Chapter 11 - Sunset

Thyrsus

Outside Tvóssól City

39:3:13 (4 ABY)

1913 hours

Thyrsus was for all intents and purposes, Kev-Mas' homeworld. While he was born offworld on Mindor, a former resort planet that is now essentially inhospitable thanks to an accident with an experimental gravity weapon, he grew up on Thyrsus, having been abandoned there by his Thyrsian mother at a young age and left to fend for himself in the streets of Tvóssól City.

So when he exited the cockpit of his still cloaked TIE Defender outside Tvóssól City, he was greeted with a feeling of nostalgia looking on towards the skyline, which was scorched by the still setting red twin suns.

"It's been nearly 35 years since I last set foot on this world," mused Kev-Mas to himself, pulling the face concealing hood of his cloak over his head, "It feels strange knowing that the last time I was here was just moments before I had my free will stripped away from me for nearly 40 years, and now that I'm here again, I'm fighting to keep that from happening again."

Kev-Mas' train of thought was then disturbed by the captain of the Shadow Stormtrooper squad greeting him, as his squad seemingly came out of nowhere as they exited the still cloaked assault shuttle.

"Commander Colcha, we have arrived. Shall we begin our mission?"

Kev-Mas turned to face the captain, his cybernetic red eyes piercing through the darkness of the cloak's hood towards him. If it hadn't been for the trooper's training, he might have been cowering in fear at such a sight right now.

"Yes. What does intelligence say about the whereabouts of these insurgents?"

"They are holed up in the slums of the city not too far from here," the captain replied, handing Kev-Mas a datapad, "We have included coordinates to an exact location on this datapad."

Kev-Mas scanned the datapad with his cybernetic eyes and downloaded the data to his hud.

"Thank you Captain," said Kev-Mas, handing the datapad back, "Let's get going now, shall we?"

Kev-Mas and the troopers took point behind the rear facing wall of the building the insurgents were said to be located in. Scanning for an opening and finding one, Kev-Mas advanced towards the door, motioning to his troops to follow.

Quickly, Kev-Mas reached out to the Force to force open the locked door. The locking mechanism clicked open, and they were in.

"Well," whispered Kev-Mas to the troops, "Looks like we're in."

"We are," the captain whispered in reply, "Now what?"

Kev-Mas then held his hands up in the air, and as he did the five shadow stormtroopers were raised up into the air struggling to breathe as he grasped their throats with the Force. A few short moments later their lifeless bodies fell to the floor as Kev-Mas released his grip.

"Now," replied Kev-Mas, "Your services are no longer required."

Now that he didn't have any dead weight to get in the way of his real plans, Kev-Mas then walked through to greet these rebels… Or kinsmen, as he would prefer to call them.

"Hey!" shouted a Thyrsian rebel as Kev-Mas entered the room, "Who are you and how did you get in here?"

These rebels were dressed in a ragtag mixture of armor and fatigues, all colored in different shades of black and gray.

Kev-Mas dropped his hood and revealed his face.

"Sum ég er sonatus ex tvóssól. Sum ég er Sól Vörgil," replied Kev-Mas in perfect Thyrsian, the phrase translating to "I am a son of the twinsuns. I am a Sun Guard".

An older looking rebel came up from the back of the room, and motioned to his fellow men to drop their weapons.

"It is you… the half-blood champion…"

"That is a name I haven't heard in a long long time," replied Kev-Mas, "Not since the last time I set foot on this world have I heard that name. How do you know of it?"

"I was just a young boy in the crowd that fateful day when you earned your place in the Sun Guard," recollected the rebel, "The fact that you were so young like me, and overcame unthinkable odds to claim victory filled me with hope. It was inspiring. Even to this day, that performance fills me with hope, and is something I use to keep pushing onwards for the freedom of all Thyrsian people."

"I'm glad to hear that," replied Kev-Mas, "But I come with dire news for you."

"Oh? What might that be."

"Your lives are in danger. The Empire has been alerted to your activities and has sent an assassin to eliminate you."

"How do you know of this?"

"I know… because I am… or I was supposed to be that assassin."

The rebels grabbed their weapons again and held them at the ready, training them on Kev-Mas.

"What changed? Can we trust you?"

"Nothing changed. The Empire was fooled into believing that they had my loyalty. They relied on a device to force me into submission that has failed. I cannot turn a blind eye towards the suffering of my kinsmen. Instead, I will be assisting you with faking your deaths and escaping the planet to safety."

The rebels pulled their weapons back again, but still held them close.

"How exactly do you plan to do this?"

"There was a squad of Shadow Stormtroopers who accompanied me on this mission. I have since removed them from service, and their bodies currently lie inside the entrance to this building. You are to swap their armor with your own, place their bodies inside this room, set fire to this building and use their assault shuttle to escape the planet. You do not have to worry about detection, for this shuttle is equipped with a cloaking device."

Kev-Mas pulled out a datadisk and handed it to the Rebel standing in front of him.

"On this datadisk is information regarding how to contact an associate of mine. His name is Luke Skywalker. You might have heard of him, for he has quite the reputation ahead of him. He might be able to help you with your cause and provide a safe place for you to hide out."

"Sounds like you thought this through quite well," said the Rebel, taking the datadisk, "How can we be sure that this isn't a trap though?"

"If I were misleading you, would I have killed off an entire squad of Stormtroopers and have information on how to contact the elusive Luke Skywalker?"

"No. You have a point. And our trust."

"Good. Let's set this plan into motion then, shall we?"

Kev-Mas and the Thyrsian rebels, adorned in shadow stormtrooper armor made their way outside the city, briefly looking back at the billowing smoke from the blaze they set off as they went.

Arriving at the site where the cloaked vessels were located, Kev-Mas pressed a button to open the loading ramp to the assault shuttle which revealed the interior of a transport vessel out of mid-air, much to the surprise of the Thyrsians.

"Here's your ride off of this rock. Do me a favor though, once you get a hold of Luke."

"What would that be?"

"Tell him that Kev-Mas Colcha sent you, and that his will is his own but he needs his help."