So, for all of those who may not know, The Old Republic Pre-orders have started, and I am as giddy as a school girl about to meet a rock star in his room. That likely means that TOR will be out soon. Once that happens, it's good by story, and life. Until that time, I'm pushing to get as many chapters out as possible.

Ahsoka stood on the bridge, her body technically clean, but still feeling so filthy. For some reason, she thought that Sanguine'ar knew exactly what she and Greth had done. If he did, he either didn't care, or was going to black mail her with that, too. The more she watched him, the more she was sure that he knew. It was almost like he was avoiding getting anywhere close to her, or even making eye contact.

The thought that a Sith would be disgusted with her made her feel even worse. The thought of having to keep a secret from everyone made her sick to her stomach. Maybe she could talk to Barriss about? No, she had to expunge that idea almost immediately. There was no way she could go to Barriss because of something like this, not after having shot her down so recently.

"Droids make good confidants." Sanguine'ar blurted out.

"What?" Ahsoka asked him.

"You need someone to talk to, try talking to a droid. You ever get concerned about your little secret spilling out, you just wipe their memory." He clarified.

"Is that what you do, when you feel like you did something wrong?" The Sith stared at her, his eyes telling her that he thought she was an idiot. "Wait, were you reading my thoughts?"

"I suppose you can look at it like that. Really, though, you were about one impulse away from thinking out loud."

"So, then you probably know what I'm worried about?" She asked.

"Between what you asked me not even five minutes ago, what I know about Greth, and where you were seen earlier tonight, I can take a guess."

"You don't seem to care." Ahsoka pointed out.

"I can't say I approve." The navigational console started beeping, Sanguine'ar started punching keys. "We're about to come out of hyperspace." He said. The twisting blue and black faded into the small dots of countless stars and the violent explosions and chaos of an orbital battle. "By the Emperor!" He shouted, and sounded the general alarm. Several of the officers sprinted onto the bridge, taking their stations.

Their hands danced across the keys, various systems and lights coming on, followed by the distinctive sound of the ships orbital thrusters powering up.

"I make out over two dozen enemy signals. Three cruiser class, six carriers, five destroyers, and ten frigates. Wait, there's another signature coming in from hyperspace behind the other Separatist vessels. LADAR signature is massive." The weapons officer said. A huge ship, with a large disk on the port and starboard sides, appeared behind the Separatist line. The leviathan's shadow completely engulfed the its allies.

"We are in trouble." Sanguine'ar said. "Get all pilots to their ships, double time. Bring us about to starboard. Ready all weapons systems. Divert all power to the starboard deflectors." He ordered. The doors to the lift slid open, Anakin stepping out.

"What's going on?" The Jedi said.

"It appears not everyone agrees with the Republic's continued control of Onderon." Sanguine'ar said. "Target the closest frigate to our position, and blow it off the face of existence."

"Yes, my lord." The weapon's officer said. The ship shuddered a little as the large cannons began bombarding the doomed vessel.

"Master," Ahsoka whispered to Anakin, "is that ship what I think it is?"

"It looks like it, Ahsoka." He said. "The Malevolence is back."

"You say that like I should be concerned." Sanguine'ar said.

"You should be. The Malevolence is a super-weapon. Those large disks on the side are ion cannons. They use them to disable ships, then blast them to pieces, and hunt down any survivors." Ahsoka said.

"Hm, a cowardly, yet effective technique, and I can feel a dark presence on that ship. Helmsmen, get us there." Sanguine'ar ordered. The Ship came about, and thrust towards the Malevolence. "All wings, form up behind Korriban's Blood." Several voices crackled over the com, confirming the order.

"Detecting massive ion signature emanating from the enemy vessel." One of the other officers said.

"Maintain trajectory and speed."

"Ion levels reaching critical."

"Keep pushing." Sanguine'ar said. A purple-pink circle shot off the ring, and headed straight towards Korriban's Blood. The ring crossed the blackness with incredible speed. "Ready the emergency starboard thrusters."

"The ring is 100 meters out...75...50." The weapons officer said.

"Bring us about!" Anakin shouted, but no one moved.

"45 meters...35...25."

"Hit the thrusters!" Sanguine'ar ordered. The Korriban's Blood was violently shot to the left. Ahsoka, Anakin, Saguine'ar, and anyone else who wasn't strapped onto something were tossed about like a rag doll. The Sith was the first to stumble back to his feet. "Damage report!" He ordered.

"No serious damage, the cargo hold is a mess, but hull and structural integrity are intact. Black 1, 7, and 5 are dead in space, though. So are bombers Red 5, 7, 8." One of the officers reported.

"We'll make do, get out main gun locked on that ion weapon, and send in all wings." Sanguine'ar said. He activated the ship's com system, "Viken Squad, report to your landing craft, immediately. Nallek, I need you on the bridge."

"I need to contact those Republic ships so that we can co-ordinate our assault." Anakin said.

"The Com officer will give you access to one of the terminals." Sanguine'ar said. The zabrak dashed onto the bridge, and snapped a crisp salute. "You have the ship until I return, Nallek." She didn't say anything to him, just nodded.

The dozen or so soldiers of Viken squad stood on the hanger deck in front of their assigned boarding craft, Lieutenant Greth at the front. Each one the grunts wore heavy armor, decorated to personal taste, and a black Imperial emblem, unique to Viken squad, on their right shoulder guard. Each member of the squad also carried a weapon of personal choice. Two of them carried massive repeating blaster cannons, Greth carried two Mandalorian blaster pistols on his sides, and a custom sniper rifle. The rest carried standard marine rifles, with a few personal touches here and there.

The members of Viken squad were amongst the best individuals in the Imperial millitary. As a unit, they could do what an entire company could not. Named after the famed Grand Moff Odiel Viken, they were the Empire's greatest assault force. Perfect for storming a massive ship, likely filled with thousands of battle droids.

Greth snapped a quick salute to the Pureblood. "My lord, Viken squad awaiting your orders."

"Get on board, make ready for anything." Sanguine'ar said. "We're going in hot, one of the dark jedi we're after may be on board that ship, so make sure you're dampeners and seals are intact." The group made their way into the small boarding craft, the small holding area turning pitch black for a few seconds once it was sealed. The metal canister shuddered as it was loaded into the bay. There was the distinctive sound of pressure seals forming, and dull red lights came on in the cramped holding section.

A computerized voice spoke over the ship's speakers. "Prepare for launch in 3...2...1." Everyone was pushed back in their seats by the rapid acceleration, then thrown violently forward as the vessel pushed through the Malevolence's hull. The front of the craft opened up into what looked like a maintenance catwalk. Sanguine'ar jumped out first, activating his lightsaber. Bits of metal were everywhere, sparks flying from exposed wires and conduits.

The rest of the squad jumped down behind him, spreading out as best they could for line of fire. "Nallek," Sanguine'ar said over his com, "where in the ship are we?"

"Your on one of the uppermost levels, looks like that part is still under construction. We're picking up a large number of life signs in the corridor closest to where you are, and a large number of droid signatures are heading towards your location."

"Good, I was starting to get bored." Sanguine'ar said. "Greth, go check out those life-signs, see what we're dealing with. The rest of you, form up behind me, prepare for heavy assault." Greth activated his personal stealth-field generator, and silently made his way from the group. The rest of the group made a staggered formation behind the Sith, the squad's two heavy-weapons specialists standing at the front of their group.

There was the sound of metal clanking against metal outside of the heavy doors. From the sound of it, most of the droids were fairly large. The marines responded by cycling their heavy repeaters, the whirring sound of the barrel rings echoing in the large chamber. The doors slid open, dozens of large, blue-grey, battle droids raising their arms. Viken squad opened fire, the red blaster bolts tearing through the droids.

The machines just kept pilling in, and getting shot down. Eventually, the column ended, a bizarre, skeletal, looking droid was at the back.

"So, you're the mysterious new comer." The droid said.

"And you're walking scrap, blast him!" Sanguine'ar ordered. His soldiers opened up with another volley. The droid shocked them all by splitting its arms, and pulling out several lightsabers. The droid spun them in rapid circles, deflecting the volley in every direction. Several of the squad were hit by the reflected rounds. One of them, one of the heavy-weapons specialists, was hit in the throat. The marine collapsed, killed before he even registered the shot. "Cease fire! I'll take care of the uppity scrap heap."

Sanguine'ar activated his saber, and charged at the droid.

Onboard the Korriban's Blood, the bridge was a flurry of activity. Almost every console was flashing and emitting loud alarms. Commander Nallek had to shout over the noise to try and get her orders across. The powerful ship-to-ship guns aboard the Malevolence let lose a massive volley, the shield protecting the Sith vessel was barely able to ward off the ones aimed at them. One of the Republic ships wasn't so lucky, the small frigate was torn to pieces by the barrage.

Anakin sat at one of the communications consoles, trying to raise the Republic ships. So far, he'd had no luck. Most times, all he got back was static. Occasionally, he managed to pick up and send out a few words. It didn't take him long to figure out that forming any kind of defense like this was going to be impossible.

"Commander, there's another spike in ionic activity coming from that ship!" One of the officers said.

"Do our bombers have a clear run for that weapon?" She asked.

"Negative, Commander. Those vulture droids are too thick for them to break through." The weapons officer said. Commander Nallek activated her private com-link.

"Lord Sanguine'ar, come in." She said.

"I'm a little...busy, Nallek...what?"The Sith said.

"My lord, the Malevolence is preparing another blast from its ion cannon, and our bombers can't get through. We need you to take the bridge, or we're all going to be sitting ducks."

"You're going to have to figure this one out, Sarina. There's no way we're going to be able to make it in time." The bridge went quiet, everyone on it turning to Nallek.

"You're name's Sarina?" Ahsoka asked.

"Does that really matter now? Tell our pilots to double their efforts, get us close enough to take out those vulture droids."

"Commander, at that distance, we won't be able maneuver away from any of their weapons."

"And if we stay here, we're dead. Jedi," She said, turning to Anakin, "if you've got something up your sleeve, now's the time."

"I'll try." Anakin said. He pushed everything out of his mind, searching out the admiral in charge of the Republic battle group.

Sanguine'ar parried another blow from the increasingly annoying cyborg. On the narrow walkway, his men couldn't maneuver, and he couldn't past the shield of sabers. His anger swelled within him, if he didn't do something soon, there wouldn't be a chance for any of them. He let out a torrent of lightening, but the cyborg easily halted the attack with his, no doubt, stolen sabers.

The cyborg let out a wet laugh, casuing him to cough several times. "Not bad for 'walking scrap', eh?" Sanguine'ar roared in rage, and summoned a blast of telekinetic force, throwing the cyborg to the wall. Sanguine'ar followed up the attack with a shower of Force Lightening, making the cyborg scream in pain.

"Move." Sanguine'ar told his soldiers. "Now!" Viken squad ran past the Sith, and down the hall. "It's just you and me, now." The cyborg was wheezing, bad, his eyes filled with fear and hate. Sanguine'ar holstered his blade, and blasted the cyborg with both hands. An endless stream of electricity flowed into it, the few organic pieces of his body beginning to cook from the heat. A corrupt glee spread through Sanguine'ar as the cyborg suffered, a cruel, evil, laugh escaping him.

The cyborg's cries grew quieter after a few seconds. Suddenly, a concussive blast rocked the corridor, causing the Sith to fly back. The cyborg stood on all fours. "Better...luck...next time." He said, coughing, before skittering away.

"Damnit." He said. He activated his com-link, the frantic sounds from the bridge of the Korriban's Blood echoing through. "Nallek, what the hell is going on?" He asked.

"My lord, Skywalker has gotten through to the Republic ships. Our combined forces have broken through, and are assaulting the Malevolence, as you ordered."

"Why are they attacking our position?" He yelled.

"My lord, we thought you were with Viken squad. I didn't know you, wait-"

"I'm not feeling very patient, Nallek." Sanguine'ar said, walking down the corridor.

"Sanguine'ar, it's Ahsoka, I thought you might like to know that one of the Sith we're after is on the bridge of the Malevolence. I also thought it might be a good idea to tell you that your squad is heading right for him."

"And you know this how?" He asked.

"I'm looking right at him."

"Perfect." He said, turning the com-link off. He ran down the hall, the Force painting a clear path to the bridge. Finally, he thought to himself, I can put them in their place. He kept running down the hall, his excitement growing. His body felt weightless, his powerful legs pushing him faster than any human could ever dream, the long, sharp, claws on each of his four toes making a hypnotic clacking sound.

He made one last turn down another corridor. He could see his men flanking a door, overlapping their fields of fire. Sanguine'ar slowed to a stop, giving his me the signal to stand down. "He's mine." He threw out another blast of energy, causing the doors to fly off the hinges. Two droids wearing some kind of robe, and holding force pikes, were caught unaware and crushed by the impact. The only other living being on the bridge seemed unconcerned by the development.

Instead, he activated a red light saber, with a curved hilt. "I am Darth Tyrannus, you must be the Jedi's newest weapon." He said. "Does their cowardice ever cease?"

"I'm going to kill you, and that's all you need to know." Sanguine'ar said.

"You are strong, child, but power is meaningless without focus." The human lunged at Sanguine'ar, who brought his own blade up to defend himself.

"I learned 'focus' while training on Korriban. I honed my skills by killing Jedi." The Pureblood said, pushing Dooku back, and taking a slash of his own. The old man was faster than Sanguine'ar thought, and managed to parry the blow.

"Yes, my master had told me as much. A relic from an ancient time, brought into the galaxy by an act no one could have anticipated. My master said that I should extend an offer to join us. What say you?" Dooku asked.

"Die." Was Sanguine'ar's only response. The slashed at Dooku again, and again the old man managed to block him. Their red blades clashed over and over, creating a dazzling display. Sanguine'ar's soldiers stood motionless, in awe of the skill, strength, and fury displayed by the two combatants. Sanguine'ar could feel Dooku's growing anger of the situation.

Likewise, Dooku could sense the flurry of emotions spiraling around Sanguine'ar. Hatred, pain, fear, and something that the Count couldn't quite place. A word came to mind, a word that he recalled from another time, that seemed oh so long ago. Love? Was it truly love? Something he could use?

"Not as easy as a Jedi to figure out, eh? Take a good look, Tyrannus, this is what a Sith should be. I have delved into depths of darkside, while you're, still, just grazing the surface. The Emperor knew that I was the future of the Sith, and he feared that knowledge. Just as your master does. Just as you do."

"You are just an arrogant boy!" Dooku seethed. "I'll kill you, then I'll make her suffer. I'll make them all suffer!

"Well, then, I'd better not die." Sanguine'ar said. He knew this game, he was a master at it. All he had to do was keep Tyrannus talking, break through this novice's attempts to break him, and Dooku would falter. Dooku, however, surprised Sanguine'ar by breaking off the duel, and attacking Sanguine'ar's troops. The first two were cut down immediately, unable to defend themselves. Dooku then beheaded another, the Sith Lord easily dodging the marine's attack.

Sanguine'ar took a heated slash at Dooku's head, the elder combatant barely managing to defend himself in time. "Coward!" Sanguine'ar shouted.

"You are quite powerful, it would be a shame to waste such potential. " Dooku said. "Join me, and together, we will destroy Darth Sidious, and together, we shall rebuild the Sith. Together, we will rain over a new Empire, restore the order, and banish the Rule of Two."

"I think I'll just stick with my plan: kill you, and your master, and rebuild the order myself." Sanguine'ar countered.

"Very well. Lieutenant," Dooku said, "send all of our fighters against that cruiser, tell them to aim for the bridge." It was Dooku who smiled now. "She's there, isn't she?"

"I'll tear you to pieces!" Sanguine'ar shouted. The enraged Juggernaut rained down blow after blow, each one powerful, but clumsy, barbaric. The faint vibrations of a powerful explosion shook the bridge. Though not powerful enough to truly effect anyone, they still caused Sanguine'ar to stumble. Fear shot through like an ice-cold spike. Panicked, he ran of the transperisteel view-port. Smoke obscured his view, causing his heart to sink.

The distinct sound of a lightsaber slicing through air brought him back to the moment. He spun, preventing Dooku's blade from cutting the Pureblood in half. The human's blade caught his left arm, just below the shoulder. Sanguine'ar cried out, and dropped to his knees from the searing pain. Dooku brought his blade up, preparing to finish the Sith off. Sanguine'ar managed to fend off the blow, but he was growing weak.

He looked up, into Dooku's eyes, as Dooku prepared another strike. Focusing his pain, hatred, and fear, Sanguine'ar shot off a blast of lightening. Dooku was lifted off the ground, and shot across the bridge by the un-imaginably powerful blast. Not waiting to see if there would be another, Dooku crawled from the bridge, striking down another marine, as the remainder of the squad rushed towards Sanguine'ar.

The marines quickly dispatched the remaining droids, and helped Sanguine'ar to his feet. "My lord, hold on, we'll get a medic here right away." One of them said.

"Get...get...crew here...immediately." Sanguine'ar panted out.

"Yes, my lord." The soldier said. Sanguine'ar watched the soldier talking to the rest of the squad, motioning around the bridge. All the Pureblood heard was a ringing sound as blackness closed around him. He fought to keep the darkness back, but he was beyond weak. Unconsciousness slipped closer and closer, completely overtaking him in only a few seconds.

Greth sat on pile of ruined droids, the wrecks of what were the guards for the slaves on board the ship. He'd dispatched the droids quickly, and found himself beyond board. The slaves huddled on the other side of the chamber, none of them brave enough to confront him. Every now and then, he'd scare them by pointing his rifle at them.

After about fifteen minutes of doing nothing, there was chatter over the com. Apparently, Sanguine'ar had been severely injured, and was in need of immediate medical attention. He'd also ordered the second-shift officers onto the Malevolence. Why, Greth had no idea. He suspected the Sith planned to start building his own navy, this ship being his first acquisition.

Not if I have anything to do with it. Greth thought to himself. He was starting to worry that his plan was taking too long, but apparently fate was on his side. Greth looked over the slaves again. Most were aliens, primarily twi'lek, a few nikto. In the crowed, he spotted a pretty young human girl. Greth pointed to her, the other slaves scattering like suffered from a plague. The girl swallowed and pointed to herself. Greth nodded, and motioned for her to come to him. The girl sheepishly made her way over.

"What's your name?" He asked, beaming her his most seductive smile.

"Ash...Ashly." She said.

"Ashly? I like it." Greth said. He ran his fingers through her hair, keeping her eyes locked with his. "Well, Ashly, when we're done here, why don't you and I-"

"Greth," One of the other soldiers of Viken squad interrupted. Greth sighed in frustration.

"What?" He asked.

"We're shipping out, now." The solider said, turning and leaving. Greth snarled at the idiot, then turned back to his new 'friend'.

"I'll talk to you later." He said, making his way from the chamber and down to the hanger.

Darth Tyrannus' Solar Sailor streaked through the blackness of space, the remainder of the fleet covering his escape. A small holograph appeared on the control console.

"Lord Tyrannus."

"Master Sidious." Tyrannus acknowledged.

"I want a report on your mission." Sidious said.

"My mission was partially successful, my lord. I did manage to find a weakness with the Pureblood, and even injured him. However, I was unable to permanently defeat him, nor was I able to take the system."

"I see. I feel that your discovery will only be temporary, at best." Sidious said. "Do not fail me again." The hologram of Sidious faded from the console. Dooku's grip tightened on controls, his knuckles turning white in rage. The fallen Jedi vowed not to be made a fool of again.