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-Y.A.R.N.

A blur of red bisected the Rebel as he fell back with a thud, face locked in a mask of determination and horror as a remote rolled out of his hand. The blast door sealed shut behind the red-blade wielding clone him and his comm crackled to life as his squads various troops informed him that blast doors had sealed them in the base. X-1 growled at the dead soldier and various bodies that surrounded the former base, realizing that it was a ploy to trap him and his troops. Things went from bad to worse as timer charges suddenly exploded and sent him and what troops remained tumbling to the ground. He felt dozens of his troops' life join The Force as they were caught in the explosions and immediately flash-fried into char.

He probed the area with The Force for any more surprises before he turned to what was left of his squad with a scowl, "Tear this base apart, find out everything we can on the rogue Jedi! I want any and all notes and extrapolations on their movements! The rest of you work on getting these damn blast doors open so we can leave this godforsaken planet!"

"Sir!" One of the troops replied as the other stormtroopers began slicing into the base's mainframe, trying to see if there was any salvageable data.

Years.

Years and years!

For years he believed his brother to be dead, a traitor that he had the pleasure of shooting down himself for allying himself with that slipshod militia and Falon Grey on Dantooine years ago. Killing Falon had been one of the biggest highlights of his life, he had proved he was a cut above the original, and that he was truly ready to become a Sith Lord. Any Jedi that survived the purge couldn't inspire fear in him, if anything they should be afraid of him! He simply had to dispose of Vader and — after gaining his place at the Emperor's side and learning the secrets of The Sith — kill The Emperor. He had been relieved that although there were two clones, the other had been killed and there would never be a threat to him or his plans.

Then in the months of following and trying to capture Cal Kestis and Cere Junda on Vader's orders, he watched a holo recording of them destroying an outpost only to see is traitorous brother and some random woman — apparently a nightsister who survived the purge if her magics and markings had been any clue — standing with them with a lightsaber in their hand when they were done. It couldn't have been but there was no denying the face of his brother, he saw it in the mirror everyday and The Force roiled angrily around him in a deafening staccato that his rebellious scum — his force-sensitive and now trained brother — was alive.

He felt a fury well up at the sight so strongly that every item in the room he had been standing in at the time shook at his leaking emotions.

The bastard lived and was now parading around as a Jedi?

Unforgivable.

In the following years, his inability to catch them had him punished more than once by Darth Vader for his apparent incompetence; as the days stretched into weeks and into months, he had suspected that he had started missing them by days rather than weeks. With every base they destroyed he was able to gain more information on any rogue Jedi that may still be active in the Rebel Cells, but the rag-tag group of Jedi — which now had apparently been named 'Zenith Squadron' by the Rebellion based on the few transmissions he had been able to hack — that Vader instructed him to capture seemed to always be out of reach. What was worse was that it was harder and harder to perceive them as time went on, it was as thought their force presences were getting more and more faint with every passing day until they one day just vanished. It wasn't them weakening or dying, he had enough knowledge pilfered from Jedi libraries and Sith holocrons when Vader or The Emperor weren't looking that he knew they were getting better at masking their presence in The Force. A Jedi wouldn't normally use it as it wasn't a technique that was needed and therefore used during the heyday of the Jedi as there usually wasn't a reason to hide who they were. But then again, The Emperor had done it flawlessly to fool the Jedi for years before the decimation of the Order but — then again — he was the The Sith Lord and well… The Emperor.

It went without saying that they had all but mastered almost every single ability that The Dark Side had to offer.

Part of him wished he had the power to disobey Vader and tell the Sith Lord that if he wanted the crew so badly maybe he should look for them himself.

But even after years of stewing in his hate and anger, after years of honing his skills against mercenaries, assassins, and rebels alike, he was still nowhere near strong enough to challenge Vader. He had to hide some of his power because he knew he needed Vader and The Emperor in the dark as much as possible so they wouldn't try to have him fight Vader for the position of apprentice, but he was no fool in his estimation of his abilities and how they stacked up against his goals. Even if he went all out, he couldn't even hope to beat Vader in any capacity. X-1 had seen the armored Sith Lord literally hold out his hand to stop and break apart a AT-AT's in its tracks and crumple a AT-ST into a twisted lump of metal with a single clenched fist. The right hand of The Emperor didn't even seem to strain to do it, his ponderous and mechanical breathing never sped up, he never lifted both hands, he just…

Never needed to.

It made no sense!

Why was Vader so strong?

What drove The Emperor's Right hand to be indomitable?

Why could he not reach the same level?

Why? Why? WHY?

The unsecured item trembled around him from the flash of anger that ran through his veins while the nearest stormtroopers shuffled away as inconspicuously as possible. X-1 scoffed, he wasn't like Vader who treated his troopers as fodder, they may be dispensable as ever, but he didn't care to talk to Vader to requisition more troops for this. He wondered if the inquisitors ever had to deal with such annoying and arduous tasks such as this as well, they were made to kill Jedi that had survived the purge, not capture them unless they wouldn't stop fighting against him. They were supposed to be the best of the best and were personally trained by Vader himself to be tools to hunt Jedi down and probably had more specialized skillsets than he did.

Then again, capturing someone — especially a Jedi — took far more skill and finesse than simply killing them and this crew had experience with one of the best inquisitors and came out on top. Vader oversaw the inquisitors himself and therefore they were constantly being monitored by The Emperor; while that granted X-1 a blindspot, it was also a slight that he was not enough to be a inquisitor.

He watched as one of his troops flinched from the sparks that came from the fried door controls, "Blast! The explosions fried the wiring at key points, I can't slice through them if the wiring is this damaged!"

"Move." X-1 growled as he ignited his lightsaber and stabbed the red blade into the durasteel which glowed from dull orange to cherry red from the blade's heat as the lightsaber began to carve through the metal, "Get the rest of our squad over here and call the Invictus for a transport, we will beam the report to Lord Vader."

"Sir!"

General Rahm Kota was tired.

Having to abandon the base after sabotaging and wiping everything was hard enough, but the fact that they had to leave troops behind to sell the illusion. He had not mentioned it, wanting to see if they had some other way to go about it, but his tacticians and troops knew the risks and a dozen volunteered to stay behind. The irony that they had been clones — ones now bred to fight the Empire when the first group of clones had been made to bring it to power — was not lost on the General as he half-wished he could have done more, but it had been all they could do but run to fight another day. The clones could be replaced — cruel as it sounded — as his scientists and hidden contacts were making as many as they could away from the watch of The Empire, but the problem was the amount and time. Too many troops coming out of absolutely nowhere would get attention from The Empire and it wasn't like they could just shuttle new troops around or pick them up, they needed to be discreet or they would lead The Empire right to the hidden cloners. In addition to making the clones, they also needed to make sure they didn't all look the same and that required facial reconstruction and modification surgeries to keep the illusion that they were unrelated. Medical outposts that weren't monitored by The Empire were few and far between, and sending envoys to planets as relief efforts was a definite issue as medical supplies were checked for contraband.

Alderaan had been nothing short of salvation when it came to troop and resource transport as they went to several worlds in relief efforts and then quickly gather the new troops before moving them in the military. There were times that their relief crafts were 'stolen' as more might for the Rebel Alliance; if they were not able to get the ships 'stolen' they picked up 'refugees' and dropping off the medical supplies needed. While The Empire — while watching for ships that were suddenly appearing in the Rebel Alliance — weren't considering troops being moved into the Rebellion by way of relief efforts. There were times that The Empire had not allowed refugees to leave as they could add to the ranks, but that allowed for the troops to form small rebel cells to steal what supplies they could under the guise of petty thieves.

It had been enough to harass and irritate The Empire, but they had to be careful not to give The Empire reason to glass the planet. That would only inspire fear across the galaxy even though outrage would quickly follow. There was just so much that needed to be considered when it came to the logistics of waging war and that was when you had an army to fight with; when you didn't have an army to fight with and was forced to use guerrilla tactics, things only became more difficult.

It was something that — unfortunately — had happened more than once and sparked anger and rage against the Empire.

Even inspiring defection among The Empire when certain world were glassed simply as collateral and a show of power with no repercussion.

"General Kota?" One of his soldiers called.

"Yes?"

"The base's transmitter has shut down."

Rahm Kota closed his eyes for a brief moment, "Prepare the jump to light speed, set a course for Felucia."

"Yes sir!"

Shaak Ti had mixed reactions as General Kota let his forces rest on the planet, while it was always good to know that he had survived whatever battle he had recently been in, she didn't like the fact he was at least known as a Jedi that was involved with the Rebels. If The Empire managed to trail him, they would come and she would have to flee or fight.

"You shouldn't be risking yourself like this." She advised, "The Empire won't hesitate to kill you and torture you for intel before that."

He huffed, lifting a cup to his mouth to take a draught of water before replying, "Better than just waiting for them to find me and kill whatever planet I'm on since I refuse to see that action is what is needed. I don't fear death, and — as a Jedi Master — you shouldn't be either. I guess you don't understand that we bring hope, and show the people that The Empire isn't invincible, but there are people who could do more but are letting the galaxy burn."

Shaak Ti ignored the dig at her actions, "If the Empire comes, they won't be able to best the army I have amassed. They won't be able to storm this planet and kill me, I will — "

Kota would've laughed if he was any less the general he was, but instead he snorted in amused derision.

"This isn't an army!" He growled sharply, "This is a slaughter waiting to happen! They don't even have to come down to the surface to do it! They'll just bombard the planet from space and what will you do to stop that? You can't stay here forever or you will die and take the rest of the planet with you!"

Shaak Ti scowled, "They wouldn't risk the fallout of destroying this world just to kill me."

"This world is nothing to the others people of the galaxy, they would only be glad that it wasn't their planet instead. You have no idea how much the idea of a Jedi being here means, and not just the fact that you brought light to this planet. We are hunted and hiding away won't save us, we need to fight back." Rahm Kota snarled, "You never questioned The Council, the Senate, or the Chancellor — who practically was The Senate by the end of The Clone Wars — and look where that got you. I knew something was wrong with an army that came out of nowhere and I survived and was even able to fight back. I know that fighting The Empire is not easy, but we show that The Empire can be hurt! They are not invincible and people have power to overthrow them if they can find the courage! That is something cannot be priced!"

"And if the cost is your life?" She demanded.

"If we die, then is not The Will of The Force?" He sneered, "I'd rather die on my feet than lose myself training an apprentice who — if you had any ability to see past your pride — you cannot save!"

"Maris is far better than she was!" Shaak Ti said stubbornly, "She is far stronger—"

"Stronger." Rahm Kota interrupted, voice hard as mandalorian beskar, "Not even-tempered. Not any farther from falling. Not stopping from sipping from the wellspring of darkness that slumbers here any chance she gets when you aren't paying attention. Not any different from when I last saw her Shaak Ti except that much closer to the edge. She is stronger but that is it and you know it but refuse to give up on what you know is a lost cause."

"Maris is not lost." Shaak Ti reigned in her disappointment and self-doubt, "I can help her overcome her difficu—"

"If you want to help her, keep her contained." Kota advised harshly, cutting Shaak Ti off, "The more strength you give her, the more she craves and the more seductive the darkness becomes. We both know if you had another choice for apprentice, you would've taken it at this point."

Shaak Ti winced at the memory of Cal and Xavier having visited her years ago.

It was an opportunity lost due to her stubbornness, not that she would admit it.

Jedi Master Rahm Kota respected the former Jedi Councilor for her attempt to save Maris, but he was a general and knew there was a time where you just had to cut your losses. The only benefit to Shaak Ti refusing to give up on Maris was that with her being taught, the young girl couldn't run off to join the inquisitors at the first opportunity. But Felucia — despite the fact that a Jedi had made it home — was strong with The Dark Side; it may had slumbered and retreated with Shaak Ti's presence, but it wasn't gone. Maris Brood was the perfect vessel to channel The Dark Side and keep it alive and Shaak Ti knew it, but refused to do anything about it.

If Shaak Ti fell and Maris lived…

He wasn't too proud to admit that Maris would lead the entire species into The Dark Side and Felucia would never be the same again. He wasn't one for wishing for a padawan's death, but he knew a dangerous threat when he saw one and Maris was all that and more.

"Sir?" A voice called as a soldier jogged up to the two Jedi.

Kota dismissed Shaak Ti entirely, "Report."

"The ships are repaired and fuel is topped off." The soldier said quickly.

"Then let's get moving." Kota replied.

He gave a perfunctory nod to Shaak Ti with a quiet 'May The Force be with you.' and walked away.

Shaak Ti stewed in turmoil as she echoed the parting words.

Cal Kestis cut down the last purge trooper and scanned the area as Cere worked on the computers, hands dancing across the keys as she decrypted the information before downloading it and encrypting it again. Xavier was quickly copying code cylinders and priming some timer charges to make it look more like a simple attack rather than them gathering intel for the rebellion.

"Do we have the data on the supply lines and codes? Also the recent patrol schedule and search patterns they intend to use for Jedi?" Cal asked as The Force warned him that they only had a few minutes before the troops returned from the daily patrols since he attacked the base with Cere and Xavier.

"Got it." Cere replied, igniting her saber and slashing the console to make it look like a haphazard attempt to damage the base, "I've gotten everything we need and then some."

"I'm good here." Xavier followed, finalizing the timing for the bombs, "They'll enter the area just as the bombs I've rigged will go off."

Cal nodded, "Tell Greeze we'll be back in a few minutes and Merrin needs to keep us cloaked for a little while longer until we are out of range."

Ever since Bail had gotten them in touch with the Rebellion, his life had had been nothing but mission after mission after mission. They had a talent for information gathering with Xavier and Cere, flight with Greeze behind the controls, and combat with Merrin and Cal and their abilities. Those skills made them highly sought when it came time for missions but even the Rebellion was careful not to push them too hard. When 'Zenith Squadron' finally had any down time, it was spent resting, training, and deepening their connections to The Force. However little time they did have free though, Cal used to be with Merrin which was moments they cherished and valued. They both realized that despite the danger that were constantly going to be in, it was better they take the chance to love one another and show it than put it on the back-burner to confront later.

They were constantly being hunted and never knew when something could go wrong and maybe one day they won't make it.

Jedi were not invincible by any means.

They had only truly gained ground from their pursuer when they had completely mastered hiding their presence in The Force and it was clear as how they heard the news of a lightsaber wielding clone who they knew was named X-1 — as Xavier hatefully remembered — had been attacking bases searching specifically for them with no success.

'Now isn't the time to think on it.' The Force prodded, 'Get moving.'

And he did.