CHAPTER TWO

The time it took to get the infirmary only took 20 minutes. In Olyone's mind, it took 20 hours. She had to mentally prepare for the excruciating pain that immediately followed every step. It didn't help that her core muscles only added more pain every time she drew air into her lungs. Dzukya doesn't say one word to motivate her; he just helps his comrade the same way she has done for him in the past. The two of them slowly inch their way down the hallway, past people's sly gazes.

'Screw these bastards! If they're waiting to see me break…they have another thing coming!' Olyone thinks.

The two of them finally reach the infirmary. One of the medical droids waves Dzukya over to an empty table, and with his help, Olyone makes it onto gingerly on to the bed. She just lies there, then she feels the prick of an injection needle into her midsection. Her body starts to slowly uncoil…the joy of pain killers. A full body scan is completed as quickly as it starts. The medical droid looks at the results of the scan, then looks at Dzukya.

"The injuries are non-life threatening. She will have to rest for at least a week before she can return to her duties." With that, the medical droid walks away.

Dzukya shakes his head. "Man, you can just see his patient care just ooze out of him." He hears a slight, low laugh coming from Olyone and looks down at her. "Well…I'm gonna assume that the drugs are kicking in now." Olyone very slowly nods her head as her eyes begin to close. Just then the infirmary doors slide open and a familiar voice is heard.

"Hey Sgt. Dzukya, what are you- oh, my goodness!" Pvt. Lenck sees Olyone laid out on the table and makes a beeline to them. "When I said I would meet up you later…this ain't what I had in mind. What happened to her?" Dzukya look over at the private with a small smile.

"She didn't take to the loyalty officer's flirting…at all," jokes Dzukya. Just then he hears a small snort coming from Olyone.

"Your…jokes…" Olyone's eyes finally close. The pain killers take her under. Dzukya and Lenck leave the infirmary to let her rest.

TWO DAYS LATER:

Dzukya exits out of a briefing room. He does his best not to let his feelings show but every once in a while, his lips begin to tense up.

"Every time, the same thing: hurry up and wait! I've seen that video nine times already. That time I wasted could have been used for some shuteye." Dzukya continues to mutter under his breath when he sees Pvt. Lenck coming down the hall in the opposite direction. The private's clothing is drenched in sweat. Lenck locks eyes with the Sergeant and quickly narrows the gap between them.

"So - just finished running all of Coruscant?" Even unhappy, Dzukya can't go without a wisecrack.

"No, sir. Just finished the last part of my physical trial," replies Lenck.

"Don't call me sir, I work for a-Wait a minute! What do you mean 'last part,' " Dzukya asks.

Lenck explains what he meant with an almost kid-like honesty. "Running a trail, in full fire gear, on Harloff Minor."

Dzukya almost can't believe his ears. "Harloff…Minor?! That sauna of a planet? How long did it take to complete the run?"

The private answers the question with a simple shoulder shrug.

The sergeant's eyes almost get to the size of teacups. "What do mean you don't know?"

"I lost track of time after the first hour," replies Lenck.

"The first hour?" The sergeant reluctantly asks Lenck when did he know that he passed the trial.

Lenck answers, "When everyone else in the group dropped like flies."

He shakes his head in disbelief and walks away. Pvt. Lenck is a bit confused as he watches the sergeant head down the hallway.

"Sir, where are you going?" he asks.

"The infirmary. To see how Sgt. Olyone is doing," replies Dzukya.

'Make sense,' thinks Lenck as he takes his tired, sweaty self to the showers to clean up. Something in the back of his mind starts to nag him, something he saw when he got back from his trial. Lenck is about a few feet away when his mind finally digs up what's bothering him.

He quickly turns around and darts back the way he came with the little energy he has left, zigging and zagging, doing his best not to brush his sweat onto any officers that get in his way. He comes around the bend and sees Dzukya a couple steps away from the entrance of the infirmary. The sergeant happens to turn his head and sees the private trying to catch his attention. Lenck closes the gap between them, then doubles over to catch his breath.

"I get the feeling you want to tell me something Pvt. Sweats-a-Lot," says Dzukya. Pvt. Lenck does his best to formulate a sentence, but his lungs' immediate need of oxygen supersedes it.

Dzukya just shakes his head as he enters the infirmary. 'I don't know if I'm getting older or these young—'. He stops mid-thought, not by what he sees, but what he doesn't see. He immediately walks back to Lenck, who's still sucking in air: Dzukya finally gets what the private wanted to tell him.

"Where is she?" he asks - but he already knows the answer.

Dzukya casually leaves the infirmary and without looking, he orders Pvt. Lenck to the showers. The private, still leaning forward with hands on his knees, just nods his head and gives a thumbs-up.

Dzukya moves through the immense hallway of Naval Intel at a casual pace. It is abuzz with the standard flow of traffic: officers and enlisted, ISB personnel, droids, etc. 'I couldn't work here. Too stuffy,' he thinks.

The thought of having to deal with people way up the chain of command on daily basis makes the sergeant shudder just a little bit. He reaches his destination, and the doors quickly slide open as he walks in. He grabs a headset and puts it on, quickly lessening the loud blaster fire as he passes by each booth. He stops at the booth he needs then walks over and sits down.

In front of him: Olyone firing an E-11 blaster rifle at a stationary target. She then goes down on one knee and continues firing. Dzukya can see her jaw tense up upon making that move, but that doesn't stop her from emptying the blaster into the lifeless target. The horn sounds and a voice orders a cease fire. Dzukya gets out of the chair as Olyone slowly rises off the ground, using the butt of the rifle as a crutch to help her stand up. Dzukya takes a quick look at her booth: Two other targets leaning against each other on the wall riddled with many shots, center mass.

"How many plasma cartridges?" he asks.

"Three," Olyone replies. Her face shows a slight wince every time she takes in air. She pops in a couple more pills, grinding them with her teeth before swallowing them. "Don't even bother asking me," she says.

"It never crossed my mind, Jana. Are you angry?"

Olyone doesn't even look at him. "With the force of a thousand suns," she replies. Olyone retrieves her riddled target sheets, taking them and the blaster rifle over to the shooting range exit.

"So, I assume you're taking what's inside you out to wherever our mission is?" Olyone stops in her tracks as the doors slide open. Once again, she doesn't look over at Dzukya.

"Absolutely."

Just before she walks out of the room, Dzukya informs her of some news: a briefing, top secret. 1800 hrs tonight. Olyone nods her head, then leaves. A very small smirk appears on Dzukya's face but that quickly goes away when something catches his eye. He sees that the security cameras that Olyone were standing under followed her as she left.

'Strange…very strange,' he thinks. Dzukya takes in what he saw and places it in the back of his mind.

1800 hrs

Silent is what both sergeants hear as the turbolift descendsdown to their destination. Dzukya leans up against one the turbolift's walls while Olyone just stands there, staring straight at the door. A bit of nervousness shows on Dzukya: hands clasped, thumbs twiddling. Just then the turbolift begins to slow down and eventually comes to a stop. The doors slide open and both sergeants walk out onto a massive, lifeless hallway. Olyone reads the markings on one side of the hallway: Sub-level 02.

As the two start down the hallway, they pass by doors on both sides; Dzukya realizes that none of these doors have any markings, nor are there any sounds coming from within. He looks over at Olyone.

"Any ideas to what these rooms are used for?"

"No, but I know the room where we need to be." Olyone motions her head forward and Sgt. Dzukya quickly sees it; at the end of the hallway stands a huge set of black doors.

Stormtroopers stand on either sides of the doors, wearing white pauldrons. Sgts. Olyone and Dzukya make it to the large doors, listing off their respective names, rank and serial numbers to the stormtrooper standing on the right. It takes a mere few seconds to verify the information given thru the helmet's HUD display. The stormtrooper gives aslight head nod to the other one, who then inserts a thin key card into a panel, making the doors slide open. Both sergeants quickly walk into the briefing room, which is almost the size of a huge amphitheater, and filled by numerous military personnel. As they begin to walk amongst the crowd, Sgt. Olyone hears someone calling her. She looks over, surprised by what she sees.

"Cap, is that you? ...What the hell are you doing here?" The man walks over to her with a smile on his face.

"Well I'm fine, thanks for asking. I see Diric came along for the ride." Chep Tapalo, aka 'Cap,' fought alongside Olyone and Dzukya until he made Staff Sergeant and was transferred out to another unit a year ago. Staff Sgt. Tapalo is a good soldier and - unlike Sgt. Olyone - has the gift of tact and timing when it comes to dealing with officers. The three of them are talking, reminiscing about past events when Tapalo sees Pvt. Lenck coming towards them. He calls Denck by his nickname, 'Sparky' which garners a look from Olyone.

"Sparky? Really?" she says. Tapalo just shrugs his shoulders; both he and Lenck comes from the same unit. Besides, handing out great nicknames is not one of Sgt. Tapalo' s strengths.

Just then a voice echoes through the room. "ROOM, ATTENTION!"

Without hesitation, everyone snaps to attention and faces the front of the room. There on the stage, off to the side, stands an older man with a serious look on his face. Another man walks and stops at the center of the stage.

"At ease. Take your seats." He waits until everyonesits down and continues. "Good evening. My name is Capt. Plefus Verlund and as of now…I'm your commander. You're wondering why are you here? Well, let me tell you."

The look on Olyone's face is one of disgust. With an eye roll, she leans over towards Tapalo. "We're pulling escort duty for some high official?" she whispers. Tapalo looks back at Sgt. Olyone without saying a word. He just shakes his head slightly and places his focus back on Capt. Verlund.

As the briefing comes to an end, Denck focuses on the older man next to Capt. Verlund. "Who is he?" he whispers.

"I'll be damned. 1st Sgt. Weglarz," says Dzukya. He tells the private of the 1st Sergeant's reputation: tough as nails with the facial scars to prove it, has killed enemies from afar and up close. The young troops that served under him became better - or they became dead. Denck looks at the tall, squared-shouldered man and takes a long swallow. 'He can probably break me into pieces with only three fingers!' he thinks.

The briefing ends and everyone is asking a thousand questions while they slowly head to the different exits that are spread out throughout the immense room. Olyone only has one question upon seeing the look on Tapalo's face.

"I know that look, Cap. What's wrong?"

Tapalo waits to make sure no one, aside from Dzukya, Lenck and Olyone are within earshot of what he's about to say.

"That Captain says that this is an escort assignment of some high official, right? Yet no information on who it is, and to where we're going. It seems like that Capt. Verlund is giving us what he was given, which is damn near close to nothing." An uneasy feeling begins to ferment in Tapalo's stomach.

Dzukya tries to reassure the staff sergeant of his concern. "Hey, between you, me and Jana…How many times we've went into situations with shaky intel and came back alive? Besides with the number of us here, I'd say 500-600 people, armed to the teeth, anything we'd meet will run away crying to their momma!"

Tapalo appreciates Sgt. Dzukya's words but it doesn't quell that uneasy feeling.

Not one bit.

A Few Days Later…

The Star Destroyer Pestilence comes out of hyperspace. They have now entered wild space: the unmapped expanse beyond the Outer Rim. Even though the Pestilence is in area of the unknown, the ship's crew is out and about doing their normal routine. Except for one person.

Pvt. Lenck is standing by a huge window taking in the many stars that are sprinkled amongst the darkness of space. He looks around to something, anything different that may inhabit the realm of wild space. So far, nothing. His immediate disappointment doesn't stop the young private to continue his search for that "different" something. Another person comes up behind Pvt. Lenck and just stands there.

"First time in wild space?" Pvt. Lenck is slightly jolted and quickly spins around.

"Oh, Sgt. Dzukya…Yes, it is, sir. Where's Sgt. Olyone?"

Sgt. Dzukya comes up to the window, standing beside the private. "The shooting range. She and Sgt. Tapalo are still there trying to outdo each other. And once again, stop calling me sir."

The two men stand there looking for a minute or two, silence between them. Just then, a small smirk appears on sergeant's mouth. "Come out with it. I know you want to ask me, private."

Lenck looks over with a slightly surprised look on his face. "Have you ever been in wild space?" he asks.

Dzukya nods his head in response. "Only once, when I held your rank. There was a rumor of a Separatist cell having a cache of weapons, fighters, etc. So we were sent to investigate."

"Were the rumors true?"

"Not even close, but we did find something out there: Purrgil." Dzukya looks over and can see the clueless look on Lenck's face.

"So, what happened?"

He gives the private a quick description of the Purrgil. "Nothing happened…initially. Then the flock of Purrgil started to glow. A couple of seconds later, they were gone. Jumped into hyperspace," says Dzukya.

Lenck almost does a double take to the sergeant's last words. "Wait. Those creatures went into hyperspace? How can they do that?"

Dzukya looks over at the private. "When you see them, you can ask them that." The two men smile. However, Dzukya's smile disappears into the ether as soon he looks back out into space.

"What's wrong?" asks Lenck.

"Play time is over." With that Sgt. Dzukya walks away from Lenck, who's a bit lost by the sergeant's actions. The young soldier takes another look out in space and immediately sees it: a super star destroyer, along with several other ships.

Just then, a voice comes through the ship's intercom: Members of the 332nd Expeditionary Force are summoned to the main hangar bay. The private darts off and catches up with Sgt. Dzukya at the turbolift.

"You could have just told me instead of walking away."

"Yes, that's true…but I didn't," replies Dzukya.

The doors of the turbolift slide closed and both men head down to the hangar bay. The turbolift reaches the hangar bay in no time. The two soldiers quickly join the rest of the expeditionary force. Upon seeing the ship's captain, the executive officer along with Capt. Verlund and 1st Sgt. Weglarz, everyone is whispering with one another, wondering the identity of the escort. The whispers fall silent when Verlund calls the room to Attention. He then turns around, facing the ship's captain.

"All present and accounted for, sir," says Verlund. The ship captain calls up to the bridge for an ETA of escort's arrival.

"The shuttle has already left and will be here in a couple minutes, sir," says the bridge. Exactly two minutes later, an Imperial shuttle enters the hangar bay, its wings folded up. The timing couldn't be any better.

The shuttle's landing gear comes out and takes on the full weight. Everyone's eyes look over as the ramp slowly comes down and rest on the hangar floor. As steam slowly vents out from the ship, two people walk down the ramp, one behind the other. The soldier's eyes begin to widen as soon the first person comes fully into view: Emperor Palpatine.

"That's not what he looks like on the HoloNet," one soldier whispers to another. Even though a black hooded cloak covers most of his face, no one can ignore his hands and mouth, pale and decrepit. As the Emperor continues walking, the person accompanying him walks besides the Emperor.

"My Lord, with all due respect, I think having more personnel and material with you would be reasonable."

As soon as the sentence is uttered, Palpatine stops in his tracks. He looks over at the officer, who's trying to keep his fast-beating heart from bursting through his chest.

"While I understand your concern, it is not needed Adm. Sabol," states Palpatine. The Emperor start walking again.

As he passes by each and every soldier standing at attention, he can sense what is going on inside them. He can feel confusion and shock, but the one emotion that warms the heart of the Sith Lord: fear.

'Just my presence elicits this. Good!' thinks Palpatine. Both the Emperor and Rear Adm. Sabol meet with the Pestilence's captain and Capt. Verlund, then leave the hangar bay; 1st Sgt. Weglarz then dismisses the troops. As they leave the hangar, Tapalo and Olyone meet up with Dzukya and Lenck.

"The Emperor? That's who we have to escort?!" says Dzukya, who's trying to do his best to keep his mind from spinning. Olyone just shakes her head.

"In all those photos of our Emperor that are always displayed thru the HoloNet: benevolent, warm, full of vitality. That person that just walked through the hangar wasn't that at all," she says. Before Olyone can say anymore, Sgt. Tapalo brings the discussion to an end.

"Right now, the Emperor's looks are the least of my worries. As long as we do our jobs and come back alive - I'm good with that." Olyone, Dzukya and Lenck nod their heads in agreement.

However, there's something that Tapalo held back. He doesn't mention that he remembered the speech the Emperor made in front of the Senate years ago. How the Jedi attack left the Emperor scarred, pale. 'How quickly people forget the past,' he thinks.

As everyone gets back to their bunks, word comes from Capt. Verlund: Escort duty begins tomorrow.

0730 hours

Olyone and the rest of the 332nd are up, getting ready for the mission ahead of them. Some of them got a few hours of sleep, while very few got a full night of rest. It doesn't take the sergeant any time to get into her stormtrooper gear; it has become as much a part of her as breathing air. Just before she puts on her helmet, she looks around, watching others adjusting their gun sights, sharpening knifes, loading weapons. Not one stormtrooper gives the look of being lost or unsure of what they're doing.

She then quickly looks over at Dzukya, whose eyes are closed in meditation. Olyone watches his hands slowly open and closes several times, then stops. She then looks back on his face and their eyes meet; he then nods his head. Seeing all of this gives Olyone much comfort. 'We're ready,' she thinks.

All of the 332nd gather their things and form up in the Pestilence's hangar bay. Thanks to Imperial military efficiency, it doesn't take long for the 332nd to transfer from the Pestilence to the Leviathan, an Imperial support vessel. Upon their arrival onto the smaller ship, Pvt. Lenck quickly notices something. He's about to look over at Sgt. Dzukya and ask a question but the sergeant beats him to the punch.

"They're Imperial shock troopers. The red markings give them away. Don't worry, private: They, along with those red-robed bastards, are here to provide more protection to the Emperor," says Sgt. Dzukya.

"And what about those guys over there?"

Dzukya follows the direction of Denck's head nod. "Well, damn…death troopers and shadow troopers." Sgt. Dzukya looks at the private, whose look of confusion shows clearly on his face. "You'll be able to tell the difference between them soon enough."

Lenck wants to ask what Dzukya means, but he places that in the back of his mind.

The doors slide open as Emperor Palpatine enters the Leviathan's bridge. The ship's captain, a Lieutenant Commander, quickly gives the Emperor a bow. Palpatine orders the commander to contact the Pestilence immediately. The commander does it herself, and seconds later, Adm. Sabol appears on the transceiver pod.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Excellent work! You've proven your promotion was warranted. Now head back to charted space; I will call for you when it's that time," says Palpatine.

Those words hit the Admiral like a winter chill that gets into the bone. "But m-my lord, I cannot leave you here in this uncharted space! It would irresponsible behavior as a flag officer! Please sir, let me inform Lord Vader that you're—".

"No, you will do no such thing, Admiral," says Palpatine.

Sabol recognizes the warning tone in the Emperor's reply. The flag officer has come close to "the line" that very few have crossed and lived. Sabol sheathes the attitudinalsword.

"It shall be done, my lord, but what about Lord Vader?" Adm. Sabol sees a slight smirk appear on the Emperor's face.

"He will come."

With that the communication ends, and Adm. Sabol orders all ships to hyperspace out. The Emperor watches as all the ships leave, then turns and slowly walks away from the Leviathan's main viewport.

The Lt. Commander stands by the ship's holoprojector and watches the Emperor coming closer and closer. He does his best to keep his fear in check as he awaits the Emperor' s arrival to the holoprojector. Ordering all the data and the routes taken by the probes to be displayed, Palpatine slowly rubs his thumb across the handle of his walking cane as he views all of the data. A technician cycles through each probe's data, one by one. Then Palpatine sees it.

"Stop, there!" The Emperor points out the 4th probe's flight track. "Go there."

The Leviathan's captain follows the Emperor's command and the ship jumps into hyperspace. A few minutes later, a super-star destroyer, along with two additional star destroyers exit out of hyperspace. The three ships now occupy the space the Leviathan just left.

Adm. Sabol looks out of the main viewport of the super star destroyer. Her mind is wandering a bit when another officer walks up.

"Going beyond that ship's long-range sensors to give the notion that we left. Good move…"

The Admiral can sense the officer's hesitation. "...But?"

"But, by doing this, you've disobeyed not just a direct order, but the Emperor's direct order, ma'am."

The flag officer looks over. "Your concern is duly noted, but I'm not worried. A certain piece hasn't been put on the board yet."

The captain's eyes widen. "You mean Lord Vader? How will that monster help you?" whispers the captain.

Sabol looks back to the main viewport. "Just call it a bad feeling, Captain." As Sabol continues to stare into the starry blackness of space, her mind tries to wander back to its 'nothing box', and play this highly dangerous game of chess. She knows the consequences if a piece moves to the wrong box - or is played too soon.

As the Leviathan continues to shoot through hyperspace towards the destination set by the Emperor, the ship's captain is on the bridge receiving reports on things scattered throughout the ship. These reports are of low importance: nothing to break a , with Emperor Palpatine over his shoulder just a few feet away, the Lt. Commander doesn't want to give any impression of incompetence.

Just then the Emperor speaks. "How much longer to the destination, Commander?"

The Lt. Commander takes in a quick bit of air before answering the question. "We should be coming out of hyperspace in a couple minutes, my lord." Feeling relieved, the Commander's voice gives off the feeling of confidence and assurance when answering the question. That feeling instantly disappears when a junior officer notices something.

"Excuse me, Commander?"

"Yes, what is it, Lieutenant?" The Commander can see the lieutenant looking at his display, panning back and forth. The lieutenant's hands race all over the display, pressing the innumerable buttons in front of him. The junior officer quickly looks over his shoulder, and the commander can easily see the look of confusion on the Lieutenant's face.

"Our ship's tracking is off-line and by the looks of it…", the lieutenant's hands press a few more buttons, "…it went off-line just before we jumped to lightspeed, sir."

The commander orders the lieutenant to further look into the system malfunction.

"Yes, sir, I will—"

All of a sudden, a large bang rocks the Leviathan. Just about everyone is thrown off their feet, including the Lt. Commander. Alert klaxtons echo in his ears as he struggles to get to his feet. It seems to take forever, but eventually the commander makes it to feet, hugging the rail of the holoprojector. He doesn't wait for the Emperor to ask the obvious.

"STATUS REPORT! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?" yells the Lt. Commander. A couple seconds tick away when the Leviathan comes out of hyperspace without any inputs from the crew, then a voice calls out, "Unknown! Our scanners didn't detect anything, sir!"

The Leviathan's crew does their best to get the ship under control but she's acting like an insolent child at bedtime. She once again has a violent jolt, throwing some of the crew back on the floor. Hanging on, trying to keep any balance, the Lt. Commander hears what the Leviathan is saying: he's losing her. The commander yells out to the helm.

"Yes, sir?"

"Are we anywhere close to where we need to be?" snapsthe Lt. Commander.

The helmsman quickly informs him that they're a little further out but close enough to view it. The violent jolts that went throughout the Leviathan have ceased, but it continues to be a rough ride for everyone on the ship. "Steer the ship towards the destination point. As soon we get close enough, head to the escape pods," orders the Lt. Commander. Just as he finishes the sentence, the commander is informed that the pods cannot be launched. Whatever the ship encountered has damaged the escape pod system.

'Of course, it did,' thinks the commander. He wants to laugh but doesn't. He then yells out the only thing that can be done: "ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Everyone on the bridge looks at the commander for a couple seconds, then go back making the necessary actions.

As the helmsmen do their best to keep the ship on course, the commander looks at the planet that continues to fill up the main viewport. The Leviathan's entry into the planet's atmosphere becomes a sobering realization that a crash landing will happen. The Lt. Commander focus never comes off his crew and onto Emperor Palpatine.

For some reason, he knows that Palpatine will make it out in one piece.

The Leviathan continues to drop lower and lower in altitude, the commander takes quick scans of the planet's surface…it doesn't look promising. Very high, black mountains with narrow valleys in between. The mountain peaks themselves look like they can shred the Leviathan's durasteel hull to shreds. As number of systems begin to shut down, the commander instantly knows that there can be no room for error in the next orders he issues. The planet's surface comes closer and closer as the commander takes a look at a surface scan. He orders the helm to turn towards a valley; they tell him that directional control has become spotty.

His anger gets the best of him. "INCREASE THE DAMN PORT THRUSTERS TO MAX AND LOWER THE STARBOARD ONES, NOW!"

The bow of the ship slowly begins to turn as it narrowly misses a jagged mountain peak, but this is just the beginning. Just then the slight screeching of something going alongside the hull is heard.

'Not too long now,' thinks the commander. The Leviathan makes is over one ridge but hits the other ridge wall on its port side. The force of the collision breaks the ship into two. Both pieces of the ship roll down over and over until it reaches the valley and stops.