Star Wars 0027 - Part IX - Gathering of the Jedi
Randall J. Morrison
A long time ago, in a galaxy
far,
far away . . .
Star Wars 0027
Part IX
Gathering of the Jedi
The Commonwealth of Rebel Dominion
0027 is at the peak of its galactic popularity. Citizens have been won
over against Phadrax Monovial’s Interstellar Sith Allegiance and Jedi
Knight Kenneth Harlo has been trained to defend Planet Castleguard I in a
predicted attack by the Interstellar Sith Allegiance .
At the Battle of Hurcha, the ISA commenced an all-out attack force
against Castleguard in a valiant effort to destroy the Rebel Dominion for
good. The Super Star Destroyer House of Lords was destroyed in the
battle and Monovial’s allegiance suffered a great defeat.
With Castleguard still standing tall, Phadrax Monovial plans a new
invasion with the help of his most trusted allies, Sabreeth and Zethro
Molt. An invasion of the Rebel Space Station that could end them, and his
rival, Dominic Artemius, for all of the galaxy’s historical eternity. . .
Phadrax
Monovial paced back and forth along the dark metal floor of his chamber.
He was waiting patiently for Sabreeth to return to him with his requested
Sith Lords. Moments ago, Monovial sent his faithful guard to bring before
him two of the STAFF’s exceptional students: Zethro Molt and Stlantasmial
Dexxa. He had sent Dexxa on reconnaissance missions like this one before
and he had been successful in accomplishing them. Molt, however, was
merely chosen as a final option due to the lack of available Sith
Apprentices. Monovial had never thought too highly of Molt despite his
exceptional skill. His species was his main problem; Barabels were known
to be touchy and always wanted their way. This time, that would not be
the case, though. Should he disobey, he would be destroyed.
The
chamber doors at the foot of the tall corridor slid open, revealing
Sabreeth and two of the requested Sith companions following closely
behind him. Monovial turned to face them, his black cloak draped neatly
over his tall body. Staring up at Dexxa and Molt, he could immediately
see their fear as they blankly glared at his warped eyes. Sabreeth walked
ahead of the two dark warriors and assumed his position behind the Sith
lord.
Dexxa
approached him first, “Lord Monovial, if it is I who has done a wrong
deed, I apologize with my permission to do away with me as you wish,” he
said. Zethro Molt stood back and said nothing. It was clear that Monovial
frightened the Barabel.
“Dexxa, as
my apprentice for five years, I wish not to dispose of your worthy life,”
replied Monovial. “What you are both here for, is a personal assignment
from me to maintain our colonization efforts.” Dexxa arose from his
knees. Once he had been called down, he thought Monovial had discovered
his flaw in the Battle of Hurcha’s military construction which led to the
failed attempt at taking out Planet Castleguard I and the loss of an
important capital ship.
Sabreeth
stepped forward to face the two dark Jedi. They both knew that Sabreeth
was dangerous, and obviously powerful. Phadrax Monovial, after all,
accepted only the best to protect him day and night. “The details of your
mission are as follows: you are to be sent to the ColoPlant on Dantooine
where citizens have supposedly contacted the Rebel Dominion and pleaded
for assistance. We are unsure as to if the Rebels are going to enter the
plant, but you will be sent there to find out. Defend the area at all
costs. Dantooine is a mighty large population to lose power over.”
Monovial
returned to the conversation, “Upon returning, you will be explained the
new plan we have to overthrow Planet Castleguard I. Should you fail this
mission, your participation in the end of the Rebel Dominion will not be
witnessed through your living eyes.” A shiver traveled up and down the
spine of Zethro Molt, as he reluctantly nodded and turned out of the
room, followed by Dexxa.
After the
two guests left, Phadrax removed the hood portion of his cloak and sat in
the comfortable, leather chair he had placed in his chamber. He preferred
this STAFF building to all the other Star Destroyers he had boarded
before and it was most certainly better than the low-class escort
shuttles. Turning his head to Sabreeth, he could see confusion in his
eyes. “Wondering about the future, are you, Sabreeth?” he asked, assuming
that Sabreeth would comprehend that he was referring to another trip to
Castleguard.
“Yes,
Master,” he replied. Sabreeth usually attempted to keep his responses to
Monovial brief and simple. Often complexity, although understandable,
could disappoint the Sith Master.
“Seeing as you are curious now, I might as well begin,” said Monovial.
“In roughly ninety days, we will pillage Planet Castleguard I. As strange
as such an encounter may sound, we will come out successfully, Sabreeth.
Zethro Molt and I worked out a plan years ago that I have decided to call
back into action.” The look in Sabreeth’s eyes was amazingly twisted and
he was obviously still confused. “I am ordering you to gather thirty-five
of your Sith Lords from STAFF, along with forty of your best Sith
Apprentices. We will gather them all into the Expression Room and explain
them the details of this mission.”
Sabreeth
was almost getting a vision of what Monovial had planned. “Unfortunately,
Master, I can hardly deliver the information to men, if I, myself, do not
know the mission’s details,” he said, almost jokingly.
“Learn
patience, my apprentice. You are powerful, but try to get in the middle
of things much quicker than necessary,” replied Monovial. “Dropping out
of hyperspace just short of Castleguard, we will ambush the station’s
starfighter defenses with my TIEs. While that force is held off, an
Assault Transport will be escorted to the station’s central control
platform, carrying our Jedi. Not to mention you and I.”
Sabreeth
was very smart and quickly caught on to things as they were explained to
him. His master’s plans all seemed to hit him at once. “Then we take
control of the space station! You’re right, master! There is no way that
any number of the Rebel’s inside forces could take on seventy-seven Sith.
Which means“
“Which
means that once we have control of the station, we have control of the
Dominion and therefore have control of whatever platform the Jedi Council
rests upon. With our control over gate hangars, no one will be able to
escape,” continued Monovial. “Gather your warriors, Sabreeth. Run them
through some sort of qualification test to evaluate their individual
talents.” Sabreeth said nothing and went straight back to the main gym to
begin his work. This mission, Monovial thought, could be over
before I originally intended.
* * * *
The flashy
holographic image of a Cygnus Spaceworks XG-1 Assault Gunboat glared at
the wide-pupils of Billy Cygnus. “We have captured a Gunboat for your
use, so you can pass onto the ColoPlant’s landing platforms. The Imperial
code should check out. The ISA may have changed starships, but
they don’t have the authority to change access codes,” spoke the
voice of General Newace10. “You and Commander Harlo will be finding a way
into the material reactor core of the plant, and disabling the building’s
electronic systems with Mini-Proton Torpedoes.”
Cygnus
yawned obnoxiously and then nodded to a fake sleep, “Yes I understand,
sir. Blow stuff up, yep, yep, kill,” he said in the middle of an arrogant
snore.
“This is
an important mission, Major,” said the General. “If you don’t take it
seriously, I will have to throw you off the project.”
Cygnus
raised his head, “Oh c’mon, General. Who else in this fleet can fly a
Gunboat as convincingly as I can?!” replied Cygnus, rather
angrily. However, he knew that Newace10 wouldn’t have the authority to
throw him off the mission without canceling the whole project.
Harlo
spoke up, “He’s right, General. If we don’t go through a proper Gunboat
landing cycle, they’ll know we’re a bunch of frauds. All ColoPlants have
procedure analysts behind the scenes that watch this sort of stuff.” For
once, Harlo spoke in defense of Cygnus. As friendly as they were, petty
remarks that denounced each other were commonplace in their obscure
relationship.
“One thing
is for sure, Commander,” said Newace10, “If you don’t get out of here
soon, the ISA will run down the leaks in Dantooine’s ‘loyal’ Imperial
citizens.” Quickly, Cygnus stood up and saluted the General, just to sit
back down and start to sleep in his briefing room chair again.
Harlo was
starting to get impatient himself. “Get up, Cyggie Boy,” he said, “It’s
time to go to school.”
* * * *
The cold
morning air filled the lungs of Zethro Molt as he stood on the upper
balcony of ColoPlant 166. Moments ago he heard Dexxa call for him on the
Flight Deck through his comlink. He was, however, enjoying the air for a
few extra minutes. Stepping down from the balcony, he lost the peace he
had moments ago. A peace which he had not felt since a long time ago. It
was behind him now, and his focus was to get to the Flight Control Deck.
Molt stepped into the sliding doors of a black elevator and selected
Floor Eight.
At the
foot of the elevator, Dexxa was waiting for him. “We’re monitoring an
Assault Gunboat that just dropped out of lightspeed and seems to be
heading towards here. I need you to help with some of the ship’s Imperial
code. Translate it for us, Zethro,” ordered Dexxa. Molt blankly stared at
him for a moment, wondering what made Dexxa think he was of higher rank
than himself. Zethro Molt was unofficially dubbed as third-in-command and
Stlantasmial Dexxa was just another Sith Lord under the STAFF’s training.
Those rumors about his training under the instruction of Phadrax Monovial
himself couldn’t have possibly been true due to the master’s busy
schedule.
Molt
looked down on the code screen at the mess of symbols and awkward sounds
blaring out of the speakers. He wasn’t born knowing this language, but as
a Freelance agent for the Republic many years ago, he had been used to
determine these code translations. Zethro sat at the keypad beside the
code input screen and began punching in a key sequence. Shortly after his
typings, the rough translation of the Gunboat’s transmission came through
on the opposing screen:
- Assault Gunboat Mu 4 requesting permission to land at Base Platform
2-4. Imperial Access Coded to Date0136-0421-8880-5461-456-22-0. Cargo
HoldWeapons, Technical Development: Approx. 4¾ tanker crates in size.
Spec. DestinationForerunner Weaponry Development 1-1.
“That
checks out, sir,” said one of the flight officers to Dexxa. Zethro Molt
abruptly stood up, proud of his minor accomplishment at the translation
handling. Through the bubbled window of floor eight, you could see
Platform 2-4 and the Assault Gunboat that was going to be landing on it
just coming into the atmosphere.
“That
could be our target, Molt,” said Dexxa, “This ColoPlant hasn’t called for
the order of any Technical Weaponry advancing stocks for weeks.” The
Gunboat eased down on to the platform and the engine smoke exerted into
the atmosphere of Dantooine. Just as the landing gear touched down, the
two front indicator lights flashed three times. That was a patented Billy
Cygnus landing and Dexxa knew it. “Send two escorts out to greet him,
Lieutenant Gannov,” said Dexxa, smiling deviously, “Oh, and make sure
they’re rookies. We don’t want anyone important getting killed.”
* * * *
“This
wasn’t the design I was expecting, Harlo,” said Billy Cygnus, unsure if
this mission to aid the Dantooine residents was going to be
successful.
“You’re
right,” said Harlo, “This isn’t your average ColoPlant. That means that
the main reactor might be upstairs or down. We’ll have to split up.”
Harlo said, clipping his lightsabre to his belt.
“If you
say so. But whatever happens, I’m taking upstairs,” said Cygnus, “Let’s
go, we’ve got escorts.” As he stood up, Cygnus adjusted the setting on
his blaster from stun to kill and hurriedly opened the bottom ramp to the
Gunboat. Harlo got out first and Cygnus followed.
A voice
from one of the escorts came shouting across the platform bridge, “Do you
need assistance in getting your cargo off your ship?” Harlo continued to
walk forward. As soon as he met up with them, he crossed his hands in
front of his chest and both men had the Force blasted into their bodies
and lost control. Simultaneously, both escorts fell over the bridge and
down to the base of the ColoPlant. A faint scream was heard as Harlo
signaled for Cygnus to start running.
“Well now
they know we’re here,” said Cygnus as he caught up to Harlo.
Harlo
smiled, “You think blasting them off the edge would’ve made any
difference?” Doors from the platforms access route started to open. Harlo
jumped from the bridge to grab a ladder on the side of the building and
began to slide down it. Immediately Cygnus drew his blaster and found
cover around the nearby wall. It wasn’t much but it would hold for now.
He could see plenty of red blaster bolts fly by him and some that
scorched the wall as a squadron of ground warfare officers came out from
the doors. Cygnus rolled sideways into the blaster fire and found the
other side of the bridge. He threw himself underneath and held on to one
of the support bars. Swinging himself from bar to bar, the sound of
blaster fire decreased greatly. The head of an officer poked under the
bridge and saw Cygnus, but before he could signal the others, the nose of
a blaster pressed against his forehead.
“Tell your
friends that you don’t see anything,” Cygnus said menacingly. He was
hanging upside down, but still managed to threaten the officer’s life.
“Tell them,” he whispered.
The
officer swallowed and reluctantly spoke up, “I don’t see anything!” he
yelled to his fellow officers, “He’s gone!” Cygnus knew he couldn’t hold
him like this forever. It wouldn’t be long before someone was curious as
to why he had his head under the bridge for so long.
Swiftly, the officer grabbed a remote charge from his belt and attached
it to one of the support bars near Cygnus’ leg. Cygnus swung down and
supported his weight with one arm on a bar as a blaster bolt met the eye
of the officer, who fell the eight stories to the ground. Glancing at the
remote explosive, Cygnus holstered his blaster and quickly began climbing
back to the platform along the bottom of the bridge. It wasn’t long
before he felt the heat of an explosion along his back. A section of the
bridge had been taken out and started swinging downwards. Cygnus hung on
for his life and watched as the remaining troops from the plant fell off
the broken portion of the bridge, frantically trying to hit him with
random shots as they fell. The bridge was now in a vertical position and
had stopped swinging downwards.
“Good
effort, soldier,” Cygnus said aloud, “But just because you spare your own
life to save your friends, doesn’t mean I don’t still win.”
* * * *
Harlo
stood on the ledge of floor two’s roof structure. The wind was cold and
it would be difficult to keep in balance if he didn’t have the Force by
his side. Looking down, he could see a busy array of Imperial Flight
Officers and shock troops slowly walking in the main entrance. He wished
it were that easy for him, that way he wouldn’t have to find an alternate
entrance to work to the basement by. Along the ledge, there were a couple
of emergency exit doors, but even so, they could only be opened from the
inside. What about an emergency entrance?, he thought to himself.
Most of
the ColoPlants he had been to had their main reactor in the basement, but
this is the only one he wasn’t sure of. It was just a hunch, but Cygnus
might actually get a shot at taking out this plant. Turning the corner of
the ledge, Harlo saw a greenhouse dome about ten feet above him. If he
could somehow get up there, he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone seeing
him. They were built for growing plants and herbs that the planet itself
couldn’t support. They weren’t monitored by anyone and was an easy
entrance. Except for the fact of getting up there.
He moved
to the part of the ledge that was underneath the dome. Pieces of rubber
tubing were underneath, leading into the dome. Harlo assumed they were
the pipes that expelled humid air and water vapor into the dome. The idea
of utilizing that tube as a climbing tool came to him rather quickly as
one of his hands left the wall of the ColoPlant to unhook his lightsabre.
He hoped that the guards from the outside of the main floor wouldn’t here
the weapon’s ignition.
As a
precaution, Harlo used a technique to distract the guards down below and
send them searching after a noise that was never really made. The two
door guards left their posts in search of the sound that they had
supposedly heard. Just then, Harlo pressed on the switch and ignited his
Jedi weapon. The white blade of energy shimmered against the dark wall of
the ColoPlant. He closed his eyes and started to concentrate on his
lightsabre, holding out his hand towards the piping above him. The handle
came out of his hand and slowly guided itself towards the dome. With a
swift movement, the end of the tubing split at the top and without
warning, Harlo’s lightsabre came tumbling down. He opened his eyes and
quickly reached out with the force and retrieved his lightsabre from
landing on the ground far below.
He hooked
his weapon back on to his belt and jumped to grab the dangling piece of
tubing. Fortunately, it was strong enough to support his own weight, but
difficult to climb. As he neared the top, he drew his lightsabre again
and diced through the bottom of the dome’s metal floor, creating a hole
big enough for him to climb through.
Reaching
the surface of the dome, Harlo could feel the humidity in the room. The
temperature change was nice for a while, compared to the cold wind
outside, but then it became too hot and he found himself removing his
flight jacket.
The door
to the greenhouse dome was barely visible through the water vapor in the
air, but Harlo found his way there and without planning, knocked on the
door. He wasn’t sure who would answer his call, but hopefully, it
wouldn’t be something he couldn’t handle.
* * * *
Zethro
Molt stood behind a distraught Dexxa as he stared at the bridge wreckage
on Platform 2-4. “Dexxa, there were two of them. This one has obviously
been taken care of, now we have to focus on finding the other one.
Standing around here all day won’t please Master Monovial,” said Zethro,
confident that he knew better than Dexxa did.
“He’s
still alive, Molt!” shouted Dexxa, “That was Major Billy Cygnus and he’s
no quitter. I’ve seen him take on breaches of twenty or thirty
stormtroopers and come out alive. I can bet you a thousand credits that
that man is still on this bridge!”
Although
he wanted to disagree, Dexxa wasn’t a person to lie, and Molt wasn’t one
to doubt his friends. “If you wish, I will scan this bridge along with a
squadron of stormtroopers and find him,” said Zethro, not wanting to
bring out the anger in Dexxa again.
“You do
that, Molt. I’ll take care of Harlo.”
“Who’s
Harlo? The other officer who was with him?”
“He’s not
just another officer, Molt. He’s a Jedi,” said Dexxa. And with that he
turned and left the bridge. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Molt
pull out his comlink, presumably to call for a scanning crew.
Judging by
some of the previous ColoPlant invasions, the more destructive of the two
officers would travel to the reactor core and disable the electronics on
the building. Dexxa knew that Harlo, with his lightsabre, could easily
destroy a reactor in a period of mere seconds. And since the Rebel
Dominion assumed that the main reactor was in the basement like the
standard ColoPlant, Harlo was probably headed downstairs.
Dexxa
grabbed an elevator and pressed the keypad for the basement. With a
somewhat pleasant ring of the elevator bell, the doors to the basement
slid open. Two guards waited at the foot of the elevator. “Show us your
identification and access card please?” one said.
“I don’t
have time for you,” said Dexxa, effortlessly crushing the throats of the
two officers with the Force and proceeding into the basement. Making his
way down a small corridor, he met up with the power source commander,
Captain Khian Froak.
“Stlantasmial
Dexxa,” said Froak. “Long time no see.”
“Unless
you consider three hours a long time, Captain, I suggest you catch your
memory before it runs away on you,” replied Dexxa. Froak had greeted
Dexxa briefly at the front gate when he and Zethro Molt arrived at the
ColoPlant. “How many men have you got working in the reactor core,
Captain?”
Froak
moved his lips without sound and began counting in his head,
“Twenty-five. But only eight on the reactor itself. They work in shifts.
The fuel burning gets too hot for the workers so we switch off every
couple of hours.”
“Well,
tell them to grab a desk, because I need your men to be evacuated out of
this basement. We have an intruder and he’s after the reactor,” said
Dexxa, making reference to Harlo in his mind.
Froak
looked puzzled. “But why would an intruder want to take out the
greenhouse power?” questioned Captain Froak.
“What do
you mean greenhouse power?”
“This
ColoPlant has seven greenhouse domes around it, growing herbs and spices
that can’t be grown naturally on Dantooine. The reactor here powers those
greenhouse domes,” said the Captain.
“You mean
this isn’t the main power source?”
“That’s
right. The ColoPlant’s electric reactor is on the roof. Mind you, the
intruder wouldn’t know that.”
“Exactly.
In that case, evacuate the area anyway. After the threat has been dealt
with, I will personally call your men back to work,” Dexxa said. A new
and sudden blood lust for Harlo swelled up in his stomach. All those
times in the combat training room he had lost time and time again, but
now it would be different. They weren’t playing with toy swords this
time.
* * * *
Beads of
sweat dropped down the eight stories from the forehead of Billy Cygnus as
he used up the last ounces of energy to pull his body back up to the
platform. He performed a weak side roll and hid behind the Gunboat he had
come in. Even from where he was, he could clearly hear the scanning crews
building an energy gate to cross to the platform.
After
catching his breath, Cygnus looked around, scrambling for ideas that
could get him out of this mess. Staring above him, he could see his own
reflection through the bottom of the Gunboat’s retracted wing. He hastily
ripped some of the reflective material off of the wing using the butt of
his gun to tear the metal. He stood the piece of metal up on its thin
side and set it about a metre to his right. He could now see the
reflection of the scanning crew, fastening a bridge beam receptor on to
the broken fragments. Judging by the reflection, there were five
stormtroopers along the back wall and about eight on the scanning crew.
Although he couldn’t quite tell, there was also a creature that resembled
a Barabel monitoring the activity. He decided that now, while they didn’t
expect it, he would make his move.
Cygnus
rolled on to his stomach under the ship’s hull and took aim at the beam
receptor and in three easy shots, he disabled the unborn energy bridge.
As difficult as it was, Cygnus was aiming and rolling back and forth
under the ship at the same time. Two of the members of the scanning crew
were shot down and three of the stormtroopers were coming dangerously
close to hitting him.
He jumped
on to the back engine and used the narrow part of the wing as some form
of cover. It was difficult to get a clear shot so Cygnus slid down the
Gunboat’s hull and landed hard on the platform in front of it. From here,
it was easy to take out the remaining offense as the stormtroopers
dropped to the ground and the remaining scanning crew members fled.
Just as he
was about to holster his blaster, Cygnus remembered one thing: the
Barabel! He turned to face him and just about fired when he noticed that
the creature had no defense or blaster anywhere on him. Your loss,
pal, Cygnus thought, and took fire. His blaster bolt soared through
the air at enormous speed and crossed the area of the broken bridge. The
bolt, coming directly at the creature’s chest, was stopped at the
ignition of a bright green blade of light that threw the blast right back
at Cygnus who evaded it just in time. A Lightsabre!, he thought,
What is a Jedi doing at a ColoPlant?!
When
Cygnus turned to face the creature again, he was gone. Puzzled by the
appearance of Zethro Molt at a small Imperial organization such as this,
he wondered about Harlo’s safety. Where there’s one Sith Lord, there’s
bound to be another, or so he believed. If this was true, Kenneth Harlo
could be in big trouble.
* * * *
Each of
the control officers held their hands behind their head, as told to. They
knew that anyone who had the bravery to march in to a room full of
blasters with nothing but a lightsabre had to be powerful, so they
weren’t taking any chances.
Harlo
looked around at his hostage officers and maintained his confident facial
expression, but had no idea what to do next. He needed to get to the
basement, but couldn’t just leave the officers here to report his coming.
What he needed was a restraint. “Do any of you officers carry comlinks?”
asked Harlo.
“We
operate many hours in a day from this communications control centre and
therefore do not require comlinks,” said one of the officers, whom Harlo
assumed was in command of the operation in this room.
“Good. All
of you, up against that wall.” Harlo pointed to the only empty area of
the room. The officers slowly walked to the wall with their hands held
visibly behind their heads. Before it even happened, Harlo saw it coming.
A Corporal recklessly drew his blaster pistol and fired a couple of shots
at Harlo. His inaccuracy killed one of his fellow officers and the other
blaster bolt bounced off the blade of Harlo’s lightsabre into the heart
of the man who fired it.
Soon all
was quiet again, and the remaining officers were even more frightened as
they moved up to the wall. Soon all they could hear was the smashing of
equipment and computer technology, all being destroyed by the hard
strikes of Harlo’s blade. All communication technology in the room was
destroyed. Harlo opened the door to a stairwell and smashed the door’s
controls from the outside, locking the officers in the room with no way
of communication. He found it to be more efficient than killing all of
them.
Harlo
jumped a good number of the stairs down to the basement. He activated the
door and stepped into the warm room, that usually meant the reactor was
here. Turning around one of the walls revealed that there was no one
manning the room. In the centre however, was a large blast furnace that
exerted the smell of burning fuel. If that was the reactor, it seemed
awfully small for a plant of this size.
Suddenly
he felt cold. The warmth from the burning gases depleted, leaving only a
cool, frightening atmosphere. He glanced around the room and
instinctively unhooked his lightsabre hilt from his belt. The windowless
room was unusually quiet and the only light given off was the light from
the flames in the reactor furnace. Only then did a new source of light
appear.
A
fluorescent red beam extended from the darkness in the back of the room
and made a hissing noise unmatchable to no other object than a Jedi’s
lightsabre. When the being who wielded the weapon stepped into the light,
the sharpest feeling Harlo had ever felt ran down his back and spread to
every bone in his body. DEXXA!
The
tiny amount of light given off by Dexxa’s lightsabre was enough to see a
power switch beside his enemy’s blade. Reaching out with the Force, Harlo
turned on the switch. Instantly, a barrage of dim lights blanketed the
room and lit the area much better than the furnace did. It was only then
that Harlo noticed his former friend’s expression of vengeance in his
eyes.
A quiet
blast of energy echoed throughout the room as Harlo ignited his
lightsabre, revealing a pure white blade that would do its best to spare
Dexxa’s life in the confrontation that would follow.
* * * *
“Are the
objectives understood?!” Sabreeth yelled over the microphone to his
gathering of seventy-five of his students.
“Yes,
sir!” came a loud scream of his pupils. He had waited some time for it to
happen, but after a few weeks planning and assembling, he finally
discussed the mission with his trainees at STAFF. Just days ago, Phadrax
Monovial had left the STAFF for the Star Destroyer Beheader to
colonize a planet that the fleet was having trouble taking over. Sabreeth
had wanted to assist in the colonization process at one point, but he
soon discovered that his place was here, among the Sith trainees.
He had
trained a number of fairly determined Jedi at the STAFF. However, his
personal instruction wasn’t always what led the Sith trainees to
determination. ‘The Eleven’, as he called them, were his primary
trainers. Many of the Eleven were his close friends until his role among
the Interstellar Sith Allegiance became too important to keep in touch on
a friendly basis. The most recent non-business get-together with one of
The Eleven was a small luncheon with the dwarf human Emasta Lo.
He hoped
that once a lot of this business calmed down, he would be able to spend
more quality time with old friends. It wasn’t that he didn’t see them
enough, because he saw most of the Eleven every day, training new
apprentices under the ways of the Sith.
He had
also been too busy to take on more of his true passion. He hadn’t built a
really good piece of technological device since his energy cards. He was
indeed a mastermind at mechanics and electronics and would probably
become a valuable asset to the ISA, if Monovial were to discover this
talent. However, he would rather have his mechanical genius put to
leisure time instead of using every ounce of his creativity on this
empire.
Thinking
of this, he decided to go to his special residential room in the STAFF
and look over his energy cards. He really hadn’t practiced enough with
them. The cabinet built upon the wall of his room was filled with
inventions from his past time. His original lightsabre, lethal
multi-purpose wrist bands and his energy cards were lined in the more
recent section of the cabinet. Reaching in with his right hand, Sabreeth
grabbed his two decks of forty-two energy cards each and took them over
to a targeting area of the gym he operated.
He placed
the decks in the pouch along the inside of his cloak. Four targets were
lined up along the wall he was aiming for. He stood five metres back and
lifted four energy cards from the pouch using the Force alone. Upon his
command, the cards activated and a beam of blue and white energy spun
around the outside of the item. Guiding them with the Force, being sure
they didn’t touch his hands, Sabreeth launched the cards in a straight
formation that split into groups of two, and then single cards. Each of
the energy cards smashed the four targets into impossibly small pieces.
Sabreeth drew the cards back with the Force and set up eight targets for
a challenge. Throughout the course of the evening, he intended to master
this art of his energy cards.
* * * *
Getting to
the roof of the ColoPlant wasn’t as difficult as Cygnus had originally
expected it to be. He had been armed and ready for combat as he reached
the top of the stairwell, only to discover that no one was there to greet
him. The main reactor area was completely free of guards and troops and
every other type of recruit they had in this place.
Cygnus
wasn’t complaining, but did miss out on the heat of combat that he
savored so very much. From the back of his weapons belt, Cygnus
unfastened five explosive timed charges to place on the main power
source. He kneeled down beside the reactor and removed the protective
band on the charge that revealed an extremely thick layer of conductive
glue. Cygnus carefully stuck the charge on the inside of the reactor’s
furnace.
Inserting
a electric cord attachment into the base of the charge, he unfastened the
band of the second explosive. Before attaching it, Cygnus connected the
electric cord to each of the charges and connected the last piece to a
timer, which he would set afterwards.
He hoped that the charges would explode synchronized this time. The last
time he connected charges like this, there were thousands of little
errors that ended up costing the Rebel Dominion three-hundred thousand
credits. Oops.
Cygnus
fastened the final charge at the piping and electric cables that fed the
power to the rest of the ColoPlant. He double-checked his connection to
make sure this would be on cue. It seemed okay and there wasn’t much to
lose anyway. He knelt down to the timer pad of numbers that he had been
trying to get to for the past twenty minutes of setup. He now had to
comprehend how much time he should set it for. It would depend on how
long it would take for him to re-group with Harlo.
Cygnus
looked down over the building from the roof just as he grabbed the
comlink to contact Harlo, find out where he was. He didn’t even press the
‘Talk’ button when he saw that at the bottom of the ColoPlant was a small
field of grey, dead grass, highlighted by the energy blades of Harlo’s
lightsabre and a similar red beam clashing against it.
Immediately,
Cygnus knew it was Dexxa down there and he had to help Harlo. He bent
down to the timer again and quickly set it for twenty-five minutes. It
wasn’t nearly enough time, but he always liked a challenge.
* * * *
Both of
the Jedi skipped back, the hum of their energy blades clawing at each
other with the feeling of hatred beaming between them. Both Dexxa and
Harlo began moving in a sideways strafe that started into a tedious
circular pattern. “You know you can’t kill me, Dexxa,” said Harlo, “Deep
down, there’s something that tells you to spare my life.” Harlo and
Cygnus had both been suspicious for quite some time about Dexxa’s true
belonging. Both of them believed that Dexxa was nowhere near pure evil
and didn’t belong on the dark side. He had just found it easier.
“You’re
wrong, old friend,” replied Dexxa, “I’m ready, willing and able.” With
that notion, Dexxa made a quick jumping charge at Harlo’s shoulder. His
white blade spun with his body as a simple cross-blade defense saved his
defeat. Harlo struck down towards Dexxa’s hip, only to be blocked by a
glowing red blade. Dexxa’s strike pushed Harlo’s lightsabre up high above
his head, giving Dexxa ample amount of opportunity to take out Harlo at
the stomach, but he didn’t.
“Right
there, Dexxa,” said Harlo, noticing his foe’s flaw, “You had me right
there and you backed off instead of killing me. Just like you could’ve
had me back in the training room on Castleguard that day. You didn’t have
to open up the doors and run away. You could’ve killed me right then and
there, and there would’ve been nothing anyone could’ve done about it. But
you ran away because you can’t do it, Dexxa. It isn’t you!” Harlo knew
that Dexxa was starting to tremble, almost doubting his power with the
dark side of the Force. “Listen to me, Dexxa! For a great many years of
your life, you have had a happy outlook on absolutely everything. Smoking
your pipes and having a laugh over some trivial argument with Convurse.
Remember that? Do you remember enjoying life?” They had continued their
circle strafing pattern around each other. “What happened to the old
Dexxa? Everybody wants you back,” Harlo said very calmly. “Even
you.”
Dexxa
stepped back once more and turned the switch of his lightsabre off.
“You,” he said, still staring at the hilt of his lightsabre. “You’re
right, Harlo,” Billy Cygnus appeared around the corner of a wall about
ten metres behind Dexxa. Harlo gave Cygnus a ‘thumbs up’ and he holstered
his blaster. Harlo withdrew his lightsabre and hooked it on to his belt.
Slowly
Harlo and Dexxa stepped closer to each other. Harlo extended his hand to
show a truce among a good old fashioned handshake. Dexxa smiled and
extended his hand as well. Cygnus looked at the confusion that was
happening, as he spotted Dexxa’s other hand, hidden behind his back
holding his lightsabre with his finger upon the switch!
In an
effort to save the life of Harlo before disaster occurred, Cygnus broke
the blaster from his holster and swiftly opened fire as he pulled the
trigger on Dexxa. As they were about to shake hands, the bolt coming from
Cygnus’ weapon nailed Dexxa in the back of the head. Harlo looked up . .
.shocked at Cygnus’ actions.
Seconds
later, an explosion from the top of the ColoPlant was heard as the
charges were set off to destroy the building. Already, debris from the
top was starting to crash down near Harlo and Cygnus. Dexxa’s body lie
motionless in the grey grass, with his lightsabre still firmly in hand.
Cygnus began to run. “Harlo, let’s get outta here!” he screamed, pieces
of the building’s wreckage flying everywhere. Harlo, with no time to
mourn, followed Cygnus to a shuttle that was perched near the building’s
entrance. Hastily, Cygnus started up the engine to the shuttle and bolted
out of the planet’s atmosphere at full speed. They would have to have a
talk on the way back to Planet Castleguard I. What Happened?,
Harlo thought, Why did Dexxa have to die? And why did we leave him
there?. . . alone?
* * * *
Row upon
row of Jedi Knights lined the sides of the Jedi Council entrance bridge.
Surrounded by the botanical garden of exotic trees and the two waterfalls
among the entrance, the music known as the Tribute of Knights echoed
around the room. Many of the Jedi who knew him well had tears slowly flow
from their eyes and drip onto the crystal floor of the bridge. Dominic
Artemius stood in the centre of the plus-shaped bridge and calmly
listened to the music, while Harlo, behind him, fought back the urge to
cry.
Even
Cygnus, who had never approached the Jedi Council before, attended this
ceremony for Jedi Knight, Stlantasmial Dexxa. He was a most excellent
friend to everyone and had a good feel for life. Everyone was wise not to
blame Cygnus for his death, because indeed he was only looking out for
the life of Harlo, who was not, unfortunately, in any danger at the time.
Dexxa was merely holding his lightsabre behind his back in a fashion that
told Cygnus that his truce was a fake. The incident wasn’t ever explained
in much greater detail than this but the tribute to Dexxa was not at all
an investigation.
Many of
the Jedi made speeches about Dexxa. Most were very funny and brought back
memories of Dexxa’s good life. Cygnus spoke of Dexxa’s hilarious
arguments with Lieutenant Convurse over which is the better brand name of
pipes to smoke. However, Harlo delivered a very emotional speech about
what he was losing when he lost Dexxa.
The grief
of the loss of Stlantasmial Dexxa carried into the few following days
after, and no real order was established, and not everyone was forced to
be put to work. It was a mourning period for Dexxa, who would be
immortalized in the form of the Rebel Dominion’s gold plaque which would
be mounted on a statue of him. This statue would be mounted in the Jedi
Council entrance area beside the waterfall.
* * * *
“Master, I
have some sad news to deliver to you,” said Sabreeth, approaching
Monovial as he exited the shuttle and was escorted to his chambers on the
STAFF. “Your recent apprentice, Stlantasmial Dexxa, was killed during
your three-week absence from here, master.” Sabreeth watched for an
expression to change on Monovial’s face, but it didn’t. Perhaps he knew
already, through the Force.
“Yes,
well. No matter. He is a thing of the past and no longer belongs in my
frame of mind, Sabreeth,” Monovial said remorselessly. “How is the
planned operation going?”
Sabreeth
was disappointed in Monovial’s apparent lack of honor, “Have you no honor
at all, Master . . .”
“As I
said, Sabreeth, Dexxa is a thing of the past. I would like my update
please. Has Zethro Molt returned yet?” he asked, again without an emotion
to be seen. Sabreeth said no more and brushed it off.
“Molt
returned a week ago, Master. He returned with the news of“
“I will
hear no more of Dexxa. The invasion on Castleguard can be done without
him. We must proceed. I will give an order to assemble the strike force
in two days. Now bring me Zethro“
The doors
opened, “I’m here, Master,” interrupted the Barabel. Sabreeth left the
room in a rage to take his anger out on a number of targets using his
newly mastered energy cards.
“Zethro,
you did a fine job of protecting the ColoPlant,” said Monovial. Molt
wasn’t sure why. The mission had failed and the ColoPlant was destroyed.
Dantooine was now under the control of the Rebel Dominion.
“I’m not
sure what you mean, master,” replied Molt, hoping that his comment
wouldn’t get him killed.
Monovial
smiled, “You did a fine job, Zethro. Dexxa did not.” Molt still didn’t
quite understand. Perhaps Monovial had sensed something that Zethro had
not in Dexxa. He didn’t know the details of Dexxa’s death, but if it
involved betrayal to the Sith, that could be the reason for Monovial’s
comments. And if Monovial was wrong, Molt wasn’t about to let his own
life be put in danger because of a mere mistake on his master’s
part.
“Thank
you, master,” Zethro replied. The conversation went no further than that
and Molt left the chamber, for Monovial wished to have peace for a
moment’s rest.
* * * *
“That was
the guy you were talking about,” said Cygnus. He sat at a table across
from Timothy Altto who had been patiently listening to the details of
Cygnus’ mission. When the Barabel Jedi came up to topic, Altto was
immediately interested.
“Trust
me,” replied Altto, “there is only one Barabel Jedi in the galaxy, and
that Jedi is Zethro Molt.” Altto clenched his fists in anger, remembering
Molt hovering over the body of his wife. He vowed revenge since that day
a couple years back. He would do whatever it takes to kill Zethro Molt.
“Do me a favor, will ya?”
“Sure,
whatever you like.”
“If you
ever get the opportunity to kill Zethro Molt, save him for me,” said
Altto. He probably didn’t have to tell Cygnus again. After his wife’s
death, he told the entire fleet to spare the life of Molt, just so he
could exact revenge upon him. This is partially the reason why he began
wielding a lightsabre. Not as a Jedi, but as a soldier. If he ever ran
into Molt, he would be sure to inflict the same immortal wound upon him
as Zethro did to his wife.
A voice
came blasting through the speaker system of this starfighter platform
from the main control sector, “Sensors detect hostile craft, all pilots,
report to your craft. All pilots, report to your craft.”
“I don’t
know about you,” said Cygnus, “but to me, hostile craft means: we get to
blow stuff up.”
“To me it
means: why can’t I ever finish my lunch?”
As the
announcement ordered all kinds of pilots in the cafeteria stood up to get
into their flight suits. It was time for a
dogfight.
The hangar
gates began to open as certain craft were waved out to an incoming fleet
of the ISA’s TIE Fighters. In sequence, the Y-Wings, X-Wings, B-Wings,
A-Wings and then specialty craft were ordered out of the hangar. Outside
of Castleguard was a Star Destroyer that recently dropped out of
lightspeed and was already dishing out TIEs.
B-Wings,
as usual, were assigned to take out the advanced fighters that the Star
Destroyer gave as a gift. Fortunately, the other fighter groups had some
assistance from the B-Wings, because so far no advanced fighters had been
released. Just hoards of TIE Fighters that showed up as stars on radar.
It was like hell, without the gravity.
* * * *
The
Dreadnaught that escorted the Assault Transport was now breaking off and
heading to it’s hyperspace point. The Modified Assault Transport Carrier
Ghost 1 was about to secretly board the hangar of the
Castleguard’s main central control platform base. Their modified jamming
beam disables the platform’s sensors from picking them up, and then they
simply float in.
The catch
is that on board the transport are 77 warriors trained in the ways of the
Sith. Phadrax Monovial was preparing his squadron to move into the base
and take out all Rebel officers and pull nearly immediate control away
from the Dominion.
The
transport moved closer and closer to the hangar doors. All power except
engine power was sent to the jamming beam, so not even the highest
quality of sensors could get through. As the Transport entered the
hangar, many Rebel ground warfare officers awaited at the foot of the
back ramp to the Transport, to see what would emerge. A good number of
officers were there, but as the ramp began to open, they soon realized
their fate.
All troops
stood on stand-by with their blasters held in an attack position as
shadows began to move down the ramp. Moving down the ramp were the
trainees of Phadrax Monovial and his adversary Sabreeth.
“Fire!”
shouted the officers’ leader. Immediately a stream of twenty blaster
bolts traveled towards the two Sith. Sabreeth stepped in front of
Monovial, drawing one end of his lightsabre, deflecting everyone of those
blaster bolts right back at them. In a matter of seconds, all of the
officers were neutralized.
As
Monovial and Sabreeth reached the bottom of the ramp, they signaled for
the rest of the seventy-five Sith to follow them. “Our prime target is
the main central control board. Most of us will split up now and take out
any hostile Rebels,” ordered Monovial, “We will re-group after we have
taken control at Hangar One so we can remove the Dominion’s valuable
starfighter resources unit. Now go!” The Sith spread into a finely tuned
pattern. Some ignited their lightsabres and the spectacle was quite
extravagant as more and more Rebel warfare officers showed up in the
small hangar.
Monovial
and Sabreeth led a team of thirty Sith Lords into the control board room.
Before they entered the main area of the room, they could already here
the sounds of an intruder alert. This meant they would have to work fast.
“Sabreeth,”
stated Monovial, “if you please.” Although the team of Jedi were
confused, Sabreeth knew exactly what to do. Grabbing hold of the Force,
Sabreeth raised a deck of more than one hundred of his energy cards from
the sash in his cloak. All the cards were activated and hovered just near
his hand, waiting to be guided. With his free hand, Sabreeth removed his
cloak.
Turning
the corner to the room, Sabreeth made a short run to the centre and
pulled a fast side aerial onto the main control board, with the energy
cards still hovering near his hands. Pivoting on each of his feet,
Sabreeth spun his body around the entire room, arms extended. The energy
cards began bolting out of his hands. Some shattering the ribcages of the
surprised officers, and some cutting their throats neatly until the sheer
loss of blood killed them.
Sabreeth
was sure to guide the cards carefully with the Force, as to not damage
any of the equipment Monovial might need. In an effort to offer help, the
Sith Lords turned the corner as well, lightsabres ignited. They came as
an attack force to discover nothing but Sabreeth on one knee with a deck
of energy cards hovering above the palm of his hand, and the dead or
dying bodies of Rebel officers scattered everywhere around the room.
Sabreeth alone, with nothing but the power of the Force to guide his
cards had taken out over eighty Rebel control officers in less than
forty-five seconds.
“Close all
starfighter hangars,” said Monovial. “We are in control now!”
* * * *
Harlo’s
fortunate ability to manipulate the Force is what saved him from getting
annihilated by these flying cards. Many would come close to hitting him,
but never could quite touch him as he kept focus.
But now it
was disastrous. The Rebel control unit was under the power of Phadrax
Monovial now, and Harlo knew he had to get out before they discovered him
there. There was only one single place for him to go. And that place was
the Jedi Council.
Fortunately,
Monovial didn’t know that the Jedi Council was on the same platform base
as the central processing control unit. Harlo increased his speed with
the Force as much as he could without losing control and quickly made it
to the entrance of the Jedi Council.
Opening
the wide doors, Harlo could see nothing but things of beauty and peace.
The bridge that led to the Council chamber was constructed of a pure
crystalline material. You had the option of walking straight to the Jedi
Council, or utilizing the intersection on the bridge to admire the
natural scenario of trees, plants and the waterfalls that surround the
entrance.
Being in
such a hurry, Harlo ran up the bridge straight to the door of the Jedi
Council. It opened shortly before he reached it, allowing him just enough
time to maintain his speed without having to stop for the door.
“What can
we do for you, Harlo?” said a voice to the left of him. Turning he saw
Celes Taleva was the one who asked him of this question. Harlo stood
there in the tranquillity of the room for a brief moment then snapped
back to reality.
“We need
help!” Harlo shouted frantically.
“Control
yourself, Harlo,” said Luke Skywalker, sitting in the chair across from
where he was standing.
A voice
from behind him spoke up, “Calm yourself down, and tell us what we need
to know.” The voice was from the wookiee Jedi Master, Advocalacca. His
broken speech of Basic was muffled because of his species’ undeveloped
vocal chords.
Harlo took
a deep breath and thought about what he was going to say.
“Monovial,” he said closing his eyes and recalling what he saw. “Monovial
boarded Castleguard with a bunch of his Sith buddies. All the control
officers, they’re all dead. I was lucky to pull out alive.”
Gormacs
Gormeesh, the Quarren Jedi Master, stood up. “Are you certain?” he
questioned. And without hesitation, Harlo delivered an assuring nod.
“Then we must help the Dominion.”
Dominic
Artemius stood up, “I will call out a team of fifty or so trainees from
the Jedi Academy Platform to assist us against the Sith. With Antioch Fi
absent, we’ll need more help than one might think.” Harlo looked
confused.
“Where is
Antioch, master?”
“He just
told everyone that he was taking a break for awhile. No other reasons
that we know of. He’s just gone,” Artemius replied.
“Bad
timing, huh?”
“Yes, yes
it was.”
Advocalacca
stood up as well. “I will come with you, Dominic. To be safe, I request
the aid of two of our Council members.” Gormeesh remained standing,
signaling that he would be willing to help, then Kabel Willard, dwarf
human offered his help.
“Good,”
said Artemius, “now where are they now, Harlo?”
Harlo put
his hand to his forehead and started to think. “If they just took out the
main power core, that means that by standard procedure they will move to
our resources. If I were to make an accurate guess, I would say they will
be going to Hangar 1 shortly. Trying to destroy the starfighters, I
presume.”
“We will
have to salvage all that we can from the hangar, and nothing must get
destroyed,” spoke the Quarren.
“Nothing
will get destroyed,” Harlo said, “the hangars are empty. But Monovial
doesn’t know that.”
Advocalacca
spoke up again, “In that case, they will be ambushed by our team. Call up
the Jedi from the Training Platform, Dominic, we’re going to need
them.”
* * * *
“Red Four,
this is Blue Leader,” spoke a voice through Corporal Cadett’s B-Wing
communications port. “Escort the remaining ports of your squadron back to
base. It’s an ambush.”
“Acknowledged,”
said Cadett, changing his Comm. Frequency to all fighters. “All wings
report back to base. It’s an ambush, these TIEs are endless. I repeat,
it’s an ambush head back to base.” Cadett maneuvered his starfighter back
away from the Star Destroyer and put full power to shields just so he
could survive the gun turrets from the carrier ship.
To his
left, he saw three TIE Fighters approaching his rear. They swerved
upwards and flipped their ships around to his back. Cadett hoped that his
increase in shield strength would protect him from those TIEs.
Unfortunately, they had obviously put all their power to laser cannons
because the B-Wing’s shield strength wasn’t holding up as well as he had
planned.
Touching
the button for a rear sensor, one of the TIEs showed up on his targeting
computer. “Red Nine, designate my target for your attack run. I have no
power in cannons to defend myself.” Cadett could see his group wingman
coming in from the left, ready to take out the TIEs. Just then a swarm of
TIE Interceptors swooped in out of nowhere and destroyed Red Nine. Cadett
was in trouble now.
He had one
option left. One warhead remained in his fighter from his attack run on
the Star Destroyer. Judging by his targeting computer, the TIEs were
flying in a Morriz Relief flight pattern. Meaning that they were in
control by the B-Wing’s actions and were flying very close together as
they blasted away at the engines.
Cadett
switched his weapons to his last concussion missile and swiftly pulled up
before the TIE scanners could pick up anything. Setting his throttle as
high as it could go with the decrease in engine power, the B-Wing ended
up behind the three TIEs who were just starting to turn around. Cadett
cut the throttle to no power.
The three TIEs, still flying in close together, made their turn around
about thirty metres away from Cadett’s B-Wing. The black face of the
enemy starfighters was clearly visible from the cockpit now, and the
crosshair for his warheads were waiting to be put to use.
Cadett was
sweating as the TIEs began coming straight for him and firing at the
B-Wing’s hull. Just before the Fighters had to break off into three
separate ships, Cadett fired the warhead. The missile came in direct
contact with the centre TIE’s cockpit. The mere explosion of the first
TIE sent the other two way off course and out of line.
He jammed
the throttle to full power, cutting away from shields and starting back
to Planet Castleguard I. He could see a few groups of A-Wings and X-Wings
doing the same things he was. It was getting to dangerous to stay out
here now. He hadn’t been able to take out the Star Destroyer, which was
an issue in itself, but when the ISA launched a Dreadnaught after the
starfighters, there was trouble.
Upon the
approach to his hangar, Cadett heard a shrill voice come through his
communications port. “It’s a trap! The hangars are closed!” It dawned on
him what was about to happen. “We’re stuck here! The base has been
infiltrated!”
Cadett was
afraid. He didn’t know what to do now. This barrage of TIE Fighters was
too much to handle. And as quickly as he had heard it the first time, the
starfighter attack leader gave the order as they turned back to the TIEs
and the Star Destroyer, “All wings report in!” he said, “we’re going
back.”
* * * *
The strike
force in the control room was taken care of, and it was time to head down
to the hangars. Monovial, followed by Sabreeth led his thirty Sith Lords
down to the passage that led to Hangar 1. He hoped that his Sith
Apprentices would soon be meeting up with them. Sure enough, as soon as
the team entered the chamber to the hangar, the Apprentices came through
to the other door.
They
assembled themselves in a formation that would mean mass destruction of
Rebel starfighters to anyone who could recognize. Monovial led the party,
with Zethro Molt and Sabreeth following closely behind him. Behind them
were the thirty-five Sith Lords, split into five lines of seven. The
forty Sith Apprentices lined up along the sides of the Knights in four
groups of ten.
They were
lined up perfectly now, awaiting the opening of the inside hangar door.
“Sabreeth, if you please,” said Monovial, raising his finger. Obediently,
Sabreeth another of his energy cards with the Force and guided it in
front of Monovial’s raised finger. He let the card hover for quite some
time before motioning his finger towards the control panel on the far
side wall of the huge hangar. The card sliced through the air at extreme
speeds and penetrated the outer casing of the control panel. Momentarily,
the giant gate that led into the Rebel starfighter storage hangar began
to lift.
Phadrax
Monovial’s eyes widened briefly and then it turned into a smile. There
were no starfighters in this hangar any longer. Only the face of his
long-time rival. Dominic Artemius led a team of Jedi Knights and Jedi
Apprentices who were just waiting to ambush Monovial and his group.
Artemius must have recruited fifty or so of these Jedi to help him in
trying to save the Rebel Dominion. But trying wasn’t always good
enough.
Dominic
and Phadrax stared at each other for a long time. No movement, no pacing
back and forth, just a good long stare. Simultaneously, both masters of
the Force thrusted their hands forward, pointing in the direction of each
other’s armies of Jedi.
At that
instant, hundreds of blasts of energy echoed throughout the room as
nearly all of the warriors’ lightsabres ignited in a fury. Both armies
began running at each other, screaming in a war cry. Monovial and
Artemius just stood there, watching their armies fly by them. A hundred
crackles of light sparked the room in a brilliant flare of energy.
Sabreeth and Zethro Molt finally drew their lightsabres and moved ahead
into the barrage of Jedi Knights.
Phadrax
kept on staring. Three of Monovial’s Sith Apprentices attempted a strike
at Artemius when he held out both of his arms and the attackers sailed to
the other end of the battle grounds. Instantly, the Jedi Master was
involved in the battle and lost sight of Monovial.
Monovial
had side-stepped his way over to the wall where he had blasted through
the control panel. He unstrapped his double-bladed lightsabre from his
back and hooked it onto the wall, hoping to not have to use it.
Zethro
Molt jumped back towards the wall, evading an attack from one of the Jedi
Knights. Molt’s shimmering green blade nearly hit the leg of Monovial. He
quickly returned to his feet as the Jedi he fought attacked with a
downward strike. Molt defended the attack with a hard blow to the middle
of his opponent’s beam, knocking him back further. In a heat of conceit,
Molt tossed his lightsabre in the air and spun it around. Before getting
a chance to return to his hand, Molt’s lightsabre hilt met the blade of
his opponent’s weapon, shattering its mechanics for good.
Defenseless,
Molt back-flipped near the wall in evasion. Out of the corner of his eye,
Zethro saw Monovial’s lightsabre dangling from the wall. His Jedi
opponent was thrusting the end of his weapon towards him and Molt snagged
the sabre from the wall and ignited both ends. Zethro defended his
opponents attack and used the other end of the weapon to penetrate the
Jedi’s chest. Slowly, the attacker fell to the ground as his life was
taken away from him.
Monovial
smiled. “See that, master,” Molt bragged, “I can be good with a
double-bladed lightsabre, too. Did you see how I“
Very
swiftly, Monovial’s plastic smile turned to one anger as the Force
snatched the lightsabre from Zethro’s hand, igniting it in mid-air.
Phadrax drove one end of the sabre into Molt’s ribcage. A horrible scream
of agony was heard as the energy blade slowly penetrated his back.
Monovial’s teeth were grinding as he slowly tortured the arrogant body of
Molt. No longer would this obnoxious Sith Lord be of a bother to him. The
screaming stopped and the body of Zethro Molt slid cleanly off of the
humming red energy blade. He was left for dead as Monovial withdrew his
lightsabre and returned to the ever-expanding field of battle amongst the
Jedi.
* * * *
Harlo
hooked his lightsabre on his belt and evaded minor attacks from the Sith
Apprentices. Performing a evasive one-handed flip, he found himself in
the presence of the three other Jedi Masters from the Council. He had
lost track of Artemius, but knew that he was still in good health. “Have
you had many attackers?” Harlo asked to Advocalacca who stood beside his
friends on the far right.
“We are
mainly helping all of you from a distance,” replied Advocalacca. Kabel
Willard threw a glance at an incoming Sith attacker. With a simple blast
of the Force, the attacker was thrown high in the air and landed hard on
the hangar ground. “As of yet,” he continued, “no one has been brave
enough to attack us.”
Harlo
agreed that you would have to have a great amount of self-confidence and
courage if you were to square off against three fully-trained Jedi
Masters. No one he knew, not even himself, possessed that kind of
courage.
From out
of nowhere, an energy card similar to the one that he had seen earlier,
came flying at Harlo. He rolled to the left and eluded the attack,
looking for the culprit you threw it. He knew what he looked like and had
seen him before. To get a better outlook on the battle and to be able to
see him better, Harlo back flipped up onto a ledge near the wall of the
hangar. For a moment, he didn’t see anyone who looked remotely similar to
whom he saw guide the energy cards. Just then, the man jumped out of
nowhere and landed on the ledge with Harlo, wielding a double-bladed
lightsabre.
It then
dawned on Harlo who he was. It was Sabreeth, Phadrax Monovial’s close
friend and bodyguard; Antioch Fi’s rival from a long time ago. Harlo
instinctively whipped the white energy blade of his lightsabre into
action and defended the fast, hard strikes of the vastly skilled
Sabreeth. His opponent jumped back off the ledge and drew an energy card
just in time to hurl it back down at Harlo. Just as he landed, Harlo
deflected the card back towards him, piercing Sabreeth’s shoulder.
Harlo
easily landed the aerial off of the ledge and struck at Sabreeth, who
quickly blocked the attack with one end of his blade. Sabreeth swiped
towards Harlo’s abdomen with the offensive blade. His Jedi reflexes saved
his life once again as he performed an evasive sideways flip that just
hopped the second blade. Harlo could feel, as he flipped, the energy beam
trimming some of the hairs on his head. As he landed he struck at the
knees of Sabreeth, who jumped the attack while retracting one end of his
lightsabre just in time to come down with an ax-like chop at Harlo’s
head. He rolled out of the way and saw Sabreeth charge forward. He’s
going for the Masters! Harlo thought, a shiver running down his
spine. Before Harlo could even attempt to help the Jedi Masters, a swarm
of Jedi Knights prevented Sabreeth from getting through. He swiftly
escaped the parade of lightsabres and evaded the area.
Harlo was
getting confused and losing track of many of the Jedi who had just
defended the Masters. For the first time during this battle, he realized
what a bloodbath this was. Surrounding him, here and there, were beams of
energy distorting the faces of the warriors, decapitating each other, and
splitting an opponent’s body into pieces. All of a sudden he didn’t feel
so good about this experience. But there was little or no time to think
because a red blade of a different man trained under the ways of the Sith
was his primary concern for now.
* * * *
Sabreeth
warded off to hide underneath a pilot starship transport buggy. He lay
underneath, studiously analyzing the attack patterns of the Jedi who
protected the three Jedi Masters from the Council. He was making a plan
to charge through the army of honorable Jedi Knights. If he could make it
through them all on total defense, he could find his way to the
Masters.
The heat
of combat had already excited Sabreeth and he couldn’t wait to get in
there for more. It started with the energy cards. The sense of power that
filled his body was incredible and he wanted more.
The
defense pattern of the Jedi Masters was not much of a pattern at all, but
the Knights surrounding them were always in a somewhat straight line. He
had decided. As the line forms a single file pointing in his direction,
he would run through, making it to the Jedi Masters.
He
patiently watched the line turn in sequence as it rotated through a mess
of Sith Apprentices, who were all getting easily destroyed because of
their lack of vision. Sabreeth was smarter, though, and did surely expect
to come out of this alive and well.
A sudden
spin of the line threw Sabreeth mildly off course, but he kept his focus
and began to charge. As he ran into the mess of opposition, he ignited
both ends of his lightsabre, waiting for attacks to come from anywhere.
Just as he came up to the line of Jedi, who now saw him and were
attacking, he closed his eyes and screamed, letting the Force take
complete control over him.
Lightsabres
clashed at some points, but most of the planned defensive strikes killed
the entire line of Jedi Knights. Totally focused, Sabreeth breathed
easily and spun through the line. The whirlwind of energy coming from his
lightsabre was too much for the Jedi to defend or evade. He moved so fast
that one could barely see him as the last of the line of Jedi Knights
fell to the ground and Sabreeth emerged at the end of the row before the
three Masters. Regaining focus, Sabreeth smiled briefly and attacked.
In
sequence, Sabreeth saw four figures flip over his body and land in front
of the Masters, directly in combat with Sabreeth. One of those opponents
was Harlo, his foe from earlier. A swinging mess of energy blades came
striking at him. As hard as he tried, not even a Jedi as focused as he
could defend four lightsabres.
Harlo’s
blade wounded him at the bottom of his leg but he was still mobile. A
minor cut was taken when he failed to defend a blue blade coming near his
stomach. Harlo broke off to another part of the hangar, but Sabreeth
couldn’t see where. He began to focus once more upon the dark side. He
began to move faster, jumping over the three remaining Jedi and warding
them away. A low whirlwind strike from the double-bladed lightsabre
fatally wounded two of the Jedi at the chest.
With one
remaining, Sabreeth spun to the back of him, right near the Jedi Masters,
and struck high near his opponent’s head. The blue beam crackled against
one end of Sabreeth’s Jedi weapon. Assuming he had him in his grasp,
Sabreeth swung the other end upwards and it split the Jedi’s chin in two.
To end his
misery, he spun to the back of the Jedi, and stabbed the raw end of the
blade into his heart, finishing what he had begun. The swift slice into
his back was met with the pressure of something else on the other end of
his lightsabre. Turning quickly, he saw that his other blade had gone
through the body of wookiee Jedi Master, Advocalacca. The Quarren Master
beside the wookiee, who now lay dead on the ground, promptly turned to
Sabreeth. In the fastest draw he had ever seen, a yellow beam met the
chest of Sabreeth, puncturing his lungs and heart. As quickly as it had
come out, the Master’s lightsabre blade was gone again and Sabreeth began
falling to the ground.
In an
effort to go down fighting, he used his last ounces of energy to swing
rapidly without hitting anything. His lightsabre fell as he dropped to
his knees, a large puncture wound torn through his chest. As he fell, he
drew up an energy card that hovered above the palm of his hand with the
Force. His body keeled over onto the hangar floor and his control of the
card was lost, causing it to fall and melt into the lifeless palm of
Sabreeth.
* * * *
Engaged in
a full-scale Force war amongst each other, Dominic Artemius and Phadrax
Monovial were charging their energy to put each other down. In the heat
of concentration, Artemius removed his cloak with the Force, as did his
rival and contender. Both knew that they had each of their lightsabres in
easy reach but they began to take on one another with the Force as their
only ally.
Artemius
pulled himself together in a complete focus of defensive concentration
just in time to reflect the blue bolts of lightning being shot from
Monovial’s fingertips. The corrupt technique of Force lightning was
difficult to defend, but he had the power to do so and therefore employed
it.
Monovial
stopped the lightning as Artemius jumped an extra distance with the Force
and began levitating among the hangar. He allowed himself to float from
the hangar into a door passageway. It was a game of hide and seek that he
wanted to play and Monovial was willing to comply.
His body,
leaving his black cloak behind, floated up to the entrance from the
stairwell and he followed Dominic inside. He covertly moved along the
hallways of the platform, passing the bodies of Rebel officers who had
been slain by Sabreeth’s energy cards. But Sabreeth was no longer, and
Phadrax knew that. He could sense the loss.
However,
that was not his concern right now. He would mourn later after hunting
out Dominic Artemius for the last time. In his own mind, he insisted that
this would be a fight to the death. They could both feel it. There were a
good ninety bodies of Jedi and Sith in the hangar alone and the final
confrontation between Artemius and Monovial would put this day in
historical passages for eternity.
Monovial
passed by each one of the doors, unsure of which Artemius would be in
until he reached it. He sensed the presence at the third door from the
top. Opening the door, Monovial heard the loud sound of the space
station’s main reactor. It was the room that powered everything this
station had.
At the end
of a long, but narrow bridge where the repairs must have been made from,
was Dominic Artemius, waiting for an attack from Monovial. Unlike the
standard Sith Lord routine, Phadrax did not allot the first attack. He
jumped onto one of the couplings on the reactor. He saw Artemius’ action
coming. Dominic manipulated the Force into disabling the bridge and
making it fall into a chasm. Monovial had evaded the attack, while
Artemius hovered where the bridge used to be.
The Force
guided Dominic to a cable that was dangling above the couplings. He hung
on to it and started moving towards the coupling where Monovial stood.
Phadrax did nothing but watch and with the power of the Force, the cable
snapped and Artemius was forced to swing underneath the coupling. The
heat would be too much as it is so Monovial waited for Dominic to return.
But he didn't.
Three long
minutes he waited for Artemius to return to the top of the coupling, and
he didn’t. Phadrax knew he was alive, but he was no longer here. For a
moment, he suspected that Artemius might’ve gotten caught in a strong
beam from the artificial gravity generator which was located in the same
room. Monovial swung himself underneath the coupling and saw a passageway
under the narrow bridge. The passage led to an elevator. Monovial pressed
the call button and judged that because of the time the elevator took to
get down, it must have been recently used.
The
elevator doors slid open. Half-expecting to see Artemius at the door of
the elevator, Monovial almost grabbed his lightsabre from the strap on
his back but stopped. The elevator was empty. He scanned the ceiling the
walls, and there was no sign of Artemius. Curiosity led Monovial to take
the elevator upstairs, wondering where it led.
When it
reached the top, Monovial stared at the doors as they slid open. Stepping
out of the elevator led Phadrax into a beautiful area built with
artificial atmosphere. He stood on a bridge surrounded by lush trees and
exotic plants. To the left of the crystalline bridge was a waterfall, and
to the right was another. The crystal bridge made a centre point of an
intersection where Dominic Artemius stood. Sweat beaded down both of
their foreheads and the Force war had worn them down greatly.
Monovial
decided that it was time. Time to bring out an object Artemius had not
seen in many, many years. It would surely spark the anger in him.
Finally, Phadrax would succeed in breaking the everso constant peace and
control Dominic had always possessed for all these years. Now it would be
broken.
Reaching
to his back into a hidden compartment on the strap for his double-bladed
lightsabre, Phadrax Monovial pulled a lightsabre hilt that shimmered in
its design and made every other handle envy it. It’s sheer beauty would
capture the eye of anyone. Especially Dominic Artemius, who, upon seeing
Monovial activate the blue blade of Ilyssis Pico’s lightsabre, charged
towards him in a violent rage.
Igniting
his weapon, Artemius ran up the crystal bridge and Monovial deviously
awaited his arrival and began running towards him as well. A quarter ways
up the bridge, they jumped at each other, Pico’s lightsabre colliding
with Artemius’. Dominic couldn’t let this happen to him. He struck hard
and furiously, with hits so strong that it sprained Monovial’s wrist,
knocking Pico’s sabre from his hand.
Artemius
jumped in the air, grabbing Pico’s lightsabre and flipping over Monovial
just as he pulled out his double-bladed weapon. Artemius back flipped and
frantically hooked Pico’s hilt to his belt. Once that was done, his rage
drew him back to Monovial. He charged with even harder strikes but
Monovial’s lightsabre was much more difficult to be disarmed from its
user.
Monovial
struck low with the bottom end of his two blades. Rapidly defending,
Artemius blocked the upward strike and flipped his blade into a high
swipe. His effort was blocked by Monovial’s other blade, which abruptly
caused his lightsabre to swing at the feet of Artemius. Dominic took the
risk that followed as he rolled through the short space between
Monovial’s sabre and his leg. Turning to face his opponent, Phadrax
frenetically blocked the powerful, fast strikes of the Jedi.
In an evasive effort, Monovial jumped backwards onto one hand, holding
his lightsabre high, while he back flipped near the door to what he now
realized was the Jedi Council chamber. It was on the same platform as the
central control, and that interested Monovial, but it was not of any
concern now.
Phadrax,
using nothing but the power of his actions, offered a compromise to test
the true talents of Dominic Artemius. Holding his double-bladed
lightsabre in the centre, he twisted the mid-point and separated the
weapon in to two single lightsabres. Artemius wanted a challenge and now
he got it.
Thinking
quickly as Monovial charged down the crystal bridge, Dominic hopped up to
the glass railing and jumped in behind one of the waterfalls. Monovial
stopped running, curious as to why Artemius would run away from him like
that. He never had before. His confusion was settled as he looked back at
the waterfall. The sound of the ignition of a lightsabre was heard under
the calming noise of the water beating on stone. Dicing through the
cascade was the blade of a green and blue lightsabre in a cross-shaped
pattern that seemed to threaten him.
Monovial
set his lightsabres underneath his arms and flipped into the waterfall,
drawing them out in time to meet up with Dominic’s dual strikes. After a
small duel with two sabres each, Artemius realized that the waterfall was
no place to be doing such a thing. He jumped through the water and
grabbed hold of one of the tree branches in the Jedi Council
Entrance Room’s botanical garden. He had almost dropped Pico’s lightsabre
in the jump, but quickly retrieved it as it dangled from a twig on the
branch. He could spot Monovial jump back on to the bridge as he swung
himself on to one of the responding sections of the plus-shaped crystal
structure.
Monovial
turned on the switches of his lightsabres and began charging over the
bridge to meet up with Artemius. Although difficult, Dominic managed to
defend most of the strikes with the aid of Pico’s lightsabre and his own.
Artemius had never been trained with two lightsabres at a time before and
was quite good considering. But Monovial drew back, knowing that with
more effort on his part in a two-handed battle, Artemius would have no
chance.
Monovial
binded his lightsabre back into a double-bladed class and drew both ends,
awaiting an attack from Dominic. Artemius hooked Pico’s hilt onto his
belt and switched on his own. Phadrax began running forward and took a
giant leap at Artemius, clashing one end of his lightsabre with the green
blade of the Sith opponent.
Striking
towards the chest, Monovial blocked and swiped at Dominic’s arm with his
other blade. Artemius drew the strike away from his own body and crouched
to make a sweep for the legs. Phadrax jumped the attack and came down
dangerously with a chop that penetrated the crystal bridge.
Monovial
displayed difficulty getting one half of his lightsabre out of the
crystal shelling of the bridge. Artemius used that as an advantage and
struck down near Monovial’s back. Phadrax rolled out of the attack,
promptly separating his lightsabre once more. One blade remained in the
crystal bridge, slowly melting the structure. The other blade, Monovial
held in his hands as he stepped away from the Jedi Master.
Dominic
jumped over the protruding blade in the bridge and ran after Monovial.
Both of the Jedi Masters struck heavy and fast against each other putting
strain on both of their wrists and arms. Phadrax blocked a high strike to
the head and knocked Dominic’s sabre downwards. It was right there that
Monovial had him where he wanted him. Right then and there he could have
killed him, but instead hit the lightsabre upwards even harder, disarming
Artemius. The energy blade spun as it flew up to the bright lights above
them, knocking out the central power source, leaving the room dark except
for a dim, artificial moonlight that shone in the windows.
Phadrax
Monovial’s lightsabre glowed fiercely and Artemius was left defenseless
as his hilt hit the bottom of the garden floor. Phadrax stared at him
from a mere metre away and held his sabre high. In an instant, they both
heard the door to the Jedi Council Entrance Room open, knowing that
someone would come inside.
Dominic
took the distraction and made a long jump to the waterfall nearest to the
bridge he was on. Monovial followed, watching as Pico’s lightsabre drew
from underneath the cascade. Phadrax’s body broke the steady stream of
water as the cascade duel commenced. Glancing behind Monovial, Dominic
saw that it was Harlo who had entered the room.
Phadrax
and Artemius worked their way out from underneath the waterfall and back
on to the bridge. Harlo hid himself behind the other waterfall, patiently
watching what could be his master’s last minutes in the galaxy.
The fast
strikes and hard hits were getting too much to handle for Dominic
Artemius, but he kept his guard up, running out of the energy to turn it
into offense. In a last bit of effort, Artemius jumped over Phadrax and
attempted to flip down onto his body. In mid-air, however, Monovial
jabbed his lightsabre upwards and stabbed Artemius in his side. He landed
on the bridge with a hard crash as small pieces of the crystalline bridge
cracked slightly.
“It is
time,” said Monovial, shifting his lightsabre into a lethal stab
position. Bringing the blade down would certainly kill Dominic instantly,
who was already in bad condition. “A worthy opponent you have been,
Dominic Artemius, but history is written by the victor.” Monovial began
spearing the blade downwards, closing his eyes to feel the death
of Dominic Artemius. But all he felt was the vibration of a lightsabre
blade blocking his own. He opened his eyes widely and then Phadrax met
eye to eye with Kenneth Harlo, who spared the life of his mentor by
blocking Monovial’s deadly strike.
Harlo
fended Monovial back away from the injured body of his master. Throwing
hard strikes at him, Phadrax backed away and impatiently defended the
amateur hits. He was tired of this game, but knew that Artemius would
live another day. Hurdling Harlo’s lightsabre into the air with a hard
upwards strike, Monovial brought his own blade back down at the base of
Harlo’s forearm, cleanly cutting through flesh and bone. Harlo screamed
in pain as half of his arm fell onto the bridge. Monovial thrusted his
hand out forwards, vaulting Harlo’s frail body backwards with the Force.
Harlo’s back smacked into the Jedi Council door, splitting his head at
the back and pooling blood on to the bridge, but he was still
alive.
Phadrax
Monovial left the room, being sure to be gone before medical crews
arrived and spotted him. Calling upon the Force, he retrieved the other
end of his double-bladed lightsabre and fastened it back together.
Seconds later, he was gone.
* * * *
One year
had passed since the Great Jedi Bloodshed on Planet Castleguard I.
Workers had been re-building non-stop to return the place to its
original, highly acclaimed status. Although there is no official body
count, it is believed that over one hundred Jedi and Sith warriors were
killed in the events surrounding the planned infiltration of Castleguard.
Phadrax
Monovial seemed to disappear for the remainder of that year. Presumably
to take a holiday from his formerly busy schedule. He tired of being the
“dictator of our worlds” and left to what is assumed to be an exotic
planet in the Outer Rim Territories. According to Jedi Master Dominic
Artemius, Monovial has left to think and in time, he will return to
Castleguard, realizing the devastation he has caused. Artemius believes
him to be a man of honor and since the Great Jedi Bloodshed, his lack of
remorse may have depleted. Other members of the Jedi Council believe him
to have left to grieve over the losses of many of his Sith which he never
had a chance to mourn over. Sabreeth, for example, meant more to Monovial
than was ever let on. However, the Sith Lord meant even more to Antioch
Fi, Sabreeth’s rival of over ten years, who wasn’t there to see him die.
For so many years, they had been rivals who wanted so badly to see the
other die. That would be the only way to bring that rivalry to peace, but
now it was immortalized at the Great Jedi Bloodshed.
Dominic’s
predictions, however, were quite accurate to the events that occurred.
One year after the Great Jedi Bloodshed, Phadrax Monovial came to Planet
Castleguard I, and approached the Jedi Council as a fellow Jedi, not an
enemy of hostility.
“I am here
to bestow a request upon you, Council members,” he spoke. Everyone in the
room looked surprised to see him, except Artemius. “Due to my actions one
year ago, you lost an elite member of your Jedi Council and reduced your
numbers to nine. I, as a simple code of honor, wish to take the chair of
your wookiee Jedi Master as a representative of the dark side of the
Force.” Monovial seemed generous towards his request and was obviously
not trying to pull some sort of trick.
Slei-to,
the Rodian Jedi Master , said, “Master Monovial, when the Council
receives a request such as this we spend a great deal of our time
negotiating amongst ourselves what the advantages and disadvantages of
the situation would be.”
“That is
true, Monovial,” said Celes Taleva. “Return to the Council in one week’s
time, and we will have reached for you a conclusion by then.”
One week
later, Phadrax Monovial officially became a member of the Jedi Council.
The discussions didn’t take as long as the Council members presumed. They
brought up the point that Jedi Knights are based upon the Force, and even
if you don’t like it, there is a dark side, and it’s a part of everyone
in some way or another. The Council voted 8 to 1 in favor of allowing
Monovial into the system. The only Jedi Master who marginally disagreed
was Kabel Willard who still suffered from the image of Sabreeth’s
lightsabre permeating Advocalacca’s skin. Being that Sabreeth was under
the orders of Monovial, Willard assumed that Advocalacca’s death was his
fault and he should not be allowed to take the chair of one whom he
killed.
The
Council meetings hadn’t changed a great deal since the admission of
Phadrax Monovial. The aquarium chandelier dangling from the top of the
domed room still operated nicely without the need for food, but only the
Force to keep the fish alive. And the Force was strong in the Council
chamber. Very strong.
* * * *
Four weeks
of campaigning for absolutely nothing wasn’t what Admiral Ranran had in
mind to be a complete failure. For weeks the ISA had been trying to find
a leader, and no one was voted to be good enough to have the
qualifications necessary. It was today, however, that they gathered
themselves, being the ISA members, into the speech room that had been
used for the other campaigners as well.
Ranran walked through the gate corridor and into the room where everyone
had gathered to listen to the speech of a one Viktorya Fanterre, who
claimed to be the chosen one to run the ISA. The Admiral hoped that her
reputation was accurate to her actions, he couldn’t bear to sit through
another of these monotonous speeches. He took his seat and waited for
everyone to pipe down as Viktorya Fanterre came in behind the podium set
up at the front of the stage. It was quiet in the room as she cleared her
throat and began to speak, “Greetings members of the Interstellar Sith
Allegiance, I am Viktorya Fanterre, not as a dictator or overlord,
but as a leader, a guide, a person. My speech may not be long, but is
very important. For years, Imperial control has circled itself around
galactic domination and military power. Like it or not, it should be
changed. We all know that. Since the power of Phadrax Monovial was lost,
the ISA has been reduced to a disorganized, cluttered enterprise. We are
forgetting that the name Imperial means royalty. Royalty means order.
Order means class. Should you accept my offer, I will indeed proclaim
myself monarch and we shall expand upon our colonies around the galaxy,
without the need to secure more planets under our control. We are the
good guys now.” She stepped down from the podium and looked out at the
crowd that just heard her speech. Admiral Ranran stood from his chair and
routinely, he clapped. More followed in rounds until the woman who would
be Empress Fanterre was receiving a substantial ovation.
Looking
beside him to Lieutenant Maurice Dergaffi, Ranran spoke, “We’ve never
been looked upon as the good guys before, Lieutenant,” he yelled over the
profuse noise of hand clapping together, “I think it’s about time the
Rebellion got ripped off by us as the well respected alliance.” Dergaffi
nodded, knowing that his weak voice wouldn’t be able to overpower the
crowd.
Viktorya
Fanterre smiled at the crowd, thinking of how many lies she had put into
that speech. Truthfully, not as much would change as she said. All she
had to do was win their vote, then she had a whole mess of pawns to do
with whatever she pleased. The stupidity of the Rebel Dominion could’ve
been easily taken care of if the ISA’s ruler, Monovial, merely looked at
the facts. It was time for this sovereignty to be a true power. Empress
Fanterre was ready to take the galaxy in the palm of her hand.
* * * *
The cold
vacuum in the breach of space was far more calming from the balcony of a
foresthouse. The stars at night blanketed the placid world of Seanne with
a dim light. Heather Logan, a fourteen year-old girl from Habassa II, was
waiting here at this abandoned foresthouse on Seanne for a Jedi that
sought an apprentice.
Curious as
to why this was the house of choice, Heather often tried to get inside,
but it was no use. Lockfields surrounded the windows and sealed the
doors. Rattling from the trees nearby, she heard leaves brush up against
something soft. A cloaked figure emerged from the trees. This was the
moment she had been waiting for.
“Good
evening, Heather,” said the Jedi, “My name is Kenneth Harlo, and under my
instruction you will learn to be a Jedi Knight.”
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