***If you read chapters 6 through 8 before February 6 2004, go back and read the parts about the CRA in them. Things were getting too confusing with only calling them by their rank, so I gave them names and in the process invented more ancestors***

Disclaimer: I own the characters. I own the plot. Lucas owns the Galaxy

Summary: One thousand years before the Empire was even imagined, the Sith were running rampant, trying to take over the entire galaxy. They might have succeeded, if it weren't for one hotheaded Padawan.

/bla/ = italics ~bla~ = note [bla] = thoughts

~*~*~

Del Myriad, episode I: The Sith wars.

Chapter 9: Entrance 31

In the outer cave of Entrance 31, a team of about 40 CRA soldiers were waiting impatiently for their B&E expert to crack the Centennial Eagle's access code, well, as impatiently as their duty would allow. Nerves were wound tight, eyes peeled for the slightest non-CRA movement.

There was a shout from an inner perimeter soldier, a young man with wavy brown hair in his early twenties. He had his rifle pointed towards the roof of the cave above the Eagle.

"What is it, Antilles?" Red Team's leader, Commander Horn asked him.

"I thought I saw a foot coming down from the roof of the cave, sir, right above the ship"

"Are you sure?"

"It was so fast, I don't know, sir" Antilles looked slightly uncomfortable at the scrutiny his superior was giving him.

"Go check it out. You and you, cover him." The superior designated two other soldiers.

[Ok, I need to get on top of the ship]

Antilles circled the Eagle, looking for a way up. Half way around, he found a sort of ladder built into the side and climbed up. Once on top of the ship, he did a visual scan of the cave roof and spotted an irregularity. He approached it to check it out.

"Sir, there's a crack large enough for a man to climb into here." He looked down towards the commander and in the process noticed what was at his feet. "Right above a top hatch."

~*~*~

Meanwhile, the soldier at the lock box was having little success.

~ Code invalid. The Centennial Eagle has been locked down. Please enter the lock code to disengage. ~

He was starting to severely despise that little green screen. He tried another combination.

~ Code invalid. This is your last chance. Please enter the lock code to disengage. ~

He growled in frustration, the burn scar that covered half his face contorting grotesquely. If his next try was wrong, the whole thing could permanently lock down. He began to look for a way to hotwire the box and bypass the code. He was so absorbed in his work, he didn't notice the commander until he spoke.

"Antilles has found a hatch on top of the ship. Go check it out, you might not have to hotwire this."

~*~*~

"Sir? Do you want me to investigate the crack? I think the pilot may have escaped by there." Antilles called out from the top of the Eagle when he didn't receive a response to his discovery.

"No, not yet, Antilles. We don't know what else is up there, and our priority is getting this ship open." The commander called up from below. "I'm sending Fett up. Check out that hatch."

"Yes sir."

He was a little wary of having a crack above his head and not knowing what it held, but he reassured himself that the two soldiers covering him would shoot anything coming out of it before it got to him. He bent down to inspect the hatch,

And realised the last person to use it hadn't properly sealed it.

He was cautiously lifting it open when the soldier who had been trying to crack the lock code, Fett, climbed up on top of the Eagle.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah. Though I can't help but feel it's a trap. Why leave a way into your ship after going through the trouble of locking it down?"

Fett came over to the hatch.

"Unless he was too preoccupied with saving his skin and forgot."

"Maybe."

Antilles shone a light down the hatch-hole and the two men peered down into it.

"Looks like a standard double-hull pressurization system. The model looks like what the CEC used in it's YT-100 class freighters. It seems this ship is Corellian made.

Fett, having apparently travelled the galaxy extensively before settling on Corellia, was able to recognize just about any make of ship in the Galaxy.

"The outside hatch may have been left open, Antilles, but the inside hatch might still be on the lockdown circuit."

"You're the expert, Fett. Do you go down first or do I?"

~*~*~

Antilles carefully followed Fett down the hatch-hole. The inner hatch had a manual locking mechanism on it, so all he had to do was turn the wheel in the middle of it to open it.

"Looks like the living quarters." Fett called to Antilles as he was coming down the last bit of ladder.

"Yeah. Where to first? The boarding ramp?"

"Sounds like a plan. It seems the lockdown can be overridden by manual unlocking. There should be a way to open it from the inside."

~*~*~

Twenty minutes later, a select group of soldiers from both red teams were combing the Centennial Eagle for anything the CRA might be able to use.

"Found anything?" Red Team's Commander, Garret Horn, was making the rounds, directing the inspection.

"No, just provisions."

"You?"

"Ammunition for the gun turrets. The owner's put military-class weapons in this ship. If anything, we can use her for space combat."

"And on the scanners?"

"Nothing."

~*~*~

"How's it coming?" Commander Horn looked in on Fett, who was in the cockpit.

"It's not. Each individual system works fine, but the lockdown prevents them from working together, which they need to do in order to fly the ship. Have the others found anything?"

"No weapons on board, except for the gun turrets. And the scanners haven't turned anything up."

"Are you sure? Solo's a smuggler, I highly doubt he'd store his cargo in the cargo bay out in the open."

Horn was CorSec trained, so he didn't think like a smuggler. Fett, on the other hand was not. No one really knew where he came from, but he was one of their best when it came to dealing with smugglers and contraband dealers.

"But the scanners didn't turn up any hidden compartments."

"I wouldn't put it past him to have scanner-proof compartments."

"Could you take a look then? You seem to have an eye for these kinds of things."

"What about the lockdown?"

"Later. Finding the weapons he was smuggling takes priority."

Fett seemed reluctant to leave the cockpit, as if he felt he might never get to be in another one for a long time. Still, he obeyed the order to leave. The commander didn't notice Fett pocket a piece of paper that had been lying on the instruments.

~*~*~

Nash was sorting the guns by type when he noticed something reflecting off the metallic barrel of a blaster rifle. He looked up.

"What the."

"Hello Nash. Glad to see you made it."

Nash almost tumbled backwards in surprise. Del Myriad was standing in front of him, and she was /glowing/!

"How the hell did you get in here! And /why/ are you glowing?"

"I'm not really here. Theo calls it astral projection. It could explain the glowing, that and the temporal displacement."

"Theo?"

"Theodore Weasley. You don't know him. I met him where I wormholed to."

"Wha-?"

"Listen, I don't have much time. It's kinda hard maintaining this plus my roomies will think I've died again. Anyway, there's a way in the back here that leads into the CRA headquarters. You need to go there."

"Why couldn't you tell me by that paper thing?"

"Because you left it on the Eagle. Good thing, because I'll be able to explain to them you no longer work for the Sith."

"I really don't like the idea of them crawling all over my ship!"

"They won't be for long. You'll get her back if you avoid getting yourself killed, which is exactly what will happen if you try take back your ship by force. Work with them, it'll make things a heck of a lot easier."

"How do you know!"

"Temporal displacement. I'm in the future." Nash growled in frustration, but his demeanour showed he would listen to her. "Talking about the future, tell Celia I say hi when you see her."

Nash wanted to grab her, demand she tell him who she meant by Celia, but the form of Del Myriad suddenly faded away.

It couldn't be his old childhood friend, could it?"

~*~*~

I know, I know, it's a little short, and two weeks late, but what can I say? I had 14 hours of classes last semester, and I have 35 hours of classes this semester. This equals less time to write, and even less time to type. Anyway, I'm trying to get one of my classes credited, a total of 7 hours throughout the week, it'll bring my course load down to a (slightly) more reasonable 28 hours a week. If I can get it waived, then I won't have a night class anymore and I'll get off at 11 on Fridays, instead of 4.

Antilles is Wedge Antilles' ancestor, Fett is Boba Fett's ancestor, Commander Garret Horn is Rostek Horn's ancestor. Rostek is Corran Horn from Rogue Squadron's stepdad and was a CorSec officer.

CEC=Corellian Engineering Corperation

***Parts changed in previous chapters as of Feb. 6 2004*** (If you're too lazy to go back and read them)

Chapter 6: The Major is now General Bel Iblis, the Captain is now Captain Calrissian and his brother lost his ship, Betty, a YT-100 class freighter made by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, to Nash Solo in a game of Sabacc.

Chapter 7: Just changing 'The Captain' to 'Captain Calrissian'

Chapter 8: The wording of the warning on the lock box changed to "The Centennial Eagle has been locked down. Please enter the lock code to disengage." ****

Spaniard: Glad you liked it, though my muses have totally gone haywire with it. Fett's almost turning into a major character because of you. If it weren't for your suggestion, I would not have pushed the ancestor thing so far, and I think my story will be better because of it.

MBFA: Thanx for telling me about the typos. I didn't proof read chapter 8, unlike previous chapters. Anyway, I went back and corrected them. I hope I got them all. About the ancestors, nope, it's not a Skywalker. I highly doubt I'll have one either, the Skywalkers aren't from Corellia. All my names (except for the Tanbauers) come from the Starwars Databank on the page about Corellia. They have a list of people and stuff associated to the planet, and I picked ones that fit my characters. The only non-Corellian character in the CRA is Fett, and I have specified that he's not from Corellia.

Note 07/02/04: Arg!!!! I finished typing this on Friday at school but I didn't have time to upload it and the chapters I've edited

Next chapter: Corellian Republican Army