Stellar_Magic

Darth Malic smiled as he watched the battle on the tactical displays, slowly the smile faded, "Imperial ships have entered the fray, Alert Blood Claw squadron, tell them to break of and reform at lower orbits, they will then turn and engage the Star Destroyer." Verosh turned to Darth Malice, "My troops our encountering heavy resistance from the Jeedai, surely you can dispatch some of the Rapora to eliminate them." Darth Malice hissed with exaction, "The Jedi are immaterial, our objective is the elimination of the information stored in the library which is the Hand of Thrawn. All other concerns are secondary." One of the Rapora stepped forward and bowed quickly before speaking, "Our forces could easily spare two platoons of war droids and their leaders to hunt down the Jedi." Darth Malice glanced at the Rapora his voice quiet but menacing, "Very well, see to it that they succeed, and if we fail to eliminate the information in the library I will kill you myself." * * * Luke raced down the ravine with Mara by his side. Ahead of them were the other fighters their weapons flicking through the dark canyon, looking for any foes. Witha whine a drop ship skimmed over the canyon's surface blowing dust throught he air it swerved and slowly lowered into the canyon, along its sides a series of cylindrical ports hissed open and twelve Droideka's dropped to the ground and bounced along the ravine's floor. Mara turned as the first droid rocketed off a pair of concussion missiles, "Take cover!" The unit of troops dropped to cover, some of them prone as the missiles skimmed past one of their number and curved up into a canyon wall. Mara glanced back at the drop ship in time to see a trio of Raporan warriors leap out of the dropship and to ground their weapons ready. She pulled out her com link and thumbed it on, "Admiral Parck were pinned down in a ravine just north fo the fortress, we need assistance!" * * * Admiral Parck leapt up from his command chair, "Sithspawn, contact Admiral Oreton, tell him the situation, move it Stent." The chiss hurried to a terminal and relayed the order then stood a predatory smile flicking across his face, "I never thought that they could be pinned down." "Never underestimate an enemy and never overestimate an ally Stent," Admiral Parck answered coldly.[/i]

OOC: After a war with my server, I'm back!!! The Rapora advanced their blades weaving in front of them. Their brown armor matching the dusty color of the soil beneath them as they rushed forward. The first one struck at Mara, its blade twirling in the air above it. Mara rolled under the strike when it slashed down into the ground burning the stone away. She rolled further away and stood her sleeve blaster griped in her left hand. The warrior lunged forward and locked its blade against hers, she found herself starring at the helmets black eyes as her left hand slipped past its second blade, a snort came through the helmet then the creature spun its blade. With a hiss of burnt electronics the blaster pistol's barrel fell to the ground, seperate from the body of the weapon. Mara bit back a curse as she blocked the series of blows which followed. Luke was holding his own against a pair of the creatures his green blade a blur. With a flash a PLX Missile flashed between his lightsaber movements and Luke flipped away. The Rapora jumped as the missile struck the rock on which they'd stood. Their armor blackened from the explosion as they were tossed to the ground. One rose up immediately and snarled. The other clambered to his feet and blood splattered on the ground as it rose. Mara leapt away from her foe and reached out her free hand ripping a blaster free from one of the troops. It flew to her hand as she blocked another flurry of strikes from her foe. With a flick of her thumb she switched it to full autofire as the creature flipped. She saw a blurr of a claw and jerked back just before a slash of pain flashed across her face. She fell bakc to the ground and felt her breath leave her as she hit, desperately she leveled the blaster and squeezed the creature as it raised its weapon for the kill. The blasts burned throught he creature's defenses and it tumbled back, its chest blackened from the weapons fire. Out of the corner of her eye Mara saw Luke slash at the two Rapora he was facing. One of the strike's slipped through its defenses and glanced into the red armor then with a flicker of green the blade disappeared. His eyes wide Luke swung again thumbing his blade on midswing this time the blade shased across the enemies's throat and the black material evaporated under the blade's touch. The creature tumbled away its head severed. The third Rapora backed away its helmeted face glancing to its dead comrades. * * * General Fel broke off his attack run on one of the Raporan ships as his shields were ripped away, keying his comm he called to the defenders, "This is Fel we can't hold them any longer, we're making a run for hyperspace." Admiral Parck's voice answered, clear and pained, "Understood, good luck General." * * * Parck turned back to the last few transports, "Everyone pull back, signal all our forces, pull back!" "The Skywalkers report they're falling back. They also say the enemy is equipped with cortosis armor, making kills against them difficult at best," Stent said from communications stand. He glanced back at the General, "Sir the Vagaari are directly in their retreat path." Parck smiled, "Like the Vagaari could slow to Jedi?" * * * Luke ducked down as three wolvkils shot toward them, their wolf like bodies gunning to immolate him. With a quick flash of his lightsaber they fell with a sickening thump to the ground as the Vagaari troops rushed after them their armor less then optimal against the modern blasters of the defenders. Suddenly with a scream of sound a trio of Tie Defenders swooped down on the Vagaari, they waggled their wings as they rose then banked away in search of more targets. Mara stopped to watch, "I didn't think Fel had Tie Defenders." "He doesn't" Luke replied as he looked over the battlefield, "I just saw Clawcraft." "Then who is that?"

Admiral Parck sighed as he watched the sensor displays, "General Fel launch all your fighters, everyone else, execute Redoubt, I repeat execute Redoubt!" "Sir, shields are up to full all weapons charged," Stent said glancing at one of the consoles. Admiral Parck stood, "What little that will do, slave them to droid brains, at the least it will delay them, Skywalkers, if you have any suggestions?" "We'd be better off in our ship," Mara answered briskly. Parck shook his head, "We've moved your ship underground along with the rest of our evacuation vessels, non combat personnel are loading now." "Some one else is driving my ship now listen..." "No Jade, they're just loading, I trust you and your ship we be the typical last one out of here," The floor shook and the lights flickered, "We have to leave the fortress now!" Luke nodded, "Stent, take Ben to our ship, Admiral Parck, what do you want us to do?" "Several of our security detatchments are suiting up now, equipped with ysalamiri, but we don't have enough ysalamiri to go around, I want you to lead team twelve, they don't have any ysalamiri, I trust you know that the Rapora are force sensitive." "Yes," Luke and Mara answered together. Mara glanced at a pair of chiss troopers as they spun around the corner, "I doubt Ysalamiri will be of that great a help." Admiral Parck shrugged, "Every little bit helps." * * * Darth Malice smiled as the last of the starships flashed away into hyperspace, "Good, have the Vagaari cruisers Bishoth and Verack deploy there troops to the north west of the fortress, and inform the Death is Life that they may begin deploying there troops at any time, have them deploy to the north east of the Fortress." Verosh, the Vagaari, glanced at his sensor board, "We have starfighters launching from the fortress, around a full wing of six squadrons." Darth Malice nodded, "As expected, deploy your starfighters to escort the cruisers in, our fighters will escort our dropships that seems fair, doesn't it." The Vagaari just growled under his breath. One of the Rapora spun to face Darth Malice, "Our shipsss report that they are in posssition." Darth Malice smiled, "Tell them, they may fire when ready." * * * General Fel eased back on the stick as his Clawcraft raced upward, he clicked on his comm, "Alright, 181st, 190th, 178th, and 165th will concentrate on the Raporan dropships, the rest of you engage those Vagaari cruisers." The Vagaari cruisers descended through the atmosphere their green grey hull flashing in the light as they banked toward their objective. A full screen of fighters matched their manuever when fromthe ground below, hidden in caves a volley of twenty missiles raced up toward them, targeted on the fighters. One full squadron of fighters disappeared from the sensor display seconds later. The Vagaari shocked by the sudden attack broke ranks flying in all directions as two squadrons of Clawcraft raced in to engage them. One squadron of Clawcraft blazed after the disorganized force of fighters while the other strafed the lead Vagaari cruiser, their blasts scortching through the ship's shields and smashing against its hull. By the luck or the force several of the shots hit one of the repulsor lifts, knocking it out of commission. The enourmous vessel canted sideways, smoke trailing from its sides and past the pair of arm like structures which thrust forward and down along its main hull. It's repulsorlifts off line the craft dropped lower and lower until it hammered into the ground below sending up red dust and spark for a moment before it detonated against a wall of stone. General Fel smiled at the sight, "Good shooting, but we've still got to get the Rapora and the other cruiser." * * * Mara and Luke raced out of the Fortress their Chariot careening across the desert. A squad of chiss and humans sat behidn them checking their weapons, every one of them looked grim, even terrified at what they were about to face. Mara opened her mouth to make a sarcastic comment when looking over her shoulder she saw six gigantic towers of golden light stab down into the fortress. Two fo the shots were disappated by the shields byt four more kept going vaporizing one of the towers completely. Green turbolaser flashs and chiss weapons fire filled the sky as the Vagaari Cruiser soared overhead, its own weapons pumping fire in all directions to keep the Chiss clawcraft at bay. A brown block shaped vessel soared above them and came to a sudden halt, it began to descend as a pair fo Raporan fighters flashed past it their weapons blazing. Mara threw the speeder to a complete stop, "Everyone out!" The team members didn't need to be told twice, they rushed out of the craft as Mara and Luke ran toward the nearest cover, their lightsabers out as a golden bolt flashed into the craft destroying it. Luke threw himself to the ground, dragging Mara down with him as debris and shrapnel burned through the air. Luke felt a tiny pin prick at his shoulder but nothing more. The first Raporan dropship had landed, its rear doors hissed open and a pair of Raporan droids rolled down the ramp and unfolded into attack position. Mara turned to one of the team members, a woman, carrying a PLX-2M missile launcher, "Nail em!" She fired twice, both times the missile scored a direct hit turning the droids into piles of debris. Then like monsters from a nightmare a trio of Rapora descended the ramp, covered from head to ankle in red brown body armor, and holding a set of weapons identical to the one Mara had recovered. They turned toward them and raised their weapons as Mara turned to the team members, "Take cover, fire at will!" Luke ignited his lightsaber and Mara leapt to his side. The Rapora saw them and dropped their weapons and pulled their own lightsabers from their belts. The chorus of curved blades which snapped into exhistance before them made Luke wince, "Mara." "Yeah." "What do we do?" Luek asked slowly. Mara starred at the approaching Rapora, "I have no idea."

Admiral Parck sat back in the command chair of the Fortress's command center watching the Skywalkers scan through the data with the help of their Artoo unit. Suddenly Stent rushed into the room, "Sir..." He bent down and handed the Admiral a report. Admiral Parck stopped as his eyes widened in horror, "Has this been confirmed?" There was a barely visible nodd from the chiss. With that Admiral Parck stabbed a button on the command chair and a ground rattling siren blazed through the air, "All units, code Juliet, this is no drill! I repeat code Juliet, this is no drill!" Luke spun to the Admiral, "What is it?" Pack hesitated only a moment, "Our sensors just picked up three ships of Raporan design in high orbit, they'll be in firing position in two minutes." * * * Darth Malice smiled as the new enemy forces appeared, "Holocomm call to Shren, tell her that her prey has just showed up on my doorstep." He spun to General Verosh of the Vagaari, "Your vessels will engage the GFFA fleet and the Imperial forces, you will delay them until the Blood of War, and Death is Life have finished their bombardment and come back to your aid." Verosh stood there his twin mouths grim, "Lord, my forces..." "Will do as their told or I'll hunt them down myself, is that clear!" "Yes, it is clear Dath Malice." The Vagaari opened fire at maximum range their blue green shots flashing across the battered GFFA fleet. Squadron after squadron of Vagaari fighters flashed out of the carrier and toward the Imperials along with four of the Vagaari Warships. A squadron of Raporan fighters formed up just behidn the spear of Vagaari, together they would attempt to thrust through the Imperial's defenses and destroy their vessels. The battle of Nirauan had begun.

OOC: Trej, you just walked into one enormous ambush, that wasn't even planned as an ambush. IC:For the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances the day had begun bad enough, with several ships battered to a pulp flashing through hyperspace, their destination they hopped would be a place of safety, it was not. The Rapora had already decided that the Empire of the Hand's fortress on Nirauan had to be destroyed, to this end they had dispatched three of their cruisers along with a full squadron twelve of Vagaari warships and a Vagaari Assault Carrier. They arrived cloaked at the edge of the system slowly edging toward their objectives. It would take them a few hours to reach their jumping off positions for the attack. One the Raporan War Cruiser Dark Power for Freedom a man stood surrounded by Raporan crewers. His black cape slid across the ground as he stepped up to the viewports which showed nothing but the inky blackness of the cloaking shield. He reached out his mind, his eyes closed to sense the wrold behind the blackness. The minds fothe Rapora all around him filled his peresptions, but before him two powerful minds flashed in his perceptions, minds which were not of raporan values or wills, minds of Jedi. Slowly he opened his eyes and glanced along the bridge, "Rapora, my friends, it seems we may have arrived to late, there or Jedi on the world, do you feel them?" The Raporan glanced at each other and the Raporan Captain stood knelt onto one knee, "The council was right to send you before us Darth Malice, with you and the blue one's sister we will be able to rid this universe of the misguided Jedi." Malic smiled contently at the Captain, he knew that there was one far greater then he orchestrating the campaign, one who would be the doom to the Jed, "Thank you, continue as planned, we shall see just how good these Jedi are." * * * Luke and Mara both stopped mid stride, their steps faltered and both looked at each other, worry evident on their faces, they both knew then what they'd felt, stretching out with their senses they felt the hostile minds closing in, they were millions of kilometers away, but Luke could still sense them moving toward them. Admiral Parck watched them his gaze wary and tapped Stents shoulder and pulled him down to whisper in his ear, "Go to Drack Three Alert, I think our guests may have felt something." Stent straightened and glowered at the Jedi, then headed off. The Admiral straightened, "You wanted information, follow me and I'll see what we can get you." OOC: Waiting for Mad 78 to post...

The original Rapora Wars thread (Rapora Wars Start) has been abandoned, now we're using the Rapora Wars (Introductory RPG) to jumpstart the Rapora Wars.

Loran smiled faintly at the two imperial officers, "Please have a seat, we may be on different sides on this war, but you've both shown yourself to be honorable. Especially you Admiral Thrawn, though I suppose my father's defection at Sluis Van came as something of a suprise, let alone the A-wings." Both the Admirals glanced at each other, they both remembered the battle, still there were things about the engagement which weren't spoken of.

Loran didn't notice Thrawn's entrance, his eyes starred at the bottom of his mug, his mind wandering. Slowly he lifted his mug and took another sip of its simple contents. His analytical mind wandered across the taste, some charbote root, corellian cafe grinds, and a hint of coruscanti choclate, along with the normal tastes of an ale. A smile flickered across his lips as he took another swig, he had to remember this place. Loran's eyes glanced across the bar and stopped on Admiral Darac Noreto, his father had told him about the Admiral, along with the adventures both his parents had fought through. Kirk Baumer was a general now, with ships to command and Lara Jules Baumer was his operations officer. Loran shrugged and ran his hands through his dirty blond hair, "Admiral Noreto, please have a seat, my father has told quite a few tales about you."

OOC: Now Behold the might of the Rapora! IC:Shren smiled at the GFFA manuevers, "Perfect, all units fire at will!" The initial Rapora volley flashed through their cloaking shields targeted by warriors who sensed their foes. The plasma blasts flashed across the shields of the Alliance Warships. One of the Rapublic class Star Destroyers caught a volley across its ridgeline. The blasts penetrated the shields, geysers of superheated metal blew from the craft as its hull ruptured. A mob of Raporan fighters shot out of the Raporan Cruisers as they decloaked. One of the vessels kicked in its thrusters and flew between the alliance starships directing intense fire in all directions. One of the Assault Frigates broke up from the directed fire, its breached hull tumbling slowly through space. The Calamari Star Defender which had been the core of the fleets firepower was mostly ignored by the Raporan vessels. Instead a legion fo Raporan fighters broke toward it and keyed in their targeting computers for the vessel. Onboard the Mon Mothma, Flight Officer Loran Baumer rushed to his X-wing. He clambered aboard as the deck throbbed under the directed fire of the enemy. He pulled the canopy shut and threw all his power to the engines and rocketed out of the hanger. Before he could check ina Raporan fighter flashed by him, a brilliant gold colored plasma sheathed missile flashed from beneath its nose and into the hanger. It detonated, crippling the Mon Mothma and leaving a blackened crater where a hanger bay that could hold a corellian corvette once was. "This is Fleet control to all ships, engage those fighters, they'll tear the fleet apart if you don't nail them. They're armed with some sort of penetrating bombs, you've got to take them out." Loran cranked his display to target the nearest of the red brown craft he banked toward it as a Raporan Cruiser came to a halt in front of the fleet's hyperspace vector, blocking their escape. * * * The Mon Mothma was struggling to match the hyperspace vector. But as the Raporan cruiser settled into position the gravitic sensors showed that the Raporan ship had activated a gravity well projector. "Sir, we can't jump on that vector, we'll have to change course!" Another officer flinched as sparks shot from his console, "Our Reactor is leaking, if we don't reduce power..." "Shields down on the keel, decks one-thirty through one-thirty-four reporting a hull breach, bulkheads holding, damage crews responding. We've lost over twenty turbolaser batteries sir!" "Sir, the nearest friendly base is Nirauan, should I order the course change?" The Navigator asked hesitantly. Garik glanced at the crew as he made the only choice available to him. * * * Luke glanced at the Chiss and Admiral Parck thinking he'd see looks of triumph upon them at having captured the Jedi, instead he was greeted by looks of absolute terror. The Chiss guards were cut down as the droids let loose with all their assembled firepower. Mara pushed ben tot he deck as a pair fo cuncussion missiles detonated ripping apart the wall of the hanger. Already two of the droids rolled toward the gap. General Fel took cover beside the ramp of the Jade Shadow, "We've got to stop them!" "How, if you've got any suggestions..." Mara snapped back as Ben struggled out from under her. He ran back up the ramp and Mara glanced at him to be certain he was safe as the hatch closed. One of the droids skidded to a stop before them its weapons unfolding and tracking when a brilliant green blast ripped it appart. Mara glanced at her ship in time to see Ben in the underside point defense turret blast another fo the droids. Luke rolled under the ramp to the side of the ship as the remaining two fired their last concussion missiles and ejected their spent magazines in that moment their shields came up. Luke waded into the force, seizing the four incoming missiles and scattering them as Ben fired another blast which ripped throught he droid's shields. A few seconds later it was all over.

Loran Baumer stepped into the room his eyes flicked across the bar then shrugging he settled into one of the booths. He tapped the holoprojector in the table's center and a holographic attendant appeared, "House Ale."

Well right now I'm working on the second draft of the sequeal to Stellar Magic: The Merlin Academy. I'm hoping that I'll be able to finish polishing the Merlin Academy through College. Hopefully I'll be done with it by November...then there's usually a twelve to eighteen month delay between submission and when a book shows up on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. Here's another snipet of The Merlin Academy: It was a two hour walk under the best of conditions, but with rest breaks, and the lack of light it took them nearly four hours to reach an exit near their objective. They exited in the shadow of a mountain of dead coral and an enormous crater lay out before them. Four Gre’Hujin Assault Transports lay in its flat center, with orcs patrolling around them, guarding them against any threat. Jade slowly lowered herself into a small depression so that only her head was above the surface, “Mara, the sensor head.â€

OOC: You could have had your pilots do a flyby or two, tractor beams could work, as well as perhaps a couple sesnor focuses, no matter, the shooting will start within the next page or so. Mad, just try and talk your way out of an engagement with the Rapora, you'll fail... but I'll let your ship escape. Wouldn't want you dead in the opening engagement between the GFFA and the Rapora. Now to the next piece which is moving on the board. IC:A pair of starfighters snapped out of hyperspace and into real space above the Chiss capital of Csilla. Through the canopy Jaina smiled as Jag's Chiss claw craft waggled its wings and banked down to the world. As they approached a pair of Chiss starfighters rose to greet them. They looked like silver eagles fromt he artistic engravings on the craft. With a pair of enormous rockets hanging off their wings they were also menacing. Where the Chiss Clawcraft was a joint venture between chiss renegades and the empire the craft before them was entirely of Chiss design. Jaina's com crackled and a musical alien language shot a short phrase followed momentarily with its basic equivelant, "This is Mithrel one to unidentified fighters, please identify." "This is Colonel Jagged Fel and Jedi Knight Jaina Solo on a diplomatic mission to the royal families," Jagged answered quickly. The two fighters dropped back to escort position, "Thank you Colonel, we'll be your escorts, if you'll follow Vector Two One Zero." Jagged nodded, "Thank you." * * * With a hiss the ramp of the Jade Shadow slid to the deck and Mara stepped out of the hatch her hand gripped tightly around Ben's. Beside her Luke glanced at the Admiral standing at the bottom of the ramp leaning heavily on a thick wooden cane. Luke glanced at the patch eyed man beside him before speaking, "Admiral Voss Parck, and General Fel." "Jedi Skywalker, good of you to visit us, without causing damage to our facilities," Admiral Parck replied slowly. Mara lifted a finger at the two imperials, "Now if I recall General Fel told me to take my best shot." "I never should have told you that," Fel grumbled. He shrugged, "I trust this is more then a social call?" "Yes, we'd like access to your records, specifically those relating to a race of aliens called the Rapora," Luke stated simply. General Felt leaned down to the Admiral as they exchanged a quiet word then straightened, "My son Jagged told you about them didn't he." "We'll see what we can do to assist you Master Skywalker," Admiral Voss Parck replied as the whine of a turbolift filled the hanger. Luke turned to see an Imperial Landing Craft settle onto the deck, "Just a supply run, don't worry." Luke stretched out his feeling and whispered to Mara, "Something isn't right." He stretched out his senses to the craft then stopped, he felt nothing alive aboard the shuttle. Suddenly four balls dropped from the Landing Gear wells and opened like a horrendous metal flower. As they unfolded each droid activated a pair of lightsaber blades as it stood there. Mara reached glanced at him, "What do we do?"

OOC: Mad...you shouldn't have done that, now I'm going to have to destroy your fleet sooner then I'd planned. IC:In the Justice of Freedom there was silence. Everyone sat hunched over the displays as contact after contact appeared on the screen. There were three massive craft, cloaked out there, each one thousand kilometers away from the nearest GFFA warship. A fourth vessel was slowly bearing toward them its size much smaller then the others. The officers glanced at each other, each knew the situation was intense, each knew that an engagement could occur at any time. * * * The smallest ship was not Raporan, but Vagaari, the race of aliens which had once been the brutal hammer of terror in the unknown regions. Now they were subservient to another race. The vessel's captain grasped his hands behind his back and smiled, both rows of teeth glinting in the dim light. He glanced at the inky black curtain which was the cloaking shield. Slowly in a singsong voice he asked the question which was on everyone's mind on the bridge, "Are you sure about this." A growl wafted up from the helm. A fully enclosed suit of brown armor rendered the pilot all but species less. This was a rapora, its gloved hands gripping the controls, its mind in touch with its fellows, "Itsss nearly time, we're almossst in posssition." The captain gazed at the black veil which hid the creature's face, "Very well, would your hive mind have some sort of idea as to how to conduct this?" "Do not insssult usss, Vagaari ssswine, we ussse you becaussse your available, don't ever think we truly need you." There was a whisper of movement from allong the bridge and the Rapora instantly bowed slightly, "Lady, you honor me with your presssence." A taunt woman's voice answered, and her blue hands slowly lowered her hood, "Thank you, Krella, I trust your mate is well." "He is well, thank you for your concern," The Rapora answered not daring to meet her red eyes, "Your brother was a fearsome adversary." "That he was, but Thrawn never understood true power or the nature of the force, now, trampling over his grave we shall teach these fools a lesson." She smiled tightly, "Begin the operation." "Lowering cloak," Krella said quietly as the stars reappeared through the viewport. The chiss woman tapped the comm beside the seat she stood by, "This is Mit'shren'nuruodo of the Red Alliance Defense Force, you have launched an unprovoked attack on one of my vessels, withdraw now or be destroyed." * * * The Jade Shadow flashed into exhistance above the world of Nirauan, its presence was immediately detected by the personel in the Hand of Thrawn facility. Moments later Mara keyed commed the surface, "This is Mara Jade Skywalker calling Admiral Parck." A chiss face resolved on the display, "This is Stent fo the Hand of Thrawn complex guards, we're transmitting landing coordinates, Admiral Parck will be waiting for you." "Thank you," Mara answered as Luke piloted the craft lower and lower. Within minutes they could see the Hand of Thrawn. OOC: No Thrawn isn't force sensitive, he was just brilliant, but Shren is both, and she has a thirst for power that Thrawn never had. She is a renegade, who broke away from the Chiss Ascedancy and their military academy. She's not the current leader of the attacks, but she is a major player.

"What of the droid attack here? Did Thrawn know if they possessed droid technology?" "They can't have, no one out there has droids, thats why the Vagaari tried to salvage Outbound Flight, for the droid technology," Fel answered shaking his head slowly. Luke Skywalker glanced around the table, "Battle Meditation, melds, force abilites, and lightsabers, we might as well be fighting a legion of Sith." There were nods around the table, "The Empire has sent a representitative to the Chiss and Nirauan, we should do the same." Fel leaned back, "I'll head to Csilla, Parck has been trying to get me to pay them a visit anyway." Kyp glanced at the young man, "We shoudl send a Jedi with you, just in case there is trouble." "I'll go with him," Jaina said swiftly. Luke arched an eyebrow then shrugged, "Mara and I will head to Nirauan, they've dealt with us before." Fel chuckled lightly as Luke added, "If they don't shoot us first that is." Cal glanced around the table, "That settles it then, hopefully one of these probes will get us some information." * * * The modified assault frigate Justice of Freedom slowly slid through the barren space of the unknown regions. Inside the enormous dome at the ship's mid section analysts hunched over displays scanning the local area. Each display was filled with what looked like pointless noise, only a trained observer could sift through and find contacts. Lieutenant John Mithrel sat behind his display scaning the images. He turned to his supervisor, "Sir, I might have something." The supervisor bent down beside the display, "You see this empty spot, I've been tracking it for an hour, its barely there." "Switch to gravitic sensors," The supervisor ordered slowly. The screen flickered to show a dim grid which seemed bent slightly at the spot, "It's definitely there, could it be a cloaked ship?" "Maybe, bridge we have a possible contact bearing one nine mark four, better pass that information along." A few minutes later the report was in the hands of Admiral Garik Ioor. He glanced out into space, so he was being shadowed. He shook his head slowly, now he'd have to figure out how to force them to reveal themselves, without firing on his ships. He was here for information, not a combat engagement. * * * Sib stumbled out into a clearing and glanced up to see an Assault Transport hovering above her. A head peeked out of the stardboard hatch as a ladder descended to her, "We heard your transmission, hop onboard!" She smiled slightly at the familiar face, "Thanks Barkoa!" OOC: Just advancing everybody's plot.

Well I'm going to post the first Chapter of Stellar Magic: The Merlin Academy, even Cain hasn't seen this version yet. Don't expect me to post much more from it though, Stellar Magic I hope will be something I can write and make a living off of. Enjoy. Stellar Magic: The Merlin Academy Intro: Secrets of the Past For millennia man has existed, ignorant of his past, of the truth that can only now be found in myths and legends, for history becomes rumor and rumor becomes legend and myth before all memory of the past is wiped away. Yet, that past which was shaded by the sands of time slowly returned to haunt humanity. Long before man took flight and reached for the stars upon a jet of flame a dark time was hidden. For four millennia the truth had passed away, crumbling into rumor, myth, and legend. Some had become wary of the truth for the discovery of ancient cities once thought only myth gave rise to doubt. But still the truth remained hidden, and from it all the horrors of modern war paled in comparison. A dark cloud was fast approaching for those ignorant of history were about to see it repeated. The first time had been long ago when the darkness came. A tyrannical rule by creatures who stood above humanity masquerading as gods, and from their hand and their technology the great myths where born. As the darkness grew men and women began to stand and fight against it. Wizards, powerful men who had sprung up from behind the dark curtain of tyranny demonstrated powers that would vanquish the invaders. In the end the darkness withdrew taking with them their loyal subjects, but they would return. They return on February twelfth, twenty-fifty-two, but they were not prepared for the war they found themselves embroiled in. Before long the keys to wizardry and magic were rediscovered. Now two millennia since the return of the Dark worlds upon earth, the Brotherhood of wizards is at its most desperate, and it is here our story begins… Chapter 1: Everything Changes A solar sail ship, its hull scarred by weapons fire, flames arching out its torn plates where atmosphere escaped, its metallic shape colored golden by the light of a nearby star slowly slid through the inky velvet of space. Glowing balls of plasma rushed in at it, burning through the hull ripping holes in the vessel open to space. A solid line of blast doors along its side slowly ground open to space. With a flash a volley of brilliant orange plasma fire shot from the gun’s contained within them. Crews in fully sealed scampered across the deck behind the doors. Manning the enormous plasma cannons housed there, monitoring power going into the guns, removing spent gas canisters from the breaches and tossing them away into space. They worked at a feverish pace to restore their guns for another barrage. The enemy was faster. Another volley of golden blasts of glowing hot plasma shot through space slamming into the side of the vessel. Energy blazed across the gun deck as the blasts hit home. Several guns were vaporized from the fire along with their crews. Still the crews hurried on readying their guns. At one end of the gun line a fully suited crewman lifted his arm to confirm readiness of the crews. Twenty gunners raised their arm in turn. The radio communication had already broken down under the intense jamming of the enemy. With a flurry the officer snapped his hand to his side. At that moment the gunners pulled their lanyards returning fire into the night. Two decks above on the bridge a man strode into the carefully controlled chaos of a ship fully engaged in combat. He glanced to the ship’s commander in his navy blue battle dress in the command chair issuing orders to those below him, his eyes studying the holographic image of the space around them, “Admiral where do you want me and the journeyman?â€

Do I hear the possibility of a competitor in the Novel business. Unfortunately with this what if all bets say that Leia and most of the rebelion are now pieces of debris circling Yavin.

OOC: Actually they're on Ossus at the moment IC: Luke glanced at Mara, "Your outpost wasn't alone at being targeted. The Fallanasi have also fallen victim to an attack." "I'm sorry I wasn't aware of such an attack," Admiral Oreton answered frowning. "In fact I've never heard of the Fallansi." Cal smiled, "Few have, knowledge of some small force using groups is confined to this room." "So the Fallanasi were force users, and they were summarily destroyed by these attackers," Admiral Oreton replied. He glanced at Luke, "Who were their enemies?" "They had none," A voice answered in the corner. Slowly Jacen Solo stepped into the light, "Except those that feared their power, even though they never used it upon others." "Well, I suppose that could be quite a long list of foes," Admiral Oreton answered. He glanced along the table and stopped his eyes coming to rest on Commander Fel, "We have some detailed holos of some of the attackers." He set his datapad on the table and transmitted the holos to the projector in its center. A blurred red brown starfighter shimmered into existance. It's shape reminiscent of Isolder's personal starfighter, Storm. It's cockpit was shapped like a claw which pointed down between the two wings. The holo shifted into a simple schematic of the ship. Two red marks pointed out the weapons emplacements along the leading edge of the wing, and a orange dot was directly beneath the cockpit showing a possible missile shackal point. There was a sharp intake of breath from someone in the room as Admiral Oreton continued, "Most of the weapons register as unknowns. Just before lightspeed the craft were traveling at approximentaly 160 MGLTs." "Fast, to damn fast," Fel commented. Luke nodded at the holo, "The style seems similar to the weapons we recovered." Fel struggled to stay calm, "Rapora." Cal leaned forward, "What?" Fel sighed, "They're called the Rapora." He glanced around the table and stood. Jagged began to pace, "You're familiar with the chain of events which brought Thrawn to the Emperor's service, except some pieces are missing." Everyone's attention focused on him then, "One year before the destruction of Outbound flight then General Thrawn was demoted after the greatest Naval coupe in Chiss history." "He was in command of a force of twelve chiss warships on a mapping expedition at the outskirts of Chiss space, when he stumbled upon the Rapora." He glanced at the members watching him, "It was like stumbling over a bee hive. Only Thrawn's personal flagship escaped, and it was then that Thrawn began to drift away from the chiss ascendancy. He realized that up against a foe sucb as the Rapora a preemptive strike was the only option. It was also when his thirst for knowledge and taste of alien art became paramount." Mara glanced across the table, "They wiped out his whole fleet and the Chiss didn't strike back?" Jagged nodded, "The ruling families decided that it was Thrawn's invasion of their territory that caused the incident. He argued forcefully to launch an assault and was rebuffed." He cleared his throat, "Then, a year after the destruction of Outbound flight, Thrawn secretly launched a preemptive strike. The ruling families found out, stripped him of all rank, and sent him on his way." Admiral Kre'Fay glanced at Jag, "Was his attack successful." Jag glanced around the table, "I don't know, I do know that the ruling families found out because of the sudden loss of hundreds of promising you officers." Luke glanced at him, "Is there anything more you can tell us?" "No, we barely even know their name let alone their forces capablities," Jag replied. He shook his head, "What I told you is all I know, Thrawn himself kept the information on the Rapora and those events very quiet. Though I suspect they may have been the primary reason for his formation of the Empire of the Hand." Admiral Oreton leaned back in his seat as he scrolled down the list of alien art names then he found it, Rapora Art and General Information. As he bent over reading Kyp glanced around the table, "What about the droid that we destroyed here on Ossus? Could there be some kind of connection?" Mara shook her head, "How could a droideka design end up in the hands of these Rapora?" Admiral Oreton stood and cleared his throat. Maybe there was something of value buried in Thrawn's analysis of the species. It was surprising that Thrawn had as much information as he did. Still a single phrase haunted his mind, 'The entirety of their species and culture is force sensitive, they are therefore able act with one mind, through a form of meld in combat, rendering them difficult foes to predict and counter.' It would be worse then going against a Vong force without Yammosk jammers fighting them. He glanced back at the hovering hologram and felt his throat constrict even more, the image in the holo and the image of the piece of art on his datapad were nearly identical. Then it dawned on him, Thrawn thought their craft were pieces of art.

Cal Omas stood behind the table his hands planted on the table, "Under my direction elements of the Alliance fleet have redeployed to investigate occurances in the unknown regions." He glanced at Admiral Kre'Fay, "I'll let the Admiral report on the exact deployment, but suffiuce to say, if the unknown assailants that destroyed the Fallanasi strike again, we must be prepared." Admiral Kre'Fay laid a hand on the table as he spoke, "Grand Admiral Evahe has dispatched Garik Ioor to investigate these occurances. His force is drawn from several sector fleets. There are just over a dozen warship under his command, including the newely commissioned Calamari Star Defender Compromise for Peace. Other vessels include three MC90 Cruisers, two Republic Star Destroyers, three Escort Carriers, and three Assault Frigates one of which, the Justice of Freedom, has been modified to serve as a dedicated investigation and reconisance ship. There crews are well drilled and ready for almost any curcumstances." "Thank you Admiral, has either intelligence directors found anything on the attackers?" Heads shook around the table, "Then I suppose its time for the Jedi to present what they have discovered." Luke Skywalker nodded and tapped his comm. Mara slid into the room carrying a large black bag over her shoulder which she laid with a thud at the center fo the table, "We dispatched Mara and Corran to investigate the attack, Corran is still at the location." "As you saw in the Holos, the place was a mess, we found several survivors, but even so, piecing together what occured has been difficult at best,," Mara winked at Luke as she zipped open the bag, "There were at the start indications that a Jedi was behind the attacks, you've all seen the images, but here is what really caused a panic in our ranks, exhibit A." She tossed the lightsaber intot he table's center. Slowly Kyp Durron picked it up and glanced it, "Its a lightsaber of alien design, as some of you may know lightsabers use a number of natural crystals to create the focus the energy beams, this lightsaber however uses crystals which are purely synthetic." Cilghal glanced up at Mara, "What does that mean?" "Nothing good," Kenth Hamner answered gesturing to the lightsaber, "The only time I saw a lightsaber with synthetic crystals was in the hands of a Dark Sider." Kyp nodded, "The Sith tradition says that as part of their training they made their own synthetic crystals." Cal was startled, "Does that mean we have a Sith on the loose?" "No," Mara said swiftly. She glanced across the room, "First the sheer number of victims indicates a veritable army of attackers, secondly, the last sith lord died at endor. Finally, there is this." Mara pulled the rifle from the bag and dropped it onto the table, "Exhibit B, a Plasma Rifle, with design features which are completely alien. Also we found the body of one of the attackers, definitely not human, perhaps not even humanoid." Luke nodded, "Because the attack occured in the unknown regions I've asked that Jagged be present for our discussion." The door slid open and Jaina Solo escorted Jagged Fel into the room, Luke smiled at him and gestured to the empty seat, "Jaina has briefed you correct?" Jagged nodded, "Alright, during your time in the unknown regions did you ever encounter aliens which used these technologies." Jagged stopped to think, as a member of the diplomatic staff he had clearance into some of the most secret files in the Empire of the Hand, he glanced at Jaina then to Luke, "I'm afraid I have to ask that the High council consider the information I'm going to reveal confidential." Before Luke could answer his comm link beeped, "Master Skywalker, there's an Imperial Admiral here with information for you, he says its important." Luke glanced at Jagged, "Hold that thought, Jagged it seems that you won't be our only guest here."

OOC: Well things are about to get even more complex IC:A thunderous explosion rocked the across the plains. Mara spun her eyes wide in shock as a fireball rose from where she'd been working. Corran had already broken into a run toward the fireball. Mara followed suit knowing what they'd find. She skidded to a stop fifty meters away, where the creature had once been was a ten meter wide crater, there was nothing left, nothing at all. She glanced at Corran, "A remote bomb?" "Yeah, some sort of plasma weapon, someone didn't want us to get a good look at them." Mara nodded, she remembered how imperial commandos had sometimes carried such devices on missions. Her commlink chirped, "What!" Luke's voice answered, "Emergency transmission from Cal, it seems the Imperials have some information for us. We lift off for Ossus in thirty minutes, tell Corran to keep in touch." "Will do," Mara replied as she grit her teeth, what next? * * * Chiss Embassy: Coruscant Jagged Fel sighed as he wandered around the embassy for the Chiss consortium. He ignored the disdainful glares he recieved from many of those which worked here, being a memeber of the Empire of the Hand still wasn't popular in the consortium's diplomatic ranks. Still these were people that respected him even so. He stepped along the white staircase to the military attache's office. The two clear doors slid open immediately and General Drask stepped up to him and shook his hand, "Commander Fel, a pleasure to meet you." "And you General, my brother had nothing but utmost respect for you," Jagged answered as he let go. General Drask nodded solemnly, "First let me offer my condolences on your losses to your family, I know how difficult it must have been, can I offer you some refreshment?" "No, thank you. We all did our duty, you know that, I know that, still it is always painful to loose a relative in combat." "I hear you may soon be adding another pilot to your family," General Drask said lightly. Jagged's eyebrows nearly disappeared beneath his hair, "I'd say that such comments may be premature." To himself he added, I haven't asked Jaina about this yet. General Drask smiled, "So Commander, how may I be of assistance?" Jagged squirmed in his seat, his orders came from on high on this issue, "The Empire of the Hand would like to expand our relations with the Chiss Consortium. Only a few of our pilots have served with you and our command feels that exposure to other cultures including yours may help further our alliance." General Drask smiled slightly, "I suppose you have heard that several of our neighbors have been attacked by unknown forces. You know that we will never be drawn into one of your wars until we are attacked." "Yes General, still we hope that strengthening our alliance will deter such aggression from taking place." "Very well then, I'll transmit your request to the families, along with my recomendation of support." "Thank you General," Jagged replied and headed for the door as his comm beeped, "Commander Fel here." "Jagged, its Jaina, could you take a little trip to Ossus, Luke wants you to be there for the next High Council meeting." "Sure, well as long as I have a little free time to check out the local food." "I'm sure Luke well let us off in that regard," Jaina answered, "See you in an hour, love you Jagged." Jagged answered with a commlink click and felt his cheeks burn red, maybe he should ask her soon.

OOC: Good post Trej IC:Luke waited, his legs crossed in the shadow of Corran's Sekotan Skip. Akanah huddled beside him quivering slightly, slowly she glanced at Luke as Ben wandered around the skip toward them, "So you got married?" Luke smiled slightly, "Well thats what happens after awhile, after having a couple failed relationships, eventually you find a good one." "I'm sorry," Akanah said softly glancing at the ground. "I know, in your place I might have done the same," Luke smiled as Ben kicked a rock across the ground, "You remember anything about the attack?" Akanah shook her head, she glanced at Luke, "It's fortunate that your apprentice showed up when he did, we couldn't have survived for very long without his help." Luke smiled slightly, "Well Jacen has been trying to track you down for a while." "Why?" Akanah asked. "I wanted to learn from you," Jacen said as he stepped around the Sekotan Skip. He glanced at Mara and Corran as they walked over to them, "Any idea what they found?" "Nope," Luke answered with a yawn, "I forgot how time consuming investigations are." Mara stepped up beside them and set a large black bag in front fo them, she quickly unzipped it and removed the old lightsaber they'd recovered earlier, she thumbed it on and twirled it, "Corran analyzed the crystals in the emitters, their both carbon synthetic, which means none of our jedi used this saber. We all use natural crystals." She shut it down and set it on the ground beside the bag and removed the larg rifle which they'd just recovered, "And this is unlike most anything I've seen before, at least on all our jaunts across the galaxy." Mara spun it around so the bulbous end pointed to the ground and pushed a button. Blue electricty shot around the bulb and sparks slightly as it hung above the ground, "The rear end is designed to act like a stun baton, a powerful one at that." Mara spun the rifle about and pointed tothe metal clip at its end, "This thing is designed so that that lightsaber can snap on and act like a bayonet, somewhat inovative." She lifted the rifle to her shoulder and aimed it to the ground, "The main weapon is whats really unusual, its a plasma rifle instead of a blaster." With a pull of the trigger a brilliant gold bolts blasted into the sand. Akanah in that moment screamed and covered her ears, she began to babble in a language Luke couldn't understand. "Akanah!" Luke yelled gripping her hand as she rocked back and forth. She wouldn't calm and stood, her gaze flicking across the desolation, Luke opened to the force and felt a wave of fear wash over him from Akanah, a terror unlike anything he'd felt before. Slowly he drew the fear from her and she calmed, only then did Akanah speak again, "They murdered us, we bid them peace, we tried to hide but they found us all the same, even with the illusion. We thought evil didn't exist, but they were pure hatred, pure power, they were evil Skywalker, you have to stop them."[/i]

Kyp turned to the almost completely disabled droid as the Z-95 kicked in its main drives and disappeared into the clouds, the two missiles streaking after it. He watched in shock as the droid folded up into a ball again its lightsaber emitters switched off and pointed towards it center hull. A flash of insight gave Kyp his only warning, "Barkoa, take cover!" Kyp lunged for the younger Jedi and forced him to the ground as the brilliant whine of a pair of lightsabers being activated filled the air, and was immediately replaced by an explosion. The droid had sliced into its own power generator which detonated in a brilliant ball of flame. The explosion's force had made it so that they'd never find a piece of the droid larger then a centimeter across. With a second thunderous roar the Z-95 Headhunter dipped below the clouds it banked and a pair of brilliant flares shot from its rear. They curved to pursue the missiles but pulled by gravity they dipped and fell sputtering into the ground. The Z-95 pulled up as Kyp watched and broke away, the missiles still in pursuit, if the pilot could keep them from hitting the missiles would run out of fuel, if the pilot could keep dodging them that is. * * * The Imperial Intelligence officer walked downt he hallway his shacking hands grasping the analyst's report on the unknown craft which had attacked the listening post. There had been no survivors, he still couldn't believe the extent of the destruction caused by the attackers. Unfortunately all the Star Destroyer had been able to see were the three red brown starfighters which had fled upon its arrival. The report would surely raise more questions then answers, all the crafts weapons had registered as unknowns, even their silhoutte had been blurred by distance, but right now any information was valuable. The officer paused by the door waiting for Admiral Baros Oteron to admit him, when the door did slide open he was greeted by both the admiral and the Imperial Supreme Commander Gilad Pelleaon. This report must be more important then he thought. * * * Mara and Corran's search had come up empty for several days now, after Ben's delivery of a lightsaber, little more had been found. Now three days later Mara got lucky. She'd been following the tracks of an unknown alien, which had left strange three toed impressions in the ground, two facing forward, the third reversed, when she'd spotted a slight glow from under a pile of debris. Slowly gingerly Mara sat the case of forensic equipment beside the pile of debris and pulled out a pair of gloves. She pulled the debris off and found herself facing a black claw, its tip stained with blood, beside it was another toe almost completely buried by sand and debris. Mara turned to Corran who was picking his way across the debris field, "Corran, come see this!" Corran swiveled to Mara and half ran up beside her. He stopped when he saw the claw, "What the?" Mara nodded as she started pulling more debris off the mound. "I think we may have one of the attackers here, that whole wall collapsed on top of it," Mara said as she pulled a large piece of metal free and tossed it aside then she stopped as she saw the source of the glow, "Well hello." The glow had come from a small read out on what appeared to be some kind of weapon. It was longer then her forearm and had a strange ball shaped which was part of its stock. A trigger and hand grip were visible halfway along the weapon. At the weapon's end there was a large bore emitter. Directly below it was a mounting clip. She glanced at Corran as she pulled the lightsaber they'd found from her belt and tried to fit it onto the clip. It expertly snapped into place, "Lets get Luke, I think its safe to conclude this wasn't a Jedi's blade."

Kirk followed the General to a turbolift and they descended to the Hanger bay in silence. The doors slid open and Kirk was greeted by twelve red and white angular starfighters. Crewman and maintanance personel scrambled across the craft doing last minute welds and modifications. Kirk found his mouth hanging open at the appearance of the craft, their wedge shape and tiny size would make them difficult to hit. His mind raced back to the V-38 prototype he'd seen. Then as Kirk wandered around one ofthe craft he saw the engineers hoisting an engine into the rear of the craft. a spherical dish was affixed to the end and Kirk remembered the tie's vectoring system, this craft's engine had one identical to the V-38s. One of the engineers cursed at the engine's thrust vectoring nozzel, "Sir, I know the Event Horizon Engine specs have this, but it'll be a pain to maintain, why not just use a pair of vectoring paddles, it'll make these things ready for action sooner." Kirk felt his eyes widen, "Thats what the imperial V-38 had!" General Merick smiled, "Dodonna incorperated the stolen engine plans into the design, go ahead lieutenant we need these things operational." The Lieutenant in charge of mounting the engines nodded, "Alright get that nozzel off, we'll go with the old vectoring paddels, do you have any spares from a Y-wing?" One of the engineers nodded, "Use them." The mechanics removed the spherical cover over the engine's rear and replaced it with a thrust vectoring set sliced off of a Y-wing's maintance kit. They hastily hooked up the controls and slid the engine into position and locked it in place, "Sir this one is ready." "Good job lieutenant, well Commander, think you could handle one of these?" "Sir, if a bathtub had wings I could fly it."

OOC: Jan Dodonna designed the A-wing, considering that he was captured just days after Yavin, there would have been a few squadrons deployed shortly before Yavin. This is the first squadron, flying prototypes.

"Yes General, I understand," Kirk nodded slowly, "So Thrawn has targeted Sluis Van." He sighed, "I've seen Thrawn, there is no way you'll be able to match him force on force, even if you had twice the number of ships that he does, he's a genius general." Merick sighed, "I 'll keep that in mind Commander, we're trying to pull together a plan that will ensure a victory for our forces." He glanced into the corner of his office, slowly an aged man stepped into the light, "General Dodonna, are the prototypes ready?" He smiled slightly, "The A-wings will be ready for the engagement, hopefully if my old friend takes a stand we can snatch a victory from this Impeiral mastermind."

Commander Kirk Baumer sat sprawled out on his cot. The cell he was in now was just as plain as the others he'd seen, but something seemed different. There was no longer a guard hovering beside the door, maybe the rebels finally trusted him. Kirk felt his gut contract, but do I want them to trust me? Beside his cot Lara Jules sighed, she hugged her legs as she slowly rocked against the wall, "I wonder whats happening out there?" Kirk nodded slowly, "Yeah, but what can we do about it? They don't trust us, and I'm not sure we deserve their trust either." Lara sat bolt straight at those words, "What are you thinking Kirk?" "Maybe the rebellion is right, maybe the empire needs changing," Kirk spoke quietly. He glanced at her, "What should we do?" Lara smiled slightly, "I think you know Kirk." The door slowly clanked open and Merick stepped inside, "Commander, a word."