With a little editing/comments(No offense intended)
Luke Skywalker stood in the main hangar at the Yavin 4 Jedi Academy. He smiled sadly, Jedi had once been ministers of peace,since then, refugees hunted down by he Empire, warriors unlike any other against Thrawn , hunted down again by the Yuzzhan Vong, and now they were going to be aggresive warriors and fighters against this new Sith menace . Jedi and Sith would die this day, Luke raised a hand for silence . The assembled ranks of Jedi quieted in reverance for the leader of the Jedi Order ." Today, we fight a mortal enemy, A enemy that has all of our skills, all of our abilities our known by this enemy . I have asked you to come here , because I do not believe that you should have to die . I am going to say names, if your name is called, then go to your fighter and prepare for battle ." Luke waited for the groan of disappointment to quiet and then began," Kyp Durron, Jaina Solo, Mara Jade Skywalker, Jacen Solo, Corran Horn," he waited for them to assemble at their various ships," This will be the group that I fly with. Now, I am going to name others," Jarlath Cadman, you will command this group," heads turned as the newly appointed Jedi walked to a X-wing," Fallo Dejenner, Wik Dalleeso, Jhon Foester, Vorn Kolar, Dorna Kolar ," he paused again to let them get to their ships," Hereek Hosaan, Jol Dersoner, Kid Signale ." If your name was not called, please return to your quarters and prepare for battle, here at the Academy."
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Jarlath looked at his group of pilots, and thought,This is going to be hard, I have never commanded a squadron before. A clawed hand waved near the back of the group," Yes, Hereek, what is your question?" he asked. The Trianni looked around at the group and asked," Can we use our own ships or do we use X-wings?" Jarlath looked at the Hereek's rusty freighter, " You can use your own ships, but it is preferred that you use an X-wing ."
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Sergei Gernon watched from the pinnacle of the Temple, as a squadron of six X-wings soared out of the hangar , followed by a squadron of three X-wings , two red N-1 starfighters, a Vorsoth V-43 gunboat, a strange blue fighterthat Sergei didn't recognize, a modified Deathbringer 30400, and lastly, a rusty old freighter that seemed to barely get off the ground .
****************************************************************Don leaned back in his pilots seat as his ship flew through hyperspace, suddenly he sat straight up. Battle was going to happen at the Asteroid field where they had rescued Rorn. He pulled the "Skipper" out of hyperspace and set new coordinates, they were going to have a fight . They would be there in about two hours .
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Luke glanced at his sensors, they had been in hyperpace for eight hours, they would be at the Asteroid field in about two .
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Darth Slintronius started out of his meditation, Jedi were coming, here.
He slapped at the comlink hurriedly, " All pilots of squadrons B, and C to your fighter, prepare for battle ."
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Don pulled the "Skipper" out of hyperspace on the outskirts of the asteroid field," Rorn , Saraan get to your fighters, we're here ."he yelled into the comlink .
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Luke came out of hyperspace at the same time as the rest of his flight," Prepare for battle," he said quietly, into the comlink .
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Jarlath stared at the asteroid field as he came out of hyperspace, this was going to be hard . The rest of the fighters appeared behind him. The last to appear was Hereek's old freighter, shaking as it slowed to a stop . Jarlath shook his head in exasperation, Hereek would not take the chance of dying in a borrowed fighter .
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Rorn activated his engines and shot out of the "Skippers" cargo hold . " Jedi's Dark Shadow " was ready for combat . He looked back as Saraan puled her TIE defender
out and flew after him . Rorn faced forward again and smiled grimly. He was gonna take this place apart .
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Jarlath checked his weapons grid once more, and said into the comlink," Lock S-foils into attack position ."
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Luke gazed at Jarlath, both on the sensor boards and with the Force . Jarlath seemed to be holding up good under pressure , he thought .
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Rorn dodged an incoming asteroid and glanced at his sensors, a few miles away from the three small groups of green blips, a red cloud of enemy fighters approached. " We got company ", he shouted . He looked over at Saraan and saw her give him a thumbs-up signal . Rorn grinned, this was going to be fun .
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Kyp Durron switched his laser cannons to fire a stuttering blast , and prepared his proton torpedoes . He had'nt flown against this type of fighter before, so he might find it challenging .
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Jaina Solo stared at the large swarm of enemy fighters, and thought , Finally, a challenge .
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Mara Skywalker reached over to her weapons board and linked her laser cannons so that they would fire simeltaneously. Her fighter eased up next to Luke's X-wing , and she stared at him , until he glanced at her, then she waved .
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Aboard the giant asteroid ship, Darth Slintronius gave orders to break away on his command . This fight would not kill him , he vowed .
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Rorn came up on the first few fighters , seeing his bladecraft they hesitated before firing .With the added few seconds , Rorn's Fighter dodged their blasts easily . He pressed his thumb down gently on the trigger, and ion blasts screamed forth disabling one of the Z-95 headhunters . THe reamaining two fighters fired uselessly at his blade-craft, missing by whole meters as Rorn swooped and dived, firing as he flew . Within seconds, the trio of fighters either floated helplessly in space or had been vaporized by the "Dark Shadow's" powerful cannons .
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Saraan was having a little more trouble than Rorn . Before she could destroy the first enemy, a seeker missile had locked on to her TIE, now she was trying to evade . Saraan pulled back on her controls, barely missing a large rocky asteroid , the missile dodged the flying rock and sought again to destroy her fighter . She flew straight for a enemy foghter evading its lasers and pulled up at the last intstant before impact . Saraan smiled as she heard the sound of an explosion . THe missile had struck the enemy ship .
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Luke had teamed up with Mara and was now in a dog-fight with a large blade-craft that had singed Mara's hull ." Nobody tries to kill my wife, got it," he growled as he mired a shadow bomb and directed it into the blade-craft's engines . The fighter exploded in a large flash of light .
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Don saw the huge asteroid that they had found the Sith outpost inside . He looked at his sensors and laughed in dis-belief, they had kept sheilds down to avoid detection . He fired his entire arsenal of missiles and srafed the outpost with every laser cannon he had .
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Darth Slintronius felt his ship shake in distress and ordered all fighters to withdraw from combat . They were going to leave .
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The Jedi watched in stunned silence as the huge asteroid broke apart and revaled a hybrid of gleaming metals and natural stone . The huge ship was larger than a Star Destroyer . All of the enemy fighters withdrew from the engagement, and flew toward the asteroid/ship .
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Luke watched as the huge ship disapeared into hyperspace.They would have to fight another day . He turned his head and saw Rorn,Saraan, and Don approaching in their various ships . He shook his head in exasperation , he had told them to stay on Coruscant with Han and Leia .
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Ric Gronard reached out in the Force, Sev'rannce Taan was not far ahead, and was coming out of hyperspace . He leaned forward, ready to fight to capture Sybl . The starlines shrunk to normal size stars on his viewport, and ahead of him, Ric saw the "Shadow Chaser" . He smiled, Here was a challenge to be had .
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This part is completely off-base. Tann just wouldn't react like that
Sev'rannce looked at her rear sensors and cursed in a alien language ,how had that other Sith followed her this far ? Sybl who was bound in the rear of the cockpit, cowered in fear . Tann whirled and stalked toward her, taking Sybl's face in one claw-like hand," You led him here, didn't you ? " she hissed .
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Editing by Daniel(An alternative ending piece that works slightly better. I left Nathans here so it would not be deleted)
As he exited hyperspace, Ric fired his weapons against the enemy ship. With the power of his weapon systems he should be able to disable this foe in seconds. He watched as his lasers struck the enemy hull and smiled when he realized the fool was without shields. He stared in disbelief as his blasts bounced off of the enemy ship, not leaving a mark!!!!! He fired again and again, emptying his arsenal against this enemy ship. The hull still was untouched. Ric felt his ship shake as the enemy ship battered his shields. They fell and Ric, thinking quickly, sent a mental challenge to the other pilot to meet him in single combat on the ground. The shadow chaser left off the attack and landed, allowing Ric to do the same.
Ric pushed the accelaration lever all the way forward, he had to catch Tann before she landed .Coming up behind the "Shadow Chaser", he reached out in the Force and felt for the larger ship's engines . Finally, grasping them he pulled, first a little and then more . Inch by inch, the engines began to slip, and then Ric pulled with all of his might, ripping both sublight and hyperdrive engines out of the "Shadow Chaser's" hull . Next, he pressed down on the firing triggers of his ion cannons, over-loading any working systems left on the large ship .
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No need for the escape pod parts
Tann glared at the approaching fighter, it had dis-abled her entire ship in a matter of seconds . She walked over to Sybl and hoisted her over a shoulder with the Force . Tann started walking around debris, toward the escape pods, hopefully they wouldn't have been fried . Tann slipped Sybl off her shoulder, and slid her struggling body into the nearest escape pod . Tann then set the controls for Mechis III, and to avoid any lakes , oceans ,etc .
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Ric followed the two escape pods toward the ground, the two pods seemed to moving away from each other. Ric decided to follow the pod with the strongest Force signature . He followed the escape pod as it performed primitive maneuvers, avoiding trees and boulders . Ric pulled up as the pod landed , he wanted to see the escapee from a distance before coming down . The pod's hatch opened and ... Sybl stepped out and looked around. This was going to be easier than he had thought, Ric mused . He turned his ship around and flew toward the lone figure, as he got closer sybl looked up raised a hand and ... fired a blast of lightning , shorting out all ships-systems as neatly as a ion cannon . Ric pulled back on his control stick , barely avoiding a head-on collision with the escape pod . Ric's blade-craft crashed to the ground, a few dozen meters away from the escape pod .
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Sev'rannce Tann dropped her Force-illusion of Sybl and watched the Sith starfighter collide with a large tree, the bladed wings chopping nearly through the trunk at the base . She held out her hand and her lightsaber slipped from her belt and flew into her grasp . Tann sent a small tendril of Force to the small ship and found that the pilot was still alive ... and very angry . She wrapped her lightsaber in the Force and watched the yellow blade appear . She had not killed another Sith in a long time , she would enjoy this .
****************************************************************** Ric snapped back to alertness, the female Chiss was coming this way . He reached up and crumpled back the bent-in hatch, without the use of the Force . His alien strength would help him in this battle .Ric strained and threw himself out of the demolished fighter with one long shove with the Force .His multi weapon slithered out of his flightsuit and into his hands, shaping itself into a lightsaber . The double-bladed lightsaber he had used against her before, had been destroyed in the crash . As he vame to the peak of his jump, Ric saw the woman approaching, Tann, that was her name, he thought as he came down in a crouch . Tann raised her lightsaber and ran at him with un-belivable speed . Ric whirled and threwfrom behind his back a star-shaped blade that spun through the air toward Tann . She sent out a bolt of lightning that melted the blade in the air . She hissed in anger and pain as a few drops of molten metal splattered on her skin . Ric charged at her, his tatooed head lowered . Tann flicked a wrist and the ground beneath them trembled and quaked .Ric leaped off the ground and flew toward her, lightsaber held high . Tan reversed her lightsaber so that the blade pointed toward the ground and attacked . Red and yellow came together , orange sparks flying . Ric swung his lightsaber at her head and halfway there, diverted his attack toward her waist .Tann blocked his blow with a hastily constructed Force shield .
****************************************************************** Sybl watched the alien's battle from the bushes, where she crouched hidden from view . When her pod landed, she had been able to cut her bonds on some sharp rocks . Attracted to the sounds of war, she had made her way here . Sybl now turned, she needed to get as far away from here as she could . Amid the noise of explosions, the crackle of lightning and of lightsabers, she ran away, bruising her barely healed feet .
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Ric sliced up at Tann as she flipped over him . Tann was truly a challenge, but even she was not ready for his next move . Ric tossed his multi-weapon up in the air, not even watching as it split into two seperate lightsabers . The red blade snapped on, sightly shorter than normal but still deadly . He stuck a hand behind his back and stretched his other out in front of him, capturing the weapons as they fell . Tann acknowledged his maneuver with a raised eyebrow, and pressed the attack . Ric's new fighting style dwarfed Tann's in terms of speed and accuracy , and she knew she could not fight him for long .Tann senta crushing wave of Force-wind and when Ric recovered , she had disappeared . Cursing quietly, Ric walked into the jungle . He felt the hostile lifeforms all around him , and kept his multi-weapon ready to attack .
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Rorn sat on a bunk at the Jedi Temple's medical bay . Cilghal was telling him what the procedure for replacing his missing left arm with the newly cloned limb would be like . He had decided to keep the robotic right hand as a sign of honor ." Lay back and relax, the procedur will take several hours," Cilghal instructed in her gutteral Calimarian voice .
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Saraan lunged with her lightsaber, just barely nicking Don's tunic, before he slapped her blade away easily. Don's new fencing style was just a little annoying, she thought . They had been dueling for hours, and Don had seemed to barely move a step in any direction as he blocked and/or evaded her attacks . When he did take the offensive, Don's training saber burned Saraan's skin, over and over . Saraan finally scored a hit on Don's right wrist." Ouch," he hissed, blowing on the slight burn ." Hah, you've been burning me since we started, just think of that as payback," Saraan said smugly. Don nodded in agreement and raised his saber once more ," Shall we go again," he asked . Saraan shook her head and said," Not with you , I'm not ."
Then Sybl woke from her dream. She shook her head trying to clear away the web of sleep. How strange these dreams had been. Attacking Sith, Jedi ...well of course it hadn't happened so it didn't matter.
Ric followed the informant along th busy street, thinking bitterly of how Sev'rannce Tann had escaped him . Now he had been sent to the backwater world of Tatooine to meet an old informant of Darth Slintronius's, with orders to kill if the alien didn't deliver the information . As he walked, Ric felt a small presence come closer, and reach out toward his utility belt, with intent to steal . Without looking, his hand snakeed behind him and grabbed the sticky-fingered hand ,crunching small bones, Ric turned slowly letting the terrified creature see every aspect of his horned and tatooed face ,feeling the fear coursing throughout the small alien's body . The Sullustan babbled in terror as Ric turned and stared at its jowled face . Suddenly he bent down and roared, right in the terrified alien's face, every fang, every frightening tatoo was visible by the Sullustan . Ric quieted and released the tiny alien, who had fainted in fear . He snapped his fangs together watching the group of large sentients come toward him in a threatening manner . " Ye jist took out one of me best pickpockets, and
I don't like it," a large smelly alien said, muscling his way to the front . " Yer gonna pay, fer this ." Ric smiled in a challenging way, and felt for his multi-weapon ... Yes, its comforting weight was still there . He let it slide out into his hand and the red blade snap out . Ric stiffened as he felt the weapon lighten drastically, and the blade of fire extinguish . He spun and kicked out , neatly breaking the neck of the large alien holding a vibroblade next to his multi-weapon . Ric tried desperately to activate his weapon, and when he could not do so, he dropped it, reaching inside his robes for the lightsaber formerly belonging to his master, Darth Sabor . The alien's leaped back as the red blade ignited," He's Jedi ." he heard from the rear of the crowd .Ric snarled, leaping toward the voice and slicing its owner in two pieces . This lightsaber had been Darth Sabors only weapon , with its strange shaped handle, she used a lightsaber fighting style, known only to a few Sith .She had taught it to Ric even after he constructed his multi-weapon. Now he was glad of those lessons .
The lightsaber became nothing more than a flash of light, cutting and hewing through the throng of hostile aliens . The sentients began to run in fear, but even that didn't stop Ric's massacre . One right after another they fell,under his glowing blade . The last alien he saw, was a Rodian . Ric charged toward the green,scaly alien, stopping in surprise as a green blade flung itself out from the Rodian's hand . " I am Gretoo Fornado, Jedi knight . You are under arrest," the alien intoned in its own language . Ric stood and stared at the Jedi's awkward stance," I think you should take lessons first, rookie ," he snarled and turned to walk away . As he had thought, the Rodian charged at his back with lightsaber held high . Ric spun and twisted is weapon around beneath Gretoo, and back up , neatly cutting the aliens legs of at the knees. Another slash of the saber, and Gretoo's head was rolling down the street . " I hate Jedi," Ric muttered, kicking the Rodians body away from him .
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An hour later he was back in his ship and headed toward the Sith base of operations, having found the informant, took the information, and killed him . Slintronius wanted this holocron, because it had information on Jedi, and he was studying, trying to gain the upper-hand .
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Rorn studied his new arm, complete down to the clan tatoos . He flexed the muscles, and smiled. Cilghal had done a good job with the muscle enhancment treatments, and Rorn's arm was as strong as his old one, which was pretty strong to begin with . He stood and stretched, he had practice to do if he was going to be a Jedi .
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Kyp Durron was walking along the outside of the Temple , when he heard shouts and lightsabers crackling . Un-hooking his lightsaber from his belt he charged toward the sounds .He stopped as he saw the source of all the noise . Balancing on a log over a large stream, Rorn and Don battled with lightsabers. Saraan stood on the bank of the stream and was shouting and jeering as one or the other would score a hit . Kyp slipped his saber back onto his belt and walked back toward the Temple. They were practicing, that was good .
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Saraan watched as Rorn's seemingly random attacks just seemed to slide past Don's defenses . Don was sweating and burned in several places while Rorn appeared to be easily breathing and untouched . Hey,knock it off for a while, Don's had enough," she shouted at Rorn . Don nodded his head in agreement and just fell into the water below . Rorn shook his head in exasperation and lifted him back out." You're supposed to check the water for predators first ." he said lifting a large lizard like creature out of the water and throwing it into the jungle and then diving in himself . Saraan and Don both took off their heavy training outfits, leaving them in light pants and tunics," CANNONBALL," Don screamed as he levitated himself up in the air and dropped into the water . Saraan constructed a web of Force and lifted water out of the stream and into the likeness of a bridge, which she stepped onto and walked out over the small river and dropped in with a minimal splash . As Don surfaced after his huge splash maker, Rorn pulled him back under . Saraan watched the water surface cautiously, she really did not want to be dunked , but Rorn never surfaced. Don came up sputtering , and gasping out threats .
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Rorn watched them from under water, and tried to keep himself from grinning .
Zabraks had a far greater lung capacity, than humans or Kiffar and he could easily stay down here for several minutes .
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Saraan was starting to panic now, trying to find Rorn . Don was diving futilely, looking for his friend .
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A large lizard-like Teroner, raised its fearsome head and sniffed . It had killed humans before, and had developed a taste for their flesh . With a grunt to his pack, the large reptile slid into the water and began to swim toward the splashing humans .
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Rorn avoided Saraan and Don easily, under water , and then he stiffened . Something was coming, a lot of somethings . Rorn launched himself out of the water with a cry of warning . Saraan looked up in relief only to see a huge lizard rear out of the water behind Don . Rorn grabbed his lightsaber, grateful he had added that waterproof modification, and leaped into the water . Don felt himself moving and realized Saraan wa lifting him out . He concentrated and did the same for her . They both set down gently next to their weapons and turned to the fight . Rorn leaped back out of the water seeing his friends were safe, and turned ready for combat . The first Teroner waddled out of the water, a large and fat lizard, it dwarfed Rorn until a quick slash of a silver lightsaber cut him in half . Saraan charged her own giant lizard and shortened its neck by about three feet, with a single cut . Don reached out and slammed two Teroner together with a sickening sound of bones snapping . Saraan stared at the piles of dead meat they had just created and gagged . Rorn ran between two of the huge lizards, twirling his saber, and the two Teroner collapsed, clawing at the large wouds in their midriffs . The three remaining creatures stared at their fallen comrades, and charged. Saraan and Don raised their sabers, only to see one saber go flying out, slicing through a neck, chopping off a foreclaw, stabbing in a chest and slicing back through each to make sure of death . The lightsaber flew back to Rorn, who wiped a bit of blood on the grass .
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Grand Admiral Pellaeon sat in the Admiral’s chair of the Chimaera’s bridge. He was preparing the fleet for another offensive and studying starmaps to decide exactly where that offensive was aimed, when Darth Slintronius’s ship burst out of hyperspace. It entered the shipyards and a shuttle emerged, carrying the Sith Lord. The shuttle landed in the Star Destroyer’s main hangar bay and Slintronius, accompanied by Ric Gronard exited. They pushed their way past the guards and headed for the bridge. As they did this, another ship silently glided into the Bilbringi shipyard.
Pellaeon was still seated when Slintronius entered the bridge.
"GRAND ADMIRAL PELLAEON. PREPARE THE FLEET FOR BATTLE. WE ARE GOING TO ATTACK YAVIN 4 AND WIPE OUT THOSE ACCURSED JEDI!!!!!!" Slintronius bellowed.
"Why?" Pellaeon asked with defiance in his voice.
"They attacked me and they will pay!!!" Slintronius replied.
"Our fleets will not attack Yavin 4. The base is too well defended and the jedi are too numerous. You said that your apprentices and assassins could deal with the jedi. I won’t risk the Imperial fleet to assuage your pride!" Pellaeon was angry now, and for good reason.
"HOW DARE YOU OPPOSE ME!!!!!!" Slintronius was working himself into a murderous.
Unnoticed by anyone, a small ship landed in the Chimaera’s hangar bay and two women exited it, one reluctantly following the other.
Slintronius drew his lightsaber and Ric drew his multi-weapon as they closed in on Pellaeon. Pellaeon called out and 8 stormtroopers entered the room. Ric and Slintronius attacked them, Ric’s weapon extended, killing one of them as Slintronius zapped two more. He deflected their blaster bolts and Ric killed the rest. Pellaeon hit the red alert button as the two Sith closed in on him. Then he drew a blaster and prepared to go down fighting. As Slintronius approached him, Pellaeon shot twice, both bolts were blocked. Slintronius lifted his lightsaber and swung hard, but Pellaeon ducked and ran for the door, shooting Ric down as he did. Ric was unable to block the close-range shot and fell to the ground, with a hole in his stomach. Slintronius bellowed in rage as he chased the greying Admiral. He finally force-lifted Pellaeon and held him motionless in the air. With a cry of victory he swung his lightsaber…
Stormtrooper teams entered the far side of the bridge and ran through, ignoring the writhing Ric on the ground.
Ric lay in worse pain than he had ever felt, cursing himself for being so slow.
As the lightsaber swung towards Pellaeon, a yellow blade intercepted it. Slintronius felt a numbing pain as a force punch smashed open the side of his skull, at the temple. He fell to the ground, in pain as a blanket of power overwhelmed his force-abilities. Pellaeon felt himself fall but the fall was cushioned by the newcomer. Pellaeon looked up into the gleaming red eyes of Sev’rannce Tann. Behind her stood another woman. Tann spoke: "I’ve been waiting to meet you, Grand Admiral Pellaeon. We have many things to talk about."
"Like what?" Pellaeon replied, standing to his feet, all business again.
"Like the mess this fool has gotten you into." Tann replied coolly. "You know as well as ˆ that the this was an ill-advised war. But I can help you win it. My oracle has foreseen the Empire Increasing greatly because of this war. But you need me."
"What oracle?" Pellaeon asked, doubt evident in his voice.
"Why this one, of course." Tann replied. "Grand Admiral Pellaeon, may I introduce you to Lyth Aria, Oracle of the Sith and the only other citizen of Mechis III. She has foreseen our alliance. Together we will re-establish the empire and bring order to this chaotic galaxy."
Maybe it was the way she spoke. Maybe it was the feeling inside of him. Maybe it was the resemblance to Thrawn this warrior bore. Maybe it was just the simple fact that she had just saved his life. Whatever the reason, Pellaeon held out his hand and spoke.
"We have an alliance. Welcome to the empire, Sev’rannce Tann."
"Well then, first I will deal with this mess." Tann reached out with the force as she spoke. She entered the minds of the still-breathing Sith foes and, with evil delight, began mixing matching and scrambling. Soon, both of them were in worse shape than Lyth Aria had been in when Tann had found her. Tann tucked Ric and Slintronius into Ric’s bladecraft. They sent it into hyperspace towards the core. The Republic could deal with it, and the jedi would find the memories of killing Dart Heath’s that Sev’rannce Tann had cleverly implanted in their minds.
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Pellaeon watched as the bladecraft left the shipyard, know he would deal with Slintronius' ship. He radiod Right to Rule and Impregnable , ordering them to attack. Giving the same commands to the Chimaera, Pellaeon felt the deck move as the three Imperial II class Star Destroyers set in on the hapless ship. Turbolasers blasted the Sith ship into powder as TIE Defenders wiped out the remaining fighters. Pellaeon smiled, yes, the empire would never again be controlled by the Sith. He was pleased that this Sev'rannce Tann wasn't the egotistical type Slintronius had been. She was Chiss, and her presence reminded him of Thrawn. Maybe she was the spark that would re-ignite the flame of the empire.
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Back on the Shadow Chaser Sev'rannce Tann was pleased as well. Now she could use the factories on Mechis III exclusively on grounds troops while the Imperials provided the ships. Everything was goning perfectly with Pellaeon on her side and Lyth Aria safe as her oracle. She was especially happy about the holocron she had stolen from Ric Gronard, that would be useful in operthrowing the jedi.
more to follow
Saraan and Don stared at Rorn, and back at the dead lizards ." Wow," Don managed. Rorn grinned and then the look on his face turned to one of horror ." Duck," he yelled . Don and Saraan, didn't ask questions, but dropped to the soft jungle soil .A red storm blaster of blaster bolts shrieked over their heads, Rorn became a blur of silver light as he deflected the deadly darts into the jungle ! They heard a loud crashing sound as something came through the jungle . Rorn leaped into a tree, while Don shimmered and seemed to disappear behind a tree . Saraan stared at the huge metallic creature as it stepped into the clearing, the AT-ST scout walker stopped and leveled its laser cannons directly at Saraan . Saraan raised her lightsaber, knowing she didn't have the strength to deflect a single blast . Then the out-thrust lasercannons quivered and the barrels began to slope downward, bending in one twist that aimed back at the AT-ST . Rorn dropped from his hiding spot to the top of of the scout walker, and started to cut the hatch open with his lightsaber . Don ran over and sliced at the control cables sticking out from the legs in various places . Saraan snapped out of her fear-driven trance and leaped to the top of the AT-ST, where Rorn was pulling out the pilot and gunner . She disarmed them, slicing their blaster pistols in several places and depositing the pieces in the jungle . Rorn looked up from his interrogation of the two Imperials and listened . Other hostiles were approaching , Rorn leaped back into the trees, sending a mental warning to his friends, who melted back into the jungle . Eight storm commandos ran into the clearing, and raised their weapons. The pilot and gunner lay next to their AT-ST, necks at a crooked angle .
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Don raised a finger to his lips and glared at the two captured Imperials," Quiet, or that really will happen," he whispered . Saraan struggled to keep up the Force illusion as the troops got closer . Rorn in the tree above them, concentrated and waved a hand at a stone on the edge of the clearing, which then began to move toward a Imperial .
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Trooper 84Z9Alpha looked up and saw ... rock . The other storm commandos whirled as there was a clunk of stone off armor , they saw their fellow soldier laying on the ground with a sizable dent in his helmet . They turned back and saw the pilot and the gunner disappear.
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Don reached inside himself for the power he needed and called on a Force-speed enhancment technique and ran through the clearing, grabbing a commando and twisting his head backwards. Don was back in the jungle before the trooper fell .
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The Imperials viewed the surrounding jungle nervously, hearing a thump they turned and saw another trooper laying on the ground, helmet pointing to his back . They started walking toward the AT-St again, scanning the jungle, weapons held ready .
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Troopers were dropping like flies, thought Stormtrooper Commander A82W14, he had never been in a real combat situation . His weapon had only been fired at civilians and targets . He had only killed people set for execution .
He knew something was going on here, Jedi were no ordinary foe..... he felt himself begin to rise, What the dreck, he thought, than he knew nothing .
Saraan leaped into a tree silently,and straining, reached out in the Force. A commando began to rise swiftly toward her . She released the switch on her lightsaber, letting the blade strike out and decapitate the trooper . Saraan blew the hair out
of her face,Who knew that stealth fighting could be so fun, she thought, She must be learning from Don And Rorn .
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Rorn watched the remaining four storm troopers stand in a circle, blasters pointing toward the jungle on all sides . He concentrated and stretched out a miniscule tendril of Force and switched a blaster rifle into overload . The trooper looked down as his wepon began to whine, and gasped . He threw his rifle as hard as he could , launching it into the trees on the far side of the clearing . Saraan took the blaster rifle , that was laying on the ground beneath her, and set it to rapid fire .She then tied back the trigger with a bit of grass, flicking the safety off, she wrapped it in the Force and she it across the open space .The four storm troopers whirled and fired as one, three with rifles, one with a pistol . The laser bolts missed the whirling gun by centimeters, and they heard a cough behind them . Again they spun, to see a large black form ." Lord Vader , " a storm trooper stammered, as the appiration walked toward them . Don sighted along the barrel of a confinscated rifle, and shot four times . The troopers collapsed into a heap at the feet of Rorn, who dropped the illusion with a sigh of relief . " Come on, we have to warn the Temple," Saraan cried . Rorn watched her and Don start running, and shouted," Wait, this is faster," pointing at the AT-ST .
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Saraan winced as the AT-ST bumped over a tree trunk, this was'nt the most comfortable ride . Don had straightened the barrels of the laser cannons, so at least, they had weapons . Rorn was at the gunner's controls, scanning the jungle for stormtroopers , Don was trying to pilot the walker . Saraan straining, reached out in the Force and held the walker steady as Don stopped it on one leg . " Which way to the Temple," Don asked . Rorn shook his head and said," Turn right at the first big tree and go straight east . " Don punched the controls and the walker slowly turned, and took off running again . Saraan stuck her head out the top, and watched the jungle jolt by ." Stop the thingie," she suddenly shouted . Don pulled back on the lever that stopped the walker, and said ." What now ." I just found us some better rides," she replied smugly, pointing at seven Imperial speeder bikes floating alongside their pilots, who were consulting a map . Rorn cranked the head around, and readied the proton grenade launcher, only to see red flashes of cannon fire as Saraan fired the laser cannons, blowing the troopers into the air as she blew up three of the speeder bikes . Rorn and Don both stared at Saraan," Sorry, I just couldn't wait any longer to get out of this thing ."she said with a sheepish smile .Don Leaped out of the AT-ST and landed next to a Imperial in now-cracked armor ." Wow , you really nailed them ." he said with a smile .Rorn emerged from the AT-ST and leaped to a speeder bike , he zoomed back to the walker and leaped back to another speeder bike . Saraan jumped to the bike he had just left and sqeezed the throttle, zooming into the jungle . Rorn followed on his speeder, and Don chased after him on a speeder laden with weapons .
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Inside the Jedi Temple, Luke felt the hostiles approaching and not far ahead of them were three franticly fleeing friendly's . He sighed, knowing allready the identies of the three, without even probing them. Rorn had seemed to add a adventurous part to the minds of Don and Saraan, now they were always heading off somewhere and/or getting into trouble . He sent a message to Kyp, and got up out of his meditative pose , with a grunt . He just wasn't as young as he used to be, he thought .
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The huge metal form leaped nimbly through the jungle, knocking over small trees, and crushing wild-life as it ran swiftly after the fleeing speeder bikes , Nothing has ever escaped me before, it thought, Today shall not be the first time . Finally it caught sight of the fleeing speeders, and reached out with a weak telikenisis attack, jolting one of the speeders from side to side .
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Don who was in the rear, felt his speeder began to buck beneath him, and peeked behind him. The sight of the rapidly approaching metal giant was enought to make him shout in fear, and he sent a mental message to Rorn and Saraan, and then to Luke at the Temple .His speeder bucked more wildly now and he was soon going to crash into a tree if he didn't fix it .He pulled out one of the many weapons adorning the borrowed speeder, a concussion grenade launcher and fired it back at the frightening beast pursuing him. The droid-like creature moved with super-fast reflexes and fired a blue ion blast from its forearm gauntlet, shorting out the grenades circuits and postponing the explosion till he was far past it .
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Puny human efforts, the creature thought, They were all the same . Bane'Ous had never been defeated in his one thousand, seven hundered year reign as top asassin anywhere . He had been seriously injured during the clone wars, and had gone into a sort of hibernation, healing and regrowing lost limbs, only awakened by Darth Slintronius, who wanted Bane'Ous to join his group of Sith Asassins .. Bane'Ous wanted to kill, to feed, on Jedi . It would truly bring back his former strength . He leaped and with one sweep of his arm brought down the Jedi on the rear vehicle .
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Rorn stared back at the metal creature, he recognized him as Bane'Ous, a member of a unknown species that had considerable mental powers, but could not touch the Force . The species lived for about three thousand years, and Ban'Ous had only been arounf for about two-fifths of that time . They had a lot of time still, to figure out how to kill him . Rorn swerved back as he saw Ban'Ous knock Don off of his speeder bike ." Saraan go get help ," he shouted, out loud and mentally, hoping Saraan would hear him .
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Don pulled out his lightsaber, knowing it was a futile gesture against a enemy of this size, but still not wanting to go out without a fight .Rorn steered his speeder bike straight at Ban'Ous and flipped off as he passed Don . The huge metal giant grabbed the speeder bike as it came close to him, and threw it against a tree . Rorn gulped, this was going to be hard .
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Bane'Ous twitched his clawlike hands and a lightsaber slid out of each gauntlet and into his awaiting claws . Purple and blue blades slid out, reflecting bizarre light patterns off Bane'Ous armor . The larger of the two aliens before him, slipped matching lightsabers out of his belt and linked them together .
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Rorn activated his linked lightsabers, and waited for Don to ready his own weapon . They stood no chance against this towering Sith, even with the Force as their ally .
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Luke glanced out his window and saw a lone speeder bike zoom into the courtyard , Saraan leaped off of it and looked up at Luke,shouting ," There's some sort of huge metal monster attacking Don, Rorn went back to help . We need you to come. " Luke gestured at a rack on the wall and his lightsaber flew to him . He walked over to a intercom and activating it, said " Icronis Martolon," meet me at the speeder bay ."
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Saraan sprinted toward the speeder bay, mentally thinking over which speeder to grab .The speeder bike she had flown here was nearly empty of fuel . SHe leaped up into a open-top speeder, and rejected it at a glance . It didn't have nearly the speed or weapons they would need , besides Saraan didn't like the color .She vaulted into the next speeder and smiled, here was their transportation . Black with red racing stripes, the heavily armored flash speeder was the private property of a spoiled rich kid, who had come to the Acedemy, expecting to be able to pilot it around a huge complex, instead leaving it in the speeder bay of a millenia old temple . She ran her fingures over the weapons board, finding a heavy repeating laser mounted beneath the speeder . She hopped down to see it, but it wasn't in view, then there was the whine of gears turning and a hatch slid out of the way as the multi-barreled weapon slid down in a ready position . Saraan looked up to see Icronis Martolon behind the controls, the ape-like Jedi was legendary for his piloting skills . He jabbered at her to get into the speeder. Saraan reached inside the Force for an instant and the alien Jedi's word's became clear to her," Get into the speeder, Luke is waiting at the top of the temple ," the simian Jedi said . She grabbed the edge of the cockpit and pulled herself inside, as Icronis slipped the accelerator lever forward , and the speeder swung out of the parking bay and up toward the top of the ziggurat that housed the Temple, where Luke vaulted inside and motioned for Saraan to point the way .
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Lightsabers clashed and Don was thrown back against a tree, he jumped as quick as he could, wincing from the pain in his back . He ran back toward the ensuing battle between Rorn and Bane'Ous . Rorn tried to capture the armored giant's lightsabers between his dual blades, but was repulsed time after time. Bane'Ous didn't seem to tire, his armor kept him safe from harm but that couldn't hold up for long, Rorn thought as he blocked another of the monster's crushing blows . Don jumped to a tree branch above the duelers and then leaped down on Bane'Ous back , slicing into his armor with his lightsaber . Bane'Ous screamed in agony and reaching behind him, grabbed Don . He threw Don away from him, shooting three times, from his gauntlet, as he did so . The disruptor blasts shrieked through the air, following Don . One struck his lightsaber, reducing it to a heap of molten slag . The two others pursued Don until they struck him, one in the shoulder, the other in the thigh . Don hit the ground in a heap, over thirty meters from the fight . Rorn stared at his fallen friend and back at Bane'Ous . He clenched his hands tighter around his lightsaber, and attacked furiously, using his anger in a flurry of attacks that even the armored monster had trouble blocking and diverting .
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Luke felt Don's pain and then he felt a flash of the Dark Side that had not come from Rorn's opponent . He felt Rorn using his anger and the strength that came from it," Rorn no, stop", he called out in the Force . He could tell from the stricken look on Saraan's face that she had felt Rorn use the Dark Side .
Luke saw the flash of lightsabers and tapped on Icronis's shoulder, pointing at the pair of combatants . He rose to his feet, drawing his lighsaber . Icronis motioned for Saraan to take the controls, and ignited a lightsaber with a blade of the darkest blue . Both the master and the knight leaped to the assault as Saraan pulled the speeder right over the fight .
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Bane'Ous glared at the two new arrivals, it was easy to see that the fight was now going against him, so he turned and leaped into the jungle .
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Rorn ran to Don, while Luke and Icronis leaped to the speeder and renewed there assault on Bane'Ous . Icronis piloted the craft with a speed, and accuracy not often accessed even by a Force-user . The laser bolts lanced out from the underside of the speeder , glancing off of the fleeing monster's armor, barely leaving marks . They finally turned back to pickup Rorn and Don, and get them back to the Temple .
Ric Gronard sat up quickly, That Chiss had done something to him, he thought . He looked at the man laying beside him, and felt nothing but contemt, and pity . This man had gone from being the most powerful Sith in the universe to being a lowly, banished Force-user . Ric stood barely wincing from the pain in his stomach,He had survived blaster wounds before and pain was part of a Sith's power,and walked to the controls , he saw that they were less than an hour away from coming out of hyperspace at some planet called Byss . . He finally realized what was wrong , Tann had shorted out his powers, he would need some heavy duty meditation to return to his full potential . He grinned maliciously, Tann's scrambling had not gone to its full strength because of Ric's uniqe mind and body, some Force powers would not work on him . He reached to his belt to check his weapon and cursed, Tann had taken his old master's lightsaber, for that she would pay dearly, but for now, he had another lightsaber, back at the main ship of Slintronius's fleet, hidden in the engine of his bladecraft . Ric remembered something they had included in the construction of these new fighters. When he had captured then killed, Het Garets, he had found that the old information broker/weak Jedi, had a hobby of constructing lightsabers . They had hidded one of these lightsabers in each fighter, because the fighters were flew by the Forcestrong clones of Slintronius . Ric removed a access plate at the rear of the cockpit, and using his acute danger sense, removed the boobytraps . He reached inside and pulled out the hidden weapon, he activated it and let its green glow fill the cockpit . Ric grimaced in disgust, weak Jedi color, not strong like the red of the Sith, but it would have to do, he would not lower himself to use a blaster, where was the contest in that ?
He moved back to Slintronius and ignoring his own wound, bent to see what medical attention, he could give to the formerly powerful Sith Lord .
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After nearly an hour of meditation, Ric could feel the Force returning to him, Then he felt a tremor in the Dark Side . Reaching out he traced it back to its source, it was the Zabrak Jedi, Ror Korbchek , unleashing his anger against Bane'Ous, the commander of the stormtroopers sent to Yavin 4 . This Jedi Would fall to the Dark Side, and when he did, he would be a worthy ally .
Ric reached out through the Force and tried pushing the eviromental controls . Nothing happened, he still didn't have his powers, though he could feel the Force .
Rorn sat across from Luke, watching the Jedi Master over Don's bed . Don had sustained injuries to the shoulder and left thigh . His lightsaber had been destroyed, the precious metals and stones, melted and left in the jungle . Luke cleared his throat and said, " You know what you did today, don't you?" Rorn sighed and nodded . " I think you should pay a visit to the world of Ilum ."Rorn looked up in surprise as Luke continued to speak," That is the world where Jedi would go to construct their lightsabers and fortify themselves Agains the wiles of the Dark Side ." Rorn nodded and answered," I think some time away would be good for me too , I can't study the Force properly, when there are all of these attacks constantly coming upon the Temple . "
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Bane'Ous hid his huge armored frame in the trees surrounding the Massassi ziggurat that housed the Jedi Temple . He had twenty of his best commandos with him, and three AT-ST walkers were waiting, two short kilometers away, and would come when he summoned them . Bane'Ous had been humiliated and injured by the Jedi that he had fought, he would now kill them and any others that tried to stop him . Bane'Ous heard the activation of several lightsabers and nearly grabbed his own weapons before he saw that it was only a few young ones training .
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Kyp was taking his usual evening walk, when he sensed danger nearby, glancing casually into the bushes on either side, Kyp increased his speed toward the Temple, all the while sending warnings to Luke . His lightsaber slipped into his hand, while he cautiously probed the bushes to see what sort of enemy was here . Kyp could feel the hostile minds all around him, and then he came to a mind that, while not strong in the Force, generated a aura of evil and strength .He swallowed hard, knowing he would need help in this fight .
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Luke was rushing through the Temple, calling out in the Force for the knights and masters to join him in this battle . Icronis leaped to his side jabbering in his simian language . Luke took a second to see what he was saying," You have my lightsaber in whatever you need me for ," the apelike Jedi was saying . Luke patted him on the shoulder and called out for the other warriors . A large hand slapped down on Luke's shoulder, and a gravelly voice, said " I will fight ."
Luke looked up and up again to see Jhon Foester, the bounty hunter who had come with Rorn's cousins . He was a walking arsenal, so Luke nodded in agreement .
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Bane'Ous listened but could hear nothing, he knew something was wrong. All of the Jedi students had retreated to the inside of the Temple . Suddenly he heard the familiar sound of lightsabers activating and glowing blades appeared all around him . He stared at the Jedi surrounding him,counting nine lightsabers held by seven Jedi, now not so grateful that he had sent his stormtroopers farther down the path.
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Kyp watched the mass of stormtroopers, wondering when the other Jedi would get here .He sent another message to Luke, feeling the powerful master respond, he activated his lightsaber and stepped into view .The stormtroopers spun and fired in seemingly one motion. Kyp sank into the Force, spinning and twirling as his saber deflected the lasers that seemed to be moving in slow motion . Storm troopers began to fall as Luke arrived , his green blade slicing into armor, and the Force shoving Imperials away from him .Kyp cut into a helmet and threw the stormtrooper at a trio of his comrades . He came up back to back with Luke, guarding each others backs from the deadly darts of light headed their way . Rorn leaped into the clearing , his saber-staff whirling in a deadly disk of light . Imperial after imperial fell to his blades as Luke and Kyp watched , stricken by his use of raw power, not light nor dark . The last stormtrooper stood shaking and fired a burst of lasers from his nearly empty weapon, Rorn flipped over the incoming death and stood face to face with the imperial . Jedi and stormtrooper stood and stared at each other, while the two Jedi masters watched .The troopers blaster came up, and Rorn's lightsaber flashed through armor, flesh, and bone .The Imperial gasped and collapsed .
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Bane'Ous flexed his hands and let his weapons fall into his grip . Slowly flicking the switches to on positions, he watched the blades appear ." Who wants some," he roared .His saber slashed out past a Jedi's defences and the alien fell, its arm landing seconds after him . Bane'Ous began his slaughter, these Jedi were not fully trained in the use of the lightsaber and would be easy to destroy, he thought . "Where are the Jedi cowards that battled against me, earlier today," he thundered," Let them come and participate in a battle of honor . All three that are left ." he spun as he heard a primitive roar, and sliced upward, barely missing Icronis's long tail . Icronis landed softly and held out his hands in a beckoning " bring it on " gesture . " Icronis, here, " a young voice sounded and the simian Jedi turned and caught the lightsaber hurled to him . He felt two more coming and twirling, he caught one with his tail and the other with one of his ambi-dexterious foot . Standing on one foot, Icronis conveyed a feeling a balance and power, a lightsaber in each hand, held by his tail, and by a foot .He attacked, his four lightsabers, cutting throught the air as simple flashes of light . Bane'Ous started to fight, each lightsaber working twice as hard to block and deflect blows from the four multi-colored weapons held by Icronis .He sliced upward, trying to remove the ape's tail from his person, but failed as one of the Jedi's weapons blocked and cut through the hilt of his purple-bladed lightsaber, like a hot vibro-blade through bantha butter . Bane'Ous clenched his hand tighter around his remaining lightsaber, and gave his armor a simple command," Give ." A tiny hole opened up in his back armor plate, and a shining tube shot out and into the air . A green blade ignited and catching it, Bane'Ous said," Try that move again." Icronis obliged and advanced, his weapons swinging in arcs of death . Bane'Ous raised a gauntlet and fired, the blue ion blast shorting out three lightsabers . Icrois dropped the useless weapons and stood where he was, ready for attack . Bane'ous attacked, blue and green blades moving in a flurry of attacks that the ape-like Jedi couldn't keep up with .
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Luke jumped into the clearing, just as Icronis fell, his brown fur singed and bloody . Luke looked around, saw the three remaining weaponless Jedi, and beckoned for them to move behind him . Kyp rolled into the small clearing after tripping over a small vine he had not noticed . He stopped and stared at the carnage with Bane'Ous in the midst,"By the Force, you shall die here, you accursed creature," he screamed in anger .His blade leaped into existence as he and Luke, working of one mind, attacked . As they fought, Rorn crept up to the three weaponless Jedi and motioned them back into the jungle, he would protect them . \
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Ban'Ous moved as fast as he could but was simply no match for the two master. He had killed Jedi, but had never messed with a Jedi master that was ticked off . Even without using the Dark Side, Luke was moving in a blur while Kyp simply seemed to be not there, only his lightsaber's glowing blade was seen as he dodged and attacked .Bane'Ous tried one of his last tricks and was gratified to see it work, Kyp's lightsaber spun off into the darkness, its two seperate pieces seeming to float before they struck the ground .
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Rorn saw Kyp leap away from the fight and slipped the catch on his linked lightsaber, tossing his own to Kyp and keeping his fathers . Kyp caught the silver blade and, scolding himself for being so slow, leaped bck into the battle .
Luke Dodged and feinted past an outhrust saber, he hadn't had such a fight in a long time .Slicing and dicing at Bane'Ous arms, he danced back into the creature's circle of defence, blocking and evading any attacks . Finally seeing an opening, he cut upward, into Bane'Ous armor and out of his shoulder .
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Bane'Ous had never felt such pain, not even during the Clone Wars . He knew this time, the wound was fatal . Bane'Ous would die here on this forsaken Jungle planet, never to see his beloved desert world again . Bane'Ous made a last surge toward Luke raising his weapons only to see a silver blade come straight at his face and then.... nothing .
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Kyp pulled the borrowed lightsaber out of the metal giant's head before it fell, and tossed it back to Rorn . He then bent down and picked up the still glowing blue-bladed lightsaber . Failing at reading the strange alien writing on the hilt, he took it over to Luke who was staring at the huge pile of alien/droid . " Do you recognize this language ?" he asked . Luke took the old weapon, read and gasped," This was the clan weapon of Adi Gallia, Jedi Master . He must have been the one who killed her," he said in a trembling voice, gazing at the huge body laying on the ground .
Streaking through hyperspace, on its way back from the meeting with Pellaeon, the Shadow Chaser moved at a nearly impossible .7 past lightspeed. Sev'rannce Tann was pushing the ship as hard as possible to reach her destination. Mechis III, that was where she was going. To conquer the droid factories. From there she could sue the army she would make with Pellaeon's navy to win order in the galaxy. Then perhaps people would cooperate, unlike that jedi. Dart, that was his name; he had been really troublesome. She had tried to brush him aside, tried to leave his life for him, but no; he had been so duty-bound to his prisoner that he had refused to let her have the oracle. She had had to kill him. That happened alot, people not cooperating and forcing her to kill them. Ah well, all that was in the past. The proximity alert was sounding and soon she would be at Mechis III.
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Tycho Thul looked in surprise at the transport landing at his main gate. Normally others didn't land on his desolate droid-factory moon. He sent a reception droid to greet his visitors and take them to his office.
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In the force Tann could feel that the asministrator of this place would be trouble. She was on a schedule and could afford no delays. She reached into the force and tightened a noose around the un-suspecting mans throat. She felt his presence dim and then go blank as he died. As soon as his droids reached her ship, Tann reached with the force to cross wires in their circuitry and de-activate them. She would have to design some battle droids for the factories to build, but first, a look at the stolen holocron.
Tann activated the holocron the way ony force-users can. The image of a long-past jedi appeared. "Who approaches the holocron of Ki-Adi-Mundi" it asked.
"I am the warrior Sev'rannce Tann. I seek your iwsdom." Tann answered.
"If you seek knowledge, what is it you ask?" the image replied
"I seek any new techniques that will aid me in a desperate war." Tann chose her words carefully. Holocrons had a tendancy to melt if you spoke to them wrong.
"Very well. I will tell you about the art of battle meditation. In a time of battle, a powerful jedi may envision the desired out come, and that outcome will happen. Only a select few have this talent, but I sense the pwoer in you. Also, I have the specifications on a nearly invincible battle-droid army. If each part is built and used properly, nothing will be able to stop it." Mundi's image told Tann.
"I thank you, wise jed i of the psat. Your wisomd has been most useful. We shall benefit greatly from it." TAnn spoke as she reached to turn the holocron off. Already the specs had appeared in the force and Tann had stored them in her accurate memory." Suddenly, the holocron burst in a shower of sparks. A voice pounded out through the force so strong that Tann could barely suppress it.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I have given my secrets to the Siiiiiiiiiith!!!!!!!!!!!" With that, the holocron was gone and Tann was ready to begin. She first entered the office of Tycho Thul and turned off his security system. Then she ordered all production to begin on the droid army she had just acquired. Mechis III was hers.
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In his command quarters aboard the Chimaera, Gilad Pellaeon was also planning. Long practice and his time under Thrawn had taught him that the well planned attack never falls astray. Soon, the empire would be ready. Sev'rannce Tann had gone to acquire an invincible ground force of droids so all the sentient resources could be puit into training as leaders and for sensitive intelligence jobs. He had already picked a suitable target for the Imperial offensive to begin . Thyferra, the galaxies one and only bacta-making world.
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On Mechis III, Tann watched in satisfaction as the last droid rolled off the factory lines. Each of the powerful robots were fitte with weapons that could only be described as overkill. Rather than have each droid carry a blaster rifle, Tann had opted to have hidden weapons inside the droids . On the right arm was a full power blaster rifle, on the left was a Arakyd grenade launcher with a grenade capacity of eight . The majority of thedroid's armor was not cortosis ore, but a select few did have it .Now for the less pleasant part of this whole operation. getting Lyth Aria to look into the future to foolproof the attack. The plan seemed perfect, Pellaeons destroyers would attack Yagh'dul and Thyferra at a perfectly coordinated time so that the reinforcements would join the Givens. Then transports would land on the night side of Thyferra bearing the mighty army. Pellaeon's fleet would interdict the Thyferra system and blockade it. It seemed perfect, but still, one never knew. Until now. With Lyth Aria's visions illuminating the weak points in the attack plans, the offensive would be unstoppable. Let the puny Federation sit on Coruscant and the galaxies shining core. Soon, the order of the empire would pervade all.
If only I could die...Lyth Aria thought jerking hard against the restraining straps as another wave of sharp pain scraped against her senses. The voice of her mistress commanded, “Again, closer.”
Blinking, she called the vision again. “Thyferra....” she let the word echo through her being. Nothing...
Please, come. She thought desperately wishing anything but her new mistress’s displeasure. “Thyferra.”
It shimmered a moment hovering in her mind. She dived and missed slamming hard into a force floor. With a choking gasp, her head fell forward on her chest. The vision disappeared. The modified EV 9D9 droid stepped forward ready to punish her for another failure, but Tann held up her hand. She had her own punishment for the failure. Something more effective.
She nodded toward the table. On it, among other items, was a large syringe filled with a mercury gray liquid. The droid advanced on her holding it. If only Tann had not discovered Lyth Aria’s unreasoning fear of needles. Lyth Aria wished she could turn her head away, but instead she watched in sick fascination as the needle pierced then slid into her wrist. Her stomach flopped, and her head felt very light.
Tann’s glowing eyes watched her Vyothyl take effect. She’d discovered it by accident many years ago now. In its raw form, it was similar to a stem pill, but refined it created a drug powerful enough to sharpen the human nerve reactions by 43%. This included the enhancement of reflexes, brain activity, sensory perception, and of course pain receptors.
Lyth Aria felt every fiber in her being suddenly awaken. Closing her eyes, Lyth Aria searched, the windy currents of the future buffeting into her senses, her bird song twisting among the shifting tides of time calling for the Thyferra campaign. It began to appear but too far away as if from a sketchy hologram. Tann nodded to the droid then closed her eyes again to share the vision. Crystalline agony ripped though Lyth Aria’s nerves like a thousand piercing needles than tore. The vision sharpened into icy clarity. Ships appeared out of hyperspace in a blur...How the heck did they get here? thought Lyth Aria nosing her freighter about. “Zaltrin control, we have hostiles, repeat, we have hostiles. We’re converging. Send your people up as soon as you can. Ok, People, show me what you can do. Head for the transport ships. They must not land! Repeat, they must not land” 4 modified freighters of various shapes and sizes converging, firing trying to slow them down rather unsuccesfully.....Dang, They’re gonna land in a minute. Can’t have that happen...a horrible thought...it might work... “Esser, I’m going in. I’m taking them down. Cover me.”
“Sir you’ll be killed!”
“It happens to the best of us someday. Now quit jabbering and cover me.” Spin under, slide sideways...too late to pull back...Goodbye, Ellen...sudden fire imploding through the transport as the lumbering freighter crashed into the control deck of the transport the transport now out of control collided with its neighbor. The third tried to compensate but wasn’t fast enough and the second caught its side. The fourth transport pulled away, but went too far into the planet’s gravity and began to fall uncontrollably downwards. Burning brightly like giant falling stars, four of the seven transports crashed headlong into the planet. Then the Zaltrin Control appeared buzzing like angry wasps... White light too bright... Tann’s eyes burned like hot coals, and her hand on Lyth Aria’s shoulder had tightened so that the fingernails bit into her skin. Her voice, however, remained perfectly calm, “Make the transports cloaked, Lyth Aria.” Exhausted and suffering, Lyth Aria’s abyss black eyes glazed over. As Tann opened her mind to Lyth’s thoughts to command her again, a song so piercingly perfect swept over Tann, and she almost lost herself.
Life, death, the future, the past, the present and among this, an angelic thread of flawless, haunting beauty wove among them, calling, singing a song unequaled ever in the galaxy. The perfection swept though the image of Thyferra, and Tann glimpsed how exactly everything should be: the cloaked ships, the placement, and the necessary timing, but then the song twisted, broke, as if the singer had been struck in the heart with an arrow. The mirage of Thyferra drifted then faded, and Lyth’s head fell loosely against her chest. Starting, Tann tried to gather herself to stifle the sudden longing for the perfection of that song. She stared hard at the inert form of Lyth Aria. Now, she understood why Slintronius had fought so hard for her. Her hand slipped down and found her lightsaber. What a waste of something so useful and beautiful. Such flawless Sight... May Slintronius die in his madness for ruining such perfection.
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Jacen woke sweating....and out of sorts. He stood from his meditative position trying to settle exactly what was bothering him, and hit his head on a shelf. Rolling away, he fingered the tender spot and found words coming to his mind his father had used in a similar situation when they were kids. They...an old ache caught at his throat and he sat down heavily on the bed. Was that what was bothering him?...Anakin he let the word slide into the silence around him.
No, no that wasn’t it. He missed the kid...more than he might admit, but that wasn’t what was making the restless feeling inside him. Standing up, he paced then found himself at the window staring up into the night sky. And as he did the voice for just a moment sang again; the memory of the trance came back sweeping around him with just the tantalizing wisp of that unutterably pure song. What had it been about? Something ....something maybe about the future or was it the past? Clenching his fists, he laid his head on the window frame. He couldn’t remember. It was fading. He closed his eyes and tried to open his mind to the memory, but the only thing that came to him like a shadow slipping from the room was how very sad the voice had seemed.
“Oof!” Ari yelped when she landed. “ Where am ah?” Ari’s pretty but incredibly high voice rang out.
“Yer on me ship, marm.”
Ari looked at the owner of the voice. It was a tall young man with a small long braid behind his right ear and short ponytail. His hair was the reddest Ari had ever seen. His china blue eyes flashed.
“Wot time is et?” Ari asked looking up from where she had landed.
“About three o’ clock Coruscant time.” He answered. “Why?”
“Yuh see, ev’ry three o’clock I doan’t ‘ave meh brain trooble an’ Ah can actually be a jedi right.” Ari said.
The boy looked confused.
“Wot’s yer name?” Ari asked standing up.
“Eoghan (ay- oh -gone)…what’s yers?”
“Arlitariel, no wait, Atrielala, no its Tariela, no… Ah’m just Ari.” She answered.
“I’m under a dark-side blanket, could up fix that?” Eoghan asked, he looked annoyed.
It was exactly three o’clock, Ari concentrated hard.
Eoghan could feel the force comeing back to him….
Grand Admiral Pellaeon watched in wonder from the blacony of the Imperial Palace on Bastion. Sev'rannce Tann had, in a matter of days, nuilt a massive army on Mechis III. He had been doubtful of this whole plan at first, but iot seemed more and more likely the more he saw of thsi strange Chiss warrior. She had prepared the invasion force and would accompany the task force assigned to Thyferra. Pellaeon would be at Yagh'dul, to make the Federation think that the attack was on the Givens home system. Admiral Kyrlon Kirkosh would officially be in command of the Thyferra group but Tann was the operations commander, second only to him. The battle droids were impressive, accompanied by STAP's and AAT's, to make the conquest quicker. They had been given a camouflage paint coating for Thyferra's jungles and had been perfectly programmed. The fleet would also remain in the sky, with the exception of Tann, who would return to Bastion to prepare the next step of the offensive. Pellaeon looked at the chrono and saw that it was time to depart. An hour later Tann would launch her attack. By then, Federation reinforcements would be battling his powerful task force, leaving the Thyferrans open to the attack. This campaign above any other he had participated in brought back memories of the brilliance of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
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The Yagh'dul system had an uneasy feeling about it. Wedge Antilles didn't know why, dut somehow it just didn't feel right, as if something was about to happen. Something important. Wedge was tense and his officers could see it. They could feel it too, something seemed out of place, like a nameless fear. A shadow menace, just beyond the horizon. Wedge radiod to his forces, three Mon Calamari Star Cruisers, five frigates, six fighter carriers, and of course the twenty or so odd GIven Defense Force Cruisers that the Yuuzhan Vong had not destroyed. Wedge wished that the planet had more than a shield as its defense.
"All craft launch, lets go on a little patrol of the system shall we?" He asked
"Copy leader." All the others replied. The whole force launched and was in space before anything happened. Then it hit. Four Interdictor Cruisers came out of hyperspace, with several dreadnoughts and frigates as escprt. Then, a body of Lancer-class frigates arrived. TIE Intereceptors and Defenders poured from the hangar bays of the attackers, four whole rings in all. Wedge cursed as he watched six Star Destroyers emerge. More TIE's came boiling form their hangars like angry gnats, all of the imperials advancing, with the interdictors having made any attempt to leave suicidal. The X-wings, Y-wings, A-wings, and B-wings emerged from the Federation ships almost before Wedge gave the order, eagerly streaking forwards to engage the enemy. An enemy that outnumbered them now 3 to 1.
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Pellaeon looked on as the wave of TIE's clashed with the enemy starfighters. His capitol ships were nearing the enemy fleet now and were almost in range. He watched out the viewport as A defender fired several times, changing 3 Y-wings into twisted metal and dust. The Federation had now answer the defenders, and everyone knew it. The Empire once more was king in the Starfighter division. The Chimaera entered its firing range and Pellaeon's thoughts snapped back into the present
"All ships fire at the middle Cruiser on my mark." He ordered. Taking the large centerpiece of the enemy defense out first would be devastating on their morale. "Mark!" he called into the speaker. The turbolasers and Ion cannons of his task force opened up and the shots slammed into the enemy cruiser, Its shields were still flicker ing on the display when the second volley struck. The Federation ships were trying to engage the imperials one-on-one. A useless waste of effort, Pellaeon thought.
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Wedge Antilles was in trouble and he knew it. The Galactic Defender had had all it could take from that one volley, and already the imperials had released a second. He tried to give orders to his force but his ship had lost all coherent communication. Every effort sounded the same
"---ce---te --l -i-- -n --- Ch-----a" Not much good at all.
"Sir, We've lost all power and the hull has been breached. I strongly reccomend we evacuate the ship, Sir." The young weapons officer reparted.
"Yes, we should leave now. This ship is lost." Wedge spoke sadly. Soon, his was among the hail of escape pods drifting in space.
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Pellaeon smiled in satisfaction as the enemies flagship burst out in flames. These new turbolasers were twice as powerfula s the old one shad ever been. He ordered the Star Destroyers to engage the remaining Mon Cal ships 2-on-1, with the other two aiding the frigates and dreadnougthts against the smaller federation ships and Given Defense Star Defense Force ships. The Chimaera plowed through the battle towards the larger of the remaining Mon Cal Cruisers. It fired as it went, destroying four enemy fighters. The fighter battle was nearly over, with the better trained, better equipped, and better prepared TIE's routing the Federation ships. Soon, the fighters simply stood on guard while the Defenders gathered up all the enemy escape pods. The Givens wouldn't lower their shields even for their own comrades. As the second Mon Cal cruisr burst into flames, Federation reinforcements arrived! Four more large capitol ships, two cruisers and two Victory-class StarDestroyers as well. The ISD's of Pellaeon's command broke off, except for one which continued pummeling the last of the original Star Cruisers, to face the new threat. The Chimaera took the strongest of the newcomers, with the TIE's speeding past the larger ships to engage the enemy fighters. Now, this was a real battle.
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His escape pod floating in space, Wedge Antilles felt a jerk as a tractor beam locked onto his pod. Hoping it was a friendly and not one of the imps, Wedge settled in for the ride as he was dragged along through space.
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"Admiral Pellaeon, Sir, we've captured the enemy commander. You're not going to believe it sir, but it's Wedge Antilles!!!!!!!" An excited voice came over the intercom to Pellaeon as he watched the battle.
"Antilles!?" he said in surprise. "I never would have thought it was him. Put him in high security detention and I'll deal with him later."
"Yes, Sir." The eager young controller replied.
Pellaeon was now very happy about this whole battle. It had been perfect from the get-go. The enemy flagship had been destroyed early, Wedge Antilles had been captured, and the Federation reinforcements jad come to Yagh'dul, where they were trapped and recieving a beating. Already, one of the VSD's was in flames and no enemy ship had shields remaining at over 50%. Pellaeon looked at his status board and saw that only three frigates and thirty-nine fighters had been lost. That was nothing comparerd to the three cruisers, one VSD, fourteen frigates and corvettes, and twenty-four Given ships the defenders had lost. Maybe there was something to the Battle Meditation Tann had mentioned earlier. Or maybe it was that she had known exactly when and where nad how to attack. Her ability to predict this attack ahd been eerily reminiscent of Thrawn. The voice of the comm officer interrupted Pellaeon's thoughts.
"Sir, we are recieving transmissions from all enemy ships and from Yagh'dul. They surrender, Sir."
"Excellent." Pellaeon spoke. "Put me through" The officer complied
"Attention all Given and Federation troops, ships, and citizens. I, Grand Admiral Pellaeon of the Galactic Empire, declare Yagh'dul and everything in it to be once again under the mandate of Imperial law and the protection of Imperial forces. All Federation personel are hereby declared to prisoners of war. All shields are to be dropped and Imperial troops will occupy all fighting ships and strategic land bases. Anyone who resists will die." Yagh'dul had fallen to the empire, and it had only been a five hour battle. Pellaeon settled into the Admirals chair on the bridge to await the report from Admiral Kirshok and Sev'rannce Tann on the real attack. Thyferra
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Earlier in the day, in fact, while the battle over Yagh'dul still raged, Thyferra as wel ahd been visited by Star Destroyers. But they were not the first wave of the empires offensive. That belonged to seven cloaked transportsd and guide ships that had arrived. The guide ships had guided the transports to a smooth landing in a deserted area about 50 kilometers from Zaltin City, Thyferra's capitol. The transports had been cloaked, but not the lines upon lines of battle droids that exited them. All kinds of droids, carried in large land transports nad accompained by STAP's and AAT's. Leading them were several compaines of Imperial army troops, with AT-AT walkers and everything. Several Rendili ground-clearer tanks brushed the jungle away before the mighty army. It moved at an efficient 30 Kilo's per hour. Guarding it in the sky were several squadrons of TIE Phantoms, the deadly, noiseless, new stealth additions to the TIE family. Slowly yet inexorably the invaders crawled toward Zaltin Citry, the Zaltin humans and the Vratix native to the planet were blissfully unaware of the armies creeping accorss the planet's surface.
EEEK-1704 was the droid in charge of the commando team. Disguised as protocal droids, he and fourteen other Stealth Operator droids had just finished their work. A transmission at light-speed on a remote Ultr-violet frequency informed the attacking army that the shields were down. It also told Tann Kirkosh that Thyferra no longer had a working shield.
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Sev'rannce Tann watched the stars elongate inot starlines as the task force jumped. It was larger than the one Pellaeon had, with seven Star Destroyers plus Tann's Shadow Chaser. She had been meditating now for about an hour, her pilot doing all the flying. She could feel the victory immenint at Yagh'dul where Pellaeon had handled the Givens with ease. Now it was time to turn her new talents of Battle Meditation on the oncoming fight for Thyferra. It promised to be an easy battle.
Soon, the starlines became stars and the task force set about blockading the system. Three frigates and the Star Destroyer Right to Rule had detached themselves to deal with the puny Thyferra Defense Force ships that approached. A few old freighters, some Uglies, and an old Escort frigate were no match for the Star Destroyer, Lancer-class frigates, and TIE defenders sweeping toward them. Right to Rule was Kirkosh's flagship, and had one of the best crews in the fleet. This was easily shown as the Imperials won the space battle almost before it began. A message came from the ground troops. They had engaged the enemy!!!
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Zaltin City was in a panic. All of the battalions of the TDF had been sent out against the oncoming armies that were tearing through the jungle. The Thyferrans were makers of Bacta and had only a very few military units. Their best troops consisted of some old N-1 starfighters and Wookie-made Armour Trabsports that they ahd bought long ago. They had a fairly large ground force, however, consisting mainly of ex-Ashern rebels, but armed only with old blaster rifles and some with only Force-pikes and Vibroblades. They didn't stand a chance against the Imperial invaders. Their leader, however, managed to give them some hope. He was a jedi knight named Klinton Caearon. He had been raised on Thyferra and had some home during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. He activated his Aqua-marine lightsaber and led his troops forward. The enemy force began spreading out, Deploying Walkers and AATs in the front with the jungle-killers running for shelter. Soon, great globs of energy shot out from behin the enemy frontline, indicating that they also ahd artillery units with them. Klinton dodged to the side and ducked as the enemy machines opened fire, The few battle-vehicles he ahd returned fire for a little while but were easily destroyed. The transports and everyithng were gone, leaving the Vratix ground troops standing, facing the mighty enemy force, alone. Suddenly, the N-1 Starfighters arrived on the scene!!! They opened fire, destroying three AATs in their first pass and easily outflying clumsy attempts by the AT-ATs to shoot them down. They made tow more passes before some weird flying things that looked like a demented version of the TIE Interceptor, just with more the solar panels peeled back, these were obviously meant to deal with the atmospheric drag of planets. They spewed laserire from the mounted on the cockpit. One of the N-1s managed to spear one with a blast of laserfire. The beam just bounced off and back into the fighter that had fired it. Klinton had never seen anything like it before, but from his studies he thought it might be Quantum Armor.One fighter swung low over the battle field, something happened and blades folded out of the solar panels, the fighter dived even lower, slicing through a large group of human resistors . Klinton gasped in dismay as the fighter went back to a safe height,covered in blood and dirt . When the N-1s were down, the AAT's made way for transports to approach. The transports offloaded rank after rank of droids, each holding a blaster rifle. Some of them had grenade launchers or rapid fire laser cannons as arms. The most fearful of them, however, carried blazing red lightsabers. The Vratix opened fire immdiately, but again, blasters were useless on most of the droids. This army was all made with Quantum Armor!!!!!!!
Klinton waited, deflecting blaster bolts, for the droids to come in range. One of the lightsaber-wielding droids engaged him. He swung low to strike the drod only t have his attack repelled. Soon, it was all Klinton could do to defend himself against the monster. He glanced around to see the Vratix fleein. Firthermore, only a portion o0f the droids remained. The droid army had re-packed all hbut one company of droids and spread out to cover Thyferra. Klinotn's heart sank as he saw the Vratix being slaughtered. He missed a block, and went to join his dead companions, cut down by a lightsaber-wielding battle droid.
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Half an hour later, it was all over. Tann watched as the last remaining obstacle was only spreading out to cover Thyferra. Zaltin City had fallen and the Vratix chieftains had surrendered. Admiral Kirkosh and his fleet stayed in orbit. Tann detached the Shadow Chaser from the force and headed for Mechis III. Time to check on Lyth Aria, who had been left, free to use a whole factory to build whatever she wanted, in peace. Tann could feel that her mind remained content to work on whatever toy she was making next. Tann decided to go to Bastion instead and meet with Pellaeon there. And plan the next step of their campaign.
Dagmar gazed at his control board , his reddish-black eyes, narrowing in concentration . He watched the small fighter in front of him try to escape his tractor beam . Dagmar slipped the helmet framework over his bushy hair, feeling the electrodes interact with his brain and amplifying his Force awareness. He reached out and grasped the floundering fighter, and simply sqeezed and twisted . The fighter was reduced to a few hunks of space junk in under a second, Dagmar looked at his chrono and smiled, he had reduced his killing time by 2.4 seconds . This deserved a drink , he reached into the tiny compartment next to him, and pulled out a flask of ... water . He couldn't drink strong drinks, he had a weak liver . Dagmar reached out for his other project, a Jedi by the name of Rorn Korbchek, a new Jedi who was steadily moving toward the Dark Side with his aggressive tactics . Dagmar had been moving him faster for several days now, and Rorn was almost ready to give .
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Rorn stood in the jungle, trying once again, to use the Force power described in a holocron . The power involved frezzing opponents in mid-air . Rorn stumbled on a technique he thought might do it, even though the Force involved came dangeriously close to the Dark Side . He reached out and spun the web of Force around a small cave-dwelling creature. Instead of freezing, the tiny predator simply disappeared . Rorn scratched his head, puzled at this new development, then he heard a large grunt, in close quarters, behind him . Rorn leaped forward, drawing his lightsabers,glancing behind him to see the danger now so vividly obvious . A large furry creature stood there, long fangs dripping with ooze, and claws still tinted red from its last kill . Rorn gulped and then saw a familiar looking wound. The creature had a missing claw, the wound cauterized from a lightsaber . Rorn gasped in anger, this things last kill had been one of the missing Jedi trainees . He raised a trembling hand and not knowing what he was doing, a blast of lightning shot out and impaled the creature . Rorn followed through with his newly learned teleportation ability, teleporting the creaturs high above the trees and letting it fall . Rorn watched it fall and altered its trajectory slightly, letting it land on a sharp stump, the pointed stump now poking right through the former predators mid-section . " If you ca't take the punishment, then don't do the crime," Rorn snarled at the dead creature, walking up to it and slicing a claw off .
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Dagmar smiled, the Jedi was moving quit fast toward the Dark Side now .He just needed to attack another Jedi, and he would be ready . He had subtly implanted the lightning ability into Rorn's mind and had been rewarded for it not long after .
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Rorn walked through the Temple, looking for Luke . He must tell him of the creature . As he walked, another young Jedi of an insectiod race, ran up to him and grabbed the claw from him and demanded in a clicking," Where did you get this ?" Rorn glared at the tall alien, recognizing him as a bully that preyed on the new candidates . He grabbed it back, hissing," I killed its owner and can do the same to you, if you like?" The tall insect raised its arms, poisonous spines clicking into a offensive postition . Rorn threw the alien back against a wall, with a crushing wave of Force . " Thats what you get, for trying to mess with me ," he said in a dangerous voice .
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Dagmar laughed in his most evil way, the Jedi had turned . He snapped out of his triumphant mood as a light began to flash on his control board . A Imperial banker's transport was coming through this part of space, getting ready for hyperspace . He could use some cash, Dagmar thought, plus he would get to kill ." That settles it, I'm going, Dagmar cried in a insanely manic voice . He grabbed for the weapon controls and his ship began to accelerate for the convoy . His agile living ship zoomed toward, the convoy, all weapons charged and ready .
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Commander Terosine KoLone looked up as one of his aides cried out in alarm . A small ship of a greenish color, was accelerating toward them at an insane clip . KoLone gasped and cried out," Magnify , and open the comlink ." A sinister voice was then heard," You shall all die, no survivors . I may keep a few of you alive for other purposes but you will all die . Surrender now and I will make it painless ." KoLone looked at his frightened bridge crew and said," Release the fighters, and al hands to battle stations ." He sat and took his face in his hands, and thought, Why did I ever agree to steal all of these credits ?"
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Dagmar smiled, So these infidels were going to fight, all the more fun for him . He slipped the helmet back over his black hair , and once again felt the electrodes interact with his brain . He fired a ionic super-missile at a squadron of fighters, and watched the fighters all spin out of control and collide with each other . His sleek ship swooped in and out among the remaining fighters, lasers flashing, and the occasional proton torpedo glowing as it sought after his target . After about five minutes, Dagmar looked at his sheild guage and frowned. These idiots had managed to take down 1.4 percent of his sheilds,he really had to work harder at this .
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Commander KoLone felt sick, that ship had taken out over thirty fighters in under five minutes and now it was docking with his ship . He flicked on a surveilance screen and saw a imposing figure dressed in black step out of the strange ship . Blaster bolts flashed as stormtroopers stepped onto the screen, shooting at the strange man . KoLone gasped as with a motion of his hand, the black dressed man caused two stormtroopers to rise into the air, and then he slammed them back down . A crimson blade ignited out of his right hand, and seconds later, all of the stormtroopers were dead or dying . " Commander KoLone are you all right, sir ?", an aide asked , with no answer . KolOne had long since fainted .
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Dagmar glanced at his wrist chrono, and smiled . 5.2 seconds, he was getting good . He walked along the long halls, pausing occasionly to kill a stormtrooper or a gunner . Dagmar walked into the large bridge area, nodding in appreciation ." Nice digs, ya'll got here , are they for sale ?" The now revived KoLone shook his head in fear . " Well now, thats not good . I'll just have to take them over for free then ." Dagmar said, raising a hand and spewing forth long streams of lightning to each of the men on the bridge .He walked up and sat in the recently vacated commander's chair and sighed in comfortable bliss . Life just doesn't get any better than this, he thought .
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Continuation of my other post, OH YES! before I forget, Ari can become super jedi (which is who she was before Dagmar zapped her I.Q.) because Dagmar who has a good sense of humor thought it would be funny for her to be super jedi at 3:00 P.M. (Corasant time) and super sith at 3:30 P.M. (Corasant time) and then at 4:00 P.M. be regular ole Ari. So yeah and right know (where this section is taking place) it's about 2:30 P.M. (Corasant time)
"Thank you" Eoghan said with a slight bow. “It weren't thart ’ard," Ari answered “Ah jus' ‘ad to conserntat, wherch in't dart esay for men." "I see," Eoghan said smiling at Ari's odd accent," By the way where coming out of hyper space to Yavin 4 and the Jedi temple." "Alrigh' " Ari answered. They landed a couple minutes later Ari and Eoghan walked out of the ship and onto the landing plat form in the bright sunlight. Ari blinked twice before her eye's got adjusted. They walked toward the door. A younger man about 6 ft. tall with black hair, pale skin and very thin opened the door and walked over to greet them "Hello Eoghan, who is this?" He asked. "Ah'm Ari" Ari said. "Nice to meet you Ari, I'm Jacen Solo." Jacen said. "He's my master." Eoghan said. They walked inside the tall building. "Eoghan, Ah'm gettin' tired. Where can Ah sleep?" Ari inquired. "Over this way, I'll take you." Jacen said leading Ari off. Eoghan stared at the two walking away for a moment
than turned. Ari was DEFFINENTALLY the oddest person he had ever met.
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Ari lay down in the tiny room she'd been led to. It had a small cot in corner where she was lying and a small dresser and closet. Ari closed her eyes suddenly Dagmar's picture strayed unbiden into her imagination. Than he disseapered and the blue lady popped in. "You've ruined the Jedi!" she yelled. Ari's eyes snapped open she stood up and walked out of the room to the open halls. She began wondering suddenly she saw something shining in a room she ran in. A crystal. Ari LOVED crystals. She picked it up and began wondering the hall again. She ran into Eoghan "Hi Ari, what's that you have?" He asked. "Ah founded dis ina roim o'er dat why." Ari answered. Eoghan suddenly realized she was holding a memory crystal! "ARI!!!! THAT'S DART HEATHS MEMORY CRYSTAL!!!!" Eoghan's yelled. Jacen walked over, drawn by the noise. "Ari has Master Dart's memory crystal!" Eoghan told his master. "Oh does she?" Jacen said, "Ari, will you please give me the crystal?" "Umm, marbeh... Na, it's moine Ah foundereized it!" Ari said she smiled than laughed. It was hers she had found it! "That's right, you found it Ari now may I please have it?" Jacen's voice was calm. "No." Ari said. "Give me the crystal Ari." Jacen's was trying to hide his annoyance. "NO!" Ari said than she threw it in the air. Jacen flinched as she caught it. "Heeheeeheeh Ah cane catch mah cry'sil!" She threw it again and caught it. She giggled again.
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Saraan had felt something out of place. She rushed through the halls of the Jedi temple. Then she saw it. Master Jacen was sweating and Eoghan was trying to keep himself from laughing at Ari's antics. The girl Ari was holding a crystal. Saraan felt through the force to see what kind of crystal. It was Dart’s memory crystal. She heard clapping and then a crash. Saraan couldn’t believe her eyes! Dart’s memory crystal had just been thrown to the floor. (it’s now about 3:00 PM) Saaran drew her lightsaber only to find a sky blue one at her throat. She put her weapon down, as did Ari.
Ari smiled “Hi Ah’m Ari.” She said.
Saraan felt herself close to tears. Her master’s crystal was gone!!!!
So there Nathan, you post when I tell you to stop, I ruin your plans!
( I am not going to be part of the argument over the crystal, so whatever it is, something reminded Saraan keenly of Dart and that's why she's so upset)
Kyp was furious, absolutely burning mad. They’re doing NOTHING!
Kyp hated above all things when there was an obvious solution and no one would take it!
He stormed down the hallway of the Yavin 4 Jedi academy.
Why can’t they listen to the voice of REASON!! It’s not like we’re using the Dark side!
As he rounded the corner he came upon a distraught Saraan.
He slowed himself, trying (unsuccessfully) to calm his temper.
“Saraan? What’s wrong?” His voice still carried a slight edge.
“I… I hate Sith!” Saraan’s hands were clenched around something in her lap.
Kyp had to agree with Saraan on that score, but he knew he shouldn’t.
“Saraan, hate is from the Dark side.” He said gently, deleting the anger from his voice.
“I don’t CARE!” tears started to slip down her cheeks.
Kyp sat beside her, “Yes you do.” He understood, now, that something had reminded her of Dart.
Kyp could sympathize. He, himself, was still furious over Dart’s death.
“No. No I don’t. They… They killed Master Dart!” Saraan covered her face with her hands and Kyp saw (the crystal pieces/or whatever it is that sets her off) laying in her lap.
Kyp started to speak but Saraan interrupted.
“No. Don’t tell me. I already know that the Masters aren’t doing ANYTHING. Leave me alone.”
Why am I here? What am I doing? How did I escape? Where are my companions? Where is this? Questions floated through his mind as a lone X-wing drifted towards Coruscant. It was battle-scarred and horribly damaged. One S-foil was gone. It had no shields. No Engines. Almost no power. The Hyperdrive was finished. It had no Inertial Compansators. Nothing. Life-support was the only system left, that and the now-useless hyperdrive. The falling fighter continued drifting towards Coruscant as more questions formed in the mind of its semi-conscious pilot
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"Admiral Kre'fey, Sir. We have a damaged X-wing on our scopes. There are lifesigns, and sir, it has the rogues crest on it." The voice of an obviously startled young ensign rang across the bridge of the Ralroost. Admiral Traest Kre'fey came over to see what its owner saw.
"Yes, it does appear to be that. Tractor beams, pull him in, have a medical team standing by in case the pilot needs assistance. See if the nosecam or the sensor data is available. As soon as you have him, land at the palace spaceport. I don't want to be late to my own promotion!!" The Bothan Assault Frigate's crew worked quickly and effectively, gathering up the X-wing and taking its delirious pilot to sickbay. Soon, they would know what had happened, but for now, they had a ceremony to attend.
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Leia Organa Solo walked through the corridors of the imperial palace, wondering again at the circumstance that had brought about her return to government. SHe had been done. Done with politics. Retired. Through. Then Luke had asked her to represent Yavin 4. She remembered the last words of that conversation vividly
"We need you, Leia. I know you want nothing more with politics, but we need you. No one else has your gift for diplomacy, and we need another sympathetic councilor. This Sith problem is becoming a crisis, one that the Federation can't ignore. They may say it's a jedi thing but if they ignore it, it will become everyone's problem, almost as bad as the Yuuzhan Vong, maybe worse."
So now she was here, going to her first meeting as a councilor again. It hadn’t been hard to win election to the council. What had made it sweet, was that Fryor Rodan, the most anti-jedi of all, had been the one bumped. Maybe now they could begin to fix the mess that they were in. Maybe. But first, the ceremony. She approved of all the decisions, Admiral Novv had been a valuable officer, but Traest Kre’fey and Garm Bel Iblis were the heroes of the war, especially Kre’fey. Wedge Antilles had flatly refused any promotions, and she guessed him taking his task force and rogue squadron to Yagh’dul on an inspection of its defenses was an excuse miss the ceremony. The one thing that had surprised her was Dif Scaur stepping down and Belinda Kelindi replacing him as director of NRI, but nothing should surprise her these days.
The ceremony was brief and fast, then Cal Omas hurried everyone into the council chamber.
"We have an emergency brewing out in the Thyferran Sector. We have unconfirmed reports that Imperial troops and forces have captured Thyferra, and we cannot reach Wedge Antilles force. We don’t know what has happened, but we have someone who might. Admiral Kre’fey, on his entry into Coruscant, picked up a badly damaged X-wing. On examination, it seems that the pilot of that X-wing is Gavin Darklighter, commander of Rogue Squadron. Now, I turn the floor over to Admiral Traest Kre’fey, commander of all the Federation Navy." He said
"Thank you, Chief of State Cal Omas." The Bothan spoke. "We have examined Colonel Darklighter’s sensor data and have determined that Wedge Antilles’ task force was in the Yagh’dul system when an imperial task force attacked. It appears that thirty-nine capitol ships, including six Imperial-II class star destroyers. They boasted nearly twenty wings of TIE fighters. Wedge Antilles had around eighteen ships to oppose the first rush with eight wings of various starfighters. We believe that the Chimaera, Grand Admiral Pellaeon’s flagship was present. We see that sixteen more ships arrived at Yagh’dul in the middle of the battle. We don’t know how the battle went because at that point the X-wing made a jump into hyperspace. It appears to have had a jump pre-programmed as part of a navigation exercise. The hyperdrive was accidentally activated when the fighter lost power and Col. Darklighter was knocked unconscious by the jolt of the lower port S-foil being destroyed.
"But how did he escape the interdictor cruisers?" Pwoe, the antagonistic Quarren spoke.
"His fighter had certain modifications that allowed it to escape the small hyperspace-block of the interdictors. It is a top-secret project, so I don’t want any of it leaving this room." Kre’fey spoke to the nine councilors, it was a high-security meeting and no aides were present.
"And what exactly were these modifications?" Pwoe persisted.
"I told you, they are top-secret. I can’t say any more!" Kre’fey retorted to the troublesome Quarren.
"More importantly," Leia spoke, "What are we going to do about the attack and Yagh’dul?"
"We are planning to send an unmanned drone to the system to investigate." Kre’fey answered, "When we see what happened, we will be able to make a decision on what will be done. We are doing the same at Thyferra. Soon, we will know what happened."
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Back on Yavin 4, Saaran Loees was in her room, still crying softly, and clutching the shattered pieces of her master’s memory crystal. She had tried to get the doctors on Coruscant to understand. If they just put his body back together, she could have saved him, made him alive again. But no, they had to know best. They knew that no crystals were going to make anyone come back to life, besides, it was too much work to get his body into a state where life was even plausible, so badly had the Sith destroyed his insides.
Hey, maybe there is some hope she thought For me, that is, I can get revenge on that Sith who killed him. I know, I'll kidnap her and take her away and make her tell me what happened. I'll get her. But wait, I can't just take her inot the jungle, I'll need a ship. And someone to help She was puzzled there Who would help me? she thought. Wait, I know. Kyp Durron. He could help me!
Saaran leapt out of her bed, placing the scattering shards of crystal everywhere. She ran across the temple to where Kyp Durron's presence was. She saw him and Jarlath talking, mainly about how annoying it was to Kyp that the masters refused to do anything. She walked up.
"Umm, excuse me, Master Durron?" She spoke tentatively.
"Yes Saaran, what is it." Kyp replied.
"Well, uhh, you know the masters won't do anything with the Sith, I was thinking, why don't we take her and get the information out of her the old-fashioned way?"
"Saaran!!!" Kyp exclaimed, "what ever makes you think of doing such a thing? Actually, I was thinking the same thing myself. Jarlath and I were talking about it. If you want to join us, you may."
"We have everything all set." Jarlath chimed in. "We will disguise as Sith and kidnap her from the prisons. Then we will all go and take her on a freighter we have hidden. We can go to some remote spot in space and juist keep moving around. Eventually, she will crack."
"We will need some, er, tort--, I mean, equipment useful for forcing people to tell the truth." Saaran spoke again
"Not so far, we will use the force first, then other mean." Kyp spoke sternly. We will be able to use other things only if the force doesn'y work."
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The prison guards stood at attention, backs straight, as they kept watch over the Sith captive. One of them thought he saw a shadow moving. Suddenly, three figures appeared, as if from nowhere, holding blazing red lightsabers.
"Move yourselves away so we can release our companion." One of them commanded. The guards blasters suddenly fell apart, and they were thrown aside. One of the Sith walked forward and cut through the door. In the cell, Mwynin lay, semi-visible, and sleeping. Jarlath threw a dart at her that struck her, and without a cry her natural sleep became unconsciousness. Saaran chained her, tighter than necessary, and all of them picked her up. Going to a pre=set place, they entered a freighter, chaining Mwynin to the wall of a back cell, where the gravity fields weren't quite right. They left her hanging , chained and unconscious, and then lifted off. Using repulsorlifts until they reached space, where they set off out into the black ness of the void.
Rorn swung his lightsaber, feeling the anger flow through him . Ric had been coaching him for three days now, and even he was impressed by Rorn's progress .As a part of his training, Rorn had killed several large pit-fighting beasts , by leaping into a large arena and destroying them without the use of his lightsaber . He had even begun construction on a new lightsaber, a double-bladed lightsaber staff, as vicious in its looks as it was deadly . Ric had been amazed by Rorn's supreme fighting abilities and had even learned a few tricks from him .
Darth Slintronius was still unconcsious, healing from his encounter with Tann , Ric had almost begun to worry about him, but had decided, if Slintronius died, BIG DEAL . He could live without him . Ric could become a warlord or something out on the outer rim .His brilliant strategic mind, while not recognized by Slintronius, would easily be able to take on the remaining shards of the Empire .Ric had destroyed an entire solar system before , ripped it apart using the Force .The super-weapon used to increase Ric's power had been destroyed, but Ric remembered how to create one .
" Ric, are you still fighting or not ? " Ric looked up to see Rorn standing on the other side of the room ." Uh, Wait a few minutes . I'm going to go send a flunkie on a errand," Ric said referring to one of the few soldiers, he had summoned to this planet to help defend the wounded Slintronius .
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Sith stormtrooper 84Z34X9 or STcomm walked slowly down the expressway, his hightech helmet scanning for the quarry, his Sith overlord had ordered him to bring . At his belt swung a lightsaber, but he prefferred to use the two automatic blaster pistols he carried everywhere he went . He slipped the safeties off, he didn't llike this neighborhood . STcomm's eyes slid over his visual readouts and technical data .Both pistols power levels read as full, and his lightsaber was full also . His eyes traveled over to his ammo readouts , both wrist rocket launchers full, flame projector full , dart wristlets full, four thermite grenades . STcomm smiled inside his helmet, thinking about the maker of his heavily armed, combat suit .He had promised 20,000,000 credits and after delivery of his armor, he had shot the alien . Stcomm glanced to the side, watching a group of thugs that seemed to be eying his armor and appraising how much they could sell it for . One goon started walking toward him, obviously the spokesman of the group ." All right now punk, you got two choices . Take off the armor now and give it to us or we kill you and take the armor ." the young thug said, pointing a thumb back over his shoulder at his gang of toughs, who were pulling out blasters and vibroblades .STcomm shook his head," No you forgot something." " What ?" the street hustler challenged ." Choice three, I kill YOU ." BLAM, BLAM, BLAM !The punk seemed to fly backward, the hole in his chest still smoking from the three rounds of blaster fire shot into it . The rest of the gang began to fire, their blast reflecting harmlessly off STcomm's personal force shield . He raised a pistol and fired one long burst, strafing across the group . The thugs watched helplessly as their entire front line collapsed and began to fire with renewed vigor . ST comm switched off his force field, knowing his armor could take anything these thugs could dish out and leaped into the center of the group . His blasters seemed to fire with a mind of their own, automatic laser fire pouring out and cutting right through the gang members . The blasters grew hot in STcomm's hands, as they spoke their song of death to the panicking toughs . ST comm raised his hands and felt his rocket-pack come to life on his back, lifting him out of the crowd of dead and dying thugs . Just to make sure that he had killed them all, STcomm dropped one of his powerful thermite grenades back to the street , killing anyone in a hundred foot radius . He smiled , that had been a great warmup .
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Fifteen minutes later, STcomms private fighter lifted out of the spaceport and blasted off toward Yavin 4 .His Sith overlord had ordered him to take command of the stormtrooper stationed there, because Bane'Ous the former commander, had been killed by the Jedi .
STcomm stepped out of his fighter, viewing the motley assortment of stormtroopers standing before him ." This is the garrison, he promised me ?" he thundered through his helmet's amphlification module ," Who is in charge here?"A single trooper stepped forward cautiously," We have been here for days. We have managed to kill several Jedi . " ST comm looked down at him fiercely," Your're in charge ?" he asked in a low menacing voice ." Ye..." the trooper collapsed ,hand groping helplessly at the red-tinged hole in his armor breastplate." That's what I give to anybody who doesn't follow orders or does a lousy job of following orders ." he shouted as his helmet turned to view each trooper ." Got it ?" " Sir, yes sir ." the stormtroopers cried out in fear and respect .
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Don limped through the woods . He desperately needed a place to think . Luke had told him of Rorn's seeming fall to the Dark Side . It didn't seem right, and now Saraan was missing so he couldn't talk to her about it . It seemed all of his friends were abandoning him . A sharp cracking noise pierced the silence, snapping Don out of his reverie . He stretched out in the Force searching for the source of the sound . BLAM, Don collapsed as the blue ringed stun blast struck him from behind .
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STcomm looked up from his tactical offense holo, and waved the projection droid away .Stormtroopers were bringing someone into camp , a Jedi from the looks of him . STcomm smiled inside his helmet . Master Gronard would like having another Jedi to practice on . He felt something at his belt twitch and he looked down,puzzled .Suddenly his lightsaber lifted off and flew straight as a arrow toward the now outstretched hand of the Jedi .
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Don flicked the stolen lightsaber on and directed the crimson blade through the chest of one of the stormtroopers holding him .As the stormtrooper fell, Don Force-pushed the other stormtrooper into a hail of blaster fire coming from a trio of troopers .The Sith lightsabe fell into his hand and he began to move like a viper, in and out of the paths of shrieking lasers, as he deflected . A large figure in armor reminescent of Boba Fett dropped in front of him and spun, automatic blasters firing a cloud of stunbolts .Don fell, his momentary resistance crushed .
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STcomm bent and scooped up his lightsaber, this Jedi would be a good challenge for Gronard, after all . He waved to some stormtroopers to put the fallen Jedi aboard his ship .STcomm put a hand to his belt, and felt the minature control unit there .His fingers roamed over the unit, stopping on a red button, and pressing . A loud clanking and clattering was heard inside his ship, and down the ramp, rolled a dozen wheels or droids . Hissing hyroponics started to work as the wheels unfolded to reveal droidekas . Large ,deadly, battle droids, modified to travel through Yavin 4's jungles . STcomm adjusted their controls to only respond orders given by him, and sent them on a rampage toward the Jedi Temple .
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Luke felt the alarm of small creatures, as something pushed its way toward the Temple .Rising from his meditation mat, Luke summoned his best pilots to fly their speeders out and see what was going on .
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Rorn sat on a hard metal floor , finishing the construction of his new lightsaber .
He felt Luke's alarm on Yavin 4 and wondered what was going on . He may not be a Jedi, but he had Jedi friends, Rorn thought . He rose and slipped the new lightsaber onto his belt, he needed to talk to Ric . He walked into a medical bay, seeing Ric standing next to a bacta tank, in which floated ... Slintronius .He snarled as his lightsaber flew into his hand," What is he doing here ?" Ric pulled out his own weapon and said," Come on, don't tell me you didn't know he was my master ." Rorn raised his cybertronic hand and said " He did THIS to me .I should kill him just for that, but he cut off my other arm too . That one was cloned, but this , this I kept to rip his throat out with . " Ric stood in front of the bacta tank and said" I may not like him, but he is still my master ."Rorn paused in his furious advance, stared at Ric and then turned and left . A few minutes later, Ric heard the roar of Rorn's blade-craft as it swooped over the building .
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Don woke to see ... ysalimari across the room and behind bars.He stood and walked around his small cell," Well they couldhave at least put in a vid-station ." he muttered , kicking the wall, and then grabbing his foot ." Ow, what are these things made of . Rock ? " He felt the wall, it appeared to be made of some sort of brittle stone with gray streaks running through it ." Its cortosis ore. The one material that a lightsaber can not cut through ." Don looked behind him to see the Boba Fett wannabe standing there inside the cell ." You will be taken to the planet of Byss , where you will die . Goodbye ." Don stared as the armored Imperial walked out of the room, and switched on some sort of forcefield," Yeah, well you ain't so tough . Why don't you face me like a man ." Don screamed at the retreating figure .
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STcomm stopped, hearing the Jedi's words . His fingers slid lightly over the hilt of his blaster . It would be so easy just to kill him now, he thought . He turned slowly, raising the large bore blaster to chest level .He could feel the Jedi's attempt at pushing away his fear, even without the Force .
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Don swallowed hard,watching the blaster raise to point at his chest. Don knew he couldn't dodge it without the Force . As if in slow motion Don watched a blue blast appear moving toward him, he felt it strike him with a crackling sizzle and a flash of pain .
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STcomm watched the Jedi fall to the ground once again, and turned to walk back out of the shuttle . This Jedi had an appointment with Ric Gronard .
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Dagmar cocked his head slightly, No, that position was not right ." Lift your right arm a little higher, and hold ." He said as he pushed a lever, dropping two stormtroopers into a carbon-freezing unit .This is so much fun , he thought . Dagmar was trying to make game pieces out of captured Imperials for a game called " Fassort " ( like chess ) . So far, he had almost all of them, but he needed a pair of particularly big people for the last two . It was so hard getting these dim-witted idiots to match each other, he thought, But then, one must suffer for his art . He flicked the lever again, pulling the stormtroopers out of the CF unit . Now, for the tricky part . Dagmar walked up to one of the carbonite slabs, and drew his lightsaber . Activating it, he began to carve the extra carbonite away from the stormtrooper ." Ah, there we have it," he said finally, stepping away from the two stormtroopers . " A perfect set. Sometimes I really do amuse myself." He then noticed a tiny chip in one arm of one of the stormtroopers," Ah no, now I have to start all over again ."
Two gleaming speeders flashed through the jungle . Inside the formost speeder, black-leather clad hands flew over the controls ." JediScout speeder 2, this is scout speeder 1 . Do you have sight of the target yet ?" In the rear speeder, loaded down with sensor equipment, a helmeted figure answered," No, I don't have anything on the screens, just like I didn't have anything the last nine times, you asked ." The pilot in the lead speeder smiled," Just trying to keep you on your toes ." He winced as a flood of uncomplimentary language came pouring through his earpiece, and then " Ohmi... , what's that ." The lead pilot looked back just in time to see the speeder explode .He pulled back on his steering yoke, feeling the speeder swing around toward the flaming wreck . As he sped back toward his friends speeder, he saw at the edge of the jungle, a tall skeletal droid of some sort." Academy, come in academy, speeder 2 has been destroyed by dro.... AAGGGHHH !"
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Luke leaped to the top of the stairs and yelled, " We got company . All knights take your're padawans and make a defensive barrier around the temple .All teachers, take your students and hide inside the largest hangar bay ."He dropped to the ground drawing his lightsaber, and shouted," All speeder bike pilots, get your ride and come with me ." Luke jumped and straddled a swoop, and waving his lightsaber, flew to the top of the ziggurat," Mara, activate the security system ."The Jedi watched in awe,as large laser turrets folded up out of the ground ." These turrets should keep them back for a little while, just stay behind them if your not wearing a recognition badge ." Luke screamed as he passed out the electronic badges .
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STcomm worked his jetpack easily through the trees, thinking the Jedi wouldn't have much chance against the droids . He had had these droids specially modified with cortosis ore armor , and heavy repeating blasters , and a couple of other customizations . His droids had never lost a fight before , even to Jedi .STcomm had the utmost confidence in his droids .
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Luke flexed his arms and cranked his neck, getting ready for any sort of combat ,but he was not ready for what he saw come out of the jungle . Twelve large wheels rolled out of the trees and unfolded, revealing large droideka with very big guns ." I thought we outlawed that sort of droid, " he muttered .BLAM,BLAM,BlAM, the first droid opened up with a few shots from its laser cannons.Immediatley, the large laser turrets targeted the droid and fired, while at the same instant, the droid activated a shield .Luke watched in horror as the laser beam bounced off the shield and swept back toward the temple .A large hunk of stone fell from the temple and toward the ground . With a motion of his hand, Luke sent it into one of the droids, smashing it .At once, laser fire began to flash all over the clearing , bouncing off the droids shields . " Stop the blasters until the shields are gone ," Luke shouted into his comlink .
A large log flew out of the trees and swiped low, smashing two droids and causing the shield of another to collapse . Luke dropped off his speeder and ran forward , slicing into the under-carraige of the droid . He watched in amazement as his lightsaber's green blade sputtered and disappeared . That silver and black streaked armor looked familiar. " Don't attack with your lightsabers, the droids have cortosis armor .Luke flicked his weapon back on and dodging a swung blaster from the droid, cut through some revealed cables .The droid shivered and froze, as its primary control link was severed .Luke grinned slightly as he went to engage the next droid .
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ST comm gasped as four of his droids were destroyed by the Jedi, and it looked like the others would soon go that way as well . He fired a few bursts at the battling Jedi, causing three to fall, writhing in pain . A Jedi with a yellow blade turned to look into the jungle and then leaped impossibly over a hundred feet, and landed right in front of STcomm . " I challenge you to a real duel, Sith." the Jedi said, spitting the last word out as if it was a insect accidentally flown into his mouth .STcomm holstered his blasters, and pulled out his hated lightsaber .The crimson blade activated and he started to walk and then run toward the Jedi , who did the same .STcomm's eyes narrowed inside his helmet . He had one more good trick , STcomm's lightsaber lashed out and locked with the Jedi's weapon. The duel quickly became one of strength as each tried to bring his lightsaber down on the other.Blam, the Jedi crumpled while STcomm put his lightsaber back in his belt and reloaded the hidden blaster weapon in his breastplate ." Loser ."he said nastily, as he kicked the fallen Jedi's body .
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Luke turned his lightsaber off, and stood there, gasping for breath .After a padawan discovered how to deactivate the droid's shields, they had turned the turrets back on-line, and had destroyed the enemies in minutes .He turned as a shout came from the jungle," Master Skywalker. Someone has killed Hetori Eranaot ."" Bring the body in and we'll seew hat happened ." Luke said as he sat down on a fallen droid and put his head in his hands . I want go to bed, he thought
Don felt the ship come out of hyperspace and then the gravity, in his cell seemed to fluctuate and then disappear .He floated upward and twisted as a small noise came across his cell . A Imperial pilot stood there and pointed a blaster at him , pulling the trigger .Don flinched as the stun blast hit him, and went limp .
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Rorn sat inside his bladecraft, in orbit around Byss , thinking about his current predicament . He didn't think he could go back to Yavin 4, not after the way he had stormed out of there .And he couldn't go back and face Ric, not while Slintronius was there . Then he felt pain, Don's pain ! Rorn reached out, feeling for Don and found him, in a fighting arena with Ric.
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Don felt himself being dragged, first over rough duracrete and then through sand .THUMP, he rolled over as the two stormtroopers dropped him to the ground .He felt the side-effects of the slight stun blast wear away as he regained his use of the Force after being taken away from the ysalamiri . Don looked up into a fearsome visage, trying not to recoil, he sat up, staring into the gray-skinned , horned, red-eyed face . He gasped as the alien dropped a lightsaber next to his hand, and said," Pick it up and fight ."
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Ric watched the Jedi shake his long blond hair out of his eyes and reach for the Jedi weapon . A purple blade snapped out, as the Jedi rose to his feet on quivering legs . Ric slid his own weapon out of his belt and activated the crimson blade . He had modified the Jedi weapon to have a red blade, and he had customized the hilt , slightly .He still prefered his master's weapon, but that saber had been taken by Sev'Rannce Tann .
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Rorn gunned his engines, racin time to get to the arena, before Don was killed by the sadistic Ric .He slipped his new lightsaber onto his belt, as his blade-craft swooped low toward the ground .
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Ric swung his lightsaber at the blonde-haired Jedi and frowned as he blocked it .He began to move faster, beginning to smile as each of his blows were barely blocked .His lightsaber snaked out and nicked the edge of the Jedi's shirt before his weapon was deflected away .Ric blocked a feeble blow and kicked out, knocking the Jedi flat on the ground .
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Rorn's blade-craft swung low over Ric's fighting arena, and Rons flipped out after setting the fighter to go land somewhere . His lightsaber flew to his hand as he fell and dual blue blades ignited .
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Don lay on the hard-packed sand and watched the red blade move in slow-motion toward his face, then lookin up , he saw blue blades ignite and block the falling sith weapon .Don gasped as he recognized Rorn, holding back the red lightsaber with all of his might .
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Rorn strained to hold back Ric's weapon, knowing a single slip would result in Don's death . He gazed into Ric's red eyes, and Ric stared into Rorn's yellow eyes ." I thought you were leaving," Ric finally managed ." I was going to, but I couldn't let you kill my best friend ." Rorn snapped back . Don looked up from the ground with a flash of disbelief on his face, and then loyalty . Rorn shoved Ric back as Don staggered to his feet ." If your going to fight him, then I am by your side ." Rorn nodded at him, and turned back to Ric," So , will you fight both of us or will you just surrender?" Ric snarled and said," I will fight to the death, but against you two that won't be necassary ."
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A cloaked and hooded figure stood on a rooftop not far from the arena ,Maybe it was time to reveal himself, he thought . The wind whistled by as he dropped from the rooftop and began the short walk toward the arena .
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Rorn blocked a furious blow, Ric was using all of his anger and the Dark Side to give him strength .Don swung into a blow, he was running on reserves only, he didn't have enough strength to fight for long . Rorn kicked Ric in the jaw and swung his lightsaber in a follow up blow . Ric flipped backward after being kicked and diverted Rorn's lightsaber with a twist of his own weapon . Don sliced upward , but his attack was repulsed and he fell, simply to tired to fight .
Rorn saw this and Force-pushed Ric back away from his friend . Ric fell and leaped back up, roaring in anger .He snapped his hand out and lightning poured toward Rorn .Rorn stuck out his hand and caught the lightning, wincing as he absorbed the power and shot it back, by throwing a large stone at Ric . Ric leaped to the side, and reaching into his belt, threw a spinning, bladed disk that cut through the air toward Rorn . Rorn lashed out with his saber-staff and sliced the shuriken in half ,easily.Ric charged, roaring in a alien language and attacked with a flurry of blows . Rorn blocked his first few slashes and then , one got through . Rorn collapsed , the burned skin on his right leg practically screaming in pain . Ric sttod above him, and pulled Rorn's old lightsabers off of Ror'ns belt ." I hope you didn't want to keep these," he smirked, cutting throught the hilts and throwing them out of the arena . Rorn clenched his fists in anger," You will pay for that ." he threatened . Ric laughed evilly," How, are you going to hop over here and fight on one foot ?" " No, he won't have to ." Ric turned to face this new voice and saw what appeared to be a old man wearing a cloak and hood . " I'll cut your heart out and display it for all to see ." Ric said in a low, menacing voice . "Maybe if you can get to it," the person said as a purple blade ignited and the hood fell off, and the voice changed . A young Zabrak woman stood there," Dorna ?" Rorn gasped ." "And Vorn," another voice said as a beggar straightened up and ignited a yellow blade." And Jhon," a gravelly voice said, as the heavily armed bounty hunter stepped out from behind a stone pillar . " And Fallo," a loud speaker thundered as the freedome fighter's blue starfighter hovered over the arena with all weapons leveled at Ric . "And Wik, " the former bounty hunter shouted as he and twelve battle droids stepped into the aren and aimed blaster rifles at Ric . " I think you are outnumbered ." Rorn said as he tried to stand . Ric stared at all of the weapons around him, and then he shimmered and disappeared . Rorn knew what Ric was doing , but decided to let him go this time .
Near Bastion, the Shadow Chaser emerged from hyperspace, landing in the VIP landing bay. Sev'rannce Tann walked out and towards the interrogation rooms. The Rebel General Antilles was going to be spoken with after days of isolation, with no food and no little sleep.
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On the planet of Thyferra, a body hit the ground. Another Vratix lay, mortally wounded. As the life left his body, it seemed that something more profound than na death had happened. Something had happened. The last resistant Vratix was dying. An old era was over, Thyferra entering a new stage, Now, the only living Vratix had been bent to the domination of the Empire. The old spirit of the Ashern was dead. No more would Vratix stand against humans. They lived for one purpose: to serve the Galactic Empire!!!!
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Battle droid commander EEK-6790 marched at the head of his platoon into Zaltin City. He was to report there to Admiral Kirkosh, the conqueror and provincial governor of Thyferra. WHen enough worlds in the sector fell, a moff would be sent to rule this area. That day would come soon, already, warriors and weapons rolled off the assembly lines at Mechis III, Bilbringi, and Yaga Minor. EEEk knew nothing of the battle plans and of the great events that were coming. All he knew was that he was to report tot he spaceport, where he would be loaded up and taken off on another campaign. The massive transport was awaiting as the mighty droid armies of the empire poured into. Already, 112,000 of the 400,000 troops that had been deployed in the battle had left. They were regrouping near Bastion in preperation of the next attack, when Pellaeon and Tann decided what was the most important target. The transport lifted off into hyperspace, heading for Bastion. War was coming, and soon, the whole galaxy would be involved in a struggle fiercer than anything it had seen before, fiercer even than the dreaded Yuuzhan Vong.
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Wedge Antilles sat in the Imperial detention cell, high security of course. That meant that no one would ever see or hear from him again unless he cooperated, which he wouldn't. No, not even a bit. He would say nothing to those imps, not even if they killed him, which was a distinct possibility. He hoped it would be a nice, quiet affair, but Pellaeon was smarter than that. Wedge knew that he would probably be tried and executed publicly as a slap in the face to the Federation well, if you'd been at the ceremony, possibly in it, instead of an a defense tour, you wouldn't be in this mess part of him thought. No, you did the right thing, you did your duty, and this was jsut a misfortune the other part said. Not true, it's all your fault the critical side was getting annoying now you were beat. Plain and simple. Beat. That Imperial relic kicked your tail up one side of a fence and down the other. He outsmarted, outstrategized you, and outfought you. He is just better, admit it!!! As always, the optmist and the part that wanted to blame someone alse had an answer Not true, you just had a bad day. You could beat that imp, he just got the draw on you. He had more ships and better crews and caught you unprepared. The council had said the Bilbringi attack rumors were just that. Rumors. The Empire was down and out, nothing it would do to hurt us, they had said. Yeah, sure. They had been dead wrong. And now they stuck you in a mess. It's their fault. footsteps interrupted Wedge's thoughts. Two stormtroopers approached, with stun cuffs. They shackled Wedge and then eld him through a dozen twists and turns. Finally, they reached their destination, a small room with a single chair. in that chair, sat a very old man. Dressed in the immaculate white of an Imperial Grand Admiral, with graying hair, sat Grand Admiral Pellaeon, the Admiral who had defeated the finest tactician of the Federation in one swift, decisive, disasterous battle. At his side was a blue-skinned woman with glowing red eyes. She wore the long robes of a jedi, but instead of brown, they were coal black. An aura of power was around her. No one had ever had this air of command about them, at least not that Wedge could remember. Admiral Pellaeon spoke in that fine Imperial accent
"So, Wedge Antilles, you have dropped in to visit us at last. I has been six years since we last meet."
"Yes, and i much prefered those circumstances." Wedge replied
"Ahh yes, times do change. But, down to business. You have information. We need information. Perhaps we can work something out?" Pellaeon began the interrogation.
"Well, what's in it for me?" Wedge tried to keep the tone light, though he knew he was just delaying the inevitable. This time the Chiss woman spoke
"Let me put it this way. You cooperate with us and stay alive or I make you tell everything too us and then we kill you. Your choice."
"Well, if you put it that way, I might know something." Wedge spoke nervously.
"Out with it!!!!!" She commanded
'Well, Cal Omas likes his Bantha Steaks medium, and councillor Triebakk won't eat anything from off of Kashyyk, and Gaarm Bel Iblis likes his----"
"Enough nonesense. Silence yourself!!!!" She spoke angrily. Wedge had a smart remark to answer, but she had silenced him already, forcing his mouth closed with the dark side. She spoke to Pellaeon.
"Enough of this foolery Admiral, we should just get the information from him. It would be easy enough. Time is of the essence."
"Well, I suppose. Antilles. This is your last chance. Give us an exact breakdown of the Federation chain of command, exactly who commands what ships where, and anything else we ask, or I will allow her to interrogate you her way. And believe me, it's not pleasant." Pellaeon's voice came out
Wedge felt himself able to speak again. "Admiral Pellaeon," his voice was deadly cold, "If you do not release me and return all Federation worlds to free status, you will be killed. Even if you do kill me, your evil will never triumph. I will say nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Wedge felt his head dizzying as he spoke these courageous words. Stars filled his vision and he collapsed to the ground.
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When the impudent rebel fell, Sev'rannce Tann released her force-choke on him.
She picked up his limp body like a twig and placed it on a nearby table. A droid entered the room and she gave it orders
"Listen carefully and compy down whatever I say. This is vitally important information. Everything is to sent immediately to Imperial records an dbacked up in several places."
She put a hand on Wedge's head and began falling into a meditation trance. She was removing every bit of information from his mind and saying it out loud. Pellaeon listened attentively as the droid recorded every word. After six hours she was done, and the Galactic Empire was that much stronger. Wedge Antilles slept on in unconsciousness, never supposing that all he knew was now in the hands of the enemy.
I'm not quite sure what happens to Wedge after this. I think he the Empire would probably execute him publicly to deal a blow to Federation morale, but just having him dissappear would also work. What do you all think?
Rorn's rented freighter dropped out of hyperspace above Yavin 4, his blade-craft coupled to a airlock , followed by a small fleet of fighters . Two N-1 starfighters, a blue fighter of unknown design, and two heavily armed mercenary ships .
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Rorn looked behind his pilot's seat at Don, who reclined in a med-chair ." Will you quit checking on me every five seconds. I'm fine . Just exhausted ."Don grumbled . Rorn laughed," Getting captured by Sith, certainly didn't help your attitude toward life . Rorn felt astonishingly free, the Dark Side no longer had a hold on him . On the way back to Yavin 4, they had passed by a phenomonal asteroid , constructed of crystals by the Jedi of millenia ago and enfused with the Force . The massice artifact had healed Rorn's mind of dark impulses and he felt totally free and happy .
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Luke felt the tiny convoy approach and then he felt Rorn's healed mind and Force-presence .Smiling, he knew that Rorn had made a critical decision about the Force .He also felt some sadness over the loss of some prized possession that Rorn had treasured, but also a sense of replacement .
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STcomm looked at his helmet's sensor screens, linked to the main sensor units . A few ships were coming in, toward the Jedi Academy .Reinforcments, he thought bitterly . They would have to launch a frontal assault soon, before the Jedi got too strong .
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Rorn set the freighter down gently on the permacrete , and saw Luke standing off to the side, the same way he had been, when Rorn had first come here . Rorn opened the starboard hatches and walked out there, noticing wryly,the snoring Don . " Master Luke , I am so sorry.." he began, before Luke cut him off, saying " That's all right, Rorn. I have, myself, nearly sunk to the dark side . Its not so much your fault as it is mine.. I should have taught you how to stay away from the Dark Side ."
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Don woke from his healing trance and saw Rorn sitting next to his bed," Wow, I was tired, and now I'm hungry ." Rorn snapped out of his thought as Don spoke ," Huh, oh your awake . Nice to see your alive, you've been sleeping for three days ."he said, a sheepish smile on his face . Don looked under his blankets and gritted his teeth," Uh , you get out of here while I get some clothes on, and then we'll go eat . Rorn picked up a pair of sun-visors ( sun glasses ) that were sitting next to him, put them on and walked out . Don slipped into somw clothes and walked out to find Rorn talking to one of the many other students ." So, how you doing," he asked in a low voice, not knowing Don was standing there, listening . " I'd be doing a lot better if you'd leave me alone," the girl returned . Rorn's red and black face, went even redder as the girl walked off, he spun as he heard Don laughing ." Smooth, real smooth ." Don managed to choke out as he leaned on the wall, laughing . Rorn's face was stormy for a couple seconds , and then he grabbed Don's arm and started to walk toward the dining hall. As they walked, he punched the still laughing Don, once in the side .
Slintronius had finally awoke from his healing trance, only to find himself at a fraction of his former power . He summoned all of his remaining Sith Elite, save one . STcomm was still monitoring the situation on Yavin 4 . A trio of beingsstood before him, evil radiating off of them . " I am pleased that you were all able to make it here in such a short amount of time . " he said, his voice dripping with malice and authority . " A short lizard-like humanoid, stepped forward, its natural claws clicking on the metal tiles and its cybernetic leg clanking and clicking ." You arre ourr masterr, oh Slintrronius . It is ourr honorr to serrve you. " he hissed . A droid walked foward," I agree, you are our master so we should obey you ." it said in its metallic voice . " Well, I don't agree . He is my master . I am just a servant, so why I should obey you is clear, but I don't have to like it and it is not my honor to serve you ." a large human draped in a long black cloak said bitterly . " Yes, you obey me . Now I have a job for you two, and you," he said, pointing to the droid," Shall come with me, after they leave ."
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Don walked quietly into the large trophy room housed inside the temple . Here, Luke kept old lightsabers, Jedi artifacts, and trophies of battle . One of these battle trophies was a lightsaber , formerly belonging to Palpatine . Another had belonged to Vader . Several were relics, so old, that they wouldn't activate anymore, simply because they were based on a different principle than modern lightsabers . The lightsabers of many long-dead Jedi rested in this room, and while Luke permitted students to study them and copy the building style, no-one was allowed to take certain lightsabers into combat .Lightsabers that were more than just constructed using the Dark Side, the lightsabers were fueled by the Dark Side . The lightsabers were so evil, they were almost sentient . Luke would not even let someone touch them, with the Force or otherwise . Don paused before one of these ancient weapons and stared at its deadly beauty and then continued . Luke had given him permission to borrow a lightsaber . Don continued to walk down the aisle and stopped before a rack of very old weapons . Some were so old that they wouldn't use the modern power sources . Don gazed at one of the shining weapons . This one could use a fairly modern power source , but no-one could make it work . Don picked it up, marveling at the craftsmanship involved in the making of this weapon . He enjoyed the feel of the lovely weapon in his hand . Unlike the lightsaber he had made, this one was not covered in jewels or made of silver and gold . Don loved the simple beauty of the old weapon . He thumbed the activation switch and waited for a few seconds . SNAP-HISSS, Don jumped as a strange purple blade sprung out for a couple of seconds and dis-appeared . He walked out of the large room . He had found his weapon .
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Rorn walked into Don's room and watched the Kiffar work on some small mechanical device . Don urned slightly , and Rorn saw it was a lightsaber, not just a lightsaber, the lightsaber . " Why do you have that . Did Luke give you permission to use that?" Rorn asked . " Yes, he said I could use one of the museum's lightsabers until I make a new one ." He fitted the outer shell onto the lightsaber and plugged it into an old-fashioned charger ." Ok, now lets go get something to eat . I'm starved ." Rorn looked back at the old lightsaber, gracing Don's workbench with its beauty, and walked out .
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Three hours later, Luke stood . He felt something strange .Not something evil, but like a return, no like a renewal of an old legacy . He walked out of the classroom, ignoring the puzzled stares of his students .
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Rorn and Don walked out of the Academy's mess hall, still laughing . Don had totally confused a Whiphid trainee by creating an illusion of food in front of it , but when it tryed to eat, don had let the illusion fade . Later Rorn had pushed its plate around on the table, keeping it just out of reach . The adolescent Whiphid had been very confused for a long time, and then realizing the trickery, drew a long hunters blade and searched for the perpetrators . Don had quickly made it forget about the whole thing, and they had left . Rorn stepped into Don's room and stopped so suddenly that Don ran into his back ." Hey, whats the big idea," he asked , pushing past and seeing ... Luke holding the newly repaired lightsaber . " I know I gave you permission to borrow a lightsaber, but I had no idea you would choose this one. " Luke said with a slight frown on his face . " But I felt something a little while ago and I traced it back to this room and to this weapon . " Don took the lightsaber as Luke held it out and continued to speak ." No-one has ever been able to work with this weapon, either to fix it or use it . I sense that you have nearly the same Force signature as its maker, and maybe that is why you are allowed to use it . It is yours now . Not just to use for a while, but to keep ." Don was speechless so Rorn leaned over and said ," Turn it on, come on do it ." Don flicked the switch and a blade of beatiful purple snapped out and seemed to hang in the air . Blue, green and white specks appeared, moving throughout the purple of the blade . Rorn,Don and Luke stared at the beautiful saber . " Don, I think you got a saber ." Rorn manged , staring at the hypnotic blade .
Floating in space, the Bothan Assault Frigate Ralroost prepared for battle. Admiral Traest Kre’fey stood on the deck, waiting for the rest of his task force to arrive. In all, thirty capitol ships were assembled, with enough frigates, corvettes, and freighters to make the one-hundred ship force the strongest gathered in the Federation since the battle for Yuuzhantor. A large Mon Cal Star Cruiser emerged from hyperspace and the force was complete. Already the troop transports were ready and General Garm Bel Iblis had finally arrived. At the last moment, several moe ships arrived, containing Jedi Knights from Yavin 4. Jaina Solo was their leader.
"Ralroost to Peregrine II, come in, Peregrine II" The comm officer on Kre’fey’bridge spoke.
"Peregrine II here, are you ready, Ralroost?"
"Affirmative, All ships, lets go!" The expedition to regain Thyferra had begun.
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Sev’rannce Tann sat on board the bridge of the Chimaera, her danger sense tingling. She felt that something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. Wait, I can see if Lyth Aria will ‘envision’ it for me she thought. Reaching out through the force, she felt the mind of her oracle. Forcing it, pressing, it making it, she saw Sybl’s vision. Ships, troops. A general, an admiral, a hero, a Bothan. She saw line after line of ships, nearly one-hundred. Troops, storming through the Thyferran jungle, the armies being overwhelmed, Antilles free. Pellaeon lay dead on the deck of the burning Chimaera. Tann herself cornered, fighting more foes than even she could handle. Rank upon rank of jedi, warriors that could defeat her. Lasers blazed and fighters blew to shreds. All over the planet of Thyferra, the Federation was launching a counter-attack. At this point, most people would have given up and fled. Not Tann. She knew that the future was always in motion, never fixed until it happens. This was what would happen if they left Thyferra in its current state. Swiftly, she issued orders.
"All hands prepare to leave. Order the third, fourth, eighth, eleventh, and twelfth fleets to convene over Thyferra. Hurry."
Pellaeon looked puzzled in her direction. "Why do you want so many ships at Thyferra?" he asked suspiciously.
"We’re going to have company there. Lyth Aria has foreseen an attack. We will need to be in place to stop. Also, we need at least a million units on the ground to face the enemy ground troops. Trust me here, Admiral."
"Alright, if your wrong……." Pellaeon’s threat trailed off.
"Don’t worry, I’m not wrong." Tann replied as the ship lurched into hyperspace.
******************************************************************* Lyth staggered and fell to her knees as Tann abruptly demanded and obtained her desired vision. A song filled her for a moment a few quick flashes then Tann's mind dropped her unceremoniously...
She lay on cold floor gasping. Slowly rolling back to her knees she fought the urge to retch--her usual reaction to Tann's shorter visions. She tried not to fight Tann now but somehow they still left her feeling Dirty...raw... Invaded... . Half-forgetten anger and hatred flickered for in her for a moment then died swamped by empty despair.
Wetness dripped onto fingers. Tentatively, Lyth touched her cheeks amazed to find tears on them.
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Admiral Kre’fey swore when his ships emerged from hyperspace. Instead of a planet with standard occupation forces, there was an Imperial armada!
"All hands to battle stations. It is a trap!!!!" Kre’fey’s orders went across the fleet. As TIEs swept forward, and Star Destroyers opened fire, Federation ships scrambled to face the enemy. Soon, the X-wings, B-wings, A-wings, and Y-wings were engaging the wave of TIE Defenders and Interceptors. Kre’fey watched as an X-wing pulled off a perfect maneuver to split a defender into three parts. As it pulled away from the exploding TIE, an interceptor’s laser cannons flashed and the X-wing became more floating debris around the planet Thyferra. Meanwhile, the transports and jedi managed to land. As the troops and machinery disembarked, they saw with dismay that rank upon rank of battle droids confronted them. The troopers barely had time to raise their blasters before waves of blaster fire shot from the droids. The first group out was decimated before the troops could fire back. They watched in amazement as their shots bounced off the droids. Like the others, these ones too had Quantum Armor. Jaina emerged and saw the situation was going poorly. She used the force to smash several droids and burst others. The jedi followed her lead, attacking the deadly foes by making them blow from the inside. The droid commanders could not figure this out, but Sev’rannce Tann could. She was with the droids, surrounded by her SithDroid Elites. The elites had ysalimiri frames on their backs, and the little lizards were guarded by the Quantum Armor the droids wore. In addition to Quantum, these droids also had Cortosis Ore on. The jedi lightsabers would be useless. Tann drew her yellow blade and the red weapons of the SithDroids appeared as well. With blaster-wielding droids all around them, they charged the jedi. Jaina let forth a battle cry and spun her lightsaber as they charged. The troopers followed her lead and the droid commander radioed his army to follow suit. The blaster arms of the droids transformed into long, sharp, energy swords. The Federation troopers drew Vibro-blades and Vibro-axes. Some even had long Vibro-swords that extended four feet. With Tann and Jaina leading the two forces, they clashed with the hiss of energy blade on energy blade. The jedi and SithDroids were able to wreak havoc on the other side, as lightsabers sliced through all types of body-armor, and through Quantum armor as well. Jaina Solo and Sev’rannce Tann met in the middle of the field, their weapons moving so fast no one could see them. Jaina was the better swordsman but was no match for the force powers of her opponent. Jaina needed all her skill to block the lightsaber slashes and lightning bolts that struck at her. Her force defenses were being worked as well, because Tann was using everything to drive her back. After only ten minutes of combat, Jaina realized that she was no match for the Chiss warrior. She could see that her army was being destroyed, and the battle droids were sweeping forward in victory. Most of the other jedi lay dead, killed by the SithDroids. Jaina heard General Bel Iblis calling for a retreat. Into the jungles. She turned and ran, Tann’s lightning scorched her back but she just dodged around one of the Federation troopers. The trooper dropped dead as the lightning burned him. Jaina managed to esccape and reach Bel Ibles
"What’s the situation, General?" she asked breathlessly.
"Not good, vibro-weapons are no good on Quantum armor either. We hardly made a dent in their numbers and they overwhelmed us," he replied.
"Their leader is a Sith, more poweful than any I have ever encountered. We fought for only minutes and she nearly destroyed me. Of our original force, how many are left?"
"I have no idea, I have gathered maybe a thousand, but many more have fled into the Thyferran jungles. There, they will join the Vratix and resist the empire. We will try and find their leaders. Come." Bel Iblis led the force into the jungle further. No one spoke, and they were all in a foul mood. The only thing that made it worse was the fact that the Empire was jamming all communications on Thyferra. There would be no contacting Kre’fey, and there would be no rescue. Yet.
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The space battle was still raging, the lines of ships had just been exchanging their first laser blasts when the ground battle was over, so quickly had the droids overwhelmed the Federation troops. Unlike the ground troops, the empire didn’t have the resources to give all of its ships Quantum Armor. Only the Chimaera had the guard of that nearly impenetrable shield. Grand Admiral Pellaeon stood on the ship’s bridge, watching his status board. The preliminary rounds of the fight were going well, with light casualties the order of the day for the Empire. They outnumbered the enemy but not by much. The real difference was the spirit with which they fought and the training they had. To be sure, the Federation had some of the most able warriors in the galaxy, but they had lost many veterans in the YV war and were still recovering. The Empire had been training crewers for years, simply awaiting the ships to put them in. The Imperial fleet was one of the finest, and Pellaeon was the most able commander in the galaxy. Already, he saw where the enemies weakness was. They had sent too many fighters at once. Pellaeon had several wings of TIE Phantoms in reserve, waiting for the opportune moment to attack. For now, his ships were doing a fine job playing a defensive role on the battle.
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Admiral Traest Kre’fey was much less pleased with the situation. His plan had been an aggressive one against a foe that was supposed to be outnumbered three to one. He really hadn’t had a chance to change, and his ships were still attacking. He had ordered to all commanders that the plan was scrapped, and that they should follow his lead. He kept the Ralroost in the front line, but not advancing, prefering to duel it out with the Imperials while he awaited news from the planet. With the force they had assembled, it would only be a matter of time before Bel Iblis and his troops would be able to capture the planet. Then he could go on the offensive. He watched as another light winked out on his status board, one more Star Cruiser down. His force was suffering heavy casualties, but at least some Imperial ships had been destroyed. He wasn’t sure how long the Federation fleet could hold out, Pellaeon’s gunners were good, and soon, he would be out of fighters.
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Watching, waiting, silently preparing for an ambush, four squadrons of TIE Phantoms were cloaked and behind the Federation fleet. They awaited the signal by Pellaeon and then they would attack.
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Sev’rannce Tann and her SithDroids moved silently through the jungle. Tann led, using her alert force sense to detect the shattered remnants of the Federation army. She could feel the force sense of Jaina Solo, and she was eagerly awaiting the continuation of their duel. As they walked along, two of the jedi knights stepped out from the bushes and confronted them. Tann waved the SithDroids back. She would handle these foes herself. Both of them drew their lightsabers, the blades of blue and green springing to life. Tann just stood and watched, preparing her move. Both jedi charged, swinging their weapons and shouting. In a blazing move, Tann activated her yellow lightsaber blade and charged. Swinging the weapon with one hand, she fired lightning with the other, neither attack hurt the two jedi, but they both swing at her as she passed between them Their attack was not coordinated, and both of them fell, halved by the other jedi’s lightsaber. Tann stepped back, a look of satisfaction on her face. This was her kind of killing, nice and orderly where she didn’t have to get her hands dirty. There would be no need for killing, she thought bitterly, if the enemy would just give up. She beckoned to the SithDroids and soon all of them were again moving through the jungles, chasing Bel Iblis and the Federation troops.
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An X-wing starfighter flew through space, twisting as a TIE defender shot by, weapons blazing. The TIE pilot saw that he had missed his target and activated his tractor beam. The X-wing was held in place as an accurate shot from the TIE smashed the cokpit canopy, killing the pilot but leaving the machine intact. The Defender headed back toward the Chimaera, its trophy in tow. The last Federation fighter was downed.
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Admiral Kre’fey could see that the battle was over. His proud armada was now a huddled mass of capitol ships, cringing in the face of the mighty Imperials. Kre’fey spoke into the comm system
"Ralroost to all ships. Retreat now. Activate emergency plan for the ground troops." As he spoke, a frigate broke apart, the pieces plummeting to the surface of Thyferra. Unbeknownst to everyone but admiral Kre’fey and the frigates crew, a large troop lander was concealed in the debris. It sent out a coded pulse on an obscure sublight frequency, a frequency that Garm Bel Iblis knew. It entered the atmosphere of Thyferra, a way out for the trapped warriors. Before it hit the ground, Kre’fey’s fleet was en route to Coruscant, and the Bothan Admiral was not looking forward to the high council debriefing session.
The true battle for Thyferra, and a wake-up call for the Federation(maybe they'll finally get their act together). It would kind of cool of Fellow Author could write the vision from Lyth Aria's point of view
Garm Bel Iblis and the Federation fournd troops kept on running, running, running. That was all that was anyones mind. Escape, mindless flight before the droid army that had so thoroughly defeated them. They kept expecting droids to pop out of the jungle, blasters to fire from the trees. Everyone kept on running. It had been three days of running since they had been smashed in the ground battle. They were fleeing towards their only hope of escape, the large transport that had been let land when the Fleet had left. Bel Iblis and his officer wer in the front, followed by the few thousand troops that had retreated with him. Who knew how many had fallen in the jungle or were still lost out there. In the rear was Jaina Solo and eight jedi knights. Eight of the thirty that had accompanied her to the battle. Behind them, crashing through the forests and jungles was their worst enemy, Sev'rannce Tann and her elite SithDroids. This was going to be close.
"There it is. The transport. Everyone get on board!" Bel Iblis called as he and his oficers sprinted for the bridge. The soldiers packed in, and Jaina and her jedi followed. They were almost all in when Tann and the SithDroids burst out of the jungle. Two of the jedi knights turned to fight them.
"Wait, everyone get on, that includes you two" Jaina called to them. The older og them just shut the hatch of the transport with the force. A tear slipped down Jaina's cheek as she saw the two brave knights cut down in rapid succession by the yellow blade of Sev'rannce Tann. Tann hurled lightning at the transport as it burst through the top foliage. The transport headed off into space, and soon, the last remnants of the proud Federation Thyferran Expedition had left off into hyperspace. The Federation had just suffered its worst defeat since the Yuuzhan Vong capture of Coruscant and the disasterous ambush at Bilbringi, whem the holonet had fallen.
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Tann watched the transport leave, seeing the last invaders off of Thyferra. She looked contemptuously down at the bodies of the two jedi. Fools she thought to herself. They could have escaped. they could have lived, but they didn't she never would understand how some people would act so stupidly. They had to have known that her blade would cut them down, they had to have known that, at best, less than 10,000 soldiers would have gotten away. But they ahd done it anyways, thrown their lives away in a vain attempt to avenge the fallen on that field, and to make sure that their friends got away safely. Ah well, I have other business Tann thought. SHe could hear the hum of engines as a Lambda-class shuttle arrived, escorted by two squadrons of TIE Defenders. She was going to Yaga Minor to pick up the modified Defender she had had made. She and ten SithDroids embarked, andn the ships left for the Imperial Shipyards.
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In the High Council Room in the capitol on Coruscant, Leia Organa Solo sat with the other nine Councilors, listening with shock and disbelief to the report Admiral Traest Kre'fey was giving.
"And at that point, with all my fighters destroyed, and a fresh wave of TIE's arriving on the scene, I felt it best to activate the emergency extraction plan for General Bel Iblis and then get out of their. OUr total losses included 48 capitol ships and every starfighter I had. I don't know how many ground troops we have lost, but I can say here that this entire operation was a disaster." The Bothan Admiral finished delivering the bad news. The council just sat their in shocked silence.
"How many Imperial ships did this too you?" Leia asked, trying to keep her mind off the disaster. Jaina was with the ground troops. I hope she was okay She kept reminding herself that she would feel Jaina's death in the forec if it happened. She hadn't felt anything. Yet.
"Well Admiral, what do you reccomend our next step be?" The Quarren Pwoe asked.
"Roaaarrrrrr Grrrrr Rrrrrrrrrr!!" The wookie councilor Triebakk growled. A translator droids spoke.
"Councilor Triebakk asks if we can even trust Admiral Kre'fey to lead our armed forces."
"Of course." Leia responded without a second thought. "Admiral Kre'ey was victimized by spotty intelligence. We never would have that the Empire would have a full armada at Thyferra. We shouldn't blame him or General Bel Iblis for that."
"I agree." Fryor Rodan spoke. His comment caught everyone by surprise, they all knew about the bitter hatred he had for anything and everything jedi. "We shouldn't discipline an officer because the data-pushers didn't do there job. I'm glad that idiot Scaur is gone, or I would have sent him off myself.!"
"Speraking of intelligence officers, I am getting a code red transmission from the director of NRI herself." Cal Omas spoke. A hologram of Belinda Kalendi appeared.
"Most esteemed councilors. I have little time right now but I feel that I must inform you, NRI has recently learned that the Empire has indeed captured General Wedge Antilles and they plan to try and execute him publicly. I am talking with some experts about a rescue plan, but I cannot tell anyone not directly involved in the operation." the hologram disappeared.
As the room broke out in cries of outrage, Leia just sat back and sighed. This just keeps getting worse
I have decided on an esecution for Wedge and then a rescue attempt. You all will have to wait to find out how and what happens