Guess who's back!

First off, I want to say thank you. Thank you to all who supported me for revealing the truth about myself, were understanding about it and begged me not to quit Fanfiction. I had thought that I would be met with pitchforks and angry hate comments, but you all surprised me. You complimented me for revealing the truth, understood that I was trying to be better and wished me luck in whether or not I would stay on Fanfiction or quit. You guys are the best readers a guy could ask for, because I enjoy Fanfiction. It's a good hobby that takes my mind off anything personal, but lately I had too much on my plate in my life that needed to my attention, so my hiatus had to happen.

I had to deal with a bad infection from a tooth abscess, which resulted in me going to hospital to get surgery done for it to be removed and drained, then spend several days healing before I could get released. And even then, I had to take it easy. There are also other things that needed my attention, but those are personal to me alone.

But now I'm back, and ready to keep cranking out chapters and stories for you guys, to be better than I was before. To learn from my past mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I only own the OC Jayden Shan/Darth Khan.


With the battle in the Saleucami sector now stretched on to planetside and above the planet itself, both Republic and Separatists forces were a little stretched but not too stretched. On planetside, General Obi-Wan Kenobi pursued General Grievous. Meanwhile, Anakin Skywalker was holding off the arrived Separatists ships that came on Darth Khan's command, with Republic fighters engaging Vulture droids in the vacuum of space.

On the bridge of the Black Scythe, Jayden strode out of a turbolift and walked over to the viewport that gave a clear view of the ongoing battle, allowing him to see multiple ARC-170 Starfighters be shot down, though it was vice versa as several Vulture droids were also shot down.

And then, there was of course the exchange of fire from his ship, as well as other frigates, on the Republic ships.

"Increase firepower." He ordered as the ship shook a little.

"Yes sir." A pilot droid nodded as it and other OOM pilot battle droids typed on their consoles. "Increasing firepower!"

Outside, the impacts and hits from the Black Scythe were leaving bigger explosions now as they focused fire on a singular Republic cruiser, given that the Resolute was busy contending with other Separatist ships. Naval warfare was something Jayden was still working on. While his tactical acumen was impressive, seldom was he ever in charge of a vessel. His work almost always consisted of being an operative on the ground.

A droid looked up from it's console. "Sir, the Republic ships are not making it easy. They're pressing their own firepower."

"Then continue to increase firepower to maximum. I want those ships destroyed." Jayden ordered with a growl. His eyes, hidden behind his mask, were shifting from the battling starfighters, the cruisers firing on each other, and the Resolute firing on one of the Separatist frigate ships.

"They're putting up a good fight alright." A droid called.

"Then put up a better fight!" Jayden barked. His eyes strayed to the dogfighting between the starfighters, watching as one fighter in particular picked off more Vulture droids than others. Skywalker… Of course you are out there rather than hiding in your ship. Perhaps it's time I extended the same courtesy.

"Have my starfighter prepared." Jayden ordered, turning and leaving the bridge without hearing a confirmation. He knew his order would be seen too.

He had heard of Anakin Skywalker's skills as a pilot from Dooku and Ventress, and knew that he would be quite a challenge. However, Jayden happened to have skills of his own in the art of piloting starfighters. Perhaps it was time he showed them off and let the Republic know how much of a threat he is to them. After all, he had something they wouldn't expect, modified to fit his needs and become a threat in space battles.

Outside, the ongoing battle between the Republic starfighters and Separatist Vulture droids continued to wage on. The Republic fighters consisted of V-19 Torrents, Y-Wings and ARC 170 starfighters, led by a duo of Delta-7B Aethersprite starfighters; A yellow-painted one piloted by Anakin Skywalker and a burgundy-painted one piloted by Ahsoka Tano.

"Snips, you've got one on your tail!" Anakin called to his Padawan, seeing a enemy starfighter chasing her.

"I got him!" Ahsoka said, pressing a few buttons before her fighter spun to avoid missiles shot at her by the Vulture droid, then she flew her fighter around to have the Vulture droid in front. Ahsoka smirked as she fired, destroying the enemy starfighter in the process. "Easy as cutting down a droid."

"Not that easy, Ahsoka." Anakin chastised lightly. "We need to do what we can until Obi-Wan captures Grievous on the planet below. Khan isn't making this battle easy for us. He's already destroyed two of our cruisers."

"And we've only got three left, plus the Resolute." Ahsoka added.

Flicking his targeting computer to its maximum setting, Anakin primed all his systems. "Artoo, watch my subroutines, will you?" He asked his blue and silver astromech. Artoo whistled in reply as Ahsoka checked in with her astromech, R5.

They were unaware of a new fighter joining the battle under the cover of darkness.

"Alright, R3, let's make this a good debut." Jayden said to his newly acquired astromech as he sat in the cockpit of his black Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor. It had been designed as a new Jedi Starfighter, more of a prototype, but he had stolen the blueprints for it, intending to make use of it himself in space battles. And it had been a long debut coming if he had to be honest.

His astromech, R3-S7 whistled in response. The astromech had been designed slightly after the former undercover astromech droid, R3-S6, and while Jayden's was black with some gold lining, he also had some red mixed in as well. He was also built to be better than R3-S6,

Jayden flew his fighter around, glad he had made it black to blend in with the blackness of space but he knew he wouldn't be unseen forever. He only had a small window of opportunity to make sure his little 'surprise' for the Republic goes the way he wants it to go.

His eyes strayed to one of the Venators and he smirked.

Target acquired.


The bridge crew of the Venator largely consisted of Clones and humans, among them were veteran naval personnel who had served alongside Anakin on the Resolute before its destruction over Sullust. They were some of the finest men the Republic Navy had to offer.

As they went about their tedious work, coordinating with the other ships in the fleet and planning the dangerous mission of destroying an active Subjugator-class heavy cruiser, none of them were expecting what came next.

It was Admiral Yularen who noticed it first. A single monitor displayed a flashing sensor warning. At first, he thought it nothing more than a faulty subroutine. There was nothing flying at them, the only true danger was before them.

But his instincts told him something was very wrong.

"Sir! We have incoming!" A Clone shouted but it was too late.

Out of the darkness a fighter came, shooting furiously at the bridge before launching missiles and broke off. The missiles struck the intended area, making an explosion that knocked out or killed several Clones and humans. Admiral Yularen was one of the few who was knocked out as several were sucked into space.

"Close shields!" A pilot shouted and a few seconds later, the shields were raised to prevent anyone else being sucked out into space, but the attack had left its impact.

"That attack has damaged our communications!" Another pilot reported. "Our systems are halfway crippled!"


Jayden chuckled as he saw the damage for himself before focusing back on the task at hand as he zeroed in on the Republic fighters. Now to deal with them.

"Alright. R3, prepare to increase thruster power." Jayden ordered, earning an affirmative whistle from the black, gold and red astromech.

Closing his eyes and evening his breathing, he took a moment to get a feel for his ship. Honing his senses with the Force, he felt something resonate within him. His senses were attuned to the mechanical functions of the snubfighter. He could feel the pulses of the engine, the energy flowing through the power cables, the data bouncing from system to system.

He felt at one with the fighter.

Snapping open his eyes and slamming the throttle forward, Jayden was pressed back into his seat as the burst of speed propelled him forward. He was ready to do this.

The silver snubfighter rocketed towards the battle, cannons warm and ready to fire. Jayden quickly calibrated his tracking systems and synchronized his cannons, feeling as prepared as he could be. The first ship to cross his screen was a Vulture droid, quickly pursued by a V-19 Torrent. His computer registered the ship and turned yellow, followed by a long, droning tone. Then it turned red with a series of beeps and Jayden hit the triggers, a burst of laser fire erupting from his cannons. The rounds sheared through the exposed cockpit, scorching the body and lighting up the starboard engines as the Torrent suffered a direct hit. Flames quickly engulfed the body before the starfighter exploded, the wings sent spiraling off in different directions.

His first fighter kill.

Feeling better about himself, but refusing to get too cocky, Jayden veered to starboard and locked on to a passing ARC 170. His targeting computer going through the same motions as before, Wraith fired a quick burst that shredded the starfigther's starboard engine and likely killed the rear gunner. The ARC went spiraling out of control as Jayden fired a second burst that caused the other engine to erupt in flames. The craft exploded seconds later as the engine fires caught the fuel lines and caused a detonation. Jayden turned hard to port and fired a stream of fire as he passed a cluster of Republic ships. He saw a few explosions, but was not certain if he'd scored any kills.

"R3, let's get their attention." Jayden said, looking at one of the Venators next to the Resolute. "We'll cripple one of their cruisers and leave it vulnerable to be destroyed by our ships. Increase firepower and prepare the missiles."

R3 whistled in response as he got to work on doing that while Jayden flew his fighter towards his intended target, going for the bow of the ship first. His finger hovered over the trigger button, waiting.

His fighter just reached the bow.

He fired.

At a rapid pace, laser fire came shooting out of his cannons, striking the bow of the ship. In the process, explosions came as he destroyed turrets, the ship's relay systems, followed by the communications array. He shot up, still shooting, and destroyed the bridge with a couple of missiles then did a dive to finish his attack by destroying the engines.

With its important functions and systems destroyed beyond measure, the Venator didn't take long to shut down and begin falling, vulnerable prey for the Separatist ships to bombard it until it exploded.

His sensors displayed a group of three ships in tight formation, but he couldn't see any before him. Pushing the throttles, Jayden dove down and quickly highlighted three more ARC's in front of him. Acquiring another target lock, Jayden flicked his missile system on and pulled the trigger. A red streak erupted from his starboard side as a single missile was loosed. It burst open seconds later and a circle of eight warheads bloomed open, their individual systems acquiring target locks of their own. Three missiles streaked towards the leading ARC, who quickly rolled and changed directions. The other two followed suite, but wound up exposing themselves. One missile closed in on the rearmost ARC and slammed into its aft, the back exploding into flames and pitching the craft forward uncontrollably. With it's underside revealed, a second missile struck there, another fiery explosion consuming the ship and blowing it in two. The remaining ARC's suffered varying fates. The lead one continued to outrace the incoming warheads, while the one behind it was struck by three at once, the warheads clumping together as the honed in on the same target. A fireball consumed the starfighter and turned it into a cloud of dust and debris that Jayden sailed through, in pursuit of the remaining ARC. A single warhead managed to connect with one of the starfighter's triple wings, the rest detonating beforehand. Flames quickly sprouted along the wing, creating a weakness Jayden sought to exploit. But the pilot was good, using speed and maneuverability to his advantage. The tail gunner went to work firing on Wraith, attempting to draw a bead. A few stray bolts struck his bow, their damage heavily reduced by his shields. Hitting the triggers, Jayden unleashed a steady stream of concentrated fire that shredded the rear of the ARC, and explosion destroying the tail gunner cockpit and sending the body of the Clone flying past him. Jayden continued his barrage as his cannons ate up the ship, blowing it to pieces until the starfighter finally combusted. "Finally." He breathed, now reminded of just how stressful and tedious fighter to fighter combat could be.

Glancing to his port, he saw a line of a dozen Y-Wings form up on a yellow Delta-7B, breaking off from the main engagement and make a break for the Black Scythe. "Oh no you don't..." He growled, banking hard to port, throttling forward and flicking on his targeting systems.

Seeing an opportunity, Anakin led Hatchet Squadron away from the fray and towards the mighty Subjugator. A veteran of dozens of space battles, Anakin was known as the Jedi's greatest pilot and was something of a flying ace in the Republic navy. He was good, very good, and squadron leader Straightshot felt confident falling in with the Jedi General. The triangular Delta-7B led the Y-Wings like an arrow, pointing them on to victory.

"Tighten up, boys, those batteries could light up any second." Anakin ordered over comms, both hands on his stick.

"Copy that General." Straightshot complied, passing the order along.

"The instant we see something wrong, we break off. Understood?" Anakin added, recalling the last time they fought a Subjugator and remembering how much of a bloodbath it was.

"I copy sir." Straightshot confirmed. A brief second of silence ensued before a worried Clone called out,

"General, this is Hatchet Five! I've got a missile lock!"

"Me too!" Hatchet seven reported. Instantly, both Five and Seven were blown up, quickly followed by Hatchet Six and Eight through Twelve, all of them screaming a missile lock before cutting out. Anakin could see a glow in his cockpit, emanating from the eight wrecks behind them.

"Straightshot! You see anything?"

"Negative, sir! I've got no locks on me!" The Clone frantically reported, trying to determine what or who had attacked his brothers.

Suddenly, streaks of laser fire rained down from above, shredding through both Hatchet Four and Hatchet Three, turning them into fireballs.

"From above!" Hatchet Two cried out before his comm was reduced to static.

"Artoo, scan report! Now!" Anakin ordered. It was just him and Straightshot now. "Break off! Repeat, break off!" He shouted, veering hard to starboard. The Y-Wing behind him followed suite, trailing right behind Anakin. Straightshot pulled up alongside his General just as their attacker swept in again.

"Six o'clock! Six o'clock!" The Clone gunner cried, firing the turret wildly.

"General! He-AAAGH!" Straightshot was cut off as Anakin watched his cockpit fill with smoke and flame, rounds from their attacker piercing clean through the shielded Y-Wing before the starfighter exploded in a ball of fire. Flinching and instinctively veering his own ship away from the explosion, Anakin had to wonder who had just decimated his squadron.

And then a black starfighter streaked past him.

Speechless for a split second, Anakin shook himself out of his stupor and threw himself into action.

"Artoo, lock on to that ship! Do not lose it!" He ordered his droid. As the astromech beeped and whistled a reply, Anakin took off in hot pursuit of his quarry, the Rogue already in a wide, banking turn away from the Dominance. Anakin activated his comms as he coaxed a little more speed out of his snubfighter's engines. "Ahsoka, we've got a new player on the field. He's good. Dangerously good. Just took out all of Hatchet Squadron by himself." He reported.

"Wait, what?!" His Apprentice exclaimed, clearly not anticipating someone better than a droid ship to be out here.

"Form up on me. If they're good enough to take down twelve ships in a heartbeat, we need to stop them."

"Be right with you, Skyguy." Ahsoka chimed in. With his Padawan close at hand, Anakin gave chase and pursued the starfighter, pushing the stick forward and earning him a burst of speed as Artoo overrode a few systems for maximum engine output. Anakin stayed close behind the starfighter, his own experience with piloting and battle-tested skills allowing him to keep pace with thefighter. He tried to get off a few shots here and there when he seemed to have a chance, but the starfighter would always dodge at the last moment, either veering away to travel somewhere else or to avoid his shots altogether. As they did, the starfighter would fire off a few rounds of its own, blasting stray ARC's and Torrents as they bobbed and weaved through the frenzied fray. There were times it seemed the enemy pilot took no notice of Anakin and was casually continuing his work while dodging him at the same time. That gave Anakin some considerable irritation and his brow furrowed as his concentration deepened.

Soon, the starfighter of Ahsoka joined in as Anakin's wings, a duo of Jedi now pursuing the mystery starfighter.

"If you get a shot, take it. I can't seem to hit this guy." The Jedi called out. Ahsoka took his advice and matched speed with Anakin, firing off periodic rounds of matching green laser fire, only to miss as the mystery starfighter rolled and shifted just out of the way. Suddenly, the double thrusters glowed a very bright blue and the snubfighter took off like a shot, putting out a speed that surprised all of them.

"Look at the speed of that thing!" Ahsoka cried, watching the number on her targeting computer increase as the ship got further and further away.

"Cut the chatter, Ahsoka. Accelerate to attack speed." Anakin clearly order, punching his own thrusters to their maximum. Ahsoka did the same and they kept in hot pursuit of the target, albeit with a much bigger distance between them.

"At this rate we'll never get a shot off, he's too far away!" Ahsoka complained, sounding frustrated. The starfighter continued to sow a path of destruction, blasting Republic starfighters that just so happened to align with its crosshairs. An impressive body count was being racked up by this unknown pilot, a fact that served to increase the Jedi's worries.

"What kind of ship even is that?" Ahsoka squinted her eyes.

"It's what was meant to be the next Jedi Starfighter." Anakin said grimly, recalling Obi-Wan once showing him the blueprints for the prototype. "But some of the blueprints were stolen a month or two back, which has halted production temporarily. Looks like the Separatists were behind the theft after all."

"But who could be piloting it? A droid?" Ahsoka guessed.

"I can only guess… and have one suspicion." Anakin narrowed his eyes. "Ahsoka, let's try and see who he is. If he's who I think it is, we pull back and try to blast him straight away, understood?"

"Yes, Master." Ahsoka nodded and closed her eyes, concentrating with the Force as her Master's Force presence joined with hers and they prodded at the pilot of the mysterious starfighter to see if there was a Force signature there.

And they found that there was. One that they soon recognized all too well.

And he was quick to notice their presence through the Force.

Surprise, Skywalker, Ahsoka.

Soon, the starfighter did a loop and came into line with the Jedi's craft. The odd move took them off guard, but before they could properly react, something else happened.

"Master, I'm being hailed by Khan.." Ahsoka announced.

"Same here." Anakin said, then put him through. "What do you want?"

"They call you the greatest pilot in the Galaxy." Khan's amused voice chuckled. "After what I just saw, I am unimpressed. I just destroyed your entire squadron like nothing, crippled one of your ships, and left a second vulnerable to be destroyed. And you did nothing. Where's the 'hero with no fear'? Did he clam up all of a sudden?"

"What are you doing out here? You're no pilot!" Ahsoka demanded.

"Shows what you know about me, my dear Ahsoka." Khan said, his amused tone never failing. "I figured it was time I show off some new skills of my own and make things evenly matched. From the looks of it, I'm doing good. Do you like the starfighter? Those blueprints of a Jedi Starfighter had so much potential to be wasted by the Jedi, so I took a bit of research and had my own made."

"You'll pay for this." Anakin growled.

"I'm sure I will, Skywalker. But for now, feel free to watch my ships destroy each and every single one of yours. Keep chasing me… or do what you can to help them. After all, isn't it a Jedi's duty to help others?" With that last taunt, he ended transmissions and flew off.

"Master?" Ahsoka pressed, wondering what he was thinking. Hse flinched as she saw another Republic cruiser get destroyed. Anymore and there won't be any left and they'll be sitting ducks for the Separatists to fire upon.

Anakin's hand clenched tightly before he sighed and ran a hand down his face. "We need to return and get this battle under control. Let's go, Ahsoka." With that he turned his starfighter to head back to his ship with Ahsoka following close behind.

Jayden hovered his starfighter, watching the Jedi retreat and shook his head at how easy it was. "The compassion of a Jedi is their greatest weakness." He chuckled. Suddenly, he was being hailed by the Black Scythe and responded. "Report."

"Sir, we have received General Grievous." A droid responded.

Looks like his adventures on Saleucami is over. Jayden thought, turning his starfighter towards the Black Scythe. "Have the ship prepared to jump to Hyperspace. Our battle here is over. The Republic's ships are crippled or destroyed, they won't be a bother."

"Roger, Roger."

Jayden ended the transmission there and looked at the battlefield. "Until next time, Jedi." With that, he flew straight for his ship as it began preparations to leave.


And that's it for this chapter. Sorry if it didn't look like a major victory took place, though it really did for the Separatists. Jayden's ships crippled several Republic cruisers or destroyed them. Those that were left crippled can't fight back, so it is a victory for Jayden, even if he left. Besides, this was to show off his pilot skills in space battles, with a black Jedi Starfighter. If you've seen the Vader: Shards of the Past fan-film, you'll notice Vader uses a black version of the Jedi Starfighter from Episode 3, so think of that.

And yeah, his astromech is indeed a little bit like "Goldie", he'll show up again at some point.

Also, I am dropping any ideas of Jayden being with Riyo Chuchi before he gets with Ahsoka. He won't be in any 'relationship' with anyone until Ahsoka. His thing with Ventress is just purely stress relief and carnal enjoyment, a 'fuck buddy' relationship if you will. While with Riyo it would've been a friends with benefits thing.

I don't want my story to become too similar to DFM23's Rise of the Wraith, even if he gave me permission to go through with the Riyo idea, but I'm keeping it purely JaydenxAhsoka. It's less work for me to handle and keeps the main pairing intact.