The Grey Association

Prologue

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…

There exists within the Galaxy Jedi, and Sith. Religious groups that are regularly seen as forces for light and darkness respectively. However there are billions of Force-sensitives in the Galaxy and who believe in a different view of the force. The Potentium view claimed that there was no inherent evil in viewing the Force. They claimed that what others called the light side was actually just the Force itself, which is inherently good. The Unifying view when people believe the Force was everything, and everything was the Force; that the Force did not have sides and never took sides. Sith believe that the Force is theirs to command (in direct contrast to the Jedi where the Force was concerned with the ideals of good, benevolence, and healing.) and it is to be used as a weapon to gain more power. Then there are the many Force-sensitive cults like the Baran Do and the Zeshion Sha. Finally there are the Greys. Grey Jedi believe that Jedi Pacifism is not the answer but providing balance between Dark and Light and accepting that a combo of both views of the Force are the path to enlightenment. There was a time the Grey Jedi were still members of the Jedi order but through the years they broke off and became Rogue Jedi.

One of the most famous Grey Jedi was Aaran Skywalker. He was a rogue Jedi exploring the Galaxy and studying different combat techniques. He became an assassin, and is credited for introducing the Grey view to the galaxy. He had 3 brothers, 2 of whom were his triplets and the other a kid brother. His father and mother were dead long ago and he was left to fend of the galaxy by himself. He was trained at the academy, but left and took some of his like-minded friends with him. And this is just one of his many adventures with his friends and brothers.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. "Strap up guys, we're hitting atmosphere in less than 30 and it's gonna be bumpy!" Aaran Skywalker put the PA mike down and glanced at his pilot and best friend Dion. He had gold hair, gold eyes and white pupils. He had a slightly muscular frame and highly dextrous fingers. He was always wearing black fingerless flying gloves and felt safe only in a ship. Anywhere else and he felt exposed.

"We spent 65 000 credits on this thing and it still gets bumpy on entry," Dion grinned and pressed a button on the control panel in front of him. "This is ship transponder 277G-45YT 'the Evening Star' requesting landing space." The ships actual name was the Valchary, but when you're a smuggler/assassin you don't want to broadcast information like that all over the place.

"Copy that Evening Star," port control replied through the comm suite. "How long do you think your going to stay here?"

Aaran thought for a while and then answered "Put us down for indefinitely; and we have 8 sentients and a droid here and my waiver is still valid as far as I know and we have registered weapons on board so you don't need to search us."

"Okay we have your info. You will not need to do all that next time. Have a great stay on Mon Calamari. Port Control out." The speaker shut of and a highlighted section appeared on the HUD map showing which pad to land on.

"Dion, you, me and HK-47 are going to go to the meeting place okay?" Aaran asked Dion.

"Yes sir!"

Aaran got up and went to the PA mike again. "Guys I want you to meet me in the Briefing room." The Valchary was a beauty of a ship. 4 AG-6 Quadlaser turrets, Capital class armour and shields, a large docking bay that could hold 2 small fighters. It's latest generation hyperdrive had been tuned by the outlaw techs who built the ship to make it fast enough to cross the galaxy in maybe 10-14 days, and finally it's top of the line stealth and sensory package let them use fake transponders to avoid detection by enemies. Of which Aaran had many. In the briefing room he found everyone looking at him expectantly. Aaran cleared is throat and began "We've landed on Mon Calamari to rest, resupply, and hopefully to find a new job, with any luck a high paying one. Now Dion, HK-47 and I will meet our last employers. Sean, Victor, Vincent, and Matrix I need you to find us a new job," he turned to his little brother Rayoma. "Rayoma you and Shadow make sure that we get the ship cleaned, the garbage taken care of, and resupplying our food and medical supplies. Look Ray I know you may not like it, but-"

"Well of course I don't like it! You're treating me like a kid!"

"With all due respect Rayoma …you're the youngest one here and if he wants to protect you from wandering the streets alone why complain? After all when we go out we split up and cover more ground." Sean pointed out and then Shadow spoke up.

"This ship is very valuable, both monetarily and sentimentally. It's a sign of trust that he let us take care of it and keep her running. Everybody does the 'grunt work' sometime."

"Okay, it's settled then. Move out!" Aaran dismissed them and went to activate his old, but heavily modified and skilled assassination droid, HK-47."

"Query Do you need someone killed master?" Having a homicidal droid had advantages as a bodyguard. Like no hesitation and uncanny accuracy. Jackie had never seen him miss a shot. Ever. HK-47 models were antiques by about 4 000 years but with the right tuning they could last forever. In fact the only things that made HK-47 a Hunter-Killer model was the chassis, vocabulator, and punk ass attitude. Everything else had been taken from other newer assassin droids.

Aaran smiled and gave HK his huge Chain Combination Carbine. "No, not yet but if anything jumps off I need you at my back. Here, this is yours." The double C Carbine was a large chain gun with sniping, melee and Anti-Armour attachments. It fired lasers, bullets, and ion charges, and was specially made to fit into HK-47's expert hands.

Everyone moved quickly to get his job done. Aaran, HK, and Dion were able to successfully rendezvous with and end their previous contract with their employer a Falleen who needed an item delivered. Vincent, Aaran's triplet brother, was able to secure a contract to kill or capture a 43 year old crime boss called Riiken Ne-al, wanted dead or alive for 20 000 credits. Bounty contracts were always Aaran's favourite because they were simple to complete. According to the intel he found while researching Riiken he lived in a large mansion on Nar Shadaa with security equal to prison security and a decorated hunter named Calo Nord was his personal guard.

Dion flipped on the PA system and announced, "Okay, strap up! We reach hyperspace in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!" The Valchary outraced sluggish light and sped across the vast vacuum known as space.

Now they had around 26 hours to prepare and formulate a plan. Aaran's other triplet Matrix had found blueprints and was about to brief everyone on their mission. He learned early on teamwork is key to success. "Here's the plan, DO NOT INTERRUPT ME. This is Riiken's mansion," he pointed to the holographic blue prints of Riiken's mansion. "Before we can fully infiltrate it we will need to break into the security surveillance checkpoints here, here, and here. Nightblade (Rayoma), Shadow, and I will break into these and keep an eye out for you guys and disable security traps." He pointed to the main gate. "Even before we do that Victor, Sean and HK-47 will make a distraction, just blow everything up and kill people. And finally Aaran, Dion, and Vincent will go in last and go straight for Riiken."

Vincent's face remained static as usual and said, "Great plan bro but give me and my team 2or 3 days for stake out."

"Yeah, I think this will go perfectly," Aaran smiled.

"Okay guys this is it," the final meeting before the meeting Aaran just had to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. Vincent was able to construct a routine and decided now was the best time to strike, Riiken would be taking a shower and when the distraction set off the alarm Aaran, Dion, and Vincent would be waiting in front of the emergency bunker to fulfill the contract. "Are you ready?"

At once they replied with a salute. "Yes, sir!"

Garrett Defen wished he had finished school but he goofed off and was now stuck with glorious job of a security officer. So he had to spend his nights sitting inside of a security booth. BOMP! Garrett looked up. "Damn." He walked out of the booth to the speeder waiting outside. "Sorry I dozed off and didn't know what was happening." The driver, a Cathar looked at him with a smile that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"We're here to see Mr. Ne-al," Sean smiled again. "I'm Mr. Rand and I believe I have an appointment." Victor looked around there was a 360 degree swivel turret being manned by a sleepy looking Aqualish thug and what looked like 2 more men guarding the front door into Riiken's mansion.

Garrett came back. "Everything checks out. Are you carrying any weapons?"

Then HK-47 stood up with the huge carbine he had set it to continuous laser fire and now pointed it at Garrett. Victor jumped out of the speeder and brought his foot down on the Aqualish's spinal cord. Sean took out a Mandalorian Assault Rifle and brought it to bear on one of the guards at the door. "Statement Let us begin facilitating communications and put an end to hostilities." One second later a shot rang out and an alarm issued and twenty soldiers began firing on the three heavily armoured attackers.

Nightblade, Shadow, and Matrix were all skilled assassins trained to use shadows and stealth so they took control of the checkpoints with no problem.

Aaran, Vincent, and Dion decided to split up and enter the mansion at different places. Matrix would guide them through the mansion using the security cameras and they would ambush Riiken and his escort Dion would go for Calo Nord. Aaran got signal over the comm "Go, go, go. Straight to the bunker the mark's moving fast." When he got there the fight already started. Dion was fighting hand to hand with Nord and Vincent was dual wielding Sub-machine Guns and mowing down security. Aaran pulled out his Bulldog RLRs and started firing. The Bulldog Radiation Launch Revolver was the most powerful handgun on the market and when the radioactive bullet smacked into the guard's temple the top half of his face tore off and the guard's body slumped to the ground, Dion dodged Calo's punch and drove his right fist into his pancreas, followed by an uppercut to Nord's chin. Nord recovered quickly and backed up looking for an opening in Dion's defences. He lunged at Dion and knocked him down and bashed his head in to the ferrocrete floor. Dion's forehead split open and bled into his eye. Dion was a fire warrior able to use the Force to create fire; he grabbed Calo Nord's face and burned it until only a blackened skull remained. Vincent took out the other guards with a rarely used Force technique known as combustion; the ability to make something burst into flames or just burst. Aaran clapped both of Riiken's temples with the palms of his hands. Unconsciousness was immediate. He grabbed his limp body and started down the hall. They left through an emergency exit and then doubled back to help out Victor, Sean and HK-47. Another satisfied customer. But they weren't out yet. They got into the speeder and flew away with Nightblade, Shadow, and Matrix following in another speeder. They weaved through sidestreets and crossed several districts then stopped at a magtrain station, and ditched the speeders.

Back on the ship they prepared for immediate departure and blasted out of Nar Shadaa back to Mon Calamari. This time Aaran went to speak to the employer alone.

2 hours later Aaran returned and called an emergency meeting right after setting course for Coruscant. "Guys, this is the single hardest thing I ever had to do but I think it's time for us to roll solo for a while. I will drop you off on Coruscant and give you each 7 000 credits and in 5 years we'll meet back up but now I need to do a couple of things on my own and I'm sure all of you can find work on your own. Sean and HK-47 will be my only companions and I will contact all of you when I feel it's time to reunite but for now go out and make other friends and in 5 years time, I'll see you all again." He gave a feeble grin and went to his quarters to rest.

"Son of a bitch!" Rayoma kicked the table over and stormed out, everyone else just stood there.

"After all this time, all we've been through! And he's just cuttin' us off like that," Dion made a swiping gesture with his hand and sunk down onto a formex sofa. "I mean shit, we never did anything to him and now he feels that we'll all benefit from 'rolling solo'?" The silence grew as they stood and sat there stunned at Aaran's announcement.

Vincent headed toward the dormitories. "Fuck this. If he needs his fucking space more than his friends and family, fuck him! We don't need him." Vincent shook his head in disgust.

"Wait! Wait, he told us to go make friends specifically so I think that whatever he's planning needs more people. I think we should get on with our lives and not worry." Shadow paused and then started up again. "I mean we're still going to be in contact so why worry?"

Matrix sighed and then concurred. "He's right, go pack up and wait."

The next day Aaran found himself standing on the loading ramp waving to his crew. As soon as they were out of sight he thought of his brothers and started to cry.