Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

Let's get to it.

Chapter 7- Strike on Dromund Kaas

(June 10, 2026)

Jonathan watches as the fueling crew disconnects the hose from his SF-15, walking away with the hose. At last, all of the Squadron's SF-15s are fully refuelled and re-armed. Now, they're just waiting for Jared to return from the main HQ building with reinforcements.

Jonathan walks slowly around his SF-15, running his hand along the fuselage and wings. By this point, he's been flying the same aircraft for a decade and a half. At this point, he honestly feels like the fighter is just another part of his body. He knows every inch of this fighter as intimately as he knows his own body. Even being next to it feels almost as good as being with Abigail.

"Enjoying the company of your baby?"

Jonathan looks behind him and sees Rick coming up behind him. Jonathan smiles and says, "Always."

Rick chuckles a bit at Jonathan and says, "I get ya. I get ya. Flying so long, the plane becomes part of you."

Jonathan nods. Then, he hears Jared's voice shout from behind him, "Hey, hotshots!"

The members of the squadron all turn in the direction of Jared's voice with grins on their faces, knowing he's talking to them. As they do, they see him approaching with the 38 members of the Ranger platoon behind him.

As Jared comes up to the members of the squadron, he calls out, "Everyone. I want to introduce you to the newest members of our mission. General Meyer assigned them to assist me on the ground. Everyone, meet 1st Lieutenant Franks and his Rangers."

The pilots of the squadron all come up to greet the Rangers, the two groups exchanging greetings and pleasantries. Several members of the squadron are surprised to see that Jennifer Lawrence is among the Rangers.

As the two groups finish exchanging greetings and pleasantries, Jared speaks up and says, "Alright, everyone, gather 'round."

Both the Squadron and the Rangers gather around Jared as he prepared to tell them about the next step of their mission. Once he's sure he has their full attention, he begins to explain to them, "Alright, everyone. We'll be leaving soon for the next phase of our mission. The place we'll be traveling to is this place." He then uses a holoprojector to bring up an image of Dromund Kaas before continuing, "This is Dromund Kaas, an ancient world of the Sith. It's been mostly abandoned for a very long time, but not completely abandoned. The cult we're searching for, known as the Dark Force, was founded on Dromund Kaas and still has a presence there. I believe that their temple on Dromund Kaas may hold clues to the location of their main hideout, which is currently unknown."

"Sounds like this will be an interesting trip," Rick says.

"Indeed. Although long abandoned by the Sith, Dromund Kaas will still hold many dangers. For that reason, our mission there will be a two pronged assault. The Squadron will make a surgical strike on the Dark Force's temple on the planet to break down the outer walls of the temple and destroy any defenses surrounding the temple. Once the Squadron has completed their strike, the Rangers and I will land and enter the temple, clearing the temple of cult members and searching for clues to the location of their main base of operations, as well as the locations of the Imperial forces who have become loyal to the Dark Force," Jared instructs those gathered around him.

"Sounds like a plan, sir," Lieutenant Franks says.

"We have some data on Dromund Kaas from Clone Wars era records and records going back to the Old Republic. We're going to go over this data and develop a more detailed plan for this assault. I want us to make our strike on Dromund Kaas on the 13th. So we have about 60 hours to prepare for this assault," Jared says.

"Alright. If we've only got a few days, then let's get to work," Franks says with a look of confidence on his face.

(June 13, 2026)

In the cockpit of his SF-15, Jonathan does a final check on his systems as he nears the end of his hyperspace run. After a few days of training, the strike on Dromund Kaas is ready.

The plan was simple. Jared and the Rangers are traveling to Dromund Kaas in a new Starlander troop transport. They are traveling through hyperspace 6 minutes behind the Hammer Squadron, giving the Squadron enough time to hit the Dark Force temple before they reach the surface.

"Alright, boys. Let's finish this up quickly before Jared and the Rangers get here," Jonathan says.

"We got it, Captain," Hammer 7 calls over the radio.

"Alright. Dropping out of hyperspace in three, two, one, now!" Jonathan calls out before yanking back on the light speed throttles. His SF-15 drops out of hyperspace along with the rest of the squadron. Immediately, they see Dromund Kaas below them.

"Accelerate to attack speed and arm your weapons!" Jonathan calls over the radio before diving towards the planet, the rest of the squadron right behind him.

As they enter the atmosphere, in the backseat behind Jonathan, Alex scans the radar to check for any airborne threats. Seeing nothing, Alex calls up to Jonathan, "Jonathan, nothing on radar. No fighters airborne."

"Copy that," Jonathan says before getting on the radio and calling out, "All pilots, no airborne threats. Start your attack runs."

The SF-15s dive towards the site of the Dark Force temple. Soon enough, they catch sight of the temple. A massive structure, surrounded by walls and a series of statues of ancient Sith lords.

Jonathan dives steeply towards the temple and readies his bombs. Lining up on one of the outer walls, Jonathan punches off four bombs. As he pulls up out of his dive, the bombs impact along the wall, blasting the structure to pieces, leaving massive gaps in the wall. At the same time time, other members of the Squadron begin dropping their bombs.

As the bombs impact the outer walls, the Squadron come back in on strafing runs, firing their laser cannons at any thing they see as a target. Within a minute the outer portion of the temple is in ruins.

As he circles over the temple, Jonathan gets on the radio. "Hansen, this is Captain Page. Outer wall and defenses have been neutralized and no sign of the enemy. You are cleared in."

By now, the shuttle has dropped out of hyperspace and is beginning its descent into the atmosphere. Jared get on the radio and says, "Copy that, Page. Keep watching the temple. We'll be landing in 5 to 10 minutes."

Jared then turns to the Rangers. "Alright, people. We're on final approach and we've been cleared in. Gear up!"

The Rangers quickly do a run through of all of their gear as they ready themselves to land. Jared adjusts his boots and pulls his lightsaber off his belt.

Six minutes after receiving the message from Jonathan, the shuttle pilot calls out, "Ten seconds! Ready!"

Everyone aboard turns to the back, ready to exit the shuttle. Ten seconds later, the shuttle touches down, and the pilot opens the back. The Rangers hurry out of the shuttle, with Jared following close behind. As they exit the shuttle, they see that the pilot had landed the shuttle in a thick clump of trees. However, through gaps in the trees facing north, they can see glimpses of the temple.

"Alright. Stick close together until we enter the temple. Who knows what kinds of dangers lurk in these trees," Jared says. After he gets confirming nods from the Rangers, he heads into the trees, heading for the temple. The Rangers follow him closely, weapons at the ready.

Within just two minutes, the ground team has reached the ruined walls surrounding the temple. Jared ignites his lightsaber and smiles at the Rangers as he says, "Let's move, guys."

QUickly but carefully, Jared leads the Rangers into the courtyards outside the main entrance to the temple. As they reach the main doors, Lieutenant Franks signals for breachers. Two Rangers equipped with breaching charges rush towards the door and set the charges against the door. The team moves back, allowing the breachers to blow the charges, blasting a hole through the middle of the door.

Jared uses the Force to push the doors open, and the team hurries into the temple, the first Rangers aiming their rifles outwards in case of any threat near the entrance. After a moment, one of them calls out, "Clear!"

Jared and the rest of the Rangers follow quickly behind the first fireteam. Jared looks around and says, "Spread out. I want maximum coverage. Nobody gets past us. But stay within eyesight and sounding range of somebody at all times." The Rangers quickly nod, and then begin to spread out as Jared leads them into the temple.

Jared keeps his saber held in front of himself as he and the Rangers head deeper into the temple. As they move forward, Jared is trying to sense what he can from his surroundings. One thing he can sense firmly is the permeating darkness of Dromund Kaas. However, it's a very interesting feeling of darkness. Similar to, but not identical to, the darkness of the Sith he sensed from Darth Vader during the Battle of Washington DC.

Suddenly, Jared senses something. In the distance up ahead, he senses a feeling of urgency. He quickly realizes that whatever inhabitants are in this temple, they now know Jared and his team are here, and are preparing to flee.

"They know we're here. We gotta move," Jared says as he starts moving quicker. The Rangers speed up to follow Jared, ready for anything in their path.

It takes about a minute for Jared and most of the Rangers to reach a large open area. As they enter the massive chamber, they see it is lined with statues, and has an altar at the far end. However, they also quickly realize that the chamber is full of robed individuals.

Jared slows a bit, but the Rangers advance, weapons aimed at the cultists in the chamber. "Hands! Show us your hands! Get on the ground!" Lieutenant Franks and several other Rangers bellow at the cultists. The cultists react quickly, drawing blasters and starting to fire at the Rangers, who scatter and quickly return fire.

As a firefight breaks out between the Rangers and the cultists, Jared takes notice of an individual in the center of the cultists. This man, his features hidden by his robe and hood, is staring right at him. He also notices the man looks unusually small for a human.

Jared slowly walks towards this robed man as the robed man walks towards him. As they get within about 15 yards of each other, the man begins to speak, "You dare to defile this sacred place?"

"We don't care for your sacred places. We have come to destroy the Dark Force," Jared says.

"Your arrogant belief in the strength of the light will be your undoing, Jedi," the man says. Then , to Jared's surprise, he draws and ignites a lightsaber, its red blade gleaming.

Jared narrows his eyes as he holds his saber in front of him. "Who are you?" he demands.

"I have gone by several names. But you may call me Kadann, Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side," the man responds.

"Well, Kadann. I only believe in one prophet, and he's not you. Let me show you what I think of you," Jared says. He then reaches out with the Force and grabs the bodies of several cultists who have been killed by the Rangers, sending them flying at Kadann. However, Kadann raises his hand, stopping the bodies feet from himself. However, as he does, Jared takes the advantage and charges at Kadann.

Kadann spins his lightsaber and slashes at Jared, but Jared ducks and slides under the blow. He tries slashing at Kadann's leg as he slides, but Kadann manages to bring his saber down to block Jared's blow. Jared then has to roll to the side to avoid another blow from Kadann.

Jared springs back to his feet. As he does, he swings Kadann trying to swing at his back, and Jared brings his saber behind his back to block the blow. He then raises a foot and kicks Kadann in the knee. Kadann stumbles back a step, but manages to block Jared's next blow. Kadann then lets out a wave of Force energy, sending Jared skidding back.

Jared quickly recovers. He charges at Kadann, leaping into the air and bringing his saber down in a strong, downwards blow. Kadann brings his saber up, the two sabers crackling loudly as they meet.

As the two struggle against each other, Kadann smirks at Jared. "Try as you might, Jedi, you will never defeat me. You are not the first Terran to face me. At least the first one saw the potential of the dark side. You do not even have the wisdom he did. You will never defeat me."

"We'll see," Jared says, despite being very confused about what Kadann just said. He then grabs Kadann's wrist, forces it up, and kicks Kadann in the chest.

Kadann stumbles back, but is not unprepared. As Jared brings his saber down towards Kadann's head, Kadann lets out another strong wave of Force energy, sending Jared flying across the chamber. Kadann then reaches out and uses the Force to rip chunks out of the ceiling, sending them falling down towards Jared and the Rangers. Jared raises a hand, using the Force to stop the chunks falling at him while the Rangers dive for cover. As this is happening, Jared hears Kadann shout, "Come, loyal believers! We must leave!"

Jared manages to use the Force to finally disperse the falling chunks of rubble. However, by the time he has, Kadann and the few believers that had not been killed by the Rangers have escaped the chamber.

Jared immediately gets on the radio. "Page, the leader of the Dark Force and his remaining followers are trying to escape. We think they're going to try and use shuttles to escape. Be ready!"

"Copy that, Hansen," Jonathan responds. The Squadron starts watching the temple more closely, waiting to see if Jared was right.

Sure enough, in a few minutes, as Jared and the Rangers are trying to find any more cultists in the temple, Jonathan spots a hidden door open in a massive part of the temple and a stream of 14 shuttles and transports come flying out of it.

"There we go, guys. Fourteen targets, 4 o clock low. Clear to engage," Jonathan calls over the radio before winging over and diving to meet the shuttles.

The Dark Force transport pilots quickly realize they're in trouble and shove their throttles to full power as they begin weaving through the sky, trying to avoid the incoming SF-15s. However, the Hammers are not so easily dissuaded. As they slash through the transports, the pilots' sprays of laser fire bring down nine of the transports.

As they pull around for another pass, the Hammers see that the transports have climbed straight up and are trying to get out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible. Jonathan pulls in behind one, centers it in his gunsight, and squeezes the trigger. A stream of laser bolts blow the transport apart. Within the next few seconds, two more transports are destroyed.

Two more Hammers center their gunsights on the last two transports. However, right as they start firing their laser cannons, one of the transports surprisingly jumps to hyperspace. The second does not do so in time and is blown to pieces.

Jonathan watches with frustration as the one transport jumps to hyperspace. After a few moments, he gets on the radio, "Hansen, we shot down all but one of the transports. But I think that last one may have been the one carrying their leader. It had special markings on it, and it jumped to hyperspace in atmosphere. I think the leader got away."

"Well, crap. That sets us back. Alright. Hold position, we're heading back to the shuttle, and then I'll let you know our next move," Jared says. As he stands there, he wonders what to do next. So far, they've found no sign of the Dark Force's main base of operations. The question now is what to do next.

And, I'll end the chapter there.

I hope you liked this chapter, and the first full introduction to the Dark Force and its leader, Kadann. In Legends, Kadann was a Jedi who fell to the dark side, joining the Dark Force and becoming its Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side.

I hope you liked the raid on the temple. Oh, and for those wondering about what Kadann told Jared about having fought a Terran before, yes, that was a reference to Philip Nelson. As I wrote on Philip's wiki page, Philip encountered and fought Kadann on Dromund Kaas during his journey.

Next chapter will hopefully be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!