Chapter Three
As they descended into landing positions, they were greeted by a battalion of Barabel numbering more than two hundred individuals, but as Zivvac and his soldiers stepped out of the shuttles, hostility turned to affability almost immediately. They could tell from the sight of other Barabel, that whoever the unfamiliar Bpfassh girl was, she wasn't an enemy here to poach them for their hides thinking they were nothing but man-eating reptilian beasts.
"There are poachers approaching, you must return to your settlement and protect your people," N'Lola said, taking aback the local Barabel at her abruptness, with some appreciation for her tactless delivery.
"How do you know?"
"We saw them as we entered the system and slipped past to enter the atmosphere ahead of them. There are seven armed transports, each of which having shields and heavy turbolasers. There are sixty life-signs aboard each of them, and I sense tremendous hostility and anger in their minds," N'Lola said, and the Barabel's faces transformed as they registered expressions of alarm.
"My soldiers and I will intercept these poachers, but you must return to protect your homes and your families, in the event that the poacher scum should manage to get past us."
"Understood, Ma'am," said the lead Barabel warrior, nodding, "Thank you." Then, they turned and ran back to their village to secure the settlement as the armed, poacher transports entered the atmosphere far above, and N'Lola sensed their approach.
"Soldiers, ready your rifles and take up positions amid the rocks!" commanded N'Lola, and Zivvac nodded, his soldiers split up into groups and hid among the shelter of the stone formations. Meanwhile, N'Lola remained out in the open, challengingly activating her light-saber as the enemy descended and then paused as they saw her, hovering and charging their weapons as they activated their shield generators. As she gripped her light-saber firmly in one hand, she waited as their guns trained on her and one of them fired experimentally. Her blade hummed through the air, where it collided with a turbolaser burst and deflected it harmlessly into the stratosphere, then redirected a second shot into the shield of one of the poacher vessels. It shuddered violent in answer, and four ships shot out of formation and down to land, two hundred and forty men immediately disembarking with blaster rifles charged and in-hand. Simultaneously, the remaining three continued to train their cannons on her, forcing her to remain focused on them as they fired at her, weaving to dodge as she deflected their shots back toward them.
"Now!" she shouted to her soldiers, and the Barabel rose from their places of cover and opened fire on those who had disembarked from their dropships in an attempt to overwhelm her. Dozens fell dead instantly as the Barabel fired with incredible and lethal accuracy at the poorly armoured poachers, dropping their number near instantly from two hundred forty to ninety-two. Forced into an immediate change-of-plans, the poachers turned their backs to N'Lola and formed a ring around her as they fired on her support fighters. Even as they ducked behind cover once more, the poachers were too smart to think they could risk turning back in her direction. Zivvac pressed his back to the stone of the rock formation, and then made a vertical, forward sweeping motion with one clawed hand, then horizontal across his field of vision, and several of his men nodded. As Zivvac rolled out and fired once more, this time more distraction than assault, the poachers jumped out of the way of the fire launched at them by a much smaller number of Barabel in that direction. Simultaneously, six others circled stealthily, splitting until three of them joined Vindac and three joined Ketar, bringing each of their groups to twelve men to fifteen.
As they arrived, Vindac lifted the ridge above one eye at the arriving trio.
"Vissot! What are you doing?" came the harsh whisper, before they rolled out of their own concealment, and fired anew on the poachers, distracting them by forcing them to continue turning and jumping out of the path of their shots. In answer, the Barabel Vissot mimicked Zivvac's motions, and Vindac nodded.
"The Garel manoeuvre, got it," he answered, recognizing the motions that indicated a manoeuvre named for the planet they'd first used it on. A moment later, two more of the remaining seven Barabel from the north group came to join Vindac, while two more joined Ketar, leaving only Zivvac and three other fighters in the north group.
Then, Zivvac and those three rolled out to fire once more, holding their positions cautiously, ducking just in time to miss being hit by a blast. Then, Zivvac gave a shout.
"Ah! Oh! All right, we surrender!" the Barabel feigned the sound of a grievous wound and surrender, though N'Lola could sense he was still in perfect health and neither frightened nor wounded. The poachers, however, had no such ability as they lacked anyone who was Force-sensitive amidst their number, and coalesced on the north group to execute the surrendering Barabel. As they did, the southeast and southwest groups slid stealthily from their positions of concealment, and fired blasts at the unsuspecting poachers, shearing their number down from ninety-two to nothing in a few brief seconds.
As her soldiers outmanoeuvred and outsmarted the poachers on the ground, N'Lola had remained focused on their armed transports intently. When some of the Barabel started to move, she noticed the gun-mounts beginning to move away from firing at her, and she tapped into the full depth of her inner calm. The ships the poachers were using were familiar to her in their manufacture, and she recognized them from her studies of imperial schematics as being IF-120 landing craft, undoubtedly stolen and clearly modified. She extended her gauntleted right hand and she reached out with the Force, allowing her facial features to transform into a mask of agitation while smoothly transitioning her Force Veil to provide the same sensation to anyone attempting to read her. Her Force reached into the ship whose guns had started to move away from her, even as her left hand moved to deflect another blaster shot. Through her use of the Force, she seized control of the flight controls of the offending vessel, and jerked sharply in the direction of one of the other two vessels. A loud, metallic crash as the two ships collided and she reached with the Force to their engine computerized mainframes, triggering an overload in their engine cores. The two ships began to shake violently in the air; a second later, their engine cores detonated in a large and fiery explosion with a lateral shockwave that disrupted the engines of the third, causing it to explode as well. For a moment, she sensed another threat, more distant and vastly more dangerous, though still somewhere nearby. As she sought with her senses, the threat vanished entirely, and she furrowed her eyebrows briefly in consternation.
Her muscles tensed and relaxed, and she swayed a little bit with the exertion, but shook her head to clear her mind as she straightened and forced her muscles to comply with her. She focused her mind, and with one final touch of the Force, she reinvigorated her body, though her reserves were at a critical low.
"My Lady!" came the call as the Barabel clan-chief returned, "My Lady that was a most impressive display! If I may ask, to what do we owe your timely intervention?" The seven-foot clan-lord queried as he regarded the young woman inquisitively. A girl of such power was either an apprentice or a padawan; he had his own conclusions based on what he had just seen, but if she made no mention of it, he was comfortable following suit. Either way, such girls did not just randomly appear on the Barabel homeworld for no reason: she had to be there for some reason or another, and he was admittedly curious.
"I have been tasked with acquiring replacements for ninety imperial soldiers who were recently killed," she replied, "Such soldiers will need to be extraordinarily loyal and able to remember clearly where their loyalties lie." At that, the clan-chief nodded his understanding.
"Understood, Ma'am," he replied, "How did the imperial soldiers come to be dead, if I may?"
"I killed them," she answered, and he blinked but nodded as he realized the situation aboard the ship she was from was far more dangerous and complex than he had first assumed. Still, he had ideas for how to provide her with the reinforcements he could logically conclude she wanted.
"I understand, my Lady. I believe I have men who possess the precise specifications you require," he replied, "Please, stay in the village this evening, you look as if you are in need of rest."
"I am, and thank you," N'Lola said, then jerked to an abrupt halt and squinted as she looked around, sensing a great power nearby, but one as unfamiliar as it was impressively strong. For a moment, the Force warned her of an impending threat of dire proportion, but then, in the next heartbeat, the threat seemed to disintegrate into nothingness. There was still the feeling of a great power nearby, but one whose mindset toward her had switched from malevolence to benevolence. She couldn't put her finger on the reason, but as drained as she felt at this moment in time, she found herself thankful that whatever had been considering engaging her in battle, had elected against it, and she went with her newfound friends into their settlement for a night's rest.
A scant thousand feet distant, a pair of yellow-green irises fixated coolly on the fourteen-year-old, the Neti survivor watched the girl tap into emotional power and use the Force to trigger explosions on the three poacher ships. She readied herself to attack, since that was a great and terrible power of the dark side of the Force, tan skin rippling with the tensing of muscles as her eleven and a half foot frame prepared to sweep toward the Sith apprentice. Her fingers curled around the wood-and-metal grip of her green-bladed light-saber, root-like brown tendrils on her head seeming like they were somehow tensing. Even as the muscles of her thighs started to prepare for a great leap to race toward the young, exhausted apprentice, she felt a minute disturbance in the Force, almost precisely at her own location. A notable disturbance in the Force had drawn her to the Barabel homeworld, and as she prepared to strike, it was a minor disturbance and the sense of a familiar presence that made her halt abruptly.
"Who's there?" she asked as she half-turned, and stared in disbelieving recognition at the spectral image of a Jedi Master who had been dead for many years, dressed the same as he had always dressed in life.
"All is not as it appears to be, T'ra Saa," said the manifestation of Qui-Gon Jinn's consciousness, projecting his voice into the realm of the living, "The young woman is not the enemy of the Jedi. She is an enemy of the Empire, and an enemy to all who serve the dark side of the Force."
"The girl used the Force to destroy three ships," T'ra said.
"Yes, but not with evil purpose," Qui-Gon replied cryptically, and T'ra tilted her head at him quizzically.
"Yet I felt a powerful surge of emotion from her as she used it," T'ra mused thoughtfully.
"The emotion was a veil, the girl is acting with an excess of caution," Qui-Gon explained, "While she used the Force, she cautiously modified her expression and veiled her emotion. The blue represents the true source of the power that allowed her to use the Force for a power as devastating as that which you observed." T'ra paused a moment, to process and consider what he said to her.
"You saw that which she wished any living person to see: the channeling of anger in a moment of tumult and agitation. I saw that which she wishes no living person to see: she channeled a deep and terrible tranquility, focused by the lens of her purpose, sharpened by the whetstone of her devotion to the protection of life by interference with the machinations of the Emperor." T'ra Saa's hostility almost evaporated at the revelation that the girl had been channeling only inner calm, and she deactivated her light-saber in that instant.
"I shall hope that you are right, Qui-Gon Jinn," she said with a soft, meditative breath.
"Tell none what I have shared with you, only that we have an ally in the Empire, and then only share as much as you must. This one's ability to aid the rebel cause depends on her truth remaining undiscovered," Qui-Gon said, before his ghostly image disintegrated into a mist as if it had been struck by a strong breeze.
"Interesting," said T'ra Saa to herself as she watched the young apprentice walk with the Barabel whom she had saved and those who had arrived with her, into a Barabel settlement. It represented another secret she would have to carry with her, until the day when she could reveal that secret without putting the young woman's life at risk. Even still, T'ra Saa had no idea who she was, but whoever she was, Qui-Gon Jinn was convinced that she was an enemy of the Empire, and an enemy of the dark-siders, and that made her an ally to both the rebellion and the Jedi survivors. It could only be described as a startling development; she had never expected the rebellion to have an ally in the Empire, much less one hidden so deeply therein.
"Good luck, child," T'ra Saa breathed the words, "you walk a perilous path." As the opportunity for stealthy departure arose, T'ra Saa returned to her ship, and quickly fled the planet with the new secret she had learned.
Following a night's rest, N'Lola emerged following breakfast and a shower, to discover the clan-chief found and briefed prospective soldiers, thankful for her intervention against the poachers. She would have her choice out of one hundred and thirty individuals, from whom she was readily able to select eighty-three individuals, as the fleet's crew could only easily accommodate for a certain number. Although the Admiral had instructed her to select ninety, she went instead with ninety-three, bringing the number of people loyal to her before all others, to one hundred thirty. It was a good start for her own plans, and she nodded to the clan-chief.
"Thank you, Tokkal. I am sure that these men will be perfectly suited to my needs," N'Lola said, and in reply, the clan-chief bowed his head briefly in agreement. Then, they were quick to board the shuttles and swiftly flew back to the Indomitable, where the men were interviewed rather simply by the admiral once N'Lola made her report. Golm's trust in her at this time, combined with their proper answers to his questions, convinced her Master that he had nothing to fear from her yet. Even as the admiral was beginning to turn his focus to another task, the entire ship shook abruptly, utterly without warning, and nearly threw him from his feet. At the same moment, N'Lola jerked through the air before setting her feet and stabilizing herself, faster and more smoothly than her Master, and looked toward the Sith Lord for instruction. A moment's pause followed, and then the doors of the ready-room opened unexpectedly.
"Admiral, the fleet is under attack!"
"Rebels?" demanded Admiral Golm. The sailor shook his head.
"Blackguard dropships, Admiral!" answered the sailor, and the admiral blinked and stared at him in disbelief, if only for a moment. Still, N'Lola sensed that his first reaction was one of shock, followed by one of outrage.
"How many?" the Sith Lord demanded.
"One hundred," the breathless sailor replied.
"One hundred men?" queried the admiral.
"One hundred dropships," clarified the sailor. The admiral's expression paled faintly with surprise, because the Blackguard had successfully stolen the schematics for the TIE Boarding Shuttle, each of which able to transport a squad of as many as twelve individuals. One hundred dropships meant that there was a very real possibility of twelve hundred Blackguard interlopers coming aboard, split between the nineteen ships.
"Ricona," said Darth Fralius as his yellow irises turned to his apprentice, "Purge the Blackguard interlopers from the Indomitable."
"Yes, Master," she replied with a quick, curt nod, turning promptly on one heel and exiting the ready-room as she drew and activated her light-saber. She soon found her Barabel loyalists were engaged in battle by the intruders, and narrowed her concentration into the task, shrouding her tranquility behind a wall of false fury and converting her facial features to the same. Her gauntleted hand extended, and a wall of Force whipped from her hands to strike those twelve men with a powerful distraction. Even as they turned, blasters lanced into them from the flank they abandoned, as her Barabel soldiers seized the opportunity to kill the interlopers.
"Collect their lightsabers, and secure the armoury!" she commanded, sensing the Blackguards were nowhere in the vicinity thereof, which meant security for her loyalists. Zivvac nodded immediately, and motioned, the Barabel soldiers quickly collecting the twelve light-sabers and retreating to the armoury as N'Lola then turned, following her Force-sensitivity to the location of additional Blackguard soldiers. As she entered one of the hangars, she paused on a balcony beside a wall-mounted ladder, overlooking the hangar and the decimation ahead.
The hangar floor was strewn with the bodies of seventy-two imperial soldiers, twenty-four pilots and forty-eight hangar crew, with two dozen flaming, smoking heaps of metal that had previously been TIE Fighters. However, before they had been able to get to the Curich shuttles, they had been interrupted by the arrival two platoons of naval security personnel, all sixty of whom lay dead on the floor of the hangar now, too. She could tell these platoons bought time for storm troopers to arrive, and four platoons were now engaged in battle against two dozen light-saber-wielding Blackguard soldiers, who had already killed thirty-six of the storm troopers. Even right at this position, two squads of the interlopers had killed one hundred and sixty-eight soldiers without losses, as deadly as a Jedi incursion.
However, Darth Fralius did not specify that she should rescue soldiers already engaged in battle against those Blackguard interlopers. Out of all imperial soldiers battling the intruders, below, not one was loyal to her with priority, and she was content to observe the fight and let it unfold without her own interference. The Blackguards' assault was a mixed blessing, and one that represented a serious opportunity for the advancement of the young Sith apprentice's own plans, and N'Lola knew it. As she sensed familiar Force behind her, she turned her head a slight bit as Nuav and Xuax approached and stopped to either side of her and slightly behind.
"Are you going to stop them?" asked Nuav.
"I was thinking about it," N'Lola answered, "Darth Fralius commanded me to eradicate the Blackguards."
"You might want to do so before they run out of other things to kill," Xuax observed.
"The admiral didn't specify for me to rescue anyone," she replied, and the Epicanthix twins both responded with a chortling smirk of understanding.
"Where do you need us to be?" asked Nuav.
"Not here," N'Lola replied, "Seek out and destroy some of the other squads on the ship. If you find imperials battling them, let them kill the imperials first." The Epicanthix twins nodded in agreement, concurring with her thought on the matter, stepping back through the door before turning and racing to track down other groups. Then, N'Lola's eyes turned back toward the battle below, as she took a deep breath and focused, entering a brief meditative state and heightening her inner calm. She focused, then out with the power of her mind and the Force, not to the Blackguards, but to the remaining storm troopers those Blackguards were battling against, slipping her will into the minds of those four dozen who remained. Abruptly, their tactic changed from firing at all enemies to firing at particular enemies at a time, focusing their assault to overwhelm the Blackguards, four at a time. As each section of twelve storm troopers focused their fire on a single Blackguard, other Blackguards started to rush forward as their number began to dwindle for the first time.
"The apprentice is here!" shouted one of the Blackguards, as the whole of their number sensed her influence, as their number dropped from twenty-four to twenty, then to sixteen. The storm troopers below were falling quickly, since they had stopped firing at all enemies simultaneously and began to focus, but now they were overwhelming the defensive skill of individual interlopers. She winced faintly, one eyelid twitching every time one of the minds she was influencing went silent in death, and clenched her jaw while her fingers tightened about the grip of her lightsaber, but she maintained her focus. Forty-eight troopers began thirty, and thirty became twelve, and twelve fell smoothly to nil, but in the aftermath of her influence, she had also diminished the Blackguards from twenty-four to six. Passing from her trance, she ran to the edge of the balcony and leapt, using the Force to come sweeping down in a graceful glide, landing in front of those who remained. She could sense their inexperience, and realized that those who had come to attack the ship must have been Elite Minions, seeking to prove their worth and rise to the rank of Blackguard Wilders.
"Surrender now, and I will see that you are not executed," N'Lola said, "Otherwise, I will have no choice but to kill you." The six young men blinked at her in disbelief and stared for a moment, before one of them lurched forward to attack, his lightsaber cutting the air with a low, soft hum. Her own cut the air and struck his with a loud hum as she pivoted on her heel and slammed her right elbow into the back of his head, followed by the back of her fist. N'Lola's movement continued in a wheeling motion that brought her lightsaber around, soon puncturing his body through the upper torso and leaving a scorched hole through his heart and one lung. His lightsaber clattered to the ground, and his body went slack, gravity cutting a gaping, seared path out of his body up through the shoulder before he fell dead on the hangar floor.
"I will give you one last opportunity to surrender," N'Lola repeated, as she sensed the approach of additional security personnel who felt as if they were armed, as well, "you will die soon, if you do not yield. I can promise your lives if you surrender." They heard the sound of the doors whirring open, the five young men looked around from her to the arriving storm troopers, and looked to her once more. Their fingers moved, in motions that seemed inexorably slow, until the press of a button and their lightsabers were deactivated, released, clattering to the metal of the floor as their arms lifted over their heads.
"Do not fire," N'Lola commanded the storm troopers, ~You will have one chance to escape, be ready when that opportunity arrives, and remember that it is the light that brought salvation.~
~Who are you?~ came the voice of one of the five young men into her mind.
~Selene,~ she said, choosing a name for the rebels to know her by, "Take these men to the brig."
There had nevertheless been an incredible number of casualties, throughout the fleet, as the reports were delivered to her for her to deliver to the admiral personally. It wouldn't be the first time the bearer of bad news had suffered because of the bad news they brought, and the sailors bringing in the reports to her, confessed they felt it was less likely that the admiral would kill his attaché than them. An observation she had to agree with in her mind, to which she nodded her understanding outwardly.
"Admiral," N'Lola said as she stepped into the ready-room, "I have the final report on the aftermath of the Blackguard attack."
"You may begin," granted the Admiral as he stood at his window looking out. The ships themselves had not been too terribly damaged, but there was a considerable loss of life and machinery: the interlopers had targeted their starfighters with demolitions experts.
"There are seventeen thousand dead throughout the Fleet, including all fighter pilots and hangar personnel, and all two hundred and forty of the TIE Fighters. All fatalities originate in the Human crewmembers," she explained, providing the quickest and simplest summary that she could.
"Damn," swore the admiral under his breath, "We will need to requisition new TIE Fighters. This will mean several thousand new imperial soldiers to come with them."
"Unless we replace the soldiers before notifying the Empire of the assault, admiral," offered N'Lola, feigning a submissive, placating tone. The admiral raised an eyebrow ridge, then half-turned and looked toward her critically, but could not deny the logic in her proposition, particularly since he had ordered her to do precisely that once, already. It was entirely fair for her to assume he would wish her to do something similar now, though with how many people were lost, it might prove to be a much more involved task and it would require more than a few simple Curich shuttles. If he wanted her to do this and to do it quickly, she would need something considerably larger, to transport a minimum of nine thousand reinforcements.
"Were the casualties particularly severe on any of the ships?"
"The captains of the Albatross, the Dauntless, the Harbinger, and the Avenger, are dead," she replied, after a momentary pause to check the casualty lists. It meant all four of the fighter-carriers were presently without captains, since the crews of both Ton Falk-class ships and both Neutron Star-class ships were almost utterly eviscerated by the attack. Indeed, of the seventeen thousand seventy-eight dead, roughly three thousand six hundred had been aboard those Neutron Star-class ships, and four thousand had been aboard the Ton Falk-class ships.
"Take the Dauntless," said the admiral at last, "acquire reinforcement soldiers for all personnel that we have lost, we cannot let the Empire put that many of their own replacements on the ship."
"Yes, Admiral," she replied.
"How many fatalities aboard the Acclamators?" asked the admiral. Each one carried sixteen thousand soldiers in addition to the seven hundred actual crewmen. He hoped that some had died, so he could replace them, because he was confident that they were imperial loyalists, through and through.
"Six thousand," she replied, and the admiral offered a grim nod of acceptance. In spite of that expression, her senses told her that there was a wicked, unmistakable glee beneath that somber surface.
"Replace those, as well," he instructed, and she nodded, "You may go." She turned immediately, and exited the ready-room to move to the Dauntless, which was soon followed by one of the Acclamators after it had transferred enough soldiers to replenish all five others. After that, it had six thousand seventy vacancies she was instructed to fill, among the seventeen thousand one hundred and forty-eight crew and soldiers she needed to replace. Through a quick use of her abilities, and with the assistance of the Epicanthix twins, she had the five captured Blackguards transferred from the Indomitable's brig to the Dauntless. Then, within an hour, both ships had vanished into hyperspace, and with the Epicanthix twins at the helm of the Dauntless, they set a course for her first destination: the planet Ryloth.
While they were in hyperspace, N'Lola reached with her mind and manipulated a battalion of storm troopers into releasing the prisoners from the brig and escorting them to the hangar of the Dauntless. Seconds later, the five of them were alone in the hangar, without anyone else within a hundred meters of the hangar. Seizing their opportunity, the five young men hurried to the consoles and opened the hangar bay, in spite of the fact they were in hyperspace. It would be a dangerous escape, but as she had warned, they would have one chance and one chance only, and this was it. They dared not run the risk of using their own Force abilities until now, waiting the opportunity she had promised, until they were standing in the hangar looking out at the whirring blur of hyperspace through the force field. In thanks for her assistance, they made sure to magnetize the shuttles they weren't taking, before boarding the last one and made ready to drop the force field remotely so they could escape.
~Selene,~ the words came to her mind, ~My name is Jorren Mirkaire, and wherever you are, if ever you need us, we will be there for you. Thank you.~
~You are welcome,~ Selene replied mentally, using the Force more comfortably having only eight individuals Force-sensitive on the entire ship, and being able to account for all of them, with five about to leave.
~Where should we go?~
~Let the Force lead you to the light,~ Selene advised, and felt a response of assent from all five. A moment later, her mind turned toward the naval personnel on the bridge, who had begun to notice an anomaly in the hangars. She reached with the Force and erased that anomaly from their memories, and used the Force to conceal it from them, to ensure they did not see it. A few seconds later, she felt the five Force-sensitives almost instantaneously vanish from her senses as the stolen Curich-class left the ship, and was immediately dragged from hyperspace.
Once they arrived, they spent ten days as N'Lola, Nuav, and Xuax, interviewed prospective pilots and flight mechanics in the thousands. Finally, however, they were able to select four hundred eighty flight mechanics and two hundred forty starfighter pilots who met a sequence of specifications which confirmed their loyalty would be to N'Lola above all else. Their complexions were widely varied between the seven hundred twenty individuals: some were blue-skinned, some green-skinned, some purple-skinned, while others were yellow-skinned and still others orange-skinned. However, both of the Epicanthix assassins were unquestionably confident in their loyalty, in agreement with N'Lola herself, and then the ships set out from Ryloth to her next destination. For nearly a month more, she remained in only long-range communication with Darth Fralius as she interviewed prospective replacements on the planets of Gelefil, more often called Annoo since the Annoo-dat Prime had conquered it, Bpfassh, and Barab I.
"The Empire has informed me that replacement soldiers will be ready to be sent to replenish the fleet in two weeks," Darth Fralius said to her as she knelt on one knee in the communications chamber, demonstrating her feigned submission to her Master, "How close are you to completing your task?"
"Two days, Master," she replied, and a grim smile of satisfaction formed on the holographic image of the face of the Feeorin Sith Lord, "We have only a few more positions to fill, only two hundred and sixty more interviews."
"Excellent," he replied, and then the holographic image vanished unceremoniously. She had interviewed in all likelihood more than one hundred thousand people, between herself and the Epicanthix twins, before selecting four thousand nine hundred and seven Bpfasshi, six thousand three hundred and eight Annoo-dat Primes, and an additional five thousand two hundred thirteen Barabel. She preemptively assigned the Annoo-dat Primes to the Acclamator, the 'Intrepid,' spreading her influence onto one of the troop transports. They would inform her, covertly, if there happened to be threats on the Intrepid that she needed to find a way to be rid of, and now four ship captains were fellow Bpfasshi, who would be likewise loyal to her above all.
On their return, it was more people than the admiral could interview to verify them for himself, and instead he interviewed N'Lola, Nuav, and Xuax, to verify instead the motivations of those he had put in charge of replacing those who had been killed by the Blackguard assault. Despite his trust in N'Lola, he interviewed her extensively, but was ultimately satisfied; expert deceivers themselves, the unreadable Epicanthix twins were able to convince Golm of their own loyalty with equal efficiency. It took days, but finally the Sith Lord was satisfied, and with the Empire being satisfied the vacancies had been filled with loyalists, they notified the admiral and his attaché that they were sending a freighter to transport the two hundred and forty TIE Fighters that needed replacement. They would additionally be sending replacements for the thirteen Curich-class shuttles that had also been destroyed in the Blackguards' incursion. The fleet waited, in an extra-orbital position far above the planet Velusia, for the arrival of the freighter carrying the replacement TIE Fighters.
Following a three-day wait, a Star Galleon frigate swept out of hyperspace and approached the fleet. Even as the TIE Fighters were being transferred to their new hangars and assigned to the Twi'lek crews, N'Lola sensed the approach of someone who was potent in the use of the Force. It was not long before a Delta-class shuttle landed in the Indomitable's primary hangar, and from it emerged a tall, gaunt Human six foot four inches in height with short black hair in a slicked-back style and light, grey-green eyes. He was dressed in an armoured, open-fronted robe including a neck-guard, with a light-saber holstered on his right hip, black leather boots of ankle-height, lightly armoured tunic and breeches, and a durasteel-buckled black leather belt. The man was accompanied by four other males, armed with light-sabers, each clad in black armour. She could sense the Force in all four of those additional soldiers, and she knew with certitude the four men were not only imperial agents, but Sith Warriors.
"Welcome to the Indomitable," said N'Lola as she stepped forward to greet them, "I am N'Lola Vurkoth, the attaché to Admiral Golm."
"Ah, Fralius' apprentice, precisely the young woman I came to see," the lead man replied, "I am Inquisitor Jerrik." She raised an eyebrow at his assurance that he had come to see her, and outwardly disregarded the statement.
"Shall I escort you to the admiral?"
"No, child, I am here to speak with you, as well as Lieutenant-Commanders Nuav and Xuax," said Inquisitor Jerrik, and N'Lola nodded calmly.
"Understood, Inquisitor Jerrik," she answered serenely, "Where would you like to conduct your interview?"
"Cargo Bay 3, Storage Room 7," he replied coolly, slipping past her to lead the way with a soft swish of his armoured robe. The scent of leather, cotton, and metal, filled her nostrils as he passed, looking over his shoulder with a snide smirk. Flanked by two Sith Warriors on either side of her, N'Lola followed with a serene, smooth gait, as the Inquisitor ordered that the two Epicanthix Lieutenant-Commanders meet them at their destination. As they arrived in the cargo bay, N'Lola found the twins waiting as well, and sensed the approach of several hundred people throughout the ship's crew.
"Lieutenant-Commander Nuav," said Inquisitor Jerrik, motioning toward the modest-sized storage room, and following him into the room. They waited several minutes, then Nuav returned and Xuax entered in his twin's place, after which there was another wait of several minutes before the doors opened again. Finally, the second Epicanthix emerged, and N'Lola strolled casually into the storage room, which had a ten-foot ceiling and while it was forty feet on a side, so much of that was crates of supplies, including water and rations, it almost felt cramped even with just the two of them.
"Apprentice Ricona," said Jerrik as the doors of the storage room whirred softly shut, "your choice of attire is, to say the least… quite interesting. I must ask, why does your shirt have only one sleeve?"
"I elected for a gauntlet in lieu of a sleeve," came the smooth, honest answer from the fourteen-year-old.
"I see, and why do you favour a gauntlet over a sleeve?"
"Style preference," she answered in a tone of utter serenity, though the Inquisitor's eyebrow twitched as if he suspected she was giving him cheek.
"I suppose we all have our… preferences," admitted Jerrik in a somewhat condescending tone of voice, "And from whence did you acquire your gauntlet?"
"I fabricated the gauntlet myself," she replied with continuing honesty. The Inquisitor raised an eyebrow and turned his head faintly toward her, coming to a halt to her left and looking at her out of the corner of his eye.
"Hmm, interesting," answered the Inquisitor, "What does it do?"
"It houses a simple communicator," she answered, her serene tone unchanged as the lie slipped from her lips as sleek and silky as a cat. That wasn't all it did…
"What's this?"
"It's a kyber crystal, the most powerful of the types of crystals typically used in lightsabers," replied Xuax.
"It was not easy to acquire. However," Nuav warned, "we feel through our connection to the Force that you are ready for the responsibility it represents. We can get you what you need to make use of the crystal."
"Thank you," N'Lola replied thoughtfully, "I will need… a small amount of beskar, as well as a small amount of phrik." The twins each lifted an eyebrow thoughtfully, but nodded to her request.
Once she had the minerals required, she had set to work immediately on fabricating a device, though it took her two months of secret labour to complete it. Finally, however, she was able to introduce the gauntlet to her ensemble as a shimmer of iridescent black. Fitting close to her skin, it stretched from her fingertips to her elbow, gleaming and having a bulge lengthwise from elbow to rise on either side, the topside and the underside.
"Fascinating," said Nuav observantly, "Did you use the kyber crystal in this, too?"
"Yes," N'Lola replied, her projection standing amid the rock formations of the vast deserts of Tatooine.
"What is the function the crystal provides?"
"A protective sleeve from my fingers to my shoulder," she replied, and understanding dawned on both faces, as they realized the reason that she had removed the right sleeve from all of her shirts. They had noticed that for the last two months, N'Lola had stopped wearing right sleeves, and this explained the unexpected disappearance of part of her normal body covering.
"I see, it'll allow you to block lightsabers, then," observed Xuax, and N'Lola nodded, "Interesting choice."
"Resourceful," observed Inquisitor Jerrik, then rolled his shoulders and dismissed it, "What makes you think you are qualified to select replacements for the imperial troops who were killed during the Blackguard assault?"
"I made no such self-judgment," answered N'Lola smoothly, "nor was it my decision to make. I was given a task and ordered to perform it. I did as instructed, to the best of my abilities."
"Who ordered you to select these replacements?"
"The only one whose orders I listen to, the orders of my Master, Darth Fralius," she answer in a tranquil tone, though the Inquisitor's eyebrow twitched as if he suspected sass, though he could sense nothing from her but honesty and serene submission to his questions.
"Where did you decide to search for the replacements your Master instructed you to acquire?"
"The planets Bpfassh, Ryloth, Gelefil, and Barab I," she answered with continuing calm. For once, N'Lola was able to use her natural state of calm to her own benefit, minimizing her use of the Force Veil to one so minor that it slipped beneath the Inquisitor's natural radar. He hadn't noticed the lie when she insinuated that her gauntlet housed only the communicator to which she had made the direct reference.
"Why those planets?" questioned the Inquisitor, probing her mentality and rationalization.
"The Barabel, Twi'leks, Annoo-dat Primes, and Bpfasshi all have strong, proud warrior traditions and possess the intelligence required to fill the positions made vacant. The residents of these four worlds were reasonable choices," she answered, in the same rational tone. Her will warred with his in this interrogation, as she maintained a cautiously respectful, subordinate voice and refused to give him reason to become agitated. She could tell he wanted to, she could tell that he likely felt sassed at a couple points, but could find nothing to suggest it was intentional, even if it may have been slightly thus.
"How many prospective candidates did you interview in your search to fill the vacated positions?"
"Over one hundred thousand," she replied.
"From these, what made you favour the individuals you selected?"
"Each individual selected was chosen to fill a specific role within the fleet, to replace a specific soldier. Those selected were chosen for having a predetermined set of mandatory characteristics. Each candidate had to demonstrate proficiency and efficiency in the skills that would be required of the role. Additionally, I required proof of intelligence, reliability, strong work ethic, and above all, loyalty to the Empire," replied N'Lola, the lie that hid within the otherwise truthful statement slipping stealthily beneath the Inquisitor's radar.
"I see, and…" started Inquisitor Jerrik, before the door shook violently and then flew from the hinges inward, as Darth Fralius stormed into the storage room.
"You dare to interrogate my apprentice absent of my presence and without first consulting me on the matter?" demanded Fralius.
"Lord Fralius, I am merely performing the duties I have been instructed to perform," advised Inquisitor Jerrik, "Your apprentice was selected to make the final decision on the replacement of more than seventeen thousand Imperial soldiers. The Emperor was… concerned, and wished to verify the loyalty of those involved in the selection process." Fralius narrowed his eyes, clearly less than placated by the argument, and for several long minutes, the two men stared aggressively into one another's eyes, before the Inquisitor set his jaw.
"Very well," the Inquisitor said, "This interview is over. There is one last matter to be attended to." Jerrik's eyes turned toward N'Lola. He stepped out of the storeroom, followed by both the Sith Lord and his young apprentice.
"And what final matter, before you return to your Master, Inquisitor?" demanded Fralius.
"Your apprentice must now pass a trial by combat, to demonstrate her strength and her embrace of the power of the dark side," the Inquisitor replied. The admiral's eyebrow ridge twitched with anger, but he set his jaw and tacitly accepted the edict, in part for lack of choice in the matter. N'Lola drew her lightsaber and activated it, holding it firmly in one hand as she walked into an open part of the cargo bay, about the fringes of whence had gathered hundreds of soldiers, including many on balconies, as the cargo bay was massive, standing a full four decks tall.
"And against whom shall I fight, Inquisitor Jerrik?" asked N'Lola calmly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see more than a few Bpfassh and Barabel soldiers cautiously tightening their handholds on their weapons. From the periphery of her vision, she could also see many of the ship's security personnel tightening their own grips, though not because of her loyalists. All eyes were on the Inquisitor, on the Sith Lord, and on his apprentice. At even the first hint of a signal from her, she suspected her chosen ones might have been willing and ready to launch an all-out attack. She suspected that the Golm-loyalists would have reacted in much the same way, if Darth Fralius had decided to make a true issue out of the Inquisitor's incursion.
"Them," the Inquisitor replied, and with a motion, two of the Sith Warriors he had brought with him moved forward, activating their lightsabers in the process. She walked out to an open position in the cargo bay, even as their audience grew to hundreds, and the Inquisitor grimaced at it becoming such a major demonstration. Her lightsaber's blade hummed through the air as she turned to face them, now having an area a few dozen meters in diameter to battle the two warriors in. Each man was in his early twenties, gripped the hilt of his lightsaber in both hands, and approached with a measured gait as they neared.
As one lunged, she twisted out of the way and snapped a kick into his hip, which knocked him further than he had intended to go by amplifying his own inertia. Even as she spun around, her lightsaber whipped about and a loud hum sounded as she blocked the blade of the other with her own. As the first recovered, she brought her foot up and slammed it into the second's sternum, catapulting him backward through the air to land on his back as she wheeled to block the incoming blade of the other. Another loud hum, as she pivoted and rolled with quick footwork, slamming her elbow into the back of the man's head before kicking him in the small of the back, throwing him into his teammate.
The two men glowered at her with irritation, circling her in opposite directions for a moment until she leapt backward, expanding the space between her and both of them in a third direction. Immediately, one of the men raised his free hand and launched a wave of Force at her with a thrust of that hand, though N'Lola twisted sideward out of the path of it. Then, she suddenly burst forward, and the man raced forward to meet her, as her gauntleted right hand lifted and swiveled, coming down in a gavel-like motion. Suddenly, a powerful wave of Force slammed into the man nearest her, buckling his knees under the weight almost to the point of his knees touching the metal floor. The striking motion simultaneously catapulted her into the air as if it were a pole vault, moving in a perfect semicircular arc before coming down behind him, toward the second man. Her lightsaber hummed deeply through the air as she came down with an overhand chop, but as the second moved to block it with his own, she used the Force once more. She slammed a fist of Force into his gut, knocking the air out of him and weakening his position before knocking his blocking hand out of the path.
A second later, her blade clove through his body from his left shoulder to his right hip, shearing him into two separate pieces. Even as his lightsaber fell out of his dead hand, she reached with the Force and seized it, hauling it to her own grip and whirling to face the other, now armed with two lightsabers. She broke into a burst of forward speed, and the man answered with a lateral slice of his lightsaber across where he expected her to be. She jerked to a halt and slid across the floor on her rump, passing him smoothly on one side as she brought her lightsabers across, and sheared through his legs two inches above the ankle and four inches below the knee simultaneously. She slammed the Force into the floor beneath her, launching herself into a forward somersault and back to her feet, wheeling around with both blades as the man fell bringing the twin blades in a cross-chop. One blade disconnected his head from his shoulders, as the other cut a two-inch-thick slice off the top of what remained of his neck, at the same time.
"You little, I said fight them!" snapped the Inquisitor, infuriated as she killed not only one but both of those he had demanded she engage for her trial by combat.
"I do not fight for fun, and I have not been trained to show mercy to weaklings," replied N'Lola as she turned to face the Inquisitor, who scowled at her angrily, "You did not tell me you wanted the inept apprentices left alive." His face chilled instantly to a cold expression, his eyebrows a solid horizontal bar, though the right one twitched with agitation as she made a perfectly legitimate point. The Admiral, to his left and six to eight inches further away, smirked smugly at his apprentice's statement, his faith in her and in his choice to train her reinforced.
"My apprentice seems to have passed your trial by combat," the Admiral said forcefully, and the Inquisitor's eyebrow twitched further with agitation, before he straightened.
"Yes," he admitted in gruff, grudging agreement, "your replacements have passed imperial inspection." Then, he turned and stormed out of the cargo bay with his two remaining bodyguards, with intent to leave the ship as soon as possible to distance himself from the agitating fourteen-year-old.
"Excellently done, apprentice," the admiral said, "I will leave it to you to determine the distribution of those lightsabers we have acquired." She bowed her head respectfully, knowing already where she intended to distribute the one thousand two hundred and two lightsabers that were now in need of new owners.
N'Lola quickly assigned half of the lightsabers to Barabel soldiers, and half to Bpfassh soldiers, and ordering them to begin practicing and becoming experts with the use.