Mon Mothma finished her fourth private viewing of the most recent acquisition that Alliance Intelligence had only placed on her desk three hours previously. The disturbing distress call from a now derelict ship, coupled with some top secret information from a soon-to-defect Crix Madine had led Mon Mothma believe that if something drastic couldn't be done soon, the Alliance would soon fall to the wrath of the Empire. She pressed a button on her desk, and turned to the only people in the Alliance that could more than likely take care of this threat in a timely manner.
An hour later, all four members of the new Jedi Order stood in the office of Mon Mothma. A scant few months ago, Obi-Wan Kenobi had sat in this very room to discuss the possible future of his students, now the once slightly skeptical Rebel leader was depending on them.
"This distress call came in from one of our ships stationed at Tak Base, the single rebel cell located on the planet of Talay," Mon Mothma began, readying to show the Jedi the recording. With a press of a button, a large holographic representation of a planetary office came into view with an obviously distressed Mon Calamari standing in the middle of the "screen."
"This is Commander Toka of Tak Base," the Mon Calamari quickly said. The image began fuzzing up, and the sound frequently began cutting in and out, the result of both the jamming that the Arc Hammer and the Executor were applying as well as the damage to the base that the unknown Imperial weapons were causing. "Under attack!—some kind…new weapon…droids—heavily armed!"
The recording contained sporadically for the next three minutes, and with every single minute that elapsed the Jedi began to feel a sense of dread wash over them. Then came the final few seconds of the recording. Commander Toka's voice became even more frantic as the recorder picked up a barely audible sound in the background. "They're coming through!" he screamed as a slightly louder "bang" was picked up. Toka's body soon disappeared out of the image, yet his shadow remained in the image. A few high-powered blaster shots quickly zoomed across the holographic projection, and Toka's shadow quickly fell to the ground. It wasn't long until a quick blaster shot terminated the feed.
"Other than what we just saw, what do we know about what attacked that base?" Obi-Wan asked, finally breaking the silence.
"One of our sources inside of the Empire has stated that these new machines are just being manufactured, and that this was just the test run of them," Mon Mothma replied. "At the moment, that's the summit of our knowledge."
"I suppose that you are assigning us to investigate what's probably left of the base," Obi-Wan said.
"Yes," Mon Mothma simply replied. "Your mission is to investigate the base and look for any clues that may point us to these new weapons and where they're manufactured."
"It's obvious that there's still an Imperial presence here," Kyle Katarn whispered to the other Jedi as he peered at the base through a pair of electrobinoculars. "Seems to be just troops at the moment; can't really give an estimate into how many, however."
"There's something else there," Obi-Wan replied. "Something dark."
"I don't sense it, Ben," Luke replied. "But there is this feeling that there's something here that's more than Stormtroopers."
"That would be the dark presence, I presume," Obi-Wan added. "Since it would be better to conduct our investigation in teams, we should split up now." Obi-Wan paused for a second to consider all of the possible teams that could be created out of the four of them. "Keyan, since lightsaber combat isn't your specialty, it would be best if you and I teamed together. Luke, you and Kyle take the east end of the base. Be on the lookout," Obi-Wan warned. "I can't exactly pinpoint where this dark figure is. We need to keep in contact."
"What about the Stormtroopers?" Luke asked.
"I have a feeling that they'll be the least of our problems," Obi-Wan replied.
Mara Jade could sense the four Jedi as they prepared to climb down from their spying place to begin their investigation of this facility. This, coupled with reports of a woman asking a lot of questions in the nearby city in the past few hours, gave credence to her Master's vision of the entirety of this new Jedi Order would come to investigate the havoc that the Dark Troopers had caused.
About a minute previously, she had made sure that her presence in the base would be noticed. It was just enough to put the Jedi even more on edge than they more than likely already were. When they split up, which would be a necessity to fully explore the ruined base before the chance of more Imperial troops arriving would become a reality, she would exploit this weakness and begin picking them off…
"Commander Jade," an Imperial officer reported in from his posting in the nearby city, "we've lost track of the Rebel woman we've been chasing. She killed about three of us before disappearing. Shall we continue our search for her?"
"You incompetent fool!" Mara exclaimed, slamming her gloved fist on the table. "You were supposed to only follow her, not try to apprehend her! Thanks to you and your men, our cover is effectively blown! Return to base to step up security, otherwise they'll get suspicious."
"What about the rebel?"
"She's a secondary target for all I care," Mara retorted. "I'm here for the Jedi…"
"I just got a message from Jan," Obi-Wan heard Kyle report in. "It appears that the Empire knows of our operation here. She was scouting the nearby city when she ran into a bunch of Stormtroopers."
"What about us?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I don't know if the Empire knows about us, but they're probably going to be increasing security around here very quickly."
"We had best finish this investigation as fast as we can, then, yet at the same time make sure not to miss anything," Obi-Wan ordered. "Keep in constant communication with us. May the Force be with the both of you."
"May the Force be with you," Kyle ended the communication.
"We're not even in this place for thirty minutes and the Empire already knows we're here," Keyan complained. "And we've been stealthy and everything."
"The Empire has the ability to ruin even the best made plans," Obi-Wan replied. "And whatever that dark presence was that I felt earlier is still here. I have a feeling that we're walking into a trap."
"And yet we're still investigating?"
"I've created one of my own," Obi-Wan explained. "The investigating groups I've created are more than capable of handling an Imperial threat until the other group gets to them. That, and traps only work if we don't know about them…"
Stalking her prey like an alien carnivore, Mara Jade slowly walked along some durasteel support beams, doing her best to remain silent as she waited for the opportunity to strike to present itself. She had picked the students as her first target, primarily out of fear of having to face Kenobi. She had heard tales of his precision in lightsaber combat from other members of Palpatine's cadre of dark-siders, and she was unwilling to cross blades with him—yet.
She carefully reached for her belt and reached for her lightsaber. With a slightly Force-assisted leap, Mara leaped down towards the two Jedi-in-training, igniting the blade at the same time. To her surprise, Mara could see both of the Jedi quickly turn towards her. The one wearing a brown jacket steadied a blaster pistol towards her face while the other, more younger, Jedi student ignited a blue lightsaber.
"So nice of you to finally join us," the one holding the gun said, his other hand reaching for his own lightsaber. "Thanks for the heads-up, Luke."
"Just put the lightsaber down," the one identified as Luke said, readying his lightsaber.
"You think I'm going to give up that easily?" Mara asked as she felt the Force flow through her, enhancing her own natural quickness and dexterity. With a quick turn, her right leg reached out towards her target, her foot solidly connecting with the blaster pistol. She quickly regained her footing before the now dislodged pistol hit the floor. She quickly brought her purple-bladed lightsaber up to block the blue blade that had been headed towards her.
A solid palm to the chin of the former holder of the blaster pistol stunned him for a moment, giving Mara a few precious seconds to spare to attempt to prevent her from having to duel both of them. It wasn't that she was frightened of the prospect of having to fight both of them, it was just the simple fact of having a better chance of surviving in one-on-one combat. She sent a quick slash his way, only to have her blade blocked just as quickly.
So, she thought as a second lightsaber soon came into play, they've been better trained than I thought.
The flickering lights of the remains of one of Tak Base's barracks, coupled with the glowing lightsaber, bathed the room in an eerie light. Luke struck at his opponent, only to have his strike blocked. Kyle, seeing the brief saber-lock, attempted to take advantage of the situation. He sent his green blade towards the dark Jedi, only to have her dodge out of the way.
A quick kick to the face sent Luke staggering into some rubble, leaving Kyle alone to face the Emperor's Hand. He attempted to fake a low swing, but was forced to block an overhead attack from the red-haired assassin as she sensed his attack.
"You're going to have to do better against me," Mara taunted. "I can sense the anger in you. All you need to do is let it out!"
Luke quickly kicked up off of the floor and used the Force to call his lightsaber into his hands. Seeing a golden opportunity, Luke sent a piece of debris hurtling towards the dark Jedi attacking him. The Force propelled missile caught Mara in the shoulder, sending her off balance. This small amount of time was enough for Luke to get back into the battle.
Mara backed away as both of her opponents pressed the attack, the attacker with the green lightsaber clearly using his anger in an attempt to get the upper hand. The other, one the other hand, seemed to radiate power in the Force. While his lightsaber strikes were less refined than the other combatant, this blond Jedi seemed to have more potential than any of the other Force-users she had ever encountered—save Vader. Thankfully, he wasn't fully trained.
She swept the brown-haired Jedi off of his feet and at the same moment attempted to drive her lightsaber into the gut of the other Jedi.
Luke swung his lightsaber, quickly shifting the purple blade away from his midsection, causing it to drive into the durasteel wall. Red globs of molten slag dripped down from the wall and gathered on the floor, already beginning to cool. Luke closed in as she rose and drove his knee into Mara's gut, causing the Hand to fall back slightly.
A green lightsaber nearly decapitated her as she quickly recovered her breath, it was followed by a punch. Mara masterfully blocked the punch with her free hand and then closed her fingers over the wrist. Feeling the Force enhance her strength in an instant, she violently twisted. The satisfying snap could barely be heard as Mara twisted to block another incoming lightsaber slash from Luke. She quickly let go of the now broken wrist and sliced towards the only uninjured Jedi left in the room.
"What is it Master Kenobi?" Keyan asked as his teacher paused for a second. Over his shoulder, Keyan half-carried, half-dragged a large assault cannon, one of the few clues that the Jedi had been able to find in their investigation.
"It's Luke and Kyle," Obi-Wan replied. "They're in trouble. Stay hidden near here, guard the evidence, and call for our extraction. Even if the worst happens, we still need to get that evidence into the hands of Alliance Intelligence."
Keyan nodded and dragged the weapon into a small storage closet and followed it into the hiding place. Removing the blaster pistol and his lightsaber from his belt, the pilot-turned-Jedi readied himself to stop anyone who attempted to prevent him from leaving the planet with the weapon. "I'll guard it with my life, Master Kenobi," he replied.
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Kenobi said. "Then I'm out a student and the Alliance is without the gun." Obi-Wan peeked through the transparisteel window, looking outside for any signs of Stormtrooper activity and thankfully found none. The Jedi Master removed the lightsaber on his belt and slowly walked outside. Upon being assured of a minimal Imperial presence, Obi-Wan rushed towards the place where the other group's last transmission had come from.