Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

26

The convoy was full of supplies, including several ATATs and several kilolitres of bacta. For the past three weeks, the Jedi fleet had been attacking up and down the Empire, raiding fir supplies, and fleeing before the Empire arrived with defence. Due to their unpredictability, the Empire couldn't arm every convoy, and the latest news was that Palpatine was getting very miffed about the continuous raids on his forces.

"Come on Syron, get on with it." Shaak Ti said as she painted her nails.

Syron shot a miffed glance in her direction.

"Commander Variya, are we ready?" he asked.

"Ready and waiting. All forces, prepare for battle. And don't forget, our President is here, so lets put on a good show." she said, not quite how she should have.

Shaak Ti shot an irritated glance at the comm.

"I don't care what you do, as long as many people as possible get home and we get the goods." she said.

The Meerkat was backed up by the Corporation, Firestorm and Whirlwind, three Nebulon cruisers, and was supported by the Knight and the Gallant, the two Strike Cruiser left over from the fight with Joren. To round off the small assault force, the Silver Blade was there, and the major firepower was presented by one of the Venator Destroyers, the Kit Fisto.

"All fighters, launch! Activate gravity well generators and get the troops to the gunships." Variya ordered.

Fighters shot out from the cruisers.

"Oh come on Master Ti, this is easy." Serra crowed from her fighter.

"She's busy Serra." Vella said, smiling.

She was indeed busy, having just painted her finger when Syron had shoved the ship into top gear.

"Damn you Syron. Don't be overconfident Serra." she warned as she looked for the nail polish remover.

The battle was over in minutes, the convoy surrendering rather than continuing a fight they had no chance of winning.

"Well done people. Let's go home." Variya ordered.

Shaak Ti was just painting the last of her nails, when Syron shot the ship to lightspeed, making her put another green line all down her hand.

"Syron, you bloody imbecile!" she shrieked.

She then attacked him with the nail polish, and left him with a glittery green moustache and a grumpy face.

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They returned to Moon Base, and quickly got the supplies to where they were needed. After a quick debriefing, Shaak Ti had to report to an Executive meeting, where she, Ackdara, Meena and Signworth talked over recent events.

"Well my friends, we've been doing rather well, all in all. Our raids for the last few months have got us full to the brim with resources, and we're ready to take the fight to the enemy whenever we feel the need to." Meena said happily.

"And the cruisers we've been building are nearly finished. We're just tweaking some systems, and naming them, and they'll be ready to roll." Signworth said jovially.

"So, all is set for our next move. Which is?" Ackdara asked.

Shaak Ti pondered.

"To tell you the truth my friends, I don't have a clue. By all rights, beyond resisting the Empire, I never actually knew what we would do with an army that was opposed to them. Now that we have that, and have gathered Jedi, I don't see what to do next."

The others all looked at each other in shock.

"However, for the moment, I'd say that shooting at the Empire's goons is a rather good plan." she said, smiling.

They all nodded enthusiastically.

She activated the holoprojector set into the table in the centre of the conference room.

"This is the Bothawui system. According to our intelligence operatives under Master Tholme, the Empire is going to be shifting a major shipment of materiel through the system. I intend for us to strike it, as a test for some of our new cruisers, and to deny Imperial garrisons some much needed war tools that help them impose order where they are not wanted. We can also use the opportunity to get some information from the Bothans, who claim that the Empire is up to something. Any objections?" she asked.

There were none.

"Good. Admiral, I leave the details to you. Now, I must go and inform the Council of our next move." she said, and departed.

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Palpatine set an angry glance at his apprentice.

"Another one!?" he demanded angrily.

"Yes my master. Shaak Ti's forces are attacking all over the damn place. Many of our further out garrisons are suffering." Vader reported.

Palpatine surveyed his apprentice. He had still yet to regain his focus. His mauling from Kenobi had left him a brute, without the finesse he had practiced as Anakin Skywalker. In truth, Sidious was disappointed in his apprentice. He had such promise. Perhaps facing one of his greatest enemies in one-on-one combat would get it back. If not, he would go the same way as Grievous.

"Benun!" Palpatine called.

Benun appeared from the shadows.

"My lord." he said, bowing.

"Are you ready for your plan to be put into operation?"

Benun sighed, as he had every day this week when he had been asked the same question.

"My lord, the plan is not ready to proceed yet." he said tiredly.

"Oh, fine! Get on with it!" he yelled in rage.

Vader cleared his throat.

"Perhaps we could try my plan." he said.

Palpatine glared at his apprentice.

"If it's along the same lines as when you thought it would be amusing to block my toilet to see if I noticed, you needn't bother." he said grumpily.

Benun and Vader chuckled at that. Palpatine hadn't been chuckling when hed gotten out of bed and wound up waist deep in toilet water.

"No. Nothing so hilarious. Least of all for Shaak Ti." Vader promised.

Palpatine pondered, then nodded.

"Very well. I shall hear you out, then throw you out."

"Yes my master. I have taken the liberty of making a target irresistible to Shaak Ti. She will be bound to hit it."

Palpatine narrowed his eyes.

"The idea Lord Vader is that we stop her attacking convoys. Not give her more targets."

Vader nodded.

"Yes. But this time, there will be a difference. When she pops out of lightspeed to attack, the convoy will broadcast a surrender. Then, the fleet at the edge of the system will be able to come in from behind and blow them to oblivion."

Benun smiled.

"Simple plots are always the best." he said.

"Who do we send? Your own track record isn't that good in chasing her. And you cant get from here to…where are you going?"

"Bothawui. And Penish and Tarkin are already there." Vader said.

Palpatine smiled.

"Very well Lord Vader. Try this plan. And if it should fail…"

Vader bowed, and swept from the room. He didn't tell his master that the first stage of the plan was meant to fail.

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Shaak Ti smiled at them. The Council was fairly supportive of this plan.

Except one.

"Master Ti, I have a bad feeling about this." Ventress said.

Tra moaned.

"Now you've jinxed it." she complained.

Ventress ignored her and leaned forward.

"It smells like a trap." she warned.

K'kruhk tapped his chair.

"She does have a point. We've been hitting convoys for about a month now. They could be onto us." he said.

Silence echoed in the room.

"Well, I have an idea." Exaz said.

Shaak Ti shot her a dirty look.

"If you're thinking you can wear underwear on the outside to save on laundry bills, we've already ascertained that it doesn't work." she said peevishly.

Exaz ignored this.

"A small force will be all that is needed. We also need to try out the new cruisers that we've built. We can use this to test some of the new ships, and make it a small enough fleet that they can hop it if things look fishy." she said.

There were no objections.

"Very well. I shall take a small task force with Admiral Ackdara and a couple of our Knights, and be back before dessert." Shaak Ti said.

"Master Ti, you are the President. You cant keep shooting off at a second's notice." Jeisel scolded.

"I'm the President. I can so." Shaak Ti said childishly.

"Yes, but you leave us in charge. Exaz is quite a bad Vice President." Tsui groaned.

"Speak for yourself." Exaz said grumpily.

Shaak Ti rolled her eyes, and the rest of the Council got up and walked out, leaving the two in the chamber yelling.

"They must like each other." K'kruhk said mischievously, and they laughed.

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"Lord Vader."

Vader turned to see Benun.

"Yes Lord Benun?" Vader asked.

"My Dark Jedi wish to observe the situation firsthand. They want one of them to go and report back." the Gran Dark Jedi reported.

Vader sighed.

"They're too late. Penish and Tarkin are already underway."

"Do you think they can do it?" Benun asked sceptically.

"No. But it will curb their attacks on our convoys. Very well Benun. Pick one of them. Send them to the Bothawui system. They are to act like a Jedi General. Tarkin and Penish will complain, but I'm in charge and they aren't."

Benun nodded gravely.

"I take it you approve of one of them going?"

Benun made a rude noise.

"They sense that their power is in flux. If we do as the Emperor asks, they will be honoured beyond their wildest dreams. Ones who actually manage to kill Jedi will be very powerful after the Jedi are crushed. They seek to defeat one another with their minds. They're at each others throats." he said with distaste.

"Good." Vader said, and they went to the pub.

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"By all rights, it should be a quick in and out mission." Shaak Ti finished, looking at the assembled commanders.

Most of them were clones, but several ship commanders had been transferred from veteran ships to give the new ships experienced cruisers.

"The task force will arrive in system, hit the convoy, and get back out with relative ease." Ackdara said.

"Any Imperial forces around Bothawui?" a clone asked.

"Not that we know of. Granted, the convoy may have more support than armed freighters, but we shouldn't have much trouble. Any questions?"

"What if we get there, and things go wrong?" a Dashade captain asked.

"Define wrong." Shaak Ti said.

"The Imps have five ISDs waiting for us."

"If possible in such an event, we will flee in any direction, and return here to Moon Base after a few stops. If not, we flee to the edge of the system, and hope we get reinforced." Ackdara explained.

"May the Force be with you all." Shaak Ti said, and they all left.

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Benun entered the dark apartment that the Dark Jedi shared. Palpatine had branded them The Nine.

"Get down here you lot, I want to talk." he called.

"Why should we?" Nycros asked in a lazy voice.

"Because if you don't I will kick your backside from here to Tatooine boy. Move!" Benun roared.

They assembled before him. They were indeed at each other's throats. Zaza and Demona were still talking, and Tekul had joined them in the latest spate of word-wars. Bren'ya wasn't talking to anyone. Tion and Braniss, who normally got on quite well weren't talking, and Salmonella and Nycros, who were meant to be lovers, weren't talking either. Also, Demona and Zaza were normally ignored anyway because they liked Benun, so they weren't bothered. Tekul normally went with Tion and Bren'ya, with Braniss either siding with Nycros or Demona's group. But at the moment, with them all sensing that their power could vastly increase any time soon, they all were getting on each others nerves more than usual and were at each others throats. Benun had arrived just in time this week to prevent the death of two of the Nine, one duel between Nycros and Bren'ya, which the Bothan was losing, and one between Salmonella and Tion, which Tion had been losing.

"Forget your squabbles for a moment and listen to me. Vader has agreed that one of you is to go to observe Admiral Penish and Governor Tarkin at Bothawui."

"Ok." Nycros said, and moved towards the door.

Benun hit him with a Force push so that the filthy man went back to where he was.

"You dare you filthy alien…!" he began angrily, lighting his lightsaber.

Benun narrowed his three eyes.

"Remember who your master is and who trained you boy, or I will cut that disrespectful tongue from your head." he growled.

Nycros raised his lightsaber. The foolish brat obviously intended to make a show of himself.

Benun lit his lightsaber, rolling his eyes as he did so. He remembered back to many years ago, when Nycros had been a small boy who Palpatine had gotten him to train. Back then he'd been a relatively good boy. But as his powers developed, he'd grown arrogant, a flaw common in the Jedi Order in the final days. And when Palpatine had given him Salmonella, a girl only a year his junior to train, Nycros had gotten even more powerful, showing off to impress her. Eventually he'd grown very powerful, full of anger and rage, as Palpatine wanted, but also prejudiced, arrogant and obnoxious. He'd began thinking himself superior to all the others felt he was the Force's gift to the galaxy. He also washed very little and looked a mess. He was just so powerful and arrogant, he thought other people should run around after him. Benun regretted training him.

Salmonella had been a gift of an apprentice. She had trained well and hard, her powers growing steadily. However, she had started to pay more attention to Nycros than to Benun's teachings, and he'd been forced to bring her back to reality with a bump, as shed been losing herself in fantasies of her own power soon superseding that of her master. Benun had corrected the matter, but when the girl had been crying, he'd gotten lax. Confident her threat to his and Palpatine's schemes was over, he'd ignored her. Which had allowed Nycros to move in. Nycros had fed her resentment and anger with Benun until something, the respect and subservience she had to her master, had broken. Since then, she had been just as disdainful of Benun and prejudiced about him as Nycros, and just as arrogant. However, she at least kept herself presentable.

Demona was his favourite. A relative of the Separatist General Xalma, who had died during the war, she had been highlighted for training by Count Dooku after he became Darth Tyranus and had met with Xalma. She was the youngest of his students, the most agile, and one of the cleverest. Her grasp of the Force and it's dark side was great, and still had the respect and a form of love for the one who had trained her. He'd been the first strong male personality in her life, and he had trained her gladly. Since then, she'd always sided with her master, and that gave him a powerful supporter with the group of mewling brats, especially when Zaza came with her.

Zaza was his second favourite. A strong, hulking, tough Barabel, she'd been a happy accident. Her parent's ship had crashed right outside of their fortress on Zigoola, when they had been fleeing some pirates who'd attacked them. Benun, who'd trained most of his students by then, took her eagerly. She'd started slowly at first, and due to her looks and her species, the others had challenged her all the way through, aside from Tekul who'd taken a shine to her. This had stopped when an ambitious Braniss had challenged her and she'd nearly ripped his hand off with her teeth. Impressed by her strength and determination, Benun taught her other arts that the others knew little or nothing of, and she had become one of the most able of his apprentices. While confident in her abilities, Zaza wasn't arrogant, but was powerful, both physically and with the Force. She remained one of his supporters within the group.

Tekul was a strange one. One of the point zero zero zero one of the Hutt population with a decent amount of Force energy, he'd been picked up by Palpatine during a talk with a Hutt who had moved onto Naboo when he had been in the process of becoming a Senator. Palpatine had met with the Hutt, and had quietly kidnapped the boy when the Naboo police had stormed the place. He'd then sent the boy to Zigoola with Kinman Doriana, and Benun had trained him. Tekul had grasped his studies well, and had taught himself to use three lightsabers at once, working his muscles to become thin and powerfully-built Hutt. He was one of the strangest of the apprentices, and was usually aloof from the others, and was one of the few who could stand Bren'ya.

Bren'ya himself was not well thought of by the others. He had abandoned the Jedi Order as a Padawan and had fled to the dark side world of Zigoola, determined to make himself a threat to the Jedi Order which had somehow wronged him. Benun had found him and after some persuasion had completed his training and forged him into a weapon of the dark side. As he had already had some experience over the others who had been there at the time, he held himself apart from the rest and considered himself a superior to all of them. This fact, along with his usual Bothan tendencies, had enraged the others and led to his isolation from them all. However, he was one of the more cunning and far reaching members of the Nine.

Braniss, the Twi'lek wasn't as bad as some of the others. Sold into slavery at a young age, Benun had picked him up when he had gone out shopping. Sensing the Force, Benun had brought him home to be another apprentice. Braniss was relatively adept, but wasn't anything special like the others. He refused to get involved in the various squabbles the others participated in. His only flaw was that he hated his master. Benun had sensed that he was getting a bit too cocky about things for his own good, a bit too obsessed with own infallibility, Benun had demonstrated his folly. Braniss hated being made a fool of, and had hated Benun ever since.

Tion was the last of them. He'd been a pirate that had thought to set himself up on Zigoola. Benun had to deal with him in case he had spread the word that there was a nest of Dark Jedi on the planet. After killing the rest of his goons, and pinching a rather nice ship into the bargain, he'd found Tion, who had attacked him with a telekinetic shove that he had learned from a Zeison Sha Initiate on his ship. Benun had been impressed and had taken Tion in to train him. Tion however did not like Benun due to the fact that he had slaughtered most of the crew, and was only using him to further his own ends.

Benun glared at Nycros, who leapt at him, his filthy hair and lightsaber swinging. Benun caught his attack easily and crashed his fist into the boy's stomach. Nycros staggered back, swearing. Benun then came at him, and utilised the full power of Form V, beating down at Nycros' defences. Nycros, shocked and enraged at how well the alien was forcing him back, gave a roar and summoned Tion's lightsaber from his belt and lit the blade. Benun gave a pitiful shake of his head and crashed his lightsaber into both of his apprentice's, hitting them so hard they cartwheeled out of his hand and stuck in the wall, narrowly missing Bren'ya and Zaza, who were cursing Nycros fluently in Huttese.

Benun then slid his lightsaber across both of Nycros' arms, his legs and the two sides of his neck, before making another wound on his chest, using his Shiim techniques.. The boy dropped down, screaming in terror, rage and pain. Benun tutted, and grabbed Nycros' filthy hair.

"I am still the master." he growled, and threw the boy to the floor.

As Nycros curled up and cursed Benun, the Gran turned to observe Tion struggling to get his lightsaber out of the wall. Rolling his eyes, he turned to the others.

"As I was saying, Vader has agreed to let one of you go to observe the trap at Bothawui. Zaza, you will go."

Zaza bowed and walked from the room, knocking Tion away from the wall with her tail as she went so that he fell off his lightsaber, being to small to get it without aid of a chair.

"Tekul, there is a Hutt boss in the Undercity who may be connected to the Whiplash. He may be used to find this Jax Pavan fellow Vader is looking for. See to it."

Tekul inclined his head and slithered out of the room, going right over Nycros and covering him in slime.

"And you Bren'ya, Senator Chuchi is getting a bit vocal. Talk with her and make sure she keeps her mouth shut a bit. She is a relatively good politician, so do not upset her." The Bothan also left.

"You lot, attend to your studies. I'm going to the pub. And Salmonella…"

She had bent down to help Nycros up.

"Don't bother helping him." he snarled, and left the room.

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Zaza stalked onto the bridge of her private VSD, the Rage.

"Captain, set your courzz for the Bothawui system."

He nodded, and Zaza stood in front of the viewport, and took a deep breath. The hunt was about to begin.

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The task force shot into the system, with the convoy right ahead.

"Well, so far so good." Syron said as the fleet moved in.

Shaak Ti frowned. Something wasn't right.

"Be wary." she said worriedly.

Vella looked at her in concern, before Admiral Ackdara's voice cut over the system.

"Imperial convoy, this is Admiral Ackdara of the Jedi fleet. Surrender now, or be destroyed." she warned.

"This is Captain Farhais of the Empire. You Jedi wont escape this time." he sneered.

"Admiral, watch out!" Shaak Ti screeched into the comm.

As if my magic, squadrons of TIE fighters shot out from convoy, and the convoy ships began turning.

"All ships, battle stations! Red alert! Get all fighters going now!" Ackdara yelled.

As their own fighters streamed from the cruisers, Shaak Ti took her position at the computer screen.

"Oh farty towels." she cursed.

"How bad is it?" Vella asked,

"Think crisis but bigger."

"Damn it!"

Twelve fighter squadrons, two entire wings, were streaking out of the convoy ships, which were armed with heavy turbolasers and missile launchers.

"Shaak Ti…" Syron began.

"If you say 'my ship is going to get shot' I will slowly stick your head into a food processor!" she snapped.

Syron frowned.

"I wasn't going to say that. I was going to warn you that something large is coming out of hyperspace."

"Oh joy. What is the God of Fortune spitting at me now?" she asked bitterly.

A VSD shot into the system.

"Feck." she swore.

"This is Ackdara. Lucky, Tramp and Domino are to go straight trough the convoy, help get rid of the fighters. Remembrance, deal with the VSD. Terror, Yoda and Doneeta are to obliterate that convoy as once. Bastila, Revan and Bold are to hang back, while all other ships provide covering fire! Fighters, engage those TIEs and keep them away from the cruisers! Move people!"

Space filled with laser bolts as the ISD, VSD and Vengeance frigate pounced on the oncoming convoy, firing at as many ships as their heavy turbolaser cannons could reach. The Remembrance twirled and headed towards the newly-arrived VSD. Shaak Ti braced as a TIE bomber dropped a bomb on the ship.

"Stop trying to blow holes in my ship!" Syron yelled.

Ackdara's Swift was heading straight in between the heavy freighters and tankers that the Empire had filled with fighters and armed with turbolasers. As fighters blew apart around the task force, Ackdara's frigate got into the centre of the formation and let loose with cluster bombs.

Massive holes were ripped in the sides of the frigates and fire spewed from them into space. While they had been heavily armed, they had not been heavily shielded.

"Down to two dozen freighters and tankers!" Shaak Ti called.

Two Torrent fighters were blown apart as they shot past the viewport.

"Admiral?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Well, its touch and go. We still have numbers, and the three heavy cruisers are ripping apart the freighters with a vengeance. The Remembrance is definitely passing its test drive I'd say. It's shelling the stuffing out of the Rage."

Syron grinned as the Terror blew apart another part of the convoy.

"Where did the VSD come from?" Vella asked.

"We don't know, but it wont be around much longer." Ackdara promised.

Outside, it was clear that the Imps had lost the battle. There were only three freighters left and the Imperial fighters, despite causing a lot of damage, had been scattered and defeated. While some of the ships had taken heavy damage when they were caught by surprise, the battle was effectively over.

Only the Rage was still fighting. Shaak Ti frowned at it.

"There's a Dark Jedi aboard that ship." she said.

"Who? Vader?"

"No. Less than he is. But still dangerous. Admiral, take down that VSD."

"As you wish. Recall all fighters."

As the fighters began to return to their ships, the rest of the taskforce turned its guns to the VSD.

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Zaza snarled as another shot rocked her ship.

"Blast the Jedi!" she roared, slamming her tail to the ground.

"Begging your pardon my lady, but weren't Admiral Penish and Governor Tarkin meant to be here?" the captain asked.

Zaza snarled and activated the comm to Benun on Coruscant.

"Master!" she wailed as another heavy turbolaser blast from the ringed rocket outside hit the ship.

"Zaza, what's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Penish and Tarkin no here, thatzz what!" she roared as another blast rocked the ship.

"My lady…"

"I'm on the phone!"

"Its Penish!"

"Never mind then."

She turned off the comm to witness Penish's fleet shooting into the system, all turbolasers blazing, closely followed by Tarkin's.

"Thatzz better." she said happily.

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"All forces, emergency action!" Ackdara barked.

The three freighters, which had been travelling back to the formation had just been annihilated by heavy fire from the Execrutix.

"Oh my!" Teecee squealed, as Syron pulled the ship up to avoid a collision with the Obsession.

"Whoa!" he cried as a turbolaser blast grazed the bridge.

"Admiral!" Shaak Ti cried.

"We just lost the three freighters. Those poor souls never stood a chance. And they caught four of our fighter squadrons all at once!" she yelled.

"What do we do?" she asked the Admiral.

"All craft, suppressing fire. As soon as the fighters are all stowed, we flee to the edge of the system."

"Why not straight home?" Syron asked, as Softy howled.

"Look at Tarkin's fleet. Penish's is dealing with us, and Tarkin is moving to blockade Bothawui. They're up to something. We cant let them suffer." Ackdara said.

"And that Dark Jedi is still here." Shaak Ti said.

"Fine. Just so long as we know."

The fleet came together and started to accelerate to the jump point before Penish's forces could block them. Behind them, Tarkin's fleet was moving into blockade position around the planet. Turbolaser fire from the three ISDs in Penish's fleet were blasting away at several ships shields.

"The Interest reports that their shields are disappearing!" someone yelled.

With that the Rocketship was blown apart.

"All craft, prepare for jump to hyperspace!" Ackdara yelled.

The Jedi fleet shot away from the system, determined to return in more favourable circumstances.

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The Imperial fleet immediately set about blockading Bothawui. While Tarkin dealt with that matter, Penish reported to Vader.

"My lord, the plan worked. It was a convoy of ships well spent I think. We caught their ships and have forced them into hiding. It wont be long now."

Vader nodded, impressed.

"Well done Admiral. Where are they?"

"They've fled to the edge of the system for now. Once we establish order on Bothawui, we will go after them."

Vader looked at him sharply.

"Tarkin hasn't actually sent troops down to the planet has he?"

"Yes."

"Idiot. The Emperor will go bananas."

Penish frowned.

"He means to take over the Spynet, and get the Bothans as slaves I think."

Vader shook his head.

"The Bothans will not be slaves. They are far too proud. Too late now. Let him see his own folly."

Penish inclined his head gravely.

"Who did Benun send?"

"The Barabel." he said with distaste.

"Hmm. How was she there before you?" Vader asked.

"Faster ships, and she didn't have to wait for Tarkin." Penish said grumpily.

"You are to treat her as you would have treated a Jedi General during the war Admiral. Differ to her unless you feel she is unable to command efficiently."

Penish snarled, but nodded. Vader vanished after giving a nod.

"Admiral, the Dark Jedi wishes to come over!"

Penish twirled.

"She what?" he demanded.

"She's coming over!"

Penish panicked. If the powers that be found out he had a Jedi…

"Get all available ysalamiri to the bridge at once! I shall meet her and hold her off!"

Penish then hurried to meet the coming Dark Jedi.

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The shuttle settled in the hangar of the Vendetta, where it was flanked by two columns of stormtroopers. The hatch opened and the hulking Barabel stumped down the ramp, and was meet by Penish.

"Lady Zaza. Welcome aboard the Vendetta. We are honoured by your presence." he said, putting on his best sabaac face.

Zaza grasped his hand in her claws, and set off.

"You informed Lord Vader of the Jediz escape?"

"Yes. We are ready to go as soon as Tarkin finishes on the planet."

"Good. You also told him that they have new shipz?" she asked.

"We've sent the data to him."

"Good. You have tracked the Jedi?"

"Of course. We only await Tarkin."

"And the repairz to my ship. It waz damaged az you were late." she snarled.

"I apologise for that Lady Zaza. However, Tarkin held us up."

Zaza snarled.

"Then I shall deal with him. But after I have dealt with the Jedi." she snarled.

Penish nodded gravely.

"If you will excuse me Lady Zaza, I shall have a task force sent over to repair your cruiser."

Zaza smiled.

"Be sure that you do Admiral. Then…we shall crush the Jedi." she hissed.

The Empire has taken Bothawui, and the Jedi have been forced to retreat.

Will Penish and Tarkin catch the Jedi? Will Zaza get them? Will she find Sha Koon on Penish's ISD? Will Tarkin subdue the Bothans?

What will happen next?

Cant remembe,r so youll have to wait until I write it to find out!

Until then, please read, review, and please even if it doesnt affect you, vote in the poll!