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Star Wars 0027 - Part X - The Last Strife in the Stars

Randall J. Morrison

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

Star Wars 0027
Part X
The Last Strife in the Stars

Significant events in the galaxy-wide war between the Rebel Dominion and the ISA had slowed down considerably since the Great Jedi Bloodshed. Both sides were left at a stalemate as Phadrax Monovial retired from his position as Imperial leader, leaving Empress Viktorya Fanterre in power. Officers of the ISA noticed changes immediately as Fanterre took the focus away from the war and defending their power and put further emphasis on imperialization and colonization of new worlds. Sparks began to fly immediately and the Empress was hated by even those who served her.

This hatred, combined with the skilled, resourceful officers of the Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027, led to the war’s terminus: the very end of the war, as one side wins the final battle and takes all the glory, leaving no treaty for the opponents, just utter defeat. This terminus is created when the individual missions of hundreds of officers with one common goal fuse into a immense victory under the last strife in the stars . . . .

Bakura showed up clearly through the wide viewscreen of the cockpit. Phadrax Monovial finally scrounged up the money to purchase a personal shuttle to take to this peaceful planet. In his hiding, he had obtained the knowledge of his long-time rival’s home planet. Dominic Artemius was obviously taking a break from the Jedi Council and resting at his home planet.
        After the ship entered the atmosphere, it only took Monovial a moment to track down Artemius’ home. It was a wooden cottage surrounded by a lush, green meadow. The field stretched at least a kilometre on each of the four sides to the cottage. It wasn’t a visually stunning property, but sufficient enough for Monovial’s intentions.
        He was tired of killing and tyranny. Phadrax Monovial gave up his leadership of the ISA for just that reason. It only made him more angry and the angrier he got, the more things he destroyed, which was what he began starting to avoid in the first place. The killing led to the anger and the anger led to the killing. The roots of his anger were at Dominic Artemius and never was there a viable reason why. Twenty-five years ago, they had fought in a clearing on the forests of Moltok and from there it only grew.
        Artemius, however, had a perfectly understandable quest for vengeance against the Sith Lord. Ilyssis Pico had been his murder victim, and that was nearly thirty-eight years ago to the date, but still vivid in Artemius’ mind. It took him over a decade to finally find Monovial and even then he didn’t get the chance to see him struck down. That was what it was all about. They each wanted to see one another be killed, by any means. And that was why he was here.
        The Titan would’ve been an optional method of transportation for him, but instead he chose something less threatening. He wasn’t there to threaten, even though one might think him to be. After all, it was normally his nature to threaten.
        When the shuttle touched down, the grass beneath the repulsorlift engines bent on their side. Monovial definitely wasn’t trying to hide anything. Otherwise, he would’ve at least cloaked his own dark presence, and not have set the speeder down directly in front of the cottage. Artemius was sitting on the porch of the cottage, swinging back and forth in a wooden chair. He knew that some sort of dark force was headed his way, but wasn’t sure if it was Monovial or not until the dark cloaked figure emerged from the exit ramp beneath the shuttle. Dominic wasn’t alarmed. He sat calmly in his chair, knowing that if Monovial intended to attack, he wouldn’t be walking.
        He looked up at Artemius and then back at the shuttle, abruptly turning around and walking into the meadow. Now, Dominic was confused until he felt something. A flicker in the Force that felt like the end of something, and he thought perhaps this something was the end of this rivalry that he and Monovial shared.
        Artemius stood up and walked to the other side of the porch, taking his cloak from a line of clothing that had recently been smoothed out to perfection. He draped the cloak over his shoulders and put his arms in the sleeves. Making sure he had his lightsabre dangling from his belt, Dominic closed his cloak around himself and stepped off of the deck.
        Monovial was now standing a noticeably long distance from the shuttle and the cottage, watching as Dominic Artemius approached. That flicker in the Force still sat alone in his ocean of thoughts as he approached the Sith Lord. It couldn’t have possibly been a fight that Monovial was looking for. Dominic was a sixty-four year-old Jedi Master and even Monovial had reached the age where they wouldn’t dare try to destroy each other once more. They were lucky enough to have been able to hold out at the Great Jedi Bloodshed only five years prior to this day.
        Artemius reached a distance in the meadow where it seemed that nothing else existed on this planet other than an endless green field, Phadrax Monovial, and himself. They were separated only by a grassy plank of less than two metres. Then that feeling, that flicker in the Force, grew stronger and Artemius reached beneath his cloak, taking hold of his lightsabre. Monovial, for the first time in a long time, appeared to be at peace. The expression on his face didn’t even emanate a hatred for the Jedi Master who stood across from him.
        They didn’t say a word. Neither of them had ever been much for conversation, but when Monovial drew his arm beneath his dark cloak, something was going to happen. Dominic didn’t panic, nor did he even move to defend himself, because he knew that Monovial wasn’t going for a quick draw. He pulled his double-bladed lightsabre from the strap on his back very slowly. Artemius did the same and detached the D-ring of his hilt from its appendage. They held both the weapons out in front of them and looked directly into each others eyes.
        All of a sudden, without action or resolution, their rivalry was gone. There was no hate and everything that they had done to one another was forgiven. It wouldn’t stay like this unless it ended like this, and that was why Monovial came. They hadn’t said one word, not had they spoken through the Force. It was simple eye contact, and for just that brief moment, their rivalry was over. And they knew what to do.
        They didn’t touch the switches and buttons on their weapons, but both lightsabres ignited throughout an action that was willed by the Force. Both held the weapons high, two blades, both red and green, emitted a pleasant hum of energy when they were carried to that height. The sound grew louder, and then quieter, when Dominic Artemius and Phadrax Monovial struck each other down.
        One brown cloak and one black cloak fluttered to the grassy floor of the vast meadow, both split cleanly in two as their bodies faded mysteriously into the air. No sound was made when the deactivated handles of their lightsabres touched down on the soil, but a great power began to lift from that earth. With these two great powers, disappearing into the Force, the air became filled with a union of those two powers, creating one that proved even greater. Every blade of grass stood on end and a sudden warmth bowled over the entire meadow. No wind entered the area, leaving it completely at peace.
        The two lightsabres of Monovial and Artemius began to hover above the ground, with no one around to see it. A sudden glow appeared around them as they lifted one metre into the air and stopped. And as if they were connected by a rope that wished to be tied into a knot, the hilts formed a pattern of weaving past each other. An endless pattern of circular motion as they flipped from side so side and closed in between the glowing area. The ground seemed to emit a bright, golden light that held the two lightsabres in an everlasting pattern.
        Suddenly, the ground split in small areas and sprouted trees. Within just minutes, the meadow began growing lush bushes and trees. After one hour of this expansion, the grave of two masters of the Force became a holy land that would never again permit a fight, but was filled with a seemingly endless forest of beauty. At the centre of it all, a small area was cleared where Artemius and Monovial had struck each other down, and the ground dispersed a glowing luster that encased the eternal pattern of two lightsabre hilts turning and spinning in the air, passing by, but never coming in contact with each other. For here, there would be not ever again, another quarrel.

        *       *       *       *

        The Jedi Council had become far too strict for Heather Logan. She wished that all of her effort would grant her the level of a Jedi Knight, but she was left at the rank of a mere Apprentice, where she had been for five years now. Kenneth Harlo had said himself that he could teach her no more, and he was well on his way to mastery of the Force.
        She sat alone at the cafeteria on Platform E of Planet Castleguard I, sipping away at a glass bottle of juice that had been extracted from berries grown in the Irugian Rain Forest. She had ordered it because the drink just happened to be her favorite color. She didn’t care what was in it.
        Three other people were in the cafeteria and they were sitting on the other side of the room. Heather had hidden herself in the corner with a small table and only two chairs. She was almost certain that someone was looking for her. It seemed that that was always the case. Harlo was particularly good at that if he had nothing else to do. Sometimes even Dominic Artemius would be looking for her; usually for no reason, though.
        When Sewell Cadett slumped into the chair across from her, she wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t likely have any reason to talk to her, either. “Not hungry?” he asked. Heather rolled her eyes.
        “No, I’m not hungry,” she told him firmly. “If I was hungry, I would’ve ordered something to eat, but I’m not. I’m thirsty. Because I’m thirsty, I ordered something to drink. If I was hungry before, but not hungry now, it’s because I’ve already ordered something to eat and already ate it. And since I’m no longer hungry, but would’ve needed something to wash down the meal, I bought a drink. But I wasn’t hungry in the first place. I was just thirsty. Actually, I wasn’t even thirsty, I was just“
        “Write a transcript about it, and maybe I’ll read it later,” Cadett interrupted.
        “Are you hungry? If you are, I can buy something for you. Give you a reason to stay in that seat, if you like.” Heather finished her drink and set the bottle aside.
        “Actually, I am here for a reason.”
        “Oh? And what is that?” Heather said. “Perhaps you’re hungry” Cadett smiled.
        “No, sorry. Harlo gave me a task that involves you“
        “Oh, no. I hope this isn’t another one of them stupid training drills that he keeps on hoping to improve me with.”
        “No, I don’t think so. You see, he asked me to do him a favor because he was ‘emotionally unavailable’ to carry it out himself. I’m supposed to fly you to Bakura and then he claims that by the time you get there, you’ll know what to do,” Cadett explained.
        “You accepted this favor?”
        “Yes.”
        “Why?”
        Cadett sighed and stood up from his chair. “I’ve noticed things, Heather. You’ve been very. . . what’s the word. . . distressed and agitated, lately. I figure it would do you some good to get out of here for awhile anyway.”
        “It doesn’t sound like a vacation to me.”
        “It isn’t. But it is just some time off of Castleguard. I’m sure with all of the stuff you do, this place isn’t always so appealing and fun, right?” Heather nodded and stood up, returning the bottle to the workers in the cafeteria.
        “When are we supposed to leave?”
        “About five minutes ago.”
        “Really?”
        “Yes.”
        “Then let’s go.” Heather Logan boarded a shuttle on its way to Bakura ten minutes later, with Sewell Cadett in the pilot seat. She didn’t expect it, but as they got closer and closer to that planet, she did start to feel something and she couldn’t tell if it was pleasant or not. Whatever it was, it was strong.

        *       *       *       *

        Empress Fanterre was leading the ISA in the wrong direction, or so it seemed. They were still in control of the galaxy, but nobody seemed to appreciate their ways. Lotaan Xta Santau, for example, didn’t like her ways. As a matter of fact, despite the numerous positive references to him, not once did Fanterre utilize the skills of the bounty hunter. This could’ve been what made him terminate the apparent “contract” he held with the ISA. Considering that he was a freelance agent, no one could truly tell him what to do. He followed the money. That’s what bounty hunters do. Lotaan was unique, yes, but he was still a bounty hunter, and characteristics like that don’t change with his individuality. Perhaps it was because of his injuries. After he had severely burnt the muscle tissue in his back ten years ago, nobody, not even Monovial, seemed to be interested in hiring him. A decade of recovery time should’ve been enough to have everyone restore confidence in his abilities.
        Lotaan’s ship, Divinity, didn’t have much for medical droids or devices that could’ve helped him after that incident. He was fortunate to have the ship recovered, but he had to step out of character to do so. Lotaan actually had to actually hire another bounty hunter to retrieve it for him. After he injured his back, he didn’t walk for a year and didn’t run for two. The burns still hurt after all this time, and he knew of only one way to slowly soothe the pain of it all. A bacta tank.
        Bacta was a chemical used in cylindrical rejuvenation tanks to heal minor wounds. Lotaan didn’t consider the burns left on his back very minor wounds at all, but after ten years, they weren’t much more than scars. Only once had he ever gone through such a process and it did him a lot good. But that was prior to the time he had even met Monovial and all that the injury was were some cuts in his legs from being attacked by a mad dianoga in the Anoat System. The pain of those cuts wasn’t nearly that of even standing up with the scars from the burns still painted on his back. He was in desperation for the use of a bacta tank. Even if it was just once.
        That is why he made his decision to attack the Imperial convoy of freighters carrying medical supplies. Any medical cortege usually carried bacta in some form, despite the chemical’s extraordinarily high price. The Divinity had been constantly covered up by the specially modified cloaking device for a long time, but fortunately, Lotaan hadn’t forgot how to turn it off. However, he hadn’t been in a situation like this for a long time.
        He piloted the Divinity in the range of the convoy’s sensors then dropped the cloaking device. “Please state your business,” a voice came through the speaker in the cockpit. Lotaan turned it off.
        Immediately, laser fire began discharging from the turrets aboard the Divinity. The convoy had little time to defend, nor did it have many weapons. These freighters were armed with one weak laser turret on each and there were only five freighters. Lotaan destroyed the turrets before anything so they couldn’t attack him at all. Then, using the only warheads he had on board, he took out the hyperdrive engines in back of each ship. They couldn’t go anywhere.
        Lotaan turned on his communication systems again. “Hello,” he said pleasantly into the speaker. “I suggest that you gather some sort of defense on board your ship, because I’ve decided that I’d like to board, if you don’t mind.”
        “Your confidence frightens us, sir,” the voice came back. “Who are you?”
        “Let me board and maybe you’ll recognize me.” The officers on the main freighter thought that they could surprise Lotaan with the amount of officers they actually had on board for this sort of thing. “Or better yet, why don’t you check your scanners? I’m not jamming you, don’t worry.” There was a pause and the voice came back again.
        “Our scanners identify your ship as the Divinity, former property of Lotaan Xta Santau. This is the first sighting of your craft in a long time. Who are you?” Lotaan was confused.
        “Former property of Lotaan Xta Santau, huh?” he said. “What ever happened to him, do you know?” There was another pause.
        “According to our records, which I might add are particularly accurate because they came right from the department head of the ISA, Lotaan Xta Santau was a bounty hunter wanted for illegalities on over thirty systems. It seems that every law enforcement agency in the galaxy was looking for him. He obviously didn’t travel too much, otherwise he would be in custody. Instead, this Lotaan is said to have passed away on the planet Averam nine years ago. I guess he isn’t wanted anymore.” Lotaan smiled. This was Monovial’s doing. Now he could roam free around the galaxy and not get arrested for walking the streets of major cities.
        “That’s awfully courteous of you to give a complete stranger this information,” Lotaan said.
        The officer on the other side of the communications link spoke back angrily. “We tend to be more compliant with people who would willingly kill us if they don’t get what they want!” Lotaan turned off his communications so they couldn’t hear him laugh out loud.
        Just minutes later, he had somehow managed to get the freighter convoy to agree with his boarding of one of their ships. And just minutes after that, he stood before the man who he had spoken to through the ship. That officer was protected by three guards with their guns drawn. Lotaan held his hands up and looked at the floor. “Drop any weapons you have on you,” one of the guards shouted. Lotaan laughed.
        “No, I don’t want to waste your time. I’m carrying more weapons than a Corellian battleship, so I don’t recommend it.”
        “Drop them now!”
        “Are you really going to shoot me for not complying? If you read up on that subject, you’ll find that such a situation is against the new Imperial law,” Lotaan replied, still holding his hands high.
        “How do you know so much?” asked the officer he had spoken to beforehand. “Who are you?” Lotaan looked up at him and sighed.
        “I can’t stand being asked two questions in the same sentence. But if you’re really looking for the answers, I suppose I’ll give them to you. I know so much because I research this kind of thing. It’s that simple. Who am I?” Lotaan paused and thought for a moment. “I’m dead,” he said and smiled.
        “Pardon?” the officer replied. Lotaan threw his hands behind his head and then to his shoulders, where he opened a small silver latch and pulled two small pistols from a little encasement on his back. He spun around and on to one knee, firing at two officers that everyone expected Lotaan not to notice. Before they hit the ground he had already shot the group of four in front of him that had ran this interrogation.
        Lotaan dove for cover behind a small control desk near the bridge of the ship. He dispatched of everyone in the room quickly, but was struggling with the constant pain in his back muscles. He couldn’t execute an evasive roll without re-living that feeling of molten steel melting to his back.
        More armed officers began to enter through the small doorway to the main deck. It was like target practice for Lotaan; none of them seemed to be smart enough not to come in, despite their fellow officers’ corpses beginning to block the doorway as their numbers increased. They stopped coming after nearly five minutes of that routine, but Lotaan knew that there were still more enough. The smarter ones.
        One officer swung around the corner of the doorway and fired one shot at the desk he had hidden behind for cover. Lotaan stood up and quickly spun around, fast enough to catch that officer with a blaster bolt in the eye. Whoever occupied the other wall behind the doorway had seen this and noted how quickly it happened. However, gathering all his aplomb, he turned the corner and made a quick dive to the left behind another control desk for cover. But he wasn’t quick enough, either. Lotaan hit him in the air and the shot exploded on his ribcage. Just like that, this main freighter in this medical convoy became a cemetery and Lotaan was in control of all of it.
        He left the Divinity behind and didn’t intend to go back for it. He was tired of having a ship with weapons on it. He was tired of fighting. The freighter shot into hyperspace and left the Imperial medical convoy behind, carrying the bacta tanks that he had hoped were on board. He would find himself a knew ship later on, but now it was time to find a safe place to sort things out, unless something interrupted him and it usually did.

        *       *       *       *

        The shuttle landed just outside Dominic Artemius’ cottage, but had a strangely difficult time finding a place to land. Where there used to be a soft, plain meadow, now there was a wide variety of lush, green trees and bushes clouding over most of the area. Heather Logan was amazed. She had only been here once before, nearly two years ago, and there was no way that this many plants could be grown in such a short amount of time.
        It looked like a blanket of trees when they had flown over it. Except for the one small clearing, that appeared to be a perfect circle, and a bright glow emanated from the centre, showcasing two moving objects that she couldn’t make out the details of from such a height as was the shuttle.
        She left the shuttle and stepped into this ostensive forest very cautiously, unsure of what she was going to find. Sewell Cadett stayed back at the shuttle and watched Heather disappear into the trees.
        Various birds and reptiles lived in the branches above her and she couldn’t point out the species of any of them. Ahead, she could faintly see the glow that lay in the clearing about twenty metres away. It was an easy, pleasant jaunt to that point in the clearing, almost as if the path had been cleared for her arrival.
        Heather pushed the branches aside and looked into the centre of the clearing where the streams of light shot into the sky. When she saw the two lightsabre hilts rotating back and forth within the light, she became curious. One was significantly longer than the other and after creeping closer to get a better look, she recognized both of them. The shorter one was Dominic Artemius’ and she had seen it several times when meeting with the Jedi Council. The longer of the hilts, a double-bladed lightsabre, belonged to Phadrax Monovial, former leader of the ISA and the originator of the new Sith race. She recognized it from seeing many blueprints when in training of how to defend such a weapon.
        “What happened here?” Heather said to herself, kneeling on the ground. She put her hand inside the light and it felt warm. But she couldn’t touch the two lightsabres. As much as she tried, her hand missed as their pattern increased in speed whenever she tried. She would come very close, and then they would accelerate and roll past her touch.
        Heather Logan didn’t have a particularly strong connection to Artemius, but she knew that something had happened to him. His house was empty.

        *       *       *       *

        Thousands of bubbles from the fish formed and dissipated in the water beneath the crystal flooring of the Jedi Council chamber. Kenneth Harlo stood in the room, nearly vacated with the exception of Kabel Willard and Luke Skywalker. Harlo hung his head, burying his chin under the crumpled collar of his dark brown cloak. Until recently, he didn’t even wear the proper Jedi outfit, instead usually dressed in the apparel of every other standard Rebel Dominion pilot. Since the excursions to the Council had become more and more frequent, though, he thought it only proper to dress appropriately.
        “I assume you felt it, too,” Harlo said directly. Willard and Skywalker both nodded from their chairs. “Do you know what it was?”
        “It was a power,” Willard said. “It was a power in the Force unlike any other. Whether it was good or bad, I cannot tell. Whatever it was, it was strong. That much is clear.”
        “How clear is it, Master Willard?” Harlo replied quickly. “If a disturbance as great as this and as clear as this came about, do you not think that its clarity could also be perceived when dealing with whether it is good or bad?”
        “What do you mean?” Skywalker asked.
        “I believe that this disturbancethis powerisn’t good or bad. It is just powerful. It’s a perfect balance between good and evil.”
        “No, you’re wrong,” Willard said. The other Jedi Master sat back in his chair thinking hard. “It couldn’t be a balance. This power was definitely felt through the Force. It was a ripple in the Force, nothing else.”
        “And why can’t the Force be balanced, might I ask?”
        “Because this new Jedi Order does not prefer to try and sustain our prestigious status by following through on the cheap prophecies of the old Republic! This balance“
        “This balance what?” Harlo interrupted. “This balance doesn’t exist? Was that what you were going to say? Probably.” Willard said nothing. “Why doesn’t the balance exist? Can you explain to me any viable reason why this balance shouldn’t exist? Why is it that everyone is so hopeless about it?! Everyone has their minds focused on conflict so much that we seem to have stopped believing that peace even exists! If it isn’t a balance, what could it be?”
        “Hold on,” said Luke Skywalker, leaning forward in his chair. “There isn’t anything out there that could cause a balance. Even if you date back to the prophecies of the old Republic’s Jedi Council, you will find that there is no hypothesis of a balance in the Jedi Code that conforms to our current situation.”
        “Who says it has to fit some ludicrous guess from the Jedi Code? Do you know what happened, Luke? Do you, Kabel?” Harlo paused and no one said a thing. “I do know what happened. I saw it happen. I wasn’t there, but I saw it. It came to me.”
        “What happened?” Luke said softly.
        “The power you are feeling is, in fact, a balance in the Force. It is a place where there is so much power, both dark and light, that you need not even air to breathe if you choose not to breathe it.” Harlo stopped and looked down at the floor then up at the ceiling. “DominicMasterArtemius is gone, Council. Both he and Phadrax Monovial have created a balance in the Force by ending one another’s lives. I don’t know what to do and I was hoping that you did…but you don’t.” Harlo turned and left the Council chamber. Luke Skywalker and Kabel Willard stood up, both staring down at the crystalline floor of the chamber. Neither of them knew what to do. The sight of the aquarium beneath the floor gave off an eerie atmosphere and they didn’t know what to do. One of the fish had died.

        *       *       *       *

        Mayro was supposedly a resort planet, but Lotaan wasn’t too impressed with the facilities they had for a person like him. Then again, there weren’t many people like him. A small tavern in the northern continent of Mayro had been the most pleasing so far. Good drinks and decent music from a jizz-wailer band at the back.
        Lotaan had been leaning back in his chair, with his feet up on the table, for nearly half an hour. He paused at intervals where he had finished his drink. He hoped to cycle through the entire menu of beverages at least twice before leaving.
        Nightfall had come and the pub had become a place of slow business. The music had stopped playing as the band had retired for the evening. The air was still dense with smoke, making it difficult to see, but Lotaan’s eyes were closed anyway. He heard a loud, bellowing cough from across the room, but ignored it. Then it came again. Then again, then again, then again. It was starting to irritate him. Lotaan didn’t want his leisure time ruined.
        He shifted his feet off of the table and rose to his feet, looking to the other side of the tavern. A relatively small Hutt stood at a table, holding a drink in one of his short arms and holding his forehead with the other as he coughed into the nebulous atmosphere of the barroom. He looked very disheveled and worn out. Lotaan suspected that the Hutt had been victim of an eviction from his home or perhaps had too much to think about. He knew the feeling.
        Lotaan gripped the chair he had been sitting in and swung it over to the table where the Hutt was at. He sat himself down and looked directly at the Hutt. “You seem troubled,” Lotaan said.
        “I am troubled. If you can’t help me, get the hell away from my table. I don’t want any of you bothersome, tourist fools talking to me,” the Hutt replied coldly. It was a threat and Lotaan knew that.
        “What makes you think I can’t help you?”
        “Did I say that?”
        “No, but that’s what you think. You think I can’t help you,” Lotaan said confidently.
        The Hutt gave a half-smile. “You don’t look like you could kill another man, so I don’t think you’ll be of much help to me. I want someone dead, you see, but I can’t find anyone who will do it for whatever amount of money.”
        “That’s interesting,” Lotaan said. “Not to mention strange…you look terribly poor, if I may say so.”
        “I look poor?”
        “Yes, you look poor.”
        The Hutt took a sip from his drink and put it back down on the table. “Well, you look smart.” Lotaan smiled. “Appearances can be deceiving, you know.”
        “Not all appearances are deceiving, though. For example, I know your name, I know the location that you were last seen, I know your military rank and I know what branch of officers you were in charge of about thirty years ago.” The Hutt was a bit stunned but then took it all as a joke.
        “No, you don’t,” he replied.
        “Sure I do, Admiral Torgon the Hutt, commander of Rebel Dominion Fleet 0027 who was last seen at the Ivinsnale resource complex in the Ottega System.” The Hutt tried not to flinch, but failed in doing so. If he was physically capable, Torgon would have stood up violently from the table and walked out, but it seemed pointless now.
        “Who are you?!” he bellowed.
        “My name is Lotaan Xta Santau and I know who you are because I do a good share of research on my own. Plus I bombed your precious Ivinsnale complex right out of the ground a number of years back,” Lotaan replied. “Do you want to die, Torgon?”
        “No, of course not, why would“
        “Then I suggest that you tell me why you disappeared and why you have never returned. Then, just then, I may be able to help you with who you want dead.” Torgon thought that Lotaan was acting too confident and it frightened him. He had never seen this kind of boldness before.
        “And if I don’t?” Torgon was trying to sound equally as confident.
        “I thought you’d be smarter than that, Torgon,” Lotaan said. “You can’t even piece that together...well, if I must repeat this more clearly…if you do not, then you die. Understood?”
        Torgon the Hutt took a deep breath and nodded. “Just prior to the completion of the Ivinsnale complex, I made a secret alliance with an outlying band called the Dimok Forces. The Dimok are a“
        “I know who the Dimok are. Keep going.” Lotaan quickly said.
        “Okay then. The Dimok’s leader was“
        “Kurtis Vorbon, I know. Sum up your story into one sentence if possible, Torgon. I don’t need all the specific garbage,” Lotaan told him.
        Torgon was frustrated. “I made this alliance with the Dimok to join the ISA and be rid of the Rebel Dominion for good so we could have some order in this galaxy. Vorbon turned on me in the middle of the project and left me with nothing, now I want him dead for what he did to me. He ruined my life and I figure I might as well end his.”
        “You’ve been dwelling on this for thirty years?”
        “Since then I have made a life out of what he left me, but it isn’t a fraction as good as what I would’ve had if he hadn’t been so traitorous,” Torgon said.
        “So you decided to be a traitor against the Rebel Dominion, but it turns out that your supporters went and became traitors against you. Why did you just go back to the Rebel Dominion?”
        “I couldn’t ever face them again after what I planned to do to them. In truth, I don’t think I would’ve gone through with it. I’ve worked alongside those people for too long to actually commence an operation that would end them for good. Of course, I didn’t know this then. I only realized that many years later.” Lotaan sat back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling and paused for a long moment.
         “How much will you pay me?”
        “Excuse me?” Torgon said.
        “What is the bounty on Kurtis Vorbon? How much will you pay me to kill him, Torgon?” Lotaan was purposely being direct with the Hutt, just in case he wasn’t able to understand certain things again.
        “You are a fool,” Torgon said. “Especially if you’re still a bounty hunter. You look pretty old to me for that line of work. I’ve sent over a dozen bounty hunters half your age to kill Vorbon and they have all either died or been unsuccessful. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter what the bounty is.”
        Lotaan laughed. “How much time is left in the day on this planet, Torgon?”
        “About four hours till it’s officially morning. Sunrise is“
        “You can tell me what the bounty is when I get back. I’ll bring back Vorbon’s ashes for proof if you’re interested, and I know you are.” Lotaan stood up and began leaving the tavern. “I’ll see you in eight hours, Torgon.”

        *       *       *       *

        Heather Logan had become so sure of herself as to what happened to Dominic Artemius that she no longer saw any reason to stay in this mystical jungle of exotic plants that sprouted from Bakura’s soil.
        Sewell Cadett was already in the ship and had opened the ramp in the back for her to board. She was still in the circular clearing at the centre of the land where Monovial and Artemius’ lightsabres swerved back and forth within the glowing effluvium of light. She heard Cadett calling to her from the ship so she shifted her gaze towards the abstruse path that led back out of the clearing.
        Heather pushed away some branches to duck underneath a heavy tree but something stopped her. She saw something flicker beside her. Or was it behind her? She couldn’t tell. Then she saw it again. A flicker of light. And then another out of the corner of her eye. She turned around quickly and saw Dominic Artemius, but not as he normally appeared. Artemius was but a faded image floating in the air. He was looking down at something and as the vision became more clear that something became Harlo. In that faded image, Harlo knelt down beside Dominic and appeared to be reciting the Jedi Code, although there was no sound to confirm it.
        At first she thought that it was the remaining spirit of Dominic Artemius bringing himself before her. But it wasn’t. Then, at the far end of the clearing, another floating image materialized in the air. Heather didn’t recognize who the Jedi were in the image, but it was a battle between many of their kind.
        All of a sudden, more and more images from the past began to hover in the air, showing the greatest battles in the history of both the Jedi Knights and the Sith. Heather was mesmerized. Left and right, faded recollections of the most detrimental conflicts between good and evil appeared. She turned to her right and saw Obi-Wan Kenobi ward Darth Vader away with a series of short jabs. She turned to her left and saw Exar Kun battle with the fallen Jedi, Ulic Qel-Droma. Heather took three steps forward and before her appeared another vision where she recognized the setting.
        The Jedi Council’s entrance area was completely empty and it didn’t appear that any damage had been done to it. Very specific details were difficult to notice in the faded hologram that the Force seemed to have generated within the holy land. But she recognized the room. The crystal bridges crossed at the centre and two waterfalls spilled into the plants beneath from alongside the main doors. Then there was a figure. It was Dominic, hunched over and breathing heavily. He looked tired. Then she saw his opponent.
        Dominic stood at the centre of the bridge and Phadrax Monovial stood at the far end. Heather was lost in the images, watching to see what either of the warriors would do next. The images that appeared in the faded Force hologram were easier to see now and she felt as though it was happening now, right in front of her. Monovial reached behind him and from that point on, Heather had forgotten where she was and focused on nothing else but this battle. Sewell Cadett called her again, but she didn’t hear him.

The sound of a tiny latch opening from the strap on Monovial’s back echoed off the walls in the entrance chamber. The only sound louder than that latch was the breathing of these two foes. Artemius looked confused and Monovial looked confident, his face dominated with a sly smile. From out behind his black apparel, he pulled a bright, metallic shaft that reflected even the smallest amount of light and transformed it into an amazing emission of luster. Monovial ran his hand along the shaft and found a small button. When it was pressed, from forth the emitter came a deadly blue beam of energy.
Then Artemius ran. He ran angrily with more rage than he had ever thought could come through to him. Monovial charged at him from one end of the bridge and when the two warriors nearly met, both jumped into each other, battling with the passion of knights
Heather turned her attention to another image behind her, setting focus upon yet another battle from the past that she had only heard about and was now beginning to see.

Luke Skywalker screamed in agony as Vader’s red energy beam whipped cleanly through his wrist, sending the severed hand over the railing that served now as his only defense from the Dark Lord of the
She changed her focus again.

Troy Mikla’s lightsabre clashed into his opponent’s and the dark Jedi fell backwards
And again.

Obi-Wan ran the bridge, desperately trying to catch up to the two combatants, only to be stopped by an impenetrable wall of laser
        Heather dropped to the ground. Too much was happening around her and she couldn’t handle it without breaking down. Even though no sound came from the images that formed in the air, she felt as though every audible detail could be heard when stepping into the images. She could hear the clashing of energy blades; she could hear Luke scream; and, she could hear the steps of Obi-Wan Kenobi as he ran along the black, steel bridge.
        “Heather.” The voice was too deep to be that of Sewell Cadett. “Stand, Heather.” The presumption was correct and as Heather Logan stood from the grassy, meadow floor, she found herself eye to eye with the faded spirit of Dominic Artemius. The images from around the clearing precipitously disappeared and even the trees that enclosed the area seemed to blur, as if a fresh painting had been splattered with the rain of a vicious thunderstorm.
        “Dominic?” she said, almost squinting at the pale image.
        “It takes a great deal of energy away from this enormously powerful area to appear before you like this and so I cannot stay long,” Dominic said cautiously.
        “What is it?”
        “This is, in essence, the holy land, Heather. This place contains the strongest type of power that the Force can give off. That type of power is not a good power, nor does it arise from the dark side. It is a balanced power of the Force. Whereas the dark side of the Force is easier to manifest, its power is equal to that of its opposite spectrum. When brought together, these two forces meet to create the strongest type of power that this energy field can form. With only one of these powers, the images of battles from the past that were surrounding you could not have been formed. Now, with this balance of Force power, the energy field can look back in time and bring forth almost a video presentation created by the Force. What these presentations are essentially, is a way for the Force itself to look back on the clashes and glories between these two Force spectrums.
        “Heather, before you ask, I do not know why the holy land was created. It simply was. Phadrax Monovial and I stood on this very spot and struck each other down. It wasn’t violent, but peaceful which created a balance in the Force unlike any other. The result is this holy land.
        “I need you to tell the Jedi Council about this, Heather. Bring them here and be sure that Master Skywalker brings his droid. Go now and don’t ask for any more of an explanation. It will all become clearer to you when you get back. Trust me.” With that, Artemius faded away and Heather turned, already running for the ship.
        Once she was well into the forest, she didn’t see Cadett running the opposite direction. When they collided, it was only seconds before they were both on the ground and unaware of what had happened. Heather sprung to her feet and ignited her lightsabre. “Whoa! None of them murderous tendencies,” Cadett said, noticing Heather’s distress. She turned off her weapon and helped Sewell to his feet.
        “I have to go to Castleguard,” she told him.
        “You had to go to Castleguard a half an hour ago,” Cadett replied. “Where have you been?” Heather sighed.
        “Long story. I’ll tell you during the ride. Let’s go.”

        *       *       *       *

        Empress Viktorya Fanterre sat upon a stage in an Imperial auditorium where she was leading a heated debate from her subordinated officers. From all over the room comments in multiple languages and of multiple intentions polluted the atmosphere. Most of the crooked comments were directed toward Fanterre herself. However, it wasn’t her place to rule over the ISA to the liking of those who voted for her in the first place. They had made a final decision and the result was supposed to be something they wanted.
        The ISA’s officers didn’t appreciate Fanterre, nor did the citizens under Imperial rule all over the galaxy. According to a number of censi taken around the Corporate Sector, most citizens living within this dictatorship preferred the autocratic rule of Phadrax Monovial. At least he had gotten something done; be it for the use of evil or not, he did do something. Empress Fanterre did nothing at all. It made the political interactive life of citizens in the galaxy a particularly boring one.
        “Half the Imperial fleet doesn’t want your command any further!” an Imperial cadet from one of the back tables shouted, standing up violently from his chair. Several of the items that had been on the table were now either on the ground or broken.
        “How long have you been in service, officer?” Fanterre asked confidently.
        “Four months,” he said quietly, but followed up with a presumably strong comment. “That’s four months too long. If you don’t start appealing to the satisfaction of all of those who work hard to keep this empire alive, the ISA will soon run out of supporters and you will be to blame. I’m surprised you haven’t been killed yet!” Empress Fanterre was going to say something, but was interrupted by the sliding doors at two ends of the hallway blasting open and the march of dozens of officers.
        Fanterre herself had two personal Imperial commandos at her side all the time to defend against an inner rebellion, which she was most definitely sure it was. The cadet got out from his table and pulled a small palmgun from out behind him. Empress Fanterre smiled when the rookie pointed the weapon at her. The rebellion against her ruling had more supporters than she expected. However, the two Imperial commandos at her side were quick to get her to a safe place and likely organize. But when she looked up at them on either side, Fanterre found herself at blaster point. All this time she had relied upon them for her protection and now she didn’t know what to do.
        “Empress, so very few of us like your ways,” the cadet said. “Only one group of people can decide what is ideal for the ISA, and that group is standing before you right now. We are taking your empire, Fanterre. It no longer belongs to you. As a matter of fact, you’re in violation of Imperial law!”
        “What are you talking about?!” she shot back at him, red in the face.
        “Should have done your research,” he replied assuredly. “So, the way we see it is that if you can break Imperial law, so can we. I personally leaked information as to the whereabouts of this beloved cruiser of yours to the Rebel Dominion. They’ll be here shortly to take you prisoner.” The cadet smiled and looked up at the ceiling. “We made a deal with the Rebel Dominion that puts your officer regiment in complete control of the ISA and puts you in a stuffy 0027 cell! And I think it’s the funniest thing!” The crowd of officers that also held Fanterre at gunpoint laughed, as did everyone else in the room excluding the Empress.
        “You can’t dethrone me! You’re a cadet! You have no power here!”
        “Oh, we have all the power, Empress,” he replied. “After all, where would you be without us?” As fast as her aging muscles could move, Fanterre hit a latch on the side of her throne and a small blaster shot up from one of the arms of the chair. She gripped the blaster in the air and tried her best to be fast enough. The cadet, however, had been holding her at bay for a long time and was ready to fire. The shot came to her throat and Empress Fanterre fell forward.
        The crowd gathered in the auditorium, which covered nearly all of the cruiser’s officers, celebrate, but only briefly. The cadet who led the inner rebellion against Empress Fanterre didn’t know what to do now. The Imperial commandos had hauled the old woman’s body off the stage and they were left without a leader to prepare for the Rebels.
        “We’re in trouble,” a scratchy voice called from one of the tables near the front. “I don’t know what you’ve done but it wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.” The cadet looked over at the source of the voice. It was Admiral Syawla, a commanding officer on board the cruiser. He stood from his chair. “Fanterre was right about your inexperience, rookie. The Rebel Dominion will have a plan to fall back on. What you organized with them was a simple exchange. For a peaceful, uninterrupted takeover of the ISA, you were to give them Empress Fanterre as a prisoneralive!”
        “What are you saying, Admiral?” the cadet asked, pocketing his palmgun.
        “I’m saying that the Rebel Dominion is going to destroy us. We don’t have what they want and they fall back on the second plan. The second plan in war is always total destruction. If they don’t get what they want, they’ll give us the opposite of what we want. That’s just the way it works. You wanted to take over this ISA without and Rebel interruptions, didn’t you? Well, good luck. They’ll have a much bigger fleet than we can fight off.” Admiral Syawla left the room, presumably headed for an evacuation craft of some sort.
        Mumbles could be heard around the room that began to question the cadet’s plan. Suddenly, he was the focus of attention. Minutes later, the electronic systems inside the ship began to malfunction and ion cannon fire from outside could be heard slapping against the fuselage of the large cruiser. They were being captured.

        *       *       *       *

        Torgon the Hutt hadn’t moved more than five metres to get a drink since Lotaan told him he’d be back. There was something about this bounty hunter that made him stay and wait those eight hours and Torgon hadn’t stopped thinking about it. He was too confident to be real. Too sure of himself that he could pull off this job. Never before had Torgon ever encountered such a bounty worth so much and so difficult to pull off. As a matter of fact, the Hutt thought that the mission was impossible. When a canister of ashes was slammed down hard on the table, he changed his opinion.
        “How’s it going, Torgon?” Lotaan asked casually, smiling at the canister. Torgon looked at him and said nothing. The Hutt’s pudgy fingers opened a latch on the side of the urn and opened it. He looked inside and the smell of charred flesh made him feel ill. “You can run the tests if you really need proof, Torgon. The man is dead and I would like to know how much he was worth.”
        “Four million,” Torgon said, barely able to speak. The Hutt barely had that amount of money to pay Lotaan off with; he expected to be living in the poor slums from this point on.
        “Sorry to ruin your prophecy of this invincible mission but hey, somebody had to do it.” Torgon pulled a transaction bank device from the sash he wore over his shoulder and slid it across the table to Lotaan Xta Santau.
        “There’s well over four million in there. Probably closer to five but I don’t care anymore. Take it all.” Lotaan smiled and looked at the screen of the bank. “Access code is 800877.” Lotaan punched in the numbers and watched the grand total come up on the screen.
        “There is a total of four million nine hundred thousand and one credits. Exact!” Lotaan emphasized the ‘and one’ then pocketed the transaction bank. “I want you to remember something, Torgon. I’ll tell you now that I am not an evil man and I am not a cheat. I am not a traitor or a scoundrel as you might call it. The bounty was worth four million, you say. Understood. I don’t like taking more than I deserve, Torgon, but nonetheless, you will never see me again and I’ll be sure of it.” Lotaan smiled and held out his hand and the Hutt returned the gesture. A firm handshake ended it and, as promised, he never saw Lotaan again.
        Only one day later, Torgon the Hutt found that same transaction bank in his sash, containing exactly nine hundred thousand and one credits.

        *       *       *       *

        The Jedi Council members were all in their chambers except for two. One was Dominic Artemius and the other was Luke Skywalker, who stood at the large doors as Heather approached the area upon the crystalline bridge of the entrance domain.
        Luke smiled as she approached but she looked as if she were in a hurry. “Master Skywalker,” she said. “I’m passing a message on to you that I hope you can pass on to the rest of the Council, alright?”
        “Of course, Heather. What is it?” he replied.
        “On Bakura there is a place that the entire Council must come and see. As soon as possible. Dominic said it was a holy land“
        “You talked to Dominic?” Luke replied. She had never seen him so confused before. There was a static bafflement pasted on his expression.
        “Yes, Master. In spirit form, of course. I’m bringing the message from him. You must come and see the holy land. Dominic himself also instructed you to bring your droid.”
        “My droid? R2? That doesn’t make any sense…” Again Luke Skywalker was confused. Without argument, however, Luke gathered the Jedi Council and almost immediately left Planet Castleguard I for Bakura.
        The meadow had only become thicker of a forest since Heather was last there. The animals swinging from tree to tree were seemingly even more exotic and there were definitely more trees to swing from. When the Council members all emerged from the shuttle’s exit, they understood what Heather had been so excited about. The sight was stunning to the eye because all eight Jedi Masters had been in this meadow before and knew the time it would’ve taken to grow this rain forest.
        Heather led the way, marching through the tall grass and roots that poked through the soil. The perfect circle cut into the forest was still clear of vegetation and Heather suspected it would remain so. She crawled through a small opening in a tree trunk and then waited in the clearing for the rest of the Jedi Council to emerge. One by one, all came through and stood in a line staring at the powerful mystique of the holy land.
        Waves of the Force seemed to rise from the ground and all of them could feel it, as if it were some kind of warmth. The sight was something entirely different. Nobody could truly count how many images floated in the air like holographic projections coming from nowhere. They simply formed and the Force made them visible under light, recollecting upon great battles of the past. Some images disappeared and new ones took their place in different locations. Kabel Willard reached out to touch one of the floating images and his hand sailed through, feeling nothing more than an incredible power surge from the moving pictures.
        The centre of the circular clearing housed a collection of bright beams of golden light that shot into the sky. Within that light, the lightsabre hilts of Dominic Artemius and Phadrax Monovial twisted and turned past each other in an everlasting rhythm. Something whistled, then beeped.
        R2-D2 was complaining from outside the clearing that he wouldn’t fit through the small opening in the tree trunk. “Fold, R2,” Luke told him, the whistling catching his attention. The sound of gears whirring and an engine slowing down were faint from the clearing, but seconds later, R2 emerged from under the tree trunk in the form of a black, triangular prism on wheels. The droid stopped moving and the two pieces at the triangle’s vertex split, folding off to the side. A silver shell from beneath the prism arose and a single photoreceptor looked around near the top of the cylindrical body. The black strands that had folded out of the prism lifted and bent around the body of R2-D2, creating two thick black stripes around the surface.
        The droid had changed considerably since it was known as one of the two most famous droids in the galaxy. Because Luke Skywalker never did wipe out the memory of R2, data came to the point where it could no longer be stored. R2’s personality chip and memory banks were removed and placed in a new machine casing with more functions and a larger memory capacity. Now, R2-D2 was taller than before, but more narrow in the body, possessing the ability to fold into a size no bigger than the passenger seat of a landspeeder.
        “Why was I to bring R2, Heather?” She was going to respond, but the holy land did so for her. All of a sudden, everything seemed to disappear. The daylight wasn’t quite daylight, but seemed darker. The images that hovered in the air that were generated by the Force dissipated and became translucent air. The light remained, however, and the two lightsabres still weaved in and out in their eternal dance. Heather Logan and the Jedi Council formed a circle around the light, waiting for something to happen while R2 stayed close behind Luke.
        Colors fell together in the air and an image was forming. The light from the ground made the image visible and it floated a metre above the dancing lightsabres, in perfect view of all ten Jedi.
        The image showed a forest. A forest with numerous evergreen trees sprouting from the earth and making wherever it was a beautiful planet. From one end of the planet’s rim to the other, clouds hung low in a grey overcast. Then there was a house. A house formed from the wood of these trees which hadn’t been so perfectly formed into rectangular planks, but were simply the trunks of trees pieced together to form a home. Windows were carved into the tree trunks in certain places. As primitive as it seemed, the house was still fitted with standard technological security precautions; lockfields blocked off entrance through the windows or door. Heather recognized the place, but not the time.
        Ilyssis Pico sat on the balcony of his foresthouse and Artemius was waiting below. The floating image in the air didn’t blur either of their images, but kept it as close to real as possible. When Pico jumped down, they both seemed to converse for a short while, and then Dominic handed him a small metal shaft.
        Heather was in awe. She hadn’t realized that the abandoned foresthouse on Seanne, where she had completed her training, was where Pico had trained as well. Obviously, neither had the rest of the Jedi Council. All eight members stood staring.
        Within the image, Pico and Artemius both held the deactivated hilts of two stunsabres in hand and they stood several metres apart in the clearing of the woods. Then the image stopped motion altogether, seemingly waiting for something. R2-D2 let out a loud, shrill whistle followed by a number of sequential beeps. The line of Jedi that had been attentively watching the display before them separated and let R2 through and up close to the image. A small rectangular transmitter emerged from an open socket in the droid’s shell and projected an image into the air, right beside that which was created by the Force.
        Both images hung in the air motionless as if frozen by time. The static picture of Pico and Artemius staring at each other with stunsabres in hand was quiescent on the left. An equally sized image of Heather Logan and Kenneth Harlo in a training facility at Castleguard stood on the right. Both Heather and Harlo also had stunsabres in hand and were also in a similar position as Pico and Artemius. A small flicker of light lit up the area for just a brief second and then both images began motion once more.
        Pico and Artemius ignited their training weapons, as did Heather and Harlo on the image that R2 projected in the atmosphere. At nearly the same instant, both battles began and both moved with speed inimitable by any but the Jedi. All of the Council members began to study the two videos curiously, analyzing every strike, every blow. Heather began to notice it, too; as did everyone else who was present. Both Ilyssis Pico and Heather Logan fought with similar styles, similar speed and a similar method of defending oneself.
        It took something to trigger it and that something came up just seconds later when both Heather and Pico jumped over their respective opponents, flipped and twisted in the air, then touched softly upon the ground, at the exact same time.
        The two images disintegrated and light returned to the holy land, R2 rolling back into the woods. Everyone stood silent for a moment and then Linx Freewayler spoke up first. “They’re not the same, that is impossible,” he said. “But they are related.” Heather Logan was standing off to the side, inexplicably wanting to deny what she was beginning to believe.
        “Both of them take control of the Force in the same manner. Both of them fight with that same style,” said Luke Skywalker, brushing his chin with his forefinger.
        “What does it mean?” Heather said, not noticing that she was inching away from everyone by shifting back on her feet. “Master Harlo, what does it mean?”
        “Don’t you know, Heather?” Harlo replied. “Can you not decipher the meaning without my help? I think you can.”
        “You are related,” Linx told her. “You and Ilyssis Pico are most definitely related.” The Jedi Council all nodded in agreement and Harlo turned to her once more.
        “The Council knows, Heather. Why don’t you?” Harlo said.
        “I do,” she said. “But I don’t understand. Help me understand.”

        *       *       *       *

        Retirement certainly felt good and Lotaan was glad that he was finally able to relax and do absolutely nothing. But when doing nothing, he found himself thinking about any things left undone. And in thinking, he did in fact find one of these things and he wouldn’t rest until it was done.
        For nearly all of his adult life he had been making fools out of the entire Jedi Order using what skills he acquired when writing the Insurgence Primer. Now that he had finally sat down and thought about that, he was actually sorry. Sorry for bringing the Jedi on the same equal plane as himself. History had never written Jedi Knights as equal members of the galaxy’s society before and now that he had attempted to change history’s classification of them, he felt sorry. Almost as if he was not authorized to do it.
        So minutes after the thought came into his head, the Divinity was heading for a hyperspace jump point towards Planet Castleguard I. There he would apologize formally to the Jedi Council and he would be able to retire without an unfinished goal lying dormant in the back of his mind.
        Lotaan had no trouble gaining landing permission in Castleguard’s hangar and for the first time in a long time, he was able to do so without having to hide behind a false alias or some devious plan of how to get inside. He was certain that the right way to apologize would be to go through the Council. It would be impossible to talk to every Jedi that he ever stupefied and then apologize individually.
        There had also been no trouble reaching the main platform of Castleguard, nor had there been any trouble reaching the Jedi Council entrance room. However, there was a slight problem when he actually reached their chambers; they weren’t there. One of the meritorious guards that stood adjacent to the Council chamber’s doors explained to Lotaan that the entire Jedi Council had been rushed to planet Bakura by one Jedi Knight, Heather Logan. Lotaan knew of her and that she was the apprentice of Kenneth Harlo, the Jedi he would never forget from the day he waged a war with Castleguard and won.
        As quickly as he came, Lotaan left and was on his way to Bakura. He wasn’t sure why the entire Jedi Council would be ‘rushed’ to Bakura. It was a fairly inactive planet when it came to defending peace and justice in the galaxy. Dominic Artemius once lived there and perhaps the Council’s gathering had to do with his ceremonial funeral. Either way, he knew it wouldn’t take long to find the Jedi Council. Usually, all of them were outdoors and usually in a fairly open area. As it turns out, they were even easier to spot than he expected. Over a heavily forested area, a circular clearing shot a wide beam of light from its centre and within that clearing was also the Jedi Council.
        There was definitely no room in that clearing to land the Divinity so he was forced to find the very end of this dense forest where he touched the craft down on the soft soil. It was a long walk to that clearing but not an unpleasant one. The ground was fairly bumpy and most of the steps were difficult. However, the scenery surrounding him was magnificent. Thousands of different plants and hundreds of different animals encompassed him as he traversed through the lush foliage.
        Through a particularly verdant bush, Lotaan saw figures making small motions and there he knew that he had made it to the clearing. He took a closer look and found that the eight Jedi Council members were off to the side while Harlo and Heather Logan conversed near the centre. The area itself consisted of floating images, unlike anything that Lotaan had ever seen before. There was no projector that emitted the videos but they all seemed to be about similar things. They were battles, battles amongst Jedi Knights and their foes from the past. The images hovered in the air and left and right the greatest Jedi battles of the recent past and the past long gone were seen by all.
        Lotaan stepped through the trees lightly and everyone in the clearing turned their gazes towards him. Harlo recognized him immediately and naturally assumed that he was here to do harm. Remaining calm, Lotaan watched casually as Harlo quickly drew his lightsabre and lunged. He made a quick leap and slashed downwards at Lotaan. For just one moment everything seemed to stop just briefly. Suddenly, all of the images that hovered in the holy land changed to images of death. On each one, for a flash of a second, the picture changed to that of a warrior screaming at the blade of their opponent’s lightsabre. And as for Harlo, his blade stopped short of Lotaan’s neck by just centimetres.
        Harlo was stunned and he put everything he had into that hit, more pressure went onto the hilt of his lightsabre than ever had before, but it didn’t hit. Something held it back and that something was the Force, for in the holy land, there was to be no conflict, only images of conflict and what devastation that conflict can cause. In the holy land, there was no fighting because there was a balance. Whereas the good and evil sides of the Force are at an eternal conflict, here they reach a peace unthinkable by any Jedi Knight or any Sith Lord. In the holy land, the good and the evil cancel each other out, leaving not conflict, but reconciliation.
        Beads of sweat trickled down Harlo’s face as he tried and tried to press harder and harder on his weapon, attempting to force it through the peaceful barrier that held back his angry strike. He gripped the hilt tighter and tighter and put all his strength into forcing it forward until there was no strength left. Then he was gently pulled back by an unseen force which then bequeathed control back to Harlo, who then fell to the ground.
        Everyone present knew that Lotaan would not attempt to fight back, nor would he be able to had he tried. Heather was frightened by what had happened and the sounds of every image screaming only made it worse. They had returned to their original state now, however, and on each one another battle of the past was limned. No one said anything for quite some time, but the first to speak was Lotaan and his speech was directed towards the Council. The speech then became his apology as Heather and Harlo disappeared into the woods.

        *       *       *       *

        “Dominic always talked about Pico and I think he thought about him even more,” Harlo said as he and Heather kept a steady pace through the forest of the holy land. “Your relation to Pico was never concretely established and therefore never talked about. Until recently, of course.”
        “And you were the one who found proof, yes?” Hana asked. Harlo nodded and ducked to avoid a low branch. “So what’s the story then? I still don’t get why we are related. Sure, I don’t know much about my mother. My father was born on Habassa, I think. Did Pico ever even go to HabassaI don’t know, it’s just all confusing to me!” Heather shook her head and kicked at a stone in the soil.
        Harlo laughed. “I will tell you the story, if you want.”
        “I will not sleep if you don’t.”
        “Now remember, this is just how I heard it and I heard it from Dominic. Dominic heard it from Pico and that’s a fairly reliable source seeing as he is the central character involved,” Harlo said. “Pico was a castaway from the forested planet of Seanne. He was sixteen years old and living on his own when a Republic cruiser was being hunted down by an Imperial brigade. They were forced to the surface of Seanne and several of them accepted Pico’s offer of a temporal shelter. One of those Republic officers that stayed with Pico until it was safe to leave represented Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy. This officer knew Dominic personally and knew that he was searching for an apprentice. Pico had the will to want to become a Jedi and that’s the way it turned out. Not too long afterwards, Dominic came to Seanne and trained him over a period of ninety days. That’s how long it took him to become a Jedi Knight.”
        “That’s it?!” Heather shouted. “Ninety days? Speedy little bugger wasn’t he?”
        “Not only did he become a Jedi in that time, but he became an exceptional Jedi in that time. One of the most skilled that Dominic had seen in his time. As a matter of fact, on that ninetieth day, he fought Dominic in a stunsabre initiation battle and won, as you saw in the clearing back there,” Harlo explained.
        “Well, I have to say, he was pretty good for having been training for three months. It took me quite a bit longer than that to beat you,” Heather said, snickering at the thought. When she defeated Harlo in a stunsabre battle, she rubbed it in a little too much for his taste and still she laughed about it.
        “Anyhow, one year later, Pico and Artemius both worked together for the New Republic and more specifically the fleet of 0027. At one point, they were separated due to different tremors they felt in the Force. Artemius boarded the House of Lords under the guise of a dark Jedi in an effort to save the life of Kyle Katarn, which was done unsuccessfully I’m afraid. Pico, however, went to the surface of Alzoc III, home planet of the Talz species and also home to a brutal slavery camp where captives were forced to work their hardest on mindless jobs that didn’t do any good for anyone. The camp was run by a Twi’Lek dark Jedi and left any rebellion against his leadership non-existent. Anyhow, Pico went down there with his own personal mission to free the slaves. One of these slaves, was a girl named Hana Logan.” Heather stopped walking for a moment.
        “Oh, I see. It’s starting to piece together now.”
        “Well, I’m glad,” Harlo said. “So Pico and Hana fled the planet after successfully freeing all the slaves and ultimately came to Hana’s home planet, Habassa.”
        “I get it,” Heather said slowly.
        “Pico left the next morning and that was the last time Hana saw him alive. Three years later, Ilyssis was killed by Phadrax Monovial while Dominic and Hana were on their way to pick him up from Mon Yaga. It’s guessed that they were maybe ten minutes late at the most.” Harlo took a deep breath, not knowing what was left to say.
        “That’s terrible,” Heather said with a frown. “It just doesn’t seem right. His death is the blemish in Jedi history.” She paused and thought for a moment. “What about Hana? Is she still alive?”
        “So far as I know, she is. Dominic was the last person I know that talked to her and that was about thirty years ago,” Harlo replied.
        “I’d like to find hertalk to her,” she said. “So I guess this makes her my grandmother, right?”
        “Precisely.”
        “Good. I understand it all now.” Heather spun around and headed back for the clearing while Harlo stayed behind and picked the auburn fruit from a nearby tree.

        *       *       *       *

        That, the last of the heavy commanding Imperial ships, was now in the hands of the Rebel Dominion. Empress Fanterre was no longer in power of the ISA, leaving them without a leader and without knowledge that the Dominion was slowly taking over. There wasn’t much left of the Imperial fleet; enough to put up a fight and possibly survive, but not nearly enough to keep up that fight while defending the Imperial palace on Coruscant.
        Everything that was left of the ISA’s starfleet was at Coruscant now, just waiting for the Rebel Dominion to attack. It was inevitably and Grand Admiral Sienar had called the order himself. In short time, the Dominion’s ships would be moving in on Coruscant and the final battle would begin. It was the last step in obtaining power over the galaxy. Once they acquire control over Coruscant, they have control of everything. However, in order to get control of Coruscant, they needed to get control of Imperial City, and in order to get control of that, they needed control of Imperial Palace, which was the very last step. Then, only then, would peace and justice be brought back to the galaxy.
        Platform B of Planet Castleguard I had the largest briefing room known throughout the Corporate Sector of space and when most all of their officers gathered there, it was clear that something big was about to happen.
        Grand Admiral Sienar stood at a podium that was built in front of a large viewscreen that displayed mission briefing and mapped out objectives. “I’m going to get right to it. No fancy introduction or anything because you should all know what we are about to do. We are about to take back what’s ours and bring order to the galaxy,” he began. “Coruscant is now home to the entire Imperial fleet. When I say entire, I mean it. Every last ship of the ISA, defensive or offensive, is there. And they are just waiting for us to show up. This means that they’ve done some preparing, so we’ll need to prepare for that.
        “The primary objective deals with a group of close to one hundred officers who will work on the surface of Coruscant. We have to land these troops on the outskirts of Imperial City. Then, they will have to work their way through the city and into the palace. The Imperial Palace will be heavily guarded as well. Again, they are expecting us.
        “Inside Imperial Palace, the ISA is run by a legislative body, a number of councils and a general group of high-ranking military officers who make all of the conciliatory and militant decisions.” Sienar stepped off to the side slightly and an image appeared on the screen behind him. It was a simple blue and black map of the inside of the palace. “The ISA has changed a number of the interior design that those of us who were here for the last days of the New Republic remember. There are three councils of Imperial operatives that we have to take control of. Each one is conveniently on the seventieth floor. However, this means that the guarding will be much heavier on the seventieth floor than anywhere else. On the top floor, the remaining Grand Moffs that Empress Fanterre and Phadrax Monovial have appointed over time reside. It would be more useful for us if they were to be captured rather than killed but depending on the circumstances, either option is authoritatively available.
        “Over time inside Imperial Palace, this strike force of a hundred officers will get smaller. Some will lose their lives and some will be forced to divert away from the primary objective. Admiral Cygnus10 and I have selected ten officers based on previous successes and general skill in these types of situations who will pursue this primary objective to the death if that’s what it comes to. Three of these selected recruits are Jedi Knights, Kenneth Harlo, Antioch Fi and Heather Logan. Neither of which are present right now due to a spontaneous, unexpected trip to Bakura. They will return soon. The remaining seven officers are: Lieutenant Sari Newace7, Major Billy Cygnus, Corporal Sewell Cadett, Second Lieutenant Timothy Altto, Major Sando Newace, Commander Mors Vanier and Major Rocky Mylex. You will all board a ship right away and, as I said, it will land on the outskirts of Imperial City. The city itself is probably now under martial law and you will probably be seen. Make your way to Imperial Palace as quickly as possible. I will call for Antioch, Kenneth and Heather to join you in short time.” Sienar paused and shuffled through some papers he had on the podium.
        “Pilots,” he called out. “You have a slightly different task, but it all revolves around capturing Imperial Palace. Word is that the ISA has several starships guarding the palace itself. These are some of the strongest fighters that the ISA has possession of and we will need to get them away from the palace in order to allow our ground strike force to get inside safely. The hundred officers that are attempting to getting are splitting into groups of ten and taking ten different possible entrances. Each of these entrances has one or two of the Imperial starfighters defending it. It sounds strange, yes, but these fighters will in fact open fire on our Rebel strike force. It’s a terribly brutal way to die and we can’t let it happen because it is impossible for out strike force to defend against a TIE.
        “Therefore, our starfleet is going to attack the ISA’s fleet and divert the attention of those TIEs to defending what’s left of the Imperials. The mission is fairly simple, but definitely not easy. Knock out as much of the Imperial fleet as you can while the strike force takes over Imperial Palace. Nobody expects us to lose. The citizens of Coruscant are suspecting something to happen and the message is passing through the HoloNet as we speak to other planets. Nobody expects us to lose; in fact, citizens are already preparing the fireworks. Now get to your ships!” No time was wasted. Sienar boarded the main deck of the Mon Calamari star cruiser Hope, confident that this would be a battle not lost.

        *       *       *       *

        Antioch Fi, who had been admiring his own time in the beautiful entrance room to the Jedi Council chambers, was now on his way to Bakura with details of what had been tentatively dubbed as “Battle for Coruscant.”
        He also knew that upon reaching Bakura, he probably wouldn’t want to leave. This rumored holy land was said to be an incredible sight according to Sewell Cadett who had returned from there some time ago. Now the entire Jedi Council was there, along with Heather and Harlo. Billy Cygnus insisted that he fly with Antioch to the holy land. So now they both sat in the cockpit as Bakura’s image was growing in the viewscreen.
        “This insurrection should be a lot of fun,” Cygnus said, leaning back in the chair.
        “You don’t take many things seriously do you?” Antioch questioned.
        “You’re the third guy who’s responded that way, you know that? I keep trying to tell you people, I am serious. I think this is going to be a lot of fun. Just because it’s going to be a lot of fun doesn’t mean that I’m not taking it seriously,” he replied. “I’m putting everything I got left into this mission. I’m surprised how fast my career has blown by me, Antioch. I’m thirty-eight years old already. My personality is starting to catch up on me. With time, I won’t be able to do this. I’m a risk-taker, it’s just how I am and I fear losing the ability to be able to do some of those things that I do.” Antioch looked over at him as the ship entered Bakura’s atmosphere.
        “With any luck, Billy,” he said, “you won’t have to.”
        The holy land was easily distinguishable from the rest of the forests that were scattered around the surface of Bakura. As he passed over the circular clearing where everyone had gathered, Antioch flashed two spotlights underneath the fuselage of the ship. This did get their attention and Harlo made his towards a far clearing where the ship would land. Heather was about to follow but didn’t.
        Harlo returned with Antioch Fi to the circular clearing a few minutes later and explained what was happening on Coruscant. Heather had listened intently and wondered if it would be a challenge at all. “So this will probably be the end of the ISA then?” she asked. Antioch nodded.
        “Probably. I don’t see why we can’t win this battle.” Antioch threw a glance at Lotaan who was talking to Luke Skywalker on the other side of the clearing. “Isn’t that“
        “Yes,” Harlo interrupted. “He came back to apologize to the Jedi Council or something like that. I really didn’t catch all of it.”
        “You don’t suppose he’s been listening to all this briefing I’ve been telling you, do you?” Antioch said.
        “I’ll bet he’s heard every word,” Heather chimed in. “When it comes to details, that guy doesn’t miss a thing.”
        “Uh-oh,” Antioch said. “That guy’s a bounty hunter for the ISA“
        “Not true, Antioch Fi,” Lotaan said, spinning around from his previous conversation. He walked over to where Harlo, Antioch and Heather stood. “I was a bounty hunter frequently hired by Phadrax Monovial. I go where the money is. I have no reason to leak information to the ISA. They’re probably expecting your arrival anyway. Even then, what good would the information do? They’re going to lose. That much is inevitable. As a matter of fact, I think I should help you.”
        “Help us? Isn’t that a bit traitorous?” Antioch asked.
        “No, not at all. Didn’t I just explain this? I’m a bounty hunter, I go where the money is. I’m not a bad guy, Antioch. Right now, I figure that the ISA should be put out of their misery. Even if they survived this battle, they’d be disorganized and ruined,” Lotaan explained. “I’ll help you guys and I’ll do it for free. I’m perfectly willing. My bounty hunter career is over and this seems like the right way to end the exciting part of my life.”
        “How old are you, Lotaan?” Heather asked.
        “I’m coming up on fifty-seven.” Lotaan Xta Santau hardly looked his age. Few people believed that he would be able to handle the Battle for Coruscant at that age, but then they remembered that he was forty-seven when he was at war with Planet Castleguard I and he survived.
        “And you expect to survive if you help us?” Harlo inquired.
        “I always expect to survive.” There was silence for quite some time and the wind passed through the trees with a gentle rustling of the leaves. Lotaan’s grey hair was all that showed his age and even that didn’t give it away entirely. His face hadn’t been wrinkled by time nor was there any struggle in his step. Lotaan was not who he used to be, but capable and Antioch did accept his offer.
        The Jedi Council took a separate ship back to Castleguard and Antioch nearly forgot that Billy Cygnus was waiting in the Escort Shuttle. He also nearly forgot that Cygnus held a heavy grudge against Lotaan and the moment they saw one another, one of them would probably be dead. “Wait,” Antioch said as they were about to enter the ship. “Lotaan, I assume you are familiar with Billy Cygnus, right?”
        “Oh, don’t tell me he’s on board. I doubt he’ll understand that I’m on your side now,” Lotaan replied and shifted off to the side a bit.
        “What would you like me to do?”
        “Nothing,” Lotaan replied quickly.
        “Nothing?”
        “Yes, nothing. If he wants to shoot me, he will. I’ll just hope that he sees us at peace and puts the two and two together.”
        “I wouldn’t trust Cygnus to that,” Harlo said, but that was the final decision made because the exit ramp of the ship began to lower. Lotaan shrugged and he was the only one among them who was breathing normally.
        Cygnus stepped out from the ship and took a quick, impatient glance around. Then his hand disappeared to his side and came back gripping his blaster. Antioch drew up his lightsabre instantly and when Cygnus fired, each shot was deflected high into the sky and away from being a danger to anyone. “You didn’t have to defend me, Antioch,” Lotaan said. Cygnus stood stunned at the edge of the exit ramp with his blaster still pointed in Lotaan’s direction.
        “Don’t worry, Cyggie-Boy,” Harlo said. “He’s on our side now.”
        Cygnus’ eyes widened. “But he’s a“
        “Oh, here we go again,” Lotaan said. “I’m not a bad guy, I’m not on the ISA’s side because I go where the money is. It has nothing to do with me picking favorites.” Cygnus thought about this for a moment and holstered his blaster.
        “Money, huh? So we do have something in common…” Harlo was surprised at how well this was turning out. “How can I be sure that I trust you?”
        “That’s up to you, Cygnus,” Lotaan told him. “In all seriousness, I’m not interested in killing you and never really was. I do two things as a bounty hunter: I carry out my missions and I do whatever it takes to survive. If either of those involves killing you, that’s the way it will be.”
        Minutes later, Lotaan was with them and they were on their way to Coruscant.

        *       *       *       *

        The Rebel Dominion’s fleet had now begun to engulf the skies of Coruscant where the battle would begin. Already, some fighters had broken off in space to battle some guarding Imperial capital ships. TIE Fighters were sweeping across Imperial City, searching for any sign of hostile craft and over time, the Rebel fleet became more and more noticeable. Proston Newace10 had been flying low on the metropolitan streets of Imperial City to see what kind of opposition the Dominion’s armed forces would have. It turned out that the Imperial army of stormtroopers and the like was larger than originally expected. The streets had been completely evacuated of all landspeeders and replaced by row upon row of Imperial shock troops and powerful twofold-engine tanks. The only method of transportation around Imperial City now was that of the traffic patterns in the skies and even those were empty. All of Coruscant’s citizens knew that something was going to happen and it seemed that most of them were afraid of it.
        The Rebel cruiser Engraver hung just in orbit of the planet and was beginning to dispatch squads of A-Wing and B-Wing fighters. The Imperial fleet in space consisted of six Star Destroyers and several Interdictor-class cruisers. TIEs began to fly immediately from the hangars. When the A-Wings and B-Wings engaged the Imperial fighters, the Engraver began to dispatch X-Wings and V-Wing airspeeders to enter the planet’s atmosphere and knock out the Imperial starfighter defenses that guarded Imperial Palace.
        There turned out to be more TIEs at the palace than originally anticipated. They seemed to come out of nowhere and left and right the X-Wings fought through a dangerous line of enemy starfighters. The numerous buildings of Coruscant made navigation difficult and many of the pilots lost their lives when smashing into the structures. Imperial Palace itself was damaged externally when a skilled Imperial pilot lured a V-Wing right into the edifice and came out undamaged.
        In space outside Coruscant, several TIE Advanced starfighters were busily working to take out the turrets of the Engraver, allowing the cruiser little defense unless guarded by a blockade of Rebel ships. A-Wings were immediately ordered to destroy the TIE Advanced ship-to-ship but the Imperial craft were a unique and powerfully designed starfighter. This, combined with their unusually large numbers, made it nearly impossible for the A-Wings to succeed. Many of the Engraver’s turrets were taken out by the TIE squadron and little could be done about it. Meanwhile, the B-Wings followed a similar mission plan and began attacking the turrets and shield generators of the Star Destroyer which appeared to be in charge. According to common threat display, it was under the command of Grand Moff Cadime, a militaristic genius that Sienar remembered fighting opposite him before.
        And so the battle begun and the Rebel army began diverting attention from the stormtrooper armies that controlled Imperial City. The skies, the streets and the space surrounding Coruscant were all littered with laser fire, be it from a turbolaser cannon or a handheld blaster. And just on the outskirts of Imperial City, a Rebel strike force stood waiting for three Jedi Knights, one Rebel officer and the unexpected arrival of Lotaan Xta Santau to assist them in taking over Imperial Palace.

        *       *       *       *

        “An X-Wing escort will be meeting up with us shortly,” Antioch told them as the ship exited hyperspace with Coruscant in view. “They will protect us until we enter the atmosphere where a V-Wing escort will then guide us to the outskirts of Imperial City. Got it?” Nobody replied, but he knew that they understood. “Everyone familiar with who our team consists of?”
        “I think I got it,” Heather said. “We got me, you, Harlo, Cygnus, Mylex, Cadett, Newace, Newace7, Vanier and Altto. Is that right?”
        “And Lotaan, of course,” Cygnus added.
        “Oh, yes,” Heather said. “But is he actually part of this ‘fight to the death’ team?”
        “Definitely,” Lotaan said from the back of the cockpit.
        Outside, the X-Wing escort began to surround their shuttle and ward away any TIE attackers. No ships from the escort were destroyed, but Harlo suspected that the V-Wing escort on the surface would be the more dangerous area. And it was.
        The V-Wing airspeeders that surrounded the Escort Shuttle didn’t last long at all. They made it halfway to the outskirts and they were all destroyed by a vicious swarm of TIE Fighters. Harlo took control of the shuttle and Billy Cygnus went to the back of the ship where the ship’s only defense, a single turret, was controlled. Harlo dove into a narrow tunnel in Coruscant’s underground where a magnetic metro system ran. TIE Fighters who were courageous enough to follow were destroyed by Cygnus’ handiwork.
        The Escort Shuttle was severely damaged in the tunnel, but fortunately, the tunnel led right to the outskirts of Imperial City, only a kilometre from where the Rebel strike force awaited.
        The sky was dark except for the streams of red and blue laser and the occasional explosion that lit up what cloud cover there was. Since it was during the night, navigating the city to reach Imperial Palace proved to be a more difficult task. They had only artificial light to work with.
        Sando Newace seemed to be charge of the Rebel strike force of one hundred and he was organizing the ten groups of ten when the Escort Shuttle arrived. “Glad you could make it!” Newace shouted happily as they stepped off the shuttle.
        “Major,” Harlo said, “this is Lotaan Xta Santau, former bounty hunter of Phadrax Monovial. He has agreed to join the main group in helping us take over Imperial Palace.”
        “We welcome your help, Lotaan,” Newace said.
        Nine groups of ten officers split up in all different directions to find their way through the city and the one main group of eleven was left in the outskirts to finish touching up on the organization of their objectives. “We have to get noticed as little as possible. If our group begins to decrease in numbers, it will continue to get more and more difficult to securely hold the leaders in Imperial Palace…if we make it that far,” said Major Rocky Mylex.
        “The best thing we can do is stick together and try not to get out of each other’s sight,” Heather said. “In case we do get split up, however, I suggest to break this down into even smaller groups.”
        “Thanks to me you no longer have even numbers to work with,” Lotaan said laughing.
        “This is true. I was going to suggest breaking it into two groups of five and then five groups of two,” Harlo mentioned. “Someone will have to be simply excluded from the group breakdown if we are to keep it nice and simple.”
        “I can hold my own,” Antioch said. “I don’t mean to sound falsely exalted, but I do think I can handle it by myself if we do get split up.”
        “Alright,” Newace said, “let’s organize this quickly.”
        “I might as well partner with you, Sando,” said Sari Newace7. Being siblings, it was a reasonable group of two. “Vanier and Mylex, you two have worked together before, so that’s fairly obvious.”
        “That’s four. Six to go. Who’s left?” Mylex looked around. “Altto and Cadettthat works fine. Four left.”
        “Harlo and Cygnus seems just natural,” Sari said casually. A glum look appeared on Heather’s face at the remark and soon enough everyone realized the bizarre dilemma.
        Harlo looked over at Heather, then at Cygnus, then back at Heather. “I’m not sure which will be more profitable for the mission,” he said.
        “Master, you have been Billy’s friend for a long time and I’ve only bee your apprentice for five years. Maybe you two work better together. You know each other better,” Heather explained.
        “I’m not saying anything,” Cygnus said. “My mouth is shut. No comment from the quiet one.” He humorously put his hands over his ears and began humming a tune. Harlo smiled.
        “I want to be challenged, Master,” Heather Logan said. “And do you think Cygnus and Lotaan would work out anyway?” She laughed. Harlo hadn’t even thought of Cygnus and Lotaan’s partnership. He knew of Cygnus’ skill and he had seen the incredible proficiency of Lotaan Xta Santau. The combination would be unstoppable.
        “Lotaan and Cygnus are together,” Harlo said strongly. “That’s my definite opinion.” Heather looked at him strangely. “They would be an invincible team, trust me.”
        Heather was about to say something when Sando Newace interrupted. “Alright, good enough,” he said. “We’re short on time anyway. We’ve got to hurry. What direction should we go in, people.”
        “I figure that less Imperial troops would notice us if we went up, Major,” Antioch said. “And when I say ‘up,’ I mean up in the skyscrapers. If we do rooftop jumping, I doubt they will have many guards scouting the area. Plus, it makes it a quicker trip to the seventieth floor of Imperial Palace if we start from the top. Not to mention a safer one.”
        “Alright, it’s decided. No need to bother organizing the two groups of five. If we get split up at all, it’s not likely going to be in half but in much smaller pieces anyway,” Cygnus said. “Let’s get going.”
        Cygnus jogged to the nearest building that touched the city limits and began climbing from one balcony railing to the next, steadily moving upwards. Lotaan followed and soon they were all on their way to the rooftops of Imperial City’s skyline.

        *       *       *       *

        Even more TIE Advanced starfighters were being dispatched by the Star Destroyers and Sienar couldn’t figure out how they had so many of these craft. Few turrets were left to defend the Engraver and a new line of TIE Bombers were bombarding the cruiser’s surface with ion explosives. Other Rebel cruisers were suffering a similar fate and one had been unexpectedly destroyed by the skilled pilots of a TIE Interceptor squadron.
        Grand Admiral Sienar realized his error in organizing this final mission, if it was indeed to be the final mission (he was now having doubts of that). Battles in space before were won because he had the most skilled of pilots involved in especially difficult situations, such as the destruction of a Star Destroyer. His error was that all of the most skilled Rebel Dominion pilots were a part of the strike force on Coruscant’s surface, making them virtually useless to him now. Of the past few battles he had commanded, each was won because of the skills of such pilots as Kenneth Harlo, Sari Newace7 and Billy Cygnus. They were instrumental in the destruction of Imperial capital ships. The pilots that he was left with had little experience in this sort of thing and that put him at a disadvantage.
        Somehow, before it was too late, he had to get those pilots back. There had to be some sort of method of getting them back before the end of this battle. There had to be. And there was. Except that method was nearly impossible.

        *       *       *       *

Although Antioch’s decision was perfectly logical and presumably correct, they couldn’t have picked a worse direction than up on the rooftops of Imperial City. A much higher number of stormtroopers clouded the rooftops than anyone had anticipated. The concentration of Imperial troops was nearly as high as that in the streets of the city. Fortunately, the rooftops seemed as though they were designed to battle upon. Or at least Cygnus thought so. All of Coruscant’s buildings were built with the power generators on top and because there were some very large buildings, there were also a great many power generators, offering protection from enemy fire for all eleven of them.
        When Cygnus reached the top of the building, blaster fire was the last thing he expected. When he heard the shots, he didn’t even look for the source of them but dove in behind the nearest power generator and leaned against its cold black surface. Heather Logan, Kenneth Harlo and Antioch Fi reached passed everyone who was climbing and reached the top first. There they deflected the blaster fire until everyone else was on top of the building and had found cover behind a generator.
        “How many of them are there?” Vanier asked Harlo as he inserted a charge into the butt of his blaster rifle.
        “About a dozen by my count,” he replied. “But that’s just this rooftop. There’s more on pretty well every building.”
        “What does that mean for us?” Sari Newace7 asked.
        “That means we picked the wrong direction,” Antioch said, irritated by his own decision.
        “No, I think that means we’re going to have to split into those groups that we organized down there,” Cygnus said. “You know that it’s going to take us quite some time to get past this one building, right? Imagine how long it’ll take us to get past the next thirty buildings, huh? We have to split up. Things will get done faster.”
        “I don’t get it,” Sari said quietly.
        “I’ll explain it to you in a second.” He paused and gestured to the officers hiding behind the other power generators to join them. Rocky Mylex was firing around the corner and made a long leap over to the generator which Cygnus, Newace7, Antioch, Harlo and Vanier had found cover behind. The remaining five members of the squadron made it as well and they all huddled around Cygnus. “Okay,” he began. “We’re going to split into our pairs, alright? It’s the only option we have left. Now that we know that pretty well every rooftop is guarded heavily, we have to start taking different directions.”
        “Why, though?” Newace7 asked. “I still don’t get it. Won’t we be more effective as a team? Just because we split up doesn’t mean that the amount of troops on each rooftop is going to change.”
        “You’re right there, Sari,” Sando Newace said. “However, we are in this large group and those troops out there know that. This means that they are going to call all the back-up they have and get every rooftop army after us as a group. If we split up, this means the back-up that they will inevitably call upon us has to split up as well. And trust me, a sparsely populated army is easier to take out than a large one, no matter the numbers you have on your side.” Sari nodded and Antioch stepped in to quickly organize their separate directions.
        “I’m the lone one on this so what I’m going to do is organize where everyone’s going, alright?” he said and then began. “Vanier, Mylex, you two are going climb down about halfway on the right side of this building and then make your way to the skyscraper directly to our left. You will probably have to climb the magnetic power wires. The current won’t be strong enough to injure anyone who touches it so you’ll be able to safely travel across them. Cadett, Altto, you two will do the same thing, except scale downwards on the left side of the building and transfer to the building directly to our right.” The two partnerships separated and began immediately. “Sari, Sando, I have a risky one for you. See the traffic about a quarter ways down this building. I want you to get on the outside of one of those airspeeders. When it reaches the Coruscant Auditorium, jump off and get to Imperial Palace from there. Heather, Harlo, you will get down to the elevated streets that hang thirty metres above the ground. It’s going to be difficult but I suspect that you can handle it. Lotaan and Cygnus, you’ll go with them just to make sure. Along the lines, you will probably be separated somehow. I suggest making it to Triple-Zero Stadium near the city centre and then split up from there to reach the palace. Myself, I’m following through with the original rooftop jumping plans. Now, get going!”
        They had all left and Antioch continued to protect himself behind the power generator. He took a deep breath and focused in on the Force. When he was ready, the Jedi Knight spun around the corner of the generator and faced the dozen troops with blasters. He ignited his lightsabre and ran through deflecting what he could. He stopped in the centre, closed his eyes and let the shots come at him while the Force guided his weapon in defense. A few moments later, the stormtroopers were all dead and moved on to the next rooftop.

* * * *

It was a great risk, but Sienar felt it necessary to get back some of the pilots from the Rebel strike force. There weren’t enough available fighters in battle to even provide the Grand Admiral with an escort, so he would have to take a Lambda-class shuttle down to Coruscant’s surface unguarded and find those pilots. The Engraver had no turrets left on the surface and its shields were depleting rapidly. Two more Rebel cruisers had been destroyed while the inexperienced pilots had only damaged one of the six Star Destroyers.

Perhaps I underestimated the ISA, Sienar thought. Perhaps this battle is not as easy as I expected…or at least not as easy as I had hoped. He found himself getting closer and closer to believing that the ISA would remain in power when this night was through. And this night, win or lose, would unquestionably be a sleepless one.
He boarded the shuttle alone and piloted it alone, without giving warning to anybody, not even Admiral Cygnus10. He left the Engraver alone, without an escort to protect him and without enough piloting skill to be able to outrun an Imperial TIE Fighter. He did, however, have a scanner that tracked down all of the members of the Rebel strike force, making them much easier to find in the complexities of Imperial City. That is, if he made it that far.

        *       *       *       *

        Sando Newace shifted his body back and forth to the rhythm of the airspeeders that passed by. Fortunately, there was a speed limit and the timing required to leap onto a vehicle wouldn’t be exceptionally difficult. Sari was right beside him, listening for his count. “Alright, I think I’ve got it,” he said, having memorized the jump that it would require to make it onto one of the vehicles. “Ready?”
        “Of course,” she replied confidently.
        “Alright.” He took a deep breath. “One…two…three!” They each leapt off of the ledge to the skyscraper towards a narrow yellow airspeeder. Sari landed on the back with a short roll to absorb the fall. Sando hit the back window and couldn’t hold on, forcing him to roll backwards and right off of the speeder.
        “Sando!” she shouted and slid forward on her stomach to reach for his hand. He disappeared beneath the airspeeder and she slid further to see over the age. Sando Newace hung from one engine of the airspeeder by one hand. “Oh, no,” she said and tried to get to the wing and help him without losing her balance.
        “Don’t, Sari!” he shouted. “I can get up myself but if you come over here, it might be thrown off balance. She cautiously stepped backwards, closer to the end of the airspeeder. Sando threw his hand above his head and gripped the wing of the airspeeder. The dome-shaped window at the front end of the speeder rolled off to the side and a man of about forty turned around looking back at Sari.
        “Hey!” he shouted. “What the…”
        “Just keep on flying, sir,” she said. “Keep it steady.” He nodded quickly and was obviously frightened. Sando hopped up onto the wing and slowly crawled to the back end where Sari was.
        “Now we have to throw it off balance,” he told her.
        “What?”
        “The Coruscant Auditorium is coming up and that’s quite a long fall from here. To lessen the fall, we have to both hang from the very end of the left wing. That eliminates about five metres from the fall. Don’t worry, it’ll work.” Sari was a bit skeptical but her brother had never failed her before and she went along with it.
        They carefully slid along the length of the wing and suddenly the entire craft barreled sideways due to the loss of balance. Sando gripped the very end of the wing and Sari grabbed his free hand. With the craft flying on its side, their distance from the roof of the Coruscant Auditorium had decreased. “Ready?” Sando questioned even though he knew they would jump if she was ready or not. She nodded and he let go of the wing. Both of them still hit the roof of the auditorium hard but they were back on their feet shortly.
        It was Sari’s idea to go inside and look for an inconspicuous transport. Inside, they found exactly what they didn’t want: more stormtroopers. Sando crouched behind the stage of the auditorium and popped up every once in awhile to shoot when he got the chance. Sari was forced onto a large platform near the exit of the building. She had very little cover but shot left and right wherever she saw a danger. More troops began to storm the area and she found limited cover behind a pillar. She turned every once in awhile to shoot, but there wasn’t much motion from that point on. Not until she heard the hum of an engine.
        A group of stormtroopers were about to surround the pillar when the hum came. She looked around the corner and Sando was driving a landspeeder towards the pillar, shooting over the small window at the group of stormtroopers that surrounded her. She came out from behind the pillar and he stopped suddenly. “Hey, Sari!” he shouted. “Get in the speeder!” She ran and jumped into the passenger’s seat and they accelerated right through the gates that blocked off the exit, heading towards Imperial Palace.

        *       *       *       *

        Sewell Cadett and Timothy Altto both dangled from the thick wires that connected Coruscant’s buildings to a large generator. They hadn’t expected there to be stormtroopers scouting the area on airspeeders, and when they were spotted, there was little opportunity to escape.
        Supporting his weight by hanging from his left arm, Altto reached for the blaster at his side and shot at the pilot of the open-air Imperial craft. “We have to get off this wire somehow!” he shouted to Cadett who was dangling beside him and firing frenetically at the Imperial airspeeder. The shots from the stormtroopers’ blaster rifles were getting more and more precise with every blast as the airspeeders circled them.
        “How are we supposed to get off this wire?! We’re in the middle of two buildings and I don’t care what you think, that’s a very long drop!” Cadett replied. “And even then, we can’t get away from theseah!!” A shot from a stormtrooper parked on the hood of the airspeeder flew into Cadett’s thigh and he was barely able to hold on. He threw his other hand above him to grab the wire and dropped his blaster in the process.
        “This is it, Sewell,” Altto said. “It’d be a miracle for us to make it out of this alive.” Two more Imperial airspeeders shot around the corner of the building and five of them surrounded the two dangling Rebel officers. A bright blue stream of laser fell from above and into the back of one of the airspeeders and again into the back of another. One by one, each of the Imperial craft were being picked out of the air from above. Cadett tried to look up and a Lambda-class shuttle passed over their heads and then slowed down, the exit ramp in the back slowly opening as it hovered in the air. A turret from underneath the shuttle took down the last of the airspeeders and Grand Admiral Sienar appeared in the exit ramp.
        “C’mon, gentlemen!” he shouted over the sound of the shuttle’s engines. It moved a little closer to the wire and Altto began swinging back and forth on it, gaining enough speed to finally let go and send him off the wire and onto the exit ramp. He nearly slid right off the edge but Sienar caught his hand and pulled him up. They were forty metres off of the ground, at least and any error in jumping from the wire to the exit ramp would end in death.
        “Jump, Sewell!” Altto called and Cadett began swinging back and forth as well, wincing at the pain in his leg. He gained speed and then let go at the apex of his swing, launching his body off of the wire and right past the exit ramp and into the shuttle with little struggle. Sienar closed up the exit and turned to the two officers.
        “I need your help,” he told them. “We’re running short on valuable pilots and we’re starting to lose that battle up there. I need you guys to join us and help take out those Star Destroyers.”
        “What about the palace mission?” Altto asked. “We are vital to that part of this battle, you know.”
        “What good is control of Imperial Palace if there’s not a Rebel Dominion left to control it, Timothy,” Sienar replied.
        “What good are two more pilots against that many Star Destroyers?” Cadett said, finally standing to his feet.
        “I’ve gathered thirty more of you from that hundred-man Rebel strike force, Cadett,” Sienar explained. “You two are the first from the main group of ten. I’d like to get Vanier, Mylex and Harlo if possible. I have a feeling that Harlo will be essential, however.”
        “Most likely,” Altto said. “We’ve got a general idea of where Vanier and Mylex might be now, however. Try the other side of this building and follow them magnetic wires. You’re bound to come upon them at some point.”
        “How about I just fly this thing?” Cadett said.
        “That’s probably the smart way to do it,” Sienar replied. “I was lucky to make it here. Really lucky. I’m not much for maneuvering capabilities as a pilot.”
        “Is this thing designed to hold thirty people, sir?” Altto asked.
        “No.”
        “That’s going to complicate things,” said Sewell and he left for the cockpit.

        *       *       *       *

        “All of these streets are held up by support beams and rods on the bottom of every kind. Knowing this, would it be easier to get across them by climbing underneath?” Harlo said as he, Heather, Lotaan and Cygnus stood leaning against a massive garbage disposal crate. At this point, they hadn’t been seen once by the Imperial troops that controlled this city under martial law. Now they were looking for the safest way to navigate the elevated streets of Coruscant unnoticed.
        The ISA had organized a brand new system of municipal travel when Monovial took control. There were four basic transportation levels from the ground to the skies. The airspeeder traffic in Imperial City traveled on two separate sky levels, one higher than the other. Below the lowest sky level was the highest road level. The lower road level for landspeeders was at ground level and always has been. What Monovial had modified was the elevated roadways that ran through some buildings on Coruscant. This allowed speeders to travel on two separate levels with dual-level access through ramps and elevators.
        “These roads are very long,” Lotaan said. “That’s a long time to have to support your own weight. Especially in motion. If you’ve got the endurance to keep that up, we are less likely to get noticed.” As if accepting it as a challenge, Cygnus turned away from the dumpster and swung underneath the elevated road.
        “Heather and I will take the surface, you two go underneath,” Harlo said casually. Heather nodded in immediate agreement and they turned the corner of the crate, disappearing in an instant.
        Lotaan holstered his blaster and laid down on his stomach to see underneath the elevated streets. Cygnus was hanging from a support beam waiting for him, a long thirty metre drop to the ground below. Lotaan grabbed a bar underneath and swung his body over the street and onto Cygnus’ level. “Decided to come, did you?” Cygnus said. “Follow me.” He turned around and began shifting his hands from bar to bar and swinging across the bottom of the elevated streets.
        Above, Harlo and Heather stopped running when a sharp turn came in the road. To their left, the road led to a ramp which connected the ground level streets to the elevated ones. To their right, a sharp semi-circle in the road came about. “Do you hear that?” Heather asked, staring in the direction of the ramp. Harlo nodded at the sound of a humming engine, possibly several humming engines moving very quickly. Then running footsteps.
        Without warning, a landspeeder shot up the ramp and into the air right over Harlo’s head. Then came airspeeders and several Imperial ground patrol units running on foot. They seemed to be chasing the landspeeder and Heather knew why when it turned around revealing Sari and Sando Newace in the seats.
        Instantly, Heather and Harlo’s lightsabres were drawn and just in time to defend blaster fire from an upwards of thirty Imperial stormtroopers. Sando Newace shut down the repulsorlift engines in the landspeeder and turned the vehicle on its side to protect him and his sister from the fire. Heather and Harlo stood a few metres in front of the speeder while the stormtrooper army continued to advance.
        Heather had beads of sweat trickling down her face as her blade moved back and forth frenetically in an attempt to not let one shot get by her. “I can’t do this, Master! It’s too much!” She was practically crying and several stray shots got past her and exploded on the wall of the building behind them.
        “Heather, you need only defend yourself now,” Harlo replied. “Anything that doesn’t endanger you, don’t block.” More fire came from above and nearly hit her forehead but she was just able to defend a shot from the airspeeder turret.
        “I can’t!” Heather rolled in behind Harlo and slowly backed up until she reached the overturned landspeeder where Sando and Sari had taken cover. She jumped in behind the vehicle with them and caught her breath.
        “Will he be okay alone, Heather?” Sari said, firing a shot over the speeder.
        “Yeah, can he really handle this much by himself?” Sando echoed.
        “I don’t know. I hope so. I’ve got to help him but it’s too hard. I can’t do it. I’ll be killed for sure,” she said, breathing heavily. Heather looked over the speeder at Harlo and he had survived thus far, but it seemed as though more stormtroopers were coming from either side as well. “Oh no…” It was obviously getting more and more difficult for Harlo to defend himself alone because the motions of his sabre were hardly visible as it was shifted up and down, left and right. “I have to help him. You two offer us heavy cover fire, alright?” With that, Heather threw off her cloak and left it in a dark brown heap behind the speeder. The blade of her lightsabre appeared quickly and she dashed out into the massive barrage of laser fire.
        She ran out into a more dangerous area than Harlo had been stuck in, but that was purely unintentional. Heather didn’t notice, though. She spun swiftly around, her blade meeting every shot that came into her path and several more that didn’t. Some stormtroopers dropped to the ground, meeting their demise from shots initially fired by their fellow Imperial officers.
        Harlo was sweating profusely when the blaster fire slowed down and he was given time to remove his cloak as well. He was worn down but Heather seemed full of energy and charged right into the army of stormtroopers, striking everywhere that there was a target. She flipped her way back to Harlo and stood by his side, waiting impatiently for whatever challenge was to come next.
        Civilians on the sidewalks of Imperial City, and more specifically the elevated streets, had become mesmerized by this battle that cluttered the streets. Most of which had never seen a Jedi Knight before, and this included one dark-haired young man whose attention was caught long before the stormtroopers arrived. As soon as he saw Heather Logan’s Jedi cloak, he had watched her, waiting for their eyes to meet. And they did.
        All of a sudden, Heather felt cold and she shifted her eyes to the source of the feeling. The man who at least appeared to be a civilian had stopped his walking and was looking right into her eyes. She looked back at him curiously.
        Sari and Sando Newace finally got out from behind the speeder and got directly involved in the battle, firing what they had at what stormtroopers were left. Sando shot up at the airspeeders that attempted to shower the Jedi Knights in laser fire while Sari shuffled to the other side of the street where a slightly larger army was beginning to form.
        Heather had stopped deflecting blaster fire and was now entirely focused on the man on the sidewalk. He was quite young, close to her age, she guessed. When he smiled a harmful-looking smile, she began to wonder and moved her lightsabre in his direction. The two were a good fifteen metres away from each other but their gazes were locked and the man seemed to be threatening her with that smile.
        Sando Newace was successfully dispatching of airspeeders and stormtroopers at a rapid rate with no errors at all. Not until he stepped in the line of sight between Heather and the man who was no more than a metre behind Sando himself. When the man’s eyes disappeared behind Sando, she came back to her senses and immediately saw the danger. From behind him, a red blade appeared and Heather saw the man crouch and spin. With that spin came the rising of a crimson energy beam that sailed cleanly through the neck of Sando Newace.
        Heather’s eyes widened. Sari saw it right away. “No!!” she screamed and charged at the man from the other side of the street. It was as fast as she could go and she didn’t even think to try and shoot, just kept on running.
        “Sari, no!” Heather shouted, but nothing could stop her. The man with the lightsabre drew back and awaited Newace7’s arrival. Heather nearly panicked but gained control of herself and of the Force, falling into a short-lived coma.
Sari ran to tackled the man and he raised his lightsabre high over his head, chopping downwards at her. His strike was interrupted as a blur shot across the street and stopped in front of him, blocking the blow that surely would have killed Sari Newace7. Heather Logan stood at the end of the man’s strike, their two blades exuding the inimitable crackle of energy that Harlo had grown to recognize. He shifted his glance quickly across to where Heather had stopped the impact.
Sari Newace7 rolled off to the side crying and just about rolled right off the edge of the elevated street. Harlo moved closer to the sidewalk where Heather had again locked a gaze with the mysterious streetwalker. Looking up to the very top of the building that this road was attached to, Harlo could see laser fire making the air above a congested place. The building was a lengthy distance to the top and this much laser fire being visible from only the elevated streets probably meant that one of the Rebel strike force partnerships was involved. He was half right.
Antioch Fi was being forced over the edge of the building by a plethora of stormtroopers and the only thing he could do was properly time a jump. He fell thirty metres to land on an airspeeder that traveled the traffic patterns of Imperial City. Then he jumped again even further, letting the Force absorb the impact onto another airspeeder on the second mid-air traffic pattern. Harlo held his hands in the air and Antioch noticed his wave and dropped the entire distance from the airspeeder to the elevated street where Harlo stood. Antioch stood and looked around quickly at the situation with his lightsabre drawn. “What is this?” he asked quickly.
“A Sith Lord, I presume. Probably a citizen of Imperial City who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and decided to murder Sando Newace,” Harlo replied. Antioch looked around once more. “We have to get these stormtroopers away from here. There’s no doubt that the little staring contest over there will erupt into something bigger. We can’t have an Imperial army around here when that happens!”
“Right,” Antioch replied and they both turned around with their weapons ignited to face the army and eventually draw them backwards and off these streets, leaving Heather Logan behind to battle a rogue Sith Lord alone.

* * * *

A squadron of the ISA’s TIE Fighters swooped in behind Sienar’s shuttle of forty Rebel pilots. “I won’t be able to evade this, sir!” Sewell Cadett said, pointing at the Imperial ships on the LCD scanner. “There’s too many people on this shuttle!” Sienar took the communications speaker by the cord and flicked a red switch on the control board.
“Flight Deck, this is Sienar. We’re in a shuttle in desperate need of a defense squadron now! Send someone immediately to get these TIEs off our backs!” he shouted into the speaker.
“Right away, sir,” a voice came, but it took longer than right away before an A-Wing squadron showed up to engage the TIEs. The shuttle had taken severe damage but was safely escorted into the hangar.
The pilots, who had been severely congested inside the shuttle, were happy to get out and stood in a line awaiting orders from Grand Admiral Sienar. He emerged from the exit ramp last to give out the final instructions. “Everyone will get to their ships immediately. Everybody that I’ve brought back from Coruscant will break into groups of six to take out those Star Destroyers. That’s all we’re going to need to win this battle, gentlemen. Now go!”
Sewell Cadett ran for his ship without saying anything to anybody. Mors Vanier tried to catch up to him but it was no use. Cadett entered the cockpit of a B-Wing fighter within seconds and was out of the cruiser Engraver seconds after that.
It was already a thick dogfight when the forty new ships entered the battle. Everywhere he looked, Cadett saw an exploding TIE or a disabled Rebel starfighter. Neither of which would be his targets, however. The Star Destroyer that seemed to be leading the Imperial operation was now his objective. Five of his wingmen followed closely behind and Cadett increased his throttle so as to get this done quickly and easily. “Half of you guys take out the left shield generator, watch out for those turrets. The other two follow me and we’ll take out the right shield generator from the opposite side. We’ll have more turrets to worry about on the bottom, not to mention a warhead launcher, alright? Move it!”
Unexpectedly, a TIE Bomber appeared in front of Cadett’s ship and nearly smashed into the cockpit. “Let him go,” he said to the wingmen. “I’ll take him. Keep going with those plans I gave you.” He switched off his communications and followed the Bomber that just about crashed into him. “Let’s see how you like it!” he said to himself and pulled up in front of the TIE’s cockpit. Cadett swerved out of the way in time to survive but just about lost control. He thought the Bomber may have had enough but it turned right back around and begin flying towards Cadett’s cockpit. “Your loss, buddy,” he said and pulled back on the B-Wing control stick, thus sending two bright proton torpedoes into the cockpit of the TIE Bomber.
Cadett turned back towards the Star Destroyer and left his newfound friend in the Imperial Bomber expanding into colorful gases and then exploding in a fiery eruption of flesh and steel.

* * * *

For awhile, Heather thought that nothing could break the stone gaze between her and the Sith Lord that stood pressing his lightsabre down upon hers. He finally lifted his weapon away, however and immediately struck low at Heather’s feet. She jumped the swipe and was forced into an instantaneous duck of another high strike. Heather hit at his side but he turned his weapon vertically and stopped it just centimetres before impact. With one quick motion, Heather changed her grip and pulled hard on her sabre, sending the Sith Lord’s blade off to the side temporarily. In that time, she was able to deliver a sharp kick to his chest that sent him over the edge of the sidewalk and off of the elevated street.
She backed up, certain that something so simple was the end of him. Sure enough, the Sith pulled himself up from underneath the elevated streets and charged at Heather. She pushed her blade out in front of her and defended a series of fast blows at her stomach. When the Sith Lord crouched and spun down at her ankles, Heather flipped and twisted over him, landing on his blind side. She chopped downwards but he evaded the attack by rolling out of the way. He had kicked back up to his feet by the time she swung at him next with a swift jump and spin.
The streets had become empty and Heather found herself wondering where Harlo and Antioch had gone with that army of stormtroopers. Her thoughts had to be diverted elsewhere, however, because the Sith Lord had already moved back on the offensive, striking hard against her blade. The duel was an experience unlike anything she had seen before because the had never been on the receiving end of so much anger, and it hurt.
The Sith backed off for a moment, holding his lightsabre behind him. The hideous smile on his face had only gained in malevolence and he shuffled away from Heather, leaping off of the elevated street and onto an air-transit stop that floated three metres from the roadway. It was a small area and it would be risky to battle him there but there wasn’t much else for her to do. Heather ran and flipped through the air from the streets to the air-transit stop.
She was forced into defending herself immediately and the area was almost too congested to do so. Her wild blocks were coming closer and closer to being unfathomably difficult so she forced the Sith Lord back and then shot her hand forward, sending a hard ripple through the Force that knocked him backwards. He landed on the very edge of the air-transit stop, trying desperately to regain his balance but it was lost. He sprung off his toes back towards the elevated street and made it far enough to grab onto the edge with his hands and hang on.
Heather thought about jumping back onto the elevated street but then decided on taking this farther upwards. With aid from the Force, she leapt high off the air-transit stop and grabbed onto the power wire forty metres above ground level. The Sith Lord soon followed as she swung along the bar until she reached a high balcony on one of the buildings. She moved towards the back of it as the Sith Lord approached along the wire.
He stopped traveling along the wire normally and began to swing back and forth, increasing distance covered in every oscillation. When he had reached a sufficient speed, the warrior let go of the bar at the swing’s peak, sending him hurdling towards the balcony. He back flipped off of the swing and ignited his lightsabre in mid-air, landing in combat with Heather Logan.
He began coming at her with ferocious strikes that became increasingly more difficult to counter. Time and time again she was forced to back away and soon there would be no room left on the balcony to back away to. Every time she tried to move onto the offensive, he would easily switch their roles and again Heather would be in trouble.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another figure appear on the wire that connected to the balcony. He was moving fast along the wire and had a blaster holstered on his left hip. Lotaan.
Lotaan dismounted from the wire and snapped his fingers. “Hey!” he called to the Sith Lord. No response. Heather was beginning to break down, unable to defend herself any longer. There was no longer any room to back away. If she did so, it would send her falling forty metres to her death. She made a quick downstroke at the warrior’s legs but he jumped quickly and within that jump was a sharp kick to her teeth. Heather was pushed backwards and her entire body tumbled over the edge of the balcony.

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