Author's Note: Hey there, it's Qymaen and here is the first chapter of my chapter-by-chapter story, To the Galaxy's End. This is Book I: Sins of the Republic. Don't let the title fool you. There is no religious content from the real world. The rest of the story will have stronger language and violence than the Prologue. While not essential reading the prologue does give you feel for my writing and it also introduces some key characters and lets the story make more sense. Please review and point out an problems, errors, contradictions, etc. As author I have taken certain liberties with the TOR timeline, so in case you were wondering it is partially AU. Of course it may go full AU. Who knows? Not even I know. Thanks and enjoy. ^_^

Disclaimer: I am merely a Star Wars fan and have no personal or professional affiliation with George Lucas, 21st Century, or anything affiliated with the two. This is a work of fiction and will rarely have any official Star Wars characters in it unless they are integral to the story's flow and rhythm.

To the Ends of the Galaxy

Preliminary Actions

Ordo-class Dreadnought: Canderous Ordo

Orbit over Telti

Wing Commander Bron Deskaar was fitting on his flight suit and armor. Once finished he began brandishing his Verpine Blaster Carbine and two Mandal Blaster pistols. Bron was the commander of the most elite Mandalorian starfighter squadron, Ordo Squadron. For some reason Mandalore had ordered the fleet that the Mandalorians had been secretly building ever since their defeat in the War of Honor 300+ years ago by the Republic, to assemble at the planet of Telti, a colony that had been acquired by the previous Mandalore some twenty years ago.

No matter what he thought he had to follow orders. After all he wasn't a bounty hunter anymore, and hadn't been one for more than fifteen years. He checed his chrono. He had to be on the bridge of the Canderous Ordo in half-an-hour. He did one final check of his beloved weapons, he'd won them in tournament when he started his bounty hunting career some twenty five years ago, and walked out of his quarters to the bridge.

Now that he thought about it he was glad officers got to sleep by themselves. Those ensigns had to sleep in rooms with up to three other guys. He inwardly shuddered. He remembered the days when the smell of unwashed bodies made him sick. To the members of the Canderous Ordo and, especially, his squadron he was a mustang. He figured this was about as high he could go in rank considering how old he was. It was then that he remembered his age. 47 he thought to himself.

A few minutes later he was at the bridge. Off to his left a few of the other squadron leaders were joking around. Clearly Mandalore had not arrived yet. Bron walked over to them and was able to recognize at least one of them. "Well I'll be a son of a bitch." he muttered to himself. "Mary Axtal," he called to the only woman in the group. She looked up and a smile rose up on her face. "Well, well if it isn't Bron Deskaar. What are you doing here Deskaar? Last I heard you were slowly rotting in some Exchange prison." Bron chuckled, "Oh I got away safe and unharmed. My guards…well let's just say that they aren't getting their paychecks any time soon." Mary threw her head back and laughed loudly. "What the hell are you doing here?" asked Bron. "You finally given up on bounty hunting? Mandalore needs every warm body available to soak up blaster fire so the real warriors can fight." Mary threw her head back and laughed again. "No. I'm still a bounty hunter. In fact I've got my own bounty." she said proudly. "Don't recall you ever getting one." she sneered.

Bron's smirk was hidden behind his helmet. "No, but I do have a death mark." Mary's face was indignant. Bron laughed and walked off towards the second-in-command of the Canderous Ordo, Salam Deskaar, his brother. When Salam spotted Bron he broke the conversation he was in with an ensign and stood there smiling that goofy smile of his. "Well Commander, how does it feel?" "How does what feel, Bron? Salam countered. Bron laughed again, "How does it feel to be of higher rank than your mustang of a brother. This time Salam laughed, "It feels good. Now let's see if you can follow my orders. You never did back when we were kids." Salam smirked. Bron chuckled, "That's because I was the older brother."

Bron noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. He and Salam turned to see who had arrived late. When they recognized the armor they stiffly saluted. The man in front of them saluted back. Salam turned to face the majority of officers. "Mandalore on deck!" he shouted.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and saluted Mandalore. Mandalore quickly saluted back and nodded at Salam. "At ease!" yelled Salam. Everyone shifted into the at ease position with their hands clasped behind their backs. Mandalore and Salam moved out of earshot and spoke quietly to each other. About ten minutes later they came back to where they'd been previously. No one had moved a muscle.

Mandalore spoke, "Officers of the Mandalorian Navy, today is the day we gain back our honor. The Republic will not be prepared for the coming invasion. This time we have a bigger fleet and they have no battle hardened soldiers." The officers chanted the Mandalorian War Chant "Beskar!" over and over. After a couple of minutes the cheering died down. "We have been contacted by rather wealthy benefactors to distract the Republic while they too seek vengeance against the weak Republic. Tomorrow we will strike against the Republic in a concentrated attack at the critical world of Kuat."

Some of the officers, including Bron, were puzzled at the mention of Kuat. All they knew about the insignificant planet was that a tiny mining operation was operating there. Sure a small shipbuilding company, Kuat Ship, had taken over shipbuilding operations after the planet was wrecked by one of Revan's fleets, but other than that Kuat had no strategic importance. Then again the last time any Mandalorian had even taken a second look at Kuat for over fifty years.

"I see you are confused." said Mandalore. "Since our last intel on Kuat, gathered some fifty years, was studied the Republic has greatly expanded the formerly wrecked shipyards and repaired all of the formerly damaged docks and ports. Ships are flying out of those docks every standard month. In conjunction with the shipyards at Corellia and Taris the Republic has the ability to quickly turn out ships if an attack against it does not succeed quickly. Luckily they are stretched thin and if we neutralize Kuat, the largest of the three, we can push on towards Coruscant and sack both the Republic in one quick stroke."

The Beskar chant rose out of the gathering of officers once more. A few minutes later Mandalore released the officers from the bridge. Most were from other ships so for now starfighter patrols were limited to those from other ships. To waste some time, Bron decided to hang out with the radar crew.

As he approached the radar station blips were appearing on the holoboard representing surrounding space. Shit! What the hell was the Republic doing here? was his first thought. He swore, but this time out loud. Most of the starfighters on the Ordo were docked as the officers from earlier were ferried back to their respective ships. That meant that the very few fighters who were CSPing (Combat Space Patrol) would be swiftly brushed aside. Adding insult to injury they just so happened to be out on their first CSP. Their control was sloppy and they could barely manage to hold formation. He stared at the holoboard. As the blips got closer general quarters was sounded. He wished he could be out there dying for the glory of Mandalore, but he stayed planted at the radar station. We must prevail. We have to. It is our destiny. Despite what he thought the red blips just got closer and closer to the fleet.

Jedi Academy

Tython

Jedi Knight Brianna Lov silently walked down one of the gorgeous hallways of the Jedi Academy on Tython. Only the Jedi Order knew of the ancient planet. It was here that any and all future Jedi were taken to begin their training in the ways of the Force. She saw a Twi'lek youngling walk down the hallway. She was actually skipping and humming an unfamiliar tune while her lekku swung back and forth. The youngling quickly halted and bowed to Brianna. Brianna returned the act of courtesy and the youngling skipped off, humming that same tune.

Brianna continued to walk down the silent hallway. Besides the Togruta she had seen no other beings. She was glad for that. She still needed more time to think about the duel she had had with that Sith Apprentice back on Tatooine. A Sith, she thought to herself, how could there possible be any more Sith in existence? They'd been destroyed by the Jedi over 300 years ago. Hadn't they? Brianna needed to meditate. Maybe that would clear her mind. Brianna picked up her pace and headed to her room.

When she reached her room Brianna felt two familiar presences in her room. She inwardly smiled and punched in the code for her room. As expected her two closest friends, a Bothan and in the entire Jedi Order were in there. The one she hugged first was a Bothan with the most beautiful fur this side of the Corporate Sector. "Eelya!" Brianna exclaimed excitedly. "What are you doing here? Won't the library fall apart without you?" Eelya Wen'lya blushed. She never had been comfortable with praise. Brianna couldn't contain her laugh. "I think they'll be fine with Master Dural there." Eelya answered.

The second being, a Quarren, gave her a what about me? look. "Eelya who is your friend? I've never seen him before." Brianna said sarcastically. The Quarren's face heated up. "Just come over here and hug me, you schutta." Brianna laughed and gave Amit Nowt a squeeze. "Well Amit how are you doing? Has Master Zenu finally run you out of his apprenticeship?" The Quarren face went dead serious. "I don't even want to talk about him." Brianna laughed once again. The Quarren always made her laugh. He had an ego the size of Bespin, but the subtlety and tact of a Gamorrean.

She went straight to the point. "What are you two doing here?" she asked. Eelya spoke up, "We were wondering if you'd like to spar with us. Amit says he wants to show us a move that Master Zenu had taught him." Master Zenu Holu was a Barabel and the Academy's greatest swordsman. There were rumors he was even better than Grand Master Zym.

Despite her elation at seeing her friends she had to decline the offer. "Sorry, but I can't. I ran into…. a vision while on my mission to visit Darba the Hutt on Tatooine." It was a half-truth any way. The Sith she'd fought was a possible indication of events yet to come.

Both Eelya and Amit sensed how serious she was. "O-okay." said Amit. "We'll catch you later." Brianna smiled, "Of course. Remember caf at 0850." This time Amit smiled, "We'll remember. By that I mean Eelya will end up dragging my sorry behind over to the cafeteria.

Brianna laughed as they walked out of her room. With each passing second she grew more serious. "What were the Sith doing back?" she muttered to herself. "And why was one on Tatooine of all places?" Something was up. Should I tell the Council? No they'll never believe me.

Brianna wasn't sure what to do. There was no way in hell the Council would think the Sith had returned. They firmly believed that they had been eradicated over three centuries ago. She took off her robe, hung it on her door, and sat down to meditate. Brianna crossed her legs, cleared her mind of all thoughts, and released herself to the Force.

During her time under Master Dualt's tutelage meditation had always been one of the techniques she'd shown the least understanding, and attention, of. She'd always thought that meditating was a waste of time. Why sit down and clear all thoughts from your mind when you could easily think of a solution to any problem by just studying your surroundings and using the resources around you? After a mission on Prakith had gone terribly wrong, only four of the original 23 Jedi sent to Prakith had survived unharmed, she'd used meditation to help purge the nightmares of the tragedy from her subconscious mind. They did flare up every now and then, but a nightmare hadn't come for over eight weeks.

Brianna was hoping that the Sith she had seen was just a Sith wannabe or a fallen Jedi. She clung to that hope, but as she searched the Force for the answers she so desperately craved that hope slowly fell away. All she'd seen were brief fragments of her time with Master Dualt. Not so much as an image of Korriban or a red lightsaber had entered her mind. After five hours of failed searching she broke her connection and sighed.

The Force had offered no answers to her problem. Maybe I should go see the council. No, no. They'll think I'm off my nut! A thought sprung into her head. Master Dualt! He can help me. Brianna grabbed her Jedi robe and raced out of the room to the small hut that Master Dualt lived in.

Entertainment District

Nal Hutta

Valo Xenorex walked down Main Street of the Entertainment District on Nal Hutta. He ignored the calls and shouts for his attention from the various merchants and prostitutes, they preferred to be called comfort girls, that inhabited the Entertainment District. Valo had been tempted to accept a few offers from the girls, he was long overdue, but had decided to stay focused on his mission.

He turned a corner and spotted his contact among the throng of shoppers. Tall and lean, the Bothan Rendar Gax was one of the best slicers this side of Nar Shaddaa, or so he'd claimed when Valo had contacted him. Valo pulled out a small container and pressed a button. A small nanodroid flew out of the cap and rushed off towards Rendar. Valo then promptly walked into an alley.

A few minutes later Rendar appeared at the other end of the alleyway. Valo just stood there as Rendar got closer. He was carrying a bag. Valo decided not to ask Rendar of its contents.

"Are you ready?" Valo asked gravelly. "Yes oh, mighty Sith Lord." Rendar responded. Valo's alertness rose, but then subsided. This fool had no way of knowing who or what he was, besides he'd left his lightsaber back in the apartment. Either way he decided that he did not like Rendar and planned to dispose of him once his mission was complete. "Let's go." The two headed off towards the spaceport.

More calls, more wares, and more bosoms were shoved into his and Rendar's face. More than once Rendar tried to accept the offers of the prostitutes. Well a clearly defined blaster to the face had solved that problem quickly. When the two arrived at the spaceport they headed over to a small speeder store.

An overexcited hostess welcomed them. "Welcome to Logan's Rent-a-Speeder Shoppe. We have the finest speeders available this side of Coruscant. Don't you think speeders of this quality are too expensive for such modest shoppers like yourself?" "Yes." Valo replied clearly annoyed. The hostess must not have noticed. "Well then you'll be surprised that each shuttle can be rented for the low, low price of 250 credits!"

250 credits! That was much too high, but compared to other shops on this mudball it was extremely low. "Wow, 250 credits?" Valo said, faking perplexity. "That's a steal. I'll take one." The hostess flashed an annoying smile. "Well follow me to the showroom and you can pick one yourself. Valo and Rendar followed the hostess. Valo just randomly chose a speeder. "Ooh. I like that one." "That's a good choice. The Dx-3 airspeeder is a perfect fit for you two valuable customers." The hostess replied. It was clearly something she'd said over and over. The speeder she led them to was sleek and red and appeared to be in perfect working order Appearances can be deceiving. Valo thought to himself. After paying a rather corpulent human for the speeder Rendar and Valo raced off to the Hutt Palace on the other side of the Entertainment district.

As they approached the gates of the Hutt Palace four guards, bounty hunters by the look of them, stopped them. One of them, a Human, approached them. "Let we see your security passes." Valo waved his right hand. "We have our passes. The Hutts must speak to us right away." The guard repeated what Valo had said and waved them ahead. Rendar looked at Valo in disbelief. "How did you- where did you-" "Don't worry about it." Valo promptly said.

The journey to the Hutt Palace was long and the 'trail' was winding. When they arrived Valo quickly eliminated the eight guards using force lightning. It was then that Rendar spoke. "Holy Sith! You're a Jedi!" Valo turned towards Rendar and lifted the man in the air, slightly clenching his fist. "Don't you ever say that again. I am not a Jedi. I am a Sith. Does this bother you?" Valo sneered. Rendar was clutching his neck. "N-no. As long…as I…get my…credits…I won't…say a word." Valo dropped Rendar, "Good. Do what I tell you and you'll be fine." Rendar slowly lifted himself up while gasping for air. Yes, Rendar was definitely being disposed of.

They slowly crept through the corridors of the Hutt Palace. Every guard they encountered was quickly eliminated. "How much longer?" Valo whispered. "It should be at the end of the next corridor." Rendar answered. When they entered the control room it was suspiciously empty. "I have a bad feeling about this." Rendar whispered. Valo waved away the concern. "Whatever, just do what you have to do."

Rendar got to work. After about ten minutes he was still working on the computer terminal. "What the hell is taking you so long?" Valo sneered. "Hey, the system's tight. Normally I'd be able to crack this stuff within five seconds. Seems the Hutts have tightened up their security after that crash a few days back." Valo silently cursed. He hadn't expected this.

Valo started coughing and his vision began to blur. He heard Rendar shout something. It sounded sort of like… gas. He started getting dizzy and had to use the control panel to support himself. What the hell's going on? he screamed silently. Moments later both he and Rendar were on the floor unconscious.

Sith Battleship: Chaos

Orbit over Dromund Kaas

Admiral Hakuto slowly walked down the main corridor of the Chaos, the flagship of the Sith Primary Fleet. His angry footsteps echoed throughout the corridor. He pulled out his personal datapad that no one, noteven his bodyguards and aides, on the Chaos knew existed. He flicked through the numerous security codes quickly and quietly. He opened the file titled Alpha-class Orders and read through them for the umpteenth time. Although the message was only four sentences long every word he read just got him angrier and angrier. Adm. Hakuto you, and your fleet, are hereby ordered to deploy your fleet to the Hole System. Once you have arrived in-system you will be assigned to protecting a research team led by Kelstin. You are not to leave the system until explicitly told to do so. If anyone enters the system without proper authorization you are to eliminate them whether they are lowly soldiers or Jadus, himself.

Hakuto angrily shook the small datapad. After a few minutes he managed to calm himself down and pocketed the private datapad. He continued walking down the corridor thinking of the message. Of course "the Hole System" meant the Maw Cluster and Kelstin was the Sith Lord in charge of Experimental Weaponry for the Sith Navy, but even this prestigious mission, he had been promoted to Admiral from Captain because of it, did not wipe away Hakuto's fury. He wanted to be in the thick of battle when the Sith Navy struck against the over stretched Republic.

Within five minutes Hakuto had arrived at the bridge of the Chaos. He strode up to the small durasteel chair in the center of the bridge and sat in it. He had specifically requested it so that he could keep up his edge. Unlike most Captain's chairs in Sith ships, his chair had only two steps in front of it instead of the customary eight. Hakuto chuckled inwardly. He'd known more than a few Captains who'd fallen down the steps when rushing to whatever part of the ship during live-fire drills.

His Rodian aide, Vaklo, rushed up to him as he sat down. The Chaos' second-in-command, a small Sullustan by the name of Eebib Ellb, was a step behind him. After some quick salutes Ellb shouted to the officers. "Captain on deck!" Immediately the crew of the bridge sprang up from their seats and saluted Hakuto. After a few moments Hakuto saluted back, "At ease. Well boys, it seems that our orders have changed. Anyone want to take a guess as to what they now entail?" No one spoke a word. "Never any fun," Hakuto loudly muttered. The bridge crew gave out hardy laughs. Hakuto smiled at his success.

After a few moments silence had returned. Hakuto took on his captain's voice. "Officers of the Chaos we have received orders from Moff Quop that the Chaos and the Sith Primary Fleet will be deploying to the Maw Cluster to act as an escort and guard of a Sith Research Team being led by Sith Lord Kelstin, the head of the Experimental Weaponry Department."

He paused. A few of his brighter officers saw what was coming next and fury suddenly burned in their eyes. The rest let out a few groans at having to do guard duty, nothing more. "Boys, we will NOT be participating in the initial attack, or any subsequent attacks, into Republic space. We will, until ordered otherwise, be guarding this most important research team." Hakuto paused again and listened intently to the officers grumbling to themselves into disbelief. He even heard a few curses. Well more than a few actually. He nodded to Ellb. "Dismissed!" the small Sullustan yelled, and the crew did just that. Hakuto wearily sat down. His announcement had been more draining than he'd expected.

A few hours later.

Captain Hakuto arrived back at the bridge after he'd been able to snatch a couple hours of sleep. He'd had everyone except the navigation crews, the comm crews and the senior engineering officers vacate the bridge. "Mr. Crosetti are the engines ready?" The Senior Officer of the Engine and Repair crews replied affirmatively. "Hyperdrive? Shields? Starfighters? Repair droids?" He said check to all of them.

Hakuto faced the senior officer of the Communication crew. "Mr. Zhurid are the comm towers in working order?" He replied with a "Yessir." "Are the ship-to-ship comm systems clear of interfering frequencies?" Another Yes, sir was said. "Good, very good."

Hakuto waved them aside and approached the senior officer of the Navigation crew, Hano, and pulled out a small disposable datapad. "Mr. Hano the coordinates to the Maw Cluster are on this datapad. Follow them to the letter. If there are any mishaps you and you alone will take any and all responsibility. Am I clear?" "Yes, Admiral," he replied. "Well then get back to your stations. I wanted us in hyperspace 10 minutes ago." The officers laughed and went on their way.

Hakuto followed Lieutenant Zhurid to the Comm station. "Zhurid, sound general quarters and inform everyone else in our fleet that we are jumping." "Of course, Admiral." was his weary reply. Hakuto could tell that Zhurid was disappointed that they weren't seeing combat, but orders were orders.

Hakuto strode over to the Navigation station. "Lieutenant Hano are the coordinates in?" "Sir, they've been in for almost an hour." Hakuto laughed and slapped him on the back. He liked the Twi'lek. "Good. Contact, Commander Crosetti and we can be on our way." "Yes, sir." he replied, with a fake smile. Fuckin' orders. What the hell was the Council thinking?

Hakuto walked over to and sat in his hard chair. Ellb was standing next to him. "Permission to speak, sir?" he asked. "Granted." replied Hakuto. Ellb faced Hakuto and stared at him with those piercing, and slightly unnerving, black eyes. "Sir, will we ever get a chance to engage Republic ships?" Hakuto sat there for a few moments in brooding silence. "I don't know, Commander. Whether we like them or not, we have to follow orders."As if it agreed with those words the stars in front of the Chaos began streaking into lines and she shot off into hyperspace.