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Blood and Darkness, Book One, Part One
The Second Round Robin
By:
Jayde Jade
Liz Skywalker
Storm
KT the Hutt
Luke Vader walked into his quarters. It had been another long day.
Everyone thought it was so easy being him. They didn't understand his
limitations, his...his...him being possessed. There really was no other way to
put it. He had to admit that it had gotten better since that maggot Palpatine
had been... disposed of, but things were far from the way he would think as
ideal.
The fact was, he couldn't pinpoint what exactly was wrong with his life,
just that it was incomplete somehow. He had all money could buy, he had the
respect and affection of his father, but something was missing. It was like a
part of him wasn't there.
He couldn't explain it, that was the way it was. Just today, when he was
dealing with the execution of some minor, mindless idiot who had screwed up
royally, he found himself wishing that he had someone to share it with. He knew
that it sounded silly, but that's the way it just was. He had no way to know
that everything would shortly change very rapidly. But the future is constantly
in motion, and try as one might, nothing can change the past and the future is
not necessarily dependant on the past.
That night while meditating as usual he dreamed/saw a red haired women who
was beckoning him somewhere. To where, he didn't know. But he knew he had to
follow, but as he started to follow, something held him back. Turning, he saw
that it was his father, one arm around Luke's midsection, preventing him from
falling off a cliff. In his meditation, Luke turned around wildly, not knowing
what had just occurred.
But Luke was tired, and try as he might, he fell asleep, temporarily
forgetting his vision. the morrow would bring surprises a-plenty.
The next day, young lord Vader woke up early. His confidential servant was
already in there. Luke sometimes thought that that man never sleeps. His
confidential servant brought him the daily news-vids and the local and palace
gossip. There was no gossip about him, but a little about his father. It was one
of Luke's many duties, this dispersing of rumors. Most rumors came to an abrupt
halt after the young lord offered his two credits in. Some rumors, like today's,
were rather dry and showed a lack of imagination. But others could be
positively...juicy. It was through these rumors that Luke had found out about an
underworld character with the alias 'Jaded Hand'. He had yet to find out what
that meant.
He nodded at the servant, who promptly withdrew. Luke spent the next few
minutes eating his morning-meal while scanning the vids for anything. His eye
caught an article: 'New crime lord arising?' As Luke scanned the article, a
worried frown crossed his face. As he read the last line 'we are still waiting
for a confirmation or denial from the Imperial Palace', he jumped out of his
seat and pressed a button. Within seconds, he had a direct link to Center News,
the most widely read, or watched, news center in the galaxy.
Luke, for once, was at loss for words. He asked about the article, they
replied that it had been a tip from an anonymous source and a quick follow-up
had proven everything to be correct and did his lordship have an official
comment. He replied that he would get to the bottom of this.
Sitting back in his quarters, he pulled up an information terminal and,
after putting in his passwords, proceeded to read through all the information
available on a character named Mara Jade.
Prescott Ven withdrew from his master's quarters with grace. He nodded to
the guards stationed outside, and his long legs took him quickly back to his own
office. Once inside, he rapidly scanned for bugging devices, then dropped into
his chair tiredly. Double dealing the young Lord Vader was exhausting. He
suppressed a twinge of fear at the thought of being discovered, but the fear of
failing his "true" master was stronger.
Prescott leaned forward to his information terminal, and tapped in a series of
identification codes. The codes took him out of the Imperial Network altogether,
though the Network itself showed him hard at work. He waited impatiently for a
response. Then the screen cleared, and a face took shape in front of him. And
the face was not happy.
"My lord," Prescott greeted the face of Quiin Palpatine. Quiin frowned,
"I told you never to contact me at this hour!" Prescott bowed his head.
"But... I need-"
"What?!" Quiin interrupted.
"Need what, Ven?" Prescott looked nervous. Quiin continued, "I doubt you
would have asked my son for any thing... how is it you fear him more than I?"
Prescott didn't dare say a thing. Quiin continued with the history lesson.
"Perhaps you remember the name Qui-Gon Jinn?" Prescott searched his memory...
then shook his head no. "He was my brother... the man behind the Empire's rise."
Quiin's face had a far off look, and the name finally clicked in place in
Prescott's mind. "I remember now, wasn't he a Jedi master?"
Quiin grinned, "He was our spy, and a very good one at that... my little
brother was the one who inspired my son to create the empire," His face
darkened. "Sidious had no respect for him and had him assassinated during the
Naboo crisis... it was hard for me to break the news to the princess..."
Prescott, who was getting just a little bit confused, spoke up. "Uh,
what... princess?"
Quiin frowned. "I keep forgetting you know nothing of the Empire's rise...
the princess, well, one time princess, was enslaved when she was eight after her
parents were killed in a raid. Shmi Skywalker... daughter of Katrina and Devon
Skywalker... mother of Anakin Skywalker... born on a planet in the unknown
regions... you get the idea, my brother had a thing for her..."
Prescott spoke up again, "Uh, about why I contacted you..."
Katrina woke up in a cold sweat. Her old vampire instincts were on full
alert along with her mother instincts. Devon was not in their bedroom. She
quickly got up and headed toward Shmi's room, casting a calm spell as she ran
down the hallway. "Shmi," she whispered to her daughter.
"Shmi, we have to leave." Shmi woke up to the sound of her mother's
voice.
"What is it?" she searched for her father's presence... "Where's
daddy?"
Katrina shook her head, "I don't know."
Shmi could feel the fear rising from the town-folk of Silmaria. "They're
afraid..." Katrina nodded, understanding the enhanced powers her daughter had.
Shmi's birth caused quite a stir with the mages at W.I.T., for a while she was
afraid they'd try to take her daughter away... but luckily that never happened.
Katrina and Shmi ran through the streets of Silmaria from an unknown enemy.
Suddenly the night sky exploded with lights.
"Katrina!"
Katrina turned to the sound of her beloved. "Devon..." she trailed off as
the lights began to land. Devon reached her side, Katrina noticed his arm was
bleeding. "It's an invasion." she whispered to herself, Devon summoned his
staff...
... young Lord Vader came back to reality. He had been searching for
information on this "Mara Jade" when the vision had come. Judging from the sky,
it had lasted for nearly nine hours.
Luke was trying his best to figure out his vision. Visions always meant
something, some even stood for things. This was one of them. Since it was a two
part vision, the betrayal (that was the only rational explanation Luke could
come up with) would come in two steps.
The first step would be the betrayal of someone close to him. Since the
vision had shown him Ven, it meant someone with daily access to him. Ven had
been contacting someone, someone who knew too much but also was insane. The part
about Qui-Gon being related to Palpatine was pure insanity as was Palpatine's
uncle. But that didn't discount...of course! It had to be one of Palpatine's
relatives. But he and Father had killed them all. He would have to meditate on
it.
--
Luke smiled slowly, his teeth showing. The underling cowered, clearly
frightened of the glittering teeth. The Vader's, as were all Force sensitives,
of a different race than other, normal, humans. By blood they were werewolves.
That was one of the reasons that sensitives were once hunted. But the Jedi,
indeed it was the Sith who found it first, had found a way to counter the
Changing. It was so simple it was mind-boggling. Why not become another sort of
night creature? And performing this change also insured perfect loyalty. It's
nature that a vampire has loyalty to the one who bit him. Fathers bit their son,
mothers the daughters. It was the way of the Force by this time.
It was why Palpatine had surrounded himself with sensitives he had
bitten...of course! Jade was the Emperor's Hand, he bit her, the was no
conceivable reason she could not have been his own offspring.
The old Lord Vader bared his teeth. His son backed down a step in fear. It
was pure animalistic rage that flowed through Emperor Vader. How could one of
those filth be left?! How could they have missed one? More importantly, why had
Luke missed her? Did this have to do with the betrayal visions he had been
having? Was Luke the weak link?
Luke looked up at his father in pure fear. What was his father going to do
to him? He hadn't felt this way since he started him force training. Even though
Luke's first reaction was to back away and flee the room, he held firm. It would
only anger his father more if he ran away. And at this time, angering his father
could have disastrous consequences.
Vader calmed down. all the rage leaving him at once made him feel very
drained, but he knew that he must be strong, if only for Luke's sake. Luke.
Vader belatedly remembered he was in the room. Horror filled him. Had Luke seen
him at his most animalistic? Had he unknowingly placed his son in a life
threatening danger? For that was the side effect of the counter-change, when a
Sith is at the height of his power, he feels nothing for his blood family. And
blood is an important thing to a vampire. Vader smiled at his son who looked
questioning at him. Vader internally cursed himself for doing this to his son
and then motioned him forward. As Luke approached, Vader began telling him his
plan.
---
Jade went over the data pad for the umpteenth time. The Vaders had no
weaknesses it seemed. Their natural werewolf-ness (if that was a word) protected
them for any type of poisen immaginable. Even spice produced no lasting
impression on them. Their werewolf fangs could bite through anything but the
strongest durasteel and their vampire fangs made even that fact questionable.
Their vampire fangs also made it possible for them to 'mark' humans. These
humans were then solely devoted to their masters. It made her wonder why young
lord Vader hadn't done the same thing with Ven. It certainly made her job
easier. She never stopped to wonder if in fact he had.
---
Ven wiped his brow. It was hard, but he knew that his 'master' had thought
spies everywhere. It was very difficult keeping his thoughts on betrayal while
working hard to betray the one he was betraying to. It gave him a headache. But
he trusted Master Luke and trusted that this scheme of his would work. If only
this was over and he could continue to serve his Master in peace and happiness,
for truly nothing gave him more joy than a smile bestowed on him by Master Luke.
He lived to serve and this was service. He knew that his Master had visions of
him betraying him, but hoped that it was merely symbolism, that it would seem to
everyone that he was a traitor, but that his Master would always know his
loyalty.
Luke was exhausted. Seeing his father tended to do that to him. It was so
hard to pretend to be evil, knowing that one false move would mean not only his
death, but the death of those who depended on him, Ven, Leia, Han And Chewie,
who were Force knew where now, and Lando, who Luke had to contact desperately.
But how? He laid down on the bed in weariness, wondering if Ven would be able to
get away today. Perhaps he could find Lando and pass the message on. He felt
himself drifting towards sleep.
"It's an invasion." she whispered to herself. Though they had long planned
for this, Katrina was still caught by surprise, then her training took over. She
grabbed Shmi by the hand, and ran to the ship.
After fastening her daughter securely in the passenger section, she
dropped a quick kiss on her nose, and made for the bridge. The relief pilot
greeted her fairly cheerfully, so she knew the evacuation must be going well.
Strapping herself in, she ran her eyes quickly over the console, committing the
information to memory, and then called up the ship's manifest. She could hear
the shouts and movements of the staff behind her as they rapidly loaded the ship
for takeoff, as she punched in her husband's comm-number.
"Devon here." Katrina smiled at the crispness in his voice. "Pilot secured
and ready sir. Get your arm checked would you? I don't want you bleeding all
over my ship."
"Yes, Pilot." Katrina heard the laughter in his voice as he answered.
"Come on, this is the last bunch," he continued to someone in the background.
Then he reported, "Commander boarding, take off at pilot's discretion."
"Aye sir, take off commencing."
Luke came to with a start. Another vision about his, what, great-
grandparents? And his brief glimpse of his grandmother Shmi. He'd heard so much
about her, but never thought his first sight of her would be of a frightened 8
year old. Still, the girl had been commendably calm, considering the
circumstances.
He went to the communit and contacted Prescott Ven. In an innocuous
conversation about the upcoming banquet, the code phrases and facial expressions
conveyed an entirely different conversation.
Luke: Contact Lando immediately. The timetable must be moved up.
Ven: Yes, Master. Shall I contact the Princess as well?
Luke: Yes. Tell her Vader plans to take over the Byoverton system.
Ven: That would give him control of the spice market.
Luke: We must stop him at all costs. Get to Lando. He knows all the
contingency plans.
Luke sat back with a sigh. Ven would get to Lando, on the pretext of
ordering the linens needed for the banquet. Lando would have a dozen or so
backup plans in readiness. Now all that was needed was to track down the Jade
character who kept sticking her nose in. Luke could not allow any meddling at
this stage of the game. He bared his fangs with a smile as he contemplated the
beautiful Jade's long white, unmarked neck.
Katrina sighed, glad that Dr. Cranium's "outer-space-travel-device" worked as
planned. Months ago Dr. Cranium had picked up messages being sent from one ship
to another about an invasion, he had insisted that they be prepared and build
more of his OSTDs. With luck, they might be able to out-run the bigger ships...
Katrina prayed the wizards could divert the invaders attention long enough...
suddenly the bigger ship shot some kind of energy beam at their tiny space
craft, Shmi screamed.
Luke woke in a cold sweat, suddenly knowing what was happening to him. He
remembered dreams where he had been an agent of the dark side, and others where
he was a lightsider, but now he felt he was neither, but... there was a knock at
his door.
End Part One
Blood and Darkness, Book One, Part One
The Second Round Robin
By:
Jayde Jade
Liz Skywalker
Storm
KT the Hutt
Luke Vader walked into his quarters. It had been another long day.
Everyone thought it was so easy being him. They didn't understand his
limitations, his...his...him being possessed. There really was no other way to
put it. He had to admit that it had gotten better since that maggot Palpatine
had been... disposed of, but things were far from the way he would think as
ideal.
The fact was, he couldn't pinpoint what exactly was wrong with his life,
just that it was incomplete somehow. He had all money could buy, he had the
respect and affection of his father, but something was missing. It was like a
part of him wasn't there.
He couldn't explain it, that was the way it was. Just today, when he was
dealing with the execution of some minor, mindless idiot who had screwed up
royally, he found himself wishing that he had someone to share it with. He knew
that it sounded silly, but that's the way it just was. He had no way to know
that everything would shortly change very rapidly. But the future is constantly
in motion, and try as one might, nothing can change the past and the future is
not necessarily dependant on the past.
That night while meditating as usual he dreamed/saw a red haired women who
was beckoning him somewhere. To where, he didn't know. But he knew he had to
follow, but as he started to follow, something held him back. Turning, he saw
that it was his father, one arm around Luke's midsection, preventing him from
falling off a cliff. In his meditation, Luke turned around wildly, not knowing
what had just occurred.
But Luke was tired, and try as he might, he fell asleep, temporarily
forgetting his vision. the morrow would bring surprises a-plenty.
The next day, young lord Vader woke up early. His confidential servant was
already in there. Luke sometimes thought that that man never sleeps. His
confidential servant brought him the daily news-vids and the local and palace
gossip. There was no gossip about him, but a little about his father. It was one
of Luke's many duties, this dispersing of rumors. Most rumors came to an abrupt
halt after the young lord offered his two credits in. Some rumors, like today's,
were rather dry and showed a lack of imagination. But others could be
positively...juicy. It was through these rumors that Luke had found out about an
underworld character with the alias 'Jaded Hand'. He had yet to find out what
that meant.
He nodded at the servant, who promptly withdrew. Luke spent the next few
minutes eating his morning-meal while scanning the vids for anything. His eye
caught an article: 'New crime lord arising?' As Luke scanned the article, a
worried frown crossed his face. As he read the last line 'we are still waiting
for a confirmation or denial from the Imperial Palace', he jumped out of his
seat and pressed a button. Within seconds, he had a direct link to Center News,
the most widely read, or watched, news center in the galaxy.
Luke, for once, was at loss for words. He asked about the article, they
replied that it had been a tip from an anonymous source and a quick follow-up
had proven everything to be correct and did his lordship have an official
comment. He replied that he would get to the bottom of this.
Sitting back in his quarters, he pulled up an information terminal and,
after putting in his passwords, proceeded to read through all the information
available on a character named Mara Jade.
Prescott Ven withdrew from his master's quarters with grace. He nodded to
the guards stationed outside, and his long legs took him quickly back to his own
office. Once inside, he rapidly scanned for bugging devices, then dropped into
his chair tiredly. Double dealing the young Lord Vader was exhausting. He
suppressed a twinge of fear at the thought of being discovered, but the fear of
failing his "true" master was stronger.
Prescott leaned forward to his information terminal, and tapped in a series of
identification codes. The codes took him out of the Imperial Network altogether,
though the Network itself showed him hard at work. He waited impatiently for a
response. Then the screen cleared, and a face took shape in front of him. And
the face was not happy.
"My lord," Prescott greeted the face of Quiin Palpatine. Quiin frowned,
"I told you never to contact me at this hour!" Prescott bowed his head.
"But... I need-"
"What?!" Quiin interrupted.
"Need what, Ven?" Prescott looked nervous. Quiin continued, "I doubt you
would have asked my son for any thing... how is it you fear him more than I?"
Prescott didn't dare say a thing. Quiin continued with the history lesson.
"Perhaps you remember the name Qui-Gon Jinn?" Prescott searched his memory...
then shook his head no. "He was my brother... the man behind the Empire's rise."
Quiin's face had a far off look, and the name finally clicked in place in
Prescott's mind. "I remember now, wasn't he a Jedi master?"
Quiin grinned, "He was our spy, and a very good one at that... my little
brother was the one who inspired my son to create the empire," His face
darkened. "Sidious had no respect for him and had him assassinated during the
Naboo crisis... it was hard for me to break the news to the princess..."
Prescott, who was getting just a little bit confused, spoke up. "Uh,
what... princess?"
Quiin frowned. "I keep forgetting you know nothing of the Empire's rise...
the princess, well, one time princess, was enslaved when she was eight after her
parents were killed in a raid. Shmi Skywalker... daughter of Katrina and Devon
Skywalker... mother of Anakin Skywalker... born on a planet in the unknown
regions... you get the idea, my brother had a thing for her..."
Prescott spoke up again, "Uh, about why I contacted you..."
Katrina woke up in a cold sweat. Her old vampire instincts were on full
alert along with her mother instincts. Devon was not in their bedroom. She
quickly got up and headed toward Shmi's room, casting a calm spell as she ran
down the hallway. "Shmi," she whispered to her daughter.
"Shmi, we have to leave." Shmi woke up to the sound of her mother's
voice.
"What is it?" she searched for her father's presence... "Where's
daddy?"
Katrina shook her head, "I don't know."
Shmi could feel the fear rising from the town-folk of Silmaria. "They're
afraid..." Katrina nodded, understanding the enhanced powers her daughter had.
Shmi's birth caused quite a stir with the mages at W.I.T., for a while she was
afraid they'd try to take her daughter away... but luckily that never happened.
Katrina and Shmi ran through the streets of Silmaria from an unknown enemy.
Suddenly the night sky exploded with lights.
"Katrina!"
Katrina turned to the sound of her beloved. "Devon..." she trailed off as
the lights began to land. Devon reached her side, Katrina noticed his arm was
bleeding. "It's an invasion." she whispered to herself, Devon summoned his
staff...
... young Lord Vader came back to reality. He had been searching for
information on this "Mara Jade" when the vision had come. Judging from the sky,
it had lasted for nearly nine hours.
Luke was trying his best to figure out his vision. Visions always meant
something, some even stood for things. This was one of them. Since it was a two
part vision, the betrayal (that was the only rational explanation Luke could
come up with) would come in two steps.
The first step would be the betrayal of someone close to him. Since the
vision had shown him Ven, it meant someone with daily access to him. Ven had
been contacting someone, someone who knew too much but also was insane. The part
about Qui-Gon being related to Palpatine was pure insanity as was Palpatine's
uncle. But that didn't discount...of course! It had to be one of Palpatine's
relatives. But he and Father had killed them all. He would have to meditate on
it.
--
Luke smiled slowly, his teeth showing. The underling cowered, clearly
frightened of the glittering teeth. The Vader's, as were all Force sensitives,
of a different race than other, normal, humans. By blood they were werewolves.
That was one of the reasons that sensitives were once hunted. But the Jedi,
indeed it was the Sith who found it first, had found a way to counter the
Changing. It was so simple it was mind-boggling. Why not become another sort of
night creature? And performing this change also insured perfect loyalty. It's
nature that a vampire has loyalty to the one who bit him. Fathers bit their son,
mothers the daughters. It was the way of the Force by this time.
It was why Palpatine had surrounded himself with sensitives he had
bitten...of course! Jade was the Emperor's Hand, he bit her, the was no
conceivable reason she could not have been his own offspring.
The old Lord Vader bared his teeth. His son backed down a step in fear. It
was pure animalistic rage that flowed through Emperor Vader. How could one of
those filth be left?! How could they have missed one? More importantly, why had
Luke missed her? Did this have to do with the betrayal visions he had been
having? Was Luke the weak link?
Luke looked up at his father in pure fear. What was his father going to do
to him? He hadn't felt this way since he started him force training. Even though
Luke's first reaction was to back away and flee the room, he held firm. It would
only anger his father more if he ran away. And at this time, angering his father
could have disastrous consequences.
Vader calmed down. all the rage leaving him at once made him feel very
drained, but he knew that he must be strong, if only for Luke's sake. Luke.
Vader belatedly remembered he was in the room. Horror filled him. Had Luke seen
him at his most animalistic? Had he unknowingly placed his son in a life
threatening danger? For that was the side effect of the counter-change, when a
Sith is at the height of his power, he feels nothing for his blood family. And
blood is an important thing to a vampire. Vader smiled at his son who looked
questioning at him. Vader internally cursed himself for doing this to his son
and then motioned him forward. As Luke approached, Vader began telling him his
plan.
---
Jade went over the data pad for the umpteenth time. The Vaders had no
weaknesses it seemed. Their natural werewolf-ness (if that was a word) protected
them for any type of poisen immaginable. Even spice produced no lasting
impression on them. Their werewolf fangs could bite through anything but the
strongest durasteel and their vampire fangs made even that fact questionable.
Their vampire fangs also made it possible for them to 'mark' humans. These
humans were then solely devoted to their masters. It made her wonder why young
lord Vader hadn't done the same thing with Ven. It certainly made her job
easier. She never stopped to wonder if in fact he had.
---
Ven wiped his brow. It was hard, but he knew that his 'master' had thought
spies everywhere. It was very difficult keeping his thoughts on betrayal while
working hard to betray the one he was betraying to. It gave him a headache. But
he trusted Master Luke and trusted that this scheme of his would work. If only
this was over and he could continue to serve his Master in peace and happiness,
for truly nothing gave him more joy than a smile bestowed on him by Master Luke.
He lived to serve and this was service. He knew that his Master had visions of
him betraying him, but hoped that it was merely symbolism, that it would seem to
everyone that he was a traitor, but that his Master would always know his
loyalty.
Luke was exhausted. Seeing his father tended to do that to him. It was so
hard to pretend to be evil, knowing that one false move would mean not only his
death, but the death of those who depended on him, Ven, Leia, Han And Chewie,
who were Force knew where now, and Lando, who Luke had to contact desperately.
But how? He laid down on the bed in weariness, wondering if Ven would be able to
get away today. Perhaps he could find Lando and pass the message on. He felt
himself drifting towards sleep.
"It's an invasion." she whispered to herself. Though they had long planned
for this, Katrina was still caught by surprise, then her training took over. She
grabbed Shmi by the hand, and ran to the ship.
After fastening her daughter securely in the passenger section, she
dropped a quick kiss on her nose, and made for the bridge. The relief pilot
greeted her fairly cheerfully, so she knew the evacuation must be going well.
Strapping herself in, she ran her eyes quickly over the console, committing the
information to memory, and then called up the ship's manifest. She could hear
the shouts and movements of the staff behind her as they rapidly loaded the ship
for takeoff, as she punched in her husband's comm-number.
"Devon here." Katrina smiled at the crispness in his voice. "Pilot secured
and ready sir. Get your arm checked would you? I don't want you bleeding all
over my ship."
"Yes, Pilot." Katrina heard the laughter in his voice as he answered.
"Come on, this is the last bunch," he continued to someone in the background.
Then he reported, "Commander boarding, take off at pilot's discretion."
"Aye sir, take off commencing."
Luke came to with a start. Another vision about his, what, great-
grandparents? And his brief glimpse of his grandmother Shmi. He'd heard so much
about her, but never thought his first sight of her would be of a frightened 8
year old. Still, the girl had been commendably calm, considering the
circumstances.
He went to the communit and contacted Prescott Ven. In an innocuous
conversation about the upcoming banquet, the code phrases and facial expressions
conveyed an entirely different conversation.
Luke: Contact Lando immediately. The timetable must be moved up.
Ven: Yes, Master. Shall I contact the Princess as well?
Luke: Yes. Tell her Vader plans to take over the Byoverton system.
Ven: That would give him control of the spice market.
Luke: We must stop him at all costs. Get to Lando. He knows all the
contingency plans.
Luke sat back with a sigh. Ven would get to Lando, on the pretext of
ordering the linens needed for the banquet. Lando would have a dozen or so
backup plans in readiness. Now all that was needed was to track down the Jade
character who kept sticking her nose in. Luke could not allow any meddling at
this stage of the game. He bared his fangs with a smile as he contemplated the
beautiful Jade's long white, unmarked neck.
Katrina sighed, glad that Dr. Cranium's "outer-space-travel-device" worked as
planned. Months ago Dr. Cranium had picked up messages being sent from one ship
to another about an invasion, he had insisted that they be prepared and build
more of his OSTDs. With luck, they might be able to out-run the bigger ships...
Katrina prayed the wizards could divert the invaders attention long enough...
suddenly the bigger ship shot some kind of energy beam at their tiny space
craft, Shmi screamed.
Luke woke in a cold sweat, suddenly knowing what was happening to him. He
remembered dreams where he had been an agent of the dark side, and others where
he was a lightsider, but now he felt he was neither, but... there was a knock at
his door.
End Part One