The Start

[ElvisMiggell]

OOC: Maybe!!!

[wormie]

Void Squadron was right in the thick of the battle, which had been devastating to both sides. The reserve fleet from Endor had arrived half way through it, but even they had taken serious damage, losing half of their ships within the first hour of battle before Wedge had ordered the retreat. Void squadron on the whole had minimal losses, losing three ships but no pilots.

During the battle, one of his pilots had noticed the infiltration ship carrying Elegaie, Scathane, Samos and Garth attach themselves to a corvette analog that was heading towards the Vong Battle Moon.

After the fleet had regrouped at the rendevuos point, Wedge called Dury into his office to go over the mission report.

 

Wedge: Come in Lieutenant, sit down.

 

Dury: Thank you sir.

 

Wedge: first off, I would like to congratulate you for surviving teh last battle, it proves just how good you are as a pilot and as a squadron leader, on that note you have been promoted to the rank of Commander, you've earned it.

 

Dury: Thank you sir. I only wish that it could have been for something else like coming up with a new tactic instead of out living other pilots.

 

Wedge: I know how you feel, but with the loss of so many officers, we need everyone to step up and fill the gap. But that's not the main reason that I asked you to join me, I know that when your A-Wings were fitted with cloaking devices, that they were also fitted with experimental sensor packages, did you or any of your pilots notice the intrusion team make it the the Vong Battlemoon?

 

Dury: Yes sir, my communications officer did tell me that they had fixed themselves to a Vong ship and were on their way in.

 

Wedge: That's good, that's very good. Did you notice any escape pods that we weren't able to pick up due to their proximity to the Vong ships.

 

Dury: No sir, but I did notice that two or three of them didn't make it far enough away from the Justice before it blew, do you mind if I ask why all the questions about the escape pods?

 

Wedge: Well, this hasn't been made public knowledge yet, but Luke and Elvis haven't been accounted for amongst the survivors, and I was hoping that there was still a chance that they were sill alive, but we can't dweel on that right know, I want you to speak to a tech and set up a sim based on the data that we have collected on the Vong. I want to find a weakness right away.

 

Dury: Yes sir, consider it done.

 

And with that the newly appointed Commander gave Wedge a quick salute and headed towards the simulators.

 

OOC: sorry if the post was to long.

[AndyHalfelf]

Luke was gone he knew it, he couldn't sense him and Elvis too.

After the distratours battle where Luke and Elvis was lost, Corran slowly walked into his room, he had taken down a dozen Coralskippers himself in his X-Wing, using the force to guide him, as much as it could, it was his first real battle against the enemy. When he got into his room he placed himself in a meditation position and tried to find Elvis and Luke, but to his shock he couldn't find them Could they be dead? NO thats not possible the panic nearly took him when he reinforced his search stronger than before, but then he remembered the Jedi Code

 

There is no emotion; there is peace.

There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.

There is no passion; there is serenity.

There is no death; there is the Force.

 

that always helped him

with no emotion he could in peace try to search for them

with no ignorance not even the smallest clue would be let out, knowledge would be found

with no passion he couldn't get emotional when he couldn't find them, serenity would be sustained

and with no death, he could be sure that Luke Skywalker would contact them if he was truly dead.

 

After he assured himself that he had done anything he could to locate the missing he went up to his commander to recieve orders

[Guest Scathane]

"There is a Jedi on board the Punisher, she aides them, to search for him." Scathane had frowned when Igoru Samos had said it and now the words kept haunting his mind... He'd felt her too but only fully realised this as the Dark Jedi had said it. He wondered how this could be since he didn't feel any other Jedi. But the Jedi on the punisher, he could feel her... he could see her as if she were shining in his mind, the Dark Side of the Force burning through her veins... It was as if she was whispering to him...

 

Deep in thought, Scathane wasn't paying attention to anything and as they walked the corridors of the ship, he bumped in to Garth who cursed through his teeth: "Watch out, flyboy! You're going to give us away!"

 

Scathane felt a strange shame: was it just him, or did Samos give him a very peculiar look? Scathane felt as if the Dark Jedi had caught him, had sensed Scathane's sensitivity for the Dark Jedi on the punisher...

[Trejiuvanat]

Elegiae then felt soemthing else, a faint glimmer, as if someone had opened the eyes then closed them again.

His thoughts had been too far away to detect it, his mind was constantly gazing upon the perils of their path. They were on board the Punisher now, gathered among the many prisoners captured from Tatooine. Samos stood tall and intimidating defiant in his beggar's robes, GArth was taking scans using a special device that Vong sensor could not possibly detect as one, and Scathane... Scathane was watching reactions faces of the other prisoners, with thoughts far away with other worries than Elegaie's own.

Could Scathane have been the presence in the Force he had detected, or rather another prisoner?

If he was and Samos discovered it.... No, stop. My goal is another, can I think of another apprentice while my first has lost his path? Time will trial Scathane, if he has the Jedi powers.

 

"What is this place you have brought me, Iulan S'Tor?"

"This, Warmaster, is the world of Dagobah. A reservoir of life. I offer it to you as our base."

"The place is filled with life, the shapers will be glad to reshape some elements of it, I would ask you to help them, because you, too, have an understanding of life that goes beyond theirs."

Iulan could not respond, a huge reptilian carnivore had just srung out of the swamp and assaulted him, the FOrce had given him a silent warning, but it had been too late.

Rjiuvan Shai, thought was not late, in less than a heartbeat he jumped over the creature and retracted his battleclaws, he attacked the animal with claws bites, but agile movements.

In few seconds the beast had realeased Iulan. Rjiuvan was now in full-battle rage unable to stop until the reptile was killed.

Calling the Force Iulan used his poorly trained telekinetic powers and moved the reptile away from Rjiuvan's attacks. The Yuuzhan Vong came to him.

"Have you robbed me of a kill?"

"You spoke of my understanding of life, part of that understanding comes from preserving life."

"Wise choice, God That Is."

Iulan then felt of his knees, struck by an explosion in the Force.

"My Lord," Rjiuvan took the young human by the arms.

"I feel death and anguish-" "Draw strength from the pain, as you do from the Force."

Iulan breathed- The pain was overwhelming, equally to the unbalanced Force that palpitated all those lightyears away.

Exact opposites, after the Force comes the pain, then nothingness. Iulan had lived the three of them.

"Come young God," Rjiuvan said.

"I have felt the death of many, a battle, a titanical event."

"Shimraa has decided to attack the galaxy with everything he has. HE will spare no one. I shall send the shapers, then."

"i will explore, and meditate."

Rjiuvan nodded tightly.

Iulan walked, then he came to a cave, the cave possessed a dark aura. Every bit as dark as Igoru Samos had been, as Iulan himself had been during those short moments on Loor's flagship.

He entered immediately he felt the Force flowing into him, planting images into his mind.

He blinked.

When he opened the eyes he no longer was on Dagobah, he was in Coruscant.

On the top of the Imperial Temple, or what was left of it. Coruscant looked as worse as any battlefield would look like.

Coral and metal alike lay on the surface, few buildign still looke imponent in the cityscape. The odor of death was strong enough to pierce his senses.

He stood there with his lightsaber in one hand in the other the amphistaff.

Rjiuvan Shai was dead, as was Elegaie.

The same vison that had plagued him in endless variations looked now as if it had taken a more concrete shape.

But not only his masters were death the entire planet was death, no human, no alien, no Yuuzhan Vong was alive, Iulan S'Tor alone was alive on Coruscant.

Death, pain, life, Force, darkness and light. The elements that had shaped him, that had destroyed him, he would need to defeat them.

He had to be more than all of them.

Then all of a sudden the ghosts of the death people on Coruscant came to haunt him, ahead of Shimraa and Evaders came one last person he had not yet seen, a feather-covered creature that was like him. A Jedi trapped in the void, no rather a dark Jedi in the void.

Shimraa, Evaders and Vergere surrounded him, and used all their darkness against him. Not the Force, not even the pain and agony strengthened him.

In his vision he was dead.

In reality he was not.

From the Force, a new name came to him, another world, or just like in his vision a ghost of a world.

Alderaan.

[Trejiuvanat]

Lightyears away the Punisher, still orbited the devastated world of Tatooine. Deep in the heart of the destroyer, Shimraa the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong had ordered to massacre at least one million of prisoners in order to offer their deaths to the Gods.

For Elegaie it had been monstrous a wave of pain and sufferment had hit him, Igoru on the other hand had rejoiced. Garth had been too busy probing the ship and finding the most strange corners of the ship to hide and Scathane, too had felt death and pain, but Elegaie could not tell if it was from the general mood of the mission or if the man was Force-sensitive.

"Okay, this bae is pretty big, I assume you may want the general tour but that will cost too much, and for once the Alliance nor the Empire chose to buy us tickets with all the tours etc," Garth tried to bring some levity to the sitation.

"The information rooms, Garth."

"Yes, Master."

"Why the hurry, Caamasi? I'd like to see the warriors and the ceremonies. Understand the enemy." Igoru smiled wolfishly.

"The information first, then you can stay here, and watch all you want."

Elegaie replied.

"You are no, fun, sure the Emp killed your world but you don't have to be like that to me..."

"Are we going or not?" Scathane asked trying to distract Igoru and Elegaie.

"Yes, certainly."

"You won't find him here, he is going to another place to a graveyard."

Igoru teased Elegaie.

"The Force is alive, it binds all things, Iulan is bound to me. He will come. Or I will go."

"Or I." Igoru snapped. "AndI will delightmyself in teachign him."

Igoru then walked ahead of the group, dressed in some warrior clothing and wearing a mask designed to fool the Yuuzhan Vong he would walk like any other warrior in the ship. Eleagie and the others had fake coral implants to simulate their rank of slaves.

[ADarkJedi44]

Luke and Elvis had died during the horrible battle.

He had taken down eight skips but that had not been enough. "Well, I better go get some time in simulaters if I plan to stay as Shadow Leader", Evan said walking to the sims.

[ElvisMiggell]

OOC: Just a note to Rebels. With the exception of Leia everyone believes Luke and Elvis to be dead. Wedge has his suspicions and isn't quite ready to accept it yet, especially as Leia believes they are still alive, but he's not sure what to think.

[Trejiuvanat]

"Alderaan, or what is left of it." Iulan announced as the Legacy of Torment, now renamed to God's Chariot deccelerated form dark space.

"What happened to it?" The Warmaster asked.

"It was destroyed by the Galactic Empire." Iulan said.

"If they have such tools at their disposal why don't they use them against us?"

"Because the Alliance destroyed them, years ago."

"And they will not build new ones?"

"That's beyond my knowledge, but the Emperor eventually chose to use agents such as DArk Jedi to enforce his rule rather than such titanic vessels."

"The system is in acccesible point of the current darkspace routes."

"Yes, it was once a jewel among the planets of my galaxy, now on ly this remains, and except for the occasional pilgrim, not many people come, the Chariot should be able to use it as a base. There are many big chunks here."

"Good."

"I see you are not satisified, WArmaster."

"A Yuuzhan VOng warrior is only satisfied in his own element, battle, chaos, rage, destruction and pain."

"All of them attributes of a deity, a God that destroys to replace with new creations, and uses pain to make sure that nothign is forgotten."

"The Force, your God, has imposed it on you, has it not? The Chaos, the battle, the pain?"

Iulan was quiet for a moment, he had led the Vong to a safe haven from where they could strike anywhere, they were sitting at the heart of the galaxy. The Warmaster, an ideal of himself, a warrior and a master. He remembered his vision on Dagobah, where he had clawed himself to one thought, how void and darkness and light and pain could become his doom, then had come Alderaan the ghastly presence of somethign dead. Iulan smiled.

"Yes, it has, but now I too can sway the will of the Force. We are ghosts, Rjiuvan Shai, we are everywhere and nowhere we are unseen, yet we see much."

Silently Iulan added for himself, "And since we are dead, not the void nor the darkness or the light can affect us, we are beyond them, perhpas we actually are deities."

"So we will strike, o God that Bleeds?"

"Yes, after we secure us a home, a base."

"WE shall strike at the world of ...."

 

Hours later with shapers and apropriate defense for their Ghost Base on the biggest asteroid on Alderaan, the Chariot left for it's next conquest.

[SOCL]

[time for SOCL's arrival and an introduction to the Imperial Tempest]

 

Over an insignificant planet on the fringes of the Unknown Regions and Ssi-Ruuvi space orbit idly three Imperator II-class Star Destroyers, a tiny strike fleet created for the soul purpose of special operations work. On the bridge of the flagship Imperial Tempest, gazing out over the planet, stood the fleet's commanding officer, Commodore Viscen.

"Commodore Viscen," a tentative voice came from behind him, somewhere in the left-side crewpit.

Viscen shut his eyes and sighed heavily, breathing in the Star Destroyer's conditioned air. With the strain that ten years of service in a struggling Imperial fleet gave a man, he turned. "Yes, lieutenant?"

"Message from the Gladiator: Captain Janus reports that he is in position and requests any special orders."

Viscen looked out the portside viewport at a tiny speck of light, the only star shining in that area of space. The Hantaam system, an eternal source of information outside the galaxy proper; a rally point for smugglers, pirates, and other useless malcontents in the galaxy...the ideal location to collect intelligence. Over the system's third planet hung the fleet's fourth Star Destroyer, invisible to both sensors and the naked eye. He smiled. Indeed he commanded a fleet of four Star Destroyers, but they were slightly modified to fit the special operations work they conducted. "Tell Captain Janus that he is free to drop two shuttles and release scout ships."

"Aye, sir," the young lieutenant said, relaying the orders along to the comm officer.

"Helm, bring the Imperial Tempest 180 points stern to starboard. Conn, begin powering the hyperdrive engines," Viscen ordered.

The respective acknowledgments came.

"Bridge officer," the commodore said, turning to the lieutenant, "order the Valvagia and the Blue Falcon to hold orbit until they have recieved specific orders from the Imperial Tempest to do otherwise."

"Sir, communication from Moff Kotaik," the communications officer suddenly spurted.

Viscen's eyes narrowed at the report, he stood silent for a moment. "Tell Her Excellency that we are about to deploy and are going 'black'. We shall be in contact again in a week."

"Yes, sir," the comm officer said without hesitation.

"Power up the cloaking shield, we are going black," he announced to the bridge. The bridge instantly exploded into a frenzy of orders and acknowledgments.

"All systems readied, sir," the bridge officer at last reported.

"Excellent. Set course to rendevous with the Gladiator," Viscen ordered.

"Setting course to rendevous with the Gladiator, aye, sir," the lieutenant replied.

Moments later, the Imperial Tempest broke orbit and made the jump to hyperspace.

[Trejiuvanat]

Anger, fear, aggression. The Dark Side of the Force are they.

Yoda had spoken those words once.

And Elegaie had meditated over them for many nights in the journey that had lead the to the Yuuzhan Vong.

Now in the journey he had taken again, to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong he feared the true extent of anger, fear and aggression.

He was a Caamasi, a species without a world. A world that was destroyed by the ambitions and fear of an Emperor, that ruled on Coruscant. He was a Caamasi, a peaceful creature. Still, he felt the anger. He knew he could be agressive. It was a burden. And fear. Fear, if anythign at all had made him take the first step in this new journey.

A selfless fear, fear for Iulan. For his lost pupil in the hands of the Yuuzhan VOng, or worse in the hands of Igoru Samos.

Anger. His blood had boiled seeing the atrocities of the Yuuzhan Vong. It only became worse when Igoru delighted himself with the deaths and pain of those innocent prisoners.

Aggression.

Needed he to relive the moments when he had been tempted ot used it. To wield the power of the Force as a hammer and shatter eveil absolutely.

Get out of my mind!

Elegaie called to the latent presence of Igoru Samos in his mind.

"You won't save Iulan by rethinking and secondguessing your fears. Act." Igoru said, and Scathane and Garth both looked at him.

Elegaie said nothing.

The situtation was tense enough. Garth was busying himself with deciphering the cortexes of Yuuzhan VOng knowledge.

Scathane was examining every detail of the ship. As if in the details he could gain insight about the Vong.

And Igoru...

He was still with his eye-lids have closed piercing thorugh the mental barriers of the Jedi Master searching desperately for the traces of Iulan in Elegaie's mind.

Elegaie knew of course what the Sith warrior was attempting. But he could do nothing his minds was elsewhere standing side-by-side to his pupil.

A vision, a battle, death and pain. Images that the Force brought him. One world... many deaths... lightyears... parsecs.

"The Maw." Igoru spoke slowly. He had seen the visions too, and that startled Elegaie. Could he really see that much in my mind?

If Elegaie focused on fending off Igoru's attacks he would have to close the mental-Force link to Iulan. And doom his entire quest. The rescue of his pupil, a last attempt for Elegaie to redeem himself for what he did, or rather what he failed to do years ago.

what was it?

"OUT!" Elegaie spoke loudly and Igoru's mental attack was withdrawn.

"One way or another you will join the Dark Side..."

"Yipee!" cried Garth. "I am past the first cortex... and we gained a lot of... useless stuff which we knew already."

"He is in Kessel. Fighting alongside a new master. You and me, we're part of his past. He's stronger now, more power-hungry. He seeks power. He wants to destroy he wants revenge." Igoru said making omision of GArth.

"No!" Elegaie answered and decided to close the link and strengthen his mind against Igoru Samos.

[Trejiuvanat]

Anger, fear, aggression the dark side of the Force are they,. Ylenic had once quoted thosse words from Yoda.

In the past weeks they had come back at him. As if those crude words would measure each of his actions and sentence him to a life of service for the Dark Side of the Force.

Those thoughts were shortlived. Living as a Yuuzhan Vong, and in some way being a Yuuzhan Vong has taught him that the concept of dark and light are not right. Those words, that Yoda had accused of leading to darkness, were not valid. Form a certain point of view though, Iulan now saw the entire picture, not only the opposites of black and white.

Rjiuvan Shai had taught him that.

Rjiuvan Shai who observed the different allignemnts of the blaze bugs, as they depicted the evolution of the skirmish against the poorly equipped Kessel defenders.

A few Imperial ships, and two TIE squadrons that had left the garrison mon were the only opposition.

Iulan still ignored why the Warmaster had chosen Kessel as their target.

The potato-shaped planet provided nothing for the galaxy. Only spice.

"Glorious are the warriors of the Yuuzhan Vong." Iulan spoke.

"And glory, too, is an attricute that comes from the God. They fight and die for you Iulan, for you and your Force."

They died for the Force, for the field of living energy that appeared to have made an exception of the Yuuzhan Vong.

"Kessel then is waiting for your forces?"

"No, Kessel is not our goal instead it is the Maw. The cluster of black holes."

Iulan looked disbelieveingly at him, rumors said that Evaders first created a laboratory in the depths of the Maw. Only few routes would lead to that location and no one except the top people serving Emperor Evaders knew them.

Unless you had such equipment so carefullyl attuned to gravitational fields like dovin basals.

"How came yo uto this knowledge, Warmaster?"

"One of my ships ran into a small Imperial force, the Imperials attacked and were disabled, the questioning of the commander of the Force, suggested the existence of marvelous things, like a living planet, a haven within balckholes, and many other products of imagination. Then the rumors of the maw increased. Such a place if it existed would be excellents for our efforts. Not as a home base, like Alderaan, but as a distraction. A hide-away to hide from Shimraa, without compromising or base at Alderaan."

"It is a wise decision."

Rjiuvan hesitated a moment.

"Rumors suggested that it was int eh Maw, where the planet-destroying weapons were designed. For our own safety we should then avoid such creations to exist."

"Wiser."

Rjiuvan nodded, and Iulan associated that nod with the happiness he felt for the approval of a god.

Battle still raged, but everything occured outside of Iulan's bubble. Eventually the Jedi Knight woudl discover how thin and weak such a bubble was...

[ElvisMiggell]

Awake. Pain, agony, washing over him like a sweet embrace. Who are we, we ponder. What. Why, why are we? Senses tingling, a tidal rush of noises, smells, sounds, tastes. Heightened senses. Heightened from what. What are we, we are more than one. What were we? Memory fails. Embrace the pain, and sleep...

[wormie]

A lot had happened to Dury since the Battle of Tatooine those many months ago. Working on Wedge's orders, he had come up with a tactic to not only raise the effectivness of the fighters sheilds, but to also fool the skips own sheild-like Dovin Basals. To increase the sheild effectivness, he had come up with a system that dropped a ships sheilds once they felt the Dovin Basal grab on and start tearing them away, then start them up again 3 seconds later, and to confuse the skips Dovin Basals, he came up with a type of flechette missle that diverted the Dovin Basals attention elsewhere while the pilot had a clear shot of the then undefended coralskipper. After a few successful hit and run missions in the fringe of Vong space, he had been promotrd to Leiutenant Colonel and the reputation of Void Squadron has sky rocketed to rival those of his former squad, Shadow Squadron and Wraith Squadron. He was startled from his reverie by a knock on the door of his office, which had just been assigned to him aboard Wedge's new flagship, the Bakura, a Mon Cal Cruiser that had been assigned to serve as Wedge's flagship since the Battle of Tatooine.

 

Dury: Come in.

 

Leiutenant: Sir, I'm sorry to bother you Sir but General Antilles requests that you join him in his office, it has something to do with new intellegence concerning the Vong.

 

Dury: Thank you Leiutenant, I'll be right there.

 

He then saluted the Leiutenant, gathered up his notepad and started walking towards Wedge's office wondering what the new intelligence could be.

 

OOC: if anyone else wants to be there when the meeting takes place, just join in.

[SOCL]

Running down the hallway, a young sub-lieutenant moved frantically about, looking for the lieutenant colonel. At last he found him. "Sir! Colonel, sir!"

Dury looked up in surprise. "Yes, what is it, sub-lieutenant?"

"Sir," the junior Naval officer said, trying to catch his breath, "there's an incoming shuttle."

Dury didn't understand.

"Sir, it's an Imperial shuttle. . . ."

Edited June 3, 2003 by SOCL

[ADarkJedi44]

OOC:I'll be at the meeting.

[AndyHalfelf]

Corran sat inside his room mediating, trying to find a hint of what the future would bring, when someone knocked at his door.

 

"Come in" he said

A young sub-lieutenant came in

"Leiutenant Jedi Duchai, Sir. General Antilles have requested that you join him and lieutenant colonel Dury at his office about new intelligence information about the Vong" the young sub-lieutenant said

 

"Okay, tell General Antilles that I will be there shortly" Corran said, raising up to his feet, and summoning his Lightsaber to his belt.

Then the young sub-lieutenant ran off to the General, while Corran slowly began the walk up to the office. But then he felt that he should be elsewhere, the Force was dragging him into another direction and then he saw the young Lieutenant again, talking with Lieutenant Colonel Dury himself, with his enhanced Force hearing he heard the young Lieutenant tell the Colonel about the incoming Imperial Shuttle and Corran hurried up besides the Colonel, curious about what or who the Shuttle carried...

[SOCL]

"This is the Imperial shuttle Wetherii to Republic cruiser Bakura, requesting permission to board."

 

"What is your purpose for boarding, Shuttle Wetherii?" the low voice of the Bakura's communications officer questioned.

 

The copilot of the modified Lambda-class shuttle reached for the comm, but was stopped short by the shuttle's passenger. "Tell them we are here to speak with General Antilles," a regal voice came from the passenger quarter.

 

The copilot nodded. "Our passenger is here to meet with General Antilles."

 

"With what authorization?" the communications officer asked quickly over the comm.

 

"None," the copilot answered flatly. "Official, at least."

 

That caught the Republic communications officer off guard. "Identify your passenger," a different voice cut in.

 

"Who is this?" the copilot asked, surprised by the new voice.

 

"This is the Bakura's bridge officer. Repeat: identify your passenger," the bridge officer said, an impatient tone dripping on every word.

 

The man in the passenger quarter of shuttle leaned forward and pushed the the comm button. "Fleet Admiral Socl, Supreme Commander of Imperial Joint Special Operations."

 

 

[OOC: awaiting response]

[ElvisMiggell]

Drifting....

 

Through time and space....

 

The numerous possibilities. All known. A war, with an alien race. One which we knew were evil, but now not so sure. Doubt. The elemental precursor to reevaluation of surroundings. Fear? Fear is gone, pain, not gone, embraced. A well of infinite depth, but not drowning. Knowledge, still missing.

 

Fragments. Memory, childhood. A desert. A city. Two distinct planets. Separate, yet memories intertwined. We are one. We are the same. We are conscious.

 

A harsh noise, it means us to stand, to follow. We must obey. It is our destiny.

[Guest Scathane]

His initial joy of getting passed the first cortex had subsided because of the useless data it had rendered, Garth looked around for some support and a listening ear... It would relax him, so he could be more focussed on the rest of his work. Although he probably didn't pick up half of it, he was well aware of the fact that Elegaie and Igoru were battling it out: the tension was almost tangible! So, instead he turned to Scathane.

"What the ..." He cursed under his breath and stopped in the middle of the sentence. Scathane was nowhere to be seen... what he did see, however, were two very large Yuuzhan Vong warriors standing right in front of them...

[wormie]

As Lieutenant Colonel Dury walked towards the shuttle bay to meet the unexpected Imperial shuttle, he felt a calming presence fall into step beside him. " Do you think that it's a coincedence?" asked Corran Duchai, Jedi Knight and Lieutenant in the Rebel Alliance Navy. " What?" replied Dury, a look of confusion on his young face. " A coincedence, you know, with the Imperials showing up right after General Antilles calling the meeting about intelligence on the Vong." " Oh, that" replied Dury, finally understanding what Corran had meant, " I was just on my way to find out, would you care to join me? It might make whomever comes of that shuttle a little nervous knowing that they have a Jedi Knight watching them." " I would be happy to." Corran said as they stopped in front of they shuttles boarding ramp and waited for the Imperial officer to appear.

 

" Admiral, are you sure that we should be doing this, I know that we are supposed to co-operate with the rebels, but this goes against everything that they taught me on Carida; to just freely give them any information concerning the status of our fleet feels like treason." Protested Lieutenant Hammond, who had been chosen to pilot the Admiral over to the Bakura. "You forget your place Lieutenant," replied Socl, with more than a hint of scorn in his voice, " it is not your place to question the orders of your superior officers, just as it is not my place to question the orders that I recieved from the Emperor himself, and those orders were quite clear; share all information concerning the Vong with the rebels, at least untill Lord Samos is back in Imperial held space. And that means that if I must divulge information about the status of our fleet, then so be it. Do I make myself clear Lieutenant?" " Yessir" " Good now lets go see who they sent to greet us shall we?"

 

As the two men walked down the ramp, they were greeted by the sight of two men waiting for them, one was a young man in an officers uniform with the rank insignia matching that of a Lieutenant Colonel, the other man, his presence startling the young Lieutenant enough to cause him to stumble before he regained his composure, was a Jedi Knight. " Greetings gentleman", the young officer said with a touch of suspicion in his voice, "welcome to the Bakura, I am Lieutenant Colonel Michael Dury, Second in Command to General Antilles, and this is Lieutenant Corran Duchai, Jedi Knight. To what do we owe the honour of your visit?" "As we told your Bridge Officer before we were permitted to land, "replied the Lieutenant with disgust at having to explain himself to a mere Rebel, "we have important information concerning the Vong for General Antilles." " What a coincedence" Dury said, smiling at the Lieutenants obvious discomfort at being there, "we were just on our way there ourselves, we'll show you they way." "Thank you Colonel, that would be very kind of you." Socl said as they walked towards Wedge's office.

 

General Antilles looked at the group of people gathered in the room with him; Lieutenant Colonel Dury, his Second in Command and leader of Void Squadron; Evan Hechtman, new leader of Shadow Squadron; Corran Duchai, Jedi Knight; Admiral Socl of the Imperial Navy and Lieutenant Hammond also of the Imperial Navy. " After reviewing the new information given to me by Admiral Socl, we now have two courses of action. 1: We attack the fleet that has recently been seen surrounding the Planet of Ando, which is just off of the Correlian Run, or 2: We attack the fleet that is slowly making it's way along the Corellian Trade Spine and is currently a short distance away from Yag'Dhul. It seems that that their intended target is Corellia itself but these could both be feints, trying to to make us make the first move. Please keep in mind that we don't have the numbers to take on both fleets at once, but we can probably handle one and maybe slow there progress corewards. I'm open to suggestions if any one has any." Wedge was slowly surveying the people assembled when he heard someone clear their throat and raise their hand with a suggestion.....

 

OOC: I hope every one has a map of the universe so they know where the planets are.

[SOCL]

"General," Socl's even voice came from his chair.

 

"Yes, Admiral?"

 

"General Antilles, have you ever heard of the Imperial Tempest--"

 

"Admiral!" Lieutenant Hammond suddenly protested.

 

Socl's eyes narrowed as he turned his cold gaze on his young aide. "Is there a problem, lieutenant?"

 

Hammond gulped, shaking his head nervously. "N--None, sir."

 

The Imperial fleet admiral held the gaze a handful of heartbeats longer, then turned back to Wedge. "General Antilles, have you ever heard of the Imperial Tempest Special Operations Strike Fleet?"

 

Wedge's forehead creased with obvious thought. "Yes...faintly. A fleet of Carrack-class cruisers and a single Victory-class Star Destroyer created by the Empire at the start of the New Order, but I do not recall it being a strike fleet, much less a special operations fleet."

 

"Ah, yes, that particular fleet is what this that the present one is named after. The Imperial Tempest fleet is made up of four Imperial-class, Mark II Star Destroyers--"

 

A Republic general made a disgusted sound. "Four Star Destroyers? The Yuuzhan Vong have proven far more powerful--"

 

"Peace, general," Socl said sternly, his gaze narrow and glacial. "I may be Imperial, but I am a fleet admiral and I have the floor." He turned back to Wedge. "These particular Star Destroyers are modified for special combat operations. I shall not divulge the technology behind their modifications, but I can guarantee you that just one of these vessels can easily take on an entire fleet of the Vong...and come out victorious."

 

Those present were silent.

 

"As we speak, the flagship is gathering intelligence on Yuuzhan Vong fleet, while another is gathering resources, allies, and over-all intelligence from the planet in the Hantaam system on the edge of the Unknown Regions," Socl says. "General, the Imperial Tempest Strike Fleet is at your disposal, but do not think I will simply hand the fleet over to you. I must be guaranteed than in exchange for the use of this fleet, I shall be allowed to continue commanding it from the flagship and that none of this shall be reported to the Emperor."

 

"Wait a moment, Emperor Evaders does not know of this?" Dury asked in utter surprise.

 

"Yes, we are acting independantly," Socl said quietly. "The Empire does not wish for the Imperial Tempest to engage in direct action with the Vong. They fear losing the fleet and are more concerned with having it ready for defend themselves than put it into offensive action and help the Republic." The fleet admiral sighed heavily, his disgust with the Empire's "dirty little secrets" clearly showing. "No one outside this room is to know that I came here, much less that I have brought the Imperial Tempest from its classified position to assist you."

 

Wedge nodded. "Understood, admiral."

[Trejiuvanat]

Igoru had smiled. It was a wicked evil smile, as if the Sith Warrior took a special delight in facing Yuuzhan Vong Warriors. Their tech expert had shrieked, a pale and firghtened shriek that pierced into Elegaie's mind. Scathane... Scathane was nowhere to be seen. His existence in the Force was more like a ghost than a real thing.

Elegaie had barely taken out his lightsaber when Igoru's double-blade slashed the Yuuzhan Vong warriors in two. leaving their bodies bleeding on the floor.

"Hardly a match for a Sith. Take a look at it Caamasi, because your apprentice is now one of them."

"Iulan is a Jedi!" Elegaie snapped.

Igoru smiled tightly again. He was savoring GArth's fear.

Elegaie turned away and moved the bodies out of the way. Garth started breathing normally again.

He took his tools and continued working.

"Where's Scathane?"

"You are the one that loses Force-Sensitives. You look for him." Igoru said and closed his eyes.

Elegaie closed his eyes too and focused on Scathane's presence. Which seemed distant and fading although Elegaie knew he must still be on the Punisher.

Edited June 6, 2003 by Trejiuvanat

[Guest Admiral_Antilles]

I'm in a story, I'm in a story, WhooHooo!

[ElvisMiggell]

A harsh arid planet. We sense turnoil, yet see nothing. A substance, sand we called it once. A pit we see, an animal, we called it a Sarlaac ... a light explodes. One of two who are one awakens.

 

The mind of Luke Skywalker stirs.