"Your late, advisor," Grand Admiral broke the three minute silence that had stood over the room when economy advisor Latre Jorn had entered, fifteen minutes behind schedule.
"I’m terribly sorry, sir, please accept my deepest apologies," Jorn replied. He could think of a dozen excuses, but he knew that none of them would fly with Grand Admiral Pellaeon and Supreme Commander Tann in the room.
"Well, advisor, what is it that you had that was so important as to use fifteen minutes of the time of the top commanders of the Empire’s armed forces?" Tann asked coldly, her red eyes narrowed into tight slits. "This empire is built on order, and part of order is being on time. You are to be demoted one grade, two grades if you do not have some significant contribution to our war effort at this meeting. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly, your Excellency," the trembling advisor said, as clearly as he could, his mind spinning trying to think of ideas that would satisfy the Sith lady and keep him in some semblance of a respectable position.
"We called you here, advisor, to aid us in the selection of a suitable next target world for our offensive," Pellaeon turned the conversation back to the business of war. "We need your opinion on what planet would be most useful to the Imperial economy and resource caches."
"Well, sir, in my humble opinion, the empire needs cash more than anything. We need to be able to maintain our financial situation, and the expenditures on Quantum Armor have been particularly draining on the Imperial treasury," Jorn offered.
"Well, any suggestions on where to attack for the necessary money?" Tann demanded.
"Well, uh, I would recommend Munilinst but is already ours. In this case, Neimoidia is probably your best bet," he replied.
"Thank you advisor, if that is all, you are dismissed. Your grade change will be effective tomorrow morning," Pellaeon sent him away with a slight wave of his hand. "Now, General Tann, what do you think? I am of the opinion that Kessel is a reasonable target. Lightly guarded, and with a fortune to be made in spice exports."
"A good idea, Admiral. In fact, I think that a double assault on Kessel and Neimoidia will probably be possible. The Neimoidians are cowards who will give us whatever we want, provided we show up with an impressive force," Tann answered Pellaeon’s question.
"Excellent, General Tann. And while we are doing complex offensives, we may as well pick up a base for our core offensive," Pellaeon said thoughtfully. "But where would we want to make our base?"
"I have one for you, Admiral: Kashyyyk," Tann said.
"Kashyyyk, yes, I like the idea. Large, in a perfect location, the only problem is that the Wookies will put up a fight," Pellaeon answered.
"The Wookies cannot pierce Quantum Armor, and I have the perfect plan to take the planet. We leave the whole thing up to droids. They can make camps in the lower regions of Kashyyyk. The ecology is deadly for living beings, but not for our droids," Tann explained her plan of attack.
"Yes, I like that idea. We can send Admiral Kirkosh to blockade the planet and let the droids do the rest. I will take part of the fleet and attack Kessel. You take the rest to Neimoidia," Pellaeon laid out the Imperial plan of attack.
"Yes, now we just need to check it with our oracle, then we can make our move," Tann concluded the meeting. Both of them exited the room, Pellaeon to prepare the fleet for war and Tann to see the future through the mind of her personal oracle, Lyth Aria.
Note: There is a vision by Lyth Aria between this entry and my last one, but FA is going to write it.
Floating in space, the First Imperial Invasion Fleet prepared for part one of the offensive. Because of some changes in the original plan, Admiral Kirkosh would be directing the attack against the Neimoidia. All of the ships had checked in, and he signaled to his com officer. "Prepare to transmit the message to General Tann. The attack is on."
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Sev'rannce Tann got the message as her last Star Destroyer checked in. It would be about thirty minutes before her Kashyyyk attack would launch. She looked out the viewport at the mighty fleet she ahd assembled. 18 Star Destroyers plus countless smaller capitol ships. The droid armies were ready, and All of the starfighters had overgone a retro-fit to add the new weapons stolen from the Federation. Also, they had several new modifications that Imperial Engineers had prepared for them. And, sitting in the middle of the fleet, was the Hope of Victory. A massive contraption that carried the key to the entire battle. If it was lost, the whole plan would be off.
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Starlines became stars as Kirkosh's fleet emerged from hyperspace. Immediately a volley of turbolaser fire descended towards the surface of Neimoidia. The shield generators didn't have time to come online before they were turned to dust by the Imperial attack. TIE fighters swept ahead of the larger ships as an orbital platform fell, burning, towards the surface of Neimoidia, a victim of the guns of Kirkosh's flagship, the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Vengeance.
"Sir, we are revieving a transmission from the surface." The comm officer spoke.
Probably those cowards surrendering. Kirkosh thought. He hated the Neimoidians because they were such greedy cowards, yet, that nature would be useful. Soon, the empire would have enough cash to fund its offensives against the Federation. "Let him speak." Kirkosh ordered the officer. Immediately, a Neimoidian figure appeared on the holo-pad. Kirkosh stepped onto its match as the Neimoidian spoke.
"Who are you and how dare you attack us?" He spoke
"Protocol first, scum." Kirkosh interrupted him. "I am Admiral Kirkosh, commanding the first Imperial Invasion Fleet. You will pipe this message throughout the entire planet. If you don't, my gunners will teach you a painful lesson." He looked at the monitor indicating that all of Neimoidia was listening. "Citizens of Neimoidia. This is Admiral Kirkosh of the Imperial Navy. You are to present me with 500 Trillion credits by noon today or I shall sterilize your planet. You have three hours, the clock is ticking."
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The time hit and Sev'rannce Tann's force launched for Kashyyyk. Before departure, she had sent Pellaeon the message. Time to go: Kessel is ready for the taking.
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On the surface of Neimoidia, panic broke out upon the reception of Kirkosh's message. The nervous crowds filled the street, many of them heading forn the banks to empty their accounts before the government confiscated them to pay the tremendous price tag Kirkosh has set on their planet. Eveyone knew the treasurey was at 100 trillions, but the planet was certainly wealthy enough to pay the price. As minutes ticked off the clock, government officials visited each bank, draining its vaults. They reached the 500 trillion threshhold at 11:46. All the cash was loaded onto a shuttle and sent zipping upwards.
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Kirkosh watched as the shuttle drew closer. "Defenders, intercept that shuttle. It is not to be destroyed, only captured." He watched as the ships launched, firing lasers as they approached. The shuttle's shields fell and the defnders dragged it back to the Vengeance. As soon as it was safely on board, the Imperials fired a parting volley. Just before the Imperials left, Kirkosh transmitted a final message. "May this serve as a preview of what will happen if you ever defy the Empire. It's been a pleasure doing business with you." Stars became Starlines as the destroyers left for hyperspace.
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The world of Kashyyyk appeared on Sev'rannce Tann's viewscreen as her ships came out of hyperspace. The Wookies were too quick in getting their shields up to be caught by the instant-volley trick. Kashyyyk's shields were alive and well. The turbolaser blasts were sucked up by them. Tann's destroyers began engaging the orbital defense platforms. She watched out the viewscreen as Wookie ships, mainly corvettes and freighters, with one old frigate and several squadrons of starfighters, began rising from the surface. She ordered her Defenders to launch and deal with the rising Wookies. Already she was entering into battle meditation. It didn't escape her eye that one group of fighters stayed near the shields. She dismissed them as gun-shy rookies.
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Kroac stood at the Wookie Command Center in the middle of Kashyyyk. He was thiunking ovber what to do now with the fleet of Imperials at his doorstep. The activating shields and mobilizing defense forces had been pre-established, but Kroak knew that the small fleet he had would go nowhere against the invaders. His mind spun as he thought about what to do.
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As General Tann's meditation took effect, the Imperials skill level jumped by at least 40%. The Defenders finished off the attackers in short order. Meanwhile, the Hope of Victory moved slowly but inexorably forwards, moving toward the Wookie shield. As it drew nearer, the Orbital Defense Platforms focused their fire on it. As the ship came under fire, Tann snapped out of her meditation. She watched as laser-fire poured into the ship. As it drew near the Wookie shield she watched as its own shield flickered out. It rammed the Wookie shield as the laser-fire destroyed it. So perished the Hope of Victory. Sev'rannce Tann looked on as it burst. Then smiled to herself. It had happened in time.
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"Sir, our shields are losing power!" Croak turned at the cry of his weapons officer. "They have been going down ever since that Imperial ship rammed them. I don't understand it."
Croak didn't either, but he ordered the Wookie Ground Defense Corp to mobilize immediately. They would be ready when those stormtroopers arrived.
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Sev'rannce Tann watched as the shield collapsed. Her transports and TIE's swept forwards as the Star Destroyers piunded the Wookie surface to air defenses. She rushed to her Defender to join in the battle. Everything was going as planned.
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Across the stars, another invasion was also in prgress. Grand Admiral Pellaeon, commanding the Chimaera and a powerful fleet had just emerged near Kessel.
More to come later. I'll say when you can put in your excerpt Nathan
Rorn stepped into the large room and switched the lights on . He reached out in the Force and shoved a lever forward causing the far wall to rise silently . A long line of droids awaited his choosing . Armed with lightsabers, machetes, chains, blasters, every sort of weapon , the droids were deadly in their brutal simplicity . Rorn studied the linei=up for a second and walked to a panel on the wall and keyed in several commands . Several droids activated and leaped forward, their savagely glowing sensors searching for an opponent . Rorn walked away from the wall and pulled out his lightsaber , activating a single sapphire blue blade . Immediately , the droids recognized this threat and jumped to surround the Jedi .The droids were monsterous affairs, capable of killing normal men in seconds and Rorn was fighting four . Mentall, Rorn nick-named them according to their weapons . Machete, chain , club, and katana , the droids reflexes were programmed to be faster than Zabrak reflexes, but Rorn was aided by the Force . He fingered the safety over-ride control, hanging from his belt . He would need to use it, if the droids seemed to be getting the upper-hand, or so Luke had told him when assigning him this excercise . Chain advanced slowly, its weapon swinging in a leasurely circle, and then it attacked . Chain swinging in a blur of steel metal, the droid went down on one knee and struck upwards . Rorn went into the Tera Kasi defensive position known as " Hiding Tortoise " and the chain whistled harmlessly over his head . He then used a form called " Rancor rising" and his lightsaber cut up between Chain's legs and up through his head . The droid fell apart, even as Katana feinted into the battle . Rorn flipped over behind the droid, avoiding the upwards stab easily and cut down-wards, knicking the armor on Katana's left shoulder . As he landed, Katana whirled, his blade coming in low, hissing through the air . Rorn hopped ove it and his lightsaber spun in his hands, cutting through Katana's head and rendering the droid in-operable . As the remaining two droids, Club and Machete, stalked toward him, Rorn took a deep breath and de-activated his lightsaber . Placing it on the floor, he shoved it away with his foot . Club and Machete did not hesitate like their predecessors , but rushed at the Zabrak in an all-out attack . Rorn leaped over the first assailant and landed on the second's shoulders, where he released a flurry of punces at its head . Machete ran back and swiped at the Jedi atop his perch on Club's shoulders . Laughing at the classic trick, Rorn flipped from Club's shoulders and let the machete hack into the cudgel-bearing droid's head . Machete pulled back, his weapon glistening with oil and mechnical lubricants, and started toward the agile Jedi, who was now ready in a fighting crouch, all traces of humor gone from his face . Machete raised his weapon arm , ready to swing and Rorn struck, leaping upwards in a one-two kick that shattered Machete's visual sensors and over-loaded his circuits . Rorn stepped back as the tall droid fell with a electronic whine , and then his attention was drawn toward the far wall . Something was drawing him toward it . Stepping slowly, Rorn walked toward it . As he drew up to the wall, something caught his attention . A beeping sound, muffled by the layers of stone and durasteel that formed the wall, gaining in pitch and intensity . Rorn mused over this for an instant and his face blanched in horror as he heard another noise, the sound of a detonater . Leaping back from the wall, Rorn wrapped himself in a defensive Force blanket, just as the wall exploded in a huge flash of light, fire and shrapnel . Rorn absorbed the energy of the explosion, wincing as the shards of metal and stone struck him and then as he hit the floor . He used the energy to heal his wounds and calm his screaming nerves, even as he stood and gasped at the authors of the explosion . Menacing , gleaming battle droids stepped through the crater in the wall and surveyed the destruction they had created . Rorn glanced around for his lightsaber but didn't see it , closing his eyes, the Jedi held out his hand and visualized his lightsaber in it . A second later, Rorn felt its familiar weight and cool textures , flicking both blades on, he opened his eyes . The droids at the wall, suddenly focused on him, their beady red sensor/eyes whirling like a holo-camera lense being focused and they began to approach . Rorn felt for Luke and sent him a message . Luke, strange droids have blasted their way into the lightsaber training arena . Get help, QUICK ! He gasped as the leading droids reached to their left wrist and de-tached metal cylinders, which instanly ignited to become . . . lightsabers . Rorn gulped as the emotiom-less killing machines came closer , each activating a lightsaber as they recognized Rorn as a enemy . He glanced to his side nervously as Don came up to his side, his purple lightsaber, ready for combat . " Luke's getting some more of the knights to come and help, but I dont think we can hold them for long ." He said quietly ," There's thousands of them according to the sensors ." Rorn gaped at the approaching droids," Someone must have had a lot of dough to blow and all on us . I'm flattered ." He joked, trying to lighten the moment . " It was not meant to be flattering . It was meant to get the job done . " a familiar voice said . Rorn turned and stared at a life size hologram of Ric Gronard ." These droids will destroy every last Jedi on Yavin 4 . Nothing will standin their way, not even the famous Luke Skywalker . Lightsabers cannot stop them and neither will the piti-ful blasters ." Rorn snorted angrily as the holo-image faded, laughing the entire time . The legion of droids raised their lightsabers and attacked , all at the same instant . Rorn shoved Don back through the door and slammed his hand down on the over-ride controls , locking it and releasing the cortosis ore inner door on the other side of the blast door . He then sent out a crushing wave in the Force , knocking the entire first wave of droids onto their backs . Rorn ran then, dodging blaster bolts from the blasters that had appeared in the droid's hands that weren't carrying lightsabers . He somer-saulted under a burst of blasts that struck in front of him and leaped through the last door . Shutting the door , Rorn locked down the practice arena with the cortosis ore doors and the outer blast doors . Nothing could get out in now . This was not an invasion, it was an infestation of deadly insects. Rorn felt the pounding on the door, the heavy metal vibrating with the force of the blows . Blaster fire, the humm of lightsabers and the buzz of droids speaking filled the comm . Rorn activated a holo-cam and blanched at the sight of what the droids were doing to Luke's lightsaber arena . The entire room was destroyed, only thing still standing were the walls and the droids . " Oh , Luke's gonna kill me ." Rorn groaned . Hearing a slight sound he whirled and came face to face with another Jedi . Raki was an asian Jedi, about five feet tall, and not very intimidating , but looks were deceiving as this little Jedi had taken third place in a lightsaber tournament , set up by the students . " What is the problem . Where is the danger ?" he said, his Basic running together and hard to understand . Rorn pointed at the small surveilance screen and began to walk toward the small armory . " Ahh, Luke is going to kill you for locking them in there ." Raki said, before running after Rorn .
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Luke motioned a small group of experienced Jedi toward the lightsaber arena, while directing the majority of the Jedi to travel to the Catacombs , as he had nick-named his bunkers under the other temples . He watched as they boarded the speeders and took off, most of them needing to stay behing until the speeders came back . His fingers ran slowly over his lightsaber, not even knowing he was doing it, he raised the lightsaber and fingered the activation stud, releasing the glowing green blade . The senior Jedi stared at his weapon even as he heard the steady stomp of marching through the jungle . He felt a flicker of danger just as the Force began to guide him and he let it take control, his lightsaber moving with im-perceptible speed to his back and deflecting an blaster shot . Luke whirled to see a huge wave of red and silver droids marching out of the jungle, blasters in one hand and ........ lightsabers in the other . Luke had never seen droids like these before, let alone with lightsabers . The droids were not tall, being almost six feet in height and were not very big, but Luke had learned a long time ago that size means nothing to strength . The droids moved with a slithering grace that far under-estimated their deadliness . Luke glanced to the side and then back and screamed out a desperate ," NO ! " as a eager young Jedi trainee bounded down the stone stairs . An entire rank of droids turned toward the charging trainee and charged right at him . Luke turned his eyes away as the eager young Jedi disappeared under a sea of chopping red lasers . Luke raised his lightsaber and screamed out a challenge at the droids, his anger taking over for an instant ( And this is where he raises his sword and yells, " For Ireland " . HEE HEE, I couldn't resist ) , before leaping down the stairs in the midst of the Jedi , yearning for revenge . HIs lightsaber struck into a droid and winked off . Luke stared at the blackened hilt for an instant , with a weird feeling of deja vu . ( Is that how that's spelled ? ) The senior Jedi re-activated his lightsaber just as to his side someone yelled, " They've got cortosis ore armor . Aim high ."
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Rorn dashed toward the main entrance , Raki at his side . Raki drew out his weapons of choice as Rorn readied his double-bladed lightsaber , and they both leaped through the door into the crowds of swarming droids . As the image of the battling droids registered in his mind, he shook his head and muttered ," Ah dang . " and entered the fray . Rorn heard ," . . . armor . Aim high ." And he relayed the message to Raki who was juggling three lightsabers, blocking every blaster bolt that came to him and sending it straight back . His uniqe style was just that, uniqe . No one else had even tried it, not wanting to mess around with death . Rorn stopped for an instant and wathed the three blade twirl in their deadly dance . Red, blue and green, all twisting together, never touching for Raki's tosses were perfect . Rorn felt danger behind him, and spun, his lightsaber cutting into a droid and then winking out .The Zabrak re-activated the blade even as he twirled the lightsaber and stabbed into the place where the armor had been cut away . The droid fell, one out of thousands . He could feel the anxiety of his fellow Jedi even as Luke waved a hand and shouted for everyone to retreat to the speeders . Luke choked back a sob as he counted the re-maining Jedi, less than half of those who had been there in the beginning, were there now . He shook his lightsaber angrily at the still approaching droids , there were a few gaps and holes in their defenses now but their attack was still coming strong . "Everyone to the Catacombs . We can make a better defense from there . " Luke shouted , making sure that all of the Jedi heard him . He leaped up into a large snow-speeder, piloted by a Jedi and hoisted several more up with him, then Luke dropped back down, his lightsaber cutting through the front of a droid's head, before shorting out . His eyes darted upwards as a X-wing and Rorn's bladecraft shot out of the hangar and began to pummel the droids with their blaster cannons . Droids were being destroyed left and right, but still more came . Luke could feel Don's presence in the X-wing and he mentally told the trainee to follow Rorn to the hidden tunnels . Don acknowledged, but before he left, Don fired several more shots at the droids, including a concussion missile into the droids at the tree-line . The explosion wiped out about twelve droids . Rorn not to be beat, fired a long burst of ion cannon fire, into the droids, dropping about thirty . And then they both flew toward the opposite direction to the other temple, so as not to lead the droids to it . A futile gesture maybe, but Luke was glad to see it . He leaped onto the last speeder bike as it pulled out, deflecting the laser fire directed at the by the droids .
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Ric walked into the Jedi Temple, his lips rising in a silent snarl at the thought of only a few Jedi had died . The droids had performed better than expected however, taking over the entire Jedi Temple was not something he had fore seen in the near-future . He tensed as he hear a shout and then relaxed as he recognized Darth Rakar's penetrating voice . " We have found one , Gronard . Come, he is no Jedi . " Ric lunged back out the door and leaped up onto the stone wall, his claws, imbedding into the stone and he climbed, looking like a huge evil spider . Reaching the top, Ric vaulted over just in time to see a young humanoid alien hurl a droid at Rakar , and impale another on his icy blue lightsaber . Ric recognized the alien as a Cathar and the impulses of Force energy radiating out from the alien as Dark Side . He raised a hand and summoned the alien's lightsaber to it . The Cathar didn't hesitate, but pulled out another, activating a green blade . Ric grimaced, Didn't this kid know how to make a lightsaber with real color ? He motioned and his multi-weapon slithered into his hand even as Rakar activated his lightsabers . The Cathar stopped as he saw the crimson blades and then he felt the Dark Side, intertwined around the two . " I am Hyrinin , Apprentice to the Dark Side . Who are you ." he asked, his show of bravado, not very convincing . Ric grinned, his fangs in full sight and said " Ric Gronard , Dark Lord of the Sith ." Rakar floated forward a bit and said his own name ," Darth Rakar , Dark Lord of the Sith ." And then Ric asked the question that was bothering him , " Why are you here at the Jedi Temple if you are a Dark Side user ? " Hyrinin glanced warily at the two and slowly answered ," I came for lightsabers . I had none of my own and no knowledge as how to make them . I have been here for nearly a year, keeping my existence a secret and only sstealing supplies when necassary . " Ric nodded thoughtfully just as Hyrinin screamed " Look out ! " and lunged forward, his lightsaber intercepting a blaster bolt headed for the side of Ric's head . Ric grinned inwardly, he had felt the laser coming but had decided to give Hyrinin and Rakar a show of his healing abilities . Hyrinin bared his own formidable fangs as he noticed Ric's un-impressed expression ." Well you can stay around, but keep out of my way ." Ric told him , before starting to descend the long flight of stairs leading to the ground .
By Jarlath and Tien
The hours dragged past and Mwynin sat with her back to the wall, staring into space. She had put the "shield" in place and now she had to wait it out. The constant pressure from the outside was wearing on her nerves. If they keep this up I'm going to loose my temper! I hate this waiting.... With the shield in place she could let her thoughts wander a bit.
Kyp suddenly felt the energy behind their force-attack falter. It seemed that at least of his people had stopped pushing. Feeling in the force, he saw that it was Saaran. Grumpily conceding defeat this time, he opened his eyes as the weariness et in. Saaran lay slumped on the floor, passed out from the effort. He lifted her and walked out, calling to the captive, "You may be able to block mind probes, Sith. But pain is always the best teacher!"
That comment however, Mwynin did not hear, deep in her own thoughs she was figuring out how to best repair an old Empire Blast rifle that she'd left at home, when she suddenly realized that the pressure was lifted. That's odd... Mwynin did not lift the shield though, It's probably a trick to get me to lower my guard...
In the ships cockpit, Jarlath felt Kyp and Saaran stop their attack. he withdrew the vestige of his presence form the room and went on with his thoughts. A growing part of him was glad that Kyp and Saaran had broken off their attack. Another part was dissappointed at the setback, and a third wished that Mwynin would just give in easily rather than be tortured and then give in
Mwynin wondered at the sudden stop, but she didn't lower her guard for even a moment. Now what are they up to?
It only took a few hours for Saaran to recover. As she sat on her bunk where someone had thoughtfully put her, she berated herself for collapsing. Stupid, Stupid, Stuip. Why did you give out. We could be through there by now if we had just persisted. Why must I be so weak. It's all my fault. I should have paid better attention to him. THAT SITH IS GONNA PAY FOR TAKING HIM.
In another part of the ship, Jarlath approached Kyp. "Master, I think Saaran is going overboard. She is taking the dark path over this. She needs more control"
"Let me deal with her, Jarlath. You go and warn the prisoner that we will begin stage three: physical torture, if she doesn't give in now."
You needn't sound so happy about it Jarlath thought in the privacy of his own mind. Oh well, here goes nothing. he stepped into the room.
The Jedi whom she had spoken with before stepped into the room. Oh no. Not again. Mwynin went invisible
Jarlath stepped into the room, the invisibility of Mwynin not phasing him. When will she learn that it doesn't matter or not whether I can see her, I know she didn't just disintegrate? "Mwynin, you reall should know by now that turning invisible doesn't mean your not here. I know you are, and I've come with an ultimatum: Give in now or drastic measures will be taken. You can save yourself alot of grief by just giving in. Trust me on this one."
Mwynin rolled her eyes "When will you learn that when I devisualize it means I don't want to talk to you?" Mwynin stayed invisible "I'm not giving in, and I'm not telling anything. Now you go back an tell your Jedi friends that I won't say a thing. A' right?"
Jarlath allowed some of the compassion to leak into his voice. "Very well, if that is your wish, but don't say I didn't warn you." With that he left, and mentally told Kyp the answer. Listening in, Saaran had trouble containing her glee
As soon as the door closed Mwynin mocked " 'Don't say I didn't warn you' No worries. Hmpf. I can deal with this." But mentally, she wasn't so sure she could....
As soon as Jarlath's message had arrived Saaran took off running for Mwynin's holding room, only to be stopped by Jarlath. "What do you think your doing, Jarlath Cadman?" she asked as he stood in her path.
"Your going to have to wait for Kyp. No one but me is allowed to be alone with the prisoner."
"You only you? Because your older or something?" she angrily replied.
"Because I don't take pleasure in people's pain." Jarlath responded with a fake calm.
"Neither do I." Saaran objected. "I just want to know what happened to Dart." "Well it's a moot point now because Kyp is here." Jarlath closed the discussion. he watched as the two of them headed for the Prison chamber
As she entered the chaber, Saaran noted with surprise that the prisoner was gone. Instinctively she dashed forward and ran her hand into where the Sith was supposed to be. And winced in pain as it struck something hard. Mwynin bit her.
Saaran cried out in pain as Mwynin's teeth sank into her hand. She swun her other hand around in a punch that hit something, while she pulled her hand loose from the invisible clamp that had pinched her. She stepped back, holding her bleeding hand as Kyp moved forward. "You can drop the invisibility act now, we know you're still here. I'm sure you think yourself rather clever, but you will pay for that." Without further ado he struck at general area where Saaran had put her hand with an electronic whip. While it did no lasting damage and left no mark, it was known for the intense pain it caused.
As soon as the whip struck, Mwynin turned inav. Biting her lip she did not cry out. They won't break me. I have to hold out....She'd dealt with pain before, she could hold out... Can I?
Saaran watched Kyp strike several times before chiming in. "Kyp, I want to use the whip. You're being too nice."
"Okay Saaran, but remember, we're not trying to kill her."
"Oh I won't kill her." Saaran responded as Kyp handed her the whip. She struck at the wall several more times, then stopped for a minute to listen for any sounds. ".
"Several more strokes and then we'll use something else.": Kyp told her after eleven of Saaran's vicious lashes had fallen
The flashes of blinding pain had stopped, for the moment. still Mwynin said nothing. She didn't trust her voice. If she opened her mouth she would just start to cry. I will not give them the pleasure of knowing how much this hurts. Hateful jedi!
Kyp and Saaran left the room after Saaran gave Mwynin several more lashes with the whip. They came back with a syringe. It was filled with a special spice. Used in moderation it was excellent for fighting the cold on planets like Hoth, but with the amount and they had and the purity of that amount it would over-stimulate Mwynin's heat receptors, making it feel like a second degree burn, just without the mark and damage. Mwynin held the syringe and stood just out of arms-reach from Mwynin. "Tell me what you did to my master or I'll stab you with this. It will hurt. And burn. you don't want me to. Now talk." She spoke in short sentences to convey her earnest point.
Mwynin raised an eyebrow at Saraan. "I didn't anything to your Master" she whispered in a hoarse voice and closed her eyes, awaiting the syringe.
"You're lying" Saaran said in a low voice. "If you have nothing to hide, then let me probe your mind, but if you don't let me probe you, I'll stab you with this syringe."
"Then go ahead. I'm not lying but you arn't looking into my mind." Once she is looking into my mind she can force me to tell her other things, NO, I won't give away my people.
Without words Saaran suddenly lunged and stabbed into the glassy shape she saw as Mwynin. The syringe emptied its contents into her. Saaran pulled the needle out and stepped back, waiting for the drug to do its work. A drop of purple liquid dripped on to the floor from Mwynin's arm. She squeezed her eyes shut as she felt the burning sensation begining, after a moment her arm felt as if it had been branded. and the firy sensation flowed into her shoulder and with a rush accross the rest of her body. Mwynin could not supress a moan as she fought down a scream of pain.
"Come, Saaran, it's time to go. Let's give our guest some time to think about and reconsider her atitude. Mwynin, we'll be back with more if you haven't changed your mind." Kyp spoke and then escorted Mwynin from the room.
The burning continued, Mwynin could hardly think at all. Her eyes blurred and smarted. Every inch of her seemed on fire. She realized the Jedi were gone but she didn't care they'd be back with something else all too soon...
"Well, how did it go?" Jarlath asked as Saaran stormed into the cockpit, followed by Kyp.
"It was fine. That creep suffered for what she did to Dart!"
"Whoa," Jarlath said. "I thought this was an interrogation. Not a punishment."
It hurt too much to think. These Sith and Jedi are all alike, cruel, disbelieving and vengeful. Mwynin closed her eyes, but the tears came anyway sliding down her glassy face leaveing faintly white streaks, like etching on an ice sculpture. I hate them.
In the cockpit a major argument was developing. Kyp walked in just as Jarlath and Saaran were arguing about punishment. "Saaran, Jarlath is right." Mwynin is innocent until proven guilty. We are only applyinmg pressure to make her talk. We can try again later to get her to talk. Meanwhile, I have a little surprise." He pushed a button on his console and immediately a deafening noise went off in the prison-room. "Every fifteen minutes this will go off so that Mwynin won't be able to sleep. Maybe the need for sleep will drive back her defenses."
Mwynin jerked at the wierd noise. What in the galaxy......? Mwynin relaxed, Are they trying to keep me awake? Well thanks for the favor, now they CAN'T get into my mind! She would have laughed, but it hurt too much.
About an hour later Jarlath entered the room with dinner for Mwynin. "Here, take some food while your still allowed to." He left the food and drink in Mwynin's reach and then left.
As the shields of Kasyyyk crashed, the Imperial transports and several wings of TIEs swept forwards and into Kashyyyk. From space, a Star Destroyer polished off the Wookie's northern shield generators but left the southern ones. As the ships flew over Kashyyyk, Wookie engineers routed all power on the planet through the Southern generators. The shield returned, but only half as strong as it had been. Any semi-serious bombardment could collapse it. Croak watched as the Imperial transports headed towards the treetops. He assumed they would try to land on the Wookie platforms. Already Wookie emergency response troops were waiting to repel the stortroopers before anything else could happen. To his horror, the ships didn't go for the platforms. Instead, they left their shilds on and began using them to cut right through Kashyyyk's vegetative canopy. The energy worked well for this barbaric pruning. As the ships sliced through tree limb and vine, A large wroshyr tree had ites trunk completely cut through. It began falling, As the kilometers tall plant fell, a wookie city that had rested in its branches fell with it. Thousands of Wookies were dumped into the deadly ecology of lower Kashyyyk, never to be seen again. The Empire has another thing coming if they think Kashyyyk will fall as easily as that tree Croak thought.
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Following the transports in her TIE Defender, Sev'rannce Tann felt the power of the force energy in this place. With so much life it was a veritable storehouse of force power. For fun, she fired her lasers and made deep gashes in one tree. Deciding to use energy on something more useful, she used the Wookies falling from the collapsing city as target practice. The other TIE gunners followed suit. Soon enough, the flight was over and huge gashes had been rent in Kashyyyk's ecosphere. It would take a long time for the planet to recover from the damage done by the slicing shields of the Imperial ships. Then again, we came for conquest, not vacation she thought to herself. As the troops began offloading, Tann saw that they would need a suitab;e area to camp in. Using the dark side, she killed everything in a large radius around the campsite. The lightning did an dexcellent job setting wood on fire. Fire that only she could control. As the droids began setting up the shelters and other portable buildings they had brought, Her force sense wandered across the planet. She noted with mild interest four jedi on Kashyyyk. She would deal with them later. For now, she had a war to start.
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Atop the massive government tree of Kashyyyk, Croak and the Wookie high command prepared a battle plan. They had been distributing bow-casters for hours now. The biggest problem as they saw it was the damage rent by those blasted transports. The Imps had caused irreperable damage to their planet by it. Now they had an infestation of enemies in thelower levels. Most of the leaders thoguht that the deadly lower ecology would deal with the foes, but Croak knew better. The Empire wouldn't have gone down there without a plan of action. He knew something was coming and coming soon. Suddenly an aid walked in.
"Sirs, there is something outside you must see." he growled. The pthers came out and Croak cried out in amazement at what he saw.
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On Kessel, Niun Nimb gaped at the size of the Imperial fleet that had just arrived in his airspace. The Sullustans there had no real fighting ships, just a few mothballed Headhunters and one old X-Wing from Incoms first batch. the fighters scrambled as TIEs swpet through thge air. Three Defenders dispatched from the main swarm as the rest kept moving, splitting into groups of Fighters and Bombers and moving for the main power stations and Atmosphere generators. He watched in amazement as the three Defenders proceeded to fly head on into the fire of his fighters without being scratched. They all opened fire at once, spinning and taking down the old fighters as easily as if they were doing a routine gunning exercise. He looked at the viewscreen and winced as power core after power core was pummeled by the TIEs. The Star Destroyers hadn't even moved from their positions in orbit. His display and the lights went dead when the last power core was beaten into dust. I guess we use mobile generators from now on he thought glumly as the emergency underground backups came online. these would only keep it up from four hours a day. His tactivcal screen came back only te reveal a massive formation of drop ships approaching. They're taking voer the whole planet he thought in amazement. Calling over the comm he spoke. "All hands to battle stations, prepare to repela surface assualt.
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On the Chimaera's bridge, Grand Admiral Pellaeon watched in approval as all the targets on Kessel went blank. Now only his droids could function on the planet. Any sentient would suffocate from Kessel's thin atmosphere. He weatched via remote viewscreen as wave after wave of droid troopers an dall their equipment was offloaded. Time to pay a visit to the spice mines and see what exactly the Sullustans would try.
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In the lowest levels of Kashyyyk, Sev'rannce Tann lifted her hands. A burst ofenergy leapt from them, incinerating anything in its path. It flowed into the air, a spike of Sith lightning that didn't stop until it hit the sjields high above the atmosphere. All over Kashyyyk Wookie's looked up to see the spectacle. The symbol of war was emblazoned across the night sky. Several cities near the spike felt its affect immediately. TIEs came swarming in as Wookie fighters left the ground to commence air-to-air battles. The TIEs were not the Quantum ones, they were still deadly. A wookie squadron swept forward to lead the defense as droids on STAPs and Jet Packs emerged from the surface. Others came in small atmospheric ships that landed and offloaded them. Firing repeatedly, they entered the Wookie city. A group of wookies in the city ceneter opened fire, cutting down several of the non-quantum-armored droids. AmTIE bomber silenced their weapons forever with a well-placed proton bomb. One Wookie punched a droid and knocked it over. As he lifted his foot to sromp its head in, The droids arm extended a vibro-sword which sliced the Wookies legs off. The droid stood up and finished its foe with a swift thrust of the vibro-blade. Seeing this, another wookie leapt forward and brought a large club down on the machines head. Its head collapsed and the computer chip was crunched into a thousand tiny parts. The Wookie bellowed in victory and turned, only to be cut down by blasterfire. The Wookie defense was helter-skelter at best. the battle in the skies raged on, the only evidence of it being the flashing lasers an dofcourse the odd wreckage raining from on high. The Wookies could never get into a knot to fire volleys because the blasted Bombers were always dropping proton bombs on them. With the city in flames, The last Wookie fighter spun a tight turn to avoid a Defenders lasers, only to clip its ing on the column of energy still blazing from the surface. It flew out of control and crashed into the one ship that left the city. Many more Wookies died as both ships crashed to the planetrs surface.
After she recieved reports of the first victory, Tann stopped the blast of energy. Itwas tiring to keep so much energy flowing. She sat down torest and await the pthre reports.
TIE fighters swarmed over the lush Kashyyk forests , their green lasers flashing into the trees, trying to frighten the Wookies into giving away their postions . A tall figure covered in fur, materialized out of the branches and raised its bowcasters, firing once . The quarrel impaled a TIE's engine coils, causing a spectacular explosion, wiping out two more of the un-shielded fighters . Immedately , more TIEs converged on the area and plastered the trees with laser fire . The Wookie known as Rarlblacca, grinned savagely, more Imperial ammo wasted on empty trees, where he had been just seconds before . His bowcaster draped over his shoulder, the massive Wookie leaped to another tree, landing far down on the trunk of the tree and using his climbing claws to scale back up almost effortlessly . He ducked as a droid manned STAP, flew over head . In an instant his bowcaster was back in his hands and aimed at the droid's retreating back . Ptchoo m m m , the bowcaster bucked in his grasp as the red blast . . . glanced off of the droid's back, leaving nothing , not even a smear of carbon scoring . Rarlbacca, glared in dismay as the STAP wheeled and jetted toward him, its guns firing relentlessly . The Wookie defender loaded a new type of ammo into his weapon, explosive quarrels, and shot at the droid's STAP . This time , an explosion rocked the treetops, Rarlbacca opened his eyes to see an un-damaged droid falling toward the farawy groun , limbs flailing . He growled low in his throat as he thought, These things are invincible !
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The battle was going in earnest now, droids jetting around on small jetpacks and STAP's, some on the tree bracnh walkways, but all shooting at the defending Wookies . Once in a while , a bowcaster would land a lucky shot on a jetpack or stap , blowing the droid's transportation into bits and hen the droid would fall, to a walkway, or to the ground, and the ground was a long ways off ., A Wookie leaped out of the trees and landed on a STAP, ripping the droid off and hurling it toward a gap in the branches . The droid dis-appeared, its electronic screams following its departure for a time, and then a explosion as the droid self-destructed . The Wookies fought bravely, knowing that they were the only ones standing between the droids and their homes . They were hardly any more droids on STAPS or jetpacks as the Wookies learned to blast their transportation out from under them .
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Grad Fortuune, a trader come to Kashyyk to trade for different trade goods, found himself caught in one of the worst fire fights of his life . He had fought in the Rebellion against the Empire and against the Yuzzhan Vong , but that had no weight against this . These were invincible killing machines that were attackin, not vulnerable stormtroopers . He waved a card-chip over a panel in his ship and opened a door, revealing hundreds of weapons, from back when, he was a weapons runner . He quickly distributed the guns, wincing as the massive Wookies ripped off trigger guards to make room for their huge fingers . The big guns could make a difference, he knew, but that didn't justify destroying their looks . Gran snatched his prize possession before a Wookie could and went out to fight . His Xerrol Nightstinger sniper Rifle was the best on the market . He aligned the barrel with a branch supporting a pair of droids and squeezed off a shot, grinning as the droids fell to their demise . He barely flinched as a blaster bolt found its way to the Wookie at his side but fired back at the droid, who had shot, dislodging it from its perch and making it fall also . He stood and emptied his remaing shots into the droids that were charging him, as the rifle ran dry, he gripped it around the barrel and got ready to club them down . As he charged forward, an invisible hand held Grad back, and looked back to see a glowing green laser and a quietly serene looking young man holding it ." The Jedi set him down and shouted " Run ." Grad watched as the Jedi leaped into the midst of the droids and cut them down with his lightsaber .
The Jedi was fighting bravely but he couldn't hold back the hordes of droids now coming for him and he dropped off of the branch, guiding his fall to another branch several dozen feet below . With a toss of his saber, he cut the branches bearing the droids and let them fall . Grad caught his eye and nodded in thanks .
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Three Jedi were fighting the droids in one spot . One a wookie had a massive blue blad which cut through droids, and then she would Force push them and send them toppling into the abyss . Another, a human had a X shaped lightsaber with four blades, he whirled it in an expert fashion, cutting through droids and deflcting laserfire . The last was a Shistaven Wolfman and had a regular yellow blade, slicing into droids and blasting them with the blaster in his other hand, oh ,he was having fun . Even though the blaster didn't work on the droid's armor, he could shoot other blaster bolts out of the air . They were putting up a valiant fight, until they had to seperate to help other fighters . The Wookie stashed his lightsaber on a bandolier and leaped from the tree, taking four droids with him, until he landed on another branch. The droids however, fell for about eight miles . The human with the four-bladed lightsaber, back flipped upwards and grabbed a trailing branch and then pulled himself onto the next level of brances . The last Jedi dropped a thermal detonater and dropped into a tiny speeder, flying away before the grenade exploded . The Wolfman grinned as he rocketed away, he had never been able to give up his other weapons, he had just added the lightsaber to his arsenal .
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Th red-blades of his lightsaber spun as Falun Justan , ducked and whirled through the hordes of droids . He and his three friends had thought that they would have a little vacation on Kashyyk . Just to get away from it all . Fat chance . Mere hours after they landed, a huge space battle had taken place and Kashyyk's air defenses and planetary shields were destroyed . Not cool, Falun had decided as he saw the flashes and meterorites of burning Republic ships come blazing to the surface . Then less than an hour later, huge ships had come down, sending out small transports full of droids . The first waves metal fighting machines were invincible to almost any attacks except tossing them into the waiting depths of Kashyyk , this was a sure kill until the enemy erected repulsor fields that held the droids until they were picked up by shuttles . Now the second waves of droids were easily killed by blasters or by simple Wookie man-handling . Falun tensed as he sensed danger behind him, and whirled, his lightsaber cutting through yet another droid's torso .
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Kelchuunara fought savagely, defending her home planet from the soul-less invaders . She was a seventy year old female, having left Kashyyk at sixty-six to become a Jedi and wander the galaxy . Now she found herself back on the green jungle planet, destroying droid after droid all to no avail , as after one plummeted to the depths, another rose up to take its place . Not they were hard to kill, just trying on her endurance . She felt more behind her and spun, to face three hundered or more droids , all with aimed blasters . Kelchuunara stepped to the side and dropped, her right hand grabbing a vine, swinging beneath the branch through a hail of blaster fire from the droids above . Her long green lightsaber cut into the inter-woven branches forming the walkway and it collapsed, sending most of the droids into the misty abyss . She growled and shouted at the falling droids in her own language of grunts, barks and howls , using the worst language she could think of .
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Ignosi deflected a laser with his lightsaber and shot at the droids with his pistol .These droids were a serious pain in the neck, the huge canine alien thought . He had dis-liked droids all of his life, though never destroying them . The Shistaven had come to think of droids as a part of life, not to be trusted, but useful . Ignosi cart-wheeled through a hail of lasers, and landed on his huge paws, a small patch of fur smoking from where a blaster bolt grazed it . He dodged behind a up-thrust branch and licked the wounded patch on his upper arm . He was still Shistaven, no matter what those high and mighty humans thought of his habits . Ignosi thought about how he had come here, a simple vacation, the humans had said . The wookie agreed with them, eager to see her home-planet . Ignosi snarled as he saw a pair of droids climbing up behind some Wookie defenders, and he raised his blaster and shot both of them in the back . He laughed vicously as they exploded , raining parts and fire down on other climbing droids . Ignosi sobered, remembering that a Jedi should not take pleasure in his enemy's demise .Baring his teeth, the Wolfman, lunged back around the tall branch and resumed firing on the droids .
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The droids continued to march despite the Wookie's valiant efforts . Time after time, a Wookie would shoot, droid would blow up, and two more would take its place . One droid ventured out on a thin branch, its red markings betraying it to be a sniper droid . As it surveyed the battle-grounds, looking for a target, a huge Wookie swung out of the tree tops on a cable and using its Bacca blade, chopped through the droid's flimsy neck . Carrying away the severed head as a trohpy, the black-furred Wookie almost made it to the safety of the branches, before the screaming lasers found their way to his back . A droid walked up to the writhing body and dis-passionately fired its blaster rifle at full automatic for a full four seconds into the helpless aliens body .Before the droid could turn, over a hundred bowcaster quarrels collided with it, causing a spectacular explosion . Over a hundred droids dis-embarked from a large shuttle, not even oneflinched as their transport exploded behind them . Wookies had brought up several concussion rifles, their huge blasts vaporizing the droids as they materialized through the foliage . The Wookies had illegal weaponry and were using it skillfully and then the droidekas came up . Shields flickered , lasers bouncing off of them, and the droideka's twin laser cannons began to fire, their barrels glowing red from the extended fire . A Wookie pushed several twigs out of his way and fired a concussion blast at the boughs above the droidekas, causing many large branches and logs to fall onto the droidekas, crushing them . The Wookie brought his weapon to bear on the other ranks of droids, but fell as every droid in sight , splattered his tree with laser fire . A large droid with quantum armor pushed its way to the front and opened up on the surrounding trees with a automatic repeating blaster . As the droids behind it fell to bowcaster fire, the droid continued its relentless assault on the defenders . Finally a pair of Wookies dropped out of the boughs behind it and grabbed the droid . One snapped its weapon in two and the other hurled the droid with all of his might at a nearby tree trunk . The impact rattled the droid and as it tried to stand and reach some weaponry, its circuits overloaded and it collapsed . One of the Wookies sprinted over to it and twisted its head around backwards and using a small can of liquid, painted over its sensors until it would be able to sense nothing at all when it recovered . Then both Wookies ran to the edge of the platform and leaped over a abyss of over eight miles depth . Landing far down on the next tree, they began the climb back to the fight .
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A lone droid detachement of troops found its way to one of the many small villages, splitting up , the droids began to search the seemingly abandonded settlement . One of the droids found its way to a large community hall type building, several blasts from its rifle brought the door down and it stepped inside, its sensors straining to cut through the darkness . As they re-aligned to give better vision, hundreds of Wookies came into focus, the very young and the very old, all of those from this village and un-able to fight, were in this building . The droid began to call for back up as it raised its blaster rifle and prepared to cut the aliens down where they stood . A tall shadow fell on the ground before it and its head pivoted to see its source . A huge Wookie stood there, its fangs shining in the low light, its black and silver fur making it almost invisible in the darkness . As the droid began to bring its weapon around to meet the new foe, the Wookie's arms shot forward, pulling the droid into a massive bear-hug, crushing it and then holding the droid out at arms length , the Wookie snapped it in two and sent both halves shooting out at its comrades . The Wookie let out an eerie howl, the sound echoing off of the trees and releasing a flood of similar howls, bellows, and roars . Then as one, the Wookie defenders of the village lunged out of the trees and wiped out all of the droids in the vicinity, in mere seconds .
As her workers finished scraping paint from the sensors of the final battle droid, Sev'rannce Tann looked out over the massive army she had prepared for the final assault on the Wookies. Already they had been driven back, with many small villages annihilated by the Imperial droids. It had been a costly campaign, but nothing compared to the resources that would be gained when Kashyyyk fell. Many of the Wookie cities had already surrendered, but one bloc was being very resistant. They had already repulsed two attacks, and all the rebellious Wookies were gathered there. She needed only to strike and finish the job. Unbeknownst to the Wookies, she had set up several factories on the ground, and droids were being turned out from them by the thousands. The resources were right there. Very few knew about the excellent mining opportunities of lower Kashyyyk. The factories wre heavily guardedm of course, the blasted creatures down here seemed to always be doing their best to wreck the Imperial camp. She had lost a number of un-armored droids to their razor sharp teeth and ripping claws. Soon she watched as frsh STAPs and jetpacks came off the assembly lines. The attack force was ready to move. With TIE fighters and bombers launching into the atmosphere and the droid army moving upwards, she took her place for the battle. An armored transport awaited her as soon as she signaled the attacks beginning. Raising her hands, she called the lightning to her and fired. A massive spike of lightning shot skywards, burnng a hole through the matted and ingrown branches the defenders first city rested on. The lightning caughjt some of the trees on fire and as Tann lifted off with thge first wave of battle droids, the city caught fire. The flames cast a freakish blu light over the entire scene as the wood burned.
The droid army emerged from the lower levels and moved forwards to the attack. Bowcasters fired and several jetpacks were demolished. The droids fell to the waiting repulsor nets below. Some of them struck against trees and left only a metallic smear on the massive giants. As the transport drew nearer to the battle, she felt the presence of four jedi. An enemy that might be worth coming up here for she thought. She felt the panic in the minds of the defenders as they desperately fought both the flames and the vanguard of the Imperial army. After some light skirmishing, the battle began in earnest. As the last of the flames was quenched, the main body of the droid army came up. With TIEs swarming overhead the droids begna landing. Blasters answered bowcxaster and both Wookie and droid were sent sailing into the depths of Kashyyyk. The repulsor nets had special guns built on the ground that shot anything organic that was caught in the net. Several Wookies tried an innovative tactic. They would fire once and then stop; until a droid came near, then all jump on it and beat it to pieces with clubs. This worked well until a q-armor droid came by. The clubs had no effect on it. The droid activated its vibro-sword and cut three of them down. It advanced on the fourth, swinging its weapon. The Wookie spun his staff and parried several blows. The droid worked him around so that the Wookies backw as to the main droid army. A blaster bolt cut him down. As the droid moved to return to the battle, he was sliced into four pieces by an X-shaped lightsaber. The four jedi emerged, blocking blaster bolts and advancing. Seeing them come, Sev'rannce Tann disembarked and moved to meet them.
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Falun Justan advanced on the black-robed woman. Maybe this is the infamous Imperial Sith-general. What a catch!! There's no way she can defeat us all. "Sev'rannce Tann?" He spoke. She answered with a lightning bolt that he barely blocked. He rushed forwards, swinging his weapons. Her yellow blade appeared from nowhere and parried his thrust. He felt himself being tossed backward by a crushing wave of Force and tried to absorb it , succeeding just enough to prevent himself from falling off of the huge tree . Looking down he gulped, he was slightly afraid of heights , Maybe coming here was not such a good idea, he thought, just as he felt Tann rushing at him from behind . Falun twisted around and blocked her blow, gasping in pain as the impact of the lightsaber on his own nearly ripped his arm out of its socket . This Chiss had some serious power . Flipping backwards he saw his friend, Het Fitine's lightsaber get crushed by a battle droid's huge hands . Falun worked a catch on his X-bladed lightsaber and suddenly he was holding two double-bladed lightsabers ." Het, catch ! he shouted as he threw one of the lightsabers toward his friend . As he re-activated the half-lightsaber, the formerly red blades came out as green . Falun had worked for weeks, trying to get the crystals to align properly where the blades would change color when he parted the doubled bladed sabers , now he had a working prototype . He advanced slowly, blocking Tanns blows eaily, but then as he deflected an over-head slice, he realized the cut had bee an diversion and his lightsaber fell apart in two peices . Tann had brought her saber around again and sliced through the saber . Amazingly, both halves still worked, Tann having chopped through the one place that would not destroy the entire lightsaber when cut there . He moved confidently, his two sabers easily out-matching Tann's one, or so he thought, as he fought, Tann went into full Sith mode, her ligthsaber becoming a simple flash of light as it cut throught the hilts of both halves of his lightsaber . Falun leaped back still clutching his useless weapon and prepared himself to die, even as he grabbed a short branch and broke it off, leaving him with a staff about seven feet long . Tann stared at the crazy Jedi , her lips curved up slightly in a menacing smile , suddenly, he felt a thudding blow to his knees and fell to the ground. The lightning burned into him and he rolled away from it. And right off to an eleven kilometer drop. And a very hard wroshyr branch.
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Kelchuunara bellowed when her friend fell, running at the hated Sith. as she braught her blade up to combat position a cascade of lightning caught her. She blocked most of it but a tiny bolt got through and scorched her. Crying out in rage and pain she ran forward again. The yellow lightsaber swung upwards, nearly decapitating her. A lucky duck was that saved her head. She stood up and then eralized that every stroke had a back-swing. The lightsaber sliced through her neck and down through her side. Sev'rannce Tann brought it back to en guarde position as the Wookie jedi fell.
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All across the skies Wookie fighters and TIEs flew about in a dance of death. Lasers flashed downed fighters spun towards the trees. A TIE bomber began a run aganst a knot of Wookies firing in concert as a Wookie fighter swept overhead, firing. The TIE went crashing into the trees. As the Wookie fighter flew away, an Interceptor swept forward and cut the group of Wookies to shreds wityh a few well-aimed laser blasts. The Wookies were putting up a good defense but they were slowly giving way against the onslaught of Imperial war machines.
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Ignosi howled a Shistaven battle cry and charged, his lightsaber held high and hard to see in the rays of the setting sun , his blaster firing uselessly as Tann blocked each laser bolt easily . Not waiting to counter his attack, Sev'rannce Tann moved against him. Her blade flashed too fast for him to see. Before he knew it, his weapon was flying through the air. His head followed it into the deepest levels of the forest.
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Grad Fortune sat in an incision into one of the trees. He and the last jedi had anice system worked out. Het Fitine blocked all the droid shots while Grad's Nightstinger took out droid after droid. Suddenly a dark-clad figure approached. He fired, only to have her deflect his shot back at him with a yellow lightsaber. The jedi deflected it off into the trees. She lifted her fingers.
"Get down as far in there as you can . NOW!!!!" The jedi called to Grad as blue lightning fired towards them. The jedi caught the lightning on his borrowed doubled-bladed lightsaber, his face pinched in concentration as he caught every salvo.
Sev'rannce Tann laughed as she watched how hard the jedi tried to block her attacks. Little did he know that the illegal weapons trader he was protecting was choking in his rat-hole. As the scum fell dead, she drew her blade and advanced on the jedi. Swinging several times he leapt at her. As he landed, she drew a force wave backwards against his knees. He fell at a funny angle. There was an audible POP as his right ACL snapped. He writhed in agony on the ground as she fired lightning to finish him. He gave a last rasping breath and died from the attack.
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Afters several hours of fierce fighting, the last Wookie defenders gave up. With no ammo left and droids surrounding them, Croak and his guards came out hands up. Croak signed a treaty officially turning Kashyyyk over to the Galactic Empire. With the honor of all Wookies behind his signature, Sev'rannce Tann could return to Bastion with the assurance that no more trouble would come from this area.
Luke looked up from the wounded Jedi as Rorn heaved a crate of supplies to the top of a stack next to him ." Where are the medical supplies, this man will die soon ." he asked hurredly, as he tried to put the wounded Jedi into a healing trance ." Whats wrong with the bacta tanks ?" Rorn puffed as he beckoned and another crate of supplies levitated through the door and toward them ." Full ." was Luke's curt reply as he felt the dying man's Force signature flicker and dis-appear . " Too late , he's gone ." he said quietly, his voice full of grief ." take the supplies to Cilghal ." he said, pointing at the Calimarian Jedi Master . " Rorn nodded and floated the open crate to Cilghal's side . Luke waved a hand at him, calling him back to his side ." Get some rest, Rorn . The droids can't find us here, there's nothing to worry about . You've been working all day and look, you're still in your workout clothes . Rorn nodded and walked over to a bunk next to Don, who had a few slight wounds, caused by stone splinters and fragments, shot off by blaster bolt ricochets . " I can't help but feel that I forgot something back at the temple ." he told Don ." Something important . " Don thought for an instant ans replied ." Uh, clothes, jewlery ? " At Rorn's shaken head , he continued . " Weapons, valuables, keepsakes ......" " Thats it ! " Rorn interupted," I forgot Saraan's lightsaber . And my trunk . I need to get them ." He said, rising and pacing cagedly ." So go get them . I'll help ." Don volunteered . Rorn looked at him doubtingly ," Uh Don, look at your arm . Its kinad all bloody and injured ." I don't think you can even make a fist ." Don stood up," Sure I can . Just watch ." he protested, holding up his arm and trying to ball up a fist ." Oh, OWWW ." he hollered, causing Jedi across the room to stare at them ." See, thats what I mean ." Said Rorn from behind a make shift screen where he was changing into his " working clothes ." He steeped out, wearing all black . Tunic, leggings and boots were all the same shade of sliken jet black , with the exception of a long silk sash that hung almost to the ground, the color of a Sith's lightsaber, crimson . Don nodded and said , " You look much better now , but you could have used a shower ."
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Rorn watched the droid walk right beneath him, blissfully unaware of his presence in the tree above it . He fingered his lightsaber in its sheath on his back, his hands itching to pull it out and slice into the killing machine , but he knew that his lightsaber couldn't make it through the cortosis ore armor, shielding the droids internal works . He clenched a fist and glanced at his gloved hand, the steel inserts in the fingures made a single punch capable of knocking out a human, why not a droid ? Rorn dropped down behind the sentry droid and tapped its shoulder, and as it turned, slugged it in the head . He shook his hand in pain as the droid toppled backwards , a large dent in its metal skull . " Man, he had a hard head." Rorn muttered . Still shaking his stinging hand, the Zabrak stepped behind a tree and mentally searched for the items he had come to recover . Lets see, Saraan's lightsaber should be on the wall in her room , he told himself, And the trunk is in my room in the storage bay . Rorn glanced around the tree to scan the area for droid sentries after he searched the area through the Force for living guards . Seeing none, The young Jedi iniate sprinted across the clearing and flattened himself against the stone wall, even as a large flight based droid appeared over the top of the Temple and glanced over the large clearing or training ground . As the droid moved back, powered by its two large jet turbines and repulsor lifts, Rorn sidled to the side and ripped the cover off of a large air-vent accesing the food-prepatory areas . Crawling inside, he lifted the grate with the Force and set it back in place . He breathed a sigh of relief as he once again escaped the scrutiny of the droid guards .Rorn then began the long crawl toward the end of the duct, moving with almost complete silence, deadening any sound he did make with the Force . He stopped as he heard the familar sound of a holo-projector activating, and Rorn glanced through a grate to see the ghostly holo-image of Ric Gronard appear in front of a droid commander ." I12, have you found the Jedi yet ?" Ric asked , not bothering with any sort of greeting but jumping straight to business ." No sir, we have not found them . We are currently investigating a small cave, heavy with the energy signature that you outlined for us, and are sweeping the jungle in arial patrols . " Ric snarled in anoyance, his dis-pleasure very evident . If the battle droid was capable of showing fear, Rorn believed that it did so then ." IF you cannot find the Jedi, by tommorow, set the jungle afire . Burn it to the ground and then I shall move in and pick up the pieces . For now, commence ground searches . Use tanks, speeders, STAPS, walkers, anything necassary to find those cowards ! " Ric shouted from the holo . I12, nodded and bowed, its limber joints portraying an politeness that obviously was not there . Rorn continued down the duct until he reached the kitchen areas, and once there, shoved the grate out with his foot and caught it with the Force before it hit the floor . He partially lifted his lightsaber from its sheath before replacing it and moving on . It was really no good against the droids, Rorn needed to find some other sort of weapons . Walking up to the rack of cooking utinsels, the Jedi removed several knives of various lengths . Also he pulled his own fighting vibro-blade from his tunic . This certain blade was over two-hundered years old, and as sturdy as they day it was made . THe blade was made of a nearly invincible alloy and the handle was the same, but inlaid with silver , gold and various jewels . The metal alloy was nearly useless as armor , as once it was cast, you couldn't drill a hole through it or bolt it to a ship . If it was cast to the ship's surface and it was somehow damaged, it couldn't be re-moved to re-place with new . The alloy was call ruranium, and was one of the most espensive metals known on Iridonia, its place of origin . Rorn had recieved the vibro-blade from his father and had slipped it into his a duffel of clothes that he stored in his blade-craft . So now he had it with him, and it was going to kill droids . He slid through the swinging doors into the dining area and threw a small knife directly at a droid across the room . The small kitchen tool thudded into the droid's motion relays, freezing it in place, and also preventing it from using its comlink . Rorn snatched its blaster rifle and de-activated the droid , using its external power switch, almost hidden beneath a plate of armor . That was useful , Rorn thought, patting the dead machine lightly on the shoulder . In an instant, he remembered the disiplines taught him in the Iridonian Honor Guard and the slight bit of humor dis-appeared from his face as if it had been severed by a knife . Expression less, his face looked like a killer's .He had felt the up-heaval in the Force of et another Jedi, dying from his wounds . Rorn glanced through a door, his eyes glinting dangerously, seeing nothing, he slid through the hall like a shadow and moved into the alcove leading to the stairs . Rorn climbed the stairs silently, listening for any sort of sound that might betray a droid's presence . Reaching the top, he laid his head flat on the floor and pushed out into the hall, looking for any enemies. Still nothing . Jumping back to his feet, Rorn pulled the vibro-blade from its sheath and glanced into each room as he passed it, checking for potential hazards .As he stepped into Saraan's quarters and headed for the wall that her lightsaber hung on, Rorn heard the beeping of a droids neuroprocesser activating and the droid clanking down the hall . Rorn mentally kicked himself as he realized what he had done . He had stepped into the invisible sensor field that surrounded the de-activated droid and now the machine was coming after him . His vibro-blade began to whirr gently in his hand as the Zabrak crouched against the wall beside the door, he had to be ready for anything . The tip of the droid's blaster poked through the door and Rorn tensed, ready to spring but then the droid turned and began to walk back toward its re-charge station . Rorn sighed in relief and then froze in horror as the droid stopped and turned back toward the door, its sensors straining for the source of the slight sound . Rorn set himself and sprung, leaping through the doorway and flinging his vibro-blade hand forward into the droid's head . The droid forze, all of its main motor controls destroyed and slowly its red sensor lights flickered out . Rorn re-moved his vibro-blade from the droid's cranium and dragged the body into a room , away from suspicious eyes . Then he walked back into Saraan's room and over to the weapons on the wall . He picked up Saraan's lightsaber, admiring the simple design and slipped it onto his belt . Glancing back over the rack, Rorn's eyes fell upon Dart Heath's lightsaber . Hesitating slightly, Rorn snatched the weapon and clipped it to the back of his belt . Turning he walked over to the smalll heap of crystal shards , still atop a small stand and picked up a few of the larger pieces .Then Rorn stepped out side the door and began toward his own room . Avoiding one droid sentry along the way, Rorn reached his quarters and slid inside and over to a long trunk next to the wall .Reaching down, he activated the minature repulsor lifts that made the trunk easier to handle, then he began to pull it toward the door . As the Jedi pulled te cumbersome chest toward the door, its repulsors gliding silently, a tall shadow fell over the floor, coming from the doorway . Rorn slowly looked up as the un-mistakable hiss of a lightsaber activating filled the air . A man with red skin floated in the doorway, his lower half gone, replaced with a repulsor lift, lightsabers in his hands . " You will die ." the Sith said simply . Rorn reached over his shoulder to his lightsaber and pulled it from its sheath, activating the deep blue blades ," Before I kill someone, I usually like to know their name sp I can mark their grave accordingly . I am Rorn Korbchek . And you are ? " Rorn asked in a low voice . " Darth Rakar , Dark lord of the Sith and your executor ." Rorn shook his head slightly and suddenly flipped back wards out of the open window . As he fell toward the distat ground, he activated a small panel on his belt and pressed in a code . Rakar flew through the window and after Rorn as the closet door in Rorn's room opened a crack . R4-Z9 rolled out and began to direct the chest toward the droid's landing bay . Outside, Rorn landed on one knee and a hand and came up put of his crouch , deflecting several salvos of laser fire, back at the droids, from whence they came .Several droids fell and the others activated force sheilds around them, and prepared to fire again . Rakar came down to his noraml height and waved them aside, pointing a lightsaber at Rorn, he thundered ." I have never been defeated, and espiachaly not by a tiny whelp like you ." Rorn smirked a little bit and moved his lightsaber behind him, holding it like a quarter-staff and with his other hand , made a little " Come and get some " gesture . Darth Rakar waved his weapons at Rorn in anger and jetted toward him . Rorn waited until the last possible instant and leaped straight up, blocking a clumsily dealt blow from Rakar and landing on top of a small boulder . His lightsaber whirled and came to rest in a defensive postion , ready for Rakar's next move .
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R4-Z9 dragged the trunk up to a small speeder and loaded it inside, pulling himself in after it . Spinning his head around, his gaze fell on a terminal for droid usage . Rolling over to it, his " hacking " attachment slid out and into the terminal . He then controlled the speeder and told it to exit the landing bay . R4 activated the small blaster cannon and fired a few rounds into the guard droid ranks, causing complete mayhem, as they were programmed not to destroy their own vehicles or each other . R4 would have smiled when he realized this , but he did not have the facilities to do so, instead, his accelerated and ran down the remaining droids, scratching the speeder's paint job and causing more than cosmetic damage to the droids . Then he pulled up to where Rorn and Rakar were fighting and waited .
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Rorn was using all of his strength to block Darth Rakar's massive blows, and frankly, it wasn't enough . Rakar was not human, and his alien strength was even more than Rorn's, and his repulsor lift granted him great speed . Rorn's reflexes were much better but Rakar's brute strength was breaking him down . Rorn used the Force and shoved Rakar back, grimacing in annoyance as Rakar's repulsor lift kept him from stumbling . Rakar transferred one of his lightsabers to his other hand and shot a blast of lightning at Rorn . Rorn rolled away from the Dark Side power and caught it on his saber as Rakar aimed at his new position . Rorn lunged foward his lightsaber deflecting the lightning into the ground and sliced into Rakar's repulor lift . Rakar knocked Rorn's saber away, but the damage was already done . Slowly the lift fell to the ground as Rakar tried to activate the back up unit . As Rorn prepared to finish him, a blue lightsaber lashed out and cut into Rorn's upper right arm . Rorn screamed in pain and whirled to see a young male Cathar holding a icy blue lightsaber . He moved forward sluggishly, his lightsaber held loosely in his left hand . The Cathar grinned evil'y , displaying long sharp fangs and leaped toward Rorn, his lightsaber held high . Rorn waited and at the last possible instant, rolled to the side and and to the wating speeder, piloted by R4 . Vaulting inside, Rorn shouted ," Go, get out of here >" at the droid . R4 complied and turned the speeder toward the jungle just as the Cathar concentrated a blast of Force energy and pulled Rorn's lightsaber from his hand . Rorn turned and nearly leapt out after before succumbing to weakness from his wound . R4 piloted the speeder in the opposite direction from the refuge Temple and then to it .
Saraan sat in the ship's deserted cockpit, her shoulders silently shaking with sobs . Tears fell to the floor, forming a rather large wet stain on the carpeting . She had never felt so sad or ashamed in her entire life . Torture was something a Sith did, not Jedi . And when she looked at the prisoner, writhing in pain from their latest drug or torture, she couldn't help but feel a sense of wrong . In the back of her head, the more rational part of her argued that if this was Dart's killer, she would have confessed by now, to avoid the pain and suffering , while her other side, the side that was still very much angry over Dart's death and the destruction of his memory crystal, argued that the prisoner was Sith and was just being stubbornm afterall she did have a red lightsaber .Saraan stood, her back screaming at her in cramps, and stretched before walking toward the prisoner's cell . As she reached the hall before the cell , she stopped and composed herself , not wanting to appear weak to the captive . Stepping around the corner, Saraan realized it had been a futile gesture, for the alien girl lay against the wall, still held up by the chains and unconsious . Her head rolled back and forth and she moaned in pain at frequent intervals . Saraan saw the burn marks left by the force-whip she had used earlier and flinched in shame . Walking over to the med-cabinet , near the door, she lifted out a universal pain-killer, guaranteed to be non-toxic to most species . Saraan filled a hypo-spray and opened the cell's force-field door .Kneeling beside the blue-skinned girl, Saraan held the hypo-spray against her neck . When she didn't feel a warning tinge from the Force, Saraan pressed the trigger and released the medicine into the captive's bloodstream, chasing away the agony .As she stood, the alien girls eyes opened, gazing at Saraan in a blank stare, seemingly not recognizing her , then her eyes closed again . Saraan slowly walked out of the room . As she left, Saraan heard the ear-splitting screech that Kyp had turned on to keep the prisoner from sleeping .
By Tien
A smooth downswing and a lightning fast left sweep finished the routine. Deena returned to the exact poised position she had started in: feet turned to the left and both arms at forty five degree angles to her body, broadsword tip two inches above the floor.
The only way a casual observer could tell that the last two hours had been an intensive sword form/practice would be from her heavier breathing and light sweat on her forehead.
Deena stood like this, eyes half closed, for a few minuets and then sheathed her sword with a sigh.
It had helped, but she was still angry.
I’ll sure feel this one in the morning. She smiled wryly. Oh well it was worth it.She slid into a chair and propped her feet on the table. Stretching out in the force she checked the status of her ship, Darkfire. All systems clear and in working order. Good. That little brush with the mad Sith “master” had put her in a foul mood: and not in any state to mess with a finiky ship.
Her master, Foth Urr, had died recently. Although he was not a strong master, using his cunning rather than raw force power, Foth had taught Deena well. Yet even a dark Jedi Master can only fight off disease so well, he’d succumbed to the Eis Plague three months ago. It was a bitter loss to Deena: they had been close. Although she was nearly equal to Urr, he had insisted she was destined for greater power and must seek out training from a “rising Master”.
Every “rising Master” she’d dealt with was not worth her time.
The one called Slintronious might have been, at the height of his power, but his apprentice had put the old dotard to shame.
The apprentice, Rit, or whatever, was some sort of mutant. Deena didn’t trust mutants. Never have, never will.
And this Dagmar was obviously mad. Powerful, yes, but absolutely mad. Deena had no patience with madmen.
So now she had a choice.
She could either re-enter the empire, seeing if she could trace the rumors of the famed Sev’rance Tann (taking the gamble on not being recognized) or she would have continue on her own.
Neither option appealed to her.
***********More to come************
From the Bridge of the Chimaera Grand Admiral Pellaeon watched as the massive droid energy pummels chewed their way through the blast doors. The Sullustans hadn't been cowering while his troops secured the surface, instead, they had changed the one entrance into the mine from a normal blast door into a wallof duracrete several meters thick. It was taking longer than expected to get through. Once into the mines, the droid army shouldn't have a problem. Sullustans may be good diggers, but the troops of the empire were nigh invincible. Despite this slight setback, he was in pretty good spirits. Kirkosh had already reported success on Neimoidia and he had just recieved a report from Sev'rannce Tann that the Wookies had given in after fierce fighting. He also was pleased to hear of the extra ore veins discovered in lower Kashyyyk. They might even be worth the cost of defending the mining outposts against the deadly ecology of lower Kashyyyk.
"Admiral Pellaeon, sir." A voice interrupted his thoughts, "The pummels have broken through. Your orders?"
"Send all troops into the minds. Instruct General Sifran to conduct the attack as he sees fit, but keep me updated on every new developement."
"As ordered, sir" The voice replied. Switching his viewscreen to the holocams on the planet, Pellaeon watched as a group of battle droids advanced. As they came forwards, blasterfire erupted from the entrance. The company of scouts, not equipped with the Empires vaunted Quantum Armor, was cut to ribbons. The survivors began firing as fresh troops came up. With them was an AT-AT Walker. Several blasts from the Walker's guns and the fire from the cave stopped. Led by q-armored droids, the Imperial Third Army advanced into the caves. As they dissappeared from the cameras view, a klaxon began baying. Red lights flashed and Pellaeon switched his screen to a command holo. What he saw was ship after ship exiting hyperspace. Somehow the Sullustans must have cracked his jamming. Or they used some other method of communication. Somehow, the Federation knew he was there. Exactly four point five seconds after the first klaxons began their sound, his comm was in his hand as he ordered, "All hands to battle stations. TIEs launch. Destroyers in formation D-Alpha-4." Looking at his status board, he saw the ships moving into position as the enemy fleet swept forward.
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As her ships arrived at Bastion, Sev'rannce Tann felt something in the force. The force at Kessel was in danger She grabbed a comm and sent a broadcast across all channels. "This is General Sev'rannce Tann. All Expeditionary force ships head for Kessel on the double. We have trouble." The crack Imperial crews, all of them still aboard their ships, immediately had the Kashyyyk armada moving. The Neimoidia force on Bastion was rushing to shuttles to get to their ships. The forces of the Empire were rallying to move against this new threat.
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On the deck of the Ralroost, Admiral Kre'fey let out a whoop as he watched Pellaeon's fleet scramble into a defensive position. This visit to Kessel had been planned for a while, ships and all, to check into the mining operations there. He had suspected that the Sullustans were participating in some marginally legal methods. In fact, the latest rumor had them planning some sort of big thing. He had come prepared, a force complete with ground troops. From what he could see, however, Kessel had lost all power stations and atmospheric generators to Pellaeon's attack. The ground forces would be useless. Still, he might be able to badly damage the Imperial fleet here. Maybe even capture its commander, Pellaeon himself. His fighters fannign out to form an advance screen, Kre'fey prepared for battle. As TIEs and Federation ships clashed, the capitol ships began exchanging ranging shots.
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Rather normal ranging shots, Pellaeon had something else in mind. He ordered each set of two destroyers to concentrate all fire on a smaller republic ship, Assault frigate at the largest. With no support ships the bigger Federation ships would be at a decided disadvantage. Streaks of green laser fire began filling space as TIEs swept the fighters aside. One group of X-wings, however, was giving lots of trouble. A squadron of TIE fighters moved against them, lasers flashing. The X-wings twisted and turned, dodging the TIEs lsers with ease and reducing more Imperila fighters to space junk. As the X-wings reassembled, two TIE Phantoms came up, firing. The Phantoms caught several X-wings right away, but one was especially tricky, spinning and dodging again and again, until it crossed paths with a TIE Interceptors laser blasts. The Star Destroyers had all but decimated the Federation support ships. Several of them began turning their guns on the undamaged Mon Cal Cruisers and Federation Star Destroyers. The Imperial ships, while having slightly lower shields, had more support ships left.
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At the Federation base of Ber Gundall, a ship emerged from hyperspace. It was a battle-scarred A-wing. The pilot sent a message the base.
"Federation troops, their is a major battle shaping up around Kessel. Your aid is required. Admiral Kre'fey is in need." The ships at the base began launching, eager to joi in the action. The A-wing docked with the bases biggest ship, a new Mon Cal Star Cruiser named Defender of Freedom. The reinforcements launched into hyperspace just after sending a message to the rest of Federation's fourth fleet: Converge on Kessel.
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The Imperial Expeditionary Force hurtled through hyperspace, pushing .6 to reach Kessel in time. Sev;rannce Tann could feel each minute bringing defeat for Pellaeon's ships closer and closer.
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The arrival of the Gundall ships on the Imeprial left flank had gone a long ways towards quashing Pellaeon's good mood. Though the Empire had had the advantage early, now the enemy fleet was systematically driving them back. His destroyers were all taking a pounding as wave after wave of Federation fighters swept agains the now-overwhelmed TIEs. Worse, the enemy was jamming all transmissions, as they had been since the first ships arrived. They were here and becasue of their position they were trapped in Kessel's gravity shadow. The Federation's Fourth Fleet was arriving, more ships every hour, and the Imperials wer now outnumbered two-to-one. Still, Pellaeon fought, though privately conceding that they needed Sev'rannce Tann to whistle up one of her force-aided miracles to save them. A burst of light caught his attention as another Nebulon B Frigate lost shields and had its engines blow. The doomed ship began raining escape pods as it fell planetwards.
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Admiral Kre'fey was nearly beside himself with joy as he watched Pellaeon finally concede disaster and move his ships into a last-ditch defense formation. The ships of the Fourth Fleet advanced, turbolasers flashing. We've got him Kre'fey thought triumphantly. We've got him
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Sev'rannce Tann, pushing her Defender faster than the rest of the fleet, arrived on the scene first to see the Imperial fleet in a last-ditch formation, being systematically battered by over 100 Federation warships. She could feel the confidence, even arrogance, dripping from the Federation crews as it began to sink in to them what they ahd here. She smiled eveilly. Won't they be surprised she thought. On cue, The ships of the Imperial Expeditionary Force swept out of hyperspace and to the rear of the Federation fleet. As the Federation rear ships turned and began firing at the oncoming Star Destroyers, their commanders fervently wishing for more fighters, Tann could feel elements of the Imperila Ninth Fleet arriving. She had personally ordered them to the battle. As the Expeditionary Fleet closed in from behind and the Ninth swept in from the right, Pellaeon's ships began moving forward as well. Caught in a three-way pincer, the Federation ships began rushing to the only open way. With TIEs sweeping ahead of them, the Exuberant Imperial forces pressed on. As the enemy ships began leaving into hyperspace, The Imperials started concentrating their fire on the largest ships. Four large Mon Cal Cruisers were destroyed in seconds as some captains began blind-jumping out of there to escape the victorious forces of the Empire. As if to put an exclamation point on the victory, a transm ission came from Kessel: Mission complete. The spice mines are in Imperial hands!
On Yavin 4, Luke Skywalker slept uneasily. His sleep was troubles with dreams and memories from the past. All of them ending in Darkness. The force was trying to tell him something, but what, he didn't know what. He tossed and turned, but still, the answer to all the riddles eluded him. The darkness seemed ever-present, but he couldn't tell what the force was telling him. Somehow, though it seemed urgent. He decided that insterad of sleping he would meditate, to try and find the answer to these puzzling dreams. Walking to the top of the make-shift temple, he watched the stars high above him. As he sank into the force, he could feel the pure of evil of the Sith that had attacked the temple. But even more, he felt traces of the planet Byss. As he meditated, it became increasingly clear to him that he and Mara should go to Byss. There was somethign there that they needed to do. What it was, he didn't know, but the force had never played him false before. Rousing Mara, the two of them gathered their weapons and awoke Corran. Luke informed him of their trip and gave him instructions about how to keep the jedi together while they were gone. Secretly, they boarded an academy transport and took off, bound for Byss.
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On Bastion, Sev'rannce Tann was also having a rough night. She never put muchs tock in dreams and visions not by the seers, but this seemed so clear. The signs all pointed to the planet Byss as having something key to the war. Even if this was false, like most of her 'visions' were, at least she could put paid to Slintronius while at Byss.
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The ancient stone tablet sat, with its inscription. An inscription of death, and inscription of war, and inscription of doom. Placed away in a chamber that only a force-user could access, the fateful prophecy awaited its visitors. The final doom spoken by the him would soon be discovered.
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As Luke and Mara's transport moved through space, Luke heard a cough. walking over to the source of the cough, he came across Eoghan, nestled in the back compartment.
"Eoghan, what are you doing here?" he asked the young padawan. Startled, Eoghan stammered
'W-w-well, I was sleeping when I heard you and Mara leaving. I wanted to go with you to see what you are doing. Where are we going?"
"To Byss," Luke replied, 'And it appears your going with us."
"Me, go to BYss?" Eoghans eyes grew big and he shrank back. "No, please, not Byss. Master Jacen says that is the most evil planet ever. Please, not Byss. I didn't mean to cause trouble, I promise. I'll----"
"No excuses, this trip is important. You stowed away and now your going to Byss." The edge in Mara's voice and the glare in her eyes put an end to the argument.
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Sev'rannce Tann boarded her Defender and launched for Byss, going to uncover whatever was there. And to give Slintronius a visit. As she neared Byss, a transport landing didn't escape her eye. To surprise Slintronius, she had been keeping a low presence in the force. Now, it became a total cloak. She could feel Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker on board the enemy shuttle. She hid her ship well and activated its auto-defense systems before entering Palpatines massive palace. Drawn by a strange feeling in the force, she walked into a room. In the room she saw a stone tablet with Sith writing on it. As she gazed at it, she read the inscription.
When shades of warriors past arise
Nine and One is Seven
The blazing eyes of victory
Nine and One is Seven
The lightning burst and cunning plan
Nine and One is Seven
The Yellow blade and Artists brush
Nine and One is Seven
Then, will come the fall of the rebellion
Nine and One is Seven
Before I post the answer, anyone have a guess at what the prophecy means?
Defeat . Troops of the Republic had been defeated at a oval shaped planet . Ships had exploded, sending countless lives into death . Now, Luke and Mara were leaving Yavin 4, a young Jedi iniate sneaking onto their ship and stowing away . At their destination, two persons of evil awaited them, battling between each other with the Dark Side of the Force . Lightsabers clashed, lightning struck, the very air was altered by the intensity of the Dark Side .
Rorn snapped out of his healing trance, gasping for air . He recognized his surroundings as the med bay in the make shift Jedi Temple . Rorn lightly tapped on the bacta tank's walls, trying to get the med droid's attention, but it appeared to be in a sort of sleep, recharging at the power station across the room . Rorn grimaced inside his oxygen mask, thinking about the droid's tiny reception fields . Turning to outside help, Rorn reached out in the Force until he felt Don's sleeping presence . Quickly, Rorn shook him awake, and sent him a message telling him to get him out of this thing before he suffocated from claustrophobia or just because Rorn hated the feel of bacta on his skin . About five minutes later Don, stumbled sleepily into the room, his clothes in a svere state of disarray and deactivated the bacta tank, pulling Rorn out by the safety harness meant for that purpose . When Rorn could speak again, he gasped out , " Thanks, now where's Luke ?" Don wiped the sleep from his eyes and mumbled, " Probably in his bed, like any sane person , like I was ." Rorn smiled, " Sorry Don, just couldn't stand being i that tank any longer and the droid wouldn't wake up ." Don shook his head, and stood, tossing Rorn some dry, clean clothes ." Sorry, but your out fit you were wearing on your mission, got ruined ." Rorn stood and began to slip into the clothes and said ." Its alright . I got tons of those clothes, but was the red sash ruined ?" Don shook his head ." No, it was like invincible, the droids couldn't cut it off, so they had one of us untie it . Its being washed by a labor droid , right now ."Rorn nodded and said ," My lightsaber ? And Saraan's ? " Don didn't meet Rorn's eyes and said ," I have Saraan's lightsaber and Master Dart's inmy ruck sack, but yours wasn't on you and you were mumbling about That sith stealing it ." Rorn screwed up his face, trying to remember . " I did ? I remember fighting a Sith who had no legs, he flew around on a repulsor lift . And another, a cathar, came up and saved the other Sith . He must have taken my saber ." Don nodded ," That may be what happened . R4 might know what did happen ." Rorn acknowledged this and tried to stand . His legs wobbled, weak from his stay in the bacta tank and his arm was stiff where the Cathar's lightsaber had carved away the flesh . " Wow, I hate bacta ." he muttered . " It gives me like a hangover ." Don nodded in sympathy, " Its because your a Zabrak . The Med-droids said your species had a uniqe physiology ." Rorn nodded, wincing in pain ." Yep, thats it ."
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Hyrinin strode briskly into Ric's make shift throne room , carrying the captured lightsaber at his side . " Master Gronard , I think you will be interested in this ." and activated the lightsaner, the blue blades sparkling in the dim light . Ric turned at the sound and started visibly when he saw the familiar weapon . " That is the lightsaber of Rorn Korbchek . We were friends for a season, he turning from his Jedi training and learning from me the ways of the dark side . I watched him build this saber ." Hyrinin walked closer and tossed the Jedi weapon to Ric, who snatched it out of the air, his clawed hands curling around the metal cylinder in a possesive manner . " Where is he ?" he growled, his eyes flashing with fire . " He was trying to escape the temple and defeated Lord Rakar, who I was able to save . I took his weapon as he was leaving ." Hyrinin said quickly, not wanting to make the mutant Stih Lord any more angry . Ric nodded and walked out of the room, Rorn's lightsaber clenched in his claws .
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Jhon's ship dropped out of hyper-space, the heavily modified engines whining as he slowed to a quick stop . Since Master Skywalker asked him to find the missing Durron, Cadman and Loees , he had come up against one duracrete wall after another . These Jedi hid their trail well, he mused , too well . Jhon rubbed the left side of his face where his eye had once been, now replaced by a sensor implant ( Like captain Tycho's from episode 2, Padme's escort ) that could zero in on a bounty from hundreds of yards away . He had lost his eye in a battle with a crazy Voth, banished from its own people because it would kill without a reason at all, and Voth's did nothing without a reason . Jhon had not killed the crazed alien, but sent it back to its own people for punishment . Now as his thoughts came back to the present, Jhon gasped as he saw the ships surrounding the world know as Kessel . Thousands of TIE fighters swarmed about huge Star Destroyers resting in orbit around the strange shaped world . The mining planet had been under attack before, Jhon knew, but never like this . Kessel had been taken over, the mining operations slowed by the inexperience of the new slavelords . Cursing under his breath Jhon set course for a different planet . He would have to refuel somewhere else .
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Wik paced angrily across the large hangar bay, his steps echoing off of the stone walls . " Calm down . Your're wearing a path in the flooring ." Fallo said from where she was perched atop her tiny blue fighter, remodulating the sheilds . " Shut up, Fallo . You are happy because you can work on your fighter . The Jedi are happy because they got time to meditate . But I got nothing to do, nothing at all . Those stupid droids have us pinned down in here and they don't even know where we are ." He angrily walked down a few paces , and glared at a particularly annoying protocol droid that had been brought in by Don a few moments ago . Since its arrival, it had cheerfully destroyed three packs of food, four blasters and scratched the paint on Wik's gun-boat . Wik could'nt take its annoying prattle anymore, and pulling a blaster, blew off the top of its head . Don stepped in just as the droid toppled over , next to his feet . He slowly looked up at Wik who said ," Don't even say a word ."
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Ric fitted the lightsaber back together, and actvated the blue blades of light . Twirling the lightsaber, he stepped back from the workbench . His eyes picked up the radiating light from the saber and glowed a mixture of red and blue . Ric had not used a double-bladed lightsaer in some time, preferring to beat down an opponent with a sinlge blade, but he had to admit, the weapon felt good in his hands . He had modified the lightsaber, with a new power converter that would not short out when the blade touched water or cortosis ore . Ric deactivated Rorn's saber and hung it from his belt , then walked out of the large room, formerly the quarters of Luke Skywalker .
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Leia wakled into the large gymnasium in the Republic palace and watched Vorn Kolar, Rorn's cousin try to shoot a target on the far side of the room . His sister Dorna was combating a training remote with her brother's lightsaber, as hers had been destroyed . Han was beating Vorn easily in their target practice, his blaster bucking in his hand and blowing the holo-targets into thousands of sparks . Leia thought about the Sith woman who had broken into the Palace and nearly killed Han, and her hands clenched . I will kill you, Sev'Rance Tann . She thought .
By Meself
Ari felt shaking a bumping then she heard repulser lifts she lifted into the air but not that far up.
She looked around and saw nothing but black and wondered for a little while if she had died. " No, I couldn't have! I havn't done any thing, although the air is very stuffy". She thought;
The ride was a little more smooth now. She tried to sit up and bumped her head. She heard voices and igniting light sabers she stayed very still. She'd stopped, then she started moving again she no longer heard the voices. Suddenly she stopped CLANK! She was jolted down wards hard. She heard the sound of some sort of ship firing.
She looked around again and began to wonder were she was. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Suddenly it came back to her, she had been in her room in the jedi temple, she'd seen a few armed droids she'd ran into somebody else's room. She'd seen a trunk. She'd opened it climbed in. Then she'd fallen asleep. She pushed up at the top of the trunk "Auch! is lo'ke' i' is!" She mumbled to herself. She felt movement once more, but the trunk wasn't moving the ground beneath it was. Ari tried to concentrate on the force to find out were she was. She found out she was in a ship there was another person and a droid on the ship. She began giggling. She couldn't concentrate much more. She heard foot steps coming towards her. She became quiet she heard a voice saying "I thought I heard something over here R4!" she heard more foot steps and the same voice saying " I don't see any one, but I can feel it in the force there's somebody else aboard." Ari froze. She heard a click and then saw the lid of the trunk come up. She looked up and nearly screamed as she saw a black and red face with horns instead of hair a humanoid alien wearing black. "WHAT IN THE BLAZES?!??!" the black on said "Where did you come from and why are you in my trunk!???" He asked. Ari gave one of her big grins and winked "Is verah stooffeh in the'e ya shou'' pot so'e sor' o' a'r ho'e in der! Hi Ah'm Areh."
Rorn paused, slightly trying to decode Ari's odd accent it was like nothing he'd ever heard.
"Ari eh? I'm Rorn this is R4-Z9 what were you doing in my trunk?" Rorn asked. Ari stepped out of the trunk she was about 10 inches smaller than Rorn she looked up and stared him right in the eye and said, very seriously, "Ah wa' hidin'" Rorn rolled his eyes. "I noticed that! What were you hiding from." Rorn asked, a hint of frustration in his voice, although this strange young girl was kinda funny. "Ah we'e hidin' fro' deh d'oi's" Ari answered. Rorn shrugged and said, " well, were are you going now?" "uhhhh" Ari thought "Wid ya!" she said smiling. "Fine" Rorn answered, this small girl was very frustrating but he could sense she wasn't dangerous, so he thought...
Even with Sev'rannce Tann gone on a swift mission to Byssm the Imperial War Machine never slept. Deep in the Imperial Archives on Bastion, Grand Admiral Pellaeon sat, alone, reading through the next set of highly classified records. I wish We'd gotten Disra's access code, or that clundering courier hadn't lost Ghent's Kirkosh was out with a squadron hunting the courier who had dissappeared en route from Yaga Minor. The code had just sat there, lost in the aftermath of that first peace treaty, until someone had come accross it and sent it to Pellaeon. Except now the courier was missing. Well, if Kirkosh doesn't find him I can send Tann after him. She'll get him He thought as he read through yet another record of the 501st wiping out dissent. Palpatine had classified so many of these reports he was getting tired of reading them. Suddenly, he came across a file with a second encrypt on it. The encrypt intrigued him, it was so different from the rest. So mmuch more artistic. It was not only unintelligible, it was beautiful. It reminded him of his time under Thrawn. If that thrice-cursed sneak hadn't........ his thoughts trailed off into old anger and bitterness. If he was going to crack this encrypt he would need a clear mind. This was a project for himself and himself only. No slicer would be trusted with this.
Five hours, he worked feverishly on the encrypt. Calling up all his old training in slicing, he managed to get the first few words de-crypted. This is one tough nut to crack he thought. He worked for another five hours before an aide approached.
"Admiral Pellaeon, sir, you've been down here for hours. Are you hungry, sir?" The aide asked.
"No, I am working. Please do not disturb me from now on. I am very busy. Only tell me unless there is an emergency," Pellaeon answered. The aide departed and Pellaeon continued working on the file. It took two more hours, but he finally cracked it.
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Imperial Record of Deployement
Rank: Grand Admiral
Name: Thrawn
Place Deployed: Unknown Regions
Troops Under Commadn: Imperial 101st Expeditionary Fleet, Imperial 81st Stormtrooper Legion, Peronsal Command Troops
Officers of note: Captain Parck
Stated Mission: Establsih Imperial Control in the Unkown Regions
Success of Mission: N/A
Signed, Palpatine, Emperor, Galactic Empire
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Pellaeon gaped as he read the message. He knew Thrawn had come from the unknown regions, but the Imperial story had always been that he had been exiled. The mission success was not available, but that didn't mean it never finished. Knowing Thrawn, there was probably a strong Imperial presence in the unknown regions. Countless untapped resources out there, all Imperial. His mind was awed at the possibilities. He would have to get around to finding the these people. Carefully sealing the records chamber, Pellaeon left the building, bound for his shuttle. As soon as Tann and Kirkosh returned, there would be a major council of war.............
"Rorn Korbchek?" Corran called. Rorn walked up to him "you called master?" he said. "Rorn, the padawan Eoghan has gone missing I'd like you to go find him take..." Corran was cut of as Ari walked over and said "Me with you. I'd like to help find Eoghan." Ari said. Corran looked at Rorn who shruged and nodded. "Alright Ari you to, be off this very minute!" Corran walked off and Rorn returned to his room to gear up.
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Later Rorn, Ari and R4-Z9 boarded the ship they'd been on a couple days ago.
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Rorn was a bit confused about Ari for about a half hour now she'd been like a normal human with no accent. She was rather pleasent, not the odd impudent girl he'd met. Rorn felt some one approching. He sensed danger he turned around to see a sky blue light saber swing at him. He pulled a borrowed light saber from his belt, acctivated it's greenish blade and blocked the swing. He looked at the one holding the light saber, it was...ARI!?! Her hair was frizzy and wild, her eyes had gone an odd redish shade and she looked insane. She swong again. Their lightsaber's met and then Ari pulled down came around and stabed only to find thin air as Rorn ducked. She kept up her insane energetic strokes and could tell Rorn was begining to wear out. She swung again he blocked but the lightsaber nicked his finger. Rorn looked down at his finger for a second and Ari swung again, Rorn hadn't been quite ready for it and took a few steps back and stubbled over somthing Ari swung again but by some stroke of luck, Rorn had stummbled over R4 and Ari hit the droid instead. Rorn looked down then brought his blade back up on guard. Ari did a down ward swing he blocked but not fully the blade hit his leg he grimmaced in pain, you could see white bone throught the cut. Ari hit Rorn mechanical arm in just the right place and it fell to the ground that hand had been holding Rorn's lightsaber he quickly used the force to grab his light saber, but not fast enough Ari kicked his legs out from under him. He fell to the floor. She pulled the lightsaber he was now holding out of his hand into hers. She held both blades in her hand gave Rorn and evil grin. Rorn felt the fear of being killed grip him. He looked up, only to see Ari's head cocked side ways and looking at him. "*Wha' ha''ene' to ya?" Ari asked quite seriously in her incredibly high voice. Rorn looked at her in an odd way then passed out from the pain in his leg and arm...
(*this is a translation of what Ari said, because Nathan can't read accents. She said "What happened to you?")
This is not in any way connected to the SW story so if your not interested, you don't have to, but I ask you to keep reading .
Tonight, I witnessed one of the most truly beautiful things that I have ever seen . Ashley Mandreger, a teen from our church got saved at our tent revival tonight . Her entire family was crying . Her dad, an ex-marine and champion body-builder, was crying with tears of joy and every so often he would let out a shout or whoop of happiness . I have never seen anything like this before, it was truly an great moment .
Nate