Jedi Prophecy

[Knife]

I've actually been tinkering with this for quite a while, year or so. Tell me what you think?




Jedi Prophecy



The hazy blue spiral of hyperspace lashed around the small Corellian ship as it flung itself across the stars. The small freighter was a classical Corellian saucer-shaped design, or in this case a saucer cut in half with four big cylinder engines jutting out the back and a small cockpit bubble on the top. The small ship was created to be fast and to be easily modified, it was the Corellian way in ship design for thousands of years. It was with a wink and a nod that the ship was made to be a freighter instead of a smuggling ship and the two Corellian’s inside put her ability to good use.

Adam Goodheart was strapped into the small cockpit of the freighter. He was the owner operator of the Second Chance. He, along with his partner Derec, used the fast ship to move cargo along the dangerous trade routes between the Corellian Confederacy and its not so new enemy, the Kuati’s.

One would think that as a Corellian, Adam would care that his nation was skirmishing with the Kuat Empire, but those people would obviously not understand the Corellian trait of being fiercely independent. Deep down, Adam didn’t want anyone killed by some stupid political dispute, but his trade in life was moving cargo. Small, expensive cargo at that.

The Dictate of Corellia and the Kuati Merchant Barons could posture all they wanted to, but the truth was that both the Corellians and the Kuati’s needed trade. Maybe not between themselves but among the other fiefdoms across the Galaxy. Adam and Derec moved cargo between Corellian and the Federation, between the Federation and some of the Outer Rim colonies and dust ball-wannabe warlords. Hell, the Second Chance had even run cargo for the Hutt Empire.

Derec and he had been doing this for a long time. Almost a decade, to be precise. Adam had met Derec Trainer when the two men had signed up on another Corellian ship, the Trojan Surprise. Both Adam and Derec had worked under Captain Priam for many years, both as smugglers and even as pirates. Moving and taking cargo amongst the various trade routes that criss-crossed the galaxy.

The two had paired up and left Priam after the old pirate had made a bunch of big hauls and had decided to go into business for them selves. Now years later, the two smugglers had hacked out a good life and a respectable reputation among the space lanes. Which brought Adam’s musings back to here and now, as the duo had just offloaded a bunch of antiques on the old world of Naboo and had been contracted to travel to an Outer Rim world that Adam had never heard of, to pick up another load for the eccentric Nabooian collector.

Derec was all for the easy money, hauling ancient relics, legal and really above board. Adam, though, didn’t like going into anywhere blind. He had a tingling sensation at the back of his neck from this haul. And he didn’t like it when he got bad feelings from any job. It always meant that something really bad was going to happen.

With a sigh, Adam reached up and flipped a few switches and checked his nav. screen. They were still a day and a half from Trasadon, their destination, and Adam couldn’t decide if he hated the wait for something bad to happen or the bad itself.

He sighed again as his partner walked into the cramped cockpit. “Couldn’t sleep?” Adam asked.

“No, was fiddling with the reactor specs. If we can haul a few more metric tons of crap for this old guy on Naboo, we could probably afford to upgrade the Chance’s heart and soul and have better range and speed.” The mechanic replied, oblivious to his friends creeping smile.

The smile turned into a small laugh as Adam sat up straight in his pilot’s chair and reached up to adjust the power setting on the control board. Just before his hand touched the controls, the ship shuttered and bounced.

Adam grasped the controls quickly and glanced over to Derec, “You didn’t start those modifications early did you?”

Derec ignored Adam and picked him self off the deck where he had landed as the ship bucked again. The mechanic forced himself into the seat next to Adam and started going through ship diagnostics.

“Oh spite!” He called out as his hands flew over the controls. “We’ve popped a coupling in the motivator. Hold on, were reverting whether we want to or not!” He yelled over the squawking sirens in the cockpit.

True to his word, the spiraling haze of hyperspace disappeared and the tell tale lines of real space shrunk down into pinpoints of light from the distant stars. The star field began to spin as the Second Chance tumbled out of hyperspace and out of control.

Fighting to regain control, Adam wrestled with the control yoke and managed to get the Corellian freighter under some semblance of normal flight. Beside him, Derec started a shut down routine of various systems.

“The hyperdrive’s toast. Probably blew out half the converters all the way back to the main engines too. I hope there is somewhere to land around here or we’re in big trouble.” Derec said, with a growing sense of dread.

Adam, still fighting the controls responded, “I don’t know. I don’t think I can land her right now. Controls are getting really bad.”

A loud alarm went off jus then and Adam groaned as Derec checked the Nav. Board, “Proximity alarm. Got some planetary debris up ahead. Maybe the cut off for the drive was faulty and blew the coupling.”

“Now’s not the time for analysis, Derec. Is there a planet up ahead with that debris?”

Derec took a few seconds and got the Chance’s sensors moving. “Got it, planet coming up under us. We’re just outside of maximum orbit.” He looked over at Adam, “Are we going in?”

A bead of sweat rolled down Adam’s face and he tightened up his grip on the yoke, “You said we needed to land to repair, you’re the mechanic. You better strap yourself in, though and get the repulsors going at 110%. This is going to be,” He paused to find the right word and to steady the ship as it entered the atmosphere, “Bad!”

The small ship hit air and the shields flared with the heat. Adam tried to keep them going at as shallow an entry as he could but the ship seemed determined to crash as soon as possible.

Soon, the canopy was clouded with the glare of fire and heat and Adam began scanning with the sensors for a good place to skid out. With the repulsors working, his control of the ship improved, but with the speed in which his freighter was streaking for the surface the anti grav drive would not give them a soft landing.

Adam lined up with a small valley as best as he could before the Chance hit. The power flickered, the world spun, and screeches from straining metal filled the cockpit. The two smugglers bounced and were tossed around with their ship before they slowly came to a halt.

It was quiet then, in the cockpit. The power was gone and the lights were off as were the alarms and sirens. Adam flirted with unconsciousness for untold minutes before his vision cleared and he found himself still strapped in his seat. A harsh, bright light came through the canopy and Adam was glad to see the plastasteal was still intact.

With a groan, the pilot straightened himself, and then unbuckled his restraints. He pulled himself out of the seat and checked on his friend. The smaller man was knocked out but seemed intact. Adam wondered if the same could be said about his ship.

He shook Derec awake and asked if he was alright but the tech immediately went to work checking the ship. His initial attempt was short, “Powers out.” He said as he undid the restraints. “I’ll go check the mains and see what we got.”

“Ok,” said Adam. “I’ll check the atmosphere and take a look around.”

Derec didn’t even respond as the mechanic headed for the engine space and the pilot headed for one of the top side hatches. His ship was listing to the port, so Adam had to pick out his steps between the deck plating and the bulkheads as he moved back into the ship, angling towards the port cargo bay and its hatch.

He entered the cargo bay and was relieved to see that most of the cargo seemed intact, the restraints and straps doing their job. Some of those containers had emergency supplies in them, and having seen the desolate nature of the planet on their harrowing way down, Adam had a nagging thought that they might need those supplies.

The power was still out, so Adam opened up the manual release on the hatch and pulled the big lever down. With a rush of pressurized air, the interior hatch popped open and Adam scrambled up the hole.

Next to the exterior hatch, was the emergency indicator. The tiny device was little more than a box with a green light and a red light affixed to a small sensor and a battery box. In emergencies (which Adam counted this as) the little thing would indicate with its lights whether or not it was wise to open the hatch.

Adam took the green light that was now blinking as a good sign and pulled back the manual release for the upper hatch and immediately squinted as a dazzling light shown through the hole.

He took a moment to get used to the light, and then crawled out onto the top of his ship. While the air was cool and a bit dry, it had a curious tingling sensation to it as it softly blew across his skin but the landscape was vastly different. Desolate and rugged, in drab earth colors, there was nothing but dirt, sand and rock outcroppings as far as the eye could see.

Behind the Second Chance, a long ditch the ship cut in the center of the valley trailed out behind him. In front, nothing but a bunch of rock with columns and buttes was in view. He was grateful that the slide out didn’t continue on another couple hundred meters or he and Derec would have been smashed on those cliffs.

He looked away from the planet for a moment to study the condition of his ship and it didn’t please him any better than surveying the terrain. Out of the four engine nozzles that were grouped around the ships tail, only two remained on the ship, and maybe only one looked like it was in operable condition. The top of the ship’s hull looked in pretty good shape, but Adam could tell by the odd angle it was sitting, that they were on top on some rocks. Between those and all the sharp looking rocks back along the long slide out ditch, Adam figured the ventral hull was in bad shape and doubted that the ship was still space worthy even if they still had all of their engines.

He sat down on the top of a conduit next to the hatch and started looking at the rock formations in front of his ship again, scooping up some pebbles from the hull and tossing them absentmindedly.

‘We’re stuck’ was the main thought going through his mind as he threw a pebble out over the cockpit. ‘Derec can’t fix an engine that just isn’t there anymore’ he continued as he launched a pebble off to his left towards some cliffs. ‘There isn’t enough spare parts to make a brand new eng…’ he started to think while he tossed a pebble behind him toward one of the buttes.

His thought was stopped dead as he saw the small thin structure around one of the rock outcroppings. It was hard to tell from this distance, but it looked like some sort of old scaffolding around the butte.

Adam stuck his head back down through the hatchway and had to stretch hard to reach one of the emergency packs, then once grabbing the pack, he returned sitting on the conduit and dug through the small box of supplies until he found the macrobinocualrs.

Standing up now, for a better view, he looked through the scope. The range finder showed that it was only five kilometers to the particular butte that Adam had seen. The macrobinoculars also showed that indeed some sort of scaffolding had been erected around it. Winding around the rock all the way up to its top, metal girders and supports twisted around it. At the very top of the butte was some sort of small platform, perhaps a docking platform and the very idea raised Adams spirits.

But the cheery sensation died quickly as he zoomed in on the structures. The metal was warped and worn, even rusted in some places. There were parts where supports had failed and large chunks of the structure had fallen away. Clearly, this outpost or whatever it was, had been here for a long time.

Adam sighed and was about to put the binos down before he caught sight of something else, down towards the bottom of the rock formations. He couldn’t quite make out what it was, but it was another structure.

He toggled the focus knob for a better look but still couldn’t get a clear picture of the structure. It was small, block shaped at the bottom of the rock spiral. At this distance, it appeared to be made out of the rock, or perhaps carved into the formation itself. It was clearly a different building than what was created with the metal scaffolding. Maybe older, perhaps newer, he thought.

Certain that both were deserted but somehow a bit happy in that perhaps there were supplies that could help them out in their dire situation, Adam replaced the binos and called down through the hatch to Derec.

“We’ve got some abandoned outpost of some sort a couple clicks to our starboard. Get your but up here and let’s see if we can find something to help us over here.” He called.

There was some mumbling and grumbling that echoed up through the dark hatch and after a few minutes, Derec clambered up through the hole. He had brought his own emergency pack and the grumpy looking mechanic turned toward starboard and asked where these ‘ruins’ were.

Adam pointed and as Derec looked he grumbled out “Maybe they have a stash of converters and coupling for our drive.”

Adam just smiled a dry smile; nothing he could say right now could cheer up his partner. Derec’s baby was the Second Chance. He loved the ship and knew her every nook and cranny. Derec didn’t like it when the ship was running a bit out of spec, so Adam knew that having the ship wreck on the barren surface of this planet was just killing his friend.

Adam set out without a word, but as the duo got further and further away from the ship, Derec started muttering more and more under his breath about all the things that needed to be fixed on the Second Chance.

Adam knew Derec, and thus knew that his friend wasn’t trying to start a conversation. The muttering was more of a stress relief thing than mere talk. But from it, Adam discovered the extent of their problems on this world. After an hour’s worth of walking and Derec’s muttering, Adam was convinced it would take nothing less than a space dock to get their ship up and running again.

They had covered over three quarters of the distance before his friend started actually talking to him again, as the slim man turned to him and said, “I don’t get it. That coupling didn’t look fatigued or anything. Hell, it was only a couple years old. That should have lasted a few more years. I don’t get what made it pop?”

Adam could only shrug his shoulders. He could fly the ship, and even do some routine maintenance, but hyperdrive repair was definitely Derec’s department.

“Could have hit a gravity wave or other mass shadow that is uncharted.” He ventured.

Derec himself shrugged at this. “Possible, but that’s more to do with the cut out. To do it, we’d have to basically be right on top of this planet and the cut out not working to blow the coupling. But I checked the cut out. It seems to be working fine. How the hell could this planets ‘shadow’ not be detected by the cut out and pop the coupling so far out in orbit?”

“I don’t know.” Was all that Adam could say.

The two men went on in silence for another kilometer and as the duo came up out of a draw and over a small berm, they saw their destination. The rock spiral loomed in front of them. The metal platforms and structures clearly visible, as was the age and misuse of them.

But down at the bottom of the butte, some sort of stone structure came jutting out of the rock. It was simple and blocky, like a bunker and little more than a frame for an entranceway that lead into the butte itself.

Littering the ground in front of the entrance way lay the remains of various statues. Humanoid like beings, judging from the arm-like and leg-like pieces. As the two men got closer, they could make out detailed torsos of the statures. Most seemed to be warrior like, holding spears of some sort. But as to the identity of the warriors, or the species, neither Derec nor Adam could tell. The few head pieces that remained seemed to be wrapped in stone hoods, or perhaps cloaks. It was as if all these statues, or the people they depicted, were adorned in robes, and though they could move freely in those robes, their faces were hidden within the deep hoods.

Derec seemed unnerved by the ominous specter of the statue warriors, but Adam had a very comforting feeling about the grim looking warriors and about the stone structure itself. It was calming in a way that he couldn’t quite explain. The two men walked up the stone steps towards the dark passageway that bored deep into the rock formation and as Adam stepped up to the doorway, Derec balked and stopped.

“I’m not going in there. Who the hell knows what’s down there?” He said in a shaky voice.

Adam tried to put a reassuring look on his face, “I’ve got a good feeling about this, Derec. Somebody used to live here, built that landing platform up there. Perhaps there are some parts in there, or who knows, maybe a hypercomm. Who knows, but we won’t if we don’t take a look around.”

Adam pulled off his pack and scavenged around a bit before coming back out with a glowrod. He looked over to Derec, and after a few seconds, the thin and nervous man nodded and dug into his pack for another glowrod.

The two walked into the dark passageway and moved back into the rock butte. The walls seemed to be sculptured, as if chiseled away with care. There was little high tech about this place, rather a feel of antiquity. Adam thought that perhaps it went back far enough to be part of the galactic civilization of old. But such things were hard to tell and Adam was hardly an academic

Every once in a while, large etchings would appear on the walls. Designs and symbols that Adam had never seen before, and when he asked Derec, neither had he. Some ways in, they came across another statue that Adam could only assume was a whole version of the broken ones he saw outside.

The statue was roughly the same size as a man, cloaked and hooded, with no facial features showing. The statue seemed to be guarding what may have once been a stone door, but somewhere along the way, someone had blasted it open and dug down into the rock. Adam and Derec followed this new path for a bit longer, but Derec started getting nervous and concerned again.

Adam could feel excitement tearing through him and he didn’t understand it. Logically, his brain told him, he should be as skeptical and nervous as Derec. They were in some ancient ruins, walking down stone passageways that were too old to tell how old they were. Who knows what's down here, animals, insects, gas pockets, collapsed tunnels. All manner of dangerous things could be just the next turn away, and yet Adam couldn’t worry about any of those. A euphoric sensation had come over him almost the minute he had first seen the structure way back on his ship. Some calm, yet driving need to be here, as if fate were tugging on his strings and he was little more than a puppet, force to walk down this path and perhaps forced to like doing it.

He calmed his friend down again and slowly started forward again, the tunnel angling down again, taking them deeper into the rock. After a time, though he was unsure how long since time had seemed to stop completely in these caves, he was surprised to see a faint glow up ahead of him.

Adam turned to his friend to tell him but Derec had already seen the distant light and nodded to Adam in turn to continue. For once on this adventure, Derec seemed more curious than frightened.

They continued down the passageway toward the light, and the further they went the brighter the light became until finally they exited out into a large chamber. Circular in shape, the room was as large as a landing bay or docking port. Adam figured he could land six or so Second Chances in the vast space.

Arranged in circular ranks, were more of the statues. Yet these ones had faces on them. Apparently they were more of a monument of people than the stone guardians at the entrance and doorways.

In the middle of the room, where the light was coming from, was some sort of large crystal with shafts of bright light beaming out of it. The crystal lit up the whole room and turning, Adam could see many other statues with faces lining the walls of the chamber.

He wasn’t sure what the place was supposed to be until he heard Derec answer his silent question for him, “It’s a mausoleum.” He said bluntly.

A quiet voice in Adams head agreed, and yet something else was here. Something that Adam was supposed to find. With wondering eyes, and an awed look on his face, Adam started to search the room. He lost track of time again, not knowing that he was wandering all over the room, walking to and from every statue in the mausoleum.

He came out of his trance when he walked up to a statue on the far side of where he and Derec had entered the tomb. The statue he walked up to was man sized again, and seemed to be of an older man dressed in some sort of tunic and a hooded robe. But like most of the statues in the room, his hood was down and the features of the statue’s face showed. This man had smooth features, almost a youthful face, though it showed signs of being a mature if not an elderly man, the receding hairline being a give away to his age.

The statue’s arms came together in front of its torso and it was holding some sort of box or cube with intricate designs on it. The cube wasn’t made of stone, rather it was metal and had the air of a mechanical thing, rather than the immortalized stone of the statue.

Without ever thinking about it, Adam reached up and touched the cube. It was as if someone else had done it, Adam thought as he snatched back his hand. But something in his touch had activated the device, it hummed to life and then started to buzz.

Adam was aware that Derec had walked up behind him, yet he could not take his eyes off of the device as it rattled a bit and then finally shot out a beam of light in front of the statue. It was slightly blue in color and seemed to shake and wiggle a bit before an image appeared inside of it.

Slightly fuzzy itself, the blue image of the man the statue had obviously been made to resemble, appeared. Indeed, thought Adam, this man was old, but wise looking and strong. Not in physical appearance, but intelligence and willpower flowed out of his blue eyes.

Both men jumped visibly when the image spoke, “Greetings Adam Goodheart. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and if I’ve not misjudged my calculations, you are watching this four thousand years after I have recorded it.”



















2



Adam Goodheart stood in front of his Master, after five long years of training. In some ways, it was hard to believe that it had been half a decade since he and Derec had found the chamber and activated the Holocron. Lots of things had changed, most of all Adam himself. He was leaner now, physically fit in a way that he would have never believed before his training. Master Skywalker had always said that a fit mind belonged in a fit body; his Master also told him repeatedly that the stronger his body was, the less he would need to rely on the Force for mundane tasks.

From that training, Adams body had hardened, his medium build had filled out a bit under the stress of the physical exercise, and his muscles were really quite toned. His light brown hair was as it always was, a close military crop, but he’d allowed his goatee to grow, and let the scruff on the side of his face to grow almost to a beard which helped frame his rugged, tanned face.

His Master had warned him that he would need to blend in, even in regard to his clothing, so Adam worn clothes similar to his Master. Master Skywalker had shown Adam pictures of what the Jedi of old had worn, various robes and layered, wrapped tunics. They had been in fashion back when the Order was powerful, wealthy and privileged. Master Skywalker, when he had rebuilt the Order, went with a more conservative and ordinary attire. Adam figured that such a philosophy would benefit him as well. No need to go out into the galaxy attracting attention by wearing obviously odd attire.

So Adam stood, with a pair of dark trousers that were a good fit if a bit loose, and simple boots. His tunic shirt was cloth and in a shade of grey and he sported a utility belt with all manner of pockets and equipment. He avoided a vest, though his Masters hologram always had one, Adam thought it would look out of place in most parts of the Core. He never really remembered seeing anyone wearing such a get up so decided against it. But the hooded cloak that his Master wore on occasion was something that Adam knew he could use and so had acquired one.

The most startling change to his appearance was one that his best friend in the entire galaxy had mentioned to him almost two years ago. While Adam had always had bright green eyes, Derec had pointed out that those eyes had become ‘old’, deep and intense as Adam slowly mastered the nature of the Force.

The Force, Adam mused, an ancient religion that had seemed to slip from the galaxy a few thousand years ago. And yet he had let the hologram of an ancient Master train him in that very religion. Adam Goodheart was the first Jedi to exist in over three thousand years and the responsibility was enormous. It had taken over a year of nothing but physical fitness and meditation for Adam to have his first breakthrough with the mystical Force, Master Skywalker’s hologram from the Holocron carefully guiding him as he went.

From that wonderful moment where Adam felt as it he was connected into the universe, things had only gotten better. Master Skywalker had shown him how to quiet his mind and listen to the Force, how to focus and peer inside of himself and let the Force move him along as it desired.

It was from here, that a Jedi learned his true powers, and his true responsibilities. Here, in this state, buried within the loving embrace of the Force, the universe was laid bare. The future, the present and the past were all played out in front of Adam. Images and whispers of thought and conversations, and most importantly, truths were opened and brought out of the dark.

Some of these truths were uncomfortable and even terrifying, yet they were the truth and one can gain strength from knowing the truth about themselves and about the universe in general. This was the true power of the Jedi, to float on the wind of the Force that blew throughout the universe, to be a part of everything and being part of everything, to understand how these things interconnect in the universe and a glimpse of how things will work out in the end.

Adam learned though, that to get to that stage, one’s mind was to be as fit as Master Skywalker wanted one’s body. Adam learned how to control his mind, to focus like he would have never believed possible. He also learned how to let his mind go, to release himself and to absorb everything around him, to become everything around him.

All of these had interesting effects when coupled with the Force. Since the Force was everywhere and was a part of everything, it allowed Adam to connect with those things at an amazing and intimate level. Using his hardened and strengthened mind, Adam could affect those things he felt through the Force. Simply put, Adam learned that with his conditioned mind and using the connections through the Force, he could perform telekinesis and a form of telepathy.

The telepathy was more empathy than anything, feeling emotions and urges rather than reading the mind like some sort of book, but Adam learned that when he was calm and centered, the empathetic signals he could feel rolling off of other people could lead him right into the warm embrace of the Force and that amazing spot where the universe unveils itself.

It had the effect of Adam becoming his subject, and knowing rather than reading what was going on inside the person. It was quite remarkable and revealing on how various people and beings thought and acted. He had learned, though, that very alien beings were very difficult to understand even when Adam was touching them through the Force.

His ability with telekinesis was extraordinary, though. Feeling something through the Force and then exerting his control over it, Adam could now lift and carry objects with nothing but his mind. He could do it even with himself and after many, many practice sessions, use the effect to become an amazing gymnast and he could now perform amazing leaps and twists.

Agility, balance, grace. All were enhanced when Adam nuzzled himself inside the warmth of the Force. His Master showed him all this and more. Adam glanced down to his waist where a long cylinder hung from his belt. When Derec had first seen it, he thought it looked like Adam broke the handle off of something and stuck it through his belt.

But the truth of it was it was a weapon. A weapon that had not been seen in millennia and the technology to produce had been lost long ago. If not for the memory bank of the Holocron, Adam was sure that it would never have been seen in the galaxy again. For that cylinder was his lightsaber. The weapon of a Jedi. And the weapon that Master Luke had taught him how to use.

With his weapon, he could defend himself against blasters and all manner of threats. With his weapon, he could cut his way out of just about any situation he could possibly imagine. But in the end, it was a tool, dependent on how the user wielded it. Master Skywalker taught Adam to use it for defense, never for attack and Adam knew the truth of it, even as the hologram of his Master spoke the words. But his training even went past the Jedi Arts, and into history. His Master had explained to Adam the past. Had explained to him how the great Galactic society had torn at itself through war and changed itself into an Empire and then back again. How the civilization that spanned the known galaxy had been invaded by intergalactic raiders and eventually beat them as well. How the Jedi Order had stood as guardians for the Galactic society for thousands of years, only to be destroyed by evil forces and rebuilt again by Master Skywalker.

It was in these history lessons, that Adam caught glimpses of what he thought Master Skywalker expected out of him. History as Adam knew it before he crashed here was slightly different than what his Master taught him. History, as Adam learned in his youth, did indeed say that there once was a galaxy spanning civilization. But that crumbled thousands of years ago.

In it’s place, thousands of fiefdoms sprung up and as Adam’s youthful education would have him believe, it was for the better. The major powers in the galaxy were of course in the Core. The Federation laid claim to being what was left of the once great galactic civilization. Centered around the planet of Denon, the Federation claimed thousands of Core worlds and considered itself the diplomat of the galaxy. Always trying to get the rest of the kingdoms to unite with them and bring peace to the core.

The Corellian Confederation was probably the second largest nation in the Core. Corellia had for thousands of years been a civilized planet, and for most of that time, had been a center for starship production. CEC had produced more starships in it’s time than sentient beings existed on the planet.

The Corellians were an independent lot, as were their colonies. But in times of crisis, they would pull together and their remarkable toughness and resilience would see them through the day. It was said that in the Corellia Confederacy, there were only three jobs one could profit in, Starship Construction, Piracy, and Smuggling. Most Corellians dabbled in at least two in their lifetimes, and most people were fairly surprised at how often Piracy was one of the choices.

Their chief rival was the Kuati. Another legendary starship producing star system, the Kuati vied for domination of the Core worlds. Their noble classes seeing it as their birthright to rule the civilized planets.

All three of these nations had client states out in the Mid Rim and even in the Outer Rim worlds, where warlords and petty dictators ruled.

Adam had grown up taught that such things were normal, that people should decide their own destiny and that a large galactic scale government was unrealistic. But hearing Master Skywalker talk about the Republic, the love in his eyes and the warmth that flowed through the hologram, Adam had to revise his previous thoughts on the matter.

According to his Master, the Galactic Civilization had lasted over twenty five thousand years. Far longer than any of the smaller kingdoms Adam was used to and the sheer thought of millions and millions of species interacting and cooperating was an astonishing thought. The miracles such a society could make, well, could be boundless.

It was during these lessons that Adam discovered why Master Skywalker had reached out through the dust of time, delved deep into the Force to see who and where he could reach out to and touch after so long, to change the galaxy. Adam Goodheart stood in front of his Master. The first Jedi Knight to exist in three millennia and he knew that his Master wanted him to change the Galaxy. It was an enormous responsibility.

“Back in the old days,” His Master said, a slight smile on his face as he said ‘old days’. “Jedi Padawans would have to pass a Trial before being anointed a Jedi Knight. These tests were to put in place for the Padawan to prove the level of confidence in his or her abilities.”

The old hologram sighed, “Unfortunately, there is no obstacle course I can send you through, nor some written test I can formulate for your Trails, Adam. And I apologize. The terms and methods of which I was to train you, obviously forbid such tests.”

He smiled again, a kind smile, one a father does for his son in proud moments. “I’m afraid that your ascension to Knighthood will be as troubling and trying as my own and again I apologize. Your trial, and your mission, as I’m willing to bet that you have already guessed, is to bring together the broken pieces of the galaxy and to restore the Republic.”

Derec, who had been sitting in the back listening quietly, coughed at hearing the ancient Master assign the mission, though he had spent hours if not days discussing such a potential mandate with Adam.

“I know that it is a daunting task, and an awesome responsibility. But have faith in the Force, I have seen in my visions that you are indeed the man to do this. The future is always in motion, so the specifics of your task are unclear. But the one thing I am sure of is that training you, now, at this time, is the right thing to do. The Force would not put such things into motion if there was no chance of success.” The ancient Master continued.

“Always beware of the Darkside, or a tyrannical Empire will be wrought, or worse, the continuation of this Dark Age of the Galaxy. But while you are cautious of the Darkside, do not repeat my errors. Feel the Force, let it guide you into action. If no one is willing to act, then the horrid state of affairs in the galaxy will continue.” He had a mournful look in his eye, and perhaps, Adam thought, a bit of guilt.

After a second, the hologram said, “You are the first of the new Jedi, and if you succeed in your mission, you will have learned far more than I could ever teach you, even if I could travel the dark and dusty path of time and be there with out. If you need advise, don’t hesitate to turn to your friends, nor should you forget all the data and lore I’ve encrypted on the Holocron and the Archive Records I’ve left you. Remember that the Valley of the Jedi is now your home and all the records and equipment that I’ve saved for you will be here waiting if you need it. The Valley itself will be a quiet place of solitude for you to center yourself in times of turmoil.”

He sighed, “My young apprentice, I have faith in you, the Force, and in those you meet along your path, that you will succeed and a new Republic will be born. And perhaps a new Jedi Order to protect her. Good luck, Jedi Goodheart. And may the Force be with you.”

The hologram derezzed and Adam was standing by himself in the center of the vast chamber. He had indeed known it was coming. But standing here, listening to his Master tell him his mandate, was shocking.

“He sure doesn’t know how to soften blows, does he?” Derec came up behind him. “At the very least, he could have given you a place to start. Not just dump this in your lap and say ‘Go!’. He continued.

Adam turned to his friend, his fingers interlocked in front of him in thought. “The futures a tricky thing, Derec. I’m sure that if Master Skywalker knew where to start, he would have forewarned me.”

Derec glanced down at Adam’s hands and smiled. “I thought you wanted to blend in with the rest of us humans? Going around like some weird monk isn’t going to exactly ‘blend’ in.” He laughed.

Adam returned a tight smile, “Hmm, I suppose there are quite a few habits I’ve developed here at the Valley that I’ll have to be aware of.” He gave a beaming smile at his friend, “Thank the Force that I have you here to show me the way.”

“Well,” Said Derec, “It’s not like you’ve been here constantly over the last five years. We had that good time on Androffa.” Adam chuckled at the memory.

Derec continued, laughing lightly, “Oh, and when I took you to Nar Shadda for your homework on Jedi mind tricks. Remember that poor old Niemoidian and the two Kowakian monkey-lizards?”

Derec was laughing hysterically now and Adam joined him for a bit, thinking back to all the good times the two had been though in the last half a decade, if not longer. Derec had pretty much been unchanged over the last few years. His dark hair hid his face, particularly when he was hunched over a terminal or piece of equipment studying it.

His built was a lot like Adams, but the mechanic spent more hours reading and tinkering with things, so his mid section was loosing the war with gravity. His eyes always smiled and Adam had recently been shocked at how old they were getting when he noticed the laugh lines around his friends features.

However, as jolly as his friend was, Derec was a purpose driven person, so while Adam was learning the ways of the Force, Derec had spent two years rebuilding the Second Chance. Master Skywalker may not have foreseen how to unite the galaxy, but at least he had seen the method of Adams arrival to the Valley of the Jedi.

While the central chamber to the valley may be the most important part of the facility, the ancient ruins had other rooms. In these rooms, Master Skywalker had left various bits and pieces of technology that perhaps he thought Adam could use. Among these, sealed in ancient crates, were various parts for starships and engines.

Derec was overjoyed when he first saw them, even happier after he had time to tinker and play with them. The mechanic had explained to Adam years ago how advanced those replacement parts were,’ More efficient’ if Adam remembered correctly. Derec had found all the pieces that he needed to get the Second Chance up and running and was overjoyed at how well she ran after her repairs.

Derec had occasionally left the Valley of the Jedi for supplies and once he left for a month for professional repairs to the ship that he just couldn’t do himself. Adam went with him once or twice, as instructed by his master, practical experience and practice of certain techniques, Skywalker had said.

Master Skywalker had also left a library computer that complemented the Holocron. Inside of the massive data banks, Adam could read up on just about every species he’d ever heard of, and some he hadn’t. A vast, twenty five thousand year history lesson.

He had fallen into a contemplative state and Derec joggled him out of it, “So, where to first? If we have to save the galaxy, I’d like to start now. Maybe we can be done before dinner.”

Adam smiled again, “Perhaps we should go to where it ended, then?”

“The Federation?” Asked Derec.

Adam clapped him on the back, “It sounds like a start. Besides, I somewhat vaguely remember some sort of summit there for the Core in the next few weeks.”

Derec made a dismissive sound, “They always have a summit or peace council or some such going on there. They’re all a joke. Why would Corellia or Kuat want to bow down to the Federation? But you’re the Jedi, if you want to go to the Federation, off we go to the Federation.”

The two men wrapped their arms about each other as if to support each others weight and headed off to the hangar and their ship.

[darthdavid]

Good work, as usual. I think I'm liking the direction this is taking.

[Darth Yoshi]

Interesting. The first Jedi on 4000 years.

[Zac Naloen]

I had an idea similar to this, lucky for me your version of this is different enough to mine that i can still write my plot line this afternoon when i get back from uni.

good start knife.

[1123581321]

Good job so far. Is all knowledge of the Force gone from the people running the various empires? If so, they're in for quite a surprise.

[CERC]

Very interesting; I'm intrigued. Very original path you have followed here.
CERC

[Knife]

Good job so far. Is all knowledge of the Force gone from the people running the various empires? If so, they're in for quite a surprise.

Yes, yes it is. Quite a development it is, then.

[Knife]

3



Denon, the capital of the Federation. A beautiful world by human standards. Lush and green, full of water and vegetation. From orbit, the planet looked serine and calm, its continents were full and large denoting age and wisdom. Its grand seas stretched far across the globe, putting a blue glow on the planet from afar.

Across its continents, grasslands and forests grew. Mountains sprang up from the earth, like towering giants marking where climates started and stopped. It was a beautiful planet, natural and serine. That is, except for the equatorial city that spanned its berth.

Not quite as ancient as the planet, yet old enough to defy memory, Capital City was a tourist attraction for the galaxy. The hallmark of civilization, a planet ringing city of trillions, the Capital City of the Federation rang out to the sentients of the galaxy of the memory of what once was. An echo of when the galaxy was united. Of the times of the Galactic Republic.

Denon was a member of that once proud nation. Ranking one of its most beautiful cities, up amongst the legendary Coruscant before its fall. And it was a rallying point of civilization in the dark days as the once great Galactic Civilization fell.

The ring of city-scape that encircled the planet reached kilometers into the sky. Its buildings great acts of engineering. A monument to greater times. The people of the planet were proud people. Arrogant, according to others in the Mid Rim and down right snobby to the Outer Rim, the citizens of the Capital of the Federation thought of themselves as regents or even aristocratic caretakers of the other less enlightened beings in the galaxy.

The Federation was not a great ship building power; like it’s two other neighbors in the Core. Its fleets not as big as either the Corellian or Kuati navies, a majority of the Federation ships being bought from either the two ship builders or perhaps a Mid Rim supplier, but what it lacked in Naval forces, it made up for in its Army.

The Federation Army was feared through out the Core. The Spaarti shock troopers, always dressed in their haunting green metallic armor, were the back bone of the Army. Nobody was quite clear where the Spaarti were trained or what resource or planet the Federation tapped for their recruits, but it was universally agreed that they were the best infantry in the galaxy.

An individual Spartan would tear through a normal infantry squad with out the slightest bit of emotion visible out of the golden tinged visor. They were extremely well trained and equipped and though the Federation wasn’t as powerful in space, nobody really wanted to go up against legions of Spaarti on Federation worlds. This insured peace and prosperity for the citizens of the Federation, and that peace allowed their arrogance to grow.

They were so arrogant, they thought they could not only pull the galaxy together, unite it like it once was, they thought they could be the ones that ruled over that united galaxy. As so, on all Federation planets, and doubly so on the Capital; various embassies of various factions and fiefdoms were kept. Planetary Hall Meetings and Peace Conferences were constantly being held, even if only a hand full of participants bothered to show up.

Adam Goodheart had attended as a listener, over a dozen such meetings and conferences in the last month on Denon. He had set his disciplined mind on knowing and understanding the political status of the major players of the galaxy, and though he found them tedious, boring, and petty, he made himself learn them.

Derec had long ago lost interest in such matters, and had been running simple jobs for a local cargo outfit. Which was good, really. They had been here for a month, while Adam tried to understand the scope of his mission and perhaps see a route he could take to fulfill it. But they still needed money to live. The small flat Adam had been renting was little more than a bunk room yet the price to live there could have given Adam a mansion in any number of systems in the Mid Rim, and perhaps bought him a continent in the Outer Rim.

So Adam kept going to political gatherings and Derec ran goods in and out of the system to and from local suppliers with the Chance. Adam learned the names of the Federation Parliament, most of the ambassadors, and even a majority of the lobbyists that corrupted and schemed off of all sides.

The deeper into politics he went, the dirtier he felt. But it was a necessary job. He never introduced himself, nor entered conversations himself. He used his training to observe from afar, and tried his hardest to not be noticed. That was easy, though. On a planet of trillions, all hustling and bustling along their way, a lone man could be invisible. He was cautious of security though. As long as he didn’t act in certain ways, security would not notice him. They were concerned about ‘suspicious’ people. Those that acted odd, in various ways. Nervous, focused on one person or one object, skittish. As long as Adam looked like he belonged he would remain unknown, irrelevant.

Today he had found a conference that actually included a Corellian diplomat and a Kuati representative. In a rare move, both governments had sent a delegation to the Federation to hash out a trade dispute of some such and Adam wanted to gauge the two men and the two powers. He sat in the upper visitor’s gallery and tried to ignore the other viewers and the security cameras and focused on the two diplomats talking below.





Using the security cameras, the woman who had concealed herself in the shadows of the security office, watched and probed into the conference hall. She was interested in not only the two diplomats babbling at the table, but in any sort of security around them or possibly in the crowds.

She was very thorough, looking at every face in the gallery. It was time consuming, yet it was her job to be a perfectionist. She had brought down dozens of governments, propped up even more. She did each job for her employers using the same cold blooded determination and ruthless cunning. It was her way.

She had been half listening to the two diplomats. Ambassador Kilpaz of Corellia and Representative Moros of Kuat had been talking for hours about some dirt ball planet in the middle of some trade route that apparently both nations thought of as important.

It was amusing to her that the two were actually making headway in the discussion. The two might actually come to an agreement, if not perhaps of consensus, by the time the meeting was scheduled to conclude in about an hour. She smiled at that, a devious smile, baring her teeth like a predator.

“All the better.” She said aloud thinking to herself. If they come to an agreement, after today, both sides will think it was a ruse. When her men execute Ambassador Kilpaz and plant evidence of Kuati involvement, the Corellian government will see the paltry ‘agreement’ made today as an insult on top of the assassination of their diplomat, contrive and a sure sign that the Kuati have no wish to solve the dispute peacefully. The hot headed Corellians will indeed escalate the situation, perhaps leading to the war she was paid to start.





Adam was slightly impressed with Ambassador Kilpaz. The man was intelligent and obviously a skilled diplomat. He made just the right concessions to the Kuati delegation that insured a resolution to the trade dispute. Adam would have to watch the man in the future if he had the chance; he was definitely a mover and shaker for the Corellian government.

The Future. A chill went down Adams spine and a warning echoed inside of his head. The Jedi blocked out the meeting and the soft murmur of those watching the conference and focused on the warning.

Adam focused on the feeling, tracing it through the Force. It wasn’t emotion. He could feel the emotions of all the people in the large room. Touching each gently for less than a second, he could feel no threat from them. No pain, no rage nor anger. If it was not some murderous intent that triggered the warning in the back of his mind then it must have been a tremor in the Force. Adam let go of himself and flowed through the Force. He found the soft place, nestled in the bosom of the Force and looked out into the future.

Here he caught glimpses. A group of men shoving the Corellian Ambassador to the ground in some alley way and executing him. Adam couldn’t make out the faces of the assassins, blurry and dark, but he counted four of them. There was a shadow behind them but Adam could not make out who it was either.

He came out of his trance as the meeting below him was wrapping up and Adam sprang to life. He moved out of the building rapidly, trying to get ahead of any delegation that left, and moved outside of the Grand Hall.

He glided through the throng of people in the streets and avenues, and move around to the back of the building. His eyes were half open, letting the Force guide him to where he needed to be. He was in a back alley when a soft voice in his head said; “Here.” and Adam moved back into the shadows to watch and wait.





The dark shadow in the security center studied the screen one last time as the meeting finished. She panned the crowd too, as the visitors gallery started to empty. She was satisfied that nothing out of the ordinary was there. One man leapt up and rushed out of the stands, but he did not look like security or some other threat. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

Seem reached down and pulled out a comlink, and in a deep feminine voice that was surprisingly soothing and calm, spoke, “All positions. Operation is a ‘go’.”





Hidden in the deep shadow of an outside stairwell, Adam could see the stretch of alley that lead back to the main street in front of the Great Hall. The alley continued some hundred meters off to his right and ended in a Calder sac. Four more buildings were accessible from the alley, but by the look of the doorways, all were service entrances or back doors. There were only three ways out of the alley besides the doorways, and Adam figured that they would be locked from the inside. There was the stairs he was concealed under, but they had the look of an emergency exit to him. Perhaps a fire exit of some such.

It was a good place for both a quiet exit point for a politician and a good place for an ambush. Adam could feel the presence of multiple people in the immediate area, but none had any sort of evil intent or any sort of anger or rage he would assume an assassin would have just before a job. So he continued to sit back and watch the alley from the shadows, reaching out to the Force so he would know exactly when to act.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been there, but he tensed as a door opened from the back of the Great Hall and a group of humans entered the alley. They were all clustered about and Adam figured they were body guards. In the middle of the mass of men, Ambassador Kilpaz was probably standing awaiting his speeder to get him out of the street and to what ever luxury hotel he was staying at.

No sooner did the door close and lock, Adam could here the mechanism click into place even from his positions further down the alley, did the group of men start walking towards the end of the alleyway.

Adam could hear the whine of a repulsor lift and looked up into the sky. The stairs limited his vision, but the Jedi could just make out a speeder coming in for a landing. He glanced back at the security detail as it approached the landing zone. They were professionals, Adam could tell. But he had seen through the Force that they would not be enough, so Adam continued to watch and wait for his cue to intercede.

The Ambassador and his party were just meters away from the landing zone and the speeder itself was just touching down when the door of the vehicle opened and blaster fire rang out.

Simultaneously, various doors around the alley popped open and three more men stepped out and opened fire on the Ambassador’s security detail. It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that Adam didn’t have the time to do anything. He calmed himself, and the Force told him to stay for now. He lamented the death of the security detail, but trusted in the Force to tell him when it was time. Something had not revealed itself yet and he must be patient.

The assassins had moved in on the Ambassador now, one actually coming down the stairs that Adam hid under in the shadow. The four men ringing the Ambassador now, presumable one more assassin in the speeder for the get away. The men themselves were grim looking and determined, yet Adam still didn’t feel any sort of negative emotion from them. They didn’t hate Kilpaz nor did they feel anything for him that Adam could detect. They were fairly blank emotionally.

The hidden Jedi watched as two the of assassins reached down and rolled over one of the dead security guards. One of the men looked like he was putting something into the mans clothes, perhaps some sort of misinformation or such, Adam didn’t know. But it was at that moment that he felt it was right to interfere in the scene that was playing out before him.

With two of the four bent over and manhandling a dead body, the other two watching the Ambassador, Adam got with in five meters of the group before anyone knew he was there.

“Release the Ambassador.” Adam said in a soft and soothing voice.

One of the assassins muttered, “Damn!” Before he brought his weapon up and aimed it at Adam.

Adam snapped in to action with a blur. His right hand reached down into his clothing and pulled out a metallic cylinder and he brought it up like a weapon. There was an electronic shriek as a green energy blade extended from the cylinder and the Jedi brought it to mid guard.

The four killers did not know it, but it was the first time a lightsaber had been drawn in defense of anyone in over three thousand years. Not understanding the nature of the weapon brought to bear on them, the four men opened fire on the interloper.

Adam made a series of quick movements and deflected all of the blasts that came his way. The four men were so surprised at this, that there was a brief pause in their actions. Again, Adam could feel little emotion from them. Perhaps a bit of surprise, maybe a little confusion at his appearance, but nothing that denoted anger or evil intent. There were apparently just professionals doing a job.

His brief reprieve was spent and the leader of the men calmly told his fellows to kill him as he grabbed the arm of the Ambassador and hauled him towards the waiting speeder.

The remaining three raised their weapons again and began to fire. Adam spun towards them, attacking this time instead of defending. With a flick of his wrist, as he spun, his blade spun down and caught a blaster bolt and bounced it right back into the man who fired it. The blast caught him right in the head and the killer collapsed.

Continuing his spin, Adam brought his blade back up in a high guard and the second assassin yelped in pain as the green bladed severed both the blaster and two of the mans fingers. He came out of his spin on the other side of the wounded man and kicked his left foot out behind him, catching the attacker in the jaw and he too, went down.

Adam Goodheart straightened and brought his weapon to bare on the last of the three. The man had obviously understood that he was overmatched against Adam and had started to retreat and followed his leader who was dragging the Ambassador towards the waiting speeder.

Adam started to run after him and was almost there when the Ambassador was unceremoniously thrown into the speeder and three more assassins come out of the vehicle, each with a blaster carbine.

The last Jedi planted his feet to defend himself and to assess the situation. Kilpaz was in the speeder now, and it could take off at any second. Between him and the speeder were now five armed men. The two survivors of the original party and three others with larger weapons. He could take the five but in doing so, the speeder had every opportunity to take off and escape. Adam had figured that the speeder was how the assassins had probably figured they were going to escape the scene of their crime, but now with two of them dead or wounded, they were probably adapting to the situation as best they could. That meant they were being spontaneous instead of following some sort of plan.

Adam felt the approach of people behind him and shifted slightly to see both down the alley and keep the five killers in view. The five were waiting for something, Adam wasn’t sure, but they were weary of his green energy blade and what they had seen him do with it.

But from down the alley, three more killers approached. Two more men, grim and emotionless like the rest, and one woman. She was thin, almost unhealthily so, with dark hair that framed a sharp face. But her eyes, they sparkled with intelligence and grim determination. Adam knew this woman to be the dark shadow behind the assassins.

“And what an odd scene this is.” She spoke in a deep, beautiful voice. It was rich and memorizing, with slight traces of an accent Adam couldn’t quite identify.

“All of my plans stalled by a simple man and laser sword. Curious.” She said.

Adam took the lull in action to try a more diplomatic approach, “Let the Ambassador go and you’ll come to no harm. My promise.”

The enigmatic woman laughed, and though Adam could detect a harsh edge to it, it was a pretty laugh. She was amused by him, he could tell. “You’re an interesting man. Going up against a squad of my men with you’re silly weapon. I’ll give you that. But this doesn’t concern you and there is no way I can allow you to live. Consider it my promise; I’ll make it quick and painless, like I plan on making it for the Ambassador.”

She made a gesture at the speeder and the engines of the craft started to rev up, her gesture continued as she pointed to him and all of her men raised their weapons. Adam didn’t have time to fight all of them and save the Ambassador, so he choose the only route left open to him.

In the time it took for the killers to raise and aim their weapons at him, Adam gathered the Force to him. He reached down into the unlimited power and brought it to him, encircled himself with its loving embrace. And then, as the speeder was lifting off with the Corellian Ambassador onboard, Adam jumped.

With the Force propelling him, Adam shot up through the air like a missile. His trajectory brought him up and away from the attackers and though a few got off a couple shots, all went wide. He made a graceful flip at the top of his arc, and landed softly on the rooftop of the nearest building.

In front of him was the speeder as it rose on its repulsor engines, hovering just a few meters in front of him. With his saber still lit, Adam threw his weapon and the green blade spun towards the escaping vehicle.

When it hit, the lightsaber burned its way through an engine and the craft immediately listed to one side. Black smoke poured out of the ship and Adam reached back through the Force and felt the dying craft. Exerting his control on it, Adam pushed the ship out of the alley and into the main streets of Capital City. He stood on the roof top just long enough to see the vehicle crash in the boulevards and see the driver crawl out of it and run into the crowd before he looked back down to where the woman and her assassins were.

Besides the man that Adam had brought down and the dead bodies of the Corellian security forces, the alley was empty. The woman and her agents were gone. Adam extinguished his blade and exhaled sharply, letting the excitement and the anxieties go.

Out in the streets; emergency vehicles were gathering. Authorities were convening on the fallen speeder and the Ambassador from Corellia was taken out and rushed off to a secure hospital. Adam could feel that he was unhurt. Shaken, angered, glad to be alive, yes. But not hurt.

Adam Goodheart started to make his way out of the area and back to his ship.

[LadyTevar]

Fantastic job. A great action scene, I really enjoyed it.

[1123581321]

Excellent, and Coruscant is just a legend now? Did it never recover from the Vong invasion?

EDIT: Oh yes: elite infantry, wearing green armor, called Spartans...nice touch.

[Setesh]

Excellent, and Coruscant is just a legend now? Did it never recover from the Vong invasion?

I would gather no. The Vong had moved the planet much closer to the sun, and wrecked the systems that maintained the atmosphere. That equipment had been contructed as needed over thousands of years. Putting it all back together and dealing with the massive climate change may have been to daunting a task for the resource poor post-Vong Republic.

It may have been a 'back burner' project they never got back to before the NR fell.

[Knife]

Excellent, and Coruscant is just a legend now? Did it never recover from the Vong invasion?

Think of it in a loose 'Foundation' or even more to its roots; Roman/European as a model.

The Republic/Empire, as a Galactic Civilization, was weakened severly after ~60 years of civil war. Clone Wars, Empire, Rebellion, NR v IR, ect. The Vong, when they cut a bloody swath through the galaxy, just put the cherry on top.

All of the instatutions, orders, unifying shit that held the galaxy together were either destroyed or severly damaged. When the GFFA finally did the Vong in and started picking up the pieces, the damage was already done.

As far as Courscant; it was totally changed by the Vong. Denon was the temporary Capital, yet after a hundred or so years, when Courscant was 'cleansed' and ready to repopulate, those in Denon really didn't want to give up their status as Capital. Others just didn't want to colonize Courscant again so the planet lost what prestige it once had and slipped into obscurity.

[Lonestar]

Man this is a good story. "Spaarti Soldiers" indeed...

[Stuart Mackey]

Man this is a good story. "Spaarti Soldiers" indeed...

This 'Federation' somehow reminds me of Byzantium

[Crazedwraith]

Nicely done. I look forward to more installments.

[Knife]

4



Jezebel Antigone stood in the center of a ring of holocom receivers. The harsh blue glare from the holograms always made her feel more exposed than she liked. Her slim form was apparent in the glare, made even worse by the tight black clothes she was wearing. Her face though, was still hidden behind locks of black hair and shadow.

“The Ambassador of Corellia is still alive, Antigone. Explain why this is.” Boomed the voice of one of her employers.

She kept her head down, letting them think she was ashamed of her failure. “There was an anomaly that happened in the plan.”

Another of the holograms interrupted her; “An anomaly? Explain.”

Jezebel sighed; “A man interfered with the execution. We don’t know where he came from or who he is, though I launched an investigation into that the moment I returned here, but it is of little concern in the overall scheme.”

“The attempted assassination seems to be as effective as the real one we had originally planed. The Corellians are in a rage over the incident, blaming the Kuati’s. Whoever the man was that interrupted us, he did not have the chance to remove the false evidence we planted on one of the Corellian security agents.

The Corellians are mobilizing a fleet and plan on sending it to Androffa, per our plan. The Kuati’s won’t be long in their response.” She finished her report.

Jezebel could feel the six men gaze at her. Their stares burrowing into her trying to find deception or lies. It was their way. All of the men were power mongers, used to getting their way. And they would have their way here, even if an occasional problem arose. Jezebel Antigone may be a meticulous planner, but she could adapt too.

She would finish her contract with these employers, and for a bonus, she would track down the mysterious interloper and watch the life drain from his face.





Ord Mantell. For thousands of years, this Corellian outpost had been a trade hub had supplied goods and services for countless star systems. If you had the credits in one of Ord Mantell’s countless star ports, you had whatever your heart desired.

Adam Goodheart and Derec Trainer walked into one of the varied stores along the main thoroughfare outside of the spaceport. They had already been in half a dozen places, all offering arms or ships for ‘bargain prices’. Adam found it difficult to pry Derec out of some of the shops, especially those with some of Corellians latest freighters or engine parts.

After Denon; Adam grew concerned that if every time he had an ‘incident’ on a planet, and the Second Chance was always registered on that planet, it would not take long for someone to put one and one together and come up with him. Or worse yet, Derec.

He had discussed it with Derec and his friend had laughed and merely pointed out they could get multiple transponders. In effect, change the name and registration; it was an ancient smugglers trick, one the duo had thought of before during their cargo-running days. And while Adam agreed, in the back of his mind he also thought that it would be safer for Derec if Adam had a one man ship, to fly off and save the galaxy with, so Derec would not be caught in a crossfire.

The events on Denon had worried Adam. He had gone there simply to study politics. To see the workings of the galactic policies and kingdoms, he never imagined that he could have gotten into a scuffle, let alone the middle of a botched assassination. Could he expect this to happen all the time? Would the Force direct him to every hot spot in the galaxy? Would it be right to drag poor Derec to everyone of those?

All of these questions that raged through Adams mind made him feel a bit guilty for having his friend along with him. Guilty that Derec had stayed with Adam for all those years at the Valley of the Jedi. Truly, Derec was as invested in Adams mission as Adam was, yet Adam was a trained Jedi with the Force at his command. Derec, while a very competent man, was not. Was it right to expect him to manage in such a dangerous mission as Adam’s seemed to be?

The last Jedi shook his head and cleared his thoughts, wanting to deal with the immediate problems. He’d go back to such worrying later, he was sure.

Derec had already found a salesman and the large humanoid was deep in a sales pitch already. Guiding Derec and Adam down rows of small ships, the salesman would occasionally point out a ‘gem in the rough’ to them.

The humanoid looked at Adam and said, as they stopped in front of one of his bargains, “Your associate mentioned a…..” He stopped to look for the right word, “demanding budget for your purchase?”

Derec smiled and Adam responded. “Yes, well we would like to keep the unit price below 15 thousand.”

He nodded over to Derec. They had sold a bunch of the old artifacts left to Adam at the Valley of the Jedi to their contact on Naboo. The old collector had been so happy when they approached him with ancient Republic Credits that the old man did a little dance right there in his study.

So now armed with a fund over fifty thousand credits, the two could easily afford something over the price Adam insisted on. Derec had insisted that new and expensive didn’t always mean good or efficient.

“My partner and I were thinking something like Nubian/Slayn or perhaps an older Subpro.” He continued.

The salesman smiled, “Ah, such impeccable tastes. You obviously know your manufactures. I have many models from those. Perhaps I can show you some Corellian ships too?”

The tall lengthy humanoid pointed them down a corridor and outside behind his shop. Down through rows of ships, some new and pristine looking, others looking like they were there for scrap or spare parts.

Towards the back of the yard, looking out over a portion of the star port, the humanoid salesman stopped in front of a cluster of small one man ships.

“I have these four Nubian/Slayn Mk VII Spitfires. They are of sturdy design, very nimble and fast. I’m afraid only three are operational, but the fourth would make a good collection of spare parts.” The salesman said, “They are of course, stripped down civilian models. Military surplus. If you wish, I have the original military gear inside and I can make you a good offer on those as well.”

Adam was only half listening to the salesman and instead studying the ships. He knew about Spitfires. As a boy he had listened to the holonet news about the daring missions Bothan pilots flew over their besieged planet in the little ships.

Such reports were what fascinated Adam with flying from such an early age, what eventually lead him to pilot ships and got him into the smuggling and cargo business. Sitting in front of him was a boyhood fantasy.

The sleek ships were fairly small for star fighters. Only roughly twenty meters in length, but the three powerful ion engines made that size a benefit. These fighters could run rings around the bulkier fighters Adam knew most kingdoms favored.

Each ship had a knife like hull, though the edges were smooth and rounded instead of sharp, which ended in a graceful tail above the main engine in the rear. Not quite halfway down the hull, graceful wing pylons stretched out from the body, tipped with two more engines. Sitting just behind where the wings attached, a small tear-shaped canopy sat open.

Adam climbed up the wing and peered down into the cockpit. All the instrumentation was still there. The salesman’s pitch about the purchase of the military equipment must have been with a ‘wink and a nod’. The targeting screens and arming sequencers were still wired up in the cockpit. If his assertion was correct, he and Derec could have them up and running in just a few hours.

He pulled his head out of the cockpit and absent mindedly glanced across the star port visible out the back of the ship lot he was in. If he bought all of them, two for use and the other two for parts, they’d have to ferry them back to the Valley of the Jedi. There was no way they could fit even one of these things whole in the Chance. If he could convince Derec that they just needed one, then they could strip another and get the parts in the Corellian freighter. But Adam didn’t need the Force to tell that Derec would not like that plan at all.

He was glancing around the star port’s open fields, half looking for reserved parking so they could ferry the ships, when a group of sentients walking across the field caught his eye. The group of humans were burley and tough looking, but Adams eyes widened when he saw a thin female leading the group across the star port towards a parked frigate not five hundred meters to Adams right.

He imagined that he had stood there watching the knot of people for some time when Derec climbed up on the ship and shielding his eyes with his hand, gazed out at the star port too.

“What are we looking at?” He asked.

Adam pulled his friend down a bit, close to the fighters’ fuselage. “See that group of people over there?”

“The ‘don’t mess with me, I’m big and scary’ gang?” Derec smiled and laughed at his joke.

“More important, the one leading them.” Adam pointed towards them. “That’s the woman from Denon.”

Derec took a moment to get a good look. “Ah, pretty good looking. I can see why you’re infatuated with her.”

Adam blanched, “Wha..?”

“Oh come on. You’ve done nothing but talk about her since you got back from Denon. You didn’t think I noticed?”

Adam managed to look indignant, “She is an assassin. Worse, she’s the leader of assassins. She tried to kill me.”

“I know, isn’t that hot?” Derec smiled a sly smile and nudged his friend.

Adam turned back to the assassins and watched them approach the frigate resting off to the side of the Ord Mantell starport. “Your just playing with me aren’t you.”

He said it as more of a statement than a question but Derec answered anyway, “Sure, if that’s what you want to believe.”

They sat quietly and watched the group walk up the boarding ramp of the ship and it wasn’t until the hatchway closed that Adam turned back to his friend. “We need to find a way to follow that ship.”

Derec sat in contemplation, “No way we could get back to the Chance, fire her up and follow. I think we need to find a way to track that frigate instead of follow.”

Adam looked at his friend skeptically. It wasn’t that Derec was wrong; it was that Adam knew his friend and the way he thought. “You have something in mind, I take it?”

“Well, yeah.” Derec shot back. “We buy these ships, haul them out to the field and you and I will spend the next few hours putting two back together with the weapons and all. Then tonight, I’ll go hook back up with that beautiful Twi’lek I was talking with last night. She mentioned something about working at the approach control.”

He smiled his sly smile again, “If I’m ‘nice’, maybe I can get the flight log on that frigate and find out where it has been and where it is going.” He winked at his friend.

Adam winced, it was not that he himself hadn’t been a ladies man back before his training, but he had liked to think he had grown with that training and using and manipulating people, women in this case, just felt wrong. But he needed that data.

Adam wasn’t celibate. He just thought of himself as too busy for a relationship. Certainly, if the right woman came along, in the right circumstances, he would pursue it. Master Skywalker had cautioned him on the emotions of attachment. In ancient days, the Jedi Order did not allow attachment, mates being a prime example of attachments. Adam guessed they thought it was easier to ignore the problem or potential problem of negative emotions that could arise from a lover, than to deal with them if they arose.

Master Skywalker had told him that such a situation was one of the factors that brought down the old Order and allowed evil to reign. When his Master had rebuilt the Order, he had amended those flawed rules. A healthy relationship offered stability for a person and love was encouraged. They were always watchful of problems and negative emotions in relations, always there to council their fellows if a Jedi and their lover separated. They were wary of the problems and thankful of the benefits. Adam couldn’t imagine any other way and pitied the ancient Jedi before Master Skywalker and their celibacy.

Though, from a certain point of view, Adam could see the reason why they did it. He, himself, felt too busy to go looking for love and the companionship he did have with his good friend Derec, Adam worried about almost constantly. He was not going to find a resolution to this problem here though, so again he turned mind back to matters at hand.

“I guess we need to get moving, and haul these things out into the port.” He clasped his hand on Derec’s shoulder and both hopped down to where the smiling salesman waited.



Adam Goodheart sat in a lounge nursing his Corellian Ale and watched the vid-screen. It was late and he was physically tired. He and Derec had spent the majority of the day getting two Spitfires ready to go and then stripping the other ones down and storing the pieces in the Second Chance. Adam had found a reserved port for the Chance to be berthed if both Derec and Adam decided to take off after the frigate with the mysterious woman aboard. And if not, one of the Spitfires could be berthed there while Adam and Derec shuttled the other to the Valley of the Jedi and then come back for the second one.

After the long hours of work, Derec had cleaned up and went back to whatever seedy bar he’d been in the night before when he met the Twi’lek woman. Adam didn’t feel like either watching the seduction or being near it, so he’d told Derec he’d be in the starport lounge when he was done with his tryst.

He’d been there for hours, it being far past midnight local time, and often his mind would drift back to his guilt over Derec and the risks he was asking Derec to take. After hours of internal debate, Adam had not gotten any further towards a solution, so he pushed the matter out of his mind again and started paying attention to the holonet news.

The attempted assassination of Ambassador Kilpaz from the Corellian Confederacy had sparked quite a situation between Corellia and the Kuati Empire. According to the talking head on the screen, both kingdoms had sent a fleet of ships to a boarder system. Androffa, if Adam heard it right.

The Federation reporter had said that both groups were in constant contact with their governments and the Federation hoped that the situation would calm itself before open hostilities broke out.

It was then that Adam sensed his friend enter the lounge and when he twisted in his chair to see him, he saw a smug smile on his friends face. Apparently, another notch would be added to Derec's belt.

He all but collapsed into a chair next to Adam and sighed heavily. “Whew, what a night. I’m exhausted. Between that and all that honest work we did today, I could sleep for a week.”

“I’d rather not know the details, Derec.” Adam said.

Derec chuckled and Adam knew that Derec thought it almost hypocritical of Adam to sit on any moral high ground in this particular subject, and perhaps he was right.

“Ok, ok. But she was beautiful. Anyways, I got the data too. That Frigate was the Whorlwind out of Mygeeto. She’s a communications ship, Regalii built. Never heard of Regalii, but….” He pulled out a small piece of paper with his own sloppy writing scrawled across it, “She was at Mygeeto for ‘maintenance’ and then shipped here for an upgrade to her comm. systems. Shelia, the beautiful woman you wish to not discuss, said she overheard someone talking about a booster for the jammer. I don’t know. Anyways, she’s headed for the Androffa system now. Hey, Androffa, we were just there a few years ago.”

Adam steepled his fingers, “And both a Corellian and Kuati fleet are there now. I'm beginning to see what is happening here.” He looked over to Derec, “I think she tried to start a war when she tried to kill Kilpaz. That didn’t work, now she’s off to the front line.”

He studied his friend for the moment. “Are you ok to fly? If not, I’ll go alone.”

“Pppphhh, I think I’m better rested than you are, Adam. Besides, you know you’ll need me if you are going to confront your girlfriend.” Derec laughed as both got up and headed for their ships.

[LadyTevar]

Ohh.. things are getting Very Interesting now. More!

[CERC]

Jezebel Antigone, brilliant name; good chapter.
CERC

[Knife]

A wink and nod to RotS, since I bought the soundtrack today:




5



Kuati ship design had not changed in hundreds of millenniums. Wedged shaped behemoths with multiple gun decks and huge engines, the latest Kuati Starcruisers were no different. Sleek and angular, the wedge shaped craft was the ultimate in warship design. The hull had two large cutouts two thirds the way down each side where the hangar decks were, and those notches made the ship look like it had canards in the rear quarters where they expanded into the engine blocks.

Both dorsal and ventral hulls had a giant spire-like structure that ended in a bulbous command deck. It gave the ship a predatory look as it sailed through the space lanes, as did the various rows of turbolaser batteries.

When stacked up next to their Corellian rivals, the Kuati Starcruiser was graceful. However, the Corellians had been making ships for just as long as the Kuati. While their Battleships were not as graceful looking, the long slender looking ships of the Corellian Confederacy had their own appeal. The large ships had the characteristic Corellian engine blocks seemingly strapped to the rear of the ship. The four huge engines made the kilometer long ship plow through the empty void with power to spare. The bow of the ship was dominated by a swept back command fin that extended both above and underneath the ships main hull. The dorsal part of the fin was three times larger than the ventral fin, since the lower fin was little more than a shroud hiding the heavy turbolaser of the ship.

This giant gun was an order of magnitude more powerful than anything the Kuati ships sported in a single battery, but its rate of refire was so slow, it was little good in a close up fight. The Corellians liked to blast their enemies with the heavy guns first, then move in and take care of what was left with broadside attacks.

This was what they were attempting to do in the Androffa system. The fleet Admiral had lost contact with command a day ago but was determined to keep the peace as well as he could. It was not until a stray Kuati fighter had strafed one of his pickets did the Corellian decide to counter attack.

The half a dozen Corellian Battleships bore down on the Kuati fleet, with its escort ships and fighter screens buzzing around like swarms of insects. The fleets were millions of kilometers from each other and before any human eye could actually see the enemy through a porthole or window, the Corellians opened fire with their heavy guns.

Lances of bright red energy tore through space converging millions of kilometers away in the Kuati formations, view screens and tactical displays showed the flares of shields desperately trying to cope with the onslaught of energy directed at them. Many failed. Of the ten Kuati Starcruisers, six were hit with multiple weapons fire, their shields flickering as their generators and emitters buckled and failed. Around the wounded ships rose Kuati destroyers, smaller and paler imitations of the larger and more powerful craft, to protect the cruisers.

Pressing their advantage; the Corellians pushed forward. Trying to close the range and engage the enemy with their turbolaser batteries. The large Battleships, swarmed with pickets and spherical shaped corvettes, surged towards the stricken Kuati fleet.

But the Kuati were not without their own tricks, boiling up from the armada, the ‘T’ shaped Kuati fighters bore down at the approaching ships. The large tail-like strike foil that hung down from the fighters carried certain death for any stray ship or unshielded vessel that lay in front of the fighter squadrons.

Heavy autocannons and proton torpedoes racked out from the fighter squadrons as they approached the Corellian lines. The Battleships were able to shrug off the counter attack, but many of the smaller craft were awash in explosions and thermonuclear detonations.

It was here, in this cloud of instant death that two small Nubian/Slayn single seat fighters broke out of hyperspace and dove into the melee. The two Spitfires twisted and turned almost immediately to dodge incoming fire and missiles that were not so much targeting them, rather just trying to go through them to their destinations.

In side his cockpit Adam was a whirl of motion. The red glare from just about every alarm in his ship lighted his grim face and he set his jaw and concentrated on not being blown out of the sky. Six separate klaxons were blaring at him; half were proximity alarms telling him of large ships close to his fighter. It would have been humorous in its silliness, but Adam was desperately trying to pull out of his dive as the large Kuati Starcruiser, that his alarms were warning him about, was filling his canopy window.

He let out a small sigh as the Spitfire leveled out over the enormous hull of the ship and he skimmed over the heavily armored surface trying to ignore the bright green bolts of turbolaser fire that were streaking past him from the goliaths’ heavy guns.

“Are you still with me Derec?” Adam called into the comm.

Relief flooded through Adam as his friend chimed back almost immediately, “Yeah, but you could warn me about those sudden changes in direction. Blast! I’m getting scorched a bit from those canon shots.”

Adam risked a glance at his scope as the two Spitfires zipped past a couple of Corellian fighters headed back towards the Kuati ship on an attack heading. “I can’t pick up the Whorlwind. Then again, there are at least a score of ships out here slugging it out.”

“Copy,” Derec called out as he juked his ship up and over a slower moving picket attempting to engage a Corellian Corvette coming in from their left. The Kuati picket lashed out with a few laser blasts towards Adam and Derec and both the Spitfires went into a series of twirls and spins to shake the targeting sensors of the larger ship.

Both fighters found a bit of cover as they zoomed underneath one of the large Corellian Battleships and Derec called back to Adam, “You’re right, there are too many ships out here for our scanners to find that frigate.”

There was a burst of static as another heavy turbolaser bolt passed by close to the duo. “But if they’re doing what you think they’re doing, that frigate is going to be pumping out a lot of jamming…..Whoa!”

Again the two Spitfires broke and they dove out from under the Battleship as two squadrons of the Kuati T-wings caught the larger ship in a pincher. The main hull of the Battleship was engulfed in huge explosions from multiple proton torpedo hits.

“Lots of jamming. Got it.” Adam called back to him as the two fighters angled away from the Corellian thrust into the Kuati lines.

After a few seconds Adam reported back, “There is jamming all over this place! Wait, got something. There are some civilian ships and freighters trapped around Androffa. One of them is pumping out a lot of comm. signals.”

“Blast!” Cried Derec as he barrel-rolled over Adam to evade a missile that was snapshot at him from a Corellian squadron. “It’s on the other side of this mess!”

A smirk past Adam’s lips as he said, “Nobody said it would be easy my friend. Besides, I said you could stay behind if you wanted to.”

“And miss all the fun.” Derec shot back.

The Jedi took a breath and tried to clear his mind of the battle and the noise and the danger. He focused on getting to the frigate and let him self go into the Force, “Follow me Derec. Keep sharp.”

The two battle lines were merged now. Corellian Battleship attacking Kuati Starcruisers, both unleashing sheets of weapons fire in broadside attacks as the huge ships past one another. The Kuati had come into the fight with a numerical advantage, yet with the heavy onslaught from the Corellian main guns, the odds were about even.

The Corellian heavy batteries were tearing into the unshielded hulls of one of the wounded Kuati ships, causing great tears in the heavy armor. Gouts of flame erupted from the stricken craft as atmosphere was ignited and poured out of the ship. But the Kuati were not so easily beaten. Four of the Starcruisers concentrated fire on a slender Battleship and their constant turbolaser barrage pierced the shields of the Corellian ship and smashed two of the engine blocks at the rear of the vessel.

Corvettes and pickets immediately swarmed over the attacking cruisers to cover the wounded Battleship but the Kuatis were done with that Battleship and started to maneuver around to the next available target.

Instead, a full wing of Kuati fighters dove in on the stricken craft and buzzed around it like a cloud of angry Kowakian Fire Knats. Adam was mournful by all the death and destruction as he fighter tore past the scene. However, nothing he could do would end the carnage. Making it to the frigate, stopping the mysterious woman’s plan, stopping the jamming was the best course of action.

Seconds before he and Derec had jumped into lightspeed, Adam had listened to the Holonet News in his fighter. Reports that a battle was brewing and both governments were saying they were out of contact with their commanders were all over the Net. Adam needed only to restore communications to stop this tragedy.

Almost at the other side of the battle now, Adam could see the Whorlwind hiding amongst the civilian freighters and cargo ships that were trapped between the planet and the carnage of the battle. The cylinder shaped ship had an upturned bow and a ring of engines on the stern that made it easy to pick out amongst the blockier cargo ships.

Adam angled his fighter towards it now, just exiting the battle zone where flanking destroyers were trying to wrap up Corellian units and roll them back. With the approach of the two fighters out of the battle, a few of the cargo ships started to move out of orbit, probably afraid that they were going to be attacked. But the frigate held position, staying in the line of sight of both fleets.

“You know, Adam,” Derec's voice called out over the communicator. “We never really talked about how we were going to land on that thing.”

“It had a small landing deck. I saw it when it was on Ord Mantell.” Adam responded.

Derec replied immediately, “Ah, do you think they’ll just let us land?”

As if to answer Derec’s question, red laser fire boiled up from the frigate at the two approaching Spitfires. Automatically, Adam and Derec twisted and twirled around each other to throw off the gunners. The trick worked, but Adam knew that the closer they got to the frigate the better the point defense was going to be.

He threw open his throttle and his little ship surged forward, Derec not far behind. The frigate was growing larger and larger in his canopy and it was then that Adam could finally see the landing deck. The small sliver of open space roughly mid deck on the ship. It was probably only there for shuttlecraft and other small auxiliary ships.

Adam rolled his ship and dropped his relative altitude, dodging incoming fire from the frigate and trying to line up on the landing bay. He was staring right at the small slit in the frigate now and his eyes flickered over the instruments of his craft and he knew Derec was right behind him. Keeping his throttle at full, he streaked in at the frigate. Who ever was in command of the ship must have realized Adams intentions to land on it, because from both sides of the opening of the bay, large blast doors began to close.

“Stay on me Derec and get ready to fire your retro-rockets.” He said into his mic. and then closed his eyes, abandoning himself to the Force.


Adam’s Spitfire tore past the blast doors, igniting its retro-rockets an instant after clearing them. His ship decelerated so quickly that Adam could hear the durasteel groan with the effort and his acceleration compensator redlined. The loud boom of his retros must have covered up the sound of the second Spitfire when Derec struck the blast door on his way in, because Adam didn’t know his friend was in trouble until he watched Derec’s Spitfire slide past him as Adam scrambled out of his fighter.

Derec’s ship slid to a halt on the other side of the landing bay and Adam charged after his friend. The stricken Spitfire was missing a wing and Adam thought that must have been what snagged the blast door, causing Derec’s crash.

Adam ran up to the fallen fighter yelling for his friend, smoke pouring off of the engines and cloaking them from the rest of the landing bay. Adam lit his saber and with a snap hiss the green blade extended from the grip. With precise movements, Adam cut the canopy off of Derec’s fighter and then he pulled Derec out.

“Are you alright?” Adam about screamed at his friend.

Derec was to busy coughing but Adam thought that he heard a little laughter in it. “I missed.” He choked out.

Adam sighed in relief. “You look bad, we need to stash you. Can you walk?”

“Yeah….hey look out!” Cried Derec as he saw shadows approach behind Adam from within the smoke rolling off of the downed fighter.

With a blur of motion, Adam leaped up and did a graceful back flip landing behind the four crewmen who had been creeping up behind the pair. There was an electronic screech as Adam activated his weapon and the four men spun around to face him, the hunters had become the hunted.

Twirling his blade around him, Adam deflected a hail of blaster fire, deflecting the bolts back to the men firing them. It took only seconds and Adam and Derec were alone again in the bay.

Shutting off his weapon, Adam scooped up Derec and headed off to the corner of the bay, “I’m going to get you into one of those shuttles to hide. Prep it to go for me, would you? I won’t be long.”

Derec coughed again as Adam carried him up a boarding ramp of a shuttle, “You never know. If you meet your girlfriend here, you just might ditch me here.”

[Stuart Mackey]

Good stuff. Opening music to RotS indeed!

[Sarevok]

Bravo ! A most well written story. Keep writting more chapters !

[Darth Kalgarath]

I will happily admit that I am enjoying this story very much. You have gotten off to a very promising start and just keep getting better.

[LadyTevar]

What a fantastic fight scene!

Someone draw up those Corellian vessels, they sound wicked!

[Knife]

What a fantastic fight scene!

Someone draw up those Corellian vessels, they sound wicked!

Meh, if it helps; think of the Kuati ships as more or less a Venetor hull with the command spires/fins of the Providence cruiser instead of the usual looking SD superstructure.



The Corellian ships, in my head, look a lot like the Colonial One from nBSG, with the huge fin like thing in front and a long skinny hull. They (Corellian ships) have huge engine blocks strapped on the end though, unlike the BSG ship. Plus a huge ass cannon on the chin.

I haven't really worked out the Spitfires, but I just imagine them to be a better looking concept of the N-1 fighters from TPM. Twings, think of a blockier Bwing with an engine on either side of the cockpit rather than below it.

Um, I think that covers it. Well, the Second Chance but I think I put up some sketches of it in the art forum.

(edit: http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=85634)

It's not much, just some musings.

[LadyTevar]

Very nice! I like the pictures.