Chapter 7:

Inside the small ship both Mathes and Vaner were quiet, both seemed to be concentrating and thinking of how things would play out. They were going into unfamiliar territory, they had no idea what to expect. Mathes piloted the shuttle toward the main cruiser (Of what he could tell as it protruded further out then the rest). As they neared the large ship, the comm went off, "Deactivate your engines we will be bringing you in."

Vaner looked at Mathes and raised an eye brow, "Understood," replied Mathes. He types away at the console to deactivate the engines, but is careful to keep the weapons online just in case. As soon as the engines go off line there is a small jolt, as they are steadily pulled toward the large cruiser. They draw closer and closer, passing the vast size of the ship on the way, Vaner looked in wonder, "These ships are massive, I don't think our ships would stand much of a chance against them..."

Mathes made a side look at Vaner and then looked back at the ship, "Hopefully...they won't have to."

"So, what kind of plan do you have in place once we board," asked Vaner.

"Same old same old...just play along and let me do all the talking. If we are lucky everything will play out just fine, with no casualties on either side," replied Mathes.

"Why is it that I feel that you are not even sure of your own intentions in this matter...," enquired Vaner.

Mathes bit his lip as they neared the hangar doors, slowly they began to open, as they did no large amount of light was shown at all, it seemed dim and weary within the vessel. He looked on as they came to rest atop the hanger doors, coming shut with a large boom, "Nothing is ever certain Vaner...the force is the only thing we can rely on right now. Everyone is depending on us back on the Defiant, we can't let them down..."

XXXX

Lord Scourge took the lift to the lower hangers, with him were the NEWLY appointed Commander and the poor pawn whom he had spared his life. Both men stood behind Scourge in attention awaiting for the lift to arrive at its destination, they were anxious as to whom these entruders were and why they were here. More then anything they had questions and more then anything they wanted anwsers...now. The lift came to a halt and the doors slid open to reveal the lower hanger, it was dim here, far dimmer then the rest of the ship and like the rest of the ship had black walls and floor. The only color within its confines was the red banners that hung from the ceiling above. For anyone else, it would be difficult to see much of anything here, but after having been on the ship for months, most everyone was used to the low level of light.

They stepped out of the lift just as the shuttle came to rest on the hangar doors, the ship was small and appeared to nothing more then a transportation vessel. Though, it was fitted with two visible forward blaster cannons, aside from that it didn't seem very threatening at all. As they neared the ship, troopers came to attention, Scourge proceeded forward passing the line of troopers along the way. He stopped a few meters from the front of the vessel, causing the two behind him to stop abruptly to avoid bumping into him. The commander grunted at the sudden stop, then turned to point at two troopers to cover the small ships loading ramp. They moved to do as ordered, stopping only a few meters further then Lord Scourge, their guns pointed and ready for any surprises.

"I hope nothing happens...cause then we will have to replace more people," remarked the Lt.

"Speak for yourself Cade, I for one want some excitement. Been out here too damn long and not one time have I been able to shoot my fucking blaster, well...there was those privates, but anyways..." responded Commander C'rek, as he tapped his blaster pistol hanging on his side.

"Silence you fools..," ordered Scourge. The commander struck a frown at the Siths' demand, he despised taking orders, even more so from Sith Lords. Scourge payed no attention to his reaction what so ever, he could care less of what the new commnander thought of him. All he was focused on was the ship infront of them and whom it had inside. Lord Scourge was like everyone else on the ship, tired, bored and very hostile at times. Being out here for months tended to do that to a person, but now he needed to focus as should everyone else on board. The Emperor had made him in charge of the armada personally for this very reason, to ensure that anyone suspicious activity would not go unnoticed and most of all to be watchful for their most feared enemies. Scourge thought little of these entruders being a Republic strike force at all, he couldn't hope for so much and such a thing was unlikely. Though, still, he hadn't given up hope that perhaps one day the Republic would arrive and then he could finally move the plan forward that he, Revan and Meetra had put in motion.

The two troopers aimed thier guns as the loading ramp came down on the small vessel. Unlike the Intrepis, the small ship had more light within it, everyone outside slightly flinched at the mild brightness. As the ramp settled to a stop on the hanger door, two figures came walking down, they appeared to be in brown cloaks of some sort. From what Lord Scourge and the other two could recall through the comm, they had said they were migrants on a pilgrimage, so far it seemed that was a possiblilty. The two men looked around the hanger as they walked up to Scourge and his small posse. They stopped a good three paces from Lord Scourge, the taller of the two moved one more pace before speaking, "My thanks to you for allowing us to come aboard, we seek no trouble at all from the Empire. We are just passing through, we apologize we come in such great company, was not our intention to pose a threat."

Commander C'rek barked a laugh at the comment, "You. Posing a threat to us. You have to be high off ecstasy, monk."

"Please, forgive the commander. He has been cooped up in this ship for far too long and its tweaked his attitude quite a bit," remarked the Lt.

"Tweaked is far from accurate Cade...," responded C'rek as he stroked his blaster bistol awaiting for something, anything at all to happen.

Scourge roled his eyes at his two companions, "Enough...you two are agitating me greatly and that is never a good thing. As the Lt. said we have been out here for some time, so you say your just passing through. There are quite alot of you on this pilgrimage, not to mention the fact they are so heavily equiped. How did you manage to come by so many military vessels, I wonder?"

The man infront of Scourge nodded his head in understanding saying, "Of course I can imagine it is dreadful for the Empires' finest to be sent out here to guard against such inconveniences such as us. These ships were gifts from a large ship yard, their weapons are ineffective now, I can assure you. Please, allow us to be on our way...we will depart soon as you allow us and you will never see us again."

From what they were being told, things did seem to fit in place, ship yards sometimes had ineffective military vessels, though few had so many. It seemed pointless to carry this on any longer then it should. Crossing his arms and sighing, Scourge said, "Very well...you may part with you pilgrimage fleet. Leave immediately and do not return into impirial space, less you wish to loose you lives."

The man bowed and signaled his comrade to do the same, as they did so Scourge caught a glimpse of what a appeared to be a lightsaber hilted to the second mans belt. He raised his eyes, with his mouth slightly opening, he stopped himself, hoping the other two hadn't seen what he had seen. It was shut down soon as he turned to see C'rek unholster his blaster, preparing to fire at the two men, a smile stretching across his face, "Get them!"

He fired at the second man, who stepped back just as his comrade deflected the blaster bolt with his ignited blade. The lightsaber glowed with a cyon blue color, it resembled no resemblance at all to the crimsom blades weilded by Sith. These men were force weilders from somewhere far far away from impirial space. The commander continued to fire and the two troopers moved to do the same, Cade moved out of the fray ducking behind a nearby crate. Lord Scourge stood in bewilderment at what he was seeing, there in front of him were two Jedi, they were the same as Revan and Meetra, the Republic had come after all.

Again the first man blocked the blaster bolts as his comrade ignited his own blade, they stood side by side, shooting back the bolts to their origins. Trooper after trooper fell to the returning blaster fire, alarms went off throughout the hanger. More troopers came running in to join the fray, some followed by acolytes who had come to show their skills. Scourge knew these two men would not be able to beat them all, if they had any chance of surviving he had to act now or all hope would be lost. He force blasted a bolt of energy toward the commander, who screamed in agony, falling to the floor. The two men turned their attention to the two troopers, slicing away at them. The troops screamed as they were cut down, the Jedi once more turned to face the wave of troops running to challenge them. Just then, Scourge jumped in their way and yelled, "Halt! these men shall not be harmed by any of you, stand back!"

Everyone came to a running stop at the Sith Lords' command, even the acolytes paused, still keeping their blades lifted and ready to attack. He had no clear idea of what he would do now, if he allowed them to escape, all would be suspicious. If he killed them, all hope of defeating the Emperor once and for all would be lost. There was only one last option...

"These two are mine"

He ignited his blade and turned quickly to slice at the second man, he blocked it vigorously as Scourge pushed hard. The mans comrade joined in striking at Scourge's legs, he side stepped and kicked the man in the face. He stepped backward from the hit and wiped his mouth as blood oozed from a wound, again he moved foreword to help his ally. Both Jedi fought well and made Scourge work for each strike he attempted to make, he didn't want to kill both of them. All he needed was to kill one and wound and capture the other, from what he could tell he needed to keep the first man alive, the second...well...

As they fought on everyone looked at the exciting battle taking before them, both Jedi demostrated grace and control, while Lord Scourge showed the brutality and power that Sith used in combat. The first man used his skill of acrobatics to try and overtake his opponent, but it wasn't entirely working, the other man seemed to be waring down as Scourge continued to over power him strike after strike. It was clear that this man would be the one to die, Scourge had it all planned all he needed to do was wear this one out and fend off the other...for now. Scourge allowed the dark side to course through him, allowing his anger and hatred to build. A burst of renewed energy washed over him as he made his final attack at the weary man, he lifted his blade high to fend off Scourges' attack but the force was too great. The crimsom blade came hard against the his lightsaber and down across his chest. The viridian blade fell to the ground and deactivated just as its weilder fell nearby.

The first man watched as his comrade fell on his knees and then slump to the ground, he turned to face the Sith yet again, striking at every oppurtunity he was given. Scourge was forced to go on the defensive, the cyon blade moving faster with each strike, it moved with unatural physical speed. He could feel the force flowing through this man greatly with such power. The Sith had no doubt that this man could very well be the one to bring the Emperors dark reign to an end. Blow after blow Scourge attempted to block the attacks, his muscles burning from exhaustion, suddenly, his blade was struck out of his hand as he felt a large force push against his chest. He went flying against a stack of crates, hitting hard against them, blood poured from his mouth as he tride to stand up. The Jedi was already upon him, leaping a few feet near the Sith, his cyon blade lifted to deliver the final killing stroke. Just as the blade was about to come down, it stopped abruptly. The Jedi slumped to the ground, falling on his back, Scourge moved to check on him. He was still alive...barely.

"You owe me you son of a bitch...," moaned C'rek as he lowered his blaster to teh ground, still laying on the floor from his wounds.