Star Wars - Into Dragon's Den

by zagor03

Facing the enemies like Empire and the pirates, two brothers that lead powerful corporation need to give everything to survive and to protect their corporation wich will be biggest supporter to Rebellion. One former Jedi will join their ranks to help them in that, love between her and one of the brothers will be bigger then anything else.

STAR WARS: INTO DRAGON'S DEN

by Zagor03 & Gryphon

Episode 1: Saviors & Sinners

Chapter 1 – Rescue Mission

A small fighter accelerates to its highest possible speed, it's pilot maneuvering frantically to avoid incoming enemy fire from pursuing fighters, it's pilot desperately throwing her fighter this way and that to avoid even a glancing blow. Behind her several V-Wing fighters and few of the newer TIE fighters, recently launched from the Echelon, an equally new Victory II class Star Destroyer, are also in pursuit. Echelon has fallen somewhat behind, unable to catch up to the smaller fighters, but is still gamely staying in the pursuit. The various Imperial fighters were getting closer and closer, and one of them even managed to score a glancing hit to the fleeing fighter, nailing its hyperspace drive unit by sheer luck, ending all hope of fleeing into the safety of hyperspace itself.

The small fighters computer system insisted in screaming out the obvious at this, "Error! Error! Hyper Drive inoperable, unable to jump to hyperspace! Error! Error!" The pilot merely glanced, heatedly, at the readout, already aware that the situation was…critical, at minimum.

"Wonderful! Alright, re-route all power to sublight engines." Ahsoka Tano snapped, while still maneuvering desperately and trying to keep some distance between her and the pursuing enemy fighters. A small blip of sound was the computer's only acknowledge that all power had been rerouted as ordered. She sometimes wished that she could have retained her old fighter, especially her Delta-7B and her droid R7-A7. Her current mode of transport, an HH-87 Starhopper was…less than ideal, to tell the truth, but it was all she could get at the time.

"If only I could reach that asteroid belt!" she said quietly, even as her fighter's frame shivered from another near miss. The enemy fighters were getting even closer though, and since her fighter didn't posses any sort of shielding, she would be ill be easy prey to even another glancing blow.

*****

Star Destroyer Echelon – Command Bridge

"Sir, our fighters are closing on the Starhopper, she won't escape this time." said Commander Cristos, the ship's First Officer.

"Excellent, Lord Vader will be pleased. Instruct our fighters to disable the craft, but not to destroy it! Then have the Weapon Officer to lock onto her with a tractor beam."

"Aye Sir", Commander Cristos said firmly, and as he turned to pass on the orders, the sensor officer spoke up.

"Sir! We have new contacts, two ships approaching from dead ahead of the enemy fighter! They just dropped out of hyperspace right on top of the pursuit!"

The Echelon's commanding officer immediately moved over to the sensor station, "Reinforcements for us Lieutenant?" asked Captain Zapata.

"Unlikely…Sir…" The sensor operator looked distinctly uncomfortable at the look this response earned, and the Captain spun around to look out the forward view screens at the distant pursuit already playing out…

*****

"Come on, faster, you can go faster" Ahsoka said, all but cajoling the control panel in the vain hope of coaxing more speed out of her small craft. Suddenly the computer gave off a warning tone, followed immediately by a vocal update "Alert: Incoming vessels detected!"

Ahsoka blinked in surprise, the momentary shock almost getting her blown out of space with the hesitation, but she immediately spun her agile craft through another cork screwing maneuver, and rather curtly demanded more information from her flight computer, "What?! Where?!"

The computer responded immediately, "Direction 1-1-1", but that only made her shake her head in surprise once more, "But…that's directly in..."

She didn't have time to finish her statement, as two vessels suddenly appeared almost directly in front of her, the large ships dropping directly out of hyperspace almost on top of her position. She immediately recognized them as Rendili StarDrive Dreadnought class Heavy Cruisers, an older pre-Imperial era warship that had served in the Galactic Republic. Old yes, but still an impossibly tough customer for a small fighter such as hers, especially with their plethora of quad mount laser cannons, and most especially with two of them out there, and her in a single damaged and outnumbered fighter of her own!

At first she felt a bit of despair, since she believed they were Imperial reinforcements, however a short message that she received made it clear this was not in fact the case, a message sent via tight beam directly to her craft alone, gave her a slight ray of hope, the first in a long time, fluttered to life in her heart. "Skyhopper, Skyhopper, this is Scage Seytor, I repeat, Scage Seytor from Sceptor Corporation. We'll keep the Imperials of your back, you focus on docking with our ship. We'll keep you safe for now, Seytor out."

Sceptor Corporation?! She was somewhat familiar with them, but why would they want to help her out? Although, even as she thought this, she realized she wasn't likely to get another opportunity, what with her diminishing list of options, and decided to risk it anyhow. After all, from her admittedly limited knowledge of Sceptor Corporation, they were known to have had friendly relations with the Jedi in the past, and had even helped out some of the Jedi in past, several times even. So, as far as she was concerned, it was worth the risk.

Ahsoka put her fighter on a direct course towards the right most Dreadnaught, but her view was soon filled with numerous fighters, coming from both Dreadnaughts. She easily recognized older Z-95 Headhunters and even the moderately newer but still rare Y-Wing heavy fighter's, as well as a hodge-podge mixture of Clone War era smallcraft. The various fighters passed nearby, swarming all around her as they did, and then moved to engage the pursuing Imperial fighters with a two to one advantage, providing her with a clear path to the Dreadnaught and plenty of time to land.

*****

VSD Echelon – Command Bridge

"Sir, the newcomers are engaging our fighters with snub fighters of their own, and there is strong jamming emanating from both heavy cruisers.", reported Commander Cristo.

The Captain barks out some orders to his surprised crew, "Commander, move us closer and engage those ships, focus on the vessel the fugitive boarded first! Sensors, did you get IFF response from those ships, who are they?"

The sensor operator jumps slightly, looking a bit guilty, as he actually hadn't made an interrogation of the unidentified vessels transponders, "Checking now, one moment sir...yes, I have it sir, the two ships are listed as belonging to the Sceptor Corporation. Heavy cruisers Stiletto and Red Star specifically, sir."

"Sceptor? Why the hell are they interfering with us then? Never mind, we'll figure that out later at the interrogations. Communications, can we send a message to any nearby Imperial vessels or outposts?"

Communications responds immediately, as this operator wasn't willing to make the same mistake that the sensor operator had made, "Negative sir! With both of those ships jamming us, we have no chance of anything getting through, not this close to the dual sources of jamming sir!"

The Captain nodded grimly at this, not appearing to be much surprised, "Fine then, launch all fighters, we will then deal with those pests ourselves!" stated the Captain firmly, "Helm! Full speed ahead, get us into closer range." If Captain Zapata noticed the ensuing round of nervous glances shared amongst his crew, he apparently chose to ignore them. One VSD II against a pair of Dreadnaughts, and clearly upgraded Dreadnaughts at that, since they had fighter bays and heavy jamming capabilities? And that didn't even consider that half of the enemy fighters were the much dreaded Y-Wing heavy fighter to boot!

Ahsoka maneuvered for her landing in the bay showing strobing lights to guide her in, but she started to worry a bit when her port side wing started to literally flak away. She realized the hit to her hyperspace drive wasn't the only thing she had to worry about, and this was made especially evident when a panel larger than she was tore away from that wing as she made the sharp turn to enter the landing bay. The timing couldn't have been worse really, and she barely managed to get the fighter on the deck, skidding to a halt a foot or so from the back of the bay, sending sparks up all across the floor as she shrieked to a halt.

Slapping multiple banks of switches to send the fighter into emergency shutdown and seal and fuel reservoirs in the damaged wings, she managed to get everything under control, popping the canopy to vent the light smoke coming from her fired hyperdrive control panel as she did. "Well, I guess I'm not leaving anything soon, now am I?" Shaking off the landing, she slowly climbed out of the cockpit and looked about, before slinging her legs over the edge and sliding to the floor of the bay, dusting her self off as she did. Damage Control personnel were already descending on her fighter, spraying it with fire suppressant and working to ensure I was safe, more or less ignoring her, oddly enough.

She stood there, next to her somewhat bedraggled looking fighter, looking around, until something caught her attention. A younger man was approaching her at a brisk, business like pace. He was, interestingly enough, unarmed and had no security escort with him, and by the clothing and insignia he wore, he also appeared to be low ranking officer of some sort, though she didn't immediately recognize his rank patch.

He moved up to her rapidly, and without introductions began talking to her, gesturing for her to accompany him as he did, "Miss Tano, my orders are to escort you to the bridge immediately. This way please". Ahsoka was now curious. Why would Sceptor, or anyone else for that matter, try to rescue her? She hoped that this tantalizing bit of information would be forth coming, as she felt it was important to find out the whys of this situation rapidly. The young officer started walking toward one of corridors that led out of hangar bay, and lacking any real options other than outright rudeness to her current saviors, she followed him.

*****

SCS Stiletto's bridge, Dreadnaught class Heavy Cruiser -

Scage watched as the Imperial vessel, one of their heaviest at that, moved closer. While a Victory II class Star Destroyer was a mean customer, packing fairly heavy firepower and solid shields, Scage seemed intent but unconcerned, and his calm radiated to the crewmembers around him, allowing them to focus on their current task more fully.

As the Echelon moved into position, Scage turned to a nearby communications operator to give orders, "Specialist Stanton, send a message to Red Star if you would. Inform them that we will initiate H Maneuver in…two minutes."

"Aye Sir", the communications specialists nodded her response, and immediately turned to send off her message.

The so called "H Maneuver" was one of oldest known maneuvers in the galaxy, and in most ways was also extremely effective, especially if you outnumbered the enemy ship. During the maneuver, two friendly vessels would rush toward a single enemy ship, and then settle into opposite sides of the enemy ship to take them into a crossfire. Thus, in a parallel formation, both ships would be flanking the enemy allowing them to concentrate their fire on the "trapped" enemy ship, while at the same time the short range would interfere with the enemy's jump calculations and maneuvering options, and also forcing the enemy to split their firepower between two vessels. Thus, the enemy couldn't jump away into hyperspace, couldn't turn away with the two ships maneuvering to block its escape, and couldn't bring the full brunt of its firepower to bear on a single target, which was especially effective against the armored wedge shapes of Star Destroyer class vessels.

There is one known defense against this maneuver once it has been enacted however, as a vessel boxed in like this could attempt to escape this trap by ramming one of ships ensnaring it, however, it was generally considered to be a suicidal maneuver to try this. And in much the same way that this maneuver countered the all ahead nature of a Star Destroyer's weaponry, is actually played to the Dreadnought's strengths, since the heavy cruiser already had the majority of its weapon systems placed on ship's flanks anyhow. This sort of maneuver was not recommended against some ships, such as an early model Victory class ship, what with their crushing weight of standard torpedo launchers, but against a newer model, even with their improved shields and weapons, the lack of such close range strike options actually meant the maneuver was a sound approach.

"Sir?", said officer behind him, causing Scage to turn around and face the young Togruta female that was the center off all this activity.

"Welcome aboard Stiletto Miss Tano" said Scage smiling tightly, his face only slightly welcoming, like he was masking his thoughts.

"Thank you ...", Ahsoka paused, quirking her eyebrow interrogatively…

"Scage, Scage Seytor" he noted, finally introducing himself.

Ahsoka took this in, nodding slowly as she glanced around the ship's bridge, "Thank you Mr. Seytor, but perhaps could you tell me why exactly you are going through all this trouble to rescue me?"

"I will, but all in good time. For, now we need to eliminate your pursuers", and with that Scage turned back to the main window.

Ahsoka stood and watched, still somewhat off of her guard. She had never been on a Dreadnaught class Heavy Cruiser before after all. The bridge, as she had noted earlier, was relatively small, but still had some dozen or more people standing by at various console stations carrying out their assigned duties, and showed clear signs of somewhat recent modifications. She also noted that some of them weren't human either; there were a pair of Twi'leks, a Zabrak, at least one Duros and even a Gran manning those duty stations, suggesting that despite the Empire's order and policy that no human interstellar company was permitted to employ non-humans, Sceptor Corp obviously didn't choose to comply with those notably racist orders.

Contrary to what she was expecting, it appeared that the Zabrak in the dark green uniform was actually the captain of this ship, because he was standing nearby Scage, though oddly enough he appeared to be taking orders from Scage.

"Captain Kalos, full speed, prepare all weapons, order gunners from both ships to fire barrages on enemy sides and then as we pass, concentrating all firepower on the upper surface."

Captain Kalos, the Zabrak officer, nodded in reply and moved to relay orders to the other bridge crew and the second ship. After receiving acknowledgment from the other ship and their own fighters, both ships accelerated towards Echelon, dramatically increasing the rate of closure between the three ships.

VSD Echelon – Command Bridge

Captain Zabata, an experienced officer who had served with the old Republic Navy during the Clone Wars, didn't need but a moment to recognize what tactic the enemy vessels were using, and he immediately responded.

"Good lord, helm, change course, 1-17-1 now!" His crew started to respond, but it was already too late, the two heavy cruisers slotted into position to their flanks, and they were boxed in, with any change in course having a high chance in resulting in a collision.

With both warships already in position, Captain Zabata stared at first one, and then the other for the briefest of moment. He knows what is to follow, but he could do nothing at that point, he stood frozen on the spot. For the first, and likely last time in a lengthy career, Captain Zabata was caught completely by surprise, and worse yet, he had been outmaneuvered with one of the oldest and most common tactics ever, and by what e thought of as technologically inferior vessels to boot. Even as the first officer plead for orders, he not only didn't respond, he honestly couldn't.

*****

"Mr. Seytor, we are ready to fire sir."

Scage nodded in response, taking a brief moment to wonder at the lack of return fire from the doomed Imperial vessel, since now was the time to fire everything and hope for salvation, but the same limited engagement firing pattern was in use instead. He gave a mental shrug, and responded at last, "Alright then, fire at will, all weapons, and do not stop until the enemy ship start to tear itself apart. At that point, helm is to move us to a safe distance."

Both Dreadnaughts opened fire as they came parallel with Imperial warship, raining barrage after barrage down upon the enemy vessel, from such a short range that even the shields of a Victory class ship was were unable to hold for more than a few moments. The fire from the two heavy cruisers, coming in from point blank range, easily battered their shields down and hammered their upper hull into ravaged scrap metal in moments. And during this, highly trained, but also heavily indoctrinated Imperial gunners failed to respond without, meaning that only minimal skirmishing fire responded, barely stressing the two cruisers shields and hardly damaging their hulls at all.

The two Dreadnaughts continued on past the Victory then, at a much slower rate, firing all the time, and when they reached the engine section at the back of the larger vessel both ships concentrated all their available firepower on the already stricken ship's engineering section, where the engines and main reactor were located. For perhaps another half a minute the two smaller ships continued tearing into the Imperial ship, battering it into pieces, and then they moved away, finally seeking to put some distance between themselves and the inevitable demise of the Imperial warship. They had moved to a more or less safe distance for the mortally wounded Star Destroyer when it exploded in a massive fireball.

Scage knows how to deal with enemy ships, after all he knew almost everything about ships, it was his personal hobby and his work, in a matter of speaking.

Ahsoka stood watching as the ship that had relentlessly pursued her for more than a month, the Captain and crew that had sought to capture her for some unknown reason, silently exploded in space. She then turned slowly, noting the satisfaction clearly evident upon this Mr. Seytor's, this Scage's, face. It was clear to her that he obviously knew how to deal with enemy vessels, and that he knew quite a bit about both naval starships and the Imperial Navy's training methods. And judging by his satisfied reaction, it all most seemed to her that he radiated the same sense of accomplishment as a professional would, and one that liked their job quite a bit really.

"Good work people. Captain Kalos, damage and casualty reports if you would, and let me know if there were any non-recoverable fighter losses as well, if you please." Captain Kalos nodded, and moved off to gather the requested information, giving Ahsoka a chance to glance about again and watch the crew members themselves as they went about their jobs, directing the two dozen fighters they had launched in eliminating the remaining Imperial fighters, and handling whatever damaged had accrued during the brutal short range slugging match.

After several minutes more, Captain Kalos returned to report. "Minimal damage to Stiletto and Red Star, and no serious casualties sir. All enemy fighters neutralized, however we lost two Z-95's and one Y-Wing, with two additional Z-95's disabled by accumulated battle damage. However, all pilots appear to be alive and well, at least until we pull them aboard and have med bay assess them sir."

"Very well then Captain Kalos, send rescue ships to recover those fighters and pilots, and I also want cleaning teams to take our destroyed fighters as well, including as much debris recovery as you can manage. We don't want to give the Empire a chance to figure out who destroyed their highly advanced and expensive front line warship, now do we? And if at all possible, try to recover the flight recorders from the enemy fighters, and see about eliminating the recordings from the Star Destroyer as well, there aren't likely to be any considering how fast she went up, but I am not willing to take any chances."

Captain Kalos hesitated a moment, and then responded, "But sir, it might take some time before we can collect those recorders and sweep the debris. Are you sure it's wise to remain here that long?" The question wasn't a challenge, but it was a good question. Scage thought about it a moment, and then nodded.

"The Empire still does not know they lost a ship at this time, so it will take them awhile before this ship is overdue for report. I want all of those devices, as no doubt they recorded the battle from start, and if the Empire finds out that Sceptor Corp. is involved in the destruction of one of their ships that will be bad, really bad for us. Now you have your orders, carry them out."

"Yes sir, it will be done." Captain Kalos respond with a salute, and then moved off to oversee post battle clean up operations."

Turning back to Ahsoka, Mr. Seytor smiled coolly at her, his expression, even while smiling, entirely too controlled for her tastes, , and gestured to the entry way to the bridge, "So Miss Tano, would you like to join me in ship's cantina. I am sure you are hungry, and we can talk there."

Ahsoka was still off her game, as her impressions of the almost overly controlled Scage still mixed, and the ruthlessness of the battle still at the forefront of her mind. Even so, she nodded slowly, and followed him from the bridge, moving towards whatever the Force had in mind for her.

Chapter 2 – Revelations and facts

When the two arrived, it was to a ship's cantina that was all but empty, primarily since all of the crew were still at battle stations until the ship stood down to a lesser alert level. Scage entered the room and immediately went and took a drink from one of the automated machines near one of the walls, though Ahsoka refused his offer for the same, she still didn't know if she could trust this man of not, to be honest. He may have saved her, but what are his intentions? Until she found out, she was going to be cautious about her actions, that was for sure.

Deciding that a direct approach was in order, she came right out and asked the main question on her mind. "Why did you rescue me?", and stated it rather bluntly at that. Scage had just sat down at one of the tables, and she also took a moment to further assess his appearance. To her eyes he looked like a mercenary, the only items missing were the obligatory blaster and over sized hat really, an odd fashion many mercs seemed to go out for currently. Most interestingly however, was that Scage didn't appear to be then maybe twenty eight or thirty years of age, making him a bit young for the authority he seemed to carry.

Scage eyed her over just as appraisingly, and then started talking, and what he said was…informative, to say the least. "Ahsoka Tano, age twenty three, former Jedi Padawan under Master Anakin Skywalker, participant in many battles during the Clone Wars. A fairly talented young Jedi it was said, though the was expelled from the Jedi Order after being accused of planting or helping to plant a bomb inside of the Jedi Temple. After it was discovered that she was not in fact guilty of that crime, her status as a Jedi Padawan was reinstated, however she…no, you, refused to return. Later you become a courier and mercenary. Did I miss anything?"

She blinked in surprise, her only real response, and slowly shook her head, "I am not a mercenary, as I do not kill for money, but that part about been courier is right." She had moved to lean against nearest wall, crossing her arms across the chest. "You know a lot about me, but I don't know much about you or your intentions."

He nodded at that, and took a drink, seemingly getting his story on line, or perhaps just choosing what lies he intended to tell, "Well as I said my name is Scage and I am currently one of the co-leaders of Sceptor Corporation. My brother Dirk is in charge currently. And I am sure you are familiar with our Corporation."

"Only from Jedi reports during the Clone Wars.", she responded, recalling those reports before continuing, "Your father was Red if I recall, I seem to recall seeing him in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant once, speaking with Masters Kenobi and Windu." Scage nodded at this, seeming neither amused not concerned that she knew of this activity.

"Yes he did, Sceptor Corporation has always had friendly relations with Jedi in specific and the Republic in general, although some would call us smugglers, mercenaries, of who knows what else. However, most of that isn't true, but we are mostly neutral. However the Clone Wars didn't leave us any options really, and we were forced into choosing a side, and we chose the Republic. Master Kenobi saved our Corporation once during the war, and we owned him a debt of gratitude for that. But enough of the past, you are interested in why we save you currently, yes? So, I'll tell you the answer. But first I have to ask you something; do you even know why you are being hunted by the Empire? Or even when they started pursuing you?"

She shook her head at this, "I don't have all information and I don't know what would they want, I am not with the Jedi anymore, and I am not a threat to anyone, I only want to live out my life in peace now."

"Hmm, peace is not an option in these dark times, fighting and keeping one's self alive is, and running is a part of that approach." He paused for a moment, seemingly making a decision, and then nodded to himself, continuing, "Your former Master is searching for you."

"Anakin? But he's dead, killed during the Jedi purge, during the Emperor's General Order 66." Ahsoka said immediately. She didn't even know everything about what had really happened honestly, mainly because she was on the outer fringes of galaxy at that time, but he felt pretty certain about that one fact: Anakin Skywalker had died sometime shortly after the General Order 66 was issued…right?

Scage shook his head, confirming her growing suspicion however, "Wrong. The dark Sith Lord known as Lord Vader is Anakin Skywalker." He said in short, almost clipped voice, and she couldn't see any signs of falsehood on his face.

But she couldn't believe that. "Anakin Skywalker would never betray the Jedi Order of the Republic, he just…couldn't."

Scage looked back levelly at her, "And yet he did. He was best friends with the Chancellor, and now Emperor, Palpatine. Ahsoka, Sceptor had spies everywhere in the Republic, even within the Jedi Order itself, and not with any intention to sell any classified information we might come across. We simply hedged our bets by insuring that our Corp. never because an unwitting pawn or target of Republic OR Jedi mechanizations. We just wanted to be on our guard against any possible scenarios and threats. Palpatine was the one person who was singularly responsible for the Clone Wars, and who knows what else he did before that. We learned from a source, admittedly a single source, but one we trust, that Vader was badly injured during his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. But to prove you will need to watch this."

He stood and moved over to the nearest wall terminal, gesturing for Ahsoka to also move closer. He removed a recoding disk from a pocket, and entered it into the wall terminal, telling the system to run the information on the disk.

"This is a security record from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. We managed to…recover it, shall we say, a few weeks after the purge. My father and some of the Corporations soldiers stormed the temple, eliminating the Clone Trooper guards at the time. It was, at first at least, just a scavenging mission of sorts, my father went there to get something specific, but later on…later it seemed to become personal for him. And what's personal for him, is personal for the family as a whole."

Ahsoka stood silently, watching the footage, seeing Anakin Skywalker killing his onetime "fellow" Jedi's, ruthlessly cutting them down with a skill and focus she had never seen in him before. "The man you see is Skywalker, but not the man you know during your time as his Padawan. He's different now, almost at a physical level, as you can see. He has, what was the term you Jedi use? Ah, yes, he has fallen to the dark side. And of you wonder why I know such much about it, it's because my uncle, who is also a Jedi…or was at least. He told me about such things, maybe because he once thought I was likely to become one as well. He told me I am something called force sensitive…but he's dead now as well, killed in the same Imperial purges after the Republic transitioned to the Empire. He seemed to want to see me sent to the Jedi for training, probably on Coruscant, but my father wouldn't allow it. So my uncle acceded to his wishes, and I stayed home. So I know a little of what I am seeing, and those changes…those changes are far more than just what is reflected in his actions Ahsoka."

Standing at him, Ahsoka was silent, almost broken. This revelation was stunning in its suddenness, shattering her view of her world. If someone like Anakin could be turned to fully to the dark side, then what chance did others have to avoid the same fate, or even to survive the Empire's continued efforts to eliminate all of the Jedi. The once stubborn Jedi Padawan , the free spirit and independent woman that never showed any weakness, now stood broken. She fell to her knees, silent tears flowing down her cheeks.

Scage came closer then, bending down to lift her up from ground. "It is not shameful to cry, nor a danger of falling to the dark side, sadness, grief, these are all emotions that all of us have. I have shown you the truth, and no matter how hard a truth that was, I did it because I knew I had to save you. Why you might ask? Why would I take the effort to save you? Because Ahsoka, you are a good person, some of those same records we recovered form the Coruscant Jedi Temple show you in action, show you as a person, a Padawan, and as a good being. I know much about you. And one day you would have been a great Jedi, first a Knight, and then a Mistress in your own right. And maybe…just maybe you still can be that great student of the force."

Her head came up as he spoke, her eyes searching his face, her grasp of the Force reaching out to search out any falsehood. She stood, watching him, appraising, testing, but…there was no false emotions from him, no sign of deception, and he was more open to her than many had been in the past really. And everything he told her, she knew its veracity, the truth of his words shone through to her easily. Brutal though it be, painful as the truth was, she recognized that like most such truths, many were essentially painful, even brutal at their core.

Scage watched her silently for a time, and then nodded when he saw her acceptance, "If you are caught by the Empire, you would be delivered to Vader. I can't know for sure what his intentions are, but I suspect he would try to turn you into his apprentice. He would force you to serve himself, his Emperor, and their Empire, force you to spread their control, to terrorize others, as a Sith. I couldn't simply stand by and allow that to happen to you. You have a future in front of you and you deserve the opportunity to make the most of that future, to use it as best you can."

Ahsoka spoke finally, a note of frustration in her voice, "But how, the Jedi Order is destroyed, no more, there are no more Knights, Councilors, Masters. There is nothi..."

Scage held up a hand to silence her torrent, "All but destroyed. Nearly eliminated in fact, but…there are some survivors. And you are not first Jedi who has been saved by Sceptor Corps. There are a few others were been saved as well, and over time, we have smuggled them to the outer parts of the galaxy, shuffled them into hiding, and it can be hoped, a bit of safety. We have been working together with other, such as Bail Organa, from Alderaan, to save as many as we possibly could. The risk of discovery by the Empire was great, we would probably be destroyed as a corporation, hunted down as individuals, but it was worth it. You have many talents and we in Sceptor could use. And we would seek to use those talents not for our direct benefit either, but for the greater good. However, we would only seek to use those talents…if you agreed."

Ahsoka blotted tears from her cheeks with her hands, scrubbing her face roughly to more fully regain her composure. After a few moments, she looked back at him, once again the confident young woman the galaxy at large typically perceived. Almost challengingly, she asked him a simple and direct question, "You mean, you're offering me work?"

He nodded at this, the barest hint of a smile crossing his controlled features, "Work, and safety, you might say. And equally as important, certain degrees of access to powerful people, information, and lest we forget, the opportunity to go into hiding with those other Jedi survivors if you want. Or…or you can come to stay with us, to work with us to right some wrongs, and yes, to make a profit, because one truth in the universe, a truth I note that few Jedi truly grasp, is that in the end, money is what makes the galaxy go round…so if you want, yes, you could stay with us instead…" And he trailed off, letting her think. She stepped away from him, considering him again, his words, his basic offer. The temptation to run into hiding with the other Jedi was great…but in the end, what would be the point really? They may or may not recover as an organization, but in the end, she had already chosen to separate herself from that organization once, and the likelihood of any real change in the Order was…slim, at best. Certainly no more likely than another Skywalker turning up and tipping the balance of power in the universe again, right?

After a handful of minutes, she once again lifted her head and looked directly at him, noting once again his basic inscrutability, but opted to take a chance, of sorts, "I agree, tentatively that is. So long as nothing you and your corporation do goes against my beliefs, I will work with you."

Scage nodded, almost as if he was unsurprised by this acceptance, oddly enough, "Good, now let's get you something for eat, you must be starving."

She smiled, possibly for the first time in more than a month, thinking that maybe she could find a friend in this strange, inscrutable man. After all, for all his control, he was not more than a few years older than she herself, but he was a kind man, and inherently a good person, and now that she was more in control of herself than she had been in a while, she could feel that he really was force sensitive to a degree, if only a bit. Much as he had told her earlier. and most important, she felt that she could really trust him. It did bother her a bit to recall that she had felt more or less the same thing about Anakin…but this man felt, different somehow.

As they ate in companionable silence, she contemplated her life up to this point, searching for any signs that she might be making a mistake, might have been mistaken in the past when she left the Jedi Order (to her way of thinking this last was unlikely, after all, she was still alive, right?) It almost startled her when Scage spoke up again, "You will be surprised when you see Freeport, I think."

She looked across the table, one white eyebrow quirked at him, "Freeport?"

"It is the headquarters of the Sceptor Corporation, and also a place where refugees who have escaped the Empire's claws go to. Sceptor is in charge of everything at Freeport, but we like to pride ourselves on not being tyrannical like the Empire, or basically bad and greedy, such as the Hutts. And it must be one of only a few places in the galaxy that are safe enough for those who are enemies of Empire. The same sort of place the Empire might call a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" perhaps, but mainly because they aren't in charge there, and don't have the influence of Clone Troopers to enforce their will…at least, they don't have them yet I suppose. Alright then, come, let's get you some quarters for the time being so you can rest, and I will see to it your fighter is repaired, in case you require it. This way Miss Tano."

As they stood and moved to place their meal's remains in the recyclers, they felt the ship enter hyperspace, and Scage nodded, speaking to himself, "So they scavenged everything they could from the wrecks, let's hope it will be enough to keep the Empire off our trail."

*****

Outside, in the dark of deep space, the wreckage of what was once a Victory II class Star Destroyer, now reduced to a pile of floating, slowly dispersing scrap, the remains of Echelon were now nothing more important than soon to be space dust and debris. However, lying near the main part of wreck , the only part still intact, the forward third of the ship, was something else, something not seen by the recovery parties. A single Z-95 headhunter, destroyed in the battle, was mostly recovered, but not all of it. Part of the wreckage, a single wing, was tangled in the wreckage of the star destroyer's remains. And on that shattered wing, was a symbol of some sort. As the piece of debris, shifting slightly in the wreckage, rotates slightly, the symbol becomes clear, and after a moment, the corporate loge of Sceptor can be made out clearly…

Chapter 3 – Freeport

The two Sceptor Corps Dreadnaughts burst out of hyperspace, moving slowly towards a massive space station, a station surrounded by dozens of star ships.

On the bridge of the Stiletto, Scage and Ahsoka watched the massive space station, sitting fixed in space as if anchored in concrete. It looked like a massive version of the well known Golan space defense platforms standing sentinel around so many worlds. Ahsoka couldn't know it, but it was a well kept secret that Golan Arms had actually bought the design specifications for Freeport over a century prior, in fact is was over a century before the Clone Wars several years past. The purchase was one o the first major sales Sceptor Corporation had accomplished, and had led inevitably to their rise as a sizable weapons, shipbuilding, and mercenary contracting company. The resulting design got scaled down a bit, but it was still a well know defense platform that anyone would recognize in the larger Freeport Station.

However, Freeport was different, much different. It had a similar appearance, yes, but a different purpose. A massive hangar bay was situated in the middle of the station's bulk, surrounded by a powerful defensive force field and numerous gun emplacements that guarded the entrance. The entrance way was large, large enough to allow a typical corvette to enter. There were lots of smaller docking station on pylon's, and even a few larger, cruiser sized docks on the station itself, along the station's perimeter. Several of these larger docking points already had ships parked alongside them, and in other cases ships were to be seen docking or undocking. Freeport station had numerous cargo holds, both inside the station and in nearby space, fighter bays capable to holding over twenty squadrons of star fighters, and impressive barracks and support facilities for troops that were not just for defense of the station, but were intended to transship to one contract or another.

Ahsoka look on in surprise at the massive station, quite shocked at its massive size and apparent capabilities. She had never seen such a big station, it was massive. She stare also at the sizable number of ships docked and flitting about, some warships, some freighters, others troop transports, and still others independent freighters.

Scage allowed her a few moments to take it all in, listening to Captain Kalos as he requested and received permission to approach and dock. After a few moments more, he finally spoke, "When we first built Freeport Station it was created as a center of Sceptor Corporation and its various operations and subsidiaries. It was also intended to stand as a last bastion in case someone managed to overrun the rest of our resources, or tried to eliminate the Corporation itself. It has sufficient defenses to stand off an entire fleet, and its firepower can inflict grievous, even crippling losses to that same assaulting fleet of ships. It is probably the strongest space station ever built to date, but it wasn't designed only for war. Commerce, trade, even Sceptor Corps. Mercenary business trade is carried out here. And at this moment she holds over one hundred thousand people on board, humans and aliens working together, trading all under one roof, so to speak. Freeport has its own security force, a well trained force that emerged from almost nothing, to become the well respected security force it is today. And all of them are loyal to Sceptor. Only two times in its long history has the station been was infiltrated successfully, and we are always working to improve safety for all aboard. It is forbidden to carry lethal weapons on the station, unless one is a member of station, corporate or naval security, though temporary exceptions can be issued as required…such as I will extend to you and your light saber of course, much as we used to extend the same courtesy to all Jedi. Thus, all standing service naval personal, all smugglers, merchants, mercenaries and bounty hunters are required to leave their weaponry on their ships or at check in stations when they arrive, and we make sure they follow our rules. The only exceptions are that it is legal to obtain a permit to carry a non-lethal weapon, such as a stunner, at the entrance points, and costs only a nominal fee and a few minutes at most."

At the mention of her saber, Ahsoka's hand had almost unconsciously moved to the item, and she nodded, relieved to know she would be able to retain it, and not at all concerned that her blaster would not receive the same remittance. She went back to watching the viewing screens as the Stiletto approached the station, eventually docking at one of the larger cruiser ports. Docking takes several minutes to complete, and when they receive clearance to switch over to station power and life support, Scage turns to Captain Kalos, "Captain, once again, handsomely done, and my apologies for usurping your command sir. I really do attempt o keep that sort of thing to a minimum."

Captain Kalos smiles in return, "No concern sir. Even if you weren't the boss, I would have no concerns about turning over the helm to yourself, and to be quite honest, myself and my crew all feel honored that you have come back to our vessel so often. It is quite the recommendation in itself to have one of the Seytors' aboard, especially when they return several times!" The two exchanged handshakes, and Scage gestured for Ahsoka to follow him down to the egress point to the station.

When they arrived at that egress point, Ahsoka hesitated, just before she stepped across the ship/station demarcation line. Scage noticed this unusual hesitance, and looked closely at her, "What is it?" he asked her?

She looked at him quickly, but then turned slowly back to the station, as if searching for something…something unseen, "I don't know exactly…somehow I don't feel something, something that has been familiar for so long…what is it? Wait, I do know what it is! I don't feel anything…behind me, hounding me forward, or in front of me, waiting to hem me in!" she suddenly answers, realizing what exactly it is she isn't feeling, something that has been a part of her for more than a month now, and in many ways since she arrived at the Jedi Temple to begin training.

Scage looks a bit surprised really, but after a moment, his face settles into that almost smile he sometimes wears, his tightly controlled features almost relaxing, "Ah, yes, I guess I can understand that. Well, other than myself and a few members of my crew, no one knew that we were going to attempt to retrieve you from your flight and pursuit. So as far as I can tell, no one was prepared to come here to wait for your arrival. Lord Vader might eventually determine something occurred, and might even connect it here, but since we're very careful to deal with Imperial Intelligence when it rears its head, they shouldn't be looking for you here for several months, at the minimum, probably longer really."

Ahsoka considered this information, really trying to relax for the first time in…years really, since at least the beginning of her time in the Clone Wars. After several minutes of…well, she thought of it as "personal readjustment" really, she nodded to Scage, and the two stepped across the line marking the demarcation point between the cruiser and the station itself. She immediately noted that…really, nothing had changed, but that in itself was different. For the past month, nearly everywhere she had gone she had encountered Imperial agents, bounty hunters, Imperial naval vessels, Storm Troopers, really, all sorts of threats that always seemed to be at least a step ahead of her. She wondered how Scage had managed to find her, how he had arranged to "retrieve" her as he said, and most importantly, how he had managed to keep Lord Vader from finding out about it all.

The two of them walked along the docking corridor till they reached the end, and then passed through the station security check-in. Scage had to vouch for her, but she noted that the security officers scanned them both for something, and really checked Scage's identity, rather than waving what must have been one of their highest ranking officer's straight on through, which spoke wonders of their security efforts. Afterwards the moved further up the corridor, coming into an open area of the station, one with a lot of people preset.

The area they entered into was what appeared to be a large bazaar or trading post of sorts, one with lots of different customers, human and alien alike, all trading and relaxing at various points. There were all sorts of goods and services being bought and sold here, and at a glance Ahsoka noted that these goods and services were o both legal and illegal nature.

She turned and whispered (sort of, it was an excited whisper at that, and drew the surprised attention of more than one of the nearby station goers) to Scage, "Death Sticks?! Passel Scents?! That's a Solonium Disruptor! How is that being sold here so openly?!", Scage looked around, noting what she was seeing, and realizing that she was more used to the illicit trades of the Rim and the highly restricted trades of the previous Republic and the current, even more restrictive Empire.

He took a moment to order his thoughts, as he felt it might be an issue for the young woman if she thought such illegal trade was normal for he and his fellow Sceptor Corporate personnel, "Well, while there are a great many things that are illegal to the Empire, and even the old Republic really, here much of those proscribed things are legal, so long as it isn't harming someone else, or someone isn't being forced to do something against their own will. After all, Freeport Station is on the fringe of the Kathol Republic, and the Kathol Republic has historically involved itself in trading a great deal of goods that are of questionable legality to the Empire, or at least the Imperial black markets of course. So if we were to declare such trading illegal, they would simply migrate to the Kathol Republic and continue doing business there. At least this way, we both benefit from this illicit trading, and have the ability to ensure that truly abhorrent trading, such as out and out slavery, isn't allowed to occur. Surely you can recognize when something, such as say those Death Sticks, or Dream Vapors, isn't really harming the general public, and were banned more because of some specific groups distaste than a real solid reason to not permit it, right?"

Ahsoka took this in, and reluctantly nodded, not willing to make a scene as a guest, especially if this wasn't apparently illegal…though she kept a close eye in the disruptor dealer, remembering her training and the relative ineffectiveness of her light saber defense techniques against such a weapon.

She started to really look around at that point, and began to notice the general effect of Freeport Station. The basic design seemed to lean heavily towards a stripped down, almost spartan like look. The corridors were small, being only just as high as they needed to be, and narrow enough that outside of the bazaar, one had to turn slightly to avoid brushing shoulders with oncoming traffic. She also noted that there were all sorts of internal defenses as well, including a whole network of internal security measures, from security cameras and access control points to small mounted turrets and numerous well armed guards. Ahsoka realized that one thing Sceptor really did seem to care about was security.

Scage noted her interest, smiling tightly at this, noting that the saying was true, you could take the Jedi out of the Order, but you couldn't take either the orderliness or the intense training away from the same. " We set the station up from the beginning to resist any attempts at invasion and boarding. With the defenses being so solid, and out weapon systems being heavy enough to inflict serious damage to any attempt a capital ship made to close, it was realized that the best answer might be to get a small, dedicated force aboard, such as Clone Troopers…or what are they calling them now? Ah, yes, Stormtroopers isn't it? Anyhow, the next best option was to get a boarding team aboard and shut down station power, defenses, or life support, so we built the station to be a fortress inside as well as out, to resist just such attempts. Freeport Station was built with one thing in mind, it was to last." And she noted him reaching out and running a hand across the bulkhead they happened to be passing, almost as if in affection. So…this station really was his home then…she would have to remember that, and try to avoid shaming him or insulting his home again.

The two of them took a turbolift up several levels, arriving at what Ahsoka recognized as the command citadel. It was one of two command centers Scage had mentioned to her, one located on top of large tower, and connected with several smaller private docks. From what she understood, the second command center was even more secure than the one they had just entered. When they arrived, she started to step out, and then came to a rather abrupt halt, tilting her head, and staring around the open turbolift door as if sensing form something. Scage was reminded of a cat, sniffing at the air to determine what some new scent represented.

After nearly a full minute of this, Scage cleared his throat, drawing Ahsoka's attention, "I think I know what it is that you are trying to figure out Ahsoka. What you are sensing is the lack of the Force."

Ahsoka blinked in shock, her head snapping around to the doorway as she realized he was right! "What?! How…how is that possible?!"

Scage nodded his understanding, placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her somewhat, " We are, of course, somewhat aware of the Sith in general, and the Emperor and Lord Vader in specific. But we also have strong reasons to believe that there are actually quite a few more adherents to the Dark Side of the Force than just those two, though how many, who specifically, and what their capabilities are, we aren't prepared to hazard a guess at. None the less, in reaction to these potential threats, we made some adjustments to our defense systems some years ago. Sometime in the past, my uncle, the Jedi, and my grandfather, heard for creature, a lizard like creature called Ysalamir, from a place called Mykr.

Apparently this creature can create an invisible bubble around itself that can repel the Force somehow. Any Force sensitive creature near the Ysalamir loses their ability to feel the Force, and thus their ability to influence the same. After years of scanning and experimentation my grandfather managed to create a device that is able to do something similar to, though somewhat more limited than, the Ysalamir and it's unique ability. That is, we have a way to block the Force off form a given area. It's far too expensive to be installed on the entire station, or on anything much smaller than a cruiser really, but even so, we did install it in certain areas where planning and operations for an important installation of the larger vessels in our fleet and their command staff might work. IT wouldn't really stop us from being attacked, not even by a Force using opponent, since they could still influence their own attachment to the Force. However, it does prevent us having to worry that a n enemy with access to the force could either sense what it going in inside the area so covered, or more importantly, perceive the future of events in the same area. And no matter how good someone is with light saber and the attendant Force based defense techniques, they can't hope to defend themselves against our entire security force, at least certainly not without the Force to back them up."

Ahsoka tried to come to terms with such a technology, and more importantly, to decide if she wished to expose herself to that same technology by entering the command deck. "But, that means you can't feel the Force in there either, right?"

Scage nodded in response, seemingly starting to realize that this was a serious issue for Ahsoka, That is correct, at least while we're in this area, I won't be able to feel the Force either."

She stared at him for a few moments before responding, slightly aghast, "But, how was I able to feel the Force aboard the bridge of your ship?" Ahsoka recognized as less a request for clarification, and more of a stalling tactic…her, reduced to stalling, all but breaking out into hives and sweats! How embarrassing!

"Ah, that. Well, that was because the Force repelling devices were all shut down at the time, and throughout the entire trip as well, all by my explicit command." Scage made this response while he was continuing forward, with a reluctant Ahsoka following him.

Scage seemed determined to make Ahsoka more or less comfortable, even after that startling revelation, "This is Command Deck One, or more commonly, CD1. It serves to provide oversight of docking operations, incoming and outgoing ship traffic, and general security concerns. The real combat command center is in heart of this station itself, well protected, making this is one more a decoy than a combat information and control center. As such, this command center handles the more mundane tasks, especially since it is easily possible to look outside and see what is going on with the use of image magnifiers." Scage looked like he was going to say more, but before he could, a fit male Twi'lek approached the two of them, or more specifically, Scage.

"Sir, your brother required me to bring you to him as soon as you returned, and said to inform you it was on an urgent matter."

"Hmm…alright then, Ze'hark please escort Miss Tano to her quarters on level two, and make sure the nearest supply station knows to provide for her every need." Ze'hark nodded, and Scage turned to Ahsoka to continue, "My apologies, but if you would, please go with Ze'hark here, and he will see to it that your needs are meet. We will talk again later on, and no doubt you would like to rest up a bit now and recover your strength."

While she was curious to know what else was going on, she was also are that she wasn't really that important any longer, as she was no longer a Jedi…though there weren't any of them either, come to think of it. So instead, Ahsoka simply nodded to Scage, and followed the Twi'lek, Ze'Hark, out of room. If nothing else, while the command center's goings on interested her, it would give her a chance to get back out into the rest of the station, where the lack of the Force wouldn't be giving her a serious case of the creeps!

*****

Scage arrived in front of his brother's officer door, the same office their father had worked out of for so long. He pushed the announcement toggle and entered as soon as the door opened to permit him entry. bell button and after doors open he enter in. The room he entered was rather large, with an old cubical table near the one and only window. There were two or three smaller closets with shelves, a basic sofa and couch that weren't even a matching set, and a few other pieces of somewhat scuffed up furniture, a low table, a few small stands off to the sides of the room, and an oddly out of place artificial plant that his brother never answered questions about, but also never failed to keep dusted himself. The only real ornamentation about the room was several paintings and artifacts from several different points in space.

Scage had barely gotten inside the room, the door still closing, when his brother, Dirk, launched a furious query his way across the wide floor, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Scage nodded calmly back, taking a few moments to gaze out past his brother to space, aligning his thoughts, "I think I am doing many different things brother, but at the moment, you have something more specific in mind. Perhaps you would like to refine your question a bit and be more specific about what it is you are asking me I did?"

Dirk could very clearly be seen gritting his teeth, literally grinding them against each other till his jaw muscles stood out. Finally, he got his temper a bit in check, though he was still yelling when he spoke aloud, "You attacked an Imperial warship! No, you destroyed an Imperial warship! Are you out of your damn mind?! Do you want to bring the Imperial Fleet to us?! And for what?! One lone girl."

Scage nodded, figuring this was going about how he had foreseen it would, "I do understand why you are angry Dirk, but I believe I not only did the right thing. I also believe that in the long run it will be worth the risk. Ahsoka Tano was both the former Padawan of Lord Vader himself, and also a Jedi in her own right."

Dirk made a chopping motion at this, shaking his head, "An ex Jedi, one that walked away from them, yes, I know about her as well. And yes that is another reason we don't want to be found associating with her, if Lord Vader himself wants her back so bad, he will do everything he needs to in order to get to her. Including sending in the entire damn Imperial Sector Fleet to recover her! You've placed us all in danger Scage! The Empire isn't stupid, they're not a bunch of brainless mercs, disconnected bounty hunters, or planetary police officers, they aren't like the Raptors, or pirates, or even the thrice damned Hutts! They are a real threat, and they have the resources of most of the galaxy backing them up!"

Scage started to reply, noting that this was actually going a bit differently than he had first expected really, "I understand that..."

Once again, Dirk cut him off with a slashing motion, "Do you really understand? Your little attack cost us three fighters, with the recovered pilots out for at least two weeks. While that's a small price to pay for bagging one of the Imperials newest, shiniest toys, you could have lost an entire heavy cruiser division, and your own life! More than that, you probably should have taken a much harsher drubbing over that battle, and if their captain hadn't gotten over confident, you wouldn't have walked away largely unscathed. Sure this is a good, bloodless victory for us, but nevertheless, what if someone were to find evidence against us, or someone survived to act as a witness against us? What is something was left behind that can identify the attack as originating from one of our ships?!"

Scage held up his hands, trying to placate his somewhat emotional brother, "Dirk, there weren't any other ships in that system, at least none that our own ships could pick up on scanners, and you know how much we have spent to have top of the line sensor packages, right?"

Dirk sat back this time, considering what he was hearing. After a moment, he almost sullenly asked his brother a question, "You were in middle of Hutt space, near one of their transit corridors. If you were lucky and the entire fight took place while nobody was around, fine. But the chances of that are almost nil. Someone would be likely to be around, and smugglers are in that area of space all the time with sensor reduction gear. One or more of them could, probably were, sitting out there in space watching the fireworks, hiding form an Imperial patrol, and then wondering who was insane enough to not only take on the Imperials, but to do it in older tech! And from your report you sent, you might have spent some time trying to recover any evidence of our involvement, but what if the recovery teams missed something? What if something identifying us is still there, and it gets picked up, what if you missed something Scage?"

Scage nodded, advancing and pulling out another chair to sit down in, now that his brother's volatile temper was being pulled back to a dull simmer, "There's a chance that may be so, and there is a risk that we might have missed something. But we cannot be afraid now Dirk, I won't allow Ahsoka Tano to fall into Vader's hands. While she is not entirely an innocent, no one with any degree of Jedi affiliation and training can be, she is uncorrupted. Remember how our father chose to take a risk with all those Jedi that passed this way. Hell, father even shot an Imperial captain in the head and blasted the poor bastard's ship to pieces! And he did that here, where all of Freeport could have seen it happen. We've been lucky that some of our guests didn't expose us, for whatever reasons of their own. And yet here you are, complaining about an Imperial ship that was destroyed in a system where no ship has been except my own and the Imperial forces that we entirely eliminated. Relax Dirk, none of them survived, and we had strong jamming on them the entire time, none of them got a message out, so it's likely that no one will even know where they are for some time yet, even after they realize they have gone missing."

Dirk sighed, still upset, but not entirely unaffected by his brother's arguments, "Bah!, I don't even have the desire to argue this with you right now. We have other problems on the horizon...Raptors. Two problems then, one possible in the form of the Empire, and then the damn Raptors!"

Scage's eyes narrowed at this. No Seytor, hell, no employee of Sceptor was ever happy to hear about the Raptors, "So, our old…friends…the Raptors. They've finally returned then. Well, what have they been up to then, what annoyance have they visited on us now?"

Dirk pushed a couple of sheets of paper across the table to his younger brother, the full reports. Scage picked them up and started skimming them, listening to his bothers more concise report as he did, "They blasted two of our ships out of space, that's what they did! A Barloz class Light Freighter, the Orion's Sunset, and YT-1210, the Masquerade. Both ships were completely destroyed, but not before they were also plundered, all their cargo was taken. Five crewmembers on Orion and four on Masquerade, all dead, nine people total, killed, murdered! And this isn't the only incident either, one of our Action VI's, the Clarion, was also attacked, but they managed to outmaneuver their attackers and escape with only one crewmember injured."

Scage nodded, not at all surprised the Raptors would use such brutal, nearly pirate like tactics, "What kind of ships were the Raptors using this time? We didn't leave them a lot of ships the last time we clashed."

Dirk glanced at another sheet nearby to him, reading off what was there, "Ah, the Orion was attacked by a Kaloth class battlecruiser, which is more of a frigate than anything else. We even managed to get a name too, The Pride of Selondia, of all things. While Masquerade was intercepted and destroyed by a pair of Marauder class corvettes, most probably the Firm and the Garthor, those two have been patrol in Oasha sector for years. Garthor was also the ship that tried to destroy the Clarion, but as I noted earlier, she escaped with minimal damage."

Scage took this into consideration as he finished the reports he was holding, noting the sectors of space involved, "If those ships were scheduled to pass through such dangerous systems as these, why didn't they receive an escort? A pair of Y-wings wouldn't have stopped these ships, but it would have given those ships the time they needed to spool up their hyperspace drives and escape."

Dirk shook his head at this, "Adding security ships would probably raise even more curiosity from the Raptor's quarter, and as stupid as they are, they would likely think something very important and valuable was on those ships, making any escort worth the effort of defeating. Also, two Y-head corvettes, which may or may not have been owned by the Raptors, were spotted nosing around near the Tyroth system, so I moved all freighters away from there, just in case."

"I wonder why they started such sudden actions? They have been quiet for years, since the last time we tangled really. At worst we've been in a sort of cold war status, but there were not attacks, and they didn't try anything nearly this provocative." Scage wasn't entirely sure what to make of this, and the timing of it all was, suspicious, really. Why now? Why right after he made the decision to intervene in Tano's flight, more than a month after it all began?

Dirk nodded back glumly, his somewhat dour view of life clearly evident that day, "And that worries me the most really. If they continue raiding our shipping lanes, we will be forced to answer with the full force of our fleet, something we tend to avoid so we don't draw attention to exactly how large a fleet we actually have. I did send a message to Admiral Gail, ordering him and his Night Hunters to return. In my opinion the New Exnor mining colony is safe for the time being."

Scage nodded at first, and then his eyes narrowed suspiciously as something new occurred to him, "How can it be safe when is located near the unknown regions? That part of space was never explored, as it should have been. And besides that, the mining colony doesn't possess any orbital or surface defenses or fighter squadrons, so those ships were all they had."

Dirk shrugged, "And we need them Scage, I don't like it either, but I instructed the captain of the courier ship we sent to tell the Admiral to leave a few of his ships behind just in case, but the rest must return at once. If we want to annihilate those Raptor pirates once for all, we need our full force, or as close to it as we can get, just to be sure none of them survives. Either way the Night Hunters are gonna return soon."

Scage considered it all, but finally decided that there wasn't really anything to be overly concerned about, his brother was cautious to a fault, and hardly prone to being someone that made snap choices. "Well, if you think it's a smart move I won't say nothing more about the matter. If you need me I am going to be in my office, catching up on my work. I want to check on some orders I penned a few days ago to see what's developed there. If anything comes up, I'll be there for some time, and if I noted anything unusual, I'll send it along to you." That said, Scage stood and turned to head towards the door.

Dirk seemed to recall something at that point though, "One moment Scage. Did you send an order for a new ship from Rendili?"

Scage nodded, "I did, but Administrator Calais respond that it will take some time yet till they could start building any new ships. There was some sort of incident with one of their corporate officers, uh…Dallin, Jace Dallin I believe, so they are currently under Imperial injunction till that mess is finally cleared up."

Dirk turned and looked outside the window, thinking, so Scage waited patiently. His elder brother, while a decent soldier, was an even better administrator, so it was likely he would come up with something on his own if left to his thoughts. After a minute or more, Dirk turned around to face the room again, "We already have the schematics for all of their ships that we use, right? And we also have our own shipyards too, so I don't see the problem here. If they can't build us new ships, we can exercise our purchase rights options and simply do it for ourselves."

Scage nodded, smiling slightly to himself as he responded, "I'll relay the orders to the shipyards on Durango myself then. How many ships, and what types, do you want them to start work on?"

"Let's go with four more of our model of Dreadnaught class heavy cruisers, and an additional pair of the less capable Neutron Star class bulk cruisers. Those last two ships are to be built for our customers in the Aelon system, the Aelon Defense Force has decided to expand a bit. "

"Why didn't they ask Rendili to build those ships for them?" Scage asked curiously.

Dirk grimaced slightly at this question, as if annoyed by the circumstances that brought it about, "Because of arms limitation restrictions, the bloody Empire put too many restrictions on warship production for local defense forces, as if all threats have disappeared since they took over! So since we have enough space yard space to handle it, and Aelon is a client, and we have both permission to build the ships we require and an agreement with Rendili to use their designs when we require them, we will build those ship classes instead, and then split the profit 50/50 with Rendili, so everyone wins, at least in the short term that is. That also allows us to build whatever ships we need for our own use without having to pay Rendili a single credit…and I suspect we are going to need more ships pretty soon Scage…call it a hunch really. "

Scage stared at his brother in concern. While it wasn't normal for his brother to worry over such thing, Scage had noted that whenever Dirk DID worry about something in particular, it more commonly than not turned out to be something that needed to be worried over. Still, there wasn't any point in giving his brother anything else to worry about that day, "Clever, very clever. Ok I'll deal with it then. Ah yes, I almost forgot, as you know Gallofree Yards Inc. is near bankrupt, and I was planning to buy them out. It won't add much military production, but it will give us another source of transport production, presuming we can keep them as a going concern. Also I bought at least five new ships for our military from the Techno Union, a pair of Recusant class light destroyers, and three Munificent class frigate's."

"You did what?!" Dirk suddenly rose to his feet. "Are you out of your mind?! Where do you think we're going to find the crew for them, the officer and starship trainee's currently in our academies will take time to be ready, and there's only three hundred and fifty of them now. We simply don't, and won't, have the crews for a couple of years yet"

Scage shrugged, incidentally further irritating his elder brother, "Well then, it's a good thing that so many people are still coming to work for us, and from all around the galaxy at that." Scage stated this rather sarcastically, as he too was starting to tire of his brothers over reacting, "Don't worry about the crews for those ships brother. We will only require modest sized crews for them anyhow, most of the crews will be droids for the time being"

"Droids?" Dirk looked reluctant to accept this answer, both because they didn't actually have these droids, so far as he knew, and also because the galaxy had just recovered from a massive war involving the use of huge numbers of droids. No one, but no one was quite so relaxed about the idea of using droids in the numbers his brother was suggesting. It would be decades before the scars to the galactic psyche faded enough for anyone, maybe even the new and powerful Empire, would resort to using such numbers of droids so readily.

Scage certainly didn't' seem to be one of those so scared though, not to judge by his response that is, "Well of course, we're already using some droids that came with the other ex-CIS ships in our fleet as it is. Mostly B1 droids, sure, and they are a bit of a joke in direct combat, true, except perhaps in larger numbers of course, but they still do their job as ship's crew, albeit perhaps somewhat slower than an organic crew. And we have large amounts of those battle droids sitting in several of our warehouses, "spoils" from our efforts during the Clone Wars, right? This is the perfect time to use some of them on this new ships. Relax Dirk, it will be fine."

Dirk, once again sat back to think, working out the numbers in his head, and not incidentally wishing he had ordered those same droids stripped and recycled for spares and resources. After several moments, he realized it might work…presuming of course everyone was comfortable with the idea of course. Still, that didn't' mean that the idea didn't raise certain other concerns, "With all those ships though…what would the Empire say? They are going to think we are preparing ourselves to go to war! "

Scage nodded grimly at this, "Well Dirk, aren't we? They will strike, sooner or later, they will find the reason they need to come after us, regardless of how well we "behave". We knew that some say, we would need to be ready for this. That's what all the planning was about, and why we have acquired all that we have."

Dirk flinched at this, never having been entirely comfortable with the concept of actually facing the Empire down directly, "But you're practically giving them a reason all by yourself Scage!"

Scage shrugged at this, "I doubt they will do anything just because we bought some old ships from the Clone Wars era Dirk, I highly doubt it."

Dirk settled back once again, recognizing when his brother was set on his course, "This time I will sign off on your purchases Scage, but next time, do me a favor, as your brother, and at least try to consult with me first."

Scage left, heading to his own office. On the way, he noted that a great deal of the success he felt he had built up with his purchases, plans, and the recovery of Ahsoka felt a bit too much like they had turned to dust really. Sometimes, a visit with one's family was hardly conducive to one's moral.

Several of the Sceptor Corp personnel he passed in the hallway on the way to his office opted to turn down a side corridor. It wasn't a good thing when the boss had THAT particular face on. At times like this, discretion was the better part of being employed. Scage moves to level two with intention to continue his talk with Ashoka. Thinking if he save her from one trouble only to enter to another one. How long will take before Empire discover their ship, if they find who destroy it, it may be the end of them, and he only bring her into danger, or mybe not.

Chapter 4 – The Night Hunters…

Planet Exnor.

The planet was in a system that had been discovered some twenty years ago by Sceptor Corp scouts as part of limited explorations of unknown territory. Both scans and direct scouting found large amounts of different minerals and resources that could be fairly readily extracted, and then marketed, both overtly and legally, and covertly and somewhat less so, for large sums of credit. Red Seytor had established the mining colony on planet several decades prior, and it had been slowly expanding ever since. Currently there were over seven hundred fifty people at work on surface and in the various mining shafts, although the actual mining work was being handled by mechanized systems and mining droids doing the dirtiest and most dangerous work.

Exnor and its small mining colony was protected by a fairly powerful group of ships, a group which included no less than four of the Enhanced Dreadnaught class Heavy Cruisers Sceptor favored, as well as a pair of CR90 Corvettes, another pair of the older CEC Consular class Cruisers, and finally yet another pair of Gallofree built Nova class Couriers. The couriers were mostly used as messengers between Freeport Station and the Exnor colony, since they were one of fastest ships in galaxy it took them only four or five days for a one way trip, depending on stellar winds of course. This was generally two to three days less than any of the rest of the Sceptor Corp fleet would take, so every bit of time counted, at least in a critical situation. The only other support service vessel presence was a recently acquired Nebulon-B class Frigate that had undergone conversion into a medical frigate.

The commanding officer of this sizable force was Admiral Gail. He was a fit human male apparently in his mid forties, and projected a comforting, commanding aura to his crews. He had been in service with Sceptor Corp for almost twenty years by this point, and was widely known to a modest collection of contemporaries to be an excellent starship tactician. Admiral Gail was also in charge of the entire Sceptor Corp Defense Forces fleet elements, and was more or less the father of the modernized post-Clone War era tactics and strategies that would be put to use should it become necessary for Sceptor Corp to go to war.

And his ship, the Dreadnaught class Heavy Cruiser SCS Hunter, was his pride and joy, and to put it truthfully, his wife, mistress, children, and hobby as well. He had ensured over a significant period of time that Hunter was as cutting edge as she could be, and he was also largely responsible for the Enhanced Dreadnaught class that Sceptor Corp relied upon, a design derived from his somewhat more cutting edge Hunter. Improved sensors, shields, communication and sensor jammers, reconfigured, more efficient flight bays for two dozen light to medium fighters and half a dozen each heavy fighters and gunboats, dramatically improved gun batteries, and equally impressive reduction in required man power via the use of integrated systems automation and somewhat more limited utilization of droids. (The Admiral had faced entire fleets of droids in the past, so his respect for their ability was boundless, but his acceptance of them necessity was somewhat less to open in nature.)

Admiral Gail's right arm and chief coordinator for the entire operation here on Exnor was Commander Cali Ziara, a Cathar female, a race recognized for their proud warrior traditions, known for their deadly capabilities with cold steel and blaster alike. She also was a long time Sceptor Corporation employee, as was almost half of her sizable family, many in the Sceptor Corp Defense Forces, rather than the Sceptor Corp Mercenary Contracting branch. She was known for her cold, calculating leadership methods, and for her operations being mistake free. And prior to be posted under Admiral Gail she had been a part of Sceptor Corp's Elite Force, an organization within the SCDF which focused mostly on hunting down spies, bounty hunters, slavers and mercs that had caused an unusual degree of hardship for Sceptor Corporate concerns.

Commander Ziara entered the bridge and moved over to the Admirals chair. While Dreadnoughts usually didn't have such a thing, Admiral Gail's rank demanded one be installed, and so it was present none the less. In the eyes of other organizations, such as the Imperial Fleet, other system defense forces, and other mercenary companies, Sceptor Corp's defense force was nothing more than a small rag tag defense group at best. The reality was quite a bit different from this perception, mainly because Sceptor Corp spent quite a few credits on counter intelligence operations.

The truth of the matter was that Sceptor Corp was, quite frankly, massive, and they were a well trained, organized, dedicated combat force provided with excellent gear, nearly the same level as large planetary defense forces such as Corellia. Loyalty and military discipline were ingrained at the core of it all. Sceptor Corporation even had its own naval, flight and command academies on Freeport Station, and boasted a considerable number of instructors knowledgeable in their specific trades. Many of these instructors were from the former Old Republic, officers who hadn't been comfortable serving the Empire for various reasons of their own. Even before open formation of the Empire, officers near retirement would be hired to teach and train new recruits for the SCDF.

When the Admiral Gail glanced over at her approach, she saluted sharply, and handed across a data-pad with a progress report from Exnor and the nearby defense squadron. "All factories are working at one hundred and twenty percent, sir. There was only one incident of note, at Factory Seven, one man was injured."

The Admiral grimaced in annoyance at this, already fairly certain he knew what was going on there, "Those damn beasts attacking our speculator crews again?"

Commander Ziara nodded, not at all surprised he had guessed so readily at this, "Yes sir, so far we are unable to mount any kind of defenses there, after that last earthquake the terrain in that zone is almost unapproachable, so currently only air traffic is available as of now."

The Admiral considered this, clearly annoyed to have such occurrences still happening after the effort that had been spent to eliminate this issue, "The last time those beasts attacked, we lost three workers there and half dozen others were injured, two pretty badly. In fact, I recall one of them died later on, raising the total to four victims. Our operational reports are going to get noticed in the wrong way if this continues."

Commander Ziara responded to this, a bit…sharply really, since it would come down on her as the chief administrator at the colony, at least until someone replaced her so she could continue to serve the Admiral if he left, "Sir, didn't central command give you a choice of how to handle the situation? I recall them letting you handle it as you wanted to in order to ensure the necessary degree of safety for all who are down there."

"Yes, but how are we to deal with creatures that we can't hunt? From the studies we have so far they are night hunting creatures, nocturnal. But I am most curious why in twenty years of operations here, it's only now that we have started having problems with those beasts. Does that not strike you as…particularly confinement, Cali?"

Commander Ziara considered this, recalling something she had read, and rapidly accessed the information in her data-pad, "It started with the opening of that sealed cave we found about two months ago sir. We never found anything in there, but that may still be where the problem originated. Even though the cave was examined thoroughly, and nothing was found then, perhaps we simply missed something?"

Admiral Gail seemed reluctant to agree, "I don't know Cali, we must missed something pretty serious then! This problem isn't constrained to that region alone, neat Factory Seven. Factories Four, Five and Six are also reporting unusually large amounts of movement during the night time. And thermal scans have started to show large amounts of these creatures in the lowest tunnels. There is little doubt that they are responsible for the destruction of at least two dozen mining droids, and hundreds of thousands of credits worth of mining machinery as well, at least so far."

"Unfortunately that are not the only bad news sir, we are being recalled back to Freeport Station, and you are instructed to leave some forces behind to defend the colony as well. But the rest of the squadron must return to Freeport Station at best speed." said Cali

The Admiral looked surprised at this, "Is there any particular reason given for these orders?"

She nodded, "Yes sir. From the report we received by courier, the Raptor pirates have started attacking Sceptor Corp shipping assets once again, and apparently, though there are no specifics, tensions between Sceptor Corp and the Empire are on the rise once more."

The Admiral considered this carefully. The Raptors were an unfortunate thing obviously, but not really one that was crippling, certainly not enough to require the recall of most of his squadron…not unless someone up top had finally decided that they had had enough, and Admiral Gail was finally going to be permitted to stamp out that particular threat once and for all! As for the Empire and the rising tensions there, he had no reason to suspect anything specific, but he knew the younger Seytor was nudging anthills in preparation for a good, solid kicking over, so that also didn't really surprise him. He just hoped Sceptor Corp was ready for when the inevitable backlash came their direction. "Those damn Raptor pirates have been dormant for some time now…hmm…ah well, never mind that for now. Commander Ziara, please inform Captain Torres I need him to repair aboard Hunter to receive orders."

"Yes Admiral" And with a rapid salute, Commander Ziara turned and left the bridge.

Some time later, Captain Torres entered the bridge, moving immediately towards the Admiral's command throne (as he thought of it), and rendering a crisp salute. Captain Torres had been promoted just few short months preciously, but he had served in a smaller command for some time prior to that, and was experienced all the same. He was seen as a good officer, and that was something Sceptor Corp both recognized and planned for, seeing to it his training in higher command continued, and eventually seeing fit to offer him an Enhanced Dreadnought heavy cruiser of his own to command.

The Admiral stood as he approached, and returned the salute before seating himself once again, and without hesitating he started the briefing, "Captain, we have been recalled back to Freeport Station, best possible speed, apparently the Raptor pirates have once again started attacking Sceptor Corporation shipping, so far only attacking lightly armed transports, but I suspect that will change soon enough. You and your ship will stay here and protect the planet, and I will also allow both of CR-90's and one Consular cruiser to stay as well. Should you require support in case you come under sustained assault, I am also leaving both of the on station Nova couriers as well. They of course are not intended for combat, and will only be used to send messages back to central command. If you find you require them for scouting duties in the local area of this system, that too is acceptable. Are there any questions Captain Torres?"

"No sir, no questions. I will see to it that your orders are carried out, and that Exnor is properly protected, sir." Torres was an officer of Old Republic fleet, but after the transition to the Empire, he and half dozen other officers found themselves suddenly on the outs with the Empire, and were forced to escape in stolen shuttle.

"And Captain, the problems on planet must be dealt with, we cannot lose more people to those savage beasts! I will leave you small contingent of troops including a company of B1 Battle Droids and some Droidekas, that should be sufficient to deal with the theat. Use the droids whenever you can, it's better lose them then our troops or our people on the colony, understood?."

Captain Torres nodded, as he did indeed understand. He also wasn't greatly fond of combat droids of any sort, not after having faced them over and over again in battle. While he might not like them, throwing them into the grinder of battle was indeed preferable to sending in flesh and blood troopers, "What about our reinforcements and supply runs sir? Will they be continuing as normal?"

Admiral Gail shook his head at this, clearly unhappy by what he was about to say, "For the time being you have sufficient supplies to hold out for as long as this is likely to take. I'll speak with central command about sending more each month though, especially any troops we can spare for the problem downside, and some additional fighters squadrons and patrol craft. Unfortunately, until they can shake those lose, you're on your own Captain Torres, so don't screw this up, Sceptor Corp needs these factories."

Clearly unhappy, but too professional to let it concern him, Captain Torres saluted once more, "Aye sir. We shall endeavor to handle anything that comes up in your absence sir!" Admiral Gail retuned his salute, and then watched as Captain Torres turned to leave.

As Captain Torres left the bridge, he considered his orders, and his resources. Exnor was at the edge of the unknown regions, in entire sector where there wasn't any single species that could pose any significant degree of threat. There were two species in the region, but neither of them had interstellar flight, or had even started to explore beyond their own home planets, certainly not to their nearby moons. One was still living in a primitive tribal state, small hunter gather communities with minimal farming, while the other already possessed technology, and it was capable to make primitive air breathing hydrocarbon flying machines, but still decades if not centuries away from getting into space. None of them were a threat so the entire area was more or less safe. Nevertheless, Imperial scout or patrol forces, pirate gangs, left over Separatists forces, or some other unknown race could end up being a problem. And with Admiral Gail departing with the bulk of the squadron, which left few ships to guard the planet, though Captain Torres felt that what he had would be more than enough. A heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, and a pair of corvettes would be sufficient, he was sure. Plus the couriers, and the two squadrons of Z-95's from his own vessel, it would surely be more than enough…right? So if that was the case, why then did he have such an unnerving feeling settling in about him then?

The Admiral considered the situation as well, watching as Captain Torres departed on his shuttle back to his own command. No doubt the Captain would find a solution to the current problems on the planet. No matter how much of a resource base the colony was, they couldn't continue extracting those resources at full bore so long as there was a problem. And with people getting hurt, even killed, and mining equipment damaged or destroyed, that wouldn't be possible. Hopefully the additional troops and droids would be able maintain an increased degree of safety. They must. If Sceptor Corp really was preparing for war, it would require all of those resources, and in fact any resources they could get their hands on, especially if relations with Empire are getting to worse.

The remaining ships under Admiral Gail were ready to depart within two hours, and they started to get underway…leaving a lone Dreadnaught heavy cruiser and a handful of other ships alone to orbit of the planet.

Chapter 5 – Unexpected Attack

One week later…

Planet Aurein – An agricultural colony established by Sceptor Corporation some decades prior. Population: 1,200, a mixture of Humans, Twi'leks and Zeltrons. Aurein was one of double handful of small colonies established about forty years prior to Clone Wars, around the period in between 65 to 60 BBY. It was a mostly agricultural farming colony, with but a single factory which was built to process the crops and send them onwards to a nearby starport of modest size for transshipment aboard transports to other locations under Sceptor Corps control. It was a peaceful colony, with only a limited military presence, most of which was in the form of the single Corellian CR90 Corvette in nearby orbit, half a squadron of fighters for orbital guard purposes, and a mere two dozen security guards. For any real heavy combat that might occur, mainly small pirate groups trying to get a free lunch, there were also a few dozen battle droids stored in a warehouse nearby the factory.

High above the planet, a handful of warships exited hyperspace, settling into formation fairly rapidly. All five of these ships bore the markings of the Raptors, a pirate group with a lengthy history of animosity towards the Sceptor Corp. Two of them were Kaloth battlecruisers, which were really no such thing, being more in line with light to medium frigates such as the Nebulon-B class instead. The remaining three ships were all Marauder class Corvettes, a class similar in nature to a Corellian CR90 Corvette, but trading anti-snubfighter firepower away for an impressive increase in light to midgrade antiship firepower instead.

On the bridge of command ship, "Raptor's Revenge" Iaden Garen sat in his command chair, which reminded one of the much grander seats sometimes found on Imperial and Victory class Star Destroyers instead. Garen was short man, in his later forties, and at a glance appeared to be Corellian in descent. His beard was large and black, almost bush really, his eyes small and dark. A scare across his left eye gave him an even more intimidating visage, making him seem somewhat more impressive than he truly was really an advantage he used ruthlessly. Garen himself was a "native" of Ord Mantell, as his family had been forced to leave Corellia (some said to flee imminent capture and execution) many years prior, and for reasons that were largely unknown.

Captain Garen had grown up a smuggler, starting early at the age of fifteen, progressing on to bounty hunter by 20 or so, since it appealed to him at the time, and eventually coming into contact with the Raptors and assuming the new "career" of pirate around the age of 30 or so. It was widely believed that during an attack that occurred some years prior, the ship that had been carrying his family was attacked and destroyed by a Sceptor Corp's warship. Since the Corps and the Raptors had been heavily engaged at the time, this was even a possibility too. Each had been attacking the other with little remorse or sign of mercy, and it was believed that Sceptor Corp claims that the ship had been carrying arms and components that were ending up in the hands of various pirate gangs, pirate gangs that were then turning around and using these weapons and parts against Sceptor Corp, was actually quite true really.

In the end though, there was no real way to say for sure, since the captain of that ship had never ordered a deep scan or a boarding effort to be sure his accusations were true. Instead that same captain had opened fire on the transport with no real proof beyond his own suspicions. The transport had been destroyed, and Garen's family had gone down with the ship, since none of the ejection pods had survived, though Sceptor claims that none had even attempted to abandon ship were unproven as well, and most assumed Sceptor had simply eliminated the escape pods along with everything else. In the eyes of Iaden Garen' that ship had opened fire without real proof. Of course a later investigation by Sceptor Corp itself was made, and the captain who had commandeered the Sceptor Corp ship lost his command, but for Garen, that was not nearly enough. The Raptor pirates claimed that fifty-five innocent people lost their lives that day. making for one of several dark spots in Sceptor Corp history. Red Seytor's later claims that it was lie and propaganda from the Raptor side in an effort to denigrate Sceptor Corp in eyes of galaxy, were largely accepted. After all, who was going to be believed here really, a legal corporate security force acting within its charter, or a band of illegal pirates that were synonymous with the words "marauding", pillaging", and "rapine"?

Garen held a grudge though, and a deep, abiding hatred for anything having to do with Sceptor Corp from that day forward, cursing them roundly, and swearing revenge upon them all. However, since the Raptors didn't have anything close to the forces that would be needed to stage a useful attack on Freeport Station, nor even most of Sceptor Corps other facilities, such as their well protected training grounds, shipyards, and protected corporate enclaves, the only real way to harm them was by interdicting their shipping lines, eliminating their transports where they could, and now…now they would strike at a much more sizable target than just their transports.

The Raptor's, as a whole, didn't have a chain of command such as was usually found on "real" military ships. The rank of Captain was the highest post someone could attain in the Raptor's modest fleet, while the ranks of commander and first lieutenant served as the right and left arm for the captain, and were more commonly known as the 1st and 2nd officers, as in the 1st and 2nd officer to replace the captain if something untoward happened to that worthy individual. In a case where currently Captain Iaden Garen wasn't otherwise available for one reason or another (usually because said individual chose poorly when he anointed one of his crew as his 1st or 2nd officer, and was now graced with a length of steel or a smoldering hole in his back) one of the other two known as officers, oft times called lord commander and lord lieutenant, so ensure a proper degree of humility (and also to ensure that neither managed to gain so much standing they could orchestrate a mutiny…being a pirate is as much politics as personality really…) could assume his position until such time as a council of captains could determine if that person was worthy of the position permanently…or worthy of breathing vacuum, or some other punishment that was significantly less pleasant in nature really. As noted, being a pirate is as much personality as politics, and the punishments they devised were as much about pure unadulterated terror as they were about any putative measures…

"We are approaching the planet lord Garen" noted the 1st Officer, Lord Commander Denali, who would typically be in charge when Lord Captain Garen was not present.

Garen nodded in response, "Good, as soon we get in range fire on that corvette, and order Fallen Storm to attack the corvette too. Have the corvette Blacken stay behind to cover us just in case, and the corvettes Red Sorrow and Hound are to descend to low orbit and attack the colony itself. And jam the system, I don't want any communication to break through!"

Denali nodded, and started giving orders, pausing a moment to ask for clarification, "Lord Captain, there are also half dozen of enemy fighters…"

"Then by all means, launch a squadron to deal with them…in fact, launch two squadrons, I'm feeling generous today!" This was met by some muted laughter by the small bridge crew.

Rather than being inside the ships main hanger, some of the Raptor's "fighters" were attached to hulls of the two Kathol class ships. The reason for this was that even though a Kathol class did have a twelve space fighter bay, the fighters the Kathol class vessels in this group were carrying were anything but normal. These fighters were the much larger Corsair type starfighter, which were also known as the Corsair cruiser. At 18 meters in length and quite a bit of bulk as well, these heavy assault starfighters carried a crew of three, including a pilot, a co-pilot and heavy weapons gunner, and a turret gunner for the paired capital scale light ion guns. While they were nowhere as nimble as commonly used Z-95 that Sceptor Corp relied on so heavily, they were much better armed and protected. Especially since the pair of guns on either flank were also light grade capital scale turbolasers to boot!

Raptor's Revenge and its sister ship Fallen Storm closed into range of the single Sceptor Corp corvette, which no doubt spotted them fairly rapidly and was already preparing itself to die. Garen thought these preparations might look something like those of readying to fight, but since the lone corvette had absolutely no chance in this battle, he much preferred the imagery of them readying themselves to die. Then again, it's wasn't as it Lord Captain Garen was known for being a particularly peaceful sort…

Aboard the Sceptor Corp ship, the captain of that vessel realized that the enemy had jammed his long range communications, though his short range communications systems were still able to send a message to the planet to evacuate everyone they could aboard everything they could, while his lone ship and the half a dozen fighters tried to hold off the enemy for as long as possible.

Both battlecruisers opened fire at the same time, bracketing the lone CR90 corvette with turbolaser fire to hem the ship in. The corvette respond by firing all of her far more limited weapon batteries, but it was simply not going to be enough. The first volley struck her hard, but her shields somehow managed to hold out. However the second volley overloaded and shut down some of the ships shield generators, leaving the ship dangerously exposed. Additional fire began to punch into the hull, shattering the frames of the ship, tossing crewmembers around like so many toy soldiers, and venting atmosphere into space. The captain of the corvette tried once more to send a plea for surrender, but the Raptor's vessels simply weren't interested in prisoners, so they kept up a steady rain of fire. After half a dozen volleys, the lone corvette finally explode in a small fireball, casting off debris and ejection pods…none of which managed to get that far, as the escorting fighters fired blast after blast of ion cannons into them, shorting out everything, and leaving the useless pods to drift off into the dark of space, or plummet into a fiery death in the planet's atmosphere. The defending fighters were also destroyed, one by one, by the vastly superior number of enemy starfighters, by this point passing seventy such craft. In the end, the entire battle lasted barely five minutes in time…but hundreds were already dead, and the butchers bill would keep going up…

The 1st Officer carefully checked his scopes, and received all reports before reporting to the Lord Captain…one did not misinform a Raptor captain, at last not more than once that is, "Lord Captain, all enemy ships and snubfighters destroyed, however we lost a pair of Corsairs. They are being recovered to see if they can be repaired and returned to service. It appears that several enemy transport ships are trying to flee the area."

Garen nodded, already viewing the local space though his chairs tactical repeaters, "Yes I see them. Ensure they do not succeed commander. Destroy them all! We don't want anyone to leave this system alive. And put us in low orbit so that we might join our corvettes in the bombardment."

A few ships tried to leave, but unfortunately for them, there were simply too many well armed and bloodthirsty fighters in their way, so all of them were shot down and destroyed, including a pair of transports that were still on ground. Those two were eliminated first by bombardment from the orbiting Raptor warships. The four ships involved destroyed the entire colony in less than ten minutes, leaving hundreds and hundreds of colonists dead. Garen then ordered the deployment of his troop to eliminate every survivor they could find. This final task cost him probably an additional two or three hours, but in the end, his ground commander reported that everyone down there were dead.

Smiling quite openly, and more than satisfied with the results of this raid, he ordered his ships to recover their fighters and head back into hyperspace, but not before being confronted by a somewhat agitated 1st Officer, Lord Commander Denali. "Lord Captain Garen, if I may say, it would have seemed to be a potentially better option if we had taken some of them alive sir. We could have used them as bargaining chips with Sceptor Corp, if that had come up. I mean…we didn't need to kill all the women and children sir, at the very least we could have spared them, and sold them into slavery later on."

Lord Captain Garen weighed his response to this carefully. This wasn't a challenge to his authority, nor was it a question about his competency. And most importantly for Denali's continued survival, it also wasn't a sign of weakness, so he opted to respond with restraint, and treat it as a learning experience for the officer…this time. "Your protest is noted commander, but I wanted to send them a clear message. That message has been sent, and I want them to interpret it correctly. We are not joking around any longer, we won't tolerate their interference in our affairs anymore. You are passionate man Denali…however, don't worry about this action becoming my standard operating approach. There will be other colonies, and other chance for some profit from slaves. Now, initiate hyperspace. We are finished here, and its time to move along to our next task."

The Lord Commander nodded in response and gave the orders. All five ships left the system as quietly as they arrived, but they left nothing but death and destruction behind them as they did...