Fate of the Force Episode II: Chapter 9, a star wars fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Fate of the Force

Bimmiel never had been an important planet. However, to anyone happening to pass by nowadays, that would seem far from the case. With Lumiya's fleet expanded by Tavira's ministrations, it was already a considerable fleet that would have been in orbit above the planet, however the bulk of the slaver fleet was still based here despite Nazarn causing problems for Admiral Daala in one of the galactic arms. Also present were the ships that Tavira had 'hired' for Lumiya, but which were clearly part of her own fleet as she clearly intended to betray her mistress when the opportunity arose.

However, for now at least, Wethen was confident that Tavira was going to be little hassle. After returning from the Corporate Sector, she had returned to the repaired Invidious and had been acting as a model officer, whipping that ill mannered brand of renegades she had picked up into a fighting force deserving of the honour of supporting a fully armed and operation ISD. And with Captain Valek returned safely to Behemoth, and only leaving the ship once a week so far to check she was behaving, Wethen didn't see any problems with him being with Tavira, provided he remembered where his loyalties lay.

Still, it didn't hurt to have the guns of the Behemoth trained on the Invidious should Tavira try anything.

Wethen was standing looking out of the viewport, deep in thought. The hardest part was the waiting. He had served Lumiya loyally these many years, and ever since the collapse of the Imperial Ruling Council after the death of her former apprentice Carnor Jax, Lumiya had promised him that one day the Empire would return to its former glory, the Empire would be restored, the Alliance defeated and the Jedi destroyed. As a result, over these long years, interrupted as they had been by things like the Vong War and the Dark Nest Crisis and the failure of the Corellian Crisis, he had learned the value of patience.

However, now, the plan was truly on the move. The board was set, the pieces were moving, Lumiya's agents across the galaxy were furthering her plans as they came closer to the time that the Empire would return to dominance over the galaxy. Indeed, unless he missed his guess, soon the Empire would show that it was far from dead, in fact, it was about to be reborn.

But, he would still feel better having heard from Lumiya. She hadn't contacted him in days, and while she had assured him the plan ought to be able to continue without her, and while he knew full well that there was probably a very good reason she hadn't contacted them (such as she was trusting them to carry on as always until she needed them) he would prefer to have heard from her before now. After all, he and his crew had pinned all their hopes on the Dark Lady of the Sith, and any glitch now could easily undo their entire plan and flush nearly twenty years of preparation down the drain, and he wasn't intending to let that happen.

"General, priority signal from Lady Lumiya!" the Rodian lad, by the name of Gluumor, called to him and Wethen moved to the back of the bridge to see the holo of his mistress, looking rather grumpy, materialise before him.

"Mistress." Wethen said, bowing and her face softened slightly.

"General, I apologise for the time it took to contact you, I've been dealing with another of that fool Krayt's messes. All goes well I trust?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes ma'am. The Singularity is being refitted as we speak. Cronal's troopers are being held under guard, but don't seem determined to cause us any form of trouble. And the prisoners are imprisoned and await your decision on what to do with them." He said, and she frowned thoughtfully.

"I am most interested in these two clones that you found General. You are sure they are a remnant of Grand Admiral Thrawn's efforts to clone Force-sensitives?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes my lady, beyond any doubt. They're still in fairly good health, and even their mental state is fairly substantial." He reported and she nodded.

"The rest of it is just as intriguing. And while I want him dead, I don't want Cronal dead before I've had a chance to find out just what he was up to." She said, and Wethen nodded, knowing her current situation wouldn't exactly allow her to pop home for a visit.

"So what are your orders my lady?" he asked and she smirked beneath her veil.

"Events are moving apace General, and my path will take me to Coruscant. When I am on my way there, I will contact you and you can bring our guests there for me to deal with it. However, until then we have other plans that we must pursue General. First of all, Lieutenant Gluumor if you please." She called, and the Rodian approached, looking up at Lumiya nervously.

"I have it my lady." He said in a shaking voice and she smiled.

"Good. General Wethen, it is with great pleasure that I promote you to the rank of Admiral." She said with a smile and Wethen looked up at her in surprise.

"My lady, thank you, I had no idea..." he said as Gluumor handed him the rank insignia of an admiral and Lumiya smiled.

"You have earned this over your long years of service Admiral. Congratulations." She said, and he bowed to her, while receiving a salute from a relieved looking Gluumor.

"Thank you my lady. So what are my new orders?" he asked, and she grinned.

"My plans proceed apace Admiral, and now they must be accelerated. Events are now on the move that cannot be undone, and now we must set the groundwork for my other plans. My efforts within Hapes and the Remnant are reaching a pivotal time, and I need the Alliance otherwise distracted in case they try to undo my plans." She told him and he looked at her curiously.

"I understand my lady, but what of your plans within the Alliance itself?" he asked curiously and she smiled.

"Fear not admiral, they are also on the move, but we need successes elsewhere before that particular scheme gets us anywhere. Now, I have other problems I need to deal with, new information and new players have come forth and I must adjust my plans accordingly, which means I need to know my forces are doing everything they can while I am out of communication." She said, and he nodded.

"We shall to nothing but the best my lady." He assured her and she nodded.

"I know you will admiral. Continue as you have been doing with regards to reports and information Admiral, funnel anything you think important to me. But other than that, you have a new mission. We have a fleet admiral, however, with the slavers and scum like Tavira present within it, they are not a true unified fleet. If we are to match the best the Alliance has to offer, and also deal with that idiotic fool Krayt and his minions, nothing but the best will suffice and ensuring that is your new goal. We have an Imperial fleet Admiral and I want our newest additions up to the same level as our original fleet, understood?" she asked, and he nodded.

"I'll soon have them whipped into shape my lady, you have my word." He said smugly, and she gave him an indulgent smile.

"I have no doubt that you will Admiral. So, you will whip our new ships and even the slavers as much as possible into an Imperial fighting force. The Alliance's time is ebbing and soon now, and we must be ready to strike when the time is right. Events are on the move, but we are not quite there yet, so until we are, it will be up to you to make sure our fleet can contend with the best they have to offer." She said, and he nodded.

"Which means we will need targets. Has our friend on Coruscant provided us with some?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Yes in preparation for his role later on. Target convoys, solitary ships, small task forces, build up our experience, just like Ackbar did during the Vong War. Our fleet may be small, but with your leadership I'm confident it will become as great as any fleet in the height of the Empire, without the usual flaws of having some politically minded dimwit in charge of it. What you do with your victims is up to you, capture them, sell them, destroy them, I leave it to you. Wipe them out, destroy or disable as many as you can, but ensure that they are rendered useless to the Alliance. The goal is to weaken them, spread them thin in preparation for what is to come, and to make sure they cannot stop us later on, and there is no better way to do it than by spreading them out, wearing them thin and tearing them down." She informed him and he nodded.

"I understand my lady. I will deploy the fleet within the hour, and join you on Coruscant when you are able. We won't fail you." He promised her and she nodded.

"I know you won't Admiral. However, stay away from the area closest to the Imperial borders, I have other plans afoot that are bearing fruit even as we speak." She told him and he gave her a sharp salute.

"As you wish my lady, so shall it be."

"Until next time." She said, and her holo flickered out, allowing Gluumor to pin his new rank to his chest.

"Thank you Lieutenant. Signal the fleet, we're moving out. According to the information packet we just received there is a convoy bearing medical supplies to Phaeda, under the escort of a frigate and a couple of corvettes. Perfect easy pickings to get us into the swing of things. Set a course for the rendezvous point. It's time we reminded the Alliance of the realities of war with the Empire." He said as the Behemoth surged to life beneath him.

Time to make war once again. And this time, the Alliance would be the losers. He would see to it.

"My queen, you must see the danger that we are in!" Galney urged as Tenel Ka sighed, sitting at the head of a table in the conference room.

So far, the room only contained Tenel Ka, her father, her two cousins, Galney, Zekk, and the overall commander of the Hapan forces after Isolder and the Queen herself, Admiral Espara.

"I am well aware of the danger that we face Ducha Galney. AlGrey has split the Consortium virtually in half, and there's nothing I can do to stop it. And she has already gathered a lot of support to her, and I can't see how she could do all of this without considerable preparation beforehand. She was preparing for this for ages, and we just missed it." Tenel Ka hissed, and Isolder clapped her shoulder gently.

"That may be daughter, but we can't undo what's already been done. So far, all she has done is put out a general call to anyone who is disaffected with your reign to flock to her banner. While her navy and the navies of the supporting nobles are technically meant to support her due to their individual house loyalties, they have still collected rather a large group to them, from various parts of society. People are joining them more and more by the day, and other nobles are becoming very nervous, particularly the ones that are basically the neutral ones, the ones that haven't spoken out in favour of either side yet." He said grimly.

Tenel Ka got to her feet and began to pace. How had everything changed on her so quickly? She'd never been so thoroughly outmanoeuvred by the nobles before, not like this, the most they had ever managed to do was surprise her with some dinner party or something that they wanted her to go to. But this, AlGrey had whipped up a separatist movement right under her very nose, and considering the numbers that left, a lot of them had to have been approached before hand, and she'd been totally clueless as to what they were up to, and now, Hapes was drifting towards civil war and she didn't have a clue what she could do to stop it. Closing her eyes, she imagined Jacen standing behind her, wrapping his arms around her and telling her it was going to be alright. Sighing wistfully, she turned back to the others.

"Alright, AlGrey has just under a third of the nobles supporting her right? Where does that put her militarily Admiral?" she asked Espara, and Espara frowned.

"Provided all of them fully support her, and barring defections or their forces not following her orders, there has to be about two hundred or so Battle Dragons at her disposal, if not three hundred, which as you can imagine is a considerable portion of the fleet. Backed up by support ships and the forces inherent with them, and the way she's been recruiting, she has to command around a sixth of the entire Consortium's military." She said grimly, and Zekk looked at Tenel Ka in confusion.

"Alright, it's bad but I still don't get how you're so worried? After all, she only controls a sixth of it at worst." He said, but Taryn shook her head.

"It doesn't work like that. Because of what she's done, declared herself a separatist movement and general dissatisfaction with our cousin's relationship with the Alliance and the Jedi, the rest of the nobles may very well decide to support her. The nobles all control their own portion of the navy, and something like this which could easily split the entire Consortium means that their allegiances are rather fluid, and they could easily take AlGrey's side. By ourselves, we control the Royal Fleet and the Hapes fleet, their allegiances are set. However, with them we only just outnumber the fleet AlGrey has at the moment, and if this entire thing blows open into a full fledged civil war, then there's no telling how much loyalty we would hold from the other nobles." She explained and Zekk looked at Tenel Ka worriedly, as the queen was pursing her lips nervously.

"Let's not jump to conclusions. Although they have broken away, negotiation may be enough to save the situation. Loathe though I am to admit, some of them, most of them due to my grandmother, do have fairly genuine complaints. If nothing else the death of my mother and the Battle of Fondor during the Vong War showed the people that being allies with the Alliance can be potentially dangerous. Also because of Ta'a Chume my people are still fairly sceptical about the Jedi as well. Some of them have legitimate grievances that we ought to hear before we do anything." She said, and Isolder looked at her in surprise.

"I'm surprised at you, I'd have thought you'd be raring for their blood." He said, and she gave him a small smile.

"Fact. I still am. But if I can win over her less than enthusiastic nobles then I ought to do well. The Alliance has been good to us, and I'm not in any mood to burn that bridge, but I won't deny being their ally doesn't have a few downsides. The situation is tense, and I don't want things to be blown out of control or proportion. We need to move softly otherwise we do risk a war." She said worriedly.

And as Taryn had said, if war was declared between the two factions within Hapes, there were no guarantees that she would retain the loyalty of the rest of the nobles. She suppressed a groan. As if she didn't have enough problems being a queen, now she had a kingdom that was splitting right down the middle. And if things did come to a head, she knew full well where they would strike: at Allana.

Tenel Ka frowned. Although she definitely preferred this version of events to the ones Leia had described when they had been here, she couldn't deny the thought of Allana being safely somewhere else was an appealing one. True, she couldn't have sent Allana with her father, not with them going looking for a dark side monster and taking the Dark Lord of the Sith on board the ship, but for Allana to be safe anywhere but here was a good thought at the moment. In fact, her and Allana safely with Jacen was a brilliant thought in and of itself. Shaking her head, she saw Galney looking at her anxiously.

"You might be right your majesty. War may be avoidable, but if not, there are ways to go about this." She advised, and Isolder arced an eyebrow at her.

"Oh yes?" he asked curiously.

"You see my prince, as the queen says, there are many with legitimate complaints. A lot of them want a chance to act, and AlGrey has provided them with that. The thing in our favour however is the same expansionist field of thought that so threw us." She reasoned, and Trista nodded.

"Correct. The claim that we should expand out of Hapes turned as many people against her as it won her, which could give us leeway in which to move." She reasoned, and Tenel Ka nodded.

"She's right. The problem is Vena. With Vena calling for greater Alliance protection, my mother's die hards who fear anyone who isn't a Ducha are worried that it may be the sign of an impending Alliance attack. The desire to expand to take Vena and make it a protectorate of Hapes is going to be seen in two ways, either it'll be seen as a way to fend off the Alliance and increase the power of Hapes, or otherwise it will be seen as a way to invite the Alliance to invade Hapes." Isolder theorised, and Zekk shook his head.

"Hardly, the Alliance hardly has the ships to make postage runs at the moment, never mind invade Hapes, not that the nobles will listen. Can you use that Tenel Ka?" he asked, and she nodded.

"I think so. While a lot of them may agree with her on our relationship with the Alliance, the idea of expansion is far too radical to them, despite how much some of them might want it. The ones scared of the Alliance or the ones wanting to increase Hapan power will side with AlGrey, but the traditionalists, the isolationists and the ones who fear antagonising the GA will hopefully side with us. Which gives us the advantage. Not to mention I do have some nobles I can call on, who I am fairly confident will side with me. In exchange for a few concessions, I could also probably win over a few more. But that still leaves the problem of AlGrey." Tenel Ka said grimly, and Galney looked at her hesitantly.

"Well my queen, as negotiation may still be open to us, we could try to reason with them." She suggested and an idea occurred to Tenel Ka, making her smile grimly.

"Alright, here's what we'll do. I will talk to the nobles I'm most confident in, and to the nobles I suspect will serve me rather than AlGrey should it come down to it. Other nobles however will be adopting a wait and see approach, to see if I try in any way to reduce our links with the Alliance. Perhaps things aren't lost yet. I'll propose a summit between us so we can sit down and talk things out." She said, and Zekk looked at her nervously.

"Is that wise? She could easily make it into a trap." He said, and Isolder shook his head.

"No I doubt it, if she killed her before anything truly happened she'd unify everyone against her. And if she didn't show up, it would also turn people against her as well. She should be safe." He said, though he did look nervous.

"I'll be alright father. You're right, she wouldn't dare do anything now. And also, if we do it right, we can learn the true extent of what we're dealing with." She said smugly, and the others all looked at her in surprise as they saw the satisfied grin on her face.

Collonzas was taking some much needed time off from administering his pirate coalition, as was Veklanna, when his comm abruptly beeped.

"Oh ignore it, we haven't been alone together in ages!" she urged him, and he sighed before kissing her.

"I would love to babe, but if its Krayt's lot or Lumiya and I ignore them they might decide to reduce me in stature, and I don't think I'd be of much use as a boyfriend without a head." He said, flicking the covers over her head and activating the holo.

Only to be met, to his great surprise, by the well dressed and elegant form of Ducha Galney. Collonzas knew full well that Galney was part of another of Lumiya's plans, and on her request he had recruited the resurgent Lorell Raiders into his coalition to keep them out the way so she and Lumiya could lay the groundwork for their Hapan operation, but why would she be calling now?

"Lady Galney?" he asked curtly, and she smiled.

"Greetings Collonzas. I have need of your help, and time is short, so I will ignore the fact that I can see your 'joystick' and get right down to it." She said, and Collonzas moved the covers to preserve his modesty.

"Well get down to it then, I'm a busy man." He said huffily, and she gave him a slight smile.

"Yes, so I can see. Hello you under the covers." She said, and Veklanna hissed as she came out from under them.

"What is it you want Galney?" Collonzas asked irritably.

"I need to borrow the Lorell Raiders temporarily." She told him curtly, and he looked at her in surprise.

"You want me to give you back the same raiders that you asked me to round up and take out of Hapes in the first place? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of getting me involved in the first place?" he asked and she narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, from a certain point of view it would. However, we are on the same side you and I, and serve the same master. She would want you to help me and you know it, she hasn't been planning all these years just for you to have a petulant strop and undo everything." She snapped and Collonzas rolled his eyes.

"By the same token, I also need the Raiders for my own missions, my own plans, which you know full well our master also wants carried out." He snapped, and Galney glowered at him.

"This will further both sets of plans. All I need them to do is attack the Queen Mother, and once they play their part, they can head straight back to you and to whatever mission you wish. So, can I get them back?" she asked, and Collonzas hissed through his teeth.

"Very well, take them, I'll send them to you. But I need them back, if nothing else I need the Nova Cruiser back for Operation Lusankya." He said, and she nodded.

"Don't worry Collonzas, I will have them winging their way back to you within a day. Now, these are the coordinates and the orders, and if they are delayed in any way, the entire scheme will be worse than useless and Lumiya will hear of it. Understood?" she asked bossily, and Collonzas gave her a mock bow before cutting the connection.

"Bossy old crone, who does she think she is?" Veklanna asked irritably, and Collonzas scowled.

"She works for Lumiya, and now she's trying to poach a good two dozen ships from my operation. And I doubt even Lumiya would take our side, Hapes is more important than us, so she can boss us around. But for now we have to put up with it. But, once I become Lumiya's apprentice, she'll get her comeuppance, but for now, we're at the bottom of the food chain love." He said as he sent the orders to the Lorell Raiders before getting back into bed.

Veklanna smirked as she traced her pink finger down his chest.

"Well, maybe it's about time we move ourselves up the food chain." She said seductively, and he nodded.

"It is, but we can't launch Operation Lusankya yet anyway. But, we do have the data from Admiral Wethen actually. And there's a nice Assault Frigate escorting a convoy around here which we could do with adding to our collection, and then we can focus on Lusankya. Don't worry honey, we'll get back at her." He vowed, kissing her, and she kissed back then sighed.

"No offence to you love, but I don't much like these Sith plans." She said petulantly, and Collonzas grinned.

"Just close your eyes and imagine the payoff sweetie. Because it is coming, I promise." He vowed with a roguish grin and she laughed as they were immersed in the covers once again.

The Night Caller was quiet as it hung in the pirate fleet, still under deep cover. Dia was sitting at the controls, Atril was dozing slightly in her chair as Face entered. Resisting the urge to give Atril a fright to make her jump, he beckoned to Dia, but she held up a finger and beckoned him closer.

"Look, the Lorell Raiders are on the move for some reason." She said, pointing, and Face frowned, looking out of the viewport.

"Now, what do you suppose that lot are up to? And Director Kalenda has been looking for them for months, so what are they doing outside of Hapes? For ages they were giving Tenel Ka trouble, and then they vanished out of thin air as soon as she called the Jedi in to have a look. True the Jedi they sent got a fiancé out of it but still..."

The Lorell Raiders were a fairly large part of Collonzas fleet, which was also far larger than it was originally intended to be. Despite what Admiral Niathal had thought would be an easy enough situation to control, Collonzas, with his charisma and ever growing power, had rallied even small forces to him, along with unifying several of the larger groups under his banner. And his recent attacks on Alliance forces had also earned him considerable support, with sympathetic governments and parties interested in the demise of the Alliance now providing him with funding and weapons, meaning his fleet now numbered something in the two hundreds all told, and most of his ships were fairly considerable in terms of size, power and weaponry.

"Something doesn't feel right." Tyria said as she entered the bridge, making Atril shriek in alarm at the unexpected noise.

While Atril tried to regain normal breathing, ignoring the others laughter as she did so, Tyria joined Face and Dia at the viewport, frowning.

"Not feeling right how? Paranoia or Jedi?" Face asked, and Tyria frowned.

"I don't know, maybe a bit of both. But something dark is swirling, but I'm not strong enough to get you anything more than that. All I know is the dark side is strong, and it's getting stronger by the day." She said worriedly, and Dia frowned.

"Look at them, if Collonzas is aiming for bigger and better things just like we think, surely he shouldn't send off one of the biggest and most powerful aspects of his fleet just before he mounts his next big operation?" she asked, pointing.

The Raiders were indeed leaving. Led by the captured Nova cruiser, the Harravan, it led quite a significant fleet, made up of batag needle skiffs, several captured Beta cruisers, dozens of starcutters, a few Express class shuttles, and a back up of around fifteen of the new Stella class frigates, the theft of which had vexed the Hapan Admiralty enough to actually ask the Alliance to send help. And all of those ships were filled with Miy'til fighters and bombers, and a few of the ships even had some of the more formidable Hetrinar bombers present in them as well. Such a force was nothing to sneeze as it, so it made no sense whatsoever that Collonzas, a clever tactician was sending these ships away when he could easily adapt them to any plan he could think of.

"Hmm, send a report to Director Kalenda, I don't fancy being where those ships end up. Collonzas is up to something, and we need to find out what it is before it's too late. Come on, let's get some sleep, I'm sure they'll call if they need us." Atril said tiredly, yawning as she disappeared.

As Dia and Face made for the door, Face allowing Dia to go first for what Tyria suspected were less than gentlemanly reasons, she looked out of the viewport again, frowning as she did so. The dark side was growing, and it was centring around Collonzas. Something big was coming, even with her strange connection to the Force she could feel it. Frowning, she held herself close and headed back to Kell, her mind troubled.

To Tenel Ka's great surprise, AlGrey had agreed to meet with her to discuss their situation. As such, Tenel Ka, along with Espara, Zekk, Taryn and Trista had moved to her flagship, the Dragon Queen, to go to the meeting place and rendezvous with Ducha AlGrey who would be travelling there in her own Battle Dragon the Kendall. Agreeing to the rendezvous, they had agreed to meet at Roqoo Depot, using the station itself as the site of their conference.

Before she had left, Tenel Ka had been rallying the nobles she knew would be loyal no matter what should they not be able to resolve things, and along with that she had also been sounding out the support of several other nobles from the other houses. She now had a considerable body of opinion behind her, and with intelligence reports saying that AlGrey's faction was split between the extremists who wanted to expand Hapes and the isolationists who wished to achieve a much more independent arrangement from the Alliance meant that her side currently had the advantage.

But, as the Dragon Queen neared Roqoo, Tenel Ka couldn't help but be overtaken by a sense of foreboding. Something wasn't right, it was like the Force was trying to warn her of something, but wasn't able to do so, like it was somehow blocked. She exchanged a dark look with Zekk, who had Allana standing beside him looking with interest around the bridge (she had never been allowed here before since a trip to a Nova cruiser that gone wrong (she had pressed a button she shouldn't have as Tenel Ka had told her to leave things alone and by so doing had nearly blown a proton missile in the unshielded port of Admiral Niathal's Ocean. While Niathal had found the thing highly amusing, Tenel Ka had been less than impressed and had grounded Allana (whose father had been no help, he had just laughed as well to Tenel Ka's bemusement))).

"Something isn't right. You want me to get Allana off on the Beam Racer if things go to hell?" he asked quietly and she nodded.

"Yes. And I suppose you should take Taryn with you, there would be hell to pay if you took Allana and didn't take your fiancé." She said with a grim smile and Zekk grinned.

"My queen, I have taken precautions, I have the Deserving Gem, Dragon Pulse, and Jewelled Delight all standing by. Not that I don't trust the good Ducha, but I don't trust her." Admiral Espara reported and Tenel Ka smiled.

"I understand Admiral, but this is to be a negotiation. And I'm afraid this could be our last chance to fix things before both sides do something we'll all regret. Soimething is stirring, and the fact that they blindsided me so well with this one means AlGrey, despite appearances, is anything but stupid. We will sit down and talk, and see where that leads us." She said, frowning out of the viewport.

There was something not right, and once again she found herself wishing she had seen Ta'a Chume at her heyday. Yes her grandmother was foul, but say what you like about her she knew how to keep the Cluster in line. While Tenel Ka and her mother before her had brought much more compassion to the Cluster, along with their political acumen, something like this was more Ta'a Chume's field of expertise. She sighed. Even having Leia here would be a relief, or at least someone else to watch her political back. Her physical back was all very well, her cousins and Zekk would look after her and Allana, but she felt there was something going on here that she couldn't see and it worried her. Someone with greater skill in the Force wouldn't go amiss. And if it was Jacen, well, she had to admit, the idea of going back to him at the end of each day was a highly appealing one, and would certainly cheer her up, trying to tell her one of his crappy jokes. Suppressing the urge to snort in amusement at his attempts as she reminisced, she tried some meditation as the ship was coming to the end of its journey.

The Dragon Queen dropped out of lightspeed above Roqoo Depot, and Zekk then joined Tenel Ka in meditation, sensing that something was indeed wrong. A menace was growing, a rising threat to all of them, and considering the nature of their mission, they had to find out what the hell it was and fast. And then Tenel Ka caught a flicker, and turned to Espara desperately.

"Get the shields up now!" she barked as over two dozen ships of varying size dropped out of lightspeed, turbolasers firing at the Battle Dragon, catching the ship with its shields down, causing significant damage in those first few minutes as they pounded the side of her ship, breaches opening to space and venting her loyal crew out into the void as the ships twirled around and came back for another pass.

As alarms blared throughout the bridge, consoles exploding and viewports shattering and necessitating blast shields brought down to stop them being sucked into space, Zekk tackled Allana to the ground, covering her with his body while the entire ship rocked, fires erupting all over the ship as a result of the attack. Admiral Espara then caught Tenel Ka as a heavy blast rocked the Battle Dragon, making the entire ship shudder as the shields finally came to life to protect the ship, and their own blue turbolaser fire began to spread like a web out from the Dragon Queen.

"This is an ambush, get all crews to their fighters and keep those ships off of us!" she barked, steadying the queen who was looking frantically for Allana.

"Mommy!" the girl cried, and Tenel Ka used her remaining arm to hug her to her.

"It'll be alright sweetie. Zekk, get Allana out of here! Taryn, you go with her, protect her with your lives!" she ordered and as Zekk hefted Allana to his side as his fiancé led the way from the still fiery bridge, he turned to look at the viewport and his eyes widened.

"Tenel Ka, those ships, they're the Lorell Raiders, they're back!" he said in surprise, and Tenel Ka seethed as she saw what he was looking at.

Now that their sensors, shields and weapons were now all working, and they had a chance to recover from the first treacherous attack, she could indeed see that they were under attack from the Lorell Raiders, the pirate group that had mysteriously vanished months before without a trace, so why the hell were they suddenly reappearing now?

"Where the hell did they come from?" Espara snapped as the wounded were carted off the bridge as the fires were extinguished and the rest of the bridge crew regained control of the ship.

"Majesty, Admiral, we've assessed the damage, hull breaches on multiple levels, propulsion is down, as are tractor beams, shield strength is down by twenty percent, we've lost access to parts of the hangar, multiple wounded and dead, and at least a dozen crew were sucked out with the hull breaches." Their sensors officer reported and Tenel Ka frowned, as the Harravan, the Nova Cruiser that doubled as the Lorell Raiders flagship, began to move towards them. While the majority of their fighter forces were out keeping the Raider ships away from the Battle Dragonm, keeping the rest of the pirate fleet at bay, their flagship was descending towards the Battle Dragon, their weapons configuration missing the smaller ship as it exchanged fire, but the blows weren't strong enough to cause damage, they were only sapping the shields in the central column...where the largest airlocks were.

"They're going to board! Trista, guards with me!" Tenel Ka barked, as she ran out of the room, taking her lightsaber from her belt as troops and Trista ran behind her. Sending a warning to Zekk in the Force, she lit her aqua coloured lightsaber, using the Force to open the doors as she headed for the main airlock.

"What the hell is going on, I thought they had vanished, the sure picked a lousy time to reappear." Trista grumbled, activating her vibrospear as they ran through the corridors.

"I don't know, but the timing is all too convenient. Here they come!" Tenel Ka cried in alarm as their elevator arrived just in time to see the Harravan forcibly dock with the Dragon Queen.

The airlock then blew open and a horde of pirates, all dressed in various combat suits and armed with knives and blasters of various shapes and sizes flooded into the ship. Tenel Ka gave a war cry, gesturing with her stump and blowing several off their feet before flipping through the air, landing right in front of the leader. She then slashed his head clean from his body, before twirling to deflect blasterfire into his companions as they poured onto the ship. Fire from behind her was blazing everywhere, the royally trained marksmen much better aims and fighters than the pirates, and already the pirate bodies were beginning to pile up. Tenel Ka swung her foot into the groin of one attacker, cleaving another in two and maiming another as the pirates continued to pump blasterfire into the corridor. However Trista had now entered the battle, impaling several foes on her spear as she led the elite guard into the throng, their weapons slicing through the flesh of the pirates like paper. Tenel Ka deflected more shots, forcing the pirates back into the airlock as the guards behind her picked off any she missed, and she was missing very few, her saber was a tapestry of light, swinging in all directions as she cut through more and more of the enemy troops. She jumped all down the corridor, stabbing and hacking, cutting and slicing her way through the pirates attacking her ship, and then the distinctive noise of a gun of command started ringing along the corridor as more heavily armoured pirates joined the battle, firing their heavier weapons, some of them even armed with small rocket launchers. Others wielded sniper rifles, and the bolts from the gun of command were forcing Tenel Ka's forces onto the defensive. It was time she did something about that.

Deflecting the blasterfire as the troops surged up the corridor and using her stump to blast the rockets back to their point of origin, Tenel Ka then threw her lightsaber, taking out the front of the pirate throng, the ones wielding the guns of command. Blasting their bodies back into their fellows with a Force push, she caught the saber in her hand once again, darting into the mass and slicing her way through several more pirates, all of them scrambling over each other to try and escape her wrath.

"Take out the Jedi witch!" someone yelled and Tenel Ka suppressed a cry of alarm as a pirate brought out a heavy repeating blaster rifle, firing away, the bolts bouncing down the corridor. Tenel Ka blocked several shots before flipping back to the end of the airlock corridor.

"Your majesty!" her guards shouted as the pirates, armed with their heavy blasters, sped up the airlock corridor towards her.

Tenel Ka then gave them a cold smile.

"This is my ship, and you've outstayed your welcome." She growled and stuck her saber into the ceiling, before cleaving it around in a wide circle, cutting right through the steel.

"Crazy Jedi bitch!" the pirates yelled as they started rushing back to their own ship, but it was too late, as she had flipped from the corridor, Force pushing the corridor away, and with a clunk the tunnel came loose, vacuum spilling in as the Nova cruiser drifted off from the hull of her ship. She landed deftly in the corridor just as the airlock door slammed shut and she watched as the remaining pirates spilled into space.

"Impressive cousin. Should let you out to play more often." Trista said with a grin.

"I'll admit, it does feel good to vent my frustrations every so often. That'll teach them." She said with savage satisfaction, as a flash from Zekk told her Allana was alright.

"Espara to queen mother, majesty, they are in full retreat. The rest of the task force has arrived, blew up a couple of their ships and your efforts seemed to convince them not to stick around. They're running." The admiral reported over the comm.

Tenel Ka breathed a small sigh of relief, but couldn't keep a satisfied grin off her face as she put back her lightsaber. It had been so long since she had just gone out and fought, it allowed her to vent her frustrations. But now that the fun was over, she did have something else to consider. The reappearance of the Lorell Raiders was worrying to say the least. With AlGrey causing all the trouble she was, the presence of the raiders within the cluster would make both sides all the more jumpy and make a war between them all the more likely, especially if the raiders started their nonsense. And with Zekk's near permanent presence here, her opponents would use their continuing existence of proof of the failures of working with the Alliance. But for now, they were gone, forced off, and now all she had to do was meet with AlGrey. She was just about to turn away from the viewport when the Deserving Gem passed into view, and suddenly something clicked.

"Admiral, get the other ships out of here now!" she barked as she ran to the bridge, Trista following her and looking puzzled.

"My queen, as your admiral, I must say that is an extremely..."

"To blazes with that admiral, get them out of here, now!" she yelled as she scooted onto the bridge.

However, as Espara gave the orders, she was a second too late as the Kendall dropped out of lightspeed to be met with fiery debris and four Battle Dragons rather than one.

"Get me AlGrey now!" Tenel Ka snapped, determined not to let this go the wrong way, but she had an awful feeling it was going to.

"You don't need to majesty, she's calling us."

"Treachery, queen mother? We came here in good faith, to talk. Indeed, you were the one who wanted this meeting, and I agreed to keep the peace, after all my people's minds are set! And this is how you repay my trust in you? With treachery and deceit? You lured me here to assassinate me! You have revealed your true colours queen mother, and Hapes will not tolerate you any longer! The Heritage Council has spoken, we will have our freedom. Open fire!"

"No!" Tenel Ka cried as turbolaser fire lit up the shields.

"The other ships are requesting orders! What do we do admiral?" an officer asked as the Kendall, still firing, jumped away to hyperspace and safety.

"Set a course for home. And make the most of it when you get off the ship. I'm afraid this could be the last bit of relaxation we could get for a while. I have a bad feeling about this." Tenel Ka said miserably as the damaged Battle Dragons limped for home.

"Tenel Ka has shown a blatant disregard for our wishes, and now is following in the footsteps of her grandmother by destroying anyone who dares speak out against her! My allies and I are now decided, it is time we take things into our own hands. We will no longer follow her leadership, we will act to save Hapes! We will defend our great nation, and so my loyal Hapan comrades in arms, I implore you, abandon her leadership and join the forces of the Heritage Council, and we will take Hapes into a new and glorious future, one free of the stain of the Alliance and their servitude, and we will once more make Hapes a force to be reckoned with in our galaxy!" AlGrey said as her message played all over the holonet.

The Alliance was going off it's head, Chief Ak'la had already been on the line checking Tenel Ka was alright and promising help if she so desired it. Pellaeon had been much the same. The Jedi had also called, with Master Ramis officially extending Zekk's mission here indefinitely to have a sort of agent on the ground for the Order and also as protection for Allana.

But while the rest of the galaxy reacted to the news that civil war had officially broken out in Hapes, the calamity wasn't nearly as bad as within Hapes itself.

The entire cluster now knew of what had happened. While many planets and nobles knew full well that the raiders had attacked beforehand, necessitating the reinforcements, as AlGrey had won the race home and had quickly spread the tale about the so called assassination attempt, many more planets had rushed to join her, and now the entire sector was divided down the middle. While Tenel Ka controlled most of the interior worlds, she only controlled half of the rim worlds, and just under a half of the rifle worlds. The rest of the cluster was controlled by the newly announced Heritage Council, though due to the nature of Hapan politics, and also due to the fluid situation they now found themselves in, many of the worlds within each part of the cluster were either neutral or their loyalty was tepid at best and they could easily defect to the other side.

And so, the battle lines were being drawn. While Tenel Ka did control the majority, the forces under the command of both sides were still far more equal than they had any business being. And due to the nature of the civil war, Tenel Ka wouldn't even be able to rely on help from outside, which meant for the first time she was truly on her own. AlGrey had rallied a large force to her side, large enough to split the entire cluster in two, and the tensions were already mounting, with protests and attacks taking place all across the cluster. Skirmishes were being fought already, blows exchanged, plots and betrayals already beginning.

And Tenel Ka, isolated from her allies, left to protect her daughter with her cousins and one of her oldest friends and her father, surrounded by enemies, her realm at war with itself, was truly wishing that Jacen was here for her, if nothing else it would make her feel slightly better. Assassins had already been caught, trying to take down either she or Allana, and now once more she and her daughter were constant targets as her enemies and friends lined up to try and take her down, and she had no one to turn to, no one to support her, and she had her loved ones to protect from within and without. Yes, she definitely wished Jacen was here.

And while Tenel Ka feared what was to come, and Isolder, Allana, the Zels and Zekk rallied around her with her loyal nobles in order to defend her, and AlGrey prepared to unleash her war upon the Consortium, the true threat within Hapes, Ducha Galney and her unseen Sith support remained safely in the shadows, using them all as pawns, in order to bring about that which Lumiya desired most: the destruction of the Galactic Alliance and the return of the Empire.

"Wake up!" K'kruhk cried in alarm from the bowels of the ship, and to his surprise, Jacen wasn't the only one cursing the Whiphid as he jolted upright in the bed, covers exposing his bare chest. Alema was also swearing vengeance, promising to right the balance of her beauty or some such nonsense, Ben was groaning, Jaina was cursing under her breath and he even dimly heard his parents arguing with each other about who should get up and Lumiya sympathising with why Vader wanted the Jedi wiped out.

"What the hell is it?" Mara demanded irritably as she emerged into the hold a few minutes later, her red hair looking as though she had been electrocuted, a sleepy looking Leia (who Han had kicked out of bed) standing grumpily beside her.

"We have a problem." K'kruhk said grimly pointing to the holodisplay.

"Couldn't it have waited till morning, which is an appropriate hour for such crises?" Lumiya asked waspishly, apparently giving up with her headdress and just letting it hang like a veil over her face.

"No. Civil war has broken out in Hapes." K'kruhk said worriedly, and that immediately woke Jacen up.

"What?" he demanded, checking the news worriedly.

And then he saw the reports. War in Hapes. A Separatist movement was bad enough, but in a misunderstanding had blown the entire thing all out of proportion and now AlGrey was rallying all of Tenel Ka's enemies around her in an attempt to dislodge her from the throne, pull out of the GA and make Hapes a true galactic power.

Tenel Ka was in danger. Allana was in danger. Two of the people he loved most were now right in the sights of a bunch of militant usurpers who would quite happily kill them.

"War in Hapes?" Leia demanded and then she saw the terrified look Jacen was giving her, and abruptly she realised what that meant.

Her granddaughter and the love of Jacen's life were in deadly danger. War had erupted in Hapes, meaning that the Hapans would be occupied for the foreseeable future. And with one civil war cropping up, particularly in such a high profile location, all the other brush conflicts and civil wars that had been relatively quiet of late would see it as an opportunity and would ignite again, a move which would weaken and exhaust the alliance.

But more than anything else, the very thing that Jacen had turned to the dark side in the other timeline to make sure didn't happen, his loved ones being hurt, could now potentially happen all over again.

"How bad is it?" Luke asked as he entered, seemingly more alert than the others had been when they had first arrived.

"Fairly. According to this information, the Consortium is roughly fifty fifty, which could easily change at a minute's notice, and assassination attempts have already been reported against Tenel Ka." K'kruhk said grimly, wincing at the look of alarm on Jacen's face.

"Mom..." Jacen said nervously and Leia patted his cheek.

"She'll be alright. They all will." She promised him, not wanting to highlight Allana since Lumiya was in eavesdropping distance.

Jaina sent comforting thoughts to her brother, sensing the turmoil, his desire to run off to protect Tenel Ka and his daughter and to get them far from Hapes to make sure they were both safe. His mind was raging with fear and panic, and he wasn't the only one who was nervous. So, unable to do anything else, she sent soothing memories to Jacen, ones were Tenel Ka and Zekk had taken care of themselves perfectly well, which seemed to mollify him slightly. But as the family discussed the situation, she couldn't help but feel a trickle of fear enter her gut. Tenel Ka and Allana were now stuck in Hapes, with a civil war dividing their home, with the fluid nature of the Hapan nobles surrounding them. They were blocked from Alliance and Jedi support, which meant Zekk was the only one who could feasibly protect them. Their allies were just as dangerous as their enemies. And now a war was splitting apart Hapes, the dark side growing around them.

Jacen exchanged a nervous glance with her, his eyes worried and desperate as the twins looked at each other, and while Jaina continued trying to calm him, she wasn't so confident now herself.

And unnoticed by the others, facing away from them while she made coffee, Lumiya smiled. Everything had transpired the way it was meant to, and after these long years of planning, of patience, cunning and plotting, laying the groundwork, it was finally time, and her plan was finally going to come to fruition.

The war had begun.

"You believe this plan of yours can work?" Moff Freyborn asked as he poured Lecersen a glass of Hapan gold wine in his office on Bastion.

"Yes my friend. After all, you've seen how stretched the Alliance is. What with pirates and slavers making a nuisance of themselves on one hand, and the various slave rebellions needing dealt with on the other, Niathal, competent as she is, simply doesn't have the forces to keep an eye on everything. And that isn't all. The Battle of Roche was rather alarming for the Alliance overall, several Alliance ships have disappeared when on their runs, and even now there are reports that the Vong are returning, the Alliance is in a state of flux." Lecersen explained and the older Moff frowned.

"The Alliance isn't the only one being bothered by reports that the Vong are returning. Yaga Minor has spotted Vong ships appearing and observing for a few minutes before pissing off again. Some of our outposts have reported that Vong ships have been seen in the Alliance as far as Obroa-Skai, and our agents report that the Battle of Roche went the way it did because Admiral Limpan's ship had been attacked by the Vong before she had arrived there. If the Vong truly are preparing for another round, is expansions the best course of action?" he asked, sitting back in his chair.

Lecersen smiled. He needed Freyborn on side. While he had the support of Quille, he needed the support of others if his plan was to succeed. While Moffs such as Sarreti and Crowal would stay loyal to Pellaeon whatever the weather, others such as Getelles and Flennic were not quite so stubborn. However, if he was to win their support and approval, first he needed the support of Moff Freyborn, who aside from himself was the leader of the expansionist faction of the Empire. With Freyborn on side, he would be able to win over Getelles and Flennic, and hence gain the support of all five of the sector fleets he was after. And then, even if the other moffs deigned to stop him or if Pellaeon tried to stop him, they would be unable to do so by any means other than a civil war, which none of them wanted.

Not that Pellaeon or the other moffs would be able to do anything to stop him, or should they want to. If he succeeded, the Empire would be expanded for the first time since the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, and even though Pellaeon wouldn't like that it was them who had done it, even he would be appreciative of more territory for the Empire, not that he would admit it.

That was the beauty of this plan. With the Alliance stretched impossibly thin (soon to be even more so with the Hapans acting up), they didn't have the ships to support their infrastructure, something Lecersen was convinced Pellaeon had noticed. After all, this had happened before with the New Republic, they had been spread thin and military ships had been put into civilian service, a trait which Grand Admiral Thrawn, Pellaeon's mentor, had exploited to deadly effect. What with pirates, slavers, slave rebellions, dozens of new admissions and brewing conflicts whether they be internal or external, and also a lack of Jedi help due to their own internal problems, the Alliance was spread perilously thin, and it was that which he planned to exploit.

"This is the perfect time for expansion. After all, the people aren't quite as stupid as we like to think. They know they are in danger, and they know the Alliance doesn't have the strength to defend them. Many are already looking for, shall we say, an alternative solution other than a token Alliance force floating in orbit, which this far out usually consists of a Nebulon frigate at the very most." Lecersen explained, and Freyborn narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I know many around these sectors are dissatisfied with the Alliance, I've seen the polls. But if they are indeed so opposed to remaining with the Alliance, and after the Alliance's recent track record who can blame them, why not come to us?" he asked, and Lecersen smiled as he sipped his wine.

"The Alliance has major problems. War is coming to the Alliance, but it is a silent war, an undeclared one and its already weakening them. Between that and the Alliance running around amok either granting asylum to freed slaves or admitting newly freed planets, the Alliance is much more occupied on its newest members rather than those on the frontiers, and they don't like it. Other planets are feeling abandoned, something we can take advantage of. And, to answer your question, they won't look to us naturally because we haven't expanded for so many years. They believe us to be nothing more than an outpost for Alliance interests, with no power or will of our own. Basically they don't think were strong enough anymore, and I believe it is time we change that." Lecersen said and Freyborn did look interested.

"It is intriguing I'll admit. But the Alliance will surely react if we take any of their worlds despite the mess they're in." He reasoned, and Lecersen smiled.

"And risk further weakening themselves? The people want a change, one we can provide. All we have to do now is give them the chance, and they will take it. I assure you my friend, very soon they will be lining up to rejoin the Empire, we will provide the alternative that they want and need." He said with conviction and Freyborn smiled.

"You think you can do this? You truly think you can expand the Empire, and the Alliance and Pellaeon will be unable to do a damn thing about it?" he asked, and Lecersen looked hesitant.

"As it stands, no. I already have Quille's support, and the Oricho Sector Fleet and the Carrion Sector Fleet give us a fair bit of military capital, but not enough not to guarantee reprisals." He said leadingly and Freyborn nodded.

"Which is where I come in, I could convince Getelles and Flennic to join you and combined with my fleet you would actually outnumber the number of sector fleets Pellaeon commands, and he would be unable to attack you in any way. And if you succeed, you could easily get system defence fleets onside, and then the only problem you would have from within the Empire itself other than the other moffs would be Pellaeon's command fleet. I see." Freyborn said musingly, sitting and contemplating his fingertips, and Lecersen just sat there, awaiting his decision.

"I like where this is going and I appreciate you're ambition. But I cannot move on something that could go so potentially wrong. Give me a sign, and you will have our full support." Freyborn said, and Lecersen inclined his head, thanked him for his time and left.

So, it was as he had expected. While he had hoped to get Freyborn and the other moffs on side before he had left he was willing to make his move without them. Quille had everything ready, he would keep things occupied here and have the paperwork and everything all ready. All Lecersen had to do was waltz on in to his chosen planet and very soon he would have them eating from his hand.

Smiling in anticipation, he got into his shuttle as it took him back to his Star Destroyer, the Empire Maker. It was time for it to live up to its name.

Mygeeto had always been a rich world, and in the last century it had become one of the most contested in the galaxy. A stronghold of not only the Confederacy during the Clone Wars, the planet also had ties to the Sith, most particularly Darth Plagueis. Since the end of the Clone Wars and the death of Jedi Council member Ki Adi Mundi on the planet during Order 66, the popularity of the place had diminished, as had its influence as a result of the rise of the Empire, which due to the Rebellion had lost it during the course of the Galactic Civil War just after Adumar joined the New Republic. Since then it had been part of the Galactic Alliance, and had been happy to be so, even weathering the Vong War under its rule.

However, the affection for the government was beginning to wane. Frightened as they were of the terrible wounds the Vong had inflicted upon their world during the Vong War, they had asked for some form of protection from the Alliance, and usually a Dreadnaught was able to be seen leisurely patrolling the planet's spaceways. However, the attack a few days before on the ships that orbited the planet by the Vong forces had incited the excitable Lurmen into an uproar. With their task force destroyed and the Vong floating around, they were scared, nervous and paranoid. The closest heavy firepower were the aspects of the fleet that were patrolling near Obroa-Skai to ward off the Vong and the pirates, and due to budget cuts, the usual ship that would be orbiting Mygeeto, a Dreadnaught, had been replaced by the task force that had now been destroyed by the Vong. As a result, the Lurmen were terrified, looking for protection to ward off the Vong, and as a result Mygeeto was the perfect site for the first Imperial expansion.

The Empire Maker had dropped out of lightspeed, reporting engine failure. Lecersen found it ironic that the very thing they were claiming was wrong actually did happen as soon as they dropped out of lightspeed. However, they had made their destination, and now the Star Destroyer was edging into orbit above Mygeeto.

"Sir, we will be able to be underway within an hour." His captain reported, and Lecersen nodded.

"Sir, a transmission from the planet." His comm officer reported, and Lecersen smiled, this was it.

The small, furry form of a Lurmen shimmered into view and Lecersen inclined his head.

"Greetings Leader Pik Mon, I am Moff Lecersen of the Galactic Empire." He said and the small tufty eared Lurmen nodded at him politely.

"You are most welcome to Mygeeto Moff Lecersen. How long do you think you will be in orbit?" he asked nervously, and Lecersen waved his hand.

"A little over an hour your lordship, engine trouble is flaring up but my crew is fixing it now, believe me, I have no wish to impose on you any further." He said, and the Lurmen shook his head, his stripy tail coiled anxiously.

"Oh no, no imposition, no." He said, his voice small and Lecersen frowned.

"Is everything alright sir?" he asked kindly, and the Lurmen looked at him nervously.

"The Alliance ships in orbit were destroyed by a Vong scouting force a few days ago. It hasn't been seen since, but there are still Vong in the area and we are unprotected. What's more there were definitely pirates allied to Collonzas here a few days ago, my people are afraid." He explained and Lecersen nodded.

"I understand my friend. You are not the only planet that I have heard of the Alliance abandoning to their own devices. It isn't Admiral Niathal's fault, she just has so many problems at the moment that she doesn't have the forces available to meet all the threats out there, so worlds out on the frontier are lacking in defences or attention. And I fear it will only continue, what with all these new admissions as a result of the slave rebellions. The new worlds will be vulnerable and unstable, which means the Alliance will require a presence there to ensure a peaceful transition of power. However, what with Collonzas and Nazarn running around, and the Vong returning..."

"I know, I know!" Pik Mon exclaimed worriedly, his yellow eyes wide and fearful and Lecersen looked at him sadly.

"I'm sorry my friend, I didn't mean to alarm you. I would help if I could." He assured him, and Pik Mon looked at him nervously.

"You don't know what its like. Rumours of Vong are rife. Pirates are hitting our shipments. And the Vong have been in this area and have struck once already, and we've heard of their scouting raids in the Remnant. My people are terrified and now our protection is missing and hasn't been heard from, and the Alliance will not hear our pleas, and won't entertain the notion of sending any other ships out here, they won't tell us when we'll get more protection, and my people are frightened. Panic buying is rife, they fear a return of war and destruction, supplies are being hoarded and the memory of the Vong War is terrifying my people. Rumours are spreading that the Alliance are trying to stop the Vong returning, but we're afraid, and who can blame us? The Alliance isn't telling us anything, we're defenceless and we have no way to defend ourselves, and while those on Coruscant may be safe in their towers, Mygeeto isn't nearly so safe. We're not a violent or warlike people, we cannot hold off the pirates if they come, let alone slavers or Vong, and the galaxy is becoming more dangerous by the day, and we can do nothing about it! We need help, and the Alliance cannot, and my people..." Pik Mon ranted madly, but Lecersen held up a hand to calm the excitable, wide eyed fellow.

"If protection is your worry my friend then I could be of assistance." He said, and Pik Mon looked at him, his tail straightening in hesitant excitement.

"How so?" he asked suspiciously and Lecersen smiled.

"Invite back the Empire, and I can promise you a Star Destroyer within your orbit for your protection within the day, and until such a time I would be more than willing to remain in your defence until that time." He said, and he could already tell the small furry Lurmen was tempted.

And that was what had made Mygeeto a prime target for the Empire's first expansion. The Lurmen were not a warlike people, and as a species were also generally unwilling to defend themselves in the face of danger. They relied on the Alliance for protection which, due to the large deposits of nova crystals and more importantly durasteel mines on the planet, they were more than willing to provide in exchange for mining rights, while the Lurmen used their natural resources to even now make themselves one of the wealthiest planets in the galaxy. And if the Alliance wasn't giving them the protection they were meant to receive then they were defenceless against the pirates who would happily raid them for supplies and resources to use or sell, and the Vong could easily attack once again.

"A tempting offer, but you must understand we have contracts to honour, the Alliance..." Pik Mon said, and Lecersen shrugged.

"And why should you care? They aren't holding up their end of the deal, you're meant to have a protective force in orbit in order to deter pirates, and you don't have one at the moment. To me they've already broken your agreement." He said, and the small Lurmen nodded slightly, he did have a point.

"Their contracts could still be honoured, I suppose, they just wouldn't get the best of it now, we could easily rewrite the treaty and export ourselves. We owe them nothing after all, they have abandoned us, we owe them no loyalty anymore. If they cannot support us we will not support them. I must consult with the clan leaders." Pik Mon said, and Lecersen bowed.

"Of course. I shall remain in orbit to act as protection until then." He said, and smiled as the holo flickered out.

Now it was only a matter of time.

Three hours later, Pik Mon called back, much to Lecersen's delight. Upon addressing the council of clan leaders, assuring the Lurmen protection, a decent deal on their exports, along with the full rights and requirements that membership to the Empire provided, along with promising there would be no forced conscription ort heavy taxes or even the presence of anything more than a basic garrison, the clan leaders, all present by holo, they all looked to Pik Mon who shrugged with indifference and then smiled in anticipation as he looked right at Lecersen.

"Moff Lecersen, on behalf of the people of Mygeeto, I formally renounce my planet's membership to the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and respectfully invite the Galactic Empire to acknowledge Mygeeto as one of their planets." He said firmly and proudly, and Lecersen smiled.

"On behalf of the Galactic Empire, I acknowledge your request Clan Leader Pik Mon. In the name of the Empire, you may once again consider Mygeeto under the mandate of Imperial law and protection, so if you would lower your shields, we can begin. On behalf of the entire Empire, welcome back to Imperial service." Lecersen said with a proud smile, and several Lurmen cheered as Pik Mon bowed and lowered the shields to allow his forces to land.

Lecersen smiled as the cheers behind him from the crew filled his ears. For the first time in decades, the Empire had expanded, and even better, not a shot had been fired, and the Alliance was powerless to do anything about it. Now, the Empire had a new planet, and with it they now controlled their nova crystal and durasteel mining industries, which would be a great benefit in times to come. Lumiya would be most pleased.

Lecersen smiled as the alert that Mygeeto had joined the Empire went out to the galaxy. It had begun and none of them could stop it now. The Empire was on the ascendancy, and very soon, it would be back in its rightful place as the dominant force in the galaxy.

All was going according to plan.

"He's abandoned us!" one of his underlings cried after the hundred and fiftieth failed attempt to contact Cronal.

Belok Rhal was seething. Cronal had been meant to contact them during his attack on Roche, and once he received the transmission Rhal would give the signal for Death Watch to announce its presence to the galaxy at large once again. The problem was the transmission had never come, and as a result Rhal had had to pull his people out of their locations and go back to being Fett's stooge while the momentum built up in Death Watch's promised great offensive petered out and died. His people had begun to lose interest, while they wanted to make Mandalore pay, they knew enough to know that Fett would crush them if they didn't have the support of the Emperor's Hand. And they were currently Handless, Cronal had vanished, his Star Destroyer was missing and no one had seen or heard from him. And now Rhal was stuck with Death Watch, all wanting to act but being unable to, and they were all getting restless.

"Seems like he has yeah, but I still say we should attack anyway. We can take Fett!" one of the more impulsive members in the bunker said, but Rhal shook his head.

"No we can't. He isn't the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, and Mandalore, for nothing you know. Not to mention that because of the hardliner faction after the Clone Wars, most Mandalorians are opposed to us. They totally forget it was us who got rid of that stupid bitch Satine, that we made Mandalore strong again after that whining pacifist somehow managed to take over and brainwash the people. No, they don't remember the good things we've done, all they remember is the bad. Which means that if we attack Fett without backup, the backup Cronal would have provided, the people will unite against us." Rhal said viciously, resisting the urge to kick something in frustration. He had been so close, he had built Death Watch virtually from the scaffolding up, and now he was undone because his blasted ally had vanished.

"Chief, we're picking up a transmission!" the young man operating the comm said excitedly, and Rhal turned to him, eyes narrowed.

"Is it Cronal? He's lucky I don't carve him into pieces with a blunt razor." He growled, and the boy shook his head.

"Doesn't look like it, it's coming from the Stygian Caldera." He said, sounding puzzled, and Rhal frowned.

The Stygian Caldera was the region of space that had once been the headquarters of the Sith Empire. While some worlds, like Jaguada, were well populated and had largely cast off the pall of their evil past, worlds such as Korriban and Ziost were still there and still associated with evil. If Cronal had delayed everything just so he could poke around old tombs, Rhal was going to rip his head off.

"What the hell?" he asked, as an image flickered into view, and Rhal took a step back.

The newcomer was a Trandoshan, well built, his skin darkened by tattoos, and with a lightsaber hanging at his belt. Just by looking at him however, Rhal could tell this guy was no Jedi, this guy was a trained killer.

"Greetings Belok Rhal of the Death Watch." The Trandoshan said, and Rhal looked at him curiously.

"And who the hell are you meant to be?" Rhal demanded angrily, and the Trandoshan gave a tight, predatory smile.

"I am Darth Cyclone." He said, and the room looked to Rhal as one.

Darth only meant one thing, this guy was a Sith. And while Rhal thought that the Sith and Death Watch would get along famously, there was one thing they couldn't escape: the title of Darth did carry a certain negative weight with Mandalrians. Revan, Malak, Maul, Vader, all of them were Sith of some sort who had screwed up the Mandalorians, so what the hell was this guy after?

"Where's Cronal?" Rhal demanded, and Cyclone sneered.

"Your former ally has been taken prisoner by Lady Lumiya, a rogue Sith agent." He said dismissively, but Rhal knew enough about Sith to know that if there was more than one of them in the galaxy at any one time, they were usually engaged in a game of perpetual one-upmanship.

"So, he's dead?" Rhal asked pitilessly, and Cyclone shrugged.

"No idea, doesn't bother me if he is. He is part of the old order, part of the Empire, we are a different breed. As he is now in her clutches though, I assume your plans are currently flailing wildly. I intend to give your floundering ship a rudder shall we say." The Trandoshan said and Rhal snorted derisively.

"My ship is doing just fine thank you. How did you know to contact me?" he asked and the Trandoshan smirked.

"Unlike the Alliance, I am not so blind that I cannot see what is going on under my nose. While I will admit Cronal's return did catch me by surprise, I am not surprised about what his plans were. It's quite obvious now he was behind the attack on Roche, an attack which would make Mandalore seem weak. The Alliance and Empire may not notice what's going on, but with the Battle of Roche I did some investigating, and what should I find but Death Watch, returned to the galaxy, and preparing to make a move for Mandalore once again." The Sith said silkily, and Rhal glared.

"And what's it to you Sith?" he asked belligerently, and Cyclone smiled.

"We have similar aims you and I. You see, I am a military man, and I would like to see the Mandalorians once more returned to their true place in the galaxy, just like you did. Now, I know Cronal was working with you, and was going to provide you with information, troops, materiel and resources. I intend to fulfil the same role, but my resources are much greater than he could have called upon." He assured him, and reluctant though he was to admit it, that did catch Rhal's attention.

Cronal's offer had been decent enough, but he himself had admitted that his gaze and his agents would be directed elsewhere, his military capabilities were meagre as he only had his Star Destroyer to his name, and his credits could easily be tapped by someone else, after all to his knowledge there was still at least one other Emperor's Hand out there, even if she did get paid by the Jedi.

"Really? Such as?" he asked and Cyclone flashed his teeth in a predatory smile.

"You will see in good time my friend. I am transmitting some funds to you in order for you to get started, along with an inventory of what I intend to offer you. I believe that together we can accomplish great things Belok Rhal. Call me when you've made a decision whether you wish to work with me or not." The Trandoshan said before vanishing.

Now, Rhal was not the sort of man to rush into things, despite appearances he was cautious and patient. And he certainly didn't trust this Sith Lord who had appeared out of nowhere.

However, as soon as he saw what Cyclone was offering, he called the Sith back immediately.

It was time for Death Watch to return to the galaxy.

Cyclone smiled as he ended the conversation with Rhal. Mandalorians had always interested him, being a warrior way of life, and the interesting divisions among them in the last century or so had particularly intrigued him. And now, by a pure stroke of luck, due to the actions of a returning Emperor's Hand and a little investigating on his part, he had discovered a simmering pot about to explode all over the place, and had been immediately hooked.

Death Watch would distract the Mandalorians. Civil war would spread, as it had in Hapes, and by the ancient law of sod, other civil wars would start to erupt around the galaxy. The galaxy, the Alliance and the Jedi would be weakened and they would finally be able to strike, and then the Jedi would be wiped out once and for all.

Yes. Lumiya may think she was the overall leader in the Sith plot to take over the galaxy, but she was far from it. And soon she would see just how dangerous the One Sith truly were.

It started innocently enough at first. A town leader, a friend of Fett's was killed, assassinated in the middle of the market of his town. Fett was angry, but they found no sign of any killer and he'd had to let it go. Then, it began to escalate.

Speeches were made, citing the failure of Fett's reign as Mandalore. Cries were put out for Mandalore to exert its strength upon the galaxy. Propaganda portraying Fett as a thug and an old man began to spread. Riots started to creep across Mandalore, protests developed.

And then the bombings started. Tapcafes. Spaceports. And then the beskar works.

And all the while everyone was looking to Fett to solve the entire sodding thing.

"Will someone please find out what the hell all this is about?" He barked to Beviin, and he nodded, turning to the others in an attempt to try and find out some useful information.

"I can tell you what it's about." Rhal's voice echoed across the tapcafe, and Fett turned, as did everyone else in the room, and when they beheld Rhal and his goons, they froze, their drinks forgotten.

While no one had seen that armour in decades, there was no mistaking it.

Death Watch.

"You aruetii..." Mirta hissed as she saw them, everyone present knew full well what this meant, it meant Rhal was behind everything. Boy was she going to rub that in her grandfather's face once they got rid of Rhal, who along with the more boxy looking armour also had a white shoulder cape on his right shoulder in the same manner as Cassus Fett had once had.

"Maybe you were right hoping he was dead somewhere." Beviin growled as he beheld Death Watch, five of them had entered with Rhal, and while the Mandalorians outnumbered them, Death Watch's weapons were a lot heavier than the Mandalorians ones were.

"What's the meaning of this Rhal?" Fett snarled and Rhal mockingly bowed his head to Fett.

"This is the meaning of life Fett, the way of the Mandalorians. Too long has Mandalore languished under the chains of the less than able. No longer, old friend. Not all your fault Fett, that crazy pacifist bitch mucked up any chances you lot had of being taken serious. But now, your time is over. Death Watch is back, and we aren't going to be following you anymore." Rhal spat, and Fett looked impassively at Death Watch, surveying them all.

"And to think I trusted you Rhal, must be getting too old for this. You realise the people will never follow you. They don't want Death Watch thugs coming back to Mandalore, they don't want murderers of your sort here." Fett dismissed, but Rhal chuckled darkly.

"Really Fett? Maybe you should look outside. Roche was just the beginning. War is coming to the galaxy, the darkness is rising, and Mandalore needs to be strong else it isn't going to survive. Look at the state of the galaxy, it's hurtling out of control. You can't even control your own planet, what chance do you have against everything else that's about to come?" Rhal queried and Mirta resisted the urge to blast the smug creep where he stood, she would take her cue from Mandalore, no one else, no matter how much she wanted to drill him.

"We can't control Mandalore because you're the one who's been attacking it!" she hissed and Rhal looked at her, and she could tell that beneath his helmet he was looking at her with contempt.

"You were losing control long before we came back onto the scene. The people want a new Mandalore. They need a new Mandalore. Mandalore has been weak and cowardly for too long. Now is the time for fresh blood. And I'm the one who will give it to them. So make this easy on yourself Fett. Stand down now, and this doesn't have to get ugly." Rhal warned, an undercurrent of excitement in his voice, making it more than clear that he actually wanted this to become a fight.

Fett looked stonily at him for a few seconds, saying nothing, the entire room nervously awaiting his response. And then he threw back his head and laughed. A deep, menacing laugh, one that would chill any bounty to the bone, and Rhal and his buddies unconsciously clustered together nervously.

"You come down here, kill Mandalorians, bomb our cities and factories, cause riots and generally make an osik of yourselves, and then you have the gall to come in here and demand that I step down so a brute like you can become the new Mandalore? You might be the leader of Death Watch Rhal, and you might have convinced your thugs that you would make a good Mandalore, but let me tell you one little thing: the Mando'ade will never bow to you Rhal. And I will never just step aside for you. I may not like being Mandalore, it may piss me off endlessly, but I'm going to do it. You might dismiss me as a thug, as a bounty hunter, but I don't really care. Because I will crush you Rhal. For every single one of my Mando'ade you kill, I will crush you a thousand times over. So Rhal, you want a fight, you've got one. I will crush you Rhal, you and your band of brigands, this new Death Watch. And as long as I command here, Death watch will be hunted down like the parasite it is, and eradicated. And so will you." Fett growled, and proving that he was still the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, quickly drew his blaster and fired a shot before Rhal's band had even moved.

However, Rhal was nearly as quick and darted out of the way, the bolt lancing through the head of one of his companions. And so the Second Mandalorian Civil War began, as the man to the right of Rhal fell to the ground with a dull thump, a scorching laser mark in his head.

Blaster bolts were the n being fired across the room, Mirta, Ghes and Beviin taking cover, covering Fett as he fired at Rhal, but the leader of Death Watch was already on the move, jetpack rocketing to life. He and his three remaining followers rocketed into the air, their heavy blasters taking out tables, chairs and two bodies as they belted outside and into the air, rocketing clear into the sky before Fett and the others could stop them.

Grunting, Fett and the others activated their own jetpacks, blasting out of the tapcafe after them. Blaster fire filled the air, lethal laser bolts blazing between the two parties as they battled in the air. While there were now only four Death Watch members, there were only six True Mandalorians chasing them, their weapons virtually useless as they battled in the air, the wind and speed making it all but impossible to strike their targets.

"You're too late Fett! It's already started! You think just my Death Watch want rid of you? No, there are people all over the sector who want you gone. You think we've done everything that's happened the last little while? Don't make me laugh! The people knew we were back, knew well before it even entered your nightmares! It's too late to stop us now Fett, trying to stop Death Watch is like trying to stop the tide! You can't!" Rhal boasted, and beneath his helmet Fett grinned, Rhal was going too high, soon his jets would freeze, he would topple to the earth, bye bye problem. That didn't stop him from trying to shoot the thug though, even though it was difficult even for him.

Beside him Mirta and Ghes were trying to shoot down Rhal's pals, but so far they hadn't had much luck. Ghes suddenly stopped, hovering, and while Beviin and Mirta didn't spare him a second glance, he strained his ears, and abruptly realised why Rhal was risking his jets freezing.

He was waiting for his ride.

"Mirta!" he cried, jetting upwards and clamping hold of her.

As his wife shrieked in surprise at being tackled in such a way, he cut the altitude on his thrusters, dropping several feet. Looking around, he finally saw it, swearing as he did so.

"Ba'buir!" Mirta yelled into the radio, and Fett risked a glance and saw a Crusader class corvette charging towards them.

"Osik!" Beviin yelled, cutting his thrusters and allowing himself to fall away before they were caught in the ships slipstream, and Fett followed suit, plummeting to the earth.

Rhal and his allies landed on the extended boarding ramp, giving a mock salute as they did so, and the corvette then shot up into space, taking the leader of Death Watch with it.

Fett finally settled back down to the earth, glaring up at the ship that was disappearing into the atmosphere, its engines mocking him as he stood down on the ground, fuming.

After everything his father and his ilk, the Cuvyal'Dar had done, and despite the defeat of the Shadow Collective, Death Watch was meant to have been destroyed. Forever exterminated, a bitter reminded of the price of disobeying Mandalore. But now the group had returned, under the nose of Fett himself, and at its head was one of his trusted advisers. Mirta had been right: he should have shot him ages ago.

"Ba'buir?" Mirta asked hesitantly.

"Beviin, assemble the clans. Mirta, I know you were right, you can say 'I told you so' later. Ghes, this lot are nasty. Protect my girl, or I break you. Got it?" he growled.

"Yes Mandalore." Ghes responded, holding Mirta close, and Beviin looked nervously at Fett as he silently glowered at the sky.

If Rhal wanted a war, he would give him one.

"The first strike has been made Cyclone. I trust you won't forget what you promised me?" Rhal hissed and Cyclone smiled, his reptilian grin making him look very intimidating in the poor light of the holo feed.

"Do not fear Rhal. I have already sent some ships to you with the first of the supplies you wanted. Ships will also be provided in the fullness of time as will troops if you require them, But, before that, you must do something for me." Cyclone purred, and Rhal scowled beneath his helmet.

He should have known the Sith would renege on their deal. No way people like that would give away something for free even if they did want to see the galaxy burn.

"And just what do you want?" Rhal demanded and Cyclone smiled.

"I was recently entrusted with a mission to kill the Skywalkers and the rogue Sith Lumiya. I'm beginning to suspect that I failed in this mission. I felt nothing and the Jedi Council would definitely have said something if Skywalker was dead which means they are still alive. I have duties here on Korriban which require my attention, and hence no matter how much I would wish to, I cannot track them down. You however, have the forces that can." He said, and Rhal looked thoughtful, it wasn't nearly as bad as a trade off as he thought it would be.

"You want me to send my guys against the strongest Jedi in the galaxy?" he asked, just because it was more reasonable than he had thought it would be didn't mean he was going to rush to accept the mission, after all it was suicide.

"Yes. Ah, you fear your warriors are not up to the task." Cyclone said condescendingly, and Rhal seethed.

"My warriors are more than up to scratch Sith. My problem is you're sending me against the most powerful Force user in the galaxy." He growled, and Cyclone's eyes flashed.

"Lord Krayt is the most powerful Force user in the galaxy." He rebuked harshly, and Rhal made a mental note to ask who the hell Krayt was later.

"If you say so. Either way, you want me to send my men against the guy who took down Vader and the Emperor, and the guy who took down the real Vong overlord and the girl who take down their warmaster? You nuts?" he demanded and Cyclone chuckled.

"No, quite the opposite in fact. I'm not saying you go in and confront them, all guns blazing. Be patient, follow them, weaken them. You are not the only one searching for them, the Tribe is after them as well. Bide your time Rhal, and when it is right, make your move. Can you do this for me?" Cyclone asked, and Rhal pondered.

He didn't relish the idea of confronting the Skywalker clan. They were too powerful to be trifled with, and now they had a rogue Sith with them as well, which would only make killing them all the harder. But, it could be made to work to their advantage. And it wasn't as if he couldn't do without some of his men, he had a lot more than Fett suspected he did. And he had the perfect leader in mind. Rol Vizsla, the descendent of the last two overlords of Death Watch, felt he should be in command by right, a claim that Rhal, who had built Death Watch up alone for months before Vizsla had found him, disputed. Yes, this was the perfect chance to get rid of Vizsla, this would work wonders actually. He could get Vizsla out of the way, put his most loyal supporters with them, and either way he would win: if Vizsla won it would cost him so many of his clan that they wouldn't be able to challenge him (he might even die himself), and if he lost, he would be dead.

"Alright, you're on." He said, and the Sith smiled and his holo flickered out.

"Vizsla, get the Korda ready. I've got a job for you." Rhal said, grinning beneath his helmet as he did so.

The first few days had been bizarre. The various civilian ships, tightly packed in between the protective ships of the fleet had been coming and going, delivering what few delegates there were to the small rogue moon that belonged in the system. Once thought to have been a moon of Bakura that had lost its gravity, it had eventually become part of the sun's pull, a little hunk of rock that floated not far from the ecliptic of the sun. Hidden here by the gases of the sun, its heat and its size, they figured they should be safe there.

And now this little hunk of rock was the capital of Bakura, as the Ssi-Ruuk were now in charge of their planet. Malinza shivered as she strolled through the corridors of the Dominant. The Carrack cruiser had quickly become the command fleet of what was left of their defences, not that there were really enough to bother calling a fleet. The Dominant, Defender, Sentinel and Pride of Selonia were all that were left of their defensive fleet, the other Bakuran Star destroyers, Namana class light cruisers and system patrol craft having been destroyed by the Ssi-Ruuk during the attack. A couple of squadrons worth of fighters had made it away with them, and were now stationed on the little rock below that held the command bunker of the Bakuran Remnant.

Malinza shook her head. Once again the Bakuran people were on the run, once again the Ssi-Ruuk had attacked and had taken everything they loved. And they had taken Vyram from her. Her Vyram, the one good thing she had taken from their last invasion, and this time they had taken him from her. She was going to make them pay.

There were over fifty civilian ships, most of them full to bursting due to the amount of refugees. While, with her bullying, the installation had allowed some people onto the rock below, there were still far too many people trapped up in the civilian ships, all of them trapped floating in orbit around a tiny moon. Their supplies were low, as was their morale, and the amount of losses were still unknown, which preyed on everyone's minds.

It wouldn't be so bad, but they couldn't even do anything about their situation. The initial attack had caught them completely by surprise, forcing them into retreat and into their current position. While the fleet around Bakura had triumphed, it had been relatively small by most terms, it was still more than large enough to end their survival in one swift strike. After a few days however it became apparent why the Ssi-Ruuk weren't deploying their ships to try and find them.

They had been waiting for reinforcements. And whatever the hell they were, they weren't Shree class cruisers or even their picket ships, they were something else entirely. While most of them looked like a skull like cruiser as always, rather than the sweeping form of an elegant skull there was instead a large bulbous area on top of the cruiser. And you didn't need to be a genius to figure out what they were. It had occurred to Commander Essos just what they were a few hours after the first one had taken position outside of Bakura's gravity well. It was an interdictor, and there were dozens of them spread throughout the system. As a result, they were trapped. The sheer number of interdictors, each guarded by two Shree class cruisers and three picket ships meant that the remnant could not strike at them, and meant that they were trapped. The entire system was under blockade, the gravity well trapping them all inside the system with no way of getting out.

Malinza shook her head as she headed for the commander's cabin. They were trapped in the system. The interdiction field was so large, now covering virtually the entire system if not more that they couldn't even risk using the hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer that was present on the Defender and the Sentinel, the gravity well would burn it out long before they managed to even clear the system. Their communications were still down, the interdictors obviously acting as a jamming ship on top of being interdictors. And their last hope, the all clear beacon that goes off every four hours to indicate to the Alliance that all was well, that was still running. They had expected it to be taken out or at least triggered in some way, but the Ssi-Ruuk clearly didn't want anyone to know that the planet had been taken, at least not yet. As a result, the all clear signal was still being broadcast and the Alliance was none the wiser to the peril of Bakura.

Which struck Malinza as rather typical of their situation, but then that was just her. She entered the small command quarters, smiling wearily at the other people in the room.

The admiral of the fleet, Admiral Heinbeck, had been killed in the attack when his Star Destroyer had been destroyed. As a result, the military was now effectively leaderless, with the captains of the four ships all jockeying for power in their tiny little task force. What exactly they were jockeying for (there were only four ships, none of them could hope to match a Ssi-Ruuk cruiser on their own let alone anything bigger in the outside galaxy and they didn't really have any power to get after all they had been defeated) was unknown to her, but the four commanders seemed more than willing to squabble with each other over who ought to be in charge of the situation.

Along with her, two other senators had made it out. One of them was an old friend and ally of hers, Senator Jarvix Killean. Joining the senate a few years before she had, he had just been coming back from a business trip when the attack had happened. Taking as many people into his ship as he could, he had quickly made for space. The others in the room however were not quite so friendly. The remaining senator was called Werenda Tyrell. She had opposed Malinza ever since she had come onto the scene and was determined to make a nuisance of herself in everything Malinza wanted to do, and she was also determined to stop her becoming the prime minister in the election campaign, well at least she had until the campaign had been brought to a halt by alien invasion.

The other two in the room were members of the cabinet who had been up in the defence fleet during the time of the attack. Finance minister Arton Climber and Defence minister Ugio Strassera had been touring the fleet when the attack had occurred, and had just landed on the Pride of Selonia when the fleet had escaped. Quickly moving into the bunker they had declared a government in exile, state of emergency and anything else they could think of, and upon finding the others, they had reluctantly agreed to include the senators at Commander Essos' request. And now it was the six of them in charge of a broken group of refugees, with enough military capability between them to give a Star Destroyer a broken nail, their planet conquered, their people imprisoned and their families lost or ripped apart.

"Nice of you to join us." Tyrell sneered and Malinza glowered at her.

"I was on one of the civilian ships, trying to stop the spread of sickness, not that you would know about other people, as you didn't even try to evacuate anyone when the attack began." Malinza snapped and Tyrell avoided the accusatory glances of the others in their little council.

"Enough. We need to decide what we are going to do." Essos said, the small man with the balding head and little moustache at the end of the table, looking as if he'd aged a decade in the space of a week.

"The entire system is blockaded and interdicted, with no communications getting in or out. And the Fluties have been clever, they've put out a warning so no trade ships can land, they say there's been an industrial accident that's preventing them from landing, so we can't even rely on trade ships to get word to the outside galaxy." Killean said grimly.

"I say we should send a fighter to the edge, the fastest ship we've got. They break free and jump away." Climber, a well built wealthy man with ahead of thick black hair stated, but Essos shook his head.

"Any such launch would tell them where we are. For now they seem unaware of us being here, but there's plenty of other places we could be hiding that they need to check first. Along with that they need to subjugate the planet rather than focus on us, they know we're trapped here so they know we'll keep. We need to use the sun as a shield if we launch a mission, and launching a fighter would involve going a significant distance past the sun which could alert them. Besides we don't have enough hyperdrive equipped fighters, we don't even have a full squadron of them." Essos said, and Malinza frowned.

"Alright. We can't get out, we're trapped in our own system, and we can't tell anyone that we're trapped. Even if a trader ignores the warnings, they'll be pulled out by the gravity field and destroyed and the same goes for the Alliance. Told you they're useless. Can we fight?" she asked and Strassera snorted in derision.

"With a grand total of four cruisers and three fighter squadrons? You must be joking." He dismissed, but Essos instead held up a hand.

"Fighting is an option, but it will have to be guerrilla warfare, we can't afford to waste anything or anyone." He said, and Killean nodded.

"Agreed commander. And we also need an overall commander of the fleet, such as it is. That ought to be you commander." He said, and Malinza nodded.

"Agreed. Admiral Essos." She said with a slight smile and the man blushed but to his surprise the others present all added nods of agreement.

"Thank you." He said humbly, and Tyrell looked thoughtful.

"We've had reports from the scouts. Most of the people are in camps, the others are mostly dead. Some of them however are fighting. We need to help them in any way possible." She said, to general nods.

"Ever since we dug in on the moon below, we were storing supplies there. We have three caches of weapons and materiel to supply them, but getting to the planet to get the supplies to them is going to be a nightmare." Climber said grimly, and the others agreed on that much at least.

"But the people on the surface need those supplies. We know they aren't the kindest of hosts." Killean said darkly, scowling at the thought of the Ssi-Ruuk ruling their planet.

"And that isn't our only problem either. The people in the fleet need our help too, need rations, medical help, there's only so much we can do in our situation." Malinza said worriedly, to general reluctant nods.

"Our first priority is to get supplies to the surface. Admiral Essos, can you manage it?" Climber asked, and the admiral nodded.

"I believe so. I will do what I can." He said stoutly, and the others nodded.

"Good luck admiral. We will return to the command post." Climber said, and Strassera and Tyrell nodded.

"And I will attend to the people." Killean said, while Malinza turned to Essos.

"And I'll go with you if you'll have me admiral." She said and he nodded as the others all stood.

"Well then, let's see how we're going to pull this off." Essos said as the others filed out of the room, leaving he and Malinza to plan their attack.

The entire system was now under blockade, and they had more than enough forces to defend the planet against the attacks of any rebels who remained. Which meant that Ivpikkis was rather pleased with his day's work. Bakura had fallen with ease, the remaining rebels weren't powerful enough to pose a serious threat and the rebels on the surface would soon be tracked down and enteched. The Ssi-Ruuk would rise again, and he was the one who was leading them. For now, all he had to do was wait.

The fleet was marshalling just off Lwhekk. Ever since he had taken command of the entire Imperium he had been marshalling his forces for just such a conflict. And Bakura, the world that had seen his defeat so many years before was the prime target for another attempt. He had been the one to rebuild the state after the failure of the Keeramak. Slaughtering all within his path, his dictat had assumed control of the entire government, making him the undisputed leader of the military and the Imperium. Ever since then he had been rebuilding the Imperium, waiting for the opportunity to attack once more.

The bluescales had been all but wiped out, if not enteched or forced into hiding. Others had been enslaved to help build his war machine. The goldscales were not treated quite so harshly. Some had supported him, calling him the Chosen One and other such titles, and he knew he had to keep them on side so he had spared a few of them aside from the ones who had already been part of the establishment. Others he had had discreetly killed or enslaved to sustain his ever growing war machine. The yellowscales had been relatively unharmed by his coup. While the ones most loyal to the previous regime had been murdered, and sympathisers pressed into service like workers, the rest had been allowed to retain their usual positions, advancing the cause of the Ssi-Ruu. All but a few dozen redscales had escaped the purge, most of them supporting Ivpikkis during his coup and all of them heartily approving of his plans to once more bring war to the wider galaxy. The greens, being the worker caste, has been largely ignored and none had said anything about anything, so Ivpikkis assumed that meant they didn't care who ran the show provided they could go about their normal lives in peace, which he was happy enough to let them do. The blackscales, having been so instrumental to Ivpikkis' uprising had become much more prominent in society, with many aspiring to be just like those deadly assassins.

However, he had been a lot more merciless with the brownscales and the P'w'eck. Blaming them for the state of Ssi-Ruuk society, he had unleashed a devastating attack against these two menial groups, citing the actions of the Keeramak and their rebellion as justification. The populace had been only too happy to comply, and it was said that the brownscales had been all but exterminated on Lwhekk itself, and the P'w'eck weren't much better off. He knew some of them had escaped with the few survivors of the rest of the purge, taking refuge deep in the forests with on the run bluescales or goldscales but over three million of them had been killed on the capital alone, and five times that number across the Imperium. True it gave a lot more work to the greenscales but they didn't seem to mind that much. He had continued his vendetta against the underlings that had nearly destroyed his species, killing them wherever he could find. He had been delighted to discover a large colony of them on Bakura when he conquered the planet, over ten thousand of them and had gleefully wasted no time in bombarding them from the face of the galaxy.

And now, Bakura was his. The first strike in his war had been made. The Bakuran people had been largely rounded up into camps. Some had fled, a couple of thousand or so, but his men on the ground told him that they wouldn't long be a consideration. The others were all waiting entechment or death, it all depended on the mood of the commander of the camp. The few who had escaped wouldn't be much of a consideration, they lacked the power to challenge him effectively.

And now the rest of his fleet was prepared. The hundreds of interdictors he had been building all these years, based on stolen Chiss technology, would serve to block the systems he attacked from alerting the powers that be to his actions. While he believed what Vongerella said about the Alliance being otherwise occupied, he seriously doubted that they would just ignore a renewed Ssi-Ruuk invasion, in fact they would retaliate most violently, which would end all of his plans. But with his interdictors, which doubled as jamming ships, keeping Bakura from alerting anyone to what had happened to it, other than the automatic all clear transmissions that were sent to the Alliance which was guarded by an entire legion of troops, the entire system was completely cut off, with no one being any the wiser as to what had happened. His forces dealt with any trade ships or pirate ships that entered the system, destroying the ships and enteching the crew. Nothing could be allowed to reach the ears of the outside galaxy, be it Alliance, Empire, or even the Vong.

For her did not trust Vongerella. She was a Sith, which according to certain captured individuals meant they were treacherous anyway, and she was a Vong, which also implied treachery considering the whole Keeramak mess, and he just had a bad feeling about her. And besides, he didn't want her knowing the rest of his plans.

Bakura had only been the first step.

There were six other inhabited planets within the sector, and they were also going to be his targets. Like Bakura, most of them possessed a strong military in order to repel invasions, but since the Bakura Truce they all expected Bakura to act as a lookout. They were also small, many of them recently settled.

Timora was the most enduring of the planets in the sector, it had avoided the first Ssi-Ruuk invasion and had also been spared the Vong invasion. As a result it was one of the richer and more established planets, with a sizeable task force for protection.

Kammia, a world that had been taken during the first invasion, was merely a moderate farming world. Since the last defeat, it had been recolonised, only being captured by the Vong rather than sustaining any form of heavy damage. One of the smallest worlds with a population barely amassing to half a million, it had a tiny task force which would provide easy sport for his fleet.

Gymelo was the next world in the sector. A rich resort world, it hadn't been taken during the first invasion for fear word would get back to the Empire due to the higher class nobles who frequented the place. This time there were no such inhibitions. Since the Vong war had devastated a lot of the planet's natural beauty, few outsiders visited the world anymore, and those that did would be easily taken care of. However it was not a totally useless colony, there were over a million people on the world, all waiting to be enteched.

Cattamascar would be the most dangerous world to take. Other than Bakura, it was the most militant of the worlds in the sector, and it had put up an incredible fight during the first invasion. Though Ivpikkis had eventually won through, it had been a very close call. They had the most powerful fleet other than Bakura, their protection led by an old Assault frigate mark II that could pose a fairly large threat to his forces. It was also the world that could potentially alert the Alliance as it was the secondary beacon, and he couldn't allow them to get word out to the Alliance.

G'rho had been conquered early on in the first campaign, but since their defeat it had been colonised once more due to crimson ore that was on the planet. Becoming a fairly industrialised planet, an attack could lead to repercussions as the shipments of crimson ore came to a stop, but he was confident he would find a way around that. Their defences were mainly concerned with keeping their ore from pirates so shouldn't pose too much trouble.

The final planet in the system was B'Knos. While not really a planet, since it was an asteroid colony, it was much the same as G'rho only smaller and with less people. Their defences were also more focused on trade than war, there were few people in the colony and it was relatively unimportant even to the sector. Its people were also fairly isolationist, due to the place only being settled not long after the Vong war, there were still two thousand or so people there.

And all of them, every person within this sector, would soon be enteched. The entire population of a system would give him millions of swarm droids, thousands of fighters, and also give him hundreds of picket ships, a multitude of shuttles, dozens of light cruisers and also support a new wave of battlecruisers (as they were only manned by Ssi-Ruuk since the Reformation, other ships were mostly automated now with only an organic command crew decided by caste on which class of ship they got). And with the entechment of those people and the exponential increase of his own forces as a result, his ships would then multiplied a hundredfold if not more, and he would be able to continue his attack on the galaxy, increasing his forces as he went. First, Bakura and the surrounding planets. Then Rattatak and its surroundings. And then the galaxy.

Ivpikkis smiled. By the time the Alliance realised what was going on, he would have at least three sectors, billions of swarm droids, millions of fighters and assault ships, and thousands of picket ships, light cruisers and battlecruisers. Then there would be no stopping him.

The plan was elegant yet simple. Using the Bakura unique HIMS system that allowed them to travel through lightspeed for short distances despite the gravity field, the Dominant would perform a series of microjumps towards Bakura, coming out just shy of Bakura. Hopefully that would draw the Ssi-Ruuk ships off and from there, the ship would make a final jump and descend to the planet, drop their supplies and be on their way again before the Ssi-Ruuk could stop them.

And the plan had worked, at least until they reached the edge of Bakura itself, and that had been when the entire thing had gone straight to hell.

While the plan had worked and had drawn all but one of the Shree class cruisers in orbit away from the planet, unfortunately the vast majority of the swarm droids, the creepy droids that were piloted by the mindless souls of their victims, were still there and were even now bearing down on the Carrack cruiser, their weapons firing. For now their shots were passing harmlessly against the shields, but that wouldn't last much longer as the droids were getting ever closer, and the ships that they had drawn off would soon be on their way back to defend their stolen capital. But for now, it was the Xikree, the flagship of Admiral Ivpikkis that they had to deal with as the red skinned leader of the invasion was out for blood, and wanted their cruiser destroyed.

The Dominant rocked as its weapons put up a blistering field of fire, their own guns outpacing those of the droids, allowing them to blast several from the air with impunity, however it was merely a plaster on a gushing wound as there were still many more present to take their place. The Carrack cruiser powered forward nonetheless, battling on stubbornly.

Malinza winced as another console exploded behind her chair, the one to the right of Admiral Essos, who was swearing fluently in Wookiee, which was a remarkable feat to be sure. The cruiser moved onwards, still firing but it was clear that unless something changed soon, the ship would be lost here.

"Sir, we can try to escape!" one of the pilots said as the ship rocked as the first of the Xikree's turbolaser blasts pounded against it.

"The people on the ground need the supplies lieutenant. Actually, can we perform a hyperspace jump?" Essos asked curiously and the pilot nodded.

"Yes sir, that's why I suggested escape." He pointed out, and Essos looked at his readout, and Malinza got the impression that he was doing some very quick thinking.

"Calculate a jump, just a hundred or so metres from our current position." He ordered, and Malinza looked at him in alarm.

"Are you mad? If we go to lightspeed now all those fighters will slam right into us, we'll be annihilated! And even if we somehow survive that, we'll be right under the guns of the Xikree, and you know as well as I do that Ivpikkis won't hesitate to slaughter us!" she hissed beneath her breath but all Essos did in response was give a grim smile.

The pilot looked nervously at the admiral but did as instructed, the swarm droids were just beginning to enter weapons range, and the Xikree wasn't far behind them, its guns already pounding at the forward shields. The Dominant shook once again, and with a flash the ship catapulted forward.

Time slowed within the ship. As it jumped there were shuddering impacts as the swam droids that had been in the way crashed into the unstoppable object, shattering them completely. The ship jerked and rolled, alarms blaring in the split second, fires erupting across the prow of the ship, cracks appearing in the viewscreen as the ship blazed forward.

And the jump ended a split second later, the ship erupting from hyperspace, fires dotting the front of the ship, streaming back like ribbons. Cracks had appeared in the hull and the viewport, alarms were blaring throughout the bridge, the entire ship rocking with the impacts of the swarm droids they had simply plunged right through.

"Report!" Essos barked as the repair crews tried to regain some semblance of order.

"Severe damage to the prow of the ship, but no loss of systems. Forward shields down to ten percent, they can't take another hit, much less one like that. Aft shields at full strength, but there are hull breaches on multiple decks, forward ion cannons and turbolasers out of power but repair crews are working on them, and we lost one of our tractor beams." The pilot reported, checking his readouts, and Malinza looked at Essos in disbelief. His plan had actually worked, and the Dominant, although bloodied, was still standing.

"How did you do that?" she asked incredulously and he smiled.

"Simple physics child. We were the unstoppable force, at that close range no matter how many there were provided we had our shields up at the front they would be flattened against us." He explained, and Malinza sagged in relief as she checked the readouts.

By the look of things they had taken out a good chunk of the swarm droids, round about a third, which was brilliant. Their little jump also meant that the ships that had chased them initially were far behind them, out of sight and mind. The Xikree however was not quite so out of the battle. Ivpikkis was most likely furious and his cruiser was already turning to bring them into range, their long range turbolasers skimming their engines as the ship accelerated towards Bakura. The other cruiser was out for blood however, and Ivpikkis was sacrificing his fighter support in order to catch up with the Dominant, as the droids were still milling around in confusion due to their sudden heavy losses.

"All power to aft shields and engines, take us down!" Essos yelled and the pilot grinned.

"Yes sir!" he responded cheerfully and gunned the engines.

The Dominant, now virtually free of foes, blazed towards the atmosphere of Bakura, the fighters far behind. The prow was still aflame but as they streaked towards the planet the flames were beginning to die, and all they had to do now was deal with the Xikree and deposit the supplies.

"Open fire!" Essos ordered, and he was sure the exact same order had been given on the Xikree as the space between the two cruisers was suddenly filled with turbolaser fire and the ion trail of the Dominant as the Carrack bolted for ground.

"Spin the ship." Malinza said as the Dominant punched into the atmosphere, the Xikree close behind, lasers still flashing between the two, the ship rocking with each impact.

Essos looked at her as if to question her, and then smiled, seeing the wisdom of her decision and gave the order. The Dominant plunged towards the ground, the hull screeching as it dropped like a missile towards the planet, the turbolasers from its rear forming a vortex as it fell. The Xikree, its ungainly shape slowing it down, was falling back, the corkscrew of turbolaser fire splattering against its shields and slowing its descent.

"Sir, we're coming up on the ground!"

"Prepare to jettison supplies, and then get us out of here lieutenant." Essos ordered, and Malinza bit her lip.

The people on the ground, her people, needed these supplies if they were to survive the coming battles with the Ssi-Ruuk. From what little intelligence they had been able to gather the people had been rounded up and forced into camps, some dealing with the slaughtered P'w'eck camp and others being forcibly enteched despite their protestations. There was resistance though, and those brave fighters needed these supplies if they were to continue. Malinza closed her eyes, remembering the last time they had been invaded, Vyram had been with her then, and now he was gone. Forcing down the wave of angry grief, she opened her eyes to see the pilot, grimacing as he did so, force down on the throttle and pull the ship out of the dive, levelling it and taking the ship flying across the plains outside Salis'Daar. The capital had been bombed in the attack, many spires were still smouldering, many buildings had been levelled. The people who had died in the actual attack still lay where they had fell, their bodies undoubtedly providing a tasty meal for the Ssi-Ruuk who would be patrolling the city. Blood, smoke and ash polluted the city, rubble covered it and bodies marked it, but as the ship blazed over the city, the Xikree beginning to descend from on high, the scanners located a battle going on, and Malinza smiled, the people hadn't given up yet, and after they dropped their package, they wouldn't.

"Fire!" Essos ordered, and a turbolaser blast rang out, blasting right into the centre of the milling throng of Ssi-Ruuk. The holo came on line, showing the rebels, now aided by surviving P'w'eck, cheering as the ship streaked overhead, a large cargo compartment dropping to the ground as they did so, its descent slowed by repulsors. Confident that the rebels, hovertrucks at the ready, would now be alright, Essos nodded to the pilot.

"Get us out of here, back the way we came. We need to keep the Xikree off the rebels until they get everything we gave them." He said, and the ship performed a tight spin, suddenly flying back the way it came, turbolasers pounding as it did so.

The Dominant shot over the top of the Xikree, punishing the cruiser with an unexpected barrage that sent the ship sliding off course. Cheers erupted in the bridge and Malinza grinned as the Xikree, its prow aflame just as theirs had been, started to fall from the sky.

"Set a course for home. We've not won the war, or even the battle, but we've proved we can hurt them, so let's leave them with a bitter taste in their mouth." Essos ordered and with that the pilot took them to space, the swarm droids coming towards them, but by the time they closed in on them, the Dominant had made its first jump and was now safely out of danger.

Ivpikkis was furious. Not only had the Dominant destroyed over two hundred swarm droids with their insane jump, they had gotten to the planet, slaughtered a group of his troopers and resupplied the resistance with better weapons meaning their police action was going to take a whole lot longer than it ought to do in order to crush the rebels. And his own ship, the shields stripped away by the corkscrew manoeuvre they had performed and the sharp descent into atmosphere, had sustained significant damage in their surprise attack on their way out of the planet, and had his crews not been the best the Imperium had to offer the ship would have ploughed into the ground. Understandably, he had already been furious and finding out that the droids and the other ships had failed to stop the ship escaping had further aggravated his mood.

But the Bakurans who had dared challenge him had made a foolish error. In his hands he held the lives of every single city on Bakura, and the lives of everyone in the sector. And this paltry resistance that dared spit on him like this had earned his ire. He would make them pay for their impudence.

"Signal the fleet. Begin the assault." He snarled as the Xikree limped back into orbit.

The entire sector would suffer for this outrage. But that wouldn't goad the rebels as much, no, not nearly as much as attacking their own people.

"And contact the administrator of camp beta four. It's been a while since his troops ate. Tell him its dinner time." He hissed and the crewer sent him a nervous but envious look.

After all, those in the fleet wouldn't get to eat any of the human captives. But he supposed the army had to be kept big and strong.

And as such he relayed the orders, grinning as he thought of the screams of horror and the river of bloods that would soon stand where camp beta four was.

The restaurant was busy and popular, ignoring the chaos that was beginning to grip the galaxy, and its patrons were similarly uninterested in wider affairs. Actors, artists, singers and other such luminaries all populated the stylish Ithorian restaurant, enjoying the food and ignoring their responsibilities.

All aside from those in the back room.

There were nine of them in all, all sat around a table looking grim. They could no longer deny the truth, the leader of Black Sun, the criminal syndicate, was dying. It now fell upon those in the room, the nine vigos to decide on his successor.

The nine of them, the most loyal lieutenants appointed by the underlord of Black Sun were the ones who now had to choose the fate of the organisation. Their leader, Y'ull Acib, was dying. Acib had briefly lost control of Black Sun twice, once to Durga the Hutt and the other to Czethros, however both of them had overreached themselves and Acib had always returned. He had been slowly and quietly building up the organisation again, the mess left by the death of Xizor still requiring dealing with, and combined with the damage the Galactic Civil War and the Vong War did to it, it was a miracle Black Sun was running at all. However, in recent times Acib's mind had started going, his grip weakening. Despite his protestations that he would soon have a way to live forever, and that he would soon be fit and young once again, it was now quite obvious to all the vigos he was dying, and his ranting was becoming more and more desperate each day.

There were nine of them in the room, a Toydarian, a Harch, a Karkarodon, a Theelin, a Koorivar, a Zanzibar, a Shistaven, a Gand and a Muun. And all of them were looking to the only female in the group, the Zanzibar, to take over Black Sun. Her name was Xxaytixo, her tall thin head and sharp teeth dominating the room and its occupants.

"Acib's time is over, we need direction now. The power of the Hutts is diminishing, especially now with the slaves rebelling across the galaxy. The slavers are retreating into their own worlds or out into the arms, and the pirates are occupied with Niathal's attempts to crush them. The Alliance is occupied, the Jedi are going nuts and have their own problems, we need to act to take advantage of this situation, not dither about while Acib wastes away because we can't choose a new leader." The Harch said in his thick voice.

"That isn't all. Reports are coming in of corruption, some of our agents are selling us out, some are abandoning us, going their own way." The Gand said in distaste, to various nods.

"And someone is finding a way to run a racketeering operation through our books. The new underlord needs to be chosen now!" the Koorivar said angrily, and they all nodded.

"Well, are we agreed? Xxaytixo will be our new leader?" the Karkarodon asked to the room at large, and as one they agreed.

"Strange." The new underlord commented.

"Strange how?" the Toydarian asked nervously and the cannibalistic woman turned to him, grinning and showing her pointed teeth.

"No arguments. Me new undisputed leader. Why?" she asked suspiciously.

The other vigos looked nervously at each other, not wanting to meet her gaze and she snarled, and was deciding who to take a bite out of when the Theelin spoke up.

"Someone has been assassinating our lieutenants, we're afraid we may be next. We're hoping you can attract their attention." He admitted, and though the other vigos looked at him un fury, the Zanzibar pulled back her head and laughed, shaking, dry, guttural sound that chilled them all to the bone.

"You fear assassins? Assassins fear me. Not worry. Xxaytixo assassinate assassins. You see. Now come. We have Black Sun to run." She ordered, and with that the vigos swept out after the new underlord.

And, from the back of the room, where they had been allowed by the owner who recognised that things were changing now that Acib was dying, a secret door slid open to reveal two beings. The first was a human man, dressed in a leather and fur jacket. His hair was white, now a brighter shade than what it had once been due to age. A scar marked his face and his cold grey eyes were narrowed in delighted malice. He walked with a stylish cane and a large double barrelled blasted was as his waist.

The other was a large bard man, covered in feathers. His eyes were cold and ruthless, he was dressed simply. His beak was strong and sharp, and on his arms were two deadly blades.

"Well what do you think Urai? Can you take them all?" Tyber Zann asked, grinning slightly as he sat down at the head of the vigos table, casually placing his cane on the table, the cane only for effect as he didn't really need it.

He was Tyber Zann, the leader of the Zann Consortium. Since robbing the Emperor's private vaults and hijacking the Eclipse not long after the Battle of Endor, since then he had faded into the background, living off the wealth he had stolen from the Emperor. His nightsister, Silri, had vanished years before, and he now assumed her to be long dead. He had stolen billions from the Empire, along with art, technical data, a few holocrons the Emperor had stowed away for a rainy day and all other manner of priceless artefacts. Aided by his ill gotten goods, Zann had taken his fleet and had made a break for it, fleeing the soon to be imminent retribution of the Empire and of the Rebellion. He had found himself a nice tropical system in the far reaches of the galaxy, allowed his people to settle on the planet, and there they had stayed out of galactic affairs, living off their wealth while watching the Rebellion, the Empire, the Vong and the Alliance exhaust themselves. Until now that is. Upon learning that the leader of Black Sun was dying, Zann had decided to make his long awaited move. He had sworn vengeance on Xizor all those long years ago, and while he had been denied the considerable pleasure of killing the sleazebag by Darth Vader, he had remained determined to exact his retribution on his organisation. However, when he had actually thought about it, another thought had donned on him. He had always intended the Consortium to become a major criminal player, something he had been blocked from doing by either Black Sun, Jabba or general disinterest after he made his billions. But now, he had the perfect opportunity to strike, take Black Sun for his own and make the Consortium the true power in the galactic underground.

Urai gave him his version of a smile. A truly dangerous Force sensitive warrior, Urai had served in the armies of the Brotherhood of the Sith four thousand years ago, serving under the Sith Marauder Darth Sion. After the Brotherhood had collapsed, he had served as a retainer to Sion, helping him carve a bloody swathe through the Mandalorians for sport during the Mandalorian Wars. He had then joined Revan's empire with his master, and had stayed loyally at Sion's side until his death at the hands of the Jedi Exile. Without his master, partner and surprisingly enough friend, Urai had drifted, hiring himself out to various beings across the galaxy, until the advent of the Great Galactic War. Besting the personal guards of Darth Malgus, he had become a servant of the Sith Empire, however once Malgus had been bested after declaring his own empire, Urai was once again leaderless. He had become a mercenary, working for people whom he approved of and could relate to, and while it wasn't quite as stimulating he had enjoyed the work. As a result, the Brotherhood of Darkness had passed him by and he steadily made his way across the galaxy in the centuries, until coming to Anaxes and taking a job at Zann Remanufacturing. There he had met Tyber, and since then the two had been virtually inseparable, they had built the Consortium together, defied the Empire and the Rebellion together, and now planned to take down Black Sun together as they had always been.

"What am I an amateur? As far as I can see the only one that might be a problem is their new overlord. Are we sure Acib is dying?" he asked in his gravelly voice and Tyber nodded, grinning coldly as he did so.

"Oh yes the old git is on his way out alright. He seems to think he could get a new body, how deluded is that? Either way, Black Sun will soon be ripe for the taking. And by the time their underlings realise what's going on, it'll be far too late." Zann promised darkly, and Urai chuckled.

"That's because they think we're long gone. How wrong they are. And, once we deal with this, we can settle old scores, correct?" Urai asked, growling as he showed Zann the long lightsaber scar beneath his beak feathers.

"Yes my friend. When all is said and done, you and I will hunt down our old friends. Solo and I are due a catchup, and while we 'talk' you can kill his son." He said cheerfully, and the two of them began to chuckle darkly.

And across the galaxy, the forces of the Zann Consortium were once again on the move, spreading their poison through the stars, marshalling their forces as they prepared to once more return to the galaxy and bring a new era of crime to the reach of the masses.

She opened her eyes.

After all her years of searching, she had finally found him again. Tyber Zann would not have rolled over and died for the convenience of anyone. He had simply moved far beyond her sight, but now, she had him. He had returned to the mainstream galaxy, which could only mean one thing: he was planning something.

And it was her job to take it from him.

Silri got to her feet, stretching. Beside her, her faithful rancor Cuddles stirred, following her inside the mausoleum where she made her home. All these long years, she had been preparing to strike against Zann. By the time she had realised what she now had at her disposal, Zann had vanished into obscurity, and hence she had been stuck here, not wanting to leave in case someone else got to her find.

Zann had returned to the galaxy. Yes he had. She would show him, yes she would, the true meaning of power. As she had promised oh so many years ago.

"We'll show him won't we beloved?" Silri cooed to Cuddles who growled in response as they entered the mausoleum.

It was filled with row upon row of carbonite blocks, with over two thousand men on this level alone. Beneath her there were several more levels, all of them filled with men trapped in carbonite, awaiting someone to awaken them.

"Soon my pretties, you will wake, and we will wage war on Tyber Zann, won't we?" she asked the one closest to the altar on the right, the one she had decided was her favourite.

Thousands of men, troops from the Jedi Civil War, all trapped here, just waiting for her to free them. And now, she would have their loyalty. When she had first arrived and discovered the army, she had unthawed the one who was hanging on the back wall, the one with the lightsaber in front of his slab. Fearing he would take her army from her and prevent her getting her revenge, she had killed him, feeding his corpse to Cuddles. Now the Sith would serve her, all ten thousand of them.

And that wasn't the half of it. Below, in the largest cavern, six massive ships waited. They may be ancient yes, but she could feel the power of them, they whispered to her, telling her what they could do. They wanted to be used, and now she cooed to them in the Force, telling her lovely ships that soon they would get to go out and play. They and her troops would be reunited, and Zann's head would be hers. Everything he had built, she would make fall. She deserved this. She had been trapped here too long, with only Cuddles for company, Cuddles, the troops and the ships. But now it would all change. Soon she would be free of this world.

And she would exact her revenge on Tyber Zann.

"Soon my pretties, soon." She promised as she swept down the central aisle once more, the floor turning opaque as she progressed, showing the massed ranks of troops beneath her, and far below in the deepest cavern, the idle Centurion class battlecruiser and the five Interdictor class cruisers which she would soon free in order to get her revenge on the one who wronged her: Tyber Zann.

The Unyielding, being one of the rare Aggressor class Star Destroyers in existence, was bad enough. Their heavy plasma cannons were more than adequate to punch through the shields of anything smaller than an ISD and win with impunity. Hence, Daala had two problems. The first was that Nazarn seemed to have realised this and was hence picking on the Leveler, one of her Acclamator cruisers. The second was that it wasn't just the Unyielding she was having to deal with, he had two more of the infernal things along with him.

And that wasn't all. Nazarn had a rather large and powerful fleet at his disposal. The fleet that he had led at Orvax, the one assembled by the T'Surr, of which the Unyielding was a main aspect was large enough, but ever since then and Nazarn's rebellion against the rulers of T'Surr, his fleet had steadily been growing. Defectors from Hutt space, slavers who feared their masters would cave to Alliance pressure had been the first to flock to his banner. Individual slavers, hearing of Nazarn's stance and fleeing Alliance or Imperial power had fled out to the rings, joining forces with Nazarn. While this sort were lucky to have two ships per group, and the ships weren't usually particularly powerful, eventually the numbers did start to add up. But other than the support of individual slavers and Hutt defectors, along with a few officially sent by the Hutts in order to protect their slaving practices, there were still a large number of groups who were making Nazarn their official leader. The Zygerrians, daring to show their heads again after their last bid for empire had collapsed due to the actions of Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars had returned, nominating Nazarn as their champion and giving him command of their sizeable fleet of Imperial II Frigates, their Freighter class ships and their Aurore class slaving ships. Iris Snow of the little known Corellian Slavers Guild had also come forward, pledging her sizeable fleet of Assassin class corvettes, Corellian corvettes, gunships and CC9600 frigates. Trandoshans of the Blackscale Clan had also rallied to Nazarn, giving him a large fleet of Marauder frigates, Tartan frigates, a few Lancers, a couple of Star Galleons and their command ship an old Trade Federation Missile Frigate. The Maldor Ring, Sennex slavers, and the Thalassian slavers had all joined his fleet, gifting him with many ships including several Kaloth class cruisers. The Galderians had joined him, gifting him with several Space ARCs, as had the Elaginn, the Ahntanda, and the Zel'iphian. However, the true firepower, other than that of Nazarn's fleet, came from the large collectives that had joined with the vicious slaver. The Karazak slavers Cooperative had fielded a large force, manned by several Victory II Frigates, and made up of Broadside cruisers, dungeon ships, and a couple of Carrack cruisers and Dreadnaughts. The Myraranor Slaving Council had also put forward a large amount of ships, including several Gladiator class Star Destroyers which Nazarn had delightedly lapped up. And finally, remnants of the Peace Brigade, which had been hiding out in the galactic arms, hiding from Daala as she mounted a campaign to crush the last Peace Brigade holdouts, had also joined forces, giving him access to a couple of heavy cruisers, such as more Gladiator class Star Destroyers and other weapons.

The blue and red swirling gasses were playing havoc with their sensors however as the two fleets clashed for the first time. Althought neither Daala nor Nazarn had their full fleets here, both of them still had a sizeable fleet, and now both fleets were pounding the living daylights out of each other, determined to blow the other one out of the sky. If Nazarn killed Daala, the Tingel Arm, the Bakchou Arm and the entire swath of the Outer Rim in between would be wide open to the foul slaver. And if Daala won, the people in the arms who looked to her for protection would be safe and she could go and assist Pellaeon as the galaxy seemed determined once again to rip itself apart.

"Send the Dragonflower to cut off those two Gladiators, otherwise this is going to become even more of a brawl than it already is." Daala ordered as a blast from the Unyielding rocked the Right to Rule.

Behind the ISD that was her command ship, the Lucrehulk cruiser Barrister was firing hard and fast, obliterating three of Nazarn's Assassin corvettes. Fighters were firing all around it, keeping Nazarn's smaller ships at bay but the cruiser had taken severe damage. Around it the other Acclamators were truly entering the battle, led by the VSD Blazing Star, all cannons blazing. However, against them Nazarn had several of his Gladiator class Star Destroyers, the three Aggressor class were sending out a dangerous wall of fire that was preventing Daala getting close enough with her forces in order to engage his flagship.

"The Spirit of the Republic is en route with its task force Admiral!" one of her crewers reported as another blast rocked her aged Star Destroyer.

Daala frowned as one of her Broadside cruisers was hit by an ion barrage, taking it out of the battle. Her Republic class cruisers quickly came to the ships aid, but it was too late to stop the destruction of one of her IPV wings, destroying three of the small ships to her great fury.

"Bring the fleet together, push forward right towards the Unyielding, if we can take it down we can kill Nazarn and end this before it gets any worse." Daala said, her green eyes narrowed.

Nazarn had recently attacked the homeworld of the secular Draethos species, Thosa. He had kidnapped over two thousand Draethos slaves and was now trying to escape with them. The mage in charge of the planet had immediately contacted Daala, and as he was one of the worlds that came under her jurisdiction in the spiral arms at this end of the galaxy, she had immediately summoned what ships she could reach and had prepared an ambush. She had had her Interdictor cruiser, called Maw, pull Nazarn's fleet out of lightspeed as it had entered the Thandon star cluster, as he had had to slow down in order to navigate the treacherous entry into the cluster. Trapped by her interdictor, she had sprung the trap, her flagship backed up by her Acclamator cruisers, one of her VSDS, a Lucrehulk and several smaller ships. Her second taskforce, the one containing the two Nebula class Star Destroyers had then arrived with its own back up, boxing Nazarn in and soon her son Wilhuff would arrive with his faction of the fleet, the Venator class Star Destroyers, backed up by her Pelta frigates and the Arquiten class frigates. Between the lot of them they ought to be able to deal a crippling blow to the foul slaver.

"Admiral, we've received a report from the Packhorse, they have seized the dungeon ship the slaves are on and are pulling it to the Maw's position." Her Gotal sensors officer reported and she nodded, her eyes focused on the battle.

Her three Star Galleons were dragging the dungeon ship with the captured Draethos slaves out of harm's way, flanked by her Republic class frigates as they did so, the frigates giving a blistering field of fire that kept the enemy fighters away from them. However, Nazarn was not going to give up that easily, and now his Gladiators were heading after the captured slave ship, long range weapons coming online.

Outside, all was bloody chaos. The blue and red gasses of the nebula were causing havoc with most of the smaller ships sensors, and was also interfering with the targeting computers of the fighters, particularly the droid fighters such as the vulture and scarab droids that were flying around outside. Ideally, Daala would never have engaged Nazarn here, but she had been left with no choice, she had to save the slaves that he had taken. However defeating him here was proving to be a nightmare. His ship matched hers in number, and in terms of heavy weapons such as the Aggressor class Star Destroyers he had, she couldn't really match him, at present the only ships in her fleet that could match one was her own aged ISD and the Lucrehulk behind her, and that was acting as a fighter platform and she had no desire to risk her remaining Lucrehulk in a last stand against him. Turbolaser fire of all colours was firing through the nebula, and missiles, despite the interference from the nebula, were still causing severe damage, she had lost two of her IPVs, and one of her Republic frigates had been destroyed as well. The Leveler, an old flagship of Pellaeon's, had also sustained heavy damage and was out of the battle, and the Champion, unless it got out of the way of the Unbending, another Aggressor class' guns, would be more than out of the battle it would be destroyed. The Ghost, her second Nebula class, had also lost all propulsion, and while it could still fight it was stuck in place, a fact Nazarn was exploiting as he was keeping his ships away from it. However, there was some good news. Several of his smaller IPV craft, a few of his freighters and transports and a good portion of the Zygerrian forces had been annihilated by the superior fire power of her destroyer class cruisers. Several of his Interceptor frigates had also been taken out of commission by an ion barrage from the Dragonflower, and what was more one of his Imperial frigates had been struck out in the early battle and her Star Galleons had tugged it out of the way, so she had at least gained a ship out of all this. She swore under her breath as a Tartan cruiser that she owned was destroyed, the explosion taking out a flight of fighters in the process. Nazarn ripped another hole in her fleet as he blew apart another Republic frigate, and her Agave class picket ship was also shot out of existence.

"They're here Admiral!" the call came and Daala smiled as her son's task force, three Venator class Star Destroyers strong, backed up by a flight of Arquitens class frigates and Pelta class corvettes shot out of lightspeed and fired a devastating barrage into one of the enemy Gladiator class. Caught by the surprise attack the Star Destroyer didn't stand a chance, fire was blossoming all over its hull as the concentrated barrage punched right through the shields, chewing apart the command tower of the ship. With a final series of explosions, the ship blew apart, making Daala smile.

"Alright, Taskforce Alpha, power to shields and engines, we'll go straight up the middle, maximum firepower, I want those blasted Star Destroyers taken down. Taskforce Beta, cut off his other ships and start to mop up the ships left outside our cordon. Taskforce Gamma, maximum firepower, destroy as much as you can before we get there!" she barked and her fleet reacted instantly to her orders.

The taskforce that was headed by the Dragonflower and commanded by her old friend Yelnorimmediately began to box Nazarn in, cutting him off from his Interceptor frigates and one of his Kaloth battlecruisers that were left outside. Her son Wilhuff, in command of the Spirit of the Republic advanced forward, the ships forming a lethal wall that advanced upon Nazarn's forces, which combined with his mothers were doing rather a lot of damage to his forces.

"Ma'am, we're being contacted by Nazarn."

"Too much to expect a surrender?" her second in command, a Togruta by the name of Jakx Vee asked wryly, and Daala grinned as the ugly image of Nazarn materialised before her.

"You may have won this round schutta, but it is not the last. We will meet each other again, and I will make you pay dearly for what you have done to my forces." The blue skinned being snarled, and Daala raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Your forces are surrounded and cut off and my fleet is about to destroy yours slaver scum." She hissed, and the T'Surr chuckled.

"Not really." He said and his holo died.

"Bad feeling?" Jakx asked nervously and Daala frowned. Nazarn had to have something planned, but what was he planning?

"Admiral, I'm getting severe radiation levels coming from the Unyielding!" the Gotal barked, and Daala realised what he intended to do.

"All ships take evasive action! Maw, haul your ass and get out of the way, Packhorse, get the slaves out of harm's way!" she ordered desperately, as Nazarn fired a baradium missile from the front of his ship.

The missile streaked towards the Maw, but it was clear that it had done it's desired job, anything else now was just a bonus. Daala's fleet had broken off the attack in order to avoid being destroyed by the radiation bomb, and the gravity well projected by the Maw had moved, which meant Nazarn was now home free. And with a final flicker, his fleet jumped away, leaving Daala seething in the star cluster as her vicious quarry escaped her once again.

An hour later, the politics of battle were over. The last of Nazarn's ships had either surrendered or blown themselves up, the survivors on both sides had been collected and the captured ships cleansed of slavers with extreme prejudice. Now, they were finally out of the star cluster, hanging in clear space once again as Daala looked over the reports of the battle, pondering to herself.

She had the numbers to defeat Nazarn. And theoretically she had the firepower. However, the only way that would work is if she took Nazarn down in a massive free for all, and his ships were incredibly well armed, it would destroy a large portion of her significant fleet to take out Nazarn's, and she wasn't even guaranteed a victory. This war of attrition would weaken her forces and he would be able to exploit that. And, as the last battle had shown, his firepower was enough to match nearly all the ships in the fleet, other than the Right to Rule and the Barrister. He could easily whittle down her forces, and as her fleet was made up of donations, planetary defence forces and ships she had accumulated over the years, replacements were not easy to come by, and in a war with that blasted slaver she could easily lose all of her forces piecemeal and he would be free to do what he wanted with the arms. She sighed and leaned back in her chair. At least they had won, and if he hadn't used the baradium missile, he'd have been destroyed. Which of course begged the question of where the hell he got the missile, but that was tomorrow's problem.

Making herself a cup of coffee, she was contemplating giving the last orders when a holo flickered to life, and for the first time that day a genuine smile came to her face.

"Gilad, you've no idea how glad I am to see you." She said happily, slumping tiredly into her chair.

"You look as tired as I feel. Rough week?" he asked, a small smile appearing under his bushy white moustache.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." She promised, and for the next hour, the two of them recounted what had transpired the last week, and by the end, although she felt better at her end, her smile had disappeared to be replaced with a scowl.

"Can't you do anything about him?" she asked, in reference to Lecersen and Pellaeon chuckled darkly.

"You want the leader of the Empire to punish the first person to expand it since the Orinda campaign?" he asked and she hissed between her teeth.

She knew there was a reason she despised moffs. This was one of them. They existed, they breathed and they caused more problems than they were worth.

"I told you you should have shot them all. Didn't you learn anything back when we united the warlords? If in doubt, gas them" she said brightly, a slight grin on her face and he chuckled.

"Don't tempt me. Lecersen is up to something Natasi. I don't know what, but something isn't quite right. I know he has Quille and Freyborn in on this with him, and whatever it is they're up to, it doesn't sit right with me. There's more going on here than me or my supporters can see, and that makes him dangerous." Pellaeon said darkly, suddenly showing his fairly substantial age as he slumped a little, and Daala's heart panged for him, he didn't deserve to look so drawn out and weary, he deserved a life of peace after fighting so long.

"You think he wants the Empire?" she asked darkly because if that jumped up moff thought he was taking the Empire from her oldest friend he could think again, she would slaughter him.

Pellaeon frowned.

"I don't know. In meetings he's always quiet, reserved, this is out of character if nothing else. I mean he definitely has the capacity for it all, I just wouldn't expect it of him. And don't get me wrong, he is the one behind all this, it just seems like there's something I'm not seeing, and it's making m uneasy." He said tersely, and Daala frowned, then gave him a small comforting smile.

"If you want I'm more than happy to renew my old hobby of killing moffs." She said and he smiled, then frowned.

"Ah, I'm fine. But this Nazarn guy seems to be getting worse. Anything I can do to help?" he asked, and she scowled.

"Yes, tell the Alliance to clean up their own damn messes in future." She said grumpily and she could see him hiding a grin.

"Believe me, the Alliance has got enough of its own problems. Poor Releqy looks absolutely exhausted. Everything is getting to her, she's got more and more crises appearing every hour and she can't cope. Hell I doubt the Emperor would cope." He mused and she looked at him curiously.

"You reckon she'll crack?" she asked in surprise.

After all, the fact that she was cleaning up a mess made by her lot (though she knew it was more Niathal's fault than Ak'las that she was dealing with Nazarn) aside, she actually quite liked Ak'la as a chief of state. And, naive it may be but as a result she actually though Ak'la could cope.

"No, I don't think so, she's too stubborn. She's just having a bad time of it. But other than having words with Niathal is there anything I can do?" he asked and she nodded.

"Supplies wouldn't go amiss if I'm basically fighting a war with this blasted slaver. And any and all ships would be welcome." She said, and he looked at her questioningly.

"Surely your fleet should be able to handle some ill disciplined slaver?" he asked and she seethed.

"Theoretically it can. But Nazarn has a much larger fleet at least in terms of numbers all told. I outgun him but his heavy firepower can destroy a lot of mine, which in general terms makes us roughly equal, which is the problem. I need a bit more heavy firepower so if it comes to a brawl I can take out one of his Aggressor classes before they wreck too much of my fleet." She explained and Pellaeon sighed.

"I wish I could help you Natasi, I really do. We ought to be crushing scum like Nazarn before he causes any more damage rather than worrying about runaway moffs but I can't help, well, I can't send a Star Destroyer or two no matter how much I want to. With Lecersen having grand plans for expansion, me keeping an eye on him and keeping the peace on Bastion, along with deflecting more and more frequent Vong raids and sending a task force to chase Collonzas and preparing to help Tenel Ka should she need it I don't have any major cruisers to spare." He said apologetically and she sighed.

"It's alright Gilad, not your fault the galaxy's going to hell in a handbasket. What is going on?" she asked forlornly and he shrugged.

"No idea, but like you say, it's out of hand and only getting worse. The Vong are definitely skulking for some reason, I think they plan to attack us just like they are the Alliance." He said darkly and she glowered with him, the last thing they all needed was a return of the Vong.

"Well, I'll ask them to help. It's their mess I'm cleaning up, the least they can do is lend me a mop." She said and he nodded.

"I can certainly send you supplies, and a few small ships, but I'd rather they had an escort. Actually, if you're going to ask the Alliance to lend a hand, why not ask in person? Admiral Bwua'tu is apparently at Kuat, you could make that trip in a few days if you needed to." He suggested and she mused on it, then nodded.

"The worst he can say is no, and if not, I'll pop by Mandalore. Fett owes me one, and if I wipe out a Death Watch camp or two for him he might lend me a ship. So, I'll ask Bwua'tu at Kuat, and then go to Mandalore, and once I've done that I'll head to Bastion to rendezvous with your task force." She said, and Gilad smiled and nodded.

"Then I will see you in about a week. Be careful Natasi, the moffs still don't like you much. And don't let Nazarn get you down either." He warned kindly and she gave him a tired smile.

"You be careful too old friend. And if you need me, you know what to do, summon me, and I'll be there, just like Darakaer." She reminded him and he nodded.

"I've never doubted it. Good night my dear." He said and his holo flickered out.

Daala frowned as Gilad vanished. The Vong were on the move. The Alliance was unable to fight everything threatening it. The moffs were acting up and flouting Pellaeon's authority. Slavers and pirates were stronger than they should be. Civil war was ripping apart Hapes and Mandalore. And slaves across the galaxy were campaigning for freedom.

Something was definitely wrong here, something was happening, they just couldn't see it. A threat, or a power was rising, and she had a horrible feeling they could all feel it.

And it was making her uneasy.

She shook her head. She had a job to do, defeat Nazarn and keep the arms safe from him. And to do that she needed support. Which meant she had to go and see the Alliance.

"Lieutenant Andars, signal my son on the Spirit of the Republic and tell him I want to see him." She told the Gotal over the comm, and he set about doing it.

She would charge Wilhuff with taking the Draethos back home, and leading the fleet while she was gone. And then, she would head to Kuat and hope the Alliance would help.

Or if not, her war was going to get a hell of a lot harder.

Hello again!

Sorry this took so long I thought my last update was more recent than October, and with other stories and my dissertation this one got shunted back, if its any consolation I did intend to upload this a lot earlier, but I got distracted any never finished it.

However, we're here now. Events are beginning to mesh together. Recently its been basically everyone else then the Skywalkers but as things get worse they all start to mesh together.

We have civil war in Hapes and Mandalore, the Empire is expanding, war in the galactic arms, the Vong on the rise, Black Sun up for grabs and all other sorts of things are all starting to happen. Things can't get much worse can they?

Course they can, but that's for later

Anywho, next chapter we see Releqy reacting to recent events (I can tell you now she doesnt take them well), the Jedi power waning, the power of the Sith growing and the first stop on the tour to try and defeat Abeloth, and hopefully it will be up soon but until then as always please read and review!