Chapter 9 A Slight Setback

The New Hope left Naboo behind, heading for Nar Shaddaa, with the Tantive IV heading to Coruscant. Grievous was stood on the bridge along with his new crew member; Ahsoka Tano who was stood at her station, that was keeping her from getting bored and she was doing a better than the droid. Now that they had the extra supplies from Naboo, they desperately needed repairs to the New Hope as well as new starfighters were needed to replace the old droid starfighters. Maybe that Zedo willl give us parts to help with repairs or we could to a dealer there on Nar Shaddaa, Grievous thought to himself. He looked over his shoulder and saw Nute Gunray and San Hill walk onto the bridge. I hope they have a good reason for being here, Grievous thought.

"Is there a problem?" Grievous asked them both sharply, not reallly wanting to deal with either of them for the moment.

"We thought you should know that we lost Poggle the Lesser from that when the Observation deck got attacked," San Hill told him.

Ah, one less Separatist leader to deal with, Grievous thought to himself. "What a shame. Well if thats all you needed to tell me, you may go." Grievous said, waving his right signalling them to clear off.

"Don't be rude to us," San Hill shot back.

"This is my ship!" Grievous clenched his right fist. Both San Hill and Nute Gunray took a step back.

"The observation deck needs repairing. The dead bodies need removing." Gunray said.

"Yes, It will get done." Grievous said. "We have been busy recently. If you want it so badly do it yourself."

"We shouldn't have to do slaves work," Gunray said.

"There are no slaves onboard this ship," Grievous replied sharply.

"No, but maybe you should think about getting some," Gunray argued.

"We will produce more droids when he have the chance," Grievous said. "Maybe you should do some work for a change."

"I'll pass on doing work thanks," Gunray said.

"We will produce some droids when we have the money and resources." San Hill said.

"Well that is all we had to say General," Gunray said. Both of them turned around and made their way off the bridge.

Good riddance, Grievous thought to himself, as the two of them walked off the bridge.

"They are annoying aren't they?" Ahsoka asked.

"They have been for the past few years or so." Grievous said, agreeing with her. "It was only Count Dooku and his master who stopped me from killing them, especially Viceroy Nute Gunray."


Vader had decided to leave the child called Galen in his apartment with an imperial droid and human officer to watch over him for now, while Vader had set out for Murkhana. Vader himself was now making his way to the bridge of this Imperial Venator Class Star Destroyer, called the Shadow. Soon enough he arrived onto the bridge along with Captain Surge, a human officer.

"Set course for Murkhana in the Outer Rim Territories," Vader gave him the order.

"Yes my lord," Surge responded. He then gave the order to the crew on the bridge who set the co-ordinates for Murkhana. The Star Destroyer then went into lightspeed, it was going to be a long journey, but hopefully a short mission.


Palpatine was sat behind his desk in his office, on Coruscant. We could do with some more imperial academies to replace the old Cloning facilities. Then we won't have to to rely on the clones as much as we used to during the Clone Wars. Soon enough we will be able to close down the Clone Facilities that I own across the galaxy, such as those on Kamino and the other ones spead across the Outer Rim Territories, Palpatine thought to himself. He looked down at his desk, there were several datapads and datacards lying across the table. There were also some captured Jedi Holocrons that were on the table--the ones captured from the Jedi Temple. He was planning on writing his books, and he had already decided on the title--the Dark Side Compendium, which is going to be the name of the collection of books. Before I can start writing, maybe I should pay a visit to the Sith Graveyard on Korriban, Palpatine thought. He had yet to find out the contents of the Jedi Holocron--it seemed to be sealed an invisible shield of energy. He had also decided to write three books for his Compendium, the first one will be called the 'The Book of Anger'. Palpatine took out his commlink, and contacted Mas Amedda.

"Prepare me a ship to leave immediately," Palpatine said.

"Yes, your excellency," Mas Amedda said.

"Good," Palpatine said. Palpatine turned off the comlink, and put it back in his robes, as well as picking up the Jedi Holocron.


"So we're heading back to Nar Shaddaa then?" Barriss Offee asked Shaak Ti from the floor of a corridor on the Trade Federation Cruiser. There were other Jedi sat on the other side of the corridor, most were asleep apart from the odd one.

"It would appear so yes," Shaak Ti said.

"Could we actually go down and take a look at Nar Shaddaa for a break and a rest maybe?" A female Jedi who was sat on the other side of the corridor, called Caryn spoke up.

"Well of course you can," Shaak Ti replied. "I think everybody onboard could do with a proper break from all this travelling."

"I'll go and see how Ahsoka is doing on the bridge." Barriss said as she got up to her feet.


Vigorsh woke up suddenly, he had been waiting for the others to return, and had dozed off for a while. He was in one of the ships that were still onboard the cruiser, but the owners had forgotten to do a scan--and even if they had, they wouldn't have found anything as he had taken specialised drugs to lower his heart rate, and life readings. He got up to his feet, in the shuttle. He was plan B, just incase the initial team had failed to take the cruiser over by force--he was to detonate it from the inside. All he needed to do was to get to the engine room, and blow up the conducts as well as the hyperdrive motor. He picked up the detonators that were left here for him. Thankfully the hatch had been left open, and yet still no enimies had come into search them. He stepped outside of the shuttle while carrying the detonators in a rucksack, he saw several dead droids and a dead corpse. He walked over to the dead corpse, and picked up the dead warriors gun. He looked around for any hidden holocameras that might give away his position. Indeed he did see one up in the corner of a wall, he aimed and fired at it instantly, several sparks came flying out. Vigorsh rushed through the doors and out into the corridor. He continued to make his way to the engine room but he wasn't sure which way he was supposed to go. He could see a few corpses littered across the corridor--from his dead comrades. Because of the bright lights that lit up the corridors, he could see another camera up in the corner of the wall above the doors at the end of the corridor. He aimed at it and fired, sparks came flying out of it.


The Shadow came out of hyperspace. The sandy blue planet looked large through the forward viewports, in Vader's eyes. There indeed was another Venator Class Star destroyer up in orbit over the planet, with the old red coloured style of the Old Republic rather than the all new grey style of the Empire.

"I will take my starfighter down into the atmosphere," Vader told Captain Surge. "I will contact you if I need reinforcements."

"Yes my lord," Surge nodded and bowed to his master.

"Good," Vader responded. Vader then strode off the bridge at a quick pace.


Barriss Offee came onto the bridge, finding Ahsoka stood at her station.

"Hello Ahsoka," Barriss greeted. Ahsoka turned to look at her and smiled.

"Hello Barriss," Ahsoka greeted her back.

"Hows it going?" Barriss asked, out

"I guess it is kinda fun working on the bridge," Ahsoka replied.

"Good," Barriss nodded in agreement.


Vigorsh desperately needed a map or some sort of layout of the ships, so he could find the engine rooms quicker--as so far he hadn't encounter any enimies. He looked on the walls of the corridors for any kind of map that would show where he was in relation to the engine rooms. The dead bodies of his comrades had stopped appearing meaning either the droids had cleared them up or they hadn't gotten very far at all. Things got worse suddenly when two armed droids came through the sliding doors at the end of corridor. Vigorsh rapidly aimed and fired with the gun he found, shooting down both droids before they had chance to report his presence. After the droids had gone down, he briefly saw that they had come out of an elevator. Vigorsh ran towards the elevator doors, stepping over the two dead droids. He stepped inside the elevator. Indeed there was another level or so apart from the one he was on, next to the switches to choose the different levels was a map of the layout of the ship.


Vader arrived in the atmosphere of Murkhana, he had recieved the co-ordinates of the last known area where the Clone Commandos were stationed on the planet, and had gotten them directly sent to his starfighter. Vader continued to fly across the planet, until he saw signs of a military base up ahead--but from this distance couldn't tell if it was a Clone Outpost. As he drew closer to it, he could see recognisable ships--such as Arc-170 starfighters, LAAT/i (Low Altitude Assault Transports) gunships that were used during the Clone Wars especially at the Battle of Geonosis were parked in the base camp.

"How long will it take to get to Nar Shaddaa then?" Barriss asked Ahsoka.

"Only a few more hours," Ahsoka answered. "At this rate."

"Oh not too long then," Barriss said. "When we arrive there I would like to go and visit the city, take a look around."

"Yes I will as well," Ahsoka agreed with her.

The Venator Class Star Destroyer called the Penumbra came out of lightspeed, in the Korriban system. The Penumbra soon went into Korriban's orbit. Palpatine could see the large red desert planet of Korriban down below from his seat on the bridge. He got up from his seat and turned to Admiral Nubis, "I will leave now, I will return in an hour or so." Palpatine hissed.

"Yes my lord," Nubis bowed to His Excellency, as Palpatine stood up from his seat. Palpatine made his way off the bridge, and walked to the hangar bay.

Vader landed his starfighter in the base camp, the Clone Troopers awaited his arrival. Vader climbed out of the starfighter and marched towards the group of Clone Troopers who were stood waiting.

"Who is in charge here?" Vader demanded. "Before I arrived here."

"Clone Commando Jinsel," One of the Clone Troopers answered.

"Where is he now?" Vader asked.

"He is in one of the Military Barracks here in the base camp," The Clone Trooper answered.

"Take me to him, immediately," Vader ordered.

"Yes my lord," The Clone Trooper responded.


The shuttle landed on the desert planet of Korriban.

"Wait for my return," Palpatine told the pilot.

"Yes your excellency," The pilot replied.

Palpatine left the shuttle without bothering to say goodbye to the pilot nor the co-pilot, as that sort of trivial thing was beyond Palpatine at times.


After taking out several more cameras and security droids, not really finding any sentinent beings, Vigorsh came into the engine room onboard this cruiser. As soon as he stepped inside it, he scanned the room looking for a camera, and indeed saw one in the top left hand corner of the room. He shot it instantly with his gun, sparks flew out. Vigorsh rushed over to the large hyperdrive generator, kneeled down in front of it, putting the gun down beside him and taking off his rucksack. He opened up the rucksack and took out two of his detonators. He placed the detonators on the hyperdrive generator, and activated them both. He then had to move quickly, as he only had a few seconds till they would both go off, he picked up the gun and the rucksack, then rushed out of the room for cover.

Master Yoda was meditating in one of the compartments on board the New Hope as he had been for most of the journey since arriving from Kashyyyk, with the occasional exception of going to the bridge here and there. He heard the large room's door open, and sensed Master Windu standing in the doorway. Yoda opened his eyes, as Mace Windu sat down in front of him crossing his legs.

"Have you discovered anything else?" Mace Windu asked him.

Yoda shook his head. "Hard to know what to find, it is," Yoda said. They both suddenly felt the ground beneath them shake violently.

"What was that?" Mace Windu asked, thinking aloud. "I don't sense any threats from outside the ship."

"But dropped out of lightspeed we did," Yoda said.

Grievous watched as the star lines came back as normal stars in the distance--meaning they had dropped out of lightspeed, as well as the alarms going off on the bridge. Grievous couldn't see any planets ahead of him.

"Why have we dropped out of lightspeed early?" Grievous demanded, but it was hard for others to him with the sounds of the alarms. The alarms finally went silent. Grievous repeated the question, as he turned around and glanced at everyone on the bridge.

"According to this scan," OOM 2X reported. "The hyperdrive has been damaged."

"How is that possible?!" Grievous demanded, growing more angry.

"Well thats what the computer says sir," OOM 2X reponded.

"But that means an enemy attacked us in lightspeed...." Ahsoka said, thinking aloud. "Thats not possible is it?"

"Not that i know of," Grievous shook his head. "Do a full scan of the ship, if its possible. Search for any other outside damage."

"Yes sir," OOM 2X said.

"What if the damage was caused from the inside?" Barriss Offee suggested.

"The inside?" Grievous asked. "You mean a saboteur onboard the ship."

"It is possible," Barriss Offee said.

"Fine, check the camera in the engine room, and any of the other cameras in the corridors that lead to the engine room." Grievous told Ahsoka.

"Yes General," Ahsoka said enthusiastically.


Vigorsh had done what he had been asked, to disable this ship, and make sure they would all die onboard. But he still had some detonators left in his rucksack, and disabling the hyperdrive generator won't ensure their death. But he had no way of knowing where the life support systems were found on this cruiser. He decided he could leave the remaining four detonators dotted about onboard the ship, and then escape the cruiser altogether by fleeing in one of the ships they had arrived in.


Cad Bane came back into the city of Nar Shaddaa after being allowed to leave the hospital. The sun was setting for the night, with the last of the light almost dissapearing beyond the clouds, beyond the Skyline. He had not yet heard anything from General Grievous and nothing yet from Zedo the Hutt, which seemed to be taking a long time for the General to return to Nar Shaddaa. Bane was now searching for a place to stay whether it be an apartment or hotel, while he waited for General Grievous to return to this world--which would hopefully be soon. I have no intention of staying here longer than I should, but its a good place to hide from any enimies to be honest, with the huge amount of people living on this moon, which was well in the hundred millions. More than a lot of planets out there, Bane thought as he walked along this street. He looked at other aliens and humans that passed him by, some aliens were wearing suits--going to work maybe, while others were dressed in more casual clothes; there were some aliens who were alone like himself, or others in groups. After what seemed like hours of walking, he found a motel to stay at for the night at least. He read the sign above the entrance on the wall, it was called the Bethul Hotel which was written in huge white joined up writing. Bane walked up to the door, and it opened sideways, it was a sliding door. He walked inside and found a male Twi'lek stood behind the reception desk. The Twi'lek had green skin, and was wearing a suit.

"Hello there," The Twi'lek greeted Bane. "Do you want a room to stay for the night?"

"Yes, I would indeed," Bane said. "Just for the night at least."

"Alright then," The Twi'lek said. "The name's Jural by the way."

"Alright then," Bane said, trying to cut out the idol chit chat the Twi'lek was about to start with introductions and all that. Jural then picked up one of the electronic cards from the large wall cabinet thing behind him. Jural led Bane down the corridor and out of the reception.


Palpatine walked along the desert, with every step his feet slightly sinking in the sand. The sun was shining down on him with its rays of heat waves, but Palpatine didn't think much of it, as his face was covered by his hood. Most people couldn't survive here very long without food, water and shelter, but it wasn't just the heat that drained people; the power of the darkside could also drain the weak, if someone was to actually go inside one of the temples. Palpatine was walking in the Valley of the Dark Lords that had been here on Korriban for centuries, where as the people who lived here on Korriban came and went--as there weren't anyone living here on Korriban at the moment, while there had been people living in the city of Dreshdae during the time of the Sith Academy in the Old Republic Era. There were at least six of the greatest Sith that were buried here in tombs; Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Tulak Hord, Ajunta Pall, Ludo Kressh. and XoXaan. There had been other great Sith in the past who had died elsewhere such as Exar Kun, Freedon Nadd--who was buried on Dxun. Palpatine decided to visit Marka Ragnos' temple first and see if he would appear in Palpatine's presence. Palpatine began to walk up the stairs that led up to the great Sith Lord's burial tomb. From the foot of the stairs he thought he saw the outline of a figure stood at the entrance--but it could just be the heat of the desert getting to him, or more likely a Force Apparition or even possibly another person that was here.


The Clone Troopers took Vader to the Barracks. The barracks was quite a building that had been set up during the Clone Wars for military personnel to live in and eat. Before Vader went inside it, he turned to face the Clone troopers.

"Wait out here, while i deal with him," Vader ordered them.

"Yes my lord," One of the clone troopers spoke up.

"Yes of course, Lord Vader," One of the Clone Troopers replied.

Vader then opened the entrance door and went inside the barracks. It didn't take long to find the Clone Commando, because he was walking towards Lord Vader in the tiny hallway. The Clone Commando was wearing Kartarn-Class Commando armor. It was thicker than the ordinary clone armor, and it was a black green colour.

"Clone Commando Jinsel?" Vader asked.

"Yes, I am Clone Commando Jinsel." Clone Commando Jinsel responded, and came to a halt immediately, stopping a few feet away from Vader.

"Yes my lord," Vader corrected him.

"Yes my lord," Jinsel replied.

"The Emperor recieved a report here informing him that you have failed to carry out Order 66," Vader said, staring at the Clone Commando.

"Because the Jedi escaped," Jinsel told him. "We tried killing them but they escaped."

Vader fell silent for a moment, and tried to read this clone commando in the Force. And indeed he did find something.

"You lie." Vader said simply, starting to get angry. "Where are those Jedi?" Vader demanded, growing more and more impatient with the Clone Commando. "Answer me."

Clone Commando Jinsel was silent for a few seconds. "I befriended the two Jedi here. I let them go. I told the crew up on the Starshield--the Venator class star destroyer up in orbit not to attack them as they left the planet in a shuttle."

Vader was silent for a second, as he let all that information register in his mind. "You befriended the Jedi, that is treason. The Jedi have been outlawed. It looks as though its time for a change in leadership on this base."

"No," Jinsel disagreed. "How did you find out about this? I told everyone on this base camp not to inform the Chancellor."

But Vader didn't listen to his pleas for forgiveness, Vader raised his right hand and Force choked Jinsel, lifting him off the ground. He watched in pleasure as the Clone tried to ease his breathing by taking off his enormous helmet and throwing it down on the floor--revealing the face of Jango Fett once again. It didn't help him at all, he died in mid air. Vader let the Clone drop to the floor. He turned around and went back outside, where the Clone Troopers were waiting for Vader.

"There's been a change in leadership here," Vader told the Clone troopers. "Someone remove Jinsel's corpse from the barracks hallway."

"Yes sir," A Clone trooper took the order. He dashed past Vader and went inside the Barracks.


The Tantive IV dropped out of lightspeed, and the planet Coruscant was in front of them--and drawing closer with every passing second. Even before they came into orbit over the planet they could see the countless amount of starships, shuttles, public transports entering and leaving the planets system, which wasn't odd or strange as it had always been like that.

"When we hit atmosphere we head for the Senate Building," Bail Organa said from behind the pilots in the cockpit.

"Yes senator Organa," One of the pilots said.

"General, the camera in the engine room doesn't seem to be working." Ahsoka informed Grievous.

"Ah ha, that means there is an intruder," Grievous said.

"Shall I send a battalion of droids down to patrol the area?" Ahsoka asked him, looking at him.

"No I will deal with this intruder myself." General Grievous said.

"Okay then," Ahsoka said, slightly surprised.

General Grievous strode of the bridge, at a quick speed, to find the intruder, and deal with him as he pleased.

"With the hyperdrive not working, what do we do now, Jedi?" OOM 2X asked, turning to look at Ahsoka who was still stood at her station.

"I'm not sure to be honest," Ahsoka said, shrugging her their whole journey now was slowing down, as they were floating through Space on sublight engines, but even so they weren't that close to Nar Shaddaa.

"What is going on?" The familiar voice of Master Windu.

Ahsoka turned to see the Jedi Master walk onto the bridge.

"Our hyperdrive has been damaged." Ahsoka answered. "There is an intruder onboard, who destroyed the cameras and destroyed the hyperdrive motor."

"Where are we then?" Mace Windu asked, walking closer to Ahsoka.

"We are near to Bothan Space," OOM 2X answered. "We would have to turn around however."

"Would we be able to reach it?" Mace demanded.

"Well yes, within a few hours," OOM 2X said.

Jural led Cad Bane down one of the corridors of the hotel. From what Bane had seen so far, it was a decent place, as the floors and walls were clean. Jural then stood outside a door to a room and opened it with the card, in a computer slot on the door. Bane saw a Bith couple come down the corridor towards them, heading to the bedroom opposite Bane's room, how fantastic, neigbours or whatever, he thought. Jural stepped inside the room.

"Here we go sir," Jural said.

"Right," Bane said, as the Bith couple went into their own room.

Bane stepped into the large room. There was a door to his right that he found was the bathroom, ahead of him, was a chest of draws to his left, a double bed ahead of him, that was facing an enormous television, and a commlink on the table that would most likely be connected to the hotels network, so he could contact reception or room service etc. There was also two chairs tucked under the table. Pretty basic if you ask me, Bane thought to himself.

"This is obviously a basic room, as you're only staying one night, right?" Jural asked.

"Of course," Bane replied.

"Well I'll leave you to it then," Jural said. "You can contact me if you need anything."

"Right," Bane said again. "Close the door behind you."

"Yes sir," Jural left the room, closing the door behind him.

Vigorsh had returned to the hangar bay, and he had indeed placed detonators around the ship--only in the corridors that he had come through to come back to the hangar bay. He heard an explosion close by as he stepped into one of the shuttles they had arrived in. He closed the up the exit ramp and went into the cockpit. He sat down by the controls in the pilot seat, and turned on the engines.

"Master Jedi, our sensors are picking up a ship leaving in the hangar bay," OOM 2X said.

"We have sensors in there as well as cameras?" Ahsoka asked.

"Well of course we do," OOM 2X said.

"Is there a way of stopping it?" Mace Windu demanded.

"No not anymore," OOM 2X said. "It's already left the hangar bay."

Mace Windu sighed. "He was the intruder."

General Grievous continued to hurry his way to the hyperdrive generator, he wasn't far off though. He heard yet another explosion that was close by, followed by a third explosion, and then a fourth explosion. Where is this intruder, or where are they?, He thought. Grievous came to one of the corridors that led to the engine room was engulfed in flames--from the explosion whatever it was. But this corridor was the only direct route to the engine room. I'll have to send a droid squad or something to clean it up, no sign of an intruder, Grievous thought. He exited the corridor and the door closed behind him. The door should have sealed the corridor off all together, He thought. He made his way back to the bridge, sligtly annoyed.

On his way back to the bridge, he met Master Yoda in the corridor along with another Jedi Master, a male Ongree, Master Coleman Kcaj.

"Master Yoda," Grievous said. "Master Kcaj."

"Intruder gone he has," Yoda said.

Grievous sighed. "Thats not really a problem anymore, the problem is we're lost in space."

"True, yes," Coleman Kcaj said.

"Come with you to the bridge we will," Yoda said. "Discuss what to do we will."


Palpatine arrived at the entrance of Marka Ragnos tomb. There was no one else here he could see. It must have been a force apparition or force ghost that he had seen then, he thought to himself. He walked to the entrance door and opened the door with a swing of the Force. Palpatine walked through the doorway, and entered the tomb. The tomb was dark indeed, and indeed it would be cold for any normal person, but Palpatine was no where close to being a normal person. Palpatine raised both hands into the air and summoned flame balls from both hands and aimed them towards the walls, and the fire balls went flying towards the walls, and they lit up a torch each on either side of the tomb, creating some light for Palpatine to see the fire balls hit the walls and fade away into small light flames that died almost instantly.


The Tantive IV had landed in the hangar bay below the Senate building. Bail Organa and Garm Bel Iblis made their way towards the Senate Building. But they had noticed things had indeed drastically changed around here. There were soldiers on duty guarding the enormous entrance, some were Clone troopers--but they looked slightly differently than they did during the Clone Troopers. There were also human officers on duty. Bail Organa and Garm walked to the enormous entrance.

"What are your names senators?" One of the security officers asked, stepping in front of him, holding a datapad in his hands.

"Bail Organa, senator of Alderaan," Bail Organa told him.

"Garm Bel Iblis, senator of Corellia," Garm Bel Iblis responded.

"Ah yes of course, ive found your names listed," The officer said. "Welcome to the Imperial Senate."

"Of course." Bail Organa said.

"What is with all this new security then?" Garm Bel Iblis asked the officer.

"Apart of Imperial procedure now. We have stormtroopers and clone troopers stationed here." The security officer said.

"Stormtroopers?" Bail questioned him.

"The newest recruits into the Imperial Army. But thats not really your business. Move along." The security officer told him.

"Of course," Garm Bel Iblis said. "Well we'll leave you now." The security officer stepped out of their way, and the two of them made their way into the senate building.


Grievous, followed by Coleman Kcaj and Yoda came onto the bridge, and found Mace Windu stood with Barriss Offee and Ahsoka Tano at her station.

"The intruder escaped," Ahsoka Tano said.

"Yes, we were too slow at finding him." Grievous admitted.

"Now we must decide what to do," Coleman Kcaj said.

"We already have," Mace Windu said. "The closest system is the Bothan Sector. We have to turn around to head there for repairst."

"Do it then," Grievous said.

"We were awaiting your orders General," OOM 2X told him.

"Well we have to go there for repairs," Coleman Kcaj said. "This ship as it is won't last much longer."

"Unfortunately," Grievous said grimly.


Cad Bane was trying his best to sleep in this bed, but he heard two people's voices that kept waking him up. The two voices kept speaking, but Bane couldn't tell what they were talking about as it was slightly muffled voices. Bane finally decided this was enough, he picked up his blaster pistol by the side of his bed and got out of bed. He also picked up the e-card that he would need to get back into the room, if the door happened to lock shut with him still outside. Bane opened the door, and stepped outside. He couldn't see anyone in the corridor. It must be those Bith couple in that other room, he thought. He walked over to their bedroom door, and knocked onto the door with a clenched fist. No one responded, but the door itself slid open slightly. The door had been left open, Bane noticed. Bane pushed the door open fully, the room was pitch black. He stepped inside, knowing fully he was braking an entry. He could only see glimpses of things from the corridor lights. He heard something move in front of him, and something else move behind him; it was too quick for Bane. He felt something smash against his head, twice. He saw the world go fuzzy in his eyes. He tried to reach out for something, the wall to get his balance back, but no a third bash cam crashing down on his head. He went tumbling down onto the ground. His eyes closed and the last thing he saw was an enormous alien head staring down at him, with beady black eyes.


Bail Organa and Garm Bel Iblis made their way through the Senate building. It looked similar to what it did a few months ago before the beginning of the Galactic Empire, apart from banners with new emblems obviously an imperial design. Something else occured to Garm that was slightly different.

"Haven't you noticed there are fewer aliens than there were before?" Garm whispered to Bail Organa.

"I had, but i hadn't thought anything of it," Bail said. They saw a group of humans dressed in robes who were obviously senators rather than their aides or interpretators etc.

"Excuse me," Garm approached them. "Have you seen Fang Zar recently?" The group of humans went quiet instantly. They turned to look at Bail Organa andGarm Bel Iblis.

"Don't speak his name," A female senator said. "He had been outlawed for trying to conspire against the Emperor. He had been excuted for it. A new senator has replaced him."

Both Bail and Garm were very shocked to hear this. "You sure it was Fang Zar of the Sern Sector?"

"Yes, i am his replacement. I am Nina Vash." The female senator introduced herself.

"Well nice to meet you and congratulations on becoming senator then." Bail Organa said, smiling at her briefly, and shaking her hand as did Garm Bel Iblis.

"Where is higness Emperor Palpatine then?" Garm Bel Iblis asked, cautiously, looking over his shoulder, and glancing down the corridor checking for spies, clones or officers.

"He is apparently off world, we're not told where though." Nina Vash said.

"Have you seen Senator Nee Alavar any where?" Bail Organa asked.

"My, you two seem to have a lot of questions," Nina Vash remarked, slightly frowning. "No I have not seen him for many weeks."

"What about senator Bana Breemu?" Bail Organa posed another question.

"I don't know her," Nina Vash shook her head. "I must go now. Nice meeting you." She turned around and rejoined the group of human senators. The group then walked down the corridor.

"We might over did it with the questions," Garm Bel Iblis said, looking at Bail Organa.

"Indeed," Bail said, shaking his head. "There are still other senators that could help us."

"Yes, but he will return sooner or later from his trip," Garm said. He used the term he, instead of Palpatine, because anytime his name was mentioned, people would be more likely to listen into their conversation. Bail caught onto this.

"Of course." Bail nodded in agreement. "Let's head to Nee Alavar's homeworld then. See if he's home." Garm nodded, but didn't say anything else.


"I hope this is only a small, minor setback," Grievous said, pacing around the bridge.

"We could do with hiring extra soldiers or mechanics who can repair the droids we have onboard," Ahsoka suggested. "The droids we've sent down there to put out the fires are doing it slowly, the battle droids aren't accustomed to using fire extinguishers."

"That could be useful," Barriss Offee agreed with her idea. "We could do with some astromech droids onboard."

"Yes, useful for repairing and helping to manage the ship when they're aren't any mechanics available." Coleman Kcaj said.

"Willing to help, someone will be," Yoda said. "But who, harder to see that is." Yoda turned around, and began to slowly make his way off the bridge, holding onto his gimmer stick.

"We will find someone on Bothawui who can help us." Mace Windu said.

"Who said it was Bothawui we were visiting?" Grievous asked. "There are many planets in the Bothan Sector, such as Krant, Kothlis, Mandell."

"True, but Bothawui makes the most sense though." Mace Windu said. "It isn't the closest too us, but it will probably be the most helpful."

"Bothawui it is then," Grievous said.

"Bothawui?" Ahsoka asked, no one in particular.

"Bothawui is the homeworld of the Bothan race." Coleman Kcaj spoke up first, answering the question. "It is a temperate world, with a population of over 2 billion. It remained neutral mostly during the Clone Wars. Many years ago the planet had been mined in areas for rare ores such as Lidium. It's a good place to visit for a holiday, good weather, with oceans."

"Ah, it sounds nice." Ahsoka said, remembering the

"Yes it is," Kcaj agreed with her. "We will most likely have plenty of time to visit the city of Drev'starn--the capital city, and many other cities of culture."