Part III

The Unfolding of the Dark

Chapter 37

The Calm Before the Storm

Two weeks had passed since the military executives agreed that assassination of Rixxon Zazz would be the wisest course of action despite all the dangers. Much of this time was occupied through hyperspace travel as well as the occasional day and night camping underneath the radar of the patrolling enemy fleets.

They slowly closed in on the planet Mengskin, deep in True Sith territories, a world more than a few light years to the west and slightly south of Voss. Its system was secluded and there weren't too many hyperspace routes that led to it. The system was in visual range of the Psytosis Nebula and the nebula was like a southwestern wall to the Unknown Regions. All knowledge of it speculated that its western block marked the very end of the whole galaxy. The nebula scrambled all communications and no ship that passed beyond it had ever returned. To a degree, it resembled a boundary between Republic space and the Unknown Regions, a path which the Ebon Hawk had found by accident but could now map out safe routes through. However, it was only a matter of time before they would find yet another wall in the way. On the far western side, this was apparently it.

But it also seemed like the nebula provided a natural corner for the Sith empire. On the map, the overall nebula looked like a slightly obtuse angle, the wall blocking a chunk of the southern territory as well. However, it was known that beyond the southern part of the nebula were a few scattered systems, all of which a great distance from each other. Much of it was a void of empty space, places Trek had found to hide in during his days of mourning and early rebellion. These areas were far to the south of the Sith empire, and there was hardly any activity from any intelligent life form at all. The Sith had control over one planet called Chestre, a moonless world in its own system that was used by the Sith to monitor activity in the overall region. Despite all the military operations in the area, no system was even close to it yet it was the Sith's way of providing a disincentive for pirate gangs or other hostile factions from trying to disturb the peace.

Nevertheless the rebel fleet was north of the nebula and near Mengskin. Trek had set up a small base of operations on the most distant moon of Mengskin with a surface of nothing but craters, craters large enough to conceal dreadnought ships. The natural gas found in areas deep into the heart of the planet, if mixed with several coolants that were abundant in the galaxy could create an artificial fuel for the ships and it was there that the fleet began to lay low for a while.

The moon barely had any atmosphere, very low gravity on the outside but the resources for terraforming were so deep the only hospitable area was deep inside the craters. Luckily humans had discovered this long ago and had built docking bays for dreadnought class vessels as well as taken efforts to hollow out caverns for a secret base of operations. Trek had discovered this when he was putting down the original Kraxis Rebellion but his report to the Grand Sire did not have this detail in it for the purposes of making it concise.

Trek had made a speech to the entire fleet over the intercom telling them what he had decided. What surprised him the most was the amount of positive feedback he got from the crew. He never asked for it but he had a feeling that many in the fleet would object to the plan thinking that it was insane. He had suspected Jace of having helped him out in that field but most on the crew just wanted to do their part in the downfall of the Sith empire. If it meant for the Grand Sire to die in order for the kingdom to come crashing down then so be it.

What was priority now was the planning of the mission. As soon as the craters were sealed from the top to prevent detection the crews began working on the fuel supply. The only ship to leave on frequent trips was the Quatra, since it had been fitted with a proper cloaking device, similar to that of the Ebon Hawk. Jace had been cleared to take the ship out for a trip to the Psytosis Nebula in an effort to study it provided he did not alert the enemy to his presence. The kid seemed like just as much if not more of a scientist than an actual Jedi. Yuthura and HK-47 joined the hunting parties sent out to clear the caves of bats and mynoks. Meanwhile Trek, Revan, and the other commanders gathered in the lower levels.

Revan came in last, as he had trouble finding the area but they did not start the meeting without him. As soon as he entered, Trek spoke. "I believe only Commander Saww and I have had the...unique pleasure of meeting Mr. Revan."

"Oh please," rejected Revan. "It's just Revan...or Commander Revan if that suits protocol."

"I've given him provisional officer status in our committee," said Trek to the others in light of the looks the others were giving each other. Revan could tell that most of these men did not like him and also wondered how much they actually knew about him from whatever Trek had told them.

"Can I assume you all have read the briefings?"

"I didn't get it," Revan replied quickly. "I assume they deal with reconnaissance?"

"Yes," said Trek. "Let the Sith waste their fuel and ore trying to find us elsewhere, they won't be looking here."

"Just laying low doesn't get us anywhere," said Commander Rainer. "The opportunity is six months away and we have a lot of planning to do but if the Sith even get as much as a whiff of our presence, that plan goes out the airlock."

"They won't," said Trek. "Mengskin does not have anything remotely close to Shikara's defense grid; I'm not worried about that. But this is where we have to be because six months from now it's where he's going to be. The graduating class of the academy will be receiving the Grand Sire the day they get their diplomas. Zazz makes his occasional trips across the empire but he has not once missed this appearance at the academy each year. He's been much more disciplined about this than previous Sires."

"Why?" Revan asked.

"Because Zazz himself is a graduate of the academy," replied Archie. "Valedictorian of his class and his groundbreaking performances are what got the attention of his master. This matters to him."

"Very good Saww," said Archie as a complimentary way of telling him to shut up. "I was head of security for him for a couple years when he made these trips," said Trek. "I know the layout of the castle he stays at, I know the procedures and I know that if this plan is going to work, we're going to have to take him out when he's arrived."

"Discreet assassinations don't sound very practical," said Jono. "This is a Sith academy we're talking about."

"We're not going to kill the Sire while he's making the speech," said Trek. "He arrives two days in advance and the castle he stays in is several hundred kilometers away so it takes several hours to get from A to B. We're going to kill him before he makes it, before as in the night he arrives – storm the castle, cut our way through, force Zazz into a corner and then Revan and I will take him out while the rest of our forces hold out against their reinforcements."

"Can't we just ambush the caravan instead?" asked Commander Temple.

"Too many escape routes," said Trek. "And I'm not even counting Zazz's warp ability. Believe it or not it's actually more practical to just hit him where he lives. His pride and amusement must be triggered in order to get him to actually stay. Ambushing the caravan is cowardly and he will merely repay the insult by retreating like a coward."

"As romantic as this all sounds," Rainer interjected. "The castle is a castle – it's got the look of an old castle but the defenses of a modern castle. If you think you think you'll be able to smash the front gates open towards him..."

"I don't," said Trek. "We're going to drop in behind the walls from the air and be as discreet as possible until they figure out we're here."

"That's not your style Commander," Archie commented, but Trek ignored him.

"If they've got the defenses of a modern castle," Revan cut in. "They'll be able to detect any drop ships we send over the area."

"They'll be able to detect parachutes too," added Rainer.

"We'll be using neither," said Trek. "How much do you know about the atomic hawk?"

The room turned quiet, and everyone looked at each other, hoping someone would talk. Revan knew nothing about this but the mentioning of a hawk brought the dream back to his mind.

These hawks were huge – wingspan of a manta ray and claws big like a mountain gondola. He was in one and Yuthura was in the other claw of the same bird. Trek was in another, next to him a darkly dressed battle hardened commando. Dustil was in one and Jace Myrther was there too. Lena was nowhere in sight but there were six other hawks carrying two soldiers each – all of them dressed the same as the man next to Trek. They were in wedge formation soaring over the stratosphere of the beautiful world.

"That's it?" Revan was now thinking, once the rewound vision had passed from his mind. "That couldn't have just been it...not with all the man power we have. Must have been a second team."

"Nobody?" asked Trek. "The atomic hawk is a unique species of bird only found on Mengskin. They're massive; I'm talking half the size of the ship Revan came in on. Magnificent creatures; they travel in packs of nine, they are unbelievably difficult to kill and even though they respond in kind to the Force they do not like Sith. Their minds are tranquil and easy to manipulate, but they have slowly evolved to be heavily resistant to their powers. They also have the ability to fly under the radar."

Another small memory from the dream flashed back into his head. "Why don't the guards fire at these birds?" he thought. "It would seem like the practical thing to do in their shoes…" That was a thought that occurred to him during the dream; now he understood why. It was because of their stealth, their seemingly harmless nature and their ability to kill if ever angered or threatened.

"You're going to tame an entire flock of atomic hawks to get them to drop you into the castle?" Archie said, even though he already knew the answer.

"Between Revan and I…and even Myrther should we need him, we'll take care of that. We'll have bombers in orbit, the Vendetta, Pincer and the Spear Tip will have ground forces standing by. As soon as the alarms go off we will signal for a full attack and our bombers will be responsible for guarding against reinforcements from the three nearby cities."

"What kind of resistance should we expect?" asked Revan.

"Strong but it ain't Becton," said Trek. "The Grand Sire likes his space and he's more than capable of handling himself but his security team will consist of constant communication with other Sith forces nearby. The castle is smack in between a triangle of medium sized metropolitan areas. Sith presence there is strong despite how lax it is towards the residents. No chance of taking Zazz out at the school."

"Strong but lax?" Revan questioned. "Why?"

"You never seen Mengskin," said Temple. "It's rather pretty…great place for the academy, but also bragging rights…yes the Sith are a little sentimental."

"Surveillance of the areas is possible but not without extensive recon work," said Archie. "We'll need to be able to monitor the activity from here without a trace; I recommend at least five different nodes between us and them for each bug. Six degrees of separation should be good enough for us to cut them off if they try tracing it, but without interfering with the signal strength."

"Very good," said Trek. "In the meantime I also want our ground forces to be salty. While we lay low, I want them nourished, exercised, and battle hardened just as before. Do what you have to do."

"I suppose by now I can assume you're all used to the idea?" Revan asked.

"My objections still stand," said Jono. "But the decision has been made; if you're wrong, we'll all pay for it but until that time, we don't need another speech."

"Good," said Trek and Revan at the same time, looking at each other somewhat awkwardly. "You have your assignments and your duties; we have six months to prepare. We'll reconvene every five days for progress updates. Dismissed."

With the meeting adjourned, the rest of the commanders stood up and left the room, including Revan and Trek, but Revan rushed slightly to catch up to Trek. "It was tough enough convincing you," he said. "How'd you convince them?"

"They're not convinced," said Trek. "Most of them probably never will be but it doesn't matter. They voted unanimously for it because they trust me. Whether or not their attitude changes is irrelevant, they'll do what's expected."

"And you trust all of them?" Revan persisted which made Trek frown harder.

"With my life," he said. "If you're worried about a mole, you needn't be. Every single person on the team knows enough about the Force to know how dangerous such thoughts are and they all know what I'd do to them if they betrayed us. Maybe it's a bigger issue where you're from; it ain't here."

Revan nodded. "Good enough."

Months passed; in the perspective of the soldiers of the rebellion it was riveting – hours upon hours of training separated by heavy meals compiled with brief digestion and resting periods. Though it was nothing they were not used to, it was difficult to not have the ability to relax in front of a sunny sky during the occasional periods of R&R. Yuthura and Dustil were assigned by Revan to participate in these training exercises for the first three months; the latter three to training themselves with each other and with the Force. Cassandra was given the freedom to do what she wanted but she spent most of her time practicing every flight simulation the Ebon Hawk had to offer, as well as occasionally watching Dustil with a slight glow of admiration for his discipline as a student. Yuthura had always been the more experienced one and Dustil knew it, but though he did not take to her as an apprentice, he never doubted her ability to help him. Yuthura herself had usually been much more independent in her training and her progress as a student of the Force, a trait she had often made her students embrace for their training when she was teaching at the Korriban Academy. After a few hundred tries Cassandra had successfully broken every record for the simulation, hooked to it like a video game.

Revan on the other hand was much more versatile in his doings. In all his efforts to integrate himself as a leader of the Kraxis Rebellion, he had his hand in a little bit of everything. He had helped them fix engines as well as help to fortify their armor and artillery. He also went with the recon teams to help plant bugs and separation nodes throughout the city, something his Baragwin Shadow Armor was exceptionally useful for.

The development of the strategic plan for holding out against reinforcements while the Grand Sire would be fought was also Revan's doing, his spark of genius that the board could not help but deeply admire. Revan made an effort to get to know each member by playing games of checkers and dejarik with them. With the exception of one checkers game against Archie Saww, Revan won all of them. However, in the rematch game of dejarik against Archie, Revan beat him in record timing. At one point, Trek, Revan, and another squad of soldiers took a shuttle into hyperspace to the Kraxis system for supplies. Though they were able to elude the Sith, one stranger attempted to pickpocket Trek. When Revan once again conveyed his objections to killing the man, Trek compromised and dropped him down an elevator shaft causing paralysis from the waist down. At that point, Revan could not help but to unleash the slightly sick sense of humor he always had by laughing about it over a drink with Trek later that evening just after holding another staff meeting where they drew out the subsequent plans for the window of opportunity.

Just as Trek had said in his speeches, the rebellion would have a window of opportunity but they could not waste any time organizing themselves and preparing to hit the intended targets. They would have to already be prepared so they could strike immediately while the disturbance was early in effect. Once the Grand Sire was dead, the Saber Tooth and Jackknife would fly over the Mengskin academy that very evening and demolish it. The rest of the fleet would fly in unison straight to Tryton system, where the spaceports, blockades, and defense network hubs would all be vulnerable and reign hell upon it. Then they would take passage through the Tryton Hypergate, an artificially created hyperspace tunnel passing through the large debris field and connecting the Tryton worlds to the Voss System. After destroying the hypergate on the other end, they would meet up with the Saber Tooth and Jackknife and unleash an even greater hell, destroying everything from the mines and supply caches on the moon of Azarith to the Grand Sire's retreat on Charr, as well as the entire capitol city on Voss with a single nuclear warhead. From there they would travel to Shikara, still in unison and complete their work of destroying the defense grid, following it up with the complete destruction of civilization on the planet.

That in and of itself was the heart of the True Sith Empire; from that point on, everything else would be a scouring. The most difficult target would be the Becton strongholds; the biggest watchtower of the planet in the whole galaxy where the bulk of the remaining Sith military would be at. It would be a campaign of attrition but at that point, it would be evident that the tables were turned and that the Sith were doomed. A frontal assault on the planet by the Kraxis Rebels with the Grand Sire and greatest political and economical points of infrastructure still alive would be suicide which was why that planet would have to be one of the last operations that did not yet need to be planned just like the other scattered Sith space stations across their territories that would be relative easy prey.

There was also Lipus Tan, a sanctuary for dignified human veterans and families, all of them loyal to the Sith. The Kraxis Rebellion's intent was clear; to not only wipe out the entire Sith race, but to destroy those who loyally and obediently served and to ensure the survival of none. There was no defense grid around the world so destroying it would be easy enough but comparatively, this was low on the priority list.

The only potential problem with the whole plan aside from the fact that for any of this to work the Grand Sire would have to die was that they needed to know how difficult it would be to bypass and destroy all the defense grids, even with the Grand Sire dead. It was quite apparent that humans were the manpower of these operations, most of which would probably not be affected by Zazz's death.

However these doubts were more or less dispelled when Trek explained to him that overall Sith training of humans is not as substantial as the amount of which humans rely on the True Sith to help them out. They had deliberately structured it that way so that even though their human forces have their generals and leaders with even some Sith reporting to them, their performance was largely yet obliviously based upon battle meditation, a common trait amongst True Sith. The idea of it was to prevent humans from thinking too much on their own and getting any rebellious ideas themselves even if most of the humans did not realize that their performance was strengthened through the Force.

With everyone busy with their routines and duties, five months passed flew by almost unnoticed. All the intelligence they had gathered seemed to suggest that Sith hunting parties had been steadily increasing in the wake of coming up empty. The rebellion had thus been successful at remaining elusive.

The final month seemed more or less the same for most of the rebellion, but it was now the time that the hawks were migrating back from the opposite hemisphere of the academy for the warmer weather. This was a bit of a crunch for timing but Trek did not want to defy the rules of Mengskin's laws of nature so to possibly give away his location to the Sith.

When they came down to the surface dropping into the lush green forests to the atomic hawk's natural habitat, the group was Trek, Revan, and Dustil. Jace had declined the offer to go, once again making the excuse that he was still working on something big, and that he was perfecting his skills. When Trek showed signs of irritation Jace calmed him down by presenting a formula for how to use the elements from the stalactites in the caves to make larger and more effective artillery shells. Though it happened to increase the explosive efficiency for the entire rebellion by over 300% this was apparently a mere side project based on the data files he already had of the moon.

However Dustil seemed like the perfect substitute; it was not even relevant to the fact that he requested to tag along but actually he was able to calm and tame more atomic hawks than either of the other two. Though he had never taken an official lesson in beast control it appeared that he was gifted in this power almost the same way Bastila was gifted in battle meditation. A very small base of operations was set up on Mengskin merely for the purposes of taking care of the hawks as they could not be shipped to the moon. In a real training exercise of flying Dustil took Cassandra on the Ebon Hawk and let her fly down to the planet and work out the kinks. She handled the ship very well, and then Dustil showed off his ability to control the hawks when he rode in the claw of one while making it do aerial tricks. This was definitely Dustil's most dangerous undertaking without Revan's supervision but the hawks needed occasional exercise as well as friendly treatment.

With merely one week before the scheduled arrival of the Grand Sire, something peculiar happened. As he was meditating in his ship with his lightsabers using the Force to dismantle, reassemble, substitute parts, and practice telekinetic combat against dummies, he was interrupted by the arrival of Commander Trek.

Revan had noticed that both he and Trek had warmed up to the other's personality and had developed a much greater respect for one another, but never had Trek paid him a personal visit to his own ship. As such, Revan had absolutely no idea of the man's intentions.

"Got a minute?" Trek asked. Revan's eyes were still closed but he telekinetically switched off his lightsabers and stowed them back to his belt. Then he stood up and opened his eyes. "I know I've asked you about this before," continued Trek. "But those weapons you use…lightsabers as you call them. I understand that blasters are not usually a great choice against Sith unless they're fitted with heavy thermal firepower, but why not just use regular swords?"

"Swords dull eventually and they make a wondrous mess of things," said Revan. "Lightsabers are quick, agile, and they get the job done, usually without excessively bleeding your opponent out."

"But don't you want your opponent to bleed?" Trek asked. "It's amusing but it also makes the other enemies more frightened right?"

"You tell me if the Sith actually care about that kind of thing; last I checked they don't scare as easily as humans. And are you really going to take the time to admire a growing red puddle in the middle of a battle?"

"Point taken," said Trek. "But if the lightsaber cauterizes the wounds upon infliction, then how do you know it's done its job?"

"Most people don't recover from their head getting chopped off," said Revan. "It doesn't matter if there's blood flying everywhere or not. But that's not all the lightsaber is good for; it doesn't take much energy to cut skin, but cutting metal is something else. If you want a door opened or a droid hacked apart, the lightsaber will get it done in less than half the time."

"Huh," replied Trek. "I didn't know that. You wouldn't be able to teach me how to make one…would you?"

"It's pretty easy to do it," said Revan. "I've got plenty of spare parts at the workbench in the garage, bottom drawer. And if you look in that plasteel cylinder over there, got a couple of spare lightsabers that you could use as models. I can't give them to you for keeps though."

"That's fine, I'd rather make one."

Trek left Revan to his meditations, and about two hours later, Revan went to garage to see that he was still there at the workbench. Revan did not want to ask if Trek needed any help for Trek would probably be too proud to accept. Yet the commander did not seem to be having much trouble. He could tell that the two lightsabers Trek borrowed were disassembled and put back together multiple times, perhaps as practice.

"I think I've got it," said Trek. "But…I'm not sure if I did it right, because this is a little different."

"Let's see…"

Trek turned around to show Revan the hilt, which already looked quite different than a normal one. The length was about equivalent to the size of a regular single bladed lightsaber, but the weaponized end had two ends sticking out of it. Revan's eyes narrowed on that part, trying to figure out what Trek had actually done, but it became clear as soon as Trek pushed the button. From the snap-hiss, out came two separate bright white and orange blades. One blade shot out in a straight line just like usual, but the other shot out forty-five degrees from the other. The second blade was dagger-sized; the other was the usual length of a long blade. It was a forked weapon – the very first cross-guard lightsaber ever created, and that caused Revan's jaw to drop.

"I put a second emitter on here…and I combined the red and yellow crystal to make an orange one…favorite color." Trek didn't really know how to explain what he had done; he just knew it was different.

"That is probably the most uniquely crafted weapon I have ever seen…I didn't even know lightsaber parts could be arranged like that." This was about as close as Revan could ever get to stooping to the immature teenage street punk surfer lingo that he was quite tempted to joke about but didn't because he didn't know if Trek would get it.

"I take it I did okay then…"

"That depends," replied Revan. "Is it stable?"

"Should be…though I'd like to find out. Care for a sparring match in the arena?"

"Will there be an audience?"

"Yes…"

"You're on," replied Revan with a smile.

Final reconnaissance reports had come in just the day before the Grand Sire was scheduled to show up. The atomic hawks were rested and well fed, each of them performing beyond expectations. In the times that Zazz wasn't there the castle was still guarded, but it was easy to infiltrate it as maintenance crews as long as they actually did sweep the floors and clean the toilets along with the assignments of planting the bugs in a few of the cracks in the walls. But with one day to go the security was now air tight comparatively and ground scouts knew that couldn't get anywhere near it, but they could still get a reading on all the men from the skies which was all they needed now. Strangely enough there was one group of rebel spies that ended up doing those usual janitorial and maintenance work during that day because the Sith had just gotten used to seeing some of their faces, merely for the purposes of not arousing suspicion.

The group to proceed with the initial stealth infiltration was to be small, platoon sized so that each hawk could carry two people. It was to be Revan, Trek, Yuthura, Dustil, and Jace had also volunteered to be there as well. The rest of the men were handpicked by Trek weeks ago as the most elite combat fighters in the whole rebellion. He even made some of the men compete for the spot and once the team was picked, he had them train with each other and form the loyalty bonds to each other as most of the men did not know the others in the crew.

The best part of the plan in Revan's opinion was that they were even anticipating the alarms to go off and for the guards to become battle alert. Not only would that make it more fun, but it would also signal Cassandra to fly the Ebon Hawk over the castle and drop HK-47 and another strike team down, along with several other drop ships. The main gate would stay closed so to keep the castle a defensive fortress in the case any Sith ground reinforcements bypassed the rest of the rebellion's efforts and made it. Commander Saww was actually ordered by Trek to be on the initial strike team, leaving Commander Kale of the Sonic Boom in charge of the air defenses.

There was but one more step. Trek knew that the Grand Sire never traveled by air on his trip to Mengskin. For the sake of saving on resources, Zazz would always warp himself there, an act that in and of itself would slightly weaken his powers, making the effort to destroy him all the more doable, provided they timed it correctly.

That very afternoon, Revan joined Trek in a stealth trip to the surface. They landed several kilometers away from the southern city and had to hike for about three hours to a watchtower on the outskirts of that city. Revan very much enjoyed the beauty of Mengskin, especially from a grassroots perspective, and he also was happy that Trek was no slow hiker. Trek took on the responsibility to get to the tower and then use binoculars to eye Rixxon Zazz and confirm his arrival, and Revan came along at his request.

They were surprised to find the watch tower empty, but after detecting no traps or hostile presence nearby, they climbed to the top and Trek took out the binoculars and began scoping out the castle.

"Security's definitely hyped up more, just as I expected," said Trek while looking through. Revan could see the castle with the naked eye off in the distance but he now felt as if his brain was being picked once again from the familiarization. Trek did not notice so he kept talking. "The castle is rather quiet and boring right now…he might not be here yet."

Revan was no longer listening. He was now flashing back upon the dream once again.

He was standing atop a tall tower on the outskirts of a beautiful city. The buildings were tall but none scraped the sky. The atmosphere was clean; a kind of tropical environment around what looked like a very old version of urban sprawl. The city, spanning a dozen kilometers across rested on a large low altitude mesa. Far away was an active cinder cone volcano. The land was pure, and a glorious sight to witness.

"I think I've finally got a sighting," said Trek.

Revan looked around to see that he was standing and seeing exactly what the dream had said. The castle, the buildings of the city, the volcano, the natural beauty, everything was right where it was supposed to be. Trek looked exactly as he had looked in the dream. The first part of the vision had come true.

"Huh," thought Revan, still looking around to confirm everything in its place. "The first part of the dream was likely inevitable…all we had to do was survive. Hopefully we've done everything else right to ensure the victory I have seen happens as well. Six months of planning…I have seen these things before…"

"Did you hear me?" persisted Trek. When Revan still made no response, Trek persisted even further. "Hello…Mengskin to Revan, Mengskin to Revan. Hey!"

Revan turned back around to look at Trek. "What?"

"What's the matter with you?"

"Oh…nothing, I'm fine," said Revan. He felt like a bit of a failure, figuring that Trek could easily see through his mildly turbulent mind, but in the dream, Trek had said those exact same words.

"I made that exact same response in the dream…" he thought. "Was there anything better to say?" But Revan shook the thought off, knowing that Trek had something to say.

"I said, I think I've got a sighting," said Trek. "Take a look; twenty degrees north, sixty four degrees west. I think that's him." He handed Revan the binoculars.

Revan had seen the castle before, by air as well as by interior schematic. Through the binoculars he was not looking at anything he had not seen before, but he zoomed in on the central tower and matched the coordinates, which led him to the top floor window.

The being he looked at was large. He was sitting on the throne talking to someone else. He had a longer neck than usual, with tiny sharp horns sticking out on the sides, menacing golden pupils in his eyes, and his face slightly a darker color than crimson but not brownish either.

"Same person I saw in the dream…Lena confirmed it, that must be him," he thought. "I think he's right…but that's what I told him in the dream. No sense beating around the bush. Roll with it…"

"Huh," he finally said. "I think you're right."

"I knew I would be," said Trek. "That inglorious bastard Grand Sire in the flesh."

"We better head back," said Revan. "Unless you just want to try sniping him right here."

"That won't be possible," said Trek, and his grin turned sheepish. "I didn't bring my sniper rifle. Although…at some point, I'm going to have to take that HK droid of yours out on a loyalist murdering rampage."

"If the droid had a mouth, it would probably get stuck from smiling so much…let's go."

"Kale, do you read me?"

"Aye aye, Commander," came Kale's voice.

"The guest of honor has arrived."

"Everything up here is taken care of, sir," replied Kale. "Strike team one will rendezvous with you at the hawk's nest. Good hunting."

That night…

The sun had set two hours ago and everything was in position. Cassandra had the Ebon Hawk in the air, holding HK-47 and the strike team led by Sergeant Rawn Blaik. The rest of the rebellion was invisible, but standing by. The hawks had been pulled out of their cages, and stood at the ready, their peaceful minds upon the whim of those with the Force. Everyone on the ground and in the air had been fitted with earpieces to stay with real time, and Trek had one final speech to make.

"My fellow rebels…this is Commander Trek. We are about to embark upon the great undertaking that will shape the future of the entire race of humanity for which we have striven these many months. Though the eyes of the galaxy are not yet upon us, they soon will be once we snatch the crown of victory from Rixxon Zazz's cold dead hands.

"I wanted to let all of you know how much of an honor it was for me to serve with you. These past six months have done nothing but fly by. We have planned, we have prepared, and we have worked long and hard for this to work…and I have every bit of faith in the dark side of the Force, the inner fire deep inside that allows you all to give one hundred and ten percent…that the beginning of the Sith Empire's end is tonight. When they write about us they will focus only on the big picture, how we as a small heroic band of rebels overcame impossible odds to destroy the oppression upon the human race. Our preparations for this operation probably won't be more than a chapter in any book written about this but it has meant everything to me and it has continuously reassured my belief that humanity is ready to take control in the name of peace and justice.

"Harden your hearts and most importantly, stay sharp. We've got a Grand Sire to kill. Over and out."

Trek cut communication and mounted the claw of his hawk with Archie on the other claw.

"Mount up!" yelled Revan. He and Yuthura took one hawk; Dustil and Jace took another and the rest of the team divvied them up evenly. "On my go!" With an effort to touch the atomic hawk's mind with the Force, Revan jumped it into the air. Trek followed, and the rest of the hawks took off to join the flock. With Revan and Yuthura at the point, they flew in circles until they reached wedge formation, and then steered towards the castle, which was about an hour away by flight. They reached a steadily high altitude and relaxed their minds, allowing the hawks to do what they did best.

"Alright Mr. Zazz," thought Revan. "I'm coming for you…"

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- Gipper 40 & Sarge42