The Chameleon was a peculiar ship. Though a normal diplomatic barge from the outside, it was as heavily armed and armoured as a Mediator-class battle cruiser. It was very unlikely such firepower was necessary concerning the nature of the mission, but general Madine was not one for taking risks. If anyone on the army was aware of the capabilities of possible Remnant forces, it would be him. Having actually been one of them, he thought he would have to take advantage of that every time he might encounter them.
He searched for tales about Dromund Kaas in the archives, but found nothing more than shivering tales of Sith Lords and their temples. What the hell is Luke thinking of visiting this place? What if he's been captured? Who is going to stop Jerec then?
The general stood on the bridge, his black boots on a pedestal. He scratched his auburn beard as he eyed the men that served under him. They were not soldiers. Volunteers in the army, because of the as of yet irresolvable financial situation. There've been minor training sessions concerning weapon control, basic combat training and tactical education, but the general believed nothing teaches better than experience. The men around him were newcomers on their first mission. Excited, but scared to death. Madine felt a lot more at ease with the knowledge his men would obey his every word, no matter what the situation was, but he didn't show. The last thing the men needed was a lack of trust from their leader. They looked up to him after all. 'The great general Crix Madine'. How he hated such talk. "Deeds of the past are no guarantee for the future," was his usual reply when someone would praise him too much. It wasn't necessarily true though, Madine knew that. But it usually made them stop.
"General, we are dropping out of hyperspace," said a young boy, barely nineteen years old. He had short, blond hair and that typical eagerness in his eyes all the young men had.
"Thank you, Taron," nodded Madine. Taron Alen was the ship's engineer, but Madine questioned how much he could handle. Though Mon Mothma had assured he was a fine engineer and mechanic, the general found that it remained to be seen.
The two large viewports at the far end of the bridge slowly saw the stars move slower until they were at normal impulse speed. Dromund Kaas lay directly ahead. From where the Chameleon was, the planet had a dark purplish-green colour, which announced a none-too-friendly atmosphere.
"Manda, scan the surface for Luke's signal."
The girl, approximately 22 years of age, acknowledged and operated the scanning table for a while. The general waited for an answer, but meanwhile just stared at the planet through the viewport.
"I don't get any readings, general," reported Manda. "At least not from Luke or his ship. Either he has turned off his com-link or he's not down there."
"General," shouted tactical officer Pol Pla'Den. "An Imperial vessel has just dropped out of hyperspace."
"To battle stations!" ordered Madine.
The greenies responded adequately to Madine's standards. Red lights flashed and the alarm was sounding. Those appointed headed quickly for the turret spots. There was no way this could be done any faster.
The Chameleon shook as it was hit by powerful blaster fire.
"Shields 95%!" shouted Taron.
TIE fighters flew in front of the viewport and teased the crew. Thoughts flew through Madine's head. Was this a trap? Has Luke been captured? How did the Remnants know they were going to be here?
The vessel turned and now the Imperial ship appeared through the transparisteel viewport and fire coming from the Chameleon was heading their way. The Imperial vessel was twice as large as the Chameleon, but was it as heavily armed?
A cheer went through his head as he saw two of the TIE fighters being destroyed by the on-board b-wings.
Flight captain Nada Termina cheered as the second TIE fighter exploded. "Nice hit, Ramone! All right people, at least five more fighters to take! The beers are on me if we get out in one piece."
Through the com-link sounded a series of 'roger that'-s and some taunts aimed at the Remnants. Nada sniggered, but feared for the lives of these young sentients. After all, they had only been practicing flight duels on asteroids and simulators. This was their first real fight. Nada was the only one with real battle experience, and it was worrisome. Who was expecting this assault to happen?
The TIE fighters were small and quick. They weren't easy targets. She fired a few shots into space as the fighter in front of her evaded them and flew right above her, where it exploded.
"Close one, captain! Don't worry, I'm on your tail!"
"Thanks, Porkaw, I owe you one there!"
"Three fighters coming in at 39 degrees from the Imperials!"
"Roger that, Ramone, we're going in."
"Where's that fourth fighter, folks?"
"Taken down by the Chameleon itself! How about that, ey?"
"All right!"
Nada held her breath. Things were going well so far. If only they could get rid of those last three fighters before the big vessel came into firing range.
"Hey come on, listen up! We gotta nail these suckers before that big one's near enough to fire itself, 'kay? Let's get 'em!"
"They're coming in!"
The fighters fired long salvos and Nada saw explosions on her sides. She closed her eyes, thought about Porkaw and Meldo and fired back. One fighter was destroyed instantly, the other two went after Ramone.
"Hold on, Ramone, I'm coming to help you."
"Roger, I'll keep 'em busy."
She saw the fighters on Ramone's tail and locked on to her targets. The first few blasts hit the one on the back, but it merely staggered as the armor caught most of it. A little help from the Chameleon finished it.
"One to go!"
"I'm hit!"
Nada saw Ramone's b-wing shudder as the TIE fighter behind him prepared for the final shot.
"Ramone, duck!" she shouted through the com-link as she was facing him and flying straight at him. Ramone obeyed in time and Nada fired.
"You nailed 'm, cap!" cheered Ramone.
"Let's get you back inside."
"Chameleon to group leader," sounded through the com-link. "More fighters are coming. Are you ready for another round?" Nada turned her head. It was true. Eight more fighters were approaching from the Imperial ship that was almost within firing range.
"I'll handle it. Ramone, you go back!"
"You're going in on your own?!"
"You can't do shit in a broken ship!"
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
Nada turned her b-wing to face the incoming fighters, prayed and flew straight at them, firing at will.
General Madine frowned as the last of the b-wings was destroyed.
"Prepare forward battle cannons." He made it sound calm, as if he was in control of the situation. He saw the fighters retreat and knew the Imperial vessel was within range. Its two wings were shaped in a curve forward, resulting in mighty sharp points almost resembling two thorns, or two spears. The general realized this wasn't the common Imperial battle cruiser. This ship carried an important person. It was here with a purpose, not on patrol.
"Fire when ready!" he shouted.
"You are gonna love this part," captain Zegemor told Kyle enthusiastically. He turned to his men and the com-link. "Launch seismic charges!"
Sariss found the order to be highly dubitative and frowned.
"Experimental tactics," explained the captain. "You want them alive, am I right? Best not to use the heavy guns." Sariss gestured to continue the assault and perceived from a distance. The incoming cannon fire made the Thorn shake on the spot, but as the captain didn't worry about it at all, she assumed the shields had taken care of most of the damage.
Sariss carefully turned her head left and saw Kyle standing straight and broad. His new lightsaber hung from his belt. It was a curved hilt with a mostly silver and copper-coloured grip. The blade, not visible at the moment, but Sariss had seen it before, was a beautiful, clear red and the energy beam was stable and for a first lightsaber, Kyle had done a pretty good job. She felt a strong affection for the Jedi and couldn't hide it anymore.
Kyle felt her eyes and turned his head to catch her eye. Now she finally gave in to her feelings, Kyle felt she had become even more beautiful than she already was. More so, she allowed herself to be beautiful. Kyle had already caught her using make-up; something she normally didn't do. Her smile made his stomach tickle. He mirrored her smile and gestured to the control room at the back of the bridge. Sariss nodded and let out a soft giggle as she hurried to the control room.
"Captain Zegemor," spoke Kyle. "I see you are an expert at combat situations like this. We'll be back in a few minutes." He quickly followed Sariss and closed the door to the control room as he felt the captain's thunderstruck eyes in his back.
Zegemor was left behind, but all the more determined to bring this battle to a good end. "Where are those seismic charges?"
To see the Chameleon's guns hardly penetrate the enemy's shields made Madine's heart sink. They were left for dead. Was this all the disguised warship could do to this strange vessel?
"Fire all guns, cannons and blasters at the same time!" he shouted in despair. "Count down from five, four, three, two, one!" More fire was aimed towards the Double Thorn, but Madine couldn't tell whether the attack had any success, because the ship shook heavily and powerful explosions came to life not too far from the Chameleon. He saw many young officers lose their balance and fall to the durasteel floor and felt himself join them. He struggled to hold on to something that could help him pull himself up, but it seemed he had to use his own strength for it.
"What was that?" he barked.
"I don't know, general," replied Pol Pla'Den. "But the explosion has drifted us quite far away from our previous position. Not to mention all weapons systems are down."
Madine felt close to panicking. He stared through the viewport and saw they were facing the planet again.
"Turn the ship around!"
"Repulsor engines are down. What should we do, general?"
"We can wait for death to find us… or we repair the ship as fast as possible and get the hell out of here! Let's get to work!" He had no idea how soon the Imperials would be close enough to board the Chameleon, but he had to inspire the crew. If they'd see he had lost faith, they'd all follow, there's no doubting that.
Captain Zegemor had organized a boarding party consisting of handpicked officers and a group of first class stormtroopers. "I'll be monitoring your situation from over here," he had said. He saw the smaller craft leave the Thorn and close in on the powerless ship before them.
Lieutenant Frego had been put in charge of the job and had been ordered to bring back prisoners for interrogation. It was not the way he liked to do things. The Rebels were treacherous. He foresaw chaos upon boarding the Chameleon and preferred just killing them all to avoid all the trouble of pointing guns at scheming minds. But alas, orders were orders, and Frego preferred executing them as opposed to being downgraded. What bothered him mostly was the wait beforehand. The troopers were all waiting silently in front of the door that would connect to the Rebel ship soon. Were they frightened? Were they arrogant? The masks on their faces made Frego guess at the way they felt, but it was only for the better. He didn't care how they felt. If carrying out orders was his job, then it certainly was theirs, no matter how they felt.
He caught corporal Denson's eye and gave an encouraging smile. It was his first mission as a corporal and the lieutenant wasn't entirely sure of the man's ability of leadership. He had been highly recommended on the other hand and captain Zegemor spoke very highly of him, calling him a 'promising little fellow'. He was short indeed. Frego saw drops of sweat dripping down his dark-skinned forehead.
"We've made contact," shouted the pilot.
"Force that door open," ordered lieutenant Frego. "Asking for a surrender will not be answered anyway." His remark was answered with a chuckle from the men and lightened up the hot cabin they had been waiting in. A team trained for the job opened the door of the shuttle and started cutting through the Rebel ship's door. A hole was made, gas grenades were tossed in and the troopers waited a few seconds, while the officers put on gasmasks and the stormtroopers activated the air purification on their armour.
"All right, let's go," ordered lieutenant Frego. "Remember, don't kill all of them, we need prisoners! Go! Go!" The troopers kicked the door in an ran through, taking positions and searching for cover as they went. The lieutenant and the corporal waited in the shuttle cabin until the blaster fire stopped and the 'all clear' signal was given.
"Head over there, quickly!" shouted general Madine at the officers still hesitating to go in. There were things he had to do before things got out of hand. He had to somehow erase the mission data. The Imperials couldn't know the situation with Luke, or else they'd surely plan a full-fledged offense on Coruscant. No, he had to access the main computer and delete the data. The shooting came closer and Madine heard the young men fall. He closed his eyes, forced back his tears and quickly browsed through the ship's log.
By the time the troopers entered the bridge the general was ready and waiting; a blaster held up in his right hand.
"Put down your weapon, Rebel," ordered the trooper to the right. He wore a coloured shoulder pad as to mark his higher rank.
"Over my dead body, Imperial scum!" shouted Madine as he shot at the stormofficer, who fell over backwards, dropping his weapon in the process. The troopers responded adequately, aiming at his limbs, rather than trying to inflict a killing shot. He felt himself tumble backwards, unable to feel his gun hand. A stormtrooper approached and knocked him unconscious.
"Excellent work," spoke lieutenant Frego to the troopers. "A pity the cadet leader isn't able to see what his sacrifice has inflicted. Take the prisoners back to the shuttle!"
Sariss giggled as she put on her black leather tank top again. She glanced sideways at Kyle, who was dressing himself again as well. He caught her eye and smiled. A blush appeared on her face. He made her feel so warm. She hadn't felt happier in her whole life… twenty-eight years that was. He made her see there was so much more to life than possessing power…
Suddenly her mouth felt dry. What would Jerec think of all this? His reaction on the two fighting clearly suggested them to talk it out like adults. Would he agree to this relationship? His judgement meant everything to her.
"What's wrong?" asked Kyle. He felt her worries.
"Jerec…," uttered Sariss. "What would he say when he hears about us?"
Kyle laughed and waved her questions away. But then he saw the fear in her eyes and knew it was there righteously so. Jerec was a powerful man and had been Sariss's mentor for years. He believed in nothing but power and regarded love, compassion and friendship as a waste of time, space and opportunity. There was no way he would be happy with their relationship.
Kyle looked away and fastened his weapon belt. The lightsaber hung next to the holstered blaster. He still felt proud about the assembling process, remembering the long meditation session in total darkness. "We better not worry about that now," he spoke. "Let's see how captain Zegemor handled the fight against that Rebel ship." Sariss agreed and the two returned to the bridge.
The captain stood proudly, staring out the transparisteel viewport at the returning shuttle. "You have missed a great display of Imperial tactics."
"Been there before," Kyle assured him. "Got any prisoners?"
"We've got traitor Madine," Zegemor announced enthusiastically. "One of the Republican headpieces!"
Kyle swallowed. He knew Madine. During one of his missions for the Rebels he helped him escape from the prison in Orinackra, concerning the Imperial Dark Trooper project. More so, Madine used to sneak out information about the project to him. But how would Kyle react on his first encounter with Rebels since his re-defection? Or how would Madine react?
"You will question him," Sariss ordered him. She seemed to sense his doubts about the matter and was confident that confrontation was the solution. "Come on."
She preceded captain Zegemor and Kyle Katarn to the prison cells in the lower left wing of the Double Thorn. The prison block was even darker grey than the rest of the ship as it lacked the appropriate droid maintenance. There was the foul smell of old metal and Kyle knew thousands of prisoners before had been interrogated, tortured and murdered in here. Contrary to his expectations, the realization did not bother him the slightest.
"Lieutenant Frego will be here shortly," said the captain. His prediction became truth. Footsteps sounded on the durasteel floor and a group of stormtroopers and prisoners, led by the lieutenant, came near.
A smile on his face, lieutenant Frego halted the patrol as they reached the Jedi and ordered the prisoners into the cells. "Captain, Sariss, Kyle," he greeted them as he nodded with each new name. "The prisoners of that Republican barge."
"Thank you, lieutenant, and well done. See to it that the barge will be destroyed."
"Yes, sir". Grateful for the rare compliment, the lieutenant saluted and marched off.
Kyle turned to captain Zegemor. "Bring me Crix Madine."
One small gesture from the captain to his troops and the Republican general was brought before Kyle. He looked tired, beaten, but ever proud. Kyle remembered how the Rebels were always headstrong and knew the general wasn't going to tell him anything. Madine refused to look his interrogator in the face and looked down at the metal floor instead.
"General Madine," Kyle began quasi-respectfully. He struggled to find words. The man before him used to be his ally, his friend. "Look me in the eye when I'm talking to you, please." Kyle felt Sariss' eyes upon him and knew she disliked his polite formulation. The general didn't react to his request. "I find it disturbing that you ignore me, general."
Madine spat on the floor.
Kyle eyed him carefully. Then suddenly, he violently grabbed Madine by the jaw and forced him to look into his face. The general saw it was Kyle Katarn, gasped and let out a shriek. "You! Traitor! Imperial scum!"
"Now you're being disrespectful, general." Kyle gave his cheeks some soft smacks with his flat hand. "Tell me; what is a general in the Republican army doing all the way over here? A bit far from war territory, is it not?"
Madine angrily tried to collect more saliva, but felt his throat was too dry and instead spat mere breath at Kyle's face.
"That's it!" shouted Kyle and he threw the general on the ground. "Kill him!"
"No, Katarn," Sariss intervened. "Contact Jerec, he will know what to do with the general. Kill the others." The troopers immediately entered the cells containing the Rebel soldiers and fired their rifles.
"Is there a holocamera here in this block?" asked Kyle while looking around impatiently. Captain Zegemor walked to a wall, pressed the right spot and a control panel was ejected. He pressed a few buttons and made contact with Jerec on Edusa. It took a few seconds before the hologram appeared.
"Yes, captain?" sounded the voice of Jerec.
"My lord," spoke Sariss. "I bring before you general Crix Madine, who was aboard the ship heading for Dromund Kaas."
"Ah yes," said Jerec as Madine was thrown in front of the hologram. Jerec watched him eagerly, or rather, pretended to watch as he couldn't see.
"Can you do something with him through the holocamera?" informed Sariss.
Jerec did not answer her but instead concentrated hard. Kyle felt the dark side of the Force bind itself around the general and saw him struggle for breath and suffer from convulsions. Jerec let him go. "I got what I wanted," he croaked. "Kill the general. He is of no further use to us. Luke Skywalker is on Dromund Kaas. Sariss, give Kyle a ship. A surprise awaits him on Rodia. Go to the city of Iskaayuma, Katarn. Sariss, I want you to land on Dromund Kaas all alone and confront Skywalker."
"All alone, my lord?"
"The planet is strong with the dark side of the Force. The troops are useless there. Maw will come to your assistance, as will Katarn when he's done on Rodia. Don't underestimate Skywalker. Jerec out." The hologram disappeared.
"He's in a chatty mood today," joked Kyle. Sariss forced a smile, but knew she didn't succeed. Kyle watched her carefully and loosely gestured the captain and the troops to leave. He turned around and saw Madine was still there. Energy crackled as his lightsaber came to life. He hit the thumb switch again as the general's body sunk to the floor; his head flying to the other side of the prison block. Kyle waved away the smell of ozone as he turned to Sariss again.
"Afraid to fight Skywalker?" he asked bluntly.
Sariss was offended. "I'm not afraid, Katarn."
"It's all right. Don't worry, I've met him before. He's a nice guy."
She looked at Kyle shortly before she burst into a short, nervous laugh.
"I'll be back as soon as I'm done with whatever awaits me on Rodia and Maw will come down there too." He tried to comfort her, but she waved away his words.
"Rodia is at least a week away from here and who knows where the hell Maw is at the moment? He's not on Edusa as far as I know, so it could well last a few days before he arrives as well. Why would Jerec send me in alone? Does he want to kill me?"
"Of course not," uttered Kyle soothingly. Deep inside he knew she was right. Jerec was probably furious about their relationship and this was his way of dealing with it. "Dromund Kaas is an average-sized planet. It could take days before you see Skywalker."
"There's no fooling Jerec, Kyle. I can't pretend that I don't know where Skywalker is."
"You do?"
"Dromund Kaas is where I was raised and trained. I know the planet inside out and there is only one place where a person such as Skywalker would go to; the Sith temple."
"The Sith temple?" echoed Kyle.
"It's pretty much the only building on the planet still standing and it's certain to get the interest of a Jedi Master."
"You do see how this is an advantage to you, don't you?"
"Do explain."
"That temple is a place of the dark side and that means its power will more likely be useful to you rather than to Skywalker. You can use its secrets to your advantage!"
Sariss gave a faint smile. She knew he meant well and that he possibly had a point, but the thought of dying down there was too present to think of something else.
