Rapora War (Introductory RPG)

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Trej, just so you know, there were two Replicators at the battle, and Ulan is hanging in the middle of a Rapora ambush.

 

The Timeless One smiled as the Shipyards evaporated from the bombs within them, "Is the Malliable World Operational?"

 

"Yes, my lord."

 

"Have it fire on the planet, and order all ships to disengage."

 

* * *

 

Darth Malice dropped down onto his hands and knees as he ducked under a gate for the air pipe. Water dribbled down his cloak but he didn't notice, grabbing the final hatch he twisted it open and dropped down onto the hard floor below.

 

The Mandalorians were waiting in a circle around him but with a flick of his wrist the soldiers felt their weapons being yanked from their grip and thrown to the floor. Behind him Darth Venom dropped to the floor, her lightsaber out and unlit. The last Mandalorian to die under Malice's blade got of the warning, "There are two of them!"

[ADarkJedi44]

OOC: Heh, a real tactical victory for us...

 

Evahe watched helplessly as Fondor exploded. Onboard the Guardian there were gasps and general amazement. The Rapora fleet was already jumping to hyperspace, they had done their job. Only 30% of the shipyards had been saved and the planet itself was gone.

It was clearly a Raporan victory, but their fleet had suffered a lot for it. A Replicator had been badly damaged and numerous other ships were destroyed or damaged. The GFFA and Imperials had taken a lot of casulties also, but they had at least been able to go toe to toe to the Rapora without being completly oblierated. The victory over Kuat was key. Had we not won there, the war would be seeming hopeless already...

"Status of the Fondor Defence Fleet?"

"The SSD Liberation had been damaged beyond repair and the Freedom is in decent condition. The rest of the fleet is in bad shape. They request orders."

"Have them go to Kuat, where the shipyards have been sent. They'll contact minor repairs there while I decide where to move them next."

Hopefully, the Rapora's casulties will slow them up. If we're given time to breath we can build new shipyards and replace our loses. We'll be more prepared next time...

A holographic image of Oreton appeared, jolting Evahe out of his thoughts.

"Better luck next time Admiral. We're leaving now. I have a feeling we will be seeing each other again soon..."

"The same to you, Oreton. May the force be with you..."

***

A few days later, a lone shuttle entered the docking bay of the Guardian. Upon hearing of this, Evahe immediately took a turbolift to greet the lone occupant. Evahe arrived just in time to see the man step out of the shuttle.

"General Ioor. It's good to see you again..."

 

OOC: Have fun Mad...

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC: What I thought we was still on ZS I had wanted to write a part for that... Aarghh!

 

IC:

 

Oreton watched the Admiral disappear.

 

"Captain set a course back to Vallhallanea," Oreton dictated as he sank back into his seat.

 

"Yes, sir." Onolovav answered. "We are recalibrating our navcomputers, to update the gravitic correction of the system."

 

Oreton snorted. He had much to think about, the clouds o debris were cooling around his ship as a reminder of the destruction of Fondor. He had counted that the world would have been destroyed, in his mind the thought of demolishing the world himself with the superlase had been floating around. He had to review the decision to withdraw from the Rapora, he had first thought that a forward base was their goal. Had they been only satisfied to deny the Alliance the shipyards.

 

He had much to think about. Truly so.

 

****

 

Ulan Shai dodged the enemy fire. He sent his fighter through maneuvers he had not conceived possible. Through the Force he had established the link to the organic brain that drove his ship.

 

The cold anger that emanated from the Rapora made his reinforce his intent to escape, as he had no intention to be captured amidst so dark enemies.

 

Trust the Force. The words echoed in his mind. Too many people had spoken them in the same day, they hung around him as real and tangible as his own flesh.

 

On Zonama Sekot he had watched quietly as Master Skywalker discussed with Jabitha and the Council of Sekot. Nas Choka, had barked in pure battle rage as he learnt of the advances of the Rapora. As a warrior he knew the glory the Rapora embraced, and Ulan believed the scream to be a product of the sadness of Nas Choka to have fallen from that very position a decade ago.

 

Harrar prudent and cautious had offered his ambigious council, and had confirmed that Sekot had started to build vessels for the Yuuzhan Vong. Then they had talked to Luke about his new ship, and the discussion of the Rapora receded into a second plane. Hours had withered away, like fragile leaves in the wind.

 

Ulan muttered one ancient battle player as he inverted his course, to shake off the pursuing starfighters. The Savla and Kar Lur cruisers still crowded the area denying him an exit.

 

Luke had given him an assignement, but there had been another formality to address first, a formality Ulan had not asked for. He had been sitting in one of the clearing in the forest.

 

"Ulan," Alema Rar had said.

 

"Master?"

 

"There is no need to call me master, Ulan wer are equals, you and me, we are both Jedi Knights. Two weeks ago when I sent you to Csilla, I had decided that your training was complete, you have faced your own trials. Far harder than any trial you could find on Ossus or Yavin."

 

"It is fitting that your ascension is completed here, among your people."

 

"My people are leaving, Master Skywalker. War has lured their darker side, I fear for them. Many of them are still blind to the Force, they are learnt in the arts of war, not peace. Nas Choka has a strong will, he will not betray you if he gives his word, but others are not. Domain Lah, Domain Orak, Domain..." Ulan sighed, "many Yuuzhan Vong, have not fully embraced the peace, not even the homeworld can satisfy all of their need, a little nudge and the Yuuzhan Vong could once again rise against you."

 

"You must trust the Force, Ulan." Skywalker had answered. "It is the hardest lesson to learn."

 

Ulan focused, the short memories of Zonama Sekor kept appearing as he desperately sought a way out of the ambush.

 

"Trust the Force, Ulan Shai, you have been the first to leave us, the first to set a higher goal for our race. You are a Knight of Life." Harrar spoke during the brief ceremony. It had been decided that after Ulan departed for his mission the first two squadrons of Yuuzhan Vong would join the Skywalkers back into Known Space. Younger warriors, lovers of peace and of Zonama Sekot.

 

How much would he want to have two dozen fellow Yuuzhan Vong on his sides, ready to fight with him.

 

"Trust the Force," another voice said. One he did not know. He had thought it would come from the Rapora chasing them, but he felt it warm. A stark contrast to the chill he felt when he focused on the presence of the dark warrior on the cruiser.

 

"Trust the Force, Ulan Shai. It is your only escape."

 

Ulan did as he was told, he eased off the controls and dropped dead in space. But he did not feel nervous anymore, nor desperate. He would trust the Force if that meant to be trapped inside the Raporan Cruiser.

[BadSamaritan]

Seryk sat at the table, his eyes closed. he knew what was going on. Even without being told, he knew who was hear. He could sene them trhough the force. Sith had infiltrated the city. And he knew they were looking for him. But he knew that they would never get close to him, not if he just sat here, in the center of the city. The gaurds protecting this building were the best the city had to offer. he was even willing to bet that they were on par with Fett, if not better. he wanted to be out there, helping fight them, but he knew he had to wait. he didnt dare take of, without risking being considered a hostile himself.

 

Silently, the door to the room opened, and Fett entered. he tossed Seryk his lightsaber, which Seryk caught without openeing his eyes. He turned to look at Fett, and noticed Fett had a worried look on his face.

 

"Seryk, its time to go. These two are tearing the security apart. I saw a holo of them, and we fought one fo them at tatooine. if I am right, it was the one that kept getting into it with you. but the other one, I dont recognize her." he said, and Seryk raised an eyebrow. he wondered for a moment who this one was. he actually hoped that it was the one he had bested on Denon, but he doubted the likeliness of that. They wouldnt throw her up against him so soon. Not with the breakdown she had the last time.

 

"Well then, lets go see what we are dealing with. Were are they now?" Seryk asked, and Fett motioned for him to follow him. Seryk stood, and put his helmet on. he moved to follow Fett, and they walked into what appeared to be a control center of some sort. Fett walked over to a small console, and brought up a set of screens. Seryk looked at them, and nodded. It was a picture of the intruders. And he knew both of them.

 

"Thats Maliec all right. And the other one, her name is Venom. I fought her at Denon. She was one of the ones sent to kill Shren." he said, and Fett nodded. He hit another button, and Seryk could see a current picture of them, dealing with another set of security, in what looked like a small park-like area. Seryk shook his head, watching the two demolish the security.

 

"IS there a way for us to talk to them? Right now?" he asked, and Fett looked over to the old woman, who nodded.

 

"Yes, there is. This whole city is set up with a speaker system, so that I can speak to any part of the city if need be." she said, and Seryk nodded.

 

"Good, let me speak to them. I want them to hear my voice." he said, and the old woman nodded. She looked over to one of the woman sitting at a console, and the woman began to tap out buttons on her console. After a moment, the old woman nodded. Seryk smiled under his helmet, and began to soeak.

 

"Good day to you Malice. And to you Venom. Its nice to see you again. If you are wondering where I am, I am watching you from the control center of the city." he said, and he could see them both through themoniter looking around, as if looking for the hidden speakers. Seryk chuckled to himself, and continued on.

 

"Just to warn you both, I have been released to hunt you now. And if my memory serves me correctly, neither of you has beaten me yet. In fact, You malice, have lost to me three times. And you venom, you never stood a chance. If you want to, you can give up bnow, before I come to humiliate you again. Or, you can decide to fight me, and lose again. But just to warn you, i will show no mercy to either of you. You have invaded the home of a people who wanted nothing but to be left alone. And that cannot be forgiven. I will see you soon." he said, and he waved to the controller, who shut the link down. He watched as the two conferred with one another, and then began to run off towards another part of the city. Seryk shook his headl and looked to Fett.

 

"Malice in mine, just to warn you. me and him have a score to settle. As for the female, no harm is to come of her, unless I order it. Keep her alive, unless the no other alternative. Understood?" he asked, and everyone in the room nodded. Even the old woman seemed to be willing to follow his orders.

 

"Good. I want constant updates on their postion. Dont throw anymrore of your personal at them, its is a waste of lives. But try to lead them to an open area. We will meet them there." he said, and he motioned for Fett to follow him. Fett fell into step next to him as he walked from the control room, and then, moved to lead him out of the building. They walked in silence for a moment, before Fett ended the silence with a surprising question.

 

"Tell me Seryk, are you always this crazy?" he asked, adn Seryk looked over to him.

 

"What do you mean?" he asked, and Fett shook his head.

 

"You barely managed to fend of malice before, and I doubt you can fight them both at once. Jedi or not." he said, and Seryk laughed.

 

"I wont have to fight them both. Venom wasnt able to fight me before, so I doubt she will figh me now." he said, and Fett snorted.

 

"And if they both fight you?" he asked, and Seryk shrugged his shoulders.

 

"Then you will Kill Venom, and I will deal with Malice. Either way, we win." he said, and Fett nodded. The continued to walk, and eventually came to a door which led to a balcony. The both fired their jetpacks, and flew off into the city. They had to change course constantly, as the pair they werwe hunting changed course seemily at random, But they knew that eventually, they would meet, and then this city would see the end of one of the pairs.

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Here Hirotek, fetch!

 

IC: Admiral Hirotek rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the door chimed and Lik'ra stepped inside, "Sir, a dispatch from fleet command."

 

Hirotek nodded and stepped forward to take the datapad from her and glanced down at what it said, "Well, it seems our victory has been noticed."

 

GFFA Fleet Command to Kuat Defense Force Commander, Admiral Hirotek:

 

In acknowledgement of your victory at Kuat and the skills of those under your command, the Kuat Defense Force will be redesignated and assigned as Task Force Kuat under the command of the Fourth Fleet. You are to commence anti Rapora operations after redeploying to the Unknown Regions Sector 219 on the Chiss Border. Your first assignment is the gathering of intelligence on enemy forces in your area of operation and the harrasment of any such hostile forces.

 

Good luck and may the force be with you,

Admiral Kre'Fey

Supreme Commander of Alliance Forces

 

Hirotek nodded, "Inform Athien of my forces orders and request her forces to accompany my fleet to Sector 219UR. Her knowledge fo the enemy and the region would be invaluable."

 

* * *

 

Darth Malice heard the sound first, the slight rumble of a jet pack closing in the distance. He turned to see the two mandalorians approaching, low to the ground with blasters trained on them. The first one settled to a landing on the roof of the nearest building, his red tinted armor and the lightsaber hanging from his belt made him instantly recognizable. The man spoke as he took the lightsaber from his belt, "You never learn do you Malice, I've defeated you before, and I'll defeat you yet again."

 

"They are merely words, match them with actions Mandalorian swine!" Darth Malice hissed twirling his double bladed lightsaber.

 

The other mandalorian stepped forward, his pose suggesting offense but Seryk held him off, "I'll call you if I need you Boba."

 

Darth Venom watched, her mind whirling as she watched Seryk calmly lower himself to the floor, his lightsaber in hand. He glanced at her, "And the apprentice from Denon, is this some form of reunion?"

 

Seryk had no idea what those words meant to Venom, no clue as to how strongly she was bound by what she felt, but the words struck through her defenses. When she answered her voice was soft, far from the viscious one she'd once held, "You might say that Seryk." Slowly she backed away from Malice her hand drifting to her lightsaber at her belt, she'd not had to use it yet, but it was this moment Malice had wanted her to strike, and this moment that she couldn't.

 

Malice knew it to, he spun and lifted his hand sending bolts of brilliant blue force lighting into her. Her cloak smoking, she fell to the groundher breathing ragged, limbs paralyzed. Her hood and black mask that covered her mouth had rendered her all but genderless. But as the lightning flashed over her the mask and hood slid back and Seryk recognized the woman laying paralyzed. Filled with anger he turned to Malice and struck.

 

* * *

 

Athien sighed as the information and request from Hirotek came through, "I'll have to contact my own command, in all likely hood they'll send me there as well, we made a fair team Admiral, and they'll respect that." As she closed the com she smiled, knowing that instead of they she could have just as easily said father.

 

* * *

 

Ulan was throne to the floor before Fury, his face bloodied and mangaled, but even that could not lessen the look of defiance upon his face. Smiling Fury stepped forward and pulled Ulan to his feet, "Spirit, I like spirit, and I'm certain the Timeless One will enjoy tearing it from you. Take him to a cell and have the technicians examine his craft, perhaps we can learn some things from it."

 

* * *

 

The Timeless One smiled as he sat back in his throne and starred at the image of the galaxy. He turned to his advisors and subordinates, "Phase one of our restoration is complete. Inform all out forces, that condition Cycle War is in effect. Let us take back what is ours."

 

Smiling the Timeless One glanced at the Holo, the GFFA was now crippled so that the Rapora had lessend those advantages it had once held, its shipyards and numerical superiority with the construction of fleets from the remains of Csilla and Bastion. Next the conquest would begin and his eyes focused on three key systems that would be the next targets in their war; Bakura, Adumar, and Ord Mantell.

[Mad78]

Merick shook the Grand Admiral's hand, a smile on his face.

"Long time no see Sir."

"As you say General. follow me we have many to talk about... I see you have tried the Gorath style transport ships." he pointed to the shiny black modified lambda shuttle. "It must pack a punch."

"It sure does sir. I bet it could nearly beat the Millenium falcon."

Evahe's eyes widened.

"Do you know where i could get one of these Garik?"

" I am sure Commander Mazzos would be more than happy to deliver you one."

"We shall see my friend. Follow me."

They left the hangar and walked up a corridor which carried many marks from the last battles. Some of the floor boards were missing and technicians with smouldering irons were sending sparks flying as they tried to reapir in the shortest time possible.

The two officers then took a turbolift to Evahe's cabin. The place was nor overdecorated or underdecorated, a reflection of the man, always in between and impossible to classify.

"Take a seat." said the Admiral as he opened a bottle of correlian whisky

"So? How is our new superweapon recovering?" asked Evahe as he filled two glasses.

"Not as well as we expected. The plasma has caused some unexpected dmamge to the armor plating and even if the weaponary and electronic repairs will be quickly finished the armor plating will take several weeks to be pout back into prime shape. But the engineers have garanted that it would be treated to avoid that this kind of damaged occure again. Know i have a question for you Admiral, I am sure an entire planet would not only serve as dock for the Genesis. What else lurks in the undergrounds of Gorath. And couldn't we use the system as shipyards to enhance production?

[ADarkJedi44]

Evahe considered for a moment.

"We could use Gorathas a regular shipyard planet, but that would defeat its purpose. Its designed to be a secret facilty for superweapons. If we deploy regular shipyards and more workers, it will likely be discovered and destroyed. However, we could easily move shipyards into the surronding sectors, which are far away from the war zone. Just not Gorath itself. Understood?"

Garik nodded.

"As for other superweapons, I cannot tell you what is being done there. Rest assured that they are building others. The Genesis will not be their last contribution to the war. Even now, they are examining the information we have on the Rapora....They are searching for a critical weakness."

He paused for a moment as Garik was silent, taking in the words.

"In the meantime, you will take command of the Third Fleet, as I have said. It's only half a fleet so you'll likely be following around the Fourth Fleet most of the time."

"Yes, sir. I'll head out immediately..."

***

Darth Fury watched as the Sekotan fighter was picked up by the tractor beam. What an arrogant fool. Surely he doesn't think he can contend with an entire ship of force sensitive warriors? In any case, his mission has failed...

"Darth Vengeance, as you ready for your first mission?"

"Yes, master."

"Excellant. To the docking bay then."

Before setting out, Fury had picked his new aprentice. He had chosen Darth Vengeace because of his piloting skills. With all the space battle, piloting was a very important skill, more so than lightsaber dueling. At the moment, Fury regreated choosing someone who had insufficent lightsaber skills. It is of no importance...If the Jedi can take care of myself and two squadrons of Rapora warriors then my aprentice will not matter.

When he arrived in the docking bay, there were twenty-four warriors and numerous droids escorting him. It was quite a force, even the greatest Jedi could not defeat it. The organic ships canopy opened and Fury saw it was not just any Jedi he was facing...

***

His job was now done. He was to bring the Vong Jedi before the Timeless One and he would move on. The Sekotan craft was interesting, but it was not for him to examine. The Timeless One would deal with it all. This is an important victory. I was worried for my own position because of my failures, but it seems I will be forgiven.

He was smug with that knowledge as his small task force came out of hyperspace...

 

 

OOC: EDIT-Didn't realize Stellar had moved the plot forward a bit

Edited November 3, 2004 by ADarkJedi44

[BadSamaritan]

{ignore this mis-post, ya schwabs!} Edited November 3, 2004 by BadSamaritan

[BadSamaritan]

Hirotek smaled as he looked over the reports from the various ships in his fleet. Most fo this ships still had massive amounts of damage to repair, some of them would take months. Thankfully, due to the fact that no one had come to collect them, he still had some Imperial vessels to switch his crews over to. He had already called up a trio of Imperial Dueces from the relocated Kuat shipyards to replace some of his Ravager-class ships which wouldnt be repaired for some time. He didnt have the personall to ccrew tham at 100 percent, but it would be good enough for now. And several more ships were on the way, to replace some of his Vic Stars.

 

But he couldnt replace the ships that he had lost. High command had already stated that much. The losses had been to much as of late to just hand him ships. So he had to make due with what he had. But he still had a formidable force. He had transffered his command to the Stormshore, the only remaining Ravager-class that was capable of full fledged combat. Four Imp-star dueces, and two Bothan cruisers were the remains of the bigger shisps in his task force. he had also taken a pair of heavy carriers, and an old interdictor, the Stellar Web, to round out his force. It wasnt a large force, but it was large enough to harass the enemy with, or at least he hoped. He put the reports down, and walked out onto the bridge. Lir'ke stood there, dealing with the placement of the ships that would be left to defend the remnents of the yards. High command had said the former Fondor defence fleet would arrive soon to take over, and he would be cleared to leave.

 

"General Lir'ka. You have the bridge. Ill be down in deep storage bay 13, on board my ship. if you need me, you know how to contact me." he said, and Lir'ka smiled and nodded. Even with his new command as Admiral, Lir'ka knew he would find time for his weekly sabbac game with some of the crew members. She had always wondered if he would grow out of such things, but she knew the likely hood of that wasn't good. She went back to her duties, and soon, th rest of the bridge seemed to float out of her mind. She was tackling a difficult situation with the placement of a Star Destroyer when a ensign Walked up to her.

 

"General, we have recieved a communique from the Freedom of Thought. Commodore Athien requests an audiance with the Admiral, to discuss their movements into the unknown territories." he siad, and Lir'ka smiled. She looked over to the ensign, a feral grin on her face.

 

"Tell her she is welcome to come over, and send her down to the sabacc game. The admiral will be expecting her. But dont inform the Admiral. Lets see how he reacts to a sudden appearence by her, shall we?" she said, and the ensign smiled. They all new that practical jokes were tohe norm on this ship. And apparently, not even the Admiral was immune to them.

 

************

Seryk watched as malice struck out with the force lightning against his apprentice. he winced as he saw the apprentice be hit by it, almost pitying him. Then the mask and hood fell away, andhe saw her face. To him, she was ntohing mroe than a sith. But something in the back of his mind clicked. He knew her, from years ago. He couldnt seem to remember her name, but he knew her. And he also knew why she couldnt fight him back at Denon. And the dight of her falling to the ground, apparently lifeless, through Seryk into a rage. He ignited his saber, and launched himself at Malice.

 

Their blades met in a bright flash, and Seryk felt the anger in him rising, to a level that he had never felt before. he lashed out with his saber, attacking malice with a blind fury. And Malice laughed. But Seryk ignored him, and malice continued to parry his weak attacks. Then, Malice went on the offensive, striking out at Seryk. Blinded by his rage, Seryk never saw the attack coming. Malices' blade crossed over the faceplate of Seryks helmet, creating a long gash in the armor. Seryk fell back, and malice continued to stalk him. Malice struck again and again, each time, Seryk was barely able to fend off the attacks.

 

Fett watched in amazement as malice seemed to gain an instant upper hadn in the fight. he had watched Seryk fight this man more than once at Tattooine, and easily beat him. But now, something was different. Seryk was losing. And Fett knew that he wouldnt last long. He looked over to the young sith that Malice had struck down, and wondered whop she was. Even Fett could have sworn he elt the anger flow out of Seryk when he had seen her face. Fett didnt recognize her faec, but something about it seemed familiar to him. But he couldnt place it. he looked back to Seryk, and saw that malice had put yet another gouge into his armor. Fett gritted his teeth, but was loathe to interfere. This was something Seryk had to do on his own.

 

malice struck again, and batted Seryks saber away, and then stabbed the pont of his saber forward, attempting to pierce the armor over Seryks heart. but Seryk twilred quickly, causing the saber to simply bounce off of his armor. he came back around, and moed his saber in a downward arc, in a attempt to chop off the hand of his attacker. but malice saw the attack coming, and parried the blow. he moved in closer to Seryk, and smiled.

 

"Yes Seryk, feel it. Release the anger inside of you. We both know it is there. Use it to feed you." he said, and Seryk shoved him away. Seryk now knew waht was happening. Luke had warned him of this, but Seryk had almost fogotten about it. Beware of the dark side Seryk, for it is easily fallen to. Btu should you fall to it, it will consume you, and destroy you he had said. Seryk brought those words to his mind, and then he heard another voice, this one far away, almost in the back of his mind.

 

"The force is your ally, not a tool. Do not try to wield it like a weapon, but hold it like a lover. Do this, and anything is possible!" the vice said, and Seryk could have sworn he had heard it before. but he knew no wwas not the time to think about it. He had a fight to win. he looked back to Malice, and sneered.

 

"No. I will not fall to your tricks that easily sith. We end this here!" he said, and he struck out, catching malice off gaurd with the suddeness of the attack. malice quickly parried the blow, but found that he then had to parry another, and another. malice could sence the warrior flame burning brightly in seryk now, and he feared what he had unleashed. btu he could not run from this fight. He had to win, or die. No more running from a mere jedi.

 

Fett watched, and smiled as Seryk went back on the offensive, this time, looking more like his old self. But then he saw the with woman move, and he turned to train his blaster on her. he remembered what Seryk had said about not harming her, but he would not hesitate to kill her if need be.

 

*****************

 

Hirotek smiled as he laid his cards down on the table. the other being groaned as they saw his cards. Pure Sabbac. hirotek chuckled as he reahed across the table to collect his winnings. But one being, a Rodian, shook his head.

 

"Not so fast Admiral. You havent won yet." he said, and he laid down his cards. hirotek let his head hit the table as he saw them. An idiots array. The rest of the vrewman broke out in laughter as the rodian reached and brught both the hand and Sabacc pots over to him. Hirotek looked over at him, and smiled.

 

"You, lieutenant, are one hell of a bluffer" he said, and the Rodian chuckled.

 

"You should see me when my life is at stake." he said, and everyone broke out in laughter. Everyone here knew that gambling on board a ship of the line broke several regulations, but none of them cared. They all knew that even those higher up than the Admiral did things like this. Whcih is why they all also had a small glass of Ale sitting in front of them. According to their logic, is one is going in, go for broke. the rodian took everyones cards, and then glanced over at the hacth of the ship. he looked back to the admiral, and a glint appeared in his eye.

 

"So tell me admiral, what do you think of the Chiss commodore. Athien, i think her name is?" he asked, adn Hirotek looked over at him, confused slightly. They all knew that such issues were to be left out fo the game, unless it wasnt work related. So he decided to go with it.

 

"Well, fisrt off, she is Chiss, and that automatically makes her more than a little misterious. Secondly, she is brilliant, and therefor, someone I wouldnt want as my enemy. And thirdly, her ships can blow my ships away, so she isnt someone I would want to anger." he said, with a nod, and everyone at the table chuckled. The Rodain aughed as well, but then asked yet another question.

 

"I heard that you and her spent some alone time together after the battle. Anything.... interesting happen?" he asked, and everyone around the table winced. even with the open atmosphere of the sabacc games, thay all knew that the lieuteneant may have crossed the line. Hirotek simply laughed, and shook his head.

 

"No, nothing happened. We are two commanders, in completely seperate fleets. We have to be professional about our relationship." he siad, and the Rodian nodded. he began to shuffle the cards, and then looked around the table.

 

"Alright, same rules, everyone in!" he said, and everyone put thier chips into the two pots. As the Rodina passed out the cards, he looked over to the Admiral, the glint in his eye showing the rascal that was within him.

 

"So tell us, any chance of some, chemistry, between the two of you occuring?" he asked, and hirotek laughed. This caught all of the people off gaurd, and Hirotek smiled.

 

"Well, the answer to that is simple. Would you ever want to take the risk of having Thrawn as a father in law?" he asked, and almost everyone around the table shuddered at the thought. An older man, with a rank ansignia showing him as a captain laughed.

 

"Well, at least you would be safe from anyone that you pissed off!" he declared, adn that brought out another round of chuckles. hirotek smiled, and looked at the captain.

 

"And what if it was Thrawn you angered?" he asked, and the captain thught about it for a moment.

 

"Then i guess i would have to just exit my ship through the airlock, wouldnt I?" he said, and that brouight another round of chuckles. hirotek picked up his cards, and looked over to the Rodian.

 

"Tell me, what brought about all those questions?" he asked, and the Rodain looked around nervously. he then looked to hirotek and winced.

 

"What would you say if I told you she was standing n the hatch?" he asked, and silence fell over the table. Hirotek looked over to the Rodian, an evil grin on his face.

 

"I would tell you to demote yourself to ensign, and report to the nearest garbage scow as its pilot." he said, and the Rodian sighed. He slowly stood, as did the rest of the people at the table.

 

"I guess Ill be heading to that scow Admiral." he said, and this time, Hirotek sinced. He hadnt even heard her enter. He turned, and watched as the rest of the Sabacc players saluted her as they walked around her. Hirotek sttod up, and smiled weakly.

 

"Why hello there commodore. Welcome to my ship." he said, trying to sound confident. He wondered to himself silently how long she had been there, and how much she had heard.

[Trejiuvanat]

In the hangar twenty-four warriors and another dozen of droids had been waiting for him. Behind them two dark Jedi.

 

He had opened the canopy and jumped down. One of the dark Jedi had neared him, examined his face and spat on it. Ulan, like a rock, would not move, not react to senseless taunts. The saliva would slide off his face, and it would end.

 

With the butt of his lightsaber the Sith had hit him in the lower torax, it had hurt, but he had known pain since birth. He was Yuuzhan Vong. The other dark warrior had come closer, from his movements, from his posture Ulan could judge he was weaker. Short in size, observative eyes, he matched more the profile of a pilot than the one of a warrior. The lightsaber that hung from his belt was possibly one symbol, without a real utility.

 

The leader of the two dark Jedi grabbed Ulan's lightsaber from his belt. He examined it, and ignited it. A dark green blade hissed to existence. The man felt the handle of the lightsaber as he did some short moves.

 

"A master-piece, Jedi. Elegant, but powerful, so artistically built into a coral handle. What is your name," he asked as he deactivated the blade and put the handle before Ulan's face.

 

"Ulan Domain Shai, Knight of the Jedi Order, servant of Yun-Yuuzhan."

 

"I am Darth Fury. Today your fate lies in my hand, if you are ready to help me, you will find your permanence here rather pleasant, if not. You will long for death."

 

"I am a servant of the Force, not of its shadows."

 

Fury shrieked, ignited the blade and jumped into the air. With a heartless anger he dove the blade exactly into the "heart" of the Sekotian craft. Ulan felt its pain. As did Fury, whose smile grew bigger the more his craft suffered.

 

"Yuuzhan Vong believe they know pain, I will teach you about pain", with Ulan's lightsaber sstill in his right hand he took his own saber with his left and drove it again into the coral body of Ulan's fighter. Another spasm of pain.

 

Ulan could not restrain his anger at the coldless way Fury attacked the vehicle. The fighter that had refused to open fire on the Raporan fighters. Trust the Force, he thought he heard but he would not stop to listen, within an eyeblink Ulan had jumped a meter ahead and tackled Fury in the chest.

 

Using the Force he called Fury's apprentice lightsaber to him and ignited it. He ducked and rolled to his right, as he rose he made a long hack that sliced through two of the metal carcasses of the droids.

 

Of a sudden Raporan warriors with their own variety of lightsaber designs prepared to jump on him.

 

The Yuuzhan Vong, roughly twice the size of the Rapora, parried their slashes with his own blade as Fury regained his footing and with two blades ignited he waited.

 

Ulan backed off against a wall, from behind a Rapora set to jump on his back, Ulan felt its presence and jumped high to one of the ledges. The Rapora followed his jump and the trim ledge he fought off three other warriors, that fell to the grounds in varioius members.

 

From the ledge, he jumped onto his own fighter. The agile Rapora caught up with his jump in another few milliseconds and surrounded him again. One of them, a Rapora with a few scars on his face jumped on Ulan and drove on of his claws in his body, but the Jedi felt nothing but a sting. With the Rapora's face millimeters away from his own. Ulan hit it with a headbutt and as it dropped on the ground he drove the blade through its head.

 

The droids, would not fire as the Rapora warriors were to close to Ulan and waited for the next few minutes as the Yuuzhan Vong finished off the Rapora warriors. When the last Rapora died with a final exhalation the Droide'kar droids rolled to position and unlocked their weaponry. A bleeding and hurt Ulan froze into a a blocking stance to try and catch the blaster bolts.

 

Darth Fury still watched the blades crossed as an X in front of his body.

 

"You have proven your worth, Vong. You come from a race of warriors, as one you must embrace the aggressiveness, the anger that will strengthen you. Only your hatred could save you now."

 

"I have faith in the Force, I am Jedi."

 

"Fool."

 

Ulan locked his eyes with Fury and then shifted his gaze to the droids, Darth Vengeance, Fury's apprentice jumped Ulan who pulled him to the ground and drove his elbow on his chest. Ulan knew that in that single splitsecond the droids could blast him out of existence.

 

Instead in a blinding flash, Fury jumped and ignited the blade. A scream of agony was heard.

 

"This happens to failures," Fury murmured as he shutdown his blade, that had penetrated Vengeance's body.

 

"Be mindful, Ulan Shai, that you killed my apprentice. And that it is your destiny to replace him."

 

"I only took the lives of those that threatened me," Ulan answered as he dropped VEngeance's lightsaber on the ground.

 

"You know what is true, warrior. You will know what you are." Fury said smugly.

 

"I will not join you," Ulan said without conviction and dropped on the floor.

 

Alone in his cell Ulan Shai allowed himself to recline his back on the cold metal wall. In the pale metal plate he saw a twisted reflection of himself, covered in blood. The blood of his veins, and the blood of his enemies splashed over his face. Could he now trust himself fully to the Force, after having done what he did.

 

Time would tell, but with every second he felt a growing darker presence around him.

[Stellar_Magic]

Athien arched an eyebrow at the witdrawing crewers, "He's pretty perceptive for a Rodian." But then she smiled and pulled out a small holocube, "He caught my suggestions quite well."

 

Hirotek frowned, "Wait you..." He stopped in midsentence as she saw the holocube begin to spin above her hand, hovering there, "You can use the force."

 

Athien laughed and sat cross legged on the Sabacc table, "To an extent. So, about your mission to the Unknown regions..." Athien dropped the holocube in the center of the table and it flared to life showing a scattering of stars and a pair of brilliant nebula. Smiling contently she pointed to a number of stars on the display along with the nebula, "Sector 219, the Galia Nebula, Valar Nebula, Adumar, Luras, Kayana, and Valoras VI." She leaned over the table and hunched her shoulders, bringing her face nose to nose with him, "So what do you think?"

 

Hirotek felt his heart flutter as Athien watched him, "Well, um....what about Rapora positions?"

 

Athien laughed, "Not that Hirotek, about my father being Thrawn."

 

Hirotek's eyes widened, "He...he is." He blinked for a moment and glanced up at her, wonder in his eyes, "You..."

 

"Don't seem anything like you'd expect from him." She gave him a wry smile, "The Thrawn you know was cool professional. My father is a man madly in love with his children and home, you'd be quite surprised what he was like as a father." Athien ran a hand through one of her dull blue white bangs as she leaned back in one of the chairs and put her feet up on the desk, "So, now I know what you think of me..." Athien leaned forward and kissed his cheek before pulling back, "You know what I think of you." Sighing she leaned back and glanced at the hologram, "And I suppose we have a battle plan to work out."

 

Athien tapped another key and a second display flashed into existance, an intelligence report from the UDA detailing the deployment fo the Rapora in the sector. A pair of Kar Lur Cruisers Autumn Cycle and Solstice were in sector along with three Savlas, four Defras, and six Vagaari dreadnaughts. All in all a force equal to his own were located at a system designated VN-SX-031 in the Valar Nebula. Another unidentified force twice its size was reported based out of the Galia Nebula.

 

Frowning at the image Hirotek felt an idea drop into his mind, "How good are Rapora sensors in a Nebula."

 

Athien could see where he was heading, "They don't need sensors, they can pick you out through the force. Even so their starship units are quite good."

 

"What about their mines...could they be disabled and captured?"

 

"Yes...are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Athien frowned at him her jaw tightening.

 

"Yeah, we use your fastest ship to lure those Savla's into an ambush, they dump their mines in the nebula where we strike upon them and disabled and capture as many as we can." He smiled even more broadly, "Then we update the weapon's sensors and use them to mine the exits of the Nebula."

 

Athien smiled, "The Rapora wouldn't see such a plan coming, they couldn't see their own weapons being turned against them." She reached out and squeezed his hand, "You have a devious mind."

 

* * *

 

Darth Venom felt the fog that had dropped upon her eyes for all those years. She knew then that Darth Venom was dead, an empty husk that had masked her true self, Karyn. Pulling off her hood and mask she tossed them aside and drew her lightsaber. Leveling its purple tip at Malice she felt rage and anger, resentment and disgust boil threw her, "Malice drop it or I swear I'll ram you through."

 

"So the apprentice turns on the master," Malice spun his blades whirrling toward her.

 

Karyn knew then she was in the fight of her life. Karyn's life and future, one that she wanted now with her whole heart, and one she would have to call upon a one time friend then foe to see to the end, "Seryk, help me, help little Karyna like you once did, please, help me!"

 

Malice hissed between his teeth, "Then Darth Venom is dead, and all that remains is to dispose the body!"

 

As he raised his lightsaber hight o strike Seryk struck with his blade stopping his blow, "You will leave her be, sith."

 

* * *

 

Jaina Solo leaned back against the simple couch of the briefing room with Jagged nestled beside her. Jaina smiled slightly to herself as she looked up at the artwork around her, "Jag, you've lived with the Chiss for years, how does Athien strike you?"

 

Jag stirred and hugged her slightly before answering, "She doesn't act like most chiss, she's more emotional, more exposed to other cultures, and she carries a respect for others. Why'd you ask?"

 

"I think Hirotek is interested in her."

 

Jag shrugged, "Different can be vary attractive, and she is..." Jag stopped at a glare from Jaina, "What, I know I'm attached, if I wasn't I'd probably be attracted to her. She's different from most women around here, not to mention that she carries a lightsaber."

 

"And you would know about that from personal experience right?" Jaina asked sarcastically.

[ADarkJedi44]

The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi fell to the ground engulfed by force lightning. He did not speak, wince, or moan. He slowly picked himself up again, bracing for the next blow. Another round of force lightning came upon him, this one longer and more painful than the last. Yet his expression revealed no sign of the pain he was clearly in.

Fury began to grow frustrated. Time after time he would torture him, yet the Jedi refused to relent. He would always withstand it, expressionless.

"You are foolish. How long do you think you can withstand this? Better you surrender here, to me. Otherwise I shall hand you over to the Timeless One..."

The Jedi continued to look defiant as he picked himself up again. In a frenzy, Fury charged him and hit him as hard as he could on the head with both his lightsaber's butts simaltaneously. It had little affect, other than knocking Ulan to the ground.

"You cannot conquer me, Sith."

Darth Fury released the Dark Side and threw the Vong Jedi against the wall. He struck out with force lightning and watched the Jedi writh. Even he could only take so much, but it did nothing to soften his defiance.

"You will be taken back to your cell," said Fury turning his back to the Yuuzhan Vong.

As a few Raporan warriors came to take the Jedi away, Fury wondered what to do. Shall I immediately take him back to the Timeless One? Or should I wait a while and hope he'll crack?

Also, the lose of yet another aprentice was troubling. Fury could not hope to continue to take aprentice after aprentice. He had hoped Ulan would fall to the Dark Side, but that was seeming more and more impossible....

 

OOC: Well, I strung out a few paragraphs. Have fun Trej.

[BadSamaritan]

Hirotek smiled, and chuckled softly. he had never thought of himself as devious, just a corellian. But he did suppose it made sence, he had to have been devious to have gotten as far as he did in the ranks of the navy, especially after the vaccuum that was created by the war against the vong, and their surrender. Everyone was trying to get to the top at once. He was just lucky enough to get where he did. And it led him to this.

 

"Devious, yes. Exceptionally tactical, no. I have to much corellian blood in me to be good at tactics. I would prefer winning through dirty tactics, than ones that look good." he said, and Athien nodded. Hirotek stared closely at the hologram, and noted the placement of the Reporan fleets. He did note that they liked to hide themselves in nebulas. Like any normal person, he knew it was to hide their numbers. But in the back of his mind, he had but one question.

 

"What are they hiding?" he asked, adn Athien raised an eyebrow. She looked closley at the hologram, and then back up at Hirotek.

 

"What do you mean?" Where would they be hiding something?" she asked, and Hirotek pointed to the Nebulas. She looked back to the hologram, confusion on her face.

 

"The obvious reason to put your fleets in a nebula are two fold. One, to hide your numbers. And two, to hide your movements somewhat. But a third reason, one that most dont think about, is to make you pay attention to what may or may not be in the nebulas. And while you do that, they are doing something big, somehwere else." he said, and Athien nodded slowly. She understood what he was getting at now. If the Repora wanted to hide something, the best way would be to draw someones eyes away from it.

 

"Mis-direction. By placing their fleets there, you concentrate on the nebulas, and eventually move everything else to the back. Its an interesting thought," she said, and she then looked up tot Hirotek. "But how do we prove it? We cant just jump around, looking for something that may or may not exist. That would be a waste of time." she said, and Hirotek nodded. he leaned back, and sighed.

 

"Thats just it, I havent thought of that yet. And the pain about misdirection is, people use it wether they are hiding something or not. But still, placing all their forces in nebulas makes me think they are hiding something. But we dont have the time, or the resources, to hunt a possibility down." he said, and then he smiled. A thought occured to him, and he pointed to Adumar.

 

"Adumar will be our first stop. One, they have patrol vessles, and one of them may have spotted something. And two, Im sure they would like to know of the threat that is sitting next door to them." he said, and Athien smiled and nodded. She liked the idea.

 

"And we could use them as scouts for the sector. They should have a few ships they could spare for that task." she said, and Hirotek nodded in agreement. They both stared at the hologram, thier minds whirling with ideas. But they both new that thier current plan was a sound one, and would have to be done before anything else.

 

"Well then, I guess we should both get back to our duties. We have ships to ready, and crews to brief." Athien said, and she slowly stood up. Hirotek sighed, and stood up with her. he looked over to her, and suddenly frowned.

 

"Athien, about your father. Will he.." he bagan to ask, and Athien raised her hand, and put it to his lips.

 

"My father trusts my judgement. He will not question it very often. But be warned, of you make him question it...." she said, and Hirotek nodded.

 

"Let me guess, i would be safer with ther Repora?" he asked, and Athien smiled. She leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek.

 

"That would be a safe assumption." she said, a mischevious grin on her face. She then turned, and walked ut of the ship. Hirotek watched her leave, and stood there for a moment. He let his pulse slow down, and then he sighed. he had never thought he was capable of aflling for any woman, let alone for the daughter of Grand Admiral Thrawn himself. But he also wonderd if the Repora would be the death of him, or if staying on Athiens good side would.

 

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then walked out of the ship. he had to ge to the bridge, and call a staff meeting. He also needed to contact Admiral Kre'fey, and see if he could get Sabre squadron repaired, and outfitted for use by normal pilots. If he could, he was willing bet that either Rogue or Twin Suns squadron would love a chance to try them out in combat. If not, Hirotek knew he could always use them as scout vessels.

 

*****************************

 

Malice looked over to Seryk, and he smiled. Now he would be able to kill the unfaithfull apprentice, and this annoying pest, all in one day. he slowly backed away from both Karyn and Seryk, and twirled his blades slowly.

 

"Ah, this will be grand, to see you both lying dead on the ground. You have both been getting in the way for far to long. And now," he sia,d raising his blades, to strike," You will die!" he screamed, and he lept at them both. Seryk and Karyn both reaised thier blades to a defensive stance, and bleww off malices' first set of attacks. But he moved quickly, attacking them again and again, for to fast for either of them to get a chance to go n the offensive. karyn got a worried look on her face, she knew that even together, they couldnt stop Malice, not when he was in this sort of rage. But Seryk seemed calm, like the eye of a storm.

 

Seryk parried all of malices blows, the pure force behind them forcing him backwards. But he didnt care. He had a plan. And he knew that Malice would never see it coming, and even if he did, he would soon find himself in dire trouble. Seryk continued to let malice pound at him and Karyn, and he sent a mental nudge at Karyn, urging her to do the same. He felt a wave of unease roll off of her, and he could tell that she didnt understand his plan. but she owuld soon enough. After a few more moments, he saw that the positioning was perfect. Seryk concentrated, and sent Fett a thought through the force.

 

Fett watched the fight carefully, and then he could have sworn he heard Seryks' voice. But he did no one thing. He was bored. He wanted this fight to end. He raised his blaster slowly, and carefully took aim at the back of the sith. He took his time, not thinking that he sith knew he was about to fire. He squeezed the trigger, and watched as his bolt flew off at the sith.

 

Malice felt Fett take aim at him, and he snickered inwardly. Reaching out with the force, he altered the mandalorians, vision, so that he would aim right at Seryk. he kne wexaclty when Fett fired, and he reveled in the knowledge that Fett would be the one to kill Seryk. Then he realized it. Seryk knew this also. He watched as Seryk moved his blade to parry the blaster bolt, and it dawned on him. he had done exaclty as Seryk had wanted him to. Almost in slow motion, he watched the bolt hit Seryks blade, and bounce off, coming back at his chest. He moved his blades to block the bolt, and saw in horror as both Seryk and Karyn struck at him, his defences wide open for such an attack.

 

**************************8

 

Hirotek walked onto the bridge, and looked directly at Lir'ka. She caught the look, and grinned. It was then Hirotek knew he had been set up. he sighed, and shook his head. He should have expected it from this crew. He moved to his command chai, and sat down. He shook his head again, and looked over at Lir'ka.

 

"Get aholed of my senior staff, and tell them we will be having a meeting at 1330 hours to discuss out deployment. That should give them plenty of time to worry." he said, and he was rewarded by a few chuckles across the bridge. Hirotek smiled, knowing that his crew would never change.

 

"And try to raise Admiral Kre'fey. I have a request for him. And Im sure he would like to know what our plans are for our mission." he siad, and Lir'ka nodded. hirotek leaned back in is seat, and began to think to himself. he wondered what he would come across out in the unknown regions. he hoped that it wouldnt be more than his forces could handle. But he knew hat he had to be prepared for the unexpected.

[Stellar_Magic]

Athien sighed as the Freedom of Thought dropped out of hyperspace. Through the bridge viewports the world of Adumar was clearly visible. Leaning back int he command chair she glanced at teh tactical hologram before her as the rest of the allied forces dropped from hyperspace, "Sensors, full sweep I want to know if you see anything anomolous."

 

Jaina Solo leaned back from her console and turned to Jag sitting beside her, "Ever been here?"

 

"No," Jag answered as he shrugged, "I do remember Wedge telling stories about the place."

 

Jaina nodded as the sensor operator called out from his station, "Commodore I've got a transient, bearing nine one seven mark twelve, ten thousand kilometers."

 

"All hands to full battle readiness," Athien ordered standing up abruptly, "Have you identified the contact."

 

"It's a gravitic anomoly, consistent with a cloaked frigate class ship Commodore," The officer frowned for a moment at his console, "Contact decloaking, identified as a Savla class cruiser. She jumped to hyperspace!"

 

Athien grumbled beneath her breath, "Stand down alert, it seems our enemies have a bit of information about us."

 

* * *

 

The Timeless One frowned as one of the couriors entered the room from the communications center, "What is it?"

 

"A combined UDA and GFFA fleet has been sighted at Adumar." The Rapora warrior answered coldly, "Our sector commanders are requesting orders."

 

Closing his eyes the Timeless One pulled the remainder of the report from the creature's mind, "Tell them they are to proceed as planned, such a force is not sufficient to defend Adumar as planned. They will launch their attack seven days from now, no later or sooner."

 

* * *

 

Karyn shuddered as Malice crumpled under her blade, she'd down it, she was free. Closing down the lightsaber she turned to Seryk, tears begining to flow from her eyes, "Thank you."

 

Seryk had finally placed the face, Karyn Kann the daughter of a close friend of his parents, she'd been only eight the last time he'd seen her, the little Karyna, to think of it he'd only been a child at the time as well, it had been so long ago.

 

Boba had no idea who she was, "Now, if you'll lower your lightsaber...Karyn was it?"

 

* * *

 

Grand Admiral Oreton glanced around the compartment of the briefing room at the statues of Raporan art scattered around the room. Then he glanced at the Galactic Holo which hovered before him, "You've crippled the GFFA, the Chiss, and the Empire. What next?"

 

Then it dawned upon him, the Rapora had only a single homeworld, their only hope had been to cut the GFFA down to a managable size before begining a normal offensive. Studying the art then the holo he decided what the enemy's targets would be, "Bakura and Adumar and from Adumar they'll hit the Ord Mantell."

 

The doors to his chamber slid silently open and Admiral Oreton watched as a woman stepped inside and saluted. Then he saw the uniform on the woman'd frame a UDA uniform, "Grand Admiral Oreton, I am Commodore Julian Veras, Supreme Commander Thrawn felt that you might use some assistance from my fleet."

 

Oreton felt himself arch an eyebrow at the blond hair green eyed woman, "Certainly, if you'll give me a breakdown of your fleet we can see about integrating it into our command."

 

The woman smiled, "I've heard a lot about you sir..."

 

"Please not so formal, we're both comrades in arms."

 

"Thank you," Julian sat down on the table at the rooms center, "Raporan art is quite interesting isn't it...the cycles within each movement, their circles."

 

"Yes," Admiral Oreton answered slowly studying the woman, could she perhaps be an equal much as the Grand Admiral? Only time would tell.

 

OOC: Gee, do we have a long character list or what?

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC: Yep though we'll have to do something about that name... Having my real-life name given to a female char is some-what disturbing... Oreton part in the late afternoon. Ulan part for now.

 

IC:

 

After hours of torture Fury had desisted, he had escaped thorugh one metallic bulk door and left Ulan bleeding on the ground. The angrier he becomes, the stronger you must become

 

The smell of burnt flesh stank in his nose, his muscles hurt with every step he took. The bones, tired and heavy could not hold him and his hand searched the walls for a single hold and frm there search for another.

 

The Raporan electric stingers move him onward, though he did not feel their shock. A storm of Forcelightning, had already muted most of his senses. The twisted expression on Fury's face had shocked him, as it became a symbol of what he could become. What he had become for a handful of seconds in the hangar.

 

Three minutes later the cold metallic surface of the floor received his limp body. But he did not feel the coolness of it. A sound of thunder seemed to come forth from the inner of hs body he remembered that he had not received food or drink for too long. Alone and surrounded by darkness he withdrew to oen of the lonely corners of the cell.

 

Ulan Shai, began to sing an old prayer to honor Yun-Yuuzhan, to honor its courage and his greatness. AS his lips moved and the harmonic sound escape from it he began to see in his head the scene at the hangar, and relived the torture at the hands of Fury.

 

A detail caught his attention, the voice that had visited him in both occasio nand that had spoken to him in his cell. He stopped to sing and closed his eyes reaching in the Force.

 

"You must trust the Force, Ulan Shai. It is your only escape." A voice said, and Ulan blinked. Before him a human figure materialized, surrounded by a blueish hue.

 

"Who are you?"

 

"I was once known under the name of Trej Ocas. I was once a Jedi Knight."

 

Ulan nodded, the figure wore the robes of a Jedi of old, and a lightsaber hung from his belt, but the Jedi Vong failed to understand why he was there.

 

"You wonder about my presence?," at Ulan's afirmative nod the figure continued. "The Force is mysterious in many ways, Ulan. It will call you, when it requires to do so. It is a call you can deny, one you alone will listen. When I died, in the same moment of my death I opened myself fully to the Force, by doing so I had become one with the Force. Comitting myself to serve her in a way I, as a Jedi, never did."

 

"But why have you come to me, Master Ocas."

 

The ghost smiled inguldently at the Jedi. "All the wars of this galaxy have been decided by the Force. The Yuuzhan Vong defeat came not because of military tactics, but ecause of their new-found knowledge of the Force. The Jedi of my era were killed because their knowledge had been clouded. All of it will be traced back to the first Schism. To the very first Sith Lord who would embrace the Force to manipulate forhis own personal gain. He was the first to join the Dark Side.

 

"Ever since have darkness and light been at odds. And though evil has changed its shape it is ever the same. Timeless evil, young Ulan is what drives the Rapora. The answers to this war does not lay in the techonology that can come from Sekot, or that can be developed in the world of your Alliance. The key to this war lies thousands of years back silently buried. For all the knowledge of the Force, there is one thing the Rapora fear. For long they would not believe i, they would deny its existence. Do you know why the Rapora have not killed you, Ulan? Why they want a Yuuzhan Vong? One that is strong in the Force?"

 

Ulan opened his mouth to answer but the spirit was gone. Still he felt some strength return to his limbs, as if beign the carrier of some secret mesasge whose meaining he had not quite identified would restore him fuly and prepare him to face Fury, or the Timeless evil that drives the Rapora.

[ADarkJedi44]

After days of torturing the Vong Jedi, Fury had decided it was futile. He obviously was not going to break him. He wasn't even sure what the Timeless One wanted from the Vong Jedi. Therefore, the Vong Jedi would be handed over to the Timeless One.

He smiled with pleasure as the Jedi was once again brought before him. The same defiant look was on his face, only a bit stronger. Nevertheless, he physically couldn't endure much more torture.

"The Timeless One will deal with you."

The Vong Jedi expression was the same as always.

***

Darth Fury kneeled before the Timeless One, nervous in his powerful presence.

"My Lord, the mission has been completed. The Vong Jedi is yours to deal with."

"Excellant, Darth Fury. I have another mission for you. You willl lead the fleet sent to conquer Bakyra."

"As you wish..."

***

Evahe looked at the latest reports. There was much evidence to conclude that Bakura would be the next Raporan target. The Eclipse would be of great use here, but I do not believe the fleet attacking Adumar will be quite as massive as the Fondor or Kuat fleets. Bakura isn't of as much importance. Nevertheless, it obviously must be protected.

Fortunatly, the Fourth Fleet is more or less repaired from Fondor. We took few casulties there. General Ioor with the Third Fleet can also be utilized. If needed, Admiral Helos's Fifth Fleet could also be called upon.

"Set a course for Bakura..."

[BadSamaritan]

Hirotek frowne as he watched the reporan cruiser leave the system. he considerd for a moment sending his fleet after it, but he knew the pointlessness of that. They would never catch it. He turned to his captain, and saw the look of worry on his face. Hirotek sighed, and shhok his head. It appeared that Adumar was already a target. he thought back to the forces Athien had shown him, and realized that Adumar would fall unless the Repora only sent a small force here. He didnt have the firepower to hold off a large scale attack.

 

"Admiral, we are being contected by both Adumar, and by Commodore Athien. They are both requesting.." hiroteks comm officer suddenly said, and Hirotek waved him off. This wasnt going to go anywhere near the way he had planned.

 

"Bring them both up at once, and cross link them. We should all meet now, instead of later." he said, and his comm officer nodded. he walked over to his communications console, and watched as both Athien and a middel aged man appeared in hilogram form in front of him. hirotek held up his hand quickly as the Adumarian began to speak.

 

"Admiral, our sensors picked up a Reporan vessel. They know we are here." Athien said, and Hirotek nodded.

 

"Yes, I know. I believe that was an advanced scout. Which means they will throw even more ships at Adumar." Hirotek siad, and Athien noddend solemnly. Hirotek looked over to the middle aged man, and smiled.

 

"Im sorry about that. You were saying?" he asked, and the man scowled at him.

 

"I am President Mikeal Argothin, of Adumar. I was going to ask why you were hear, but now I must ask about these, Repora, did you call them? is my world in danger?" he asked, and Hirotek nodded.

 

"I am afraid so President. The Repora area hostile species from deep in the unknown regions, that are very sensitive to the dark side of the force. They have already launched several attacks against major hildings of the GFFA, and we have yet to have a clear victory against them." Hirotek said. The presidents face grew white with fear, and he began to stutter slightly. Hirotek had to supress a smile as he listend to the president, and wondered ho well he was going to like taking orders, and not giving them.

 

"President, what is the current status of your fleet, assuming you have one? you will have to be very specific, we need to plan our strategy accordingly." Athein said, and the president settled down slighty. Hirotek admired Athiens tact in her question, he would have demanded the information, and she had asked for it. It did seem to calm the president down a bit. He would have to remember that for later use.

 

"Well, we have been purchasing vessels from both the Empire, and the Republic for a number of years now. Most of them are older vessels, but we did recently recieve our new flagship, the Pride of Adumar, for Kuat. its not much, but it works as a defensive force. We have thirteen vessles now." he said, and Hirotek nodded. He knew that the Adumarian flagship was brand new, and that they had paid a handsum sum for it. Even for a Victory III class, it was an impressive ship. He had oversaw its production personally. He also knew what it was capable of.

 

"Well, thats better than nothing. We will need a detailed list, but that can wait for now. for now, we all need to meet in person, and discuss the evacuation of Adumar." hirotek said, and the presidents jaw dropped.

 

"Evacuation? Are you saying that we will lose?" he asked, and Athien nodded.

 

"President, so far, the Repora have destroyed Bastion, Csilla, Fondor, Yaga Minor, and have luanched an almost successful attack on Kuat. Only the intervention of an Eclipse class vessel allowed us to win there. The forces we have here now are no where near powerfull enough to hold of a Reporan attack. Not without a massive amoutn of re-enforcements, which we know will not be arriving." Athien said, and the President slowly nodded. He looked as if he was lost in thought for a moment, and then sighed.

 

"Alright. If you say thats the best plan, that what we will do. I invite you to the planet, so we can discuss this all in person." he said, and both Hirotek and Athien nodded. They both knew that had littel time, but it would be best to meet on the planet. The holo of the president vanished, and hirotek looked to Athien.

 

"We will never manage to evacuate them all. We dont have anywhere near the time." he siad, and Athien nodded.

 

"I know. All we can do is get as many of them out as possible. And of course, inflict as many casualties upon the repora as we can." she said, a smile on her face. Hirotek smiled, and nodded.

 

"I shall launch my personal shuttle in a few minutes, and pick you up for transport to the planets surface. it will leave a much better impresson if we arrive in one ship." he said, and Hirotek could see the sly grin on Athiens face.

 

"Of course Admiral. I shall be waiting." she said, and Hirotek cut the transmission. It was then that he noticed the rest of his bridge crew staring at him, most of them smiling.

 

"Back to work, you space bums!" he barked, adn the crew laughed. They went back to work, and Hirotek nodded. He knew that he would never hear, nor see, the end of this now. he turned, and walked over to the turbolift, and entered. He sent the lift flying towards his personal hanger, his mind whirling with battle plans. He wondered how many ships the Repora would send to Adumar, and he wondered how many people he would manage to save befre he was forced to retreat. he did know, however, that the Reporan mines would be mope needed than ever. he just hoped that he couled get them in time to deploy them for the fight here.

 

OOC: Ill post about Seryk later, I have a takeover to launch at another website!

[Trejiuvanat]

OOC: Changed the Commodore's name to Eressa.

 

"Yes, very interesting, iterative cycles if you analyze it carefully. You can easily deduce a pattern, Rapora seem not tobe a complicated species."

 

"They will strike at two place at once, and from there at another two place and so on." Commodore Veras said completing Oreton's considerations. Oreton evaluated her, she was smart, that was undeniable. She seemed to own those cool logics that were unfailable, but her character revealed an amiable personality capable of admitting mistakes. She did have personality, something that was a requirement to obtain an officer position with the UDA fleet.

 

"Exactly, from Adumar I would expect attacks on Ord Mantell and possibly Garos IV. From Bakura they could launch attacks to Endor -of all places- and to Cerea?. I do not believe the Rapora would focus largely on that sector of space, as is relatively unimportant. Save for Bakura there are no worlds of strategic importance. People remember Endor as the resting place for Darth Vader, which may have some kind of importance for the Rapora as Force-users. Instead. Adumar opens a larger scenario."

 

"The Hydian?" Eressa asked.

 

"Most likely. With the Rapora with an open access to the trade routes, they could become unstoppable."

 

"Will we move to reinforce the defense of Adumar?" she asked, wide-eyed.

 

Oreton smiled enigmatically before answering as he shifter his gaze from Eressa's dark brown eyes to one piece of Rapora art.

 

"No, we will reinforce Bakura."

 

"Did you not say it is unimportant."

 

"Yes, and that makes it more," he looked at her searching for a better word. "Attractive. I cannot fathom the Raporan motivations, but so far they have operated according to a strict logic. They have sought important targets to level us, to their standards. Adumar is a continuation of that scenario. Bakura on the other hand is not, there is something else about Bakura."

 

She moved to his side and looked at the piece of art that had attracted Oreton's attention.

 

"It is strangely hypnotic."

 

"Yes," Oreton agreed to her words. "But it is not Raporan art?"

 

"No, I brought this from the Chimaera when I left Imperial Space, I have not even begun to understand the artwork. The writhing, the chaotically harmonic movement."

 

Eressa blinked. "Could the Rapora seek the Ssi-Ruuvi?"

 

"Stranger things have happened. Thrawn has asked the Yuuzhan Vong to participate in this war," Oreton shrugged. "We cannot rule out any possibilities. But most important thing is that whatever the Rapora want from Bakura and its surroundings, we must deny it to them.

 

"Would you join me at the observation level to discuss our fleet deployment for the next battle?" Oreton finished, offering her his arm in a Royal Alderaanian way.

 

"Gladly." Eressa answered and took his arm.

 

A few hours Eressa Veras left. Still in the observation level Oreton ordered his fleet to prepare for the journey to Bakura, which began barely an hour later. Alone in the observaation vessel he began to think, about Bakura, about his fleet, about Eressa and even about himself.

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Oh Annie! Where are you?

 

IC:

With a flash of silvery skin the Sekotan Skip sped between the two Raporan cruisers sent to engage him. Behind the controls Anakin Skywalker shook his head, "If thats your answer you're more lost then I thought."

 

The two Savlas barreled in after him, their anti starfighter cannons ripping through space. The Sekotan skip danced before them, always slipping between bolts from the guns or sucking up those shots that came too close with a dovin basal. Anakin dipped between the headlong chasing Savlas before he twisted toward a new heading. Settling back he touched the hyperspace controls and leapt into the infinite void.

 

He leaned back and reached out with the force. Opening himself to its flow he knew what the Rapora intended and wanted. He knew exactly where to go, Endor.

 

* * *

 

Athien glanced at the tactical displays then out the front viewport into the gasy maw of the nebula. She nodded to the special tactics officer, "Engage phase cloak."

 

"Phase cloak engaged," The officer answered her slowly.

 

Athien nodded then turned to the helm officer, "Take us into the nebula, engines at three fourths."

 

"Yes Commodore, engines at three fourths, entering the outer dust cloud."

 

Athien keyed her shipboard comm, "Jaina, Jag, report status."

 

There was a slight pause from the speaker before Jaina answered, "We're all online and ready Commodore, if you need us we'll be out and fighting in ten seconds."

 

"Thank you."

 

The Sensor operator turned in his seat, "Sir, I've picked up two transients headed this way, it looks like a pair of Savlas."

 

"Perfect, drop cloak reverse course," Athien glanced back at the sensor operator, "They detect us?"

 

"Ship's coming about and accelerating, they saw us alright." The Sensor operator's eyes widened visibly, "I've got weapons fire from the two Savlas." The bridge shook as the plasma bolts smashed into the ship's shields, "Two thousand meters and closing, they'll over shoot us in five...four...three....two...one." With a whine that rattled the bridge the two Savlas shot overhead without slowly.

 

"Ion cannons stand by to disable mines."

 

"We've got mine deployment."

 

"Ion cannons fire at will, all squadrons launch, engage those Savlas."

 

* * *

 

Luke Skywalker sighed as he stepped out of the bonding ceremony with a pair of the seed creatures attached to his robes. Behind him Mara stepped out with three, but none of them compared to Ben, he had nine of the creatures hanging from him, "So, what exactly do these things do?"

 

"They help sekot teach the ship to listen to its pilot," Danni Quee slipped through the assembly around the ceremony chamber to stand near Luke, "Would you like to see your new ship?"

 

"Yeah, I'd like to see the kid's ship," Han smiled as he stepped through the crowd, followed by Leia and two wookies, "Of course nothing can replace the Falcon."

 

Mara's eyes narrowed, "I'd watch that Solo, I might just have to steal your ship."

 

* * *

 

Jaina smiled with delight as she rocketed out of the Freedom of Thought's hanger bay. She was flying again. Smiling she banked the Claw type missile boat toward the two Savla class Cruisers as they maneuvered away from their disabled mines.

 

Jaina clicked the comm, "Jag stay with me, all flights switch to Concussion Missiles on my mark. Be ready for the full spread setting." Jag waggled his wings as he banked alongside her and set up for the attack.

 

The Claw type missile boat was basically a much more blocky form of Clawcraft. Where the wings met the ball a rapid firing Missile launcher had been installed and magazines inserted into the wings. It was slower then a clawcraft but no less maneuverable and enjoyed all the benefits of a tie style design.

 

Through the dust before them Jaina smiled as Ravager class destroyer entered the fight. Breaking toward the Savlas she switched to missiles, "Going to missiles, fire at will." Seconds later over one hundred and twenty concussion missiles had turned the Savla into so much burning wreckage and debris. Soon the second Savla followed suite.

 

* * *

 

The Timeless One smiled as the Rapora shuttle slid into the hanger of the Resurrector. Darth Fury greeted him, his hand clasped around the vong's wrists, "My lord, the prisoner you requested."

 

"Good, head to the Bakura attack fleet, a task force is waiting for your command."

 

"Thank you my lord," Darth Fury threw the prisoner to the floor before turning and heading back to the shuttle.

 

The Timeless One smiled as he looked down at Ulan, "Everything you know of the force is a lie Ulan. There is no evil, no peace, only emotion and reason." He slowly circled his prey, "I know you Ulan, how the fires of a warrior flow through your veins, you'll learn the truth, with time."

 

* * *

 

Athien smiled as she saw the report in her hands, they'd succeeded. They'd captured just over fourty eight Raporan Mines, and with the hundreds of factories below the surface of Adumar, soon they'd have over a hundred of the mines. Mines that would trap the Rapora within the cover of the nebulas. Mines that might give them victory.

[Trejiuvanat]

Time?

 

Time?

 

Time.

 

Ulan allowed his limp body to crash on the metallic surface of the wall. He slid down, incapable to strecth out his arm and prevent the hit.

 

A loud thud echoed in the prisoners section. Would he learn with time? What was there to learn? Ulan did already now that his knowledged was clouded. There was no peace, there would never be peace. Shedao Shai's first words to him had been those. What the pathetics beings called peace, was meant as submission. Total submission to the faith in the Gods and the Yuuzhan Vong.

 

No, he did not doubt his teaching. He had faith in the Force. The Force would guide him but the path would be smoother if you did not struggle against it. Faith.

 

A warrior's faith must be carved with a weapon. Lightsaber or Amphistaff did not matter, but a warrior must fight. Only in war can a warrior perform his duties. That seemed rational, as everything was. You control your emotions and choose when to unleash oyur power. Anger strengthens you. Two dozen Rapora died when your anger power you, Ulan Shai.

 

Not faith. Anger. Emotion.

 

A cold reasoning hid behind all.

 

Lies, every single one of the Jedi prefects.

 

"Trust the Force, Ulan Shai," the calm voice of Trej Ocas's spirit counselled.

 

Ulan dragged his body to a corner. "I must decide my destiny."

 

"You must make the choice. Not the empty voice of a spectre of evil. Remember, Ulan. For all his power, he cannot touch your mind."

 

"He can, he already has. The voice. The whisper." The Vong's eyes widened, everything aroundn him was a lie. Could he still be with Fury on his ship, or in the throne before the Timeless One?

 

"Or here, Ulan Shai. Have faith and do not fear. I once did lie before his throne and struggled against my fears, but he could not touch my mind. He will whisper into your mind, and will read your thoughts, but he cannot force you. You have the choice."

 

"I am sitting in the deepest abyss of evil." Ulan whispered to himself, trying to clear his mind. The body was weak, broken, and fragile. Would his spirit hold?

 

"I am Yuuzhan Vong, child of the Gods. I must show endurance."Ulan repeated to himself, once, thrice. Ten times. An oath spoken to his deities in his tongue.

 

"You are Jedi."

 

"I am." Ulan answered to the ghost affirmation.

 

"Now show your strength, resist the tempations of the Dark Lord and escape will be attainable. Fail and not a thousand deaths will redeem you."

 

***

 

The fleet arrived at Bakura. Oreton had already begun to redeploy his force in order to quickly disable the Raporan Replicator, if any, and destroy the first wave of the fleet.

 

The small armada of Bakuran destroyers joined the UDA's group of smaller gunships, and their fighter pilots were thoroughly briefed with the small-ship tactics that would be employed against the Rapora.

 

With Captain Onolovav skillfully drilling the crews and preparing the most likely scenarios the greener officers would be confronted, Oreton allowed himself a few hours to meet the leaders of Bakura on board the Imperious.

 

Malinza Thanas, gone from would-be renegade to upstading statewoman, had been glad to join the Grand Admiral in his ship. Another representative of the Senate, one that had been present ever since the days of the first Ssi-Ruuk Crisis had also joined, as had one of the members of the Kuertzen minority. Oreton asked Eressa to join him, as she was a official member of the UDA, and Oreton could not officially talk for them.

 

Oreton did not expect the meeting to be interrupted by the Rapora, but in the remote case it would the leaders would stay on his ship.

 

On the first point in the agenda was, logically, the evacuation of the planet. The first negatives came from the group of politicians, as none of the three wanted to leave the planet behind. The older Senator would not consider it prudent, and insisited that in none of the previous crisis had it ever been considered to abandon the world. That was joined by the Kuertzen protests and camouflaged accusations of Imperial interference. Finally Malinza had wanted to close the arguement, with an energic "if they want our world, they will have to take it from us. In the ground if it needed to be." that died away as Oreton described the Raporan way.

 

Malinza swallowed hard as she listened to the description of the Replicators, and as Oreton told of the deaths of Bastion, Chiss and Fondor. The Kuertzen rook back some of his accusations, but offered the obviously possible problem. There were no ships to evacuate the entire world. Most of the Kuertzen would never leave their land behinds. And some humans, just like the stone-old Senator would never leave their world either.

 

Oreton asked to organize evacuation parties and at least move them temporarily to some of the Outer planets for the timebeing. As much as it cost Oreton, the Grand Admiral offered one of his smaller Victory - II destroyers, to land on the planet and help evacuate.

 

Malinza talked about a handful of old Acclamator-destroyers that could be used. And would be used if it was up to her. Oreton smiled at Eressa everytime Malinza spoke, the fire in her speech spoke greatly of her fierceness. Her hability to adapt to new circumstances, also would make her a great personality in such a group as the UDA. And that came as a pleasant surprise to both soldiers, as they had expected a much harder discussion with people of the likes of the old senator.

 

Oreton made a mental note about Malinza, and whatever fate expected Bakura that he would bring her to the UDA.

 

"Will an evacuation be ordered?" Oreton asked.

 

"I will bring this to an emergency meeting of the Senate?" Malinza said.

 

"Can you not do it via holocomm to the surface?" Eressa asked.

 

"Politics, Commodore. If I want to get this proposal accepted, and I do. It will be infinitely more persuasive, if I make it from my seat on the Senate and not from a bridge of a Star Destroyer. That[/] kind of persuasion may have once worked, but not anymore."

 

Oreton suppressed a smile.

 

"I suggest you hurry. The Rapora will be here any moment." Oreton told the young woman.

 

He said farewell, and once again spoke his call to evacuate the planet to the other two members.

 

After they left Eressa moved closer to him.

 

"You think they will listen to her?"

 

"I do not know. I do hope so," Oreton shrugged. "I hope that the evacuation will be unnecessary. That we can actually beat the Rapora back here."

 

"You did at Fondor, Baros." Eressa noted, locking her gaze with his.

 

"At a great price, I won thier battle. Not mine."

 

"So what do we do in the meantime, Grand Admiral," Eressa said. Snapping both of them back to their formal selves.

 

"Wait. And prepare to fight for a world's doom."

 

"Or survival." Eressa whispered quietly, as if the words by themself were sacred.

[Stellar_Magic]

The Resurrector prepared for battle, its halls were filled with countless warriors. It's hangers stuffed beyond their maximum capacity. Worker droids bustled downthe halls repairing the smallest of blemishes on the mighty battle station.

 

The Timeless One did not take notice, instead his focus was outward as he glid through the halls paying no heed to the warriors around him as they bowed or made way. He stepped to one of the plain portals of the battle station and tapped once on the control panel and let the door slide silently open. He stepped inside to see the exhausted form of the Vong Jedi lying crumpled on the floor. A grim smile swept across his face as he touched the vong with the force.

 

The Vong's eyes fluttered open as he became aware of the presence and th Timeless One spoke, "You show great resistance Ulan, but you have little realization of what you face." With a slight beckoning of his will a Rapora Guard stepped to his side, "Perhaps you Jares Adrak could educate our prisoner as to who I am."

 

The Rapora hissed and a flash of disdain and hatred flashed across its face as he looked to the prisoner, "Your understanding of the force is in error Ulan Shai. The Force has embodiments and wills, each may contest another, each may anger another. These spirits of our universe bind and create through their conflicts."

 

"Whom do you serve Jares," The Timeless One said simply as he starred into Ulan's eyes.

 

"I serve the greatest embodiment of the force, the Timeless One, the force made palpatable and real an insidious wound into those that feel that reason is the greatest strength, the spirit of passion and power."

 

"Perhaps a demonstration of my power is in order, Jares, take the prisoner to the bridge."

 

* * *

 

Luke Skywalker felt his eyes widen as the cavernous hanger doors slid open to reveal an immense black vessel beyond. It's hull glinting in the dim light the craft's glossy surface. The green glowing organiform circuitry glowing along the sides of the craft marked it as Sekotan but the rest of the craft seemed to be an elegant mixture of organic and inorganic materials.

 

Danni smiled at the stunned expressions on the faces of the others, "Amazing isn't she?"

 

Han too was stunned, "Whats her top speed?"

 

Danni pulled a datapad from her pocket, "Without the Dovin Basals just shy of two hundred MGLTs with the assistance of the Dovin Basals a little over three hundred MGLTs, I wouldn't suggest flying that fast normally though, it could damage the ship."

 

Mara stepped tothe craft's wing and reached out to touch it and felt the ship's skin contract slightly at her touch, she could feel the organic nature of the vessel through the force and her hands. Smiling she felt the vessel itself reach out with the force and touch her mind, much like a jedi, within it she found a child of a spirit much like her own, a weapon of a spirit, "How is she armed?"

 

Leia chuckled to herself as Han turned to her, "Weaponary, does she think of anything else?"

 

Danni shrugged noncommital, "She's got quite an arsenal, six proton torpedoe tubes four under the bow two at the ster, ventral and dorsal quad lasers, four plasma projectors, dual forward mounted turbolasers, um an experimental gravity impellor..."

 

Han arched an eyebrow, "Whats that?"

 

"It creates a graviton wave in front of the ship, basically it creates a subspace shock wave. You'll be able to cripple pursuers without having to destroy them," Danni explained. She smiled, "And lastly a pair of projectile interception batteries."

 

"Projectile..." Mara began.

 

"Interceptors, you'll be able to destroy incoming missiles by using them to send a spread of chaff in front of the missiles."

 

"So they're great big flechette guns," Mara observed as she strolled around the craft, "And it has a launch system for our X-wings right?"

 

"Yeah, so what are you going to call her..."

 

"I think I'll call her the Jade Scimitar."

 

* * *

 

Ulan was shoved down to his knees at the front of the bridge as the Timeless One strolled down the command deck. Through the forward viewports Ulan saw a sight that tore at his heart, two enormous Rapora Replicators hung out there, each one surrounded by a fleet of vessels. Seeing the look of shock on his face the Timeless One smiled, "You haven't even tasted my power Ulan."

 

Lifting his hands like an orchestra conductor he closed his eyes. A part of space ahead rippled and wavered then blosomed into an enormous ion storm, he smiled and reached out with the force and touched space again, the storm disappeared into a tiny black speck, a black hole, then with a shrug from him, that to disappeared from view.

 

Ulan sat speechless as the Timeless One turned, "The Universe answers to me Ulan, you cannot withstand me and live." Smiling he leaned down next to the Jedi, "I belive Yoda said it best, beware the powers of the emperor..."

 

"My Lord, all forces report ready." A Rapora officer saluted from his console.

 

"Set course for Bakura, all ships, the war begins today!"

 

* * *

 

Athien watched the displays as half of the Raporan fleet disappeared from their own mines. The remainder, damaged drifted in the nebulas that had been their base.

 

She turned as one of her officers called out to her, "Sir, we've just picked up a hundred plus Vagaari warships exiting hyperspace over Adumar!"

[BadSamaritan]

OOC: Sorry I havent posted, my router burned out on me yesterday. Time to get back to work. Ill assume Hirotek was with Athiens forces turning the Reporan forces into scrap.

 

Hirotek swore as he saw the reports of the vagaari fleet roll in. he had never expected a force this large. he diodnt have anywhere near the firepower to stop it. he didnt even have enough firepower to make a dent in it. At best, all he was going to be able to do was inflict casualties on their rear flanks, as he could no longer position himself in front of the enemy forces. He pondered his situation for a moment, and then sighed.

 

"Contact the Freedom of Thought. Tell them we are going to jump in at the far flank of the Vagaari forces. Pull in all remaining mines, and reset them for another launch. We will luanch them as soon as we are within range of their fleet." he ordered, and he leaned back in his chair as his orders were carried out. He wonderd how exactly they had managed to hide such a large fleet from them. Misdirection perhaps? But he had always known that Adumar would fall. he just hadnt expected it would fall so easily. Between his forces, and the Adumarian defence fleet, he only had roughly 30 vessels. He watched as his forces entered hyperspace, and hoped that he would arrive in time to at least save as many of the Adumarians as he could.

 

************************************

 

"Yes, my name is Karyn. Karyn Kann. And you are Boba fett, are you not?" she asked, and she watched as Boba just stared at her. She wondered what was going on in his head, and the Seryk stepped forweard.

 

"Karyn, what are you doign with the Repora? What happened?" he asked, concern in his voice. karyn felt warm hearing him again, it had een a long time since anyone had showed any sort of concern for her. Only the Timeless One had seemed to care. But she brushed the thought aside. She was no longer under his control.

 

"They kidnapped me during the war agains the vong. They took me, and turned me Seryk. they turned me to the dark side as easily as you would lift your hand." she said, and Seryk nodded. He understood ho weasy it was to fall to the darkside, he nealy had in his fight with Malice. It was a tempting path. But luvkily, he had managed to come back from it. And apparently, so had Karyn.

 

"Dont worry about that now Karyn. You are free from the Repora. I have seen to that." he said, and he turned his head, hearing the appraoch of more security gaurds. he sighed, and turned back to Karyn.

 

"The mandalorians, however, may not be as forgiving. And I cannot stop them." he said, and Karyn nodded.

 

"I understand Seryk. I must pay the consequences for what has happened here. I am ready for that." she said, and she de-activated her lightsaber. She handed it over to Seryk, and Fett walked over to the fallen Malice. he fired a shot into malice, just to make sure he was dead, and he reached down and grabbed his lightsaber. he turned back to Karyn, his blaster trained on her.

 

"Karyn, Im afriad you will have to come with me. But just so you know, Im sorry about your father." he said, and Karyns eyes went wide. Seryk looked to Karyn, and then over to Fett. Now he was confused. Fett realized this, and looked to Seryk.

 

"Not long after Endor, I took a job to hunt someone down. he was a jedi master. I found him, and killed him. His name was Jades Kann." Fett said, and Seryk suddenly felt the anger In Karyn. He reached out,. and placed his hand on her shoulder. She shurgged him off, and walked away from him.

 

"Fett, your saying that will not bring him back. And I can anver forgive you for that. Just punish me, so we can all move on." she said, and Fett nodded. Seryk sighed, and watched as the Security gauds surrounded Karyn, and plaed stun cuffs n her. He watched in silence as they hauled her to a speeder, and took her away, more than likely to the central building to be interrogated.

 

"What will they do with her?" Seryk asked, and Fett shrugged his shoulders.

 

"It all depends on the mood of the high commander. If she is forgiving, Karyn will be lucky to leave with her life and sanity in tact. If not.." he said, and he left it at that. Seryk nodded, understadnign completely. Many mandalorains had died today. So he would understand their wanting to punish her severly. He reached up, and removed his helmet. he looked it over, and sighed.

 

"My helmet is toast. The circuitry inside of it is damaged beyand repair. its a liability to wear it now." he said, and Fett nodded.

 

"Ill get you a new one, dont worry. But for now, lets see what we can do to save her life. The GFFA will want to interrigaote her as well." he said, and he rocket off owards th command center. Seryk placed his helmet back on, and followed Fett.

 

******************************

 

Hirotek watched as his forces exited hyperspace at the edge of the system, an began to plot one last jump towards the battle. He looked to his sensors, and saw that the Admumarin defence force had formed up a ways away from teh main enemy force, and a group of around twenty enemy ships were moving to engage them. The rest of the Vagaari ships were poinding away at the plentary sheilds. Hirotek smiled, and decided a new plan was caled for.

 

"Change our exit point to assist the Adumarian forces. Drop us out right next to the Vagaari moving to engage them, and hopefully we can hit them fast enough to wipe them out before they know what is going on. We will then form up with the Admurains forces, and move to engage the rest of the enemy fleet." he said, and he watched as his orders were followed. He watched his sensors carefully, and noted that Athiens ships were dong the same. Aftera few moments, his forces jumped to teh planet. They exited hyperspace almost on top of the enemy forces, and opened fire.

 

It was obvious that the Vagaari were expecting them to arrive, as they were quick to return fire. But for this group, ti was to little, to late. Hirotek watched as the Vagaari ships vanished one by one in fiery blazes. the Admumarian forces joined in, and helped finish them off. Then, Hiroteks forces turned, and began to move towards the larger enemy force.

 

"Admiral, Commodore Athien is ready to launch her mines. Our mines are also ready for deployment. Our fighters are launching, and setting up in a defensive screen around us." the captain said, and hirotek nodded.

 

"Excellent. Wait to launch the mines until we are almost within firing range of the enemy ships. I want to surprise them as much as we can. order our fighters to play defence, and keep plasma bombs off all of our ships, and only engage vagaari fighters when needed. Contact the Admurain forces, and tell them to do the same." he ordered, and the captain nodded. hirotek turned back to his sensors, and watches as a much larger portion of the Vagaari fleet turned to meet his forces.

 

"Admiral, Adumar reports that the evacuation is only at 50 percent. They ask that we hold the vagaari off for as long as possible." a ensign called out, and Hirotek sighed. Apparently the President hadnt aken his advice all that seriously. The evacuation shoul dhave been almsot complete by now.

 

"Well then, it appears that we will have to fight a bit harder than expected. Order all ships to hold at their current positions, and prepare to launch mines on my mark." he ordered, and his fleet came to a halt. he watched as the Vagaari edged closer to his fleet, and could see Vagaari fighters begin to make runs on one of his Bothan Cruisers.

 

"Launch all mines, and move us into point blank range of the enemy. Lets do some damage people!" he called out, and he watched as the mines launched, and sped off into the enemy formations. His force began to movce forward again, and began to pound it out with the enemy ships. He watched as an old assault frigate vanished in a massive explosion as plasma bombs struck it, and he winced. This battle was going to get very ugly, very quickly. He only hoped that he could hold out long enough to get more people off the planet.

[Stellar_Magic]

OOC: Lets get the posts to stream in once again...Two battles, several fleets, all in a days work for Rapora Wars

 

IC: His name was Admiral Verak, and he was a Vagaari whose blood sang with the joys of battle as he watched the Galactic Federation of Free Alliance ships moving to engage his force, still battle was not his objective, "Signal Task Force one to move to stall the enemy advance, all Karas class Dreadnaughts are to enter the worlds atmosphere and proceed to the landing points."

 

Already the atmosphere of Adumar was flashign past the bridge viewports, "Order the Paskla Carriers to launch all their fighters and have them protect our invasion forces."

 

"Adumarian Fighters are moving to engage our ships."

 

The Admiral smiled coldly, "Let this battle begin."

 

* * *

 

Admiral Evahe felt his mouth open in shock as three Resurrectors dropped out of hyperspace above Bakura. Each one a seperate fleet equal to the force that had first appeared at Fondor. He knew then that this battle would be one of the largest in this new war.

 

* * *

 

The Timeless One leaned back in his throne as Ulan watched in horror as the battle was set before him. Two miniature holos appeared before him, each one three fourths size, Darth Fury and Darth Tuvax awaited his words, "You know what to do my old friends, let it be done."

 

Both fleet leaders snapped their fists to their chests in salute, "By your will."

 

* * *

 

Mara settled behind the pilots seat of the Jade Scimitar with Luke filling the copilot seat by his side, behind them were four seats lining the sides of the cabin, in one of them was Ben. As he sat down a console slowly appeared from the floor and rose to greet him.

 

Mara watched as the controls of the ship moved to touch her and Luke, their warmth letting their nerves begin to ease. The ship itself seemed to reach out to soothe them as if to tell them that it would not do anything foolish.

 

Outside the viewport Han and Leia waved and Mara lifted her comm link, "Stand clear."

 

With that Mara slowly pushed the throttle forward and the ship rose from the floor. With a little pressure from the rudder the craft spun to the hanger doors. Smiling now, any doubts gone Mara glanced to the other two passangers, "Ready?"

 

"Ready." Luke answered evenly.

 

Ben smiled slightly and leaned back in his seat, "Yep."

 

Smiling Mara pushed the drives to ninety percent power and rocketed out of the hanger.

 

* * *

 

Karyn was led by Boba and Seryk to the deepest part of the city, below its sewer system, below its power source, below its manufacturing centers and into its prison.

 

Waiting for them was High Commander Verice, "It's about time we have a good look at this...intruder."

 

Boba glanced back to Karyn, "It wasn't that hard."

 

High Commander Verice nodded, "No it wasn't fortunately for you Karyn, Darth Malice is dead then." All three of them nodded, "Good, and you what do you have to say for yourself, many of my security personnel are dead because of you."

 

Karyn stepped back, "I didn't kill them, look at your tapes again, all I did was deflect the shots they sent at me, Malice was the one with the blood on his hands not me."

 

Seryk felt his chest tighten, if Karyn was telling the truth or not didn't matter, the Jedi needed as many allies as they could get. Sighing he stepped to the woman, "Can I speak with you in private?"

[ADarkJedi44]

OOC:I have no idea how the hell I'll get out of this one, but...

 

Darth Fury laughed with pleasure. The opposing force was large, but they could not possibly deal with three Replicators. It would be a glorious day for the Rapora. They would smash the GFFA's main fleet and it's allies. From then on, only a miracle could save the GFFA.

Fighters began to pour out of the Raporan ships. Three seperate fleets, each with a Vareme supercruiser and a Replicator. Darth Fury was determinded to make up for his previous failures. Today, I will bask in the glory of war!

He took a moment to look over the combined fleet before him. He searched for a suitable target for the first blast of the Replicator. One of the ships caught his eye, doubtelessly the flagship.

"Have the Replicator fire on the massive ship, a Soverign class Star Destroyer I believe it's called."

"As you wish."

As the Replicator prepared to fire, the massive fleets drew near. The GFFA was doomed. Three seperate Replicators were about to fire. The massive Raporan superweapons would destroy the flagships, and then it would be up to Darth Fury to mop up.

He smiled.

***

The bridge of the Guardian was a whirl of confusion. Evahe himself was unsure what to do. He had the Fourth Fleet and the Third fleet, which was at half strength. In addition, there was Oreton's force. Yet it was no match for three Raporan fleets. I could really use the Genesis right now...

A holo of Oreton appeared.

"Admiral Oreton, use your superlaser and stop those Replicators! We're all going to be space dust if those things can fire!"

Evahe abruptly ended the conversation, before Oreton could speak. His fleet was thin and stretched. That would prevent the Rapora from destroying too many ships with the Replicators, but he could not engage their fleet like it. He sighed, wondering what to do. Even escape seemed impossible. The GFFA fighters soared away, into the blackness of space. I doubt many of them will live...

"Sir, the Replicators are preparing to fire...

[BadSamaritan]

Hirotek watched the battle unfold, and scowled. His forces were far to outnumbered. He knew he wouldnt be able to hold on for very long, not without being surrounded. He sighed, and then stood up from his chair. He walked over to the central command center, and looked to the sensor screens. He wtahed as the stolen mines fired salvos at the Vagaari cruisers, and was happy to see that they were doing thier job for now. But he knew the battle was already lost.

 

"What is the current status of the evacuation?" he asked calmly, and an ensign looked over to him, worry on his face.

 

"It is nearing 60 percent now Admiral. But a large number of people are refusing to leave, and are stating they are going to stay behind to fight the invaders." he said, and Hirotek nodded. he had heard of how stubborn he people of Adumar could be. But, it was their home, and they had the right to defend it. He could not blame them for wanting to try. he did notice that a large number of Adumarian fghters were harassing the landing ships, and they were putting up an impressive, if futile, fight. he looked back to the battel in orbit, and studied it. But he knew there was no point. It was already over.

 

"Contact all ships, and order them to fall back at half speed. Pull the mines back also, we want them to keep hitting the same ships we are. Order the Victory of Endor to move and support the Pride of Adumar, it looks like the Vaagari are planning to make a run at it." he ordered, and he watched as one of his Bothen cruisers moved in close to the Adumarian flagship, and began to pour fire into the vagaari fighters flying towards it. Hirotek nodded, knowing that the Pride would survive this battle.

 

"Admiral, we are seeing fire coming up from the planet surface now. It looks like older defence cannon fire." the captain said, and Hirotek nodded. he watched as the guns tore into the landing groups, and he smiled. Whoever was running those guns was intelligent enough to hide them until they could be used most effectively. At least someone on the planet had been thinking.

 

"Admiral, we are receiving a cmmunication from the Freedom. Commodore Athien suggests we make an assualt on the port flanks of the group attacking us, sir." his comm officer called out, and Hirotek looked at his sensors again. Thie rstarboard flanks did appear to be weakened severly, mosrty from the efforst of the UDA ships.

 

"I believe she may be right. Order our group to move closer to the Adumarian vessels, and then, order all ships to helt in their positions. Have the mines move to cover our flanks." he ordered, and he watched as his fleet began to move. he noticed that a few of the Vagaari vessels in the rear flanks began to move in to support their threatend flank, and Hirotek smiled. Standard move, standard countermove. The opposing commander knew his tactics. But Hirotek doubted that he knew the full capabilites of the UDA vessles.

 

"Contact the UDA ships, and release them to begin screening the enemy sheild modulations. As they find them, order them to begin a push forward. Then, have the rest of our ships Push forward from our current positions." he ordered, and he looked back to the sensors. Vagaari landing ships were now on the surface. Hirotek knew after this, a retreat was in order. Adumar was lost. he turned back to his sensors, and watched as Athiens forces began their push forward, and his ships slowly followed suite.

 

***********************************

 

Seryk followe High Commander Verice into her chambers, and waited for her to sit down at her desk. She then stared up at Seryk, an unhappy look on her face.

 

"Seryk, you are a newcomer here, and therefor, we are forced to let the rules slide from time to time, until you have come to understand them all. But asking to see me in private during an interregation comes very close to to much. This had better be good." she said, and Seryk took a deep breath, and released it slowly. he would only have one chance at this.

 

"High commander, I may not know of all of the rules here. I may not know of all of the customs. But what I do know is this. In the entire time she was with Malice here, she did not harm a single on of your people. I know, i watched the tapes myself. And you saw what happened, malice turned on her, and then she killed him. She has already dold out revenge on the one who did all the killing here." he said, and Verice nodded slowly. She looked down the her desk, and then back up to Seryk.

 

"While your arguements are true, Seryk, i cannot just look away, and let her leave. She must be punished. She may not have killed anyone, but she was an accomplice. Adn for that alone, our laws call for death." she stated coldly. Seryk thought for a moment, and nodded. He had heard of many lawas like that across the galaxy. Guilt by association. And they were some of the most unfair laws in existance.

 

"High commander, when she arrived here, she was under the control of someone else. She had no say in her actions. She had been twisted from who she truelly was. But when we had captured her, she was no longer the same person that she was when she arrived here. I fully belive she regrets having ever been forced to come here." he said, and the high commander slowly nodded. She sat there for a few moments, and then stood. She looked back to Seryk, and sighed.

 

"What you say may be true Seryk, but once again, i cannot ignore our laws," she said, and Seryk felt his shoulders slump slightly n defeat. But then the High commander smiled slightly. "But I am at liberty to alter them, if the situation calls for it." she said, and she moved to walk out of the door. Seryk stood there for a moment, wondering what she was going to do, and then turned to follow her out.