CHANDRILIA
Sam flinched as a rock from the street struck the forearm plate of his Brigadier uniform.
Turning, he saw a crowd of various species, jeering at the retreating Republic troopers.
"Oppressors!" shouted the voices, "Leave is alone!
"We're here to protect you from the terrorists!" Sam could not help but shout back.
The man who was leading the crowd of dissenters would certainly have eaten his own words if he had lived long enough, instead taking a stray laser blast from a Rodian's sniper, sending his fellow civilians fleeing in panic.
The Sith approached the surviving Brigadiers, raising their red lightsabers to begin the onslaught.
Suddenly, three more lightsabers snapped to life, and three distinct lights came emerging from the shadows; green, blue, and violet.
Sam sighed with both relief and dread as he recognized Tahiri among the three Jedi. She did not look his way as she charged at the assembled Sith Lieutenants.
"Keep on the Brigadiers," Talon said to the Coalition mercenaries, "The Jedi belong to us."
Sam heard the sound of additional Republic gunships and Alpha-3 fighters flying into the atmosphere above the ravaged Hanna City as the Sith turned their attention to Luke, Tionne and Tahiri, rushing to meet their blades.
He fired at a large, hairy Whiphid who had chosen to target him, barely dodging a blast to the cheek and driving his shot into the Coalition mercenary's leg. This disabled the Whiphid, forcing the white-furred alien to drop its blaster and roll over in pain before being trampled by a Wookiee.
The five Sith chose to strategically separate the three Jedi, with Talon and Nihl backing Luke away from the others, while Wyyrlok and Paxis took on Tionne.
This left Tahiri to face off against Judicar, his eyes flashing red with the glare of his blade. She had even further improved her already advanced skills in the Force and with a lightsaber after being Knighted, but Ultor had trained his apprentices with nearly the full capabilities of his intense power.
"You've hit a dead end, Skywalker," Talon snarled, "No allies to turn to. Everybody hates the Jedi now, while we rally more beings to the Coalition's cause."
Luke did not reply at first, at least until sending Nihl crashing into a vacated shop with a powerful Force push as the young Sith tried to impale him.
"Your message is worthless with all of the devastation you have caused," Luke said, "Your cause is a complete fake. You Sith only seek to dominate over everything."
"It will be too late," Talon hissed, clashing each of her lightsabers against Luke's green blade in a repetitive motion.
Luke waved his lightsaber a bit lower, cutting towards Talon's hand. She was only able to pull her arm slightly away before Luke sliced at the blade clenched in her right fist, severing it from the now-broken hilt.
Talon shouted with fury before throwing away the fizzling pieces of her lightsaber before gripping her other one with both hands and continuing her offensive.
Nihl had recovered and was now rushing to rejoin the fight, swinging at Luke with his unusually large weapon.
Suddenly, Paxis came flying from the other end of the street, having been sent in Talon's direction by Tionne. She collided with Nihl and caused them both to stumble, while Talon cartwheeled away and continued her offense against Luke.
Luke, however, took advantage of his younger opponent's lack of stability, telekinetically knocking her hard against the ground.
The Grand Master then beckoned for Tionne to follow him, running away from the subdued Sith.
Meanwhile, Tahiri was still locked in a duel against Judicar, evidently in a stalemate.
The civilians on the street had long since fled to their speeders and starships, hurrying out of the city intothe vast grasslands
Breathlessly, Tahiri parried low as Judicar aimed for her knees with his red blade, pushing him away with a grunt.
She sensed a flash of danger, backflippijt away while, strangely, Judicar also ran for cover.
The scene was lit by a drone bomb, exploding as it tore through the buildings nearby.
Tahiri coughed as she waved her lightsaber through the smoke in an effort to dissuade any possible attacks.
Her ears were ringing as the buildings near her began to collapse.
"Hey!" somebody yelled, approaching Tahiri through the smoke and ashes of the rubble.
Tahiri weakly turned her head to find a familiar face emerging from the ruins, wearing the plated uniform of a Republic Brigadier officer.
"Sam!" Tahiri yelled, switching off her lightsaber.
She ran to her friend and grabbed him, pulling him under the shelter of a ruined diner.
Sam flung his arms around her and said, "I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner."
"What happened?" Tahiri asked, "I was starting to worry that you got caught."
"My dad hasn't found out yet," Sam replied, "but it's only a matter of time. Are you here with anybody else?"
"Luke and Tionne," Tahiri replied, "Luke figured that more people would be in the line of fire on Chandrilia."
"He was right," Sam replied, "but I can't believe how many of them are falling for the Coalition's propaganda."
"We'd better go," Tahiri said, pulling Sam by the hand out of the diner, towards a clearing in the smoke and flames that were tearing through the crevices and alleyways of Hanna City.
The two of them proceeded onto the street, where the exchanges of blasterfire and the dogfights above had grown faint. Luke and Tionne appeared, evidently running from something.
A moment later, Tahiri could see them jumping out of the way of several streaks of blasterfire, using the Force to propel themselves.
Sam raised his weapon while Tahiri turned her lightsaber back on, until they saw the reason why Luke and Tionne weren't figuring back against their pursuers.
It was Sam's fellow Brigadiers, not the Coalition mercenaries, that were chasing and shooting at the Jedi.
"No," Tahiri whispered with dread.
"Stun if you can, kill if you have to!" the commanding officer shouted.
Suddenly, an impulse seized hold of Tahiri. She grabbed Sam's arm and before he could react, roughly pulled him back into the abandoned restaurant, into the smoking room that had been the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, his arm pinching.
"They can't see you with me," Tahiri replied, finally letting go, "or they'll arrest you."
"Right," Sam replied, nodding unhappily.
Luke and Tionne were able to outrun the Brigadiers, using the Force to accelerate their speed far beyond normal for adult humans.
"I'm sure you have to get back with them now," Sam said glumly, still smelling the smoke from where the buildings had been hit by the drone bomb and the lasers from the fighter battles.
"Listen, Sam, I'm glad I got to see you here, even in a situation as bad as this," Tahiri said.
"Me too, Sam replied, "I won't wait too long next time to contact you, I promise!"
"I have to go now," Tahiri said, hurrying away from the kitchen and diner. However, she gave one last look at Sam's hiding place as she hurried to rejoin Tionne and Luke, a sense of longing coming over her before she banished it.
MORABAND
Darth Ultor carried the Sith Holocron out of the temple, with the Sith Lord's red, translucent image hovering closely behind him.
"Once you tell me where Plagueis is, I can go to him under the guise of wanting to be his apprentice," Ultor said to the spirit, "Then, I can bring you back and we can destroy him."
"Will you keep your end of the deal?" the Bith asked.
"Once I am through with Plagueis, your body will no longer be an experiment," Ultor replied. "You will be back to prime shape, as a reigning Dark Lord of the Sith. You will no longer have to remain in this artifact or be revived and killed again at his whim."
The Bith replied, "He is on a remote world called Sojourn, in the far reaches of the Outer Rim."
"Sojourn," Ultor repeated, "in the Outer Rim."
"That is where he has taken my body," the Sith of the past continued, "And where he is training the girl."
"I'll find them both there, then," Ultor replied, "Your information was useful, ancient Lord of the Sith."
"If we are to reign together as Dark Lords, you should know that I am Darth Tenebrous. You would be the first to find my spirit encased here, if not my body."
"You have proven useful to me, Lord Tenebrous," Ultor said, "and your information will be my ultimate triumph."
"Our ultimate triumph," Tenebrous corrected, his large eyes squinting through the red glow of his appearance, "If you intend to keep your end of our bargain."
Ultor held up the Holocron in front of him, his eyes drilling into Tenebrous with a sneer.
"You fool!" he said spitefully. He tossed the Holocron into the air and activated his lightsaber, slicing diagonally through the artifact, "Even with your spirit preserved in this Holocron, you are powerlessjust as Sidious was."
Tenebrous let out a painful howl of defeat, a blast of light bursting through the misty air as his spirit reentered the Netherworld of the Force. Save for Plagueis's midichlorian manipulation, Tenebrous had no way to return to the physical world, much like the late Emperor Palpatine.
Leaving the two halves of the Holocron in the crimson sand, Ultor started back to his Herald, deactivating his lightsaber as he picked up his speed.
Ultor finally reached the shuttle, and when he entered and ducked into the cockpit, he began to dispatch a transmission.
CHANDRILIA
Four of the Sith Lieutenants regrouped in the rubble of Hanna City's collapsed buildings, away from the battling armies.
"We lost them again!" Wyyrlok growled.
"Where's Talon?" Paxis asked, looking around the chaos of the city.
From her hiding place, Talon was speaking to a miniature hologram of Darth Ultor, still aboard his cockpit
"I want all of you to meet me on Moraband," Ultor said, his voice barely above an animalistic growl, "Together, we will storm the homeworld of an old Sith Lord, where he is training Kira Solo."
"Kira Solo, with a Sith Lord?" Talon asked, her eyes widening with curious disbelief.
"The Sith Lord was thought long dead," Ultor replied, "but I've just learned where he lives, and that the Solo brat is with him. After we find the Sith, we will learn his secrets before eliminating him along with the girl."
As the other four black-clad apprentices scoured the deserted streets, they were met by a squadron of Brigadier reinforcements from around the corner of the boulevard.
"Stand down!" the sergeant shouted fruitlessly.
Within five seconds, five flashes of red light were mowing down the squadron members, with dismembered limbs and heads flying across the street and sidewalk.
Talon finally emerged from the alleyway, joining the others as they finished off the Republic forces.
"Skywalker and the others are not far," Paxis said after they had all retracted their sabers, "They're occupied by the Republic trying to capture them as well. Now is our time."
"Forget Skywalker," Talon replied, "We have new orders from the Dark Master. We are meeting him on Moraband."
"So that's where he's been?" Wyyrlok said, "Sitting around while we do all the dirty..."
Wyyrlok stopped short as his throat began to close.
Paxis and Judicar gasped in horror while Nihl glared at Talon as she pressed her fingertips together, causing Wyyrlok to lift slightly in the air.
"Think about your next words," Talon hissed, "You don't want to face my wrath or his."
She let go of Wyyrlok before turning to return to their Infiltrators.
The other four Sith Lieutenants exchanged dark, sinister looks as they followed Talon.
Luke fired up the landspeeder as soon as he, Tionne and Tahiri had climbed in, blasting off over the lake in the direction of the distant Blakis.
"They're getting away," the commander said.
"Unit one, we'll be pursuing Jedi," Hoff Praxium ordered, "We won't let them leave the planet. Units two through five, stay here and deal with the Coalition. Use all the drones bombers you have to."
As the men and women of mixed species hurried to where their crafts were docked, Sam pointed at the horizon, where four distinct silver shuttles were blasting out of the smoke towards the glaring sun.
"Sir, the Sith are getting away too. Are we going to let them go?"
"The Jedi are our targets for now," the elder Praxium replied, "And Major, you'll be riding with me. That way, I can keep you close and make sure nothing happens."
Sam narrowed his eyes as his father turned his back and proceeded to the awaiting gunship, following reluctantly. Hoff hadn't spoken out of any concern for his son, Sam knew. He just wanted to make sure Sam didn't do anything to hinder the mission.
He silently climbed aboard among the Brigadiers, the scenery of the burning Hanna City disappearing behind the slamming blast doors.
Behind Praxium's gunship, the remaining Coalition mercenaries were consumed by the Republic drones as they exploded, taking several buildings with them or reducing the sturdier skyscrapers to flames
Tionne looked back at the gunship looming behind them as Luke piloted the landspeeder as far away as he could.
"How are we going to stop them from following us back home?" she asked.
"We'll be splitting up and going in three directions to confuse them," Luke replied, "then we'll regroup back at camp. I'll be going to Nar Shadda first."
"Nar Shadda?" Tionne asked, "Thats a system heavy with a Coalition presence, in the middle of Hutt space."
"That's why the Republic won't follow," Luke replied.
"What about Tionne and me?" Tahiri asked.
"Tionne will be flying with me towards Nal Hutta. You'll be going to a safer system," Luke replied, "Lose them on Sullust, and then when it's safe, make the jump back to quarters."
Aboard the gunship, Praxium opened the blast doors to shout an order at the pilot.
"Faster," he commanded, narrowing his eyes at the Jedi.
Sam watched the fleeing landspeeder as it hopped up and down the mountain slopes, praying that it would be fast enough to escape.
Suddenly, Hoff Praxium's comlink beeped, and he pressed a button to activate the holoscreen built into the gunship wall.
The screen displayed the angry face of Senator Mon Mothma, who had taken refuge in her shuttle and fled.
"Senator, we're in pursuit of the Jedi," Praxium said, "What is it?"
"I'm afraid your reckless military tactics have left at least two hundred of my people dead," Mothma said, "Drone strikes across the city, that is just unacceptable."
"Would you rather the Coalition lay it to ruin?" Praxium replied, "We did what had to be done."
Sam glared at his father's back as Hoff spoke to the holoscreen of the grey-haired Mothma.
"Your men have the Coalition guerrillas outgunned even without the drones," Mothma replied, "they were a waste of resources and innocent lives."
Praxium glowered angrily at the screen.
"You are in no position to criticize the military," he said, "We are not only ridding your cities of the Coalition, but we are dealing with the Jedi. Have you forgotten that they deserted us?"
"The Jedi were there to help," Mothma replied, "The Coalition Sith Lieutenants would have overrun your forces without them. There was certainly no need for the bombings with their efforts."
"As I said, we did what we had to," Praxium replied, "And I suggest you don't question my methods again. I could report you to Supreme Commander Omas for Jedi sympathy."
"You and your warmongering army have far too much power," Mothma declared, furiously condemning Praxium.
Praxium shut off the communication just as the Brigadier gunship approached the small town of Blakis.
"The Jedi have disappeared," a Brigadier solider observed, seeing the parked speeder just outside the mountainous town, but no occupants.
"Land and search the city," Praxium ordered.
The three Jedi StealthXs were hidden inside a secret hanger beneath the floor level of the safe house in which they had been hiding.
Throwing their hoods over their faces, Luke, Tionne and Tahiri crept into the narrow crevice leading to their safe house, avoiding attention from the populace.
"This way, this way," a voice shouted.
As the Brigadiers hurried out of the gunship and poured into the streets, pedestrians scurried into their dwellings and shops out of fear.
"Search every establishment," Praxium ordered, "Break and enter if you have to."
Sam cringed at the thought, deciding not to obey that step.
"Praxium, lead Green group the south drive, cover that outer village perimeter," his father ordered.
As the Brigadiers rallied around Sam, he looked at their various faces, failing to see anything but robotic, obedient determination among them. Nobody else was showing any signs of dissent, and it made Sam feel intimidated despite being in command.
"Cover these two streets," he ordered, nonverbally directing the Wookiee sergeant to go right while he led another unit left.
As they proceeded into the residential zone, Captain Ponder and two other Brigadiers approached a marble, domed house and began pounding their rifles on the sliding door.
Sam tried to ignore them as Ponder shouted, "Open up!"
Another Brigadier was telling the human family in the house across the street, "We are looking for three Jedi fugitives."
"We haven't seen any," the father replied.
Still refusing to approach any of the small residencies of the village, Sam suddenly turned to the sound of a small hatch opening, and a loud engine that was drowned out by the sounds of the Brigadiers knocking on doors and shouting at the helpless civilians as to the locations of the hidden Jedi
Three silver StealthXs were emerging from a hatch built into the ground that revealed a small hangar, blasting quickly into the sky.
Sam breathed a sigh of relief as his men and women pointlessly continued to interrogate the Blakis residents, spreading out to cover more doors along the streets.
He stayed quiet as the three Jedi ships began to diverge from one another, launching in different directions.
"Back to the gunship, after them!" he distantly heard his father shout, and the Wookiee sergeant gave a loud roar as he fired his sniper rifle in the direction of Tahiri's purple-striped StealthX, which was the last to leave the immediate area over town and launch into the horizon.
Sam said nothing to his own unit, but allowed them to continue searching the nearby homes. His satisfaction was replaced by guilt and shame as he saw small groups of families huddling in fear as his own Brigadiers entered their houses.
"Hey, Sam!" Ponder suddenly shouted, running up to the end of the block behind him, "Theyre saying that the Jedi just took off in their fighters."
"Did they?" Sam asked with an air of mild, but indifferent curiosity.
"Yes, and your dad wants us back in the transport carrier to keep pursuing them."
Sam could afford to be almost coy, but not quite, given the low chance that they had of actually catching the three escapees.
"Well, all right," he said. He ran alongside Ponder back to the area where the Brigadiers were passing through homes.
Raising his voice, Sam shouted, "Back to the gunship, men! We're leaving!"
He hurried behind the Brigadiers as they ran in two columns back to where the others had already boarded.
Hoff was glaring at his son as he was the last to board.
"You and your men are late, Major," Praxium scolded, "the Jedi could be far away by now. What kept you?"
"Nothing, sir," Sam replied, "I apologize."
"No time to lose," Praxium replied, turning his back on Sam to enter, "Fire up the engine and take off!"
The blast doors slammed shut the second Sam climbed aboard, lifting off of the mountainous surface of Blakis.
In the vacuum of space, a short distance from the surface of Chandrilia, Luke spoke to the others from his SteathX radio. Artoo Deetoo, his trusty astromech and longtime friend, was perched in the droid socket customized to fit him.
"All right, Tionne, you'l follow my course to Nar Shadda, and we'll lose them there if they follow us. Tahiri, you'll go straight back to camp and report to the other Masters."
"We should be back within half a day," Tionne promised, "Don't worry about us."
"Yes, Masters," Tahiri replied, though she felt a tingle of uneasiness nonetheless.
"All right, Artoo, it could be a hard job to get us through Hutt Space. Are you ready for it?"
The blue and white droid flashed his red scanner light and whistled his affirmative.
"You'll see Threepio and the others again in no time," Luke replied, "Set your courses on my count."
Just as the four Republic gunships were launching out of Chandrilia's atmosphere, regrouping with the Black Ring and the fighters, the three StealthX's took off into hyperspace. with Luke slightly ahead of Tionne and Tahiri veering into another direction.
Speaking into the communicator of the gunship he and his units were boarded on, Hoff Praxium said to the Black Ring's command station, "Keep your scanners set on the single fighter. Skywalker will most likely send the others away from his hiding place, knowing that we'll follow them."
"Are you sure that's him, sir?" Sam asked, "It seems more likely to me that he would send Tahiri somewhere while he and Tionne go home together.
"And what would you know about that?" Praxium asked, frowning suspiciously at his son.
Sam took the smallest gulp that he could before responding.
"He'll be expecting us to track him, I mean," he said, "so he'd most likely send Tahiri- I mean, the Padawan- away so she'll be safe while he and the other Master expect us. He'll need her for backup."
"I see," Praxium replied with a nod, "Either way, you seem awfully familiar with the way they think, son."
The gunships and fighter assembly flew in a procession under the Black Ring into the entrance of the bottom hull.
As the Brigadiers hurried out of their crafts, a deck officer hurriedly approached General Praxium.
"Sir, the Coalition fighters are regrouping at their command ships. Should we engage them?"
Praxium paused, having forgotten about the Coalition in his pursuit of the Jedi.
He rushed out of the hangar, into the turbolift with the officer in two.
Upon reaching the command bridge, Praxium gazed at the Sith Infiltrators reentering the Phantom Revenge, the Syck and Viper fighters reporting to both the command ship and the Hutt Cartel Dor'bulla beside it.
Aboard the Phantom Revenge, Talon shouted at the black-armored Shadowtrooper crew members, "Set course for Moraband, now!"
The Phantom Revenge launched into hyperspace, leaving the Hutt Dor'bulla in the dust.
"Where are they going?" the Nikto commander wondered aloud, standing next to the Toydarian Krunge, who growled in frustration.
"They cannot abandon us whenever they want!" Krunge grumbled, "This was their mission to begin with! The Hutt Council will hear about this."