Star Wars 0027 - Part V - Universal Terror
Randall J. Morrison
A long time ago, in a galaxy
far,
far away . . .
Star Wars 0027
Part V
Universal Terror
The Interstellar Sith Allegiance
is in complete control of all major systems in the Core Worlds and
Corporate Sector of space. Monovial’s personal quest with the ISA is
almost finished, but his one plan to make the new Empire a name for all
to know is about to commence, doing severe damage to two peaceful alien
species.
Antioch Fi, now a well-respected Jedi Knight known throughout the Rebel
Dominion, has submitted his suggestion for the alliance to come out of
hiding and strike now. Grand Admiral Sienar, however, feels that the
Rebel Dominion still needs more time and they remain concealed from the
galaxy on Ivinsnale.
However, they may have no choice as the ISA moves in violently on the
peaceful wookiee planet of Kashyyyk, with no one to defend them if Sienar
does not comply to the Jedi’s suggestion. Antioch himself will be faced
with a new foe, whom he will not discover until his suggestion becomes a
reality . . .
Lotaan
Xta Santau knew that something was wrong in the abandoned storage hangar
of ship parts. The room had very little light and all that was visible
were the sheets of thick duralinium slabs that were used in creating
Phadrax Monovial’s Titan transport. But Lotaan knew that someone
else was in the room, and obviously someone who wasn’t supposed be there.
He knew that there weren’t supposed to be people in this storage area and
he had only come here to find a useful piece of durasteel for a gadget he
was constructing.
He heard a
clanking of metal piping from the back of the storage area and quickly
turned to face the place of origin. A small silhouette passed over the
small lit area in the corner of the room and Lotaan drew up his blaster
from the holster along his thigh. From his belt he pulled a small
eyepiece and clipped it over his ear, enabling him to see well in the
dark. Through the eyepiece, he saw the red and black images of the
storage room lit up nicely. A short figure was crouched in by the pieces
of steel and Lotaan couldn’t make out the details of the posture.
He turned
on the sight on his weapon and pointed it straight at the figure. He
fired a shot and the figure dove forward, burying its feet underneath one
of the slabs of duralinium. Lotaan fired a shot back at the figure’s leg
and the shot was blocked when the metal slab on its feet was flipped up
to defend the attack.
The figure
hid behind the slab of metal and Lotaan walked right up to it and grabbed
the slab, tossing it out of the way. He grabbed the figure’s wrist and
pulled it into the light, removing the eyepiece and reattaching it to his
belt. Upon entering the light, the figure was revealed to be a young girl
with dark, brown hair. She was wearing a dark, blue cloak that flowed to
her shins where small black boots took over the outfit. She looked very
scared at gunpoint. “What are you doing in here?” Lotaan said
loudly.
“II,” the
girl stuttered. Instantly Lotaan felt a crack in his elbow and briefly
saw bright red as the girl fired numerous shots into the thin metal wall
of the storage area. A kick came quickly into Lotaan’s chest, knocking
him backwards and causing him to land right beside his weapon. He picked
it up and knelt on one knee pointing the gun forwards. But the girl was
gone and a small hole, just big enough for her to fit through, was melted
through the wall. The duralinium slab that she had hidden behind was
missing.
* * * *
Antioch Fi
spun the deactivated hilt of his lightsabre rapidly with the Force,
watching as the coil that wrapped around the shaft rotated up and down.
He had nothing to do. He had been trying to convince Grand Admiral Sienar
that the Rebel Dominion was ready to make their first appearance. For
three years, his order had kept this rebellion in hiding, waiting for the
right moment to make their first strike against the ISA.
The Rebel
Dominion had re-designed almost everything just to be able to have an
opportunity to combat the ISA’s new TIE Fighters. Most of the craft were
generally the same as the previous designs, but Admiral Cygnus10
convinced the team at Incom to harness the power of both the original TIE
Fighter’s laser fire, with the accuracy of the original Rebel
starfighters, thus producing blue laser blasts.
The ship
Antioch was in now was equipped with such weapons. A small Corellian
freighter, it was supplied with large quad cannons that spread off the
top and bottom of the ship that fired the powerful blasts. He had needed
to step into the small firing sector twice during his flight back to
Ivinsnale. And he certainly expected to have to do it again.
He was
returning from an awkward spy operation in the ISA’s Star Destroyer,
Mangler. Many years prior, Militiades, the Supreme Prophet of the
Dark Side, had instructed the Imperial Navy to bring back the Phantom TIE
Fighter. Since that day when he decided to bring it back into production,
not one of the starfighters had been used. So Antioch was to return to
the Rebel Dominion with information that meant the ISA was no longer
using the Phantom TIE Fighter, which they never used anyway since it was
brought back. All he found out was that they weren’t making them anymore.
A red
light from a tunnel that led to the turbolaser firing sector began to
blink and flash once again. Antioch stood up and let his lightsabre fall
into his hand and he hooked it back to his belt. John Topage10, a Colonel
in the Rebel Dominion, stepped out from the back of the freighter and
motioned for Antioch to get moving. “This one’s pretty big, Antioch,” he
said. “Eight ISA-TIEs.”
Antioch
didn’t truly care about it. He was still disappointed that knowledge of
the Rebel Dominion only spanned to one remote moon that hadn’t even been
exposed to interstellar travel. He left his chair and climbed down a
metal ladder and set himself down in the firing sector’s large chair.
Various screens and holographic displays appeared before him, indicating
where the eight TIEs were located compared to the freighter and the
weapons it self. Antioch gripped his hands around two control sticks that
were mounted into the arms of the chair and strapped a headset around his
forehead.
He heard
the disturbing scream of a TIE Fighter as the ship pulled up in front of
his window. Various blasts of red energy bolts sailed into the ship and
all of Antioch’s shots were ineffective as the TIE maneuvered downwards
and under the ship. He turned back to Topage10 and yelled, “There should
be one coming up on your side!”
The
Colonel turned back to Antioch and smiled wryly. “There’s three coming up
on yours!” Antioch’s eyes widened as three of the shiny, black
starfighters barreled past his window and he fired randomly. A few of the
shots smacked into the solar panels of a TIE but only knocked it to the
right and out of his sight. Not hearing an explosion wasn’t a good thing
for Antioch. He admitted that he was impressed with the durability of the
new starfighters. Phadrax Monovial sure had the brains to know how to
keep his pilots alive.
A voice
blared through the communications unit on his headset, “We have all the
hyperspace coordinates set up and eight concussion missiles in the
launcher. As soon as we get a lock, we’ll launch the missiles and jet out
of here before more TIEs show up.” It was the voice of rookie freighter
pilot, Mors Vanier. He had quite an extensive knowledge of the weapons
aspect of everything. If you had a problem about warheads, blaster
pistols or ground assault vehicles, he was the person to ask.
“That
should leave no witnesses,” Topage10 said into the headset. “We don’t
want to reveal too much of ourselves yet.”
Antioch
spoke up. “Or so says, Cygnus10.”
Both
Vanier and Topage10 knew of Antioch’s disagreement to the hiding of the
Rebel Dominion, but he wasn’t quite the Jedi that Dominic Artemius was
and could hardly have the same kind of authority. Artemius didn’t do as
much voluntary work as he once did. Most of his time was spent advising
Grand Admiral Sienar in his antechamber on Ivinsnale.
Antioch
heard the sounds of the warheads jettisoning as he removed his headset
and made his way back up the ladder to strap himself into the seat.
Topage10 had already left his cubicle area and had just finished climbing
the ladder. Antioch pulled himself out of the tunnel and returned to his
seat.
The
freighter blasted into hyperspace and Antioch unhooked his lightsabre
once more to spin it mindlessly while staring at the table in front of
him.
* * * *
The
incredible amount of heat continued to re-generate as pieces of
duralinium dripped off the end of a molten torridity table and through a
hole in the floor. Pharonah Jade turned off the machine and poured some
of the liquefied duralinium into a mold she constructed earlier. Her navy
blue cloak was far too hot to work in so she removed it and hung it on
the entrance doorway, leaving a short-sleeved shirt and black shorts. The
only risk was in burning herself.
She put
her long, heavy gloves back on and tipped the container of liquid metal
into the mold. The cavity was intricately shaped with one lightly jagged
edge and a smooth sharp end as well. The final piece of the mold formed
into a peak which was sharpened to a crest that was pointed thin enough
to pierce the skin of even the smallest of insects. The base of the
structure was designed to create a spiral that was meant to connect into
a handgrip that she had made out of a black polymerized substance.
Jade put
the top half of the mold on to the bottom half, waiting for the metal to
harden into a virtually indestructible blade. Returning to the table with
her handgrip that had finished its glue caking and was sized correctly
for her small hands. The handgrip was fairly durable in itself. It
wouldn’t withstand a blaster bolt, but it would be able to handle it’s
primary function: getting protected by it’s ultra-durable blade.
When she
was seven, Pharonah Jade was enrolled under the physical combative
instruction of a Lakée To Sé master who was a good friend of her parents.
The community she grew up in was a rough one. Rough enough to cause her
parents’ murder three years ago. Since then, her instruction under the
martial art of Lakée To Sé had increased dramatically. Her desire to
prove that everyone in the galaxy, be it a bounty hunter, a hobo on the
street or a Jedi Knight, were equal in many ways. She was there to prove
that even a small, teenage girl could defeat one viewed as a superior by
the galactic society.
She had
searched the HoloNet for weeks to find an effective method of combat. The
Lakée To Sé was a fabulous art and she knew it well, but it couldn’t
defeat a Jedi. Finally she had found a method of combat developed by a
bounty hunter hired by the ISA called Lotaan Xta Santau. Jade had read
the transcript many times over and understood it perfectly, but still
couldn’t accomplish the tactics. She knew that it was a technique that
required personal instruction. Her mission was to get a hold of Santau
and learn from him.
Jade
removed the top cap on the mold and the blade portion of her knife was
completed. The base was still warm and she pulled it by the tip with a
pair of prongs and connected the molten base into the handgrip. Once they
meshed together, she would have an exceptionally strong knife that could
withstand almost anything.
She would
make another knife and insert them into her cloth sheaths attached to the
navy cloak. Then her life would circle around locating Lotaan Xta Santau
so she could learn how to win against a Force-trained opponent.
* * * *
Grand
Admiral Leonardo Sienar dismissed the members of Incom’s fighter design
crew and welcomed the presence of Dominic Artemius who stepped in
revealing his new Jedi outfit. It consisted of a similar design to the
traditional Jedi undertunic with a darker beige shirt and a deep brown
leg coverings. A cape was draped over his back and tied to the tunic by a
thin, gold rope.
Sienar
raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Admirable outfit, Dominic,” he said
confidentially. Artemius smiled as he walked to stand beside the Grand
Admiral.
“It’s very
comely, you know,” he replied. “However, I have a different concern right
now I’m afraid. I’ve heard some rumours about The Insurgence
Primer. I’ve got the gist of what it is, but I don’t know any
details.” Sienar knew what Dominic was referring to.
“Ah, yes,”
Sienar said. “The Insurgence Primer is a guidebook of sorts that
teaches the only known efficient method of hand-to-hand combat against a
Jedi Knight. Copies of it have been spreading widely around the HoloNet
when it was learned that Phadrax Monovial himself was defeated by the
author of the transcript.” Artemius was surprised. He didn’t know very
much about Monovial and had never even seen his picture. Few of the Rebel
Dominion’s officers had. Nonetheless, he knew that Monovial was trained
in the ways of the Jedi and if anyone had been defeated by such a combat
technique, it had to be real to some extent.
“It sounds
like a hokey conception to me. I agree that it’s possible to defeat a
Jedi, but I don’t see how one would accomplish such a tactic when they
aren’t even armed in any form,” Artemius said. “But if that rumour is
true, then I think that this author has something going for him. If he
sells this information I can almost guarantee that he wouldn’t need to
get any other job again.”
Sienar
chuckled. “That’s funny, you know,” he said, “because the author is a
bounty hunter and nothing more. He wrote the transcript when he
discovered the technique and meant to use it as a personal reference. Now
it’s gone way beyond that. Apparently you need to be quite agile to even
learn the tactics.”
“I know
nothing about Monovial’s skill but what if this bounty hunter comes
hunting Jedi for sport. Then what do we do?” Sienar stood up.
“I don’t
think that will be a problem,” he replied. “The fighting style is
designed to combat and defend against a Jedi Knight. It’s not totally
meant for offense. Nor is it meant to take on a highly-skilled Jedi
Knight. I doubt he would be able to defeat you, Dominic.”
Artemius
frowned. “But he would stand a large chance against Antioch.” He looked
up at the ceiling and thought for a moment before letting out a long
sigh. “It isn’t my well-being that I am concerned with. Antioch has been
hunted for awhile now. The NaQuoit Bandits were after him for a long
time. I still don’t know why. You don’t suppose this. . . this“
“Lotaan
Xta Santau,” Sienar said.
“Thank
you,” Artemius said smiling. “Anyway, you don’t suppose this Lotaan has
connections to NaQuoit. If so, I would rather find him before he finds
Antioch.”
“Calm
down, Dominic,” Sienar said laughing. “The chances of a bounty hunter
being involved with NaQuoit are not very likely. The NaQuoit Bandits do
their own bounty hunting. They don’t want help from outside
organizations.”
“I also
don’t know much about NaQuoit, obviously.”
Sienar
pulled a small computer conveyor from a loop on his belt and punched in a
few number keys. “I have an assignment for you, Dominic. I think you and
Antioch are both going to have to be there. It’s become a lot more
complicated than it originally was.” Artemius scooted around behind
Sienar and looked at the transmitter over his shoulder. “As you can
probably see, I originally planned for this to be a solo assignment for
Antioch, but the circumstances are hardly that.”
Dominic
walked back around to the front of Sienar and sat in one of the table’s
many chairs. “The planet Moltok, which is more commonly referred to as
the Ho’Din homeworld has a continent on it called T’Gairo. It is the only
suburb to the planet centre that operates on a free government. There is
selection of four high executive members that make pass the decisions
from votes and such things.”
“And where
do the Jedi come in here?”
“Patience,
now,” Sienar said jokingly. “You see, only three of those high members
are still alive. An assassin, or assassins, has been attempting to knock
out the main power in the government. Many of the protective guards that
have been assigned to defend the remaining members of the government have
been killed in trying to do so. These assassins are professionals and
that was established a short time ago. We are assuming that the assassins
are working for the ISA to establish total control over Moltok. T’Gairo
is the only continent that Monovial never moved in on to take control
of.” Artemius nodded thoughtfully.
“So this
is mainly a protection mission then?” Sienar nodded. “Antioch isn’t back
yet, though. He shouldn’t be much longer, but as of now, he isn’t back
yet.”
“It’s not
something that has to be dealt with immediately. It would be nice, but we
received the message from Bothan spies a day early. So the Ho’Din won’t
be expecting you for at least a day then.”
“Antioch
should get some rest anyway. It is turning out to be a busy couple of
weeks for him. It sounds like an opportunity, though.” Artemius said. “I
haven’t had an assignment in quite awhile.” Artemius turned to leave the
room when Sienar stopped him for one moment.
“Dominic,”
he said, waiting as the Jedi turned back around to face him. “I might as
well let you in on a dirty little secret that we’ve got going here.”
Dominic looked intent and Sienar smiled. “You aren’t supposed to know
this, but we are organizing a strike at the ISA’s House of Lords
fleet some time in the near future.” Artemius’s eyes widened in surprise
and he was about to say something but was interrupted. “Don’t tell
anyone, Dominic.” Sienar put his finger to his lips as a gesture and
Artemius nodded and left.
* * * *
It was all
mapped out in front of him and Phadrax Monovial was smiling at the
thought of what could result out of his plans to destroy what important
planets he could to make word that he wasn’t joking with the galaxy any
longer. Order was what he wanted. Or was it? What he truly wanted was the
re-emergence of the Sith race. But the ISA’s rule was in the way of what
he truly wanted, and all the power he had couldn’t make him change
that.
A printed
impression of what he wanted was on a bulletin board in front of him and
he saw it all too well in his head. Three targets had been hand-picked by
Monovial himself. The first was Kashyyyk. He never like the wookiee race
that much anyway, but the destruction of the planet would be very
noticeable. Due to the cities in the trees of Kashyyyk, he would use
simple outdated machinery to blaspheme the planet.
Old
Treaded Neutron Torches were still available from the time of Palpatine’s
rule over the Empire and the resources must be put to good use. The large
tank-like vehicles consumed trees very quickly with excruciatingly hot
flames emitting from its conduits. Kashyyyk would be turned into a
virtually lifeless rock when he was through with it.
Monovial
left the bulletin board to head in to the auditorium room of the House
of Lords and give the detailed briefing of the mission to wipe out
Kashyyyk. The auditorium was not far from the room he was in, so little
difficulty was involved in getting there. His dark cloak dragged lightly
along the bolstering floor to the briefing theatre.
As he
entered the room, many people sitting in the many benches and tables
looked over at him. He walked quickly down the carpet that extended down
the centre of the room and then climbed the stairs up to the speech
podium. Clearing his throat, he began.
A
holoprojector from the corner of the stage quickly flashed an image of
the words Kashyyyk written in several languages but then converted into
an image of the planet’s surface. “These are the cities on the peaceful
planet of Kashyyyk,” Monovial began. “These are the cities that are going
to go up in flames to get the galaxy’s attention.” In a normal situation,
many of the officers would be against Monovial’s wishes already, but the
fleet of officers before him had already been given the general idea of
what was going on. “Kashyyyk, although not widely used as a spaceport or
related services, is still a popular planet and its destruction wouldn’t
go unnoticed.” Monovial thought for a moment and then rephrased his
prospect. “Destruction isn’t the right word. The planet will not be
destroyed, it will just no longer support life. I have discovered that
many TNTs, or Treaded Neutron Torches, are still locked up in cold
storage and it’s about time to put them to good use. This planet is going
to be blanketed in TNTs and you are all the officers who will pilot them.
The modification is in the breathing equipment. Each of the interior
driving area of the TNTs will be modified with an air tank. Although it
will take time, eventually the TNT’s flames should be able to consume a
significant amount of the planet’s breathable air. The charred cities in
the trees will create hazardous smoke in the skies, making it difficult
for escaping ships to notice the incoming Imperial fleet of the House
of Lords. Now waste no time, officers. Get to the training rooms. You
will learn how to drive the TNT in the simulator now. We strike in two
days, so be prepared.” Monovial left the podium and much commotion began
as people began to get up from there tables. An officer approached
Monovial as he exited the room on the same carpet that everyone else was
now walking on to.
“Sir, the
TNTs won’t be easily simulated no matter how much of an accurate program
you may have. These are complicated machines. I know, I’ve operated them
before,” said the officer. Monovial stopped and removed his hood to get a
better look at the man.
“State
your name and rank, officer,” Monovial said. The man looked about fifty
with half of his hair transformed into grey strands and wrinkles forming
under his chin.
“Captain
Tella Sinarus, sir,” the officer said.
“Well,
Captain Tella Sinarus,” Monovial said indignantly. “I have a better
simulator that is more accurate than the actual operation of a TNT. Sure
it sounds impossible but it’s true. You take your complaints to the
people who designed the program. And don’t be so quick to decide on
what’s accurate and what’s not, Captain, if you haven’t tried the
simulation yet. How long have you been in the service of the Imperial
fleet?” Monovial looked at him angrily waiting for a response. Sinarus
stuttered for a moment but eventually got the answer out.
“Twenty-eight
years, sir,” he replied. Monovial took out a small pad and a writing
utensil and began to right down the Captain’s name.
“Twenty-eight
years. And how many of those years have you spent trying to attain that
Captain rank of yours?” Monovial continued writing information about the
officer on the pad.
“II have
worked eight years of my life to finally command the Star Destroyer
Irate, my lord,” the officer said, curious as to what Monovial was
doing, but almost too scared to want to know.
“Well,
Captain. I suggest you work a little harder at earning those twenty-eight
years of service back because I’m going to head over to the registration
terminal right now and make you a Flight Cadet again. Just like you were
twenty-eight years ago. It’ll be just like old times.” Monovial smiled
and ran out the room, leaving Sinarus behind to lament over the three
decades of work Monovial had cruelly taken away from him in just a few
sentences.
* * * *
Antioch
accepted the mission but understood that his rest was equally as
important as the survival of freedom amongst the Ho’Din. Dominic Artemius
was in a small room, training with a remote device, absorbing blaster
bolts with ease as the floating sphere shot them from several points. He
was truly bored with the remote concept of training. After so many years
of being a Jedi Knight, deflecting shots was child’s play compared to
what could challenge his skill.
The
information of Lotaan Xta Santau was still a concern to him. He still
wondered if the bounty hunter could challenge his skill in the Jedi arts.
Artemius knew that The Insurgence Primer was not as big of a deal
as he was making it out to be, but he was curious nonetheless.
The remote
shut itself down after its twenty minute limit had been reached. Artemius
had barely broken a sweat, but wanted some fresh air. He left the room
and stepped outside into the cool night air of Ivinsnale. It had taken
some time to adapt to the gravity level on the moon, but he got used to
it. His lightsabre, slung from his belt, still seemed as if it were
reaching for the ground, pulling itself towards the thin grass.
Artemius
climbed up on to the roof of the building he had just been in and looked
over the Rebel Dominion’s foundation. Some work was still going on near
the starfighter hangar that had been built up in a rush and never cleaned
up. Beyond the foundation, and outside the shield that blanketed the
Rebel fleet, was rainforest as far as the eye could see. The lush, green
trees extended into the fog that surfaced ten metres in the air.
Looking up
at the sky, stars materialized out of the blanketing fog and numerous
other planets from the Ottega system were visible. The planet Vuya was
very clear. The gas giant was of a bright green, being orbited by two
sets of rings, each bubbling over a different position on the planet. To
the left and to the right, the moons of Vuya were unavoidable to the
human eye.
Of the
twenty-six moons, the most visually stunning was right next to Ivinsnale.
It was the moon of Loovinsnale and it was perfectly visible through all
of Ivinsnale’s fog. The orbiting moon shone brightly through the fog and
it’s rainbow-colored clouds shrouded it’s blazing surface in a beautiful
array of gleaming lights.
Dominic
Artemius left the small building and decided to get some rest for
himself. He wanted to be in as best shape he could to complete the first
assignment he had been given to in a long time.
* * * *
Pharonah
Jade had finally gained access to speak to Lotaan Xta Santau. It took her
some time and not nearly as much violence as she had expected. Lotaan
knew why she was there and it wasn’t a social call by any means. She was
very serious about what she wanted to do with the tactics she wished to
learn.
Just
outside of Lotaan’s ship, the Divinity, Jade approached him.
Lotaan had been waiting in his vinyl chair for a good fifteen minutes
before she arrived, but didn’t mind at all. “Pharonah Jade, I presume,”
he said. Jade nodded and he continued, “and what can I do for you?”
Jade let
out a sigh and began her speech that she had rehearsed so many times
before. “I know that my request may seem to be an insignificant, or at
least a farfetched one. I have read The Insurgence Primer many
times, but I cannot become adept to the style through the mere words you
have given. I don’t believe anyone can, and that is why you are still the
only man in the galaxy that has been recorded as to defeating a
Force-trained person. Everyone else thinks that you are a fraud because
your transcript doesn’t work.” Lotaan was becoming much more in tune to
the conversation than he had expected to be. “I have faith in your
abilities and I believe in your art because I agree that everything has a
weakness. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a better chance of
winning. It’s fifty-fifty. You either win, or you don’t. I want to be
able to prove that. I’m just a rebellious teenage girl who thinks a
person like myself should be able to defeat a prestigious Jedi Knight. I
believe we are all equals. And I want to prove that and learn from you,
Mr. Santau. Can you teach me?” She was out of breath, but ready to beg if
necessary.
Lotaan
looked up at her with an interested look on his face. “For starters,” he
said, “call me Lotaan. Not many people get to do that, so you can
consider yourself privileged already.” Lotaan stood from his chair and
held out one of his arms as he began to strafe around Jade. “I wish to
test your skill. You are hardly a part of my schedule, Pharonah Jade, but
if you can prove yourself worthy, I think I might be able to make you my
business.” Jade appeared to be sweating already as she stared at Lotaan’s
hand.
Without
saying a word, she brought her foot up and over his hand, locking his
elbow beneath her leg. Lotaan’s other hand came up to her side, but she
defended the blow, only to be flipped over and on to the ground by his
other hand. She kicked up on to her feet, ending up directly in combat,
rapidly defending herself from Lotaan’s numerous high strikes. He drew
her backwards and she eventually tried a low kick to his stomach. Lotaan
grabbed her foot and tossed it upwards, sending Jade flipping backwards.
Her foot narrowly missed Lotaan’s chin. As she landed, her stomach met
with his foot and launched her backwards into the ground once again. She
was winded, but got up again. Without enough time to catch her breath,
she was already defending herself again.
This time,
she grabbed one of Lotaan’s punches and thrusted forward, tossing him
over her hip. Lotaan miraculously landed on his feet and hooked his foot
behind Jade’s leg, tripping her. She rolled away from Lotaan and got back
up to her feet. They stood five metres apart and Lotaan was getting
impatient. His back was turned to her as he reached for a case on his
thigh and pulled a throwing knife from it.
Jade
didn’t know what was going on. She thought about moving in on the
offensive, but found it to risky. Lotaan appeared intimidating when he
wasn’t facing her. He hid the majority of the knife under his black
sleeve and turned back around to face her. Jade assumed a fighting
stance, and although she was tired, she thought there might have been
some chance in her victory now.
Lotaan
charged forward at an unexpected speed, and Jade jumped high and right to
avoid the tackle. She landed to meet up with a kick to the face. Her lip
bled but she got back to her feet and threw a strike towards Lotaan’s
head, but he grabbed her arm, twisted it upwards and spun her around,
landing a sharp kick to her lower back.
The blow
sent her a good distance forward and Lotaan jumped backwards on to his
hands and sprung back on to his feet. He rolled away a bit further and
drew up the throwing knife just as Jade kicked up back to her feet. He
launched the knife with incredible speed directly at her head.
He heard a
small clank, and then turned around to face Pharonah Jade. The throwing
knife was caught in between the blades of the duralinium knives she had
sheathed during the battle. She tossed the throwing knife up in between
her two blades and flipped the pointed end towards Lotaan. Drawing
herself backwards, she tipped the butt end of the throwing and hit its
end back towards Lotaan.
The bounty
hunter saw the knife coming back at him and skidded to his left, grabbing
the handle as it passed near his head. He sheathed the knife in the
casing on his thigh and let out a deep breath. Jade stood the same
distance away, both of her knives held in a defensive position, as if
waiting for another attack. “Pharonah Jade,” Lotaan said. “You may be
quite useful to me. What else can you do with those knives?” Jade assumed
a more casual position and began tossing one of her weapons from hand to
hand.
“I
constructed them out of the duralinium slabs that you seem to have
missing from your storage shed, Lotaan,” she said smiling. It was all
coming back to Lotaan’s memory now. It had finally dawned on him that the
girl he had just tested was of no difference than the one she had seen in
the dim light of the shed. “They are designed to withstand the blade of a
lightsabre for a succinct period of time. I figured it would be the right
thing to incorporate in your training. But I warn you, I don’t want to be
a pawn for you to boss around. I’ll take the occasional assignment, but
only the important ones. I want to be known throughout the ISA government
system.”
“So you
are seeking popularity?” Lotaan asked inquisitively. “Fame?”
“No,
Lotaan,” she replied. “I am seeking equality.”
* * * *
An alarm
sounded and many Rebel officers were running to the high meeting field in
the back of the compound. The alarm was the immediate emergency sound
that was ringing for the first time. Grand Admiral Sienar was already at
the head of the space in the field with a small voice amplification
device attached to his collar.
When
nearly all of the Rebel Dominion was collected in the field, Sienar
began. “Ladies and gentlemen of the Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027.
For a long time now we have been planning an introduction of the Rebel
Dominion to the rest of the galaxy, but didn’t intend on doing so until a
later date. However, our current situation forbids that we stay hidden
any longer. Phadrax Monovial and the Interstellar Sith Allegiance have
assembled a painstakingly large fleet along with the House of
Lords and are attacking the peaceful wookiee planet of Kashyyyk. Our
spy regiment tells us that Monovial has equipped himself with over three
thousand Treaded Neutron Torch vehicles to literally burn the heavily
forested planet into a lifeless asteroid. We have to be very quick, as
the Imperial fleet has already collected themselves along the surrounding
space region of Kashyyyk and are moving in as we speak. Finally we are
being introduced to the galaxy, and if our mission is successful, we may
very well create a large number of followers. Pilots, man your ships.
Many capital cruisers will be joining in the battle and most of the
battle coordination can be done from the command centre in the compound.
We must help them and May The Force Be With You as you head courageously
into battle.” Sienar stepped down and much commotion had begun. The
sounds of engines starting up was already echoing through his ears.
He stood
on an elevator entrance to a Calamari cruiser and watched as the modified
starfighters shot off into space. The conveyor lifted Sienar into the
capital ship and it took off only moments later.
Rebel
pilot Mors Vanier boarded his potent starfighter, the modified A-Wing
starfighter, just as the Calamari cruiser shot into hyperspace. Shortly
thereafter, he had also blasted himself into the hyperspace dimension and
came out fourteen minutes afterwards to face something that he had never
seen the like of before.
The planet
Kashyyyk was very beautiful from a distance. It’s trees covered a good
majority of the surface. The rest was swarmed with dry patches of land
that could’ve been deserts or plains. Blue areas displayed the small
oceans that spotted the planet here and there. It looked very calm by
itself. But with the added fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers and various
other fighters moving in on it, the picture wasn’t so pretty.
The flight
leader, Supreme Commander Proston Newace10, reported that all craft stop
engine throttle and hold there for a moment. They were just out of the
range of the Imperial fleet’s sensors and going any further would reveal
their unlawful position here.
Vanier
spoke into the communications speaker. “Commander, how long before we
make the attack?” Newace10 responded promptly.
“We have
no reason to attack until we witness the danger,” Newace10 replied. “Our
spy regiment isn’t official enough to have that accurate of information
and if we attack without certainty of danger, and we turn out to be
wrong, the ISA’s fleet will be entirely focused on wiping us out. In that
department, we don’t have a chance.”
Only
seconds later, all of the Rebel pilots watched in awe as patches of
flames began to grow bigger and bigger fast on Kashyyyk’s surface. The
blazes were visible from space, making them very large indeed. Newace10’s
voice blasted through the speakers again. “Full Throttle!” he yelled.
“Green group ambush the Star Destroyers. A-Wings, defend Green group. All
in all, protect the planet. Ships are already on their way to try and put
out the fires!” All the ships darted forward without a word and were in
space combat in short time.
* * * *
Phadrax
Monovial ran across the wooden bridges built into the city of trees on
Kashyyyk. He rapidly spun his lightsabre, instantly knocking over any of
the panicking wookiee citizens. Most of which were surprisingly agile and
few fell the entire way to the ground. Explosions could be heard from
nearby as the new TIE Bombers blanketed the planet in flames. TNTs below
the cities were burning out the trunks of the trees.
The
wookiees were delivering their equivalent of a scream as many were cut
open by the blade of Monovial’s lightsabre. He had almost finished a
perimeter of the city around the bridges when he came upon yet another
causeway that supported itself against a giant tree that was already in
flames. Standing at the end of the bridge was a particularly tall wookiee
with a crossed sash creating an “X” of fabric across his torso. A warlike
belt was wrapped around the two sashes near the bottom and extended off
into a leathery fabric past its waist.
However,
unhooked from his belt was a lightsabre hilt, laying deactivated in the
wookiee’s hand. Monovial was rather surprised at not only the courage of
the wookiee, but the fact that the species even had a collective Jedi
Knight. He was impressed in the slightest use of the word, and quickly
assumed a menacing stance, igniting the other end of his
lightsabre.
The
wookiee appeared to have no reaction to the threat of the weapon, but
merely extended his blade in an honorable matter, revealing a gentle
green luminescence. A message through the Force reached Monovial’s mind
from the thoughts of his opponent, thus proving he was a Jedi. Get off
of our planet, it told him. Monovial was not one to comply with such
feeble orders. Instead was his reaction to charge at the wookiee, rapidly
whipping his blades in front of him.
The hum
from the dangerous weapon soon turned into a crackle as the wookiee
parried the strikes without breaking a sweat. Suddenly, Monovial
experienced something he had not in quite some time. A blast of the Force
met with his chest and it threw him backwards to the other end of the
bridge. He knew now that the wookiee Jedi was indeed powerful and not to
be messed with.
Monovial
improvised and jumped high in the air coming down hard with his weapon,
smashing it into the bridge structure. The entire catwalk tipped forwards
and Monovial launched himself back upwards with assistance from the
Force. He grabbed a high tree branch just as the blade caught flames from
the TNT below them.
The
wookiee Jedi was stuck in a trap he could not easily get out of. Staying
on the bridge would mean certain death by fire. It also interfered with
the attack on Monovial so he quickly turned in the opposite direction of
the falling bridge and his image blurred as he disappeared into the heart
of the city.
He swung
from tree to tree looking over the charred corpses of many wookiee
citizens. The smoke was getting thicker in the tall trees and it forced
Monovial to put on a portable breath mask that he had brought for the
occasion. His black cloak was almost too warm as he tested his strength
in the trees with the raging heat from the TNTs searing at his boots.
His
destruction at Kashyyyk had been much faster than he had expected. Mostly
because of the Hyranyium fuel that he had doused the forests in
beforehand. He purchased the Hyranyium at his home planet of Mantooine
the day before, knowing that the liquid could be sprayed in any form and
light up faster than an exploding star. Forest fires on the planet broke
out in seconds once the first flame was dealt on to the fuel.
It was
easily visible from all of the starfighter pilots that swarmed the
vastness of space around the wookiee homeworld. With its rapid spread of
flames, soon most of the planet would be just another burnt-out ball in
all these countless galaxies.
* * * *
Moltok was
a strange planet for both Artemius and Antioch. The species that resided
on it were even stranger. Some of the traditional Ho’Din spoke in rhyme,
but the trend had gone out of practice for a good majority of them. They
had just left a meeting with the high council on T’Gairo. Their mission
was far more complicated than either had expected.
Both of
them were assigned to have very long hours of guarding the entire palace
of the T’Gairo government. The night shift lasted from dusk till dawn and
they circled the large palace courtyard all night. Every half hour they
would meet at the front gates. Antioch was around back at the palace when
he heard a rattling in the bushes outside the iron gate. They were very
quiet sounds, and from the bushes came what he least expected.
A barrage
of red laser fire came from the thicket as a large flock of stormtroopers
emerged, firing at Antioch. He quickly drew up his lightsabre and made an
effort to deflect as many shots as he could before he was forced to bolt
out of the area. He might have been a Jedi, but no one could take that
many shots for too long.
Darting
around the corners of the courtyard, he finally met up with Artemius who
had sensed something. Antioch tried to catch his breath and speak at the
same time, but Artemius was already certain of what was going on. “Come
with me,” Antioch said. They both went back to the area where the
stormtroopers were and saw that they were attempting to melt through the
door entrance on the palace with their blasters.
Both of
them drew their lightsabres up and the snap-hiss sound drew attention to
them. They both moved quickly through a line of stormtroopers, knocking
each of them away with light strikes from their energy beams. Many
blaster shots were deflected as they both deactivated their weapons and
guided themselves with the Force to jump to a higher balcony. Antioch
jumped in through a window to cut off the intruding troops while Artemius
blasted a number of the squadron back with the Force. “Keep going,
Antioch!” Artemius shouted back to the young Jedi. “More of them are
coming.”
Soon
enough, more scout troopers and Imperial commandos emerged from the
bushes and crawled through the melted opening in the iron gate. All of
them collaborated together and aimed up at Artemius, who immediately drew
his lightsabre and took a deep breath, focusing deeply on the Force.
Numerous
shots came up at him very quickly, but his concentration allowed him to
guide his blade into the path of the shots. The difficulty was
painstaking but if he kept focus, he could’ve held them at bay for a long
time. Many of the stray shots exploded on the chests of the attackers as
another trooper squadron entered the building.
A group of
stormtroopers lined up and entered through the passageway that they had
melted away on the palace doors. They made their way down a hallway but
were stopped as Antioch flipped down from the low rafters, igniting his
Jedi weapon. He whipped through the squadron, knocking a number of them
to the ground and disarming the rest.
Suddenly
he felt something dangerous and immediately spun around, thrusting his
blade up and over his head, deflecting a shot coming from the melted
doorway. Antioch jumped backwards and then turned to run to the left at
the end of the passage but the door was locked, as was the one on the
right. He jammed his lightsabre blade into the door on the left and began
to cut a hole when a hasty mess of shots came firing down the hallway.
Antioch missed blocking most of the shots, but managed to defend himself
from the potentially lethal blasts. More and more stormtroopers were
entering the room and he had nowhere to go. He looked back up at the
rafters, but knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep his guard up while
jumping at the same time.
As he
rapidly deflected the shots of the stormtroopers who were closing in on
him, Antioch heard a smash to the door on the left and he saw Artemius’
green blade create a clean hole through the door and he helped the young
Jedi pull through. The stormtroopers ran up to the hole and fired through
it. Antioch hid along the parts of the door that weren’t visible from the
other side. Artemius held off most of the shots and allowed Antioch to
catch his breath and then take advantage of the Force, dashing out of the
long corridors and hiding in an air duct near the end of the other
hallway.
Artemius
pulled his weapon back and then jumped high and forward, splitting the
remnants of the door in two to distract the troopers. He flipped over the
squadron and very quickly punctured a path into the door on the right
that led into the reactor room of the palace. Finding a convenient and
effective place to hide, he deactivated his lightsabre.
* * * *
“Here is
the story, Jade,” Lotaan said, looking down at the girl who tossed one of
her knives in the air, catching it each time and repeating the process.
“If you don’t accept the assignment, I’m afraid I can’t let you survive
due to the confidentiality of this information. You must accept the terms
and conditions, or I believe your long months training will be useless in
spreading word around the galaxy. Not to mention order.”
Pharonah
Jade confidently smiled and looked up at the well-built bounty hunter.
“Don’t stall too much, Lotaan. I just want to know what it is.”
Without
further hesitation, Lotaan began: “I am under a current service project
for leader of the Interstellar Sith Allegiance, Phadrax Monovial. He has
been working on a project to inform the galaxy of his power and
establishing full governmental control of every star system. The planet
Moltok has a continent of significant power called T’Gairo and without
the assassination of the four high members that make all of the
decisions, Monovial cannot take over the system. The assassination of the
high members is not the difficulty here. However, the government of
Moltok hired two Jedi Knights to safely protect the palace and they need
to be eliminated. I would go myself, but your skill has increased
considerably since I met you, Pharonah Jade, and I think that you are
worthy of the challenge.” Jade was rather excited about the project and
was told that the Jedi were easily recognizable, but she knew that
already.
Sharpening
her knives once more, Jade boarded a small local transport and departed
the Imperial cruiser.
* * * *
The pilots
of the ISA’s TIE Fighter squadrons were very distraught in finding out
that there was actual dogfighting opposition in the mass destruction of
Kashyyyk. Vanier easily took out eight or ten fighters since he had
joined the operation, but he was very disappointed that the mission was
beginning to fail. Most of Kashyyyk’s surface could be seen as black
scars now and the death toll was obviously in the millions.
Many of
the larger Imperial craft were departing the area already and Vanier was
leading a flight group of A-Wings in to intercept one of the
Victory-class Star Destroyers that was attempting to leave.
Sensors picked up that the cargo hold was loaded with numerous shipyard
parts that would be valuable to the ISA.
Destroying
the VSD would be a semi-victory for the Rebel Dominion, even though they
couldn’t save Kashyyyk. Vanier’s two wingmen followed a flight plan to
attack the shield generators perched on the bridge of the VSD. The
wingmen took a few shots to weaken it slightly and then Vanier’s craft
dove down the centre, launching two advanced concussion missiles into
each of the generators. It created a massive explosion and threw the
VSD’s inhabitants off guard.
The ship
began increasing speed and warming up it’s hyperdrive engine and Vanier’s
trio of fighters whipped back around to the front of the structure and
fired at a weakened hull that protected the main reactor. As much as
their efforts were valiant, and as much as the A-Wing’s speed was
superior to most starfighters, they couldn’t destroy the Star Destroyer
and it escaped into hyperspace.
* * * *
The
destruction at Kashyyyk was over. Phadrax Monovial learned much that day.
His encounter with the wookiee Jedi Knight made him think about a few
things. Now he knew that there was indeed a power that defended justice
much greater than he. Luke Skywalker no longer had ties enough with the
New Republic to be able to save them now. As a matter of fact, since he
had settled down for a married life, he probably didn’t keep track of
what happened in the military world any longer.
Monovial
was freely destroying the homeplanet of a species and one of the most
powerful Jedi Masters in the galaxy didn’t do anything about it. But then
there was still that wookiee. He was powerful indeed, but Monovial
expected that he did not survive the torched planet’s devastation.
Although
it had been a long day, the fleet of the House of Lords was
already in motion to reach Moltok, where they would perform a similar
devastation. Perhaps not quite as harsh, but nonetheless, equally
important. Monovial thought of the Ho’Din as an annoying species anyhow.
Their disappearance from civilized worlds would bother him not.
Monovial
took a rest in a large cot he had set up in his chambers. Letting the
Force permeate his body, he went into a deep trance, equivalent to three
times the efficiency of normal sleep. That way, he would be alert when he
left for the Ho’Din planet’s surface. Lotaan’s aid and trainee must’ve
reached Moltok by now, and was probably implicating the destruction of
the Jedi Knights who had been guarding the planet so well.
When
Monovial awoke, the fleet had arrived at the planet. He draped his
flowing black cloak back over his body and pulled the lightsabre from the
strap on his back. Igniting both ends, he executed an visually stunning
sword’s dance with the weapon, moving freely around his large chambers.
He had nearly finished when an officer walked into the chamber to inform
him of their current location.
The
officer was interrupted as he was about to begin. “I am quite aware of
where we are,” Monovial said, not even looking at the officer, seemingly
not noticing his presence. “Have my Titan ready and I will lead a
dispatch of many squadrons of stormtroopers down to the surface.” And
without saying a word, the officer let out a deep breath and left to obey
the orders he had been given.
* * * *
Minimal
noise came from the ventilation shaft that Artemius had hidden in. He
could hear no more laser fire so he felt it safe to drop and land softly
on the ground. Glancing to his left and to his right, he sensed no
immediate danger and rose from his kneeling position. Entering numerous
doors, he finally found Antioch standing on the upper floor, staring down
at the forest that surrounded the T’Gairo palace courtyard.
The dark
brown cloak that was draped over his undertunic was missing. “Where is
your cloak, Antioch?” Artemius asked, curiously. “You did not encounter a
dark Jedi, did you?” Artemius was a strong believer that the cloak held
great meaning. By his code of honor, it was only removed as a noble
gesture to a worthy opponent. It was widely viewed as a way of expecting
a challenge out of your opponent. But Artemius would’ve felt the presence
of the dark Jedi, had it been there.
“No,
Dominic,” he replied. “I didn’t totally intend on removing it. The Force
seemed to do it for me. I don’t understand why, but I don’t go against
it.” Antioch continued to stare out in the forest.
“What is
wrong, Antioch?” Artemius asked, watching as the young Jedi stared
blankly into the exotic trees.
“Shhh,”
Antioch gestured, pointing out to a thicket of lush, green bushes. All
was a dark green because of the night sky, but just the light from the
palace revealed something gleaming between the leaves. It was like a bead
of silver light moving back and forth across a span of ten centimetres.
Then another one appeared next to it in the bushes. The gleaming object
seemed almost hypnotic.
Suddenly
the lights in the palace turned off and almost instantly, both of their
lightsabres were all that was visible in the dark. Then the lights came
back on and they looked back down at the bushes, Artemius deactivated his
weapon. Standing in the thicket was a female dressed in a rippling, navy
blue cloak that extended to her lower leg. She was positioned as if she
was challenging the Jedi Knights, wielding two glistening knives, one in
each hand.
Artemius
hooked his weapon back to his belt underneath the cloak and watched as
the woman ran from the bushes in through the melted away door and entered
the palace. “This is your challenge, Antioch,” Artemius told him. “I have
to get to the head defensive government on Moltok. I sense a disturbance
in the Force and it is not a fine one.” Antioch nodded and left the upper
floor, sabre ignited. Artemius took a slower model of a speeder bike out
of the T’Gairo continent and into the head of Moltok governing.
* * * *
Pharonah
Jade knew that Antioch was close by. Turning the corner of a narrow
corridor, she couldn’t see anything in the dark passage. But she knew he
was close. Holding both of her knives loosely in an inverted grip, Jade
slowly walked forward, waiting to see the ignition of a lightsabre blade.
It came, but it wasn’t the first thing she noticed.
A brush of
unseen power came over her and she was thrown backwards into the hard
ground. As she landed, the blade showed up nicely in the dark corridor.
It got larger in view as Antioch ran through the passage, closer towards
her. Jade kicked up to her feet and turned one of her knives the right
side up and hopped backwards, still fearing the weapon.
Lotaan
never made her train against a real lightsabre before, only the
stunsabres which didn’t give nearly the same feel. Plus, Antioch was a
Force-trained individual and most likely well-trained. The Jedi came into
the light as Jade tip-toed backwards, reaching an intersection in
hallways. With each step, he tediously waved the blade back and forth.
Antioch was smiling wryly at the thought that his challenge was to be
this girl with knives.
Jade
didn’t like long waits, so she eventually decided to do what she was
never instructed to do when facing a Jedi. Only defend until offense
becomes absolutely necessary. She would have to break that rule tonight.
In an effort to confuse Antioch, she tossed the knife into her left hand,
catching it by the tip and threw it forwards. As soon as it released her
fingertips, she executed a quick side aerial low to the ground and kicked
at Antioch’s hands to attempt to disarm him quickly.
Antioch
swung down at the kick, but she used his arm as a boost and back flipped
off of that support. Great!, she thought to herself sarcastically,
Now I’m back where I started, minus one knife. It was more of a
stand-off than a true honourable fight as of yet. Her left leg swung up
and over his blade to create a quick distraction swing and her other foot
met his knee, causing Antioch to collapse to the ground for only a
second. But that second was enough time for Jade to grab her knife and
draw herself backwards again.
She
stepped backwards continuously, getting slower every time until her hand
met up with a door that led to the palace ballroom. She could go no
further. Antioch kept closing in as she scrambled with the tip of her
knife to break the crack in the swinging doors. Without much luck she
turned around, jumped backwards near Antioch, who struck downwards. The
knife in her left hand blocked the blow as she kicked the doors down and
then entered the ballroom.
It wasn’t
quite what she had expected. The room was huge in size with various
golden tables protruding from the ground. A silver stub wall extended
from one end to the other, splitting the ballroom in two sections. Many
glorious statues towered over her as well, but her taste in art was
hardly the concern. Antioch had sped up as he entered the doors but
stopped when he saw exactly what Jade had seen.
Literally
one hundred and fifty stormtroopers were lined up in the ballroom, aiming
at both Antioch and Jade, ready to fire. When they began shooting, Jade
ran to hide behind a statue and Antioch bolted to the other end of the
room to find cover. The stormtroopers were only on one side of the stub
wall so he thought about taking cover at the empty side of the ballroom.
Pharonah
Jade was very confused now. Lotaan had said that the assignment was to
kill the Jedi Knights, of which only one remained in the palace premises.
It was an assignment being done for the ISA. The deal had obviously been
altered because the ISA had turned on her already.
* * * *
The
painful battle that took place at Kashyyyk was a failure for the Rebel
Dominion, and didn’t successfully introduce any alliance to any person.
No one knew that they fought for the wookiee homeworld outside the
atmosphere. No one knew except for the ISA. Now their existence in the
galaxy was revealed to their mortal rivals, and they were viewed as
incompetent fighters.
Everyone
was held in an inescapable despair but still managed to obey Grand
Admiral Sienar’s orders to follow the House of
Lords. And
follow them they did. Finding that the fleet was moving into the system
that housed the peaceful Ho’Din planet of Moltok. Sienar couldn’t let two
of these massive destructions on a race occur in the span of less than a
day. Every capital ship and every fighter pilot that the Rebel Dominion
had built the skill of on Ivinsnale had been moved out and came to meet
up with the fleet, two hundred kilometres away from the ISA fleet, and
two hundred and ten kilometres away from Moltok.
The Rebel
compound on Ivinsnale was completely emptied out in only hours and Sienar
was ready to head the attack on the House of Lords. What he really
needed was the destruction of that particular ship.
Observing
the Imperial fleet’s situation, it was just capital ships in operation.
Interdictor cruisers and Star Destroyers blanketed the area but no
fighters were visible yet. The first small ship to come up on visual
scanning was marked as an Imperial coded transport called the
Titan. Threat display systems indicated that the craft was
equipped well and probably belonged to a person of some importance.
If it was,
it would have to be well-equipped, because it didn’t even have a fighter
escort. In the back of his mind, Sienar knew that Phadrax Monovial owned
this ship and was flying in it down to Moltok’s surface now. But without
good reason and proof, he couldn’t attack it. Especially because of the
distance and the protection offered by the Star Destroyers.
Nevertheless,
as soon as the Titan disappeared out of range, Sienar ordered the
attack to begin and the pilots returned to their ships, exiting the
various cruisers and commencing an all-out heavy assault on the House
of Lords.
* * * *
The
Titan submerged itself near a large thicket of trees in a deep
forest outside of the T’Gairo boundaries. Lotaan’s prestigious Jedi
assailant obviously hadn’t done the job of killing both guardians yet.
Last he heard, only one remained. The lesser of the two when measuring
them skill-wise. But Monovial knew otherwise. Jade hadn’t killed anyone
yet.
It was his
original plan indeed, but he had altered his ideas and decided to wipe
them out himself after it was discovered who the Jedi were. His many
troops stormed the palace and had turned against Pharonah jade. She was
but a mercenary, and Monovial would hate to waste good credits on such a
person. So he would merely rub her out of the picture.
It was now
what he felt to be his duty to take out the guardians of the palace. His
one concern was for the Jedi Knight, Antioch Fi, who had been assigned to
the palace’s protection. Monovial had been told the story of Antioch Fi.
The reason of how he escaped the prison camp on Alzoc III so many years
ago had been taken care of. Another responsible act from the malevolent
abilities of Phadrax Monovial. A worthy opponent was Ilyssis Pico.
Antioch had been informed of the death, of course, not believing at first
that someone could defeat the skilled warrior.
Monovial,
however, knew nothing of Antioch’s skill. He had disappeared when the New
Republic had disappeared. And had seemingly re-emerged at the same time.
The rebellion that fought against the ISA starfighters in the battle at
Kashyyyk were most definitely of Republic nature, and most definitely
upgraded as well. Antioch had been in hiding with the former New Republic
all this time, training to be a Jedi Knight.
But
Antioch was only a secondary reason that he wished to perform the
assassination himself. The first and foremost condition was that of the
other Jedi who had come with Antioch to guard the palace. Monovial had
been wanting to dispatch of this particular individual ever since he
heard of his position. Dominic Artemius was his true rival, although
having never met up with him, and never even having been demonstrated his
skill.
Monovial
assumed that Artemius was powerful; having trained Pico, he would’ve had
to have been. The Titan’s repulsors shut off as the landing
protrusions touched down at the edge of a clearing in the forest.
Stepping outside of his craft, Monovial stared down at the surroundings.
The grass was very tall and very soft. Trees that extended to four metres
above him surrounded his ship, himself and the open field.
He removed
the hood from his cloak and let the wind rustle through his drastically
shortened hair. He was about to enter the words toward the T’Gairo
palace, but stopped just six metres away from the Titan because he
felt something. The faint whirring noise of a speeder could be heard in
the forest.
Monovial
smiled and put his hood back over his head, pulling the lightsabre from
the strap on his back. He gripped it tightly in his right hand, making it
an easy draw for any threat that he could be facing.
* * * *
Dominic
Artemius shut down the engines on the outdated speeder bike that he had
been riding when he noticed how thick the trees were getting. Not even
with the skills of a Jedi, could he navigate through the green mess in
the forest. The continent of T’Gairo certainly had an impressive
vegetation, but not one that can be easily navigated through.
Climbing
off of the bike, Artemius walked forward through tall grass, letting his
dark brown cloak ripple in the wind. There was quite some distance before
his destination and he sensed that it wouldn’t be an easy trek. Getting
deeper and deeper into the forest, he even found terrain which he
couldn’t navigate through without a speeder either.
Some areas
had tree trunks that had grown so closely together, Artemius had to
squeeze through the tiny opening it gave them. One particular set of
trees looked much like a boundary; just a wall of wood and leaves
preventing anyone from getting through. Artemius walked up the small
incline and put both of his hands on two of the trunks. Pulling with
great might, he began to create a larger break in the trees.
He pulled
himself through and found himself in more forest. The trees got very
thick, almost blocking all the moonlight showering from above. It was
surprisingly dark in the small area, but beams of light shone in through
cracks in the wall of trees. He creeped his way through tall bushes and
passed by the thick tree trunks until he found an opening. Lifting a
branch of numerous leaves, it revealed an open area in the forest with
nearly no grass in the parched earth below his feet. Stubs of tree trunks
were left circling the outside of the area and they were much evidence
that it had been cut away.
At the far
end of the area, a uniquely designed starcraft was parked on landing
legs, its black shell reflecting the moonlight from above. Artemius
brushed off the last of the leaves from his cloak and noticed something.
A tall man wearing a dark cloak, similar to his own, but black. The man
turned at Artemius and smiled. Then a great fear came over him as the
Force granted him discovery of who the man was. Dominic wasn’t often
scared of many things, but this truly did it. He was breathing hard as
the man walked out from under his ship and began trekking towards him.
Artemius
was totally unsure of what to do as the man got closer and the clearing
in the forest seemed to close in on him. When he spotted the hilt of a
lightsabre in the darkly dressed man, he immediately reached for his own.
The foe continued walking forward, menacingly igniting the red blade of
his weapon. Dominic held his weapon out in front of him and ignited it as
well. Immediately after, the enemy struck downwards, hard and fast,
leaping from his position. Artemius parried the stroke and turned
backwards, evading a side swipe.
As the
enemy charged forward, memories of Ilyssis Pico flashed before his eyes.
Never had he expected to encounter his apprentice’s assailant. But he had
hoped for it. He had planned it out since the day he held Pico’s lifeless
body. But now he couldn’t focus. All of his plans as to what would happen
if he had encountered Pico’s attacker were useless. He could barely
defend himself.
His lack
of focus almost made him fall to his death several times in the battle as
he frantically parried strikes from all corners of his body. The clearing
slowly turned into a battlefield and Artemius had no way of getting out
of it.
* * * *
The
damned traitors, Pharonah Jade thought, listening to the laser fire
pummel into the statue she was hidden behind. Lotaan may not have been a
traitor, but Phadrax Monovial had obviously done something to alter their
deal. She didn’t appreciate that one bit. It showed that Monovial
obviously had no confidence in her abilities. However, he stupidly
assumed that a hundred stormtroopers would do the job.
When the
laser fire slowed, Jade got up and scrambled from around the side of the
statue, being sure to keep close to the wall. Three stormtroopers guarded
a long the wall. She was able to run past the first of them, but ducked
underneath the second’s and tripped him from underneath. All of the
stormtroopers that were left in the ballroom fired at her and the third
along the wall came very close to hitting her. The shot came at her
stomach, but she turned to the side, barely avoiding the bolt, that
connected to the knife in her left hand, sending it to the other side of
the room.
She had no
time to retrieve it and quickly pulled a kick to the trooper’s face,
knocking him backwards. That was her chance to dive out of the way, and
that she did, rolling in behind the next of the statues.
Antioch Fi
didn’t move from in behind the stub wall, knowing that even standing up
would make him a half a metre taller than the wall itself, and open to a
lot of fire. He scrambled on his hands and knees, examining the floor he
crouched on. It was a smooth marble surface and near the middle of the
stub wall, a panel slid over the floor. Pulling on a small ring that held
the panel in place. Underneath was what was marked as a security control
basin for the ballroom. He wasn’t certain as to why the Ho’Din would have
a security system in the ballroom, but he decided to use it to his
advantage.
He took a
quick survey of what some of the controls did and found one that would
definitely be of use to him. Glancing over at the end of the stub wall, a
long tract was meshed with the wall and was parallel to a similar tract
on the other side. The control he needed to switch would trigger an
energy gate to connect between the two tracts and block any laser fire
that would come on this side of the ballroom.
The switch
was too small, however, and was burrowed in underneath a metal casing
that he could not fit his finger through. He unhooked his lightsabre from
his belt and improvised with its unique features. One of the wire coils
that wrapped around the weapon’s shaft was the perfect size to dig
underneath the tube and hopefully pull the switch. It wouldn’t be long
before the stormtroopers decided to be smart and get over the wall, so he
had to work quickly.
With all
the physical might he could conjure up, Antioch tore the coil off of the
shaft and began picking under the metal casing right away. A scrape of
metal could be heard and he could just about reach the switch. He jammed
the sharper end through the other side of the weak metal casing and
pulled the entire top off, making the switch visible.
Pharonah
Jade had already been discovered and stormtroopers were moving in on the
statue she had hidden behind. She thought quickly and hopped back to her
feet, delivering a sharp side kick to the statue, knocking it over into
the path of some of the stormtroopers. She quickly leapt over some of the
unconscious soldiers and ran for the stub wall, quickly grasping her
other knife on the way. Antioch had been able to reach the switch and the
energy gates began closing in on each other.
Jade ran
faster, seeing that the lasers that would meet in the centre of the stub
wall would surely be the end of her if she didn’t get through in time.
Picking up more and more speed she had almost reached the end of that
half of the ballroom. Laser fire sprayed towards her and some came very
close, until the point where the energy gate was nearly too narrow for
her to jump through.
She was
still a fair distance away and it would be risky, but she went for it and
sailed off of her feet. Jade executed a flip that helped her just avoid a
piece of the closing energy gate. Half-twisting in the air allowed her to
land facing her rapidly firing opponents. But that wasn’t her concern
now. As she landed, all she saw was the bright blue blade of Antioch’s
lightsabre, bearing down on her.
She threw
her arms above her head and crossed her two knives, defending the Jedi
weapon for but a moment. She leapt backwards, turning in the air and
landing on her hands, slowly bring the rest of her down to her feet. As
if she had all the energy in the world, she put her weight on the back
foot and assumed a fighting position with her duralinium knives. Antioch
now knew how agile she was and it would be difficult to combat, but he
held confidence in his own abilities.
Antioch
started forward swinging downwards, an attack that she drew away from
without contact, but he spun back around with a strike to her shoulder.
The knife in her left hand stopped the energy beam with a light touch
that was just enough to prevent a fatal strike. She was already moving
away when the Jedi pulled back and took control of the Force, releasing
it from his hand like a slugthrower and Jade felt it blow against her as
if it were a powerful wind.
Her body
was thrown backwards but her standard evasion tactic seemed to be
effective as he she flipped quickly in the air and landed softly by the
stub wall, ready to fight again. They both noticed that the stormtroopers
had cleared out of the ballroom, and were obviously looking for a
way to get where the two contestants battled. Antioch knew that they
would find their way around, and just moments later he was proven right.
A
stairwell, near where Jade was standing, revealed the presence of a squad
of six stormtroopers. Instantaneously, Antioch had bolted in front of her
with the Force and was already deflecting blaster fire that would’ve
otherwise killed her. Jade watched in awe as the Jedi saved her life, but
was open to being killed right then and there. Her options were not good
ones; she could prove the Jedi equal and die trying, which she soon
realized, would prove nothing.
When all
of the stormtroopers were grounded, Antioch quickly moved away and turned
to face Jade. She was no longer in her fighting position, but instead one
of fear that she may not survive. She had underestimated the Jedi Knights
and it was evident now that she hardly believed herself to be a match.
But as an honourable fighter, she again assumed her stance and waited.
Both of them met back in the centre of the ballroom. Antioch swung low
and she jumped the strike, slashing forwards with one of her knives. The
tip of the blade barely caught Antioch’s forehead, and blood trickled
from the small wound.
It didn’t
slow him as much as she had hoped, but it gave her some time to jump over
him and get on the Jedi’s other side. She jabbed with both knives at his
back, but he had already turned, slashing hard downwards at her hands.
She tried to pull back in time, but the energy beam still made contact
with her knives, and the blow was hard enough to severely damage the
charred blades. They had already taken quite a beating and she doubted
that they could take another blow like that without falling apart
completely.
She rolled
backwards, tossing the worse of the two knives to the side. Extending
back on to her hands, she crouched low and threw the remaining knife at
Antioch. It distracted him as he batted it out of the air, giving Jade
enough time to leap forward, kicking at her opponent’s wrists. She
brought both her feet up as she jumped and the second kick knocked the
weapon out of his hand. It fell to the ground deactivated.
Jade knew
that there was hardly much time before Antioch would simply call his
weapon back to him through the Force, so she acted quickly,
contemptuously delivering a high kick to his chin. Antioch fell back, but
quickly rolled back onto his feet. Jade attempted to backhand his face,
but he grabbed her arm twisting it upwards, and flipping her entire body
over. She had most definitely sprained her wrist, but she landed on her
feet after she was flipped and elbowed Antioch in the stomach.
This gave
her the opportunity to get his weapon. She picked it up from some
distance behind her and returned to the position in front of Antioch. She
felt the battle had already been won, for she was in possession of the
weapon and it couldn’t be defended. But there was a problem. She couldn’t
find the switch, and was panicking because of it. Her efforts to defeat a
Jedi without hope were completely pointless, because she simply couldn’t
find the switch.
She never
did and Antioch was already up and alert, smiling at her valiant, but
ultimately ineffective efforts. He almost laughed as he snatched the
weapon from her hand with the Force. She dropped to her knees, tears
flowing from her eyes. Her true image of just a little girl of about
eighteen was coming back as she begged without words for the Jedi Knight
not to strike her down.
“I’m not
going to kill you,” Antioch said, still smiling. Pharonah Jade stopped
breathing so quickly and her heartbeat slowed. He was going to say more,
but he saw that more stormtroopers had made their way around to this side
of the ballroom, and the protective energy gate was already starting to
break open once again.
“The only
way we are going to survive this is if we don’t fight any longer,” Jade
said.
“I didn’t
intend to fight you any longer,” Antioch replied, smiling at her proposal
to truce. She was right, though. They wouldn’t live through this attack
if they didn’t cooperate.
* * * *
They
tried, but the Rebel Dominion’s fleet couldn’t stop as more of the
Treaded Neutron Torches scorched the trees of the Ho’Din planet. Toxic
smoke rose into the atmosphere, polluting Moltok’s once beautiful planet.
Grand Admiral Sienar stood on the bridge of a cruiser, which had
just entered into the planet’s sky, holding their position there. The
window he was looking through was delivering a perfect view of the flames
that engulfed the forests, and the Ho’Din who ran for their lives.
Sienar
turned away from the window. He had realized that the Rebel Dominion had
been no help to neither the wookiees, nor the Ho’Din, and he was in
command. In command of a failing defense group. He was a brave commander,
nonetheless. Turning back to the window, his failure was even further
evident as one of the new TIEs trailed behind a rookie pilot, running him
into the ground. The pilots hadn’t been trained enough, and he wondered
why he decided to strike now.
The
officer behind him asked a question, but he paid no attention to it, not
even hearing what his request might have been. The officer asked again,
but still Sienar gave no response. He held one hand up and said,
“Withdraw. Pull out of here. We can only cause more casualties here. And
send Proston Newace10 down in an escape shuttle to retrieve the Jedi.
Quickly!” Everyone on the bridge was awed at his reaction, but obeyed his
orders. When Sienar said such things, he usually turned out to be right.
* * * *
The TIE
Interceptor, Iota 4, had broken off from the main group and was
heading into an area of higher visibility. His craft passed over the
remnants of the forest that hadn’t been engulfed in flames and many sites
could be seen. He wondered why he was doing this for the ISA when all the
animals in the forest, and all of the planet’s residents for that matter,
didn’t truly deserve it. He was likely to be doing it for his own good.
So as to not anger ISA leader, Phadrax Monovial. Obeying orders was a
part of his job that he couldn’t get out of.
The pilot
quickly turned his engines on a low power and slowed up as he passed over
a clearing in the woods. It looked like a field with parched ground and
in the far corner, Monovial’s Titan was parked. He passed over the
clearing, not seeing any sign of the ISA leader. He turned back around to
make another pass. The first thing he saw was two combatants, fully
engaged in a duel of lightsabres.
The
pilot’s eyes widened, but his surprise let up when he thought of an idea
that would win points with Monovial. He had a fabulous aim with the laser
turrets on the Interceptor and if he could successfully kill the Jedi, he
would surely be favoured among other pilots. He swung his ship back
around and made a low dip at the edge of the trees. He was but ten metres
off the ground when he fired his upper-left cannon. Ten metres was too
low. He was able to successfully pull up and had plenty of room to do it,
but when Monovial jumped up those ten metres and slashed into the hull,
the engines were already damaged and Iota 4 was plummeting into
the forest surrounding the clearing.
* * * *
It was too
much to handle. At every strike, Artemius imagined his apprentice doing
the same thing and then not surviving. He was so very distraught. The
explosion from a TIE Interceptor nearby gave him a chance to dash out of
the way and try to delete the dizziness from his mind. He was almost
successful, but then Monovial came back at him. He struck low and hard,
Artemius barely blocking the swing. Both of their blades were locked in a
seemingly eternal crackling noise that echoed off the trees.
The
explosion from the TIE had begun to send flames all over the forest, and
even that became a distraction for the Jedi Knight. Normally such things
wouldn’t phase him and he would normally be totally focused. The
everlasting combat moved all the way around the clearing and nothing but
the clashing of the weapons occurred until a blast was heard and a cloud
of the earth was thrown into the air near the centre of the
clearing.
Artemius
improvised and quickly disappeared into the cloud of dust, evading
Monovial for a short time. He looked up at where the shot came from, but
he needn’t look far. A shuttle swooped down to nearly three metres off
the ground and its exit ramp was open, Proston Newace10 holding his hand
out for him to jump. Dominic smiled, deactivated his weapon, and jumped
on to the platform.
The
shuttle disappeared seconds later, and Monovial considered following it,
but he had done his part. They would meet again.
* * * *
The
blaster rifles flew from the soldiers’ hands as they began to surround
Jade and Antioch, standing back to back in the centre of the squad. More
and more were coming in and Antioch disarmed all of them with the Force,
creating a pile of their weapons circling his feet. Jade leapt forward
from the centre of the circle just as Antioch ignited his lightsabre.
They both moved forward and found that the stormtroopers were seemingly
defenseless.
Antioch
only struck one of them down, throwing the rest backwards with the Force
as Jade moved through a line of them with a series of spin kicks and
jumps. He gestured for the girl to follow him and that she did as they
exited the ballroom before more of them could survive. On the way out she
retrieved both of her battered knives, hoping they would be of some use.
They continued climbing stairs until they reached the roof of the T’Gairo
palace. The night sky was already beginning to turn to morning and in the
distance, a ship was coming towards the palace, its lights plainly
visible.
“I had a
mission here,” said Pharonah Jade, turning to face Antioch after catching
her breath. “My mission was to kill you and your friend, the other Jedi.
I no longer believe myself capable anyway.”
“Your
mission doesn’t seem that important to you, does it?” Antioch inquired.
“Will something happen to you now that you have failed?”
“Maybe,”
she replied, “but its importance isn’t a concern. I had a dream long ago
to prove that the Jedi Knights and all of them other superiors could lose
to people just like me. I thought I could do it, but I obviously have
failed.”
“You have
no confidence in your abilities.”
“Not since
I fought you.”
Antioch
smiled. “You didn’t do that bad, you know. Quite a challenge, actually.”
Pharonah Jade smiled at the Jedi and then looked at her charred knives.
They were blackened and not nearly in as good condition as when she
started. “And those things are just incredible,” he said, pointing at the
damaged blade.
“Now I
don’t know what to do,” she said, the smile disappearing from her face.
“I have nothing to fulfill my goal now. Mind you, my mission isn’t over
yet,” she said, delivering a devious smile. Antioch was rather surprised.
“I’m not
going to fight you,” he said, “and I thought that it was clear.” She
smiled even wider, hopping backwards and wielding her damaged knives,
ready to attack.
“But you
will defend yourself.” Jade pulled back, waiting to fight him again. She
jumped forward, kicking at the Jedi, who dodged the blow. She came back
over her other side and slashed at Antioch with the knives. He finally
pulled up his lightsabre, dodging the knife strikes. The blue blade did
nothing but protect him as she frantically threw quick kicks at him and
slices with her knives.
“I’m not
going to fight you, isn’t that clear enough?!” Antioch said, attempting
to end the conflict. She was happy in the position she was in, knowing
that if Antioch attacked, she would lose, but she was still strangely
delighted. Jade kept on him with many swift movements that wore out
Antioch’s eyes from just seeing them.
She kept a
constant smile as she charged in and out at Antioch, who was doing his
absolute best to avoid her without fighting back. She pulled away to the
edge of the roof and took a deep breath. “You aren’t helping this any,”
she said.
“I told
you, I won’t fight you,” he said again. Jade was seemingly getting
angrier every time he said that. It made no sense why she wanted to do
this, but in short time, Antioch’s only option was to comply.
She
launched herself off the ground, flipping over Antioch and landing a
sharp kick to his back. The Jedi Knight fell forward and rolled from his
position back on to his feet. His lightsabre was in his hand, but he had
not re-activated it as of yet. As soon as he was on his feet, Jade was on
him again, spinning high in the air, both of her feet connected and
swiped across Antioch’s face. It all happened so fast, that not even his
enhanced reflexes could prevent it.
He was
never even given enough time to focus, for each time he got up, he was
virtually back on the roof’s hard surface again. He tried telling her
that he wouldn’t attack her, but it made her more angry and she drew up
her duralinium knives again. She smiled and then lunged at Antioch, not
able to evade the attack. With a swipe of her right hand, his tunic was
ripped and stained with blood. The cut penetrated his shoulder and he was
soon realizing that she was very serious.
She hooked
his leg at the back of his hand, pulling him towards her. She quickly
spun around, neatly jabbing with both knives behind her. The stab
narrowly missed Antioch’s stomach as he shifted away. He wouldn’t be able
to rely completely on the Force to live through with this. Even if he
did, it would surely kill her, and that wasn’t what he wanted to happen
at all.
He jumped
backwards on to the balls of his feet on the other end of the small
rooftop, and glanced over at the skyline, noticing the approaching ship
getting closer. Jade began to lunge forward once more, and Antioch had
finally unhooked and ignited his lightsabre. He whipped it upwards,
trying to disable her of the knives, but her rapid turning made for only
light contact between the weapons.
They were
both surprised at how much of a beating those knives had been able to
take. As strong as they might’ve been, not even Jade expected them to
last this long. They continued a duel of pawns that seemed endless, but
was very potently carried out. Both of the combatants crossed each
other’s path from one side of the roof to another, each trying to strike
at each other along the way.
The battle
began to pick up speed as they whipped by each other across the roof, and
one of Antioch’s swings from his weapon tore a fragment of her navy
overcloak due to its closeness. Finally, Jade tried a new strategy which
she hoped to be more effective. The approaching shuttle was very visible
now and almost at the palace.
Jade swung
over to the centre of the rooftop, executing a tiny side aerial, landing
crouched. From that she pivoted on her left foot striking at Antioch’s
legs. He hopped the attack, but she came back to her feet instantly, with
an uppercut of sorts with her right-hand knife. Antioch arched his head
backwards, swinging down at Jade, who stopped the energy blade by kicking
his hand away.
Suddenly
she began spinning forwards with her knives that could be heard whipping
through the air. She kept warding the Jedi backwards and he was nearing
the brink of the rooftop. He had been drawn about half a metre from the
edge and was finally able to pull his own weapon out from the side, and
swing in front of him.
The strike
caught one of her knives in centre of the blade, sending its entirety
over the edge of the palace. She quickly back flipped away from the
blade, with only a single knife remaining. Antioch swung forward and
down, drawing her back towards the end. It seemed as though she had given
up, but quickly her enthusiasm returned.
Antioch
swung low at her knees, but she narrowly dodged the attack with a
handspring, sending her nearer to the edge. The approaching shuttle
wasn’t ten metres away and Antioch could see that its exit ramp was
opening, Dominic Artemius was waiting inside.
Jade
charged forward, parried a few of Antioch’s jabs with her significantly
smaller knife blade. She seemed in good order until Antioch turned and
swung directly downwards, catching the blade of her remaining knife. It
was still intact, but no longer in her hands. The small weapon sailed
away from her hand and past the edge of the palace.
She was
quick, though, and she jumped onto the nearest part of the edge, grasping
the weapon before it was able to fall. She turned back to face her
opponent, but Antioch was already on her. He swiftly swung his weapon
upwards, attempting to disable her, and successfully doing so. The knife
went straight upwards and she frantically tried to grab it before she was
defenseless for too long. Making a very high jump upwards, she narrowly
missed the knife as it soared further up.
Her focus
on the knife threw her off on where she was supposed to be paying more
attention as her feet missed the edge of rooftop, not landing at all.
Antioch turned off his weapon quickly and dropped to his stomach, making
his best effort to grab her before she fell, but it happened too fast.
He shut
his eyes, and when Pharonah Jade’s scream could no longer be heard, the
only sound echoing off the rooftop was the sound of her last knife
finally touching down on the surface.
The Jedi
Knight hooked his lightsabre hilt to he clip that attached to his belt
and bent down, picking up Jade’s last knife. Its blackened surface had
been nearly burnt out from the contact with his own weapon. He carried
the dagger all the way to the ship, where Artemius stood gesturing for
him to board. He slowly walked on to the extended exit ramp, staring at
the knife the entire time, thinking of what might’ve happened if he
hadn’t made her jump.
* * * *
The entire
Dominion fleet returned to Ivinsnale and realized that both failures, the
destruction at Kashyyyk and the destruction at Moltok, led to their need
to recruit larger armies. The ISA knew that there was resistance now and
they knew that the Rebel Dominion would most definitely grow.
Over the
next year, the Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion 0027 spent most of their
time in hiding once more, building their enterprise so another attack
wouldn’t be such a devastation. The entire galaxy knew who was in control
now, and the Interstellar Sith Allegiance didn’t justly deserve their
reign. Enormous conflict would start once again, and very soon. It
wouldn’t be long at all before the Galactic Civil War began all over
again.
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