning he had, something suspicious, but not enough to make him run and risk blowing his cover if it wasn't already blown, but it did put him on high alert and made him initialize scanning systems he would have normally left silent to avoid power loss.

Had he been organic, he would have been glad he had, because his enhanced aural amplifiers picked up on a series of grunts and yelps that fit the patterns a crowd would have were someone moving through it contrary to the stream or much faster then the current flow. Another thing that would normally be dismissed as normal given the ship's many problems, but coupled with the message he had just received, and the fact that he was in the most compromising position possible at the moment led him to one inescapable conclusion. He had been found.

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"Thing where is that combat drill?" Sarus yelled into his comlink. The Chiss had been making his way to the droid for a while now, and because of his proximity had called in the drill so he would be able to run faster, then, assuming it would activate in a few seconds, he had sped up hoping to catch the droid before it could run. This would have been an excellent if simplistic strategy, except the drill alarm had never sounded, so when he turned in view of his query, the assassin droid Jax wearing the skin of the dead Commander Lance Geron, the thing had bolted. Needless to say he was a bit angry at that moment.

"He initiated a level one diagnostic a few seconds before we started the drill," Thing's voice came back, "until it finishes or we find a work-around all combat systems are down. That includes drill and lock-down protocols."

Sarus pushed ahead creating a small Force barrier in front of him to shunt people to the side, "How the kriff did he manage that?"

"He's the commander of this ship," Dray said this time, the three had decided to link together on the same channel for ease and rapid communication, "that means normally only the Captain out-ranks him. It would make sense for him to have access to diagnostic tools."

He picked up speed adding Force power to his legs, "Well if we don't get that lock-down soon he's going to escape, so I suggest you work on that Thing. As for you Dray, it looks like he's heading for Hanger Bay Two, I'll try to keep him busy while you get there. Between the two of us he shouldn't be able to slip past."

"On it," the Master replied, clicking his comlink shut.

Sarus closed his as well and stuffed it into a pouch on his belt. He was still making slow progress through the crowd though, and Jax had a large lead on him. As soon as the droid broke his line of sight he would adopt a different appearance and be completely untraceable, disappearing into the crowd. They wouldn't find him again for weeks. The Chiss looked up and saw the glow rods on the ceiling, still the old kind that hung down just a little instead of being flush with the metal. He leapt, grabbed the sides of the light, and swung himself forward, adding a Force Push to increase the distance covered. As he descended he caught sight of the droid, it was almost to an intersection, but he was closing in fast enough that the wall wouldn't be able to block his line-of-sight.

Jax rounded the corner as the Force Warrior landed in a small hole left by the droid's presence. The move had closed the distance to just a few meters, and without the aide of the Force the spy was making much slower progress then Sarus. Jax was almost close enough to grab in the Force, he just needed a few seconds to concentrate and it would all be over, something the droid apparently knew as well, as it should have from living with a Sith Lord for over a year. He ducked into a nearby turbolift and jabbed a button, sending the tube hurtling down and away from his pursuer.

Sarus skidded to a halt in front of the now closed door and cursed the designer of the battle ship. "You're not getting away that easily!" He didn't have time to do this slowly, if he was heading straight for the hanger then the lift would taken a few moments to get there, and if he could get inside it before the door opened then he could figure out what appearance the machine had taken. He put his hands on the door and concentrated for a moment, a second later a Force Push blasted the offended object out of it's housing and gave him a spectacular view of the turbolift's shaft and the faint glow of the lift itself as it kept descending.

The Force Warrior took a deep breath and plunged into the dark tube. He immediately brought his arms and legs in to narrow his profile and felt the wind speed increase drastically as he hurtled down the shaft at speeds approaching terminal velocity. Few things are faster that falling, because falling represents the maximum concern of speed over safety one can have when traveling down, so it wasn't unusual that the lift began increasing in size rapidly as he approached and overwhelmed the speed it was traveling at. Of course the one downside to falling is that it does abandon all safety, and at the speeds Sarus was traveling that usually meant a fatal end. He could still survive the fall of course, the Force gave anyone abilities far beyond normal, but that didn't mean it was going to be pleasant. This is really really gonna hurt....

The Chiss hit the lift, hard, denting the roof of the transport at the same time. For a moment all he could see were stars, and all he could feel was blinding pain and his bones groaning in protest, but he managed to shunt it aside and grab one of the short lightsabers he kept for thrown weapons and began cutting away at the roof of the turbolift as it traveled. He wasn't used to using a lightsaber so it was a long and sloppy process and by the time he finished he could feel the lift slowing to let it's passenger off. He knew it was going to be close as he kicked in the ceiling and dropped into the lift itself.

Immediately he noticed that it was empty inside and his heart dropped for an instant. He hadn't been in time to catch him before he escaped. The second thing he noticed was that the lift had let off in a cargo hold, an empty cargo hold, save one panicked looking Bith. The moment the two met eyes the crew member bolted, and Sarus only belatedly realized the droid's mistake. This lift was only connected to the cargo hold on the Hanger Deck, something Jax wouldn't have noticed when he picked it, so he hadn't had a crown to disappear into when he got out.

Feeling uplifted by the turn of luck he sprang out after the assassin, and leapt up to the top of the nearest stack of boxes to get a better view. Jax was a few rows over, running for the nearest door as fast as his artificial legs would carry him which was considerably faster then almost any other sentient species, but not as fast as a pissed off Jedi. Sarus leapt again, letting the currents of the Force guide him to land right in front of the droid, putting him neatly between it and the door. "End of the line," the Chiss sneered as he charged and released a Force Push that sent the machine careening into a pile of parts.

Sarus grew concerned when the droid didn't immediately get up and start firing back. Had he gotten an innocent bystander by mistake? He dropped his guard and reached out with the Force to probe the pile for any signs of life. This proved to be his undoing as the moment he dropped his hand three red blaster bolts shot out from the pile, aimed not at him, but at the ceiling directly above him. He followed their path and saw that what was hanging right over his head was a rack of surplus concussion missiles and that the bolts had just severed the hinges keeping them above him. Without anything to bear their tremendous weight, the heavy munitions began falling, tumbling silently through the air. at the same moment, Jax came rushing out, firing his rifle. The Force Warrior knew if the missiles hit anything they would detonate and probably take out most of the ship they were standing in. So he did the only thing he could do, he abandoned his chase of the droid and reached out to halt the decent of the deadly debris erecting a haphazard blaster defense in the process, enough to keep the bolts being shot at him from doing any serious damage, but not enough to keep all of the energy out, or to redirect their fire back.

The droid soon realized this and redirected his fire at the control panel to force the door open. The trick worked to an extent, the door released, but only went up a few feet, so he was forced to abandon his rifle as he slide under the door and out of sight. It would have been more urgent to the Chiss had he not been trying to keep the ship from blowing up. He cursed his stupidity, gullibility, and whoever had decided that hanging concussion missiles above the ground was a good idea. But most of all he cursed his own inept abilities, he should have been able to deal with both, if he was stronger, he would have been.

If you had embraced the darkness you would be stronger, if you had accepted his offer you would not be in this position now. If you had listened, your friends would not be in danger now, a small voice inside him whispered. A voice he had thought left him long ago, a voice he was too tired to argue with. For arguing would do little good now, he could only rely on his friend, and his abilities now.

I hope you're in position Dray....

Balmora, a world in the Nevota system, a surface mostly covered with water, what little of the fertile plains was exposed are covered with industrial complexes. On this planet is where the best battle droids in the Galaxy were manufactured. The refusal of the Balmorians to do business with the crusaders is what brought the crusaders here. To far from the lines to mount a full assault the crusaders had decided to launch a black op to disable one of the largest battle droid factories supplying the Jedi/Sith alliance. The team had filtered on to the planet over a couple of months. Traveling as disguised as workers, businessmen and sight seers all heading to Sobrik, on Balmora for what ever opportunity presented itself. The plan had been the brain child of Karosk standing at close to 2 meters he was tall even for a Shistavanen, commonly called wolfmen because of the canine appearance of his head and body and he alternated between standing upright and on all fours and had a pelt of dark brown fur. He had gathered his team outside the installation.

As happens with all such installations, a town had sprung up around the plant providing housing and support for the families of the men and women that worked there. There were rows of housing and several shops had sprouted as well to provide what ever the families may need. Karosk had selected an area between a line of buildings to rally and make last minute checks. The Shistavanen growled deep in his throat as he checked the magazine for his .48 slug thrower, commonly called an Enforcer it was large enough not to get lost in his grip, modified to hold a larger magazine the Shistavanen had effectively doubled the ammo it could hold to 16 rounds. With most armor geared to deflecting and absorbing shots from energy weapons, the slug thrower was brutally efficient and the .48 caliber round would stop a bantha in its tracks. There was a click as he slaped the magazine into the pistol and pulled the slide to jack a round into the chamber.

He Holstered the Enforcer and checked the charge on his light whip knowing it was fully charged. The archaic weapon of a bygone age, sill in use by Jedi and Sith alike. The ‘lash’ of plasma projected by the weapon was capable of slicing through armor, dura-crete, flesh and bone. The flexable lash took time to get use to and can be as dangerous to the wielder as the target. The advantages of the whip out weighed the disadvantages and Karosk was an expert in its use.

The battle droids tasked with security did not worry the Shistavanen for a group of force sensitive’s it would be take little trouble to carve their way through the automatons if the plan went badly. It seemed that these were armored against the impact of blasters but physical damage was something different. It did not hurt that there were member’s of his team inside the installation. Karosk looked to the sky and side to side at the 6 members that made up his strike team. They were in an alley concealed from being seen from the street and everyone was checking and rechecking their weapons. Karosk barked and weapons were slung or holstered in preparations to move. A look at the chrono on his wrist prompted a nod and the group moved out. The group stepped into the street and turned north to head toward their target. It was barely 50 meters away and unsuspecting. The thump of battle droids patrolling the inside of the fence was a bit disconcerting but the plan called for the machines to be operational but set to target the workers when the assault started. Actually they would target anyone not carrying a RF chip. The droids would detect the chip and identify them as friends.

The thump of patrolling droids hesitated and the sound of blaster fire erupted from the direction of the compound. The team broke into a run then a sprint in order to get the momentum to be able to jump the fence. The command post and guard shack were a mess as the droids did not care about civilians or workers that were between them and their targets. Almost as one the group jumped and cleared the fence in one leap. A group of guards ran from the building only to be fired on by the very droids that were tasked to protect them.3 guards ducked back through the door as an alarm began ringing in the building. The Shistavanen drew his slug thrower in mid leap and shot the last guard through the door, his body throw violently into his brethren as the .48 caliber round tore into his back and out through his chest. The group touched down and split up each with a different objective terror on each mind. Karosk approached the door and ignited the light whip he held in his left hand. He drug the whip across the door and with and a force aided pull he took the door from its hinges and threw it across the courtyard. His light whip flashed as he deflected the blaster bolts back at the guards killing them with their own blaster fire.

The Shistavanen ran down the corridor taking several turns in stride. Passing battle droids that were intent on hunting down those that work in the compound. More than once he had to dodge fire from a droid that did not detect the card he carried that identified him as a friend. Of course not all of the droids had been reprogrammed. Coming to stop in front of a portal that should lead to a control room. The hatch was locked, of course, so he put his claws on the hatch and wrapped it in a cocoon of force energy. The door creaked and groaned as he constricted the force bubble around the door which caused it to buckle in the housing and pop free from its hinges. Karosk pulled the pin on a frag grenade and tossed it through the open doorway.

‘Grenade!’ the shout from the room and an explosion seconds later. Karosk bared his fangs and stepped through and killed everyone the grenade did not. He snapped his whip again and again energy seeming to crackle around the room as he finished his grisly work. He bent over a console and punched some buttons on a console that had been damaged in the blast. He grunted and took a data chip from his pocket, popped it into a slot and waited. After a several tense minutes, the data chip popped out of the slot and he pulled it from the slot and placed it back in his pocket. He looked at the readouts flowing across the screen. The bug that he had placed in the factories systems was similar to the on ethat had disabled the weapons of an outpost last year. He had bee able to isolate the virus and modify it for other purposes. This iteration of the bug would worm its way through these systems and cause defects and design changes through out the factory. He straightened and tore the control room to pieces with his light whip first the consoles then the corpses leaving pieces of scorched flesh and sliced metal lying all over the room.

Karosk’s com beeped and stepped back through the door and face to face with a red skinned Rodian in the robes of a Jedi Knight. Karosk looked down at the Rodian who ignited his lightsaber as he brought it up into a defensive Soresu stance. The wolfmans laughter echoed through the chamber as he flourished his light whip. Seeing the whip, the Jedi abandoned Soresu and launched into Ataru style attacks swinging aggressively at the Sith. The sith dodged left then right swinging his whip over his head lashing it out with its lash wrapping around the left arm of the Jedi severing it at the elbow. The Jedi screamed as he lost his grip on his lightsaber and sank to his knees right hand grasping the stump of his left arm. The Shistavanen fed off the suffering of the Jedi for a few seconds then flicked his whip again slicing deeply into the Jedi’s torso silencing his cries.

The Shistavanen hurried down the corridor dragging his lightwhip behind him leaving a furrow in the duracrete behind him the slugthrower in his right hand barking and silencing guards he encountered on the way out of the building. He thumbed the switch on his whip and the weapon’s glow faded. He brought the handle up across his chest and the lash wrapped around down and across his back wrapping around his chest from his right shoulder to the left side of his waist with the tip of the whip wrapping over his right shoulder and hanging down his back. He clipped the handle to his equipment harness. The Wolfman looked around and, seeing no one from his team, he took off up the street ducking down the first alley. The team was supposed to scatter and work their way back to Ruusan. The same way they travelled to Balmora they would travel back. The rendezvous was in 2 weeks. Karosk stopped and stepped out of his workers coveralls and equipment harness. His whip was coiled and placed in a backpack with the handle with in easy reach. Karosk switched to running on all fours for a faster gait making it back to his quarters in no time.

Bio:
Name: Karosk
Race: Shistavanens AKA wolfmen
Height: 1.9 meters
Attributes:Like most canine-based species, Shistavanens have pronounced muzzles, sharp claws, long pointed teeth, and pointed ears set on top of their heads. Shistavanens also possessed large glowing eyes, can run at high speed for long periods without getting tired, alternately using two or four legs, they have a keen sense of hearing, keen sense of smell, and excellent night vision. Shistavanens possess a healing ability which allow them to recover from moderate wounds quickly, and larger wounds within a matter of days.

The ships decks were connected by main halls on the lower parts of the ship, on each side a differnt and separate set of halls and decks. Dray was covering one while Thing covered the other. There was one particular hall, crowded, that conected all docks where the ships were on one side. Dray circunvented this hall, hoping to catch Jax in his path. He knew it was a long shot, and seeing the halls crowded by now meant that the droid had foiled the first part of their plan, wich meant a hard task of finding him had just become harder. Nevertheless, Dray analized the metallic walls, floors and ceilings of the corridor, ever so vigilant to everyone in his line of eyesight, in the hopes of catching that lack of Force presence.

Jax had already taken a fair distance from Sarus' position, and was taking a lift to the lower levels, heading for his emergency exit out of this ship, a transporter he had cleverly docked inside, and using the powers of the personality he had taken in the ship, was able to keep it positioned and out of suspicions, altering log reports, ship system checks or dock investigations of sort. That was his new priority destination, to gather what he had collected, and flee to deliver the information. A ship, to escape another ship. His turbolift stopped descending, and he had already changed appearances during the descent, this time disguised as a dock mechanic, perfect for getting in where he wanted. He walked thru the corridor, semi-crowded, always looking for more Jedi searching him, but he could see no one suspicious yet...After a few meters, he could see past the people the dock in wich his ship was harbored. The droid had his auditory as well as his visual sensors alerted to the maximum. He was now a mere 50 meters away when he heard a thumping noise from behind him. The droid stopped his progress and slowly and inconspicuously turned around to denote what was it. As he turned, he could see no significant difference, just more crowd and corridor. He analyzed for a bit before retaking his progress towards the deck. The droid turned and focused again on the door to his freedom, when a hooded figure stood in front of that door, slightly between Jax and the dock. The figure stood still as the crowd flowed between them, the two facing enemies. Dray had been circuling the vent system above, instead of walking between the crowd. He had a better view point, as well as not alerting Jax down there.

Jax knew now his cover was blown, as he stood still analyzing all the possible escapes from this situation. The Jedi walked slowly towards the droid, with a grin smile on his face.

"I finally got ya tin can."

Jax did not respond, instead taking immediate action. He deactivated his hologram disguise, and pulled from his back a rocket launcher he always kept with him. The crowd around him had only time to react by panicking and running away, clearing the way between the rocket and Dray's position, who stood still suddenly and his grin smile turned to a surprised angry face, as he started dashing towards the droid. Jax didnt give him time to act, and pulled the trigger, firing a rocket that could damage severely the ship internally, as well as kill a lot of people. Dray stopped and only had time to, with the Force, concentrate on the rocket and stop it in its tracks. Dray strained to stop it, and halted it in front of him, watching as Jax escaped up a flack of stairs. Dray looked around for a solution to the explosive problem in his hands, and he acted upon it. Opening one of the dock doors, he entered the bay. The room was quite large, as are all docking bays, and he shouted everyone to exit.

"Get out now! This thing is gonna blow!"

One by one, the workers and mechanics exited, and Dray was left alone with the missile in his hand. He lifted it into the center of the room, and started crushing the projectile. The pressure caused an explosion, wich would of damaged the room severely, but the Jedi Master used all his focus and power to contain the explosion to a minimum until the burst died off. As the last breath of it dissapeared, Dray breathed out deeply and aliviated, yet the moment was shortcoming, as he progressed quickly outside, and Force speeded towards the direction Jax had gone. The droid was of course, gone, but a ventilation grid was off and a hole in the ceiling open. It wasnt much, possibly a trap, but Dray had nothing else, so he jumped into the hole and followed down the shaft, thru the air supply tunnels, dark and emitting a glowing red from the tubings and circuits. A hole appeared again, and Dray exited thru it, falling out into another dock bay. The Jedi thumped on the ground and looked up, seeing a ship fastly flying off out into space.

"Damn it, that droid is getting on my nerves now!" exclamated Dray in frustration. The dock was empty of people, and he had just lost his prey again.

At that moment, Sarus' contacted Dray on the comm.

"Dray, i lost him, he dropped some bombs, i had to catch them or risk injuring severely the ship. I just got off that situation."

"Yeah, he pulled the same stunt on me, but with a rocket launcher...Listen, i just saw him fly off the dock bay, get over here quick. We need to restrategize fast."

Dray looked up and around, and found sth that appeased his eyes and put a smile back on his face. He turned on his comm again.

"Scratch that Sarus. Get here DOUBLE quick! I just found our new strategy to catch that tin can."

"You try running in a crowded hallway," Sarus yelled back over the din. The ship been reduced to chaos after the recent chase and with no active battle simulations or announcements coming over the intercom, people were beginning to fear the worst, whatever that might be. Kriff it! he swore to himself. This wasn't going to get him anywhere and he couldn't afford to let such a large gap open up between them. With a surge of Force power he sprung up over the crowd and, as politely as was possible, began using the heads of the masses as stepping stones, "Excuse me, coming through."

After a battery of complaints, swears, and outright threats he found himself stumbling through the door to the hanger, courtesy of one particularly annoyed Whiphid. "There you are," a voice called from a few meters away. The Chiss looked to see an annoyed Dray standing with his arms crossed, and a look of resignation on his face, "You really need to work on your timing my friend," he commented with outstretched hand.

"Kami used to say the same thing," Sarus replied accepting the aid, "I never listened to him either."

"Yeah well I'm not as lazy as the old man was, I'll whip your zuller ass into shape sooner or later."

The Chiss eyes narrowed, "Oh you prick."

"That's the fire I like to see!" The Master said with a heavy-handed pat on the back that nearly sent the Force Warrior to the floor, "Come on, let's find that droid so we can use that anger productively." He continued, leading them both over to a nearby starfighter, an E-wing. This brand of starfighter was easily recognizable as it had the wings of a V-wing airspeeder and the body of an X-wing. Each wing was tipped with a tri-beam laser cannon, and the undercarriage had a built-in proton torpedo launcher. Normally the crew compliment was one pilot and one mech, but the mech slot could also double as a co-pilot seat and had a mounted mini-ion cannon so as to be able to fire on an enemy both behind and in front. This particular E-wing had also been personally re-painted by it's pilot to be a horrendous shade of yellow with a single black line running along it's mid-section.

"Please tell me we're not flying this thing," the Chiss said after a moment, hoping that this was just a terribly timed joke, "it looks like it was flown through a shit-storm, literally."

"Oh don't be such a cry baby," Dray replied settling into the pilot seat, "it may look like stang on the outside, but this baby has got some nice gear under the hood." He patted the console and glanced at Sarus, "Now stop gauking and get your blue butt in here, I need a sidekick."

The Force Warrior's cheeks flushed with annoyance, producing a comical shade of purple, "I am not a sidekick!" He shouted as he leapt into the co-pilot ship, "If anything you're the.... well hello...." he trailed off as he caught sight of the ships interior. Dray's assumption had been right, as he looked he saw multiple non-standard modifications to the ship's laser cannons and a black market sensor suite reserved for Galactic Alliance Intelligence.

"Bastard flew off in a Stealth X," the Master answered before Sarus' question could even begin to form, "this is the only ship in the hanger equipped with a sensor sweet powerful enough to pick him up." The repulsors hummed to life as the ship warmed-up, "The laser cannons were just an added bonus. With the power they've got going for them, the torpedo launcher is practically useless."

"Probably a good thing," the Chiss finally replied, "we may only have one shot at him, so we need it to count."

"My thoughts exactly," Dray responded, bringing the engines online, "now where was the throttle?"

"Wait," Sarus said with alarm, "don't tell me you've never flown a starfighter before!"

"How hard can it be?" Dray asked rhetorically as he pushed the throttle forward. With a boom the fighter shot out of the hanger and into the vacuum of space beyond, just barely missing a shuttle returning from a recon mission. "Damn this thing can move!" The Master exclaimed with a whoop.

Sarus, holding on for dear life, heard a series of curses emit from the comm as the shuttle readjusted it's approach vector, shocking him out of his death grip long enough to see that they had an incoming message from the Aardvark. He flipped the comm board and held the headset up to his ear, "Dray? Sarus? Can you read me?" Thing's voice emitted from the earpiece.

"Yeah I we're here Thing," Sarus responded. "Jax escaped in a Stealth X and we're trying to track him down, but given the amount of time that's passed we don't have much chance of that."

"Don't be so sure of that," Thing replied, "after Dray stopped replying I had the Captain activate our Interdictor fields. Assuming the explosion reported from the hanger was about the time he took off then you should still have thirty seconds before he jumps to hyperspace."

"I could kiss you Thing," Dray answered, flipping the comm channel shut. "How are those sensors working Blue Boy?"

The Chiss just rolled his eyes and studied the board, "We've got a subspace distortion at the edge of the field directly in front of us. Attempting to get a lock on it's navicomputer...."

"Are we in firing range?"

"No, not that we could open fire even if we were close enough, we don't have a clear targetting solution. Our best bet is to lock-on to it's course and follow it. That is if we can even get a clear signal, it's a Stealth X so it's possible we won't get one at all."

"If I lose him again I'm taking it out on your hide," Dray replied, and for a moment Sarus wasn't sure whether or not the man was serious. He had known Jax was causing trouble for him, but he didn't know how personally Dray was taking it. The Force Warrior looked back down at the panel as the computer finally locked in on the Stealth X's signal, and for a moment the ship registered clearly on their sensors before jumping to hyperspace, "Tell me we did not just lose him again."

"Nope, the Force seems to be on our side today, we had a lock just long enough to get his course. Looks like he's heading for Nar Shadaa, probably trying to ditch us in the mass of people."

"Not if I have anything to say about," the Jedi Master swore, pulling back on the hyperspace levers and sending them hurtling to lightspeed.

-------------------------------------

The E-wing dropped out of hyperspace and into the chaos that was Hutt space. So while it was slightly disturbing that, in the first five seconds after deceleration, they nearly ran into no less then three cargo haulers, it was not surprising. The mixture of legality and illegality around the Smuggler's Moon made it a hazard for anyone dropping out so close to the moon.

"Any sign of him?" Dray asked as he settled them into a relatively safe stable orbit.

Sarus looked at the scanner in front of his face and saw nothing but a swirl or mixed transponders and false transponders coming from all around them, "Too many vessels around here are hiding their transponders by default," he reported, "it'll take too long to sort through them all." He closed the sensor suite so as not to overload it, "At this point the Force will be more reliable then our scanners."

"Great, just great," he could hear a thud through the comm he assumed was a frustrated fist. "Any ideas?"

"Just wait for it," the Chiss replied playing a hunch.

"Wait for wh-" the Jedi Master was cut off as a thud from behind jostled both of them almost, but not quite masking the black silhouette passing overhead. Sarus felt a measure of excitement emanate from his friend, "Just couldn't resist taking a shot at us could you you little rust bucket?" The ship rocked as the thrusters engaged and they took off after the black starfighter as it juked and jinked around ships in orbit, going unnoticed by the captains until Dray and Sarus sped by in their E-wing.

"Hey Dray," the Chiss spoke up, "may want to lay off the gas a little. We're leaving a trail of pissed off captains in our wake."

"Tell them to chill, I'm a Jedi I can handle it," the Master replied as he spun the wings between two passing frigates, narrowly missing both, "they should be more worried about the droid ahead of us."

"That's the thing, they can't see his silhouette, they think we're drunk," Sarus responded finding that fact both hilarious and embarrassing at the same time.

"Then I guess we'll just have to light him up for them," Dray answered as a hum went up to indicate the weapons systems were now online.

"Now wai-" Too late, in his urgency to catch the droid his friend had opened up with the laser cannons and scored two direct hits on it's fuselage. Normally this would have been a good thing, but as none of the ships around them could see what they were shooting at, they all just assumed the pilot of the E-wing had gone off his rocker and began opening fire on the craft, and missing which in the tight confines of orbit meant they hit another ship, at which point the other captains opened fire, inevitably missing themselves, and slowly degrading the scene into a free-for-all where old rivals were given the opportunity to bring their competition to a sudden abrupt end.

And even with a Jedi Master at the helm and a Force Warrior maintaining shields, a small E-wing could not hope to make it through undamaged. "We're hit!" Dray yelled putting the fighter into a spin to avoid taking more damage, "We've lost engine engine two, I can't maintain orbit without it, we'll have to land," he finished with an edge of irritation in his voice. He'd come so close to nailing Jax only to have him seemingly slip through his fingers yet again.

"Don't worry, we'll get him eventually," Sarus consulted turning the sensor suite back on. It would have been overloaded in orbit, but now that they were descending through the atmosphere it would be clear enough to find a safe place they could put down. It was at that point that he saw a single silhouette on his sensor screen falling alongside them a couple hundred meters away, "Or we could just find him now," Sarus said realizing what the silhouette was and that against all odds both fighters had been damaged and were falling within throwing distance of each other.

"I thought I might have hit his engines with that shot," Dray replied with a knowing smile he couldn't see so much as feel. "I lost sight of him when the shooting started, but I thought that was just because he veered off. Apparently I actually shot him down in those first couple shots," he twisted in his seat to pull off his restraints," ah my friend, the Force is with us today."

"I would say you're imagining it, but it's hard to argue with this data," the Force Warrior said closing the screen but keeping a running clock in his head as he yanked the safety harness off. "He leveled out his starfighter as he lost altitude so he'd fall slower by shedding velocity horizontally while we're falling nose down and shedding it vertically. But since his fall started earlier he's a little farther down in the atmosphere then we are. In short this means our fighter will pass within a couple meters of each other as they fall, but won't collide directly."

Dray just stared at him for a moment, "Basic Boy Wonder, Basic."

Sarus sighed, "In twelve seconds his ship is going to pass within arm's reach of us."

"Why didn't you just say that?" The Master pulled the manual canopy release, activating the explosive bolts that threw the canopy off and behind them. Both men climbed out onto the fuselage as the Stealth-X came into view. "Ready?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not if you want to live!"

The two Jedi jumped off and were immediately caught in the wind and hurled backwards with the force of a speeder, momentarily dazed they just barely missed avoiding the passing Stealth-X. Dray whipped out his lightsaber and stabbed it into the fuselage to slow him down enough to get his feet under him, then used the Force to hold him down as the wind tore at him. Sarus was not nearly so prepared, not used to using lightsaber as anything but a conduit for his Force powers he didn't even consider using one of his three for a perch and instead used his crush gauntlet to hitch a ride on fighter's port wing. But the impact of the collision knocked his shoulder out of place, meaning it was all he could do to hold on as the plummeted through the air. It was a painful scenario, but it gave him a great view of the battle the unfolded in front of him.

Dray yanked his lightsaber out of the starfighter and stalked forward using his left hand to shield his eyes from the wind. As he approached the cockpit he swept at the canopy, eliciting a spark from the circuits there, but not from Jax himself who had deduced what the impacts were and was tucked in with both pistols just ready for any sign to fire. And as the lightsaber passed within an inch of his body he had his cue. The droid let loose with a barrage for blasterfire that proved too much for the Master to block with one hand, forcing him farther back on the ship to avoid those shots he could not block directly. A moment later a sharp crack sounded out as the assassin droid kicked the canopy off and rolled backwards out of the cockpit and onto the opposite end of the fuselage, magnetized feet keeping him rooted in place.

"It's over Jax, we both know you can't hope to get away anymore," Dray shouted over the wind.

"You may be right meatbag, but that does not mean I cannot be of one last use to my master," the droid replied.

Dray lunged forward forgoing any measure of protection and began swinging quick, deft strikes meant to remove the droid's limbs one by one. To Jax's credit what blows he couldn't avoid he managed to stall by firing in such a way as to make the Master divert his swings to deflect the shots, but it was a losing strategy and both knew it. Dray pushed the droid back farther and farther towards the end of the starfighter, getting more in more aggressive as he fired until he finally managed to destroy both pistols by reversing a swing too quickly for the machine to adjust. The Jedi leveled his lightsaber at Jax's throat, "You're done Jax, surrender, tell us Dusk's plan and we'll let you live."

Jax turned his head and looked back behind him, verifying how much space he had left, "I may be a spy and an assassin meatbag, but I am still loyal to my master." Without warning the droid suddenly leapt to the starboard of the craft, clearing three meters to land on a nearby walkway and pulling the rocket launcher off his back in one smooth motion. It took only a second for him to lock-on to the damaged fighter and loose the last of the two rockets the weapon held.

"Stang, not again!" Dray cursed knowing Sarus' status through the Force and correctly deducing that the Force Warrior would not be able to stop it in time to save himself.

"Go!" Sarus yelled making a snap decision and releasing the starfighter and giving into gravity's pull. He knew his friend would make the right decision, even as a Master he wouldn't be able to get himself away from the blast and grab Sarus out of the air, so he would make the only logical decision and go chase Jax and let the Force Warrior handle himself. It was something he wouldn't have dared rely on had it been someone he didn't know well, but Dray and Sarus knew how to read each other well. So it was no surprise when the Master jumped off and began chasing the droid, Go get'em buddy!

The Chiss spun in mid-air to get a better look at his situation. It was as grim as he had feared. He was plummeting through an empty section of the planet, no speederlanes, no walkways, no rooftops in reach. Above he heard the detonation as the rocket impacted the starfighter sending debris down from above as well, yet another thing to worry about. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... I mean I didn't have many options but I can't help but think I still picked the wrong one... He looked around one more time for anything he could use slow his fall, but came up as empty as he had the first time. Well I had been considering a new use of telekinetics, but I would have preferred a calmer setting. Oh well. It wasn't that this particular technique was harder, in theory anyone could do it as long as they believed it would work, but in practice no one had quite managed to trust themselves enough to make it work.

Sarus closed his eyes and reached out both physically and mentally, erasing the image he had of himself, erasing all sense of scale from his mind and just felt what was around him, the deep canyons, the tall buildings, the outstretched walkways the ringed those buildings, then imagined his hand catching the ledge and pulling himself in. Suddenly his body jarred, it's movement transferred from downward into an arc. In shock he opened his eyes and lost all sense of concentration, but the momentary change in direction had altered his course and we want now less then a dozen meters away from a ledge. His first thought was that of triumph at being able to accomplish his goals, his second was much simpler, This is really gonna hurt!

The silence on the Dawn Treader was almost deafening with only the ping of the Hyperdrive to mark time. Ptolemy sat in the command couch monitoring the jump they were in. On the way to Ziost he had followed just off the Perelmain Trade Route. Following the route was dangerous enough that he had decided to not follow it exactly. He had gotten to Muskree and cut up to Ziost.

Now on the return trip he had plotted a course that would take a little while to get back to the Kuate Sector along the Hydian Way. Planning to intersect the route at Toprawa.. The plan was to Avoid the Black hole by plotting to Phindar then a round about way through the Hopes Cluster and across Onderon. The series of jumps were entered in but the next jump could not be calculated until you got to the end of the last jump. The Navputer began beeping signaling their arrival at Toprawa.

‘Disengage Hyper drive’ Ptolemy Said ‘in 5,4,3,2…’

Aragorn sat in the Navigator’s couch monitoring sensors and communications, reached up and grabbed the levers controlling the transition from hyperspace to normal space, pulling them back to rest. The collide scope of hyperspace faded and alarms went off across the board. They were not alone in system Ptolemy engaged the cloak/shields and hoped that who ever it was… was friendly.

‘Crusader cruisers’ Aragorn announced tersely his brow furrowed. He punched a series of studs and placed their sensors in passive mode. ‘does not look like they noticed us’

‘This is a bit behind lines where are they going?’ Ptolemy mused aloud, ‘They noticed something’ he pointed out a flight of fighters that had altered course to intersect where the Treader had transitioned to normal space.

Ptolemy pointed the nose of the ship toward one of the moons orbiting the planet below. With sensors on passive, they were almost blind and as they rounded the small celestial body they flew through a Crusader fighter patrol. Collision alarms blared and the Treader twisted and turned to evade the fighters. As a result of the maneuvers the ship dropped down to with in a kilometer of the jagged surface of the moon and gave Ptolemy another problem as the fighters turned and gave chase. Aragorn switched sensors back to active and, having activated weapons and targeting systems, made short work of the three fighters but, it seems, not before the alarm had been raised. Ptolemy punched in the coordinates of a body close to get into hyper space and, hopefully, lose them by changing course.

Ptolemy Shoved the throttle wide open as the navputer chewed on the calculations to get them to their destination safely. The Treader bucked and shuddered under a barrage of blaster fire from the pursuing fighters trying to heard them back toward the cruisers. That was not a direction that Ptolemy wanted to go. Aragorn fired the blasters again and again at the pursuing fighters. Ptolemy, concentrating on flying and watching the navputer almost missed the fighters that shot ahead of them to try to turn them. Ptolemy snickered and activated the concussion missile launchers and locked on to the fighter in the middle of the pack and fired. The missile tracked the fighter as the rest of the fighters scattered clearing the way for the Treader. Almost the instant the light flashed green on the console Ptolemy shoved the levers and transitioned in to Hyperspace. Aragorn studied the sensors and relaxed a little bit.

‘no one following yet’ he said still staring at the sensors.

‘This bucket is faster than most’ Ptolemy said with just a little pride, as a warning indicator went off.

Ptolemy frowned and tapped an indicator on the console. ‘We took a hit that damaged a drive conduit. Will slow us down a bit’

Ptolemy looked at the destination that he had tapped in by instinct. His brow furrowed as he didn’t quite recognize the Raioballo sector. Seemed a bit remote Dantooine was the only planet there that was familiar to him. Not a bad choice except for the fact that it was in the hands of the crusaders.

‘This is interesting’ Aragorn mused looking over Ptolemy’s shoulder, ‘Muunilinst, the “Money land”. I am sure we could hide there.’

‘Temperate forests, a couple of big cities.’ Ptolemy said thoughtfully ‘With it being the banking center and in the hands of The Crusaders… We may not even make it to the surface.’

‘Dantooine will be just as heavily guarded’ Aragorn Pointed out ‘but with the residual force there it would be easier to hide.’

Ptolemy Nodded and looked toward the staterooms containing the fallen Jedi. 'I have an idea'

Dray saw Jax hang on to a ledge nearby and climbing on top and had managed only to jump to a legde under it. He saw Jax get up and start running. Thru his mind, Sarus' condition was alarming him, but he couldnt let himself get distracted, there was too much work at risk. So he grabbed the ledge with his two hands and leaped up onto the next one, and tailed suit in pursuit. He saw Jax in the distance, turning a corner. Fortunately they had landed in a secluded and shady area, where no crowds could hide him. Dray sped up around the corner and seeing Jax again, this time threw his lightsaber ahead of him as he ran, hoping to hit the droid before he could disappear again. The saber spinned with speed, faster and faster, and as Jax noticed it, he turned quickly again to the right, going down another dark alley. Unfortunately for him, the saber did hit him in one of his legs, damaging his newly installed holographic projector.
Now Dray had the edge, as he had intended to. They continued chasing one another thru alleys and shady streets. Jax kept Dray off his back a while by entering more crowds, but the Jedi had no hassle in jumping over the hordes or pushing people aside to reach his final goal. Jax entered thru a open area with tented roofs, with thugs all around looking at him suspiciously.
The droid quickly figured he had just bumped into a Nar Shaddaa gang, and plotted again, with the Jedi in view at the distance, determined to send him to the junkyard.

-------------------------------.--------------------------------------

Sarus' body hit the side of the wall, wich made him start rolling in the air. With each painful hit, he exhaled it.

"OW" "OW" "OW OW"

As the tribulated fall progreessed, each bump with the walls or roofs decreased his speed, as the jedi kept himself alive by aliviating the shock with the Force, not completely thou, causing him still an assortment of sore muscles and bones.

"UMPH"

Reaching the ground, the Jedi cringed and closed his eyes, as the shock reached, lifting in the air a pile of dust. He didnt want to move after all the commotion, certain every inch of his body was going to hurt in the morning.

"That...was an experience" The jedi coughed, regaining movement and strenght to get up, very slowly at that...

He looked around him, still laying in the floor in pain, reaching for his surroundings. It seems he had ended up in a lower floor of Nar Shadaa, not very far horizontally from Drays endeavours, but quite a climb on the long run. Dim lights around him, he got back up, begrudgingly, and searched for Dray in the Force.

"Now to find my comrade and see if he needs help...or if i need help."

Sarus looked up, hoping that Dray had not taken the same fall he did, and found a disturbance in the Force, a few kilometers away.

"And that must be Dray and Jax causing trouble."

He pulled his intercom and tried reaching his friend. All while being vigilant to his surroundings. One can never be too carefu in Nar Shaddaa, with its criminal filled streets and conmen, murderers and gangs. Diminished in times of peace, but this was a time of war, so the danger was by the double.

"Dray, you there? I have...landed, in some of the lower levels, where you at and do you need assistance?"

The Chiss awaited a response, but none came. He repeated the broadcast and waited again, but again to no avail.

"Well i better go find out myself" As the jedi lept up with the Force to a higher ledge.

"Ohhhh....easy Sarus...take it easy..." He exclamated after sore pain hit him.

The Jedi kept leaping towards Drays position, at a more moderate speed.

------------------------/-----------------

Dray had seen Jax entering the gang tent, and went in after him, seeing that inside the gang had been sturred by the droid, and was now aiming at Dray for target practice.

"I have no time for this" As he unseethed his lightsaber and repelled the blaster fire, ultimately as the gang members spread out to cover, while Jax ran off the tent on the far side. Dray having no time for little petty criminals, pushed a Force Blast down the tent that sent everyone flying, and he followed the blast with speed. Jax was now closing in to his end. Dray had reached hearing levels.

"You are mine, little robot" As they entered an open emptier area, Jax looked behind and assessed the only possibility of escape was to blow the Jedi up again, or at least try...So as Dray made another big leap, Jax pulled out his rocket launcher for one last blast in a quick mvement, and immediatly fired it, hoping to distract the Jedi a bit more. But this time, Dray was ready.

"Take it back!"He yelled as he force pushed the rocket immediatly back at Jax who had no chance but to dive to the side to avoid the explosion. The rocket impacted the floor, and the shockwave pushed Jax to the side, as the sound pummeled thru the streets of the city, causing everyone in commotion to stop and listen.

A huge crater stood nowin the plaza, with no victims fortunately, and Jax stood up lookin at it, just in time for his whole frame to be lifted in the air magically. He then turned to the side so he could witness his capturer looking at him.

"Like i said before...Gotcha." Dray immobilized the droid, wich could move nothing, not even reach for his guns, as he stood, in the air.

"You finally caught me meatbag. I must say, it was a thrilling run, and you did give me quite the challenge. But it is fruitless. I shall reveal nothing. No amount of hacking or torture will work. i am an advanced droid, and you shall see the end of your order by my masters hands."

Dray stood emotionless, staring into Jax, and retorted to the dying droids words.

"Maybe i will. But you...definitely wont."

At that line, Dray swinged his arms to the side, and tore off Jax's limbs, causing the droid to create fuzzy and annoying noises. At that, Drays arms swang back in together, and the torso and head of the metallic fiend crushed into one cloister. Dray pushed his arms again inside, causing the cloister to crush into a smaller and smaller ball, till nothing was left but a piece of metallic junk. Jax's head popped off and fell to the floor, as Dray released the grip on his body, and his head rolled onto his feet. His shivering orange color and red eyes, smashed and beaten, flickered.

"Back to the junkyard buddy..." And Drays foot slammed onto his head, destroying the nefarious droid for good.

The jedi took a few steps back, reconciled that his mission was accomplished, and the Dark Masters' right hand was done. He plugged his lightsaber on his belt, and turned, to find Sarus' arriving in a hasty breath and painful uuus and aaas.

Panting, the blue jedi spoke

"Well...seems im not needed anymore here."

"You ok? That was a nasty fall. Sorry couldnt answer, was kinda busy"

"Is alright. Why did you destroy him? He had vital intel"

"Nonsense. Dusk isnt that stupid to just hand me his right hand droid with all the intel on his missions. He was almost certainly memory wiped on those subjects. And that annoyance is gone now."

"Well done my friend." The chiss spoke, holding himself on his knees, and standing back up. "So, now we need a ride home"

"No worries" Dray pulled out a different communicator and looked up to the sky

"Red, you there?"

He waited for a bit, then a voice came thru.

"Right here General. Didnt think we would lose our favourite captain would we?"

"Very funny Red. Listen, i have some metal scrap here, myself, and a friend to pick up. Would you be so kind to lend a hand?"

"Yes Sir. Coming in"

The Chiss stood puzzled

"Who was that?"

"Oh, that was Red. Hes a pretty cool guy. He kills cultists and doesnt afraid of anything. Except me."

"And where is Red speaking from exactly?"

"From my ship. They followed us here. They were on stand by on the fleet, bit close to Thing starship. In stealth mode. They must of gotten into hyperspace right after us."

"OH, AND YOU COULDNT, I DUNNO, HAD THEM GIVE US A HAND?"

"No need, besides, ships not a starfighter, its quite bigger. And i didnthave time for orders, so yeah."

The Chiss facepalmed himself, and regretted it, as even his forehead was sore from the fall

"Must of been one nasty fall"

"Yeah dont mention it. Wheres your ship? Im dying to get out of there." As the Chiss said so, a hum came from above, and a ship instantly appeared above them, exiting its cloak mode

"Cant be too careful around these parts."

It was a dark, long ship, with no extrudious features. Noticeably a ship built for stealth and special operations.

"Ah, i missed you my darling." Dray exhaled in happiness, as the ship opened a port on the bottom, and extended a pad.

"Come on, we gotta jump, no room for them to park here."

Sarus stood in amaze at how bigger it was than the previous Chikita. Dray lifted the remaining scraps from Jax and threw them inside, then followed them and jumped o the pad. Sarus jumped after him, and they both intruded the inconspicuous vessel, as it closed the port. And flew off.

Inside they were greeted by a suited man, not too decorational, not too gritty. Pratical. Like Sarus outfit.

"Good to see you back General."

"Likewise Commander Red, likewise...."

“Good to see you back General.” Commander Reddex bowed slightly.

“Likewise Commander Red, likewise…”Dray gave a nod as he stepped off the pad into the small hanger of the Shadow Stinger.

“I assume the chase was successful?” Reddex just noticed the chiss behind him looking incredibly exhausted. He had a nasty bruise on his forehead. “Maybe you should rest in some bacta. We have some of the best supply to offer-“

“No, no I’m fine. I’ll be good in no time.” The chiss managed a smile.

“Jax is finally a ball of scrap, Red; one less loser to deal with.” Dray turned to the chiss. “This is Reddex, Commander of my ship; the Shadow Stinger.” Dray looked back to Red pointed towards the chiss, “and this is Jedi Shadow Sarus.”

“It’s always a pleasure to meet a Jedi.” Reddex walked over and they shook hands. “Welcome aboard.”

Sarus sized the man up quickly. He wore a red suited uniform with the rank of Commander on his left breast. On both his shoulders showed the symbol of the Galactic Alliance Remnant. As the trio walked through the sleek stealth ship Sarus was 100% interested in Dray’s new vessel and its new Commander. “Red, if you will show him around a bit. I need to contact Master Thing about Jax.” Dray turned away and headed for a turbolift on the far side of the hanger and disappeared.

Sarus and Reddex ventured around the strange craft while the chiss asked numerous questions. He pointed at almost everything in sight that wasn’t close to being familiar. Some of the crew on board looked in their direction slightly annoyed at the over curious Jedi. Reddex slightly signaled them to stop complaining as they walked past. Soon, they stepped into the lounge of the ship. In the middle was a smooth oval holo-projector on the floor presenting the planet of Nar Shadaa in its blue hues. A few Crewman were sitting around off duty in comfortable couches, or at the bar having delicious caf to help pass the time. A black droid served the drinks to the men and woman sitting at the counter, shooting out jokes; receiving loads of laughter. Then Sarus noticed white strips running along their uniforms, it was different material from the uniform themselves. “What is that for?”

“On some missions we need to ‘run dark'. Meaning, the whole interior of the ship turns to near blackness. We have lights on the floors to show pathways and of course the panels still have their lights running as well. The strips on our uniforms help spot each other; wouldn’t want to bump into each other, ya’ know.” Reddex poked at his one of his own strips running along his uniform. “Pretty unique wouldn’t you say?” He pointed out the white strips on the floor. Sarus hadn’t even realized they were there until the Commander gave away their postion. “But do not worry, this ship has many surprises. There’s some I haven’t even seen yet.”

“So how did you and Master Dray meet?” Sarus asked when they ventured into the ships medical bay. State of the art bacta tanks lined the walls. A few people were asleep inside hooked up to oxygen masks. Others had visible signs of recent injuries, also unconscious. The room was spacious and very sanitary. Patients walked around talking with each other or watching the holovid on the wall. Beds on the opposite side of the bacta tanks were occupied by a few people. A female chiss doctor walked to each tank checking their statues with a data pad on her forearm. The medical assistances roamed around the room heading and checking to whatever was needed of them. Some of them greeted Reddex and Sarus politely as they walked past.

“I guess I’ll give you a brief backstory.” Reddex said while checking on a patient’s monitor lying in bed. “I was on Coruscant when the Crusaders began their invasion of the core worlds…”

Sarus’s energetic mood vanished immiediatley. “How did you make it out? Wasn’t the navy practically obliterated over there?”

“The fleets escaped and formed up light-years away and regrouped. I’m not even authorized to tell you the location of the rendezvous. From there we became the Remnant. Dusk, or whatever the kriff that man’s name is, took the capital of the whole damn galaxy in one single day. I’ve seen my fair share of conquering, but what he did was flat out overkill. His ships fired there turbo batteries at point blank range on surrounding buildings and innocent people trying to escape. Even the unarmored transports dropped from the skies in flames. With the help of Grand Master Ironrat and the Chief of State, we were able to combine our forces and organize after fleeing the planet with our heads between are knees!” Reddex took off his cap and held it under his arm; he kept his gaze on the ground.

“Luckily, I made it onto a frigate I was in command of at the time, just before they bombed most of the military sector to rubble. Dray just happened to be there with a few other Jedi helping personal get to their crafts while defending against the onslaught of the crusaders; who had then begun their ground assault. I was able to get my crew up to full battle alert and pick up Dray and his group before getting over run. You could say the ground fighting was bad; but kriff, the skies were even worse. We had to fight our way out of the system. I had to use every single damn thing I learned from experience to lead my crew out of that hell hole. It was a miracle we survived. While we fled, looking for a friendly system, he approached me and told he may one day need my services in the future. After helping us escape; saving everyone on board; I couldn’t refuse.” Sarus remained silent, knowing the man that had been through a lot, had more to say.

“Months into the war, I was still fighting on the frontlines. I was trying to keep those crusader bastards from taking anymore planets from us. Sadly, they pushed us back even further. I was there when they took my home away from me; Corellia. Those bastards burned everything to the ground; my home, my family, my friends…all of it. Things had gotten so bad there we had to retreat. To this day, I don’t even know what it’s like over there. Then one day I received a private encrypted message, instructing me to head to the Kuat Ship yards. The fleet I was in had kept the Crusaders at bay there, but the line we struggled to keep was a shaky one at best.” Reddex taped a few keys into his datapad on his forearm. A screen projected out showing a long message and coordinates.

“When we arrived in system; destroyed starships still littered around the planet. Giving Kuat a second halo. Half of the orbital ship yards was ruined and in disarray. The GA Remnant was trying to rebuild it as fast as possible since we were practically on our knees with limited resources. The instructions led me to a patched up hanger still in progress. As my ship passed through the magnetic field I saw Dray looking mighty pleased with himself. ‘I have something to show you, Lieutenant.’” Reddex paused and smiled a bit.

“Come on, come on! Keep going!” Sarus impatiently said.

“We walked through countless doors, locked doors, guarded doors. Then finally a long railcar ride, miles away from the frigate I had flown in here with. The entire time dray was silent.”

“I think I know where with is going…” Sarus folded his arms and leaned against a bacta tube.

“Oh it gets better.” Reddex smirked as he straightened his uniform a bit. “The rail car stopped in a vacant terminal with a large viewport showing the world of Kuat and repair droids flying around. There was a docking tube extended about 100 meters out into space. What confused me was, the panel by the door said it was connected to something and flowing oxygen. There was no craft out there. I was firing out questions and he continued to remain silent. He beckoned me to the doors. As he typed in a code, I tried tell him that if he was to open that door we’d be sucked out. Dray continued to press in numbers, then the doors quickly slid apart. Well instinctly, I flinched and dropped to the ground trying to look for something with weight to keep me to the floor. But nothing happened. Dray laughed and brought me to my feet with that force stuff you jedi tend to do a lot.”

“Keep going…”Sarus raised an eyebrow.

“Down the tube was an open door into a black room. But from what I saw outside was nothing. ‘I built this craft myself. I oversaw the entire construction. This craft is top notch and near invisible. I must admit Lieutenant, Its one of the best in our fleet. And it’s ALLLL MINE!’ I watched him pull out a communicator and he spoke of a few silent words into it. Immediately, the bow of the ship began to appear. As if it was covered in a cloth, which was being pulled back. Static danced across the hull as the cloak continued to shed. The ship was the sleekest thing I’ve ever seen; so well-designed. Right above the docking tube in large white letters stood the name of the vessel. ‘I present to you, the Shadow Stinger’. The ship itself was black. The way you could tell it was there, was to look for that ‘void’ amongst the stars. The white letters of the name and probably the red ion drives. I slowed to a stop continuing to look out at the ship. ‘All this ship needs is a crew…and someone to lead those people. Don’t worry; I’ve already reassigned the crew on your ship to the Shadow. All that’s left is…’

‘I accept.’

‘Glad to have you aboard, Commander.’

“Ha! Well you made a fine choice Reddex.” Sarus patted him on the shoulder. “Looks like Dray have a lot of faith in you. Hmm, could you show me this cloaking device, how was this created?”

Reddex smiled alittle and made a gesture to the exit. Sarus began to follow but was abruptly stopped in his tracks by the Chiss doctor. She stood in front of him scanning his head with her datapad. “I…Uh…Commander?” Sarus tried to get around the woman but she kept blocking his path. “Look, I’m alright ok? Commander!?” Reddex was nowhere to be seen. “Oh great…” The doctor slapped a bacta bandage on his forehead making him wince.

Reddex strolled through the craft to the ships bridge. He noticed outside they were still in orbit above Nar Shadaa. He wondered why Dray hadn’t taken them into hyperspace yet. The chase was successful; they should be heading back to the Aardvark to see if they need any more assistance. Deep down, he’d rather be across enemy lines fighting for Corellia’s freedom. They’ve only gone on a few milk runes while Dray was away, but nothing too important. He was glad to be fighting for a good cause; just things seem to be at a crawl here.

Even the crew was showing similar feelings. Though they were the best in their field; a specialist bunch, they just felt alittle bored. And because of this, Reddex kept the strict rules of discipline to a minimum. Instead of saluting, just a simple acknowledgement sufficed. There was one group of people that didn’t follow this relaxed state of the ship. They were Galactic Alliance Special Forces, also known as GASF troops. There were only 6 of them that he had on board. Even though they were small in numbers, they fought with the strength of a battalion. Reddex had highly recommended these people to be brought over from his previous ship. They had helped him in many ground engagements before the war started and pulled off many feats. Sent to places the GA military wouldn’t want to deal with. Dray on the other hand didn’t like the idea. ‘What’s the point’, he would always ask. These troops also played as Reddex’s private army when he was off the ship. After a long debate, Dray let them on. Along with that, he even upgraded their gear. Dray was able to incorporate the cloaking tech, to make them virtually invisible, but not quite 100%. There still was somewhat of a haze if you looked careful enough.

“Hey Red, hurry up. What’s taking so long? Got lost?” Drays voice rang through his ear piece.

Minutes later, Reddex walked out of the turbolift to the bridge. It was a large oval room. Twelve other crewmen were at their stations monitoring the Shadow’s systems running along the back portion of the room. In the middle of the room stood the command chair; Dray was slouched on it, with one of his legs over the arm. Ten yards ahead of him was the ‘pin’, where two pilots sat; side by side, three feet below the deck. They were going over system checks, which was a daily routine. Nar Shadaa covered half the viewport as the Shadow orbited the planet.

“I just spoken to Thing about Jax’s demise-“Dray noticed Sarus was missing. “Uh where is that blue colored friend of mine?” Dray rotated the chair to face Reddex.

“Med bay, getting checked.”

Dray sighed, “Red, we’re Jedi…We have that thing called the force. We can heal ourselves, you know..”

“And your friend took zero action to take care of that bruise the entire times he’s been up here; irresponsible Dray.” Reddex took is rounds through the stations checking on everyone’s progress. Weapons, clock, shield, engines, etc.

“Ever heard of patience?” Dray asked annoyed, “Sheesh.”

“Well I don’t want him falling unconscious from that nasty mark on his head. Best we take care of it now.” Reddex held his hands behind his back and turned to Dray. “So, what’s next move?”

“Us getting the hell out of here, Thing wants us back on the Aardvark for a meeting. Something happened and he needs our audience with a few others.”

“Right away General.” Reddex nodded. Then he walked to the forward portion of the bridge, to announce his crew. “Activate the Shadow generator.”

“Active camouflage is charged and ready Commander.”

“Make us dark, Private. Lieutenant Skirtis, shields up.”

“Shadow generator is engaged.” The lights around the bridge darkened to the level of space outside. The white floor lights came on, along with the outlines of doors, turbolift, stations and the strips on their uniforms. They looked like ghosts. “Running dark.”

“Shields at 100%. We are in the green.”

“Set a course back to the Aardvark, all haste if you will ladies and gentleman.” Reddex issued his orders with perfect control and efficiency. Dray couldn’t have picked anyone better.

“Coordinates set, Aardvark is on the grid.”

“Coordinates received, Ion drives are hot. We are go.” One of the pilots sad.

“Lieutenant Briggs, slingshot us around the planet.”

“New coordinates engaged. Acknowledged.” Briggs spoke out. Briggs was one of the pilots; he controlled the ship’s direction. His co-pilot fired the weapons. Brigg’s hands danced across his control panel. New updates flashed transversely on his black optics. The Shadow Stinger’s red ion drives blared to life, launching the craft into a fast acceleration around Nar Shadaa. Most starships that took this fast exit vector usually broke apart or rumbled to pieces. It was always the daredevil that tried this maneuver. Good thing was, the Shadow Stinger was easily capable of such a feat. The Shadow ran silent as a spukamas (cat), which his own spukamas roamed freely around the ship at its leisure. “We cleared the planet. We’re at max velocity.”

“Engage hyperdrive.” Reddex’s favorite part of traveling was the jump to light speed. It had always amazed him and had always put him at ease.

“Light speed in 3…2…-“The stars began to elongate into streaks. “1.” Ion drives roared as they punched their way into the familiar cobalt tunnel. The bright lights from the hole lit up the dark bridge like a spot light.

Dray got up from the command chair and started walking to the white-outlined turbolift. “I’ll be seeing Sarus, dude. Call when you need me.”

“Rogerz.” Reddex stepped over to the chair and sat in. “We’ll be back with Thing’s fleet in a couple of hours.”

“Yeah, Yeah…” The turbolift doors closed shut and he was gone.

COUPLE HOURS LATER….

Reddex’s spukamas leaped into Reddex’s lap purring then settle into a ball in his lap, staring at the blue tunnel through the viewport. He rubbed its orange fur, making it purr louder.

“I know you miss Corellia, as do I. Wish we could go back. Once this Crusader infestation is eradicated, we should make a visit.” Reddex looked around the bridge, brightly lit with blue hues. The only sound came from the pleasant vibration of the ships engines and some of the crewmen speaking with each other.

None of them have actually been inside of a fight with the Shadow Stinger. He was positive they would respond and act accordingly. He knew the ship was state-of-the art, that was obvious; and the only one of its kind. Hopefully the ships defensives were as good as Dray said they were. Couple of minutes went by and he just realized he had forgotten about that chiss person. He pressed a button on the chairs arm.

“Doc?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“Hows your patient?”

“Well, he has the most beautiful eyes. His personality is just-“

“Not what I meant Doc…”Reddex closed his eyes for a moment.

“Oh,” She probably blushed. “He’ll be fine, he’s healing a lot faster then I expected. He’s meditating right now on a bed. Master Dray is here as well, doing the same thing.” She paused.” These Jedi are so odd. Hold on a second, where did they go-“

Towards the back of the room, the turbolift came up. Dray and Sarus hastily walked out. Their facial expressions showed a lot of tension. Reddex turned the chair to face them. Sarus still had that bacta bandage on his forehead. Reddex laughed a little on the inside. “Something wrong?”

“Yes, we’re about-!” Sarus began to say, but was flun violently forward. Along with everyone else who wasn’t strapped in. The Shadow Stinger shuddered in protest. Through the viewport, they we’re ripped out of hyperspace back to normal space. Lights on the panels flicked at the stations. The floor lights flicked as well. Ceiling lights blew out from the sudden electrical surge, showering the bridge with glass.

“What the kriff was that?” Reddex shouted.

“We have company, that’s why!” Dray yelled helping Sarus to his feet.

Reddex hauled himself back into the command chair. His spukamas ran away to hide. “Status Report!”

“We’ve been pulled out of hyperspace!” Lieutenant Briggs responded back. His panel was flashing warnings across the screens. “Interdiction field, Commander! We aren’t going anywhere!”

“Who the hell did this?!” Reddex swung around to Dray and Sarus again.

“Pirates…” Sarus pointed out the viewport.

Everyone on the bridge paused for a moment to look. It was one one. Reddex sneered and shrugged. “Its just-“, Fifteen more ships came out of hyperspace, “one…”

“Sir, their hailing us!”

“Their Ion cannons are charging!”

“Put those bastards through, LuStongah.” Reddex ordered, brushing glass off his uniform.

The viewport Dimmed alittle, revealing a transparent face. It was a woman. She didn’t look friendly. Her hair was a long dark green; had brown cold eyes. Yet she looked so beautiful. There was a tattoo of a burning claw on her neck. There was a scar the side of her lip that took your gaze away from the beauty.

“Nice ship you have there.” The woman spoke. “Wasn’t expecting to scrap such a good looking starship from a handsome man like you.” She smiled slightly. “My name is Rokk. Seems like you ventured into unwanted territory…”

Reddex was about to speak, but Sarus interrupted. “Look, leave us alone and no one will get hurt. Don’t start none, won’t be none.” He gently waved his hand at the woman.

Reddex slipped out of view from the woman and looked over at his pilot’s. Briggs was holding up a board with writing on it, "‘Shadow generator at .1%, charging at slug pace. Main systems and weapons are still operational. Hyperdrive needs a reboot. –“

“Damn…”

The woman blankly starred at Sarus, then blinked. Her calm faced turned to pure hatred. “How dare you try that mind trick garbage on me!? Give us your ship without a fight and I’ll spare your lives! If not…cherish these last moments.” Rokk cracked her neck with her hands. The sound sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

“Well uh…that usually works…” Sarus looked at Dray apologetically, then at his hands.

“Shes clearly not retarded, Sarus…” Dray eyed him. “Red, you think we can take them?”

“Honestly General, we don’t have the fire power. But there are alternatives to having to fight an uneven brawl.” Reddex jogged to the communications officer.

“And those are-?” Dray picked through Red’s mind for a moment. “Hmph, this could work.

“Wait, what?” Sarus looked to Dray, Red, then Rokk.

“LuStongah, send out a Triple Zero to the Aardvark immediately.” Reddex instructed the woman.

“Yes sir, preparing message.”

“Whats a Triple Zero?” Sarus Asked confused.

“Also known as Red Zero; a request for urgent extraction if things turned very bad.” Dray pointed out. The pirates had already surrounded them. Their weapons were drawn. Sirens blared on the bridge that told them of multiple locks. One of the ships was keeping the interdiction field up, they had to find it.

“Absolutely correct General.” Reddex was still standing by the private.

“This is Shadow Stinger to Aardvark. Red Zero, Red Zero, Red Zero. Emergency assistance needed.” LuStongah calmly spoke into her headset

Seconds later, “Request received. We’re already on our way. Hold out for 30 minutes. Over.” Said a voice on the other end.

“30 damn minutes?” Sarus rubbed his bandaged forehead.

“Well Red, time to move.” Dray said standing next to him.

Reddex walked back into view of the woman. “Well Rokk, today just isn’t good for us. You can rot in hell. Try and take this away from us.” He gave the cut off signal to the screen. Before she could say a word, her face vanished and the viewport returned to normal. Instantly the pirates sped towards them, unleashing a horde of fire with their Ion cannons hoping to cripple the ship.

“Evade, Evade, Evade!” Reddex screamed at Briggs as he hung onto the command chair. Briggs took the Shadow into an abrupt dive, nearly missing five Ion Blasts…

Muunilinst, the banker’s World located in the outer rim. Once a lush world of forests, plains, and tall, jagged mountain peaks it has a liquid iron core, a strong magnetic field, and has been volcanically active throughout its known history. The Shallow oceans of this world were active and semi active vents to the planet core. Many of these vent spewed super heated gases that deposited layers of precious metals mixed in with the flora and fauna whose growth was supported and nurtured by the heat of the vents and the water.

The precious metals in the slopes of the ‘smokers’ were the resources that made it possible for the Inhabitants of Munnilinst, the Munn, to guarantee much of the credit of the entire galaxy. Famous for their financial prowess, abilities in math and greed, Munn children can perform complex calculations as quickly adults of other species. The competitive drive possessed by the Munns is tempered by a strong respect for fairness and regarded a contract as almost a sacred trust.

For the most part Muunilinst was destroyed in the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and many of the inhabitants were taken away into slavery. Over the centuries since then, the planet and the Munns had recovered and expanded their operations to the planet Mygeeto both planets becoming the business centers of the galaxy. The Munns had roared back and were now the backers of credit through the galaxy. In the hundreds of years since the War, the planet had healed itself and the Munns cities had been rebuilt. From space the scars of the Yuuzhan Vong bombardment had healed and, from orbit, the planet was once again a blue green marble streaked with the white of clouds.

If sound could carry in space anyone close would have heard a thump as a ship made the transition from hyperspace to normal space. The ship was streamlined and sleek, obviously a pleasure yacht with its occupants out on holiday. If you looked closely on the hull of the ship you would notice the scorch marks left by taking blaster fire. The ship angled toward Munnilinst, its graceful lines glinting in the light of the system’s yellow sun. The ship trailed sparks from a damaged conduit as it angled toward one of the planets many space ports. Being one of the Financial centers of the Galaxy, there was quite a bit of traffic in and out of the system. The wealth of minerals, common and precious, had also facilitated the growth of ship yards. Several of those facilities were visible in orbit.

Mariunhus, while not the largest city on the planet, is one of the richest on planet having grown up around a smoker rich in Gold and Platinum. The yacht angled toward the space port and set down on a landing pad. The ship almost sighed as it settled on its landing struts.

‘A week’ Aragorn mused. It had been almost that long since the Treader had made planet fall on Munnilinst. The hyperdrive conduit had been replaced with in a day and they were ready to go. Ptolemy had insisted they poke around since they were behind the lines of the crusaders. After slicing and looking around on the city net they had found something that was interesting. The level of irritation that Aragorn had felt with his father had done little but grow since they had landed here and the fact that he was right and there was something that should be investigated here did little to relieve that irritation. There were several orders for parts and raw materials to be shipped to Yaga Minor. Some of the components that were being shipped were weapons grade circuitry and conduit harnesses. But the dimensions of these were huge, larger than anything any of them had seen. Yes the Jedi were with them. The Jedi had come around from the forced coma placed by Ptolemy. They didn’t remember the bulk of the fight but they knew they were not right. Though Aragorn had not really felt qualified to aid them they had spent several days in led meditation to try and center them selves in the force. Aragorn needed that as much as they did the memory of the battle on Ziost fresh in his mind the desperation, the rage…. The power. Aragorn shook his head to clear the image of the Crusader frying under the lightning splaying from his fingertips. That had been… Satisfying.

Ara looked up to the man across the table from him. This man, named D’gal, claimed to have information about where the parts and material were going, which they knew, and what it was going to be used in, of which they had a hunch.

‘Look’ D’gall said looking around nervously, ‘I could get…’

‘In a lot of trouble’ Ptolemy said

‘You have let us know that many times‘ Ara said irritably ‘and you are being well paid for this information.’

D’gall looked around again and placed a data chip in the hands of Ptolemy. Ara and Ptolemy looked at each other and stood. Both Ptolemy and Aragorn were dressed in the garb of the working class of this world drab colored tunics over tan breeches Both were also wearing loose fitting jackets made of the skin of an indigenous creature. These were good for keeping certain equipment out of sight like Ara’s lightsaber. Ptolemy’s staff was a bit harder to hide but, since he had finished crafting the replacement, it looked more ornate and less battle scarred than the old one. Ara pressed a credit chip into D’gall’s hand and they made their way toward the back of the room. As they moved through the crowd both Jedi wrapped them selves more tightly in the cloak of the force. Seeming to disappear into the crowd, quite literally, blending in completely. Even the people that they brushed past could not have given a good description.

There was an explosion from the front of the room as 10 crusader troops blew the door open and rushed in. The bright light of the lights shining through the ruined door made everyone grimace and shield their eyes. The troopers lined everyone in the bar up to be questioned. Toward the end of the line, Ptolemy looked at Aragorn and grinned; Ara shot Pto a warning look and shook his head just a bit. Ptolemy closed his eyes in concentration and tapped his staff on the floor. The sound of the staff hitting the floor was amplified several times and seemed to be coming from the refresher. One of the guards looked away at the source of the sound and back to what he was doing. Aragorn sighed, it was not the first time the Crusaders were too dense to follow a clue. Ptolemy picked up his staff and, concentrating harder, tapped the staff again throwing a sound that was several times louder from the area of the refresher. This time several of the troops wheeled around just in time to see the curtain over the portal to the ‘fresher swish as if it were falling back in place.

Almost as one the troops drew their blasters and fired quickly and accurately at the curtain punching several holes in it and setting it on fire. With a little urging from the force the fire spread quickly and a general panic set in prompting a rush toward the ruined front door. The fire and stampede happened to quickly for the troopers to react and they were pushed aside and trampled as the customers of the bar pressed for the door. Ptolemy grinned as he and Aragorn turned toward the back of the bar and slipped out the back door unseen.

They turned left along the wall and walked quickly down the alley for several blocks before turning down another alley. Ptolemy and Aragorn then took stealth cloaks from the inside of their jackets, shook them out and threw them around their shoulders. The two then huddled behind an overflowing waste receptacle. Ptolemy took a data pad from his jacket and slid the data chip into the reader slot. In a moment the schematic of a huge ship appeared on the data screen. The two studied the schematic for a moment and then Ptolemy switched the pad off. The two split up and disappeared into the crowd making their way back to the Dawn Treader.

Ptolemy shrugged out of his cloak as he strode up the ramp to the Treader his staff tapping the floor as he walked. He walked the short distance to the salon and accessed the communications array. Aragorn arrived as he worked. Ptolemy placed the data chip in the console and worked to encrypt the data. He then scrambled the signal that would be projected from the Treader hid the signal by injecting it into another signal and transmitted a burst of data to a distant location. The transmission lasted less than a second and contained the whole of the information that pertained to the ship plans contained on the chip. Ptolemy slowly backed out of the steps that secured the transmission and turned. Aragorn and the two Jedi watched him expectantly.

‘Now we wait’ Ptolemy said ‘we must mask our presence yet from those that would hunt us down. We wait for Thing to get a plan together.’

The Shadow Stinger pulled a barrol roll dodging two passing Skipray Blastboats while in the abrupt dive. Ion blasts shot past danger close all over the viewport. Sirens filled the bridge from multiple firing solutions coming from the chasing Blastboats and Rihkxyrk assault fighters. Briggs was using every trick in the book and more to outsmart them. Juking, rolling, loops, hard turns…

“You going to fire back or what?” Briggs shouted to his copilot. His optics were showering him with moment to moment information on the engagement. The reports were coming from the stations around the bridge.

“Maybe if you kept the damn ship steady I could-“ She yelled back, but then found something. “Well, well, well!” She looked at Briggs with a smile. She pressed the key.

Along the sides of the Shadow, a pair of ports slid open along the hull. Double barrel turbo cannons came into view. The barrels began to pulse with energy. “Try to get one of those bastards in view, I need to paint’em.”

“Rogerz, Sol.” Briggs made a hard right skimming over another Blastboat, this time skidding across its shield nearly crushing the fighter. Just ahead a Crusader-Class corvette appeared flew in front of them and opened up its turbolasers; forcing the Shadow to pull up and over the star ship. Then, Briggs looped under the corvette in slingshot back into the chasing fighters. The lasers from the corvette hammered at the Shadow’s shields causing the deck shuddered with every blow.

On Sol’s optics, a crosshair appeared and synchronized with the movements of her eyes. Abling her to move it anywhere she looked. She spotted a fighter that had turned a 180 degree to avoid a head on collision. “Bad move…”, The BlastBoat pilot just realized what he had done and tried to dodge the Shadow. Brigg’s easily kept pace with the fighter while dodging another strafing run by more Rihkxyrk’s. She brought the juking pirate into focus and blinked rapidly three times, highlighting the craft red.

“Enemy painted.” She sent the data to Brigg’s optics so he could track the ship easier in the increasing chaos. “I think we’re about to see some serious poodoo.” Sol keyed in the firing solution and prepared to activate the canons. “Tracking…Tracking…Firing!”

The automated double barrol cannons thudded as they launched a barrage of larger-than-normal laser blasts at the fighter. “Keep pace, keep pace!” yelled Sol, as she made micro adjustments to the targeting. The lasers were catching up with the fighter as it tried to gain altitude in a climb. Through her optics, she was able to pinpoint where she wanted the lasers to hit. She aimed for the Blastboats engines. As soon as Briggs angled the Shadow up alittle further, the cannons hit their mark beautifully. The shields easily crippled under the salvo and ripped through the engine housing. The hot plasma burned straight through sending the ship in an out of control spin. “Confirmed hit; threat neutralized!” Some of the crew cheered with their small victory. 14 more were still out there.

“Outstanding you two!” Reddex shouted, “We aren’t done yet. We need to find that Interdictor cruiser immiediatly!”

“Scanning!” One of the crewmen shouted.

“General, Sarus, please if you don’t mind helping in the damn search!” He eyed the two Jedi, “I’m afraid this Rokk girl is pretty bloody tactical.”

“Is that admiration I’m hearing Red?” Dray asked holding himself solid to the floor with the Force.

Reddex didn’t respond. It annoyed him these Jedi liked to play around in serious situations. He rolled his eyes. Down on his forearm, his data pad’s chrono told him 10 minutes had already went by. “Thing needs to hurry up…” He told himself.

“How’s our shields holding?” Reddex asked aloud to anyone listening.

“74.6%, dropping steadily Commander!”

“Shadow generator at 9.2%”

“Hyperdrive is still out of commission. Engineers are still working on it. They report it’s hard to repair in this chaos. They believe the whole drive has been disconnected.”

Reddex had only asked one question, and his crew was already a few steps ahead of him. He wished he could smile, but what was going on outside made that option impossible.

“I…Think…I found her…” Sarus had his eyes closed but was looking around the bridge. “There!” His eyes opened pointing forward. They had just rolled from another yet near collision by a Rihxyrk fighter and spotted the source of the interdiction field. It wasn’t an Interdictor cruiser that they believe was the cause. It was something else. “What is that?” Sarus asked.

It was an Aggressor-Class Star Destroyer; equally the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The cruiser had two fire-linked guns fixed to the forward hull. Simultaneously, they fired a large ion blast and plasma shell right after. The field was coming from the cruiser. The guns were charging and the ship was slowly turning in their direction. The Shadow had made another turn, just as the Aggressor fired the first shot, then a moment later, a second. The giant blue Ion blast came at such a shocking velocity. Brigg’s was able to turn just in time to dodge to the blast, passing just by the viewport; brightening up the bridge with its energy. Then suddenly the second bolt filled their viewport. The giant red plasma was dead in their sights. Brigg’s juked to the right and rolled over the plasma ball. The ball of energy grazed the ships shields.

Reddex looked back at dray and Sarus with total shock on his face. “We need to take out that ship. You think you can disable it?”

“Uh, may I ask how we’re getting aboard?” Sarus looked at him, thinking the worst.

“Dray, you still able to use that breathe control technique?” Reddex questioned, as he made calculations in his head for a rapid ship to ship boarding on his datapad.

“Yeah of course; who do you think saved your ass when I had to repair your frigate’s life support systems when we were escaping Coruscant?!” Dray mocked.

“Noted.” Reddex seethed, “feel free not to remind me of that day.” He staggered over to Dray and Sarus trying to keep his balance from Brigg’s piloting.

“I’d be nice if you fixed the inertial compensator to normal levels. We wouldn’t be a pawn to this reckless balancing act.” Sarus openly complained, while still concentrating on keeping his feet glued to the deck.

“Sorry Sarus, but no. I prefer it this way. Lets me know which direction I’m going no matter where I am on this ship.” Reddex grinned.

The inertial compensator helped control the gravity on the ship. Just like every other starship out there. On regulation levels you wouldn’t feel a thing, no matter how fast you banked, or how fast you flew into and out of a loop. Reddex always had it quite a few notches down on the scale, so everyone on board felt every turn; plummet and acceleration. Personally, it made him feel more alive.

“Here’s the plan.” He typed a few keys on his datapad. Rokk’s flag ship projected out on a mini hologram. ‘I want you two to get into that vessel. Find her; make her surrender.” He pressed another rkey and it showed the Shadow making a fly by right past Rokk’s ship, showing two red dots following a projected arc and landing on the craft.

“Wait, wait, you want us to jump out of this ship at break neck velocity into the pure vaccum, while in combat?!” Sarus’s jaw dropped, Dray snickered.

“Precisely; it’s possible.” Reddex nodded.

“Trust in the Force, sheesh,” Dray grabbed Saru’s shoulder, “Come on, let’s go.” They jogged to the white outlined turbolift and disappeared.

Reddex watched them run through the halls on his datapad. He tapped his earpiece and connected his voice with the intercoms in each room they past. “Keep in mind, this is extremely risky. Im going to have the Shadow make a rapid fly by; how you to break is 100% between you two. Head the to the hanger.” He saw them nodding on the feed.

“Kyle, I’m sending you the route. Mark it and prepare to execute.” Reddex told his navigation officer.

“Coordinates received, Commander! Ready when you are!” Kyle responded.

Reddex looked back at the viewport. Sol was scoring hits on numerous Blastboat’s and Rihkxyrk’s passing by, but not enough to put them out of commission. They were getting smarter. He could hear Sol’s frustration over the bangs and explosions.

“Red, we’re in the hanger.”

A holo projection sprouted from Reddex’s forearm. The view was from a monitor on the control panel next to the ramp in the hanger. An engineer wearing an airtight suit was standing by the panel with Dray by the monitor. Dray was looking at Red on the screen. “It’s now or never, Red. Give us the green light.” Dray turned and walked back over to Sarus. He was holding on to footholds in the floor with his hands. Dray followed suit next to him and settled in.

Reddex looked over to kyle, “Execute.”

“Route, initiated.”

“Coordinates acknowledged.” Briggs shouted.

“Execute.” Reddex repeated.

Brigg’s flew under an approaching Interceptor IV Frigate that had its sights on the Shadow but wasn’t fast enough to track. “Coming around!” The Shadow throttled up into a high G loop. The pursuing pirates couldn’t hold the climb and broke off to turn around again. “Flagship spotted!”

Reddex returned his attention back to Dray and Sarus on his datapad. “Prepare yourself gentlemen.” He took another quick look at the viewport. The Aggressor had its sights directly on the Shadow. Back on the monitor, he could see Dray and Sarus going into a trance. “We have a short window of opportunity.” The Aggressor had fired its first shot; Briggs had already begun to dodge it as Reddex looked down at his datapad again. He noticed a thin dark layer of green covering Dray and Sarus’s bodies. “Whatever you do; DO. NOT. MISS.” The thin bubble layer stopped at their throats. The bright blast of the first Ion shot zoomed by, and the second plasma bolt had just been dodged. On the monitor above Reddex’s face in the hanger, a digital clock counted down from 21…

“20…”

“19…”

“18…”

“Once you’re on board, we’ll hold out for as long as we can. Remember, find Rokk and force the surrender. Make her shut off that damn interdiction field -“ Reddex said, but Briggs voice came up.

“Sir, I’m speeding up. Those Blasboats are getting seriously annoying.” Briggs shouted. He added more thrust to the engines. The countdown clock on the monitor decreased sharply.

“8…”

“7…”

“May the force be with you. Happy Hunting.” Reddex gave a salute.

“5…” The thin dark layer covered the rest of Dray and Sarus’s heads

“4…” Vents began to suck the oxygen out of the hanger. The ramp started to descend.

“3…” All the sound vanished into space. Flashes of lasers and Ion Blasts flew by. Blastboats and Rihkxyrk’s zoomed by firing their weapons. As the Shadow maneuvered around, the stars zipped in all directions, until they suddenly leveled out.

“2…”

“1…” The monitor flashed green. Dray and Sarus leaped out of the hanger like bolts. They quickly disappeared into the blackness of space. Reddex lost sight of them through the monitor.

Reddex shut off the feed, “Track them, Bezz! Don’t lose them!”

“Aye Aye, I have them! 30 seconds till impact!” Bezz said as he worked his sonar station; making adjustments trying to keep the best signal.

Briggs pulled hard left around the backside of Rokks flagship taking on fire from its many turrets. He throttled back up into a climb. Sol was finally able to disable another craft when they shot around the cruiser, “About damn time!” she cheered.

“Sir, they made it on to the hull!” Bezz shouted.”

“I need eyes people, where are they?” Reddex said.

Briggs made came about once more and made another dangerous fly by on the star destroyer. Through the viewport, they could see the jedi going to work on the topside hull not far from the command bridge.; sabers working in unison. Then they dropped through. An emergency bulk head came over their forced entrance. A moment later…

“We’re in.” Dray’s voice said over the comms, “And it smells terrible in here…” Someone elses voice of surprise was heard in the background. The snap hiss of Dray’s saber came on, followed by Sarus’s and his shoto. “Time to go to work. Over.”

“Doing great people, keep it up! How many of those fools still out there?” Reddex asked aloud.

“Two disabled-“ Sol started.

“-13 still trying to kill us!” Bezz butted in, looking at his screen.

“Excellent.” Reddex managed to sit back into the command chair. The decks rumbled again from more multiple hits. He wondered how much laser scaring was on the hull. A couple of minutes went by while the Shadow duked it out with the pirates. Sol was clever enough to take out 3 more. She gave a high five to Briggs. Then suddenly, the pirates ceased firing. The Blastboats and Rihkxyrk stop pursuing and broke away. “Damn that was fast…”

“Uh, sir we have incoming!”

“What, from where-“ A collision alarm blarred over Reddex’s confusion.

100 meters in front of the Shadow, the grey Star Destroyer of the Aardvark was ripped out of hyperspace; along with the rest of Thing’s partial fleet. “What the- WOAH!” Briggs jumped in his seat as the Aardvark tried to break its velocity.

“Why are you waiting Briggs, PULL UP!” Reddex bellowed.

The Shadow Stinger angled up just in time, coming over the Star Destroyer’s bow, evading the ships numerous turbolaser batteries, then nearly clipping the Command Bridge and its towers. They briefly saw the Aardvark’s bridge crew cover their faces or drop to the deck, expecting an impact.

“Damn it Red, that was close!” Thing’s voice yelled over the comm.. “Give us a warning next time, thanks..”

“Welcome to the party, General Thing. Thank you for showing up.” Reddex wiped the sweat away from his bow with his sleeve. The Shadow swung around flying across the Aardvark's bow heading towards Rokks ship.

“Explain to me why we were grabbed out of hyperspace?”

“Same reason we were; interdiction field. Dray and Sarus should’ve turned it off by now…” Reddex tried contacting them.

“I sense they aren’t on your ship. Why the hell are they on a pirates vessel?”

“Trying to save our ass’s…” Dray interrupted.

“Rokks flagship is hailing.” Lustongah said.

Dray’s transparent face appeared on the viewport. He was standing on a dark bridge. Some of the consoles in the background were smoldering. Some looked like slash marks or blaster scaring. There were also bodies on the floor as well. A few had smoking holes in their chests or back. Sarus was seen holding his shoto to a dark green haired woman’s neck, behind Dray. She wasn’t looking to happy in her command chair.

“Red get me off this ship please! It reaks…”

Reddex openly ignored Dray’s complaint and looked at the woman. “How is she Sarus?”

“Minor injury. I accidently burned off her tattoo with my shoto. She tried to do something bold.” He held up recently sliced off vibroblade and dropped it to the floor. There was a burn mark visible on her neck. “She says, she’s willing to cooperate.”
“Very good; sorry it had to end this way Rook. The Galactic Alliance Remnant and JvSA frown upon piracy.”

“Whatever...”, Rokk mumbled. “What do you want?”

Things face appeared next to Dray’s image on the viewport. “She could probably help us track crusader activity.”

“Well, since we are in these dark times. Piracy is still considered illegal by GAR and JVSA. You can be put away for a very…very long time.” Reddex spoke as he stood up. “How about this; if you agree to work with us nicely, we’ll pretend this little engagement never happened. I’m going to assume you’re wanted in quite a few systems. Agree to our terms and those charges will be…erased.” Rokk raised her head and looked at Reddex with her bright green eyes. “You have an opportunity to start over. Plus, you might just get an award…”

Her attention was fully on the Commander, “Is that a promise?”

“You have my word.”

Sarus deactivated his shoto and gave Rokk some room to stand.

“Finally, now PLEASE get me off this ship!” Dray’s face covered the screen.

As the Shadow Stinger connected with Rokk’s vessel, the remaning Pirates fled to hyperspace on random coordinates to hide their tracks. Thing’s fleet surrounded the two vessels just incase another attack happened. Reddex ordered his GASF to go onboard her ship and plant detonators. Dray and Sarus walked with Rokk between them as they stepped inside of the Shadow. Since she agree’d to work with them, they didn’t bother to shackle her…As long as she continued to cooperate.

Once everyone was on, the Shadow disconnected from rusty Star Destroyer and flew back towards the Aardvark. At a safe distance, the GASF activated the detonators. Obliterating the ship to nothing. The Aardvark’s hanger crew had made extra room for the Shadow to land for repairs. Reddex gave the order for his vrew to have some rest and relaxation while the ship went under repairs. Outside the craft, the hull was covered in laser scarring. Some of the hull was burned from the hot plasma. While walking to the ramp to the Star Destroyer’s hanger, Reddex passed by the lounge where the crew was preparing to leave. He saw Briggs and Sol talking to a few of Aardvarks crew demonstrating their tactics with their hands and sound effects. A few other people from the bridge were explaining their battle experience as well. They were all happy they made it.

Walking into the hanger, mobile trams carrying supplies rolled up into the Stinger’s ramps; followed by repair droids and other technicians. The place was very busy. Dray and Sarus stood by Rokk and three members of GASF standing guard behind her to help escort. The other 3 GASF were helping with the resupplying of the vessel.

“Thing wants us in the ready room.” Sarus said to Dray. “It’s about Ptolemy and Aragorn.”

“Something happen to them?” Reddex asked approaching them.

“We’ll find out when we get there. Let’s get going.” The two jedi lead the way across the large spacious hanger of the Aardvark. In the hanger, the Shadow Stinger took up majority of the space. The fighters that had littered the floor were moved to sublevels by the large elevator. Through the magnetic field, they could see the Aardvark transitioning into lightspeed.

Within moments they were traveling through the long metal hallways of the Star Destroyer. Crewmen made way for their group to past by taking glances at the pirate. A few more turbolifts later, they stepped into the dark ready room. The GASF stood guard outside.

“Welcome back.” Thing smiled. He was hovering a meter off the ground in meditation on the other side of the room.
Reddex stood next to Rokk in the back as Dray and Sarus went over to talk with Thing. “No offense, ma’am. You smell.” Reddex kept his attention on the three jedi talking with each other.

“So?” Rokk folded her arms and turned to look him in the eye, “That a problem for you mr.?”

“To my senses, yes; yes it is a problem.”

“Then what shall you have me do?” She took a step closer to Reddex.

“You need one long sanisteam, that’s for sure.” Reddex continued to keep his gaze at the men across the room. There were doing that meditating stuff again.

“Oh?” Rokk brushed a finger along his cheek, “would you like to join me?”

Reddex immiediatly grabbed her hand and looked at her getting ready to say something. Rokk was grinning. She must be playing him, Reddex thought.

“Commander? Rokk? Join us please.” Thing called over to them. He was standing now with Dray and Sarus. “I have troubling news. Ptolemy is missing along with his son and two other jedi.”

Reddex and Rokk approached. “Could you explain the situation further, General Thing?” He asked.

“Someone sent Aragorn and two inexperienced jedi to Ziost to take back a temple. When his team landed, they reported their mission was a go.” Thing paused for a moment in thought, “We haven’t heard from him or his team since.” He looked back to Dray, then to Sarus. “I told this before you two went after Jax…” He turned to Rokk, “Before you guys had to take a detour…”
Rokk saw the star and looked at a chair and made it look interesting.

“And how is Ptolemy involved?” Reddex asked.

“He went after his son to the same location. Havn’t heard from him since, either.” Thing looked at Dray, Sarus, then Reddex. “This is where you three come in. I need you to head to Ziost and find out what happened.” He looked to Rokk, who was still distracting herself. “You can bring her along as well.”

“Oh.” Reddex looked back to her, “We will.”

Reddex brought up his datapad and checked on the Shadow’s status. He flicked through the live video feeds throughout the ship. Then he came across the hyperdrive unit. Multiple engineers and technichians from the Shadow and Aardvark were giving it an overhaul for repairs. The hull plates were still being changed and droids were busy giving the craft a fresh coat of pain. Supple trams still went in and out of the ship.

“Bad news. The Shadow will be out of combat for a few days. That search and rescue will have to wait.” Reddex clicked off his datapad.

“Does this mean we can get to know each other alittle better? I guess we can start over since I put you folks through that stuff…” Rokk raised an eyebrow. Everyone in the room looked at her.

“Oh no she didn’t…”Dray spoke.


WEEK LATER……..


Couple of days turned into a full blown week. They still havn’t heard word from Ptolemy or Aragorn. The repairs on the Shadow Stinger were nearly finished. The charred hull playes were replaced and getting the finishing touches. The starship had its coat of paint fully redone, looking more black and beautiful than ever. The wiring of the ships electrical system was overhauled and made more efficient; along with the overhead lights on the bridge, including the reprogramming of the control stations. The floor lights were refitted as well. Some of them had short circuited.

The last two major fixes were the hyperdrive and the Shadow generator. Reddex watched the over repairs on the hyperdrive conduit and made some 'special modifications'. When they were ripped out of lightspeed, the whole drive was disconnected. They reinforced it with bolts making it nearly impossible to move a centimeter. The fuel tank for the drive was increased for longer periods of use as well. Dray on the other hand, fixed the Shadow generator himself. Said it was a, ‘secret’. No one was allowed in the housing while he worked on it. He was able to make the recharge quicker and more reliable.

Sarus was busy sparing with Thing in the private training room. He spent majority of his time there just to avoid the chiss doctor from the Shadow. Everywhere he went; she somehow popped up and tried to flirt with him. The training room became his fortress of solitude. It had already got to the point to where he ate and slept in the room.

Meanwhile, Rokk’s hidden personality showed up. Turns out she had a rough life since the crusaders began the war. She was an officer in the Hapan security force for the Consortium on Hapes. Having heard of the beauty about the woman there was a huge contrast to what Rokk appeared as when he first laid eyes on her. While they got to know each other more, she went through a make-over. The grimy, dirt covered, reaking woman was now a shocking sight to see. Her hair was no longer full of grit. She had it cut short to just above her ears. Her wardrobe complete changed, to something better. She dressed more like her hapan security relatives in a black and green leather jacket, cut off at the waist and black skinny jeans. During her stay, Reddex surprised her with own uniform from the Shadow Stinger; it was dark green, matching her hair. The white lines, streaked down across the uniform as well. Though they had become close friends, he didn’t forget she still owed them, and there could possibly be a chance she might fall back into her old habits.

On the 6th day, everyone was reported to meet in the ready room. Thing had urgent news. Within moments, they had gathered once again back in the dark room. Dray was already there, then came Sarus who was calmly trying to push way the doctor until he was able to distract her, then jumped inside. Followed by Reddex and Rokk.

In their absence a mobile projector unti was placed in the middle of the room. ‘We just received an encrypted message from Pto-“
“Where is he? Is he alright?” Sarus jutted in.

“Relax Sarus. Can’t you feel it? He’s still alive. I sense Aragorn is with him too.” Thing told him.

He walked to the projector and typed a few keys. “From what I’ve seen, this is some very valuable intel. Yet-“He pressed another key. A projection of schematic lit up the dark room,” This scares the hell out of me.”

“What the…” Reddex took a step closer, eyes wide.

“Yaga Minor…?” Rokk mumbled.

“What the hell could harness those weapons? Look at the size of those materials.” Everyone had stepped closer, looking over everything on the transmission. It was a vessel larger than anything they have ever seen. Along the side of the schematic of the vessel, was a never ending list of numerous very large quantities of items. Most of the items they had never heard of; Reddex knew for sure, majority of it was flat-out illegal.

“I recognize that route…”Rokk pointed to a set of marker points. “I knew Yaga Minor sounded familiar. When I was with my pirates, we were paid to transport some of that stuff.” Everyone looked at her. “We asked no questions, all we cared about was the money.”

Reddex stepped up to her, “Can you lead us to that trade route? We could found out exactly where that stuff is going to.”
“Yes-“ Rokk began to say, but was cut off.

“We first need to find Ptolemy and Aragorn. Their our first priority-“Thing said.

“Thing, that schematic looks like Dusk is building ANOTHER super weapon!” Sarus cut in.

“You could be right Sarus, but Ptolemy and Aragorn are on the planet where these materials are originating from.” Dray said.

“And that planet is is?” Reddex spoke up trying to keep the conversation from straying.

Thing checked the transmission source once more for a moment, “Muunilinst.”

“You got to be kidding…of all places..”

“Think the banking clan is funding Dusk?” Sarus asked.

“Has to be, his crusaders control the whole place.” Rokk said.

Thing looked at all of them, “Which means our friends are stuck deep behind enemy lines-“

Reddex was already typing in commands on his datapad. He took a few steps back and spoke into his earpiece to his crew. “All crew, report back to the Shadow Stinger immiediatley. Prepare for immiediate departure. R n R is over.”

“-Dray, Sarus, get to Muunilinst as fast as possible. Find Ptolemy and Aragorn. Find out what the hell Dusk is planning. This- “Thing pointed to the data scrolling on the schematic, “Is not good.”

“Red-“ Dray looked for him and saw him talking into his earpiece, “Looks like he’s already a step ahead of us.”

Within minutes, they had reached the hanger. Crewman scrambled for last minute checks before heading aboard. The Shadow’s repulsors were levitating the ship off the deck 2 meters. Dray and Sarus leaped onto the ramp and brought Reddex, Rokk, and the GASF up with the Force. Once they walked inside, the ramp closed shut. Reddex got onto his earpiece again. “Briggs, we’re on board. Take the Shadow out.”

“Rogerz.”

The Shadow Stinger slid out of the hanger, with its repulsors through the magnetic field. When they cleared the Aardvark’s hanger, the Ion engines came to life. By then, Reddex had made it to the bridge along with Rokk, Dray, and Sarus. As soon as the turbolift opened, Reddex started…

“Activate the Shadow Generator.”

“Shadow engaged.” The bridge’s lights slowly went out, and then the white floor lights came on. Reddex’s uniform lit up as well, along with Rokk’s and the rest of the crew.

“Shields?”

“100%, Commander. We are green, very very mean.”

“Kyle,” Reddex looked in his direction, “Set a course to Muunilinst.”

“Muunilisnt on the grid sir.” Kyle responded.

“Making course adjustments.” Briggs piped up. The Shadow Stinger pulled away further from the Aardvark. On Brigg’s optics, a route to their exit vector highlighted in red guided him. “Coordinates are set. Ready when you are Commander.”

Before Reddex gave the last order, Thing had hailed the ship. “ I’ve sent a burst transmission to Master Ptolemy. I’ve told him you folks are on your way. May the force be with you. Over.”

Reddex nodded, “Rogerz.” He looked to briggs as he sat in the command chair. “Engage the hyperdrive, Briggs.”

“lightspeed in 5, 4 – “

Rokk stood next to Reddex at his side, “I love this part.

“2 – “ The stars began to stretch.

“Oh really?” Reddex grinned, “So do I Rokk, so do I.”

“1.” The blue tunnel engulfed the Shadow, sending the invisible starship down the cobalt wormhole.

The two Jedi watched as the Commander and Pirate Queen strolled off down the hall, Rokk's hand not so subtly placed on Reddex's hip. "Ever wonder what our lives would have been like if we'd never become Jedi?" Dray asked as the couple disappeared into the turbolift.

"It would have been one of pain and exile, for me at least," Sarus replied steering his friend down another corridor, "so no not really. Why?"

"A devilishly handsome rogue with a flare for the dramatic like myself?" He smiled, "I could have lived a life that would have made Lando Calrissian jealous." He shook his head, "Instead I run around the Galaxy with a bunch of abstinent monks."

"You can have my stalker if you're really looking for some action," Sarus joked.

Dray laughed, "No, you can keep that piece of crazy all to yourself, besides I have to let you have some-" Dray fell to his knees and grabbed his head as images flashed through his mind. A lightsaber clashing with another, their blades shifting color and length, the faces of the wielder's in darkness. A voice distorted, but still familiar, "You are corrupted. Consumed." A ripple, power blasting out killing hundreds. Another voice, "I am the Dark Side, and it is me!" A bright light, a cleansing wrath. The voice returns, "You consumed life and the Force..." Complete white, a single speck of darkness is all the remains. A whisper, "I shall never end." The darkness grows, two points of light remain, two lightsaber engaged, the combatant's faces flashing through hundreds as the light from the blades dimmed and finally went out. A new voice, entirely too familiar, "Project Daedalus.... the end game."

"Dray? Dray!" A voice called, closer, his vision began to clear and he saw the Chiss kneeling in front of him shouting.

"Quiet, I heard you the first time." The Master responded, shaking his head to clear the visions away.

"Apparently not, I've been trying to shake you out of that trance for damn near five minutes. What the kriff happened?" Sarus replied offering a hand to Dray.

"I had a vision," he answered accepting the hand, "I'm not entirely sure what it means though." He went on to explain the strange images and snippets of conversation, all of which he recognized from his battle with Kael, all except the last line. "I can relate most of the images to our fight on the Crusader world," the Master continued over a cup of caf. The two Jedi had made their way to the cafeteria after the episode had hit and had been trying to sort through the vision together, "But the last part makes no sense, sure they managed to grow into a threatening force, but they aren't overwhelming us that badly."

"Could be a glimpse into the future, into what will happen if we continue to fight," Sarus suggested.

"Doubt it. The way Dusk is mishandling his forces our victory is more a 'when' rather than an 'if'," he looked blankly out at the mess hall, "this 'Project Daedalus' bothers me, all the other pieces were concise and vague, but that one piece was oddly specific."

Sarus drummed his fingers, "I remember hearing about a Project Daedalus, once when I attempted to infiltrate Crusader ranks, it was only in passing though. The only detail I could pick up from it was that it had the personal attention of the Dark One, but you said you heard Dawn say it didn't you?"

Dray nodded, "Yes, it's odd that Kael never mentioned it. I mean Dawn called it the 'end game' but Kael never once mentioned any specific reason he was doing any of this, if he really did have an 'end game' why didn't he use it?"

"Essence transfer?" Sarus mumbled, eyes half glazed over.

"What?"

The Force Warrior rubbed his brow in concentration, "Darth Andeddu, an ancient Sith Lord once perfect a technique called Essence Transfer, by which the user could cast his soul into another sentient's body using the Force. Many Sith learned of ways to use it with varying success: Darth Bane, Exar Kun, Freedon Nadd, Naga Sadow, but perhaps the most successful was Karness Muur. Muur was one of the oldest Sith Lords in existence, he was also a Sith Alchemist who perfected the art of talismans. When near death the man imbued one of his talismans with his essence, preserving his soul and granting the user incredible power over the living. It kept him alive for four thousands years until Cade Skywalker finally destroyed the artifact with Shatter Point."

"That's a nice history lesson, but how does it help us?"

"Darth Andeddu never taught this technique to Sadow, Nadd, or Muur, they figured it out themselves, so it stands to reason other Sith Lords could have as well. And you told me Kael had an Amulet on him once...."

"Are you trying to tell me he was taken over by an ancient Sith Lord?" Dray asked with an arched brow, "Because if you are I may have to slap you."

"Not taken over, but influenced. I think there may have been more than one piece to this amulet, and I think Dawn may have the other piece, or pieces. It would be like having a combination lock for power, alone each piece has only subconscious influence, but together they would result in a complete takeover. Unless you can think of another reason these two people, with completely different motivations, would continue with this 'Project Daedalus'?"

"One flaw in your theory, I destroyed the amulet for good, no amount of space tape will ever put it back together, and if this amulet really did effect Kael, why not influence him to find the others?"

"A strategy maybe? He might have seen you coming, could have been a back-up plan, a just-in-case," the Jedi Shadow shrugged, "it may have been as simple as not knowing where they were."

"No, if Dusk could get to them I have to assume Kael already had them, and if he knew I was coming then why bother staying?"

"I don't know," Sarus shrugged taking a sip of caf, "but you had that vision for a reason Dray. I didn't have it, Thing didn't have it, not even Iron had it, you did. The Force has chosen you for something."

"It already chose me for something, it needs to pick someone else," Dray replied with a sour look.

"Maybe it's not a job, maybe it's simply something only you can see, something unique about you that gives you a perspective none of us can see." Sarus stood, "Now I better get out of here before-"

"Aha!" A voice said from across the mess, a voice Sarus had become all too familiar with.

"Stang!" The Chiss vaulted the table and made a dash for the door pushing crewmen out of his way with the urgency of a man on fire.

"Oh no you don't!" The doctor pulled a slugthrower and fired three precise shots at the fleeing Jedi's back, all three tranquilizer darts hitting home with eerie accuracy, and sending him ungracefully to the floor, two steps later. "Now now Jedi Cloud, we can't have you running around injured," the doctor tisked grabbing the fallen Jedi by the feet and dragging him along behind her, "we need to treat those burns you got last week."

Sarus head lulled back and forth, "But tha was Rokk wsn 't?" He slurred as he and the doctor disappeared out of sight.

///WELCOME USER. PLEASE INPUT COMMAND.... ERROR, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. BACKTRACING.... TRACE INTERRUPTED. WARNING! FIREWALL BREACHED CLOSING-

///PROGRAM INTERRUPTED. REBOOTING....

///WELCOME USER. PLEASE INPUT COMMAND.... ACCESS GRANTED. WELCOME GRAND MASTER.

///RETREIVING ARCHIVE DATA.... LOADING....

///ALLIANCE COUNCIL MEETING 2,683: RONIN ALLIANCE. STARDATE: 350.5.14 ABY. GRAND MASTER IRONRAT & DARK LORD SPANISH INQUISITION PRESIDING. IN ATTENDANCE: CHAMPION, LAYFON, CAMUS, SINESTRA.

///PLAYING
____________________

The doors to the chamber closed with a sigh, cutting off the last vestiages of conversation from outside. "Greetings Leader Cin," Iron spoke regaining the Fosh's attention. The room was as it had been the last time she'd visited the Academy a decade ago, it seemed to have escaped the damage the rest of the Temple had taken. In fact the only evidence in the room that all was not was the absence of four of the ten Councilors. "You'll have to excuse the lack of presence," Iron said watching her gaze, "Bazariel and Peppa are still out coordinating with the fleet, Ares is looking for allies out along the Outer Rim, and Dante is aiding a Resistance on Agamar. Had we known you were coming we would have arranged for holo-projectors to be setup."

"It doesn't really matter now does it?" Kettch asked rhetorically, "We came to speak to you four," he nodded to the front of the room where Iron, Champ, Lay, and Span sat, "the rest are unnecessary." The other three True Masters nodded. Cin stood motionless, watching the event unfold before her as if she were watching a holo-drama.

"I see the last ten years have done nothing to diminish your egos," Layfon said with a sigh.

"You're the ones who came to us for help Blade Master," Monk replied calmly, "it would be wise to treat us with respect."

"Respect is earned in this chamber Jedi," Spanish retorted with a sneer, "I don't know about my colleagues, but I respect those who do battle, not those who preach peace while condemning those fighting to keep them alive."

Iron lifted his hand to forestall further argument, "Nevertheless, we are in no position to alienate help, I apologize for my comrade's comment. Now, may we get down to business?"

"There's no business to get down to," Forge interrupted, "we're here to save your asses, not to make friends. So turn your forces over to us and we'll get to work winning this pointless war."

Champion lifted an eyebrow in curiosity, "It doesn't work like that my friend, you work with us and we coordinate forces together."

Tsubasa laughed, "You!? You're the ones that put the Galaxy into this mess. You baited an enemy you knew nothing about, got your asses handed to you and barely managed to pull out a victory when they pressed back. Then you went crawling to the rest of the Galaxy for help when you realized how far in over your heads you got yourself."

"Like you are any better?" Champ yelled back standing, "At least we did something," he continued making his way down off the platform, "if the decision had been left to you five we'd have just sat on our asses until they built up a large enough army to take down every Temple in the Galaxy without a fight."

"Yes and our current situation is a vast improvement," Forge shot back with a smile, "face it you jumped the gun and now we're all paying for it. You think we don't know about this 'Dark One'? You know, the one from your Academy?" The Sith Blade Master walked up to the Battle Master and dropped his vice to a whisper, "How do you think your allies would react if they found out the people who had been leading them to battle were responsible for the war they now fight?"

"You know as well as I, that there's nothing we could have done to prevent that," Span replied with an edge to his voice, "it was an unforeseeable turn of events."

Kettch scoffed, "You sent an unstable Sith with a split personality into a volatile war zone as with four Knights and an Initiate as back-up, your lucky that only partially blew up in your face."

"Hindsight is always 20-20 isn't it Kettch? At the time we had no way of knowing any of that would happen, fierfek they weren't even supposed to land on the planet!" Layfon replied with admirable restraint.

"That is the most disturbing thing about this," Monk said, "you should have felt how this would turn out in the Force. At the least you should have gotten a bad feeling about the decision. Obviously you either didn't, in which case we question your qualifications to lead this war, or you did and proceeded anyway in which case we question your judgment."

"That's not your call!" Spanish leapt up in outrage, "The Force led us to this for a reason, it knew we were the only ones who could carry this battle to the enemy, the only ones who would!"

"Oh please, you don't have a leg to stand on and you know it!" Tsubasa shot back, jabbing a finger in the Dark Lord's chest, "You kriffed up and now we have to clean up your mess, but you won't stand aside and let us do it."

Camus and Sinestra looked at each other knowing this was not their argument and probably never would be and so kept quiet. They were spectators whose only job was to record the outcome, but they were less interesting to Cin then Iron was. The Grand Master had always been a man of few words, but he was being uncharacteristically silent considering the accusations being flung back and forth.

"We did what was right while the rest of the Galaxy was content to let corruption spread!" Champion yelled, his hands balled into fists now, "And we've kept doing the right thing while you've been sitting in meditation and contemplating the meaning of the Force!"

"We're the True Masters, the strongest Force Users in the Galaxy, the ones closest to the Force," Kettch replied, "do you really think you know better than us?"

"Don't make me laugh!" Layfon said.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Forge asked, hand drifting uncomfortably close to his lightsaber.

"The only reason you still have those position is because we're not interested in them Forge." Span replied arms wide, "We let you guys keep your positions because we have enough to deal with here, not because you're stronger than us."

"Care to back up that claim?"

Champ's lightsaber snapped to life filling the room with a purple haze, "I'd be more then willing to," he flipped his blade under Forge's chin, "unless you're as cowardly as your inaction has proven."

Tsubasa's staff flared to life a foot away, it's blue haze more harsh then calming, "It'll be a pleasure to tear you apart."

"Two against one?" Spanish smirked, "That afraid of us are you?" The Dark Lord's lightsaber flared to life, sparking Kettch to do the same.

"I should have known this was coming," the Falleen sneered, "you don't want help, you want our power. You outnumber us, no one knows we're here, and I'm sure you have your best slicers working up some fake footage to show to the rest of the Rurouni."

Layfon leapt and landed between the two Force Masters, "Trust me," his staff flared into existence, "we don't need the numbers to show you your place."

"So it comes down to violence again," Monk replied, his yellow blade joining the menagerie of colors, "somehow it always does."

The seven Masters stood, waiting for someone to make an aggressive move, twitch the wrong way, say the wrong thing, all except Iron and Cin who had never moved in the slightest. Iron looked at the situation before him, seeking out weaknesses, working through different scenarios in his head, most likely trying to figure out if it would be best to apologize or join the fray, or so Cin thought. Instead he just looked straight at her and said, "You've remained awfully quiet Leader Cin, what's your opinion on all this?"

The Fosh looked back and forth curiously, nodded solemnly, and splayed her hands to either side. With a ripple of energy a Force Wave shot out hurling all seven potential combatants against the walls of the chamber and pinned them there. "I think this is a pointless waste of time and energy, this is neither the time nor the place for such a battle. I did not agree to argue about this, I did not agree to fight. What I agreed to do was provide forces a communications hub for this war. I came in here expecting you coordinate, delegate assignments, prepare battle groups, do what needs to be done to win this war. But instead I'm treated to bickering and in-fighting and I say enough. If power is all you respect, then here it is!" She looked around the room, "Not a single one of you can pull loose, I've felt you all try, so if you listen to power only then listen to me."

She released the seven in the Force, "True Masters, you do not exist to bicker and pick fights, you are here to advise me and enforce my decisions. And my decision in this is that you will work with JvS. Councilors, you have asked for our help, that does not mean you get to dictate terms or challenge my authority. My agreement with Sarus was simple, I supply the means, you supply the enemy, whether you all like it or not we're allies until this is over. Do I make myself clear?"

The seven nodded agreement but remained silent, humbled by the actions of this one weak looking Fosh. Iron smiled, "That is acceptable Leader Cin. I will have rooms prepared for you and the True Masters. Once you have settled in I'll send you the location of the war room." With that Iron flipped a switch and the doors swung open, "Welcome to JvS."
___________________

///END RECORDING

///PLEASE SELECT NEW ARCHIVE. ACCESSING JEDI ARCHIVE DATA FOR STARDATE: 350.5.14 ABY. SEARCHING FOR 'RUROUNI'.

///SEARCHING.... SEARCHING..... FILE FOUND. RETREIVING ARCHIVE DATA.... LOADING....

///WAR ROOM MEETING 976: INTRODUCTION OF RUROUNI NETWORK. STARDATE: 350.5.14 ABY. IN ATTENDANCE: IRONRAT, SPANISH INQUISITION, CHAMPION, LAYFON.

///PLAYING
___________________

"I trust you got the files I sent?" Cin asked. The nine Ronin stood around the holoprojector in the center of the war room. The majority of the room was dedicated to consoles showing various status readouts of both the status of the various Fleets and Ground Forces deployed as well as specific readouts of the Temple's defenses, with a larger screen dominating the front of the room, and a holoprojector in a pit in the middle. Most of the war room was dark now, except for a few communications consoles manned by droids. When morning came the room would be pure chaos, but at the moment it was empty, thanks mostly to the lateness of the hour.

"Yeah we have them," Champ replied, a bit of bitterness still in his voice, "the computer's sorting it out now. We should have a map in just a few-" Before the Jedi could finish the projector flared to life, showing the Galaxy, many red and blue dots marked the various locations of known members of the Rurouni, each marked with a small text giving the name and number of members of each location.

Span leaned in, "That's... more then I expected."

"No kidding," Layfon responded, "there must be hundreds of Academys, thousands of people."

"We've lost contact with almost half of them," Forge said, arms crossed, "but almost all of those are in Crusader territory so it's not unexpected."

"Others you have already allied with," Monk continued, "I took the liberty of doing a few calculations based on the information in your archives." The Jedi Force Master punched a few buttons on the console and the projector flickered to represent the new input. Two-thirds of the lights were now dim or missing entirely. "Those missing are those either confirmed as gone, or non-responsive ad too deep in Crusader territory to attempt contact. Dim lights are those you've already contacted, or those we're hopeful can be contacted again."

"Still more then I expected," Champ replied, "every little bit helps, and with an influx of this many people we can deal some serious damage to the Crusader forces."

"Don't get too excited," Tsubasa warned, "most of those Academies are either unequipped for space combat, or have only a single squadron as support. In the long run it won't be enough to outright win us this war, but it tips the balance in our favor."

"Ground troops are fine," Span said, "truth be told we're running out of experienced fighters faster then we're running out of ships."

"Be warned," Kettch spoke up, "most of these are Sith Temples, there will be some friction when you merge them with your mostly Jedi troops."

Iron leaned in, studying the data, "We'll make it work, we can't afford not to." He looked closer and highlighted a segment of the map, a bright blue dot on the edge of the war front, but on the Crusader side of the line, "What's this?"

"Good eye," Fosh complemented, "that's Bastion, heart of the Imperial Order. It's a leftover from the Empire, a military group lead by a single man. The group is combined with normal troops known as StormTroopers, and Force Sensitives called Imperial Knights. They are.... odd. They are less concerned with the Force than any other group of Force Users I have ever seen, they act more as army special forces than true Knights of the Force. I've always found them uncomfortable, but they are just the thing we need for a war like this."

"Explain," Iron said, studying the numbers being displayed.

"As you are now you are closer to having two different groups in the Galactic Alliance Remnants and the Jedi/Sith forces than a joint fighting force. You don't combine each side's strength because the GA is unaccustomed to working with Force users, and your Jedi and Sith are unable to compensate with the limitations of normal soldiers. The Imperial Knights however are trained to fight alongside their normal armed forces. They may be able to train your forces in this technique, or at the very least compensate for the area you are most lacking in."

"Their fleet would be a nice addition too," Champion said with a whistle, "two heavy cruisers, eight destroyers, over a dozen frigates, and nearly two hundred starfighters."

"But will they work with us?" Iron asked.

"Yes, but they have a condition...." Cin replied.
___________________________

///ERROR: RECORDING INTERRUPTED.

///ATTEMPTING TO REROUTE.... REROUTE FAILED.

///ATTEMPTING DATA RECOVERY.... DATA CORRUPTED.

///CONSOLE SHUTTING DOWN.

‘There is no emotion, there is only peace’ Aragorn intoned in unison with Tolle and Vedis. Seemed like the meditation exercises would go on for an eternity. Not that they weren’t necessary but what was the point really… Aragorn shook his head, determined not to follow that line of reasoning. ‘There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.’ The trio continued ‘There is no passion, there is serenity.’ Aragorn almost snorted ‘with out passion what was there?’ Aragorn thought, seems like they had been at this for hours and repeated the code meditating on it as the words pass through their lips. The mantra calms the spirit and helps one find their center in the force…

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Aragorn was irritated, nothing seemed to be working. The dark side of the force was there the power, the passion. Aragorn knew this was the path to destruction but the lure of the power was powerful. He looked around the state room that he occupied on the Dawn Treader. The appointments were luxurious to be sure. Worlds better that the quarters he occupied on JvS and then on the Balance. He sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. Memories flooded his mind’s eye Span and Peppa driving his fiancé from his life, turning from the Sith to embrace the Jedi ways, the death of Master Aardvark, becoming a knight and discovering that his entire life’s memories had been a lie. Irritation flared once again in Aragorn’s breast causing his brows to draw together. He straightened and drew in a deep cleansing breath as the Jedi teaches their initiates to do.

‘There is no ignorance, there is knowledge’ Aragorn thought ‘Some things it is better to be ignorant of.’ Aragorn thought to himself. A sigh escaped his lips as he lifted himself off the bed in his stateroom and headed to the salon. Ptolemy sat in front of the holoprojector the blue light of the projection tinting his face. Ptolemy Peered at the projection with rapt attention and what sounded like a conversation was playing low. Aragorn thought he caught the sound of Champ’s voice.

Ptolemy looked around at the sound of Aragorn walking in and snapped the holoprojectior receiver off. The two men looked at each other, Father and Son. The silence stretched into what seemed like eternity. Aragorn expanded his presence in the force to touch that of his father. He had accepted long ago that this man was his flesh and blood. He turned his attention to the force in the old man. The light was there but also a tinge of darkness. Ptolemy closed his eyes and dropped the walls that he built around his mind. The probing of Aragorn was accepted and allowed free reign.

‘How did you know?’ Aragorn Asked finally

‘It is not easy’ Ptolemy answered after a moment of thought ‘There are parts of the mantra, the code that are as true as you sitting on that couch. How can you know peace with out chaos? With out knowledge you do not know your ignorance. The mantra is true but this does not mean that there are not exceptions.’

Ptolemy rose and paced the length of the ship’s salon gesturing as though he held objects in his hands ‘These tenets illustrate the opposing forces in the galaxy the good and the bad, right and wrong. This is one reason why I have never leaned to Jedi or Sith they are too cut and dried. The ideology of the Sith to work toward domination and the Jedi mandate to keep that from happening. The power they both wield IS compatible. They do not have to be diametrically opposed. It is the ideology that makes it so. For the most part the Sith are undisciplined and tend to fall to the lure of unlimited power that is the dark side of the force. The Jedi are to tightly controlled and turn their backs on tools that are useful.’

Aragorn sat and considered what he was being told. Ptolemy was his father; the father he didn’t even know existed till a bit over a year ago. His initial instinct was to question this but the evidence is there and when he searches his feelings his earliest memories he knows that this man is his father. The approach he was speaking of is more of a pragmatic approach to the Force. It was said that Luke Skywalker had seen the power of the dark side of the force and tempered his use of force powers with emption. The darker emotions giving strength. There were even tales of an order that embraced a blend of Sith and Jedi teachings, Neither fully good nor evil.

‘Jedi teach that emotions are the path to the dark side. Luke Skywalker found this truth with the establishment of the new Jedi order.’ Ptolemy continued after a moment ‘your emotions can be a source of power if you can control them as you seek to manipulate the Force. Unbridled anger and rage is the path to the dark side. Passion and desire is the path to greater power to the light side but it is a slippery slope.’ Ptolemy searched his son’s eyes intently. ‘you have been trained as a Sith and a Jedi, you know the price to be paid if you drink to deeply of the dark side of the force.’

‘I have seen the price’ Aragorn said as he hung his head ‘I have felt the lure of this power and barely been able to hold back from it. On Ziost I could not stop my self from using the pain and anger to fry a crusader.’

Ptolemy nodded ‘I saw the aftermath but you did no such thing when you were defending yourself against Veddis. You relied on your skill with a lightsaber. You knew enough then to restrain your self’

Aragorn nodded ‘I recoiled from that power.’

‘That is good’ Ptolemy said nodding ‘the same technique of using negative emotions can be used with more positive ones. Allow the passion to fill you and the connection to the force will become stronger. That connection is as permanent as your ability to hold onto your emotions but they hold a similar danger. Emotions lead one to one another. Pain, anger, hate. The Jedi teach selfless devotion and a lack of attachment not only to keep you free to roam the galaxy keeping the peace but also to keep the occurrence of pain and anger down. You see…’


‘Master Ptolemy!’ Vedis interrupted. Ptolemy shook his head and looked at the knight. It was natural that the 3 knights would see him as master as he had embarked on training the knights in the techniques needed for their survival. In the weeks since the confrontation on Ziost, the two knights grasped the new techniques easily. Ptolemy almost enjoyed the title.

‘Yes Vedis?’ Ptolemy said ‘What is it?’

‘Master a message has come in.’ Vedis said pointing to the comm station.

Ptolemy went to the comm. and switched on the holo projector looked at the display. Thing’s visage appeared ‘Uncle we are please to find that you are well.’ Thing said ‘I wanted to let you know that the rest of our family will meet you there with in a week. Much care Uncle. There are bandits every where’

‘All right,’ Ptolemy said trading a look at Aragorn ‘now we wait for the cavalry…’

As the Shadow Stinger continued its voyage to Muunilinst, the crew had begun their transition into night shift. Typical protocol during long trips through hyperspace. The ship was running dark as usual while secondary crewmen took their seats at the stations. While the primary group left the bridge to get some rest. Briggs and Sol switched back and forth between observing the Shadow’s autopilot. Couple of yawns could be heard around the room as the new batch got comfortable in their seats. A few had even brought back some caf from the dispenser to help keep everyone awake.

Reddex was currently sleeping in his private quarters, until he had randomly woken in the middle of the night. He had tried multiple times to go back to sleep, ut nothing worked. Deciding he should probably get a drink, the commander stepped out of bed and placed on his casual clothes. The stripes lining his outfit lit up as he turned back to look at his bed to see if Rokk was still sleeping. Which she was; her hand had slid over to where he was laying moments before and settled. He looked at her alittle longer to admire her beauty before leaving.

He walked out into the dark hallway lit up by the white stripes marking where everything was, including the path ways. He was heading to the cafeteria and he knew perfectly well, where it was. Reddex ignored the glowing guide map on the wall as he walked along, since he knew the ships layout by heart. It was eerily silent as usual on the ship, since it wasn’t 100% active. A few of the crew were still mingling around in the lounge room, looking at magazines or playing some late night Sabacc.

“Hello Commander.” One of them nodded in his direction, as Reddex past by returning the favor.

Couple of turns and small time looking out the viewports to see the phenomena of hyperspace, Reddex arrived in the cafeteria. The doors slid open bathing the Commander in bright white light. The place was one of five rooms that were allowed to have all their lights on. Things could get messy holding trays of food in the dark not know where the multiple tables and chairs were. A hand full of technicians sat around the room either eating or catching up on the holo vids. Up ahead at the bar, sat someone familiar. It was Dray. The service droid behind the counter poured Dray another glass of Blue Milk.

“Looks like we both can’t catch some sleep.” Reddex patted Dray on the back and sat on the stool next to him. “Hit me up with whatever he’s having, B7.”,Reddex said to the droid.

“Hello sir, one moment please.”, B7 wheeled away to attend to another crewmen.

Noticing Dray hand’t responded to his greeting, he looked back at him. He could tell he hadn’t slept for days. His facial expression locked in frustration and exhaustion.

“Well, I don’t need that so-called Force to tell me something’s on your mind.” Reddex said as he turned to take his glass of Blue Milk from B7. “Want to spill the credits, or leave me dust’n crops?” Reddex took a sip.

Dray took another long drink before speaking, “Haven’t slept for 3 days…visions…visions…” He shook his head.

“What kind of visions?” Reddex asked.

“Sarus and I are still trying to make sense of them. Each night they keep coming back…” Dray said haggardly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Reddex raised his glass to the droid for another round.

“Ever heard of ‘Project Daedalus’ by any chance?”

Reddex thought back through his naval career for a moment to recall any information. Nothing was coming to mind. He wasn’t that high in the chain of command to know certain things. “Sorry General, I don’t have a clue. But I do have some friends in Intelligence that could possibly give us some leads.” He took another sip, “No guarantees.”

“Thank you Red.” Dray nodded slightly. He looked around the cafeteria out of curiousity then back to Reddex, “So how are you and Rokk?”

Reddex shrugged. He didn’t really think about it that much. They did become ‘close’ ever since they started talking. They had built somewhat of a relationship and going steady. Her pirate personality showed in small episodes but nothing that made Reddex too uncertain. Just mostly in the sarcastic department. It did give a good laugh sometimes. Probably the biggest bonus about getting to know Rokk was her finding out about her hand-to-hand combat skills; which she just happens to love using on him.

A couple nights ago, Reddex had asked her to teach him some techniques. In return, he’d show her how to shoot a blaster properly. He wondered why the jedi didn’t use them very often. It wasn’t like the weapon was considered uncivilized or anything. Reddex had brought Rokk to the Shadow’s observational room; since there wasn’t a sparing room on board the Shadow. They had moved the tables and projections to one of the far sides of the large circular room. In front of the room was a large viewport looking out into the blue wormhole.

As they began to spar, Rokk had pinned Reddex multiple times on his back. After listening to some of her tips, he was able to return the ground punishment…just every few lucky occasions. Later on, one night she countered one of Reddex’s sidekicks, then flipped him on his back; once again. This time, she laid on top of him holding his hands behind his head as they caught each other’s gaze and paused. Before he could comment, she placed her lips on his…

“Well, now that I thought about it,” Reddex looked at Dray, “Im glad I met her. But besides that, I think you should really get some sleep. You shouldn’t let these visions-“

“-scare me. I know.” Dray looked down at the counter.

“Isn’t there some type of mantra you Jedi do to stay calm? Reddex asked.

Dray chuchled raising an eyebrow, “There’s one that I can recall.”

“I’m always up for learning new things. You know that.”

Dray sat up straight and pushed the glass alittle in front of him. He closed his eyes, then inhaled and exhaled 3 times very smoothly.

“There is no emotion. There is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no death, there is the Force.”

He inhaled once again, and then exhaled as he opened his eyes. Reddex saw the he looked more at peace then had seen him when he came to the bar. “Maybe you should sit back down.”, Reddex said looking at his friend hover a foot off the stool.
As he dropped back down on the stool, and became aware of his surroundings,” Guess I really needed that. I’ll be off for now; see you in a couple of hours.” Dray said as he began to walk away.

“Oh, meant to ask something. Where’s Sarus hiding? You two usually together.” Reddex said as he grabbed yet another round.

Dray looked around the cafeteria with his head as if he was searching for something until, “He’s with someone…”

“Huh, like who?”

“He’s in medbay.”

“Oh? Don’t recall him having any reason to go there.”

“He’s been in and out of there a lot lately, but whatever. C’ya.” Dray walked through the cafeteria doors and disappeared into the black.

Reddex finished his last glass and left as well. He ventured to the bridge out of curiosity before heading back to his quarters. Everything was running efficiently and so was the crew, except Briggs who was out cold. He’d be waking up in awhile anyway. Satisfied, he said his goodbye’s and went back to his quarters. Rokk was still asleep wrapped up in the bed sheets. Reddex crawled back in quietly trying not to wake her. When he got settled her hand rested onto his chest…
“Was the walk worth your time?”

“Yeah, it was successful. Just helped someone see the light better.”


NEXT DAY……


Reddex sat in the command chair on the bridge playing virtual Sabacc with his datapad. A few other crewmen not on duty played along as well on terminals in their quarters. He was actually pretty good at the game. Folks said it was all skill, but he preferred to call it luck. Sabacc was a type of card game usually played for high stakes. The cards were electronically pasted out by a computerized dealer. There were 76 cards in a deck, and everyone received five for their hand. It was a player’s job to reach as close to the number 23 or -23 for a hand to win. Rokk didn’t take too kindly to his gambling. He couldn’t blame her. Sabacc was one of his major hobbies as a child. Some say it ran in his family.

“Rasie.” One of the crewmen said through the datapad.

“Raise.” Another said.

“Sir? We’ll be arriving in Munnilinst soon.” A voice said off somewhere.

“Hold.”

“Raise.”

“Commander?”

Reddex shook his head, realizing Sol was standing right in front of him. She was looking at him with her sharp sky blue eyes annoyed. “Sorry, Lieutenant; just trying to past the time.”, He took his earnings and exited the game. The projection shut off, “What about Muunilinst?”

We have an hour till we arrive on the outer edges of Muunilinst’s system. Also, since we’re heading to a world in complete control of the Crusaders, our plan is to do what exactly?” Sol said while fixing her flight suit. She had her optics held back on top of her head.

“Just so happens, we’re going to investigate a possible danger to the galaxy at large.” Reddex adjusted in his suit. “I hope nothing bad happens, but I won’t give the benefit of a doubt.”

Sol smiled at the last remark, “Thank you Commander.” She turned around and headed back to the pilots pit.

“Anytime.”

From behind, the turbolift came and Sarus walked onto the bridge. His robe was off and his lightsabers were seen on both sides of his hip. “Greetings, Commander. How are things?”

“So far no interdiction fields, that’s a start.” Reddex grinned. A few of the crew laughed. We’ll be on Muunilinst shortly.”

“Good, good.”

“Something troubling you?”

Yeah, there is actually. Concerned about when we meet with Ptolemy and Aragorn; they probably discovered more bad news.” Sarus said.

Reddex really wished it wouldn’t turn to that. But after studying several holo’s of the past; it was most likely Dusk had another trump card up his sleeve. 'Just like the rest of the kirffing sith…The second Death Star, the Second Galactic Civil War, Darth Krayt’s historic sabatoge of the Vongforming'…Reddex shut of the genocidal thoughts.

“When everything hits the fan, I’m sure we’ll pull through.” Reddex patted him gently on the shoulder.

“Where on Muunilinst are we meeting them by the way?” Sarus asked.

“That’s a good question. No idea. I’ll leave that up to Dray. He should have the answer.”


ONE HOUR LATER…


“Muunilinst in 30 seconds.” Briggs said aloud.

Dray along with Rokk, had now accompanied Reddex and Sarus on the bridge. They were curious to see what Dusk had done to the planet. The Commander was so use to the ship, he could feel Briggs slowing the Shadow Stinger down for their exit out of hyperspace. That small vibration through the floor was felt tingling his feet. He wondered if the Jedi could tell. Out of the corner of his eye, Sarus gave Reddex a short glance.

“5,4-“ Briggs said as the countdown began.

“Weapons are active.” Sol said, typing a small number of keys on her panel.

“2,1-“ Brigg’s throttled back further, “Exiting tunnel.”

The blue wormhole reverted back to real space. The stars shrunk back to their normal shapes and colors. Muunilinst came into view abruptly, growing from a tiny spec to a full size planet. Off in the distance, Crusader cruisers were in orbit around the planet like a defence grid. Multiple star cruisers…

“It’s a fleet…”

“Ptolemy didn’t say anything about a fleet…”

“It won’t stop us.” Reddex said, “Take us in Briggs.”

“Rogerz.” Briggs double checked the shadow general and throttled back up a bit.

As they approached the fleet’s perimeter, they could see numerous unmarked freighters moving to and from the planet with Crusader tie-fighter escorts. Heavy traffic. Rokk pressed keys on Reddex’s chair; the main viewport magnified on one of the transports.

“Hutts?” Reddex questioned.

“No, hmm, could possibly be Black Sun.” Rokk said, “They never told us who else was also doing the shipping.”

“Ptolemy should have more to say when we land.” Dray spoke up,” Could their cruisers detect us in large numbers like that?”

The Shadow was still on a fast approach to the planet. The cruisers could be seen more clearly. Past that, the surface of Muunilinst looked grey and dark. It was no longer full of oceans and vegetation. Expect for a few patches. So far nothing had spotted them…yet. ”They shouldn’t be able; the pings should slid right over us. We might just look like a ghost ship.”

“And if they get curious?” Sarus asked.

“If.” Reddex said back, “ Then we make a run for the surface. Or , we could try to fight the blockade.”

“Funny.” Rokk punched Reddex’s shoulder.

Two Tie-Fighters in a squadron flying around the blockade, broke off and headed straight for them. They had taken interest in the ghost. Minutes went by until, they had finally reach them; flying right over the hull. Then the fighters looped around and followed loosely.

“Sir?” Briggs asked. He was ready move.

“Give the word.” Sol said right after.

Reddex watched them for a bit. They hadn’t fired anything or made any aggressive actions. The pilots probably think it’s a glitch in their radar. “Hold your fire and stay on course. General, Sarus, anything you two could help with?”

“Good ol’ mind trick will suffice.” Dray said

“Agreed.” The Jedi closed their eyes and their consciousness left the ship and towards the TIE’s.

Rokk looked at them, “Doesn’t that freak you out sometimes?” She said to Reddex.

“At first, definetly.” Reddex said shaking his head. “I’ve been to one side of the galaxy and back. You’ll see some crazy things.”

Bezz turned to face them from his station, right as Dray and Sarus opened their eyes, “Their heading away, sir.”

The TIE’s accelerated past the Shadow back towards their squadron. A few of the crewmen breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks you two.”

“Coming up on the first cruiser.” Briggs flew the Shadow underneath, passing by several freighters that were leaving the planet. Everyone noticed how slow the crafts were flying.

“This is a good sign. I can feel Ptolemy reaching out to us. He’s glad we’re here.” Dray said as he raised his hand at Reddex and his datapad spurred to life. Numbers were scrolling the screen, “Those are the coordinates he just sent me.”

“Briggs, getting that?” Reddex looked over.

“Adjusting.”

The Shadow Stinger easily slipped into Muunilinst’s atmosphere with the slightest bump. A heavy storm had engulfed the landscape they had entered. High winds bucked the craft on its decent through the dark gloomy clouds. Bright flashes of lightning lit up through the darkness. Clearing the clouds, they could barely see the mountains ahead due to the monstrous down pour of rain.

Briggs and Sol were the only ones that could see more clearly through the storm with their optics. Briggs leaned forward in his seat, as if he spotted something odd in the mountain range. He switched the viewport to what he was seeing through his optics. It was thermal imaging.

“Seems to be a lot of activity down there…” Dray spoke up.

As the Shadow flew closer, there was a giant chasm cut into the mountain range. Huge mining machines were going to work on the rock. Many beings were seen all around the digsite. Even through the storm, they worked. Large skiffs loaded the materials and drove away struggling with the rain and wind.

“That’s possibly where their getting the raw materials for that schematic” Rokk said.

“Most likely.” Sarus said, “I can sense large numbers of Crusaders down there.”

The Shadow past over the digsite and Briggs turned the feed off on the main viewport; reverting it back to the view of the storm. Moments later, the Shadow flew into a pocket of the storm that was clear. Down below were large vents spewing steam. Right by them, were gigantic Vault Spires that helped sort out the materials being brought in from the vents. Machines climbed out of the vents, steaming from the super heated water carrying materials. The machines rolled towards the Spires to be processed. Beyond the Spire, they could see more. Many more, right as they flew back into the storm.

“No wonder the surface looks so bad. They must use vast amounts of land to build this…thing” Reddex said. “Briggs, how far are we out?-”

Sarus took Dray’s arm and pulled him out of earshot from Reddex and Rokk. “I’m beginning to believe ‘Project Daedalus’ is this super weapon.” The jedi whispered. “That vessel we saw on the Aardvark.”

“I’m on your side with this one, but if it is, how are we going to take it down?”

“And how far along is Dusk with this vessel?” Sarus finished.

“We need to inform the Council. Get them time to prepare a strategy.”

“It might already be too late-“

Reddex voice rose above theirs, “General, we’re passing over Mariunhus; the Capital. The coordinates are a few klicks north-east.” The Shadow Stinger tilted a couple of degrees hard to the left.

Rokk leaned over to Reddex’s ear, “Spooks me when Jedi talk in hush tones.”

Reddex smirked, “I’m just glad they arn’t sith.”

“Good point.” Rokk laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

Through the rain, the Capital was barely seen. That didn’t stop its residents from getting on with their lives though. Seconds before, they had passed over a dimly lit spaceport…

“The Dawn Treader is down there.” Dray said.

“What? Then why is Ptolemy taking us out of the city?” Reddex asked

“Probably doesn't want to be spotted; nothing too suspicious.” Sarus responded.

The Shadow adjusted its course once more and cleared the small city. Minutes later, they were over forests. “Up ahead, Commander. There’s a clearing.”

Indeed it was there. Briggs slowed the ship down to a crawl and hovered on its repulsors for a bit. The landing struts slid out of their housings, then Briggs gently brought the ship to the ground with a thud.

“I don’t know if anyone noticed, but where are they?” Rokk asked.

“Well we are cloaked. Let’s take a step outside.” Dray started for the turbolift. “They’re down there. Trust me.”

Soon, the ramp descended on the grassy wet floor. Reddex was wearing pieces of black plastoid armor, similar to the GASF. He had ordered them earlier to watch over the ship while they were meeting with Ptolemy and Aragorn. Rokk wore her Hapen undercover outfit with a shroud; also concealing two blaster pistols and a vibroblade hidden somewhere. Reddex clipped ammo into his two Westers and holstered them on his waist slanted.

The group walked down the ramp and stood under the cloaked ship out of the rain. Through the down pour at the forests edge, a blue saber ignited. “That’s them, come on!” Sarus led the jog through the rain towards the saber that had just turned off. Once they got under the canopy, Ptolemy, Aragorn, and two other jedi appeared from behind trees. Rokk jumped alttle at the abrupt appearance.

“Its been awhile my old friend.” Sarus walked over to Ptolemy and shook hands.

“Same, same.” Ptolemy said. “Now, let’s head back to our hideout. There are things that need to be discussed.” Then he looked at Reddex and Rokk, “And I’m certain there are stores to be told.”

Commander Reddex gave the ship crew their orders while in absence of their commanding officers. Defend the ship, maintain stealth presence and do not in anyway jeopardize their whereabouts to the enemy until they returned. The ship crew quickly closed the ramps to the frigate and entered it into cloak mode, vanishing in thin air.

"Thats...quite an impressive ship you got there Dray." spouted Ptolemy

"Aint she a beauty? Well not now...you cant see it but...you know."

The group entered into the thick of the meadows and shadows, back to the city.

-------------------------------------------------


"General, we've received no new updates from the crew of the Stinger."

"Hmm. They must have reached their destination. Fear not, lieutenant. They are quite capable folks. Whatever they get into there...theyll get out alive. Await no further updates from them. They are silent, and trying to contact us will just jeopardize them. Best we get on with our business here."

"Aye, General." The lieutenant stuck up and saluted General Thing, convicted in his eyes and and mind that every word from their leader was to be taken with hope. Wether this was due to Things surprising leader skills, or due to his battle meditation, went unquestioned....

Thing stood in his capital ship's bridge, viewing thru the glass ahead the amass of galactic vessels, ready to enter into a quick surprising raid on a Crusader planet. They were unsure as to wether the planet would have any defenses at all, but nevertheless, they prepared enough ships to take on a considerable fleet of enemies. As with the beggining of every fight, Thing would spectate on every life under his command, probing his troops spirit of mind, sensing the veins that connect each persons hope and determinative skill. Battle Meditation was not only a button to turn on and off during a battle, where one could just pump in adrenaline into everyones blood stream. Preparation of the mind and the body could also aid on the battle, and with the Force rooted in everyones mind from even before it starts, the battle could be won before it even begins.

And so, the General amassed his focus and engaged with every living being in the galactic fleet in front of him, slowly but surely inspiring them before every squarrel they entered.
The General stood motionless, eyes shut and ears open to sounds unhearable. People aboard the Aardvark, specially those present in the bridge, had grown accostumed to this practice, and like one flowing being, would quiet down and continue about their work in precision and quickness, acknowledging that this moment before the battle, was as good as it would get.

After a while, Thing would remove himself from trance and direct his orders to his lieutenants.

"Warn the vessels to position for hyperspace and for battle. Run the crew thru procedures and get them to their stations."
The general walked down from the point of the bridge and onto the captains chair. Sitting on it, awaiting for the quick preparations ahead. He glared attentively at the bridge crew finessely doing their part in defending the galaxy, in and out of battle. Everyone sure of their motivations. Everyone sure of their skills and their accomplishments.

But even a Jedi is unsure sometimes. For the General, those times were these...

"Begin preparation for hyperspace entry, lieutenant"

"AYE AYE SIR!"

------------------------------------------------------


The pack continued thru the forest, in the vicinity of the big city, walking attentive to their surroundings, careful not to be spied or spotted. They walked thru the bushes and trees, and afar they could spot the city from a slight hill. The path then continued downwards, as the forest plateaud slightly above the town. The group had been fairly quiet the whole walk. But the pirate grew nervous.

"Hey Dray, hearing the old coot there a while, reminded me of sth. You never told me where you got such a sweet ship." Rokk had been walking tremulously, being in the presence of several powerful Jedi. Nervousism made her hyperactive, and made her talk.

Dray walked calmly, with his hood over his head, looking into the horizon. His thoughts still on the visions, haunting him. The pirate oddly awaited an answer, and felt impatience.

"Well common, answer me dude!" The pirate punched the jedi on the shoulder, who did not unhinge his position or his stare.
The jedi finally spoke

"Well thief, calling Ptolemy an old coot does give you some points in my book, so i will indulge a bit of your curiosity, if anything for other than settling your nervousism down. And by the way, we are Jedi, not Sith. we wont slice you into tiny pieces, lil pirate. So you dont need be nervous." Rokk walked confused and daringly surprised, staring to the faceless jedi. Red walked slightly behind her appreciating the amusing conversation. And Ptolemy smirked at the comments, walking ahead of them along Aragorn.

"At last youre quiet. The ship was not found. I built it. Gathered parts, crew, credits, lots of credits....and built it. Took me time, and patience, but the result is the finest ship in the galaxy, bar none. At least, of that size...."

"You built it?! So, a Jedi, a smart mouth, and now an engineer? Is there something you DONT do?"

"Yes, gather the patience to hear you."

"AhAH, someone who annoys Dray? She gained some points on MY book now" Ptolemy exclamated from the front turning his head.

Rokk stood still for a while begrudged and continued walking as Red picked her by the arm. She then whispered on his ear.
"Is he always so snooty?"

"No, just when hes thinking. And having a meal. And listening to you. Or me. Yeah, hes kinda snooty in that way."

"Hmm...jedi. Hey Dray! Can i have it if you die?!" Rokk yelled to the jedi.

"No. Id rather burn the thing really."

And on that note, they had reached the city entrances.

"Finally, now from the frying pan into the fire." Ptolemy waved at the group to stay close behind him.

"Nonsense old man. Its not even that hot today..." Dray spoke and felt his ear being pulled again by invisible hands.

"Ow, ok geesh."

Following the old man, they went in thru the crowds who gathered at the gates, and vanished.

The group walked through the gate circling the town and into a scene entirely both eerily familiar and utterly alien. The Muun were an odd bunch, incredibly tall and lanky with a neutral expression that would depress most sentients. It was often hard to read them because of this and, knowing this they had taken full advantage of their natural appearance in business negotiations to become one of the biggest banking clans in the Galaxy, further reinforcing the old adage, 'Don't just a pad by it's casing'. But despite this Sarus couldn't help but feel this people were genuinely depressed, the collective despair was like a torrent of water that would quickly sweep you away if you didn't constantly fight against it.

"Well this is depressing," Dray commented, "but for the life of me I can't figure out why. The living conditions don't seem that bad."

Indeed the Master was correct. Building stood in good repair, the people were fully clothed and healthy, there was even an open market to their left that was thriving, but the feeling of despair still hung in the air like a thick fog. Sarus had put up a mental barrier just to think straight.

"I'll explain on the way," Ptolemy replied wacing the group towards a dark alley, "stick to the shadows and keep your face covered as best you can, the resistance headquarters isn't far."

Aragorn threw a cloak to the Chiss who had come unprepared, "I know what you're thinking, but using the Force can be dangerous here, Dawn has enforcers everywhere."

Sarus threw the cloth on and flipped the hood low on his face to hide his red eyes, "What's going on here? I've never heard of Dusk occupying a city with Enforcers before, he doesn't have the resources to spare Force Users for such large scale security."

"You remember the foundry you flew over on your way here?" The group fell in tow behind Pto as the Trainer explained, "Well apparently it's producing something far more valuable than fleet material. Auto-turrets shoot anything without a full DNA key and it's swarming with Enforcers, no one can even get close."

"The Stinger can make a recon run, maybe even get you inside," Reddex suggested.

"There's a shield generator surrounding the entire facility," Aragorn responded, "it would take concentrated bombardment to even breach the perimeter."

"We're Jedi, a couple of Dawn's henchmen won't stop us," Dray countered, "we'll blow past and turn it into a crater, we did it once we'll do it again."

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Ptolemy came to a halt and pointed down the street to a pair of Nikto that stuck out like sore thumbs in the mostly Muun population, "watch." The old Jedi flicked his wrist and sent a box spinning into the air. No sooner had it lifted above the crowd then it was burst into pieces by a Force Push so strong it flattened everyone between the Nikto and the box. The two Enforcers looked carefully around the crowd, projecting powerful mental blasts at the occupants, searching for the source of the disturbance, but the group had already disappeared down another alley. "They're not very smart, but they're powerful and dedicated, they'll be trying to track the source of that down all day."

"And they're everywhere," Aragorn continued, "storming their base is simply not an option."

"That doesn't leave us many options short of taking back the planet," Reddex replied.

"We came to the same conclusion, lucky for us that may actually be an option."

"Here we are," Ptolemy said kneeling in the middle of the alley and tapping random spots on the ground in a complex pattern. After a few seconds he stood back up and the wall beside them suddenly parted silently revealing a stair well leading down, "Quickly, the door will close in a moment and we won't be able to open it again for an hour."

The seven hurried through as the door swung shut and put them in total darkness, "Follow closely, there are many traps laid in this passage."

Fifteen minutes and several close calls later the group disgorged into a busy command center full of old half-working monitors and dozens of rebels spanning a spectrum of species that put the Chiss' interstellar biology to the test dressed in armor best described as eclectic and wearing weapons that may have seen action in the Yuuzhan Vong War. A young human broke away from the rush of people and saluted, "Welcome back Master Jedi," he said crisply, "General Oranus is waiting for you at the holoprojector."

The Trainer nodded and guided the others through the crowd of people until they reached the lone holoprojector in the room, a Whiphid stood with his back to them, talking to a figure they couldn't quite see. "General," Aragorn spoke up getting the man's attention.

The Whiphid turned and surveyed the group, "Oh good, you're here. I've been keeping the Master here busy, but I have a feeling he'd much rather be talking to you." He moved to the side to reveal a miniature projection of a older human wearing red armor with what looked like the hilt of a lightsaber clipped to his belt, "This is Imperial Admiral Kora, a Master in the order of Imperial Knights and commander of the Empire's Third Fleet. Admiral Kora, these are your Jedi liaisons for the upcoming battle."

The hologram looked them up and down, "Well you're not what I expected, but your Grand Master was clear that you've been the most effective warriors in the JSA and I'll take what I can get. I'm a bit concerned about taking back a planet without coordinating with your Second Fleet, but the Empire honors it's deals."

A flood of questions ran through the Force Warrior's mind at that moment. Who were these people? Why did they call themselves Imperial Knights and did that mean he was a Jedi of some kind? What deal was he referring to? So many questions and no idea where to begin. "Attack?" Sarus asked, deciding to pick the most urgent question first.

The man looked slightly annoyed at the Chiss, "Yes, to retake the planet. Haven't you been briefed?"

"We didn't have time," Ptolemy replied, "they just got here an hour ago."

"Very well, I'll be quick. Your superiors have decided such a well guarded installation cannot be left alone, they fear another super weapon, a fear the Empire shares. We've come to an agreement and will be working together for the foreseeable future. Normally we would train with your troops first and integrate your units into our own, but we do not have the time in this case so our fleet will be jumping into the out-system, just inside scanner range system to draw the fleet off while your own fleet jumps in-system to bombard the facility. As this is a tactic that will only keep the fleet busy for a short time it's likely they will only be able to lower the shield so that your own forces can attack. We'll cover your attack until the installation is destroyed at which point we will retreat, so time your attack precisely."

"That's.. risky," Red commented, "the Stinger isn't built for this kind of fight, and if Ptolemy's correct our own ground forces will be greatly outnumbered."

"I agree, but from what information we've been able to gather this installation, device, superweapon, is nearing completion, we cannot afford to wait."

"It's not like we haven't done this sort of thing before," Dray commented, "fierfek this is why we're the 'most effective' guys."

"We've always gone in with more information then this," Sarus replied, "we have no idea what to expect."

"Let me put it another way." The Master responded, arms crossed, "Do we have a choice?" Looking around it was obvious from the downcast faces that no one did. "Then we go with this, at least we have some cover."

The Admiral nodded, "I suggest you familiarize yourselves with both the plan of attack, and your allies. We attack in three days," the image fuzzed out.

Time Until Assualt: 2 Days In Counting…

“Let me see the blueprints and layout of the facility again.”

“Transmitting them now.” The Whiphid General leaned over in the holoprojection, looking as if he was pressing invisible keys.

The facility came into view, replacing the Generals appearance. “Keep in mind, the compound is quite large."

“Noted.” Reddex said, switching back and forth between an aerial shot of the tightly guarded compound and blueprint.

“The shield generator is our primary target.” The Generals voice said, “Once it’s down, the attack can commence.” On the projection, a red line was drawn pointing towards a two-story grey bunker on the aerial view. Auto turrets surrounded the building in a wide buffer zone. “This is the housing of the generater.”

“Looks like we’re going to need a small force to sneak in.”

“From what Jedi Aragorn has told me, the facility is crawling with Enforcers. We can’t afford to fail. Keep in mind; your men are not trained for that type of entry.”

“Then I guess one Jedi would suffice.” Reddex smirked. He spoke into his earpiece calling for someone as the General steadily lost his temper. The two of them have been at odds the entire day before on how the assault should be run. The General treated Reddex as an inferior more than a partner, and spoke to him only because he was ordered to work with him. Every plan Reddex came up with, he automatically didn’t trust it.

“Commander, I do not see the humor-“

“Reddex?” Sarus said walking up to the projector.

“You’re joking. Right?” The Whiphid growled alittle annoyed. “This is not the time for games.”

“General Vos, this man took down nearly half the crew on an Aggressor-class Star Destroyer single handely. One Jedi is practically a one man army. The fact that he’s a Jedi in the first place shouldn’t be giving you doubts.”

General Vos appeared again on the projector. This time, Admiral Kora was standing next to him. The Whiphid still didn’t look too pleased with the idea.

“Unlike Vos here, I trust your judgment Commander Reddex. I, too, have seen what the Jedi are capable of. So tell me, how exactly is he getting In there?” Kora stood with his arms folded looking directly at the Commander.

Reddex glanced at Sarus and smiled. “Oh no…Not again.” Saraus said moaning in protest.

Reddex turned back to the Imperials, “I’m going to have Jedi Sarus make a mid altitude drop over the facility-“

“-He would be spotted.” General Vos rudely interrupted. “So many flaws…”

“Wasn’t. Finished.” Reddex said angrily. Then returned his attention to Kora. “He’ll drop in under the cover of darkness. I’ve noticed they don’t have many spot lights so his entry should be swift. Once inside…” Reddex gave Sarus another look,” You know the deal.”

“Simple and clean.” Kora nodded, “Then?”

“With the men we have, we can send them in as a distraction for Sarus.” Reddex said.

Kora thought for a moment scratching his chin, “That could be a slaughter.”

“Battles are not won without sacrifices. They know what they’re getting themselves into.” Reddex saw these selfless actions on many engagements throughout his career. He had lost many comrades in those days.

“And what does Jedi Sarus think on this?” General Vos was now staring at the Jedi hoping for him to protest.

“Sounds thought out, but what about my exit?”

“A Plan B i assume?”

“Yes, how am I going to get out before we start bombardment?”

“The Stinger will be on standby, just incase things go south.” Reddex said, “Don’t worry, we got your back.”

“Now for stage two of this operation.” Kora spoke, “Have you spoken to your inbound fleet about their part?”

“Yes I have. They will arrive shortly after your Third Fleet.”

“Do they understand the magnitude of this task? We can’t afford a slip up.”

Sarus waved it off, “Come on, when have they ever let us down before?”

“I’ll take your word, Jedi.” Kora gave the Chiss a nod.

“Also, there’s a fleet blockading the planet. You need to get them to come to you. The JSA should arrive under the engagement zone heading straight for the facility.” Reddex flicked on a live feed of the blockade. The rebels had launched a satellite the day before so they could monitor the movements. “We have multiple landing parties prepared to have boots on the ground to take control of the crusaders in the City and other nearby locations. Occupation of Munnilinst could take a couple of days or weeks. Civilian causalities are most likely unavoidable.”

From above, numerous spots on the ceiling began to drip water in the rugged command center. The small thumps of another rainy afternoon could be heard. The rebels moved about carrying numerous supplies of ammunition and other equipment for the upcoming assault. Thre men and woman looked exhausted for the many hours they have put in to just slow the crusaders take-over. A few had military backgrounds. Others were survivors that had lost everything.

Couple of them was native to Muunilinst that were trying to destroy the foreign occupation. Their outcries to the public caused them to be hunted or killed on the spot by the Enforcers. From the outside, things looked organized and peaceful. But in the cold alleys and during the darkness of night, the city’s true colors presented itself. Poverty strolled the night looking for scraps. During the day, if caught, they were taken away. Never to be seen again.

For the survivors who banded together, they created a resistance cell. Through months of hiding, they were able to reach out to other star systems who had suffered the same predicament. Then on, they have been preparing for the right moment to strike back.

“OPERATION MYNOCK is a go, Commander. Prepare the men on your side, as will I, with mine.” Kora grinned slightly and bowed.

“Will do, Admiral.” Reddex gave a small salute to Kora and completely ignored General Vos.

Before Reddex turned off the feed, “And may the force be with you”, Sarus said.

Kora was in mid motion towards turning off his end of the feed and stopped at Sarus’s words. He gave him a curious raised eyebrow, then shut off the transmission without any awknowledgement.

“This Kora of the Imperial Knights gives me much confusion. I’ve never heard of this group before…” Sarus said still looking at the spot where the two Imperials once were.

“I can’t even feel the Force, and I know what you mean…” Reddex shrugged. “Let’s go, we need to spread word to everyone about the plan.”

Space was a beautiful and terrible place. Dusk stood on the bridge of the Malevolence. He chuckled, owning the ship yards at Yaga Major did come in handy when you needed firepower. There were already a dozen heavy cruisers under construction, Vindicator, Dauntless, and Dreadnaught class ships. Dusk had, of course, claimed them all and commissioned several more to be built. The Malevolence was a modified Dreadnaught class Heavy Cruiser. There were several classes of destroyers, battle ships and carriers under construction at the ship yards not only at Yaga Major but the Corellian yards as well as those in orbit around Coruscant. All under the supervision of Crusader commanders that were ‘completely’ loyal to Dusk.

Many of the other ships that had been under construction had been commandeered as well being pressed into service as cargo ships, spy craft and troop carriers. The timing of the true Crusader ascendance had positioned him to take ownership of every warship under construction. These were the fruits of the corrupt and failing Galactic government. As Dusk visited the worlds that had been subjugated he found that the regional governors were not only weak but greedy, it did not take much to convince them that loyalty to the Crusader cause was the best place to be. Of course that was a temporary measure. Those that were not swayed or worthy were eliminated.

The goal remained the complete destruction of the galaxy. The method of that destruction now had to be deferred. To keep fighting, his forces needed resources. That meant that there needed to be support, command and control and training facilities. Commerce and communication, for the time being, had to be maintained. The fall of Coruscant provided Dusk with many facilities that were needed. The academies and the archives there were… exquisite. Not to mention that Coruscant was already the recognized center of the galaxy and housed and maintained the communications and other facilities needed to maintain control. It did not take long to install his own commanders and twist the current training cadre to his will and set them to training the next generation of Crusader. The installation of those to over see the governance of the different regions took longer. Those positions were filled by ambitious and capable beings.

Dusk looked around the Malevolence the crew of this ship were hand picked and trained to maximize their skills and loyalty. These were the best of the best that he had right now. He turned his back to the bridge and looked out the view ports to contemplate the view. The faint sounds of claws on durasteel signaled the approach of a Shistavanen. Shistavanen are a canine species with pronounced muzzles, sharp claws, long pointed teeth, and pointed ears set on top of their heads. His snout seemed to be locked in a perpetual snarl and it seemed to rankle him to bow before the Dark Lord.

‘Preparations are made m’Lord’ Karosk snarled, ‘The trap on Munlinst is set. The 3rd Special Operations group is in place along with the 12th legion. All of these units are in prepared and camouflaged positions in and around the facility.’

‘Very good’ Dusk said as he turned and regarded the Shistavanen. ‘There’ Dusk released Karosk.

‘Yes M’Lord’ Karosk straightened.

‘Admiral Ocsha?’ Dusk said with out turning to face the MonCalamari

‘’The 3rd and 5th fleet are in deep space staged 15 minutes out by hyperspace.’ The MonCal said sounding all the world like his tongue was to big for his mouth ‘they are standing by awaiting the order to attack.’

‘Statement: I believe the meatbags have done as much as they can.’ Jax said as he stepped from behind the admiral, ‘I can find no order that has been missed.’

‘Very good’ Dusk said ‘now we wait.’

Jax stepped up beside his master, ‘Informitive: JAX581 has been destroyed master.’ Jax told Dusk, ‘The use of my old chassis was fruit full though. The intelligence that we gained during his time in the JVS camp was… productive.’

Dusk furrowed his brow, ‘did the rust bucket at least die well?’

‘Observation: He is not stamped from the same metal as I am’ Jax said ‘Informational: There were several opportunities created that could have resulted in the loss of their flagship and a great loss of life, first the Chiss Sarus Cloud then the Master Dray thwarted these plans which almost resulted in a clean getaway.’

Dusk looked at the Droid chassis that was now the home of the droid intelligence that he had assembled and programmed at the JvS enclave seeming years ago, he admired his new chassis. The droid was still fashioned after the old AK 50 assassin droids, high gloss black that was kept highly shined with dully glowing photoreceptors. Jax had no visible weapons on his person and so looked like a protocol droid. If you ever had the misfortune of running afoul his protective or assassination protocols you would find that not only did he have small, yet powerful, blasters in his fore fingers but also smaller more precise lasers in both pinky fingers. The tips of those fingers split and opened enough for the weapons to fire with out damaging the rest of the finger. For close quarters, his hands folded back and there was a lightsaber built into each of his forearms. The blades of the light sabers were variable and so could adjust from 1 meter to 3 meters long. He was programmed with many styles of sword and lightsaber forms and combat stances and with his ability to learn Jax was a formidable ally and a terrible foe.

Dusk had realized the usefulness of droids like Jax and created a prototype insertion and espianoge droid. JAX581 was an experiment, equipped with the proxy type holo projectors and the ability to impersonate a myriad of beings, it was sent to infiltrate as a human. The success of the plan was marginal at best and Dusk was not at all sure that it was a good trade off even though the intel received was good. That is how they falsified the orders for Aragorn to take the young knights to Ziost.

That was a successful operation. The manner of that fight went very well. The fall of the young Jedi to Sith and the use of dark powers by Aragorn was delicious. The Knight had been a Sith once and was powerful. It was almost pained Dusk to see the diminishing darkness in him. The operation at Ziost was just a ploy to get Aragorn back on the path to the dark side. Now the journey had to continue if Dusk was going to have a worthy apprentice.

‘Everything is progressing as planned.’ Dusk said with a wry grin ‘This will trap the JSA and force them to commit the bulk of their fleet. When that happens, the universe will be under my feet.’