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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Beyond - Legends Invidious Intent (OC - 54ABY)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Sokolniki, Jan 7, 2014.

  1. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Interesting to see what came of Uthierav’s injury – I had expected burns and/or amputation of the arm, but this is different. Sounds kind of cool as a visual thing, though I’m sure she’s none too fond of it. Poor kid. Plus, having metal all through your skull is probably not that healthy if you go among people who really love to throw electricity… several of whom are around somewhere. ;)

    The elaboration of Ren’Vhan’s past and how Valor is connected is very intriguing. For some reason, I had assumed that Valor was a youngling when his family was killed – apparently it was more a case of “no good deed goes unpunished”, at least from his POV. That’s a rather interesting change of pace; “I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” is pretty common, but the scared newbie who comes back later to kick one’s tail is usually something that happens to the Sithly types! I’m now very curious who the team members were that got killed. We’ve already got at least one possible sibling or relative that is still kicking around, based on Reantis’s surname. Unless Ren’Vhan is not a Halcyon after all… though it’s beginning to look likely. Have to admit that I hadn’t previously put together that the K-Blade is fueled by energy absorption, but the explanation makes perfect sense.

    Well now, that’s reassuring. :p

    It’s curious that Runtai’Svi has such a resemblance to Ren’Vhan – but apparently not in the DNA. Everyone’s dismissed it, so of course now I’m paranoid that there is a link of some sort.

    Iceheart’s Eye is quite a name. ;) Neat detail on the buildings’ material – sounds a trifle inconvenient, but hard to destroy. That could be beneficial.
     
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  2. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    Sorry for the delay, I had to bury a friend and it took the writing out of me for a while. Working on Chapter 16 now but in the meantime.

    Indeed... a certain character who has yet to be given a proper introduction will be only eager to take advantage of such an injury.



    At the time, the Jensaarai were a little closer to the dark side than they were at the end of Leonia's original reign of terror among the space lanes.



    You'll be more interested in finding out who the team member that survived was ;)



    I am making no secret of the fact that he is indeed, of Halcyon blood. The big question is, how closely related is he to Corran Horn, or to Reantis. While he isn't particularly concerned about his heritage, others would be curious about it.

    It's not so much that the K-Blade is fueled by Energy Absorption, but that it was designed with his talent for it in mind. While the mainblades are active, the instability of the blades causes them to graze the inside of the shaft at a predictable rate, bleeding off energy into it, raising the temperature of the shaft at a pulsing but constant rate, allowing him a constant source of thermal energy to absorb to allow him regular use of telekinesis... side effect, anyone not aware of this mechanism, or having no affinity for force absorption that tries to activate it... well, we saw what happens.


    I think you'll enjoy how that plays out >=)



    It's not so much that there is any prominent link between them... but well... Ren'Vhan looks exactly like the Senator that leads the Intelligence Committee... that could become quite useful.[face_skull]

    Just a part of Ysanne Isard's legacy in this story ^_^.


    Inconvenient and frustrating beyond belief. Surrounded by the perfect material for building warships and vehicles, perhaps even vibroblade weapons... and he can pull the maintenance panels and vents free from their mountings. Also makes replacing the electrical and water systems in all the buildings quite the hassle.
     
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  3. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    I am intrigued by this story, which I have not noticed before. Even though I am off to the Mountains soon with no internet please let me know when you update again. Your writing style appeals to me as much as your characters.
     
  4. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Nifty answers. Yeah, I bet it burns Ren'Vhan up that they have such a fantastic resource right there and can't seem to use it. Water, water everywhere...

    I'm sorry to hear that you've had a loss.
     
  5. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Hooray for Isard! Bless her megalomaniacal little heart. ;)

    This is not meant as badgering for updates, but when you have one I'm eager to read it. The future plot hints are very interesting.
     
  6. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    I'm introducing a lot of characters in the next post, a great deal more difficult than I had originally anticipated, but it is on its way ^_^
     
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  7. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    At long last, here it is... Google Docs puts it at 20 pages long x.x I certainly hope it was worth the wait for you all. As stated before... lots of new characters being introduced with a wide variety of abilities and personalities. New players have entered the stage on other fronts as well. Do please enjoy.
    Chapter 16
    -------------------

    The low rumble of the Extinction’s engines filled the cockpit as Ren’Vhan, flew towards the center of the eroded geological dome alone. As he went along, he could see the foliage covered towers of the lost civilization rise up above each of the ridges, followed by forested valleys until the next ridge rose up. He had only cleared the one section, before he hadn’t seen the need to continue the reclamation effort as he had more than enough room to accommodate his support population as well as his fleet. Not to mention much of the civilian population was better placed on several of the other nearby planets that were more agriculturally friendly.


    Still… he had the feeling that even if the whole of the massive, ancient starport could be reclaimed and renovated, it could not contain Leonia’s ambitions. He could sense that she was thinking about a great many thing… and among them, he heard her thoughts of how to recruit more ships to her cause… to recreate her past glory as a space pirate at the head of the invincible Invid fleet. Whatever her plans… whoever gets recruited with the hope of bringing to dock here would have to be thoroughly screened for spies and disloyalty.

    As he passed the final ridge, he saw a great basin laid out before him, and at it’s center stood a great metallic needle reaching for the sky. The structures towards its base formed the rough emulation of a cone while towards the top stood a bulge with a large disk structure just beneath it. All implications suggested it had been a command tower for the innermost launch facilities… but he had repurposed it for his own private quarters. A sanctuary of sorts to get him far away from the many minds that beckoned to him.

    He throttled down as he neared the spire. He could make out the low power shield meant to keep the elements away from the small landing pad that had been erected on the topside of the disk near the apex. Passing through the barrier, he thought of the task ahead. He was going to have to sort through his countless telepathic connections and try to get a hold of old acquaintances. Most had been left unused for several decades. The loss of familiarity was itself a risk… he knew for a fact that a handful of the old Inquisitors had found employment under Jagged Fel, though none among them were ever intimately familiar with the U****’Yar group.

    “First I’ll focus on the strongest of these links,” he said to himself as the B28 touched down on the landing pad. He powered down the ship before unsealing the cockpit’s canopy access to exit. “After those are sorted through, if I don’t already have what’s needed, I’ll just have to risk plucking through them randomly until I have everything I’ll need.”

    He climbed down from the cockpit of the old Sith bomber and made his way towards a small hatch into the tower in the center. Entering the tower, he immediately started to ascend a staircase that snaked around the inside of the tower’s walls. At the top sat a large round room whose walls rose up to waist height before giving way to large view ports up to the ceiling. The walls were once control and command consoles… but the electronic equipment, circuit boards and wiring had not stood the test of time near as gracefully as the metal that made up the buildings of the ancient civilization.

    In the past he thought it a pity as he was genuinely curious of what they may have known, and who they were. But now, his mind was preoccupied with more pressing matters. He made his way to a simple bed that sat at one end of the room away from the staircase and sat on it, propping his chin on his hand as he thought hard.

    He looked up toward the ceiling and let out a sigh. “Gonna have to take the risk I suppose.” He shut his eyes and focused on the countless connections. A simple task to filter out the men and women of his fleet. They felt warm both for the proximity and the regularity with which he used them. Next was to isolate the Jensaarai woman, and Rushtean.

    He felt out the remaining connections. They were all so cold and distant now. Though Ren’Vhan had hoped to keep track of the connection that had been in close proximity to him when he was on Rud-Ibasl, he knew he’d likely lose its place once he entered hyperspace… especially since he sensed its own move into hyperspace as well. It had remained cold and unfamiliar due to long term disuse and had become lost in the tangled web of connections.

    Regardless of how smoothly things may seem to go, he was constantly wary that someone may be manipulating the players to their own ends. He felt out one of the connections and focused the tether of force energy linking them, forcing it from the tangled mass, redirecting the connection below the galactic plane, twisting it roughly into the shape of Dorn, the earliest symbol of Aurabesh that can be roughly emulated in a single twisting line. An organizational trick he learned to organize his telepathic links until he was familiar enough with them to recall them on instinct.

    After isolating it, he shut his eyes and projected his thoughts through it. “Hello… anybody there,” he spoke telepathically. He could sense a confused emotion filter back through the connection. “No no no… not physically around you… it’s telepathic… it’s me...”

    “Ren’Vhan?” came an old woman’s voice through the connection. “By the God’s, it’s been ages!”

    “Nice to hear from you again… I believe it was Talios?”

    “Haha, you even remember my name,” came the reply.

    Ren’Vhan visualized the man as he remembered her. A Kiffar that U**** had recruited to make use of her exceptional tracking skills. Not something he was in dire need of… but certainly not a trait he was going to turn down. “So… what have you been up to all this time, Talios?”

    ------------------------

    A woman paced around the room, three long, thin red triangles radiating from her left cheek towards the right side of his face at varying angles. Her lean arms exposed as she only wore a black vest and a pair of blue pants. Various blades were clipped into his vest, four were vibroknives, and many others were simple throwing knives or five pointed star blades for throwing. In his hands, he held a vibrosword shaking off the last droplets of blood as it gave a soft ringing noise..

    His eyes were shut as he focused on a voice that had entered her head moments ago. It was one that was familiar, and unexpected. It asked her now “so… what have you been up to all this time, Talios?”

    She opened her eyes and looked around herself. The bodies of her latest marks lay on the floor all around the dark room. Three small time crooks who broke into the wrong bank. A Twi’lek woman wrapping herself in a blanket on the bed looked upon her, terrified. Likely a slave hired from the local brothel for a night of fun. “Tracking people for money… carrying out summary executions for those who pay a premium.”

    “Bounty hunting,” came Ren’Vhan’s voice. “So you’ve kept your talents fresh then?”

    The Kiffar flicked an inset switch on her vibrosword with a thought, using the force to disable it before sheathing the blade on her hip and turned away. “Yeah, you caught me just as I finished up a job.”

    He could hear the Inquisitor laughing at the other end of the connection. “You have no idea how much easier this makes everything for me.”Crossing her arms and tilting her head quizzically, he asked Ren’Vhan “does that mean you have work for me then?”

    “A long term contract, and a promise of your silence,” the voice offered.

    “Sorta like the silence you and the others had in regards to just how many Hands there actually were,” she said sarcastically.

    “I’m probably going to get that from all the Hands I speak to after this,” lamented Ren’Vhan.

    This raised an eyebrow on the Kiffar. “Wait… you’ll be contacting the other Hands then?”

    “I’ve already got one on board… though she wasn’t old enough to serve her position as a ‘Hand’ while the Emperor was still alive,” explained the voice. “But I’ll be bringing back together a number of my Inquisitor and Hand associates for something of a big project.”

    Her interest was peaked now. “Sounds like you got something big in the works… what sort of payout we looking at?”

    “At this time, I can’t really say, but if I could get you to agree to working for six months, I could give you four-hundred thousand with room and board,” came the offer. “With room for additional contracts.”

    “Six months huh…” she pondered. “Four-hundred-thousand is a little below my standard rate for escorts… you’ll have to offer a little more.”

    “And a couple of Krayt Dragon’s Pearls,” came the swift response.

    “Well then, we got ourselves a deal,” replied the former-hand as she glanced back at the terrified woman as she pulled out one of her thinner knives and started to twirl it in her fingers. “Where do I meet you then?”

    “For now, stay put, I’ll arrange for a rendezvous point for everyone. Don’t want to alert anyone watching any of you that something is up until everyone is ready to move out,” explained the Inquisitor. “Until then, just do what you usually do.”

    Gripping the knife’s blade firmly, she drew it back and threw it towards the Twi’lek, striking her between the ribs and causing her to scream in pain.

    “Still a soft spot for slaves caught up in the sex trade I see,” teased the voice in her head.

    Talios started walking towards the Twi’lek woman as she pushed herself up against the wall in terror. The Hand reached for the knife and pulled it free. She could hear momentary sparking as the tracking device in the slave tried to complete the circuit. “You remember where I was found don’t you,” explained the Kiffar to the voice before pulling the blanket from over the Twi’lek, revealing the wound. She shut her eyes and focused on the device within the terrified blue woman, telekinetically pulling it out of the body through the slit in the woman’s side. “No woman deserves that.”

    “I think you will get along with Zu Shaulle famously,” replied the man as the device levitated into Talios’ hand, who crushed it before turning to leave the room. The Twi’lek looked on with a bewildered expression.

    -----------------------------

    “At least I now have some telekinesis taken care of,” Ren’Vhan said with relief. He glanced down at his hands enviously. The burn scars from miscalculating the timing for absorbing energy from his weapon’s shaft were evident on his palms and fingers. He flexed them as he refocused on this telepathic links. Next was one that felt as though it was closer to the core of the Galaxy. Shutting his eyes, he pulled the link down below the galactic plane as he had done before, emulating the shape of Esk, the next letter of aurabesh he could easily shape his connections into.

    --------------

    An aging human male of fair complexion and blonde hair sat alone in the corner office of his company’s administrative offices on Coruscant. Outside the city shimmered brilliantly in the morning sun. He frowned at the view… he felt like a footnote in the company here… and completely forgotten in the greater history. Gone are the days that he fought the Rebellion for the glory of the Empire, or the endless struggle to retake what had been lost. Vong War threatened all, and it reinvigorated his love of the battlefield, but then the Jedi were able to turn back the war and make peace with the extragalactic invaders. Out of boredom, he joined with mercenary groups who had taken up the task of hunting down pirates and criminals.

    But now, thanks to the collaboration between the Free Alliance navy and the Empire, even these jobs were few and far between, and most of what remained to be hunted were those too smart to take risky jobs that revealed them, or those too green to even break a sweat on.

    He then noticed another presence in the room… no, it was fooling him into thinking that it was in the room. Smiling, he spun his chair around towards the door to greet a familiar face.

    “You were always more alive when the odds stood against you,” spoke the youthful face of an inquisitor he could never forget. “This desk job hardly suits you, Vulcaus.”

    He looked over the man’s features, his crimson zeyd-cloth robe, those shiny pauldrons, and of course the Admiral’s insignia that set him apart from the other Inquisitors. “Ah, the Inquisitor Admiral… it’s been too long… for you to still look so young.”

    The illusion smiled as he looked up towards the ceiling. When he leveled his face at Vulcaus, his face was cracked and his hair greyed. “Just wanted to show you a familiar face.”

    Standing up, the man stepped around his desk, keeping his eyes on Ren’Vhan’s illusion. He knew it was all through his head, but a disembodied voice always creeped him out. The Admiral made it a habit to use an illusion to help him cope. “Glad you remembered my pet peeve.”

    The older man nodded, “You seem bored… I can feel it all the way across the Galaxy.”

    “Peace has that effect on a man addicted to combat,” replied Vulcaus. “Every aspect of my being was for the purpose of fighting… but I’ve run out of people to fight.”

    “Such a waste too… you went through all that trouble to master half of the lightsaber forms… that knowledge is wasted here,” replied the illusion, gesturing around the office. “But I can give you the opportunity to experience the adrenaline of warfare… if in return you can pass along your knowledge of swordplay.”

    “Fight whom,” inquired the blonde man as he leaned up against his desk, his face twisted into a scowl. “The fool Jagged is twisted around the finger of Jaina who has no intention on making war on the Free Alliance that her Father and Uncle holds so near and dear… I doubt you’ll make them fight each other.”

    Ren’Vhan’s illusion shut his eyes as he chuckled to himself, then gradually it grew stronger, echoing in the office around them… no, he was making it sound like it was echoing louder for dramatic effect. But it wasn’t the sound itself that impressed those who understood what was happening, it was the man’s absolute mastery over telepathy… and yet, this was not what Vulcaus should be focusing on. “You’re trying to distract me,” he said accusatively as he pointed to the illusion. “For what purpose?”

    The laughter stopped and the illusion’s smile twisted into something sinister, “to add weight to these words… we need not make war between the Alliance and the Empire… I’ll be fighting both after all… a good opportunity to fight Jedi as well.”

    The words filled the blond man with disbelief. “A war on both… that…” The part of him that was rational wanted to declare it suicide… the part of him that wanted to stay alive… and yet, there was another part of him that found joy in these words… the part of him that wants to feel alive. The part of him that beckoned him to go to the battlefield. That bid him to take the first steps ahead of the rest of his colleagues aboard the Jedi Archive Cruiser “Enlightener.” Slowly a smile grew upon his face as the illusion crossed his arms, smiling expectantly.

    After a moment, Vulcaus stood up straight. “Sounds like fun… where do I sign up.”

    ----------------------
    “Balaurrek, thirty seconds to drop,” shouted the pilot as an old red-headed human stepped to the edge of the loading ramp at the back.

    He tapped an implant node at the base of his neck as he ran through a mental checklist. With a thought, he felt the thrust vectors shift on his jet pack. With another thought, he could feel a similar shift in weight in his legs from additional boosters built into them. He then looked at the two heavy blaster cannons laying on the ground to either side of him. He looked down to see the dust storm raging over the surface of Tatooine below. A perfect cover to slip into the targeted settlement.

    “Ragulan’s paying good credits to knock out those raiders,” called the ship’s navigator… and his boss. “Remember to aim for the bodies, the Hutt is paying by the head so don’t damage the merchandise.”Balaurrek looked back with a smile. “Don’t worry, it won’t be like the Trashieut job.” With a hasty salute, he turned back to the opening. He pulled up a pair of goggles and a breathing mask over his face and started leaning forward. Obligingly, the two cannons rose up from the ground and followed him out. He remembered when he first started training his telekinesis. It came naturally of course. Picking up an object, throwing it against other things. These were so simple that he had been doing it as a child… but that was mere instinct. Under the watchful eyes of U****’Yar… he truly learned the meaning of control. To direct something to fly through the air with the pointy end towards the target… child’s play. To move something to intercept attacks from any angle? It wasn’t enough. But to move heavy weapon systems around himself as naturally as he could the limbs attached to his torso… it made him feel as though he could always grow.

    He kicked the thrusters on his back on, short bursts for bleeding off speed and reduce the length of continuous thruster burn necessary to bring him to safe impact speed. He could sense the ground through the darkness and he felt the presence of his heavy blasters beside him, shrouded by the storm as the air grew dark.

    One last burn… and then he cut the thrusters entirely. His body felt weightless for a moment as he focused the force to slow his fall further. Once he felt the ground beneath his foot, he let his legs bend as he forced himself into a roll. No shots or shouts of warning… he had achieved complete surprise, and shortly he will have turned the Tusken camp into a graveyard…

    “That’s really interesting and all,” came a voice to him. “But it is quite nice to see you’ve kept your talents as sharp as ever.”

    He knew the voice that seemed to come from inside his head, but he knew better. “It’s been a while, chrome-shoulder,” Balaurrek mentally replied.

    “I guess you remember that much about me,” replied the unseen voice. “I hope I’m not disturbing anything.”

    He glanced around, listening for any movement through the howling winds of the storm. After the man was satisfied that he still wasn’t discovered, he replied, “No… they don’t know I’m here, so they can wait, I’m certain you want to discuss something urgent seeing as you haven’t spoken a word to me in over thirty years.”

    “Yes… to the point, I got a long term job. I already have someone who knows telekinesis, but she specializes in using it for offensive projectiles,” explained Ren’Vhan. “Your specialty in it has always intrigued me though.”

    “Only because you can’t do it without wiring yourself to a matter annihilator,” replied Balaurrek. “Sometimes, I forget that I’m even doing it.”

    He could sense that Ren’Vhan was smiling. “How do you feel about a teaching position?”

    Shaking his head to himself, he bluntly replied, “I can’t teach you a thing, sir… unless you hook yourself to the aforementioned matter annihilator, you really aren’t going to be able to do what I can.”

    “Ah… I suppose you were one of the hands who never got to see my fleet,” replied the Inquisitor with a tone of pride in his voice. “I’ve picked up many force sensitives much like yourself and helped to oversee their maturity as combat personnel.”

    “Are you trying to compete with the Jedi,” mused the mercenary. He went over the idea in his head. “How many potential students do you have?”

    “Between my fleet and the reserve personnel, easily over 750 individuals. Accounting for children and civilian sensitives… probably a good 500 more and growing. On top of this, I’m always on the look out for more recruits when I’m on a planet’s surface.”

    He then thought a moment as his comm device sprang to life in his ear. “Balaurrek, what’s your status down there? I’m not reading any shots fired.”

    Focusing on a keypad in his gloves, he was able to type out a message in text form to send back to his boss through his telekinetic abilities.

    “Now… how are you… ugh, nevermind. How big a job you talking?”

    Ren’Vhan, listening through the former Hand’s mind instructed Balaurrek, “Tell him that his crew and your families can live fat and happy if they can keep a secret, and have opportunities for additional jobs on the side.”

    After typing out the next message, he waited for his boss’s reply. When it came, the man spoke with certainty, “oh, we got enough dirt on our clients to put each one to death on a planet without a death penalty and they haven’t had so much as a knock on their door by the Jedi. Tell your friend he can count us in if he’s good for it.”

    “Good, nice to have you on board Balaurrek… I’ll get in touch with you again in the near future with further instructions… for now I leave you to your work.”

    With that, the mercenary felt the presence leave his mind. He smiled to himself as he thought of his own family. Maybe he could get his son and daughter and their children in on this scheme… not to mention the opportunity to learn to build and use a lightsaber himself. Balaurrek was always a little envious of the knowledge his superiors had that the Emperor barred him access to… but now, perhaps he could finally get to learn what he really wanted.

    He primed the blasters mounted on his wrist as the heavy blasters sitting beside them began to rotate their barrels. He could hear grunts coming from within the nearest tent as he pointed his arm towards it. Two bolts screamed from it, punching clean holes side by side in it and causing a pained howl to come from the other side. He spun his heavy blasters towards another tent as a stream of bolts began to shoot out from it, cutting through the tent horizontally and causing it to collaps onto the occupants. Panicked cries erupted through the rest of the camp as he spun towards another tent. The operation was a go.

    -------------------------------------

    A middle aged brunette human male in a black dress suit sat alone at a corner booth in a restaurant. The chandeliers hung from the ceiling high above, the fine wood tables were surrounded by similar chairs with red leather seats and before each were neatly arranged silverware. It as a high end restaurant for the upper class, one of the finest on all of Coruscant. He looked at his wristcom’s chronometer momentarily. He was there early. He glanced towards the empty seats of the booth before letting out a longing sigh, leaning back to look up at the ceiling.

    “Waiting for somebody,” came a voice nearby.

    “Oh, sorry waiter,” he replied as he glanced towards where the voice came from, but saw that no man was standing beside him. He leaned over to look around the wall of his booth, seeing that the next table over was also empty.

    “Fifty-eight years old and you still fall for it,” came the voice again, now from the other side.The man sharply turned his head around to see an aging man seated across the table from him wearing a red robes with metallic spaulders. He remembered the uniform clearly. His older brother wore a similar one during his service to the Empire, as did the other men and the woman who had helped to train him. What stood out on this one, was the Navy Rank Plaque he wore upon it. “Ren’Vhan,” he asked, not believing his eyes.

    “It has been quite a while hasn’t it Shalwua,” replied the man. “But you seem to have forgotten that you can’t really trust your eyes whenever I’m involved.”

    “Wait… you mean…”The man smiled as he seemingly leaned back in his seat and put his feet up on the table. “That’s right… I’m not here… not even remotely close. Coruscant is actually pretty much the last place in the Galaxy I’d want to be right now, having killed a number of Alliance Commandos recently.”

    “Is that so… I’ve heard nothing of it,” replied Shalwua. “Regardless, what brings you here… figuratively speaking.”

    “I was hoping to recruit you,” stated the Inquisitor plainly. “I’ve learned a little something new as of late, and aside from your brother… whom I would probably try killing if he didn’t kill me first if ever we were in the same room together… you possess a talent for precognition that is vital to future endeavors.

    “What sort of endeavors we talking about,” he asked.

    “The kind that has every potential of putting me at the top of the most wanted list for both the Fel Empire, and the Alliance.”

    “Not interested,” replied the former hand bluntly.

    The illusion let out a deep sigh. “I take it your life has been going swell then.”

    “You aren’t going to try to threaten to destroy my life, drag me kicking and screaming to the interrogation table so you can dissect my thoughts and rip from my mind the information you need,” he asked with a degree of concern.

    “I may have been a student of Isard’s methodology, but I actually have a beating heart in my chest,” he replied. The illusion simply smiled, “I’ll just have to remind you that I helped talk you through your first date with your wife perhaps.”

    “I owe you, big time I know… but its nothing I’d risk trouble with the authorities to repay,” replied the formally dressed man.
    “I’ll give you that,” Ren’Vhan shrugged. With that vague reply, the illusion vanished.
    “Is something the matter,” asked a blonde human woman as she approached in her black ballroom gown.

    “Oh… nothing… just finished a call with an old acquaintance… how about we order something, I’m famished,” he said, prompting a suspicious glare from the woman.

    “Honey… I’ve known you long enough to know when you are nervous about something.”

    “Never you mind about it,” he said trying to reassure her. He then waved a waiter over. “Tell me what wines you have available.”

    ------------------------

    A pale woman with jet black hair sat alone in a dark chamber. Her legs crossed and her hands resting upon her knees in quiet meditation. Upon her face were the beginnings of wrinkles. Her connection to the force could only delay the unrelenting march of time upon her health. But that mattered little to her as she sensed the ebb and flow of the force around her, and throughout the galaxy. She could sense that something was happening… someone had begun to send ripples across the Force. She could sense great long tethers were being manipulated, being pulled above and below the galactic plane through sheer force of will. “I wonder… could it be…”

    She then sensed out her own bonds… most had been severed by the violence of that fateful day over sixty years ago. Her master, the ships captain and the many apprentices she had found kinship with… slain at the hands of the Emperor’s agents. Her connection to the man who had her spared, the leader of the Inquisitors that had attacked her ship had also been slain in recent decades. She set these severed cables aside and felt out what remained. Three remained… one she knew to be that of Recardo… the Inquisitor who made it his job to keep her from joining up with the Luke in the wake of the Emperor’s death. She wouldn’t have to follow the tether far to find him… he was in the cockpit of the ship she resided within. Another, far more distant was that to her brother. She could sense darkness in it, unlike her, he had given in fully to the dark side and had become an inquisitor. Ironic as initially he had been taken alive for use as leverage to secure her full cooperation.

    But the third was a strange one. Most force bonds are established naturally. With time it establishes itself between any two people, drawing them closer through the force allowing their hearts and mind to be as one. Usually a simple and peaceful process and most could never pinpoint the exact moment at which such a connection establishes itself. But this one… she knew precisely the moment it came to be. She could recall the tension of the straps upon her legs and wrists. A man looming over her, staring through her eyes and into her very soul. She felt his hands upon her temples and then a burning sensation in her mind. When she felt a great emptiness within him… she knew that he could sense the great stores of knowledge within her. He had created the connection and made her mind and his as one… and in that instant all that was known to her was known to him. Her memories, her emotions… her weakness. His methods were crude at first, little more than brute force to force open her mind… and so she was kept around for practice afterwards and his mastery over the mind rapidly increased… as did her respect and pity for the man.

    She let out a sigh as she released the memory. What she was witnessing now, she was certain… it could be no other. The woman focused on this connection, cold from disuse, forced upon her by a man who needed it only to facilitate accessing the knowledge in her head. Following it, It led her straight to the tangled mass of force bonds being pulled above the Galactic plane. It was as she thought.

    Taking hold of the tether with her focus, she began to project her thoughts through it. “What are you up to Ren’Vhan?”

    “Someone with the discipline and awareness to sense something is up… and the familiarity to know that it is me without the ability to trace it the full way,” came the reply. “Female judging by the voice… I’m certain I had instructed Recardo to put you to death, Scothliath.”

    This bit caught her a little by surprise as she looked back in the direction of her bond. “I had been under the impression that my husband had only been assigned to ensuring that I not rejoin with the Jedi.”

    There was a moment of silence through the line, and the woman immediately regretted revealing her present relationship with her effective warden.

    After a brief pause, she could feel a wave of frustration through the connection. When at last he responded, his mental voice seemed… restrained at best, “Could you be a dear and connect me with your ‘husband’ please?”

    She let out a sigh as she felt out her connection to the ship’s cockpit. “Honey… I’m in contact with an old friend of yours…”

    “Really?” came another man’s voice in her head. “is it U****? It’s been a while…”

    “He’s dead” replied Ren’Vhan angrily. “Care to explain why Scoth isn’t?”
    A great wave of fear came from her husband’s end. Knowing who all the elder Inquisitor had killed, she knew that Recardo’s terror was justified. Scothliath also understood that Ren’Vhan’s anger was also justified.

    “Do you know what could happen if she were to join up with Luke Skywalker and his Jedi? It could result in the full restoration of the Jedi Order well in advance of U****’s estimates,” came the man’s continuing tirade. “As a Jedi Historian she knows more about their ancient traditions, their policy reforms and the reasonings behind them than any other Purge survivor.”

    “Look, I’m sorry sir… but I couldn’t just kill her, not after she had saved my life before…” replied the man with regret in his voice. She could sense her husband trying to recompose himself… but she also felt Ren’Vhan’s anger abating.

    “I suppose I can’t ask you to finish the job now,” came the distant Inquisitor’s voice, softer in tone now. “I’ll overlook your insubordination if you can swear to me two things.”
    The Jedi could sense her husband trying to think of a third option. That he wanted to run far away from the Galaxy now. “Honey… you know that we can’t escape from him if he really wanted to find us,” she told him. “The Enlightener is both slower and less suited for combat than his fleet.”

    She could almost hear Ren’Vhan sigh deeply at the other end of the connection.“You didn’t destroy the archive either…” asked the Admiral rhetorically.

    “Sorry sir…”

    “Nevermind that, this all may actually work out for the better,” replied Ren’Vhan. “Head to standard rendezvous Usk in the Veskar system. I’ll have a ship waiting there to lead you to our main base of operations. If you aren’t there in a week...”

    “You’ll hunt us down like you did my fellow Jedi,” reasoned the woman. “We’ll be there, but I must get you to promise me something.”

    “And what would that be,” inquired the man.

    “Regardless of what fate you decide for my husband and myself… our children are to remain unharmed.”

    Silence reigned for a minute. Then an audible laugh came through, “Honestly… I can’t imagine what you ever saw in Recardo… but you have my word. I never was a proponent of committing violence against children anyways. I’ll see you two shortly then.”

    “Would you like for me to contact my brother as well?”

    “Yes,” he replied. “And when you do… tell Toluhm that he knows better than to teach non-Atoans his kinetic-reversal technique… it almost killed Leshran.”

    She let out a sigh of relief, she could not sense any deception in his words as his thoughts departed, likely to continue his project. He was recruiting other comrades no doubt, and that they were being recruited to serve as instructors for other Force Sensitives under his employ. She stood up as she focused on her husband… “Lets get moving, we don’t want to be late… I’ll tend to the children.”

    “Are you certain of this,” came Recardo’s nervous voice.

    “We’ll be fine,” replied the Jedi reassuringly. “I’m pretty sure he’ll have more use for me alive if my suspicions are correct… but I have to ask you something honey.”

    “What’s that?”

    “Why did you lie about the reason you came to see me after Endor,” she asked.

    “Well… we’re married now… I think the answer to that is quite obvious,” he replied, she could sense his blushing through the force, and could feel a slight sting in her own cheeks.

    -------------------

    A bald man looked out a viewport into the vastness of space as he took a sip of wine from a stemmed crystal glass. Just outside he could see an Imperator II floating by slowly with a Nebulon B in tow guiding it towards one of his deepdocks. A pirate who was trading in for a freshly renovated Victory II. He had been a loyal customer and the renegade Imperial felt that it would be in his own best interest if he could improve the pirate’s effectiveness with a better ship. Even gave the man a warranty and a credit back guarantee if the arrangement didn’t prove to be everything that… honestly, they both were hoping for. In a Galaxy increasingly more secure against piracy thanks to the effectiveness of the new Imperial and Alliance fleets, he was growing desperate to find ways to make the pirates who were his primary customers bring in better credits and thusly better able to afford his services. He let out a sigh, business had been booming in the days of the New Republic… he frequently availed himself to the countless pirates that were exploding on the scene. When Leonia Tavira was on the scene, he had a hard time keeping up with the orders for ships and parts.


    Now he was having a hard time keeping even a single dock occupied and was more reliant on his legal front to keep his operation afloat. Probably would be easier if his fleet didn’t consist of an Executor, three Bellators and five Imperators in addition to his two deepdocks.

    “That’s a lot of firepower you got there L’ufshaut,” came a familiar voice in his head, prompting the old man to smile.

    “Ah, Ren’Vhan… Old friend, it certainly has been a while,” he replied courteously. “Are you contacting me for business or just old time’s sake?”

    “Been talking to a lot of old friends and acquiantences,” replied the distant Inquisitor.


    “Really now,” mused the bald man as he looked away from the window. “Any of them in need of a ship, perhaps one that is completely off the books? Maybe just a clandestine source of supply or repairs.”

    “For the most part, it is uncertain,” Ren’Vhan began to explain. “Though I could personally use a larger space station at the Beacon. Recently came into possession of an Imperator II and my existing facilities are inadequate.”
    L’ufshaut let out a deep long laugh. “I can’t remember an Imperial who hated the Imperial-class more than you.”

    “Indeed, however, the person commanding the ship is the one person in the Galaxy who knew how to effectively hide one,” reasoned the man.

    The bald man’s face straightened. “You don’t mean to say…”

    “It’s as you suspect, Leonia Tavira and the Invidious are currently with me in the Beacon,” confirmed the other Inquisitor. “And she’s told me the secret of how she accomplished what she did at the height of her piracy career.”

    L’ufshaut looked towards a viewscreen built into his desk and punched in a few keys on it. “Well, this actually is quite convenient for me then… as you may have found out from what I was thinking just before you said anything…”

    “Indeed, she was responsible for your biggest boom in business… if she explodes back onto the scene, you can see a huge rise in your profits once more,” deduced the man at the other end of the telepathic link.

    “Let me see here what I have available for you then… something a little more permanent that can service an Imperator II…” stated the bald man as he scrolled through his inventory on the desk’s console. Then a thought entered his head. “Hold on… I might have something for you… completely worthless to me… but… It’s good enough to serve your needs and mobile enough to get it to the Beacon in short order.”

    “Really,” inquired the Admiral inquisitively. “Could I get coordinates for it so I can see it… might be able to kill two birds with one stone.”

    Nodding out of habit, “Oh certainly… but what’s the other bird?”

    “Need a rendezvous point for many of our former colleagues, been recruiting them as instructors for the force sensitives under my watch,” he explained. “I could get our secure location to meet up and get a chance to inspect the station myself.”

    “Sounds like a fine deal to me,” he replied in thought. “I’ll figure out a deal, but I’m certain it will be… mutually beneficial to us if Leonia intends to take center stage again.”

    “I can tell you with great certainty that her ambition has not diminished… she was only lacking the ability until now,” revealed the Admiral. “And that her present plans have the potential to marginalize the Hutts and the Black Sun.”

    Raising his wine glass, L’ufshaut proposed a toast, “to brighter horizons, and bringing the fight to the Rebels and traitors once more.”

    He then touched a button on his desk. “Sally… send the Dissidence to the Tolruma system to refuel the station we left incomplete there… we’ll be having guests over there shortly.”

    Ren’Vhan’s voice came through one last time, “Thank you L’ufshaut.”

    “It’s I who should be thanking you… I’m certain that soon, you and Tavira shall be making me a very rich man.”

    ------------------

    A fair skinned blond human woman stood in a bathroom in a fancy black dress staring into a mirror, she was just finishing applying her eyeliner. The walls were of a fine wood and the floor a type of polished marble. She still had a little bit of time before the food is served… so she could afford to do some fine adjustments.

    “Hey there Zal’huat,” came a voice behind her, a figure unseen in the mirror. She spun around and saw an aging man in red zeyd-cloth robes and an Imperial Admiral’s rank plaque on his chest standing there in the bathroom.

    “Ren’Vhan” she shouted excitedly as she stepped forward before thinking back to the mirror. “Oh… I could just hug you if I weren’t so certain that your just an illusion right now.”

    The old man’s face turned into a smile. “It’s been a time and a half since I sent you on this assignment,” he replied heartfully. “How’s your marriage?”

    Letting out a sigh, “The excitement’s gone, been trying to revitalize our relationship with dates and such, trying a sort of second honeymoon.”


    Ren’Vhan let out a laugh, causing the woman to scowl in return. “You wouldn’t know what its like,” she said.

    “I wouldn’t,” he admitted. “Couldn’t even make it through my first date… granted it was with someone whose favored subject of conversation was on methods of torture.”

    “Yeah, well, I don’t see many girls being all that keen on the practicality of S-Foils versus solid wing construction,” she retorted. “Regardless, still it is quite nice to see you again.”

    “I wish I could say that I contacted you purely for the pleasure of speaking with you again,” he said. “But I’ve got something of a conundrum that you could help solve… and as a little bit of a bonus, it may bring that bit of spice back into your marriage.”

    She raised her eyebrow, he now had her undivided attention, “Really… how is that?”

    “I am planning on establishing a more formal training regimen for the Sensitives under my command and care,” the Inquisitor began to explain. “To help with my fleet’s operations under the methods that were tried and proven by Admiral Leonia Tavira.”

    Wait, that was a name she recognized. “You mean THE Leonia Tavira who the Republic could never find in spite of operating at sixteen-hundred meter long Star Destroyer of a class you hate because you could never figure out how to hide them effectively?”

    “Exactly, I have her back at the Beacon presently,” he replied. “Precognitive abilities are a necessity and I need someone who can teach such techniques.”

    “Oh… I can be like a mother or a big sister to them all again,” she asked excitedly.

    “I’m certain Kreia would love to see you again as well,” he replied.

    She smiled widely, “It certainly would be nice to see everyone again… and I bet my husband would love to help as well.”The old Inquisitor smiled, “And if he doesn’t?”

    “Then I’ll just have to drag him kicking and screaming, now won’t I?”

    “I was hoping you’d say that,” replied the man mischievously.

    She looked at her wristchrono, “And with that, I have to go, he’s expecting me for dinner, but I’ll run it by him.”

    She turned towards the door and opened it. Before stepping out, Zal’Huat turned back towards the illusion… but saw it was gone, signalling his departure. She giggled to herself as she stepped out through the doorway and into a room with a high ceiling and crystal chandeliers. She walked among the fine wood tables and the chairs with red leather seats towards a corner of the room. There sat a middle aged brunette man in a tux looking up at her in awe.

    “Sorry for keeping you waiting honey… I just got a very important call from my adoptive father… he’s offered me a teaching position,” explained the woman with a smile. “I can get a job back home and see all my old friends again.”

    “Sounds exciting,” replied Shalwua with a smile. “When do you start honey?”

    “As soon as we can pack up and head out,” she replied excitedly.

    --------------------

    “And that should take care of that,” stated Ren’Vhan with a hint of satisfaction as he sat alone in the abandoned control tower. He had contacted about a dozen individuals, secured the support of ten and been turned down by the other two… he had more than enough for his purposes, and he could count on Zal’Huat to bring Shalwua over at least for long enough to train new Precogs. He had even secured the support of L’ufshaut on securing a more appropriate facility for maintaining the Invidious. Hell, he could probably even find a reasonable use for the Jedi and the Archives she overseas aboard the Enlightener. Still, his instincts told him to try one more, as risky as it seemed in his head. Scothliath would tell him to trust his instincts no doubt, to abide by the will of the force. It’s never steered him wrong so far. Letting out a sigh, Ren’Vhan pulled another bond from the tangled mass, and felt through it, trying to peer through the eyes of the person at the other end, and to read the surface of their thoughts to get a read on who it is. His intrusion was detected right away.

    “Oh, it has been a while Ren’Vhan,” came the immediate notification. “Change your mind on joining the Fel Empire? Jaina Fel is recruiting capable force-sensitives presently for a little project of hers.”

    First time for everything thought the Inquisitor to himself. “Yeah… that’s a negative on that, Xul’Runa… still not going to join up with the Fel-Empire.”

    “That’s a disappointment,” replied the man. “So what brings you here… figuratively speaking of course. Just wanting to reminisce on the good ol days?”

    “Actually, I’ve had enough of that lately,” replied Ren’Vhan. “Just been finding people to talk who I don’t need to worry about putting a dagger in my back the moment I turn around.”

    “That’s not fair… Rushtean actually likes you,” joked the old man from the other end. “Suppose she’s the one keeping the whole U****’Yar group from joining the Empire?”

    “I see you heard about U****’Yar and Esht’Van then,” Ren’Vhan projected solemnly.

    “U****’Yar is news to me, but I was in contact with Esht’Van mere hours before his home was bombarded from orbit,” explained Xul’Runa. “Always suspected that Rushtean, orbital surveillance revealed that the shots were fired from high orbit from within a cloaking field… something I’d expect a spymaster to have at her disposal.”

    “Yeah, the threat of death is a strong deterrent to joining your Empire, wouldn’t you say,” asked Ren’Vhan inquisitively. “Still… it’s been a while, what have you been up to?”

    “Was retired… but I was recently approached by Jaina asking for my help with getting her new order of knights started up.”

    “So the rumors are true,” mused Ren’Vhan. “Founding an organizational equivalent to the Jedi Order then?”

    “Yes, she’s trained a few dozen, but she can’t continue to oversee their training while also testing initiates in the field,” he explained. “Hence why she came to me?”

    “Among the other Inquisitors in Imperial employ,” deduced the Admiral.

    “No… just me… She took my quiet retirement as a sign of my lacking of grandiose ambition for excess power,” he said. “Was quite rude about it, ‘you’re too old to reasonably believe you can conquer the Galaxy before your time’.”

    Ren’Vhan laughed, he had heard that she was rather blunt, taking after her father no doubt. “She’s right you know… but that means what, you’re stuck babysitting her top student or something while she continues to train initiates?”

    “Something like that,” replied the old man. “As a matter of fact, pretty much exactly that. Give him pointers here and there, particularly when it comes to combat technique, but I’m strictly prohibited to try to exchange force philosophies with him… but the boy is too anchored by his sense of morality to listen to the rantings of a darksider anyways.”

    “Probably going senile too,” joked the Admiral. “So I take it you two are off on a mission in the field then?”

    “As a matter of fact, yes. We were to recruit a wayward ship and her captain at Jagged’s request… but according to Rushtean, an Alliance raid has done chased them off,” explained Xul. “So we’re off to try to find them again… try to track them down while the trail is still warm.”

    "You still say 'as a matter of fact' entirely too often," Ren'Vhan teased. “And yeah, I can think of easier things to do, like finding a needle in a haystack…”

    Xul laughed, “That’s easy when you’re a force…”

    “On Myrkr.”

    The laughter ended abruptly. “Okay, I’ll give you that… ah, we’re arriving… sorry that I have to be off, but do keep in touch, it was pleasant to speak with an old friend once again.”

    “Will do,” replied Ren’Vhan before shutting the connection.

    When he was satisfied that their minds were no longer linked, he let out a deep sigh and fell back on his bed. At the very least, he learned some very important things about what’s been going on regarding the rumors about Jaina and the Empire’s force user recruitment.

    “I have everything I need… I just need to relay to everyone the coordinates that L’ufshaut gave me.”

    He then sat up and began to focus on the connections he had pulled below the Galactic plane to recall all those who had agreed to cooperate.

    ---------------------

    A young man in red cortosis weave armor looked expectantly out the viewports of the modified Gladiator. The haze of hyperspace still filled the view outside the bridge as he sensed a continuing disturbance in the force around him. As the haze faded, so too did the disturbance but before the view cleared, he heard a man call out to him, prompting him to turn.

    “Xha’un, I sense… that you sensed that,” explained a man in a set of red robes with black trim and metallic shoulderpads.

    “What was it,” inquired the young man.

    “That was an old friend communicating with me… was one of the most talented initiates I ever had the pleasure of training,” explained Xul’Runa. “He was one who could connect to most any mind in every corner of the Galaxy with a little bit of effort.”

    “Is he an Inquisitor like yourself?”

    The old man shook his head, “In service to the Fel Empire… I’m afraid not, he’s much like the Rushtean woman I told you of before… sorta of went off to do his own thing after the Civil War… but unlike Rushtean, I’m not entirely certain what it’s been that he has been doing… it’s that way with a lot of the people who worked under High Inquisitor U****’Yar… missions so secret that the other High Inquisitors had no knowledge of them.”

    “I see,” replied Xha’un. He then turned back towards the viewports. Filling the view was a rusty red planet. “Well, we’ve arrived at Rud’Ibasl… where do you propose to start our search?”

    A man in one of the bridge pits spoke up, “Fleet of small combat vessels are present… they are identifying themselves as the Blue Wing Omen Fleet.”

    Xul’Runa put a hand to his chin. “Really? Send them a hail… inquire if their presence here is related to the kidnapping of Evuzhi Huun.”

    “Right away sir,” replied the man.

    Xha’un turned around, “Sir… with all due respect, but shouldn’t we be focusing on searching for the Invidious and Leonia Tavira.”

    The old man smiled. “Boy… when you are as old as I am… you’ll have the intuition to suspect when things might be related.”
     
    Kahara and AzureAngel2 like this.
  8. AzureAngel2

    AzureAngel2 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 14, 2005
    He felt out the remaining connections. They were all so cold and distant now. Though Ren’Vhan had hoped to keep track of the connection that had been in close proximity to him when he was on Rud-Ibasl, he knew he’d likely lose its place once he entered hyperspace… especially since he sensed its own move into hyperspace as well. It had remained cold and unfamiliar due to long term disuse and had become lost in the tangled web of connections.


    Also felt lost in the beginning, but then memory came back & I enjoyed myself with all the characters. Thanks for being back with this fic!
     
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  9. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    Coherent thoughts are waiting for the weekend, but yay for seeing this updated again! :)
     
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  10. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    I love the colorful cast that you're building here. They already look to be interesting and a lot of trouble -- much like our Inquisitors and Jensaarai and miscellaneous others so far. Noticed that you included a couple of those names from the list. Neat!

    Fun to see how each one reacts a little differently according to their personality and history with Ren'Vhan. The way he's wheedling most of them into it because they're bored, bored, bored is amusing.

    Loved that quote, especially.

    And this conversation:

    I can see how this would have taken forever (like most fanfic writers, I know the feeling too well), but it's definitely a great chapter. The various personalities and the scheme-building, and the frankly hilarious reactions to Ren'Vhan "ghosting" around are fantastic. Such interesting histories they have. :D
     
  11. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    I do apologize for the sizable delay as I had a lot of things come up, some terrified me, and one makes me both angry and sad about the circumstances surrounding it so I was in a mental block for a while.

    But here it is, Chapter 17 of Invidious Intent.

    Chapter 17

    -----------------------

    Iunha sat alone in the lounge of the YT-2000. She had been speaking to Seevin Taunj about the odd arrangement of the freighter. It wasn’t so much to serve as a freighter or a passenger ship as it was a mobile barracks for the more specialized operatives of the Omens. Even in the lounge she could see racks for the storage of additional weapons and equipment. From Reinsal’s observations, it was increasingly evident that though they were officially a militia, they were very well funded by their own homeworld as well as anti-slavery groups throughout the Galaxy.

    What confused her was their incredible level of organization and discipline for a race that had virtually no need for warriors until the latest century, and had a solid reputation at space combat proficiency. They were no doubt a great asset in her current task, but it still seemed strange to her.

    “We’re quick studies,” came Seevin’s voice as he entered the lounge. Before she could look up, he was already answering her next question, “picked up on force training from the databanks that Tarkin left behind when he was done with our planet.”

    She smiled, “I recall hearing that your people were developing your own force tradition.”

    “Not nearly as formal as the Jedi, or your own,” he explained. “Or at least that is how it is among us first gen Reatori, for the most part we were only made aware of our potential abilities by what we found on Tarkin’s station, had to develop our understanding through trial and error by and large. Later generations will have the benefit of experienced teachers that myself and others my age simply had no access to.”

    She nodded as she lifted a cup of caf to her lips and took a sip before looking back at the roguish Omwati. “That explains your developing force awareness… but it doesn’t explain your military proficiency.... unless Tarkin left banks on strategy and tactics behind as well.

    This prompted the avian man to laugh. “In the immortal words of my teacher, ‘if you fought like Tarkin, you couldn’t afford even one ship.’ No, the man who got us on our feet during the Slave Rebellion wasn’t a fan of the Tarkin Doctrine, an Imperial Navy Captain by the name Shuel’ta Ehr’enor who was guilt ridden over his involvement with what happened to our people.”

    “And now your militia is the most feared among pirates,” she observed.

    He smiled at the compliment, but admitted “Pirates are no major task compared to the Slaver fleets. With pirates, most of the hard work is in tracking them down, it’s what our mobile space telescope is for… get out a few light hours or days, set up and you can watch the last heading of a ship leaving a system well after they have already done so.” He pulled out a chair and sat down as he continued, “if they think there are no immediate pursuers they are much more likely to follow their heading to a more predictable location than to use a series of micro jumps before taking a true heading… a little bit of force inspired intuition helps a little bit as well.”

    “Leonia is a very different quarry,” reasoned Iunha. “She is far more clever than your average pirate.”

    The Omen’s leader smiled as he crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair, “that’s what has me excited with the way this assignment has evolved.”

    Iunha chuckled, “Arrogant, cocky and rearing for a fight… you’d make an awful Jedi for sure.”

    “You have to be in this line of work, no other way to confront the Pirates and Slavers than to give them a taste of the very suffering they inflict upon others,” he reasoned. “If they have no reason to be concerned about their livelihood, then they’ll only ever worry about the bottom line, and unfortunately, slavery is a pretty big business in the Galaxy in spite of the bans on it in the Empire and the Free Alliances.”

    “This is very true,” sighed the Togruta. “It’s a trade that has been more resilient than two Empires and two Republics.”

    The door opened again, the Twi’lek slicer Feluha walking through with a utility vest and a satchel, each filled with a variety of tools and gadgets. “I want to thank you for taking me on.”

    Seevin waved nonchalantly, “Don’t mention it, besides, it’d be a crime to let talent like yours go to waste, you pulled up a lot of useful information back on Rud-Ibasl.”

    She nodded, “And thanks for paying me.”

    “You’re a free person now,” stated the Jensaarai woman. “You get the traditional benefit of being paid for your work now.”

    “And you do good work, so you get good pay,” continued the Omwati. Turning his attention back to the Omwati, “So what’s the deal with that cyborg friend of yours… I figured he’d be with us and out for blood based on what I saw back at Rud-Ibasl.”

    She shook her head, “Atrunas Valor was removed from this assignment due to his personal feelings regarding one of the men involved, and his recent loss.”

    “I doubt that’s gonna keep him from trying,” reasoned Taunj. “A man pained that bad won’t care about official channels.”

    Again, Iunha let out a deep sigh. “That’s why he disavowed his ties with the Jensaarai and has struck out on his own manhunt for Sivrejan.”

    “Gonna warn you,” commented Seevin. “If we come across him, I’m going to try to recruit him… a man with drive like that…”

    “Is as much a danger to himself and his friends as he is his enemies,” explained the Jensaarai. “It’s exactly what led to both his life’s great tragedies.”

    “Commander,” came a voice over the intercom. “We are approaching the Ibasl system… our men on the ground are reporting that the situation has evolved further sir.”

    “I’m needed up front apparently,” stated the Omwati as he straightened out and pushed himself from his chair. “But I do look forward to working this assignment with the both of you, and your associate Reinsal.”

    The Togruta nodded as she replied “Likewise.”

    Seevin then turned towards the door and left for the cockpit.

    ------------------------------------------

    Uthierav walked among the datastores of the Jedi Temple. Regis had offered to escort her, but was told by his Master that he was needed at the Senate. In spite of the new dangers posed by the potential resurgence of the Invids, and by association, piracy, the chief security concern was still that of two old warlords waging war over the resources of a Nebula. And while there was no evidence that either of the leaders had any intention of destabilizing the Galaxy with an attack on the Federal Galactic Republic, precautions were taken nonetheless. Which left her wandering the archives largely left alone save for the occasional stare at the ultrachrome adorning her face.

    The little attention she received was easy to ignore, trying to find that name in the archives was her more immediate concern. She turned towards one of the racks of holocrons, much of it painstakingly recovered from the far reaches of the Galaxy, others donated by Purge survivors or their friends. One in particular drew her attention, its emerald. The golden cube had each of its corners replaced with emerald colored gems. The intricate circular patterns were marred by deep gouging suggesting rough handling by previous holders. It was neither the most mundane, nor the most exquisite of the cubes present, but for some reason it demanded her attention, and instinctually, she picked it up and inspected it closely.

    “Certainly an interesting choice,” came a rustic voice from behind her.

    Turning around, Uthierav found herself looking upon the aging form of a man in emerald green robes, and immediately bowed to him respectfully. “It’s good to see you again, Master Horn.”

    The old man smiled, “I’ve learned better than to ask you to drop the formalities.” The Dathomirian could see the man’s eyes darting around as he inspected the ultrachrome that now adorned her face. “Not as bad as Luke made it out to be, Uthier.”

    “I could have died, I suppose,” she reasoned. She reached up and felt the tendrils of the strange metal that framed her eye. She followed the stream of metal towards her temple where the brunt of the impact had been received, “According to the physicians, parts of it actually reached into my brain cavity… which is the reason they have refused to try removing it actually.”

    The old Horn leaned back as he brought a hand to his chin as he looked over the younger woman. “Well, it does give the illusion of emotion to your face.”

    “I wish it did more,” admitted the Jensaarai.

    The old Jedi then turned his attention to the Holocron in the young woman’s hand. “So why exactly do you have that?”

    She looked back at the holocron with uncertainty. “I don’t know… I just felt like I was meant to somehow?”

    The old Horn took a closer look at it, “Part of my curiosity is that we’ve tried accessing it before, but not even Luke’s been able to do so.”

    Bringing it up to her face, she looked over it carefully, not with her physical eyes, but with her mind’s eye. Seeking out any internal mechanism hidden away deep within it that prevented none but a force user from being able to access the information stored within. But she sensed none, no moving parts beyond the holographic projectors and the motors that moved them into position. No mechanism that would bring the cube to life, no key. But most strangely, she felt no piece missing to suggest the necessity of any sort of key. Aside from the crystals that served as the storage for the data contained within, it was essentially only the mic to serve as its ears, speakers to serve as its mouth, and projectors to display the gatekeeper itself.

    Thinking she may have missed something, she went over it again, but could find nothing to suggest a switch of any sort.

    “I see you’ve come across the same problem the rest of us have regarding that holocron,” came Luke’s voice as he strolled into the Archive, drawing Uthierav’s attention away from the cube momentarily, before looking back down at it with a sigh. “And I see now that you don’t understand why the Force willed you to take it up, if you couldn’t open it.”

    Uthierav bowed immediately at the new arrival. “Grand Master Skywalker, it is a pleasure… and a surprise to see you here.”

    “There’s no need for such formality, and I for one am surprised to see you up and about so soon,” replied Luke as he gestured towards the ultrachrome that webbed itself across the side of her face. “I had heard the injury was quite severe.”

    “You need not worry about me… I would rather you focus on locating the man who had done this,” she replied.

    Luke gestured to the Corellian, “While you were still unconscious, I had asked Corran to check up on you to find answers to some of the things that were described on the initial reports.”

    “We’ve tried,” apologized the green clad Jedi Master. “There is a powerful bond between the two of you, but he’s made it impossible to trace it all the way back to him… he twists and curves the connection and changes its alignment… I doubt I’d be able to tell the difference between him being in the outer rim or being just outside the door in all honesty.”

    The pale woman let out a defeated sigh. “I suppose he has decades of experience over the two of you.”

    “Along with other potential circumstances that complicate efforts further,” added the Grand Master. “As there is nothing we can do about it presently, lets not linger on it too long.”

    Before she could raise any objects, she felt the holocron lift from her hands and float before Luke. “This had been discovered in an abandoned Imperial Vault here on Coruscant… and records that Master Tionne was able to restore indicate it was present prior to the fall of the old Order.” With a gesture, it floated back towards the Dathomirian, “They also indicated that they could not access the contents themselves… perhaps it is you who is destined to access it.”

    She looked beyond the cube and towards the Master and Grandmaster both looking towards her, before she turned her gaze back upon the old cube. She raised bother her hands to accept it as it lowered into her palms, shutting her eyes as she focused again on the cube. A vision then entered her mind… but not from the cube… nor did it come from the Jedi present or even the distant mind of Zivrejan. It seemed to come from all around, and no where. Before her she could see the silhouettes of three men. In the hands of one glowed a pair of green lightsaber, each with a small green crossguard glowing against his green woolen robes. Opposite of him was a man with a lightstaff with a red blade going across two struts jutting away from the main shaft to form a lethal handguard much like the K-blade had. His dark gray tunic and pants lay beneath beneath lustrous black armor . Between them, the third sported only a pair of metallic gauntlets and knee-high boots as visible combat gear. His clothing was a simple white shirt and leather pants. But what struck her was that they all shared the same face… a face she recognized.

    Opening her eyes, she shouted out, “Larushe Halcyon!” She glanced about, expecting that her call would have summoned the ghost that had contacted her before, much to the confusion of both the Jedi present.

    “I don’t know any relatives by that name,” Corran said as he shrugged off Luke’s expectant gaze. “Most Corellian Jedi families assumed different names and went into hiding at the start of the purge… my own family line survived because my grandfather’s last name was changed after his mother remarried prior to the beginning of the purge.”

    “The perhaps he was killed prior to or during the purge,” suggested the Dathomirian. “He’s come to me as a ghost since my encounter with Zivrejan… and he seemed familiar with Larushe as well.”

    “Think that all but confirms our suspicions then,” stated Horn towards Skywalker. “It’s very possible that this Zivrejan character is himself a Halcyon.”

    Her mind went back to the vision she had just had… the K-blade wielder she saw opposite from the form of Larushe. Could it have been a younger form of Zivrejan? It seemed likely… the man she encountered back on Rud-Ibasl definitely had similar facial characteristics… but there was also a few differences… but it didn’t seem quite right somehow.

    Looking back down at the holocron, she held it up to offer it to Corran Horn. “If really is some how related to your family, you should have it.”

    The Corellian let out a deep laugh. “I appreciate the thought, but that thing has sat here for near half a century and not once has it called out to me, even as I held it in my hands and meditated on it.” He then pushed it back towards the the young woman. “In a few short minutes, you have made more progress with it than Luke and I both. If it’s going to open up to anyone… I think its going to be to you.”

    Her eyes went back to the cube… she couldn’t deny the logic of his words in light of the circumstances. She bowed to the pair, “I thank you both… if anything comes up, I’ll be sure to inform you both.”

    “I’ll contact the archives on Corellia,” offered Corran Horn. “See if anyone remembers anything about Larushe… I’m kind of curious myself now.”Luke nodded his approval and dismissed his old friend who ran off to the comms room. Then turning to Uthierav, he said “Your master has returned to the search for the Invidious and Zivrejan… the Saraai-Kaar and I both agree it would be best you rejoin her… ‘after’ you are fully recovered. Until then, I give you full access to our facilities here at the Academy.”

    She smiled, “thank you very much Grand Master."

    “Now to the quarters with you, I want you to get some more rest before any further meditation or research,” he commanded, prompting the woman to turn and leave.

    ---------------------------
    When she was out of sight, he looked up towards the ceiling as he thought in his mind, “you really are quite talented… I almost didn’t notice you probing my thoughts through her mind.”

    “While it is part of my repertoire“ came a voice from behind him, prompting the old man to turn around in surprise. Sitting at a nearby table with his feet up on a table, smiling from beneath the wide brimmed hat. “It’s not how I was probing your thoughts… you just never noticed it before because I wasn’t using this old connection while you were searching for such an invasion.”

    Putting his feet down, the illusion stood up and walked towards Luke, looking him up and down. Skywalker’s shock was painted across his face. With a momentary thought, he was able to sense out tendril of the force stretching from himself and into the endless expanses of space, twisting and turning erratically… exactly like it had been for Uthierav, but this was much more clear in his mind.”

    “And yet not impossible for you to sever, actually, it would be quite easy for you actually… that you haven’t done so the moment you sensed it reveals your own curiosity,” deduced the illusion as he walked around. “You know… as an old friend, I guess I can humor you. What would you like to know… I’ll be completely honest for one question… and one question only and I shall answer it with another question that should be easy for you to answer.”

    “Just one question,” inquired the Jedi. “And then… you will sever the bond completely because you fear that I might be able to track you through it somehow.”

    The man smiled, “now aren’t the surfaces of my thoughts just an open book for you to read. In all honesty, I forgot about this connection… I probably completely forgot about it several times actually.” He then pointed towards the Jedi as he waved a finger, “I was only reminded of it when I was peering through the eyes of Uthierav.

    He then crossed his arms expectantly, “Now then, perhaps you’d like to know how… but even you’d know the answer to that,” he said. “Hard work and a great deal of practice. Then what about when… where?”

    Luke looked into the eyes of the illusion. “Why.”

    “The most important question of all,” replied the man. “In all these years… has the thought ever crossed your mind that you were unable to sense that Endor had been a trap? Or did you simply chalk it as having been the Will of the Force that you never knew until you were descending aboard the Tyderium?”

    The illusion began to fade, prompting Luke to shout to it, “Wait!”

    “And what” replied the fading vision. “Give you a few more seconds to finish tracing this bond… I bid you farewell, but it was good to see you again.”

    Then Luke felt a sharp pang of pain in his mind for a moment as the connection was severed. He focused again on where the forced bond had been, but now it was no longer there, only the connections he had with his friends and family now remained. A few moments longer and he probably could have had it, he sensed the end of it, and it pointed towards the Outer Rim territories. Moving through hyperspace to be sure, but it would have been a clue.

    A young Jedi ran up to the man, “Are you okay Master Skywalker,” inquired the young boy.

    Luke looked towards the youngster, “Nothing’s wrong… I’m just too used to being underestimated I guess.”

    -------------------------

    Seevin looked out the viewports expectantly as the ship dropped out of hyperspace as his navigator watched the scopes. Behind him, Iunha shifted nervously as she felt a dark presence ahead of them. As the haze of Hyperspace faded, she could see an arrowhead shaped vessel with a blunted tip opening up as a hangar.

    “Imperial Vessel up ahead,” called out the Navigator.

    Seevin looked closely at the ship, several of the Omen’s other vessels circled it, but there appeared to be no hostility. “Gladiator-Class… get a hold of Sjutai, I’d like to get caught up on what’s happening here.”

    A hologram appeared above the center console of a female Omwati, “I do apologize sir, but I could not turn down an offer to help us locate Evuzhi.”

    “Can’t blame you… but I’d like to know their interest here,” he replied.

    Another figure appeared of a young man in armor and a cloak. “My name is Xha’Un, and while our primary interest is in locating the Invidious, of which you are reportedly the one with both the opportunity of finding out, and possessing the authority to reveal such information to us if available, it was of no inconvenience to us to render assistance while awaiting your return.”

    “Ah such a liar,” came an older voice from off the screen. An old man in robes and holding himself up with a can stepped into view. “He had no interest in finding your kinswoman until I prodded him about it,” stated the man brazenly.

    “You’re an old Imperial Inquisitor,” stated Iunha matter of factly. “Routinely brought batches of adepts to Susevfi to take part in hunting us Jensaarai down were you not? Xul’Runa I believe she called you?”

    The old figure squinted towards the holocam, apparently studying what he could see of the Togruta, “I didn’t leave you an orphan did I?”

    Shaking her head, she replied “not at all, my grandmother was one such adept, who had been left for dead for her failure apparently.”

    The old man laughed a little, then said jokingly, “I’m not sure if I should apologize or say you’re welcome.”

    “Reminiscing aside,” cut in the Imperial Knight, “We can and have been providing aid and it grows increasingly apparent that this weapons smuggler ‘Zivrejan’ ran off with Evuzhi Huun, and that he likely had a pending business deal with Leonia Tavira.”

    “We find the Invidious, we find Huun,” deduced the Omwati commander. “Sounds like we are better equipped for finding her… what do you have to offer… exactly.”

    The hologram smiled, “From what my scouts are reporting of evidence on the ground, there was a clash of skilled lightsaber wielders… suggesting offshoot Jedi or Sith cult involvement or perhaps a renegade Imperial Inquisitor or Emperor’s Hand. I’m better trained at handling such an eventuality than the Jensaarai you have with you, or any of your men… then there is the little fact that you’ll want more firepower than your little fleet can provide if Leonia herself is… less than cooperative with her Imperial Deuce.”

    Seevin leaned back in the pilot’s seat as he considered all that Xha’un had just said.

    “Let me show you how negotiating’s done,” the old man said berating the young Knight before turning back towards the holocam. “Tell me Seevin Taunj… would it really hurt anything to have us join in your search for Evuzhi Huun. At the very least, we’d be something bigger for the Invidious to shoot at rather than your own men.”

    Taunj let out a sigh as Iunha turned towards him. He then gestured his coms officer, “Any word yet from the Bird’s Eye?” He then turned back towards the hologram. “I’ll let you tag along… but do try not to get in the way.”

    The old man bowed respectfully. “If you find any leads, we’ll recall our men and be able to get underway in less than an hour if need be.”

    “That’s looking to be a likely scenario,” reasoned the Omwati. As the hologram vanished, he turned back towards the Jensaarai behind him. “I’m surprised you had no objections.”

    Iunha shook her head. “I sense no treachery in either of the two… I actually sense a great deal of good in the Apprentice… though perhaps a touch of zealotry in him. The older one seems more driven by greed. I suspect this venture is little more than a paycheck for him.”

    “I hope you’re right,” replied the Omwati.

    “Sir,” called out the comms officer. “The Bird’s Eye has calculated a vector for the Invidious… want me to relay orders to recall our men?”

    “Do it,” commanded Seevin Taunj. “Don’t forget to relay the message to our new allies.”

    ---------------------------

    Ren’Vhan stepped out onto command walkway of the Rejoice rubbing his head as he repeatedly shut and opened his eyes.

    Si’Yanvo walked up to him with a cup of caff. “Are you okay sir… you look like poodoo.”

    “Ah it’s nothing,” replied the old Inquisitor. “Just a severed bond is all… nothing that will kill me, just give me a headache from the 9th level of Hell.”

    “Ah,” replied his second in command.

    Kreia stood up from the helm controls, “Who was it this time... “ she asked with a worried face. “Anyone I’d have known?”

    He smiled at the Pantoran. “Don’t worry, if it was anyone you were close to, you’d have felt it as well… really no one died, I had to sever the connection myself… The only man I’ve ever known to trace the link that far, couldn’t allow him to take it any further.”

    He looked on as the Bridge’s transparisteel reverted from opaque to transparent in preparation for dropping out of Hyperspace, revealing the haze, and then after a moment, slowed down to reveal the streaking of the stars before stopping to each form singular dots.

    Before them, a great disc with a large structure jutting downward from aft its center hovered before them, dimly lit by the distant star at the center of the system.

    The man watching the scopes shouted out, “Sir, vessel ahead… thirty-one hundred meters long and…

    “Thirty-one hundred meters wide, I know… it’s not the first time I’ve seen an Inexpugnable,” replied the Admiral.

    A hologram appeared, showing a middle aged man in robes with metallic pauldrons. “Ren’Vhan… it’s been a long time. I suppose I have a lot to answer for.”

    Ren’Vhan waved aside the younger man’s concerns, “Can’t be helped now. You just did what you felt was right, even if it was against my commands. Still, I need you to accompany me in the mean time.”

    As the Atoan stepped into the hologram, he shifted his attention, “Scothliath… I hope you aren’t going to cause me any unnecessary troubles.”

    “In my defense, I never made an attempt to join up with Luke or his Jedi,” she explained.

    “Which suggests you have an angle,” thought the Admiral aloud.

    She shook her head, “I am completely open to the will of the force… you still temper your instincts with thoughts and logic.”

    “Which, by the way,” interrupted Ren’Vhan, “very nearly got me into a spot of trouble rather recently.”

    “Perhaps it was meant to be that way,” stated the woman flatly.

    “And what does the force tell you about obeying me then,” inquired the Inquisitor.

    “It’s never guided me wrong,” she replied with a subservient bow.

    Letting out a gruff laugh, he looked back towards the Jedi, “I thought those same words moments before I got into the spot of trouble… just link the Enlightener’s astrogation to the Valorous and they’ll lead you back to our base of operations.”

    He then turned his attention back towards the man in the hologram. “In the mean time… Recardo, transfer over to my command ship. I need you up to speed about a few things before we get where we need to be.”

    “Yes…” replied the other man sheepishly. “I was curious as to why you have an Imperial-Class with you… I thought you hated those things.”

    “It’s part of what I want to get you caught up about,” replied Ren’Vhan. “It’s what got all of this rolling in the first place.”

    “Yes sir,” replied the man.

    “Also, one more thing,” added Ren’Vhan.

    Recardo looked back towards the holocam, “yes sir?”

    “Stand tall and proud… I’ll not have a man who disobeyed an order I charged him with look so meek and uncertain of his decision,” instructed the elder man, causing Recardo to stand up straight with an expression of confusion.
     
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  12. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    [face_dancing] So glad that this has been updated!

    Nice background on the Omens. They seem to be very skilled and well-equipped, but possibly willing to commit themselves to more than they can handle. Seevin's thoughts on the developing Omwati Force tradition suggest all kinds of possible future issues. Liked his conversation with Iunha about who would make a good recruit. Different priorities there.

    I liked the brief appearance of Feluha and that the Omens insist on paying her fairly even though she doesn't expect it. They practice what they preach -- good for them.

    Ren'Vhan's roots seem to be growing ever more tangled -- the mysterious Larushe Halcyon, the Mandalorian angle (or do people assume because of the armor?), and now he's a past acquaintance of Luke Skywalker. And potentially had something to do with the trap at Endor. It's all very curious.

    Uthierav's discovery of the holocron is interesting and I'm not sure whether it will prove to be a fortunate one. Yay, foreboding! ;)

    I'll be curious to see what Scothliath is up to -- Ren'Vhan thinks she has an "angle", and given what we know that seems plausible. But I can't imagine what it is that she wants.
     
  13. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    Some explanation with a little bit of Ren'Vhan's own background.

    One must be born Corellian... but you can be raised a Mandalorian... in the EU, it was established that the "Original" Mando'a were a species of near-humans called the Taung. Mandalorians as we know them today are Humans primarily because in Mandalorian culture, it was exceedingly common to adopt orphans regardless of species and raise them with Mandalorian traditions... it was especially common for those orphaned by wars to be adopted by Mandalorians. Ren'Vhan was one such individual found towards the end of the Clone Wars, and was thus was raised for a short period of time by Mando'a parents before enlisting in the Imperial Navy (From which he would be later recruited into the Inquisitors).

    Valor was able to tell that he was Corellian by his knack for energy absorption and connecting the dots to the possibility of Halcyon heritage (A correct assumption), but Uthierav was able to tell that he was Mandalorian due to his unarmed combat techniques prior to Kreia dropping the K-Blade from above. Uthierav also noted that he never attempted to grab anyones blades, as a Mandalorian would if they had the crush-gaunts... such functionality being absent in his ultrachrome gloves as they have an exposed palm and fingertips to allow the absorption of thermal energy from the shaft of the K-Blade as the unstable blades and parrying other lightsaber blows slowly heat it up.

    So that's the Mandalorian relation explained... simply put, he was adopted by Mando'a and raised as one of their own. He has no blood relation, but one doesn't need to be in order to be a true Mandalorian... but their sense of honor will come to the fore as the story goes one ... you can actually see hints of it alread as it's a big reason for his dislike of slavery and his distaste for torture, why he's much friendlier towards his subordinates than your average darksider and why he didn't have Recardo put to the flames for disobeying a rather significant order.

    The Holocron will become very important once its contents are at last revealed.

    The next chapter will be the meeting between Ren'Vhan and the various Inquisitors and Hand's he has sent a call to aboard the station that L’ufshaut thinks could serve Ren'Vhan as an orbital platform to effect repairs and maintenance of the Imperial Deuce that recently allied itself to the Ghost Fleet... among many other things.
     
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  14. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    Chapter 18

    “So if I’m hearing this correctly,” Recardo began explain, “You need teachers for the sensitives you command to pull all this off?”

    “So that we can emulate Leonia’s previous exploits,” confirmed Ren’Vhan as he gestured to the hologram of Leonia whom was transmitting from the Invidious.

    “Well, precognition isn’t a particular specialty of mine,” admitted the former Hand. “As a matter of fact, I never really excelled at anything to be honest… even my wife has told me as much.”

    The blue figure of the aged former-Moff then spoke up, “In the past, I had made use of the Jensaarai only for their precognitive abilities until Jenos Idanian began to make a mess on Courkrus… after which I had ordered a small detachment to hunt down the Jedi… which they had, though apparently through the intervention of Luke, they were overpowered instead.” She then looked towards Recardo, “Admittedly the Jensaarai’s heart wasn’t in the fight, and that is due in large part to my own mistake, but regardless, where the Jedi proved to foil me in the past, I intend to cover such vulnerability with fighters who are genuinely loyal, if not to me, then to the organization we are here to build.”

    She then gestured, “and with what Ren’Vhan has told me of your prior training… and your apparent exposure to a Jedi’s experience and teachings, you are a perfect candidate for both providing generalized training, and evaluating the strengths and specialities of new initiates to put them where they can do the best good.”

    “And you are willing to trust me with such a responsibility… in spite of my obvious act of insubordination,” inquired the younger man curiously.

    Ren’Vhan chuckled to himself. “You’ll play a central role, to be sure, but we aren’t leaving you in charge of the entirety of the process. I have someone else in mind for that.” The old man then looked towards Recardo as he put his hands together on the conference table. “Besides, your decision to spare Scothliath or fail to scuttle the Enlightener may prove to put us a leg up on Luke’s Jedi order with access to its intact archives.”

    Recardo thought to himself quietly, he could try to come up with an excuse such as obeying the will of the force, he had heard Scoth say that Ren’Vhan has done so on occasion.

    “You love her,” stated Ren’Vhan plainly, interrupting the subordinate in his thoughts. “Don’t try to lie, it neither suits you, or does it work on me… ever.” The older man then laughed, “You’ve been away too long if you’ve forgotten that.”

    The woman in the hologram then cut in, “regardless, it does put you in a uniquely strong position to establish a screening and training regimen based on what all Ren’Vhan’s told me of the others who have been brought in for this.”

    “So who all are going to be with us on this venture,” asked Recardo. “U****’Yar?”

    “I’m afraid he’s dead… been for quite some time while he was preparing to join the Fel Empire,” explained the Inquisitor. “Some enforcer was apparently still keeping an eye on us at the time.” The red-robed man then let out a deep sigh.

    Recardo looked on with sorrowful eyes, “Sorry for bringing him up… I know you held him in high regard.”

    “That was ages ago,” stated the man as he turned back towards the hologram. “Leonia, we should be arriving at the stated rendezvous in the Tolruma system.”

    The woman in the hologram turned towards the Admiral, “Regarding that… the coordinates you sent me… could they really be considered ‘in the system’, they seem pretty far out of the way.”

    Ren’Vhan smiled at the observation. “You’d be right, and that’s the way L’ufshaut has operated since before the Civil War. He was responsible for most covert ship construction outside the really big operations… essentially he provided vessels for Imperial Intelligence that were completely off the books through droid labor from resource gathering all the way to completion.”

    He then brought up a star map of the Tolruma system, “systems like this were perfect for his operations as they provided plentiful resources for resource gathering that were close at hand, but were out of the way enough that hiding a space station from even long range sensors was hardly a problem.” He then zoomed the map in towards the rendezvous point, it was approximately 4 light days away from the edge of the outermost band of asteroids surrounding the binary star. “He’s the one who championed the shift towards expanding the use of Deepdock facilities as the Rebellion attacked the more conventional facilities with increasing frequency… I also have him to thank for rebuilding most of my fleet from old Clone Wars wrecks.”

    He heard the ship shift back into normal space, and immediately sensed shock coming from the bridge crew and some of the escort vessels he had assigned to accompany the Rejoice and Invidious for the trip. “Madame Tavira… I think we’re both needed on the bridge,” he stated with urgency as stood up and nearly threw the chair aside as he rushed towards the door.

    Now the sense of surprise was flowing in from his gunnery crews. Whatever it was, it was something that they were seeing ahead. He wanted to excuse it as it being the first time any of them had seen an Executor or a Bellator if it weren’t for one exception. He could sense that even Si’Yanvo couldn’t make sense of what he was looking at. As he ran into the bridge, he could see most of the Bridge’s guards were crowded around the forward viewports while some of the bridge crew were looking at the sensor operator’s screens on his side of the bridge. Ren’Vhan looked at the tactical display and could only see the modified Executor class with rib like extensions jutting out the bottom that allowed it to serve as a deepdock for even Bellators.

    Step aside everyone,” commanded Si’Yanvo as he stepped to Ren’Vhan’s side as he gestured towards the forward viewports, having since regained his own composure. “Admiral… I think you need to see this.”

    Ren’Vhan stepped towards the viewport as the Executor-class dreadnought slowly floated into the way. Once reaching it, the massive ship was starting to float out of the way to reveal what had caused such a stir among his crews. What he saw, he could hardly believe himself. A massive disc like structure with a large pillar jutting out the center of it. Off in one direction, a rough cone of supporting beams great out from the massive dis with a large circular hollow at the end of it, with an obvious outer-hull construction forming a smooth surface that met seemlessly with the station’s edges. And Running all around the edge of the disc appeared to be a massive trench.

    “Sir,” called out the sensor officer. “Unidentified structure… is…”

    “One-Hundred-and-twenty kilometers across,” the Admiral stated, completing the man’s assessment without even needing to read his mind. He already had a good idea of what he was looking at.

    “Ren’Vhan,” called out Leonia from the Invidious. “Is that… is that really what I think it is?”

    The Inquisitor looked towards the woman’s hologram and nodded. “I have to ask my associate some questions when we are aboard.”

    He turned back towards the view port, he could sense the feeling concern emenating from Kreia who had stepped out from the pit and promptly reassured her, “I’m alright… It’s just that thing is a reminder of all my greatest moral failings in my days of naivete.”

    “What is that sir, to prompt such strong emotions in you,” she asked nervously.

    The Admiral turned towards the back of the bridge and walked down the command walkway, passing Kreia with neither an answer or a glance, and left the bridge in silence.

    Si’Yanvo put a hand on the shoulder of the young Pantoran woman. “You’re too young I suppose… but it is the beginnings of a Death Star.” He then turned back towards the view port with a look of great concern. “I imagine it’s stirring a great many unpleasant memories for the Admiral… the things he had overlooked or even done himself for the sake of order in the Galaxy, to him, the Death Star is symbolic of the Empire’s military and philosophical failings.”

    -------------------

    “I’ll be honest,” admitted Leonia as she looked back at the Invidious from the drydock’s viewports, “I didn’t know that a Death Star was so roomy inside.” A few of the crew she allowed to leave the ship looked back on the Imperator II-Class floating in the bay with massive struts holding it securely to the docking structure. They all thought the same thing to be sure, they long held the impression that the Invidious would be the largest vessel any of them would likely ever see, and now they had seen three that were larger, and now docked within a station massive enough to service those very vessels within an internal dry dock.

    An energetic, though age cracked voice came from behind, “I am glad it is to your liking, Moff Tavira.”

    She turned around and saw a bald man in crimson robes and ultrachrome shoulderpads swirling wine in a stemmed glass. She smiled, “I assume you are Ren’Vhan’s associate… I’m surprised you did not go to meet him first.”

    The bald man smiled before taking a quick sip of the wine. “I sensed that he is in a less than pleasant mood presently.. which I honestly should have guessed considering his history.”
    “I got that impression as well,” replied the woman as she stepped towards the man. “I find that I know very little of the man I am going to be working with… would you care to enlighten me on a few things.”

    L’ufshaut smiled, “certainly milady.” He gestured down the walk way, “but first, perhaps you could enlighten me on how you proved so evasive to New Republic efforts to catch you all those years ago while we make our way to the meeting.”

    “Of course,” she replied with an arrogant grin.

    -----------------------

    Si’Yanvo sat quietly towards the front of the tram as it shuttled them towards the station’s command sector. A handful of the Rejoice’s command officers were accompanying Ren’Vhan aboard. Under normal circumstances, Ren’Vhan would board a vessel with only his troopers, and once a vessel were secured, the engineers. But even the Admiral saw little point in keeping the Rejoice primed for a quick get away. If it were a trap, all it would take was to park the Executor-class in front of the Drydock exit to make escape nearly impossible.

    Kreia, having prodded his thoughts then asked, “do you think it is a trap?”

    The grizzled Vice Admiral chuckled. “Ren’Vhan is pretty good at sniffing out a trap after arriving on location, but anticipating the worst when expecting the best never hurts. It just happens that this case is particularly extreme even for him.”

    The Pantoran then looked towards the back of the tram. In the very last row, sitting alone, looking out the rear view port was Ren’Vhan sporting his Inquisitor’s robes with the Admiral rank insignia on the left side of his chest. His gauntlets in this uniform were a little more ornate than she was used to him wearing, roughly emulating the claws of some avian or reptilian predator as near as she could tell, with sharp talons extending from the second joint on the thumb, index and middle finger, though still cast from the ultrachrome just the same as his more practical designs and the shoulderpads of all his uniforms.

    She could still sense his great unease, but it felt that it was not fear for a threat, but something on a much more personal level. She started to get up when she felt Yanvo’s hand on her shoulder.

    “Leave him be, these are his demons,” he told her.

    Letting out a sigh, she turned towards the Vice Admiral, “You certainly got a good sense for things for being a non-sensitive.”

    “Many years of experience provide such insight,” he replied. Leaning back the old human let out a sigh, “Don’t get me wrong, I hate seeing him like this, but he bears a great deal of weight on his conscience… and much of it has to do with the very thing we are presently inside of.”

    The tram began to slow, signalling that they were nearing their destination. Ren’Vhan stood up silently and approached the door as the appointed bodyguards checked their weapons. The doors swung open just as the tram came to a stop, and soon after, Kreia saw the Admiral step out the door aggressively before the guards could get ahead of him to take point.

    Then the shouting began.

    “What in the Nine Hells are you building a Death Star for L’ufshaut,” the Admiral demanded, prompting Kreia to rush out of her seat to see what was going on, but not before the soldiers stormed out ahead of her.

    What she beheld was a side of the Admiral she had never seen. He always exuded the aura of a man with a powerful mind that could keep a mask of calm even as a situation deteriorated all around him as happened on Rud-Ibasl, and yet, here he held his short and stout comrade off the ground by the collar of his robes

    “Give me a moment and I’ll explain,” pleaded the man, though he did not beg as he signaled his own droid soldiers to stand down. Leonia’s own men looked on with uncertainty as their own Admiral held her arm out in signal for them to hold.

    “Explain what,” Ren’Vhan shouted back in anger before tossing the man aside. “The Death Star has never worked… and will never work, it was built upon flawed ideology that fear could reign in the masses.”

    “Trust me,” L’ufshaut replied as he picked himself up off the ground, “I know that as well as anyone… there’s a reason I switched to droid labor all those years ago.”

    “Then why,” demanded the Inquisitor Admiral again.

    Kreia could feel the immense anger and hatred flowing through her commander, as though standing too near a blazing fire. She even started seeing tiny sparks coming off his skin and the ultrachrome of his uniform.

    Another voice chimed in, feminine and humorous in tone, “Be careful Renny… anger does more to your skin than cause wrinkles.”

    Looking off to the side she saw another woman approaching. Unlike the other Inquisitors, she sported a black set of robes. The left side of her face was hidden by her raven black hair, only seeing what was going on with a single blue eye.

    Ren’Vhan turned towards the new arrival, “What do you know of this, Rushtean?”

    “That it was ordered by Tarkin in the years leading up to his death,” she explained casually. “Meant to serve as a sister ship to the original, to inflate the expectations of its capabilities beyond what was physically possible by making one vanish at one end of the Galaxy so that the other could reappear, seemingly the same station.”

    L’ufshaut, now dusting himself off looked towards the taller Inquisitor, “A simple deception no doubt, and certainly one that our resident master of illusions could appreciate.” He straightened up his collar before continuing, “work was haulted and resources I had been gathering for this were redirected towards the Sanctuary Moon operation in order to fast track its completion. What you see here was more trouble than it was worth to break down and recast in the dimensions the Emperor demanded for the Death Star II. So its been sitting here uselessly for over fifty years.”

    The Inquisitor Admiral’s rage finally began to subside and Kreia could sense everyone’s unease lessening as a result. As the tension lifted, she sensed a great deal of surprise coming from a sensitive in Leonia’s party.

    From the side of the former Pirate Admiral, Leshran stared with wide eyes at the black clad woman. “Oh dear… the psycho’s here,” drawing everyone’s eyes to herself.

    Rushtean, seeing the woman then shouted excitedly “LESHRAN! It’s so good to see y…”

    The young woman let out a long empty sigh as her eyes rolled back and her legs gave out beneath her, falling back into the arms of Charlton who was caught by surprise and fell to the floor with the fainted Leshran atop him.

    Rushtean smiled with her eye shut, “Oh, that really is cute, I’ll take a holo-pic.” She swept her hair from over the left eye revealing the cybernetic implant that had replaced it and the burn scars around it.

    Ren’Vhan was now crossing his arms staring at the spymaster with a raised eyebrow. “You worked with her for all of one day… what DID you do to her in that short amount of time?”

    “All I did was take her to see me work,” she said with a shrug.

    L’ufshaut turned and started to walk away in disgust. “Knowing what you do… that’s all it would take.”

    “But that day…” she began to pout

    Ren’Vhan then cut her off, shutting his eyes as he held a hand up, “forget I ever asked, I don’t want to know what you did that day.” He then walked over to where Leshran had collapsed.

    “Some help here?” pleaded Charlton from beneath the unconscious woman.

    Kneeling down, Ren’Vhan looked at the Pike Squadron leader’s eye. “You really should work out more, this should be easy for any man of real value.”

    “Hey, I’m a pilot, not a tro…” he tried to say in excuse before the Pantoran female stepped up and lifted Leshran off Charlton and slinging her over her own shoulder.

    Pointing towards Kreia with his thumb, Ren’Vhan explained sarcastically to the stunned pilot still laying on the ground “she’s just a pilot, and not even a fighter pilot… and a woman… she’s also got more to be angry at you about.”

    “What I do now,” demanded the pilot as he sat up.

    “You’re quite the perverted,” snubbed the Pantoran as she followed L’ufshaut down the hall.

    “I wasn’t thinking anything, I swear!” he said, almost shouting.

    Rushtean then cut in, “Oh… yup… you were definitely groping Leshran while she was out.” Turning her head towards the stunned pilot, she revealed her cybernetic eye to emphasize her next statement “I got holographic evidence.”

    Ren’Vhan then warned the young man as he stood back up, pulling Charlton to his feet. “She’s gonna blackmail you with that now, you know.”

    -----------------------------

    The others stepped into the conference room ahead of Ren’Vhan as he hesitated just outside the door. Some of those inside were people he hadn’t seen in person for many decades. The Admiral actually felt a little uncertainty, and it made him a little bit nervous. He could hear some of the Hands speaking with Inquisitors that they had previously worked with.

    Taking in a deep breath, he stepped before the doorway and through it as all the chatter went silent. Leshran had been laid down on a couch along the back wall with Kreia resting a hand on the passed out woman’s forehead as she focused, no doubt trying to subdue the shock reaction to whatever memories had been stirred up. Leonia Tavira sat at the seat nearest the door with Charlton standing just behind her.

    Next to her, a blonde woman’s head spun turned towards him, her eyes lighting up as she saw him and immediately scooted out from the table and ran up to him, tackling him in a friendly embrace.

    “Admiral! It’s been so long,” she exclaimed.

    “Would have been quite embarrassing for you had I been an illusion, lil’Zal,” he greeted her.

    Ren’Vhan could see the woman’s husband turning from the table with an aggravated expression. Shal’wua leaned his head back in frustration as he said, “after running into some old acquaintances, I figured you’d show up eventually.”

    The old man simply smiled as he strolled towards the end of the table.

    “I do apologize, but the conference room wasn’t exactly a high priority to me,” L’ufshaut informed Ren’Vhan.

    “You needn’t worry about that,” replied the Admiral, trying to hold back his anger that the man had been building a Death Star. Gesturing towards the still unconscious Leshran and the Pantoran caring for her on the nearby couch. “Turns out this lounge was better suited for this little get together than the conference room ever would have been.”

    He then looked over the group, he could see all the people he had come into contact with, some alone, others bringing some of their associates along with them. Those who had been Inquisitors now all donned their old robes… though like himself and Recardo, a near human in the back also went through the trouble of equipping the ultrachrome pauldrons and gauntlets. His skin was pale, and his hair was black.

    “Before we start, there’s something I wish to ask of you Toluhm,” inquired the old man as his eyes narrowed on the Atoan Inquisitor.

    The man looked back out of the corner of his eye, “I personally felt that the girl could actually achieve mastery over Kinetic-Reversal. The training was incomplete before she was sent to trials on Rud-Ibasl.”

    “Teach it to no one,” warned the Admiral, “unless their physiology can sustain it… am I clear?”

    “Clear as Luxum,” came the reply.

    Satisfied that he got a point across to the Atoan, he then glanced over the gathered group. “It certainly has been a while everyone. To begin with, I regret to inform you that U****’Yar cannot join us… an Enforcer caught wind of his desire to join up with Fel’s Empire and had him eliminated. I could never determine who it may have been, but they had to have been skilled in deception to have been able to slip past my old master’s senses. We’ll need to keep an eye out, as there is no telling how this individual would perceive our own undertaking under the direction of Leonia Tavira.” Ren’Vhan then gestured towards the former Moff as she stood up before the gathered force users. He could hear some of them whispering among themselves as he mentioned the woman’s name.

    “Yes,” she stated, immediately silencing the group. “I am the Admiral Leonia Tavira that commanded the Invidious, leading it, and those pirates who would accept my command, to countless successful raids on galactic shipping and industrial colonies back when they called themselves the ‘New Republic’.“ Glancing around, she could see the smiles creeping across the faces of some of the more rugged individuals, “I understand that I am not much in comparison to those of you who have gathered here… and that I am nothing relative to your collective power… but from my understanding, your powers, skills and knowledge have been without focus and direction for near half a century now. I wish to give you a purpose once more, a chance to spill the blood of our enemies, and an opportunity to make a few creds while we’re at it.”

    Tolumn smiled viciously, “nice little speech and all, but I believe I speak for most of us when I say that all you had to say was ‘kill jedi’, it’ll feel like the good old days for some of us, and a taste of our past glory for our younger compatriots.”

    Ren’Vhan shook his head, “It won’t be like before.” The old Admiral stood up from his chair and looked over the people assembled at the conference table. “In the past, we had the financial backing of an entire Empire.” He gestured about, as if to point out the entire space station that they now resided within. “This… monstrosity of a weapon that lay incomplete, the entirety of my fleet, much of your weapons… your training, your ships. They were gifted to us by a man who controlled the Galaxy.”

    He then began to walk around the table, “we were mere cogs in a machine for a time, controlled by a man who was corrupted by the immense power he wielded, too consumed by his pursuit of self preservation to make the right choices at the right time, and so the machine fell apart. We are now where the Jedi were when we were at the height of our power… and the Jedi now stand upon the lofty heights we once looked down upon them from.”

    Stopping above Toluhm, he looked down upon the Atoan whose face had now grown stern. “Any battle we have with the Jedi now will be hard fought, they will have support… and in the past, we would have been alone. But now we will have each other.”

    He then turned away and started to make his way back to his seat, “Too few are the corners of the Galaxy that remain unexplored to build a new Empire away from the prying eyes of the Galaxy at large… as the Sith once did five millennia ago… and too serious are the implications of a revival of the Sith to expect to be ignored should we muscle our way into power on a star system or two.” Stopping behind his seat, he placed both his hands on its back as though gripping a podium as he leaned forward. “The only way we can grow our influence without facing annihilation will be to group an Empire of Shadows. To gather criminal minds, be they gangsters, smugglers, even pirates much like Leonia. We shall go to them… offer them our skills and talents for a fair share of the cut, enable them to handle bigger jobs with greater rewards at reduced risks… all while we ourselves remain mere whispers that only the Jedi and their allies could ever believe.”

    Ren’Vhan then smiled, “I know how Palpatine rose in power, but for so long he had to skulk around in the shadows… his ambitions dashed the moment he ever missed a step. We can be many Palpatines, working the Galaxy from all angles at once, from within and without. We shall build a new Empire right underneath the noses of the Jedi.”

    He pulled his chair out and began to take a seat within it, “So the first step… let us discuss the construction of our foundation.”
     
    Kahara likes this.
  15. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    It's really interesting to see how they're choosing to put things together. A bit of something old, a bit of something new... it will certainly be something different.

    Some favorite sections:

    [face_rofl] I feel like this should be the reaction of all Imperials ever to "hey, new superweapon" by now. "Why do we even have that lever?"

    Yup. Same Rushtean. :p Remember her from your Edited stories. I love how utterly objectionable she is while still not being a personality-drained husk. If you know what I mean.

    Also, congratulations on getting nominated for the awards! =D=
     
  16. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    Chapter 19

    “To begin with,” said as she looked over the gathered Inquisitors and hands, “we will need to lay low until we’ve trained someone to advise me on potential threats.”

    L’ufshaut let out a laugh. “I’ve hidden this station, and several star dreadnoughts from the eyes of the Republic and the Empire for half a century now.”

    Ren’Vhan nodded, “while it is the worst case scenario that we get found out before we have prepared, keeping out of the public eye is something we’ve all been accustomed to.

    “Not perfectly of course,” stated Rushtean in disagreement. “The Empire did have eyes on some of you… namely Shalwua and Vulcaus. They’ll be realizing that the two of them have vanished.”

    Eyes shifted towards the two whom the spymaster had named as Ren’Vhan stood up, “No need to begrudge either of them,” he assured the group. “They had started to settle into normal and proper lives, it’s only natural that they let their guard down once the Galaxy started to cool off a little.”

    Rushtean nodded in agreement, “still, it will tip them off to the possibility that something’s up… and if the Jensaarai that are currently with Xul’Runa notify him of the arrangement that Leonia once had with their kind, he’ll be able to piece some of this together.”

    Talios put a hand to her chin as she thought back on her memories of past teachers. “Xul’runa… he was the bald one who adapted Djem So principles with dual saber combat, right?”

    The plump Inquisitor nodded, “Indeed, and was particularly proficient in battle meditation. Good head on his shoulders paired with an eye for details.”

    Toluhm leaned forward, “then we should have him removed before it becomes an issue.”

    The Inquisitor Admiral shook his head, “to attempt to do so and fail would simply confirm any suspicions he might have, while succeeding would draw the attention of Jaina… she currently has her star pupil training in the field with him while she oversees training of additional initiates in her own little Jedi order for the Empire.”

    Rushtean smiled, “could make things interesting for everyone much quicker to make our way to the top of the Empire’s blacklist.”

    Leonia shook her head, “not before we are ready to handle any potential response. To make any rash move now would achieve little more than to put us all in a shallow grave in very little time.”

    “Rush… just hold off on doing anything crazy,” pleaded Ren’Vhan. “I promise things will get interesting soon enough for even the likes of you.”

    Letting out a deep sigh, she nodded, “fine… but there better be explosions when you finally do step out into the limelight.”

    “So step one is to get people trained,” stated Recardo as he drew attention back to the subject. “What’s step two?”

    Leonia smiled, “the simple idea is that I announce my return from retirement, saying something along the lines that I feel like the Republic and the Empire’s current cooperation offers a challenge that simply wasn’t there before.”

    Rushtean’s eyes lit up as Recardo looked over skeptically, “Couldn’t the Republic simply announce that they forced you to retire by freeing the Jensaarai that you had forced into your service?”

    The cyber-eyed woman smiled as she leaned forward, “they can’t can they… not without damaging the trust the people have in the Jedi’s little replacements by revealing that the Jensaarai played a critical part in a major economic crisis that itself played a major influence on the catastrophes that followed soon afterwards… it certainly is appropriate that the Invidious would end up in your hands.”

    “Announcing your return from retirement though,” inquired Balaurrek with confusion, “what’s the purpose for that?”

    “Alone, I was successful,” she started to explain. “But I only really became a legend when other pirates came to serve under my banner, and I became a legend in my own rite.”

    The mercenary smiled, “You intend to start right back where you left off aren’t you.”

    “I don’t need much,” she suggested. “I did a lot of damage with only a dozen or so separate pirate groups, with some being little more than a small collection of renegade fighter pilots. If I announce the end of my retirement, I’m certain enough will flock to my flag to resume what I had started fifty years ago.”

    Ren’Vhan looked to Rushtean. “You’ve got channels and contacts among the various pirate factions don’t you, Rush?”

    The cybernetic woman smiled, “that and more. I can tell you a good number of the older pirate captains were inspired to take up piracy by Leonia’s accomplishments way back when. I’m certain they’d jump at the chance to become an Invid.”

    “Alright, so we have the time and opportunity to start training in secret, but how do you intend to announce your return,” inquired Recardo. “To do so by launching a raid runs the risk of having the news of your return suppressed by the Free Alliance and the Empire as they prepare a sufficient response.”

    Leonia nodded, “I’ve had a similar concern, unless we can get independent news organizations involved early on, censorship ordained by government leaders can indeed stem our attempts to get the message out.”

    Sharp chuckling emanated from the end of the table where Rushtean was seated. “I may actually have something to offer towards solving that concern.” She then pulled out a small datapad. After a moment, she set it on the lounge table and slid it halfway down as it began to project the image of an old man in an old Imperial Navy uniform with an Admiral rank designation on his chest. “I present to you Admiral Willhov. Used to command a fleet of Sub-Kilo Star Destroyers in the outer rim to keep key resource worlds in check. After the Empire effectively collapsed, he consolidated his forces to keep the most resource-rich worlds secured for his own purposes.”

    Shalwua tilted his head as he examined the hologram. “If I recall correctly, he’s currently at war with another warlord.”

    “Moff Retkin… self proclaimed really” replied Rushtean. “He picked up the worlds that Willhov didn’t want to keep and made an Empire of his own from them, which turned out to be a winning proposition as he’s been able to build up and maintain a larger fleet than the Admiral has.”

    With a snap of a finger, the hologram switched over to a new display portraying various bars of varying sizes with small images of different types of vessels at the bottom of each. For most of the vessel types, particularly of Imperial Class and Victory Class star destroyers it was apparent that Retkin had a significant advantage. “Presently, the balance of power is not in Willhov’s favor. Should be a simple task to have one of my agents convince him to do what we need.”

    Uncertain of what exactly the spymaster had in mind, Leonia leaned forward with a look of curiosity. “What, may I ask, is it that we need for him to do then?”

    The cybernetic woman smiled as she made another snap of her finger, causing the graphs to vanish. “We have him announce to the holonet that he is willing to grant an official commision and sanctuary to any pirate, smuggler or other mercenaries willing to fight in his stead.” A new image now showed up on her datapad’s projection, displaying a planet with a series of large space stations in orbit around it. “He has the means to accommodate a massive number of starships, and the integrity of his word remains intact, so enough of the renegade ships and crew we could use should show up there with the expectation that they will not be treated with hostility.”

    Leonia was now seeing the various pieces of the madwoman’s plan take on a shape, and smiled as she began to complete the rest of the plan, “after enough have arrived, we can show up for me to make the announcement and recruit from those ships that have gathered.”

    Ren’Vhan narrowed his eyes on Rushtean, “And what would happen should Willhov not take our stealing away his potential recruits from right in front of him.”

    The strange woman smiled as she tilted her head back but kept her good eye on the Inquisitor Admiral. “He’s too tied up with his war with Retkin… he wouldn’t risk declaring war on the Invids while there fleet sits right above his core world while his main fleet is away.”

    Admiral Tavira smiled, “have one of your agents make sure to advise him against any such rash actions while we’re there, and I think I can be on board with this idea.”

    “I’ll do you one better,” replied Rushtean as her datapad began to slide back to a gesturing hand. Shutting off the display as it flew up from the table, she tapped a few buttons on the screen before hooking it onto her belt. “I’ll see to it myself that he takes no action.”

    “No wet works,” warned Ren’Vhan. “Don’t want to find him assassinate, it’ll hurt Leonia’s honorable image as it was prior to her vanishing fifty years ago.”

    Rushtean replied with only a pout.

    “You’ll have your fun,” declared Leonia. “We’ll need to send a message to rivals should they attempt to interfere with our plans.”

    “I’ll assume that’s a promise,” replied the spymaster as she smiled wickedly.

    Leshran started to stir back to life as Rushtean made her way to the door, “I’ll take my leave so that Leonia doesn’t have to carry her pet all the way back to the Invidious.”

    Leonia leaned back in her chair and gestured non-chalantly, “much appreciated.”

    ----------------------------------------------------

    Kreia looked over to her Admiral as he contemplated everything silently at the end of the tram. She looked over at Si’Yanvo, “any idea what Vhan’s thinking about?”

    The grizzled looking first mate looked towards the young Pantoran. “Knowing him, he’s considering all the risks and deciding how best to mitigate them. Figuring which would be the practical solutions and which ones would be so farfetched as to think himself insane for ever even considering such possibilities.”

    The blue woman looked back to the Admiral, “what do you think of the plan Si?”

    “Risky… but not without its merits,” he replied. “A big part of it will have a lot to do with timing Leonia’s arrival. We need to slip her in during the recruitment drive, before too many of the ships have taken on Willhov’s officers to leash the crews, but after enough pirates have arrived to make him uneasy about making any provocative move against Tavira or the ships that join her on the spot.”

    “Think Tee-kay Wonbee would be up for one last run,” Ren’Vhan asked as he looked up to Si’Yanvo.

    The first mate raised an eyebrow to the question. “That old clone… are you thinking to dress the Rejoice up as the Viad Luhk for this?”

    The Inquisitor nodded, “we’ve done a few runs with it every now and again, so it shouldn’t arouse suspicion.”

    Yanvo exhaled loudly. “We may need to get the younger crewmembers to get accustomed to addressing a different captain, as well as to identify the ship with a different name to allow the deception to hold up.”

    “We got time enough for that at least,” stated Ren’Vhan. “What will be nerve wracking will be that we’ll need to go through with this without the cloaking module… we’ll be shorter on options than we’re used to if things go south in a hurry.”

    Si’Yanvo nodded, “the best I can offer is to wait just outside the system with the rest of the fleet in reserve, just in case.”

    “There is another concern,” came a woman’s voice in Ren’Vhan’s head. He recognized it as Rushtean’s. “You won’t be able to convincingly pull this off if anyone involved at Rud-Ibasl sees or senses you posing as a crewmember aboard the Rejoice, and you can bet that they’ll have someone there keeping an eye out for the Invidious.”

    “I’ve already concluded that Rushtean,” he mentally replied. “I’ll move in ahead separately in my Zivrejan alias… If you still have a good stock, I’ll need TIE Defenders to use as props for a grand illusion.”

    He then looked up, “I’ll need to dress the Unrelenting up as the Vuanta Laj, and pick up a stock of Defenders from one of Rushtean’s secret bases.”

    “Hey, I agreed to nothing,” came the mental protest.

    He smiled as he projected back to her, “You’ll comply if you want to have fun with this.”

    “I suppose you’re right, but I better get them back, they aren’t exactly cheap for the income my operations run on.”

    “You needn’t worry,” he reassured the spymaster through telepathy.

    Kreia smiled, “Ironing out the details with that woman I take it?” Obviously she had been eavesdropping on the telepathic exchange. “How’d you first meet her anyways?”

    Si’Yanvo started chuckling to himself causing confusion in the young Pantoran as Ren’Vhan let out a sigh.

    “To put it simply,” Ren’Vhan began to explain, “If having the most interesting story of how a person met me were a game…”

    “I’d win,” came Rusthean’s voice in Kreia’s head now. “By lightyears.”

    The blue-skinned woman raised an eyebrow to the response, “even more interesting than my own?”

    “Very much so,” replied Ren’Vhan as he looked up. “I saved you… I killed her.”

    Kreia looked at her Admiral wide-eyed. “Killed her?”

    After a moment of silence, Rushtean’s voice broke the silence in Kreia’s mind in a reassuring tone, “I got better.”

    --------------------

    “What do you make of all this,” Balaurrek asked Vulcaus as the pair followed behind his mercenary group.

    “Gets me out from behind a desk,” replied the blonde man. “So I’m down with it.”

    Raising an eyebrow, he went on, “so.. no concerns it may be a trap for the U****’Yar Group?”

    “Ren’Vhan’s pretty good with traps, even better at detecting and dismantling them,” the older man began to explain. “But if you are concerned that he’s the one setting a trap, I can assure you that in spite of his service as an Inquisitor, he’s pretty big on Honor… raised by Mandalorians so loyalty to family and friends is a pretty big deal to him… got him into trouble a few times back in the day as well… earned him a choking or two from Vader. He’s fortunate he was one of the Emperor’s favorites.”

    “You’re more concerned about Rushtean,” deduced Bal.

    “That unconscious girl the Pantoran was attending to… that’s what the memory of merely working with that woman can do to you,” explained Vulcaus. “Her nickname among the Inquisitors and Imperial Intelligence was Ysanne’s Twisted Sister.”

    “That sounds bad,” Baleurrek replied with a shiver in his spine as he recalled all the stories of the infamous ‘Iceheart’.

    Vulcaus put a hand on Bal’s shoulders. “Don’t worry too much about her though… You saw during the meeting that she respects Ren’Vhan enough that she’ll listen to him and I doubt he’ll let her have her fun with any of us.”

    “I suppose you’re right.”

    ------------------

    “Not what I was expecting for a job proposition,” stated Shalwua as he looked over to his wife as they settled into the cockpit of their shuttle.

    “More exciting than that whole construction thing you do,” came Zal’Huat’s reply.

    The man rolled his eyes in frustration. Before he could come up with a witty retort, he decided to ask about something that had been bugging him. “How do you know Ren’Vhan anyways… are you a former hand or something?”

    “When I was as young as ten, I made a living through gambling at high end casinos… eventually a Hutt that ran one of them made me sign a contract before I could really understand it and I ended up a slave,” she began to explain.

    “Ah, the typical ‘knight in lustrous armor’ story I take it,” he replied.

    “He practically raised me after he bought me from that slug two years after,” she replied in defense of the Admiral.

    Shalwua chuckled, “a Hutt sold a master card shark?”

    “The negotiations were aggressive,” she replied with a smile. “I felt liberated just listening to the Hutt beg for his life.”

    “So I take it that we met because you were meant to keep tabs on me then,” accused Shalwua.

    The woman let out a sigh, before admitting to it, “yes, I was supposed to just keep an eye on you.”

    “So our marriage… everything that exists between us…”

    “Don’t you dare call it a sham,” she snapped at him. “The reason you caught me staring at you all those years ago was because I became distracted… that I liked everything I got to see about you.”

    He reached over to the controls to ignite the engines. “Now I really feel the fool… tell me, did you ask consult him for advice on dating like I did?”

    She stopped a moment in silence as everything clicked into place in her head. “Well, that would explain why our first date went so perfectly.”

    “He really was just born for a job in deception and manipulation,” replied Shalwua. “He’s just downright terrifying when he gets to work both sides.”

    “Still going to work for him honey,” she explained. “I left a lot of friends behind when I was sent to keep track of you.”

    The ship rocked as the repulsorlifts activated and they started pulling out of the space station’s hangar.

    ----------------

    Rushtean strolled into the hangar with a black Consular-Class cruiser sitting on its landing struts while TIE defenders hung from the TIE racks above, the low roar of their engines indicated that the pilots were inside with the engines already warmed up.

    A gray haired man in a black overcoat carrying a blaster rifle strolled up to the spymaster. “Ships are all prepared for immediate departure milady.”

    “We’ll be heading to outpost Mernwesk 8,” she commanded the trooper. “See if you can get a hold of Taursk, we need him to feed advise to Willhov for us to get schemes rolling.”

    The man followed closely behind the woman, “should I have one of our prisoners transported to the outpost to serve as entertainment for you.”

    “That’s a good idea actually,” she said as she strolled up the ramp. “Ren’Vhan needs me to keep myself out of trouble for a bit… have my tools from the Tatooine post transported there as well.”

    “I shall make sure they do so discretely,” he replied as the ramp lifted up after the two got aboard the cruiser. “And then there’s the matter of Evuzhi Huun… payment for her safe return just doubled, and we found out who has been offering the reward through the Omwati.”

    “Is it going to be hard for me to believe,” she inquired as she sat down on a chair in the main lounge of her ship, pulling out a bottle of hard spirits to pour herself a glass.

    “The Kuat-Drive Yards, ma’am,” he replied. “Suppose she’s supposed to be Qwi 2.0?”

    She smiled to herself as she poured her glass. “I think we should look into this matter further.”

    She raised her glass to the trooper, “to a more intriguing future.”
     
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  17. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    A new Invidious chapter? :D Excellent! I've been missing this merry band of monsters, misfits, and strays. [face_dancing]

    Really interesting window into how they're approaching their schemes here. I especially liked the reasoning about why their opponents can't draw attention to certain relevant portions of the Jensaarai's history.

    I'm very curious whether something will happen with this loose end of their old associate Xul'runa having gone a bit "respectable" -- and having some Fel Empire prodigy in tow. I remember being interested by that thread when Ren'Vhan had his recruitment drive. ;) Interesting that Jaina trusts him to teach even though he's (still?) philosophically in disagreement over how to use the Force. As she says, he may be "too old" for galactic ambitions. But that's hardly ever stopped anyone before, so there must be some reasons of temperament and character at work there too.

    Really enjoying all of these complicated backstories and how they're interwoven -- though I do lose track of them here and there (if you have time, I think a character list would be a great reference for readers here!) It's hard to tell yet which will be the important connections, but many of them are intriguing to say the least. Seems like each and every one of them could be the central character of an interesting tale.

    Then there's Rushtean's wistfulness about the lack of explosions so far and how nobody is letting her start a bloodbath yet. :p She's so cheerfully far beyond the edge of creepy that it ends up being almost charming... right up 'til the moment when you're the one getting stabbed, I expect. ;) It's an interesting dichotomy, as so many things are with this bunch. "Rush" seems to be able to make oddly enduring friendships with some people (such as Leonia and Ren'Vhan, apparently), and yet everyone expects her to strangle them in their sleep one day. And they're probably right. She does all of this complicated work, running her spy network and so on, but her first responses are almost always along the lines of: "Want me to kill it? Okay, can I kill it now? Now? Pleeeeeaaaase? Why can't I kill anybody yet?"

    Interesting to see the full extent of Ren'Vhan's plotting come to light regarding Shalwua and Zal'Huat -- they both thought they were the only ones being advised, apparently. [face_laugh] That sneaky barve! Well, the matchmaking worked out. Still sneaky though.
    [face_laugh] Liked Shalwua's kind-of-disgusted admiration for their leader here, as well as the way that they seem to be adapting to the surprise of learning about these old manipulations. Zal'Huat's insistence that she had a raging crush on her observation target probably doesn't hurt in patching that up, but still. They're awfully cute.

    Leonia's current plan for how to get back towards the level of support she once had seems very practical, and shows that she hasn't lost her knack for moving around the galactic fringe. The way she intends to use the Willhov and Retkin feud to her advantage seems a lot like what I remember of her from the EU. Grab the money and run while everyone's confused. [face_laugh]

    The disguised ship and Ren'Vhan using his alias all begins to remind me a bit of the Wraiths. Oh, wait. :eek: Just realized. These are Dark Side Wraiths... I really, really don't envy the Jedi, Jensaarai, Empire, or anyone who runs into that! [face_rofl]

    [face_laugh] Okay, now this is a story we'd all like to know, I think!

    Seems very curious that Ren'Vhan would have been one of the Emperor's favorites -- I wonder why? [face_thinking] He just doesn't seem the courtier type, though he's certainly a master of politics on the practical level.

    Uh oh, they're holding Evuzhi for ransom? That... just doesn't feel like it'll end well. [face_worried]
     
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  18. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    To clear it up... they aren't holding her ransom... that's a reward being offered for her safe return.

    A ransom would be to issue a demand of payment to ensure the safe return of a hostage.

    Ren'Vhan has made no effort to make any offers to have her returned... he's still curious as to whether or not she might be of some sort of usefulness and it may turn out she may be of greater use than mere credits ever could be.
     
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  19. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Finally catching up on this. The complexity makes me slightly scared of it, but from the first read - this has got to be one of the most complex things I have read since I have joined. Actual profound thoughts to come soon and, until then, I'm quietly subscribing. :)
     
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  20. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014

    Had some things come up that delayed my work on this, but things are settling down now. The complexity will grow so I may create a character list somewhere I link it here to help people keep track.

    I'll also start revealing a little about U****'Yar as well.

    In the mean time, the Star Wars X-Wing and Armada miniature's games have introduced a new ship to the Imperial Arsenal that is right up Ren'Vhan's alley... the Raider-Class Corvette.

    http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...orvette.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150706021939
     
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  21. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014

    In fact, I meant to ask you that either way. :) You're reading my mind.
     
  22. Sokolniki

    Sokolniki Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2014
    *Gets ready to post new chapter*

    *Notices one of the names of my background characters, and the group named for him has been censored*

    Well shoot...
     
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