Captain Hastkan of the Majestic tried to pay attention. The perpetually boring watch over Corbinis had been interrupted by a damned martinet with some mad grudge.
"Let's get this straight. A rogue Jedi Knight in a souped up yacht is going to hyper in, evade us pickets and the defence sats, land, find a mythical artifact, retrieve it, evade us again and hyper out." he said.
The image of Captain Talan wavered slightly, a product of the bizarre energy storms that played over the cursed world. Even in high orbit they could be affected.
"Yes, I expect Skywalker to attempt that. I suggest running double patrols for the foreseeable future." said Talan.
The other three captains scowled along with Hastkan. While the extra coverage provided by the extra patrols would increase security it came at a cost of added wear, tear and stress on the fighter crews and equipment. This was a terrible system for accidents and mishaps. One did not casually tempt that.
"Are you sure?" said the image of Captain Sloas. "What if this Skywalker does not show?"
"Then we will of completed a valuable readiness exercise. I have prepared an updated patrol pattern incorporating the Resolute and her ships. I will be sending details soon and look forward to your cooperation." said Talan.
Hastkan weighed the pros and cons of Talan's proposition. While the risks were real a shake up of the routine had merit. Also you never knew. This Skywalker person may just show up.
"Very well Captain. We will run your patrol for ten standard. Please send the details." he said.
Three days later Hastkan was organising a rescue mission. Barracuda 208 had vanished. Not lost telemetry and crashed. Not a bad transponder. It had simply vanished, the fighter's wingman reported the ship just fading out. He had requested the Jedi assist in the rescue effort. The ship and pilot may still be out there, just not detectable with normal sensors.
"Of course I will assist." said Obi-Wan, who then closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them he pointed to a position on the system map. "Here." he said.
Hastkan looked at the plot. "K four? Okay." he said. He then turned to navigation. "Microjump to K four." he ordered. As the crew moved to obey he turned back to Obi-Wan. "What's your read of this situation?" he asked.
"I believe it all to be part of a misunderstanding. Anakin is a good man. He is motivated by a desire to help others." said Obi-Wan.
"Well, pure motivation or not, he cannot be allowed to land on that accursed planet. Corbinis is our oldest, most sacred trust." said Hastkan.
"Having been here just a few days I believe you. I also agree. Hopefully Anakin will see reason." said Obi-Wan.
Hastkan nodded. "And this other business. With this new Confederacy. Any chance they'll see reason and come back to the Republic?" he said.
"We can but hope. Most of their greviences are minor. More representation and reform could easily persuade them back. Try not to see them as enemies but rather as young children trying to be independent." said Obi-Wan.
The cruiser jumped. There was a brief flash of hyperspace and then the ship returned and began scanning for the lost fighter. It was soon found, fortunately the pilot was alive and began flying back to the cruiser.
"Well, that was more harmless than normal for here." said Hastkan.
Obi-Wan was about to reply when an alarm went off.
"Transit! Near the planet." called the sensor operator.
With a flash ths Eclipse appeared and immediately began burning for orbit. Anakin noted the disposition of the pickets.
"Hah, we've caught them on an off day. Look at that hole." he said and angled the Eclipse to take advantage of the gap.
"Attention unknown vessel. This is restricted space. You will cancel your vector and prepare for boarding." came the announcement over the com.
Anakin ignored the warning and accelerated towards the planet.
"Unknown vessel. If you continue on your course you will enter the defence grid and you will be destroyed." came another warning.
Anakin continued the descent towards the planet. As the Eclipse entered their range the automated laser satellites began firing. The space above Corbinis was lit by green flashes as they sought to destroy the intruder. Now and there was a brief red blast from the Eclipse and a satellite exploded.
"Don't you want to know where on the planet we're going?" called out Camile.
"I was kind of hoping it would become obvious." said Anakin firing directional thrusters to skitter the Eclipse across the outer atmosphere and evade the hail of green bolts.
"We're looking for the Fortress of Darth Parlous." said Camile.
"Darth Parlous? What sort of name is that?" said Anakin. He released the countermeasure as the Eclipse pierced the atmosphere.
"The Sith often chose a new name for themselves to reflect their commitment to that twisted philosophy. 'Darth' is a common title they adopt." said Gawaon calmly as if he was teaching his children a lesson and not in danger of being incinerated.
"Still sounds like something out of a Holo serial. So what does this fortress look like?" said Anakin.
"It's this big black castle at the end of a rocky outcrop on the landmass that looks like a forn." said Dala over the com.
"It does not. Wait, how do you know that? You can't of read..." began Camile.
"But I can look at the pictures. Big scary fortress thing, figured that's where we're going. And it does too look like a forn." said Dala with some more muttered commentary that was unintelligible.
Anakin pulled the Eclipse into a low flight over a broken twisted landscape.
"So, this fortress. Big, looming, would you say? Moat of lava?" said Anakin looking forward.
"Moat of lava? Hey look at that." Dala said as the turret rotated to give her a view ahead.
Ahead of the Eclipse was a rocky prominence atop which stood a looming structure of obsidian. While the low curtain wall about the main tower did not look to possess any defensive qualities that did not mean there were none. Nestled at it's base was what appeared to be a small settlement clustered about a thermal exchanger drawing power from the lava river.
"What are people doing down there?" said Camile looking out the windows. "They shouldn't be here. It said Corbinis is dead, no inhabitants."
"Maybe they just looked at the pictures too." said Anakin as he brought the Eclipse in to land nearby.
Captain Talan could not believe it. Skywalker had evaded him again! One random mishap had allowed that rogue to slip unscathed down to the surface. He made a note to request for defense sats dedicated to tracking smaller agile craft while he resolved to wait for the villain to attempt escape. Tracking anything in the cursed world's atmosphere was impossible. While there were known locations the planet was just too old and evil for them all to be known.
"Captain! We're picking up new transits. Four heavies inbound." a tech called out.
Talan moved over to look at the sensor information surrounding the new contacts.
"Hutt Dominators. I see. Very well. Bring all ships about to engage. Send an alert to Fleetcom. Launch all fighters." ordered Talan.
So that was his plan!
Margan regarded the holo and smacked his lips. The Republic had one more cruiser than normal but that wasn't a worry. He would drive them off. The recent little war had contained many lessons. Now was time to apply them.
"Maintain range and target their centre vessel. Launch Kavanah squadrons." he ordered.
The Dominators turned. Massive doors opened and a swarm of small fighters launched. Having suffered swarm attacks by droid fighters the Hutts had come up with their own after a tiny but ravenous predator on Nal Moqeda the Kavanah fighter was underpowered and under armed, but was cheap and easily produced in large numbers. All that was required was a callous disregard for the beings you forced to fly them.
"How many fighters?" said Talan as his holo showed an almost solid block forming in front of the attackers and accelerating towards his own forces.
"Almost eight hundred light fighters sir. Scans show single blaster and one proton. Not much else. No shields." said the sensor op.
"They don't need them." said Talan as he stared at the onrushing wall.
"Intercept in six minutes, sir?" said the sensor op worriedly.
"They cannot be permitted to break through. Order our fighters to engage here." he said pointing to the holo. "We will hold."
What followed was a devastating and brutal demonstration of how quantity had a quality all of it's own. The Republic fighters fought bravely but were quickly overwhelmed. The cruisers fared a little better. Despite inflicting heavy losses they were devastated by a mass proton volley and the surviving two ships were forced to retreat to hyperspace. Margan then ordered the remaining fighters to clear the defence grid.
The small crew of the Eclipse moved cautiously through the settlement at the base of the fortress. The buildings were constructed from the scavenged remains of ships. Anakin's eyes picked out cruiser and freighter hulls repurposed as dwellings. He thought he could see some movement within but any former transparent sections were cracked and obscured making vision difficult. The planet, though desolate had a light air to it. He wondered why the others had put fabric across their mouths, the wind was not that bad. He put it down to his Tatooine upbringing, a little sand and dust like this was nothing to him.
"Hello!" he called out as they walked through the streets. There was no reply.
"Maybe they're not used to visitors." said Dala. She clutched her blaster nervously. The buildings seemed irregular and misshapen leving too many nooks and alleys from which an assailant might spring. Get a grip she thought to herself. We've been to worse places although she struggled to remember an example.
"Why would you visit here?" said Camile. She wrapped herself to shelter from the biting wind and tried not to look at the looming shadows. Despite the heat she was also shivering and stayed close to Gawaon.
"I don't think they did. These are the descendants of survivors. They are surviving as best they can. Take heart, for we are Jedi and we shall prevail." he said banishing the encroaching Dark Side that seemed to linger everywhere here. Was this what Skywalker did all the time? Was this normal for him?
Only R2 seemed unaffected. As he rolled along he tootled and chirped, ever ready to provide aid to the odd human who tinkered with him.
"We'll see to that after we get the cure. Now, are there any obstacles we should know about?" said Anakin.
"Most legends speak of the Guardian of the Causeway. A terrible beast that Parlous altered and imbued with the Dark Side." said Camile.
"So after a couple of millennia all that's left will be chains and bones." said Dala.
At that moment the entire area was disturbed by a long, uluating roar. It rolled over them, the echos giving the impression there were others all around them.
"Okay, okay. It's still there, probably hasn't been fed and is ravenous." said Dala as they continued to advance.