Star Wars Legacy: Family Ties
A/N: I don't own Star Wars. It is owned by George Lucas. Star Wars Legacy Comics are written and illustrated by Jon Ostrander and Jan Duursema, respectively. All Original Characters belong to me.
A/N: This fanfiction is dedicated to ChildofWinds over at JCC. This is also dedicated to SOS Save Our Skywalker Thread Members on JCC Lit.
A/N: Thank the Force. Sue Rostoni over at has apparently finally acknowledged that things in Star Wars EU had gotten too dark over the past few sets of novels.
Chapter 9
On Bastion, more and more loyalist troops continue to return. The 501st and the Imperial Knights pick up their training, more intense than before. The Imperial Knights all push themselves to the limit, lightsabers, combat, simulator combat. Meanwhile, Emperor Fel sits on his throne, reflecting once again, plotting, planning, worrying about the next move that he would make. He remembers more of the events that lead up to this moment. He remembers what Calixte did, what she said. What a fool. He remembers his address to the Imperial Knights, The hardliners like Moff Geist might chafe under the "Victory without war" program, and they may hold no sympathy for the Jedi, but they will not tolerate outright disobedience to a direct order. We can't divest ourselves of the Sith...yet...but we can be rid of Veed. If he makes any suspicious moves, kill him. And watch Calixte very closely.
Nyna Calixte comes around the corner at that moment and the Imperial Knights take out sabers in defence of their Emperor. She calls for them to wait and hear her out. It is then that she spills her one piece of leverage. I also know the Sith are planning to kill the Emperor. She said. Explain yourself, he had replied.
She had continued her tale, the sith plan to attend the Moffs' meeting and assassinate your Majesty. Your only hope is escape.
And then she had said that they were going to put Darth Krayt on the throne. See Nyna, that is why the Sith are never to be trusted. Never, and yet you thought that you could outmanouvre them. But they have you boxed in quite nicely, and you happened to include me for the ride too.
His thought turned to his cousin, who had taken his place at the meeting, and had died. Yet another in the tally, the tally of those who he, like his ancestor Wedge Antilles carried in his heart, the tally of those who had died under his command. They were never to be forgotten.
Meanwhile, back on Fydir Two, Wolf and Shado walked into the cantina aptly named, Shalla's. The bartender and his droid assistant were busy serving the many spacers there. Wolf went up to the human bartender. "What would you like," the bartender asked.
"Two lomin-ales, please," the weary Zabrak Jedi Master replied.
"I haven't seen you before, are you new here," the bartender asked, as the two Jedi sat at the bar stools at the bar. The servo-droid brought the two lomin-ales to the Jedi, who took cautious sips of their drinks.
"Yes, we're looking into a new trading route, for our business," Wolf replied, lying. "But we've lost our local contact, but we do know he had access past Fydir Two, into the other systems. He was going to help us secure a contract for the provision of goods within the system."
"Oh," the bartender replied, "the one to see then would have to be Minister Jarec; that is if you want a direct answer, since he's the head of External Affairs within this system. But he's usually on Fydir Prime. It's probably better to head to the office of External Relations here."
"Thanks," Shado replied, as the two Jedi finished their drinks and headed off towards the External Relations office.
At the trading station on the other side of the spaceport, Draco and Ganner were waiting and reading the minds of the spacers that passed by, looking for any information they had on the Shadow Drake. Most of the spacers mind that they read or conversations that they overheard seemed to not know about the Shadow Drake besides that it was just another cargo hauler like them, but they had inner systems passes which were apparently quite hard to get. This was getting them nowhere, they had to try a different method of obtaining information, and quick.
Anton and Tarak met for drinks in the private lounge at Shalla's, having arrived just as the Jedi had left. The servo-droid brought their drinks. Tarak preferred a fine Sunflare Star, whereas Anton preferred the local Fydirian ale. "Tarak," Anton said, "Great-grandfather sends his congratulations as does the Clan Patriarch." Tarak laughed, and then answered, "Well, it was a bit hard, the Imperial Knights were quite suspicious. The Jedi did as we expected of them, so I'm here, now. And everything is now going to plan. So when is the next phase going through?"
Both Anton and Tarak took a sip of their drinks before Anton replied, "as soon as I send off a message, then the next phase will begin. From what I hear, both the Clan Patriarch and your great-grandfather will be there, as well as some old friends."
"Yeah, so I'll have to go back and say something though," Tarak replied, "what were the orders?"
"You need to say that there is a meeting, between Deziel and your Great-Grandfather, probably two days from now. Suggest that some of your crew go with your Great-Grandfather, we'll then pick the others soon after you leave with Great-Grandfather, and then you'll execute your mission," Anton replied. The two Fydirans finished their drinks, and then left separately, Anton to his temporary quarters, Tarak, back towards the Mynock with his 'news'.
The ubiquitous office of External Relations loomed large, as Shado and Wolf walked into the reception area. At the desk was a secretary droid, "greetings, and welcome to the External Relations office, please state your business." The front office was decorated with plush carpets and blue velvets. The furniture was mostly plain but functional.
"We wish to apply for an inner system pass," Wolf replied.
The droid processed the request through its brain, before replying "You will need to see one of our agents and be vetted by the Chief of External Affairs. An agent will be here to see you soon. Please fill out this form," it continued, handing Wolf a form on a datapad to fill out.
It was five minutes later, when a man came down, "Good afternoon, gentlebeings, I am Minister Jarec, chief of External Affairs," he said, "Please, follow me." He motioned for the two Jedi to follow him up. Shado saw that the Chief, instead of wearing shoes went around barefoot. But instead of human appendages, he had something black-armour-plated and claw-like. It seemed that he had eschewed the normal fake robotic appendages. They followed him up the round stairs, into Jarec's office. This piqued the interest of Master Sazen who recognised the appendages as Yuuzhan Vong implants.
Jarec went to read the datapad. He scanned the datapad and then put it down as he sat down at his desk. He gestured for Wolf and Shado to sit in the chairs opposite him in the office. "Please take a chair. I'll review your application for an inner system pass, today. Just wait until I read your application a bit more." Once inside the room he stretched out with the Force, making sure no one else was around. Wolf and Shado suddenly felt a resonance in the Force as Jarec immersed himself in the Force.
"Welcome to the Fydir Star Cluster, Jedi," Jarec said, "We have been expecting you, no doubt Agent Tarak filled you in on our mission. Sorry, about that, even here we must take precautions against Sith agents."
"So you are an agent of the Alliance as well," Wolf asked. Shado began to draw on the Force to get a read on Jarec.
"Yes, I am. The Princess is here with us, she is safe but I need you to answer these questions before we decide how to proceed tell me about the others on the ship. The Imperial Knights I am not so worried about, they will comply as long as we hold the Princess. But the others are of concern if they will sell us out to the Sith or not," Jarec asked. "It is really the three members of the crew that concern me. Let us start with this one." Jarec punched keys on his datapad, and then an image of Cade sprang up. "The Captain of the ship, one, Cade, no last name given," Jarec continued. "What do you think about him?"
Wolf took a time to think before he replied, pondering how much of the truth he could reveal, he had to choose his words carefully, as always perhaps it was best to run with the truth and let the other party draw their own conclusions, "He's a bounty hunter, and has taken Sith bounties on Jedi."
"So he is not trustable, as of now?" Jarec asked.
"The facts draw their own conclusion, don't they," Wolf replied. He wanted to keep Cade's identity secret for now, as a hidden trump card.
Jarec mused for a while, before phrasing a reply, he had a distinct feeling that something was being hidden from him, but he decided not to push, "Of course, maybe we should move on, the next member of the crew, a Deliah Blue, Zeltron," Jarec said, as he tapped another button and the image on the holoprojector was replaced.
"Didn't have that much contact with her, I would probably pronounce her the most likely to be trustable out of the crew right now," Wolf answered.
"The last member Jariah Syn, has defined hatred of both Jedi and Sith, so is most definitely not trustworthy," Shado interjected.
"Yes, thank you Jedi," Jarec replied, "as for information, Captain Deziel of the Shadow Drake will be meeting Captain Dermayil of the Little Shadow, in two days on Fydir Prime Spaceport, pad 12. He will be leaving in about one day's time, from pad 12-E-3. I'll leave how you break it to them, in your hands, Master Jedi."
"Of course, Chief," Wolf replied.
"Try not to get everyone to come along, less messy that way," Jarec said, "but Tarak will do well not to go with you. Thank You, Jedi." Jarec switched off the holoprojector and ushered the Jedi down the stairs and out of the office of External Relations, before returning to his family's quarters on Fydir Two where Fenn was waiting for him.
The two Jedi went away going down the street, they fell into a discussion about the plan, "I think one of us should go with Captain Dermayil while the other stays, it's pretty obvious they have some sort of plan to pick up everyone who does not go," Shado commented.
"Yes, I just wonder how we will break it to them. I'm sure that the Imperial Knights will both want to go, that I think we need to stop," Wolf answered, as they entered the spaceport again, passing under the large metal arch that defined where the spaceport began.
The travellers aboard the Mynock all filtered back to the Mynock that night to see how much they had discovered. Wolf revealed what he had been told by Jarec, saying that he had mind tricked a few unlucky spacers, until he found out the information. Tarak stated that was a good friend of Captain Dermayil, and so he was going to go, and possibly seek work from him, once he got the Shadow Drake back from his traitorous partner. The Imperial Knights favoured hijacking Captain Dermayil's ship and then returning it later, but the Jedi protested against this, they were harming an innocent being. It would be better to have Captain Dermayil on side, rather than not.
Tarak suggested that maybe some of them would go, and the others would stay behind to plan their escape if they needed it. He suggested that he would stay behind if need be, and that he would trust the Jedi to deliver his Shadow Drake back to him, and also since he was most familiar with Fydir Two. Jedi Knight Vao said that he would stay behind, and that Master Sazen would go. The two Imperial Knights obviously wanted to go, because it was their Princess that was in jeopardy. The crew of Mynock decided that out of them, Cade would go.
Tarak smiled inwardly, the Princess would take care of the two Imperial Knights, and only one of the members of the crew would go. That left two crew members on this end, with the Jedi Knight Vao. This is good. Between me, the Jedi and the local FDF we should be able to subdue the two members and smuggle them off to Prime. That leaves only 'Captain' Cade for Deziel to take care of. Shouldn't be too hard to do. It was decided that Tarak and Jedi Sazen would go and see Captain Dermayil and ask him for help, along with Imperial Knight Antares. They would go try to find the Little Shadow tonight, and wait for Captain Dermayil to return if he wasn't there. The three of them left, leaving the crew and the remaining Jedi and Imperial Knight behind, who were to guard the ship.
Back on Fydir Three, they had just finished dinner and were enjoying after-dinner caf. The protocol droid brought a message for the First of the Council. He looked at the message and then announced, "We're leaving for Fydir Prime in two hours, please get ready to leave on the private yacht."
He rose, and spoke to the Princess, "Princess Fel, if you would follow me," he exited the room, with the Princess in tow. The others left to get ready to leave as well, to head back to Fydir Prime. The Princess followed the First of the Council down the corridors, into an office. "Have you thought about the Alliance's offer?" Kroder asked, as he sat down in his chair, indicating for Marasiah to sit in the seat opposite him.
"While I can't do anything on behalf of the Empire, I, personally would pledge to do whatever it takes to take down the Sith, I promise," Marasiah said.
"Good to hear, Princess Fel, that you are committed to correcting the mistake made by the Empire," Kroder replied. "Thank you very much. Please take the time until we have to leave for Fydir Prime to take some more rest, or if you like to join me for some local chai, before we leave."
On Fydir Two, Tarak, Jedi Master Sazen, Knight Antares and Cade went to see Captain Dermayil, waiting for him at the landing pad 12-E-3. There was no one there, but they left a message with the message bank in the computer for the owner of the ship.
In his office in External Affairs, Jarec's communications unit beeped. He picked up his datapad and logged into the Fydir Two spacedock message system. He saw a message left for him by Tarak indicating that they wanted to meet because he had business with the Shadow Drake. Jarec sighed, as he finished reading the message, he would have to go down and collect Fenn from the Dermayil quarters on Fydir Two, and then go to the rendezvous, undoubtedly with the Imperial Knights and the crew of the Mynock.
Back on Fydir Three, the Dermayil's private yacht blasted off through the atmosphere into space, and jumped towards the Fydir Prime system, the stars elongating into lines as they entered the short hyperspace jump.
Jarec and Fenn walked into the spacedock, onto pad 12-E-3 where the Little Shadow was docked. Luckily for them no look of recognition passed between Master Sazen and Jarec even though they had just met that afternoon. "I am Captain Dermayil," Jarec said, "my co-pilot, Fenn," he said gesturing to the dark blonde haired man next to him. Fenn's steel-grey eyes met Cade's blue ones, as they shook hands.
"How may we help you," Fenn said.
Tarak spoke, "we hear you are meeting with the Shadow Drake, tomorrow. She was hijacked by my traitorous ex-partner, I want her back."
"Why should we help you," Fenn asked, playing the suspicious character.
"Because, Captain Dermayil and I have a long history together, because I have Jedi and Imperial Knights with me, who wouldn't be very happy if you don't help," Tarak answered, his voice keeping even but taking a bit of a dark edge for show.
Jarec interrupted this exchange, "Of course, I will help you Tarak, after all you did use to crew with me before you got your own ship."
"Yeah," Tarak replied, as he ran his fingers through his hair, "no one else knew that."
"Well that's good," Draco said. "We will reward you handsomely for your service."
"Thank you," Jarec replied, "Ten thousand credits will do the trick. For expenses, of course," he added, after a short pause.
"Done," Draco said. "Tomorrow it is then."
"Good night, gentlemen," Jarec replied, ushering them out of the Little Shadow. Jarec waited until the party from the Mynock had left. He then turned on his personal comm. unit and put a call through to the Fydiran Defence Force office at the space station, sending the message raid on, raid on. The officer on the other end, forwarded the message to Fydiran Special Operations which began to co-ordinate the sweep that would execute the first part of the mission. The second part of the mission would be fulfilled by Jarec himself, and the First who would be arriving with the Princess.
A/N: Well that's it for this chapter. Please read and review!
A/N2: A bit of information about the Fydir Star Cluster - just in case - Fydir Prime (is the primary star - not planet), so when I refer to Fydir Two and Three and so on, they are different stars, not planets as is common in the Star Wars EU itself.