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A long time ago in a

galaxy far far away…

 

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The galaxy has fractured! Different factions, vying for control of the galaxy,

have wreaked havoc among the star systems in their quests for power.

 

In these moments of chaos, heroes on all sides of this conflict try to seize

the day, bringing war and death wherever they go, and seek after yet

another advantage in this bloody conflict.

 

As forces fight in the outer rim, agents of the evil Sith Empire head to

the dead planet Coruscant in search of the fallen jedi temple, but all is not

as it seems....

 

 

 

  

 

It was dark in the old library, a fact complemented by the musty smell of decade’s worth of dust, decay, and neglect. Great statues, gave tribute to the place that had once been the home of the greatest Jedi order of the old Republic, before the Purge. It had been abandoned for much of the reign of the Empire, many considering the place haunted or full of dark memories.

            They were right on both accounts.

            Regardless, after the rise of the new Jedi order, the temple had been repurposed, serving as a library instead. A place of learning, with vast amounts of knowledge behind its gates, and many secrets in its vaults.

            Powerful secrets.

            Valran read in the dim light provided by the dying beacons surrounding him, decades of being left on and unattended had caused them to flicker and fade in and out like a primitive candle.

            Valran turned the page of the old book, the paper almost cracked as he moved it. There were seldom few actual books left in the galaxy these days, Valran hadn’t actually seen one before he’d set up shop in the abandoned temple. As inconvenient as they were, the information they contained was priceless.

            Valran was a tall man, by human standards. With blue eyes and brown hair, he looked much like his ancestors did. He didn’t like that though. It made him stand out on some planets across the galaxy. He usually tried to avoid such systems where he’d be recognized, sticking to the outer rim where life tended to be simple and dangerous rather than the alternative.

            The alternative, of course, was complicated and dangerous.

            Valran turned another page. Long ago he could have been banished from the Republic for simply being in this room, or even executed for reading this book. Now there was no one to carry out either task.

            Still, Valran thought. It would be fun to see the Jedi council's face when they learned he was studying the force techniques of a Sith lord. Things like this had gotten him expelled from the order.

            They were… interesting.

            Books about the Sith were always interesting. Or creepy. A great deal of them made Valran feel uneasy reading them, but there was just so much truth in them that he felt he couldn’t just leave them to the dust. If he could sift through all the brutish techniques, the manipulation of the force through sheer instinct, perhaps he could do something that was worth the price of his life.

            The Jedi looked down on him because of his studies, and the Sith hated him because of his connections to the Jedi. Not that he cared much for the Sith, as long as they didn’t bother him in his studies.

            Valran frowned. He felt…

            Standing up, he slammed his book closed and pocketed it in the hooded cloak he wore around his shoulders. He walked to the center of the room, where a circular platform waited.

            Standing on the platform, Valran hit the switch with his fist. The platform shuddered with age and misuse, but still managed to serve as a lift to the main library.

            He entered the library, rising from a hole in the table that he had cut with his lightsaber. It had been fused shut and he had no way of getting in.

            He entered the dark library greeted by the glow from head gear mounted lights. Soldiers, six of them. Though he felt that there were more ahead.

            Valran felt something in them, a familiar feeling of darkness. A darkness he hadn’t felt in nearly three years.

            The Sith had found him.

            Drawing his lightsaber Valran leaped into the air, activating it in mid-air-it burst into a glowing green blade- and brought it down on the closest of the Sith troopers. The blade sliced completely through him. Burning through bone muscle and armor as if it were no more than wet paper. The Sith fell with hardly a startled yelp.

            There were shouts as the other Sith troops noticed. Valran tore into them cutting three of them down with almost astonishing speed and ease. The remaining two Sith raised blasters and fired rapidly, bolts of plasma ripped passed him as he rolled underneath them.       Coming back up from his roll, Valran raised his lightsaber to deflect a set of bolts. One was sent backwards towards the Sith who had shot it, hitting him in the head and sending him reeling.

            The second Sith trooper attempted to flee, but Valran jumped and landed between him and the exit, slamming his weapon into the Sith’s gut as he landed.

            “You should have let me be.” Valran growled.

            The Sith hit the ground with a thud.

            “Freeze!”

            Valran turned his head to see a dozen more Sith troopers blocking off the exit, all leveling blasters at him.

            “Don’t move, Jedi,”

            Valran cocked his head.

            Then with a snap of his wrist, his arm moving at a near blurring speed, he attuned the force to his will.

            The group of soldiers shot backwards at an incredibly lethal velocity. Crashing, no, slamming into the wall behind them so hard the stone cracked. Valran released them with a drop of his hand.

            “I am no Jedi,”

            Lightsaber still activated, Valran made his way past the crushed heap of Sith and from there down the hall and into the main corridor. The corridor was massive. Big enough for three or four airships to fit with still enough room to maneuver.

            More movement. On the balconies above.

            Gripping the Force, Valran leapt up three stories to the nearest of the balconies. He swung his saber in an arc decapitating one sith and carving the other in two.

            Freehand lashing out, Valran ripped a sidearm from a holster at the Sith’s side. He raised it and fired three times into a surprised Sith’s chest. He fell and Valran dispatched another four in the same way before the small blaster ran out of ammo.

            He spun out of the way of blaster fire from below, deflecting several back to their source. One grazed his arm, burning it painfully. He hid behind a grey pillar.

            “damnation to you people,” he shouted, “Why can’t you leave me alone!”

            He spun out from the pillar, slamming the soldiers below with a crushing push with the Force. Valran tapped his wrist communicator.

            “Arsev, I need a quick pick up.”

            He deflected more blaster fire.

            “Roger that,”

            “Meet me at the balcony by the library,”

            “Of course, Sir.”

            Closing the comm link, Valran leapt to the ground below and landed in a run.

            Blaster fire burned through the air around him as he ran. He deflected what he could, but was forced to take cover behind another fallen pillar.

            Blaster fire stopped.

            Valran frowned but did not spend any time thinking on it, gripping the Force again, he concentrated on the broken pillar he took cover behind. Anchoring himself, Valran slammed the pillar with the force, tossing it into a group of soldiers who had begun to creep towards his position. They scattered as the giant stone came hurtling towards them at a deadly speed, shattering on impact against the stone floor.

            “I’m sick of you people!” he shouted to the advancing group of Sith troopers. They began firing at him in earnest. He deflected them, sending many back towards the ones who shot them. They forced him back towards the open balcony. He heard the roar of engines as a single ship flew over the entrance.

            “I’m here” Arsev said on the comm link.

            “Good, I need some air support.”

            “Firing rockets, sir.”

            A half dozen rockets shot through the air, trailing smoke. They impacted the ground around where the troopers stood.

            “Direct hit, sir.”

            “Good, I think I’m done here.” He rubbed his forehead.

            Valran jogged to the balcony opening, stepping into the sunlight he winced. It had been a long time since he’d seen light that strong. One or two month’s maybe. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sight of what used to be the great planet of Coruscant.

            Or rather the decrepit, half-molten slag that was left of it.

            It used to be Coruscant the great city world, now people mostly referred to it as the Graveyard. Uninhabitable.

            “Sir, I must request that you put on your helmet. The air here can still be deadly.”

            Valran tapped his wrist and his helmet materialized around his head. “Is the transmat ready?”

            “Yes, transmatting now.”

            Valran’s vision went blue and his gut jerked inside of him. The blue faded to reveal what had been his home for the last ten years, his ship. The Javelin.

            “Welcome back, Sir.”

            Valran glanced at the small flying droid. R-17 –or Arsev as Valran preferred to call him—was a first class AI assisted reconnaissance droid. He traveled with him nearly his whole life.

            “What’s going on? How many ships are in the area?”

            “My sensors are picking up three separate Specter class starships in orbit above the Temple. They seem to be more concerned with taking control of the building than they are in you.”

            “Will they follow us?” Mark said, throwing himself into the pilot’s seat.

            “I calculate a twenty-three percent likelihood.” Arsev said. “I would suggest jamming them before entering hyperspace.”

            “Done.”

            Valran hit the controls and burst into the blue, black and white of hyperspace.

 

            “What is going on down there?” commander Veyes of the Sith fleet demanded. There had been nothing but confused yells and startled chatter all over the comms since they touched down.

            “We’re not sure, sir,” a voice said over the channel. “Some sort of Jedi attacked our men. We have thirty-seven reported casualties so far, but-“explosions sounded over the comm. “sir, he has his own ship, estimated two dozen casualties from its weapons. Target is fleeing in a cendar-15 class ship,”

            The Captain stood up straight and pointed to one of the ship's gunners. “Lock onto that target.”

            “No.” a deep voice said. Shivers ran down Veyes spine as he heard it Veyes turned to gaze into the yellow eyes of a Sith lord. Darth Ventrus.

            “The pilot is of no consequence to us. Focus on the containment of the-“he cut off suddenly and turned to face the window of the bridge. He gazed into the distance, towards a single Cendar-15 class ship.

            “Valran…” he said.

            The ship disappeared.

            The bridge was silent for a few moments, then Ventrus turned to the captain.

            “Secure the temple. Forget the Jedi, we have what we need.” With that, Darth Ventrus turned and stalked from the room.

Edited by WarriorMark16
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A group of eight young jedi padawan lounged easily around a large training room high up in the New Jedi Temple. The room, which looked out over the city, had polished wooden floors and walls covered in ancient banners, bones of extinct predators and primitive, but effecitent, weaponry. Swords, axes and hammers all lined racks around the room.

This group of jedi were training to be sentinels and were required to train in all forms of combat, subterfuge and spycraft. The current group of active sentinels was much smaller now days than they had been in previous centuries but they were expanding and helping the New Order keeps tabs across the galaxy. These padawan would not be granted the honor of operating in the field for some time, not until they could be trusted to handle themselves and any situation that might come up. That was why they were in the training room now, to learn how to handle themselves without using the force externally.


After the group had had time to socialize and relax a bit, the door on the far end of the chamber slid open to admit their trainer, “Stand at attention younglings!” Shouted the man. “We are not younglings, Mando, we are padawan learner and have earned the right to referred to as such.” Retorted the oldest of the group, a Kiffar named Jolan. The mando in question was a man named Kalin Dor, a madalorian warrior employed by the jedi to aid the sentinels in their duties. He also trained the padawan in his craft.

“In my eyes you are but children. Until you can pose a challenge to me in single combat, you will not be considered a padawan. Is that clear, youngling?”  Jolan scoffed.

Kalin was a large man, standing six feet tall and heavily muscled he was almost as intimidating out of armor as he was in it. Today he was out of his armor, instead he wore a leather vest and loose fitting pants. His long hair was braided back and tied with bones and a leather cord.

   

    As the other seven young jedi jumped to stand at attention, the Kiffar took his time. Languidly standing from his seat and adopting a relaxed pose instead of the rigid, discipled one that Kalin demanded. “It seems you are the first volunteer for today, my Kiffu friend. Come stand in the center of the room and show me what you’ve got than makes you so confident.”

    Jolan approached the Kalin, who was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, his piercing blue eyes studying the boy; with an overly confident stride. “Attack me, hold nothing back but do not use the force. The purpose of this training is to condition you not to use it instinctively.”


    Jolan lunged at Kalin as he was speaking, expecting to take him by surprise. He threw a heavy punch at the mandalorians head, which Kalin dodged with ease, not even missing a beat in his speech. The Kiffar fell past his trainer, catching himself before he fell on his face and attacked from behind. Again, the seasoned warrior dodged the untrained assault, this time side stepping out of Jolan’s flight path. Again, the padawan missed his mark. “Fight back coward!” The aggravated youth yelled. For a brief instant Kalin’s eyes lit with a burning fire but only for a moment, he was not going to be instigated by a punk. “Very well, on your next attempt I shall strike back.”

    The boy lunged again and as promised Kalin did not move. He simply grabbed Jolan’s fist, spun the boy around and kicked him lightly in the back of the knees, dropping him. The mando planted his soft leather boot on the youth’s back and pushed him over. “Focus! You rely too much on your force abilities and not enough on physical strength and conditioning. That will get you killed faster than falling in a sarlacc pit!”

    Seemingly humbled, Jorlan stood and faced the older warrior. “Forgive me Master Dor, you are correct of course. I should listen to you better.” Kalin nodded, “I know.” This time the padawan focused and sent a force push at the instructor. The mando spun out of the way just in time, causing the window behind him to shatter, he reached Joral and grabbed him by the throat easily lifting him from the ground and bringing him to eye level. “If you ever try something like that again, I will expel you from the temple the Mandalorian way. Through the window you just destroyed.” Kalin growled, his deep blue eyes piercing Joral’s, “You will NOT use force powers while in this room. Is that understood?!” The entire class nodded as he dropped his prey and walked away. “Get back in the line. You and I will speak later with your master present. Now, who here knows how to listen to orders and actually wants to be granted the title of Sentinel? You, come to the center and square to me.  What is your name?” “Na’an, master.” Said a young twi’lek meekly. “Good, Na’an, I want you to focus your strength and punch at me center mass.”

   

    The lesson continued in the same manner for almost three hours, each student getting the chance to face off with Kalin before being paired off with another student to practice what they had learned. At the end of the session, Kalin stood from drinking his tea and announced to the class, “Gar shuk meh kyrayk, go now and rest. I expect to see you here next week to continue your training.” As the the class left the trainer grabbed Joral by the shoulder, “Stay a while, I wish to speak with you.” ...

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IX39-B piloted his ship down through the atmosphere of Coruscant. Its guidance systems began scanning the area, looking for the distinctive shape of the old Jedi temple. It had been sent on a contract to recover an ancient item from somewhere deep within the building. The droid brought its ship into a slow descent, touching down just outside the abandoned structure.

 

IX39-B exited the ship, metallic feet hitting the ground with a click. The droid slowly scanned the temple, mapping out possible entrances and exits. IX39-B began to purposefully walk towards the grand entrance, keeping its scanners wide open for signs of life. Suddenly, a warning began to beep in its vision. It appeared that a ship, class cendar-15, blasted out away from the temple. The droid hurriedly increased its pace. 

Unidentified spacecraft fleeing the temple. It is possible that the target item is on board. But the ship was pulling away very quickly, to far to pursue or plant a tracker. Since no present action could be taken against the ship, IX39-B focused back onto the Jedi temple. It pushed through the grand doors, and entered the temple proper. The structure was vast, but IX39-B had received a general area to search along with the contract. It quickly accessed a 3-dimensional layout of the temple, and set a route to the library area. As it passed through the hallways, it detected heat signatures up ahead. Long-range scanners revealed what appeared to be human shapes. 

Body heat scans lower than human average. Subjects are either dead or of non-human origin. IX39-B hastened forward, warnings going off in its mind. Could someone else have acquired its target? Why would someone else be sent after the strange cube that IX39-B's employer had requested? The droid shook off the tangential thought, and hurried further into the temple, seeking the heat signatures that remained within. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Rook Feskitt approached Star's End, one of the most intimidating prisons in the entire galaxy. Rook wondered if it was even part of the galaxy, it was so far away from, well, everything. Mystus VII, the planet Star's End was located on, was in Wild Space, and was avoided by even the most hardened, maniacal criminals. But not Rook. He was either brave enough, or foolish enough, he still hadn't decided yet, to break out an old friend from the foreboding prison. Fratch Thio. A Rodian who helped him on his journey to becoming where he was today.

 

Rook was born on the planet Myrkr, the son of parents he never knew, or cared to know. He grew up alongside criminals, bounty hunters, and other scum all his life. Rook quickly proved himself valuable to these scum with his high intelligence, and at the age of ten he was helping smuggle drugs in an out of planetary systems. Fratch had been the one to take him in. He wasn't a good man, but he accepted Rook even when his own parents had not. He hadn't seen Fratch in about five years, ever since Rook left Myrkr in order to do something more exciting. Since them, he had met many interesting people, Mandalorians, and other creatures he hadn't even known existed. He had done tasks that actually challenged him, such as hunting down Jedi and Sith alike. He could add "Breaking someone out of an impenetrable prison" to that list.

 

After this, we're even, Fratch. His smuggling days had finally caught up with him, and his crimes were deemed serious enough to warrant being sent to this desolate asteroid. But that man had saved Rook's life, and he would return the favor.

 

He approached the tower in his customized Mandalorian armor. Stars End's defenses were impressive, but Rook wasn't worried to much. The biggest defense it had was that it was damnation near impossible to find in this remote area. The armor on the building was impossible to blast through, but that wasn't a problem. Rook didn't plan on blasting through it, he simply needed to infiltrate, retrieve Fratch, and get out. Turbolasers and ion cannons were placed in stationary positions around Star's End. But those didn't bother him either. He activated his cloaking device, which made him invisible to the naked eye and scanners. But that was only half of Rook. He gave of a thermal signature, and he was positive Star's End would have thermal scanners. The only way he could avoid those was by placing a barrier in between himself and the weapons. So he carefully navigated the crevices, following the map he made that took him along a route that should hide him from all the stationary turrets. He activated a cooling device as well, which cooled down his body heat. It wasn't full proof, not yet, but it should work well enough to where he could camouflage himself from the tower's defenses.

 

It worked. He approached the base of the forty story tower. He entered the tower, and was not surprised when he found no guards. Under almost any circumstance, the turrets would have notified those inside that there was a trespasser. But there were only a handful of people that were actually in the tower, and there was a good reason for that.

 

All 24,000 prisoners inside were stored in stasis booths, coffin-like containers that caused a person's life functions to be suspended. They would not age, and they were not aware of their surroundings. Their health was monitored, but since no inmates were consciously alert, only a few dozen people were needed to keep track of them. There was no risk of prison riots or escapes, at least from the inside. But this effective way of storing prisoners was also Star's Ends biggest weakness. In order to power all of the defensive structures and stasis cells, an enormous amount of power was required from the power generator on the subterranean level. If that power was reduced...

 

He eventually found his way to the generator. He had managed to hack into the camera feed, so he could see everything. He deactivated the defenses, which would allow Jia Mist, his pilot, to dock in one of the hangers as soon as he had Fratch.

 

Rook shivered, he still had his cooling device on. He could probably deactivate the thermal sensors, but that would take to much time. And since he deactivated the defenses, soon they people working here would know something was wrong, and would come to investigate. He had to move quick. He managed to get records on where Fratch was being held prior to his arrival. Floor Twelve, stasis booth 3043.

 

He quickly reached the designated area, and began walking the catwalk searching for stasis booth 3043. 3029, 3030, 3031. He was getting closer. He quickly halted as he approached Fratch's booth. A Falleen woman stood there, taking notes on the prisoner's conditions. She'd have to go. Before he acted, he began looping the camera feed. It would only buy him a minute to two, but that should be all he needed. He snuck up behind her, and grabbed her by the neck in a chokehold. When she stopped breathing, he gently lowered her to the ground. He pushed a few buttons on Fratch's booth, and the pod holding him opened. Fratch began gasping violently, shocked at the sudden switch from comatose to life. Rook lifted him from the pod and set him on the ground. He then picked up the woman, and lay her in the pod where Fratch had been held a few moments before.

 

Fratch had sat up, looking around desperately. Rook was still invisible, Fratch didn't know what was going on. He quickly sent a message to Jia, informing her to dock a few levels below. If Rook timed everything right, she should arrive as soon as he and Fratch entered the hangar. He grabbed Fratch and hauled him to his feet. "Not a word," he muttered.

 

Fratch caught his breath. He recognized Rook's voice. He nodded his head in understanding. Cameras still looped, they made their way down to the hangar. A few guards were scattered around, but none seemed to be taking their roles seriously. After all, who would possibly attempt to land at Star's End?

 

Rook took out his dual blaster pistols and made quick work of the guards. None of them had even got a shot off. Normally alarms would have sounded and the hangar would have closed, but there was no power to the defensive structures. Jia landed a CR90 Corvette Cruiser a second later. Rook led Fratch to the cruiser, and as soon as they were in, Jia took off. Nobody had even noticed that they were there.

 

As soon as they were safe in the ship, Rook deactivated his cloaking and cooling device. He took off his helmet, and walked over to Fratch. He looked up as Rook approached. "Rook, I..." he breathed deeply. "I cannot thank you enough."

 

"We're even, Fratch."

 

He nodded his head, and then laughed. "You broke me out of that hellhole? Don't suppose you'd ever consider coming back an working for ole Fratch, will ya?"

 

Rook chuckled. "Sorry Fratch. Where do you want to be dropped off?"

 

"Myrkr is fine. Gotta show the boys that I'm still alive and kicking. Just know that you're always welcome to stop by and say hello, provided you're not being chased by the entire Jedi Order or whatever. Now does this place have a bedroom?"

 

Rook smiled. "You've been in a coma for the past year, and you want a nap?"

 

"Hell, a whole year? Well, I'm exhausted. I'll catch up with ya before we get to Myrkr." He lazily walked over to where Rook had indicated a small bedroom was. He turned and spoke softly to Rook. "Again Rook... uh... thanks. I knew I saw something special in ya when I found you in that alley. A boy twice your size lay at your feet, bleeding. You were cold, hungry, and desperate for clean water. Taking you in was the smartest thing I've ever done. What I'm trying to say is... I'm proud of you, Rook."

 

Fratch disappeared from his view. A few years ago Fratch's words would have meant something to him, but Rook had moved on. He didn't need to prove himself to Fratch anymore. He would drop him off at Myrkr, and that would likely be it.

 

Upon entering the cockpit, Rook found two figures waiting for him. One ran to him immediately. His tamed vornskr, Storm. The canine beast, who was dark black and was nearly a meter and a half tall, much taller than the average vornskr, ran around Rook. He pet Storm fondly.

 

"Well, we got him," a soft voice spoke.

 

Rook looked away from Storm, and towards the one who had spoken. Jia. One of the best pilots Rook knew. She had always wanted to be a pilot for the Jedi Order, but a criminal record likely prevented that from ever happening. So, she settled for piloting Rook, who she met on Myrkr a few years before Rook left at the age of sixteen. He had eventually decided to take her along on some of his missions. She proved herself capable of keeping up with Rook, so she became a permanent partner about a year ago. Her grey eyes tried to focus on Rook, but they quickly became unfocused.

 

"So.." she continued quietly. "You're done with missions like this, right? No more hunting those who don't deserve it, no more going after Jedi?" Jia didn't share the same mindset that Rook did. She admired the Jedi, but Rook always found their tenets to be flawed. But she was adamant in making sure that Rook never went after Jedi again, so he didn't.

 

"Of course," he spoke softly. He always spoke softly, no matter the circumstances. Many found it odd that a man such as him, one who was so quiet and soft spoken, could be as dangerous as he was.

 

Jia nodded, and sat back in the pilot's seat. Rook sat beside her in the copilot's seat. "So Myrkr, and then what?"

 

Rook looked at the reflection of himself through the glass in front of him. About twenty years old, lanky, and dark, black eyes. His hair so dark many eyes couldn't focus on him, they couldn't understand how dark it was. Of course, it wasn't naturally that color, but Rook thought it helpful to make it appear that way."And then," Rook muttered, "We'll find out." He opened his communication channel, and hoped that someone would contact him.         

Edited by Patar
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     Chiel hated when it took so long for his purchases to arrive.

 

     Of course, he thought to himself, that’s what happens when you live in the Outer Rim. Especially here. Lots of stuff goes out, not much in. Only a lot of Phrik. Mostly. His package was bound to arrive soon anyways. He had his metal, and soon a droideka. Apparently someone had stumbled onto a stash of unused droidekas, all the way back from the Clone Wars. He’d ordered one fully recharged and restored from any aging, then bought an extra two shields.

 

      As he approached his house, he noticed there was a box- Yes! He walked up to the door, and brought the box in, just as his communicator started flashing. An old friend of his, Nelo Ilsk. Looks like I won’t start on the droid today. He packed his little stuff, along with his droid, into the back of his XP-38. He headed off towards Mos Eisley Spaceport. Nelo Ilsk was a good Jensaarai, but Chiel could match him, and everyone needed help once in a while. He had once pressured Chiel to become a Jensaarai, but his power was small, and he preferred "normal" weapons and droids, which he understood.

 

     But, that was the past. His friend needed him to hunt with him once again. He this time there was even a prize- Chiel had wanted a lightsaber for a long time. Now, he would get one, albeit a red one.

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Faolin stood on the charred surface of what had once been a vibrant planet. Coruscant, now called the Graveyard. He lingered for a few minutes, contemplating the fragility of even the most powerful empires. He turned, briskly walking towards his Sentar-class fighter. He had always wondered why Relias, the shipyard owner who had sold him the ship, had called it a fighter. It was far to large to be considered any sort of fighter, and its capabilities far outclassed one. It more resembled a small Corvette, although it only required a crew of one to operate. He had not named this vessel; he had run out of good names several ships ago, and none of them seemed to last long enough for naming to be important.

 

As he walked through the Airscreen, an energy barrier between the ship's atmosphere and whatever was outside, a sudden whistling sound made him flinch. A narrow, silvery dart shot past his face, missing by a matter of millimeters. He spun, only to see nothing. Breathing rapidly, he tried to carefully observe the area, as he had learned at the New Jedi Temple. Unbidden, memories of his brief career as a Padawan resurfaced, and he recalled the painful memories of how terrible a Jedi he had been.

 

When he had finally been dismissed from the order, he had felt a mixture of disappointment, and strangely, relief. He was not terribly powerful with the Force, in fact, quite the opposite. He had not mastered the art of large displays of power, pushing enemies back with a mere thought, and this put him at a disadvantage. He had instead focused on the delicate uses of the Force. It surprised him that no one had thought to use the Force to dissolve molecular bonds, but the practice had turned out to be extremely useful. No one but him had thought to use the Force to pinch off the nerves in an enemy's brain, but it was just as effective as a lightsaber to the head. His masters had cited various reasons for his dismissal; at the foremost, he had apparently been "too emotional." Well, how could they expect him to rid himself of all emotion? Emotions were what made him, and everyone else, human. Well, a more proper term would be "sentient beings," but he had never cared to get social definitions right. But the point was, if you were supposed to feel no emotion, then how could you care for others enough to protect them?

 

He dispelled such dark and gloomy thoughts and returned to the task at hand. Someone was trying to kill him. Right. He jumped the remaining distance through the Airscreen and sprinted through the doorway that led to the bridge. He flicked a hand at a control screen, bringing it to life, and the ship began to rise. Before long, he was speeding through the ashy remnants of Coruscant's atmosphere, on an optimal trajectory to reach orbit.

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                Darth Ventrus marched down the corridor, Stormtroopers stood aside and at attention as he advanced, mouse droids swerved to avoid him and even his Sith warriors bowed their heads as he walked by.

                He turned a corner down the dark corridor and a door opened as he approached. He went into the room, white diodes blinked across the workstation of the communications room.

                “Lord Ventrus,” An officer in a crisp black uniform said to him, a bit of uncertainty in his voice. “We weren’t expecting—“

                “I need a transmission sent.” Ventrus growled. “Across the elite bounty hunter channels.”

                “Yes, my lord.” He waved his hand, and a floating holoscreen appeared. “computer. Access frequencies KR-43 through KU-76.”

                The computer flashed green.

                “The frequencies you requested are ready.” The officer said. “What would you like to-“

                “Leave.”

                The officer hesitated. “Sir?”

                Ventrus’ lightsaber flew into his hand and the officer fled. The communications crew went shortly after.

                Ventrus placed his lightsaber on the console in front of him with a clank. He turned to lean against it. Reaching out he took the microphone from off the work station.

                “If you are receiving this message, consider it a token of my respect.” He began. “Reports indicate that the Sith empire consider you to have considerable skill, and so I give you the following target.

                “Valran Solo. He is extremely dangerous and valuable to our cause.

                “I do not give this mission lightly. Details and reward information are enclosed in the data packet sent with this transmission.” He plugged in the mobile drive, sending the package.

                “You are to bring in the target alive, any others with him are not of value to us.  I will arrange for a meeting site once he is recovered.

                “I don’t expect to be disappointed.”

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   Life could be lonely out on Stars End.  Kel'let had been assigned to check the status of the prison and pick up a new technological advancement that was supposed to revolutionize the war against the Sith.  Kel'let was a Jedi Knight not some cargo vessel, but he had to obey the Jedi Counsel.  He was already despised by most of the Jedi for leaving the order almost twenty years ago.  Kel'let thought that the Jedi would be happy that he returned instead of staying in the Outer Rim or worse joining the Sith.  But Kel'let was not angry he saw why they resented him and he understood it.  

 

   One great thing about this mission was that he was one of the first to see the new tech that had been created by an organization beyond the Unknown Region.  Apparently the Jedi Order was able to contact these allusive tech producers and convince them to trade them their advanced tech.  That is where Kel'let got his SB-183, a high powerful static blaster.  The blaster was unlike anything else Kel'let had ever seen.  He took one of the blasters apart to see how it worked and he was barely able to put it back together and he was supposed be a Sluissi the greatest engineers in the galaxy.  He had managed to link the blaster to his star ship, Swift.  Kel'let almost destroyed his ships hyper drive doing it, but it had jumped him to speeds that were unimaginable.  That's how he was able to get to Stars End in the time that he did.  Kel'let cut the travel time in half.  The new tech that he was picking up today was supposed to link the hyper drive to the blasters on a ship.  The Sluissi had been thinking about how to do this for years and some company beyond the galaxy figures it out.  Anyways the tech was supposed to decrease the hyper drive energy and transfer it to the blaster canons.

 

   Kel'let walked down the corridor doing his final check of floor number twelve and noticed that one of the incubation chambers was empty.  He pulled out his wrist communicator and opened the link to Captain Telrin.

 

 "Uh Captain Telrin chamber number 3043 is empty.  I was not aware that there was an empty coffin on this floor."

 

   "Jedi Kel'let there should not be any empty coffins on floor twelve.  Are you sure that the coffin is empty?"

 

   "Yes Captain I am quite sure.  There also seems to be a body on the floor.  She looks like she is a Falleen, a dead Falleen."

 

   "I will put the prison on alert and check for any signs of escape" with that the Captain signed off of his communicator.

 

  The communicators had come a long way since the fall of the Death Star.  The newer ones like the one Kel'let was currently using were in color and the graphics were not shaky at all.  

 

   Kel'let saw some guards that were lying on the ground.  "Well I better check to see what happened to these guys.  What ever it is it is probably what got that poor woman."  He check the guards for any sign of life or wounds.  The guards looked to be taken out with some sort of blaster pistol.

 

   "That's odd how would a prisoner get a pistol?  Unless the prisoner was broken out by somebody on the outside."  Kel'let pulled out his communicator again, "Captain I think a break in was able to escape this prisoner."

 

   "That can't be" said the Captain, "We would have been notified if somebody came close to this sector"

 

   "Well there are new ways of getting past the radars" Kel'let said into his communicator, "Down in the New Jedi Temple there are cloaking devices that turn anything invisible, so something like that could have been used to disguise the ship."

 

   "Even so we have heat sensors the ship and the person would have been detected"

The Captain from his bio had been described as one that was never ready to admit to weakness.  That is one of the reasons why the Jedi Order wanted Kel'let to come here.  They wanted to make sure that the Stars End was still the top notch prison that it always bragged about being.  

 

   "I do not know how the prison breakers got in, but I do know that they got in and we should follow the protocol for escaped prisoners Captain."

 

   "Oh of course Jedi Kel'let.  I will alert the rest of Stars End and start search parties.  Can you contact the Jedi Council and inform them of this incident?"  The Captain was also described as being incredibly fearful of the Jedi.  He did not hate them he just felt extremely uncomfortable.  Poor Telrin looked like he would need a change of clothes before soon.  Who knows what would happen to him if he was forced to contact the Jedi Council and tell them about his slip up.

 

   Kel'let started up his communicator to link to the Council.  "Jedi Kel'let how is the check up of Stars End going?" said Jedi Master Wlynx.

 

   "The check up was going just fine until I found an empty cell..."  Kel'let's mind roamed off as he was informing the Council about what he had seen.

 

   "Kel'let!" Master Wlynx shouted over the communicator, "are you even listening to what I said?  I said that you have been reassigned to find 3043 and his partner and bring them both to the Jedi Council for a trial.

 

   "Yes Master Wlynx.  I will track down these two and bring them to you"  Kel'let did not know how to feel.  This was his first actual mission, but he had know idea what he was dealing with.  The two escapees could be for all he knew working for the Sith.  Kel'let turned off his communicator and proceed to walk to the ship yard.

 

   Kel'let loaded Swift with the new tech and started his ascend into the wilderness of Wild Space.

Edited by Phoenix
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As his ship began the burn to high orbit, Faolin glimpsed a small blip on his ship's radar. It seemed to have come from Coruscant's surface, near the ancient Jedi Temple. The display hologram wavered in a few small areas behind the ship, indicating a distortion of electromatic radiation in that area. That could only mean one thing; someone was using a cloaking device.

 

The ship's computer began tracking the distortions as soon as he thought about them. Faolin had modified his wrist communicator so that it fit behind his left ear; from there, he could send mental commands to it, and by extension, the ship. Its hologram projector had also been heavily modified so that the display was projected directly in front of his eyes. This made it much easier to look at, and he could use it for augmented reality as well as just a screen.

 

There were 6 distortions following the mysterious ship. One seemed significantly larger than the other; it was be 3 or 4 times the size of his own ship. He set the nav computer to intercept the fleeing ship, as he wanted some answers. Could whoever was flying that ship have something to do with the purpose of his brief visit to Coruscant? It was a long shot, but someone gathering information in the Jedi Temple might have been looking for the same thing that he was.

 

The Jedi Temple had been looted uncounted times, which was why Faolin had skipped visiting there. The underground bunker he had landed at had seemed a better prospect for the information he seeked.

 

Well, it wouldn't hurt to check the leaving ship out. When a planet had a possibility of being vaporized, you couldn't take any chances. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

                 Valran hated sand. That was a considerable problem, as he loved the Mos Eisly port on Tattoine. Sure, everyone and their pet would gladly kill a person for the seat they were sitting in, but that was just the thing he loved. If someone were strong enough, they were left alone. If they weren’t… well, if they weren’t then they just had to hope that they had a friend who was.

                Valran sat at his table in the corner booth of a cantina in Mos Eisly. He was reading the book he had taken from Coruscant. A few of the pages had fallen out somewhere along the way. Stupid books. He had them scattered across the table he was sitting at.

                Engulfed in his studies, he failed to notice the clanking of metal legs walking towards his table.

                “Hello, Valran,” a gravelly voice said, Valran looked up to see the skull-like face of a Kaleeshian Cyborg. His bonelike arms were grey, beaten and scratched in a way that looked as if they were gained while fighting.

                “Do I know you?” Valran said flatly.

                The things eyes thinned in what must have been the equivalent of a scowl. “I find your false ignorance to be unamusing.”

                Valran thought for a moment. “Varks. You’re that crime lord that I helped sack when I was a Padawan.”

                “Yes.” The creature walked onto the table, moving with an unnaturally grace. It took one clawed foot and placed it on Valran’s chest. “And it will bring me great pleasure to-“

                Valran’s lightsaber flew into his hand. Activating it, Valran severed the foot against his chest and swung his blade in a circular motion, molten bits of metal sprayed around him as Vark’s arms and legs dropped to the floor and table around him he swung two more times, cutting apart the chest and head.

                The music in the cantina stopped.

                Deactivating his lightsaber, Valran sat down. He brushed aside a molten piece of the ex-crime lord’s metallic skull of his table. Cyborgs like him where becoming increasingly common throughout the galaxy.

                The music started again. A quick tune that a few people cheered for. It was the startling fact about Mos Eisly: you could kill somebody here and nobody would really care.

                Then why did Valran enjoy this place? It was probably because he could just sit in a cantina and think and not have to worry about factions and… and…

                “You have got to be kidding me,” he said out loud. At his command, the pages of the book flew back into its cover. He pocketed it.

                He left the table, pieces of Varks still scattered across it, and walked quickly to the exit. There was no way she could have—

                “Valran Solo!”

                The music stopped.

                Valran winced. He slowly turned around, to meet the eyes of someone who was better at tracking him than the Razing Jedi council.

                Mara Lavain, in full Mandolorian battle armor, carrying her helmet under her arm. Which was bad, because he usually only had ever seen her take it off when she wanted to kill someone that she knew. Well, that and… a few other times. She had pretty features, hiding behind her scowl anyway and golden red hair that was just short enough to fit in her helmet.

                “Hey Mara.” He said. “Using the back entrance? That’s a bold fashion statement. Nice chat. See you later!”

                He turned and nearly smacked into the fully armored figure of a Mandolorian soldier.

                “Watch your step, Jedi.” He said in a deep Mando accent. Valran noted the heavy chain blaster hanging from his shoulders.

                Valran grunted and turned to face the approaching Mara. He smiled.

                He sensed it coming. Heck, he could have guessed it without the force. But neither stopped his surprise when Mara slapped him across the face.

                Did he mention that she was pretty?

                He grunted. “Next time take the gauntlet off.”

                “That was for what happened on Yavin.” She said. Rather loudly, in fact.

                Valran frowned. “What happened at Yavin?”

                “You hijacked the main computer on that specter. The power surge opened the holding cells and shut down the artificial gravity.” She said. “We were stuck in there for six hours with three separate and rival Sith gangs, while you blasted off in your ship.”

                Valran blinked. “How was I supposed to know that? You should be slapping Arsev. He’s the one who rerouted the power.”

                “Yes, but he is a droid, and I wanted to slap you instead.” She sighed and mumbled “where was I going. I had a point to this.”

                “We need a link up with your hyper drive.” The big Mando said.

                “A link up?” Valran said, “No. Not a chance. Do you know how bad that is for a hyper drive? It shaves years off the life of your ship. It would be easier and cheaper just to get repairs.”

                “We don’t have time replace a hyper-“

                “Replace? What did you do to it?” Valran asked incredulously. “You didn’t overdrive it did you?”

                “We-“

                “You did overdrive,” Valran sighed. “Let’s take a seat,” he sat down at a table pointedly away from the table with Varks on it. The two of them followed suit. “The moron who discovered that an AT class blaster could send you faster than light speed should get thrown into a pit of Rathtars. Have you removed the power siphoner?”

                Mara thumped her helmet onto the table. “If I had any idea what a siphoner was then we probably wouldn’t need to talk to you.”

                Ouch.

                “We unhooked those with the rest of the hyper drive.” The big Mando said. “We were unsure of what might be dangerous to keep on.”

                “Well at least you aren’t completely daft.” He paused for a moment. He turned to face Mara, noticing the defiance that statement lit up in her eyes “Sorry,” he added.

                “We need a link up and you are our best shot at it.” Mara said.

                Valran grunted. “Why don’t you charter another ship?”

                “We’re Mando’s.” the big guy said. “Nobody would like us moving around their ship. Especially since we’re soldiers.”

                “That does put a dampen on relations, doesn’t it?” Valran rubbed his chin. “What’s your pocket book look like?”

                “I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Mara folded her arms.

                “I will do it if you allow me to modify your ship. To cause less damage to my own hyper drive,” Valran folded his arms too. “It will be rather simple, there’s lots of places here that sell the right kind of moderators for it.”

                “So you’ll help us?” Mara looked surprised.

                “Yes, but with one condition.” Valran nodded towards the big Mandolorian. “Who’s the new guy?”

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IX-39B stormed out of the old Jedi Temple, walking back towards its ship. It was empty-handed. The valuables it had sought in the temple were gone. Nothing remained in there but fresh corpses and old books. It climbed aboard its ship, and prepared to take off. It pulled up into the air, and set a course away from the wreck of Coruscant.

With nothing pressing demanding its attention, IX-39B turned on the shipboard transmission receiver, and set it onto channel KR-54. A transmission immediately came through, along with a data package. IX-39B opened the transmission, and heard a voice speak of a new contract, one offered by the Sith Empire.

A man named Valran Solo, wanted alive. IX-39B was interested. Its data indicated that the Sith Empire paid very well, and from the sound of it, this Valran Solo was of special interest to them. This contract would pay well, very well. IX-39B set the transmission receiver to scan the network for any sign of this Solo. At the same time, it piloted a course for the planet Bespin.

It had an old contact to talk to.

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Rook listened to the Sith's message as he floated through space. He had said his farewell to Fratch, and dropped him off on Myrkr. Jia had just went to bed, which was fortunate. Rook didn't mind who he worked for, as long as the money was good. He had lost his sense of morality long ago. But Jia, she hadn't lost all of her innocence. She wouldn't be happy if she found out he was doing a job for the Sith. The target, Valran, wasn't a Jedi, not technically. So Jia wouldn't mind going after him. He'd have to keep who he was working for a secret. The Sith had put an emphasis on the danger Valran presented, but that the reward would be worth it. If Rook succeeded, he could afford to relax. For once in his life he would have enough money to simply relax. 

 

Rook sat back in his seat and considered the job. He had a feeling this Valran character would be his toughest prey yet. He looked at the details sent in the message. Skilled in the force, good with a lightsaber. Former Sith and Jedi, abandoned both. That makes him more dangerous than both. Jedi were easy to hunt. They had guidelines that were easy to exploit. Sith were a bit tougher, but tended to be cocky enough to surprise. But those who fell in between, they were different. They followed no guidelines, and were typically smart enough not to underestimate their opponents. They were careful. They were dangerous.

 

But so am I.

 

He heard foot steps behind him, and he quickly closed the file. Jia approached him, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. She tried to look at him, but try as she might, her mind couldn't comprehend how dark his hair was, and her eyes darted to the side. Creating something that changed how dark your hair was seems pointless, but having hair that was darker than black helped a surprising amount. "What are you still doing up?" She asked softly. "What was that you were just looking at?"

 

"A contract. Some man who has abandoned the Jedi, apparently he's made some pretty powerful people upset." Lying was second nature to Rook, but lying to Jia was hard. "Apparently he's done some pretty cruel things." He didn't know if that was a lie or not. "Are you in?"

 

Jia nodded. "Sure. But not now, I'm tired." She went back to her room, and just as she was about to enter, she turned and looked as if she meant to say something. She decided against it, and went back to lie down.

 

Rook sighed. She shouldn't be here. Maybe with the reward money, I could bribe someone to make her criminal record disappear. That way maybe she could finally work alongside the Jedi, like she's always dreamed of. 

 

But first he had to find and capture Valran. Finding him would be tough, but Rook had ways of tracking people down. Capturing him would be the hard part. Intense planning would be needed. But an old friend had once said Rook was one of the smartest men he'd ever known. He said men who didn't or couldn't use the force could be just as deadly, if not more so, than those who could.

 

I'm going to find you, Valran Solo. 

 

You can't hide from me.     

Edited by Patar
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   Kel'let was in Swift trying to research information on the prisoner from Star's End and who would come and get him.  He was using the Jedi databases to see if there was any thing about this prisoner.  The captain of Star's End had been kind enough to lend Kel'let some of the prisoners information.  Apparently, the prisoner's name was Fratch and he was a well known criminal from Myrkr.  The Jedi database was about as helpful as a dead rancor.  All it told Kel'let were some of Fratch's schemes and people he worked with.

 

   Fortunately, every prisoner had a tracking device implanted in them when they were put in the stasis pods.  All that was need to accses the information was this video player that Star's End had given Kel'let and a password which they had not given to Kel'let.  The Captain said that he would have to run a background check on him before they could give him the password.  But Kel'let was a very patient person, he was after all a Sluissi.  

 

   In the mean time Kel'let was trying to figure out how the tech from beyond the beyond worked.  The odd HB converter was supposed to translate the hyper drive energy into blaster energy.  In normal ships created by normal sane people the hyper drive energy and the blaster energy were kept separate.  Of course there were some attempts to convert the hyper drive energy to blaster energy, but it never worked.  Being a Sluissi, the Jedi council allowed him to use the new tech and try it out to see how well it worked.  The wiring in the HB converter was amazing.  It looked years more advanced and different than the tech he used to create the SB-183.

 

   Kel'let moved down towards the engine room in Swift. The ship was not very big for small ship standards.  It only had a few rooms the cockpit, storage room, and an engine room.  Most ships at least had sleeping quarters or a common room, but Kel'let had designed this ship for speed not comfort.  In fact this was on of the fastest ships in the galaxy.  Swift could out fly any other ship that it encountered.  

 

   The engine room was just large enough to contain the engine and a few other star ship essentials.  The unknown tech was made to easily connect to any engine by request of the Jedi Council.  The shipment of tech also came with what looked like a greatly improved star ship blaster cannon.  Kel'let assumed that the blaster cannon was meant to be operated adjacently with the HB converter.  He would have to have R6-3T install the cannon when they got out of hyper space.

 

  R6-3T was a typical atromech R6 series droid.  The R6 were known for being extremely productive and task orientated, unlike the R2 series which was more emotional and sarcastic.  R6-3T had been given a few extra modifications from Kel'let in order to improve his overall aspect.  Kel'let had given R6 a cloaking shield that not only negated their heat signature, but also their visibility.  Along with the cloaking shield R6 had a OM drive.  The OM drive when turned on the program would send out a signal with a radius of about 100 yards that would malfunction any droid in the area.  Kel'let had made the mistake of testing the OM drive next to his ship.  The ship didn't just turn off it tried to jump into hyper space while on the ground.  That mistake had grounded Kel'let on Naboo for a week while he repaired his ship.

 

   Beep Boop Bleep Beep

 

  "What is it R6?" Kel'let asked.  Kel'let preferred the the beeping instead of the new translation into Basic.  This way no body could understand what the astromech was trying to say.

 

  Beep Bleep Boop Bleep Beep

 

   "Oh the password from Star's End came in.  I will be head up there now."

 

   Kel'let had already set his course to Myrkr as a guess, but the two could be going anywhere in the galaxy and they could be anywhere in it by now.  Kel'let typed in the outrageously long thirty digit password into the video player.  A white and blue loading screen appeared followed by map with a two dots on it.  One dot would be Fratch and the other would be the video player.  Fratch was currently on Myrkr.  Kel'let didn't even have to reprogram the hyper drive.

 

   "R6 when will we reach Myrkr?"

 

   Beep Boop Beep Beep Bleep Boop

 

   "Oh ok so in a few hours.  That's all the time I need to prepare."

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