StarDestroyer.Net BBS

It is something I am working on. If you like, please say so and I will continue.


Forgotten Destiny.




Prologue:


The hazy fog filled dream world filled his vision, and he knew that the serine view in front of him would not last. The white towers of the temple shone brightly against the cityscape behind it. He so wanted it to stay, the grand halls, the beautiful towers, and the vast knowledge that was stored here. Oh, and not to mention all of the various, proud, and remarkable beings who resided here. Every where he looked, the regal Jedi walked with purpose and quiet dignity. Every where he looked a purpose was being served, the Galaxy was being served. This was the Jedi’s mandate, and one day his mandate, to serve the people of the galaxy and the Force. But with that thought, the dream started to dim and the brilliant white of the temple turned dark. In the main hall there was an explosion, and a deep and terrible booming followed quickly by the sound of blasters. He remembered the snap-hiss of dozens of sabers and the screaming and cries of pain that followed. From the Grand hall came the clone troopers, oddly enough matching the hall’s decor with their white armor, and with them moved a dark shadow.

The dark one had come for them, had come to destroy all that has been built and accomplished, all for his petty revenge. He strode through the hallways, dispatching all who came close and throwing the temple in utter chaos. The dark one stopped at the staircase, seemingly deep in thought and with a sudden jerk, looked right into the eyes of a small red haired youth trying to flee the carnage. The young man, who was caught trying to escape, cried out in terror thinking his time to die had come….

Thaan snapped awake in a cold sweat, his eyes searching for the danger that was no longer there. He quickly looked around the small sleeping nook he was in and the space that lay beyond. The familiar surroundings eased his mind and let his fears rest, the dream has been haunting him for years. Wiping the red hair out of his face, he sighed. Years, twenty years to be exact, it had been a long time since he was there and still he could remember it like yesterday. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Thaan dropped his stocky form out of his bunk and took the five necessary steps from the pilot’s rest area to the door leading to the cockpit. Thaan could see the blue molten mess that was hyperspace twirling around his ship, the swirling motion always gave him a slight sense of vertigo. A bit odd considering that he has been flying since he was twenty and on this ship since he was thirty, he still felt a little vertigo while in hyperspace. Wasn’t this a sign of a newbie, or a planet loving sloth rather than an experience pilot? Moving past the APR 13 droid that was flying while Thaan slept, he slipped into the forward pilot’s seat scanning the instruments with his brown eyes to check their status. After a few moments, Thaan had made sure their navigation was correct and their ETA was still the same, he stood up out of the chair and turned around to see his mentor at the doorway silently looking at him.

“Couldn’t sleep my boy?” came the soft voice that carried so much wisdom it compelled Thaan to answer immediately. “Yes sir, but don’t worry, we will still get to Androffa on time.”

“I am not worried about that, I am worried about you. Was it the same dream again?” He asked in an almost fatherly tone reinforced by his tall stature and his wispy white hair.

“Yes sir.” Thaan drawled out not really wanting to talk about it. The old man considered this and shrugged. “You’re still worried about my decision to openly oppose him, are you not?”

The change in subject just about lost Thaan in his sleep deprived mind, but old training kicked in and engaged a sharp wit, “Yes sir, I think it would have been better to engineer your disappearance or even your death but to openly oppose him, and on the Senate floor no less, will only complicate matters, in my opinion.”

“Complicated you say, “ the old man allowed himself a small chuckle, “Ah, if it were only complicated instead of desperate. My dear boy, if someone does not stand up to the Supreme Chancellor and set an example for the others then I am afraid he will win and freedom will become extinct. No, I think I made the correct decision, if I stand up and oppose him, then perhaps some of the others will do so as well. If enough of us fight, Palpitine will fall and freedom may return to the people of the galaxy.”

The old man’s bright blue eyes shone with such dignity and purpose that Thaan had not seen on anybody for at least two decades. The display of charisma had awed him to the point that he only nodded to the old man, besides he didn’t think he could change the old man’s mind anyway.

“Yes sir, I only meant from a certain tactical point of view. The Emperor will undoubtedly hunt you down now and make sure you are destroyed.” Said Thaan simply.

“That my boy, is where we have the advantage. That is where we will strike, and that is where we can convince the others that Palpitine’s power is not omnipotent.” The old man allowed him self another chuckle and smiled broadly at his charge. “Get some rest Thaan, when we get to the base on Androffa there will be much work to be accomplished.” With that the old man went back down through the living space towards his cabin, leaving the pilot alone once again in the cockpit with the droid and his ghosts.


I have more, but this is the begining.

Chapter 1

With a flicker of pseudo motion, the Imperial Stardestroyer dropped out of hyperspace into the Corvis Minor system. The cruiser took a few moments to alter its exit vector and its dagger shaped hull turned to stab towards the planet. The ship inserted itself into orbit before the small white, insectoid like shuttle departed from the hanger gliding effortless into open space. The shuttle deployed its wings and accelerated towards the blue and white globe beneath it, slowly spinning to reorient itself with the local gravity field.

The small craft flew over the major continent of the planet and vectored in to the capital city of Horza, the only city large enough for a star port on the entire planet of Corvis. The shuttle passed the barren mountains on its final approach to the star port, when the pilot switched over to the repulsor lifts and retracted the wings. Settling itself down on the edge of the star port with a whine, the shuttle powered down its engines and the entry ramp slowly lowered to the ground.

Upon landing, a small group of people approached the ship and when they were in front of it, they stood waiting for the arriving visitor. The man in front of the formation was the local governor, a small gross man who was more of a bully in this unrelenting world than a leader or a politician. Surrounding the governor was a group of the local militia who were there as more of an honor guard than as a body guard for the governor.

The governor didn’t like this one bit, he didn’t like it when the orders form Coruscant came months ago, he didn’t like it when the searches came up with a lead, and he sure as hell didn’t like it when this VIP transmitted a message via the holonet and said he was departing for Corvis Minor to follow up on the governor’s lead. The best that he could hope for was for his guest to do what ever he needed to do and for the governor to help him as best as he could and get the VIP off planet as fast as possible and resume his normal, predictable life.

A lone figure emerged from the shuttle, dressed all in black . Any indication of whom or what the visitor was, was hidden behind a deep cowl with only a square chin protruding. The lone figure walked down the ramp, up to the governor and much too the governor’s surprise the VIP walked right pass him and continued toward the port’s terminal. The fat little man started off in a jog to catch up with his guest, and followed as best as he could.

When the governor caught up with the visitor, the dark one spoke, “Have you found her governor, and is she here?” The deep voice echoed out of the cloak and the governor responded immediately, “Yes my Lord, she is on Corvis Minor. I have a surveillance team on her now.” He squeaked out, trying his hardest to sound as if he was in charge here.

“Very well governor, have your men conduct me too her.” At this he stopped in mid stride and turned towards the fat little man. The governor had to veer away slightly or risk running into the dark visitor. Pinning the Governor with pale blue eyes, the dark visitor brought up his hand and pointed menacingly at the small fat man. “Remember governor, she is mine. Your men are here to make sure she does not leave, unexpectedly.” Rumbled the dark stranger in an even voice full of menace and implied threat.

“Of course, my Lord. My men will conduct you to the surveillance team and from there you can, follow up on any lead you wish.” Bowed the grotesque man in deference.

With out further words, the dark one turned and walked away from the planetary governor, forcing the honor guard to run to catch up. Soon, the governor was the only one left on the landing pad, left to wonder who that VIP was and what the hell he wanted with some space trash named Nemerosa.
***


Tesca flopped herself down at the dingy table, set her bowl of drool on it and slowly began to eat the bland, and gooey substance. Her long slim form looking somewhat out of place at the small drab table, she spooned some of the drool into her mouth. A look of disgust creped over her still youthful face, and her large brown eyes squinted in displeasure but was hidden under the locks of her dark hair. Her appetite was no longer as large as she once thought only moments before and she instead turned her attention to her companion, a seemingly dour fellow who had been quietly watching her. The Duros that sat in the chair across from her was waiting patiently, and would continue to do so as long as Tesca’s credits were good. She took a moment to arrange her thoughts before starting the conversation.

“So, Nootka, is the esteemed officials at the star port going to allow you, and therefore me to leave this rock.” She said with a smile that she didn’t expect the dour Duros to pick up on.

“Of course Miss Nemerosa, as I could have told you before I requested clearance, we have been granted permission from the Corvis Minor control to leave the system.” Drummed out the tall green being. “Your credits have been transferred to my account, and therefore the Novachild is at your disposal” here he bowed his head and did his best attempt at a human smile showing that he did in fact get her small joke.

“Good Captain, get back and prepare to leave. I am going to attempt to finish my meal here and I will be right there.” She finished, looking down at the bowl of drool. And without further comment, Lai Nootka stood and moved quickly to the rear of the room and disappeared through a doorway towards the star port to ready his ship.

Tesca went back to eating her meal in all of its blandness, but she was happy. After eighteen months on this god’s awful planet, she was leaving. After two mugging attempts, an out right robbery, and no less than four attempted assaults against her, she was leaving. A thought that the local constable would be glad to hear, and a thought that brought a smile to the woman’s sculpted features. She sat there happily eating her last meal on this planet and tried to keep the gooey food off her jumpsuit as she ate, and after a few minutes as she completed her last bite, a haze and darkness crept into the back of her mind.

A feeling of dread spread through her, and she knew exactly what it meant. Glancing around the room trying not to draw attention to her self, she looked for anything out of the ordinary. Her brown intense eyes scanning both inside and outside the dwelling she was in. She noticed a man standing in a doorway across the street, a man who seemed to be looking in her direction through the only window in the building. But this guy wouldn’t set off the alarms in her head that were ringing loudly. She started to rise, to get away from here and to the ship that was waiting for her when the main door opened up and almost in slow motion, a dark man entered.

Tesca sat back down and hoped the new comer had not noticed her, but the man in black walked into the room and stared straight at her. Feeling the gaze of his pale blue eyes and knowing the futility of trying to hide from him in this room, Tesca turned and stared back into the shadow that hid his face.

“Did you think you could hide from the Empire, Tesca. Did you think you could hide from me.” Said the dark man plainly and evenly with almost no emotion in it, his seemingly penetrating eyes watching her every move.

It took a moment for Tesca to place the voice, it had been quite a few years and the last time she heard it, it had been a voice of a child. “Vox, it has been a long time. And it seems a lot of things have changed.” She tried to mimic his emotionless tone.

“You can come with me, Tesca. You can complete your studies and serve like we once thought we would.” He stood there motionless almost in a trance. The concentration was evident by his pose, and he waited a few moments for her to consider what he felt was a generous offer.

He found himself almost relieved when her hand came up from underneath the table she was sitting at, and set a long metallic cylinder on the table top. “I am Jedi.” She said with finality.

“A Jedi Knight, that is most optimistic. You were training to be a healer, not a warrior.” He almost laughed.

For an answer, she stood up and flipped the table away from her and towards Vox. The table skidded to a halt in front of him of its own accord, and veered away finally landing with a crash at the other side of the room, clearing the way between the two.

“Very well, Jedi.” With contempt dripping from the reply, the dark one activated his light saber with a snap-hiss, and the red colored weapon came to life. His opponent replied in kind, and the two stood there with their weapons raised waiting for the battle to start, for someone to make the first move.

With a quickness that defied his large size, Vox leaped towards Tesca with a vicious onslaught of blows from his weapon. Tesca blocked and parried the blows, and deflected the last one spinning around and with her deep blue shaded saber; she commenced her own attack driving the dark Jedi back towards the door he came in at.

Vox recovered from his initial surprise of her attack and fended of the jabs and blows of her assault, their blades hissing and spitting with each contact. “You have remembered much my dear, but your training is incomplete.” He took the initiative back and drove her across the room that was rapidly becoming vacant of patrons. And it was here, near the rear entrance, that she sprung her desperate but ingenious trap. Locking her blue blade up with his angry red saber, she pushed the weapons out and away from both their bodies with a considerable amount of effort. Her left hand shot up in a pushing motion, her face contorted in forced concentration, and the dark Jedi caught unprepared for this new attack, went flying across the room crashing through tables as he went.

Tesca didn’t stick around to see where he landed, she shut down her light saber and bolted for the back door. She ran out of the bar and into the street barely knowing where she was going let alone what was going on around her. She knocked over a group of people walking up the street, and damned near tripped over a small cart upon entering the alleyway. She kept running for a few blocks, wiping stray locks of black hair out of her vision, until she was out of site of the main street and a majority of the foot traffic in the area.

She rounded the corner of a building and leaned heavily on it to catch her breath, and her bearings. Her black utility jumpsuit, damp from sweat and dusty from the bar room fight, was restricting her breathing and she gasped for breath. How had they found her? How had Vox stayed alive, let alone turned? If Vox was still alive, maybe the others might be alive? Too many questions and no answers, she had to get out of here and take the time to think about what all this meant. She was about to continue her flight to the star port, when a warning buzz went off in her head.

Spinning around and igniting her saber, she deflected a flurry of blaster bolts in a rapid series of motions. Continuing her motion, her blade kept in a long arc that ended up opposite of where she originally was facing and in an arc that ended through the arm of the militia man who had come up behind her. With a scream, the man’s arm and his blaster hit the street and were soon followed by the rest of him.

She spun back around and inverted her glowing blade to catch another series of red blaster bolts, effectively reflecting them back toward the two militia men who were shooting at her from behind a nearby building. One of the reflected bolts struck a militia man in the head and he went down. The last member of the security team, seeing both of his buddies had fallen to this unforeseeable threat, decided that retreat was his best option at this point and ran back down the alleyway.

Again Tesca closed down her blade and ran towards the star port and to safety. With Nootka’s CorelliSpace freighter coming into sight, she pulled out her comlink in mid stride and called out to the captain. “This is Tesca, I am in route. Be ready to go when I come aboard. There has been some trouble.” She yelled into the link. She didn’t even bother with attempting to hear his reply, as she sprinted toward the waiting ship with the every bit of strength she had left.

Up the ramp and into the ship she went, the repulsor lifts kicking in as she sealed up the hatch and the small Gymsnor 3 transport leaped into the sky and climbed away from the planet. As the ship tore through the atmosphere, Tesca entered the cockpit of the ship and collapsed in an acceleration couch behind Nootka.

“You know Lai,” she said out of breath, “If any one ever took the time to write a complete history of Corvis Minor, all they would have to do is take a data card box and drop a blaster in it.” She finished with a huff, and all the sarcasm she could muster.

The Duros didn’t reply as he steered the Novachild up and out of the atmosphere of the planet and into open space where they jumped to hyperspace a short time later.

Your request was complied with Knife and I have to add that I like this so far and would like to see another chapter soon!! (HA See how THAT feels? )

As you wish Stravo.









Chapter 2


Thaan Antil awoke with a start to find himself in the cockpit of an Incom T-35 TriStar, and was relieved to find that it was the same one he had been in for the last 12 hours. He tried to calm his heavy breathing and calm his fears; it was only a dream, the dream, over and over again. But there was something else that he half remembered, something that was not normally in his dream of the destruction of the temple. The dark one, when he turned and looked at Thaan, changed slightly. He turned from the mechanical nightmare that he was to a man in a black cloak, a man facing a woman who was extremely familiar.

Thaan checked his gear and found that he had another hour or so left on this hyperspace jump, then settled down and concentrated on his dream. Using techniques he learned long ago, he reconstructed his dream. Yes, the dark one was facing off against a woman, a tall and quite lovely looking woman with long black hair tied up in a pony tail, wearing a black coverall that was seen in a lot of star ports. The woman reached down and lit a blue lightsaber, and the two adversaries commenced to fight. Thaan concentrated even harder, reached out and let the image in his mind flow with as much clarity that he could muster. Yes, he could here the voices now; the dark one was taunting her, chastising her. When the woman spoke, it was not a retort nor a rant, but a simple sentence proclaiming her position in the fight and in life in general. “I am Jedi.” She said.

With a sudden realization, Thaan knew who this woman was. But how can that be, how had she lived through the nightmare that Thaan dreamed of almost every night? The realization of the identity of the woman jolted Thaan out of his meditation and back into the cockpit of his fighter. The thrum of the engines and the electronic beeps of the instruments came rushing back into his consciences. A red light was blinking up on the control board, indicating that he was nearing his exit point. Some what surprised that he had meditated on the dream for about an hour, he set about preparing his ship for the combat that waited at the end of the jump, all the while contemplating on what the vision of a friend of long ago meant.

When the timer alarm signaled that he was at his designation, Thaan pulled back on the lever that disengaged the hyperdrive. The blue tunnel of hyperspace was immediately replaced with the star lines, that themselves slowly shortened to the pinpricks of stars in real space. And there, right in front of him was the Rotall repair yard hanging in orbit around the fourth planet in the Rota system, right where it was supposed to be.

With a hiss of static, the comm. came alive with various reports from the two squadrons of fighters that emerged from hyperspace along with Thaan. Quickly taking command, Thaan got the two squadrons to report their status, and organized them into the screen for the capital ship that was to come. Almost as if his thoughts prompted it, the old Acclamator class ship the Senator had renamed War Shrike, jumped out of hyperspace behind its fighter screen and moved toward the station.

The stations own fighters were even now scrambling to meet the intruders, but the one squadron of TIE fighters would be no match for Thaan’s two squadrons. He checked his target display and found the flight he wanted to take.

“Shrike’s, enemy formation in bound. Break and engage, one flight on me.” He ordered through his comm.

The formation of TriStar’s broke formation and streaked towards the cloud of TIEs coming in at them. The initial barrage of shots from the enemy fighters splattered across the shields of various TriStar’s with little or no damage and Thaan’s ships waited to close with the enemy before they returned fire. When it came, the combined fire of the two squadrons decimated the TIE formation and the survivors veered away to regroup.

“Skull one, this is Shrike one. Take your squadron and pursue the remaining eyeballs. Make sure they don’t loop around on our tails while we’re paying attention to the station.” Ordered Antil.

“Acknowledged, Shrike one.” Replied the voice of a professional fighter pilot responding to an order. And after a few short seconds, ten sleek fighters peeled off and followed the fleeing TIE fighters.

Thaan scanned his instruments and located the War Shrike; the old ship was closing in on the repair station. Although the War Shrike was over two decades old, the stations puny defense systems were not up to the task to repel the assault by the attacking ship. Sheets of turbolaser fire from the port gun deck of the dagger shaped vessel poured into the station’s shields, with an occasional ion burst skittering across the shield surface slowly eating away at the protective barrier.

Thaan vectored his squadron in at the stations far side, avoiding any friendly fire from Admiral Helk on the War Shrike. He and his squadron were just reaching the far side of the station to provide support, when with a flash, the station’s shields collapsed.

“Shrike’s, this in one, commence your runs on the station.” Stated Antil as he jerked his ship up and over a communications array and dove for the shied generators. Behind him, the three flight let loose a barrage of laser fire into the comm. array that Thaan had just past, ceasing any further attempts by the Imps to call for help.

His slim fighter narrowed its dive and the other three identical ships of his flight, lined up with him. “Targeting main shield generators now,” Thaan spoke into his microphone. “I have a lock……….Missile away!” he exclaimed as the targeting lock turned into a solid tone. A blue streak emerged from the nose of his ship and closed with a lump located on the hull of the station at a frightening speed.

The concussion missile detonated on target, throwing a fireball out and away from the hull of the doomed station. A mere second or two after Thaan’s missile hit, three more from his wing mates hit the same spot creating an even larger explosion. Pulling up and away from the station, have completed his secondary mission, Thaan started to take account of everything around him.

Slowly drifting behind him, the Rotall station had become a chunk of space debris under the relentless onslaught of the War Shrike. Off too his right, a group of ten TriStar’s where moving towards him and the mother ship after finishing off the TIEs. Not bad, thought Thaan, only two losses in Kramer’s group. Even so, their loss would be hard to recover from but it could have been worse.

“Shrike squadron, report.” Ordered their leader.

“Two flight, four Tri’s all green.” Reported Shrike five. “Three flight, four Tri’s, three green and one yellow.” Reported Shrike nine.

“Who got hit, Mal?” asked Thaan, breaking comm. discipline somewhat.

“Teshi got winged a little on the shield run, sir. His number three engine is fluctuating but he should make it home alright.” Responded the flight leader.

“Negative Mal, have him vector in with the War Shrike and dock. No need to risk another ship or pilot when we don’t have too.”

“Acknowledged, Shrike leader.” Responded Mal again.

“Good work people, the stations down, the Imps didn’t get more than one transmission off, and our fighter group only suffered two losses. Time to go home.” Thaan said as the War Shrike disengaged with the station and stated to line up with its exit vector out of the Rota system well ahead of any reinforcements the Imperials could muster.

Yes, things on this raid went well, but who would replace the two missing Skull pilots? Who would be waiting for them on their next raid, and how long will their luck hold out? And on top of all of that, how was he going to convince the old man that he couldn’t lead the fighter group on the next raid, because he had to find an old friend in trouble. Yes, he had a lot to think about during the trip back to their base.
***


The Imperial Stardestoyer Retaliator hung in space over the Bilbringi ship yards. Its dagger shape lost in the mass of platforms and construction docks that formed the ship yards. Captain Graves’ stood on the bridge of his ship and surveyed the various ships buzzing around his warship. Freighters, construction droids, material handlers all zipped here and there carrying out their individual jobs at this hectic place.

Captain Graves looked up to see his XO, Commander Joak Drysso, approach. “Yes, Commander?” asked the captain before the Retaliator’s second in command could say anything.

“Sir, priority message from Fleet Headquarters.” Replied the Commander.

“Very well, Drysso, have it routed to my office and I will receive it there.” The Captain almost yawned.

Drysso stood there at a perfect position of attention, and looked very nervous over such a small thing as orders from command. “Is there anything else, Commander?” Asked Graves’.

“Sir, the priority message is for our passenger.” Said Drysso, almost sheepishly.

“Ah, I see.” Was all the Captain could say, when in fact he didn’t. This was his ship, his crew. Why would command give orders to a civilian on board a warship? “Continue on Drysso, I’ll convey the message to our passenger.”

“Yes Captain.” Replied the Commander and hastily departed back across the bridge.

Captain Graves watched him go, than turned to his comm. panel and pushed the appropriate buttons. “Lord Vox, this is Captain Graves.” He said into the comm.

“My lord, there is a communication for you from command.” Continued the Captain.

“Very well, Captain. Route it to my suite.” Came the dark reply after a short spurt of static.

“Very well my lord, transferring now.” The Captain turned and nodded to the tech at the comm. station and the young enlisted man piped the communication down to the Command and Observation room underneath the bridge that Lord Vox had claimed as his suite while onboard the Retaliator.
***


In the C&O suite under the bridge, a shadow moved across the sparsely furnished room. The tall form of Lord Vox seemed to float across the floor as he approached the holopad built into the floor on the far side of the room.

Standing before the pad, Vox activated a series of switches and viewed the coded message of the sender. Seeing that the messenger was waiting for a real time communication and suspecting that he knew who it was that was waiting to talk with him, he flipped the transmitter on and knelt before his master.

In front of him, a large cloaked head appeared and looked down upon him. “I have a new mission for you, Emperor’s Hand.” Stated the powerful voice.

Vox kept his head bowed and replied, “What is your wish, my master?”

“A new situation arises that I did not foresee, a rouge Senator has chosen to revolt against me. While a rebellion was foreseen, I am not yet ready to deal with one. The final solution to the coming rebellion has just begun construction and I can not afford one Senator to push my time table forward before I am ready.” Croaked the aging yet powerful man.

Vox had heard of Senator Valkin’s very public statement decrying his emperor’s reign. “You wish me to crush him, my master?”

“Yes my servant, seek him out and destroy him before he can encourage others to follow his revolt,” spat out the Emperor. “If he can convince some of the less loyal members of the Senate to join his effort, then the rebellion will start too early for my designs.”

“Yes my master, and what of the girl?” Vox cringed admitting to his master his failure.

“It is of little matter, she is still out there and other opportunities will present themselves. She is no threat to us.” The Sith master conceded, and with that the image of the Emperor faded.

“Yes my master.” Droned Vox weather or not his master heard or not. So now he had to destroy a threat to his master, my how his rise to fortune was ever increasing. He would carry out this mission, complete his previous mission and when the time came for the Moff’s to be replaced, Vox would stand higher than the rest of the Emperor’s Hands and be rewarded.

He stood and went over to his comm. panel; he had to tell Captain Graves that the captain was now in charge of a taskforce that would soon be forming. Then let this Senator from Lachithia reap his own rewards.





Hope you enjoy. I am actualy finnishing up chapter 4 so I migh post chapter 3 soon. You'll have to wait for chapter 4 though, until I complete 5. I am going to try to stay one chapter ahead of posting.

Any feed back, anyone?

Quite good Knife, except you tend to start the chapters with unfamiliar situations, rather than really picking up where you left off. Other than that, good.

Chapter 3


As the celebration wound down, the old man from Lachithia found himself looking for his young charge. Well, he was no longer young but Valkin more or less raised Thann since the boy was thirteen so he would probably always see him as his young man.

Valkin wondered around the old refinery platform that orbited around the gas giant of the Androffa system. The old run down space platform served as a perfect base for his resistance group, it was abandoned before the clone wars and hopefully had been forgotten by anyone who would pose a threat to him and his people. Moving a large portion of the Lachithian Defense Force here quietly for the last five years had been hard, but now he had the people and the equipment to challenge the evil man who had consumed the galaxy.

His meandering finally had him arrive in the main hangar of the station, and here at last he found his friend. Walking into the hangar, Valkin could see that Thaan was loading his ship with a lot of supplies.

“Taking a trip, my young friend?” Asked the Senator walking through the hanger.

Thaan stopped loading the cargo boxes into the lower loading tube of his YT-2000, and turned to face his approaching mentor. “Yes sir, I have been meaning to talk with you but with the party and all I did not wish to disturb you.” He said sheepishly.

“Ah, and so this urgent mission you seem to be planning is?” Urged Valkin.

Thaan dropped his head down and stared at his feet. “Right before the raid in the Rota system, I had the dream again.” The old man nodded but did not reply.

“This time it was different though,” continued the stocky form as he began to load the cargo again. “Towards the end of the dream, something that has never happened before, well happened. I saw a woman, a woman who started to fight against the dark one. I think I know who the woman is sir, and I have to find out if she is real and alive.”

The Senator looked confused for a moment, and then comprehension spread through his features, “You think you saw someone from your youth, someone you knew at the Temple on Coruscant?” Valkin reached up to stroke his white beard deep in thought. “I was under the assumption that you were the only one who escaped that night Thaan.”

“I was as well sir, but I think my vision was real, and if it is then I need to find her and help her as best as I can. She could be a help to our cause as well, don’t you think.” Thaan inquired.

The old man seemed to consider this and said, “Yes, she would be a great asset to us. More importantly, if she is alive and she faced a dark creature then the Empire knows she is alive and we must move to prevent them from catching or destroying her.” They both stood there for a moment considering the unthinkable. “Where will you start your search Thaan?” Asked Valkin to break the silence.

“The last place I saw a Jedi was on Alderaan, when Master Galic brought me there to hide me. I will start my search there I think.” Thought Thaan out loud, thankful that his mentor saw this as something worth while.

“Very well my boy, go. Go and save your friend, but hurry back, we will still be in need of you when you return.” The old man reached over and hugged the red headed pilot, and started back out of the hanger bay back towards the sounds of celebration.

Thaan finished loading the food stores and other various equipment and closed the loading hatch. He walked up the ramp into the main hold of his small personal transport to arrange all the cargo he just loaded. The cargo droid had done a good job of securing the cargo when it came out of the loading chute, good. Thaan turned and walked into the main living area in the tube that extended out of the saucer shaped hull of the ship. Past the small galley and pilot resting area and into the cockpit of the FarStar. Taking the front seat, he started up the engines and did a pre flight check. After a couple minutes all was ready and Thaan eased the ship up off the deck with the repulor lifts and exited the hangar’s magcon field.

With a jolt, he brought the main engine on line and accelerated away from the old refinery. When he was clear of the gravity field of Androffa, he reached up and pulled the levers that sent him racing into hyperspace.

***


Tesca Nemerosa stood in the main plaza of Aldera, looking in awe at the large pearly white city that rose up around her. Yes, one could see why Alderaan was the center of the galaxy for art and culture. Trying not to stare at the marvelous sights around her, Tesca continued walking toward the far end of the market where a group of pubs and guild officies were located.

She reached the small squat structure that was out of place with the surrounding buildings and entered the room beyond. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust to the dimness of the place, and then she walked over to the guild info desk where some being, hopefully sentient, sat.

“May I assist you?” Inquired the mass of skin and hair behind the desk, in an accented basic that Tesca could just barely understand.

“Yes, I am Lora Templer. I was told by a Mr. Vistel, that there might be some work here.” These stupid strings of code words always annoyed her, but if this is what it took to get in touch with the Senator’s people then she would do it.

“Miss Templer, hmmmm, “ Gargled out the being. “Ah, yes you are expected. This might take a few minutes to get the proper forms together. If you wish, you can go next door to the cantina and consume what ever it is that your species consumes.” Said the alien while flipping a tentacle like appendage around in deference.

Picking up on the suggestion, Tesca expressed her gratitude to the info clerk and walked back out of the ugly dark building and next door to the local pub. It was a little brighter in here which just meant that she could see all the dregs that spent their time in here. The smell of dozens of species and dozens of liquors from around the galaxy lingered here.

She picked a small table at the back of the room that was half hidden in shadow and had a good view of the door. Sitting down as the serving droid rolled up and took her order, she wondered how long it would take someone to meet her. After a half a dozen meetings like this one, she hoped she would find some people with which she could join and fight the Empire. One had to be careful, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that someone would sell her out to the Empire for trying to contact any rebels, but this was Alderaan and if she was to find people who thought like her it would be here. Besides, her days of hiding were over. If Vox could find her, then anyone could and she couldn’t continue hiding any more. Her only option was to fight and fight she would.

She was half way through her first drink, when an average looking man walked in the pub wearing an average looking robe. The man was so average, that it peeked Tesca’s interest. She watched the man walk up to the bar and order a drink. He stood there waiting for his beverage, and glanced briefly at Tesca. Upon receiving his drink, he turned to Tesca with a big smile on his face.

“Lora, is that you my dear?” Exclaimed the man. “You look wonderful, mind if I join you for a bit?” Asked the man as he slipped in the chair next to Tesca.

“Look, whatever your name is, I have played these games before and I don’t really want to do so again. My name is Tesca Nemerosa and I am looking for the Resistance.” She said bluntly. If this guy was an Imp, she was doomed, but she did not feel anything from him that would indicate such so she decided to lay it all out on the table.

The average looking guy’s smile turned immediately into a frown. “You don’t waste much time do you? Very well, I’m Misha. My employers would like to say that although they would wish to believe your claims, they are somewhat unlikely.”

“Then why are you here? If you and your employers don’t believe that I am what I say I am, why are you even talking to me?” She countered.

He was about to respond when he saw a look of dread pass through her pretty face, and he turned to look at the door as a group of Storm troopers entered the establishment. Turning back around to Tesca and seeing that she had regained her composure, he smiled again and said, “Well it’s been lovely seeing you again Lora, and I hope to see you at the celebration next month. Farewell.”

“Wait ,” Exclaimed Tesca. “I can come with you and help you Misha.”

She stood and grabbed his hand and led him out of the cantina and away from a possible threat to her and her average looking friend here.

Once outside and in the crowed, he turned to her and said, “Now look, I am sorry but we have no evidence that you are who you say. Can you provide any evidence?”

She seemed to consider this, then turned him down a small alleyway and away from the crowd. Turning a corner and seeing that nobody was around, she reached into her jumpsuit and pulled out her lightsaber. Handing the weapon to Misha, she looked nervously around for anyone who might come down the alley.

“Ok, but just having one of these does not make you a Jedi you know.” Said Misha, clearly impressed by the ancient weapon.

“I see you just can’t be convinced, can you?” She asked. “Very well, drop it.” She stated plainly.

“What?” he asked in confusion.

“Just drop the thing would you.” She commanded.

Misha glanced around to assure himself that no one was around to see this exchange, then stretched his arm out in front of him and dropped the metallic cylinder. To his surprise the weapon did not drop from his hand but hung there in all defiance of the laws of gravity. He looked up at Tesca and saw her standing quietly, eyes half closed as if in a trance.

“Alright, I am convinced but stop that before some one sees you.” He moved in front of the weapon and her to conceal it from sight. The saber dropped into her hand and it disappeared into her jumpsuit

Misha started to head back down the alley way when he seemed to think of another question for Tesca and turned to her. “Why are you coming out of hiding now? Why not stay hidden or why did you not come out and fight earlier?” He asked.

A forlorn look appeared on her features and she took a minute to answer. When she spoke it was in a sad whisper. “I have been hunted almost all of my life, Misha. I was not fully trained nor was I ready to take on the Galaxy by myself. A couple of weeks ago, I ran into one of the Emperor’s minions. He knew where I was, and he tried his best to kill me. There is no where I can hide anymore, there is nothing left to do but fight, weather I am ready for it or not.”

He seemed to accept this though it did not answer all of his questions but this was not the time or the place for a more detailed explanation.

“Come on, I’ll take you to a safe place until my employers can see you.” He said, moving toward the street again.

Emerging into the street again, Misha saw the group of Storm troopers who had entered the pub, standing in the Market obviously looking around for someone. Veering sharply away from the Imperial troops, Misha and Tesca moved back towards the pub and right smack into another group of troopers.

“Citizen, let me see your Identa-card.” The cold lifeless voice echoed out of the cold lifeless faceplate of his helmet.

***

Chapter 4


Thaan landed his ship at the star port and immediately headed for the governmental buildings at the center of Aldera. The tall pearly white towers that represented the power of the government of Alderaan rose up out of the city in a display of architectural genius. Thaan made his way through the corridors and functionaries of the bureaucracy, a task he long ago mastered as part of Senator Valkin’s staff.

He ended up in some aid’s office and was instructed by the secretary to wait for the aid to see him. Thaan sat in an over stuffed chair in a windowless office that was filled with what Thaan thought was a bunch of useless artifacts. Littered around the office was a bunch of holo pictures of various people doing unremarkable things. He waited there in silence for what seemed like an hour when a tall pale looking man entered the office and sat down at the desk.

“I am sorry sir, but the Senator is unavailable at this time. Perhaps you can communicate with the scheduling department and have an appointment scheduled.” Droned out the bureaucrat in a lifeless tone.

“I don’t have the time to make an appointment, Mr.…...” Remarked Thaan undeterred by the bureaucrats outright dismissal of his request. It was all a game with politicians of who could and could not see them and how long and how many people you would have to see first.

Wearing a frown, the man replied. “My name is Mr. Jastille. And I am sorry, but his highness the Senator is not available today. His schedule is quit full.” He replaced his frown with a smirk.

“I see.” Said Thaan. It seems that he ran into a dead end by doing it the official way. Fortunately he knew other ways to get in touch with the Senator of Alderaan. “Very well then, Mr. Jastille. I appreciate your time and good day sir.” With that, Thaan rose up out of the man's chair and left the office.

If he could not use the official tracks, then a more unconventional approach could be pursued. He continued down and out of the governmental building and out into the street of Aldera. Quickly getting his bearings, he set off towards the market district of the city and to meet an old friend.

He caught a speeder at the travel hub, and was off, zipping through the streets of the metropolis. Using the public transportation system allowed him to relax and think of the questions that he needed to ask the leader of this world. It also served to leave no traces of his passing for the Imperials to pick up on. Sure, he mused, there was always a chance that someone would recognize him on the public transports but that would be a huge coincidence. Leaving a data trail by renting or buying a speeder of his own would be more likely to be picked up by Imperial Intelligence than someone seeing him on a public speeder.

The trip took a little longer than he would have thought, but soon the speeder docked with the hub that was on the North side of the Market Plaza. Thaan walked off the transport and down the ramps that linked the hub to the Plaza. He pushed his way through the crowd and headed for a guild office located on the far side of the Market.

He eventually got past the throngs of people who were buying all sorts of goods from around the galaxy, and to the guild office. He walked into the dark office space and towards the info desk located in the middle of the room. Sitting at the desk was a large Broomir, a female, Thaan guessed. The large lump of arms and hair seemed to detect his entrance into the building and various arms turned toward him.

“May I assist you?” Asked the alien.

“Yes ma'm, I am looking for Mr. Vistel.” Asked Thaan in an even voice.

As he asked the question, a warning went off in his head, and the Broomir clerk tensed up in what could only be a sign of tension and nervousness. Before the info clerk could respond a tall and beautiful woman appeared out of one of the back offices. She stepped up to the info desk and addressed Thaan. “I am sorry, but Mr. Vistel is not here at the moment.”

Thaan gazed at the woman for a moment, her tall stature and a beautiful mane of silver hair that framed chiseled and royal features. He snapped out of his trance at the attractive young woman and continued, “Beg your pardon Miss, my name is Thaan Antil and I am looking for Misha. I work for….”

“We know who you are and who you work for Mr. Antil.” The woman interrupted. “You and your employer are wanted by the Imperial authorities. We should arrest you and turn you over to the authorities.”

Thaan gave her a serious looking stare, “But you won’t do that.” He stated.

“And why would we not?” She replied.

Thaan started to relax, although his warning buzz in his head was still there, he could not identify any threats here inside the building. Something was obviously going on here, but Thaan decided that it was not because of him, probably. “You won’t turn me in because I am here looking for Misha. Since he performs, basically, the same job for your employer as I do for mine, I know that you are all on my side and you won’t turn me in.”

The woman seemed to study him for a moment, and then as if in an epiphany she turned around back towards the back offices and beckoned him after her. As she walked towards the back of the building, she said. “Misha is off on a meet at the moment. He will not be available for a while but if you wish, you can wait and I can see if I can set up a meet later.”

Thaan walked behind her and listened to what she had to say. When she was done, he agreed with the meet later. “Have him meet me next door.” He stated.

Her face was as blank as a new data card, but his instincts told him that she was not happy with that choice. However he really didn’t have time for all of the political intrigue He continued walking down the corridor they were in and on out through the back door before she could respond.

Something was definitely up and he did not want to be accidentally caught up in it if it was a local affair. He walked down the back alley way and out into the Market Plaza that would lead him to the cantina next to the guild office when he spotted a group of Storm trooper taking up position around a pair of humans at the center of the Plaza. Quickly scanning the rest of the Plaza, Thaan spotted a second group of Storm troopers that were taking up supporting positions on the first group. He switched his attention back to the unlucky pair who was going to have a bad day with the Imperial troops.

And there was Misha, standing there with a woman. Well, Thaan thought, I guess that explains why the lady in the guild office didn’t want me to wait in the cantina. They really should not have every meeting right next door to their office. It looked like Thaan would have to rescue Misha from this situation. Thaan reached into his jacket and grasped his weapon and prepared himself for a fight. He hoped that when it was over, he was still alive to find Tesca and still alive to have Misha take him to Senator Organa to ask him about Tesca.

***


Tesca forced herself to relax; her heart throbbing in her throat was inhibiting her ability to concentrate. Fortunately the shocked look on her face played in her favor.

“Beg your pardon sir,” She said.

“Citizen, your identa card.” Interrupted the Trooper before the woman could continue. The trooper raised his weapon slightly to emphasize his command authority while his three companions spread out around the two suspects.

Tesca seemed to find her grit then and stared right into the lifeless helmet of the Storm trooper, her voice strong and commanding, and said “You don’t need to see my identification.”

If Tesca would have turned around and seen Misha’s expression after she bluntly told an Imperial Storm trooper that he didn’t need to see her identification she might have laughed. The Trooper however, did not find it funny at all; in fact he seemed to ponder the statement for a moment before replying.

“We don’t need to see her identification.” He said in a sleepy voice that was almost filtered out by his helmet.

If Misha’s reaction to Tesca’s demand was astonishment, then now after hearing the Trooper, he was totally befuddled. He quickly glanced around and saw that the other three troopers were, it seemed, in some sort of hazy trance. They just stood there waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

With her initial success, Tesca continued. “My companion and I are of no note, you may continue with your patrol, trooper.”

This time the Storm trooper didn’t even think about the order and quickly replied, “These two are of no note to us, continue on citizen.” He waved them past and he and his patrol turned to leave.

Misha was at a loss for words; he just stood there not knowing exactly what had happened and not knowing what to do next. He was just getting his legs to obey him and started to walk away when another voice poured over the scene.

“TK 119, why are you releasing those suspects?” Demanded the leader of the second group of troopers.

Seeing that something was wrong with the whole ordeal, the other patrol that had taken up secondary positions had moved in to directly support their squad mates. The team surrounded Tesca and Misha while the leader confronted his confused compatriot.

The second patrol leader seemed to be pulling the first out of a trance, but Tesca had no intentions of letting either accomplish their intended mission of detaining her or her charge. With a flick of her wrist her saber leaped out of her jacket and into her hand. With an electronic shriek, the weapon came to life and she charged the two squabbling troopers.

With two quick and controlled swipes, she decapitated the two Storm troopers and turned to face the rest. People were screaming and running now with the site of two dead troopers and a large clearing opened up with Tesca and the remaining six Storm troopers in the middle.

Largely forgotten by the troopers who were turning to meet the threat of Tesca and her devastating weapon, Misha faded back out of the circle of troopers and went for his blaster hidden in his robes. Pulling out his small holdout blaster attracted the attention of the nearest Storm trooper and the soldier moved in to subdue Misha.

Knowing that his small blaster would not do much against the Storm trooper armor, Misha let out a war cry and jumped on to the trooper. The two struggled back and forth trying to get leverage against the other spinning in a small circle like gladiators in an arena.

Tesca saw Misha jump the trooper and was grateful for the help. She was not sure she could succeed against so many. Three or four maybe, but six was going to push it, so she was really glad at Misha’s attempt to distract even one for a moment or two.

She tuned her attention back to the other five troopers who were even now hunkering down into firing position. She leaped into action, running between two of the soldiers and swinging her blue weapon in calculated strikes. She deflected two shots from the first trooper back into the shooter before turning around and cutting the second troopers E-11 in half. Continuing on without missing a beat she ran toward the last three, two with blaster carbines and one with a T-21 light repeating blaster. All of them were moving into firing position when she charge into them and a flurry of shots ricocheted off the blue energy of Tesca’s blade.

Misha was slowly losing the battle with the Storm trooper. The man was stronger than him and had the benefit of armor to protect him from Misha’s small blaster. Misha could feel fatigue seep through his body as he continued his wrestling match with the trained killer. If he broke free, the trooper would burn him down with his bigger and more powerful blaster way before Misha could come close to harming him with his holdout blaster. But he sure couldn’t keep this up much longer.

Not ten meters away, Tesca’s time was running out. She was losing her momentum and the space needed to take on so many advisories. The troopers were closing in and their combined fire was proving to be difficult to deflect. Tesca had labored long and hard to learn the third form of lightsaber fighting but she had to do it alone with no master to instruct her. This had lead to inefficiencies in her technique that was now going to doom her. While her ability was superb, it was not enough to overcome the overwhelming odds of her attackers.

Even with her strength fading, she continued fighting and sending the troopers blaster bolts back towards them. One trooper strayed too close and lost an arm for his error, but in making the attack against the errant trooper, Tesca made her own mistake. Moving too far to her left to attack the nearest trooper, she left her right side open. She knew her mistake as soon as it happened and after dispatching the attacking trooper, she started to move back to a defensive stance but knew she wouldn’t make it. Even as she thought it, she could see one of the last troopers line her up in his sights.

There was the sound of a series of blaster shots, but Tesca could not detect any to deflect. She stared at the trooper who should have shot her and saw a puff of smoke rise up from the troopers back. The Stormtrooper slumped and his last remaining teammate turned to the new threat. As the last trooper turned, he was met by a stocky man with red hair, holding a heavy blaster pistol. The new comer shot the last Imperial twice in the head before the other could return fire and just like that, Tesca’s battle was over.

Misha had no idea what was going on around him, his tug of war match with the Stormtrooper was occupying his every attention. He admitted to himself that he was probably not going to survive this and he started to get desperate. He gathered up his remaining strength and pushed on the trooper and was surprised to see him go down. The Stormtrooper tripped over one of his fallen buddies and went down, unfortunately for Misha, the trooper drug Misha with him. Landing on top of the trooper, Misha scrambled for the trooper’s dropped blaster. Fumbling with his opponent, Misha got a hand on the blaster and rolled back towards the Imperial trooper.

The Stormtrooper dove on top of Misha and tried to wrestle the blaster away. Misha had no idea where the barrel was pointed but knew he could not maintain a hold on the carbine for long, so he pulled the trigger and a blast shot out of the gun. Both Misha and the trooper remained still for a second in shock. Then finally the trooper slumped over and died in a heap next to his teammate.

Misha got up and started to run towards Tesca when he saw that an old friend had showed up and was even now shooting the last trooper. Thaan, a friend and ally from many a mission that their employers sent them on, turned and stared at Misha’s new companion. Even stranger, Tesca was returning the stare and even Misha could feel the emotion pouring out of the two.

Trotting up to the two, Misha grasped Thaan’s hand in thanks that seemed to pull the man out of his trance. “Good to see you Thaan.” He said.

“You looked like you needed the assist.” Replied the stocky man.

“Why are you here on Alderaan?” Continued Misha, trying to get some semblance of control on the situation.

“Believe it or not Misha; I came here to get your help to find her.” Thaan smiled as he pointed toward his childhood friend and companion. But a serious look replaced it. “We have to get out of here, Misha. Do you have a place around here?”

It was Misha’s turn to be sarcastic and he started to lead the small group out of the now deserted Plaza. “As a matter of fact, I was just on my way there when you interrupted us.” Misha cracked a smile as he led them away for the battle scene.

I like the latest chapter, the start was a little slow but the build up had a great payoff...lightsabers and Jedi ALWAYS good in a SW fanfic. I like the portrayal of the Jedi, very uncertain of herself but when the chips are down, good payoff. I like the espionage bent of this tale, it makes me want to know more and that is always key. Keep up the good work.

Had a hard time with this chapter, but I really wanted to get it done because I can't wait to do the next one, its going to be fun.



Chapter 5


The squat building looked just like it did when Misha left a few hours ago. A small building tucked in amidst a series of larger structures in a residential area of Aldera. Misha took his time to approach the safe house, always on the alert for anyone out of place and anyone who showed too much interest in either him or his destination. His brown robes were gone now and he was dressed in dark slacks and a blue pull over shirt. His attire was reminiscent of the middle class of the planet Alderaan and closely resembled the planetary defense force’s color scheme. After the skirmish in the Market Place, Misha did not want to have to go into action again wearing robes, and these clothes would still help him blend into the crowd of Aldera.

After taking Thaan and Tesca to the safe house, Misha had gone off to meet his employers and to see how bad the situation was after the firefight in the Market Plaza. What he found out was not encouraging and he now needed to get his charges off the planet as soon as possible. It seems that after the battle with the Stromtroopers, a level one security lock down was being enacted. When this happened, all the traffic in and out of the planet would be shut down. It amazed Misha that they haven’t done this already but the Senator has mentioned that in all likelihood, they have been waiting to see if Thaan and his companions were going to stroll into the local hanger complex and try to leave Alderaan.

It was not a comforting thought to Misha that this was in fact the plan. They did have one advantage that the Imperials did not know of; they had the assistance of the local government. As the group attempted their escape, various calls of assistance by the local Militia to the Imperials would help clear the way for the fugitives to get to their ship and escape. Plus, Misha had obtained access codes for the hanger and flight control systems should it become difficult to access the hanger that Thaan’s ship was berthed.

Checking his surroundings one last time before entering the safe house, Misha slipped into the building. The dark interior did not quite hide the run down and dirty appearance of the safe house. Broken and worn down furnishings littered the floors and dust floated everywhere. Misha walk through the main floor and navigated his way through the series of adjoining rooms that brought him closer to Thaan’s and Tesca’s hiding place. As he approached he could hear Thaan talking to Tesca, and in spite of himself he wait a few moments to see what they were talking about. Thaan seemed to telling her a story, one that Misha had never heard. Misha had known Thaan for about ten years and during that time they had traveled the galaxy and had done many things but Misha had never known much about whom and where Thaan came from.

Curiosity got the better of Misha, so he settled in next to the room that the two fugitives were sitting in and quietly began to listen to their story.

***


“What happened to you Thaan?” asked Tesca with a longing look on her face. “Where have you been for the last twenty years?” She had been alone for so long and had resigned herself to being that way, that when the prospect of the others out there by themselves, as she has been, alone for so long became unbearable for her.

Thaan was sitting on the couch in the dirty little room. He was still dressed in his dirty brown coveralls and a flight jacket. He had eaten little and he and Tesca spent most of the time that Misha was away taking turns in the small fresher in the safe house. With all the curtains on the windows closed, the room was deep in shadow and Tesca moved close so she could see him. It seemed that the time had come and neither was looking forward to releasing emotions and secrets that both had kept guarded so well for years.

Glancing up from his feet where he was staring, he looked into her brown eyes and saw the pain. “You know how Master Galic drove off the dark one on the main stairs, how he gathered up a bunch of us Padawans.” He began.

Tesca just nodded, not wanting to interrupt him. She had lived for so long thinking that all that she had known and all that she had cherished, had been destroyed that night at the Temple.

Thaan took a deep breath and continued, “Well we all made it to the landing platform and I remember turning to look at you when the assault ship attacked the catwalk we were on. Master Galic pulled me back but the rest of you just disappeared.” Thaan’s eyes mirrored the pain that was in Tesca’s.

Obviously, watching all of his friends and peers disappear in an explosion was just as hard on him as it was too her. She placed a reassuring hand on his leg and motioned to him that all was alright and too continue.

“Master Galic literally threw me into the transport and we escaped. Some how we made it through the planetary defense net and dodged any pursuers but I had no idea what to do next. We thought that you were all dead. From Coruscant, we drifted through the Mid Rim for about a week. We would land on this planet and that, and each time, Master Galic would depart the transport for an hour or two before returning. At the end of a week, we landed here on Alderaan. He took me into a large building and we were taken to a waiting room for a conference room. I waited outside while Master Galic went inside for some sort of meeting. I never saw anyone else enter the room so I can only assume that the people he met were already in there. After about two hours, he came back out and said that he could not stay here. He had things he had to take care of, but I could not stay with him and I would remain here. At this, Senator Valkin walked out of the conference room and Master Galic told me that the Senator had agreed to take care of me in his absence.”

Thaan shifted nervously on the couch, he had never told anyone of what had happened that night. Even though Tesca had the right to know and that Thaan really wanted to tell her, it was hard to unleash the secrets that he had hidden for so long.

“He took me back to Lachithia and there I hid for about three years. As I grew older I started to think that I needed to return to the Republic and do what I could to fight the Empire. It seemed everyday I would hear stories from the holonet of the Jedi hunters capturing another Jedi. The Senator saw this in me and tried to dissuade me, but it only resulted in me growing rebellious. He finally decided that if I was to go out into the Galaxy and fight the Empire, that if would behoove me to learn how to fight and fly in a conventional sense, so I could effectively fight the Empire. Actually it was a stalling tactic, but it worked. Four years later after I graduated the Lachithian Defense Force Academy, I was ready to fight the Empire but not reckless enough to charge out there and just get myself killed.”

“He then made me his staff pilot and took me into his confidence. It seems that since the sacking of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Senator Valkin had been working towards a resistance against the Emperor. After seeing that the political options were spent, he turned to a more militaristic approach. Playing off of the Emperor’s need to dominate the Galaxy, the Senator started to advocate the dismantling of planetary defense forces like the one’s on Lachithia. The boot licker of a governor on Lachithia, who just wanted to appease Coruscant, went along with the disarmament plan and turned the defense of Lachithia over to Imperial forces. What both the Governor and the Emperor did not know is that Senator Valkin took the most loyal of the defense forces and used them to form a resistance. Now we have about 50,000 personnel to fight the Empire.”

This seemed to shock Tesca, the look of surprise was evident. “Its not as much as you would think, Tesca. Almost 40,000 of those people are required to run our capital ships and a handful of smaller vessels. We do have some ground troops, mostly Lachithian Marines but not enough to wage open warfare on the Empire.”

“It sounds like you have a start, Thaan.” Tesca reassured him.

“That is what the Senator says, he says that the job of destroying the Empire is the job of the people of the Galaxy. Ours is to inspire and motivate the people to that end.” Shrugged Thaan. “Any way, that’s pretty much what happened to me, how did you survive the explosion on the landing platform?” Thaan asked, now eager to hear her life.

Now it was time for Tesca to open up and she found it as hard as Thaan did to release secrets that she was used to keeping close. “I really don’t know what happened on the catwalk. I regained consciousness later and found myself in the rubble of the catwalk, so I dug myself out of the wreckage. When I got free, I was in the middle of a pile of debris and the broken bodies of our friends.”

Tesca started to lose it as the raw emotions poured out of her. She had been carrying these demons for twenty years and she often saw the lifeless faces of their comrades lying their in the rubble. “I ran, and kept running. I learned to hide in the under levels of Coruscant and I guess that hiding became a habit with me. It took me two years to get out of Coruscant, two years of dodging the Jedi Hunters but I finally got off planet. From there I basically wandered the Galaxy trying not to arise much attention. For the longest time, I tried to complete my training by looking for any Jedi who escaped and when that failed, I tried to complete it myself as best as I could.”

She wiped a tear out of her eye and moved a lock of hair out of her face as she paused, “About two weeks ago, I was discovered by a Dark Jedi.” She said.

Thaan sat up straight in surprise. “A Dark Jedi, how…” He began.

“Don’t worry, I apparently got out of it alright. Did I not?” She countered.

“But the important part is who the Dark Jedi was, Thaan. Apparently the bodies I saw after digging myself out of the catwalk, were not all of our friends and allies. It was Vox who came after me on Corvis.” She exclaimed in a determined voice.

Thaan’s mind was racing. Drexler Vox was another of his childhood friends from the Temple and another friend that Thaan had long ago thought dead. “Are you sure it was Vox? It has been along time Tesca.”

“No Thaan, it was him. He knew who I was and he knew I would recognize him. He has betrayed the Jedi and is serving the dark side now.” Tesca did not have to add that this is what drove her out of hiding and what prompted her to seek the resistance. “That is what lead me hear and you know the rest.”

“Yeah, I guess I do. Which reminds me, you have been practicing. I don’t remember you learning Form III when we were young.” He said as he smiled, turning the conversation to a lighter topic.

“Thaan, where is your lightsaber? When you came to my rescuer, you had a blaster. Have you strayed from the order?” She asked dourly, not really wanting to ask but she needed to know if he was still dedicated to their former life.

Thaan shifted again nervously in the couch, he took a minute to organize a response. “You have to remember Tesca that I have been hiding in plain sight for twenty years. As a member of Senator Valkin's staff, it wouldn’t be proper to wonder around with a lightsaber. I have been to Coruscant many times and I could not risk being seen with the weapon that a large portion of Imperial resources were trying to locate.”

He could see and sense her concern and he moved to remove it, “Don’t worry, I too have been practicing what I learned. But I have found another way to express it and another way to serve the Galaxy. I hold my Jedi principles up high and live by what they taught, but I can’t go around in a robe and flash my lightsaber about to accomplish those goals.” He ended in a smile.

Thaan’s smile slowly faded and turned into a frown. “Any way, I think that we have kept Misha waiting long enough.” Said Thaan looking out through the door of the room.

Outside the room, Misha was startled by the sound of his name. He thought that he had been undetected by the two and suddenly was a little embarrassed by his ease dropping. Clearing his throat to announce his presence that both of the occupants in the other room were already well aware of, he entered their haven.

“Thaan, Tesca, we have to move fast. It seems that a lock down on the starport will commence with in the hour. My employer can get you approval to leave but it must be soon.” Explained Misha.

“How about you Misha, you were there too. Are you not in danger as well?” Asked Tesca.

“Yes Misha, you should consider coming with us. Senator Valkin can keep you safe for a while until most of this blows over. Come with us.” Added Thaan.

Misha adopted an annoyed look for a moment, “If either of you two would ever let me finish a sentence. I would indeed like to accompany you and my employer would like me to coordinate with Senator Valkin. It seems that the Senator of Alderaan is now in the resistance business.” He cracked a sarcastic smile. “Lets get going, shall we?”

***


Captain Graves stood in front of the bridge window looking upon the taskforce that he was now in command of. He knew if he accomplished his mission, that this was just a taste of things to come. Outside his beloved Retaliator, were three other Imperial Stardestroyers, one of the newer Imperator class and two of the older but still potent Victory class. All of their angled hulls shone in the starlight of the system. Around the cruisers were a hand full of older ships, Carracks light cruisers to augment and escort the fleet.

He was amusing himself with delusions of grandeur when his executive officer approached behind him. “Excuse me Captain, but we have a report from the Alderaan system.” Joak Drysso stood there in perfect position of attention with all the pomp and arrogance that an Imperial Officer should have.

Grave’s reached out and took the data pad that Drysso had and skimmed through the data. As he read, a smile spread across his face. Looking up from the pad, he ordered, “Have the Stardestroyer Triumphant and the Carrack cruisers Havoc and Dominant deploy to the Alderaan system immediately.”

He did not even wait for his XO to reply before he walked away from the bridge and too the turbolift that lead to the Observation lounge. Lord Vox would want this information immediately and Graves did not want to disappoint him. He stepped into the lift and took the short ride down a level and the lift opened up into the Command and Observation lounge.

The room was as dark as a tomb and Captain Graves became uneasy. Before he could search the room and locate his Lord, a booming voice that filled the room echoed out. “Yes Captain, you have news.”

Still not able to see Vox, Graves cleared his throat and gave his report, “My Lord, intelligence has sent us information of a skirmish with resistance forces on the planet Alderaan. Security holocamera’s captured the scene and recorded a known member of the rouge Senator’s staff along with what appears to be a Jedi. I have dispatched a Stardestroyer and escorting ships to support the local Imperial forces in the invest…”

“A Jedi!” Erupted Vox.

Out of the darkness, the imposing bulk of Lord Vox appeared and moved towards Captain Graves. Before he got there, the data pad in Graves’s hand, leaped out of his grip and flew across the room to the Dark Jedi. The large man caught the data pad from the air and began to read the intelligence report for himself. He seemed to be lost in thought, all emotion and expression hidden behind the dark cowl of his hood.

“So, Tesca has joined Senator Valkin’s resistance. This will actually make matters easier.” He turned back to the Captain. “You said you have dispatched forces to help the Imperial garrison on Alderaan?”

Captain Graves could only nod as the room seemed to slowly close in on him. “Good Captain, good. Have any ship that tries to make orbit interdicted and any prisoners transferred here.” Said the dark lord.

Turning matters over to other concerns for the moment, Vox said. “Is our plan to destroy the Senator progressing, Captain?”

Graves found his voice and replied, “Yes My Lord, we have planted information in the databanks of half a dozen likely targets of the Senator. When he makes his next raid, he will get information on a target that he can not resist and then he will be ours.”

“Very well, Captain. Continue on.” Grumbled the Dark Lord as he melted back into the shadows of the room and out of Graves’ sight.

Graves left the lounge and returned to the bridge, musing on how this would accelerate his career and his ambitions for power. The tall thin man smiled; yes it seems that his future was assured.

Nice story, good characters and a compelling read. The only nitpicks I have are spellings and that's something can be sorted in the Fanfic Archive. More please.

Rob Wilson wrote:Nice story, good characters and a compelling read. The only nitpicks I have are spellings and that's something can be sorted in the Fanfic Archive. More please.

Well, you know me. I am a horrible speller and spell check can only take you so far. My editor (wife) will probably go through and fix alot of that when the story is complete, but I am posting as I go for feedback (mostly). Give me a day or two and the next chapter will be ready.

PS thanks

Chapter 6


Thaan led the group through the streets of Aldera. Keeping to the more populated parts and congested portions of the city, the pilot steered his group towards the main hangar complex of the city’s starport. It seemed that the Imperial presence was everywhere, Stormtroopers were stationed at every corner and more were actively patrolling the streets. Their only hope was to travel with large groups of people where the Imperials could not readily identify them.

It was almost over before it began, for when the group left the safe house they immediately ran into a group of Stormtroopers. By the luck of the Force, the group of fugitives bowed their heads and walk by the soldiers and continued on their way, every step they took they expected the troopers to stop them and arrest them. After the initial encounter, Thaan gathered them up in an alley and explained again that they had to act natural; by acting suspicious they would betray themselves to the Imperials.

It seemed to take longer than it did to reach the starport, but as Thaan, Tesca, and Misha approached the hanger, they saw that the lock down was already starting. Swarms of Imperial troops were arranging themselves around the main entrance of the hanger. Thaan did not expect to have to go through a bunch of Imperials to get to the hanger, he expect the problems to start after they took off. He glanced around the area to see if they could go around the main entrance when he saw a large group of well dressed people walk toward the main entrance of the hanger. Thinking he knew what was about to transpire, Thaan waited until the large group of people approached the entrance and fell in behind them. He turned slowly to ensure that Tesca and Misha had followed suit and met Tesca’s stare. In that brief look, Thaan knew that Tesca was ready for an all or nothing attempt to get off of Alderaan.

The troop commander stopped the bunch of travelers at the main gate, and explained curtly, “This facility is under lock down by the order of the Emperor.” This all said in an arrogant voice that Imperial officers were famous for.

The apparent leader of the group pulled out of his robes a data card and handed it to the troop commander. “By the request of the Senator, I am authorized to access this facility Commander.”

A trooper ran the data card through the computer slot and the officer read the information that scrolled across the computer display at the gate terminal. What ever it was, Thaan thought, it seemed to satisfy the troop commander.

The Commander turned to his squad and ordered, “Let them pass.” With this the troops stepped back away from the entrance and allowed the group of Alderaanian’s to pass. It never seemed to amaze Thaan, how far a bribe can get you in the New Order. He and his companions passed the gate terminal and Thaan could feel the gaze of the troop commander. The pompous man was watching each and every person that passed by him. Thaan just bowed his head in deference and continued along his way, passing the Imperial officer and his Stormtrooper contingent.

After they passed the gate, the three entered an archway that led into a corridor and on into the hanger. All the familiar smells of starports began to fill Thaan’s nostrils and the ever present sounds of machinery and repulser lifts started getting louder and louder. The small group of fugitives passed by the archway and Thaan was just thinking that it was going too smoothly when he heard a shout behind him.

“YOU THERE, FREEZE!” Exclaimed the Imperial officer. He might have taken a bribe to let some unimportant Alderaanian bureaucrat leave at the last moment, but he was a loyal son of the Empire. When the last three people of the group past, he thought that one looked a lot like a wanted poster of someone who ambushed an Imperial patrol earlier.

Thaan did not even try to talk his way out of it; he turned and drew his blaster in a smooth motion. He opened fire and blasted the officer first; the pompous man took a hit square in the chest and fell to the ground. The Stormtroopers opened up immediately and the hanger entrance turned into a free fire zone.

Misha was not going to be outmatched this time around, and pulled a heavy blaster out of the jacket he was wearing and opened up on the Stormtroopers. His DH model was larger and more powerful than Thaan’s blaster pistol and much more resembled the blasters the Stormtroopers were using. He laid down a withering base of fire from his weapon as Thaan and Tesca leaped behind support pillars of the archway and the corridor.

Caught unprepared for a large attack, the Stormtroopers hesitated for a second and spread out to the sides of the archway. Misha seeing them fan out, dived for the nearest support pillar for cover.

He caught sight of Thaan and yelled over the whine of the blaster fire, “Way to act natural, Thaan!”

Thaan for his part let the comment slide; he was far too busy keeping track of the various Stormtroopers that were now starting a charge into the corridor. A close call hit just above his head and he ducked as sparks and debris from the wall rained down on him. Regaining his stance he leaned around the pillar he let his sights fall on a trooper and opened up on him. The bolts hit the soldier and spun him around effectively tripping his teammates. Seeing the charge stall, Misha opened up again with his heavier weapon and burned down another two troopers involved in the rush.

Most soldiers would have backed out and awaited reinforcements, but these were Imperial troops. They shrugged off their loses and continued the charge up the archway. Thaan and Misha picked them off one by one and Misha started to feel sorrow at the complete waste of life as the Imperials rushed their positions just to be cut down by blaster fire.

Thaan saw the look on Misha’s face and understood what the man was thinking, but knew it was far different that what the man from Alderaan was thinking. “They are not wasting their lives Misha,” He yelled over the whine of the blasters on both sides. “They are buying time for reinforcements.” He exclaimed. “We have to go, we have to go now!”

Realization dawned on Misha and he started to fall back into the corridor towards Thaan’s ship. He ran over to where Tesca had been hiding and grabbed her by the shoulder and the two took off down the corridor to their only chance of escape. Thaan waited until both Misha and Tesca were well on their way down the corridor before he broke from his cover and ran down after them. Seeing the last of the rebels fleeing, the Stormtroopers pursued immediately. Every ten meters, Thaan had to spin around and fire at the approaching formation of white clad troopers. He wasn’t trying to kill anyone at this juncture, but to break up their formation and slow them down. His rear guard action seemed to be working but their return fire was getting closer and closer to him.

Thaan broke into the hanger to see his two companions run up the ramp of the FarStar. Misha stopped half way up, turned and laid down another barrage of cover fire from his weapon. Thaan sprinted towards his ship and allowed Misha to take over the rearguard action as he ran for the entry ramp. Bolts from the trooper’s blasters whizzed by on all sides and only the Force saved him from being vaporized by the amount of firepower being expelled in the hanger. Shots rang out from everywhere and their impacts showered the area in sparks and bits and pieces of the duracrete walls and even other starships parked in the hanger.

Thaan bypassed the ramp as a heavy concentration of fire tracked its way toward Misha. Thaan ran behind on of his ships landing struts, and ducked behind it as a hail of blaster bolts struck his ship in a vain attempt to kill him.
Thaan twisted around to the other side of the strut and opened fire on the remaining troopers and scored hits on the leading elements. The remaining two trooper’s took up positions behind the wing of a civilian shuttle and continued their assault from there.

Thaan started to inch towards the entry ramp as Misha continued his attack on the Stormtrooper’s position. One of the Imperial troops went down and Thaan yelled out at Misha, “Get on board, we have to go!”

Misha dashed up into the ship and Thaan ran for the ramp, spinning around on his way up and continued shooting at the last trooper. When he was almost all the way up the ramp, the remaining Imperial soldier came around the wing he was using as cover and started shooting his blaster into the FarStar’s engines. Thaan leaned back out of the ramp and snapped a shot off at the trooper and was rewarded by seeing the trooper getting hit in the helmet and falling to the floor.

Thaan smashed the hatch control with his hand and sprinted through the cargo hold to the passenger compartment. As he ran through on his way to the cockpit, he saw Misha and Tesca strapping themselves into the acceleration couches. He ran passed them and into the cockpit of the Corellian ship. Jumping into the forward flight station, Thaan immediately started flipping switches and going over a pre-flight check. If the Imperial reinforcements could just wait a few more minutes, Thaan thought, he could be ready for take off and escape.

Back in the passenger compartment, Tesca started to unstrap herself from the acceleration couch and headed towards the cockpit. Misha was still struggling to strap himself in and did not notice her departure. Tesca did not know how to fly so she knew she would be of little help to Thaan in the cockpit but she refused to be stuck in a room with no windows or viewers as their fate was decided. She had ditched the travel cloak that she wore on the way to the hanger and was again wearing her dark colored, skin tight jumpsuit. She moved though the small corridor that linked the cockpit with the passenger area and entered the small cramped cockpit. The in-line configuration of the flight stations made space a premium in the YT-2000 and Tesca crammed herself on the starboard side of Thaan seat.

Thaan was fighting with the engine warm up status when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and immediately took on a sour look as Tesca stuffed herself next to his seat. He did not have time to tell her to go back and get ready for take off, so he just gave her an annoyed look and returned to his controls.

Tesca ignored Thaan’s look of disapproval. She stared straight ahead at the opening of the hanger and tried to let the Force warn her of any new threats. She was startled by a loud THUMP and flinched away as a red blaster bolt skipped off the canopy. Both Tesca and Thaan turned and saw a new squad of Imperial Stormtroopers advance through the corridor and into the hanger. They moved quickly and fanned out around the FarStar, firing their blasters into the hull.

Tesca turned back towards Thaan with a look of worry on her face, “Are you going to get us out of here sometime today.”

This seemed to knock Thaan out of his shock and he turned back to his controls. Tesca noted that a bunch of indicator lights turned green as Thaan reached up for the repulser lift controls and said, “Go strap yourself in Tesca, we’re out of here.” He hauled back on the controls and the disc shaped craft lifted up off the floor of the hanger.

Seeing their target lifting off, the Stormtroopers redoubled their effort to bring the transport down. All fire from the Imperial troops started to track the ship and they unloaded their weapons into the engines of the FarStar. The commander of the troops saw the ship lift up on its repuler lifts and shouted through his comlink to the Alderaanian flight control center, “Close the blast doors, close the blast doors.”

With an agonizing slowness, the two great hanger doors began to close but it was apparent to all the soldiers in the huge hanger that it would never close fast enough to stop the renegade ship from leaving. The Imperial troops continued to fire on the FarStar’s engines in a last minute gambit to bring the ship down.

Thaan punched the throttle and his ship tore out of the hanger complex and out into the skies of Alderaan. Tesca being unprepared for the sudden acceleration was almost thrown back out of her perch and had to fight with everything she had to stay standing as the small Corellian craft streaked through the atmosphere and accelerated up towards the stars.

Knife wrote: Thaan punched the throttle and his ship tore out of the hanger complex and out into the skies of Alderaan. Tesca being unprepared for the sudden acceleration was almost thrown back out of her perch and had to fight with everything she had to stay standing as the small Corellian craft streaked through the atmosphere and accelerated up towards the stars.

Nice action, certainly keeping the characters on their toes.

Just to save you time on your spellchecker, you can safely use your find and replace function to change all instances of Hanger to Hangar in your master copy.

Now we just have to see what happens in orbit.

Chapter 7


The Corellian transport FarStar cruised out of the atmosphere of the planet Alderaan and started to line up for its hyperspace exit vector. Inside, Thaan was working in a fevered pace to prepare the ship for its jump to lightspeed. He had his APR droid in the secondary flight console, running the hyperspace course through the nav. computer and verified it as he prepped the ship for the jump.

Tesca had just regained her balance as the tiny ship cleared the atmosphere and rocketed out into space. Watching intently as Thaan poured over his controls, Tesca wondered how the hell anyone could make out what was going on with all the lights, indicators, and flashy things. She caught a motion out of the corner of her eye and turned to look out of the canopy.

Thaan had finished his pre-flight for lightspeed and was waiting for the final coarse corrections from the nav. computer. He glanced up at Tesca and saw her looking out of the window, lots of people liked to look out at space, even Thaan but now was not the time for sight seeing. “Go strap yourself in Tesca, we will be making the jump to light speed in a moment.” He stated.

For the second time in their short flight, Tesca turned to Thaan with a slight worried look on her face and said as she pointed out the canopy, “Oh good, that means we do not have to worry about that.” She exclaimed.

“Worry about what?” Replied Thaan franticly as he followed her gesture out the starboard side of the cockpit and looked out into space.

Slinging itself around the planet was a system patrol craft, and it was rapidly closing in on the FarStar. The ugly tear shaped craft was rapidly growing larger as it closed with the ship. Thaan noted it was one of the newer Sienar Fleet System models and began to worry. He could not start dodging the craft or he will be out of his exit vector and if he stayed steady on course, the patrol ship would blast him out of the stars. However it seemed that the commander of the patrol craft had something else in mind.

The ugly ship started shooting its weapons when it was in range, but the ship itself adjusted its heading and seemed intent on getting in front of the FarStar.

Thaan knew what was happening and tried to coax more speed out of his ship. Tesca looked at Thaan confused and asked, “What is he doing?”

“He is trying to get in front of us and prevent us from jumping into hyperspace.” He said in a tense voice betraying his concern.

The ship started to rock back and forth and the laser blasts exploded around the FarStar and Tesca had to reach out and grab the back of Thaan’s chair to prevent herself from being thrown to the floor. “Can’t you dodge him?”

“If I do, it will take longer to jump and he’ll have more time to shoot at us, Tesca.” Thaan screamed back over the roar of the explosions hitting the shields.

The patrol craft had almost moved directly in front of the transport and continued shooting its weapons at the smaller ship in hopes of disabling it. The FarStar shook violently as it absorbed another barrage of laser strikes and Thaan knew he could not hope to stay in his hyperspace vector anymore, he had to out maneuver the patrol ship and then realign himself for a jump.

The FarStar broke from her coarse and dove underneath the attacking ship. The guns of the patrol craft swung down to track the fleeing ship but they were caught by surprise by the sudden maneuver. They had all thought that the pilot of the transport was going to continue his doomed attempt at lining up on a hyperspace vector. The Corellian ship began a series of evasive maneuvers, barrel rolling this way and that to make targeting the ship even harder. The ungainly patrol craft started to turn after the escaping craft and continued its weathering assault on the FarStar’s shields, but with the speed it had acquired by whipping around the planet to engage the fleeing craft, it had sacrificed what little maneuverability the ship possessed. The pilots of the patrol craft could not stay in front of the YT 2000 and the smaller craft continued its flight out into space.

In the FarStar, Thaan turned to Tesca with an arrogant smile. They zipped past the system patrol craft and shot out into open space. Now all Thaan had to do was get them realigned back into their hyperspace exit vector. The pursuing craft was still shooting at them but he felt that the shields would hold long enough for him to escape. His ship began to rock again in response to the blasts from the patrol craft. His shields were being eaten away as Thaan valiantly worked to get them set back up for a jump to lightspeed.

Tesca was looking at the chaotic mess that was the rear scope when she saw a series of lights activate on the control board. Thaan turned to her and announced in a victorious tone, “Go strap yourself in, we’re ready to jump to hyperspace.”

As he said this, a red light began to blink on the top of the consol and then the green indicator lights of the hyperdrive all turned red. “What’s that?” exclaimed Tesca pointing to the red light.

Thaan looked down at his controls and despair started to envelope him. “Three ships are jumping out of hyperspace right in front of us. They are blocking our exit vector.” He announced in a deadpan voice.

“That looks like an Imperial Stardestroyer” Exclaimed Tesca, seeing the dagger shaped hull even at this range.

The Stardestroyer and its two escorts seemed to drop below the FarStar as the saucer shaped craft began a long loop and reversed course. Tesca looked over at Thaan, “What are you doing, that patrol craft is still back there?”

“Better one ship than three, Tesca.” Blurted out Thaan as he started to maneuver his ship.

The FarStar finished its large elegant loop and accelerated back the way it came. Thaan had the small transport rolling again to help evade the blasts from the patrol ship that was again closing with him. The ugly tear shaped craft was already turning again to pursue the FarStar as the small transport ripped past it and continued towards the planet.

Another alarm went off in the cockpit and Thaan read his display boards, “Looks like they just launched fighters. Hope we can make it back to Alderaan before they catch up with us.”

“Where are you going, we just came from the planet?” Tesca cried out, the cockpit shaking again from weapon hits on their shields.

Thaan spared a moment to look at the beautiful face of his companion, “Trust me.”

The FarStar streaked in at the planet of Alderaan, accelerating as much as it could. Thaan had a desperate plan, one inspired by the patrol craft that had ambushed them. He just hoped the Imperials would play along. In the canopy, the planet dominated the view as the small craft approached. At the last moment, Thaan hauled over the controls and put the FarStar in a sharp orbit around the planet. The sudden maneuver gave the ship a small reprieve from the weapons fire of the pursuing ships.

Tesca look decidedly unhappy and remarked, “I don’t know, I have a bad feeling about this.”

As the FarStar soared above the planet, gaining speed as it slingshot itself around it, Thaan rolled the ship so that the planet was above the canopy. Any other time, it would have been a lovely sight but the ship had begun to buck again in response to the enemy fire that was being concentrated on them. Thaan concentrated on his controls and laughed when he saw his tracking screen change and the intense fire on his ship let up.

“Good, one of those Carracks and the System Patrol craft are swinging around the other side of the planet to cut us off.” He exclaimed. “By the time we reach the other side, we should be going to fast for them to track us.” He explained to Tesca. “At least I hope.” He added to himself.

He started to dodge smaller orbital craft and facilities that hung around Alderaan, and kept checking his scope to make sure he wasn’t in the path of something larger. Once again, the Corellian craft was rocked by explosions as the fightercraft from the Stardestroyer caught up to them and started their attack runs. The small TIE fighters could easily stay with Thaan and the only way to get them off was to shoot them. Thaan did not want to divert any energy to the weapons systems and choose to keep it all going to the shields and the engines.

On his scope, he saw a large cargo transfer station coming up and he maneuvered so that the station would mask him from the two ships coming around the other side of the planet. His ship was jumping and jinxing again to avoid the lasers of the TIE’s behind him. Further behind him, the Imperial Stardestroyer was attempting to move into range of the FarStar and get a tractor lock on him. This, Thaan could not allow and he dove for the rapidly approaching cargo station with the fighters close behind him.

The large blocks of the station were connected with smaller rods that formed a box kite looking station. The station was enormous and quickly took up the entire view from the cockpit. Thaan shot through the space between two of the central block of the station and was rewarded as the fighters pursuing him slowed down to maneuver around the station.

Clearing the other side of the station and still going at full acceleration, the FarStar was now in sight of the Carrack and the System Patrol craft that had been attempting to cut it off. The two ships were closing in and open up with lasers and ion cannons when the small transport cleared the structure of the cargo station. The shots went wide as the gunners tried to bracket in on the ship as it rocketed towards them.

“Hang on!” Was all that Thaan could say as the streaked between the two ships firing at them. The FarStar almost shook itself apart as the shields struggled to cope with the onslaught of the attack. The small ship spun almost out of control and Thaan fought to keep them on coarse.

The small transport tore away from the two ships and soon all that was left was the Stardestroyer and its fighters that were now too far behind after dodging the cargo facility, to do much. Thaan pushed the ship in its accelerating orbit and broke out on the day side of the planet that they had started on. He brought the ship onto the course that lined them up for hyperspace and looked over to Tesca triumphantly “Better go strap yourself in Tesca, we are finally out of here.”

By now, he did not expect her to go strap herself in and he reached up and grabbed the throttle controls for the hyperdrive. He noticed that again, she did not budge from his side and they both smiled at each other as Thaan pulled back on the levers and the FarStar shot into hyperspace and away form the Imperials following them.

***


Captain Graves looked blankly at the wall of the turbolift as it took him down to his doom. He knew that the escape of the transport and its passengers from Alderaan had more than likely sealed his fate. As the lift slowed to a stop, he smoothed out his uniform and prepared to meet his fate with dignity. The doors to the lift car opened and he stepped out into the quarters of the Dark Lord.

Lord Vox sensed his arrival and walked out of the dark towards his minion. “Yes Captain, what is it?”

The look of dread spread over the Captains face and Vox could guess what had happened. He took the data pad out of the Imperial Officers hands and begun to read.

“So, they escaped Alderaan.” He stated in a deadpan voice.

Captain Graves was bracing himself for the inevitable, he knew many of fellow officers that had served with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Lord Vader. Those peers had a habit of dieing for perceived mistakes and Graves was sure that he was in the same situation with this Dark Lord.

Vox finished reading the data pad and glanced over to Graves, his pale blue eyes sparkling out from underneath the dark cowl that he always wore. Vox reached up and pulled the cloak away and revealed his face. The young man that stood there in front of Graves startled him. Blonde locks of hair dropped on to Vox’s shoulders and a strong muscled jaw was prominent on a broad face. The man was beautiful, sculptured features and a regal look that almost hide the dark manner of the Dark Jedi.

“Do not cower Captain, if I wished you dead you would already be so.” He said, the hate dripping from the reply at the Captains display of weakness. “They may have escaped, but they will be present at the ambush. What is the status of the Krete mission?”

Trying to get a grip on himself, Graves stood at the position of attention and attempted to regain his dignity. “My Lord, reports have started coming in on a raid in the Platu system. As you know, the Platu system is one of the systems where we placed the data for the ambush at the Krete facility. We are waiting for confirmation that the rouge Senator did a computer dump on the Platu computer core and extracted the bait.”

Vox turned back toward his desk and seemed to contemplate the information. “He will be there Captain. Alert the task force, we depart for the Krete facility as soon as the Triumphant and her escorts return.” He ordered.

Graves was visibly relieved that he was still alive at this point; he quickly snapped his heels together and replied, “Yes my Lord.” He then hastily turned to the turbolift and made his way back to the bridge.