Worst

Worst. Chapter. Ever. Ugh, I hate this chapter so damn much, I'm only posting it because of the events in it are important. Maybe I'll rewrite it some other day, but I really want to suffer through this one…

Chapter 2

Running With the Stars

There it is," Jariah sighed. In orbit of the planet Ord Mantell, their ultimate goal: The Grinning Liar. It was a modest ship, of average size for a freighter. But that wasn't the reason that the ship was special, Cade had learned. In some respects, it was the success for to the Millennium Falcon in its design. It was designed to be rugged and long lasting, though it was shaped more like a tuning fork than the Republic's emblem. It had been painted a lovely shade of brown, giving it a nonchalant look. The Grinning Liar had been modified extensively throughout its life, to the point that it could actually do serious damage to 'superior' military vessels and could outrun them, as well. Cade wasn't surprised that Rav wanted it so badly. Though it was old, the Wookie Chak had taken better care of it than any other captain he'd seen.

"Time to get our ship back!" Kee declared, but Chak growled a halt to his pilot, squinting at the vessel. The Wookie shook his head and declared in his grunting and growling language,

"It's a trap. Rav wants us to go for it," the Wookie spacer observed. Jariah did a passive scan of the area, which confirmed that there were other ships that weren't visible to the naked eye. Kee cursed their luck, muttering in her native language.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Jariah asked with a tone of hopelessness. Diverting meant that Rav would realize that they'd spotted the trap and he would attack. Springing the trap was undesirable. Sitting there would lead to Rav attack anyway. Any communications would be intercepted.

"Blaster bolts," Kee muttered. Cade nodded in agreement. There wasn't any way out of this except by duking it out with the pirates, a very undesirable situation for them. So close, yet so far.

The computer beeped with a Hail. Chak grunted a Wookie expletive. Parley would get them nowhere. Rav was going to have them dead, whatever happened, but the Wookie decided to humor his enemy anyway, and opened the communication channel.

"Good job on finding us, Chak, but as you can-"

Parley, however, was cut short with both parties' sensors going wild. An entire fleet of ship suddenly appeared above the planet, shaped like bulbous Star Destroyers. They immediately began firing on the planet and the orbiting stations and released countless fighters. Kee reacted almost as soon as they appeared, swerving away from the Sith fire. The pirates opened fire on their starship, but Kee was too good for them, and not a single shot landed.

"I want my ship!" Chak roared, "Get us to it, and we'll split up. Kee and I will take the Grinning Liar and we'll hop out of here."

"Are you INSANE?" Jariah demanded, "We'll be blasted if we try that!"

"Yes!" the Wookie spacer growled, and Kee turned the Mynock about.

"Hold onto your blaster!" Kee warned a split-second later, and Jariah did just that. Cade did the same, only with his Lightsaber, which he grasped tightly. Kee fired the Mynock's main cannon, obliterating a Sith fighter. It was mere moments before they were hovering above the Grinning Liar.

"Thank you, Cade, for letting us borrow your ship. We'll be headed to Taris next if you want to stick with us," Chak offered as the two ships were connected. Cade shrugged.

"We gotta pick up Delilah, and I got a feeling that this isn't over between myself and these guys," he replied. The Wookie nodded and quickly went into the boarding airlock. Cade watched the two enter their ship and then rushed to the cockpit, manning the controls. Jariah immediately rushed to the turret and began blasting. Cade waited until the Grinning Liar had powered up before disengaging the boarding tube and taking off. He prepped the Hyperspace engine and set the route for Coruscant, where Delilah was waiting for them-When he felt something. It wasn't the Dark Side-That was everywhere, it seemed. No, this was quite the opposite-It was a Jedi. Cade followed the path of a particular fighter as it made a beeline for Ord Mantell. That had to be him.

"Jariah, I'm making a detour," he announced.

"WHAT? Dammit, nobody's flying with all their thrusters today! What is it this time?"

"A Jedi! I can't leave him!"

"How the-Whatever, forget him, man! Let's get the Frak out of here! He's a Jedi, he can handle himself!"

But Cade wasn't paying any attention to his friend's objections, and made a beeline for the planet while Jariah fought off the Sith fighters-Which actually were quite uninterested in the Mynock.

The fighter was better-designed than the standard Galactic Empire sighter, as it was designed to be hardier and could actually land on the surface of a planet. It was little more than a glorified bubble with similar bubbles on the sides for the engines, but it had landing legs. The Jedi tried shaking the It was little more than a glorified bubble with similar bubbles on the sides for the engines, but it had landing legs. The Jedi tried shaking the Mynock, fearing it may be an enemy, but Cade was adamant and kept on him. The fighter finally landed, and Cade did the same just a few yards away. Cade opened the loading door.

"You know how much I hate you, Cade?" Jariah asked.

"Enough so that you risk your life for me almost on a daily basis?" Cade guessed. Jariah harrumphed, but had to give his friend that one. When they stepped out of the ship, the Jedi had already left his vessel, his blue Lightsaber lit. He wore black robes and didn't step too far from his ship. Jariah's hand kept close to his blaster, but Cade made no motion towards his Lightsaber or his gun. The Jedi recognized Cade once they were out of the ship and switched his weapon off.

"Cade Skywalker, of all the people that to follow me, it had to be you. You've got no idea how easy this makes it for me," the Jedi commented, "I'm Jer-Al. I have some tidings for you."

"Fine," Cade replied, "It would be nice to have an idea on what the hell is going on for a change. Who're the great conquerors of above?"

"Sith," Jer-Al replied. Cade chuckled, which turned into a full laugh after a few moments. When he was finished, he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Seriously, who are they?"

"I'm being absolutely serious, Cade," Jer-Al insisted, "They're a new Sith cult of some kind. They've been taking over worlds on the edge of Galactic Empire space. They aren't of Krayt's order."

"All right, I'll go along. Who's their leader?" Cade asked, still unbelieving.

"Look, if you're not going to take me seriously, I might as well find another Jedi that will," Jer-Al retorted, "I have spent the last four weeks with these people. Do you know how many people I had to kill to get away from them? It wasn't pretty, and I knew several of them."

"You say that like they were your friends," Jariah observed.

"They aren't, believe me," Jer-Al assured him, "They follow the Rule of Two. There's a Master and an Apprentice. They seem to be rather ignorant of Krayt's Order and his rule over the Empire, which is why they're invading it."

"How come I haven't sensed this?" Cade asked, "How come nobody sensed this?"

"Their leader, Darth Orexsus…He's…Powerful. And not just in numbers, I've met the apprentice. She's more than a match for any of the Sith that I've encountered. Most of their military comes from the Unknown regions, even their Knights. They have hidden themselves well up until this point."

Cade nodded, now satisfied. Though the Jedi didn't have any proof, he didn't sense any deception. But Cade was not a trusting man, and so while he believed Jer-Al's explanation, he took it with a grain of salt in case they were being deceived.

"All right, that makes sense. Now, what's the name of their leader?" Cade asked again.

"Darth Orexsus. He's a human and they follow him as if it were a cult of some kind."

"What about the apprentice?"

"A woman called Darth Tessul. From what I've sensed, she could be the Master in her own right, it's likely simply a title. She is human, as well, or at least a Near-Human. And as for their intentions, that's the easier question to answer," Jer-Al told Cade. Cade smiled and nodded.

"Conquer and rule," Cade agreed, "All right, then. I know where we can meet with other Jedi. We can cram you into our ship, would you like a ride?"

"I had to leave my apprentice on Garos Four. Teya isn't one that holds her temper well, and she may get into trouble without me," Jer-Al replied.

"The more the merrier, I suppose. Let's go," Cade replied, but Jer-Al didn't budge. Instead, he drew his Lightsaber, his eyes fixed on something behind them. Cade spun about and lit his own weapon, encountering, for the first time, the Orexsus warriors in person. There were three of them, each with a calm but undeniably confident face.

"You've upset Master Tessul," the lead, a Nagai, told Jer-Al. None of the Dark Jedi had their Lightsabers ready, "That was not a very polite-Nor intelligent-thing to do, Jer-Al."

"Cade, get into the ship and take off," Jer-Al growled, "Get Teya and regroup with the other Jedi. I'll distract these three."

"We can handle 'em," Jeriah decided, his blaster in one hand and his vibroblade in the other.

"No, you can't," Jer-Al insisted, "Cade might. But you would get killed, I've seen them spar before."

"Cade?" the Nagai wondered, "As in, Cade Skywalker? Master Orexsus is very interested in you. Please, there's really no need to fight, just come peacefully and you will be accommodated on our ships. Fresh food!"

"Tempting, you have no idea, but no," Cade retorted, and he swung at the Nagai, who dodged the lazy strike and he rushed into the Mynock with Jariah and started the ship's engines. The Nagai and his companions lit their saber and tried forcing their way in, but Jer-Al struck at them.

"Your fight's with me, Deseyah," Jer-Al growled. The infuriated Nagai was glad to oblige the Jedi with a fight that Jer-Al had no hope of winning as the Mynock took off.

Jer-Al, needless to say, had been beaten and battered by the Sith. He didn't remember much about the fight, only that it didn't last very long, and only Deseyah had fought him. When he woke up, he found himself in the holding cells, chained to a wall and leaning over the floor, shirtless. He studied his shoulders and saw that his body was bruised, and he noted that he was missing a couple of teeth. Within a few seconds, he realized that his ear was ringing and he had a massive headache. Through the noise in his ears, he heard one of the guards announce that Jer-Al had awakened.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Jer-Al moaned. His bad feeling turned out to be accurate as Darth Tessul entered the holding cells, a small snakelike Yuuzhan Vong creature that Jer-Al did not recognize. And Darth Tessul did not look happy. Deseyah walked just behind her, enjoying the situation much more than his Sith master. The creature squirmed and nipped at Tessul, who simply moved her hand about to prevent it from biting.

"This is going to hurt," Darth Tessul warned, and she placed the creature on Jer-Al's head. The Jedi never knew the ear-splitting scream he made as it burrowed under his skin and into his spine.

That last bit was what I had intended this chapter to be like, but I just couldn't capture Cade's dialog. I better get the hang of it, because Cade is going to be important character.

I don't intend for Jer-Al to be a main character, I promise you that. Important to the plot, yes, but he is not the star of this story. This is about Orexsus and Cade. I'll keep the OC's to a minimum, if I can.

This chapter was also supposed to be titled 'Supreme Loyalty' and then I just realized that doesn't happen yet. I really hate this particular chapter.