Chapter 01
10 years after the fall of the Galactic Republic
"I'm picking up a distress signal," Lieutenant Otock announced. The Mon Calamari punched a few more buttons and said, "Small freighter. YT-1300 by the looks of it. I'd guess a smuggler."
"Scan it closely," Captain Sritlecur ordered. "If they are smugglers the damage must be severe if they are calling for help."
Otock nodded. Beside the captain the Jedi they were escorting, a young man named Ezra Bridger reached out through the Force and said, "Whoever is over there is scared. Something's wrong."
"Looks like a hypermatter leak," Otock said. "A severe one. They've left a trail a quarter of a light-year across, and the ship is losing power. I wouldn't be surprised if they run out of air in a matter of minutes."
Sritlecur frowned. The Twi-lek had been working on the border of the Galactic Alliance for nearly five years, and she'd seen plenty of smugglers in that time. But to have one in an accident this close to the Republic border had to be the worst luck this captain was ever going to have. Finally she announced, "Bring them alongside. We'll render aid, and take them back to Kashyyk for an investigation."
"Or medal," Otock commented.
Stritlecur shrugged, "Or a medal," she agreed. That all depended on the cargo. If the smuggler was bringing spice into the Alliance then it would be prison time. If they were bringing bacta to the Republic they'd be paid and set up officially.
"Ezra, could you assist," the captain asked. The Jedi was with them on his first proper mission after being promoted to a full knight, it would be good for him to work on something easy like this."
Bridger smiled, "Of course," he answered, standing and moving to the lift.
Stritlecur didn't watch him go. Something about this still didn't sit right with her.
Bridger grinned as he entered airlock where the other ship would be latched. He had only been away from his master for a few weeks, and wanted an opportunity, any opportunity to show that the Council's judgement to appoint him a knight was correct.
As he arrived the brief alarm signaling the opening of the airlock began, and several troopers arrived. There would be B-3 droids outside of course, but no reason to terrify whoever was asking for aid this quickly.
The airlock door slid open, and a young woman stumbled through it, clutching at her side. She was, Bridger thought, very pretty, with red bright red hair in a bun. But her clothes were horribly burned, and she couldn't have been in much condition to walk. A medic ran forward and steadied her before saying, "Easy. We'll get you on a stretcher." The girl nodded briefly, and Bridger began to sense something was off here, something was odd about this girl. "What's your name?" The medic asked kindly, beginning to look her over for injuries."
"Jade," she answered. "Mara Jade." She looked up, and locked eyes on Bridger. Her eyes were bright green…no…he realized with a shock. That was their natural color, but there was a very clear sign of yellow there. "And I see you brought a Jedi," she said, her voice suddenly losing what warmth had been there. "I was afraid this would be too easy."
A red lightsaber appeared in her hand, bisecting the medic who'd been holding her. Moments later she decapitated both troopers who'd been close by and turned on Bridger, who had ignited his own green lightsaber. The two faced each other for a moment, then Bridger lept at her.
The woman dodged his attack and brought her own saber around without pausing. She was fast, he noted. Extremely fast, and anger radiated off of her. Anger and…something else. Fear he thought. After a moment he considered and knew that he was correct, it was certainly fear.
Deciding to play on that he pressed her harder, trying to drive Jade into a corner where she wouldn't be able to fall back further. She complied slowly, taking a few steps back. But she wasn't losing focus. He decided to push her a bit. "You can't win. A fallen Jedi…" he was cut off as Jade's foot hit the wall behind her, and she suddenly used the new position to fling herself up and forward, coming down on the far side of the room. Bridger whirled, but was a fraction of a second too late. Jade raised one hand, and lightning out of it, blasting him against a wall. His lightsaber fell from his hand, and Jade summoned it.
He fell, twitching from the blast and the woman advanced, knowing she had just enough time before the combat brought reinforcements in. Raising her lightsaber however she pointed it down at Bridger's head and said coldly, "I'm not a Jedi."
Grabbing her commlink Jade announced, "Captain, the airlock is secure. Deploy immediately."
There was an acknowledgement, and onboard the freighter smuggling hatches opened and thirty clones emerged from hiding. They were barely off the ship when the doors slid open and a security trooper came in to find out what was wrong. He died moments later under a hail of blaster fire. The clones moved forward into a storm of blaster fire from the B-3 droids which had arrived.
The B-3 Advanced Battle droid was an odd step after the more heavily armored B-2 Super battle droid. Featuring a more advanced brain capable of acting independent of a control signal indefinitely the B-3 sacrificed much of the useless armor which had weighed down its predecessor, returning to the more streamlined B-1 model. The B-3s armor was primarily built onto vital systems. The wrist blasters had been removed as well to allow for a wider variety of weapons to be carried.
The most important difference however lay in the joints, which had been modified heavily to allow faster and easier movement, giving the B-3 the ability to take cover effectively and retain the ability to fire. With updated programming the droid was several times as effective as any predecessor, and largely deemed more dangerous than even the Destroyer droids.
They were still outmatched by the clones. Clone armor had been heavily updated based on experience during the Galactic Revolution. New developments allowed the armor to vent heat more effectively, leading to a significant increase in the number of shots the armor could absorb before being easily penetrated. Their blaster rifles had been significantly changed as well, focusing on faster rates of fire over power in each shot. The more important modification however had been a concentration on making blaster rifles shorter, allowing for easier movement in cramped spaces, and the addition of a thermal detonator launcher to most weapons.
The B-3s fought effectively, but were horribly outnumbered by the clones, and their defensive systems were overwhelmed.
Mara had spent the fight rifling through the Jedi's pockets, and she rose as the clone commander approached. "The transmitter isn't on him," she announced. "Commander, take the bridge immediately, before they can penetrate the jamming. After that tear this ship apart until you find the Jedi's beacon."
"Yes Lady Recht," the clone answered immediately. "And the crew?"
Mara shrugged, "I have no interest in prisoners. Get the information and execute them."
"Yes ma'am," the clone acknowledged. He went off to gather the surviving soldiers and set of toward the bridge, leaving only a skeleton group behind to guard their mistress and the ship. Mara paced as she waited. The sounds of combat had faded, and the corridors leading to the bridge were scarred with signs of combat, the bodies of the unprepared crew scattered through them, the occasional B-3 droid or clone among them.
Finally, Mara's commlink beeped and she said, "Report."
"The bridge is secure Lady Recht," a clone announced. "The captain is alive should you wish to question her. We have the ship on lockdown outside your section. We are preparing to sweep the ship of survivors."
"Excellent work commander," Jade said. "I will be on the bridge momentarily. Leave some guards and proceed."
"Yes, my lady," the clone answered.
Mara proceeded up the ship, leaving her own guards behind. With the lone Jedi she'd sense gone nothing on the ship was even a minor threat to her. She met no one as she passed, though the weaklings were clearly visible in the Force, cowering as if that would save them from the clones. The bridge itself was a complete wreck. At least one thermal detonator had gone off inside, and the broken bodies of the crew littered the floor. The captain was restrained in her chair, with two clones standing guard next to her.
Mara walked toward them, and stopped directly in front of the Twi-lek, not bothering to hide her disdain for the Republic officer. "Where's the Jedi's beacon?" she demanded.
"Go to…" the captain, began, but was cut off by a choking gasp as Mara reached out through the Force and squeezed her throat.
"You were saying?" she continued, deliberately making herself sound bored. At the same time however she reached out with the Force and began driving her will onto the captain's mind.
The other woman was silent, then asked, "What will I get if I tell you?"
Mara smiled coldly. "I won't shove you out an airlock." She answered. "I understand its quite painful."
"I…" the captain said slowly.
Inside the woman's mind Mara's attack had finished. She would have spilled anything with just a little push. So, Mara gave it to her, "I'll find it regardless," the Sith informed her. "Your resistance means nothing. No one will remember you."
"Deck two." The captain said shakily. "His quarters were room nine. It will be there."
Mara whipped her lightsaber out and decapitated the woman. "Join your commander," she ordered the clones. "Kill everyone on this ship and then blow it up."
"Yes ma'am." They ordered immediately before filing out. Mara followed, remembering the designs she'd had to memorize of this type of ship. The deck below was less scarred than the path to the bridge, but there were still signs of combat. Most of the quarters had been blasted in, and the bodies of crew members were scattered across as well. The Jedi's quarters had had the doors blown off, but the inside was untouched apart from that. The clones would have been looking for survivors here after all. Mara reached out through the Force, and ripped the Jedi's furnishings apart. A flash caught her eye from one corner, where a nightstand had been, and she grabbed it triumphantly. The Jedi's beacon was fully functioning. She switched it off immediately and started back toward her ship. Somewhere deeper in the ship the last of the crew was being exterminated, and it would soon be time for her to depart. Staying in Republic space was dangerous, but the mission was worth it.
The Jedi kept their new headquarters hidden, but the beacon would lead her there. It would lead her to her master's prize, and in the process rip away what hope remained to those who opposed the Sith Lord.
"My master," Darth Recht announced as her hologram materialized in Luke's office on what had once been the center of the galaxy.
Darth Rhamnous studied the girl silenly for a moment, before asking, "The mission?"
"The beacon is in my possession master," his apprentice informed him. "The coordinates are coded, it will take time to track the signal. I shall not fail you."
Rhamnous didn't doubt that. Mara Jade wasn't like the others who had a talent for the Force. They were shifted to intelligence to make up the secret police force that patrolled the less than pacified planets taken from the Republic during the war. Jade though. Jade was focused, she was determined, she was powerful, and she was smart. She was the perfect apprentice, apart from an excessive sentimental streak at time. But that could be cured, it had in Rhamnous's case after all.
"Let me know when you have succeeded in tracking the new Jedi Temple," he answered, keeping his assessment of his apprentice to himself. "Until then maintain silence."
Jade bowed, and Rhamnous cut the transmission.
He allowed a small smile and stood to look out over the Republic's former capital. A decade of forced labor had transformed what had been a built-up world into once where vast sections had been cleared away, the population forcibly moved to less inhabited planets elsewhere. The difficulties of feeding Coruscant had made it the Republic's weakest point during the war, and the Alliance had no time for a planet, or population, which could never ben made self-sufficient. Even from here the gleaming armor of work camp guards could be seen in the afternoon sun. Most of the planet was still covered in city blocks of course, and the Jedi Temple stood as a great burned out monument to the failure of that Order. Moved from the upper levels of the city down to the surface naturally.
The Senate building simply no longer existed, having been blasted into oblivion in the days following Coruscant fall as a sign of the fall of the Republic itself.
Irritants remained. Some brave senators had stayed behind, stealing blaster rifles from droids and using them to form their own personal militia. The other Senators who had remained on planet were all dead naturally.
High above in the upper atmosphere and orbiting the planet was the debris of the thousands of ships that had died above Coruscant in both battles. Clean-up would have taken decades normally, had the new management been interested. Luke was not inclined to bother however. His own dwelling was shielding, and what did he care if debris fell elsewhere on the planet.
The office itself was relatively sparse. A desk with holo-emitter, working station, and everything necessary to oversee the proper and orderly running of a military and intelligence service. The primary objects of decoration were the carbonite statues of the Kaminoan leaders who had found themselves obsolete at war's end. Now the planet was being managed by more…pliable, rulers.
Luke had barely retaken his seat when the holocomm alerted him to another message. He frowned, Mara would not be calling back this quickly, and very few other people would dare interrupt him. Which meant this had to be important. He flicked the switch to receive the message and was confronted by Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, one of the few men in the galaxy worthy to speak to the Sith Lord directly, and as needed.
"My lord," the Admiral said immediately. "We've received a communication from forces stationed along the Unknown Regions. An unknown alien force is requesting Asylum within the Republic."
"Destroy them," Luke said off-hand. Threats from the Unknown Regions was odd, and something to be brought to his attention.
"The leader of the group claims to know you sir," Pellaeon interjected. "He seemed to be under the impression you had offered him sanctuary should the need ever arise. Should I…?"
He stopped as Luke raised a hand. That was one of the reasons this Admiral could contact Luke whenever he needed to, Pellaeon knew when to stay silent. Luke however was thinking back, and he remembered. He had met a commander in the Unknown Regions after all. "What is the alien's name?" He asked finally.
"Mitth'raw'noruodo," Pellaeon said, butchering the pronunciation. "He says we may know him as Thrawn. He also wished to inform you, the war was lost, and the Vagaari are coming."
Luke nodded, "Allow them passage. I will meet at a neutral location. Mrisst I believe. We can investigate as necessary. For now shift two hundred Star Destroyers from interior patrol lines to the border."
Pellaeon nodded, "If these Vagaari are preparing for an attack we will slaughter them mylord."