StarDestroyer.Net BBS

After a long, long absence during his trip through Final Fantasy, D&D, 40K, and Halo, Kuja finally returns to the SW universe. I sincerely hope you find it enjoyable. With that...


A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...



STAR WARS

Wolf's Fire

The galaxy is in chaos. For nearly a full year, the
Clone Wars have raged from star to star,
devastating entire systems. The JEDI KNIGHTS,
guardians of the Republic, have found themselves
stretched beyond their limits in their bid to protect
galactic civilization.

As the droid armies of the Confederacy of
Independent Systems rampage across the surface
of the planet DANGRAY, two Jedi have entered the
picture with the intent to halt their plans and destroy
this enemy force.

Little do they know that what transpires on Dangray
will merely be the first step in a journey to save the
galaxy...


Chapter 1


The blue-green ball hung in vacuum. At a glance, it might have appeared serene. However, this effect was forever dispelled by the long chains of warships strung around the planet like garish jewelry. Fire was exchanged at a rate too fast for the biological eye to track, the bright points of exploding ships marking those who had finally been overwhelmed. One ship in particular, a slim Republic battlecruiser, dove between the prongs of a huge droid control ship, slammed into the sphere at its center and exploded. Decapitated, the massive carrier began to swing out of position. The Republic Navy immediately exploited this sudden weak spot in the Confederacy's forces, fighters and gunships swarming past the stricken carrier to attack other enemy ships. Within minutes, it was becoming clear that the Republic was going to score a victory. With the naval engagement resolved, only the ground battle remained to determine who would take control of Dangray, and by extension, the whole of the system.

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

The sound of distant blasterfire still emanated from the ruined city that had once been the capital of Dangray. Within its boundaries, the dogged Clonetroopers of the Republic held their ground against the unrelenting battle droids of the Confederacy. With both armies equally unwilling to retreat, the battle had become a costly one. In the suburbs of the city, even more troops were engaged in flanking maneuvers and more subtle operations. One such group was composed of forty spindly battle droids with deadly rifles cradled in their arms. At the head of the group marched ten of their bigger cousins, the gunmetal-gray super battle droids. These seemed to swagger as they moved, confidant in their invulnerability.

The platoon marched through the streets of the city without hesitation or variance. Obviously, they did not expect an ambush. Even so, they were droids, and droids could react to danger far more quickly than any biological creature. So when the howl of some unknown creature reached their auditory sensors, the entire platoon halted and fell into a textbook defensive formation, with those on the outer lines dropping to one knee and the ranks immediately behind them forming up to create a solid wall of blasters. At the front of the group, the huge super battle droids tracked the area immediately ahead of them with their arm cannons.

The droids scanned the area with far more delicacy than a normal soldier could ever hope to duplicate. Visual, infrared, X-ray, and more types of threat-detection equipment built into their chasses swept the surrounding area along with auditory and even olfactory sensors, all of which came up negative. The squad leaders checked in one by one using bursts of binary code, reporting nothing found. With the last report in, the super battle droid at the head of the formation determined that the threat had been overestimated. With another burst of code, it ordered the platoon back into formation.

Even as they started to move, the droids at the left side of the formation registered motion. A figure in brown robes shot up into the air from behind the nearest buildings, moving so quickly that they nearly lost track of it. They raised their blasters and squeezed off a few shots as they calculated the figure's trajectory, but all of them either went too low or too high as the droids narrowed their range estimates. The lighting of a beam of green energy flipped a switch in their mechanical brains.

JEDI KNIGHT: THREAT LEVEL EXTREME.

The Jedi vaulted over the first few lines of the droids and landed in the center of the group, his lightsaber humming without interruption as he sliced three of the nearest droids in half with an unnaturally fluid series of slashes. The droids began to turn inwards, exchanging code furiously.

CROSSFIRE AUTHORIZED. POSSIBLE FRIENDLY FIRE DEEMED ACCEPTABLE RISK.

The droids opened fire, accepting the possibility that they would gun down their own in the hopes that they would bring down the Jedi in the process. The Jedi moved with speed unheard of, dodging the majority of the shots and letting them take out other targets while using his lightsaber to redirect the few he couldn't avoid, sending them back the way they came. The emerald beam of his lightsaber seemed to become a cage of energy around him, refusing any entrance.

At the head of the group, the super battle droids arranged themselves in a solid line as they waited to see if their lesser cousins could deal with the Jedi themselves. If the standard droids failed, the super battle droids could gun down the interloper with a nonstop stream of blasterfire. Their plan fell apart, however, when another howl split the air and the droid on the extreme left of the line registered the sudden loss of its gun arm. The droids quickly moved to stop this new threat, recognizing it as another figure in Jedi robes. This one was clearly nonhuman and carried a blue lightsaber instead of green. Even as the droids' brains registered this much information, the first of them was cut from shoulder to waist, its torso joining its arm on the permacrete. The second droid was bisected perfectly across the waist and fell to reveal the third in line bringing its gun arm to bear. The Jedi thrust out with her free hand and an invisible force threw the droid back into the next in line, their metal bodies colliding hard enough to dent metal and tear circuits free.

Meanwhile, the first of the two Jedi continued to dodge the continuous volley of death being hurled at him. His lightsaber continued to move as if it had a mind of its own, swinging and arcing almost wildly to stop any bolt headed towards its master. Some of the bolts flew back to strike droids and knock them to the ground, but more often they were redirected to harmlessly slam into the ground or fly up into the sky. The Jedi leapt at one of the droids, his foot landing on its chest. Even as he pushed off, the lightsaber swung down and hacked off its head. The Jedi seemed to defy gravity, running along the droids as easily as if he were running along the ground. His lightsaber cut without effort, removing another droid from the fight each time it swung. By now, the droids had literally fired hundreds of times with the only result being that they had cut down many of their own comrades. Even so, they continued to blaze away, their processors immune to the idea of sorrow or guilt.

By this point, fully half the super battle droids had been destroyed. The next attempted to grapple with the Jedi but only succeeding in getting its hands removed with one deft sweep of the blade. The Jedi spun on the balls of her feet and thrust her lightsaber through the droid's torso, burning a hole right through its main CPU. Acting more on instinct than rational thought, she reached out with one hand and bodily picked up another of the droids, one that had been just about to shoot her. The droid rose a full meter into the air and then shot back down, slamming into the road with enough force to shatter the permacrete and ripping its internal components apart.

The last few droids fell to a few more strikes from the lightsabers and silence fell, broken only by the occasional sound of distant weapons fire or the sparking of a severed connection. The two Jedi stood in the midst of the cybernetic carnage, their lightsabers still humming softly. A moment later, the first of them thumbed a switch and his green blade vanished back into the hilt as he relaxed his combat stance. "I don't sense any more," he said aloud.

His companion remained stock-still for a moment, then swung her saber around and turned it off, timing it so that the blade appeared to simply slide underneath her outer mantle instead of retreating into the hilt. "There's always more," she said placidly.

"Then we'll just have to try harder, won't we?" he said with a smirk tugging at his mouth.

She didn't seem to hear him. Her golden gaze rested on the towers of the ruined city, and he could feel sadness welling inside her. Carefully stepping over the fallen droids, he made his way over to her and gently rested a hand on her shoulder. "Don't give up, Aeshe," he said.

"Give up?" she repeated as she finally turned to face him. "And let these droids rule the galaxy?"

He opened his mouth to answer but never got the chance. The scream of engines filled the air and they both crouched as a torrent of hot air washed over them. A formation of Republic gunships shot by overhead, their course taking them towards the center of the city. A moment later, the sun was blocked completely by the bulk of an Acclamator-class transport. The big ship was using its repulsorlifts to follow the gunships in, and green bolts of light blossomed as it fired its turbolasers. Wherever the bolts struck, fire erupted and debris was thrown into the air. Sometimes that debris included bodies.

In the Acclamator's wake came a small but wide-bodied Republic transport. It swooped down towards the Jedi pair and landed, disgorging entire squads of Clonetroopers. Moving with such calm efficiency that they might have been droids, the clones quickly established a perimeter and set up fire-support teams as one squad double-timed it towards the Jedi. "General Saven, General Aeshe!" the squad leader said with respect as the troopers reached them.

Saven turned to face the squad leader, his eyes slowly changing from a light shade of blue to an urgent ruby. "Report, sergeant."

"Sir! The orbital battle is over, sir. All Confederacy ships have either been destroyed, surrendered, or retreated. The Navy is in the process of establishing a grid above the planet to secure the spacelanes. A lot of the droids down here are offline because their ships are gone and the rest are being mopped up now." The trooper pointed towards the Acclamator, which was now hovering over downtown and occasionally firing down into the city. "This is one of the last pockets of resistance. The gunships are providing fire support and the troops are clearing out the droids with their help. Estimates predict that we'll be finished in less than three hours."

"Well done," Saven said briskly. "General Aeshe and I will assist you in clearing them out."

The clonetrooper shook his head. "Afraid not, sir. You're both ordered to return to Coruscant and report on the situation here. The orders came with General Windu's personal command codes."

Saven frowned. "Did the orders say when we were to depart?"

The clonetrooper indicated the transport. "ASAP, sir. The ship's ready to take you back."

"Thank you, sergeant," Aeshe said. The Shistavanen female brushed past the clonetrooper without hesitation and headed towards the transport without a look back. Saven frowned, nodded to the trooper, and followed after her.

"You should really show them a bit more respect," he said as he drew alongside her.

She glanced at him. "Why?"

He hitched for a moment. "Because they're loyal?" he tried.

"They're loyal because they're bred to be loyal," she said shortly. "Not because they choose to be."

"That doesn't give you the right to hate them."

An amber eye swung around to glare at him from a field of silver fur. "I don't hate them, Saven."

His eyes narrowed, dissolving into a dull brown. "Then why do you treat them so harshly?" he asked as they stepped from the solid permacrete into the transport.

"Because," she said as she keyed the door closed, "they're a mockery."

He was silent as he puzzled out what she meant. As he thought it over, the transport's engines whined and they began to rise from the ground. Within seconds, they were in Dangray's upper atmosphere, looking down at a landscape of battlefields. As they rose higher and broke from the planet's gravity, they sailed past the sleek forms of Republic capital ships intermingled with the shattered hulks of their Confederacy opponents. The tense silence finally got to Saven and he said, "A victory."

"Yes," Aeshe said, a trace of bitterness in her voice. "A great victory." With that, she turned and walked away from the window. Saven turned and watched her go, unaware that his eyes were once again slowly turning blue.

A moment later, he too was leaving the hatch. Aside from the distant hum of the engines, the only sound that reached his ears was that of his boots on the deck. As he walked, he reached out with one hand and brushed all six fingertips against the steel wall. The tactile contact failed to bring him peace of mind. Two years. Two years he'd been partnered with Aeshe and he still didn't understand her. The wolfwoman kept her thoughts to herself, something that was alien to Saven. Back home, changing eye colors always gave away a person's true feelings. As a result, the ability to hide one's emotions was virtually unknown, especially when his people encouraged themselves to be as open as possible.

When he'd first been paired with the wolfwoman, Saven had looked up all the information on Shistavanens he could find. He'd learned about a race of loners, individuals, a type of people who prided themselves on their ability to act alone. Aeshe was Shistavanen to the core, and sometimes Saven wondered why the Jedi had put the two of them together.

By the time he reached the cockpit, his eyes had lightened to aquamarine. To his surprise, the pilot of the ship was an attractive human woman who nearly seemed to disappear into the cushioning of her seat. "How soon until we make the jump to hyperspace?"

"Just got clearance, sir," she replied. "Care to strap in?"

Saven set his legs apart and braced himself. "I'm fine," he said. "Go ahead."

She shrugged. "Suit yourself." She reached out and slowly pushed a lever forward. As she did so, the stars seemed to brighten into streaks of light. A moment later, the ship was hurtling through a blue tunnel of nonexistence. "Autopilot engaged," the pilot said, unstrapping herself and stretching. "Thirty-four hours to Coruscant." She turned and regarded him, then smiled flirtatiously. "Hmmm. If you don't mind me saying so, you've got really pretty eyes."

He blushed fiercely and knew the look of surprise on the woman's face was from watching the eyes she was admiring go from aquamarine to an embarrassed yellow. "Ah, thank you," he said quickly.

"Are you human?" she asked, obviously recovering.

He held up his hands, splaying his slim fingers and letting her realize there was an extra digit on each hand. "Not quite," he said with a bit of a smile.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly.

"No offense is taken. I'm often mistaken for a human at a glance." By now, his embarrassment was past and his eyes had cooled down to green. "And now that we've thoroughly embarrassed each other, I'm going to retire while I still have a shred of my dignity remaining." He offered a short mock bow. "Your services are greatly appreciated."

For that real Star Wars experience, I played the music from the beginning of Return of the Sith. Very nice Kuja.

*grins*

I've been dying for this one. C'mon, don't keep 'em waitin'.

You kick ass kuja.

*awwws, and snaps a picture* That was just TOOOO cute!*settles on a perch and swings feet* He's gonna die...aien't he?*curious*

Very good, and liked the use of aliens within the SW universe.

Chapter 2


Without the troopers aboard, the transport felt empty. Indeed, Aeshe sensed only four people aboard the entire ship: herself, Saven, the pilot, and someone sleeping in the bunkrooms. Aeshe decided it was probably the pilot's relief. The ship also felt uncomfortably warm; humans tended to prefer a higher temperature than she did. She pulled her outer mantle off and draped it over one arm, leaving herself in her Jedi robes. A moment later, she pulled off the uncomfortable boots she'd had to wear while on the battlefield. The cold metal felt good against the pads of her feet and she smiled. She kicked the boots into the corner of the room and dropped the mantle onto the bed. Briefly, she wished she could adjust the room's temperature, then shrugged. It would only be a day and a half before they reached Coruscant. She could endure it that long.

Rather than dwell on the temperature, she shucked her robes and went to the showers. One of the good things about the transport's lack of soldiers was the fact that the communal showers were empty, and as a result, Aeshe could take her pick. She adjusted three of the nozzles to point towards her and started running all of them. The cool water washed away all the grime and smoke that had clung to her fur during the battle and she sighed deeply, wishing the water could wash away more than just the dirt.

She held out a hand and let water pool in her palm, then splashed herself in the face with it. A moment later, she stretched out and rested her weight on her arms. Her eyes slid closed and for a while, she tried to imagine that the running water was her entire world. Minutes passed.

A tremble shot up her arms, then her legs buckled and she fell to a crouch. She wrapped one arm around her midsection as she resisted the urge to vomit. Unconsciously, she bared her teeth as if ready to bite. When her eyes finally opened, her tears mixed with the falling water.

So this was it. It had finally gotten to her.

"There is no emotion, there is peace," she said, her voice trembling. A moment later, she really did throw up. Convulsing, she dry heaved a few times before the tremors finally subsided. "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge," she choked out. A cough wracked her. "There is no passion, there is serenity" she said feebly, breathing deeply. The words felt like bile in her mouth. "There is no death..."

But there was death.

Death on thousands of worlds. Death in the millions. So much death. Death beyond belief.

Aeshe was a loner. She preferred to be alone. The term 'lone wolf' had been applied to her more than once, often with a touch of humor. Despite that, Aeshe had no shortage of people who loved asking her questions. How did you get to be so strong in the Force? How is it you immerse yourself in it so casually? Is it because you meditate so much? Have you spent much time learning? Do your people have a natural proclivity? Is it because your master was unusually strong as well?

More often than not, Aeshe refused to answer them. They took her lack of response as a prompt for them to continue their studies, which was just as well for them. The real reason for Aeshe's talent was that she knew the truth about the Force. A truth that none of them could have handled. Her own master had told her the truth when she had just been a student, and even now she still had trouble handling it.

The knowledge that the Jedi were walking along the wrong path...

She winced and spat, clearing her mouth of the foul taste, and pulled herself to a sitting position. For the first time in months, she was suddenly acutely aware of how alone she was. She was alone amongst the Jedi, her colleagues. Oh, she mingled with them, talked to them, laughed with them, but knew deep inside she could never fully give herself to them. She felt nothing for the Republic. Such a corrupt government garnered neither her pity nor her sympathy. Though she empathized with those who truly worked to make things better, those people were few and far between. Then there was the Confederacy. Her lip curled in an unconscious snarl. The Confederacy was the antithesis of everything she believed in. From their beurocratic head to their numberless drone soldiers, they had garnered nothing from her beyond a desire to oppose. Still, even the thought of that only made her feel more alone than ever. If Torrent could have been here, maybe things could have been different.

She laughed bitterly. Torrent, a Jedi. That was a joke.

In truth, Aeshe desperately wished for companionship. Solitude was overrated. More than once she had considered telling Saven what she knew, and she did so again now. Once again, she rejected the idea almost immediately. The idea of gentle Saven being saddled with the burden of knowledge that she carried was repugnant. No. That wasn't going to happen. She pulled herself to her feet and switched off the showers, then shook herself. A moment later, she was herself again, the tough, no-nonsense Jedi who betrayed not a hint of pain. Naked and still dripping, she made her way back to the bunkroom she'd commandeered and found a towel to dry herself off.

As she was padding her face down, the intercom chimed. For a moment, she grunted into the towel, then pulled it down off her muzzle and tapped the voice-only button. "Yes?"

"It's Saven. I'm in the mess hall. Is there anything you want to eat?"

"Live prey."

"Very funny, Aeshe. Come on down, I'll make you something."

"Sure, I'll see you in a minute." Aeshe switched the intercom off and finished drying herself, then threw the towel aside and picked up her robes. She was starting to slide them on when her nose suddenly wrinkled. She brought the cloth to her nose and sniffed, then scowled. They still smelled like smoke. With that, she gathered them up and tossed them in the cleaner. Of course, this left her with the problem of what she was going to wear until they were finished.

Well, I could always show up for lunch naked, she thought with a chuckle. Saven's eyes would be yellow for a week afterwards, if he didn't outright die of shock. As amusing as that thought was, it vanished in a few moments as her mind went to work on solving the problem. After a moment of thought, she opened one of the bedside drawers and pulled out a clonetrooper body stocking. Holding up the black garment, she briefly wondered how the soldiers managed to struggle into such a thing. A moment later, she wondered how she would fit her larger frame into it. A smile blossomed and she held the body stocking up by the sleeves, then reached out and willed her lightsaber into her hand. The blue blade blossomed – that was a cute turn of phrase – and she easily swept it through the garment's midsection.

From there, she switched the saber off and set it on the bed. She pulled on the top and then the newly-created leggings. The result was, she had to admit, pretty comfortable. The stocking's pieces clung to her like rubber and she hooked her saber back onto her belt, then strung the belt around her waist.

Leaving her feet bare, she silently made her way from her bunkroom towards the mess. When she got there, she was struck by how clean it was. Just like the bunkroom, it was so meticulously clean it was almost sterile. She shivered and was almost relieved when she saw Saven walk in from the galley with a tray of food in each hand. He stopped when he saw her and his eyes shifted to a bright green. "I didn't know we had any commandoes left aboard," he said.

"Laugh it up, at least I don't smell like a bonfire." She ignored his faked hurt expression – she knew it was fake because his eyes stayed green – and sat at the nearest table. "So, what's the chef prepared for us?"

"Nerfsteak with a side of greens and nutrition cubes and some gloriously fresh water," he said as he set the plates down. She raised an eyebrow.

"That's an interesting combination."

"Well, originally it was just going to be the cubes, but I raided the crew's refrigerator and found some real food instead."

She smirked. "Well done." With that, she reached down and pulled the utensils out of their slot in the tray.

Saven pulled a half-full glass of water out of its spot and toasted. "Cheers." He took a sip and looked around as she started to cut her steak. "It's so quiet," he commented.

"I was just thinking how nice it was to have a little peace and quiet for a change," she replied.

He nodded and they fell into silence for a time. Finally, he brought himself to speak again. "Dangray was bad, wasn't it?"

Aeshe paused. For a moment, it seemed like the two of them were frozen in time. "Yes," she finally said. "It was."

"It's going to get better," he said reassuringly, reaching out to touch her hand.

She pulled away before he could make contact. "It's going to get worse," she said bluntly.

"You don't know that for sure," he said softly.

"Yes, I do. When the morals of the galaxy fall so far as to pit one kind of false life against another and let them slam into each other heedless of those caught in the way, it signals a true dark age for everyone."

"False life?" he asked quizzically. "You mean the droids and the clone army?"

She nodded. "Yes."

His hands left his plate and he interlaced his fingers, resting his chin on them. "I don't think I understand."

She sighed. "You're a Jedi. You should understand better than anyone." She glared at him. "Life is something precious. The taking of it is a grave crime in nearly every society that has ever arisen. Yet on the one hand we have an army of unthinking machines that harvests life at an astronomical rate, and people glorify them for their efficiency. On the other hand, we have the clones, soldiers bred and raised to do nothing more than take lives. And are they stigmatized? Are they exiled? No, they're snapped up by the legitimate government and praised for their lifetaking skills." She paused and took an angry breath. "Tell me, Saven. What happens when this Clone War is over and one of these armies reigns supreme? What will the galaxy do with them when there are no more enemies to turn them on? What if they choose to keep them and turn them on the citizens of the galaxy?"

Saven was silent for a moment. "You're very worried about this."

She sighed. "I worry about it because nobody else seems to be doing so. Even many members of our order seem to think that they can accept these clones without strings attached, never mind the governmental reforms taking place. They call them wartime measures, but I don't trust them any farther than I can throw a Hutt."

"You don't trust many people, do you Aeshe?" Saven said. "Sometimes I wonder if you even trust me."

She looked up into deeply blue eyes. He took her hand, and this time she didn't pull away. "Aeshe, you can't go around seeing the worst in everybody. You have to believe that bad times can be sorted out. That's why we have the Jedi Order, to help people do just that." He paused for breath. "If the Jedi were to abandon the Republic, the consequences would be unthinkable. That's why we have to hold firmly and accept that there might be dire consequences for our actions. If we allowed ourselves to be paralyzed into inaction, far more people would be hurt." He sighed. "And you're right, this is a dark time. But it won't last. And when it's over, we'll be there to help the healing start."

She smiled. "You're very sweet, Saven," she said, making his eyes turn yellow. "I think they chose well when they made you a Jedi."

His eyes cooled and he returned the smile. "Aeshe, I want you to know that you can trust me. I promise."

"I know," she said earnestly. She gave his hand a friendly squeeze and stood. "Thanks for the food. You're quite a cook." With a wink, she padded out of the mess hall.

Behind her, Saven slowly felt his smile begin to wilt as he turned back to her plate. It was still more than half full.

uh-oh... so Aeshe is sick? that's not good...

tidy.

I first thought of the inhabitants of Darkover when I read about them being six-fingered and yellow eyed, but the eyes changed colour, so that was dispelled soon enough.

Curious beginning, interesting (and very potentially expansive) premise.

I'm liking it so far.

darthdavid wrote:I'm liking it so far.

It's very good, but it gets much better. *waits patiently for more*

Chapter 3


The rain had started as a drizzle. As time elapsed, the drizzle became a steady stream of water. More time passed, and the stream became a downpour. Lightning seemed to cut the sky in two and thunder crashed furiously. The rain came as if someone had dumped out an endless bucket onto the city. In the face of nature's wrath, everyone retreated into the steel towers of the city. Everyone.

Everyone but one.

A single cloaked figure still walked the streets, ignoring the torrential downpour. Briefly, a hand extended from the depths of the cloak to feel the falling rain and the pale skin provided a startling contrast, had any been there to see it. The hand disappeared again as the figure walked onwards. Boots tapped on the gray permacrete sidewalk as the figure walked. Alone on the street, the figure paused by one of the glowposts and reached up to push down the cloak's hood.

Rusty red hair was immediately plastered against pale skin the same shade as the hand. Gray eyes looked up into the black sky, blinking as they were hit by drops of water. The young woman breathed in deeply, enjoying the damp scent of the night air. A moment later, she was walking again, and after another hesitation, a smile crossed her features and she dashed out into the middle of the road.

To her, it seemed that the city was empty of all but herself. Nobody else walked the sidewalks. No vehicles traveled the roads. The only sign that the city was inhabited at all was the light coming from the glowposts and the windows of the buildings she passed. Thinking of the buildings made her look up again, feeling like a little girl on her first trip to the civilized world. Like a forest of steel, the buildings towered over her, some reaching so high as to touch the storm clouds above. Even as she watched, a bolt of lightning struck one of them, attracted to the metal in the building's frame. As the electricity was safely conducted away, the blast of thunder hit like a giant fist, shaking the very air around her. She took a reflexive step back and covered her face with one arm as the sound banged at her. The sound passed, and she relaxed again.

No wonder primitive peoples tended to worship such forces.

She walked on down the middle of the street, stepping through puddles of water without slowing. The rain continued to pound down on her, but she ignored it. The wind blew a wet lock of hair into her eyes and her only reaction was to casually reach up and brush it away again. She walked between the steel towers of the city as though she owned them all.

The square was just as artificial as the city that surrounded it. The road split and surrounded it, making it an island in a concrete ocean. She realized with mild amusement that the comparison was becoming a reality as the water on the street now came up to her ankles. She splashed her way across the street to the sidewalk on the other side. The square was dominated by a huge statue of some ancient war hero that had once graced this planet. His massive form rose well past the third level of the buildings around it and held a fist to the sky, as though defying the rain to batter him down. The small moat around the fountain was now filled to overflowing, and when she hopped over the wall to land in it, the water came up past her knees. Taking a breath, she plunged herself beneath the surface to come up a moment later, completely soaked. She gathered her wet hair and tossed it over her shoulder, refilling her lungs as she did so.

She wondered if he was watching.

She felt a thrill of excitement as she climbed out of the water to sit at the statue's feet and deliberately stretched her legs. The stone beneath her was surprisingly warm, and she leaned against one of the legs, her eyes sliding closed in pleasure. Her hands slid over the rock pedestal, feeling its contours. The rain pattered incessantly against her and she smiled voluptuously, thinking that she'd never had a better massage. She set her hands behind her head and propped herself against the statue, waiting. Minutes passed, and she didn't change her position.

Her lips parted and her tongue crept past her teeth to again taste the falling raindrops. They felt so fresh, so pure…it was better than drinking the finest wine in the galaxy. Still she waited. She was a very patient woman when she wanted to be, and she had come prepared to wait all night if she had to.

As it turned out, she wouldn't have to. A trio of figures, each heavily cloaked and hooded, stepped out from a side street and approached her. Two of them were distinctly tall, too tall to be human. The third was indistinguishable. The trio came closer and closer, finally stopping at the statue moat. "Come across and join us," one of them said, his voice clearly Nemoidian.

"I think I'll stay right where I am," she said as she sat up and graced the trio with a false seductive smile. "I've gotten pretty comfortable."

"Where's your partner?" asked the mysterious third member of the group, and she immediately identified him as a human male, his brisk accent distinctly Bonadanian in nature. A Corporate Sector boy.

"Around," she said laconically, enjoying the taste of his uncertainty. "Watching. Waiting. Making sure nobody pulls a fast one."

"Why did you not report in?" said the third figure, also clearly marking himself as Nemoidian. "Why demand to meet us here, like this, on this irritating planet?"

"Because your agent botched the job!" she snarled. She shot to her feet and her smug attitude melted away to reveal anger beneath. Deep down, she reveled as they all stepped back in fear. "You told me he was the best. He was crap! Everything was going perfectly until he shot his mouth off and brought the entire sector fleet down on our heads!"

"We understand that accidents happen," said the first, but she cut him off.

"Accidents nothing! I've got half the Republic breathing down my neck when they're supposed to be pointing fingers at each other, and now the Jedi are starting to sniff around! Jedi! Do you understand what that means? Jedi!"

They were silent in the face of her wrath and for a few seconds, the only sound was that of the rain falling. "We are sorry for the difficulty," the first of them said. "And we appreciate the difficulty of your position." He was doing a good job of concealing his fear, but his use of the word 'difficulty' twice in one sentence gave him away and she struggled not to laugh in his face. "However, if you are willing to listen, we believe that we can rectify the situation."

She crouched, making herself look like some type of gargoyle ready to pounce. "I'm listening."

"We have a task appropriate to an agent of your caliber. The planet's name is Essenne. Republic forces are threatening our hold there."

"And?"

"We cannot afford to lose Essenne at the current time. There is an ongoing project there that cannot be simply packed up and moved."

"So it's a planet you control. Send an army. Why me?"

The human broke in. "We didn't say we controlled the planet, we said we had a hold there. The more the Republic presses, the more tenuous that hold becomes."

"And?"

"The project my colleague spoke of could change the course of this war if it is completed. The Republic does not yet know of it, for if they did we are certain they would have forced our hold already. We want you to go there and safeguard it."

"And my partner?"

"He will go with you, of course."

"I expect payment up front this time."

"Done."

"And double what it was last time."

"What?" exclaimed one of the Nemoidians.

She turned her glare on him. "I'm still feeling the repercussions from last time. If I take this job and the Republic finds out, they will be very, very angry. I want insurance."

"Done," the human said again, waving down his colleagues. His hands briefly disappeared into his cloak and came out again holding a sealed datapad. "Here are the details." He tossed it to her and she caught it. As she put it away, he asked, "by the way, what did happen to our agent?"

"He dawdled on the tarmac and a transport sat on him," she said bluntly. The two Nemoidians reacted with horror, while the human, interestingly, seemed amused. She secured the datapad and looked back up at the three of them. "Are we finished, gentlemen?" she asked.

"I believe we are," the human said.

Her eyes flicked up into her head for a moment. "Good. Get out of here. I think I'm about to have company."

They cleared out with undue haste, leaving her alone in the rain. She stood and arched her back, interlacing her fingers and stretching. A moment later, she crouched and leapt, easily clearing the moat with a graceful jump. After landing, she hopped down onto the old-style cobblestone sidewalk. After landing, she pulled her hood back up and walked back across the island, stopping at the edge of the street.

As if she had cued them, uniformed figures erupted from the alleys and streets around her. She recognized them. Clonetroopers. They seemed to pour like a flood, surrounding her, keeping at a distance of about five feet. Blaster rifles the size of battleaxes pointed at her, aiming for vulnerable areas like her belly and chest. She counted at least thirty of them, and those were just the ones in her field of vision.

One of them, his armor decorated with slashes of dark red, stepped out from the throng and addressed her. "Don't make any sudden moves," he said calmly. "Raise your hands above your head."

Without reply, she began to raise her hands. When they reached the level of her waist, they suddenly exploded into action and darted to her belt to pull a pair of cylinders that she spun like rotor blades in her hands as she brought them away from away from her body. She tapped buttons with her thumbs and a pair of red blades blossomed from one end of each cylinder, hissing and steaming as the raindrops struck them. Almost as one, the clonetroopers stepped back, their rifles wavering.

She smiled.

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

High atop one of the buildings, at the kind of height where a human being is little more than a dot on the ground, another cloaked figure looked down at the confrontation taking place in the square below. The lone spot of black – her. The field of white – the clones. The ripples of splashing raindrops – the ground below. Unnoticed by either the clones or the woman, his hand went to his clasp and undid it, letting the wind take the cloak from him and carry it away. A beam of red blossomed from the cylinder held in one hand.

He crouched and slowly tilted forward, then pushed away from the building. He fell towards the confrontation headfirst and brought his lightsaber to an attack position.

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

Two hours later, the rain had finally stopped and the clouds slowly cleared from the sky, allowing three of the planet's four moons to shine their light down on the bodies of the fifty clonetroopers scattered across the square.

*blink* why are there clonetroopers?

Lindar wrote:*blink* why are there clonetroopers?

Because it's the middle of the Clone Wars?

Coolness, and now more intrigue .

Yes! The badass redhead appears!

I love how Zaia put that.

Chapter 4

Aeshe had mixed feelings about being back on Coruscant. On the one hand, it was the hub of the galaxy, the capital of the Republic, and it was good to be where things happened. It was also good to be back at the Jedi Temple, where she could always find time to meditate. On the other hand, Coruscant was a sick planet. It had a population of trillions, and of those, billions were in poverty or worse. Their despair was always in the background whenever Aeshe stretched out with her senses. Sometimes, she wondered if the Jedi in ancient times had chosen to build their keep on Coruscant because of that reason; it would be an ever-present reminder of those they fought for.

The stone floor was cold against her bare feet, but she ignored that. Her robes itched, but she ignored that as well. She kept her weight balanced evenly and held her saber in a reverse grip, the blade pointed down at the floor. Her other hand, her left, held a place at the small of her back. In her current pose, she did not resemble a Jedi so much as she did some head of state, one that held a glowing blue staff.

That air evaporated when she took a step forward and thrust out her hand, her saber remaining perpendicular to the floor. As her muscles stretched, she emptied her lungs with a short bark that sounded like a whip-crack. A moment later, she turned her hand and swept the saber to her right in another jagged motion that was accompanied by another short bark. She spun on the balls of her feet and swept the saber around underhand, turning to a position that was roughly akin to her original. She tensed herself and spun again, carefully working her saber through a series of hand-offs as she moved across the floor, her lightsaber protecting her flanks, her torso, and her head all at once. She ended in the exact same stance in which she had begun, except now she was standing at the west edge of the floor and facing east instead of dead center and facing north.

Aeshe dropped her center of gravity and bowed her legs, then briefly flicked her saber out ahead of her before returning it to point at the ground, a move that would have opened up an unwary opponent from groin to sternum. She rose to her full height and stabbed the saber up behind her back, fluidly handing it off to her other hand. Still holding it in reverse grip, she swung it underhand-

-until it met the edge of an emerald beam that crossed its path. Without hesitating, Aeshe spun away and whirled the saber back into her good hand, coming to rest with an open hand against the pommel and the blade pointing towards the ground at a forty-five degree angle.

Saven didn't press an attack; instead, he stood facing her with one hand on his hip in what would have been a classic fencing stance if he hadn't kept his feet flat on the floor. Jet black hair hung wetly down his back, and Aeshe caught the scent of cleaning oils. His eyes were a neutral white, as if sculpted from marble. Without speaking, he crept towards her, still flat-footed. At six feet, he lunged forward and stabbed at Aeshe's legs. With a casual flick of the wrist, she batted his blade aside and stepped forward, swinging it at his knee. He stymied her by bringing his blade back and guiding her strike to the side and turning his body as he did so until they ended up with their backs together. Aeshe flipped her saber up into a more traditional grip and spun left. Coincidentally, Saven also spun to his left and they ended up twirling around one another until they came full circle and their blades clashed with each of them standing in the sport where the other had previously been, only now face to face. Saven grinned and a bit of green seeped into his eyes. "You're as crisp as ever," he said.

Aeshe was silent as he backed off and deactivated his saber. "Why did you interrupt me?" she asked.

"Master Windu wants to see us now," he said. "I simply chose to make a bit of a flashy entrance." His eyes were fully green now.

Aeshe switched her saber off and holstered it. "Why now? We weren't supposed to speak with him for hours yet."

"I got the impression that another item of business had been canceled for some reason."

Aeshe shrugged. "Well, let's go, then." Saven bowed and waved her towards the door as if he were some sort of escort. Mildly amused, Aeshe led the way out of the room and into the much larger chamber beyond. Unlike the stone-floored practice area, the enormous lobby was made entirely out of durasteel and transparisteel windows. Dozens of people wandered about, some Jedi, many more temple attendants on some errand. Aeshe ignored them all and walked straight to the elevator, which opened at her approached and allowed both of them to enter.

"Council Chamber," she said as the doors closed. When Saven made no request, the elevator rapidly shot upwards, its inertial dampener keeping the Jedi from feeling the full effect of its progress. As they rose, the clear doors treated them to a view of Coruscant City stretching out before them.

"Quite a day," Saven commented.

"Give it an hour," Aeshe replied. The comment didn't elicit a chuckle the way she had thought it would and she turned. "That was a joke," she clarified.

Saven grinned, but his eyes were a telling light blue. "Ah, I see. Of course," he said. He looked back out and left Aeshe to her thoughts, which she promptly focused on his. Why are you always so negative? she caught, and resisted the urge to laugh as she pictured Saven of all people saying that out loud. As she sobered, she realized that although Saven would never say it, the thought revealed a lot about the relationship she had with her partner, and it wasn't an image she found particularly appealing. She decided to try a little harder.

"I guess that wasn't so good," she said. "Hey, I heard one from our pilot. A Bothan walks into a cantina with a gornt under his arm..."

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

Saven had just brought his chuckling under control when the doors to the Council chamber opened before him. He stepped inside and took a breath to calm himself, then turned his attention to the others in the room. Surprisingly, there were only three besides himself and Aeshe.

"Wondering where the rest of us are, you must be," Master Yoda said from his seat.

"It does strike me as unusual to see a council of three," Saven said honestly.

Mace Windu stood and offered a short bow to the two Jedi, which they promptly returned. "The others are all spread across the galaxy," he said. "It seems that every day, the Confederacy ties down more of us." Saven studied Windu's features for a moment. The venerable Jedi master stood as straight as ever, but it seemed to Saven that he had aged rapidly over the past few months. There was complete honesty in his statement about the Confederacy. To be a Jedi in these times is trying, Saven thought. To be one of the Council must be utterly exhausting.

"I hope they are all doing well," Aeshe said, breaking his train of thought. "A council of three...I think the Senate could stand to learn from such an example."

"We did not call you here to discuss your views on Republic politics, Jedi Sarkenan," Master Plo Koon said, and even through his breath mask his voice was curt. "There are more important matters at hand."

She bowed respectfully. "I apologize, Master Koon."

The rapping of Yoda's cane drew the attention of all those present to him. "Enough of the pleasantries, that is," he said sternly. "Here to discuss grave matters, we are."

"I'm afraid that Master Yoda is correct," Windu said as he retook his seat. "Do you recall the name Essenne?"

Aeshe frowned, but Saven stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That rings a bell, somewhere," he muttered. The other three looked at them expectantly, and he suddenly snapped his middle and second index fingers against his thumb. "Agro-world," he suddenly said. "Mid Rim. Human population. Seventeen, no, eighteen billion or so."

Aeshe turned. "Dirt path?" she said, voice querulous. "Those insects with the whooping call?"

"That's it," Saven confirmed, and her face flooded with recognition. Saven turned back to face the council members. "Yes, we remember Essenne. We visited it about a year and a half ago."

"That's good," Windu replied calmly. "Because we're sending you back there."

"Essenne has gone from farming world to frontline," Plo Koon cut in. "For the past month and a half, fighting has been almost continuous." He touched a button on his chair and a small pole rose in the center of the chamber. Saven and Aeshe politely stepped out of the way to stand between Yoda and Windu. When the pole had extended three feet, it clicked and a holographic display of a world appeared. At a wave from Master Windu, the room shutters closed and the display was more easily viewed. Saven immediately recognized it as a world, and it wasn't a leap of logic to realize that it was Essenne. He hadn't had a chance to see it from above on their last visit, so he took the opportunity to study it for the first time.

Six continents, five of them green and the last one brown. Blue water in between. An armada of ships in orbit. Plo Koon stood and walked to the center of the room, gesturing at the flotillas. "This is the Confederacy's principle force in the Essenne system," he said, "the Thirty-third Fleet." He then gestured to the grouping of ships on the opposite side of the planet. "And this is the Ninth Republic Defense Fleet. In addition to these two, there are also three other such fleets in the Essenne system, two Republic and one Confederacy. The others jockey around the outer reaches of the system, continually making runs at each other before peeling off and regrouping."

Aeshe frowned. "That's pretty old-fashioned. Why not microjump in and hit them hard?"

"For that, Sarkenan, you can thank the liberal use of interdiction cruisers," Koon replied. "Neither of the Republic fleets has the strength to destroy the Confederacy force and walk away, and the Confederacy fleet continually places itself so that combining the two is not possible. Meanwhile, the Thirty-third and the Ninth wait in orbit with an unspoken cease-fire as they wait to see who will emerge victorious. In the interim, Essenne is effectively divided in half."

"So why are you sending us?" Aeshe asked, her brusqueness matching Koon's own. "Two Jedi won't help decide a fleet battle."

"We are sending you, Sarkenan, because if the Jedi do not intervene, we believe that Essenne may fall not simply to the Confederacy, but to the dark side."

Cool set up for a big battle.

Also enjoyd the banter between the two of them.

Nicely done, Kuja.

I like this, it's got a quiet simplicity to the narrative which is very nice reading, also some parts of the descriptive side of things reminded me of Douglas Adams - not quite sure why.

Oh the poor poor Aeshe! She's not gonna take well to that...

Chapter 5


Aeshe's brows arched in a very human expression. "The dark side?" she asked. "How could that possibly happen?"

"Happened before, it has," Yoda said sternly. "Happen again, it very well could."

Koon made a gesture and the hologram of Essenne vanished to be replaced by that of a young woman. Aeshe looked her over quickly. The woman, whoever she was, stood about five and a half feet high. Her pale skin and gray eyes were offset by her black clothing and dark red hair. The expression on her face was a mixture of shock and rage, prompting Aeshe to wonder if whoever had snapped her picture had gotten away intact. Saven nudged her. "Look at her belt," he murmured. Aeshe did so and was not particularly surprised to see a pair of lightsaber handles dangling from it.

"Well, well, well," she muttered in what she knew to be a predatory fashion. "What have we here?"

Behind them, Mace Windu sighed. "It seems that with the reemergence of the Sith, other practitioners of the dark side have chosen to rear their heads. This woman was recently spotted on Balmorra in conjunction with an attempt to sabotage one of the war factories there. Fortunately for the Republic, the attempt failed and the conspirators either captured or dispersed. Less fortunately, we lost three full squads of troops to her alone before she escaped. She was tracked to Ralltiir and another attempt was made to apprehend her, but she and an unknown companion wiped out an entire platoon of Republic soldiers."

"Clonetroopers?" Aeshe said unexpectedly. Saven stifled a groan.

"Yes, in fact," Windu replied, a quizzical expression on his face.

"Your feelings on the Republic army we know, Aeshe Sarkenan," Yoda said calmly. "But put them aside for now, you must."

"I shall, Master Yoda," she said with a bow.

"Returning to the subject of this meeting," Master Koon said acidly, "this woman was tracked from Ralltiir. Unfortunately, her trail was lost along the way and there are several possible places she is hiding. Essenne is one of those."

"So you're sending us to find her," Saven said simply.

"Find her, find out what she is doing, and if possible, detain her and bring her back here. She is certainly talented in the Force and most likely the dark side. It is possible that she is one of the agents of the Sith, along with the mystery partner who helped her on Ralltiir."

"And if she proves intractable?" Aeshe asked innocently.

"Kill her," Koon said bluntly.

Saven frowned. "Master Koon, just who is this woman?" he asked. "You've told us what side she's on and where to find her, but what is her name? How could we persuade her to come with us peacefully?"

For a moment, there was little more than silence. Then, Master Yoda spoke. "Wise, your questions are, Jedi Tal'ios," he said. "Unfortunately, answer them yourself, you will have to."

"I understand," he said with an honest bow.

"When do we leave?" Aeshe asked.

"Today, if possible," Koon replied. "There is a ship sitting in the fourth hanger for you. Correct me if I am mistaken, Jedi Sarkenan, but I believe you are qualified to fly a Corellian YT-900 freighter."

She nodded. "That's right. I'm a bit rusty, though. I haven't actually flown in...well, years." Her gaze wandered for a moment. "Still, I should be able to handle things without too much trouble, so long as I don't need to do any dogfighting."

Koon spread his hands. "Then you may leave at your earliest convenience. Aboard the ship, you will find all the supplies and data that you need."

Aeshe nodded. "Well then, we might as well be going. Unless you think otherwise, Saven?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm all for going. The sooner we get there, the better."

Aeshe turned to regard Master Windu. "Well, there you have it, Master Windu. We'll be going."

He stood and sketched a bow that they promptly returned. "Take care, and may the Force be with you."

"And with you, Master," they chorused.

"For your safe return, we will be watching," Yoda said kindly.

"Thank you, Master Yoda," Saven replied.

"Thank you," Aeshe said a moment later. Then, they bowed to Master Koon and left.

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

Finding their ship was simplicity itself: it was the only freighter in the hanger. Saven took one look at the battered old ship and gulped. "Will that thing get us out of the atmosphere?" he asked dubiously.

"Why don't you take it for a test drive and find out?" Aeshe said with a lazy grin.

"I'll pass, thanks."

She barked a laugh and clipped him on the shoulder. "Come on, we're wasting time."

The ship was small; 'cozy' to Aeshe, 'cramped' to Saven, who took two steps up the boarding ramp and found himself face to face with a wall. "Did they make this model for Chadra-fan or something?" he asked.

Aeshe chuckled. "They're snug alright," she replied as she ducked down the corridor. "But they're a whole lot faster than the 1200s."

"As if that meant anything to me," he said, which prompted another chuckle as Aeshe slipped into the one-seat cockpit with uncanny grace and slid into the chair. As she buckled herself in, she reached out and touched switch after switch, once or twice going back and flipping something again, once with a muttered curse. As the ship came alive around them, she suddenly unbuckled and pulled her mantle off, tossing it on the floor behind her before picking up a pilot's headset and buckling back in.

"Can't believe I forgot this much," she muttered. She turned and regarded him for a moment as she worked the headset into an acceptable position. "Saven, do me a favor and go up to the laser cannon," she said. "Make sure it works independently. If anything happens, I won't have the concentration to fly and shoot at the same time."

"Well?" she asked after a moment. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

Saven shook himself. "Right, I'm going," he said, and promptly turned around to slam his head into the doorframe. Aeshe watched him stumble off down the hall and shook her head.

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

The gun seat was just as cramped as the rest of the ship. Saven squeezed into the chair, still nursing the spot where his forehead had collided with the metal. He sagged into the material of the seat, barely seeing the double-barreled cannon in front of him. For some reason, that image of Aeshe sitting in the cockpit chair just wouldn't leave him. For one instant, as she'd turned to face him, she'd suddenly seemed to be the most beautiful person he'd ever laid eyes on. Why, he couldn't explain. It had just hit him. The light from outside had seemed to frame her and make her silver fur nearly glow. Even her eyes had suddenly lighted with some kind of inner fire as the light fell across them. The roughness of the cockpit around her, rather than detracting from the beauty of the vision, had instead seemed to add to it somehow.

"You've been spending too much time with just her as company," he muttered to himself. Still, that didn't seem to cover it.

"Saven, can you hear me?" her voice rang out from a nearby headset. He snapped to attention and pulled it on, placing a hand on the gun as he did.

"Loud and clear," he replied as he quickly checked the weapon over.

"How does it look?"

He swung the cannon back and forth a few times. "It looks fine to me."

"Good. Are you strapped in?"

He yanked on the belt and clicked the buckle shut. "Yes."

"Then stay there, we're ready to lift off." With that, he heard the engines begin to whine, first with the soft buzzing of an insect's wings; then the sound began to grow louder and louder. Without warning, the ship pulled upwards and stopped an instant later. Saven bucked in his seat. Before he could snap a comment he heard her say "sorry, forgot about the dampeners." A moment later, the ship jerked to port, swung too far around, and then came back to face the exit.

"You really are rusty," he said with a grin.

"Bite me," she replied. A moment later, she proved him right as the ship suddenly sprang forward and shot past the hanger door in an instant, moving at what was clearly an unsafe rate of acceleration. Once out of the building, Aeshe stood the freighter on its tail and shot skyward. They joined a line of traffic – earning a little verbal abuse from one of the other pilots as they drifted too close to his ship – and exited Coruscant's shields within a few minutes' time.

Aeshe pointed the ship past the orbit of Coruscant's second moon as Saven leaned on one hand and watched the stars. "Hang on," she said a few moments later. The stars brightened, elongated, and a moment later they were in hyperspace. Yet another moment later, the tunnel around them collapsed and they emerged at the edge of the system.

"Try the gun out," she said after a moment.

"Live fire?" he asked.

"Humor me."

Saven unlatched the safety and pulled the trigger a few times. The double cannon bucked and spat out a few bolts of light. "Working," he said.

"Keep going. Get some practice in while I work out our jump." Saven shrugged to himself and began pulling on the controls, tracking imaginary targets and shooting them full of holes.

"Alright," she announced a full minute later. "We're ready."

"Please tell me this is going to be a short trip," he said as he locked down the gun.

"Depends on your definition of short. Twenty-six hours to Essenne."

26 hours is shorter than the last trip they made*nods* so that's not bad at all...*grin* is he gonna get to shoot space ships?

Very well done. The banter between the two is excelent.