Return to the Phare System

Present Day
Sadow Palace, Sepros, Orian System

"M'lord, we've received signal from the fleet, they are holding position just outside of the Phare System" reported one of the navel lieutenants assigned to rear guard reported.

"Have they received any signal from the advanced party?" Muz asked

"No M'lord, there is no sign of any of them"


-Two Days Earlier-

Frigg, Phare System
Former Headquarters Planet of House Primus Goluud
Current Location of the Emperor's Hammer Corporate Division Complex

Derev busted up laughing as Malisane walked out of the small bathroom in their rented room, wearing a TIE Corps Uniform.

"Shutup, right now" Malisane barked, not at all humored to be in the uniform.

"Aye, aye Lieutenant" Derev smirked as he made his way to the bathroom to change into his own costume. Malisane may've been uncomfortable in his uniform, but it was no match for what Derev felt as he changed into his old Corporate Division uniform, a uniform he'd worn for many, many years. Coming back out into the main living area of the room, Malisane in turn cracked a grin of his own.

"It suits you a little better, Ass Admiral" Malisane grinned as Derev adjusted his old decorations. "Military, ugh, I couldn't stand wearing all those decorations".

"Haha, it builds good upper back strength" Derev replied, sliding his lightsabre and blaster pistol onto his belt.

"How do you think Malik and Trev are doing?" Malisane asked after a few moments of silence.

"Hard to tell, but we'll know soon enough" Derev responded, and paused for a moment, "I hope".

"Lets go find some scouts" Malisane announced, as the two made their way out of the room into the common areas of the spaceport. "So, did you have a habbit of walking around the Spaceports with a Naval Lieutenant?"

"No, why?"

"Well, someone might wonder why a Command Officer is just pacing around the civilian sectors".

"Aha, no, I went out often enough, I had a uhh taste for some of the locals." Derev responded "Besides, I think I've grown just a wee bit with the force, I'm not too worried yet".

-Present Day-

Phare System Boundaries, VSD Covenant, Bridge

"Sir, we're receiving a coded message. Master Shan Long has established contact with locals on Loki, and he has acquired transportation".

"Very well. Xayun, what do you think?" Shikyo asked

"We should go, it's four hours past the agreed time, either somethings happened, or they don't have the ability to contact us. Both Malik and Trev have accomplished their first objectives" Xayun responded.

"Very well. Signal Malik and Trev, lets get the ships here. Captain Rineval, you have the bridge. Hold position and await further orders. Defend the fleet at all costs if you are discovered" Shikyo ordered as he walked towards the lift with Xayun.

"Aye Sir, I have the Bridge"

"Lets go suit up" Xayun grinned, a little too eager to jump into some mischief. Both Aediles made their way to the rooms they'd been assigned, leaving behind their robes, replacing them with traditional clothing to befit buisnessmen and traders. A little under an hour later, small fleets of shuttles, transports, and other vehicles began to land on the shuttle deck of the Covenant, a few at a time, seemingly timed to be normal routes. The long relationships with the locals of the Phare System had not been forgotten, nor was the power of the Clan. Many older members of the clan found themselves exchanging greetings with people they had known many years ago, the process of aging not so kind to these non force users.

Over the next twelve hours, the bulk of Clan Naga Sadow's forces were transported into the Phare System, disguised on transports and corporate ships, slowly amassing in key locations in the system.

--
Sif, Phare System, Former Location of Sadow Palace

"My god" Shikyo said to himself as he stepped off the shuttle that had brought him to Sif. To his knowledge, this was the location of the Sadow Palace Compound. Every briefing and report he'd been able to find indicated all structures had been destroyed. Clearly, this was not the case. Despite the many years that had passed, you could still clearly make out where the Sadow Palace had once been. Deep within the pit, you could still see tunnels and subterranian passages, still intact.

"Wow" Xayun remarked, stepping up beside Shikyo. "Lets get everyone together and figure some things out". About an hour later, two the Aedile's stood in the center of a small room, in an abandonded building that may well have once belonged to Clan Naga Sadow.

"Clearly someone must be watching this stuff" Malik announced matter of factly. "We saw it on both Loki, and Ullyr. Subtle, but there is an Imperial precense, I doubt this place is unguarded".

"And still there is no word from Malisane and Derev. Clearly something has gone wrong, someone may well already know we are in the system" Trev added.

"Doubtful" Shikyo added "They would've put the system on alert and checked incoming vessels. No, thus far, I think we are safe, the question is, why have Derev and Malisane remained in hidi-"

Before Shikyo could finish his sentance, one of the local sympathizers came running into the room. After quickly bowing, he broke into speech. "My lords, a large detatchment of IWATS trainees have landed just 7 clicks away, and they are moving this way!"

"A Training mission?!" Shikyo blurted out

"I highly doubt that, it seems a little too convienant" Xayun replied. After closing his eyes for a moment and probing the force, Xayun spoke again "No, it's not a training mission. Alert the Clan, it appears we've been discovered!"

Muz Ashen Keibatsu grew more nervous by the moment as reports continued coming in. The final report left him feeling no better. Apparantly, a large compliment of IWATS trainees had been landed very close to the clans position on the planet, and apparantly, it was no training mission.

His initial hesitation at beging asked by Jac to come to the Sadow Palace for this operation seemed silly. Now it was becoming all to clear why Jac had asked him here. The Field Marshall he was, and it looked as if he would soon be going to battle against the Emperor's Hammer. The mere thought caused the excitement to rise. He ordered the Spear to be ready for immediate departure at anytime, it's deadly cargo also on alert.

------

Having made their plans, the forces of each house split up, each now under the sole command of their Aedile - the assumption already made that both of the Quaestor's may very well be gone. The mysterious mission being undertaken by Manesh and Kat Pridemore on Antei was now painfully becoming a mistake, the lack of sound leaders in the field did not bode well for this mission.

------

"Ylith, have Godo take charge of your squadron, and get them back to the Covenant immediately. We're going to need air support in a hurry." Xayun ordered as he prepared to rest of the house for battle. Ylith nodded and ran off to find his executive. Xayun issued more orders to the troops around him, painfully aware they would soon be very outnumbered. In the distance, he saw his counterpart making similiar arrangement with his forces. The Aedile's certain had gotten more then they bargained for.

Ylith hurried outside the bunker calling to the members of his squad as he headed back down the pass to one of the light shuttles they had arrived in. It was on old Mon Calamari design, one of their light freighters, an MC18 someone had told him but Ylith had no idea if they were right. Half the team piled in behind him, the others squeezing themselves into the Skipray sitting next to it. A few seconds later the two craft were airborne.

“I sure hope they make it,” said Xayun to no one in particular as a series of lasers started to flash from the canyon pass toward the fleeing craft.
“Looks like our element of surprise is gone, they’ve reactivated the defense systems already,” replied Ashia.
“They’ll make it,” said Xanos, stepping into the old bunker. “I would be more worried about them making it back. By the time they’ve made it out of system and rendezvoused with the Covenant it may be hard getting back.”
“How long do you recon that will take anyway?” asked Xayun.
“An hour, maybe a little less. It’s hard to say anymore, the Emperor’s Hammer isn’t what it once was. They may be struggling to keep themselves armed but it’s impossible to know what they’ve actually got left. Even with only a few ships left they’d still have enough to form an effective blockade.”

-----

Outside the other members of the Clan were running around shouting orders at the other men who had accompanied them. The fighting hadn’t started but it already looked like a battlefield. Eight years had passed but the Remnant had only recently begun excavating the site. It was about a kilometre long, maybe a little over half that wide. Tron had explained how what was left was little more than the torn out underbelly of a makeshift star destroyer. The Sadow Palace itself was long gone, now sitting in orbit somewhere around Inos; the remains were what were once known only as the labyrinth, a secret to few outside the Overlord himself.

There were a few buildings dotted around the ruins. All prefabricated, standard Imperial design, other than the layer of dirt and undergrowth that had collapsed down on top of most of the wreck the new buildings fit right in, looking as if they belonged with the few parts of the former palace that were still intact; a few turbolift spires and the occasional room could still be made out from a distance, almost everything else was buried.

-----

“So, enough of the ruins themselves, where are we now?” asked Shikyo.
Xanos paused to think, glancing around to try and pinpoint the Clan’s exact drop zone. “I expect we’re close to the site of the original palace, although it would have been a few hundred meters in the air,” he said, pointing in a seemingly random direction in front of them. “After the ship took off most of this area must have caved in. I’m guessing that puts us close to the bridge section of the ship, making the deepest levels of the old labyrinth at the other end of the dig site.” He pointed toward the opposite end of the clearing but there was not much to see, the other end of the ship had been buried deeper than the original palace even before the launch eight years ago. From the looks of things most of the front end of the ship had simply torn off during take off.
“Great,” said Xayun rather bitterly. “What’s this building anyway?”
“Automated defense bunker,” replied Xanos. “It looks like the Imperials have stripped it but there would have been a turbolaser here once. There were a lot of these littered around the mountains, I expect most were destroyed when the palace took off but there might be some left. Our bigger worry is the automated defences inside the ship ruins, I can’t say how many are still operational but Tron was always big on droid defences down there, it cut down on how many people had to know what the labyrinth...”
“Okay,” said Xayun, cutting in, “enough of the history lesson, what now? The Imperials are going to be here in a few minutes and they have the advantage of knowing the layout better than most of us.”
“We still have the advantage of cover,” said the Prophet, eyeing the Aedile uneasily. “They may be close but this place was always designed to hold off against any attack. It’s deep within the mountains, other than whatever air support they may have most of their troops are going to have to filter through the canyon pass first. That’s where we pick them off, using the mountains to shield us from their air support.”
“And if their air support flanks us and drops troops behind us in the clearing?” questioned Shikyo.
“Then you either hope Ylith has made it back by then or that I feel like going and getting my hands dirty,” said Xanos.

-----

Xayun, Shikyo and the remaining battleteam leaders left the bunker to begin organising the troops for their defense. Without the two squadrons they were left only about thirty men for Ludo Kressh and less still for Marka Ragnos. They had a few squads of regular troopers with them but not many, it had, after all, been intended as an undercover op. Fifty Clansmen, mostly Journeymen, and not many more soldiers were not going to have an easy time holding off against whatever the Remnant was about to throw at them.

The members of Ludo Kressh began setting up at the base of the canyon, erecting a makeshift barrier from some of the ship wreckage. Shikyo took Marka Ragnos up above, climbing into some of the nearby mountainside to try and gain a vantage point on the enemy. The battle for the ruins of Sadow Palace was about to begin.

-----

“Wait a second,” said Xayun, turning to Ashia. “I sense something.”
“I feel it too. It feels familiar, like us, like a brother, but at the same time distant, almost alien.”
"Traitors," spat Xanos.

The night air whipped the exposed portions of his face as the lone figure ran and leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Five f**king minutes into this thing and we're already humped. he thought as he took another force assisted leap. Landing hard he rolled to his right keeping a tight grip on the sniper rifle he knew he'd need. Everyone else went status seven on this op but he knew in the back of his head that sooner or later cover would be blown. He was just glad Ashia trusted him and authorized his otherwise unapproved tactics. Whispering a silent prayer to the spirit of Sadow he came into sight of the approaching enemy. Ducking behind an exhaust pylon he went prone and unlocked the rifle's barrel mounted bipod.

He began scanning the approaching group for targets of interest. The scope magnifying everything he saw the faces of the men and women his clanmates would soon have to face. If he did his job theirs would be a little easier. Bingo, he identified his first target, a Colonel. Through the retical he made out every feature of the man's stoney face. Switching on the phase modulator he prayed that the so called "invisible beam" that Macron had developed would work. If it didn't he was karked.

The assassin positioned his legs and let out his breath ever so slowly. A gentle squeeze of the trigger...the officer fell to the ground. The sound dampeners covered the discharge noise, and no one seemed to be able to determine where the shot had come from. Slowly lowering the rifle the Epis crawled to cover and leapt to a new rooftop. Setting up again this time a captain took one to the chest. Already the Imperial forces seemed to be decending into confussion.

"Abomination to Hotel Lima Kilo Actual. Have engaged enemy. One say again One Oscar Six and One Oscar Three down. Will maintain comm silence for duration." Two clicks signaled receipt of his message and Shin'ichi was ont he move again. The kids will get to play lightsaber soon enough he thought. Right now he was doing his part for Family and Clan.

Macron dreamt as his vessel flew silently toward Phare......

"Abomination to Hotel Lima Kilo Actual. Have engaged enemy. One say again One Oscar Six and One Oscar Three down. Will maintain comm silence for duration." Macron smiled in his helmet as he heard the signal. The weapon had obviously worked. Combining a Stygium crystal with the phased modulation had worked. People were dying in secret, even now.

The Silooth and several more ships spat forth from the Covenant. “Damn, I get air detail and I’m only a mediocre pilot,” Mononoke grumbled to himself as R3 worked the controls. ”But bombing the crap out of things is fun as well,” he chuckled as his face brightened. He had brought a heavy load, but the Silooth could easily handle the weight.

“Flight Leader to Interrogator,” came an encrypted com message. Godo was hailing Macron. Each Sapphire Squadron flyer had a call-sign unique to them.

“Copy that,” replied Macron. “Ready, willing and able. All systems are go.”

One by one, all the Sapphire flyers reported in. The wing was heading to hit the enemies near the canyon, and hit them hard. It would take at least another thirty minutes to arrive at the target site.

“Sapphire, the is VSD Covenant,” came a system communication that sounded curiously like Kat Pridemore. “We have incoming hostile Capital class vessels. Alter course to vector 541 and come about to engage.”

“Roger,” replied Godo. “You heard the lady, folks. That is, except you Mac. You’ll be useless in a dogfight. See if you can make it down there and offer some support until we get there. May the Force be with you.”

The Squadron swept about, with a lone gunboat streaking toward the planet. A group of vessels was about to engage the Covenant high in orbit. Things were going to get hairy.

Corin hastily got to his feet and was off at a enormous pace, making his course for the Covenant.

He had been dispatched from the troop, and was on the move, following in the wake of his superiors.

With his Plasma Sniper and tactical rifle at his side, and his trainers saber in his left hand, Corin bounded off into the twilight.

He had not travelled more than about half an hour when he saw the Covenant in the distance, it's flanks glowing against the midnight sky. A heavy fog lay around it, as if placed there as camouflage. Entering one of the transport ships, Corin was swiftly whisked away, destination: The Covenant.

<><><><><><><><>

45 minutes hour later...

Corin quickly stepped over the threshold of the two ships, quickly entered the Covenant, and was on his way to the locker rooms when his friend, Fryt, approached him with Corin's helmet in his arms.

"I knew you were coming, so I prepared your things." Fryt said as he handed Corin's stuff to him, and quickly walked away.

"Thanks!" Corin yelled after him, as Fryt's body slipped out of sight.

Corin, following the example of his friend, ran off in the direction of the hanger, donning his helmet as he went. He entered the hanger, nodding to the flight instructor, and wordlessley climbed the ladder that lead to his ship, the Falcon.

His helmet, with the word Phoenix inscribed on it's forehead, gleamed in the light of his cockpit.

N4, his astromech droid, beeped and chirped as the modified Jedi Starfighter revved up, and ascended into the air.

He exited the hanger just as his colleagues and superiors sped ahead of him, setting a course for vector 541. Doing the same, Corin's modified Jedi Starfighter followed in their wake.

Apprehension filled the air like a thousands pounds of sand weighing down on upon them. Xayun and Ashia exchanged a disquieting look then turned to Xanos.

"It's the EH." Xanos said quietly as his mannerism changed slightly. "They know we're here."

The world turned in on itself as everybody scrambled to take cover. Ashia threw herself down behind some of the wreckage. Sanjuro landed next to her, a wild look in his young eyes. Her eyes darted around quickly to take note of the rest of her team. Ruluk had scrambled quickly to the other side with Adrian and Xayun. Sai was no where to be seen presently. Panic filled her as she reached out with the Force to find her brother-in-law's apprentice.

A few yards away she found him, hovering behind a small boulder that would only hold off only a couple of blaster shots before blowing the Guardian to pieces. She had to get him out of there. She motioned for Sanjuro to stay put as she leapt up, sliding in and out of shadows cast by the wreckage until she was at his side.

"Sai, we can't stay here, it's not safe." The young Guardian nodded as he followed her back to where Shikyo and Sanjuro were. The rest were scattered here and there, taking cover where they could. Shin's voice came floating on the air and swam through Ashia's mind. 'They're coming your way, Ash. Be on the ready.'

A knot formed in the pit of the Dark Jedi Knight's stomach. "They're coming.' She said quietly.

She poked her head up from her hiding spot to locate Xanos. As she scanned the area, she saw him, standing in broad view. Head held high, sabre at the ready.
A look of quiet dissonance passed across the Zabrak's face as she watched him.

"You two, stay here. Shoot anything that comes through that canyon. I don't want to see either of you out here, that's a direct order." The two nodded as she slipped out of her hiding place and sprinted towards Xanos. The look on his face alarmed her as she got closer.

"Xanos? What's going on?" Her eyes darted back to the canyon waiting for the inevitable.

"They aren't taking it again." His eyes narrowed as he spoke. "I will not hide from that which lies ahead, Ashia." He turned to her then, as his eyes burned with rage. "This is our home."

A pounding could be felt beneath their feet, as if the earth it self suddenly had a pulse. The vibration steadily grew until it became audible. Ashia swallowed as she too, unhooked her sabre and looked towards the canyon, a quiet whisper fell from her lips.

"Sadow help us."

It took some time, but Corin's ship, the Falcon, managed to catch up with his colleagues ships who were preparing themselves for battle.

The Falcon's ion and plasma cannons rotated, being tested to make sure it wouldn't fail him when he needed it most.

He didn't know exactly what he was up against, but he had confidence in his abilities, and the abilities of his friends. All he knew was his enemy was not to be shown mercy.

Corin readied his cluster bombs for a ground assault, and made N4 make sure the cannons were properly loaded.

Turning on his radio to oncoming transmissions, Corin caught the last of Godo's transmission: "...come about to engage."

"Godo, would you please send that transmission again?"

As Godo did, Corin's mouth formed into a grin: he was much better at dogfights, and he was, to his knowledge, the best pilot in his rank.

"Roger that!" Corin exclaimed as his ship's laser navigation device, or LND, switched on, making the cannons lock on to any incoming fighters.

Corin watched, as a gunboat shot countless rounds at the Covenant. Fearing for their mother ship, Corin turned his ship a little to the left, and engaged the vessels in fierce combat.

His enemies swift vessels were a formidable enemy, but Corin got the upper hand and shot three times at the ships, dismantling one bomber, and letting the other lasers hit the hull of another two oncoming fighter.

Some of the vessels changed their course, and turned to the oncoming squadron.

Corin's ship was distinguished from the rest of the squadron who had gray and black aircrafts, and was targeted first. Cluster missiles hailed from above as Corin jetted under the oncoming enemies, letting his cannons operated by N4 do a number on the their fleet.

Corin looped back around, as his fellow pilots engaged the enemy fleet, shooting down the remaining scout aircrafts.

This was only a taste of the battles which Corin and his fellow sqaudron would face. With the capitol ships at their doorstep, the sqaudron was going to be hard pressed to defeat their enemies.

Sai huddled with Shikyo and Sanjuro behind the barrier, the ground pulsing beneath their feet as if the very planet itself were coming alive in anticipation of the oncoming battle. He did his best to assist his House-mates, who were busy making a heavy repeater ready for battle, but he found that without the proper instruction, he was as impotent as the training saber that hung from his belt.

Doing his best to maintain cover while staying out of the way, the Korun’s attention was diverted to Ashia, cutting quite the imposing silhouette against the foreign sky. She had taken a position alongside Xanos, and with ‘sabers at the ready, they seemed to be figures cast in an ancient tragedy. Sai thought back to when, not scant seconds ago, she found him huddling behind a boulder, cowering if this were his first engagement. In fact, he had been receiving the back-end of a mental transmission from his Master, sent with such passion that he had no choice but to heed it, which placed him in the unenviable (or enviable, depending who you asked) position of being retrieved by his Battleteam Leader.

He cleared his head of the buzzing which usually accompanied his Master’s mental communiqués, pining for the day they’d be able to “talk” in complete sentences. As it were, Sai’s training had not been extensive enough for him to decipher the entire message, but the Guardian was able to pick up on the undercurrent beneath the jumbled mix of images and feelings shining throughout: For Clan and Family.

“Master, I see the lessons never end,” Sai remarked more to himself than the two who were in earshot. He absently fingered the hilt of his ever-present katana as he warded off a question by his ‘mates, who had finished prepping the repeater and currently had it trained at the unseen force advancing just beyond Ashia and Xanos’ position. All were contributing, all in their own way...all, save Sai.

Having come to an unspoken decision, Sai slinked away from the makeshift gunnery nest, making sure to avoid the rest of the battleteam’s notice as he secreted two anti-personnel grenades within his robes. Admittedly, the Guardian had not been trained in their use either, but at the range that he planned to use them, he didn’t necessarily have to be a surgeon.

Besides, he had his other uses, the uses Shin had been training him for. Immersing himself in the Dark Side, he let it flow unabated through him and, as he sprinted in a wide arc from the encampment to what he presumed would be the Hammer force’s left flank, he let one thought give him comfort against what may have been a final act of insubordination:

“She only said she didn’t want to see me out there, didn’t she?”

The question was as unanswered as it was unspoken as Sai moved ever-faster towards the enemy flank, newly-drawn katana in his right hand, a single grenade in his left.

The officer landed with an audible thud and before the dust had settled Shin'ichi was in a new location farther behind enemy lines. He raised his rifle again, this time peering out from a ventilation shaft. Scanning the unit marching forward he saw something that made him do a double take. FRACK his mind screamed. Slowly he slid backwards away from the exposed vent and any possible prying eyes. Calmly he suppressed his force signature and depressed the call button on his headset. "Hotel Lima Kilo Actual, this is Abomination. Be advised there are Echo Hotel Delta Bravo's in the ranks of advancing enemy. Be prepared for heavy hand to hand combat." With this transmission he reached out to touch the minds of Ashia, Xayun and Xanos now known as Darth Vexatus, to show them what he had seen.

Ashia and Xayun flashed surprise, but Vexatus' rage echoed the Keibatsu's own. He remembered well the hallowed home of his clan and of those who had once lived here and called him friend. Consumed by the fire of his shared hatred with Vexatus the Epis almost missed the ecstatic buzz in the back of his mind. His apprentice was up to something. Afraid to reach out and touch the mind of the Guardian for fear of being discovered, the Assassin retreated from his nest, and moving with the shadows went in search of his foolhardy young student.

"What a strange dream," muttered Macron as he piloted the Silooth toward his friends in the canyon below. "I dreamed I was on the Covenant, but it isn't in system yet... and Kat is not about. Someone is messing with my head," he grumbled. "Or it could be the insanity. A long trip will do that to one, I suppose." He continued his drop toward the planet. "Or maybe the drugs."

"R3, scan the canyon area for me."

Macron's sensors had picked up an approaching TIE tank below that was surely shaking the ground. There was no way the canyon defenders could miss it. He smiled a wicked grin.

Ashia's voice came over the com. "That you, Mac?"

"Yeah, it is. It's been a long trip back from the edge," he giggled. "But I got rid of the bugs, finally."

"Right. I worry about your grip on sanity sometimes," she said with concern. " Anyhow, I think we have a tank approaching us. You bring your normal party favors?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied with panache.

A comm message flashed over... "Hotel Lima Kilo Actual, this is Abomination. Be advised there are Echo Hotel Delta Bravo's in the ranks of advancing enemy. Be prepared for heavy hand to hand combat." Macron scratched his head, even thought he helm covered it. Perhaps that communiqué he had dreamed of from Shin about the rifle had been real, after all.

"Copy that, Abomination. This is Interrogator. Will do a fly-by pass and soften up the tanks in the back for Hotel Lima Kilo Actual. Then, I'll be down to play saber with everyone." The Silooth began to wail as she heated up from the atmospheric drop.

She was soon in range, and Macron let the bombs fly. The Sadowite ground forces were given a respite as the thunderous explosions rocked the Hammer forces' rear areas. Proton torpedoes tended to blow things up, and his were notoriously unstable.

"Birds away," he cackled to himself. "I'm ready for the purging." The alchemist sought a landing spot in the canyon. As the gunboat settled down, he popped the canopy and leaped out. "Cool, an upcoming fight. I can hardly wait!"

Running at a full-on, Force assisted sprint, Sai reached the left flank of the Hammer forces just as a lone Silooth had flown over the formation.

“No turning back now,” thought the Korun, barely regarding the ship as he set his sights on the first trooper that popped into view, who had turned in just enough time to catch a thin sliver of death mid-thigh. The look of shock on the face of the Hammer trooper was priceless; it was as if he couldn’t understand why he was suddenly toppling over with naught but the flapping of robes to announce his loss of equilibrium. Sai took a couple of more swings at the hapless trooper’s mates; each one in his immediate vicinity had fallen in turn, each clutching useless appendages. No more than three seconds had passed since Sai first breached the Hammer ranks, but he had succeeded in felling no less than six troopers in his exchange before taking off on a diagonal path, plunging deeper into the ranks.

Sai surreptitiously dropped one of the anti-personnel grenades as he moved; it was his plan to cut through the ranks with one pass, or at least get as far as would be allowed, causing as much disruption as he could and giving his compatriots a better chance at victory. Moving at such an advanced clip would not afford him the opportunity to actually kill many of his targets, and it only halfway guaranteed his survival, but nothing caused dissention in the ranks like a screaming, suddenly limbless mate, and if he best served the Clan with his death, then so be it.

The anti-personnel grenade exploded behind the slicing zephyr, catching many of the surrounding Hammer combatants full-on as they had turned to see what had caused a few of their own to stumble and fall. Burning shrapnel found new homes in various troopers in the area, and Sai, eager to repeat the result, kept moving at a blinding pace through the ranks.

Sai had nearly made it to the other side of the formation. He was elated that he had done more than he hoped to in his hastily crafted offensive, and he knew if he could deliver his last grenade effectively, he could help create more of a bottleneck within the pass, serving up the Hammer forces like so much fish in a barrel.

Lopping of the limb of the nearest enemy infantryman, Sai made ready to drop his last grenade. Suddenly, he was aware of a nudge in the Force, as a leaf on a pond’s surface is affected by a wayward ripple. A millisecond later, the world to Sai’s right erupted in a cacophony of sound and fury.

"Macron..." The thought went unfinished as recognition of what had happened registered in Sai’s mind; confirmation came with his unceremonious tumble end over end, borne aloft on an explosion’s shockwave.

Corin watched as Macron broke from the company, and headed for Sif.

"Bravo 560, what's your situation?" Corin radioed to one of his fellow Sadowites who also broke from the company, and was headed for outer space.

"Sorry sir," answered the pilot who was apparently in a lower rank than Guardian, "I've never been in a squadron like this, and I thought I could get the ships from behind."

"Negative. Stay with the pack, pilot. Yilth will instruct us further. For now let's engage the capitol ships in combat. Nothing too fancy."

"Roger!" Answered the wayward pilot, as he rejoined the squadron.

"Sir, to your right!" Yelled the pilot as Corin glanced to his right. He was just in time: a ion torpedo had just missed his hull, and was coming around once more to try and get him from the underside. N4 counteracted by letting loose a cluster bomb that detonated right before the torpedo had a chance to get the Falcon.

"Thank you pilot, and thanks N4." Replied Corin as he menuvered his ship around the shards of metal that blasted up from below.

"Engage!" Ordered Ylith, as the Squadron, in unison, sped up and each let go a barrage of missiles and lasers at the Capitol ships, damaging a few, but mostly just irritating them.

"Their undersides are less protected!" Advised Corin, as the squad split up, each attacking their own side of the ships.

Corin was right: just as he issued his advice, six pilots attack the underside of the closest ship, making smoke issue from the hull.

"Again!" This time Corin, along with five colleagues shot two missiles at the underside, severing the ship in half. Debris and flame engulfed half of the squad, as flames licked the corner or the Covenant's hull.

"Keep it up men!" Ordered Ylith who sped past the flames and engaged with a scout ship that guarded the Capitol ships.

"Corin, Godo...engage with the rest of the ships and soften up their defenses. Once you've done that, head for Sif and help out with the Ground troops. Over!"

"Roger!" Corin answered, and Godo's answer echoed the same.

Corin and Godo split up and started attacking the Capitol ships beyond the Covenant. Their cluster bombs exploded on the hulls, destroying turrets and automated guns.

Once they had finished their order, Corin and Godo, in unison, exited the fray and headed for Sif, the planet of Sadow.

Ashia braced herself for the inevitable as she stood with her mentor, now know as Darth Vexatus. The lines he wore upon his face told of his wisdom and strength. To her other side stood, Macron. The crazy Sith Alchemist was grinning broadly as he unhooked his sabre to stand with them. She had just turned back towards the oncoming assault when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Sai darted from his position towards the canyon entrance. Her face fell momentarily just as Shin's voice echoed through her, the only communication he dare try without fear of being found. The Force bond between the two had grown so strong, that their thought signatures were as one.

'Sis, what the frell is Sai up to?'

'Not sure, I told him to stay put. So much for listening to orders, probably something he picked up from you.' She replied dryly. She got a silent objection from him as she watched the first of the Hammer's troops emerge from the canyon entrance. Sai popped out from behind a piece of wreckage, slicing through the first trooper with his katana. The Guardian didn't stop there as he plunged head first into their ranks, flashes of sliver glinted here and there before a few small explosions could be heard following him.

Ashia started as he disappeared from view. 'Shin, he just dove into their ranks with nothing but his sword and some anti-personnel grenades!'

'Frack! I'm on my way!'

Shin had already been on his way back down. He somersaulted from atop a cliff and let the Force lower him right into the middle where Sai was battling for his life. The faint hum of his sabre could be heard as the troops poured into the canyon a bit more steadily now. Shikyo jumped up from where he was and ran into the fray after his brother.

Macron looked at Ashia momentarily. "For family and clan."

She nodded to him as they both took off into the fray. She heard a sabre ignite behind her and she cast a glance back for a brief moment. Darth Vexatus stood his ground and waited for the assault to come to him.

The concussion hit him as hard as if he'd been in the blast radius and the Epis had one thought Damn fool boy. He charged into the fray severing limbs and heads, destroying weapons, doing what he was created to do even as he struggled to reach his fallen apprentice. Memories of his lost apprentices assailed him and he vowed not to lose the most promising student he had ever encountered. For some reason he could not place, Shin'ichi was bound to this man. A soldier screamed in agony as his Amethyst blade carved the man in twain; the Epis didn't even register the action he simply moved forth into the thickest of the fighting, rage distorting his visage.

Familiar minds touched his feeding off his rage. First Shikyo touched him with his melancholy anger, then Macron's madness invaded the battleground, and finally Ashia's soothing darkness brought blessed calm to Shin'ichi's own chaotic mind. His sister-in-law had a way of touching his mind and tempering or fueling his fury that no one else did. Strengthened by the presence of his family he redoubled his assault on the Emperor's Hammer troops finally reaching his apprentice.

With a kick he roused his fallen student. "Wake the frack up you useless lump of rancor dung!" The Guardian stirred and slowly awoke from his involuntary slumber. Slowly wiping the drowsiness from his eyes the apprentice became instantly aware of where he was and what was going on, and he wondered why it was that his master showed such concern for him. The Way of the Dark Jedi was to leave the weak to their fate, why then had Shin'ichi put himself in jeopardy to rescue him? As if reading his mind the Epis shouted; "Time enough for questions when the battles done. Get up and do something useful." With that Master and student reentered the battle, Sai's katana cleaving through armor and flesh, and Shin'ichi utilizing force and saber to decimate all those foolish enough to get in his way.

Sai and Shin charged the front lines of the Imperial troops, cutting through the first row with ease. The next row of soldiers still standing levelled their rifles on the two Dark Jedi but were met with a brutal thrust of Force energy knocking them to the floor as Ashia and the others came to reinforce their brothers. Holding back the Dark Jedi allowed some of their own troopers to take point, slowly pushing the Imperials back.

“Sithspit”, spat Macron.
Ashia looked at him. “What is it?”
“Tank,” he replied quickly, pointing ahead before they all took a quick dive into the walls as a TIE Mauler came tearing through the Imperial lines, ploughing down most of the Dlarit forces that had been sent on ahead.
“Frack,” cursed Sai and Shin in unison as they both took cover in a nearby alcove.

The tank carried on through the next line of soldiers, most ending up trampled beneath its immense treads. A few managed to dive out of its way but without Force attuned senses few of the regular troopers were quick enough to react. The Mauler cleared the first line of the Kressh forces and began to turn around for a second pass.

“Now’s our chance, quick,” shouted Shin, issuing orders quickly with a series of hand gestures. “Malik, Ashia, left side, Sai, with me. Macron, got anything good to light this puppy up?”
Macron pulled a seemingly plain looking grenade from his belt and nodded.
“Okay, on three, two, move!” barked Shin and instantly the team were in motion. Malik and Ashia threw themselves down the tank’s left flank, their lightsabers outstretched, tearing through most of the vehicle’s main drive systems. Sai and Shin’ichi mirrored the move on the right side. Macron ran headfirst at the Mauler’s main exhaust port, throwing himself into a dive that took him straight under the vehicle’s main bodywork. In a single motion he jammed the grenade into a recess along one of the vehicle’s treads before rolling out and to the side to join Shin. The five of them ran, Malik and Ashia deflecting a few bursts from the Mauler’s main cannons as it tried to turn, before all diving into a nearby alcove.
Shin’ichi glanced back. “Well?”
Macron looked at him curiously. “Well what?”
“Where’s the…” Shin didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. The Mauler erupted in a searing wall of luminescent flame, billowing black smoke back down the canyon. Chunks of burning debris came hurling down the pass, a sharp dagger like piece narrowly missing Malik’s head, passing close enough to shave off a portion of his deep red hair.
Malik narrowed his eyes on the alchemist. “That was too close.”

-----

“I’ve got one on me,” cried Corin, angling his fighter into a quick evasive roll.
“I see him,” replied Ylith over the ship com. “Old Corporate fighter, don’t worry,” he said as his lasers ploughed through the old IRD fighter, leaving behind only a ball of flame.
“Thanks,” breathed Corin with a sigh of relief. “I think that was the last one.”
“Looks like it,” replied the squadron’s commander. “That should keep the Covenant safe, now we need to get back to Sif. Don’t count on that being the last of them, though.”
“I know,” agreed Corin as he turned his fighter to head directly for the system’s capital world. A second wing of fighters came into view off the Guardian’s port side. “Nice you could join us,” said Corin over the joint com system.
“We got a little held up back there,” replied the Night Falcon’s commander. “I see you’re already done.”
“Never underestimate Sapphire Squadron,” said Ylith with a hint of smugness. “Anyway, should take us about twenty-six minutes to rendezvous with the others back on Sif. Let’s just hope they can hold out.”

-----

“Clear,” shouted Shin as they piled out of the alcove and into the fallout from Macron’s second grenade.
“That’s two down,” said Xayun as parts of the second Mauler rolled by his feet. The second line of Kressh troops had now caught up with Ashia’s forward group. The first Mauler had cleared out several of the Imperials own soldiers, after taking it down Macron had helped them bring down the second when it came tearing up the pass. “That should buy us some breathing room,” Xayun continued. “The next wave of Imps won’t be far behind though.” He keyed in a channel on his wristcom. “Shikyo, are your men in position yet?”

Above the pass most of the Sons of Ragnos and their troops had finished their assent of the maintain pass and were beginning to move into position to provide covering fire for the Kressh warriors below. A voice stuttered in between the static over Shikyo’s com. “Shikyo…men…position yet?”
The Aedile recognised it automatically as Xayun’s voice. “Most are in position already, five more minutes and we’ll be set. I see you’ve made a few bangs already.”
The weak signal, distorted by the cliff walls, came in again. “Thank Macron…grenade…five minutes is fine.”
“Copy that,” replied Shikyo.

“Thank Macron for the grenade,” said Xayun. “It bought us a little time, five minutes is fine.”
“Copy that,” replied Shikyo’s static voice.
Xayun turned back to the rest of the team. “You heard him, dig yourselves in, the Imps won’t be holding back the next wave.”
Sergeant Taras Disha stepped forward from the main troops. “Commander.”
“Yes sergeant?”
“Do you want us to take point are you planning to lead from the front?” asked the soldier.
Xayun looked around for confirmation from the others. Each of them gave him a simple nod. “We’ll take point. Form a barricade behind us, use whatever you can, pull some of the wreckage from those Maulers, we need to hold this line at all costs until air support arrives.”
“Roger, commander.”

-----

“You sense them too, my apprentice,” said Trevarus, walking up behind the Sith Lord.
“Yes, like a faint glimmer,” replied Xanos, keeping his eyes fixed on the men further down the canyon who were working to form a makeshift barricade.
Trevarus shook his head. “They won’t hold them, you know that. The Imperials maybe, but they’re not the threat.”
Xanos nodded in agreement. “Do you think it is how they knew we would be coming?”
Trevarus smiled. “Still in need of my guidance, young one?”
Xanos glanced back at his former Master. “You are still the seer between us.”
The Krath laughed quietly to himself. “Of course,” he said evenly, closing his eyes and focusing. “I imagine it helped them locate us, yes. I am sure even you can read that much.”
Xanos nodded. “I still remember some of your lessons, even if I never chose to study the Force as you understand it.”
“Well, it seems we have a reunion to attend,” said Trevarus. “Shall we?” he said, ushering Xanos toward a nearby alcove. The Sith Lord followed, waiting as Trevarus depressed a seemingly ordinary rock before entering a chamber that opened in the crevasse wall. “I can’t wait to see the rest of the family. It's been far too long.”

-----

“Huh?” said Ashia.
“What is it?” called Sai hoarsely as he helped lift another piece of twisted metal onto the barricade.
Ashia gestured back down the valley toward the landing site. “Xanos, and Trev, where’d they go?”
Shin looked back down the canyon. The two Elders were nowhere to be found. “Forget them, if they want to go off on some private quest that’s down to them. Just focus on the barricade.”
“Yes, Master,” replied Sai.
Xayun rushed around the corner, coming to a sudden halt. “Get into position now, Shikyo’s men just sighted movement less than a kilometre down the ravine. They’ll be on us in seconds. He says they’ve got a squad of men in AT-STs this time.”
Shin exhaled sharply. “Great,” he said sarcastically.
Macron simply smiled. “Look at it this way. We get to make more fireworks.”
“I just don’t know what we’re going to do when those toys of yours run out, Mac,” replied Shin.

“Ah crap. Well, I’ll tell you what we do because I’m out,” muttered Macron as he patted his belt and shoulder pouch. “Lucky those old experimental baradium grenades didn’t blow my own damn head off,” he laughed. “I only had so many, you know?”

“What?” asked Malik. “You mean they weren’t stable this whole time?”

“Erm, not exactly. They had been sitting around for a while. I forgot I even had them,” said the alchemist with a chastised wince. “Kind of like stuff that gets lost in the bottom of your backpack for months, you know?”

Malik gave him an evil scowl and stalked off to the lines, cursing under his breath. “Insane so-and-so…”

“Well, what’s your idea Mac?” demanded Xayun. “Time is of the essence.”

“Look, I think the Silooth is reloaded. I’ll take heavy fire being alone and all, but she’ll hold up ‘til Sapphire shows. That is one tough bird,” stated Macron to Xayun, Ashia, Sai and Shin’Ichi as he turned and gestured at the ugly heap.

They looked on dubiously. It was obviously an insane mission, and he was likely to be shot to hell.
Everyone knew he might not come back, but no one said anything. They all shared the same feeling in mutual respect. In combat, any one of them could be gone next. It was just the way of things.

“The loads will pop those AT-ST’s right open like rotten bloody tomatoes. And a little strafing never hurt in a situation like this. Well, except them of course,” the Battlelord sneered as he continued to rant. Shin’Ichi held up a hand to stop him.

“I sincerely hope this time you use spotters, you moron!” growled Shin’Ichi. “I bet Ashia and I would be perfect, or either alone. I expect you to do something about Sai’s wounds. And, I think Xanos and Trevarus may have something planned for the air defenses.”

Mononoke nodded. “My apologies, Sai. Fair enough. Drink this,” said the Tribune as he tossed a phial toward Sai. Ashia intercepted it with a sly grin and a deft catch.

“Tsk, tsk. Just what is this,” she asked peering at the green vial as she checked it out. Her own alchemy skills were considerable, and she knew Macron’s sordid reputation. “Combat juice? Orbalisk?”

“And bacta- a fun cocktail,” grinned the Sith. “Well, I got places to be, and people to kill. May the Force be with us all,” he giggled as he ran toward the waiting re-armed Silooth. The ship became airborne with a howl as the AT-ST’s closed in menacingly on the barricade. The assembled Sadowites held their collective breath in the silence before the storm broke.

The Falcon, engaged in hyperdrive, sped past it's counterparts and headed for the Atmosphere of Sif at an enormous rate.

"N4, disengage hyperdrive and reverse thrusters." With a chirp, N4 did what he was told, and the ship slowed down considerably.

The Falcon entered the atmosphere, and was half way through when Corin picked up a message. It was coming from his Jade Serpent flight commander, Ashia.

"Corin, get back on Sif as soon...AT-ST's...get them..." The message died out just as Corin exited the atmosphere and headed toward Sif.

"Roger Red leader!" Answered Corin, picking up the gist of what she said.

"Mac, this is Phoenix(the name on my helmet), preparing for decent. I hear you need some help down there. I sure hope you don't mind me dropping in! Over!" Corin screamed with childish glee as The Falcon sped through the open air, free-falling as he went.

Corin was about 3 clicks away from the canyon when another transmission reached him. This time it was from Macron, "Phoenix, this is Mac, requesting assistance. Watch out for the anti-aircraft artillery. AT-ST's about a click from you. Over and out!"

Corin's fighter hovered only ten feet over the earth and sped up toward the canyon.

Ten Minutes later...

Corin finally arrived at the canyon, and was forced into combat with ground troops.
"Damn you!" Yelled Corin as a laser hit his hull. "Ooo...." He said as his cluster bombs dropped to the ground, incinerating the troops. "Should have that one coming!" And he sped off.

Wary of the canyons defenses and anti-aircraft artillery, Corin ascended into the heavens, above the clouds, and hopefully out of sight.


Corin's radar beeped as Macron's ship showed up on the screen.

"Mac, I'm right above you. Give me the coordinates and I'll drop a load on them!" As Corin finished the transmission, Mac responded by sending Corin the coordinates over his computer. "N4, you got that?" With a response chirp, N4 locked on the targets which Mac specified, and gave Corin a beep, signaling for him to initiate bombing.

"Bombs away!" Corin exclaimed to his radio as bomb after bomb was released from his arsenal and sent flying toward their targets.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

"That Macron! I hope that those damn..." Xayun's words were cut short as a deafening sound of exploding bombs reached their weary ears.

Thunder exploded in the ravine setting their teeth on edge. Shin and Ashia exchanged a look then went back to work.

"Crazy Sith." Xayun just shook his head.

Shin'ichi went about checking their arsenal with Sai assisting him, as Ashia started getting troops organized.

"Ash did you grab the..." Shin started.

"Thermal detonators? Ya, over there."

"And do we have any..."

She nodded as she pointed to a box. "The blasters are in that one."

Xayun blinked for a moment as he watched the two Keibatsu. "How do you do that?" No resonance of Force hung in the air. The Aedile scratched his head.

"You think that's weird, you should see them have similar conversations without any words at all." Sai said acrimoniously as he continued with his work.

-------------------------------

Corin came about for another pass. The Guardian was pleased as he witnessed one of the AT-ST's explode in a ball of fire. A loud whoop came over the intercom.

"I got one!" Corin's acclamation echoed in the Alchemist's ears.

"Great, kid! Don't get cocky!" Mac swung the Silooth about to target some of the troops getting closer to the canyon.

"Target everything that's about to enter the canyon. We've got to buy them more time!"

The Falcon dodged back an forth as anti-aircraft artillery sent volley after volley of shots in his direction. The piloting skills of the young Guardian were proving to be exceptional.

The rain was of blood and ash. Shin'Ichi looked skyward, his hand smearing the fallen across his cheek. The grizzled soldier barked a command, but the words came out silent, the screaming of recent explosions deafening all close enough to hear. He shook his head, blaster fire seething past him as he repeated himself.

"Sound Off!"

The brethren began to bellow their names in response, to tell the others that they still lived as much as they did to remind themselves. Shin spun abruptly, a sneer upon his face as he swung his blade up to intercept a blaster bolt.

As the violet sheared away the crimson bolt, the face of the Epis paled. Throwing himself aside, the bellowing resonance of heavy arms fire echoed after him, the cold metallic trot of walkers playing a rhythm of destruction.

-----------------

"Walkers?" Shikyo sneered, disbelief writ large across his face. "In this narrow of a pass?"

Raven handed the Aedile his electrobinoculars, pointing up the stony ridge. "They're just MT-STs and MT-ATs, but still..."

Shikyo swore as he handed the binocs back, flipping on his wristcomm as he stepped around a dead stormtrooper. "Shin, you recall any weak spots on the Mike Tango walkers?"

The scream of blaster fire filtered through the tiny speaker, followed by an exasperated bellow from the Keibatsu. "If I frelling knew, do you think we'd be pinned down, otouto*?"

Shikyo swore again, flipping the commlink closed as he yelled to his snipers. "Take cover, and aim for the joints, Ragnos!" Shikyo turned, his hands finding solace on the stock of a tenloss disruptor. He went prone, sighting along the rock to take out one of the spider walker's many legs, muttering to himself. "Like Muz always said...if a man can't stand, a man can't fight..."

-----------------

Godo spun his ship into a barrel roll, evading the anti-aircraft missiles from below with some difficulty, the Force wrapping around the ordnance and pushing them off target. "Bloody dren, mate... This is getting crispy. Ylith, you have an ETA on our backup?"

Ylith shifted sideways in his seat, forcefeeding a mobile anti-aircraft unit a torpedo as he jogged the ship out of harm's way. "I have no idea, they ran into some Tartans Cruisers on their way out." Ylith spun the ship lower to the ground, his trigger finger expressing his destructive will across the Hammer's troops, splaying their ruined forms across the rock of Sif.

"Tartans?" Godo chuckled, pulling his ship up some, avoiding the small arms fire from the troops below. "That won't take the Covenant but a few minutes..."

Ylith smiled as he watched the foes of Sadow burn, the silence enough of an acknowledgement for Godo.

-----------------

"We are in the dren. Situation normal..." Shin snarled as he spoke into his wristcomm, the encoded frequencies of the Kuroshin holonet carrying his message lightyears away. Blaster bolts perforated the rock inches away as the metallic spiders clawed their way down toward the ancient ruins. "I can't believe we came down here without any armour...and we're already running low on ordnance."

The voice of the Lion of Tarthos came across tinny. "I'm already getting the Spear prepped, brohim. Just stay alive, reinforcements are on the way."

Shin sneered as he peeled back from the rock, firing at the spiderwalker as his apprentice covered him, the pair moving in tandem as the razed the durasteel skin of the beast. Rolling to the ground, he cradled the commlink. "Will do. Get here asap, willya?"

"I got a stop or three to make, but I'll be there as soon as I'm loaded for bear." Muz's voice got stern all of a sudden, abruptly terminating the link.

"I hope he gets here soon...I've got a bad feeling about this."

--------------------

Muz stepped into the hangar, motioning with his hands to the scarlet-armored guardsmen to get aboard his alien ship. The Guardsmen moved with celerity, the trainign of the Royal Guard evident in their very movement, each stride betraying the expenditure of dozens of weeks in tutelage. Muz stamped aboard the ship, making his way up the ramp as his eyes fixed on the crates of supplies and the heavy weaponry.

The Adept cracked his neck as he made his way to the bridge, his mind racing as he cursed the situation. They were a long journey away, even for a ship as fast as the Fallen Spear. And the itch in his palm always seemed to foretell a duel. He clamped his hand shut. The last time it itched was when he had faced Kaiann on... but that was different then. There wouldn't be anyone quite that dangerous with the Hammer any more. With the latest defection, all the remaining duelists of worth had come to Antei.

Yet this wisdom still did not dull the doubt in the Krath's heart.




*little brother in Kyataran

“Hell yes! I love the smell of explosives in the morning!” laughed Macron as he came about. “Good shot Phoenix. Blew ‘em straight to his ancestors. Now, form on this vector…”

A loud explosion rattled the comlink. The sounds of wrenching metal could be heard.
“Interrogator here. I have a situation,” stated the alchemist. “Just took a missle hit to my engines. Thank Darth for my armor and heavy shields, or I’d be all over the place and grilled well done. I think she’s fracked for now though.”

The Silooth swept low overhead, taking small arms fire and leaking black greasy smoke. Bits of reactive plating drifted down to pepper the Hammer forces below. The gunboat drifted off out of sight, losing altitude the whole while.

Shrieking wind began to break up the transmission as the cockpit snapped open. “Trying to…. Can’t hold on…. Land outside perimeter. Will regroup… Batha Pudu!” The last bit was cut off by what could only be an impact.

Xayun looked concerned as he turned to Ashia. “You think he survived that?”

“Yeah,” she replied as she finished unpacking the blasters. “That Sith is hard to kill. However, I bet his ship is wrecked. Someone will pay hell for that.”

Xayun looked concerned. "I hope they get that anti-aircraft down soon."



The spiderwalkers continued their advance as Shin’Ichi and Sai blasted away. Both ignited their sabers, and charged the nearest one with speed borne of the Force. The hum of sliced metal could soon be heard as they cut their way inside.

“This is Abomination,” came the encoded message. “Have control of one Mike Tango.”

Shin thumbed the MT-AT’s cannon controls as Sai dispatched with the last of the Imperial crewmen. He made to take his place at Shin’s side when he was interrupted. “Don’t get comfy, fool.” His eyes shown as the ground beneath a pack of enemy infantry was torn asunder from the blasts. The Dark Jedi leapt from the ragged hole in the walker, depositing two thermal detonators as they did so, and ran to a boulder as the walker erupted violently from the inside, out.

As they took cover, Sai was aware of his heart pounding in his ears. The Korun was normally as steady as the rock behind which he and Shin now hid, but he seemed to revel in the destruction as much as his Master did, and he was trying to suppress a maniacal chuckle as he popped up from cover and began firing. He barely got off three rounds before Shin roughly grasped the back of his robes and yanked him to safety as a blaster bolt ripped through the space the Korun’s head occupied not a second before.

“I need you to focus, Sai”. Shin looked at his apprentice sternly as he jammed a grimy finger into his forehead for emphasis. He was trying to be patient with the Guardian, knowing one of the various side-effects of Macron’s “cocktails” was a brief yet barely controllable bloodlust. “You’ve caused us enough trouble, and we’ve no time to be frelling around out here.”

Sai marveled, not only at Shin using his name, which he seldom did, but at how relatively reserved he was acting. All this, not to mention the concern he showed in pulling him from his death, caused Sai to look questioningly at his master.

Reading his apprentice’s mind, Shin made ready to break cover. “Come, I’ll show you.” The pair dashed from the rock, just missing getting vaporized in a hail of fire. Sai returned fire then committed fully to his sprint as Shin did the same. Reaching another outcropping, Shin instructed his student to take a look.

Sai popped his head up and noticed that from their vantage point a good portion of the battlefield was visible. He made to bring up his blaster to look through the sight and was “corrected” by a rough slap on the back of the head. “No, fool; really..look.”

Sai lowered the blaster and allowed the Dark Side to caress his eyes in its ebon tendrils. The mundane details, if they were that, shifted out of focus as various Force signatures became evident. There was Shikyo, rallying a contingent of Sadow soldiers; Ashia’s bloomed impossibly bright as she stood, slapping blasterfire away with ‘saber in her right hand, returning fire with her left.

Just as Sai started a remark at how good she was, he felt his head being redirected by a strong hand. “Over there, idiot.”

As the Guardian’s field of vision was filled by the Imperial contingent, he gasped. Several other plumes of Dark power were amidst the ranks, some stronger than others, but unmistakable nonetheless. If what he saw was what he thought it was, they were fighting Dark Bretheren.

Sai looked to his master for guidance, who gave a start at looking into the young man’s eyes, whose pupils had split into three distinct apertures. He chalked up what he saw as another Mac special side-effect, choosing to address it later. “Oh, you get it, now?! Make no mistake, young one: you’re good, but not that good.”

Sai hefted his weapon as the gravity of the situation pressed fully upon him. He nearly caused the demise of a good number of the Keibatsu with his foray into self-sacrifice. It would be a mistake he’d not soon make again.

OOC: to be sure no one gets confused, I always write in the perspective of Draken. Ylith is a second character in
Draken's mind. Don't worry, you can call me Ylith in the Run on

-------------------

As Draken sat within his vessel he became more and more agitated, this change was noted by Godo and soon
Draken's comm crackled with Godo's voice

"You seem on edge commander, whats wrong?"

"Ugh, it's this damn thing....I hate flying..Godo, you take command of the wing, I'll head on towards the planet and
see if I can be of more help. I am more of use on the battlefield than in a crammy spaceship."

"Will do sir, you be carefull now. If you need us you know how to call us right?"

"Indeed, keep the line soldier, I know you can do it. Draken out."

As Draken flew towards the planet he fell more and more anxious to reach the planet in time. Something in his
gut told him something was going very, very wrong. Suddenly a sharp pain in his arm caught his attention and
his grabbed his arm only to feel it burning underneath his skin.

"Damnit, not now.." Draken said as he focussed as hard he could on the force and pushed away the pain through
the power of Dark Side. Feuling his strength.
Is it the curse you spoke of Draken? Ylith said within the Valheru's mind and Draken caught his breath while
still dealing with the shot of pain he had to endure all of a sudden.

"Yes, this the curse of immortality, the decay of the host body. In which case, your body." Draken said as he moved
his metal hand to the top of his sleeve and tore it off, exposing the tainted arm. Blackened veins were visible
all over the arm, like a marmer stone cracked. The Valheru used Ylith's knowledge of the Dark Side to force
the curse to a halt, but knew that if he wanted to live longer, he needed to find a more permanent cure for it.

Suddenly his board computer notified him he was nearing his destination and he decided he would mind his personal
quest later when time was less demanding. The Obelisk smiled as he moved into the Planet's atmosphere.
A quick scan indicated Macron's Silooth behind the enemy lines. Draken decided to fly trowards the Sith Alchemist
to find out what has been going on.

Draken's ship startted to slow down as it went past the atmosphere and it did not take long before he saw Macron's ship
and he moved towards it. Slowly the vessel touched down and Draken moved outside of the cockpit to see what macron
was up to.

"Macron! Where are you?" Draken shouter near the ship and before he got an answer he rolled away sideways and
ignited his saber while avoiding an other bright red saber.

"Oh man, sorry Ylith. I thought you were one of the Imps checking out my ship." Macron said as he de-ignited his saber
and helped the Valheru get back on his feet.

"So whats the situation?" Draken said as he moved with Macron towards his ship, helping him reload.
"Well, it looks bad. Just a few kilometer from here the Imps have a base set up and an army moving in on our
forces. I startted bombing a few Crawlers but I was hoping to see the rest of Sapphire Squadron assisting me soon."
"That will take a while, I went on ahead while Godo and the other Sapphire defend the Covenant. Though the
attacks aren't as heavy anymore, their presence is still much needed."

"I see, care helping me bomb a few Imps before you join forces with the ground team?"

"Ofcourse, can't let you have all the fun." Draken said with a smile and both he and Macron boarded their ships
and went off to battle once again.

The Falcon dodged the attacks from the AA artillery, but just as Corin maneuvered his ship through the blaze of fire, another wave of either small arms or AA fire shot up through the clouds he was above.

Knowing that he was safe out of range of both the small arms and the AA fire, Corin descended beyond the clouds, checking his readings to make sure his ship was ready for another round of bombing.

As Corin turned his ship to face the far off canyon, he caught a glimpse of two Jedi’s ignite their sabers and than retract them once more; it was Draken and Mac. The two had landed and were conversing. To what, Corin didn’t know, and frankly, didn't care.

As his ship flew over his two commanding pilots, Corin radioed down to them for assistance: “Sir,” he said to both Mac and Draken, “This is Phoenix!” His ship pulled up just as a missile whizzed by his hull. “I need help with those AA batteries. I can’t make another pass over the canyon unless we bomb them out, over!”

“Phoenix, this is Abomination,” Answered the voice of Macron, “Stay put and we can go in together. What’s the status on those crawlers, over?”

“There are only a few left, Sir,” answered Corin, “But I can’t get close enough to flush ‘em out, over.”

“I copy. Hang tight, and we’ll be there in a…Damn!” Macron’s voice faded as Corin was bombarded with small arms fire that made popping noises as they hit the ship.

“Sir, what’s the matter?” Corin asked urgently.

“Nothing Phoenix, it’s just a small problem with those Imps down there. They have RPG’s. Get back to work, kid!”

Corin wordlessly fulfilled his orders and headed for the nearest AA batteries. As he approached them a whining noise signaled the launched of a rocket from the AA cannon.

The missile stared right at Corin as he flew for it straight on. When it was about to collide with his ship, Corin pulled up and let the missile shoot under him and explode on the canyon walls.

“I got a lock on them! N4, now!” Ordered Corin as The Falcon flew over an AA cannon.

Bombs filed out of his arsenal, one by one decimating their targets.

Corin came back around to destroy the adjacent cannon, but was caught in the middle of the AA fire and the RPG’s which the Imps brandished on the ground.

A grenade shot from the launcher and Corin avoided it by leaning to the right just as another missile from the AA cannon hit his left hull, causing smoke to spew out of his ship.

“I’m hit!”

"Draken is nuts. He didn't even notice the damage when I helped him reload earlier... wait, I guess I'm nuts too. Hee hee! Well, he’s gone now anyhow," Mac thought out loud.

“Phoenix, this is Abomination…” Mononoke’s eyes narrowed. That was most definitely not Shin’Ichi’s voice. It was his own voice. “What the hell?” he muttered as he turned up his comm unit and more disinformation came across. “Frackers have broken our code…. Crap.”

The alchemist frantically tapped out a message on his keypad. The Imperials had broken their voice code, and were using the data to send false messages. The Clan needed to know this right away.

“I copy,” he replied to Corin over channel two. “Hang tight, and we’ll be there in a…Damn!” Macron shouted as a RPG hit the Silooth with a whoomp. The tiny charge was largely ineffective against the ship’s quadranium armor, but it pissed the Sith off. It appeared someone nearby needed killing desperately.

“Sir, what’s the matter?” Corin asked urgently.

“Nothing Phoenix, it’s just a small problem with those Imps down there. They have
RPG’s. Get back to work, kid!” yelled the Tribune as he alerted the Clan intelligence operators.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Later…

Macron finished disposing of the rocket-wielding outriders. He shut off his tangerine-colored saber with a snap as the two lifeless bodies lay on the ground. One had been crushed by a rock, and the other dismembered brutally. Their speeder bikes lay nearby.

“Didn’t like Dun Moch for breakfast, didja fellas?” giggled Mononoke as he stepped back to his grounded vessel. “It’s definitely not a kid’s cereal,” mused the maniac as he rifled their bodies and bikes for supplies. He always made use of any available resources. The dead certainly didn’t need them anymore.

"The only thing I'm battling now is this Darth-damned blown engine," growled Macron as he strode back toward the gunboat wielding a hydro spanner and critical parts pilfered from the speeder bikes.

After tinkering with the mess for another few minutes, a tingling sensation stole upon his fetid brain. The Dark Side warned of approaching enemy Force-users with a cold whisper of impending bloody fun.

“I’m about to have company,” he said with a tight-lipped smile. “I could use some help right about now, dammit,” he snarled over backup channel two as he thumbed his helm switch and grabbed his weapons. He quickly clambered behind some rocks overlooking the area and set up his modified Xerol Nightstinger rifle. A quick flick of a control on his gauntlet deployed the two hovering Sith battle-ball droids from his cargo bay aboard the Silooth.

"...could use some help right about now, dammit."

As Sai traced a solitary plume of greasy smoke across the sky, Shin’ichi’s face was contorted in deep thought as the message came over the back up channel, received not scant seconds after they’d received a data encryption detailing the Emperor Hammer’s newest treachery.

“It does sound like him, Master.” Sai was itching to atone for his previous gaffe, and in his mind, helping Macron would be a step in the right direction. “Besides, we should be able to trust it, seeing as how it came after the encrypted...”

“I was here for it, remember?” Shin snapped as Sai’s jaw closed audibly. The Guardian knew better than to keep talking when it was clear the Abomination of Kyataru was in no mood for conversation.

“It should be investigated, true, but our forces are already spread thin,” mused the Epis aloud. “I don’t like this...not one bit.”

“Master, you came and got me; why not the Alchemist?” posed Sai, gesturing towards the rear of the enemy lines with a bloodied and nicked katana.

Humoring his apprentice’s brashness, Shin distantly noted the effects of Macron’s cocktail had seemingly yet to wear off. “Firstly, do we know for sure who sent either message? Secondly, you’ve yet to get the smell of your mother’s milk off your breath, so pipe down. Trust me when I say that I don’t like being paralyzed by indecision any more than you do.”

Sai shrugged off the comment about his mother; only Shin knew the effect such barbs had on his apprentice, and the Korun knew that when she was mentioned, it was because he doing more talking than listening. Meanwhile, Shin had already started a conversation with his sister, in the way that only they could converse.

"Ash..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the battle-ball droids had scarcely cleared the Silooth’s bay when it fell, crushed by some unseen giant’s hand. “It starts,” the Alchemist said with a maniacal grin, and sighted down the barrel of his rifle.

Outside the battle was getting desperate. Macron was slowly making edgeways behind enemy lines with Draken, but while that was one more to help him, it was one less pilot in the skies dealing with the main firepower now pouring out of the Imperial camp. Corin, or Phoenix as his callsign was, and the rest of Sapphire were now making strafing runs to take down some of the heavy artillery but with the anti-aircraft emplacements still active they were making little progress. The Night Falcons weren’t far behind but without those guns down things were looking bad.

Bottlenecked inside the winding chasm, Shin’ichi, Sai, Ashia and the other members of Ludo Kressh were making little progress. For every walker they brought down another three came crawling down the mountain pass. Up above atop the canyon walls the Ragnosian snipers were only just managing to keep the enemy at bay, holding back the advancing brigades but doing little to halt the bloodshed.

Inside things were even worse.

-----

Xanos threw himself into a dive as the destroyer droid uncurled and began laying down heavy firepower on his position. Liquid silver swirled from the Amulet of Orian as Trevarus tried to batter the droid into submission, but still it refused to give way.

“I really hate these things,” hissed Xanos as his hands erupted in another blast of white-hot lightning, gradually burning away the droids shields.
Trevarus fired off another ripple of bursts in the Force, gradually forcing the droideka back. “They’re not called,” he shouted hoarsely, “Jedi,” he leapt again before finally finishing, “killers for nothing.”
The shields finally buckled beneath the onslaught and the droid wailed for a second before collapsing as the barrage of Force lightning shorted out every circuit in its frame. “Next time remind me not to install defences against myself,” grumbled Xanos.
Trevarus laughed softly under his breath. “Too late for that I think.”

The Elders hurried down the corridor, twisting and diving as their senses instructed while an array of blasters and other manic devices shot from the walls, trying to bring down the two intruders.

Trevarus brushed his hair back. “Well, that wasn’t too hard, my apprentice.”
The Sith Lord narrowed his eyes, it still irked him every time his former Master referred to him like that. “Let’s not forget the fun at the end of the corridor,” he replied, pointing as the hatch opened and a pair of IG-100s emerged, lightsaber resistant electrostaffs in hand.
Trevarus sighed. “Whoever designed this place really did have a sick sense of humour.”

-----

“Incoming transmission, sir,” shouted the sergeant over the hail of gunfire.
Xayun allowed a quick glance back at him. “What is it?”
“The Spear has arrived on the outskirts of the system. It’s en route now with the Covenant.”
The Aedile exhaled heavily. “Let’s just pray we can hold out until then,” he replied. Xayun raised his head above the crowd for long enough to issue new orders. “Reinforcements are on their way, just a little longer!”

-----

The former assassin droids head rolled down the corridor before Xanos stopped it with his foot. He smirked. “I guess the new housekeepers haven’t been keeping the droids training sessions up.”
Trevarus stepped through the hatchway slowly, his eyes suddenly distant.
“Sense something?” asked Xanos.
The Master nodded. “I believe one of our guests is here.”
Xanos tightened his grip around the hilt of his lightsaber. “Then let’s go and say hello.”

-----

“Sapphire Squadron, this is Phoenix, form up for another pass on the main camp, get ready to deploy all remaining ordinance,” called Corin over the com. A hail of acknowledgements sounded in response.
The starfighters began to form on the horizon, readying for another attack run on the Imperial camp. It was a manoeuvre that would have been suicide for a normal pilot, but not for the Force attuned senses for Sapphire. Even so, the anti-aircraft batteries were preventing them from inflicting any real damage, and they were starting to run dry of ammunition. If the Covenant didn’t arrive soon with reinforcements Corin didn’t know what was going to happen to those trapped on the ground.

-----

Trevarus shut down his lightsaber and watched as the body crumpled to the floor.
“Thus die all traitors,” said Xanos, reaching down over the body and retrieving its lightsaber.
Trevarus stepped over to the main console at the centre of the room. “This looks like the thing.”
Xanos looked over the controls and nodded. “Any clue how to turn it off? I seriously doubt my codes still work.”
The Krath Master smiled. “Easily done, young one.” He raised his arm as the Amulet of Orian twisted into a writhing mass of silver tentacles and tore at the equipment, battering the aging consoles.
The Sith Lord shook his head. “Glad to see we built these things to last.”
Trevarus shrugged. “You try getting grants from the Empire.”

-----

The anti-aircraft artillery abruptly ceased firing. Below Xayun and Ashia raised their heads to the sky as the heavy bursts of laser fire were silenced. “What the frack?” said Xayun. His face suddenly dropped. “Don’t tell me they got all our fighters…”
“No,” replied Ashia, pointing to the incoming wing of starfighters. “Look!”

-----

High above Corin, commanding what remained of Sapphire Squadron, followed closely by the Night Falcons swooped in, freely raining fire down upon the Imperial encampment. The base exploded in flashes of light as the two squadrons’ bombers loosed their remaining ordinance, destroying most of the remaining heavy artillery.
“Phoenix to Abomination, tell the Aedile to move in on the Imperial base.”
“Roger that, Phoenix.”

-----

“Any idea what the fastest way out of here is?” asked Xanos.
Trevarus glanced around the turret command chamber. “Back the way we came. We can fight our way out through the other side, it would take longer but bring us out next to the Imperial encampment.”
Xanos closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. Still sensing the familiar presence he nodded in acknowledgement. “Fight our way out it is. We still have a few scores to settle.”

Shimura sat upon his knees with his hands at his side, preparing himself for an oncoming battle. His eyes were closed, he envisioned himself sitting at one of the ‘Spear’s many gun turrets shooting down an enemy ship; going through his stance and routine that he had been working on during his stay at Kyataru. It had been awhile since he had seen anyone from the clan other than the Keibatsu’s.

The Sith was eager to get in another fray with the Empires Hammer. He wanted it, tasted it, needed it. A deep guttural bellow exited from Shimura’s mouth as he jumped to his feet. Shimura thumbed the blade on his lightsaber and proceeded to the bridge where he found his cousin Muz.

“Just wait, I know how bad you look forward to this.” The Herald said without taking his eyes away from the viewport. A smirk crossed Shimura’s face as his yellow and red eyes glistened. The herald added, “This is nothing new to you. For Clan. For Family.” Shimura nodded, his eyes shifting to Muz then back to the system ahead.

Azure eyes sparkled in the noon sun as the Zabrak deflected blaster bolt after blaster bolt. The Force flowed around her as she danced around the battlefield. Her long coat floated about her legs in arcane movements of fluidity as she glided to and fro.

Silence. The ringing in her eyes echoed momentarily before dieing off. The anti-aircraft artillery had ceased. Sapphire Squadron along with Corin's ship blasted overhead. Minutes later explosions shook the ground as the bombers let loose.

An evil grin spread across Ashia's visage as she saw the confused look upon Xayun's face.

"Xanos and Trev. They did it. They shut down the anti-aircraft artillery."

Xayun nodded then turned to order troops ahead. "Ok, Let's get this party started"

They pushed forward; Marka Ragnos snippers keeping the Imps at bay as Shin and Sai took down another Walker. Ashia and Xayun moved the Ludo Kressh forces forward, cutting a path through the canyon pass.

Blasters exploded all around them. Ashia deflected bolt left and right as her macabre dance moved her through the throng of Imps that were still coming at them. Sanjuro covered her with his blaster as he followed his mother into the masses, a sneer spread across the young one's lips that made him look more like his father.

'Shin, I hope Mac's ok.' She said silently to her brother-in-law.

'Muz will be here shortly, I think Shimura is with him too.'

The Nightsister picked up her pace and pushed forward even harder.

With the anti-aircraft artillery disabled, Corin and his comrades made headway, and were bombing the hell out of the Imperials.

Corin's ship dove into a spiral dive as his colleagues followed suit. They were now getting closer to the Imps, and they were making better progress than before.

The Falcon had stopped smoking, and was working somewhat normally now. Corin tried his best to bomb out the heavy infantry, but his aircraft was acting funny so he wasn't as accurate as he had hoped to be. "Saphire Sqaudron," ordered Corin, "My ship's acting funny. Make a few more passes on the canyon! I'll be on the ground fighting with them. Good luck, over!" The Saphire Sqaudron answered in unison as Corin ordered the same for the Night Falcons. "Roger" came their response.

Because of the damage that had been done by the AA artillery, Corin's ship was, by the minute, dying.

"Abomination, this is Phoenix!" Cried Corin as he desperately tried to keep his aircraft under control. "I've been hit and I'm going down. Tell your troops to stand clear if I am to land where you are. Over!"

There was no response, but Corin saw below that the troops did what they were told and stepped aside, creating an ally for his ship to land in, if it was necessary.

The Falcon's engines gave a roar as Corin activated the reverse thrusters. As he was about to let go of the controls, Corin thought of a better idea. Using the remaining strength the ship had, Corin did a three-sixty and headed straight for the Imperial troops: if he was to go down, why not kill a few people on the way? That was his motto, and he was about to live up to it.

The Falcon's engines cut out, and Corin was taken from the sky like a rock. The hunk of metal he was driving in quickly accelerated in it's downfall. N4 had already bailed and was floating safely behind allied lines, but Corin was still there. He unbuckled his strap and opened the cockpit window.

Aided by the force, Corin jumped high into the air just as his ship hit the unforgiving ground. He was falling now, and he reached out his hand for the rock cliff, but something tugged him the other way: it was his comrades on the ground, trying desperately to save Corin from the flaming inferno that was his ship.

He let the pulling force freely take him away from harm, and place him not-so-gently on the rock ground. The ship in front of him was now engulfed in flames as were about a couple dozen or more Imperials. "Well that worked!" Cried out Corin as his brethren stared at the flaming wreckage.

The fighting intensified as more Imperials poured through the pass. Shin'ichi tore through stormtroopers with his apprentice at his side. Ashia, Xayun and the rest engaged every target they could; still they were being forced back. It looked as if any moment they would be overrun. The Epis cursed to himself as he separated a man's head from his body. This was not how he wanted to die. Then the battlefield erupted in fire and flying metal as the bombs of Sapphire Squadron decimated the ranks of the advancing imperials.

Over the com he heard the voice of the one of the pilots declaring an emergency, and looking up saw that the fighter was barreling right for his position. With a few words and gestures the Sadowite troops stood clear allowing the fighter to make its less than perfect landing. With the advancement eased Xayun wasted no time in forming a defensive barrier and arranging what was left of their forces for maximum efficiency. The kid's a natural leader. the Keibatsu thought to himself.

Contacting his sister-in-law he relayed to her his next plan as he made his way to the Aedile. Ashia flashed him a warning glance from down the line. He pretended not to see it. Shin'ichi approached Xayun, his apprentice in tow, and made it known that he wished a moment of the commander’s time. The warrior turned towards the Epis and attempted to hide the apprehension he felt. Feigning a smile he spoke "What can I do for you Epis Shin'ichi?" The corner of the Keibatsu's mouth turned upwards in a smirk as he replied. "Very little Xayun. I am taking my apprentice on a Recon and Rescue mission. Macron and Yilith are trapped behind the lines. We cannot afford to lose the alchemist and to a lesser extent the flight leader. I will be in telepathic communication with Ashia, she will convey to you the particulars of my actions as they progress." With that master and apprentice turned to leave.

"Who the hell do you think you are issuing your own orders and telling me what you're doing?" Shin'ichi stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his head around to meet the Aedile's glare. Sai slowly let out a breath as he turned to face the warrior. Shin'ichi contemplated sending the young Aedile into the power pylons to his left but decided upon an alternate approach. "You've got things well in hand here Xayun. Macron needs to be brought back to friendly territory and you need eyes in the field. The blue birds up above can't spot everything and I'm the best ghost in the clan, so you can go the path of others before you and try to flex your power, in which case you'll get some important assets as well as a lot of troopers killed, or you can let me do what I do best and come out on top as the leader who effectively utilized the assets at his disposal and pulled our collective bantha bacon out of the fire."

Nodding slowly the Aedile consented. "You're right my friend. Go and save that lunatic brother of yours, but I want regular reports." Shin'ichi and Sai turned once again and began moving when Xayun called out; "But Sadow help you if we get overrun and I die, because I will haunt you until the day of your death Keibatsu." With a chuckle the Epis shook his head and began the long journey towards his brother.

“There,” whispered Mac as he squeezed a long shot off at the three approaching figures. The Nightstinger hissed, and the human’s head disintegrated in a gush of red ruin. “There,” he mumbled again as he shot at the next one, exhaling calmly as he squeezed the trigger smoothly. It was a miss. Macron was decent with a blaster, but not an expert by any means.

However, the modified Nightstinger had nearly invisible bolts. Given the ruckus going on in the background as Sapphire’s bombs slammed the enemy position, they had heard and seen nothing.

The two remaining Hammer figures scrambled for cover, igniting red light sabers. Their fallen comrade twitched the merry dance of death as his body writhed in the dirt. The Dark Jedi searched the rocky area for the source of the shots, using the Force. The looted bodies of the fallen imperial soldiers Macron had slain earlier left a tell-tale sign, and they advanced toward the grounded Silooth.

“Sith,” whispered Ylith as the two Kresshians looked on with electrobinocs. “Maybe a Knight and an Equite of some sort, given their saber designs.” He had returned from a trip to the head. “I think you shot a padawan.”

“Yeah,” agreed Macron. “Idiot went right out in front. Damn, I meant to get an officer. Hard for me to tell their relative ability,” he said with a shrug. “We’re gonna have to settle this with sabers, I think. However, I have a feeling that the Ghost will soon be here.”

“You mean Shin?” asked Draken.

“Yeah. He is a genius infiltrator,” smiled Macron. “He’ll get us out of this pinch if anyone can. Let’s do these pigs, and then you get back in your vessel and bomb the crap out of the Impies.”

“I understand,” replied Draken as he drew forth his unlit saber hilt. “I’ll go in front, and you surprise them.”

“You sure?” queried Mononoke with concern.

“I have fought in many wars, human. Draken is old,” he/they stated. "We have to hold on."

“Right. I forgot. Damn, you are almost as weird as I am. In any case, it’s party time!” The alchemist slid on his Armor Fist and grasped his custom saber in his other hand.

Draken slid down the rough slope and shouted at the now-alert Sith facing them. “For the Valheru!” he yelled and lit his own red blade. The Templar charged, and Macron circled about behind the rocks.

Ylith began to duel the first foe as Macron jumped out behind the remaining Hammer Equite. “For Sadow!” he screamed as he lit his orange blade and began a ruthless assault. Makashi, Dun Moch and Trakata combined in the madman’s brain as he channeled his black hatred.

Flames reached skyward from the downed starfighter, emulating the spirits of the Sadow forces. Ever since they had landed at the ruins, the Sadowites had been embroiled in what seemed to be a losing battle. Now, as Corwin discarded his flight helmet to better receive his Clan mates’ thankful accolades and a blaster, the situation seemed to be cast in a better light. The Sadowites quickly claimed their newly gained stretch of real estate in the pass, using the downed Falcon as the centerpiece of the new line. Xayun looked on approvingly as Ashia urged the troops to bolster the line with wreckage belonging to both Imperial and Sadow forces.

--------------------------------------------------

The Aedile’s curse burned into Shin and Sai’s backs as they made their way towards the Imperials. “Does he always talk like that?” Sai asked incredulously.

“Only to me,” the Epis replied. “But be encouraged, young one: you’re getting your wish. ‘All Things are revealed...’”

“’...in the Fullness of Time.’” Sai finished the phrase he had used around his master on so many occasions. It was the mantra he decided to use throughout his training, helping him with his patience. Although the Guardian was inwardly elated that he seemed to be influencing his master as he was being influenced, he couldn’t help but notice Shin’s tone. In invoking his student’s phrase, was Shin speaking about Sai’s desire to retrieve Macron, or of something to do with the Aedile?

The question went unasked as they reached a large boulder just beyond the Sadow front line. “From here on in, maintain silence. I typically do this alone, but since you cannot seem to sit still,” Shin referenced Sai’s earlier exploits, “you will learn something new today.

“It is imperative that we move, act, kill, and think as one.” Shin took a quick look around the boulder, espying what he sought with Force-enhanced vision. Regarding his apprentice, the Epis continued. “You seem to be determined to be the death of me today, but I’ll not have it,” he finished with a sideways grin. “There is something out there we’ll need before we can get through that dren-storm to the madman; you’ll get it for us.”

Sai didn’t catch on to what the Epis meant until his skull was filled with the incessant buzzing which meant that Shin wanted to speak without words. Phrases and images flashed disjointedly through the Korun’s mind; he had nowhere near the connection that Shin and Ash had that enabled them to actually “talk”. Concentrating instead on the mental pictures, Sai “saw” through his master’s eyes: the landscape rushed forward from their position a click and a half to a group of three, no four Imperials tending to one of their wounded, a Stormtrooper’s visage superimposed on the whole scene.

Sai looked at Shin, who had his back to the boulder, arms crossed expectantly. “The sooner you leave, the sooner you get back.” Understanding, along with the Dark Side, filled the Korun, who unsheathed his katana and was gone.

A minute and a half later, Sai returned to the boulder, sword arm covered in blood, a stormtrooper’s helmet under the other. Shin reached for it; Sai shook out the occupant’s head with a wet squelch before giving it over. The Epis began cycling through the helmet’s communicator channels, offering a “Well done” to his apprentice. “One thing about those Imps, they love to chat...” Shin eyes happened to meet Sai’s; the Korun’s still possessed three pupils, and the Epis was growing more convinced that Macron and his blasted potions had mutilated him so. Sai seemed not to show any ill effects; nevertheless, Shin resolved to find Macron to put the question to him.

“...fire, fire!...” “...Echo Hotel Seven, move out...” “...need support!...” The messages came through the helmet’s comlink, crackling and hissing with static. Shin finally stopped at the channel that held the most promise: “...there’s the Alchemist!...”

Shin looked with shining eyes towards the horizon, beyond the Hammer base. Reaching inward, the Epis’ mind found his sister-in-law’s:

'Ash, I’ve found him...'

== Two Days Earlier ==

Astatine City (formerly Sadow City), Sif

A hooded figure walked through the alley way at a steady trot makig his way in the undesired sector of twon. He had lived here once before in this city, many many years ago. Of course, he had never lived in this sector of it, but he was still familiar with the area having made a few trips here in his youth.

As he approached the building that maked his destination he took in a glimpse of the surroundings. It was a rather run down structure, once a building of commerce in it's hey day, now nothing more than something waiting demolition. There wasn't anyone around save for an old Saraii female pushing a cart full of trash. Looking both ways one final time he entered the building.

The inside was just as detestable as the outside. His people truly had suffered when the Sadow left Sif and let the Empire begin it reign of terror. He removed his hood, his blue skin shimmering from the pale lighting of the overhead fixtures. He made his way down a hall and entered a door on the left. Inside sat his master and friend on a debilitating couch.

"They have agreed to support you and provide men for the coming fight." He informed the individual sitting on the couch.

"Good. Good, we shall bring about a change on Sif that has been long in coming." Replied his master.

"The resistance leaders would like to meet with you and go over your plan, sire." Said the Saraii.

"Very well, let us go and see to it they get what they so desire."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

== Present Day ==

The battle was fierce. The forces of Naga Sadow were now trapped within the chasm, but holding there own. Unfortunately what they were unaware of was that what they had gone up against was but only the planetary defenses that had been implaced by the Emperor's Hammer as a garrison.

The Imperial-class Star Destroyer Relentless had entered orbit and was deploying it's full compliment of troops to the planet below. Those same forces were grouping at a staging point just outside of Astatine City, roughly sixteen kilometers from the location of the old Sadow Palace.

The Victory-class Star Destoryer Covenant, flagship of Clan Naga Sadow, had taken up position around the planet Frigg - not feeling up to trying to take on an ISD by itself. Captain Rineval, commader of the Covenant had decided it better to wait for the Fallen Spear to arrive before they attempted any engagement.

The Imperials had pulled back to just outside the range of the Sadow forces blasters and regrouped waiting upon their reinforcements before advancing. This gave the exhausted Naga Sadow forces time to rest and recuperate, as well as reorganize themselves. Unfortunately for the Imperials, what they did not know was that an army of Saraii were less than eight klicks behind them and advancing on their position.

None of this band of soldiers were force-sensitive, yet they were confident in their cause and abilities thanks to the force that flowed into them from the one whom they trusted. Situated in the center of the front line, leading his troops into battle was none other than their former Governor and beloved overseer, Lord Astronicus Aurelius Sadow.

The Saraii had not the equal of weapons that their Imperial counterparts possesed but they did have experience in fighting them. These men were all members of the Saraii Underground revolutionary movement that had been fighting the Emperor's Hammer for the last eight years as they had been instructed by Astronicus Sadow. With the weapons Astronicus was able to smuggle in and what they themselves had been able to fashion, they would stand a chance against the Imperials. Today would be their liberation day, come what it may, they would fight under the banner of Clan Naga Sadow once again.

Carnor gripped the E-web heavy repeating blaster. This was his first combat mission with House Ludo Kressh, not that it was his first combat mission. No, he had had plenty of those back in House Satal of Clan Plagueis. But here he was, on an alien planet that he knew nothing about, fighting for who knows what, and all the while being told he would develop his Jedi potential.

Handling weaponry was second nature to him. He grew up the son of a Stormtrooper officer and had enlisted in the Stormtrooper Corps himself. But when that mysterious figure had told him about his potential to be something more than a shadow of his father he jumped at the chance. And so here he is, sitting on a planet named Sif, shooting stormtroopers, fighting with his new brethren, and looking to become something more than that shadow. Well maybe this day he could just do that.

He looked around and noticed several other Dark Jedi, some he had heard the names of and others he had yet to learn about. He was a private man, Carnor, but given the chance he'd get to know you. The forces of Ludo Kressh seemed divided and no apparent leader directing the fighting but relying on each other to see this through until the Herald of the Brotherhood would show up to take command of the forces.

Carnor relaxed and focused on his target area ahead of him. No matter what was happening or would happen, he would fulfill his assignment on this E-web.

The break in the fighting had been short-lived. The Imperials had renewed their assault on the Sadow forces vigorously. Xayun looked up at the rapidly approaching fighters and turned his head as a barrage of warheads surged towards the enemy ranks and lit up the canyon. Looking back towards the battle, Xayun saw the TIE Crawler had been transformed into a pile of wreckage, and joined the rest Sadow line as they began to move forward rapidly. Shouldering his way through the throng, he made his way to Ashia and ignited his saber with a familiar snap-hiss. The Knight and Warrior's purple and blue blades flashed, deflecting volleys of blasterfire back into the the Imperial ranks and cutting down those foolish enough to get close. The Keibatsu looked sidelong at the Aedile and spoke.

"Shin'ichi and Sai have a fix on Macron's position. They're on their way to help him now."

"Good. We're starting to push them back - have our men keep moving forward. If you hear from Shin'ichi or the others, comm me."

Ashia nodded and turned her full concentration back to the fighting. Stepping back and letting troops rush to take up the position he had vacated, he grabbed his comlink and opened the channel to the Marka Ragnos snipers, shouting above the noise of the battle.

"The Imperials are having to move back; make your way towards the Palace ruins and wait for me there - once there we'll work on securing them. The rest of our forces can take the Imperial base." closing the channel and opening a line to the HLK forces, Xayun announced:

"Any available Dark Jedi are to accompany me to the ruins of the Sadow Palace. The rest, stay with the battle and take the Imperial base." Closing the channel, Xayun turned and began to make his way to the Palace.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Macron, Draken, Sai and Shin'ichi stood among the remains of their EH opponents, Shin'ichi and Sai greeting the Alchemist and the last Valheru warmly. The duel had been firece, but the arrival of the First Prime of the Black Guard and his apprentice had heralded a quick end to the fighting. Suddenly, their comlinks gave a collective buzz. Shin'ichi opened the channel and listened intently, nodding. A look of surprise passed over his face, but was quickly replaced with a grin. Turning back to the others, he gestured in the direction of the Imperial base.

"It's Tron - he's engaging the Imperials from the rear leading a force of Saraii. Now that the Imps are fighting on two fronts, it won't be long before we manage to overrun them." said the Keibatsu confidently.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" giggled Macron. "Let's go join the fun!"

After Corin crashed his plane into the Imps...

Corin refused the blaster offered to him, for he had one of his own: an improved plasma rifle. He brandished this weapon and fired three shots, all of which hit their intended targets: Imperial troops.

Along with this rifle, Corin had a large knife called Dregon, his training saber, and a Vibro sword he acquired from his Uncle.

He holstered his rifle and began hacking at his enemies with his vibro sword, separating heads from their corpes.

Corin's sword ended countless lives as he drove the Imperials further back. With their new found ground, the members of Naga Sadow slaughtered their enemies with ease. They were making ground, no doubt, but they were still catching heavy fire. Corin eyed the ruins of his ship, cursing his luck that his favorite ship was too go down like that.

He swung his sword through the air, mercilessly cutting down his enemies who moaned and screamed as his blade cut deeper and deeper into their corpses.

Corin laughed as Imperials pleaded with him, asking for him to not kill them. Weather he was going overboard with his bloodlust, Corin didn't give a damn.

Just as slew another imperial with his sharp blade, he heard Xayun give orders for all available Jedi's to go to the Ruins of Sadow Palace.

As he one by one slew his enemies, slicing their heads and other ligaments clear off, he answered the call, and exited the jumbled mess of a fight, heading for the ruins of Sadow Palace.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

As he ran for the ruins of Sadow Palace, Corin noticed that his vibro-sword was stained with blood. He closed his eyes as he thought about those he slew. He never enjoyed killing, but he saw it necessary. He was joined by a his Sadowites who also answered the call. They were almost there when Xayun called out to them one more, urging them to come hither.

Corin's footfalls carried him further and further away from the battle. Corin felt as if he was deserting his brethren, but he drove that thought from his mind as the constant message of Xayun's orders to come resonated on all channels. "Everyone, let's move! Xayun needs us!" He yelled to his comrades to make them speed up, but mostly to ensure himself he wasn't deserting the fight.

Corin and his fellow Sadowites were on the path to the ruins, and arrived at the Palace in minutes. Xayun stood there waiting for their arrival...

Many words have been used to describe “bands” of travelers – scruffy, motley, rag-tag, etc. The four men who moved with purpose and singular intent through the Imperial encampment embodied none of these.

They were as the shadows that lined the makeshift streets and alleys that made up the grid formed by the various barracks and administrative buildings of the Imperial base. Even though they were four individuals, their training allowed for no wasted movements, no unnecessary conversation. They were as one, under the banner of Clan Naga Sadow.

With Sai at the point, Macron, Shin’ichi, and Ylith formed a column of sorts, weaving in and out on a meandering course throughout the camp, taking various mental notes, omitting nothing from visual memory. The more details they were able to get to command, the easier things would be for those who were not accompanying the Aedile into the palatial ruins.

However, even the most trained mind succumbs to fits of boredom. As the men walked down one alley towards a main thoroughfare, Macron was testament to this. “How much further?” the alchemist posed to no one in particular. “I’m itchin’ to get some killin’ done!”

“You’ll know we’ve gone far enough when we’ve arrived,” Shin cryptically answered his brother.

“What the frack is that supposed to mean?” retorted Macron, growing more agitated by their inaction. “All I know, we’ve been tramping around for the better part of an hour, and we’ve yet to...”

The alchemist, who was following behind Sai, ceased his mini-tirade at finding the Korun’s palm against his chest. The Guardian had suddenly stopped at the corner, back to the wall, attention on a small mirror he produced from his robes. Sai was looking into the mirror, getting details from the tiny image about the scene waiting around the corner.

The three men crouched, listening intently as Sai relayed the information. “Just beyond the building,” – Sai patted the wall without looking up – “there’s an alley, then an Imp checkpoint...gunners on each roof...small barricade...ten to fifteen men...”

“Well which is it, ten or fifteen?” interrupted Shin, testing his apprentice.

“Does it really matter, my master?” answered Sai with a grin, knowing this was the only right answer.

Ylith stood, drawing upon a measure of the Dark Side. “Well, gentlemen: you heard the young one.”

“Finally!” exclaimed Macron, who, along with the others, simply walked out into the street, towards the checkpoint, Sai on point once again.

-----------------------------

“Halt”, the Imperial who thought he was in charge screamed at the Kresshians. The men under his command began to grow visibly agitated as the hooded beings hadn’t even broken stride. Weapons safeties were removed, sights calibrated. Some small voice had told them their death approached with measured steps, yet they were paralyzed to act, even as the quartet reached the alley just before their position.

That is, until Shin yelled “Now!” Even then, as three sabers sprung to life in a basso profundo of harmonized destruction, it was too late.

The street erupted in blasterfire, none of which came near Sai or Shin, as the former was launched by the Force through Ylith’s command toward the gunner’s nest on the roof to their right, the latter using the Force to spring from the alley wall to its opposite, then finally over the roof to the left, purple fire chewing through the Imperial gunner’s face at the apogee of the Epis’ flight. Sai had since drawn his katana in midair and, upon landing at his target’s position, had cleaved the man nearly in two with one swipe, took two steps, and launched himself off the roof, diving down at the main position in a mirror of his master’s descent.

Meanwhile, Macron was having the time of his life. Still striding toward the checkpoint, he laughed maniacally as blaster bolt after bolt was either deflected or absorbed by his armor. “You can’t escape, so just lie down and die, scum!” bellowed the madman, using the Force just as much as his own voice, scattering the men who manned the barricade in a fierce display of Dun Moch as his ‘saber traced orange-red arcs through several Imperial chests. Those that didn’t run were also torn asunder, Ylith using Shii Cho to rend flesh and steel with mighty crimson swings.

Shin and Sai had landed by this point; the apprentice hit first, rolling and coming up to drive his katana through the Imperial unit commander’s shoulder, pinning him to the wall. Shin covered his apprentice, Vapaad forms making him the center of an amethyst whirlwind, Imperial soldiers falling like so many trees in a typhoon.

Sai stood with his eyes locked on his captive’s, who couldn’t seem to break the stare. Someone with three pupils in each eye tended to command one’s full attention. Shin checked a chronometer, muttering as he did so. “Two minutes...sloppy.”

Macron walked over, teeth bared in a display of glee. He grasped the unit commander’s chin and tilted his head to his. “Oh, the young one here is fierce, but he’s not the one you should be worried about.” The alchemist’s wide grin grew impossibly wider. “Now, I’ve some questions for you...”

After the Interrogation

“ Sloppy, but fun,” laughed Macron as he let the gibbering wreck of a man drop to the ground. "Say, Sai.That how you found us?” he asked, gesturing toward the bloody helmet that Sai still carried.

“Sure,” replied the Guardian.

“Neat trick,” said Macron with respect. “You got a live one here Shin’Ichi.”

“No problem, brother. Hope your rust bucket survives,” stated Shin as Sai looked on. “And what about my apprentice? Did your potion do something to him?”

“Let me see,” asked Mac with a frown. He inspected Sai’s eyes and body briefly with a portable scanner. “That’s odd,” he relied with a frown. “It seems he reacted unusually to the Orbalisk venom. Someone in his ancient ancestral makeup has been exposed before, presumably a Force-wielder. I would guess the father’s bloodline had something to do with it. I think I remember a rumor in an old scroll of Lord Bane visiting the Al’Har system long ago… in any case, we don’t have time to figure it out right now. He’ll be fine.”

“Agreed,” said Shin’Ichi as Sai turned to his Master for reassurance. “He said you’ll be fine. Mac may be nuts, but he’s no liar. However, fine to him may not be what you and I mean by the same word.” The Krath spun his finger in circles around his ear in the air, making the universal sign for lunacy. “You know.”

Sai turned to the alchemist. ‘What did you do to me?” he demanded with a growl of impatience. He raised his bloody sword, and his muscles vibrated with anger and venom.

Macron smiled. “Relax, man. It’s just a side effect. Nothing really, Alabaster. It’s what your ancestors did. Somewhere in your genetic makeup, there has been some Sith Alchemy used in the past. The venom just brought it out. It’ll make you tougher if anything. Besides, I am sure Shin has told you before…All things…”

Sai responded with a groan of disgust at the repeated phrase. Macron shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, that dork unit commander had nothing of import to say. Wait. Except the locations of a weapons cache that the Saraii might be able to liberate…”
Shin’Ichi was already sending the data to Overlord Tron as Mononoke finished speaking.

Draken smirked slightly as he heard the crazed Sith Alchemist causing trouble with the young
Guardian. He silently turned his mind back to the battlefield, silently observing it without
saying a word. Shin'ichi moved towards him, overlooking the same sight as Draken, stating
what Draken thought was obvious.
"This is going to take a while huh?" The Krath said and Draken couldnt help but to let out
a smile.
"Yes it will Shin, even with Tron hammering at them from the back, their position is
of great defence." Draken said, while looking at the distance.

"What is it?" Shin said and Draken raised his hand calling him silent. His Valheru eyes
letting him see more detailed in a far away distance now paid off their price as he saw
the enemy approaching.

"About twenty imps, gunnery squad by the looks of that banner. I think they want to use this town
as a strategic bottleneck." Draken said and when he did Macron and Sai joined Shin and himself to
discuss the matter.

"Do they know we're here?" The Guardian said and Draken simply shook his head and then startted grinning.
"What?" Macron asked cautiously and Shin also glanced at the Valheru for further detail.
"Macron, Shin, you two go ahead and slaughter them, Sai and I will make sure they have something
to keep them from noticing you."

"Using the Journeyman as cannon fodder Ylith? Oh c'mon!" Macron said with sarcasm in his voice and
Shin smirked. "Very well, but don't let him die yet, I have plans for him."

As Macron and Shin moved to the place Draken told them where the squad was, Sai turned towards
the Templar.
"So....how are we going to get their attention?" Sai asked and Draken pulled out his Valheru sword
from the holder on his back. The blue flames encircling it made it the perfect beacon.

"Alrighty....now what do I do?" Sai asked and Draken shrugged.

"I dont care if you pretend to be an ewok in mating season, just get their attention so Mac and Shin
can deal with them."

Sai nodded and the two Dark Jedi made their way to a rooftop to get the patroller's attention so they could
move on towards the real battle.

Shin and Macron waited patiently in their chosen alleyways as the patrol drew ever closer to Ylith’s blue-flamed beacon at the end of the street. Sai peered over the edge of the roof, noting his master and the alchemist’s positions. The patrol was nearly upon them, and he had yet to begin his task.

Ylith looked at the Guardian expectantly, azure brand held high. “What are you waiting for, stripling? I, for one, have yet to be impressed. Any fool with half a brain can swing a sword. What exactly does Shin’ichi see in you?”

Understanding dawned upon the Korun. Ylith had singled him out, wanting to test his abilities for himself. “What the master sees is for his eyes, honorable one” replied Sai, tone respectful. “As for mine...” Sai let the rest die in the wind, lest he let his thoughts betray him. Staring at Ylith – rather, beyond Ylith – Sai noted..something..surrounding the Templar. His mind could only frame it as an absence of “something”, as if something ethereal had taken the place of the visual reality surrounding the Valheru. It was similar to looking through a drinking glass being held just behind him. Even more confusing to Sai was the notion that if it were an “absence” in the traditional sense, then why did he “see” it?

As Macron’s trademark giggle died in the periphery of his awareness, the Guardian decided to let it lie for the time being, before his mind got trapped within a Gordian knot of its own making. “Well?” asked the Templar, growing slightly more impatient.

“Wait for it,” Sai grinned, and with a wink and a flourish, disappeared beyond the lip of the roof.

---------------------------------------------

The patrol had stopped at the sudden appearance of the blue flame on the roof in the distance. Of course, there was a battle going on, and fire was a product of such conflicts, but no fire these seasoned men had seen ever burned blue. Senses honed by war suddenly perked up. Something was going to happen, and these men, these Imperial gunners, were going to be ready for it.

As if on cue, the atmosphere in the street became darker, thicker. It was hard for them to see, to breathe. Fingers twitched on triggers. The Imperials anxiously set their fields of fire. Any minute now...

Then, cutting the tension, a feeble old man’s voice with a Saraii accent rang out in the street. “Alms? Alms, for the poor?”

“There!” One of the Imps spotted a twig of an arm, jutting forth from one of the pitch black alleyways, battered tin cup in hand. “Out of here, old...”

Before the soldier could finish, the plaintive plea rang out again, this time on the other side of the street. “Over here!” One of the Imps spotted another arm (or was it the same arm?) sticking out of another alley. “No, here!” called out another as the plea for help rang out again, over and over.

The Imperial patrol, once the picture of discipline, was now locked in confusion and indecision. Unable to take it anymore, one of the troopers fired into the blackness of an alley, and the cries for alms stopped. Replacing them was something more ominous for the patrol: dual snap-hisses. A millisecond later, death came to claim them all, clothed in violet on one side, orange-red on the other.

---------------------------------------------

The Dark trio joined the ancient one back on the roof. “Ok, Sai, spill it: how did you think of that move?” Macron asked, laughing and slapping the Guardian on his back with slightly more than necessary force.

“Well, I’ve done some reading of my own,” Sai winced, his back stinging. “It seems our venerable Lord Vader had a son who was a respectable pilot in his own right. I was trying to think of what to do,” Sai shot a look at Ylith, “when it came to me.”

“What came to you, my apprentice?” Shin asked, curiosity growing.

“The name of the place where Lord Vader’s son honed his skills was called 'Beggar’s Canyon'.”

Ylith strode over. “That was...passable, young one. I’ll be keeping an eye on you”, he finished, turning away with a slight grin, replacing his famed blade upon his back.

“And I, you” Sai said under his breath.

Macron sidled over to Ylith. “If you’re satisfied”, he began with knowing laughter in his voice, “can we continue on our merry little quest?”

The Saraii soldiers took up defensive positions. The assault on the rear of the Imperial camp had startled their enemy, but the stormtroopers were quick to react in their military disciplined style. These Imperial stormtroopers were veterans, Astronicus could see it in their body language.

Astronicus and his Saraii had captured a few buildings at the rear of the Imperial camp, but any advancement was now thwarted as the stormtroopers took up pre-designated defensive positions of their own. The Overlord surveyed a map of the camp that one of his Saraii had thoroughly made for the resistance movement.

A direct assault would be pointless, their were gunner's nests stationed to strategically in areas to make it worthwhile. Their best chance would be an assault on the left flank, the Imperials didn't have as many troops there and only a few guard towers. The right flank was more heavily guarded since that housed their hangars and landing pad for the garrison.

Astronicus placed the resistance leader in charge of holding the line and told him to wait for his signal before advancing further into the camp. The Saraii resistance leader in turn gave Astronicus a squad of his best troops to help in the assault on the left flank.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The left flank was ripe for picking, apparently the Imperials had not expected the Saraii or even the Sadowites to have any military training - though they knew for a fact that many of the Sadowites were former members of the Galactic Empire at one time or another. Astronicus began giving orders to his squad and sized up the attack one last time when he sensed something ominous.

There was a presence here he had not felt for sometime. A presence strong in the Dark Side of the Force. He had read reports from their operatives that the Emperor's Hammer's Dark Brotherhood had lost a great many members as was now down to basically two clans, but there was no doubt that they had sent some of their own to combat the Sadowites.

Astronicus grasped the hilt of his sabers tucked in his waist sash. He would have to use his sabers in combat with another Dark Jedi. It wasn't frightening, it wasn't detestable, it wasn't even uncomfortable. But it was not something he was expecting. The Emperor's Hammer had declined greatly in might since the Brotherhood of Dark Jedi had disconnected itself and commenced the Exodus eight years ago.

However, when they did that there were some of even Clan Naga Sadow who had stayed behind, blinded by the EH's promises and their poor sense of loyalty to a dying empire. No doubt he would come face to face with Dark Jedi he once knew and even served with, whether in the clan or while he was apart of the Emperor's Hammer's navy. But he could not be blinded himself. They were traitors plain and simple. Clan Naga Sadow had agreed as a clan to support the Seven and leave the EH, those that stayed behind were no longer members of his clan and were nothing more than betrayers.

Astroniucs gave his squad some final orders and then lead the charge into the Imperial's left flank. Blaster bolts flew and burned into the unobservant stormtroopers, while their brothers who had been paying attention returned fire. Astronicus force jumped and landed in the first guard tower he approached. The trooper was shocked at the feat but was quick to react and raised his blaster rifle. Astronicus sabers, however, were already ignited from when he began the charge and quickly cut the rifle in half and then with a quick thrust stabbed the trooper through.

His work in the tower complete, Astronicus force leapt to the ground below using the force once again to cushion his landing. He came down in a crouch attack position and as he rose he caught sight of the three Dark Jedi coming at him. One was a Dark Jedi Master and the other two were the equivalent of Warlords by the looks of their robes. The Warlords broke off to engage the Saraii that had accompanied Astronicus while the Master came right at him. Astronicus brought up his twin blades that Muz had built him and placed them at defensive angles.

Taking his preferred Banlanth fighting style stance, Astronicus engaged the Dark Jedi Master as he made his first attack swing. This Dark Jedi used a single old lightsaber of his own devising. Apparently they no longer had anyone who could instruct in effective saber creation. Astronicus blocked his attacker's assault with a circular parry and replied with a fleche, leaping off his leading foot, make a hit to his opponents right leg barely grazing him, and then passed him at a run to come up behind his enemy.

The Dark Jedi Master wouldn't let this stand and spun on his right heel and committed to a balestra, a forward jump, typically followed with a lunge at Astronicus' mid section. Astronicus beat his opponent's saber away and using his other saber in florentine, swept at his opponents feet. The Dark Jedi hopped and went into a back flip to disengage. Now with some distance between them, the Dark Jedi Master proceeded with a counter-assault and tried a Finta in tempo, a feint of counter-attack that normally draws a counter-time parry, which is decieved. But Astronicus was a master of the blade and countered with a flying parry with a backwards glide and riposte by Coupé.

The Dark Jedi Master was now getting aggrivated and was losing control of his rage. Rage is part of the Dark Side, Master Yoni had once told his pupil, Astronicus, but when you give into your rage and anger you lose control of the battle and your opponent has already won. Your mind is full of lust and anger when you give into rage so that you cannot think clearly.

Astronicus would use this to his advantage and with a quick feint, which the Dark Jedi Master parried easily, he lunged forward in a riposte and thrust his florentine saber in his left hand. Astronicus' primary saber in his right hand held his enemy's in a bind leaving him wide open to the killing blow. The fierce white blade pierced throgh the Dark Jedi Master like butter and came out his back side glowing brightly. His opponent slumped to his knees and Astronicus disengaged his saber. Looking up at Astronicus he finally recognized who had bested him, but was only able to mutter one word before collapsing, "You?"

Astronicus stood over the dead body for but a moment when he realized that one of the Warlords had sensed their master's fall and was now rushing toward him. The other Warlord was lying dead at the feet of two ysalamiri packing Saraii. The sole surviving Dark Jedi lunged at Astronicus, seeking revenge for the death of his brethren. The Saraii continued their fire fight with the stormtroopers that were now converging on their location. Seeing this as the opportune time, while parrying his aggressor's thrusts, Astronicus sent up a flare signalling the main Saraii force to launch their counter assault.

The young Zabrak grit his teeth as he ducked for cover, the Spider-Walker's red bolts searing the ground behind him. The hunter panted, grasping the long durosteel staff he carried as he formulated his plan. The other padawans of the ouse had mocked him for his choice, themselves preferring to use the Training Lightsabers issued by he Combat Center. But Sledge knew far too well the ineffective nature of the weapons. They were just training tools, after all.

The youngest Keibatsu paused for a moment, his mother glimpsing him from a few meters away, recognizing that dangerous look in his eyes.

Don't do anything stupid... The words came muddled, through the force from Ashia, but the intent was unmistakable. Sledge cursed. He had been a Hunter of Jedi for longer than many in the house had even been in the brotherhood, and yet his mother, the tetrarch of the Jade Serpents, continued to act as though he was incapable of defending himself.

Sanjuro flashed his mother a toothy grin, then darted around the rok, rushing at the nearst Spider-Walker. Weaving between the clumsy blasts from the ancillary gunner, Sledge planted his staff behnd a rock, pushing himself into the end, launching his legs high into the air spinning as he landed on top of the command pod.

Xayun turned from his deflection, sighting what the Knight beside him was focused on before chuckling. "Relax, Ashia. He's got his father's grace."

Ashia grumbled as she batted aside a green blast, turning from the Aedile's side as she barrelled toward the Walker, her saber humming in serious defiance of th situation.

Sanjuro focused ushingthe Force to his muscles as he pried open the hatch, the two troopers inside looking up in dire surprise.

"Hey, how you doin'?" The young half-breed smirked, bringing his staff's tip into one troopers eye, the durosteel collapsing the fragile socket and sending a trail of blood and debris down the Imperial Officer's face before sweeping the staff into the other trooper, smashing him soundly across the face repeatedly before he slumped into unconsciousness.

Ashia vaulted, the Force pulling her up to the top of the Spider-Walker, landing next to her son with ease. Looking below, she saw the crnage within a moment before her soon's young form slipped down the hatch.

"Come on, we got one of theiir toys,now." Sledge smiled again a he pushd the trooper out of the seat, playing with the controls.

Ashia bolted upright, hr senses flickering with...

"Get out NOW!!!" She bellowed as she grabbed the boy by his collar, dragging him outand pitching them both from the Walker, rolling across the harsh terrain as the screams of ion drive engines filled the air.

Sledge felt his arm, wonderig if it had been broken in the fall as Kagan looked around, watching as a wing of TIes screamed down, dropping massive bombs across the valley, the MT-AT collapsing backwards into a burning hole of rock and dust before exploding itself.

"Holy hell..." The hunter muttered, the flames reflecting in his purple eyes. "If they're willing to sacrifice their own troops..."

Ashia continued "Then, we must be getting close."

"Or, they're just getting desperate." Xayun muttered as he walked next to them. "And Ashia, I told you not to worry about him..."

Ashia grimaced at the Aedile.

"Now, let's find cover before tose TIEs come back around for another run."

Ashia smiled softly, as the presence washed over her. "No worries, Xayun."

"What?"

"Our Air support is about here." her eyes glistened as she thought of the Fallen Spear, and to a lesser extent, the Covenant, showing up to eradicate the Hammer forces.

The tide was about to turn.

Makurth squinted his liquid black eyes against the bright flare of fire, his nose tasting several different scents on the breeze... along with one he was vagly familiar with. He followed the scent until his eye picked out what his Force senses told him was there.

Xayun, along with a few others.

Now, what were the chances that they'd both be on the same planet with all this going on? Not to mention, Makurth was a little confused about the finer details of what was going on, especially when members of House Marka Ragnos opened fire on him a little while ago.

Finally, he got closer, and strode out from behind one of the buildings, his hands raised to show he meant no harm and was not hostile to their group.

"Xayun, what a surprise. I suppose you have some sort of answer as to why House Marka Ragnos members have been trying to kill me for the past couple of hours?" The Nelvaanian joked, not embarrassed in the least that he was clad only in traditional male Nelvaanian clothing with his various weapons and lightsabers attached.

Heck, he didn't even have shoes or a shirt to cover the various tribal tattoos on his body.

Xayun stood before the imposing ruins of the Sadow Palace, stealing a quick glance at his chrono. The distant sounds of gunfire and explosives told him the battle was still fully raging, although he was certain it was now swinging in their favour. Turning to the troops and Dark Jedi before him, he opened his mouth to speak before the sound of hurried footsteps behind him made him turn to see the figure of Sanjuro Keibatsu approaching.

"Sorry I'm late," grinned the young man, "mind if I join you?"

Xayun merely nodded agreement and turned back to his men as Sledge took up position beside one squad of Kressh troops.

"The battle at the Imp base should be well in hand. What we need to do is secure these ruins. What I'm going to do is split you into three groups; one Jedi and a squad of troopers. So, Zak, Sledge, and Corin, you'll each be leading your own group into different parts of the ruins, and I'll take my own. But, and I can't stress this enough, be careful. You'll probably all know, but these ruins are strewn with all kinds of dangers. Defense droids, automated weapons systems - it's all in there. Just get this place checked out and secured. If you find anything worth some value, take it - within reason, of course. Now move out."

Surveying the three groups head off, Xayun commed Ashia one last time to check how the battle was going, and, satisfied with her report, set off with his own group into the shadowed ruins of the once awe-inspiring Palace.

The world of blackness began to dissolve leaving an image of chaos and carnage. For a moment he wasn't even sure if he still lived, if instead he was stuck in some sort of terrible purgatory. Finally the scene before him came into sharp focus. The dead lying with the dying, the sound of intense combat, the sound of distant shelling, the sound of war.

Godo was now awake and very much alive but his surroundings made him wish otherwise. He was half hanging out of the cockpit of his downed fighter, one of the wings missing and the front end smashed in. He made a move to stand up but instantly regretted his decision as a series of shooting pains flared through his body. He was hurt, badly. A broken rib at least, maybe two and he was struggling to breath. It was akin to having a bantha perched on his chest, that meant a punctured lung.

He tried to recall what had happened. He remembered Ylith giving him command of Sapphire, he also remembered the intense dog fights in the skies above. He closed his eyes and tried to focus, ah yes, he remembered now. When the second wave of enemy fighters had hit he'd become cut off. Corin, mercifully took the reigns but Godo himself was forced against ever increasing odds. Frankly he was amazed he'd lasted as long as he had. His luck ran out though, one of his wing members managed to break through the fighter screen to his aid, killing an enemy fighter hot on his tail. Through an act of spite as much as vengance he'd steered his fighter into Godo's intent on killing them both. Yet the force had other ideas, though considering the current situation he was unsure what.

Reaching into his belt he pulled free his communicator. It had a smoking piece of metal jutting out the side of it, no doubt collected when his fighter impacted on the surface. He cursed quietly under his breath.

A fog had descended on the battlefield, a result of the heavy concentration of blaster fire or the now sporadic artillery. The skies seemed a bit quieter but this offered little comfort to him, he was in no mans land. Completely alone, unsure of where his allies lay and his enemies advanced. Worse still he was badly hurt.

He was about to suggest out loud to no one in particular that things couldn't get worse when he sensed the presence of a squad moving in his general direction. The enemy.

Zak surveyed his troops, making a brief assessment of each before signaling the go ahead.

Be careful Xayun. Hate to see you die, this one does. The Nelvaanian sent to Xayun telepathically, but not enough to disrupt his AED's line of thought.

With that, the Sith crept after his group and took the lead, prowling like he was once again a youth on Nelvaan, tracking the ever dangerous Horax creature. His spear had been painted black to match the night, and with his tribal warchief headdress and fiercely painted shield slung across his back, he looked mean enough to take on any foe.

As they crept closer, the Nelvaanian felt a stronger tug of unease at the base of his spine. Maybe the ruins weren't as abandoned as Xayun had thought?

One of the members of his squad alerted him to the presence of mines, so they took an alternate route through the Palace. Makurth was trying to keep his group somewhat away from the others, but not too far away should they need help. His hands gripped the wooden shaft of his weapon as he slowed and dropped to his belly, crawling forward to peek over a rocky overhang to the dark floor below. Apparently it had been an underground room before it began to decay and the jungle try to retake the area.

His ears picked up the scuffle of sneaking human boots, and his nose told him that they did not belong to anyone in Xayun's group, or any of the others.

Makurth bared his teeth in the snarl those of his race were so notorious for in battle and readied his spear for the final, impaling thrust at his unseen enemy.

The amethyst blade whizzed and whirled through the air as it defected blaster bolts. The Knight leapt high into the air; somersaulting in mid flight as she brought her sabre around to slice through another Imp that had gotten too close. Malice shown upon her visage as she danced across shadows to tear down her foes.

As anger welled up inside her, a cachinnating laugh echoed off the chasm walls.

The Zabrak froze as the laugh died away. She looked around, startled for a moment. The rest of Luddo Kressh's forces continued in their pursuit of the enemy as if nothing strange had happened at all.

A flash of silver moved past her peripheral vision. 'Not again!' She thought as she looked around frantically. The laughing came up right behind her as she whirled around, blade flowing with her.

Shikyo's own crimson collided with hers as she swung around. Her azure eyes went wild as her brother-in-law came into focus.

"Ash? What's wrong?" He looked at her warily. The Nightsister was afraid of nothing, but the fear that fill her eyes now was unmistakable. Dread filled him as he watch her.

"It's..." The words died away on her tongue as she fought to gain control.

Shin'ichi felt her panic as he moved in out of the shadows of the Imperial camp with Macron, Ylith and Sai.

'Fight it, Sis.' He said silently. Just then a familiar presence float to him on thin thread. He looked up and met Macron's eyes; he felt it too.
The Fallen Spear had just dropped out of hyperspace. A single silent thought went through each of their minds along with a sigh of relief as the eldest Keibatsu moved closer to aid the clan.

'Muz.'

The Sith Warlord lunged at Astronicus. With a graceful parry Astronicus batted the saber away and made a sudden change in the tempo of his actions, hoping to fool the opponent into responding at the wrong time. And he succeeded, the Warlord attempted to compound by riposting with some feints to the opposite line that Astronicus' broken time finished in, but misstepped and suffered the consequence by taking one of the white sabers to his side. The blade burnt through his armor but he was able to retreat by twisting and stepping backwards and away from Astronicus.

The Warlord grabbed his side and felt the sticky residue of blood that had been left behind after the blade had cauterized the wound. He shirked the pain away and charged at Astronicus, his blade held high. He brought the blade down with a single swipe, but it was parried by Astronicus. The Warlord reprised his assault with a riposte and was yet again defeated in that attempt. Rage began to course through his veins as he continued unenviably to score a hit on his enemy.

His saber techniques which he had practiced from the time of his earning the saber seemed to be useless, the Dark Adept was able to parry anything he through at him. And so, he tried the only one thing he knew wouldn't work, a simple attack. It involved no feints whatsoever, and came close, in fact surprise was on the face of Astronicus as he was forced to croisé; his blade being forced into the high line on the same side. This gave the Warlord the opportunity he needed. He made a riposte as a second intention, nothing more that a false action used to draw a response from Astronicus, opening the opportunity for the Warlord's intended action a counter-riposte.

The red sabre sank into Astronicus' armor and through his Dark Jedi robes piercing his flesh. But before the blade could sink any deeper within that milisecond of time, a red blaster bolt caught the Warlord off guard in the chest and sent him hurling backwards. Without hesitation the Saraii all shot the downed Warlord and finished him off. His saber had slipped from his grasp and deactivated at Astronicus feet, but it was too late, the ruby red blade of energy had already accomplished its task and Astronicus fell to the ground. A Saraii soldier rushed to his side not sure what to do except make a solitary utterance, "Medic!"

Meanwhile…

The Saraii forces launched forward and broke through the Imperials rear guard defense ripping them apart with their blaster fire. The Imperials had already lost a number of officers to the snipers, namely a good number to Shin’Ichi, and were thrown into chaos as they tried to regroup at the center. The regrouping was futile, however, as the main forces of Ludo Kressh and Marka Ragnos crashed through the lines and finished what was left.

The battle at the Imperial camp was now over, but it did not mean the war was over. A Saraii scout rode in on a hover bike and ran up to Xayun, having been previously informed by Astronicus that that is who he would report to once the camp had been seized.

"M'lord Xayun," began the young Saraii soldier, "we have reports that an element of the Imperial Army, the Hammer's Fist, and a large contigent of Dark Jedi have landed in the capital city and are preparing for an assault here."

"An element?" Asked Xayun, "How large are we talking?"

"Whatever they were able to bring on the Star Destroyer Relentless, in orbit above Sif, is all I know." Replied the soldier.

"Well let's just hope they weren't able to get everything off before the Spear showed up. They'll be a bit preoccupied with that and won't attempt any planetary landings as long as there is a threat in the skies." Said the Aedile. Then thumbing his communicator he called his air support units. "This is Hotel Lima Kilo Actual to all Sapphire and Falcon Squadron members. Get to the air if you can and support the Spear and Covenant, they'll need all the back up they can get. We'll secure our position and wait on Darth Veexatus and Shan Long to retrieve the Sword of Sadow. Hotel Lima Kilo Actual out."

"Sir, there is something else." Said the Saraii soldier with his head downcast. He looked up and saw Xayun gesture for him to reveal this ever important fact that he brought up. "Lord Sadow has fallen in battle. We have no medics, are there any healers among your people?"

A lone camoflaged stormtrooper helmet appeared below Makurth, followed by two others. Apparently they were scouts, so the Sith held his group a little longer, trying to see how many others they were scouting for.

Zak moved ahead after counting ten regular stormtroopers, leaving his troops behind to cut them off from the rear. He stalked the three scouts until they came to an area sufficient for his purposes. With a low snarl the Nelvaanian crept forward until the tip of his spear was less than a meter from the trooper nearest him. The soldier appeared to be reporting in to the main unit, so the Sith allowed him to finish his report before making his move. Black eyes peered past the fern leaves like some large cat of prey just before it pounced.

The Nelvaanian's wicked spear preceeded him, ripping between the pauldron and chest armor of the stormtrooper, impaling him solidly with cold steel and wood. Hot blood flew from the wound as the soldier slid down the end of the spear to fall to heavily to the ground. Makurth flew forward again, spear whipping across to take one man's legs out and removing the helmet from another.

Zak lunged for the un-helmeted human's throat, his weight driving the man down. His teeth flashed then tore hunks of body-suit away before they clamped down on the unlucky trooper's soft flesh. Blood spurted all over the Nelvaanian's face and upper torso as he ripped out the man's throat and spun to face the remaining trooper scrambling to his feet.

His spear came up as he stalked forward, wary of the blaster the man held. Black eyes narrowed for a split second before he whipped one furry hand away from his spear shaft and made a fierce yanking motion. The blaster rifle ripped itself from the stormtroopers hands, and in that narrow window of disarmanent, Makurth lunged. The trooper knew what was coming and tried to get his hands up with a yell, but the spear pierced his unarmored throat at an angle, pointing up into the man's skull.

As the last trooper gurgled in his death throes, the Dark Jedi Knight quickly and silently ran back to his group, human blood dripping from his body.

Once he reached them, he gave the signal to attack, and he leaped over the ledge into the midst of the soldiers, his crimson lightsaber carving paths through the enemy. Blaster fire tore into the others that the Sith's lightsaber failed to catch as the commandos at Makurth's command opened fire.

The firefight lasted about five to ten minutes, and in that span the Nelvaanian had firmly re-aquainted himself with his lightsaber and its pecularities.

He glanced at the ignited lightsaber in his left hand and flicked it off. He placed it on his belt along with his Dainslaif. He again armed himself with his sheild and spear. Almost as an afterthought, Makurth reported back to Xayun about the brief engagement.

"Xayun, Makurth reporting. Fought large number of stormtrooper. This one thinks that main force must be on way. Not sure from where. Caution needed if into the ruins you go."

As usual, Makurth forgot to turn off the comm when he said. "Lightsaber good fight weapon, but spear is better gore weapon." Clearly, the Nelvaanian liked to fight with any weapon, but the bloodier the better.

Xayun shut off his com with the report from Zak with a smile and turned to the Saraii.

“Yes, there is one. Although I hesitate to recommend him,” replied Xayun. “The alchemist.”

“You mean the madman?” frowned the Captain. “Isn’t he dangerous?

“Yes, him. He is. However, he understands the flesh well. I'll send him over, he just returned from patrol duty.”

Later

Macron continued to examine the wound as he bent over the gurney. The Warlord’s sanguine saber had punctured a lung, and Astronicus had been sorely wounded. Twin IT-3 droids drifted over and began to knit the wounds. They were primarily interrogators, but had excellent medical skills programmed as well. They had been known to keep their subjects alive for days in the worst circumstances. The three worked for a grueling half-hour.

Astronicus seemed to be resting well, now that the seared flesh had been knit. Several bacta injections stabilized his system, preventing the effects of shock. Orbalisk venom accelerated the Overlord’s healing rate, seething in his veins like those of his Sith ancestors.

Mononoke stood up, removed the surgical gloves and regarded the Saraii soldier as his droids drifted back.“He’ll be fine, Captain. He should recover and wake in an hour or so. He’ll be sore, but I am sure he has had much worse in his lengthy career.”

“My thanks, sir. I admit, I was skeptical about the droids you brought,” stated the officer.

“No need for thanks. It is my duty to serve my Clan,” said Mononoke. “You did recover the Silooth?”

“Yes, we did. She has been repaired, and reloaded.”

“Excellent. Xayun has commanded Sapphire to launch and support the Spear and Covenant. I’ll be leaving atmo momentarily,” said the alchemist as he turned with a swirl of red cape.

Corin nodded at Xayun, and entered the ruins of Sadow Palace.

He was leading a sorry-looking group of troops, but Corin had to make due. The ruins of the palace was confusing and like a maze. Some of the men expressed their worries of getting trapped in there, but they only got a kick in the butt from Corin in return.

"This is Hotel Lima Kilo Actual to all Sapphire and Falcon Squadron members. Get to the air if you can and support the Spear and Covenant, they'll need all the back up they can get. We'll secure our position and wait on Darth Vexatus and Shan Long to retrieve the Sword of Sadow. Hotel Lima Kilo Actual out." Came in the transmission from Xayun.

Corin was about to radio Xayun back with an answer when he remembered the fate of his fallen ship. "Damn!" He cursed to himself, blaming himself for not having repaired his ship instead of ditching it. "I really liked that ship, damn..." Corin said again, continuing on his journey.
Corin and his troop ventured deeper and deeper into the ruins without seeing anything, not even artifacts or treasures of interest. He was about to radio back to Xayun and give him an update when Corin heard and sensed someone approaching. He motioned to for his troops to get down, and they obeyed him.

Drawing his vibro-sword, Corin ducked behind a huge piece of stone that had been a pillar, all the time looking into the darkness ahead.

A figure garbed in dirty cloaks and tattered sandals appeared in front of them. He held a long staff and a single earring hung from his left ear-lobe. He looked half-dead, but Corin was not taking any chances. Corin quickly jumped out from his hiding spot and pointed his sword at the man. The man didn't seemed phased by this, but only uttered three words: "I have waited."
Corin withdrew a couple of steps and asked him to repeat. He did, and the same words came out. "I have waited."

Corin ordered the troops to reveal themselves. They did so and pointed their guns at the old man. One of the troops cried out, "Sir, who's that geezer?" Corin held out his hand to silence him, for the man's pupils turned white, and his staff fell to the floor.

The mans cloaks began to ruffle as a mysterious wind blew through the ruins. The sky became darker and the man's mouth opened. He uttered these words: "From the depths of the Ruins of Sadow Palace shall rise a weapon of old. It shall save the brethren of Sadow and give hope to those in sorrow." The man held out his finger and pointed to Corin's right.
Corin's eyes followed his finger as it turned and stopped. Corin raised his eyebrow and the man bent down and picked up his staff. He means the Sword of Sadow! thought Corin in his mind, sure that was what the man meant.

As if he didn't notice Corin, the man began walking toward where he was pointing.
They followed the man who lead them for quite some time through scores of fallen stones and rubble. It was a hard path, but Corin was driven by the desire to find the sword.

The man suddenly stopped and turned to face Corin and the troops. The man spoke one silent word and vanished before Corin's eyes. "Damn! This is a trap!" Yelled one of the troops, but Corin thought otherwise. "Silence." He said as the same troop was about to repeat the phrase. "Through there." Corin quietly said as he ordered the men to dig away the rubble blocking their path.
As the stones were lifted away, Corin's eyes widened and than narrowed.

He saw something that was an answer to his problems, but not to the answer he was looking for. Before him were two undamaged Starfighters from the Golden Age of the Sith. Along with these was another Starfighter, but to Corin's surprise, it was new! A 20 ABY blue Starfighter say before him. Corin's eyes widened as he got closer. "How many of you have know how to fly one of these?" Corin looked as his sqaud and four troops raised there hands. "How long, Private?" Asked Corin to one of the men.

"Four years sir, plus two years of training." Was his reply.

"Good enough. And you?" He pointed at another pilot.

"Same sir." He answered.

"Good, get in those two ships, I need..." He was interrupted by an explosion to his left. He drew his sword and stepped back.

The rubble which was there was gone and only smoke was left. Through the smoke came Sledge, grinning at the sight of the ships. "I see you've been busy, Corin." he said, walking toward his fellow Jedi Hunter.

"Good to see a friendly face." Was Corin's response. "I was about to get out of here and aid my Sqaudron in the skies. I need you to take command of the rest of my troop."

Sledge nodded and said, "Only if you promise not to get that ship destroyed. That stunt before was damn good, but a complete waste of that Falcon of yours." He shook his head and silently took command of the sqaud.

Corin examined the ships and found them in perfect condition. When the pilots were settled into their respective cockpits Corin noticed something different about his ship. Aside from it's stream-line devices and top-of-the-line arsenal, he sensed some force at work here. He held the stick in his hands and felt something off flow through him: there was some strange alchemy at work here.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Corin and the two pilots shot their way out of the Palace and were headed for the canyon when Corin remembered Xayun. "Xayun," Corin radioed in, "This is Phoenix, I've found three starfighters in the palace and I'm flying out to meet with Saphire Sqaudron, over."

"Good work, Phoenix." Was Xayun's answer.

"But, sir," Corin said, "One of the ships was new! It's a new Jedi Starfighter from 20 ABY. How can that be?"

"I don't know Corin, but I'll have to look into that. Anything else before I close the link between us?"

"Yes, there's something else. This ship has been chemically changed in some way. Just thought I'd let you know. Tell Mac for me, will ya?" Corin closed the link and continued on his journey.

After he had reported in, Zak checked his squad for casualties. There was only one, a trooper that had been shot in the head and died instantly. The Sith had the body stripped of any gear that could possibly help them and led his men into the Palace.

Gloom hung in every corner with shadows that could hold enemy soldiers. Rifles and a spear tracked and guarded against attack as they moved along. Makurth clenched a curse behind his teeth when his foot came into contact with a pile of old armor, sending some of it to clatter noisily along the hall. He froze in midstep, ears cocked for any sounds of an attacker might make, living or not.

There was none, and Zak felt a weight lift from his shoulders. He looked down at the armor and pilfered through some of it. Deciding that some protection was better than none, he donned a blaster scarred chestplate with shoulder armor. The Nelvaanian saw that it bore the mark of the Clan of Naga Sadow, and felt a brief pang of guilt. Whatever warrior wore this armor had fallen in the evacuation or died fighting. Still, it would do the being some honor to see it used in the recovery of Sadow's sword.

Looking down into the skull's empty eyesockets seemed to put Makurth at ease about his actons (he had always had respect for the dead) and he growled for his group to continue following him.

So far they had encountered nothing, no droid, traps, or stormtroopers. Zak chose the route that seemed to have the most Darkside energy, suspecting that it might lead to the Sword.

"Sapphire, this is VSD Covenant. Run intercept on enemy fighters. Once we have their screen down, we then attack the ship with torpedoes and heavy rockets. We may have more capital class vessels to assist later, but don't count on it."

Macron twiddled his dial on the encrypted comlink. Once again, he found himself in a space battle. His thoughts rambled. "Perhaps my vision was accurate earlier... the Dark Side is strange." He did not enjoy space combat, feeling it was far too impersonal. "I suppose I better get good at it, and become more well-rounded."

The Silooth cleared the atmosphere, and a wicked site met Mononoke. Both huge Capital class vessels were maneuvering, and swarms of ships had launched from them both like angry hornets. Winking lights showed ion trails from rockets and missiles like infernal Christmas lights.

"Macron, this is the Spear," came a familiar voice. "Welcome back up. We need all the vessels carrying heavy ordnance to follow us for a run on the enemy ISD. The Sadow TIE's and other fighters will clear a path for all of us to make the run. We absolutely have to stop the hammer forces from landing a ground assault army, and buy time for the guys below."

"I copy, Muz. I am coming about on your three o'clock. I'll take point for our gunboats and bombers," he replied. "I hope those speeder parts hold,"he murmured to himself.
"Into the Fray!"

Sai darted about the remnants of the battlefield in front of the Sadow Palace proper, his thoughts going through the events of the past few hours, his weary form swathed in robes filthy from the muck and gore of battle. He thought of his part in the taking of the Imperial base, accomplished with so much finality thanks in part to the intel he, Macron, Ylith, and his master Shin’ichi were able to gather and relay. He thought of the changes he had gone through, both physical and mental, and how much the stronger he was for it.

As the Korun made his way around the staging area’s perimeter, he let his thoughts drift to the mad alchemist, Macron. Although Sai wanted to blame him for his eyes, he knew in his heart of hearts that it was a fruitless pursuit. Mac had been honest with him, and, truth be told, he wouldn’t have had to take one of Mac’s “cocktails” to heal if he’d just stayed put as Ashia ordered. In fact, Sai found himself thinking of the alchemist with respect, as they parted ways with forearms clasped, and Mac whispering to him, “Once this is over, if you wanna drop by the lab to take a look at that scroll, I’ll let ya. For a price, of course,” the alchemist finished with a giggle. Sai stopped his patrol and rubbed his eyes with their pupils cast in triplicate, thinking 'I believe I’ve already paid in full.'

He resumed his patrol as he thought of his master Shin’ichi, who had left him to this mission with far less camaraderie than his brother. “I’ve got to find her,” was all the Epis would say, and Sai knew it was of his sister-in-law that he spoke. When Sai pressed the issue too far, Shin whirled on him saying, “Listen, and listen well. You’ve done surprisingly well considering you almost got all of us killed. Now, this is for me. I’ve got to find her, and now. You,” Shin began to take a dismissive tone, “you have perimeter duty, apprentice of mine. You will be called if you are needed.”

Ashia. Shin’ichi. Macron. Muz and Shimura aboard the Spear. Sanjuro and Shikyo in the Palace proper. The names and faces of these warriors, some of the clan's most famous and loyal, danced in and out of Sai’s mind’s eye. He served the Keibatsu, he’d fought with the Keibatsu, he’d even bled for the Keibatsu…but he was not of the Keibatsu.

Sai reflected upon all of this with a wisdom beyond his years, born of battle and survival therein. “Alas, such is life…” he began to utter aloud when suddenly, the ripples in the Force that he had come to welcome as warnings began to beat upon his awareness. His hand found its way to the hilt of his katana, and, with a flutter of fabric, he was gone.

-------------------------------------

The Imperial sniper team was as seasoned as they come; gunner and spotter had moved into position and neither moved nor made one sound as they picked their spot and set up shop. Now, as they began selecting targets around the Naga Sadow staging area, they broke silence.

“Echo Hotel Sierra to Echo Hotel Actual…have acquired target. Standing by for green light”, the spotter whispered into his comlink.

“Echo Hotel Sierra, you have a green light,” came the tinny response.

The Imperials nodded to each other, and as the gunner looked into his scope, the worried visage of Shin’ichi Endymiron Keibatsu filled the reticule. The Epis was stopping several Sadow infantrymen, and seemed to be mouthing questions, to which the answers gave no satisfaction. Slowly, the prone gunner inhaled, and began counting in his mind.

‘One.’ Infinitesimally minute pressure on the rifle’s trigger...

‘Two.’ Slight exhalation of breath...

‘Three’. Commitment to action, squeezing the…

The gunner’s inner mantra was rudely interrupted as his elbow was nudged. He looked up angrily from the scope, ready to berate (as quietly as possible, of course) his spotter, who should’ve damn well known better.

Only his spotter was nowhere to be found. The gunner had heard nothing.

Risking giving away his position, he chanced raising himself up to scan the area…

…and was rewarded by a foot and a half of folded steel jutting from his chest. The offending metal had pierced his lung, preventing any chance of his calling for back-up, and as the light left his eyes, he was aware of a shadow playing across his field of vision.

Sai removed his katana from the Imperial with a foot on his enemy’s back. He found a relatively clean spot on his robes and, wiping his blade clean, had only one utterance:

“For Clan and Family.”

Draken shook his head, pushing himself up from underneath the bodies of all sorts
of men piled up together into one heap of death. This war has been raging for quite
some time now and Draken was rendered unconscious by a grenade, probably already
reported dead or missing in action. None of both, but even so, the stealth he now had
would make him able to do things without orders. Although it was not fair, the Valheru
thought it would be best to act alone for now.

He watched through the rotting carcasses of aliens and humans piled up to pinpoint his
location. He was behind enemy lines, and saw an Imperial soldier walk around with his
prized Valheru blade and his saber at his belt, probably a trophy for his ‘kill’.
The Valheru smirked silently, hoping for an opportunity to somehow gain back his weapons
and make up for a good fight. He was waiting for a massive battle for himself. He hungered
for the spill of enemy blood and the smell of last breaths in a haze of copper scented aroma
of their own blood. The Obelisk was used to this sight, being in battle before even the Old
Republic was born, he was more experienced than any of the soldiers in front of him.

He checked his own body for wounds, and nothing than a few cuts and bruises could be found.
The blackened veins in his right arm began to spread, causing shocks of pain randomly.
Draken knew this could be a problem, but kept his mind on the task ahead. He probably
wasn’t too far off the front line as the Naga Sadow forces pushed onwards throughout the
entire battlefield. It wouldn’t be long before one of Naga Sadow’s members would reach
him eventually.

Draken pushed the bodies aside with great strength and a roar which surprised and stunned
must men close by. As soon as he could, he called upon Ylith’s knowledge to use the force
and called his sword and saber from the enemy’s hands into his.

“It’s a Dark Jedi! Quick! Send in the Sword men!” One of the Troopers called over the noise
of the battle ahead and before Draken knew it a squad of about twenty troopers stood in
front of him, Vibroblades in hand and ready to strike. Draken watched the men curiously and
smiled slightly at the sight of these men, trying so hard to handle a sword and all they carry
is a pocket knife.

Draken grabbed the hilt of is Valheru sword with his right hand and narrowed his eyes, which
shifted from side to side, awaiting the first strike. One man eventually got the courage to strike,
running forward screaming. The Valheru turned aside to the left and when the man missed the
Dark Jedi, stabbed the huge sword into the man’s abdomen. The Obelisk watched as the man
tried to look up and gritted his teeth hard and eventually screamed in agony as blood flowed
from his mouth and the blue flames from the Valheru sword slowly engulfed the man in a fire
of pure pain.

“Without your helmets, you are even more uglier.” Draken said and when he looked forward
he saw the man’s fellow team members stepping backwards, swords all raised and pointed
towards the Valheru. The Templar turned his lizard like gaze back towards the men hanging
onto his sword.
Draken sighed and twisted the blade to destroy what was left of the man’s abdomen region,
killing him finally. As soon as that happened, the other men all charged. Draken pushed his
sword up and pushed the men away from him. Swords whizzed past the Valheru and he jumped
backwards on top of the pile of bodies, the men following blindly.
The Valheru threw his sword high up into the air and grabbed his lightsaber, cutting off the first
man’s right arm, which held the sword, before stabbing him in the back, killing him instantly.
He then threw his saber into the neck of a following trooper just before kneeling down and catching
his sword with his left hand, spinning it around himself cutting through a few men’s shins and kneecaps.

Draken then jumped off the pile and threw his sword through the chest of a waiting swordsmen
engulfing him in blue flames. Draken landed and saw the last two men approach. The Valheru
called his saber back into his hand through the force and placed it onto his belt once more and
placed his foot onto the man’s chest before pulling his sword out again.

The Obelisk stood ready to strike and when he wanted to lift his right arm to block an incoming
strike, a shock of pain filled the Valheru’s mind, rendering him stunned for a few seconds too
long. The vibrosword cut trough the Valheru’s clothing and left a large cut into the Dark Jedi’s
side and leg. Draken kneeled down in pain but could quickly push the pain aside through a larger
amount of rage and hatred towards the man and the curse he himself held.

The Valheru pushed himself up kicking the man down and slamming his fist into the man’s head,
leaving a bloody red pulp into a bucket of white armour. Draken now turned to the last man and
kicked him aside before digging his saber through the man’s head.

Catching his breath, Draken held onto his sword tightly as waves of pain were sent through his
arm and soon he was overwhelmed with pain. The black veins pulsed in his arm and started to
spread. He quickly hid behind the pile of dead bodies once again to avoid detection for a while.
When he thought it was safe to do so he called upon the Dark Side to slow the process and after a
few minutes of concentration finally was able to subdue the pain for now. Soldiers now came from all
sides and Draken simply took off his coat and stood ready to fight on, the flaming sword in hand.

I only hope the others will find me before I get killed for real…

--------
OOC:
for more info about Draken or his 'Curse', check my Wiki page. (just in case you want to mention it in your post or something)

The Fallen Spear came out of hyperspace. Muz Ashen Keibatsu stood on the bridge, behind him stood a hooded young man. The young man moved forward standing infront of Muz looking at the stars, his mind raced, adrenaline entered his veins he wished to fight. His turned around and kneeled before his master, slowly and on a low tone he spoke.

"Master..."

Muz looked down at Tarion his solid black eyes seemed to suggest that Tarion was about to have the time of his life all he had to be was patient. Muz signaled for Tarion to rise and to mentaly prepare himself for the comming battles. Tarion simple knoded before making his way to his quarters. As he walked trough the corridors he calmed down slighly and allready entered a pre-meditative state as he drew closer to his private quarters. The door opened and Tarion walked in, he looked around. His quarters were dark and cold

"Home..."

Tarion sat down and entered a meditative state, soon it will be time to fight, soon blood will flow, soon he would ascend! In the darkness and silentness of his chambers he came to rest he was not that strong in the force yet but he could feel a force similar to that of his master's. Perhaps relatives shared similar patterns in the force aswell.

He stood up and opened his eyes. He moved towards a container and entered the pincode. A slight clicking noise could be heard as the container unlocked and opened. Tarion reached into the container and grabbed something. A clinging sound was sent into the room as a moment later Tarion pulled the demons claw tighter on his hand. He moved to the bridge of the Fallen Spear and awaited further orders of his master. HE WAS READY FOR WAR !

((This is the first time i do a run-on so please dont mind the noobish way of typing))

The three ships flew over the canyon and dropped a couple of bombs on the charging Imperial army. They were headed for the Covenant and were ready for anything.

Corin was the leader and his comrades, trained pilots, were trailing behind in his wake. Corin's ship, a new Jedi Starfighter, was faster, more maneuverable, deadlier, and more powerful than his previous ship, The Falcon. Corin was proud of his old ship, but he felt that this was an upgrade. With it's comfortable cockpit, smooth handling and agility this ship was top-of-the-line. The Falcon was uncomfortable inside, and moved slower.

Corin suddenly remembered something: his droid was not with him. He swore to himself as he began to think quickly. He could survive without a droid, no doubt, but it was much easier, quicker and more accurate with one.

As Corin was about to turn his ship skyward, he noticed a flurry of activity just outside of the canyon. He saw a red lightsaber, along with a blue-flamed sword swinging around, bringing death to those who came in contact with it. He only knew one Jedi who had that sword: Ylith.

Corin ordered his comrades to continue.

His new ship dove into a spiral and came toward the canyon from the back. There Ylith was, fighting for his life with only a sword and saber in his hands.
Corin wondered why he was this far off from Naga Sadow, but his questions would have to wait.

Corin saw the relief on Yliths face as Corin opened fire on the approaching Imperials. The sound of death reached his ears as he pulled up, looped around once more, and did the routine again. The Imperials were retreating, and Corin saw this a fit time to land.

The thrusters powered down as the blue Starfighter landed in front of the ancient Jedi.

The cockpit opened and Corin climbed out of his new ship.

Ylith withdrew his saber and clipped it on his belt. "Bout time someone notices I'm gone. Thanks for that." He pointed at the dead Imperials. "Nice ship..." He trailed off to himself.

"How long have you been here?" Asked Corin, taking a bacta canister out of his side pack and handing it to Ylith. "I have more supplies in my back pack." He pointed at his ship.

"A couple hours. Damn Imps almost killed me." He shook his head and gladly took the bacta canister. He unclipped the seringe that came with the canister, and injected the vial into his leg and side. He groaned as the bacta did his work. "Thanks alot. Now how the hell am I going to get out of here?" He pointed at the ship and commented on it's size. "An upgrade for sure." He chuckled and quickly spun around on his heels. "Get down..." He quietly said to Corin. "There's someone approaching..."

Corin did as he was told and ducked behind the pile of dead bodies. He drew his plasma rifle, fitted it onto his shoulder, and put his cheek up against the stock. He was looking through his scope: he saw a shadow on the ground, long for it the sun was behind the figure. It stood straight and walked fairly quickly on it's short legs.

"Corin?" called a voice too familiar for Corin to not know who it was. It was his uncle.

What the hell is he doing here? thought Corin to himself. He slowly arose from his position and let his rifle sling by his side. "Uncle? What are you doing..."

"There's no time. I tracked your ship to the canyon, but your signal went off. I figured you would get yourself into trouble." He shook his head as he embraced Corin in a hug. "Good to see you ma boy."

"How did you know where to find me?" Corin asked as he stepped back and signaled for Ylith to come.

"That droid of yours sent me a distress call. I was flying over just beyond Sif, so I decided to come and find you. There's a nasty battle going on up there." He shook his head and turned around.

Corin smiled and looked beyond his Uncle as he saw N4-R5 slowly making it's way toward Corin.

"This is Ylith, Uncle." Corin said as his uncle, Judys, turned to face him. "He needs to get back to our clan. I'm sorry if this puts you in danger, but..."

"I have already been put in danger today, what's one more time?" He chuckled and turned to Ylith. "My ship is just beyond those rocks. We should get out of here before we get caught. Good seeing you Corin." He shook Corin's hand and was off at a fast pace, headed for the canyon. Ylith silently followed him, not once looking back at his fellow Jedi.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Corin was in his ship in minutes and entering the atmosphere, heading for space. With his droid in his appropriate spot, Corin thought up a name for his new ship. He would name it The Falcon II: a better upgraded version of his old faithful starship that lay in ruins on the canyon floor.


Half an hour later....


It took some time, but Corin finally caught up with the Sapphire Sqaudron. They were engaged in fierce dogfights all over space, and lasers and missiles whized by him as they entered the battle.

Corin piloted his way through a barrage of lasers and engaged with an enemy.

"Good to see you, Corin." Radioed in Macron who was apparently engaged in a dogfight. "And nice ship."

Corin perforated his enemy's ship in half, and continued on his way, shooting anything that wasn't of his Clan.

Shikyo grabbed Ashia and shoved her up against the cavern wall just as a blaster bolt whistled past their heads. He drew his sabre and deflected a couple more effortlessly. Then lifting his hand, he sent a large piece of wreckage flying toward the nearest set of enemy troops, scattering them to the four winds.

He turned back to his sister-in-law, his own panic starting to set in as he didn't know what was wrong.

Dread filled the air, carried on the threads of the Force as it swallowed them down until they couldn't breath. Shikyo gasped for breath as the Nightsister's eyes dodged around the chasm, frantically searching for the source, though there was none.

"Where is he? I can feel him, damn it! Where is he?!" She cried out as she tried to move away. The youngest Keibatsu had to force her to stay put as enemy fire continued it's onslaught on the Naga Sadow troops.

"There is no one!" Shikyo screamed at her as he desperately tried to get a hold and keep his sister safe.

A familiar presence pierced the air suddenly like a silent scream. The youngest Keibatsu looked up as his brother neared them, dodging in and out of enemy fire with a fluidity that only a Krath possessed.

"Shin, I don't know what's wrong with her."

"It's ok. I'll take care of her." He said stepping in to shield her from any snipers. Ashia's only protection was that of her war coat as she refused to wear anything else, much to Shin'ichi's chagrin. "Get back to the battle, we have to hold the line until help arrives."

Shikyo nodded as he moved away, reluctant to leave her but knowing they couldn't loose the battle either.

Shin grabbed her by the arms and shook her; that wild look still gracing her now bright blue eyes; the pupils larger then life.

'Ash! You've got to fight him!'

She tried to focus on her brother as his mental thoughts floated through her; desperately trying to bring her around. The anathema haunted her, awake or asleep, it had tormented her since Malachor V. Since that first encounter with abhorrent creature that was Ashen. The darkened skin and silver hair. The inverted image of her beloved Muz.

Laughter ripped through the valley again, echoing off the walls and raining down on them like ice. Shin'ichi looked around this time before looking back at his sister-in-law. Her eyes focused on him as she suddenly realized he had heard it too.

'You heard him, didn't you?' Her words echoed inside his mind with a frantic drumming.

'Yes. The Force bond must be growing stronger.' He tried to clear his mind and not let himself fall into the psychosis that seemed to folding around her.

'Muz is in orbit now. That's probably why you feel Him.' Shin couldn't bring himself to say his name. For too long had he watched his elder brother fight against his own demon, and now his sister-in-law struggled against the horror she had encountered on Malachor V. He wondered if this was what she had ran from all those years ago.

Three Dark Jedi starfighters screamed overhead as Shikyo slapped another power pack into his blaster and opened up on the Imperials, his youthful face set in determination. The Sadow forces, which’d been in a brutal back and forth struggle with the Imps ever since they set foot on the planet their forebears once called home, had begun to silently question the worthiness of their cause. In fact, almost all of the current incarnation of the expeditionary force had never even seen their erstwhile home before now, gleaning only snatches of information from those who’d been present during the Exodus.

But now, seeing the young Keibatsu standing fast in the face of near extinction, the Sadow’s confidence had been bolstered once again. They dug into their positions, each vowing to hold to the last, and a fresh round of resistance against the seemingly inexhaustible Imperial war machine had begun anew.

Meanwhile, Shikyo’s mind was on his brother and sister. He wished he could’ve stayed with them; familial ties are amongst the hardest to ignore. Shikyo knew his responsibilities to the whole were paramount at this point, but he found his thoughts straying back to Ashia and Shin’ichi.

Calling for another power pack, Shikyo snatched one out of the air, tossed to him by a nearby Sadow infantryman. He began to replace the spent one in his blaster when he was suddenly convinced that he had snapped under the weight of leadership and the fog of battle.

The cause of this splinter in Shikyo’s confidence was from a sight he swore he saw not scant minutes ago: Shin’ichi dodging in and out of the enemy’s fire, rapidly approaching his position like some dark spectre of ill omen.

Shikyo shook his head to clear it of the confusion. He knew his brother was in the cave with his sister, yet there he was, moving with the fluidity of Death Incarnate. Shikyo peered closer, still unbelieving.

The young Keibatsu soon had his doubts justified; as the zephyr drew closer, Shikyo noted that the imitation’s robes were purple and black, but not as adorned as his brother’s. The technique he displayed was effective, but not as refined as his brother’s. Most importantly, it was not an amethyst blade which meted justice upon the Imperials between him and where he stood, but a crescent sliver of mercurial misery.

Recognition settled within Shikyo; his confidence renewed, he began barking orders to the line.

“Covering fire!” he bellowed. The line erupted with the barking of heavy blasters. Shikyo began beckoning to the shadow that was nearly upon them. “Sai...here!”

Shin’ichi’s apprentice vaulted over the line to land a few steps away from Shikyo. Sai nodded respectfully to his master’s brother. “Where?”

Shikyo, who hadn’t been privy to the palaver Sai, Shin and Macron had, gave a visible start at looking into the tripartite pupils of the Korun. “I know,” Sai wearily answered the unasked question Shikyo had all over his face. “Where is he?”

Shikyo jerked a thumb towards the cavern. “Ash is really going through it, and...waitaminute, how did you know to...”

Sai interrupted Shikyo, his voice affecting a portentous tone. “I am needed. By my life or by my death, my duty is to serve...” The rest went unheard as the pair ducked an Imperial RPG that had come a bit close.

“Just go!” Shikyo yelled as he turned back to the line, opening up with a new volley of ionized death. His words fell on no one’s ears; Sai had already gone.

All kinds of heavy artillery from both sides roared across the battlefield and
slowly the army of Naga Sadow was pushing the Imperial soldiers back towards
their base. Draken had observed the battlefield before Corin dropped him off
at the nearest command center. The battle was fierce and there was no room
for mistakes now. The Imperials were forming a bottleneck and when Naga Sadow
would push on any further, they would spring the trap and bring hell on it’s legions.
Therefore, Draken had to reach the frontline before it was too late.

“Anything with speed commander?” Draken said, while equipping himself with a
armour torso and removing his outer robe to have more movement capabilities.
“We have a few speeder lined up sir, they are mostly used for messenger to go
across the battlefield when communications are out. You may use them if you with.”
The commander said before he turned back to a sergeant and two captains to instruct
them on how to act. The Valheru equipped himself with a belt with a magnetic strip on
it. He wore it diagonally across his torso so the magnetic strip was on the back. He placed
his sword on the strip and ensured it was tightly fit.
“This will come in handy…” Draken said within himself as he placed himself on a speeder
bike and fired it up.

“Time to have some fun.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Shikyo fired at the Imperials trying to push the line backwards. The Keibatsu had trouble
keeping the pace but ensure the line was not broken. Fatigue and lack of ammo slowly
got a grip on the Dark Jedi as he reloaded his weapon once more before bringing down
a rain of plasma bolts on some troopers again. He worried about Ashia, his sister-in-law
was in trouble and there was not much he could do to help her out other than to keep
those Imperials of her back until she was well enough to fight again. He wondered if it
was the same thing that happened to his brother, Muz, some time ago.

The Sith watched as a whole squad of troopers headed his way, they probably noted the
weakness in the line and decided it would be the time to strike, and as much as the Keibatsu
hated to admit it, they were right.
The marksmen near the Sith started to fire salvo after salvo but they too were beginning
to lack ammo. Shikyo cursed between his teeth as he hoped for re-enforcements that weren’t there.

Suddenly Shikyo heard a speeder bike whizzed overhead and before he could see how it
was, he heard multiple men screaming in pain. Shikyo rose a bit from his trench to see who
the mysterious biker was and Draken stopped just in front of the Sith when he did so.

“Ylith? Shouldn’t you be in space with the rest of Sapphire?”
“Yeah, sorry it took me so long to join you. I hate flying so I thought I’d make myself useful
here. Anyway, I came to warn you that the Imperials are creating a bottleneck half a mile in
front of us. If we push on any further we’ll be fried.” Draken said as he placed the Valheru
sword back on the belt.
“Keep these Imps busy, I am going to Shin’ichi and Ashia to report on this.” Shikyo said and
Draken nodded with a wide grin on his face.

Shikyo moved off to the back in search of his brother while Draken pointed his bike towards
the enemy line.
He kicked the throttle and increased speed rapidly, the enemy line was not far from his location
and several Imps grouped up in front of him in order to gun him down. The Valheru rode on,
dodging lasers. Some of the lasers scraped against the Valheru’s skin leaving nasty burns but
nothing serious.
At the last possible moment, Draken rose and grabbed his sword, placed his foot on the seat
and kicked off. While turning upside down in mid air, he slashed the bike in two pieces with the
flaming sword before sending the speeder right into the Imperial line, causing it to explode
fiercely sending men flying everywhere.

Draken landed kneeling and watched the inferno trap the Imps in their own created bottleneck.

“That should buy us some time, I just hope it wont go any worse than this…” Draken said and he
ran back to regroup, slaying some of the astray Imps along the way.

All around Macron star fighters were engaged in dogfights, and explosions peppered the silence of space with bursts of light. Wreckage from blown vessels littered the area, drifting randomly about. A few bodies even drifted by, ripped from their canopies by explosive decompression. The Sith smiled at the grim scene.

Two other assault gunboats from The Covenant flew alongside Macron, each with a pilot from Naga Sadow. “This is red leader,” stated Mononoke. “We’re almost there. Prepare to drop your heavy rockets on the enemy vessel. Hopefully that will give their shields something to chew on.”

“Copy that, this is Red Two.”

“Red Three, ready to unload.”

“Watch your six, red leader. You have picked up bogeys,” came the signal from the Covenant.

An enemy TIE interceptor locked on, peppering the Silooth with blaster bolts. The gunboat rocked, but held together as the quadranium armor and advanced shields absorbed the worst of the attack.

Another TIE blasted Red Two into cinders, laying shot after shot into the ship until it blew. Unfortunately, they were not as tough as the Silooth. The flash of light shone through Mononoke’s cockpit from behind, backlighting the instrument panel.

“Crap! Frelling space combat,” mumbled the alchemist as he dove towards the ISD.

Macron opened his com. “I’m so loaded with bombs that she’s handling like a drunken whale. R3, see if you can hit that cork-knocker. Angle shields to the rear. Sapphire, I need an assist!”

Mononoke’s R3 droid shot at one of the TIE’s with the rear-facing cannon. The Imperial pilot’s eyes widened in surprise as he pulled off. Normal gunboats most certainly did not have rear-cannons.

“Copy that, I’m on my way,” replied Eldrad Sin. He had taken an advanced TIE into this battle, and Revenant flew alongside in another. “Sapphire, engage enemy TIE’s. We have to hold them off so the bombers can finish.”

Kaelin popped out of hyperspace a few seconds after Macron. He was given his orders and took Mononoke's nine. An explosion shook the tie interceptor the House had graciously granted him. Kaelin winced as he felt another explosion. The battle before him filled him with awe. Dozens of ships still poured out of the Capitol ships. Lasers ceaselessly whined from every craft making it difficult to understand orders. Even the weakest among the Jedi felt the cries of men as they were sent back to the force.

Kaelin was brought back to himself as the lead pilot shouted something. Several fighter pilots from the Emperor's Hammer had spotted their attack formation. Kaelin smiled as he kicked in his afterburners and sped towards the oncoming foe. He squeezed the trigger and felt, as well as heard, the 4 SFS L-s9.3 lasers explode from his ship. He saw others do the same and all were followed by explosions. He'd gotten his first kill of the day.

The heavy turrets on the VSD Covenant fired and ripped through three ships before dissipating against the shield of the enemy command vessel. The defending units for the Ludo Kressh forces were suffering heavy losses and the pilots still alive could almost feel the landing vessels powering up.

"They need more time! Stall them if you can, do whatever it takes!" The voice that came across the encrypted comlink sounded strained. The squad that Kaelin had been assigned to pushed their ships even harder. The Sith Battle Lord Goura could be heard mumbling to his gunboat.

Kaelin was constantly scanning the space in front and to the side of the squad. Each time he saw a threat someone was already moving to cover it. Then he saw a group of four ships in tight formation charging towards them. As he moved to intercept them, though, they split up. I can only take two, he thought. He quickly scanned around for back up. There was none to be seen, so he charged. The first one die almost instantly. As the laser's whine still reverberated in his skull, Kaelin shot the second one down. Only then did he realize his mistake and turned to find the other two locked onto his ship. Just as they prepared to fire, each ship burst into flame and disappeared.

"Watch yourself, we can't lose you on the first run," came Macron's voice.

A message came through the comlink. “Unload everything you’ve got on that thing, our shields are still dropping and at this rate we wont last through much longer.”

Each of the bombers prepared their massive number of various bombs. Kaelin backed off a bit to give them some room. As they neared the enemy capitol ship, each bomber launched its load of rockets. The ISD’s shields lit up like holiday lights and glowed a dangerous red, but held.

The Falcon II dodged an oncoming onslaught of laser, and retaliated with an equal barrage of missiles and plasma lasers. Corin was liking his new ship, and, by the look of his shield, it could withstand at least sixty-percent more than his old aircraft.

His radar showed the battle in a whole new perspective: the green dots were the allies, and the red were the enemy. He saw a green dot coming toward him fast, he pulled up just as his counterpart did the same. Their hulls almost touched each other as they both in unison dove straight back down again. It was Macron. "Watch out kid! You're gunna get us killed!" He warned Corin as he dodged a stray missile.

"Yessir." Laughed Corin, smiling as the alchemist spouted off some explicative.

"Phoenix," Macron roared over the comlink after a few minutes of silence, "drop your load on that ship! We need to get those shields down pronto!"

"Yessir." Answered Corin, turning on his missile guidance system, or MGS. "N4, prepare all proton and ion torpedos for deployment. Let's give them one hell of a bombing that they'll never forget!" N4 peeped a sign of agreement, and did as he was told.

"Red leader, this is Phoenix. Deploying proton and ion bombs. Stand clear of ship, this going to be a doozy!"

Macron issued a command, and all the fighters in the vacinity of the enemy ship scattered, leaving Corin alone. He rested his thumb on the top of his control. Compressing the button down into the stick, a whir sound signaled the opening of the bay. Click went the button as he popped up.

Corin's ears protested as the deafening sound of proton and ion torpedos resonated through the area, sending a shock wave forth form the enemy ship. The lethal mixture of ion and proton, combined with the chemically enhanced firepower of Corin's ship, created such a lethal blast that decimated the enemies shield, leaving it vulnerable to the onslaught which followed.


Corin backed out of his dive when all the bombs were let loose. "Arsenal deployed, sir." Stated Corin as he watch his fellow fighters fly past him and head for the ship.

"Great work Phoenix, but get that smug smile off your face! And how the hell did you do such a blast?"

"This ship's something else, that's why." He laughed it off and turned around to face the enemy ship.

Since the shields destruction, countless TIE's were spewing out of the ship and heading for the dwindling numbers of the Naga Sadow fleet. Corin wiped out three just as another two joined the pack. They shot at Corin's ship which reacted by firing it's hidden rotating cannon, spelling death for the TIEs.

"Red leader, I've got an idea! We can take out this ship if we just get it from the inside out."

"What are..." Macron was interrupted as he was shot by a TIE. Corin relieved him of this burden as the TIE went down in flames, separated in two by Corin's lasers. "What are you saying Phoenix?" Asked Macron, as if nothing had happened.

"I'm saying, sir, that if you give me a few damn good pilots we can land in the empty TIE bays and can get this damn ship from the inside and blow it to high heaven."

Macron laughed and said, "You got a lot of spunk, Corin, but you ain't that good..."

"Sir, I've done it before!" Interrupted Corin. "If you give me just one good pilot we can do this!"

There was silence. "You're serious..." Macron said, barely speaking to anyone. "Damn Phoenix, you leave me no choice. I don't trust you on this mission, but I know you're the best. I'm goin' with ya!"

Corin couldn't believe his ears. The one who was protesting was now joining him. "Yes sir, thank you sir."

“Corin.. breathe. Find yourself… and know your enemy. Your Master and my friend, Rasilvenaira, would ask that. I respect that Sith Witch…“ The madman twisted the Silooth about, allowing for the ion cannons to strip and caress an enemy TIE. "That one.. give him your hatred. I wish you could see the look on his face!"

The blown ship spiraled as a helpless victim. It spun hopelessly into space as Corin blew it straight to it's ancestors. Corin flamed several fighters as Revenant and EldradSin pulled off. They had blown out the Hammer TIE Interceptors. The Sapphire Squadron fliers moved to clear the way back.

“I’ll not be walking the death road today,” Macron thought as the Force showed him many tactical possibilities. He began to speak over the second encrypted link. R3 rapidly switched and enhanced the channels. He instinctively sought the best return line. The Heavy Rockets and Space Bombs had been delivered to their respective targets.

“We may die together on this attack run. It is the will of the Dark Side… May the Force be with you all. I am honored to die with you! Show me your hatred, Phoenix!” Macron almost chanted the encouraging words into the comm. unit. He was not so nearly sure of his own survival.
And he was completely nuts as well.

The alchemist worried as he spoke across the link. “Kaelin, Dump it all on their shield generator towers! Then we hit the hangar bay!” Mononoke wondered if could turn the ship inside out. He knew, he would gladly crash himself into their command bay. No glory could be greater than to serve Clan Naga Sadow with his insignificant death.

“I copy, “ replied Kaelin. “Consider it done.” His space bombs ripped into the ISD Command Tower. " I am following your nine," he replied. Kaelin was an accomplished pilot,

The Tribune smiled as a bloody tear slid from his painted eyes. He had dropped his rockets, and his blasted and shot gunboat now longed for the the solace of the Covenant. Corin and Kaelin threw their proton torpedoes into the ship, stripping it’s shields further as they turned about. Mononoke sped to the towers of destruction, flanked by his friends and apprentices.

"Bitches, I am blowing you to Hell!" Macron screamed as he mentally ripped at them with blasters long after his bombs had been dropped in order to rip the hell out of their shields. He was insane.

Bridge, Covenant

"He wants to us to WHAT ?" the Captain asked, doubting the voice of the Herald.

"You heard me. Engage the Relentless, that's an order Captain".

"Aye m'lord!" the Captain bowed, and began issuing orders.

"Battle stations! Have the support craft pull out to safer locations, helm, move us into weapons range of the Relentless. Weapons, prepare to fire at will"

A grin shown on Corin’s face as he joined the mad alchemist in his madman’s run. His blasters threatened to over-heat, but that was extremely unlikely for his new ship.

“Sir, we have to time this perfectly. With the speed the ship is moving, it’s going to be tricky getting into that hanger. Tell R3 to link connections with N4. We need all the precision we can get!”

“Phoenix, if we make it out of this alive…” Macron stopped at two TIE’s reared in behind him. “Get ‘em off of me Corin!”

Corin did as he was told and shot down the two TIE’s that burst into flames as Corin’s lasers came into contact with it.

“Sir, it’s time!” Corin yelled into his comm. link as the two ships prepared themselves for a landing. Corin’s landing gear was out and ready, and so was Mac’s.

The Silooth, which had been flying behind The Falcon pulled up beside Corin’s ship, and it’s landing gear was let out.

“Sir, follow my move!” Corin turned slightly to the right and the Silooth did the same. They were headed for the hanger bay at an angle. Corin’s thrusters cut out as did Mac’s, as the two birds slowly drifted toward the Relentless.

The Relentless

“Admiral,” cried a voice over the ships main comm. system, we got two boogies coming in slow. Their engines are off and their landing gear is out! Awaiting orders!”

Shoot them down Private!” Answered the Admiral, his eyes filled with a desire for the enemy’s blood.

Corin and Mac

“What the…” Corin watched as two lasers past in between them. “I thought we took care of those turrets!”

“As did I!” Yelled Mac, his hands beginning to sweat.

Corin held down on his trigger as lasers spat out of his ion cannons. It distracted the gunner, and Corin and Mac were able to evade its wrath.

“He’ll be back for another round!” Stated Mac as the two ships glided toward the Relentless.

They were now quite close and Corin instructed Mac to activate his reverse thrusters. As he did so, the hanger bay door sped past them and the two ships landed like a rock on the steel floor of the hanger. They made it!

Corins ship screeched to a halt and sparks flew everywhere. The Silooth, because of it’s weight, slowed faster than Corin’s and made more of a dent in the floor.

Corin’s landing gear had worked as plan, and Corin’s hull didn’t even touch the floor.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

The Jedi Hunter and the Alchemist were out of their ships and on their feet in minutes. Mac’s lightsaber was out, while Corin’s vibro-sword and rile were ready.

“Ready sir, to make history?”

Mac’s usual crazy, evil smile signaled “yes.”

Back on Sif the battle outside was intensifying. After the anti-air defences had gone offline the Imperial forces had fallen back, caught between the Ragnos snipers in the canyon and the Saraii rebels at the rear, led by the Overlord and Sif’s former Governor, Astronicus Sadow. Most of the Clan had withdrawn with Xayun into the ruins of the former Sadow Palace, once the Governor’s mansion of Sif, now the wreck of the underbelly of a Victory-class Star Destroyer.

Tron had since fallen in battle, gravely wounded, but alive. With the arrival of the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Relentless most of Sapphire Squadron and the Night Falcons had pulled back to assist the Covenant. The fight on the ground was finally looking up, but things looked as if they were about to turn sour in space. Fortunately, the Spear had now arrived to reinforce the Covenant, the combined payload of the two ships would hopefully buy those still stuck on Sif time to complete their mission.

== Earlier ==

Turret Control Room, Former Sadow Palace Defense Grid, Sif

Trevarus closed his eyes sensing a sudden shift in the Force.
Xanos brought his lightsaber through the next of the battle droids before turning back. “What is it?”
“The Overlord has arrived,” said Trevarus. “And it seems he’s brought aid.”
The Sith paused. “Should we carry on?”
Trevarus shook his head. “I will help the Overlord deal with the traitors; you can deal with the mission.”
Xanos raised his eyebrows. “Master, I’m touched, you trust me with the sword?”
A flash of anger shot across Trevarus’ face but he just shook his head and walked off in the direction of the Imperial camp. Xanos turned to head back the way they had came toward Sadow Palace.

== Present ==

West Palace Catacombs, a.k.a. Secondary Reactor Core Chamber, Former Sadow Palace, Sif

The Sith Lord paced through the rusted corridors, a quick swipe of his lightsaber dealing with the occasional threat the former palace’s defense systems chose to throw at him. The path had been clearer than Xanos had expected, seven years ago there had been an army of droids, hidden lasers, mines and other traps. It had once been customary to throw prisoners down into the ‘labyrinth’, if they escaped they would earn their freedom, not that any ever did.

However, despite the Imperial excavation having only begun recently, it seemed most of the droids had long since powered down or been stolen by thieves, many of the mines had apparently exploded when the ship launched all those years ago, parts of the corridors blown open, leaving great holes that spanned several floors.

Despite the name the Secondary Reactor Core Chamber was not really much of a chamber. The actual reactor was housed inside a large cylindrical chamber at the centre, about a hundred meters in diameter, lifting well into the ceiling and probably up through several floors above. The chamber was just a roughly torus, or donut, shaped ring. It was here that the Sword of Sadow had made its home for the last seven years.

Xanos pulled out his tracker and glanced at the screen. The readings were clear; the sword was here, somewhere. He shoved the tracker back into his pocket and unclipped his lightsaber from his belt. Wherever the sword was hiding, it would be well protected, and, positioned right next to the surviving reactor, whatever it was wouldn’t be offline like much of the rest of the wrecked ship.

-----

North Palace Catacombs, a.k.a. Lower Engineering Deck Gamma, Former Sadow Palace, Sif

Xayun slammed another battle droid into the wall with the Force before shutting down his lightsaber.
Zak shot the Aedile a look. “This one was using that to see,” growled the Nelvaanian.
Xayun shook his head and carried on walking down the narrow corridor. “I don’t think we’re far, the dark side is thick down here.” Xayun keyed on the next console but the door didn’t open. “Lousy hunk of junk. Why did we have to pick the section without power?”
Zak charged past him and threw himself into the door; it buckled and fell in the other side. They carried on into the darkness of the next corridor.

-----

You have got to be kidding me, thought Xanos. His tracker had finally been able to pinpoint the location of the Sword of Sadow, right in the center of the main reactor core. Why anyone would house the sword there he had no idea, he figured it must have been Astronicus’s way of keeping it from falling into enemy hands if anything ever went wrong. He was right. But it also meant it wouldn’t find its way back into the rightful hands either.

Xanos keyed the main palace override code into the console outside the doorway into the main core. The empty display switched to a green acceptance notice and the seals slowly depressed, the whine of a stream of air piercing the silence as the inside of the reactor decompressed, air flooding the room as the pressures equalised. It took about thirty seconds before the door finally slid up into the hollow of the wall.

Xanos had to shield his eyes as he stepped into the core chamber. At its center was the burning light of the secondary reactor, it was nothing like the size the main reactor would have been, but it was still bright enough to blind most species. The reactor consisted of what were essentially two orbs, one in the floor, another in the ceiling, each focused a stream of hypermatter between them where it was combusted and transformed into energy. A series of generators surrounded the reactor in a circular pattern, projecting a magnetic field around the core to contain what was in essence a miniature star. It would only take a single generator to short out to cause the whole place to explode.

The Sith stepped carefully through the room, searching for the hidden compartment which would surely house the Sword of Sadow. The chamber seemed unaltered, almost factory default, but there was something compelling in the Force at the far side.

The Sith Lord began to carefully make his way past the generators, one foot out of place and the whole place would go up. About halfway around the room Xanos’s foot dropped as he stepped down something. “Frack!” He stumbled as he nearly tripped into one of the generators. He hadn’t stepped down a level; the floor had suddenly given way, it was as if his foot had fallen into a hole in the floor.

Suddenly every light in the chamber went off and a loud mechanical voice came over the speakers. “Defense countermeasures activated. Self-destruct in thirty minutes.”

“Fierfek.”

-----

“Self-destruct in thirty minutes.”
“What the?” yelled Xayun. “Which one of you idiots touched something?”
Zak shook his head. “It wasn’t this one.”
“Oh for the love of…” Xayun shook his head. “I blame Caerick. We’re going to need to get out of here fast.”
“What about the sword?”
Xayun paused for a moment. “There isn’t enough time.” He switched on his wristcom. “This is Xayun. Shikyo, I sure hope you’re in a position to pull your troops back to the transports. This place is going to explode.”

-----

Xanos slammed his foot down into the floor panel. “I hate this place.” The Sith Lord quickly made his way to the end of the core and looked at the panelling. There was nothing special about it, the durasteel was a continuous sheet that seemed to stretch around the whole of the chamber. If the sword was here there was nothing to suggest it.

With more time Xanos would likely have dismantled the whole section, anything else would have been too much of a risk given the proximity of the reactor core and the probability of an explosion. The chance of an explosion was no longer a concern, the place was going to blow whether Xanos wanted it or not. “Screw finesse.” The Falleen flipped on his lightsaber with a snap-hiss and plunged it into the durasteel plating, burning a roughly circular panel away from the wall. With his other hand he lifted the plate free in the Force, softly lowering it to the floor so it didn’t roll into any of the field generators. It was too dark inside the wall to see anything. Xanos stuck his head inside and summoned up a short burst of light.

“Got you,” he whispered, pulling his head. Flicking his lightsaber back on, he burned off a section of his cloak and wrapped it around one of his hands. Reaching in he grabbed hold of the sword before unwrapping the strip of fabric and winding it round the blade. After tying it round the hilt Xanos completed his makeshift sling by fastening the weapon across his back with a noose around his neck.

Xanos unclipped his comlink from his belt and punched in Xayun’s frequency. “Warrior.”

-----

“Warrior.”
Xayun activated his wristcom. “Lord Zorrixor?”
“I’ve retrieved the Sword of Sadow. Have the Covenant send down the landing craft to pull us out. We’ve only got twenty minutes before this place goes nuclear.”
“We know, we heard the announcement,” replied Xayun, deciding not to make a comment about whether or not the Sith Lord had set off the self-destruct. “We’ve got problems though, there’s a Star Destroyer between us and the Covenant.”
“Then climb up on the hills and keep running. When this reactor blows its going to take there won’t be anything but a giant crater left of this whole area.”

-----

Bridge, Victory Star Destroyer Covenant, outskirts of the Phare system

“M’lord, the situation does not look good,” the captain of the Covenant pointed out.

“No, it doesn’t. Derev and Malisane are on that Star Destroyer, I do not suspect we will ever see them again,” Muz replied.

“Sir! We’ve received word from the planet. The Prophet is reporting they’ve found the Sword of Sadow and it is in his custody. They also seem to have recovered a large amount of other items of interest,” a commander maning the communications console reported.

“Very good. Captain, send down the landing craft, recover the Clan, we’re getting out of here,” Muz ordered as he made his way back to the Spear.

-----

Just outside the entrance to the Central Catacombs, Former Sadow Palace, Sif

“Shikyo, Xayun, gather your forces, keep them at the ready, I don’t expect the Hammer is going to allow us to just waltz out of the system,” Xanos ordered as the first of the landing craft began their final decent to the surface.

Rumors of what awaited the Clan in the skies above Sif were now running rampant. Some spoke of the entire Imperial Fleet being in order. Fleet or not, these troops were scared, hope was something quickly running out.

With Mac at point and Corin in the middle with N4 and R3 bringing up the rear, the two Jedi and their droids quietly exited the hanger bay and entered a small corridor. But before Corin closed the door behind him, he gazed back at his ship, hoping he would get a chance to ride it again.

"Here's the plan." Stated Corin when Mac turned around to face his companions. "We have a few options. We could invade the command center and shut down this ship, that would leave us not long to get back to our air crafts, or we could simply use these explosives..." He held up his side pack which was apparently filled with bombs and explosives. "That would leave us less than a minute to evacuate. Think is possible, Mac?"

He arched his eyebrow and answered, "No, but what the hell!" His crazy smile shown once again on his face as he ignited his saber and turned to face the long corridor. The fact that they were not being attacked or detained was disturbing to Mac, so he mentioned it to Corin.

"I know sir, that gunner that was attacking us must have told the bridge. We shall have some activity soon..." As Corin finished what he was saying, a single blaster bolt whizzed by the two Jedi. Mac's saber swung through the air as a dozen more lasers flew at them. They all were deflected by his saber.

Corin fitted his rifle to his shoulder and nocked down three soldiers with using his scope. The soldiers advanced but were cut down by Mac's saber. That was all of them, but more were sure to come if they didn't move!

"Sir, there!" Corin pointed at the top of a door frame. It said, Main Reactor. "We have to move quick!" The ship shook when Corin said this. "Damnit, the Covenant is engaging the Relentless! Let's go!"

Corin ordered N4 and R3 to stay behind and watch the ships.

Corin lead the way down the narrow passage. They met some resistance, but all were shot down or sliced up by Mac's saber. They were journeying deeper and deeper into the ship, and they could see signs of it: smaller corridors, dimmer passageways and sparcer workers. They followed the signs for quite a while, and N4 was reporting that the hanger was being shot apart by allied forces. "Radio them to stop!" Corin ordered to N4, and he did so.

Corin was about to randomly shoot at something when they came upon a small door about four feet tall and two wide. On the top of the door frame were written the words: Reactor: Authorized Personal Only.

"Let the fun begin!" Cackled Mac as he helped Corin unload his explosives. As they entered the room, a smell of burnt metal reached their noses. No workers were present, but many droids stood about doing their tasks. Mac cracked the neck of one and made the other implode. He smiled as he did the same to another droid.

"We have to work quick kid!" Advised Macron as Corin set the explosives on the floor. "How long did you say we'd have, again?"

"A little less than a minute." Corin stated, his voice cracking as he did so.

"Damnit! It took us ten to get here!" Yelled Macron in answer to Corin's statement.

"I know sir. That was with resistance and not knowing the path. I have a photographic memory. We can get out of here in much less time.

Macron wanted to believe Corin, but the facts were against them.

"The ship will not simply implode in a second, sir, it will take about a full minute for it to be completely disabled." Corin said as he flipped a few switched on an explosive he held in his hands. "That will hopefully be enough..."

"Hopefully? How many times have you done this kid?"

"My name's Corin!" Yelled Corin, sick and tired of being called kid. "And I've done this twice and both times were successful."

This didn't shut Mac up, but instead he helped Corin lay the explosives.

"Alright." Corin said when all of them were in place. "The second I press this sequence, we have fifty-two seconds to be safely out of range of this reactor. Sir, go on ahead. If you can get back to the ships before I do, you could clear a path for me."

Macron stood there thinking. "And pull the hero act ki...Corin?"

"This is not about being the hero!" Argued Corin. He was surprised that Mac called him Corin. "It's about doing my job!"

"Very well...but don't expect this to help any!" And he was off.

These next minutes were nerve racking for Corin, as he stood there in waiting. He occasionally radioed Mac, but he did not answer. Once he radioed Mac again and received no answer, Corin new what he had to do.

He quickly pressed in the sequence and was on his last number when he uttered four words that his Master had always said to him: "Or go down fighting."

Corin jumped up and ran for the door. He was out of the reactor room in seconds and was running down a lonely dark hallway.

The lone figure ran and ran. Up stairs, and down corridors. The path seemed to never end.

Corin was rounding a bend when he checked his comm. link. It had been fourty seconds, and he was running out of time. He was at least a minute away from the hanger.

As Corin rounded another bend he was confronted with five guards pointing their weapons at him. There were ten guards slain on the floor, and under the pile of bodies was his comrade, Macron. He saber was right next to Corin's feet and Corin's own weapons were out of reach.

In the blink of the guards eyes, Corin quickly bent down and held Mac's hilt in his hands. As the orange blade came to life, two guards fired their weapons, both missing Corin. A swing of the saber spelled death for the guards. Corin pocketed the hilt and picked the alchemist up in his arms. He continued his journey like nothing had happened.

The fifty second mark had been past, and Corin was anticipating the explosion.

Corin rounded another bend and was looking down the last corridor. The ship gave a deafening rumble as it slowly began to tilt to the right. Corin was now walking crooked as he opened the door to the hanger.

N4 and R3 were in their ships, and when they saw Corin and Mac, revved up the engines and got ready for take off.

Corin was forced to slap Macron about until he came to. The Relentless was now tilting much more and their ships began to slide.

Macron quickly jumped up and ran for his ship, not once thanking Corin.

Corin did the same, and their ships slowly fell out of the hanger bay and into space.

The two ships sped as fast as they could away from the Relentless. As they looked back, they saw their handy work. The Relentless was almost upside down cracks were appearing on it's sides.

"We did great work kid....Hey, where the hell's my hilt?"

Corin smiled and shot down a remaining TIE that flew by him, laughing all the while as Macron let out a sentence of swears and cusses.

The Sadow staging area outside of the palace proper had abandoned any semblance of organization. The line had broken, but not because of the overwhelming Imperial attack. It had simply been abandoned. It seemed the threat of thermonuclear vaporization was more pressing than the holding of a patch of dirt. Besides, the Sadow had gotten what they had come for, if the word on the comm was accurate, and survival at any cost was paramount. The Sadow were currently dashing madly toward the lifeboat landing zone, running over and through the confused Imps, who clearly hadn’t gotten the message that the entire area was soon going to be one with the Ether, and woe to anyone who lingered to watch.

----------------------------------------------

Sai reached the cavern’s mouth just as Shin’ichi was emerging from it, Ashia’s arm draped around his shoulder for support. The Guardian stopped short at the sight of the pair; his master was doting on Ashia, something that seemed totally out of his character. His Tetrarch was also a shadow of herself; Ashia’s eyes still shone with the same dangerous light, but it was wilder, more furtive. This was not the same confident, assertive woman he’d left when he and his master had gone "ghost”.

Shin admonished his frozen apprentice. “If you were always this remiss in your duty, I’d have never taken you in!” The pronouncement shocked the Korun into action, as he rushed to Ashia’s other side and draped her other arm around his shoulders in a mirror of Shin.

“Master, what’s...”

“...’going on?’”, Shin finished as Sai stared across Ashia’s babbling form into his master’s eyes. “Oh, don’t be surprised; you’re just that predictable,” he said as Sai abandoned hopes that he and his master had reached the level of non-verbal communiqués. “I’ll keep it simple so you’ll be sure to understand: It seems that someone took something down there, and down there ain’t too happy about it. There’s gonna be a big boom pretty soon and if we don’t hurry...”

“...’we’ll be a part of it.’” Sai finished with a grin, and it was Shin’s turn to look shocked.

“Anyway,” Shin began, “it’s your turn.”

“Well, Master, it seems that it’s high time to go. There are lifeboats o.t.w.*, and if we expect to ever reminisce over drinks at the tavern, we’d better be on one.” The trio picked up their pace and shuffled on.

--------------------------------------------

They went largely ignored as they painfully pressed on, skirting between pockets of violence between the Sadow and the Imps, who were gradually getting the word to stop, or at least delay, the retreating Sadow at any cost. They had nearly reached the landing zone when they nearly collided with an Imp detachment, about seven strong, hurrying to the former staging ground to help with the delay.

The seven and the three stared at each other for an almost interminably long time, until Sai broke the silence with his steel singing as his katana cleared its sheath. Wearily, he uttered “I’ll handle this,” standing between the Imps and his clanmates as they continued their shuffling march to safety, his eyes shining with determination.

“Just be sure that you do, my young apprentice,” Shin’ichi, called over his shoulder, half-leading, half-dragging Ashia, his voice barely audible above the charging of blasters.


*o.t.w. - on the way

Draken stood at the front line, being one of the first to greet the Imperials who boldly
pressed the attack on the forces of Naga Sadow. Word was quickly spread that the sword
was found and more importantly, word was brought that the Imperials were ready to bomb
the entire planet to dust. Multiple men were running backwards along the line and only
few brave enough stood tall against the Imperial host. Shooting troopers and resurrected
battle droids.

The Valheru had flashbacks of his past, this battle was far to familiar for him than he
admitted it to be and it worried him. It even scared him to a certain length. Not as a
Dark Jedi, but mostly as a Valheru.

Suddenly, in the chaos of battle, memories of the far past caught over him as he went
into a state of trance.

------------------------------------------

(OOC: I wrote this a long time ago for an assignment, sorry if some parts are a bit too
fantasy like, I tried to make as much SW like as possible. Just picture it as a very low tech civilisation.)

Planet Shi – Few years after the Birth of the Old Republic…..

The sun was settling behind the mountain ridge to his right, in the contrast of orange and
red he saw the dragons fighting the flight craft in the sky. These republic fighters as the
aliens called them. The Dragons were fighting a hopeless battle and he knew he would
lose this battle soon, and with it the honor of victory while defending his kingdom from the aliens.

With a sharp sound a fighter engaged him, an easy target while standing on a dragon Vykor
did not see the Fighter head in his direction. The Valheru Prince looked up to the fighter in a
split second but knew he was going to be to late to get away in time. Even while knowing his
defeat the Valheru jumped of the Dragon and when he looked behind him while rolling trough
the mud getting as far as he could in one jump, he saw the fighter being pushed into a small
group of droids destroying them with him. The Valheru looked behind him, seeing five holy mages
of the Temple of the God. These Mages were trained in the Force as far as they could understand it.
There were not many of them and most of them were kept at the castle as a final meaning of defense.
Vykor figured his father had send the five mages to determine his son was still alive or not. Four of
the mages walked to the field of battle and started to lift objects pushing them into the alien army
or healing fellow Valheru. The Elder Mage, also called the Valerian, grabbed Vykor at the wrist and
pulled him up.
“You have done well in securing the line my Prince, your father would be very proud.”
”Thank you Valerian, I am honored by your words. Yet fate has turned his back on my since I
have lost men than I anticipated. Therefore I am glad with your kind help.” The Valheru prince
said and the elder nodded in acknowledgement smiling lightly.
“Lets try to do more damage to them than they can anticipate.” The elder said and he walked with
Vykor to the battlefield.

Vykor grabbed his sword with both hands and started chopping into the alien invaders and their machines.
The Valerian closed his eyes and put his hands together in front of his face, whispering into his hands.
Vykor watched the elder in fascination. The mages were dressed in a long hooded robe, colored in the
white and gold colors of the Valheru. They had a medallion around their neck with each a different sign
branded on it. The Valerian had a dragon with lightning on his medallion.
Suddenly the Valerian stopped whispering and pointed his hands forward, releasing lightning from the tips
of his fingers. The machines exploded or fell down when hit while the aliens were killed when exposed to long
to it. Vykor used this as a signal and pushed forwards, chopping with his sword trough the battered side of the
alien army while the other part was attacked by the Valerian.

Slowly the sky was darkened and the cooling air whipped the fog of war away from the battlefield.
The Valheru prince suddenly saw a few of his brethren looking and pointing upwards, and when Vykor
looked he knew why they did. Three large capital ships were hanging in low orbit over the battlefront
turning at their sides. The alien invaders and droids retreated on a swift move suddenly.
”We won!” One of the warriors said fatigued and in a joyful spirit and with him others began to cheer as well.
Vykor looked more closely upwards and suddenly knew it was not over.
”Retreat! Quick! Retreat!” The Prince roared desperately but before anyone could react the capital ships
fired down onto the Valheru. Enormous blasts slammed into the ground throwing the Valheru warriors
aside as if they were nothing more than dust.
Vykor wanted to run away but a blast came down in front of him which would have him killed, but before it
did the Valerian stepped before the prince. Vykor’s eyes widened and when the thunderous sound of
incoming fire sounded in Vykor’s ears everything turned black….

----------------

Draken shook his head, the memories of the last Valheru prince were made his own when he took Vykor’s
body as his host just years before he died. The Valheru Templar suddenly noticed he was down on his
knees and the front line was being overwhelmed by the Imperials. He looked around him, every sound
seemed to come from miles away. His vision was a blur, as if someone just hit him hard on the head with
a blunt object.

The Obelisk tried to stand up and could barely do so. The droids started to target the downed Dark Jedi
and started to approach him. Draken ignited his saber and chopped his way through the droid group.
Deflecting bolts and severing limbs. The Obelisk, still infused with a trance, moved backwards along
the line towards the escape shuttles. The Valheru suddenly tripped and fell down, catching his breath,
his arm pulsing with pain, the black veins pushing onward over his arms to his shoulder.

Draken’s eyes blurred as pain overtook him and his energy started to drain away from him like blood
from an open wound.

“Are you afraid Draken? Are you scared?” Ylith said from the back of Draken’s head and the Valheru
shook his head.
“Now is not the time Romanae.”
“It never is Valheru, but we both know we need to, if we wish to survive.”
“I know no fear.”
”You avoid the truth, you, no we, are dying Draken. And only together can we stop it.”
“The memories surface…”
”I know, I sense them too, but we need to keep on. We need to support our clan. Sapphire Squadron
needs it’s Commander.”
“So tired..”
“What are you afraid of?”
“I am…alone..”
“No you are not, you may be last of your kind, but realize this. Naga Sadow is your home, and at
home awaits your family, your clansmen. Don’t let them down. History repeats itself, only to be change
it’s course. Fight Draken, fight with your family against these scum.”

Suddenly all kinds of emotions raged along Draken, but it didn’t take long as a blasted bolt skimmed
his side and left a gaping and scorched wound.
The Valheru’s eyes returned from the blur and trance they were in and when the droid who shot
approached Draken to finish him off, the Obelisk slammed his metal arm through the battle droids
armor, damaging his own arm in the process.

“Damn that felt good, now to get the hell out of here.” Draken said and he ran towards the shuttles
and when he did he saw Sai fight a few Imperial troopers with his Katana. Though he already rose
fast along the ranks of the Dark Jedi and was a good fighter, one wrong move would have himself killed for sure.

Sai pushed hard against the Imperial troopers, his katana slamming into the Vibroblades they carried.
Sweat ran over his face as fatigue slowly took hold over the Guardian. He softly cursed at himself for
being so bold and began to see what meaning his Master’s warning had for him.

Suddenly Sai heard an Imperial Trooper behind him, sword raised high and Sai tried to move fast
enough to deflect the blade, knowing he wouldn’t come out of it unharmed. When he closed his eyes
awaiting the painful impact, he heard the man cry out in pain before his dead body fell to the floor.
Sai opened his eyes and saw the man lying down, a blue flaming sword sticking into his chest and in
a second he knew what happened.

“Ylith…”

He barely said it and a red lightsaber cut through the rest of the Imperial Troopers and left them
for dead. With the force, the Valheru called his mighty sword to his hand and smiled as he regarded
the Guardian.

“Still as bold as ever aren’t you Sai? C’mon, lets find a shuttle and get out of this nasty place.”

The Guardian nodded and followed the Templar to the extraction point.

“Good thing you left my blade in my canopy,” growled the alchemist. “I should cut your hands off and seek your agony threshold just for touching it. Fortunately for you, Rasi is my friend.” The alchemist affected a stern mien, even though he was proud of Corin.

The explosives had disabled a section of the ship, and were certainly enough to occupy them for a bit. “R3, run virus attack vector x-ray tango twelve niner,” said Mac as he punched in a broadcast code on Imperial channels.

“Don’t count your wampas yet, Corin. I seriously doubt that did them in. Prolly just pissed them off- they have their own explosives experts, you know.” Macron still wondered why the ship was wallowing like that. “I doubt it will take them long at all to recover. Still, the Covenant may get in some good shots before then.”

“I bet Derev has something to do with it,” he wondered to himself. “Or maybe that attack virus I laid into R3 to beam them just now.”

“You think we should drop planetside and give an escort?” asked Corin.

“Not a bad idea. Not much we can do here, out of ordnance and all shot up. Let’s leave this to the flyboys,” replied Mononoke across the static-laden link.

“Sadow Air group, this is Ylith and Sai. Do you copy?” came a message from down below.

“I copy, this is Interrogator,” replied the Tribune as his droid cleared up the transmission. Ionization from the building reactor was interfering with the signal. “What’s all that noise on the horn?” asked Macron as he analyzed the interference. “Looks like hot ions and gamma to me… what the hell are you guys cooking down there?”

“Classified. However- we are all getting the hell out of here, stat. Think you guys can give us a cover?” replied Sai.

“We’re on our way,” said Corin.

Kaelin had been engaged with several bogeys when Macron and Corin exited the hanger. Vaguely he heard the exchange between Command and Mononoke. Grimly he fired his already heated lasers to pick off as may as he could, before hurrying after the sith.

Hundreds of ships still filled the air and the small group's ships constantly shuddered from debris, stray shots, and mid-space impacts. The heavy lasers aboard the Covenant resumed their barrage as soon as the group cleared the ship. Almost hopelessly ships on either side fought to gain dominance and suppress the opposition. By now, the ISD had controlled most of the damage. Both the stabilizers and artificial gravity in the ship had been damaged by the interior explosion and an extremely well placed bomb. The crew aboard the Hammer’s ship was furiously working on them and the listing was being corrected. The reactor was still hot and radiation poured from damaged gaskets but crews had already been ordered to mend it.

Waves of bombers pelted the ISD’s shields and engines. Fighters dove again and again upon enemy ships and were rewarded with explosions aplenty. They were also targeted and many died in each pass. Bombers sustained the brunt of the defender’s wrath. Grimly determined each pilot pushed the most out of his vessel inflicting as much damage as he could before being blasted into oblivion.

The Emperors Hammer weren’t only defending. Waves of ships still exited their docking bays to smash themselves upon the shields of the Covenant. Desperation was palpable in that small sector of space. All around it, the dark side pulsed as the most powerful of the ‘dark jedi’ sought to use their skills against their enemy. Seen, and unseen, the duel had not finished, nor was the climax over, but the brief respite they had received was ending.

Down on the ground it was a desperate struggle as well. The teams that were sent out by the Naga Sadow clan were struggling to return to the rendezvous point and get off the antagonistic planet. The Hammer’s teams were meeting them head on at every turn, desperate to gain that which they had lost. The massacres that ensued were horrendous as the amount of dead left behind rose. Neither side had time to gather their dead as the fought for their objectives. It seemed almost endless. But for the clan’s men and women the end was in sight.

Zak fled the remains of Sadow palace with what remained of his group, swearing loudly in Nelvaanian the entire way. He flew like a hawk before the face of a wildfire, clawed toes digging up clots of dirt and slinging it into the air behind him as he went. The Nelvaanian leaped over boulders, sidestepped the skeletal remains of the dead, running until his breath went ragged but did not flag.

About ten minutes of hard running later, Makurth entered the evac zone, dropped his troops off, and fled for his ship, a ARC-170 fighter. He took two other CNS pilots with him, one to act as co-pilot and the other for the tail gunner. Zak leaped into the cockpit, flipped on the switches, sealed the hatches, and scorched the ground in his rapid acesention. He turned on his transponder as he yelled into the comm.

"Macron, this one runs to the space battle before it. Need help do you?" He flipped a few more switches and set his S-foils into attack position.

Bridge, Victory I-class Star Destroyer Covenant

"Sir, we're taking severe damage from the Imperial Fleet," a terrified naval ensign reported.

"Aye, I'm bloody aware of it!" the Captain of the Covenant retorted, as the ship shook beneath him once again.
"Commander, contact the Herald, inform him we will need to retreat, or this ship may not survive the day."#

Bridge, Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Relentless

"Attention on Deck!" Major Mosh shouted as he walked onto the bridge of the Relentless, both of his blasters drawn, aimed at the Commodore. Behind him a large entourage followed, in the middle Rear Admiral Thorin Oakenshield. Across the bridge, every man drew his weapons, some aimed at the Commodore, some at Derev, others were totally confused and didn't seem to know where to point.

Derev slowly drew his sabre and stepped out in front of his entourage. "Gentlemen, those of you who don't know me, my name is Derev Niroth, formerly Rear Admiral Thorin Oakenshield. This was my ship, and today, it is again." With a nod to Mosh the entourage spread out across the bridge. The Commodore took aim at the Battlemaster with his blaster and fired a shot.

Fire broke out across the bridge, every member of the crew took aim at a target, the Battlemaster ignited his sabre along side his fellow Quaestor. For a few moments, the Bridge was a light show, but in the end, the fearsome blades of the Jedi won, deflecting blaster fire back at those who were hostile.

Within two minutes, the bridge was silent again, a few supporters had been hit in the fighting but, all in all, the losses were acceptable.

Derev nodded to Malisane, as the two began racing about the bridge and started issuing orders.

Outside the site of the former Sadow Palace, Sif, Phare system

"...finish mining the place and then get out of here. I'll follow as soon as I'm out," Xanos was saying.

"Aye Xanos, it will be done," Shikyo responded as he ended the communication with the Prophet.

“Self-destruct in fourteen minutes,” sounded the loud mechanical voice of the automated defense grid.

Most of the transports were already filled and finalising lift off procedures. Only a few troopers remained, hurriedly planting the final charges around the drop zone to ensure the Sadow Palace was finally laid to rest, forever.

"Raven, Vladek, begin the final preparations, set charges for five minutes, and get the hell out of here!" ordered Shikyo as Xayun issued similar orders across the field.

Outskirts of the site of the former Sadow Palace near Astatine City, Sif, Phare system

“Get the Overlord onto a stretcher and get aboard the Nighthawk!” barked Trevarus, signalling for some of the Saraii to move Astronicus Sadow to the waiting shuttle before disappearing into the crowd shouting more orders.

Bridge, Dragon-class Skirmisher Fallen Spear

"M'lord!" one of the Guardsmen shouted. "The Relentless is firing on the Imperial ships!".

The Herald smiled to himself, knowing the plan had finally succeeded. "Very good, inform all friendlies to begin their runs. Send a message to Antei and Orian; tell them to begin preparations for our arrival."

Bridge, Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Relentless

"Derev... we have a problem," Malisane said, this time with no smile or grin on his face.

"What now?" Derev asked, fearing what could trouble the Quaestor that much.

"The self-destruct sequence has been activated," Malisane replied matter of factly. Derev ran to a computer panel and began inputting his command codes. The beeping informed him his code was not accepted. The Battlemaster pounded his fist into the panel.

"Get to the flight decks and escape pods; broadcast the signal I gave you all, you won't be harmed." Derev ordered as he keyed in a signal to another panel. After a final command was executed, a loud claxon began to ring along with a pre-recorded warning message.

"All hands, abandon ship. This is not a drill. Self-destruct will enable in fourteen minutes, fifty-five seconds."

"Malisane, get out of here, I have one more thing to do." Malisane hesitated, but after a moment, followed the order and began ushering people off the bridge.

Silooth, somewhere near Loki, Phare system

"All hands, abandon ship. This is not a drill. Self-destruct will enable in fourteen minutes, fifty-five seconds,” sounded the main comm console.

“I think your explosions may have fracked off the Relentless’s main computer,” said Corin over the console.

Macron shrugged in his chair. “Could be,” he said with a mischievous grin.

Bridge, Victory I-class Star Destroyer Covenant

“Captain,” said the ensign in a panic.
“Yes?”
“We’re intercepting a message from the Relentless. Sounds like someone activated their self-destruct. They’re scuttling.”
“That’s the first good news all day. Signal our fighters to pull back, we don’t want anyone to be near that thing when she blows,” replied the Captain.

Outside the site of the former Sadow Palace, Sif, Phare system

“Self-destruct in ten minutes.”

“That’s the last of them,” said Shikyo, referring to the last of his proton detonators.
Xayun nodded. “Good. We should be getting out of here. Load up, we’re taking off.”
“What about the sword? Aren’t we going to wait for him?” asked Shikyo.
Xayun shut his eyes and shook his head. “We can’t afford to wait any longer. We’re just going to have to hope he gets out of there before everywhere explodes.”
Shikyo sighed heavily. “Okay. I’ll start the charges and then we can get out of here.”

Central Catacombs, former Sadow Palace, Sif, Phare system

“Self-destruct in nine minutes.”

Xanos hurried through the abandoned tunnels, drawing heavily on the Force to carry him as fast as his body could move. His face was beginning to burn as he forced his cells to work faster than would normally be natural, his muscles were beginning to ache in the way even Force energy could not stop.

“Going somewhere, Master?”

Xanos flew back, a wall of Force energy colliding with him and sending him tumbling back down the darkened tunnel. Pulling himself to his feet with a groan the Prophet glanced back up the tunnel, reaching out to locate the source of the intrusion.

The deep guttural laugh echoed down the corridor. “Did you really think the Brotherhood was going to let you get away with something as precious as the great sword of Naga Sadow himself?”

Xanos unsheathed the Sword of Sadow from his harness. “And did you really think Clan Naga Sadow was ever going to allow traitorous filth like you to get their hands on the Sword of Sadow?”

Laughter bellowed down the corridor again. “Me? A traitor? Don’t make me laugh. I am the loyalist, not you, Eight of Seven.”

The Falleen scowled in anger. “Do not think to lecture me on loyalty. My loyalty is to the dark side. Filth like you could never understand the Brotherhood was but an agent of our own creation. Loyalty to the Brotherhood itself is meaningless.”

The laughter took on a higher pitch. “Indeed? It sounds like you’re no more loyal to this new Brotherhood of yours as to ours.”

Xanos spat. “Enough. Who are you?”

The silhouette of a cloaked figure stepped out from the shadows from the mouth of the corridor. “I am Master Irek. And I shall be the last face you ever see, Master.” A pair of azure blades ignited and in seconds were upon the Prophet.

Saber’s Edge, orbit, near Sif, Phare system

“Anything yet?” asked Shikyo anxiously.
Xayun shook his head. “Nothing. And there’s only three minutes before those detonators explode.”

Central Catacombs, former Sadow Palace, Sif, Phare system

Lightsaber crashed against steel as the Prophet spun the Sword of Sadow to face the Dark Jedi Master’s blades.

“There’s just one thing you forgot,” whispered Xanos.
Irek scowled as he tried to best the Falleen’s strength. “And what’s that?”
“I stopped being a Master some time ago.” With a burst of Force energy the Sith Lord flung Irek back up the tunnel, summoning his lightsaber to his free hand in the same movement.
Irek pulled himself to his feet and rose an arm to wipe away some of the dust with his sleeve. “And you think this matters, little Sith? You could be a Grand Master and you would still be a traitor to the true Dark Lord.”
Xanos threw himself up the tunnel, his lightsaber and the Sword of Sadow crashing into Irek’s twin blades.

Lightsaber on lightsaber wailed in protest, the chamber illuminating in the twisting crimson and azure light. Feigning a fall when Irek pushed forward again, Xanos allowed himself to fall back, holding the Master’s lightsabers pinned above his own head as he followed through with his feet, bringing them up and under into the Master’s torso. Irek stumbled backward, Xanos somersaulting back down the tunnel onto his feet. In a flash Irek dashed forward again, Xanos whipping his blades around to block another attack.

“You cannot win,” said Xanos coldly.
“Winning…” he growled, “was never… the plan.” The Dark Jedi Master shoved forward, sending Xanos tumbling back down the tunnel.
Xanos righted himself before he reached the bottom and narrowed his eyes. “What?”
Irek glanced at his wrist, his face creasing into a bitter smile.

“Self-destruct in seven minutes.”

Understanding dawned on Xanos’s face. The rogue Master had never planned to escape alive. He just intended to keep the Prophet here until they were both incinerated in the explosion. A flash of malevolence shot across the Falleen’s eyes.

Irek began to break into a twisted laugh, a madman’s laugh. “You fool. There is no escape.”

Replacing his lightsaber on his belt, Xanos glared at the Dark Jedi Master. “Did I not already tell you? Traitorous filth like you will never get your hands on the sword.” The Sith Lord drew in upon himself, summoning the full fury of the dark side, his fingers crackled with white-hot sparks of energy, the Sword of Sadow singing as it flashed in the dark.

For an instant Irek’s eyes widened, understanding dawning on him as his sight was eclipsed by blinding light, then he was gone.

“Thus die all traitors,” said Xanos.

The Sith Lord raced up the corridor, not even bothering to look down at the smouldering pile of ash where once had stood the Dark Jedi Master Irek.

Outside the site of the former Sadow Palace, Sif, Phare system

“R8, ready the ship for take off,” yelled Xanos as he hurried into the cockpit of his waiting E-wing.
The droid beeped in disapproval.
“I don’t care what a cold start will do to the engines, just get us airborne now!”
R8 whistled in resignation. A few seconds later the engines fired to life and the repulsors began lifting the ship into the air.
“How long before those detonator go off?” asked Xanos. The droid flashed the message ‘48 seconds’ up on the main display. The Sith Lord took a deep breath and threw the engines to maximum. “This better work.”
The E-wing shot into the air just as the next warning from the defense grid sounded over the comm. “Self-destruct in five minutes.”
“Hold on R8,” said Xanos as he braced himself into his seat when the first of the detonators began to explode in sequence down the valley. Piles of debris were flung into the air as the walls of the cliff face began to collapse back in onto themselves, sending mounds of rock and stone rolling back down into the crater where the Sadow Palace had once stood. The ships they had been forced to leave behind, either through choice or simply none left alive to crew them were caught up under the tide of ruin, tumbling down into the dark abyss with the rest.
R8 beeped and whirled as the fighter shot into orbit, accelerating to maximum to rejoin the retreating forces.
“We’re not out of this yet, R8. What’s the battle status up here?”
The droid began rolling out a running status report on the display. The Covenant had sustained heavy damage and was falling back to jump however the Relentless was no longer pursuing, instead it just seemed to bit drifting there. The other landing craft had began to pull away for their respective jump coordinates while the other fighters that had been leading the attack were withdrawing back to the Covenant.
“Open a channel, R8,” said Xanos. “This is the Prophet. I have the Sword of Sadow. Preparing to jump.”

Bridge, Victory I-class Star Destroyer Covenant

"This is the Prophet. I have the Sword of Sadow. Preparing to jump.”

The Captain hurried over to the comm station. “Ensign open a…”
“Done sir,” said the ensign, interrupting.
“Sending you the rendezvous coordinates, Lord Zorrixor,” said the Captain. “Mission accomplished it seems.”
“Indeed, mission accomplished,” replied the Sith Lord. “Now don’t you have a couple of Quaestors to rescue?”
The Captain nodded to himself. “Indeed, sir, indeed.” He turned over to the tactical station. “Lieutenant, get some shuttles out there to retrieve the two Governors then its time to go home.”

Silooth, Near VSD Covenant, Phare System
------

“That was unexpected. It would seem their central comp had a virus failsafe, activating the detonator,” he thought. Macron scanned his readouts, noting the status of his systems. Most were near 80%, commendable considering the punishment his ship had taken. The hyperdrive was fully functional, and able to operate at it’s total point seven five moderator. “Excellent,” the Sith whispered as R3 began to guide it into the docking bay.

His gunboat landed aboard the Covenant with a jolt, and technicians scrambled to refuel and make repairs along with several droids.

The hololink opened in his ship. “Macron, this is Lord Vexatus,” came the eerie voice from the wavering azure figure. Macron’s retort died on his tongue.

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Don’t get out. The Covenant jumps in two minutes. You launch again in one and 45,” the Dark Lord said calmly.

“Wha…?” asked Mac as he remembered to shut the hell up. He felt the veins in his neck throb.

“Most of our TIE’s don’t have jump capability, or your hyperdrive speed," continued the Falleen. “Several pilots have been lost, and some of our jump capable fighters are heavily damaged. We’ll need you to make one more run. This time, fly with the Saber’s Edge and escort those shuttles. We must recover the Governors alive. This is a priority, alchemist. Do not fail,” said the ghostly blue image of Xanos as it faded.

“Vessel loaded and fueled,” said the ASP droid as it communicated with Macron and R3.
“Launch in 30 seconds.” A technician knocked on the canopy for luck as the gunboat wheeled about, pulled by tow droids.

The lurch of acceleration almost caught the Sith by surprise. His jaw still hung open after the interminable 30 second wait. He closed it carefully. “Space sortie number three,” he growled. “Not my fracking day.” Three assault shuttles spat forth from the Covenant, and Macron swooped to run point for them.

Makurth pulled alongside Mononoke’s three o’clock in an ARC-170 and waggled his wings. Macron nodded, both pilots easily visible across the 30 meter divide. Corin pulled along in the Falcon II on the six o’clock vector. They now needed to rendezvous with the Saber’s Edge, and find the Quaestors.

Having since disembarked the lifeboat aboard the Covenant, Sai’s duties had been revamped. Although being trained as a deadly extension of his master’s will, he would currently serve the good of the Clan; right now, as a Guardian, he was to assist in clearing the capital ship’s vast cargo hold of equipment retrieved from the planet. It was a bit difficult for Sai to remember that there was still a battle going on; the Silooth’s landing and rapid redeployment served an ample reminder.

The Korun joined his work detail as he espied Shin’ichi and Ashia disappearing down a corridor. His Tetrarch looked none the worse for wear, having clearly undergone some trauma that did not outwardly show in the physical sense. If her haggard look was no indicator, the sight of his hovering master, growling at med droids that attempted to render help to Ashia, was a sure sign. Sai would make a point to converse with his master on the matter; if he was to be an effective extension, he would need to know a bit more of the world in which he was to operate. In the meantime, Sai helped a clan mate with the hoisting of a cumbersome crate onto a hoverlift, adding to the considerable logistical hustle and bustle.

Darkness enveloped her mind like a velvet glove. The nightmare of Ashen froze her to incapacity.

'This isn't real.' Her mind fought to gain control, to push the fear away.

Slowly her eyes returned to their normal shade of blue. She looked around slowly trying to focus her vision. Her eyes fell to find Shin'ichi; that was the last thing she saw.

-----------------------
On board the Fallen Spear

Ashia Kagan sat bolt upright, a scream dying on her lips. Shin jumped out of his chair, knocking it over as he instinctively grabbed at his sabre.

"Frack, Ash! Give me a heart attack why don't ya?" The Keibatsu wasn't use to her surprising him like that as he usually knew what she was going to do just as soon as she knew it. The dull sound of the Nightsister's heart pounded in her ears as she tried to steady her breathing.

Shin opened his comlink. "Mac. She's awake."

He turned his chair back over; sitting back down and regarding her with a coldness in his eyes that never seemed to go away.

"What happened?" She looked around at the room. It was one of the recovery rooms aboard the Spear. "How'd we get here?"

He blinked at her in silence for a moment, rubbing his hands together before speaking.

"You fell during battle. We aren't sure what happened really, just that your 'nightmare' rendered you paralyzed."
Ashia was thoroughly abashed. The last thing she remembered, they were on Sif with blaster fire whizzing past their heads.

"What about the battle, what hap...?" She started then her face fell. "My battle team! Are they..."

"Fine, Corin is still flying alongside Mac, Ruluk and Adrian are with Xayun on the Covenant. I brought Sanjuro and Sai back to the Spear with us."

"So the battle still rages?"

"The ruins exploded when the sword was recovered. We had to make a hasty retreat. Macron and Corin have gone to help find Derev and Malisane."

At that, Shin's comlink crackled to life, the cackle of the crazy Sith came echoed off the walls of the small room. "Good! Glad to hear it. Ash, can you hear me?"

"I'm here, Mac."

"Good. There's a vial in the fridge on the second shelf. You know what to do. I'll check in with you when this is all done."

"Ok, Mac. Thanks."

Shin clicked the comlink off and looked at her sideways. "Another one of his 'cocktails'? He recalled the effect his brother's medicines had on his apprentice and sighed heavily.

There was a slight knock on the door as it opened quietly. The imposing figure of Muz Keibatsu filled the doorway. His dark eyes shimmered like pools of onyx. Shin'ichi stood up to head towards the door. He glared hard at his brother for a moment. He quietly whispered to him as he left, "You did this to her...you fix it."

Ashia watched him quietly. The darkness that lived inside swam across his visage for a moment, then was gone. She hesitated for a moment before enveloping herself in his arms.

"It'll be ok, Tiger."

Victory-class Star Destoyer Covenant

The medic pushed the repulsor pad towards the sickbay, a lone figure lying semi-unconscious on top. He was wrapped and bandaged as well as any feild medic could do, added with what Clan Naga Sadow's resident Sith Alchemist had done for him.

Revenant "Caligula" Mandalore, a Sith Warrior and Black Guard of the Overlord, walked alongside as they made their way to the medical facility. He could only think of how he should have been there for his master, but he had been ordered by that very one to fulfill his duties as a member of Sapphire Squadron. Every now and then the Overlord would mumble something, Revenant couldn't help but wonder if he was dreaming or actually trying to tell him something.

"…Sadow…Sadow…we have to get Sadow's…" mumbled Astronicus, his eyes closed with his head shaking back and forth.

"It's alright m'lord, we'll be at Sickbay soon and they'll place you in a Bacta Tank where you'll recover from your wound." Assured Revenant.

"…no, no…we have…we have to get Sadow's…Sadow's sarcophagus…"uttered the weak voice of the once mighty Overlord.

"Sadow's sarchophagus?" Asked Revenant, "What does that have to do with anything? We're in the Phare System. We're recovering the Sword of Sadow, or rather we've recovered the Sword." Sadow's sarchophagus? That didn't make any sense at all, why would Tron mention that? It was on Korriban in Naga Sadow's tomb, having been moved there from Yavin IV the same time the Sword of Sadow was originally first moved.

Arriving at Sickbay the medic and Revenant took Astronicus to the chief medical officer and after making the necessary arrangments for him, Revenant took the doctor to the side.

"Do NOT under any circumstances allow anyone outside your immediate staff see the Overlord like this. It could dampen the morale of the Clan if they were to find out." Ordered Revenant, "I now leave the Overlord in your care, see to it he recieves your utmost attention."