The Unknown Regions - Aboard the Crooked One's Star Forge

Juno, Hera and Sabine took stock of the new forward command center they had established. Ezra and Maris had helped them set up and even manage to hook up controls to the arcane consoles controlled originally by the white holocrons. It also provided a layer of security since the holocrons could not seem to control the consoles that had been hooked up to rebel equipment.

All around now, squads of rebel marines and technicians were setting up energy and durasteel barricades, auto turrets and cameras and holo receivers to keep an eye on all approaches to their command center and outposts. Ezra was standing at one of the consoles that he had requested to be left untouched so that he could continue to use the control holocrons. With his hands on two holocrons, his eyes were closed and he looked as though he was doing some serious thinking. Sabine stood close by, watching him intently. "What is he doing?" she whispered to Maris Brood.

"I'm not completely sure;" said Maris, "Those things can do a great deal. They can pull up security holos or images on the monitors. They can control some access ways - opening and closing doors and such."

Sabine nodded as she watched him.

Ezra was watching as the Imperials were doing the exact same thing that the rebels were. Barricades, energy fields, E-web heavy repeating blasters and mines were being laid. The dark stalkers were all gathered at the Imperials field base. At the same time, the Rakata were securing as many areas as they could as well, preparing for another assault by either the rebels or Imperials. The only relief was that the factory portion of the station was still dormant. Finally, he stepped back and sighed. "Well the good news is that we have more than six Jedi here to take on an Imperial fleet and the natives. The bad news is that they're all dug in now too. I think things just got more complicated."

"Probably;" agreed Sabine. "The others aren't back yet. Where are they and what exactly are they doing?"

Ezra went over to a pile of supplies and opened a case of ration bars. After pulling one out and opening it, he said, "I think they found the power plant for the station. The problem is that they don't quite know how to destroy it in such a way that it will bring down the station."

As they discussed the situation, Galen, Kanan, Kota and Ahsoka entered the center. As they hugged their loved ones, Juno asked, "So what's the plan?"

"We aren't sure yet. Come over here;" said Galen.

They went to the console that Ezra was previously standing at and he powered it up. In the center of the room, a holographic image of the station appeared. He quickly opened the image into a cross section and showed what appeared to be a medium sized area. "This is the power plant. It uses the bodies of force users that, were they to be freed, are dead. They are in stasis chambers and the power generator siphons the living force out of them and powers the station. Where the difficulty lies is that we can't blow the power generator. If it used tibanna gas or another kind of fuel like that, it wouldn't be a problem but the force isn't exactly a combustible material. I have no idea how to use it to blow the station."

The others agreed. Hera scratched her chin and asked, "Well it has defensive weapons, right? They have to be powered by something other than the force, don't they?"

The station's defenses consisted of projectile launchers that fired short, medium and long range missiles and shells. Against modern warships, they would not be much use since any decent deflector shield would simply deflect the munitions. The energy weapons were a little better but they were few, crude and bulky. Galen studied all the emplacements and said, "Well I don't know. They aren't large enough to bring down the whole station, even if we could simultaneously set them off."

"But what if we were to go to the nearest emplacements and gather up all the munitions we can and turn them into even more powerful explosives?" asked Sabine.

They all looked at her quizzically. She pressed a bent index finger to her upper lip before asking, "Can you bring up the specks on the kind of missiles or shells or whatever they're using as munitions?"

Galen closed his eyes and several images appeared. "Tell me about them if the information is there;" said Sabine.

Galen pointed to them each one at a time. "These are weapons used to destroy enemy capital ships, an ancient version of turbo lasers I believe. They contain high explosives that are supposed to tear enemy ships apart. They don't have thrusters are propellant of any kind. They are just fired at the enemy ship and the momentum of the firing gets them through the vacuum to their target where they explode on impact. These here are more precise, I'm guessing for destroying single being ships or troop transports. They are rocket propelled and seem to even have a heat seeking or homing device for tracking targets. These third projectiles seem to be for planetary destruction."

Memories of the Death Star caused everyone within earshot to flinch and Juno asked, "Are they true planet killers?"

"No, no. They are more primitive versions of nuclear or radiation bombs. According to the specks, they cause massive explosions and smash deeply into the planets they target, all the way down to bedrock."

"They shatter a planet to its foundations;" murmured Kanan. "Why would they do that?"

"Oh!" said Ezra, "because they terriform worlds that they conquered! I read about that while studying the logs of this station. Apparently the Crooked One was very good at annihilating worlds and terriforming them. He actually seemed to take pride in seriously altering worlds - making arboreal worlds into super-arboreal worlds. One example is Kashyyyk."

"I never took you for the sitting and reading type, Ezra;" said Kanan.

Ezra shrugged. "It wasn't really ready. A holocron gatekeeper basically spoke into my mind, giving me the information and images. It's a lot more interesting than reading."

"Ah;" chuckled Kanan, "of course. Anyway, continue Galen."

"Wait;" said Sabine, suddenly getting very excited, "all we need are these! If we can get them and spread them around the station, we can blow it to chaos. We'd have to be sure that the explosive core itself is set off. Get me one of these cores and I'll see what I can do with it."

"In the mean time," said Ezra with a sly smile on his face. "I just got a fantastic idea."

"Uh oh;" said Hera.

"Yeah," agreed Kanan, "you may want to share it before you call it fantastic, Ezra."

"What;" said Ezra, sounding just a little hurt, "I have good ideas sometimes."

To everyone's surprise, Sabine patted his arm and said, "We know you do, Ezra. They're just rather few and far between. Go ahead; tell us what's on your mind."

"Well;" he said, no longer sure of himself due to their haranguing, "if we can gain control of the weapons, we can use them to attack the Imperials. I doubt we'll be able to destroy them, of course but we can at least distract and confuse them."

There was a short silence and he irritably said, "WHAT?"

"No, no;" said Galen, "it's and interesting thought. How do we gain control of those guns on the other side of the station?"

"Well I've been studying everything that I can in these white control holocrons. When I try to get and answers about somethings or to control some station systems, I am told that the holocron I am using does not have the access power to that system or to receive that answer. I'm guessing that they are ranked somehow, with only the highest ranking officers being able to control more systems and systems that are more confidential. I'm going to go look at some of the battle sites we've been to, especially those with Rakatan commanders - those force warriors, I'm guessing. As I find them, I'll test out their holocrons and see who can control what. When I come back, we can use the highest ranking holocron along with the Alliance's controls and see if we can gain control access to the systems and allow our technicians so we Jedi aren't tied down to the consoles."

"Woah, now;" said Kanan, "you had a great idea until you suggested going off alone. This is a strange station, Ezra. We can't just let you go alone."

"I never said anything about alone;" said Ezra, almost smugly. "You simply assumed I did. Sabine can go with me. She wants to study one of the warheads anyway. We can knock out two avians with one stone."

"I have a better idea;" chuckled Galen, clapping the younger Jedi on the back. "I'll go with you and we'll grab one of the warheads and bring it to a nearby work station - away from our command center. That way, you and Mandalor here won't get sidetracked."

Both Ezra and Sabine tried to hide their disappointment but weren't entirely successful. "That works, I guess;" said Ezra.

Juno chuckled and said, "I'll help Sabine set up the workshop so that she's ready when you get back."

Ezra grabbed a white holocron that he had been using and stuffed it in one of the pouches on his belt. "Ready, General?"

Galen called one of the holocrons to himself with the force as well and he said, "Sure thing. Let's go."

Using one of the holocrons as a map, they hurried to one of the command centers they had battled in. The Rakatan force warrior lay dead where he had been killed. Looking around, the two Jedi compared some of the holocrons lying about to the ones they held. All of them were the same until Ezra searched the force warrior's body and found one that was purple, not different from the color of the force warrior's energy weapon. "What do you think, General?" asked Ezra.

"You don't have to be so formal, Ezra;" chuckled Galen. "And I think we should put it in a command console and try it out. Do the honors, kid. You came up with the idea."

Ezra took it and put it in the console that the commanding Rakata had been sitting at. Sitting in the chair, he closed his eyes. As before, he called forward a map of facility and ran through inventories of its weapons emplacements, its armories, its personnel and, after that, located all occupants in the station. "Hold there for a moment, Ezra;" said Galen. "Hmmm... it looks like the Imperials are dug in like we are and they're able to bring in a lot more numbers and equipment. It also look like the Rakata are more focused on them than on us but that may change. I've a feeling that the Crooked One would rather get rid of the Womp Rat and then take on the Krayt dragon."

Ezra nodded, his eyes stilled closed. "It's allowing to greater access, alright. I can control more systems but not the weapons - but I think I discovered where we need to go to gain those controls. Here;" he said and focused on a chamber that was two level directly above the main command deck. "this is the command center for the defense of the station."

Galen frowned. "Okay then, what is the purpose of that command deck where we met the Crooked One?"

Ezra was frowning. "It's more of an observation deck or throne room, I think. I'm not sure actually. There are no command consoles there."

"And the level between the two?"

"That would be the factory control chamber. The command bridge is occupied by numerous Rakata and the force warrior in charge is bound to be powerful. We will need a decent force to take it, I think;" Ezra opened his eyes and removed the holocron from the console.

Galen nodded. "Alright, let's get to a munitions magazine and grab one of those bombs for your girlfriend and then we'll see about taking the command bridge. It's going to take all of us Jedi and probably a good group of others."

Ezra nodded as they exited the room. Suddenly, a force of Rakata hustled around the corner. "Woah;" muttered Ezra and immediately drew his lightsaber and blaster. Both of Galen's weapons were in his hands and ignited. There were a dozen of the strange looking alien warriors. With guttural cries, they charged, most armed with bladed weapons but two with the energy blade weapons. Galen let loose with a blast of telekinetic energy, sending the lower level warriors back but the two force warriors remained and charge. Ezra dropped his blaster and went blade to blade with one while Galen engaged the other. While it was immediately a defensive fight for Galen's opponent, Ezra was hard pressed by his. The Rakata was larger and stronger than him and used that to its full advantage. Furthermore, this Rakata was scarred from some bygone war and was clearly more seasoned than the young man. But Ezra was clever and fast and he had been trained well by a seasoned and powerful Jedi Knight. He remained agile and mobile, easily outmaneuvering his opponent and waiting for his enemy to make a fatal mistake. It was an inevitability that the overconfident opponent would do so and this one did. Frustrated that it was not able to smash his smaller, young opponent, the Rakatan warrior roared and slashed out at Ezra. Rather than dodging back or to the side or even attempting to block the attacked, Ezra dove through. He rolled, came up and slashed upward as he did. The green blade cut both arms and the head from the Rakatan's shoulders.

Ezra closed down his weapon and used the force to summon his blaster. He blasted the two remaining Rakata as Galen turned to face them. "Nice work, Ezra;" said Galen. "You seem to flawlessly flow from Form II to Form IV. Kanan has taught you quite well."

"Thanks. What form do you use? I mean, you and Ahsoka use the weird reverse grip with your sabers but she uses a strange combination Form V and Form IV. What about you?"

Galen patted the weapons clipped to his belt. "I've always used it that way. It always for quick attacks and it's quite easy to flip the handle and hold it in a standard manner. The forms I use regularly are the second, the fourth, the sixth and, more recently, the seventh. I'll admit that it is rather unorthodox but it works for me. Kanan uses Form III and Form II in amazing conjunction."

"Yeah; I remember the first time I saw him draw his weapon and the first time he faced off against once of Vader's darksiders. He was out of practice then but as we continued my training, I watched him get back into practice and he really is incredible."

They came to one of the batteries and entered. It was guarded by a handful of droids which were quickly disassembled by the two Jedi before they took stock of the battery. There were two levels. The level above, accessed by ladders, held smaller weapons that fired the anti-fighter or anti-dropship launchers. There were four of them up above. In the level below, that Galen and Ezra stood on, there were two large cannons and one monster weapon. "So I'm guessing that the two smaller weapons are used for fighting capital ships and that monster right there;" and he pointed at the huge cannon, "is for shelling a world before terriforming it."

"I'm guessing;" said Galen and then pointed to one of the racks of munitions. "And I'm guessing that those things are fired from it."

The rack of munitions were huge, larger than any others they had signs on them that looked suspiciously like warning signs. On the control consoles sat red half-spheres - holocrons that were likely the firing controls. "I'm going to grab one of these;" said Ezra, pocketing one of them.

"Right and let's load one of those onto that cart there and get back to the workshop that Sabine and Juno set up."

Stalker Prime was experimenting with the holocrons as well. He had gathered one of the white ones, a purple one, a red fire control holcron and a green colored one. All of them were set in the principle command console. With it, he could control access points in the sector that his center controlled - doors and hatches. It could activate and control all security cams and holo-receivers and communications in the station and it could even get a diagnostic of the entire station. It could even fire all the weapons of a nearby battery if someone could load them. Apparently there were droids that would be deployed from storage units in the battery if the weapons were needed. He also had limited environmental and life support control for the sector of the station he was in. Frowning, the Prime disengaged from the console to address the Imperial officer waiting patiently behind him. "What is it, Colonel?"

"Pardon the interruption, my Lord, but the Rakatan defenders are pushing our footholds. Admiral Pryce requests you to send your brothers to the hot spots to assist."

The Prime looked at his remaining brothers. Out of the forty they had begun with, less than twenty still lived. Even so, if their mission was to be a success, Pryce's Imperial forces had to survive and succeed. "Go;" he commanded, "break into teams and ensure that our forward positions are maintained but do not advance. We shall wait until a full complement of reinforcements are landed and ready to advance."

They bowed and obeyed and the Prime went to the mobile comms unit. "Contact the Admiral;" he ordered.

Moments later, Admiral Pryce appeared and smiled at him. "Greetings, Prime. I hear that great progress is being made. What can I do to expedite and increase the progression rate?"

"Send in more Purge droids and sentinel droids and also some E-web repeating blasters. We need troops and equipment to advance while simultaneously ensuring our positions are fortified enough. Also, our rebel friends are up to something. They aren't advancing but they have solidly dug in and are exploring the section around their area of operation. I'm sure what they're up to but I'm guessing that they are more worried about the defenders of this station than us at the moment. I'm willing to bet that the Jedi would prefer to destroy this station than take it and certainly don't want the Empire to have it."

Pryce stroked her chin before saying, "I believe you are correct, Prime. I will send more units to assist you. I have also sent in mechanized units to assist holding the hangers. Scout walkers, personal walkers and missile walkers will be there to secure your positions. As much as I would love to see you, I think it best for me to stay aboard the Predator."

Prime gave a small smile. "Unfortunately, I believe you are correct, Pryce. I will continue working with your field commanders and, once we have the numbers, we will begin a major push."

"Very good, Prime. Keep me informed, if you would and once this station is taken, I will send our fastest transport to the Empire and then we can continue the destruction of your targets, assuming we don't kill them all here."

"Agreed. I look forward to celebrating with you, Admiral. Prime out."

The communication was cut and Prime checked in with his brethren. The fighting was dying down for the most part as defenders and invaders established fortified lines to advance from or defend.

Sabine and Juno took an involuntary step back and as the massive warhead was literally wheeled through the doors into the workshop. Sabine cursed and Mandalorian and said, "Ezra, what the hell is that thing?"

"This is the world razing bomb. Don't worry. We were careful but I think having Chopper, a couple other Alliance droids and a couple of bomb techs assist you wouldn't be a terrible idea. More eyes and more scanners can't hurt."

Sabine nodded as she circled the ordinance. The thing was the size of a bacta tank around and another half as long again with fins to cause it to fall in the right direction. "I think you're right;" she said, which was a mild surprise. Normally she would get offended when someone suggested that she needed help. "I'll need an interpreter droid that has had the Rakata language downloaded onto it. Any other droids, including Chop, should too. Everyone else, get out. This is going to be delicate."

"That's fine;" said Ezra. "Keep us updated. We'll be in the command center."

Sabine waved goodbye with a distracted air as she continued to circle the bomb. As they exited, Juno contacted a bomb technician team and had them bring the droids with.

The Crooked One used his holocron set into his throne to observe all that was going on aboard his station. The exterior viewports served as monitors and holo images were also everywhere. He watched as the invaders with the white armored troops and the dark side warriors solidified their positions and the ragtag band of various alien species did the same. One young human female was playing with one of his larger explosive bombs while others went to assist her and still others returned to the command centers. His own forces had moved war droids into positions and barriers were set up. Activating his communications console, he called up his garrison commander. In the guttural language of the Infinite Empire, he said, "Commander, get me every Force Hound on the station. I have an assignment for them."

The garrison commander looked uncomfortable. There were four Force Hounds aboard the station but their purpose was to guard the Crooked One and ensure that he does not escape. If he summoned them, it was sure that either they would die or he would. But the rest of the station's occupants had thrown their lot behind the Crooked One. Perhaps the Force Hounds would too if awakened from their stasis. "It will be done, Predor."

The Crooked One waited. It was almost an hour, which was not surprising given that the Force Hounds had just been awakened, before four armored and masked individuals entered. They spread out wearily with their hands on their weapons. Before any of them attacked, the Crooked One stood and spread his arms. "Force Hounds of the Infinite Empire - we are all that remains of our once great civilization. I know that you are commanded to guard and contain me but now I ask you, what is your purpose? The Infinite Empire is gone. We have enemies from one new empire and enemies from an opposing force on the other side. Look!" and he projected with his holocron, several different holograms of the white and gray and black on one side and the multi-species ragtag on the other. When the Force Hounds saw the stalkers and the Jedi, they stiffened and studied them. "Yes, now you see. Our enemies are powerful and now you must decide - will you stand with the remnants of the Infinite Empire or with our enemies?"

The Force Hounds all considered one another before approaching the Crooked One and bowing. The Crooked One gave a fang-filled grin. "Very well! First, we must deal with the ragtag warriors to the rear of the station and then deal with the warriors to the front of us."

All the images and holograms disappeared before another series of them emerged. It showed the positions of their enemies and their movements. "The force warriors here will soon be heading off with a team to try and take our command bridge. I am certain that they will make an attempt to take control of the station while still fortifying their footholds. As soon as we see them moving, you will go, engage them and kill them. You were the best of your broods - more skilled, more shrewd and stronger in the force. In the mean time, we wait."